Today I had sales calls scheduled most of the day with Jesse.
I have told him before how simple this job of selling liquor is and today I think he may have finally gotten it. We had set up 21 stops today. We skipped a few because of misidentifying the type of license they had but, we added a few in that were not on the list. We got to actually meet with 4 decision makers and they all said yes. the rest of the appointments were filled with bartenders who liked the product and were more than willing to give us the decision makers name and when they worked again. Out of 21 stops I would say that we only had one guy that tried to “big time” us and blew us off.
Okay, so I have to admit that this pisses me off. I understand that any business owner gets solicited a lot. If you don’t know because you work for someone else, take my word for it it. It is a lot. I get several calls a week from people wanting to run my website to ship my goods to give me $250,000. I listen to everyone of them.
I never blow them off. Why? Because I don’t have it all figured out. Even if I do know what they are selling and it is not for me, I tell them to check back with me in a couple months because things could change. I have never just blown someone off or treated them like shit. They are hard working people just doing what it takes to get ahead. they are no different from me pitching moonshine or you serving breakfast or fastening rivets. They are working and I may need to know what they have.
Now this may sound arrogant. In fact, I am sure it will but, I do not apologize for it. I introduce myself as the owner of Eve’s Moonshine Company. It is only to get their attention and let them know that they are important enough to warrant a sales call from me. For the most part it served it’s purpose and just opened a door to speak. Funny how later in the conversation they express their displeasure for distributors that change reps often and have no consistency. Then they choose to take that out on me The Manufacturer? I am not going anywhere. I will not be getting transferred. I just want to share an amazing drink with them to share with their customers. It is funny how just ever once in a while I will get treated like a shoe stock boy. I must be interupting their one customer and their twitter feed at 1:45 in the afternoon.
Honestly that is truly the exception to the rule. Most are awesome and want to know more about a new local spirit. From the National chain with 118 stores to the 38 year old bar that my parents went to when I was a kid, most of these people want to hear about something new and if it is local even more. We get even more bonus points because we are actually GOOD!
Our close rate is high and we are moving product. Putting up numbers and moving forward!
365 Days To My First Million. 