Yesterday, Mark Paskell called to let me know about a huge opportunity that he was about to lay at my feet. In case you don’t know, Mark is the perennial RainMaker at Francis Harvey and Sons. He’s a regular speaker at home shows and expos teaching the audience how to avoid picking the wrong contractor. He’s got a reputation for doing it right the first time and staying with it til it’s done. Pete has been after Mark to start a blog, but it’s a lot of work to get a blog done right and this is the middle of his busy season. So, isn’t it appropriate, that the long time RainMaker of Francis Harvey and Sons practice as a guest blogger on the RainMaker Maker.
Expect to see his first post soon. I’m sure that we’ll all learn and enjoy!
Monthly Archives: August 2006
Get Rid of Anything That Wastes Your Time
I used to belong to a Group called Linked In Bloggers. I figured that if I read a little, I’d learn a lot. Over 500 members with about 20 participating. You wouldn’t believe the threads. A dozen or more emails on the same topic arguing stuff that I didn’t care about but obviously should. But every once in a while, an email came that was interesting and I typically followed through quickly. Here’s one:
—–Original Message—–
From: LinkedinBloggers@yahoogroups.com [mailto:LinkedinBloggers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Wendy Piersall
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 5:44 PM
To: LinkedinBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LinkedinBloggers] Input from work at home bloggers – and an interview request
Some of you may be following my mini identity crisis on my blog. I’m happy to report that crisis has been the catharsis for creativity and I posted about the new-ish direction of my eMoms blog today.
I requested input from my readers today on what is their biggest challenge is as they work from home – specifically the personal challenges (such as procrastination, focus, insecurity, etc.). The post can be found here: http://emomsathome.com/blog/2006/07/20/finally-a-decision-on-my-business-position/.
I’d like to ask this group as well for your input on your own challenges if you work from home. The specific obstacles will be the topics of a series of upcoming articles on my site.
**Also, if you are a successful work at home entrepreneur – mom or not – I would be interested in interviewing you for my site. Please contact me privately with a short bio if interested.**
Wendy Piersall :: eMom
www.emomsathome.com
emomscommunity.ning.com
The eMoms at Home Blog
I responded with:
From: LinkedinBloggers@yahoogroups.com [mailto:LinkedinBloggers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Rick Roberge
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 7:18 PM
To: LinkedinBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Cc: aminion at comcast dot net
Subject: RE: [LinkedinBloggers] Input from work at home bloggers – and an interview request
Wendy,
I thought about commenting on your blog, but thought that it might be inappropriate. So, I’ll reply here and let you ignore or use at your discretion.
In 1986, I started a collection agency in my home. Holden Hills Country Club is my back door neighbor. I used to sit on my back deck, overlooking the 16th green while I was talking to clients and/or debtors. My sons came home after school and we’d play catch in the back yard, basketball in the driveway, or soccer moves on the golf course (depending on the season). In 1991, we bought a house at Goose Rock Beach, had high speed installed and upped the minutes on my cell phone and my clients became accustomed to hearing waves in the background. I have 100’s of clients. I’ve taken their calls in the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, as well as Disney World in Florida, ski resorts in Utah, New York City and other places that my cell phone has rung. My clients have never been concerned with the “sounds” in the background, only whether they were happy with my service or not. My family learned that it was better to lose me for a few minutes than for 12-15 hours at a time.
So, if the dog barks, the kids cry, dinner boils over, remember……….”It’s better than commuting and service the daylights out of your clients.”
Rick Roberge
Note the amount of time between her request and my response.
Today, I received this:
—–Original Message—–
From: Wendy Piersall
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 2:00 AM
To: ‘Rick Roberge’
Subject: RE: [LinkedinBloggers] Input from work at home bloggers – and an interview request
Hey Rick, sorry for the delayed reply!! By all means this would be fine to add as a comment on the site!! J
I love it!
Wendy Piersall :: eMom
Note the amount of time between my response and her request. I unsubscribed from this group on 8/3 and honestly, I don’t miss it and at this point, if Wendy wants my words on her blog, she’s gonna have to put them there.
The lesson: Don’t ask for anything unless you really want it.
Seth Godin EEEWWW!
God! I hate giving credit or linking to Godin, but every once in a while he says something that makes sense in the sales world and I don’t want to be accused of not acknowledging the source.
Twice, today.
First, in this post, he advises marketers not to market until they’ve got the prospect’s attention. How many times have we seen salespeople start telling their story while the secretary’s giving messages to the boss, the kids are running around distracting mom & dad, the prospect’s phone is ringing, the prospect is looking at their computer monitor, or any other number of distractions are keeping the prospect from giving us 100% of their attention. Here’s the rule. If you can’t get 100% of your prospect’s attention, go 100% away until you can!
The second post can help you decide whether or not you should work for yourself. If you have a good boss and you don’t want to do all that’s necessary, stay put! But if you can be a better boss than your boss, maybe you should fire your boss and hire yourself to replace him/her.
Thank you, Seth.
Linda Cohan
The Worcester Business Journal published a great article on local business coaches. Linda Cohan was not only one of the coaches that was highlighted, but one of her clients had some great things to say about her.
Linda, how about this? You want to be a guest blogger on The RainMaker Maker? I think that people would be interested in what you have to say and I’ll give you the space. If you like it, Tim Grahl will help you with the technical stuff.
Come on, Linda. You took over at networking events. Now you can tackle the blogoshere!
Selling Spelling
I was reading and commenting on Dave’s post and I wanted to make sure that you all saw it.
Spelling is, was and probably always will be one of my pet peeves. I worked for an engineering firm in the early 90’s that hired incredibly talented, very well educated engineers……none of which could spell, but all of which thought that they could. We used to generate 100+ page proposals for projects that were worth millions of dollars and these idiots thought nothing about sending them out without any checks because the author was so awesome. Eventually, we instituted the policy that EVERY proposal was reviewed by me, an administrative person, and an executive. The three of us were very thorough. Invariably, we missed something in 100+ pages, but we caught most of it.
I see examples every day of emails that get sent, blogs that get posted, newsletters that get sent and even websites that get published with errors that should have been caught. I shake my head and think, “Careless!” Then I evaluate whether or not this carelessness might show up in their work if I become a customer of theirs.
Quotes from Just Sell
You may be aware that I subscribe to a service that sends “sales quotes” to my inbox. Some are more noteworthy than others. Here are a few to ponder. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) American poet “The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day.” Gloria Steinem (1944 – ) American journalist, founder of Ms. Magazine “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) civil rights leader “Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can.” Henry Drummond (1851-1897) Scottish theologist and scientist “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.” Peter Drucker (1909-2005)Austrian-American economist and author “There ain’t no rules around here. We’re trying to accomplish something.” Thomas Edison (1847-1931) inventor, salesman
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
HMMM!
One Happy Client at a Time
Today, I had the kind of phone call that we all live for. A client called and told me that, “…his prospect had just signed on the dotted line even though he spent 45 minutes trying to find a hole where he could get it cheaper, but I resisted knowing I would always be leaving…”. I’m intentionally keeping this client anonymous. If he wants to show himself, that’s his perogative, but I want the world to know that he’s about to become a “poster boy” for what can happen when raw desire, brains, determination and drive can do when they hook up with a company that knows what they’re doing and cares about their clients.
This particular client is probably saying (to himself), “I should’ve done this six months ago.”
RainMakers & Sales Rock Stars 