from sales journal...
Woke this morning in a funk, not wanting to be in the tasting room, talk to people, the same low ebb I’ve experienced for much of the week. Off course, writing is much a cure. But I can’t ignore it. I’ve come to the realization that I’m done with the tasting room, and possibly wine’s industry. Not wine, of course. But 40 approaches, and I need more. More than just walking in, turning on lights, counting registers, opening bottles, setting up for tours and tastings… I’m beyond it, and if not beyond it then certainly outgrown it. So what do I do… not panic. Not let the cloud wrap itself too much around my thoughts and empirical character. Focusing on how I sell, sell myself, sell anything… by not selling. By reiterating reality, a certain certainty of where I am. Have about 30 minutes left before I leave for the winery, leave for the day ahead of the writer.
Sales.. marketing.. not like others do. I can’t do that. Should have been ‘wake earlier… damnit… story of my life but I can change it, tomorrow, my day off, spend erecting this thesis of sales and customer relations, client communication… why not start a new business, I ask myself… ‘whoso creative relations’. I consider this day, where it’s supposed to absolutely scorch in Sonoma County, a beta testing of sorts. Now I’m more than eager to talk to people and learn more about their stories and what brought them here to SoCo, and if they’re local what they enjoy sipping, and maybe not talk about wine at all.. something that makes them smile… how beautiful it is out, what their plans are for the summer, recent graduations and celebrations, and what be.
Being taught by the morning and the current Coltrane track. I’m moving quick, quicker with the next set of key keyings. If you reading this, and in sales, and find yourself in a mood, write your way out of it. Make the topic and project, and DAY, all days, your own. Even if I am done with wine and its industry, and want more for my sales career in now way precipitates reasoning that I won’t be in my mode and role today, selling. Talking. Learning about the people that make the business a business. My sales journal over flows with new ideas, possibilities in business, with the clients that comprise it.
In business, sales and marketing principally, you have to be honest with yourself. Your mood and your sight of what’s around you. Then, react reasonably. Yes, I was in a “funk”, or lull, or kerfuffle. But now, I’m out. And, I see with such stark clarity that today can only be a victory for me and my new business ideas. “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist.” Emerson penned. Today more than others I see myself as obliged to fly outside any business box. So, here I go. Ready for people, all the smiles stepping through the doors and only subscribing to a tireless yay-saying yodel.