What started as a great head start for August sales turned into a crap show leading up to the last day of the month for me. I had $36K booked at the end of the first week, thus needing a minimum of $25K seemed like a no brainer, right? Things happen, and I call these conditions and these would be items or happenings that are out of your control (I hate conditions). One deal was pushed to September since the customer could not take delivery on time and every other deal did not move forward enough to make the deadline.
However, I always like to tell a good story and this story has a somewhat of a good ending. Probably all of us or I hope most of us have that one special inside person that can help get things done for you. Whether it’s with lease approvals, maintenance, supply costs, meter reads, etc., I am fortunate to work with one of those people. She has been with the company for probably 25 years, she can runs rings around most sales people, knows the leasing side for the business inside and out, has excellent rapport with the customers, and pretty much knows the copier business inside and out. I would call her “The Most Interesting Woman in the Copier Industry,” even though I’ve never called her that until now, but she deserves the title.
Since we’ve both been with the company for many years, she is familiar with most of my accounts. Thus, while I was out trying to secure new business, keep up with appointments, proposals and all of the things that we need to do. “The Most Interesting Woman in the Copier Industry” was working her magic with one of my accounts. She had been keeping me in the loop with this current customer about two systems, and since she was already engaged with the customer on another front I was ok with her helping me out.
The end result was that her efforts helped me close additional sales for the month. When all seemed it was lost, an awesome co-worker helped me and the company out. I hope that most of us have a person like this on their staff, and if not I wish you did. It’s a pleasure to work with others that are just as knowledgeable about the industry, wants the company to do well, and in general is a good person.
To “The Most Interesting Woman is Copier Industry,” kudos and thank you for your help a few days ago, but more importantly thanks for all of your help over the last 15 years.
Good selling!
