“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” –Wayne Gretzky
If you don’t make that cold call on a prospect, you’ll never have the opportunity to do business with them.
This is the time of year that most DSRs are out prospecting by making “warm calls,” the ones you’ve set up, and “cold calls,” the ones you didn’t set up, in the quest to meet some operators who could soon be your customers, or maybe just meet a Governor here or there!
Last week, DSR Dave was working in Idaho and had some time to kill while waiting for friends he was riding with to another city 150 miles away. A good friend in the business, Steve from Boise, picked up DSR Dave and his wife from the airport and then spent the next few hours touring the city of Boise.
When Steve brought them to the State Capitol Building, DSR Dave said, “We should stop in and meet the Governor. Do you think he’s there?” Steve said that we wouldn’t know unless we stopped in to see, plus he wanted to show them the building that had recently been renovated. This was a great opportunity to check out the place (of business) and possibly meet the Governor (the guy in charge).
They parked at a meter along the left side of the massive, Roman-inspired building (the prospect’s place of business) and walked up the 24 or so gray marble steps that they later found out were imported from Alaska around 1905 when construction started.
When they got inside, they approached a beautifully wood-trimmed entrance to an office with large gold lettering stating: OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR. Upon approaching the office, a kind administrator said, “Would you like to see the Governor’s office?” So the three of them graciously accepted the invitation and walked in and were taking some pictures of the office, when DSR Dave asked if the Governor was in. The administrator said that he was and she would check to see if he was available to say hello. The next thing they knew, the three-term Governor, “Butch” Otter, walked in to shake their hands. After introducing themselves and told him what they did for a living, the governor, who had been involved in the foodservice world early in his career, was talking “shop” and they were exchanging names of people they knew in common. The visit finally came to an end when Governor Otter had to answer a phone call from Governor Bush who had been waiting while they finished their conversation.
DSR Dave, his wife Deidre &Gov. “Butch” Otter
It goes to show every DSR out there that if you don’t make the call on the prospects you’re after, you’ll never have a chance. There’s always room in your day to make the call on a huge account. You never know what is going on with them and that it might just be the perfect time for your call, but you have to make the call or you won’t have the chance to meet the person in charge…or the Governor.
DSRs, Be a Resource… and Sell Something!
