Wednesday, July 15, 2009

"Asking For The Sale" and my other random thoughts while running

You just opened the doors of your new business. You spent $14,538.96 on advertising for your grand opening. You have a woman in your lobby who just experienced your product and service, and she is impressed as hell. You spend about 7 minutes talking about your business, and how it seems to be perfectly suited for what she needs. She is getting ready to walk out the door, what do you say?

"Let's go ahead and get you signed up?" Nope.

"It looks to me like this is perfect for you. Does this time slot work, or would Monday at 9:00 be better?" I wish.

"We have a couple of different options for payment, which one is going to work for you today?" Sure (not).

How about... "Thanks for coming in, let me know if we can answer any more questions. Hope to see you back soon."

Holy Crap! Talk about going for the jugular! That's just the sort of Take No Prisoners attitude I like to see when you are going for the close (no effin way)... C'mon people, ask them to buy! Haysoos M. Christopolis! Aren't you here to make money???!!!

Why do we all feel like it is dirty to ask someone to buy the product they came here to test out? It's called customer service. It is the final step in helping the customer. It is your obligation to help them make a choice. Yes or No. There is no place for Charlie brown wishy washy B.S. Remember, they called you to ask about your product or service. They ARE interested in spending money. That's why they are here. HELP THEM!

This is my mind works when I run.

Ooops, this is a running blog... What do you think about when you are running? Bills? The brown stains on the sidewalk where the water from the sprinklers has been baked in by the 114' temperatures? Do you lose yourself in the music from your ipod?

I actually catch myself sometimes while I'm running and say, "Do normal people think about this kinda stuff when they run? Do normal people think "Man, that would make an awesome bar" as they run by every cool vacant building? Or as they sprint by a Corvette, do all normal people think to themselves, "Someday... I can't wait." How often do normal people think "If that car lost control and came barrelling at me, what way would I jump? I wonder what page my horrific accident would make in the paper? I hope the traffic doesn't make people I like to be late for dinner."

It would be great to be normal. Then I could just think about things like, "Cool, my toe doesn't hurt as much as I thought it was going to." or "Can I make my Garmin have sound an alarm after every mile, or quarter mile?" But then I would get into things like "Why in the hell did I buy a frikken Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS-Enables Sports Watch? I don't run with an ipod because I am the most electronically illiterate person on the planet. I have to ask my wife how to use hers every single time, just to turn up the sound or change songs. What makes me think I will ever figure out how in the hell to work this thing?" (Hey wait, is that a butterfly?)

Do normal people actually wait for the light to turn green before they continue across the street when they are running? Do they wonder if other people do?

But then I start to think about what I am doing. Do normal people get up and run six miles at 5:30 am when it's already 90" outside. Do they get such pleasure out of it that they feel the need to write about it? Do normal people plan their packing for a trip around "Do I need to take a bigger suitcase so I can take my running shoes?" Is the first thing they think about when they get up in the morning "I can't wait to get to the point in my run where I have to turn right and make it four miles, or go strait, and make it 6.2 miles. I can't wait to go strait. Do normal people hit themselves in the forehead when the alarm goes off in the morning as a way to remind them to get the hell out of bed, and not hit the snooze button?

I signed up for a Marathon. Normal people do not run 26.2 miles. I am not normal. Eff normal. Get your ass outta bed and get some exercise. It doesn't have to be 26.2. It can be 2.6. I can take you a month of Sunday's to reach 2.6 miles. Get outta bed. Smack yourself in the forehead.

2 comments:

  1. You need to listen to some Ted Nugent, you'll be a freakin flying maniac in the new magic land--wango tango!! You gotta ask yourself, what is MY normal gonna be, and go WFO. no mercy! (ahem, ok, my fave running song is Fred Bear/Ted Nugent, Paint It Black/Johnny Lang. Smokin/Boston,Kick out the Jams/Blue Oyster Cult, Strangehold/Ted Nuge is a great hillclimbing song) PS it's me, Celeste

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  2. Yep...For a runner that's normal :) Wish you guys were doing the Disney 1/2 in Sept. Miss you! Keep at it, you're doing great!!! Tiffany

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