As a Sales Person I make a great 'Charity Chick'

from the Editors Desk...

Not sure if you have seen our latest 15 second ad on Channel 7, it is a bit 'off the wall' as we tend to do, but we hope it has given you a smile at the very least :) It has made the phones very busy and we are seeing a huge disparity in how small business owners are dealing with all the "world economic drama". Some are really gung ho, want to advertise, love the fact that with their Premium listing with get heaps of extra 'stuff', like Events, Specials etc., as it is good value for them and makes the money go a tad further, but some... UGH! They whinge and moan, life is awful, sky is falling in, really pessimistic. Unfortunately for some of the poor blighters it will be a case of third man in when they phone and they get me instead of the lovely Leone or the charming Stephen. As a Sales Person I make a great 'Charity Chick' (well community work onsite is my main job here).

Don't get me wrong, Leone & Stephen are not like some other questionable sales people around, they never quote dodgy 'hits' stats, and as many advertisers onsite will attest to, they never sell a style of advertising that is over-kill, really not necessary or inappropriate for the business, we would rather have no sale then an unhappy business onsite. The difference between myself and the other two is more 'manner', both of them are very patient, extremely understanding of the IT knowledge levels of the average small business owner, and very professional. Unfortunately, I am very much, what you see is what you get, find it difficult to sit back nicely and smile into the phone when I know the person is repeating rubbish. I can't help myself, when asked to compare 'hits' on our site to another site, I am impelled to 'educate' them on Internet 'Best Practice' LOL! Leone has banned me from going to any business nights with them now, as it is not considered good Sales or Business practice to tell a 'potential' business owner that they are 'wrong' when they start talking about 'hits' LOL! Fair Call, I will cop that, and fully appreciate what Leone is saying, as I said, I make a good charity chick...

I guess my big issue is when you get the whingers on the phone, I mean, there are some things you can't affect, and yeah, economically times are not so good, but you have to be pro-active otherwise you may as well just toss the towel in? A perfect example is a small Real Estate Agency that phoned last week, (and unfortunately got me on the phone), man, talk about a 'downer', complained about everything under the sun, not getting enough Sales, not getting enough Property to Sell etc. Anyhow, I told them it was $295 +gst for the year, PLUS, as an Agency obviously they can't really use the Specials, Events etc. area, BUT, they did get to enter all their properties in our Sunshine Coast Real Estate area, and as he mentioned that they had just sponsored a local junior sports team, I told him, cool, send me the press release and I could get that in the 'News' area as well for him. Sounds like a good deal right? Wrong! Even though we have been number 1 in Google for yonks for Sunshine Coast Real Estate and we know that a lot of non coast (as in Melbourne, Sydney, UK, NZ etc.) visitors look there, he still thought it was 'too hard' to spend the odd 3 minutes to enter a property? Seriously? Then he complained about the thousands he was spending in local papers. I was like 'What the...!'. He wants more business, is only a small office, will spend 1000's a month in local papers, but even though the price was great to advertise with us, the deal-breaker is the time spent entering properties (to promote his business further), as they take about 3 mins each, and he didn't really have the time.

Deadset! Did not have the time... So, happy to whinge and moan about sales, but not prepared to spend the odd 3 mins and 300 bucks to try to increase his sales in a different market? As you can imagine, being the Smooth Sales Person I am, I advised him that obviously internet advertising with a site like ours was probably not the way to go if he could not utilise all the benefits.

I could not believe it, though it did start me thinking, maybe what is happening now is not really the fault of greedy punting bankers at all? Maybe it is 'nature'... ie. We need these cycles every now & then just so that natural attrition actually kills off the small businesses that give their industries a bad name, you know the sort, want the big bucks, nice car, prestige and the like, but don't want to work for it?

Anyhow... I know that bloke was a minority small business, and most out there are working really hard. Have faith, even if you don't believe in Karma, if you work hard, transact your business ethically and treat people right, you will still be standing, and standing proud once the economy gets back on an even keel. Stay strong, all will be good!

Cheers
Noely
Community Site Operations

Permanent Link: As a Sales Person I make a great 'Charity Chick'
Publish Date: 22 May 09