WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR DOORS FOR BUSINESS

WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR DOORS FOR BUSINESS

Once you open your doors for business, as I mentioned in my book "How To Start Your Own Business," every sales person for miles around will find their way to your door. You automatically become a prospect for whatever it is they are selling. Since you are in business, they reason, you must be taking in a lot of money, and you must be buying necessities. Of course, their item has to be a necessity, and they will spend however much time they need to convince you to part with some of your hard-earned money to buy their necessity. Of course, each sales person will expect you to drop everything else and see them immediately. They not only expect you to be in at all times (especially when they drop in unannounced), but they expect you to be able to see them at any and all hours. If they are telephoning you, they expect you to return their phone calls to distant area codes promptly, at your expense. They expect you to buy tickets, ball point pens, memberships, cookies, and so forth, ad nauseam. Others will drop in or call and expect you to give large contributions, give your time (which is really money), and/or perform your service (whatever it may be) at cost or no cost to them, whether you print, build something, or whatever.

Let me give you an example. I often receive unsolicited phone calls from all kinds of companies selling everything imaginable, as I seem to turn up on lists of small business owners. These lists get sold and exchanged, plus I have the bad habit of replying to offers that I may be remotely interested in later on. As a result, I have had to resort to the use of an answering machine almost exclusively in order to be able to get any work done. If I don't reply to their message immediately, many sales people will call back, often daily for a number of weeks, until they finally figure out that I am not interested enough to pay for a long distance call to tell them so. One outfit got very obnoxious, even to the point of passing my name and phone number around among their entire sales staff so that a man would call one day and a woman would call the next day, then a different man would call, then a different woman, and so forth. I finally got enough of it, so I wrote the company a nice letter telling them that they could put in an 800 number very cheaply; that one company had quoted me a cost of $ 5 to $ 20 a month for an 800 number, and suggesting that they could spend their long distance money better by calling people who might be interested in whatever it was they were trying to sell me. Needless to say, after making them feel real silly because of their conduct, they did finally take me off their list and quit calling. I made a point of keeping their name handy, so that I wouldn't respond to any more of their ads. Another company ran an ad promising a coffee cup (which I really didn't need), so I responded, only to receive a phone call from a salesman selling cleaning chemicals to "clean the keyboard on my computer" (which one can do with a damp cloth, according to the manual sent with the computer). When I didn't buy his high-priced stuff, he hung up, and I haven't received my coffee cup yet!

I realize that there are probably many worthwhile causes out there, many good products that are reasonably priced, and so forth, and I am not saying that you need to be a Scrooge. I am just saying that you need to be aware, because a list of new businesses is considered to be a prime prospect by many sales people. Perhaps it is because the owner is inexperienced in dealing with sales people. You can't buy everything! You can't support everybody's cause, no matter how worthy it is. If you do, you will be broke in a hurry. Even the rich folks have to limit what they give and buy, otherwise they don't stay rich very long. There will always be something new to sell, and most items you buy for your business are tax-deductible, so don't fall for this old "sales pitch." It is best to decide before you open for business just how much of your profits you plan to give to charity, how much time you plan to donate, and how much of your sales you plan to re-invest in merchandise to re-sell and make more money. This way you can stay within your budget later on, and most sales people seem to accept the fact that you have a budget and that it has limitations. They probably have limitations on what they can buy, too. Many companies set up rules and post signs stating that they will take applications on Thursdays between the hours of 2 and 4 p. m., see sales people, charity workers, vendors, and so forth on Tuesdays between 2 and 4 p. m., and so forth. By sticking to this schedule, you are making good use of your slow times of day and slow days, plus you are releasing your other time to be used more profitably in the actual running of your business. As your business grows, you can delegate these jobs to others who can do much of the screening of personnel, products, worthy causes, and so forth. By doing a little planning in advance, you can really save yourself a lot of headaches later.

One of my father's books was "How To Adjust & Repair Your Sewing Machine," which we still sell. I helped my father compose and type some of the materials in the original book, and I tried to encourage him to sell them world-wide. Unfortunately, he passed away recently at the age of 88. I helped my father look up some of the technical manuals and other materials he wanted to include in his book. He wanted to show as many illustrations as possible, and he wanted to keep it in as simple language as he could, so that the average person could understand it. Anyone doing sewing machine repairs can appreciate this approach.

Unfortunately, he was the sewing machine repair man in our family, and I do not possess his mechanical abilities. He offered to teach me the sewing machine repair business at one time, but I told him that I don't have the kind of patience with mechanical things that he had, especially when they won't do what they ought to do. My talents are in other areas, and I know he realized this. My father tried to include the kind of instruction in his book where the average person could take almost any kind of sewing machine on the market and work on it, but it was hard for him to anticipate the many changes that have come about, especially in the areas of computer devices, the electrical workings, and the various new brands that would come on the market. He did include the names of some companies that sold parts.

My father did have a lot of experience with both industrial and home-type repairs, as he worked in a factory keeping up their sewing machines; then after he retired, he worked for two different sewing machine dealers who needed a repair-man. He also did some sewing machine repairs on his own, although he didn't advertise it. I think he was trying to avoid the neighbors, relatives, and friends who wanted to get their machine fixed free! When you go into business, you will find a lot of folks who will want something for free. If you know how to capitalize on this, it is a good marketing tool. But if you try to see your doctor or dentist or lawyer or banker somewhere else other than the office (at church, on the street, in the mall, in a restaurant, and so forth), you will find that he or she will always tell you to "come down to the office" and they will look up whatever it is you want to know. They don't usually give out free advice, for they can't make any money this way. Neither can you. Neither could my father. He always felt that he should get paid for his work.

He also held a Copyright on another book, but it was not related to sewing machines--it was called "Chronicles of Arkansas" and it contained many photos of early scenes in Arkansas that he had collected over the years. He even sent a copy to then-President Clinton, since he was from Arkansas, and he was very proud of the nice letter he received from President Clinton.

I once knew a builder who helped his church by doing the contracting on a new educational building they wanted to build. He didn't charge his church for his time, and they felt that it was certainly worth it to go through him, as he built a top quality building, he didn't use any inferior products in it, and he handled everything from start to finish, so they could continue their job and not have to stop working to deal with sub-contractors, city inspectors, clean-up people, suppliers, and so forth. This was the service he performed, plus he drew the building plans the way the church wanted it, had the blueprints made, and took care of all the little details. If the builder didn't make anything on the building for his church, he just considered it a contribution to his church, and it became a "win-win" situation for everybody. Since he obviously had planned to do this without pay, that's OK. He didn't "get roped into it." He did it because he wanted to. He already had his living made, as he had already retired, so he didn't have to be as concerned about the day-to-day expenses that you and I might have to be concerned with.

You be the judge. Which way is better? Personally, I would rather spend the time to plan a little bit, then try to stick with my plan, rather than spend a lot of money to pay some of these folks for something that might not be as good as it seemed when I bought it. I do try to support worthy causes, but I also feel that many of them should do some planning, too, especially when they come around looking for "volunteers." Usually, when I needed my house painted, my porch replaced, some brochures printed, and so forth, I didn't try to get somebody to do it for free. I simply got in touch with someone who did that kind of work and paid them their price (including their profit) rather than hassle with some of their problems. I do think the "volunteer" situation is getting over-worked, as they come on television now and hunt people to "volunteer" to help with all kinds of things. I once knew a fellow who said that he retired so that he wouldn't have to work, and because he wanted to go fishing. He really didn't like it when his church wanted all the "old folks" to go down there on weekends to trim the shrubbery, do the clean-up work, take out the trash, and so forth. He stated to me that, since they paid the preacher somewhere around $ 60,000 a year, it seemed that they could pay a few thousand dollars for some maintenance and clean-up people and let the "old folks" alone. If you bought everything they sold on television and sent money to all the folks on television who want you to send them some money for their "worthy cause," you would be broke in a hurry!

I had a friend who told me that he sat through a Sunday School Class recently where they had a panel of folks from different agencies, each one wanting people to volunteer their time, bring them their old clothes, donate unused household goods and gadgets, open their wallets, and so forth, ad nauseam. He said he should have got up and left! To top it off, the Church Paper they send out in the mail each week listed some other agencies which wanted things, and one of them even asked someone to donate a computer to them! Imagine that, a computer! When I wanted a computer, I was dumb enough to go down to a store and buy one, paying for it out of my own pocket! I didn't even think of asking somebody to give me one! What will these nervy people think of next? The folks at the Sunday School Class panel wanted people to bring fans, take them out to people who needed them, paint houses, build houses, stay with the elderly (I stayed with my own elderly family members, or we paid someone to do it when we couldn't), bring nice toys (no broken ones, of course), bring nice clothes (no junk, please), mow yards, and so forth, ad nauseam. My friend said that he started to tell them that he didn't go to Sunday School to have people "put the squeeze on me," but that he came hoping to learn something about Christianity and go away feeling better than when he came. He said that he sure didn't want to hear all this about everybody else's problems. I bought my own house, painted it myself or paid someone to do what I couldn't do or didn't want to do, did my own household maintenance or paid someone to do what I couldn't do or didn't want to do, bought my own toys, clothes, mowed my yard or paid someone else to do it, bought and paid for my own fans and air conditioners, paid my own utility bills, taxes, and so forth, and sure didn't expect someone else to do all this for me.

I found that many business people buy things they don't need, that they over-buy because they get a better price, and so forth. Most sales people would love to sell you a car-load of their stuff, but if you can't use it, can't sell it, can't eat it, can't give it away, and wind up throwing it away, then it's not much of a bargain, is it? Years ago, when I sold to stores, I found that many small country stores bought a "tool display deal" that some fellow went around selling. It had a nice cardboard display that sat on the floor and had a bin to hold the tools being sold. Most of the stores I went in said they had bought the "tool deal" about six months ago, and most of them had about half of the tools left. The half that were left had just sat there for the last five months, as most of the tools that had been sold had been sold within the first month. Since I didn't know much about tools at that time (and don't know much more about them now), I talked with some people who knew tools. They told me that the tools that were left over were not good tools, that they were not very good sellers anyway, as nobody used them very much. The store owners knew about as much about tools as I did, and they wondered why just enough of the tools sold to get them their money back, but why the rest of them didn't sell remained a mystery to them. If they had known tools better, or if they had stuck to groceries or whatever it was that they sold mostly, they would have been better off.

As you begin your journey into the world of owning a business, remember the story of the sales people who kept calling until they became obnoxious, the fellow who offered the cup so that I had to hear his "sales pitch" about the keyboard cleaner, the people who plan their time and their budget, the church builder, the folks who want to fish and don't want to volunteer (and the church that expected them to do the work that could have been done by hired hands), my father who wanted to get paid for his work instead of doing it for free, and the "tool deal" that only had some good tools in it. Then remember the fact that every business, including yours, has to make a profit, and that your time and money are limited (I imagine, otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading books and information about how to make money). Also remember that nothing is really "free." Then, if you want to volunteer some of your time, give some of your money, buy some things you don't know much about, and so forth, then at least you will know what you are doing.


Copyright 2011 by Preston Smith, Walker Enterprises/Silver Dollar Press. All Rights Reserved.

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