Exhausted Selling

I had the day off today and needed to get my salesman hat on for my big jump in April to cleaning full-time after all of these years.  I targeted all the local real estate offices and insurance companies for this day's agenda.

I am a very animated seller who was born with with gift of gab.  I think they often buy from me just to get me to shut up sometimes   My background of stage work allows me to really work a room and the more people in that audience the better.  I just have the knack for making conversation and friends in a world where most people only talk via texts.  I really think people prefer a real live back and forth conversation...just more natural.

Anyway, I covered 4 insurance companies, 2 banks, and 5 real estate offices with each one including a good 20 minutes of me holding court.  Each time I left an office, I felt drained....like I just ran a race.  There is just something exhausting about speaking to people passionately, you are running on adrenaline most of the time trying to think on your feet and stay ahead of the questions.  It really is like a voluntary interrogation.

The best part was the final real estate office.  This was expected to be a difficult one as the owner is one of the fasted rising real estate stars in the region.  In just 3 years, the office went from 1 agent to 6 and sells over 2,000 homes each year.....including very high end homes and commercial condos.  It also turned into the best of the bunch.

The owner of the agency used to be a carpet cleaner.  Actually, he started out as a carpet installer, then cleaner, then into real estate.  We talked for an hour about the industry, swapped some stories, and he gave me some really good leads with the casinos and government contracts in the area that he used to service.  He didn't have a good cleaner at the moment and was happy to take a few cards and wanted to know when I was going to declare the full-time status.

It was a very good day over-all.  Each office was very receptive and excited to have a more local option for a one-shop style cleaner and happily displayed a stack of my business cards on their desks.  I would say, that I set a few lobster traps out there which should net some work and may have discovered a mentor that can introduce me to the Casino and Government contacts as well.  One casino had a convention area with 4000 chairs that were cleaned bi-annually....that alone would be a nice item to pick up.

I just drove home fully drained.....might end up in bed pretty early.  It just amazes me how wiped I get when I go on a selling trip....easier to clean.

Getting excited for the Spring.....

I actually enjoy talking to most people, I can't stand the "smart ass" kind, that think they know everything and they're smarter than you.
That being said, we live in a completely different region, when I started in central California 10 years ago, I dropped a folder with our company's info and business card, etc to 25 real estate office and we never got a single account
When we moved to LA, I didn't even try to go into anyone's office, I just do jobs for dirt cheap and up sell like crazy.
Kudos to you for doing what you did and I'm sure you will regret doing what you did today due to too much work comes your way because of it, lol.

True, very different markets. When I worked in the Laguna area, it was like being a hitman for the mob. We never actually met the client at any stage of the process. Calls were made, brochures sent, checks mailed, no personal names ever used....just a weird way of doing things.

Here in the smaller markets, it all comes from who knows whom. Names are everything and having a respected family can make a huge difference in finding work. I still have an older brother in one of the towns that runs a boat shop and has since '88, so he knows a lot of people and vice versa. The only problem is that he goes by his nickname of "Tiny" (he is 6'5" 310 lbs) instead of his real name.

I think I threw the pebble into the pond today and the ripples have started.

That's great, Rob that you were able to get out and do that.......I use to do it a long time ago but got discouraged pretty quick when I usually couldn't talk to the 'decision maker', or was just shut down immediately for being the 38th guy in that week trying to sell his cleaning services. People are busy, and what I found out is unless you happen to show up at the right time when they're desperate and in real need, I didn't stand much of a chance of being even heard.

I agree Davey, that was always the story for me in the past as well. This time, I didn't open with the sales pitch. Instead, I posed as a future customer thinking about selling / buying a new house with more room for my business.

After that, the only logical question became "What kind of business?" and we were off to the races.

Wow, great idea.

With no new homes around here, I think I'm out on being able to try that one. It was usually large apt. complexes I was going into before.

That's a great idea Rob !! You shouldn't reveal that "secret" in the open forum like this

dp1 wrote:That's a great idea Rob !! You shouldn't reveal that "secret" in the open forum like this

Nobody listens to me anyway