How to Deal with Losing Momentum

I’ve lost some of my momentum from last month and it is emotionally taxing. Even discussing it is hard. Of course I get emotional, but I don’t like to wear my negative feelings on my sleeve. Negativity feeds on itself.

Still the point of this blog series is public accountability. If times are tough and I don’t blog about them, I lose my sense of shame. I don’t want to do that. If I’m not doing the right things, I want to be held accountable, I want to be ashamed.

Here’s the thing: I can’t let day-to-day sales dictate my demeanor. I sure as shit can’t sit here getting lost in the feels. I have to build a repeatable process of customer acquisition.

Today I took a moment and thought deeply about the issues I face. I created a thought exercise where I asked myself a series of hard questions and follow up questions. I want to share it because I think someone out there will find value in it. Here’s what I asked myself —

What is the one thing you can do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary?

Get more customers.

How do you get more customers?

By knowing who they are, where they are, and getting in front of them.

Who are your customers? Where are they and how do you get in front of them?

Most of my customers are young to middle aged professionals living in luxury high rises or condominiums in downtown and uptown Dallas. To get in front of them I have to make deals with the leasing managers to put displays in the lobbies, flyers in the elevators, and door hangers on the doors.

What does the process of such deals look like?

First find out the person that handles these partnerships. Contact that person by phone, by email, or in person and pitch.

Which of these is the best method?

The easiest method is email but that will probably have the lowest response rate. In-person has the highest chance of success but walking into a place without an introduction and trying to sell them something seems sleazy.

It is probably as simple as picking up the phone, dialing a number and having a conversation. With the phone call I can schedule a meeting for a 10 minute pitch. But it is still going in cold. A warm introduction in the form of a referral would be the best. But those are few and far between.

What is the best action to take right now?

I should make an effort to exhaust all of the warm introductions that I can from the tiny network I have built so far.

I should create a presentation to take to the meetings. The presentation should include:

• a clear value proposition to the leasing manager, the residents, and staff.
• an example of the print materials I will be distributing.
• a timeline for distribution.
• a reference to other deals I have already made as a form of legitimacy.

How will you measure your results?

By the number of places I approach, the number of meetings I attend, the number of deals I make, and ultimately the number of customers from those efforts.

Since I’m already keeping track of the customers the key performance indicator in this endeavor will be the number of deals I make.

What is your plan of action?

1. Begin calling properties and scheduling meetings.
2. Create a spreadsheet to keep track of where you’ve been.
3. Create a presentation for the meetings.
4. Create a roll out process.

What are your goals and milestones for this project?

The goal is to validate this method of customer acquisition. I’m basing my actions on an educated guess of who my customers are and how to get in front of them. I believe partnering with the leasing office gives my company legitimacy in the eyes of the resident.

The milestones would be the partnerships I create with luxury residential complexes and the proper execution of ad campaigns therein. That means making deals. Each time I make a deal and execute an ad campaign, that’s a milestone. But if I were to narrow it down to 3 they would be:

1. 1st property specific ad campaign successfully executed.
2. 5th property specific ad campaign successfully executed.
3. 10th property specific ad campaign successfully executed.

It’s time to get out there and make some deals. Wish me luck! Wait never mind. I forgot: You make your own luck!

I hope you had fun reading my thought process and how I plan to proceed with my business. Here is my updated to do list.

1. Make 1st deal with Camille at Alara.
2. Successfully roll out an Alara specific ad campaign.
3. Make 2nd deal with the Mosaic Dallas.
4. Successfully roll out a Mosaic specific ad campaign.
5. Fix website. Make it easier for repeat customers to reorder.
6. Scope out coffee shops . Find bulletin boards.

This story is part of a series documenting the journey of a 2016 Dallas startup called Feather. For your reference here is the Table of Contents for the series.

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Next Story: April 2016 Report

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