Saturday, March 5, 2011

Batter up!


Welcome to the Family baby Easton. Josh and Lauren Maska's new addition. (Jenifer's brother Josh)

It only seems like yesterday that I was at one of Josh's baseball game when he was in Jr. High. (Or so)

Friday, March 4, 2011

Stop yelling!

I was watching CNBC and they had one of the Wisconsin Democrats a (Clearly Republican) consultant and the CNBC reporter. They were talking over each other and really yelling.

Carsen yells at the TV "One at a time" and later "Why can't you just get along"


Political Science from a 4 year old.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Round em up and roll them out

We did Kindergarten Roundup earlier this week. It is a unique event where each of the grade schools compete for Kindergartners. We knew where Carsen was going to go, but for his sake we went anyway.

They divided parents from kids and we sat in the theater and Carsen went to some different rooms for activities. Since we had done this a few years earlier with Caden, it was almost the same presentation. To be honest I was asking myself why we went.

After picking up Carsen it was all worth it. He was EXCITED! He knew lots of kids that were there (Many from preschool), made a dog out of paper (He had the dogs name on it, Molly, our dog and knew how to spell it later in the car) They had music and much, much more

It will be a good time next year when he gets to go where big brother goes.

A new BIB (GPS)

So after many years (I guess 6 or 7) I purchased a new Garmin. (I referred to the lady in the GPS as Bitch in Box) Anyway, went to update the maps because they were several years out of date and found that I would have to spend $90 for map updates only. Due to the fact that my old GPS was getting up in age and was rather large, I put it on the Nex-Tech Classifieds and sold it in a matter of a few days. I then purchased a new GPS that had life time map updates. Now I could have bought a new unit with this feature for around $129 but I upgraded to the larger screen and some additional features for around $200. Maybe Garmin won anyway!

Either way, Jen may do some traveling by herself this summer and she will need this. Too bad the Navigation in the Tahoe is so bad that I had to buy another one to really get to where we need to go. That is a whole other story.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A traffic Report

So after my presentation on Friday, I had the highest hit level of all time. I had 120 hits that day. Average traffic hovers around 50 per day. Guess you could call it advertising even though I am not selling anything.

It was a great experience and I look forward to the next opportunity.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Are you a Hunter or are you a Farmer.

And no, I am not talking about the farm.

I continuously read and hear people talking about sales reps as either a Hunter or a Farmer. And of course all business owners want is Hunters! Bring in new customers and new revenue. The issue is, if you are just one or the other this really causes problems.

If you are just a Hunter, you find new customers and new revenue but cannot maintain relationships and you simply burn through your entire available base.

If you are just a farmer in sales you only reap what is planted. What I have seen is that these types only plant what they have seen before. IE the same crop as last year. They are not looking to expand the offering or add more to the existing customer.

It is my opinion that you must have both traits to be a complete rep. You must be able to balance between the two roles. Find new customers and maintain the hunting after the initial engagement. Then you farm the the day to day activity.

Sure, other resources can be used to help farm and make the most out of your time. However if all you plan on doing is Hunt, you are doing activity that is most costly to businesses and not reaping the rewards of hunting in familiar territory.

I would love to hear others input on this?

Monday, February 28, 2011

The Chamber Presentation

Tammy really packed the house for this months Chamber Lunch. She also really played me up as a good presenter. I hope I did not let her down.

I presented about the change in technology. I even featured Caden in the presentation along with my Speak & Spell (Thanks Mom for sending) I heard comments like "Best presentation yet" and I have had requests to do it for some businesses. I also referenced this blog so we will see if I get any additional traffic.

All in all it was a great and fun opportunity. Thanks Tammy for this. Keep them coming!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Last on Delay The Trip Home

Got up a bit early today to get home early. It was interesting, Arlin lined up a taxi the night before that the hotel setup. Clearly the Hotel knew this guy and I am betting there was some kick backs. Anyway he was very helpful and cheerful. Just goes that relationships matter in almost all businesses.

The flights were on time and I won the Plane lottery. IE I had the empty seat next to me. It was nice to get home on time and have an evening with the boys.

Now I have to work on my presentation for the Chamber Lunch. I was hoping for more free time, it just has not happened. So I will focus to finish before noon tomorrow.