Some Will Win, Some Will Lose, Some Will Sing The Blues (that would be me)

If my first Salesperson rant was a tip, it would be: Do not show up unannounced.

Tip #2 is then: Keep your pitch as concise as possible.

I received an email this morning from a YP Rep. The thing is 1,534 words. Printed out with normal margins, Calibri size 11 font, this would be 2.25 pages. This rep also attached 2 spreadsheets and 6 PDFs for my review. The thing I said before about working with them over email eliminating jargon and saving time... that theory has been busted here. Her email explains everything in the spreadsheets and PDFs. One of her spreadsheets shows me 3 different proposals. My temptation is to look at the bottom line of each one, find the cheapest, and just write her back and say, "Go with this one." Seriously, I could care less about 3 different combinations of 10 different ads and statistics for specific areas. I am scared to look and see if she is meeting the financial goal I set... ok I'm going to look...

Let's put a Tip #3 in there: At least try to reach your prospect's goals.

As I feared. Her lowest proposal is at $716/mo. When I first spoke with her I told her I needed to get it down to $400. She has obviously done a lot of work and also written a lot of pitch to back up her recommendations. The other variable is that I like her. She seemed friendly, respective of my time, and she gave me the impression that she was really willing to work with me to meet the goals. Plus, she's pregnant too. I guess the proof is in the proposal...

Maybe it's a tactic. If I am going to offer a rebuttle, I will have to carefully read the cheapest proposal and find out where to trim back. I still haven't finished reading her email, it's just too long and I have to keep referring back to her supporting documents to make sense of it.

Anyway, on a more fun note, have you started/finished your Christmas shopping? We started back in September, thinking we'd really get the handle on it. Well, after one trip and a couple of purchases, we haven't made any more progress. I guess we'll be those who are doing it with everybody else... scratch that. I'm gonna do what I can online! Dont' forget to look for coupon codes before you make your online purchases. Google the store name and "promo code" and check out the top couple of results. You never know what you're gonna get.