How to sell promotional items
How I Learned to Sell and Start a Sales Company Selling Promotion Products
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hey this is bill from wealth well done
and last weekend I was asked to give a
presentation on my experience becoming a
successful salesperson
and how I use sales to build different
businesses and the presentation went so
well I thought hey let's throw it on
this blog because like this blog is all
about how for you to find happiness and
I've used sales to kind of build
companies that I enjoy working at
everyday and it's been one of my
greatest secret weapons to happiness so
I want to share all the information I
have to you in my personal life I
started my first business which is a
screen printing embroidery company which
I'm wearing a t-shirt right now and I
sell the stuff to corporate accounts but
that's just the vehicle I used you can
use this information if you're a
insurance agent or you're a financial
advisor or you built some cool business
in your basement and you have this cool
product it's not a business that's
profitable until you can go out take
that product and sell it so this is my
personal story about how I made sales
out of nothing and started my own
businesses so the first couple things
you need to know about me so you know
that you know I'm successful and not
just coming up with junk here is I've
been selling for five years in my first
company my business has sold over a
million dollars in sales over the last
five years and I've had a lot of fun
doing it you know what I mean you know
why quit a job my resume is not out
there cuz I'm not looking for something
else you know my happiness is from the
life that I built so before we go into
how I did it let's talk about the why
because sales can be a lot of fun and I
make it sound really cool like everybody
can do it but there's a lot of hard
parts in there and it was my Y that
carried me through those hard parts of
starting my first business so five years
ago I wanted a couple things out of life
I wanted the freedom and the ability to
work from home but I'm happiest at home
so why not have a chance to work there I
wanted the ability to sell a product
that people continue to use you know
I've sold
Ruff's before but the problem with roofs
are you sell one roof
nobody's gonna call you back for 30
years so I wanted a residual product
where you know I could build
relationships with buyers and you know
the products you know might change but
the relationship is still there so I was
looking for a relationship based sales
business because that's what I'm best at
and then you know finally I wanted a
chance to sell to businesses which have
bigger budgets than trying to sell to
somebody who have smaller budgets you
know when you're selling a t-shirt to an
individual their budget for clothing
might be $50 where a business might have
a five thousand or a fifty thousand
dollar budget it was a I knew it'd be a
lot more fun to sell there so that was
my why the ability to work from home and
that's what drove me through the hard
parts of sales so before I get to the
hard parts that I had to fight through
just gonna start with how easy starting
business based on sales can be so my
very first sale I was just started I had
my you know probably have a business
card printed out my computer that was
the extent of my business and it called
a friend who owned a business and I said
hey I'm thinking about getting in you
know starting a business selling this
type of stuff would your business need
it and actually on the other end he said
yeah actually I'm in the I need you know
so unsold things and he says if you can
find this I'd love to buy from you
because my business needs him anyways so
I went back and I figured it out and
pitched it to him I didn't even sell it
and he says yeah he totally I'll take
200 of those and I think was a $700 sale
and bam I was in business with my very
first sale and it was simple as picking
up the phone and not being afraid to
call a friend and just say hey I'm in
this business do you is there an
opportunity to buy and so that was the
first one but now if you're gonna be
successful business or sales you have to
be able to break out beyond your comfort
zone which are your friends that you
already know and so the way I did that
was kind of how financial advisors and
insurance agents start their business
and I developed a system I would make
ten new contacts a day in the morning
and then I would follow up with ten
contacts that I made previously from the
morning calls in the afternoon and I did
that the old-fashioned way
literally got in my car drove to
business parks drove to businesses
walked in said hey I'm thinking about
starting a business or I am this is my
business and I would love a chance to
work with you and I'd get the business
card and then I'd follow him up you do
the math that's 50 new contacts a week
and I follow it up with 50 you know 10 a
day in the afternoon and I did that for
a couple weeks and you know it was semi
successful and then I learned something
that helped me take my system to the
next level I said going to these places
is good but when I went to it my first
networking event there was 10 200 people
in their room and I could get my 10
contacts a day done within half hour or
an hour you know I just walk up to
people and kind of had a cyst in my head
where I'd say hey this you know this is
my business as what do i do what do you
do start the conversation and then I'd
say does your business buy this stuff
and if they said no well then I just
kind of move on politely to the next
person but if they said yes then I'd
followed with my next question and that
was you know how big is your company cuz
I knew you know but a company would like
one employee or two employees the budget
isn't really there for me to make a
living on but if they said oh yeah I
work for a company with 20 hundred 500
employees well you know those are some
big orders and I can actually start
making a living from my business so when
they said that then my next final thing
was oh great you know like who in the in
your company makes those decisions and
they usually tell me the name cuz they
were in sales and they're nice people
and trying to help another sales person
and then the next day they become one of
the names I did follow up on the
afternoon and for six months that's
exactly what I did ten new contacts a
day in the morning ten in the afternoon
in my first six months I'd only sold
$10,000 now you might be thinking like
man you sold $10,000 of the business
which I was thrilled about too but it
wasn't enough to live on you know the
profit on $10,000 is way less than that
and over six months but I was like you
know what I'll stick with it for a
little bit longer and I kept up with the
system and the next thing I know I sold
a hundred and eighty thousand dollars in
the next six months and that's when I
was like I can start living off this
so how did I find these networking
events um literally I did two things I
live in a relatively big city so I
joined a Chamber of Commerce and got on
there ambassador panel and there was
events always going on there and then I
just used ingenuity and I googled
free networking events in Minneapolis
st. Paul and a list would come up and
you know a lot of them were interesting
events but there weren't really business
people there but some of them were like
you know would have a lot of cool
businesses there and I got to learn and
meet people and that's something I'm
good at and I genuinely like to do and
so I was building my business based off
something I already like to do and I get
these names and that's how I got the
leads going and then what I do is I'd
call up and just say you know I try to
be nice
like you know I'm not a sales person
that is trying to push somebody into a
decision until they're green I grew up
excuse me that they're gonna regret
making you know I'm in a relationship
sales business so I always wanted that
person when they left work when they
said wow that was easy I told him what
he wanted and he got me exactly that
within the budget that he gave me and so
that was kind of my sale system so when
I got on the phone I just said hey my
name is Bill this is my business is
there a chance to work with you and
they'd either say yes or no and you know
a lot didn't say sure you know and all I
would do is I'd say hey can I just stop
by drop off a flier get to know you in
person and you know I was always looking
for that one person that said yeah come
on by you know I'd love to meet you you
know and if they said well you know I'm
already working with somebody that I've
worked with for ten years and you know
I've met his wife and I go golfing with
him you know I'm probably not gonna get
that account because that relationship
is there but that's okay I wasn't
looking for the 90% of people that said
no I was looking for that 10% and in
business no matter what business you're
gonna start or what you're trying to
sell you're always looking for that 10%
of people are saying yeah I'd love to
meet you and give you a shot and those
are the people that can help you succeed
in what you're trying to do in life no
matter who you are so in a final meeting
you know I'd come in and my goal always
was never to be an ordinary salesperson
my goal when I walked in is how do I
help this person succeed what they're
trying to do you know in typical people
I'm meeting with her in the marketing
team and they have bosses so I always
thought not what can I get out of this
meeting but what can I give them that
will make their jobs easier make them
look better in front of their boss and
make them look better in front of their
clients because they're doing the same
thing that I am they're using their or
they're selling their products and
services because I always knew if I can
do a great job for them and make them
feel like they got value out of working
with me well then you know what the next
time a project comes up they're gonna
give me a call back and that is the holy
grail of sales is not just getting the
first one but how can you do so good and
care so much about your client that they
just want to keep calling you over and
over and over and that's I think how
great businesses are built so that's how
I went into it that's a system I use and
like I said I began it by ten calls a
day in person and then I realize
meetings were better and then I
eventually realized meet the people and
then try to get the name inside of the
company that's buying it and then I have
a direct call in from them so those are
the hard things because you know you
have a lot of rejection in those all
those meetings and all those phone calls
but sales can turn out just like that
first time I called my friend and you
know said hey yeah can you use me and I
got my first sale for $700 you know one
of my biggest first sales I literally
went to a networking event and met a guy
that was cool we kind of hit it off as
you know we could be friends and he
invited me into his company and I
remember going to meet him and he called
me up and said hey I need to place a
$30,000 order and that was just from
because I went out and tried you know it
sales is so much like fishing like some
days you get skunked and there's nothing
to catching and it's not your fault it's
just the environment and then you keep
going out though because you have that
dream of the trophy one you know one
time I met a receptionist and and she
said oh yeah cost so-and-so and I went
and five years later I'm still
working with that client and I still
have the same attitude when I go into a
meeting it's not about what can I can
get out of them it's about what I can
give them and you know a referral
started happening so that's basically
all I had to do you know that's what I
sums up what I love about helping people
selling things and starting businesses
around those things that's the vehicle I
took and hopefully you can take one or
two things that I said in there and say
hey I can apply that to my vision I can
take his system and use it to what I'm
trying to accomplish in life because
that's ultimately wealth in life is
taking your vision your dream and figure
out a system to execute it so that it be
turns in from a dream inside your own
head that you're the only one who sees
it into the reality that you live in you
feel free if you're out there call me if
you need any help with your t-shirts or
whatever because I'd love to help you