e-bullet #54
E-Bullet #54
I just finished reading a book that captured my attention from start to finish. It helps that it was well written. The only way I can explain my feelings is that when I walked out of the movie Schindler’s List I was exhausted. The same can be said for this book. It’s called UNBROKEN and it’s about an airman who goes down in the Pacific with his crew on a B-24. I will not spoil it for any of you that are currently reading it or plan to pick it up down the road. It takes the reader on an odyssey into the human spirit both mentally and physically. You learn that physical toughness can only be trumped by mental toughness and the whys as to one man surviving under the identical conditions and the man next to him doesn’t.
It’s the same in the business world on many levels. Why do some of us make it and some who are given the same tools and training don’t. The only example that I can use with any accuracy is a guy I met over forty years ago. We both started our sales careers on January 1st 1970 after four months of the best training that was available at the time. The first three years were tough because we did exactly as we were told. We read the Monday morning objectives for that week. His territory wasn’t going anywhere with his sales figures always in the lower half of the company. It got to the point that in the late summer of 1973 he was told that if things didn’t get better he was not worth keeping. He came to me one day and said, “I guess I’d better look for something else”. Until that time we did what we were told to do and that was read the sales bulletins and go ask for the order. It’s been said that things happen for a reason. By the grace of God he was sent to a day and a half selling seminar for those of us who were given one more chance to turn things around. He drove home that afternoon of the second day a changed man. The main theme of that seminar had been a single phrase that became his “AHA” moment. It was “sell the sizzle and not the steak”. He was like Moses off the mountain that evening. The only difference was that his hair didn’t turn white, it turned loose! The sizzle was the idea not the product; it was the intangible, the reason to say “yes”, the dealmaker. He had been trying to sell a product line that was as exciting to sell as a dial tone, linoleum floors. Most of it was as ugly as a mud fence. His idea/pitch became, “Mr. Dealer I’m not here to sell you anything, I’m here to make you money, a lot of money”. He had been trapped into thinking that he was there to “save” the guy some money. His new mission was to show him how much money he could “make” when the dealer bought his flooring. After all it was why the dealers were in business to start with and that phase allowed him to turn the corner. He also learned right after that, that being really interested in your customer’s business didn’t hurt either. He got to know all about their families, their hobbies and what turned their propeller outside of the business. He cared about them and their business and it paid off in spades.
Most of the people I know and/or interact with today never attend after hours networking events. That tells me that their job is just a job and not a career. There are very few people out there that are known as “Mr. Cabinet Guy” or Mr. Appliance Man or Ms. Bath Fixture Lady. My friend became known as Mr. Armstrong Floors. He became the cream of the crop, the best of the best and in 1975 was awarded a Master Salesmen Certification out of a national sales force of 200. He went from the Outhouse to the Penthouse in just two years. We stay in contact on a regular basis to this day.
Ask yourself, am I one of these idea people whose mission in life is to make their customer confiscatory profits or am I just another person who shows up at the monthly lunches or the annual golf outing trying to get a potential customer’s attention? You don’t have to be tall or handsome or have perfect teeth; you just have to give a damn (now there’s an idea) about those who put food on your table and how much better your life would be with a few more “friends” in it. GET THE IDEA?
All the best.
Jerry
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e-bullet #53
E-BULLET # 53
I wonder what the suicide rate for economists is today. If I had to write about what’s going on in the world everyday I would be living on “uppers” every morning or evening depending upon when I started writing my epistle. The P.I.G.S. (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) are bumbling along with Greece about to paddle their canoe over the falls any time now. You could make a case for the US of A being in the same boiling pot but it wouldn’t make the broth taste any better.
We had some cluck running around for the last year saying that world would come to an end last week. Where was I when all those poor souls were giving away everything they had? I’m on all the social networks; the next time this guy pops up I’m going to tell the world that my place is the next depository for their wealth. Some one once said that this would make a great comedy if it weren’t true. You don’t have to look very far if you’re looking for a reason to feel sorry for yourself. If that’s what you’re looking for here go ahead and click this off.
There are people becoming wealthy everyday right in the middle of this less than stellar time. They have figured out what they’re pretty good at and set out to become the best there is at what they do. Oh yeah you say? Give me an example. Ok how many of you have ever made a very good living selling lemonade at ball games? How many of you have even considered doing this. Well there was a young man several years ago that showed up at one of our major league ballparks selling his own brand of lemonade. You all have seen most of these vendors climbing the isles barely audible. Well this young man could be heard all over the stands crying LEMONADE, LEMONADE, LEMONADE and then would follow it up with a WOOOOOOOOOO! After a while the entire crowd would follow with a chorus of WOOOOOOOO! This kid became a celebrity; it was like buying a drink from one of the players. His energy level was off the charts. He made the price ($4.00) seem irrelevant. He made people smile. He made people to buy lemonade when most stadiums couldn’t give it away. Passion trumps almost any obstacle.
Fast forward to now. How would you like to be a homebuilder in today’s economy? No way you say, no one’s buying houses unless they’re half price. We have one in our market who is not only selling houses but also a lot of them when our market is off only 85%!
His name is Fred Delibero and he owns Summit Custom Homes. If that’s not challenging enough Fred and his team partnered with St Jude’s Hospital in Memphis Tenn. to raffle off one of his houses with all of the proceeds going to cancer research. His company kicked off this event and you would have thought they were erecting the new Freedom Tower. This event had non-stop coverage for several weeks following the initial press conference. Lizzi Hartzell is the “ball of fire” running this project. Zalman Kohen is the Vice-President and General Manager keeping the gears turning and the wheels greased for all facets of the business. Fred’s passion simply overpowered all those who thought that doing this now wouldn’t work. Oh yeah, their goal was to sell 9,000 tickets (at $100 each) by the end of June. They started in April and as of two week ago they were approaching 6,000 sold. Summit Custom Homes isn’t taking a break from building and selling homes during this time period. It’s business as usual and business as usual is not stopping to read about some loon talking about the end of the earth.
Until you become passionate about what you do, you will be at the mercy of all those who will say, “Now is not the time, wait a while, trust me”. Trust your instincts they will really let you down.
All the best.
Jerry
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Laughter
E-BULLET #47
Laughter
I watch people constantly. I watch them when I can stand off to the side and observe their actions. I watch the wait staff at restaurants. I watch those folks who check us out at the stores. I watch sales people in retail stores and sales reps as they make their pitch on flooring products. What’s always refreshing to watch is some one who can use humor effectively in their presentation. Humor is a powerful weapon when you want the person you are with to remember the conversation you are having.
If you can get them to laugh you have their attention. Laughter is extremely contagious and like passion it’s incredibly energizing. We all feel better after we laugh; it’s like a good sneeze. It puts everyone in the “right” mood. It can be a game changer if you’re in sales and all of us are selling something, ideas, philosophies, views and of course products. If you can do it with humor your chances of getting the order go up dramatically.
I use one-liners when making a point. They’re called, “RATWAYISMS”. If a flooring pattern is really ugly I’ll say,” That’s ugly enough to scare the balls off a pool table”. If confusion is the issue, it’s “I don’t know whether to scratch my watch or wind my aspirator”. It’s ok to poke fun at yourself, self-deprecation when used at the right time can be very disarming, and you’ll be perceived as very human. “When I first started selling I was the only one in the sales training class who brought a cheat sheet in for a urine test. The only problem with my golf game is that I stand too close to the ball after I hit it.” Lines like these when used at the right time are very effective for me; if you can get them to laugh you have’em.
If you’re serious by nature, first of all I’m jealous but more importantly when you use humor you’ll knock’em dead because no one will see it coming. There are a million books out there written about getting a head, making all the money you need, keeping customers for life and having wonderful lifelong relationships but I haven’t read a single chapter in all these books that is titled, “You can ‘have it all’ just be drier then a popcorn fart” Humor is tough for some of us but work at it and it will get easier, not easy just easier.
The point of this e-bullet is to let you know that you have incredible powers that lie just under your personality, waiting to be tapped like a pool of oil. A few of us are cursed with what some say as being incurably odd (I call it incurably creative), maybe even crazier than an outhouse mouse.
Four and half years ago my wife me a book called The Little Red Book of Sales Answers by a guy that I had never heard of, Jeffrey Gitomer. Today I own and have read’em all, several times, more because I’m a slow reader with poor comprehension than anything else. I have been writing most of me life but it was Jeffrey that convinced me to start writing to get connected far beyond my normal range of influence. Four years ago last month I started writing what I call e-bullets, short for electronic bulletins and sending it to friends via e-mail. I sent the first one out to fifteen unsuspecting friends and associates. Today it goes to over fourteen hundred e-mail addresses. They are by design not commercials for products but my thoughts on what “turns my prop” and what I’m passionate about. The unintended consequence is that I have gotten business from these bullets every month.
This is my forty-first year of selling at many levels in the flooring business. I have run a couple of companies in that time but owned one. I have always been connected with sales and always in the flooring business.
I am a Master Sales Award winner with William Volker Co in 1975, four times Distributor of the Year for Tarkett flooring products in 1984, 1986, 1987 & 1993. Associate of the Year 2008, Membership Drive Winner Greater Kansas City HBA, Ambassador Award Winner Kansas City Chapter N.A.R.I.
Member Board of Directors KC HBA, KC NARI and ASID Missouri West & Kansas
Bog site: http://lonestarjr.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jratway
Linkedin: jerry ratway
Facebook: jerry ratway
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E-Bullet #52
BULLET #52
I was thinking about the times we live in today and the fact that most of us are doing things in pursuit of business that four or five years ago we’d never have considered. We didn’t have to; our market was providing opportunities for us where the only challenge was to make sure that none of these leads slipped through the cracks. We began to hear the word value. Twenty years ago the flooring industry had a phrase we called “perceived value”. That was where the customer perceived the product to be worth more than what it was. In other words we sold the classic bag of fog, a slight of hand, cotton candy and the over-worked line smoke and mirrors. Close you eyes and go back with me to the good old day of the eighties. Just imagine the retail salesman (sorry ladies but you don’t want to be in this dream) standing there in his horse-blanket plaid sport coat, open collared shirt with the top three buttons undone, double knit polyester slacks, white imitation alligator belt, white socks and white paten leather shoes. Oh yeah, throw about as much gold on as you could carry without leaning over. There you have it, a flooring salesman. The pitch was easy then, just walk’em around the sales floor until they got groggy and then talk’em to death. You would stroke that carpet sample until the fiber got hot then hand it to the customer so they could feel how warm the carpet would be in their home. I stood behind a sales guy one time when the customer asked, “What is this”? They wanted to know all about the product. The answer was, “This little sweetheart’ll run ya $15.99 a sq. yd. The scary part was that the company was one of the better flooring stores in town.
Today the Internet has cleaned up that horror movie with all the info you’ll ever need. So from that aspect the consumers are much better informed. The term “value” has taken on a different meaning. The good salespeople know that the real value is not so much the product but them. The real difference is the person selling the product or service. Today the good ones are asking the questions first and then really listening to the answers. They are truly there to help them solve the customer’s problems. Listening is an art that can be learned and honed to a razor’s edge. Some of us will take notes so we don’t forget a single issue that our customer has mentioned.
Some of us sell ideas. The products come later. The late John Bichelmeyer, founder of Bichelmeyer Meats in Kansas City said it best. “The first hunk of meat you sell is yourself” It doesn’t get any better than that. Value today is personal value. How you are perceived in the customer’s eye is everything. Ask yourself, what value do I bring to his table? Like the good retail salespeople, ask questions about their business with the thought of really listening. It will amaze you how you can increase your “net worth” in the customers eyes if you pitch in and help him with issues that are unrelated to your products or services. Become and unpaid employee of the company. Your real net worth will take a positive hit if you do. You know you have arrived when you are talking to another rep that calls on the same customer and they tell you that the decision maker took five minutes telling your friend what you did for his company and it had nothing to do with what you sell. The only thing that’s better is when your customer tells your competition how invaluable you are to him. Want to separate yourself from the pack? Become part of his or her HR Department. Keep your ear to the ground, when you hear about someone who’s been R.I.F.ed that might be a good fit for one of your customers, put’em together. That’s called thinking outside the box. That’s called real customer service. That’s called value and that creates customers for life.
All the best.
Jerry
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e-bullet #51
E-BULLET #51
When I say the phase Artificial Stimulation everyone takes a deep breath and waits for the second shoe to drop. Well kids this has nothing to do with “that” kind of stimulation. This is all about getting revved up, getting your heart started, getting you to the point that you can’t sit still and putting you in that “take no prisoners” attitude. No it’s still not what you think. I’m going to talk about MUSIC and how it can stir your soul. Everyone that reads this has some form of music that when you listen to it, it gets your juices flowing. Mine is the Red Priest (Antonio Vivaldi). I love classical music in general but this guy put me in a mood that’s hard to explain. He is credited with making the violin a popular instrument in Europe in the 18th century. This isn’t about him but his music and what it does to me. I’ll go so far as to say that his Concerto for Violin in “G” major; A La Rustica is my favorite. Make sure you get the trac from Christopher Hogwood’s Saint Martin in the Fields. Music is better than coffee when you’re sleepy and you’re supposed to be preparing for a presentation or you have to read something that is at best semi-stimulating. Your favorites can C & W, Pop, R & B, Jazz (no improv. please), show tunes or any type really. There will be songs that just set you off into a positive place that’s hard to bring down. It used to be more difficult in the old days to put together your favorites on one CD but now it can be done from your phone. I’ll never know if that’s true so I’ll just have to believe that it is. I know you driven past some one on the highway who is in the “zone” and is just belting out some lyrics and is oblivious to the world. Go to any high school, college or professional event and the warm up is filled with music, all bad music from my perspective but music just the same. It’s designed to get everyone revved up and ready to go. If you want to see eighty thousand people get emotional have Lee Greenwood show up and sing “I’m Proud to be an American” at a college or pro football game. Oh yeah, having a fly-by doesn’t hurt either. They probably even pay music at NASCAR Races but no one can hear it.
My point is that sometime we all need a little help getting pumped up. Being just well prepared is like wetting your pants in a dark suit. It gives you a warm feeling but no one else notices. Enthusiasm is that spark that will light up the crowd or that group or that one on one, eye ball to eye ball conversation. Being enthusiastic is like harnessing hydrogen, it is found throughout the universe and its spent by-product is harmless (water). Enthusiasm is limitless and its bi-product is more enthusiasm because it’s the most positive contagious element you can spread.
Think about what you have just read for a minute. You can become powerful with the aide of something that cost pennies if you’ll just take the time to think about your favorite songs, pieces, tracs and the like. Play your most inspirational song while you’re in the shower. Please warn your spouse or your kids before you turn it up to “liquefy”. If you’re a movie buff you’ll remember All That Jazz; a story about Bob Fosse played Roy Scheider. He’d drag himself out of bed every morning climb in the shower, punch the tape recorder and out would come my favorite song in the entire world, A La Rustica. He’d also throw down a hand full of Bennies and light a cigarette (not recommended here). After the shower he’s look into the mirror, smile and say, “It’s Showtime Folks”.
Put yourself in that “It’s Showtime Folks” mood with your favorite tune and get ready to knock’em stiff everyday. The results will scare pants off of you!
All the best.
Jerry
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e-bullet #50
E-BULLET #50
Every once in a while I get a refresher course in the power of human contact. Ten days ago I was part of the Remodeling Show here in Kansas City. Our company did not have a booth there so that freed me up to do some high impact contact with the public. Our company is a part of NARI (the National Association of the Remodeling Industry). Shows like this are a way for NARI to get the word out to the public about what we do and whom we are. There were several opportunities to volunteer your time and energies in getting our Remodeling Guide in the hands of consumers who were at the show. Several of us worked the front entrance to the show making physical and verbal contact with the show goers. Some would liken it to those rough looking characters that hand out literature to the local “Tension Relief Center” in Las Vegas or the local “Rent-a-Wife” franchise out there, not at all by a long shot. We wore our NARI Shirts and had our FREE guides in plain sight. When someone thanks you for coming out that day and asks if you would like to have a guide of the NARI contractors it’s like greeting people at your church cook out. 99% of those people who were asked said yes and thanked us for the guide. No one took more than one and on occasion when the man or woman would be asked they would say, “gosh no thanks you just gave one to my better half”. Having a professional and courteous person greeting folks at the door says a lot about the organization that wears their name for all to see. I fear that our younger generations will never know what it’s like to attain that person touch.
I recounted that event because it hit home on two fronts. The first one was the energy that an event like that can give the people who spend the time and resources to present their products can be a game changer. Second and more important is the opportunity to meet future customers and make connections with people that would take a year to accomplish. You could stop by booths when the folks weren’t busy and introduce yourself or simply reconnect with friends that you don’t see on a regular basis. Sadly a lot of people see that opportunity to get up close and personal as an interruption in their weekend, something “they” don’t pay me enough to do on “my” time. What would it cost you or your company to throw a bash this size? How many networking events would you have to attend to equal something of this size? Maybe you don’t belong to an organization that would present a chance to get into a show like this no charge. I’ll bet you know someone who would love for you to volunteer a couple of hours of your time to help out in their booth. Now you have a pass to get in. I use this example because it’s a part of what I do, working with and for the remodeling industry. Every industry has shows and or opportunities to do what has been suggested in this e-bullet.
There isn’t a day that goes by that someone isn’t calling or e-mailing looking for a name, advice, a lead, a cell number and God forbid least of all who wanted to give us a chance at some business that wouldn’t have happened without some serious exposure for the company and myself.
If all this sounds like more work than it’s worth then selling yourself must be a real drain. “Gosh, I already work five days a week, what else am I supposed to do?” Work? Hell work is picking fly poop out of pepper with boxing gloves on, that’s work.
You are presented everyday with opportunities. You should love that word opportunity. It’s means a shot at someone or something that you have been pursuing.
Remember, you can’t spell opport_nity without “U”. Only can make that difference.
All the best
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ALL THAT GLITTERS ISN’T GOLD
GLITTERS MAY
NOT BE GREEN
I think that almost every Green ad has become fuzzy now when I hear it on the radio or see it on television. They’re talking about some do-it yourself project or some retailer is touting their “green” products and how you’ll be a part of the Green wave. While it’s true some products have been Green for years most manufactures have only recently aligned themselves with this movement and now claim that they’re products are green too. Educate yourself! Make sure that what glitters is really green.
I’ll do my part to bring you up to speed. My sphere of influence is on the flooring side. It seems to me that there are three different approaches to Green/Build flooring products.
The first one is for products that come from sources that not destroyed in the harvesting of the bi-product. Cork flooring comes from the bark of the cork oak tree. Its bark is stripped every nine years and does not harm the tree itself. It fact the tree will live for two hundred and fifty years. Others products are harvested from sources that when cut down regenerate themselves like bamboo (bamboo is actually a type of grass).
The second area where Green flooring products are produced comes from the bi-products that would normally be taken to the land fills or burned for heat or to generate electricity. This material would be the limbs and waste from trees. This becomes high-density fiberboard and is the middle and bottom layer for engineered wood flooring products. Some carpet products are now being made from bio-fuels instead of petroleum. The first two areas are from sources that produce flooring that come from naturally reoccurring vegetable products (wood, soy beans [and other commodities] and grasses.
The third area where flooring products come from is the recycling bin. The carpet industry has developed two ways to achieve this. The first one to appear a number of years ago is fiber that comes from recycled two-liter soft drink bottles. It’s called Pop Bottle Carpet, a form of Olefin carpet fiber that can be found in a number of different styles and price ranges. The other carpet is nylon fiber that can be sent back to the factory to be recycled into new fiber after it has been replaced in homes and offices. The Pop Bottle carpet cannot be recycled at this point but the nylon fiber that goes back to the mill for recycling can made into new carpet indefinitely. Certain types of ceramic tile can be recycled by grinding them up into a fine dust and starting over again as dirt, which is where all ceramic products come from.
Others flooring products such as carpet cushion is now being made from soybean oil. Vinyl flooring is the area that hasn’t figured out how to recycle or create their products from recycled materials. The granddaddy of all Green flooring products is the original linoleum. It’s key ingredients are Linseed oil (from the fax plant) pulverized saw dust (wood flour) and good old cork. The original backing used to be burlap that comes from hemp. They started producing linoleum in 1915 and are still producing it today. All of the linoleum produced today comes from Europe and Japan because of EPA restrictions in the manufacturing of the product here in the U. S.
I know there are Green purists out there that are concerned about what kind of carbon foot print is created in the manufacturing of these products but there’s only so much that can be accounted for. All any of us can do is require the suppliers for furnish us with documentation saying these products are what they say they are and trust that they are honest people.
Educate yourself about what’s going into our houses and businesses. That’s your responsibility and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Kevin Enyeart is a great example of someone who realized that he didn’t know allot about this movement called Green/Build. So he set out to do something about it. Today Kevin is a leader for Green/Build in the Greater Kansas City area and is passing his knowledge on to others who want to learn and be accountable. Some of the other builders in the Greater Kansas City area who have gotten involved are Jo Ann Nero, Aristocrat Homes; Janet Pereira, Premier Custom Homes; Jeff Robinson, JS Robinson Fine Homes and Greg Laster, Green Living By Durango Homes.
I am not a “save the planet” freak but I am interested in conserving what resources we have. If we are smart about how we manage what we’ve been given to take care of, our grandkids and their grandkids will have a wonderful place to live. Then they can pass on what they have inherited from us to future generations.
Jerry Ratway
Builder Div. Manager
Weber Carpet
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e-bullet #49 Part II
BULLET #49
PART II
I just listened to a guy talking about Flash Forecasting and how to see into the future and predict what will happen with absolute certainty. My last e-bullet really stirred up some interest. Daniel Burris is the author and there was clip in Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Caffeine about his new book. I didn’t get too far into his pitch about his book before I realized that we have that ability to flash forecast with Universal Design. The question is “Will all of us be touched by this phenomenon in the future?” and the answer is YES. The beauty of this Flash Forecast is that it will be an economic boom for some of us and a life savor for others who have been under the rubble of this construction collapse. There are three things that should make eminent sense to all of us; 1st) making the homes we build or remodel as energy efficient as we can, 2nd) recycle and use recycled material whenever we can and 3rd) make the homes we build and remodel as Universally compliant as possible. I love the phrase, “It Just Makes Sense”. Builders have the opportunity to “build it right” coming out of the ground. The remodelers get to work on the thirty million existing homes that are already here. The designers can help with the knowledge of what it takes to meet the universal specs. All of the rest of us need to get ready to supply those items that make the home or commercial structure free of mobility issues.
This reminds me of advertising 101 stories. The barbershop had been open for two weeks and the new barber hadn’t sold a single haircut. His wife comes in one day and asks, “Honey where’s the barber pole that should be on the front of your shop”? Never assume that the public knows what you can do. If you don’t tell them your specialty you’re not going to do much of that kind of work. Those who let their potential customers know that they specialize in Universal Design work will be lights years ahead of those who let the customer guess.
Certification is crucial. Having a team in place that will help you with the “heavy lifting” when it comes to putting the project into reality will also be crucial. I don’t like the term Certified Aging in Place or the handle 50+ but right now that’s about all we have. It implies that certification is for and about older folks and while the aging of America is happening its just part of the story.
Builders who advertise or promote their Universal Design skills will be way a head of those who simply wait for their buyers to bring it up. I believe we need a Universal Design section in the Tour Book starting now.
Scott Hulen who builds in the northland has grabbed the “brass ring” with all of his homes. I visited with Scott this last week about his homes. When you look around the inside of his homes you see door handles that are latches and not door knobs, zero clearance master showers and of course wider doorways (3.0) throughout his homes. His houses start in the low $200’s not the mid to upper bracket price ranges. He built the first “Easy Living” house in Kansas City. You would never know these houses are different by driving down the street and that’s the way it should be.
Think of the guy without the barber pole outside his shop. You really have to get your message out where it can be seen. I don’t believe I don’t believe have ever seen an ad with a testimonial featuring a remodeler or builder who helped someone with mobility issues. I know that they’re out there because I hear about them occasionally. Be proactive with your business. I guarantee that your Flash Forecasting will be right on.
All the best.
Jerry
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e-bullet #49
E-BULLET #49
The New Year is almost here and like every sports team (we’ll use baseball) in the country just before the season starts we are all batting 1.000. That’s because no one’s taken the field yet, no one’s taken that first pitch. While the slate is as clean as the wind driven snow I’ll serve a few ideas.
I read an article last week about the “graying of our suburbs”. While most of the article was about the school districts and how they’ll have to cope with seniors not wanting their taxes raised to accommodate families with kids to the needs of those Baby Boomers needing alturnative transportation.
Well that lit my wick. I feel like a movement of one when it comes to recognizing the tsunami that’s heading our way when it comes to this issue. I get furious when I hear organizations label this as Aging In Place or 50+. It’s true that by the year 2015 there will be 77 million people living in the US over the age of 65 but this is only part of the story. It is not just those folks but also millions of kids (40+ years old) who have parents that will be coming to live with them. What my generation does not want to give up is our independence. Twenty-five to thirty years ago people turning 65 were retiring because that was the law for those working for someone else. If you ask my how long I’ll stay active in the work place I’ll tell until I can longer “chew the leather” (an Indian term for being a productive part of the tribe). I want to stay in our home for as long as we can. That means it’ll take some modifications to let me do that. It will also take modifications for the “sandwich generation” with parents living with them. It will also take modifications for their kids who mobility issues. Some one in their twenties or thirties who was in an accident that can no longer walk or take care of themselves who are coming home to live with their folks. All of us will be faced with some type of issue that involves modifying a structure. All of this has a name; it’s called Universal Design. It is coming at us as sure as the Kansas City Royals will be in last place again this year. It will happen regardless of the climate, regardless of the economy and regardless of our inability to see it coming. Mobility issues in the home will overtake us in the next five to ten years so get ready. We’ll be busier than a one-armed paperhanger for all of us who are in the new residential and remodel construction business. That’s 22% of the GDP; at least it was before our slump. It will positively impact virtually every industry associate involved in housing.
Builders need to begin to build houses with two master bedrooms (like the space behind the three car garage that could a fourth car spot or a second main floor bedroom). It will have to be on the first floor for the parents who are going to be moving in with climbing issues. They need to build in space for elevators that could also be a main floor closet until needed as an elevator if ever. All interior doorways should be 36” wide. The master bath shower should be a zero clearance entrance if there is going to be just shower area on the first floor. First floor stools should be ADA approved, counter tops and floors should contrasting colors for people with vision issues.
This will require focus on the contractor’s part but focus starts with listening to your buyers/customers.
It’s a new year; make one of your resolutions to not be passed over by this coming tidal wave of change. Unlike a tidal wave we know this change is coming well in advance of it getting here. Those who will need your products will spend billions of dollars with you if you are prepared.
Some bottom feeding governmental official will take credit for this boom of business when it happens. Nonsense, you heard it here from me first.
All the best.
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e-bullet #48
E-BULLET #48
With this e-bullet we will have been writing and sending them out for four years, wow. That’s a lot of non-sense to have to put up with. This year I have written about staying focused, about how humor can be a terrific selling tool if you use it wisely, about networking and about passion.
I will tell you that the last two years have been how would I say, “a challenge” for all of us. Most of you know that I am the eternal optimist and this challenge has flushed a lot of us out of the box and made us think creatively and look for those pockets of business that have been right in front of our noses all along but for some reason have gone un-pursued. Sometimes it can be overpowering to step out of the parade and start in a new direction. You know me, I just love little sayings, Ratwayisms some one called them. Here’s one that I truly believe to be accurate, “Fear of failure has killed more potentially great salespeople than cancer”. It is the number one reason why we don’t reach into that dark box called the unknown and capture something different. Organizations have made millions teaching people how to over come their fear of flying, heights, rope climbing and almost anything you can think of. These courses are not cheap. Well here’s a way to beat that fear of failure; always start your new goals with a non-competing friend. Start meeting once a week with someone you’re close to that sells a non-competing product or service. Talk out loud about what you want to try and say what you feel will be the results when you succeed. Usually your goals are the same as your friends, more sales with better margins. I believe 2011 will be as good as you make it to be. The established school of thought is to always aim high. Well I once read a book called “Aim Lower Boys, the Enemy is Riding Shetland Ponies”. The late Louis Grizzard wrote it and I’m not sure what if it has a lot to do with this e-bullet but it was a great title. Having a goal (or target) that cannot be seen requires a littler faith. Columbus had to have had some of that faith when he went to the King of Portugal and asked for men and ships to sail west. The king said. “No”. Queen Isabella of Spain said yes in 1492 He pushed off the coast of Spain with a goal to reach Japan and India by sailing west. Someone else proved Einstein’s Theory of Relativity for him but it was his theory. We’re not Columbus or Einstein we’re just salespeople, all of us. If we fail is does not mean that we die, it just means that we readjust our course a little but keep going. A goal is a dream with a deadline scotch taped to it.
Challenge yourself in 2011 to have more sales and better margins than this year. For God’s sake don’t wait for the business to come floating to you over the threshold of your office door. Everyone that reads this e-bullet can do better next year. Put a goal out there that others would snicker at and then divide it by twelve or 260 (the number of work days in a year for most of us) and see how small the pieces become. Zig Ziglar said that you eat an elephant the same way you eat a hamburger, one bite at a time. One of my first managers told me while I was still in training class at Wm Volker Co in the fall of 1969 to figure out what I wanted to achieve and then became the best there is at it. It took me four years to achieve it but I did. It was to become the number one salesperson in the country (not the company) in new product sales for Armstrong flooring products. I did it with a face that would scare the balls off a pool table, gapped teeth and not much hair.
Your goals will be different than mine were/are. Whatever they are strive to be the best there is at them. Remember winning isn’t everything but it’s way ahead of whatever is in second place. Have a wonderful Christmas/holiday and make 2011 the best year ever.
All the best.
Jerry
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