Success, Tedium and Politics

First of four days off, for now. I may get a temp assignment, which I will gladly accept, especially if it provides the kind of opportunity provided by assignments I had to pass up last week.

Pretty tired today. All that standing and "coerced" gregariousness at work took a toll on me. Had a beer and a shot of tequila last night, but that actually helped me to relax.

Ended up taking the car out to the auto shop in Schaumburg. Some bar involved in the front suspension on come loose, so the two ends of it flopped around. Every once in awhile, when I hit a bump or something, the ends would hit the ground and make this huge clang. Fortunately, the bar doesn't prove too vital to the operation of the car. It just cuts down on the bumpiness for passengers, supposedly.

I still got it fixed, even if we intend on selling the car and evertyhing. I figure good maintenance to a car leads to a long, good efficient life to a car.

Otherwise, not too much else accomplished except for getting amused by the first Hawaii episode on that plot arc for the Brady Bunch while at the shop. Funny, the showing of that famous episode, since I had thought about it awhile ago.

Seeing the Brady Bunch really brought to mind my upbringing, the TV shows I watched compared to the TV shows today, and the different perceptions of morality then and now along with the different types of character displayed by different generations. Thinking on that tip, however, I also noticed all the product placement and nationalist propaganda. Then I also wondered about any monetary exchange between the Hawaiian tourist board and the broadcast executives for having the show there with all the shots of the tourist sites.

I felt equally entertained when I saw the end credits for Eight is Enough and the beginning of the episode of The Partridge Family in which Danny and his two younger siblings try to start a business breeding hamsters then selling them. The capitalist-business jokes-propaganda made me chuckle but disturbed me at the same time.

Wow, I'm such a deconstructionalist.

WORKING ON MY PITCH

Turns out that the time spent at the mall, where I got horrible results for the Company bore some fruit, after all. On Saturday, at the Track, I had great results. I set up 7 appointments, which ends up as more than $19 an hour, even if none of the prospects show up. If they do take their tours, however, I'll do pretty well.

Didn't do so well on Sunday at the Track, though. Only got 2 appointments, and one of them I don't count because I just filled out paperwork while a co-worker of mine did the major persuasive work. Nonetheless, she owed me for covering her for one of the mall shifts, so I don't feel so bad about taking the tour.

Three things strike my mind about the weekend at the track along with the week at the mall:

+ I took on some initiative when I showed up early on Sunday, setting up booths and making sure they both had the necessary supplies. Part of my iniative probably came from the fact that the boss trusted me to take responsibility for some valuable things overnight and to make sure everything gets done at the end of the shift. Kinda cool, getting that kind of trust.

+ The importance of knowing your demographic and the venue. At the mall, I didn't get any appointments and probably wouldn't get that many. I still improved my skills by working on the discovery portion by making it more about trying to find out if the pre-prospect had an interest in vacations, first, then getting them even more excited about them or maybe even getting them excited in the first place.

From there, I mixed the pitch and discovery by introducing the Company then asking them what they did for work. . .a fair exchange, I disclose a little about me and my company for them to say what they do for work and where. So far, this disclosure exchange has not proven awkward, at all, even for people I thought it might prove a problem.

These adjustments to my pitching really made the mall experience a little more pleasant. On the first day, one guy even did a major rejection by asking me why I was asking him these questions. He totally exposed me in my discovery, then shot me down by saying, "I don't want to have a coversation with you" in response to me saying I just wanted to have a conversation.

By the last day, Friday, I didn't make any appointments, but no one reacted negatively and many of them even acted positively. I wonder, however, how much of that had to do with politeness, not wanting to disappoint me then coming up with irrefutable excuses for why they couldn't set an appointment.

I used the adjusted pitching, however, to net 7 appointments at the track on Saturday, so I found something that worked in one situation (I even got the best productivity for all the appointment setters there) The audience changed the second day at the track, though. Two prospects balked at the deposit while most of the people simply showed no interest or came up with the polite out. Sadly, most of them showed no interest, even though my co-workers made more appointments than me.

So, alas, the audience and venue do make a difference for what kind of pitch to make. Unfortunately, I'm not totally sure how to adjust my pitch accordingly.

+ I also saw the benefits of rapport and teamwork. Keeping up good morale with co-workers, doing favors for them, etc. etc. can really make my job easier. They can cover for me and will even give a door to productivity after doing the work themselves. Also, they'll help to keep things light, help relieve boredom and, if anything, help motivate me to work harder because I'm in the trenches with a team that has a common purpose.

CEASE FIRE IN ISRAEL/LEBANON

So, a cease fired has been brokered, but every side of the issue, from Israel to the US to Hezbollah wants to claim that they have won.

Uhhhhh. . .folks, not everyone can win a war in the ways that would be considered a win for a nation or group. It sounds more like a truce or a cease fire, which means a win for the human race, even though it's not much of a win. Now if they could figure out that they've got huge relationship issues that need to settled, then we might come out of this situation in a way that makes everyone a winner.

PRESIDENT OF IRAN, AHMADINEJAD, HAS A BLOG

Click on one of the flags in the top right corner to get English translation.