Our first fall day in New York required us to divide and conquer after a so-so night’s sleep, which is tough after a travel day. The RV park in Jersey City had a huge light to monitor the parking lot, as the RV park sits right next an active night life area around the harbor, and our bedroom window happened to face that side. We typically sleep in the dark, so even with the blinds pulled, the combination of the sky light and the thinness of the blinds meant lots of light pouring into our room, so Tammy didn’t sleep well.
However, the extra light did help us get out of bed, so we took Tiger on a quick walk to get the day started, and then headed out on a long walk to explore our surroundings. The RV park is only half a mile from the Hudson river across from lower Manhattan and the financial district of New York, as well as a half mile from Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. With the rising son, I was able to get a pretty good shot of the New York skyline, as well as one of the many memorials around town commemorating 9/11, this one with one of the pieces of steel from the twin towers. Tiger was happy to have a long walk, and we got back in time to clean up and have a healthy breakfast before the girls woke up.
As I started my work day, Tammy & the girls became familiar with the surrounding area, as they took Tiger to the nearest Dogtopia for his meet and greet, and then back to the RV to avoid the last day of the heat wave hitting the New York area. I, on the other hand, finished my meetings around lunch, and then had the opportunity to play golf with two friends of mine who now reside in the area, running their own sales & marketing offices. Over a decade ago, I met these guys when we all worked in Portland, Oregon, selling office supplies door-to-door.
One of the guys, Donny Boyer, trained me out in the field, and then months later I had the opportunity to train of his team members, Will Lynham. Two of the best dudes you’ll find to whom I owe much of my success in my sales career. Donny was the king of indifference, which is critical in sales. If you want a prospect to buy more than they want to buy, you’re probably not getting the sale. It’s one of the crazy psychological aspects of learning how to sell. Be confident while being calm and seemingly uninterested in whether or not they pull the trigger often leads to them pulling the trigger, as it feels like it’s their choice, not yours.
Will was a classic student of the game back in those days, someone who was young with great energy, and who wanted to learn as much as he could. He’s still that way today, as we learned on the golf course, asking me questions on how to hit certain shots a little bit better. It only took him two or three swings and he had it, which is pretty impressive. Back when we were walking the streets of Portland 10 years ago, I taught him the “Choice Close”, which is when you hear buying signals from the customer, like “What happens if I want to reorder?” or “Am I locked into buying exclusively from Quill in the future?”. You hear those words and you go in for the kill…I mean, the order. I taught him to say, “Would you like to pick up three of those toners today or six?”.
We spent the afternoon at Neshanic Valley Golf Club in sweltering heat, drinking a bottle of water every other hole, and none of us had to pee the entire day. But it was a lot of fun finally playing a round of golf we talked about when we were in the field 10 years ago. As we pulled the cart up to the first tee, one of us asked why it took so long for us to pull this over, and the answer was simple: we were dead broke back then. That sales job was 100% commission, and there’s not a lot of margin – or profit – in selling paper, so we didn’t make much back then. Just enough to keep going, not to mention the fact we were working 12-hour days, so there wasn’t much time either. It was one of those jobs that was kind of like bootcamp, in a way: you were glad you did because it taught you so much, but you hope and pray you never have to go back to do it again.
I played pretty well for my first time out on a course during this trip, shooting 79 on a course I’d never seen, so I can’t complain too much. This was a warm-up round, as Will was able to get us on to TPC Boston next week, and I cannot wait for that one.
Tammy & the girls watched a lot of movies, which is their go-to when staying inside from the heat, and the girls also did some journaling and writing postcards, something of a tradition for us on the road. They usually send them to friends, cousins and grandparents, and this year is no different. We will probably send around 25-30 postcards out during our 50 days on the road.
We ended the day with some leftovers we’d made earlier on the trip, and we all took showers to get ready for our first trip into the city the next day before watching a movie together and getting an early night to bed.
#bexcellentoday 