I Don’t Have the Courage to be a Salesman

I know what I have to do but I just can’t get myself to go out there and do it.

A few weeks ago I had a delivery at a nice downtown Dallas apartment building called the Mosaic. Because I was already there and had built good rapport with the concierge the day before, I decided to take a chance and talk to the property manager.

I introduced myself and my company and asked for his card so I could email him a proposal. I emailed the proposal to him including a sample flyer that used their logo combined with mine. He emailed me back immediately —

The flyer I had designed mentioned dry cleaning and to avoid conflict of interest I began rewording it. But before I knew it orders started coming in from the Mosaic. They had taken the sample flyer, printed it and posted it in their elevators! This caught me by surprise because I thought the original flyer was a conflict of interest. It didn’t seem to matter anymore, and I was happy about that.

I created better flyers and took them down there with a thank you gift. They put the new ones up for a couple of weeks and during that time I got 5 orders from that building.

Here’s what I took away from that whole experience —

• I need an automatic payment system like Uber for repeat customers whereby I can pick up and drop off at the concierge and charge their card without ever having to see them in person.
• Elevators are prime real estate for a flyer. Talk about impressions!
• Design is very important. They liked my flyer design so much that they put it up despite the conflict of interest with the other dry cleaner.
• Using 2 logos validates the service. It’s as if the Mosaic hired Feather Laundry. It acts as a seal of approval and endorsement to their residents.
• I need a welcome package that includes a laundry bag and instructions on how the whole process works.
• I need to make more deals like this, and my hunch is the taller the building, the better it is for me.

I’ve spent the better part of the last week doing most of the things mentioned above. I created an automatic payment form and welcome package with a laundry bag and instructions in it. The packaging actually took me quite a bit of time but it looks good now. I gave 5 of them to the concierge to hand out when people ask about laundry and dry cleaning. Going through this I learned that packaging is a big part of the overall design.

But the thing I need to do most is to make more deals like this. These deals have a very high return on investment.

The problem is I have this fear holding me back. I don’t want to be the creepy salesman and I’m intimidated by the prospect of sitting in front of someone and pitching my business.

But there is no doubt in my mind that this is the path to profitability. The numbers don’t lie. All I need for my business to reach profitability is 30 such deals, and that is a conservative number.

But getting there requires me to get off of my ass and walk into these places and pitch them my business. I’m hung up on the approach.

Here’s what I think I should do for each building —

• Put their logo on the flyer and print multiple copies so the work is already done.
• Create welcome packages with instructions specific to that building.
• Schedule a meeting with the property manager of that building.

And this is where I’m hung up. If I call ahead and schedule a time, it’s like telemarketing and that is awful. If I just walk in I still feel like a sleazy salesman. What I did at the Mosaic was great because I was already there on business! But with new buildings I’m having trouble with the approach.

Here are my options —

• A warm introduction. Best option, but I have a very small network in Dallas having just moved here a few months ago.
• Already there on business. 2nd best option and I have to learn to cultivate these opportunities when they present themselves. They are rare.
• Calling ahead to schedule a meeting. I don’t like this option because it can backfire. Would you take a meeting with a cold calling salesman?
• Walking in cold turkey to pitch. I don’t like this because it is invasive. They may not have time for me and get frustrated by the interruption.
• Walking in, asking for their card, and pitching via email. I don’t like this option because I am better at face-to-face interaction. Although my first email pitch worked, my gut says the conversion rate will be much higher with a face-to-face meeting.
• Walking in to schedule a future meeting. This seems like my best option. I can mitigate the rate of rejection by just asking for their card and asking for a 15 minute meeting in the future, if they refuse I can still revert to an email pitch.

I’m disappointed in myself that it is taking me so long to just do this. I have to write a blog post about it just to muster up the courage. I know this is the path and I will beat myself up emotionally until I finally cooperate and execute.

My #hustle is weak right now. I need to make it strong again!

To Do List Update —

1. Make a list of buildings to approach.
2. Begin approaching them.
3. Claim my business on Yelp.
4. Update the budget worksheet with the following —

• dry cleaning costs need their own category.
• refunds need their own category.
• cash transactions need to be accounted for more consistently.
• expenses need to be categorized better and not itemized.
• monthly profit loss needs to be added.

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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