30 Day Challenge

I have one machine still needing to be placed and the other, while placed, undoubtedly could use a better location. I know that locating is going to be my biggest weak spot because you really need to be a "salesman" to locate, and that's not me. But it could be! I believe that I can do anything if I just put my mind to it. I do want to ease myself into this, though, so although all indications lead me to believe that a face-to-face encounter with the decision-maker is always best, I've decided to practice my script (still working on that, more later) by making phone calls. Beginning October 1st, I will make at least 3 calls per day and a total of at least 100 during the month.

So, I have a few days left to work on my script, which I'll post when complete.
UPDATE: Script is posted here.

And I've been looking for a tool that would allow me to gather info on the businesses I want in my area. Most of the mapping tools out there will allow you to search for ONE type of business in any particular area, but I haven't yet found one that will allow you to search for multiple types of businesses. However, I do have something that will work until I find or create the tool I envision. Find out more here...

DAY ONE:
Day One has been a dismal failure and points out exactly why I am trying to do this in the first place. With the lack of free time and freedom during the day, my job consumes everything and by the time I got home, it really didn't seem like a suitable time to be making calls. The good news is that I have tomorrow off. I also have no desire to make calls on Sunday, so I'll be making quite a dent in my list tomorrow.


Still enthusiastic, ready to hit the phones hard tomorrow. I might just get that machine placed.
 
DAY TWO:
OK, so today I actually got off my duff and did something. I'm encouraged by items I've read that quote success at 10 - 25% of each business approached. I plan to approach 100 this month and only need one. Two would be better. Anything after that is gravy, so I've set the bar at what should be a very achievable goal, and success will help to spur me on, no?

So based on the above numbers, having made 10 calls today, at least one should have been a "yes" and it was... close. Here's what happened. I had a couple of flat-out "no's", a couple where they didn't speak English, and a couple more "try back later's." I also had a few that said the manager wasn't in and to call back after 2 PM. But then came my promising call. At least he's interested and I went by and dropped off some info, but he'd left for the day so I'm going to try to catch him again tomorrow.

A few things I've learned:

1) I shouldn't have waited an entire month to do this. Is isn't that hard and I WILL get those "yes's."

2) When told the owner or manager isn't in, I should ask for his/her name so that I can ask for him/her by name next time.

3) The Bing Collections that I've used to gather the business info is more suited to the face-to-face approach, but still has a major drawback. I want to be able to log who I called, what the response was, and the name of the person I contacted.

Tomorrow's another day!

DAY THREE:
I gave the restaurant owner a call and he isn't in on weekends. So I'll have to try him again on Monday. Other than that, I spent the day with my family. I'm definitely not making any calls on Sunday, so Monday I've got some catching up to do.