Re: Newbies first post!! 19 from Tampa, long… - Posted by Jeffery (LCLA)
Posted by Jeffery (LCLA) on March 19, 2005 at 09:24:26:
Cole, man, I feel your pain, umm, well, felt your pain. Ever since I can remember I’ve had that entrepreneurial spirit. I didn’t always have direction, but had the desire. I started my first business when I was 18 (unless you count the grass cutting service when I was 15). And, nope, folks just didn’t take me serious. I didn’t know what I could have done to change that, so self employment was sidelined. My suggestion to you, to overcome the age thing, is to enlist the help of an older friend to go with you. If that’s not an option, perhaps try doing business on the phone. When I went into the security consulting business several years ago, I was also selling security equipment. I couldn’t make a sale in person regardless of my approach. The problem? I’m a big, scary looking guy and I usually don’t have a facial expressions. The solution, get on the phone. 9 times out of 10, if I had a customer on the phone, I got their money. Once you establish yourself in a park, and you get the PM on your side and working for you, other PM’s will come on board with you.
Now, on to the clothes thing, and I really want to see other’s input on this. There’s something to be said about flashy cars and clothes, and it’s usually not a good thing. I used to wear a suit, fancy shoes and drove a Jaguar. I though the “I’m already successful and don’t need your business” look was the best thing. Well, in sales, it’s not. I once drove up to a general contractor’s office. I wanted to pitch them on a deal on installing security equipment in the homes they build. Well, when I opened the door to get out of my car, I heard the owner say “here comes another d@mn salesman”. What?? Salesman? I didn’t want to sell him anything. I wanted to help increase his bottom line by offering a service to his customers. Why didn’t he say “look here comes a potential customer who apparently is successful and wants me to build a house for him?” I don’t know. Perhaps it’s just human nature.
As far a clothing, I have some short sleeve Polo type shirts with my business name, phone number and tag line. It looks more like a uniform than dress clothes, but still professional looking. I wear shorts most of the time, sometimes jeans and rarely dress pants. The shirts look good with nearly any pants I wear. They’re all grey except two that are white. I used to do a weekly news report on security and tech gagets and that’s what the white shirt are for. As far as vehicles. I have a full size panel van. I can tote around paint, plumbing, electrical, and other equipment. I have a pickup that I just bought for other construction projects, and to tote large items like large appliances and other large construction equipment, and I have a Lincoln for those times that I have to court a client. Nothing is really flashy and business is better. I’m not suggesting to go buy several different vehicles. I’m suggesting, don’t be flashy. Before I bought the Lincoln (and only bought it because I needed a car for the family) I surveyed some of my customers and got their opinion on what their thoughts would have been had they seen the vehicle that I drove. All of them (and these were security customers) said that as long as the vehicle was sensible, and that it didn’t appear as if I had more money than sense, then our business relationship would not have been any different. When I asked them about flashy cars and clothes, most of them said that I would have worked harded on the pitch and come down on my price. Apparently no one wanted to buy me a Jaguar but didn’t have a problem buying me a new truck.
As far as the credit goes, as long as you are credit smart, you can’t have too much credit. Don’t worry too much about your credit score right now as long as there is no negative information. Many folks say that having too many credit account is a bad thing. That’s not necessarily true. A large portion of your score is based on the ratio of how much credit you have available versus how much you use. Another big contributor to your score is credit history. So if you can get those cards now, you’ll be establishing history for a few years down the road when you need to make a large purchase. I seems as though the FICO algorithm gives more points on a credit score when you have a 5-10% usage. I’m not sure why, but suspect that it shows that you can use credit but not over use.
This is more information than what you asked for, but I hope you find it useful. Being in Florida, you’ve got a couple of great folks overthere that are doing this full time. Hopefully they’ll chime in and give you some advise as to your market.
Regards,
Jeffery (LCLA)