Am I failing?

23. February 2009 by Terry.

So…I took a position over at my south store as the ISS.   For those of you that don’t know, that basically means that I deal directly with my installer customers on a daily basis.   That’s fine, nothing I haven’t done before.   The problem is that the guy I replaced knew these guy’s for a really long time…a good couple years, and got to joking with all of them on a fairly regular basis.   He got personally acquainted with all of them, and because of that he has a foot hold in my shops in trying to take their business from me.   I understand that, I realize that its an issue that comes along with the job.   The problem is, It seems as if I’m losing business.   The amount of sales I’m doing are just  getting lower and lower…and while one can definitely equate the low sales with the shitty economy…thats not what my boss’ see.

First and foremost…my business is supposed to be one of the few that is techincally recession proof.   Our business model is set up so that we’re 50 percent retail, 50 percent installer.   Therefore, if we lose business in installer, we usually see a rise in retail (customers fixing their stuff on their own instead of an installer).   To my boss’ though, the fact that were losing anything in installer is a bad sign.   That bad sign leads directly back to me.   I feel as if there is a huge amount of pressure to prove myself to these people…and I’m trying………but it doesn’t seem to be working.    Me and my outside sales rep went out south to the bulk of my customers the other day to see if anything was happening that we should know about, as well as to introduce me face to face for the first time, to personalize me more with my shops.   Some shops went incredibly well, we’ve got a great lead on some hydraulic business with KDOT Osage, as well as a bulk filter order.   Thats great, hydraulic fittings are a shit ton of money, as well as the other pieces of that such as hose, equipment, fluid, etc.   Other shops were so so, I don’t really know what to say to an account that is a body shop that I could technically try to get, but I myself am not allowed to sell product too.   My east store is responsible for all of my dupont business…problem is that when i left the east store, no one over there knows a fucking thing now…lol   Thats the reason I was in charge of paint and body, and thats the reason I was selling 45 to 50 thousand  dollars a month, approx. 50 percent of the sales.

I’m supposed to branch out and find new business and stuff like that but yet my one coworker who has been there for 10 years, has control over about 30 percent of the business they want me to get.   Why is that?…Simple.   She’s got boobs, she’ll use them, and she gets away with it.   Don’t get me wrong, she’s a good person.   But I don’t like the idea of my talent being second fiddle to some womans sexuality and ability to flirt.   I know that she is a good salesman because she uses her assets to her advantage, but it still sucks because when it comes to running a store, following the policies, and general mechanical knowledge, she can’t hold a candle to me.   So…the question I have is…what do I do?   Do I go after the business she has to try to gain some of their confidence in me?   Or do I try to focus on the business I have and try to personalize myself more with them?   Or do I break down and go back east and take over paint again?

The sad thing is…I feel as if I put a lot of work into the east store and the paint, and to sit there and watch what its become…..I hate it.   I wanna go over there and get back all the business I’ve worked so hard to get.   But I dont wanna bail on the south store.   I feel as if the east store was a better fit for me and my skills, but I definitely have more oppurtunities at the south store.   I can make a lot more money out south than I can back east…..So once again I’m at a cross roads.

I don’t really know what else to do except try to gain some more business from answering more phones up front and just trying to personalize myself more with my south customers.  It’s just really daunting and sometimes I wonder if I’m really made out for it…

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