Part 77: Climbing To The Top!

Well it is so cold here and yesterday we had an ice storm. We live on a hill and no trucks come in our neighborhood. I was unable to make it to work. Anyhow, please enjoy this next part.

This year was turning out nicely for the business, concidering the big move and the new employees. Everything was going great. We were doing exactly what we had set for goals, growing the customers we had and picking up a few new ones at a time. We were still at four routes and the route salespeople were beginning to be stretched to longer hours. It was time to look at adding another route. I laid it out for the region and it was approved. We now had five routes. We were finally growing, the move paid off. 

     This was our year, we were starting to shine as a branch on the move. We were being noticed through out the country. It was a great feeling. I had told the bosses that our branch, Galesburg, was growing strong, from the little acorn comes the might oak. That was our goal, to become the mighty oak.

     This year also proved to be very good for us as we was hitting all of our objectives. Our branch was recomended for branch of the year. I was flying high! That year the national sales meeting was to be held in Orlando, Florida. This was where the award was to be given for Branch of the Year. I received a call from the region manager the week before the meeting. He told me that our accomplishments were great, however, the award had never been given to the size branch that I was running. He said that he tried but I was not going to receive the award. I was asked to speak at the meeting and tell of our accomplishments. 

     Though it was a let down, I felt very good, that I was selected to give a speech. I did all of the right things. I wrote down notes remembering back to when I first came to take over the branch, and after writing several pages I condenced to three by five cards. I was ready. In the weeks to come I practiced the speech. Fine tuning the cards and almost memorizing my speech.

     We arrived in Orlando and the weather was great. we stayed at a nice hotel and there was food and drinks. We had a short meeting around pool ate a drank into the night, I was riding high as a lot of people were coming up to me and talking about my branch in Galesburg.

     The next morning there were some training meetings and some motivational exercises that we all took part in. It was a fun day and that evening was to be the awards banquet. There was several people to talk before my time finally came. There were roughly a thousand people at the banquet, and I think I new half of them, at least I knew the ones in the front two or three rows. I had my little three by five cards ready as I readied myself behind the podium and I greeted everyone those damn three by five cards fell to the floor. Now I was all shook up, the microphone reverberated through out the room and when I spoke I could hear my voice seem to shake. Suddenly I stepped away from the podium and made a joke of my misfortune. I said that I didn’t need the microphone as anyone that knew me knows that my voice carries for blocks. The speech came to me and I was not shook up anymore and in the end they all stood up and clapped for me, and at that moment it was the greatest feeling I had ever had.

Part 76: Climbing To The Top!

Alright, I'm sorry I didn't make a post last week. I was trying to see if anyone was still reading and I found out that several of you are. Good! Well it seems winter has made an early appearance this year as there is snow on the ground and the temps. are going to stay down this week It should help everyone to get into the holiday mood. Please enjoy this next part of my book.

Meanwhile I had another task to do, I had to find Darlene and I another place to live. The apartment that I had been staying in was too small so I needed something bigger. I had been renting month to month with the complex where I was staying and I was on a waiting list for a larger apartment. The one I got was going to be plenty big enough for us to stay. The apartment game with a garage so we could use it as a storage. Spring had finally came and before I knew Darlene had sold the log home back in Indiana.

     The movers came and loaded everything including our car in the moving trailer.  we had some essentials in my company van and we were off for our new lives together in Iowa. The apartment was nice with three bedrooms and a fireplace over looking the pool. This was going to be where we lived for  a year until we found a house to buy.

     Back a work I had hired an excellent mechanic. His job also included being a receiver  and loader and facility maintenance. I also lucked out and hired two more people that I needed to sell on the routes. I hired a new branch administrator as well. Everything was falling in to place. The region was happy with the progress that was made.

     During the next few months our business showed signs of growth. There was still a long way to go. I wanted to grow the business enough to add another route. By doing so would bring the branch some recognition. Everyone that knew me knew that it was something I strived for all of the time. So the job of helping my people make more money was my first goal. This would help to keep the employees in place. In doing so I was able to grow the business enough to add a route just as I had wanted. The branch was running like a fine tuned machine.

     All the while growing the business, I had seemed to fix a major issue. I remembered when I first started with this branch they were loosing twenty-two thousand dollars a month for the five years that they were open. Well I got a call from the region that all of my hard work had paid off. The branch made a ninety eight thousand dollar swing in to the good, and it was tracking toward doing more each month.

     The school year ended and it was time to get Melissa our daughter and bring her to Iowa. We got her enrolled in the local high school and she made friends quickly. She even got a job at the quaint little Italian diner as a waitress. This place had good food and was locally run by an Italian family. When you entered the place there were pictures of place in Italy and there was an eight track player playing Dean Martin tunes all of the time. Melissa worked there for only a short time before she found a job working at the Hy-Ve super market right next to the apartment complex. There she took her experience of working in the Italian restaurant and worked in the pizza shop. For a super market they had great pizzas.

     Darlene found work too that year working for John Deere Insurance. She was a claims processor just as she had been back in Ft. Wayne with Etna Insurance. Darlene made friends fast too. So maybe this move was a good thing I thought. However I was wrong, after being in Iowa for a few months Darlene’s father died, and within a few more months her mother passed as well. Darlene was devastated. She would never show here feelings and she probably got that from her mother, she did speak her feelings after a time went by. To this day she recalls when she and her brothers and sisters became orphans.

Part 75: Climbing To The Top!

Well this part is still continuing with change. The changes that I created effected so many lives. My hope was that this would be the best for my family and for my company. Please enjoy this next part.

 My new task would be to find a location that made since, to make the branch more centralized for our new territory. This part of the job would be a big task, but would be less stress than what I had just done in backing out of over thirty customers. I would certainly need to pick up more business to cover our losses. I had a plan, and that plan was going to be that I would build close relationships with the customers that we had left and grow the business with them.

     In the following weeks I searched for a location. I searched around the Quad Cities and I had found a couple locations that would do, but I didn’t feel real good about a change to either one. We had a couple of customers in Galesburg, IL. I had been there to see the customers when there it was, a building close enough to the freeway with a big lot and the building would be large enough to handle our trucks. The lot was big and that is just what we needed for the semi’s that would bring our products from the plants.

     I called the region manager about the location and he seemed pleased and was coming for a visit to check it out. He arrived in the next few days and was excited about the find. He negotiated the lease with the owner of the property. Next thing you know we were having a meeting with the route salesmen to tell them of the change that they had been had known was coming. In the next few weeks I was going to be very busy planning new routes and informing the customers that we had left of our change.

     I had to run ads for hiring new salesmen, we needed three we would hire four, keeping in mind that at least one wouldn’t make it. I also had to find a new mechanic, this was a surprise as I thought the one that I had was coming, he changed his mind at the last minute. The task was pretty big after all we were moving the branch one hundred miles to the east. Too far for the people that lived in the Iowa region to commute.

     There was another challenge too, Darlene got our home sold back in Indiana. I was going to have to help get the move done. The company was great at helping with this task. The sent a moving company to pack the whole house they even loaded our car on the semi too. We didn’t realize how much stuff we owned. Our daughter and son were going to stay behind. Our son had graduated earlier that year and he was going to live with a friend while going to college. Our daughter was going to stay with some friends and finish out the school year. We felt that this would be better then enrolling her in a new high school so late in the year. Darlene and I really wanted for both of them to come with us, but we felt confident and it was for just a short while.

Part 74: Climbing To The Top!

Well I was on vacation this week and it felt great to get the rest that I felt that I so needed. This is a big day in Louisville because we are hosting The Breeders Cup today at Churchill Downs and this years event will be bigger that ever. Just as there is a big event happening here, I too felt that this next part of Climbing To The Top, was an event in my sales career. Please enjoy this next part.

I moved along finding my way to accounts that I had never been to. Most of the stores now were mom and pop’s as well as convenience stores. Now at this point I just wanted to end this trip. I wanted to head back and lick the wounds of backing out of sales. I couldn’t help but wonder that if I had been the one to open the branch at the beginning, if I could have done any better. I imagined that I would have been great and this branch would have been one of the best in the country.  The reality of it all is that I may have done better but, I think that it still would have been a big challenge. The product that we were selling was not known in this part of the United States. Getting customers of our customers to buy is the biggest problem. Most people stick to their regional brands.

     I had finished the last store and now it was dark. Dark and cold and windy. As I made my way back I still was on back roads and had about forty miles to make it to the interstate. I couldn’t wait. There was a full moon and it provided the only light. The moon shown so brightly that it’s reflection bounced off the ice covered snow on the fields that seemed to go on for ever. 

     I made it back late into the evening. I was still buzzing from being on the road, so I decided to make some notes for a report that I would send the next day to the region manager. With the television on in the back ground I had a rumble in my stomach that made me realize that I had not eaton since early afternoon. When I awoke I was still at the table with paperwork scattered about. I headed to the bathroom to get cleaned up, all the while hunger pains growling. I made a big breakfast and started my day. It was five a.m. and back into the cold as I headed to the office. 

     I sent my report off to the region office and had meeting with each one of the route salesmen. I told them that we were going to be looking to move the branch to the east closer to the Mississippi river, maybe further. I wanted them to think about the move and whether they wanted to continue being salesmen with our company. Some had instant answers and I knew that they were going to quit soon as they found something else. I was relieved that three were going to remain, two of the three lived closer to where we might relocate the branch. I was sure that the third would leave soon after.

     My new task would be to find a location that made since, to make the branch more centralized for our new territory. This part of the job would be a big task, but would be less stress than what I had just done in backing out of over thirty customers. I would certainly need to pick up more business to cover our losses. I had a plan, and that plan was going to be that I would build close relationships with the customers that we had left and grow the business with them.

Changing Colors a Short Story, by Rick Heinkel

I know this is unusual to be sending out a blog this early and not be related to my other book, Climbing To The Top!, I will be sending a series of short stories from time to time. I hope you will enjoy these as well. If you recall in Climbing To The Top, my relationship with my father was rather tumultuous. I always viewed him as a very strong man.  Please enjoy this next short story.

                                                            

                                                               Changing Colors

     It was a crisp fall afternoon and my wife and I were returning home from an overnight trip visiting family back in our home town. We hadn’t been home in over a year, it was one of those trips as became know as a duty trip. Meaning that you must take some time and return to your root’s, where the rest of your family may be.

     This time was not any different than the other trips home for the past few years. My eighty year old father was now staying at a nursing home. Not a retirement home but one of those anestically type homes for ones that cannot take care of themselves any longer. In my fathers case he was too much of a handful for my mother to take care of any longer. My mother was five years younger than my father, and though seeming to be more frail she still had all of her wits about her.

  When we arrived at the home to visit my father, my mother was already there. I think she is always there, weather it was for the guilt of placing my father there or for her unending love for the man, she has stayed by his side. We walked through the doors to the main desk and the receptionist greet us as though she knew who we were and directed us to the location of my folks.

     As we walked through the halls lined with people of all ages in wheel chairs and beds and with nurses walking about we could smell the stench urine. We soon came to a room where there was a gathering and there stood my mother behind my father looking so frail and in a wheel chair. He was the first to notice me there and a slight smile appeared on his face. I thought that he recognized me, but then was apparent that he wasn’t sure who I was until my mother told him that it was me.

     We talked for a while and then we went to his room that was shared with another man much younger than my father. Our visit was short and I am not so sure that my father knew weather we had been there or not.  my father looked out the window and made notice that the leaves on the trees had changed to beautiful colors. We kissed and hugged goodbye saying see you the next time, all the while I was thinking to my self that this may very well be the last time that I was to see him alive.

     On our four hour trip back home the sun was shining brightly and the further south we traveled home the more the brilliant the leaves looked on the trees. I could help but think of how my father had commented on the changing colors of the leaves. My wife spoke out and said how beautiful the foliage looked and that very soon there would be the ugly of winter setting in and no color left except for the gray of winter clouds and the leafless trees.

    This I imagined is how life is the new breath, the new birth of spring. The growing and exhilarating 0through summer. Then the aging beauty of fall. The winter solstice of death. 

     Will my father still be here for my next duty vacation?

Part 73: Climbing To The Top!

Trick or treat! The leaves are changing now are very beautiful. Soon the trees will shed them all and the clouds will bring cold rain and then snow. The next part of my book has more change as well as having to deal with more weather. The type of changes in this next part go against everything I believed in with sales. Please enjoy this next part.

That night the region manager told me that the choose this location five years before because it was located in the area that the company felt would make it more centralized for doing business in Iowa and the surrounding area. However now the region manager felt that it wasn’t going to work out here anymore. Our sales people were traveling a long ways to cover the territory and it was expensive for what business we were getting. We decided that we would make a plan to back out of some of the territory that we were not making enough money at. also we were doing a lot more business in Illinois. In fact were were doing almost sixty percent of the total branches business there.

     I was given the task of finding a new location for the branch and at the same time I was to visit the customers that the region manager that we had decided not to service anymore. This was going to be one of the hardest tasks that would required of me, after all in the sales world the idea is to serve and grow customers, to achieve incremental business, not withdraw, concede. I wondered where to start, which customer would be the first one to tell of the news that we appreciated their business, but we were leaving the area because we could not grow enough fast enough to continue servicing their stores.

     I pack a suit case for two days. That’s what I figured it would take to talk to all of the customers that were on the list for deletion. I decided to head north to Minnesota. We had several accounts in southern part of the state I would go to the largest accounts a chain of three large super markets. I was very nervous and I thought that my meeting with the management at the buyers office would turn as cold as it was outside.

     Amazingly it went well, I explained that our company had been in the area for five years, and that the customers we had in the region were very good to us, we just had not gained enough business to be profitable for the wages and fuel cost. The customers everywhere I went wanted to know if they could do more to keep us in the region. The only thing I could say is that had our company maybe spent more time in their region in the past years maybe I would not have to deliver this news. I thanked them for the business that they had given us and that I hoped that if we were to return to their region that they would still except us back into their stores.

    I now had to head to northern Iowa along the state line and do the same, some of the customers were less understanding, some had been with us since the start of the branch. From this point I now pointed the van towards the western edge of our territory toward Des Moines. The snow was starting to fall again. It was a dry snow as the temps were in the single digits. As I was driving along a back road I was thinking and watching the snow blow across the wide open fields and across the road in front of me. The sun started to peek through and the fields were now glistening. I thought how beautiful and how cold looking at the same time. Suddenly I was sliding! I was spinning around, loss of total control, then I hit a dry patch and I thought the van would roll. I brought it to a stop, not another car in sight. I was thankful for that. I sat there shaking wishing I was not there, not there in the middle of nowhere. I got out and walked around the van, the ice cold hit me and that seemed to straighten me out. I got back in and continued on.

Part 72: Climbing To The Top!

Change of the seasons makes everything seem fresh again. Change for us personally effects us all in different ways. Some time it's a little frightening. In my life I have made a change too this week. I have changed routes. I believe that this change is good. In this weeks part of the book I am faced with changes as well. In the upcoming parts of 'Climbing To The Top!' and in my life on my new route there will be big changes. I hope you will look forward to seeing how I will deal with change. Enjoy this next part.

The following morning I left a little later to return to the office, but when I went to start the van, well it didn’t want to cooperate. It would not start at all. I called and had my mechanic bring some cables for a jump. He tried and found that the starter was bad. He went and bought the parts the was needed and replaced them in the freezing cold. It was below zero, so I made sure he had some coffee. I stood there watching him and handing him tools. This brought back memories of when I was a lot younger and having to do the same for my father. I remembered that my father was angry with me because I didn’t want to be there. I told the story to my mechanic. He laughed and thanked me for the coffee and told me to get back inside to the warmth.

     In a short time I was on my way to the office. The roads were passable but it was slow going. The freeways were still frozen over for long stretches. When I had made it back to the office me and the mechanic had to clear the snow from the entrance to the building. The driveway had been already plowed. The snow seemed to be a couple feet deep. That day I called and had only a few of the route salesmen that had routes close enough by come in and run the accounts that they could. The others I told to stay home until the next day.

     The sun had cleared the clouds out and was so bright that you needed to shade your eyes from the brightness. As I looked across the fields that surrounded the building there looked like a layer of ice had covered the snow. It was shining brightly for as far as the eye could see. There was no movement of creatures there was a slight wind blowing and you could see a dusting of snow blow about. It was beautiful to look at. God had worked with Mother Nature to create something so wonderful yet so cold and barren. I decided to see how strong the ice covered snow was. I remembered when I was growing up I would like to see how far I could walk on the snow before it gave way. I put my right foot on some and tested it sure enough the ice seemed to be just enough to hold me. I stood on the snow and raised my other foot and as soon as I did it gave way and I fell flat on my back. Oh man snow rushed into the back of my jacket and down my back. I jumped to get up but slipped again. I turned to my knees and slowly got back on my feet. I went into the office to get warm and dry out.

     I decided to spend my time going over invoices and looking for anything that could help me to fix our problem on losing the dollars. I decided to plan a sales meeting and along with presenting new products and promotions I would take this time to try and correct some of the problems with the sales team. I planned it for the following week. The region manager was going to drive in from Fort Wayne. He was going to help me figure out the problems and put together a plan to fix the issues. 

     The following week came quickly I was prepared. The sales meeting went according to plan. I presented some new deli products and passed out the hot sheets with the next promotions. I then turned our attention to what I found on the invoices and how disturbing this was. All of the salesmen went on the defensive. I didn’t blame them and after talking to them the region manager and I found that they were instructed to do these thing by the last manager. We told them that from this point on they were not to write any credits without bringing back the product that they were writing the credit for. Only the promotions that were in their handhelds were authorized to use. Ad promotions would be set be myself only.

Patr 71: Climbing To The Top!

Well it has went from hot to cool pretty fast and that is fine for a change. It's amazing on how we feel when the weather changes from one condition to another. In this next part of the story weather plays a big part in my life and the lives of over the road sales people. Just like the mail we must deliver, but we must be safe. Please enjoy this next part.

The wind was howling outside I could hear what sounded like sleet hitting against the windows and the side of the building. I peered out the window and more snow had fallen since the last time that I had checked. There was no way to contact the route salesmen to tell them to return. I could only hope that the were being safe. My mechanic had been driving back and forth through the driveway trying to keep a path some what clear. This way at least the drivers would have some idea of where the driveway was. Suddenly one of the trucks returned, he made it back. Snow pilled up all over the truck, wipers couldn’t have been working very good as they were caked with ice. The salesman told me that the highway department was closing the interstates west toward Des Moines. I could not think of anything else but the salesmen and the snow. It kept coming more ice and snow and the wind. Then almost like my prayers were answered on by one the other three returned. The snow had gotten so deep the the driveway could not be seen. The last truck had just missed the turn at the rear of the driveway and slipped over a little embankment. Stuck! Great! now it was dark outside and we needed a tow truck. I just knew this was going to take a while. I made several phone calls and one said that he would be able to be here in a couple of hours.

     When the tow truck arrived it was 8:00 p.m. It felt like midnight. The snow had slowed to just a mix of light snow and sleet mixed. I still had a forty five minute drive to the apartment. Everyone else had finally left for the day. I poured the last cup of coffee and headed out. I had warmed the van up and melted most of the snow off of it. Getting out of the drive was a chore itself with a light weight mini van. Luckily the exit to I-80 was close by and I was the last one to make the exit before it was closed. The highway department had gates that resembled railway gates and they would close them so a driver could not re-enter the expressway. You could get off the highway but could not get back on. I-80 went east and west and when it snows the highway drifts and becomes packed with ice and snow. I could only drive about ten miles an hour. I had driven in snow all of my life. I had even driven during the blizzard of 1978 in Fort Wayne at night and almost didn’t make it home. This was worst, what should have taken me less than an hour normally now took me over two and a half hours. I made it and couldn’t wait to tell Darlene all about it.

     When I called her she said the she had been worried about me because she hadn’t heard from me all day and usually she would have heard from me by supper time. She told me about about how much it had snowed there and it sounded just as bad. She told me how here and the kid’s had been shoveling out and how hard it was because the snow had just kept coming. The driveway at our home in the country was over one hundred and fifty feet long. Once the got it most of the way cleared the highway department would come with the plows and the end of the driveway would be plowed shut. The had to give up because what was plowed were really big ice and snow chunks. Too heavy to move by hand. Darlene told me that she was going to pay to have the driveway cleared and that was just fine with me.

Part 70: Climbing To The Top!

Hello! I hope all is fine with you. Well we went from very hot weather to cool Fall weather. What a change I like Fall it's a change that feels good and we all know not all change feels good. Most of us don't like change. Change at our jobs and other changes in our lives seem to effect us greatly. It makes us look back to the past. To a time when we thought that things were easier less complicated. However we all have been dealing with change since the beginning of our time. In my book I look back to the past and as I'm writing the memories of my life I can't help but feel that longing for the past. If you have been reading my book you would have read about nothing but changes. Changes in my life, in how I sold products in my seeing the world when I was in the Marines, changes from going from being a route salesman to being a manager. So as we look back at the past in our lives we can see how we got to the future. I would like to see the dictionary reflect that the words Life, and Change were one in the same. Please enjoy my next part of Climbing To The Top!

 I was on my way back to Iowa after returning to Indiana for the weekend. It had snowed lightly all of the way back. I was watching the snow blow across from the fields and then swirl across the highway. It was getting colder the further I went. When I arrived to go through Chicago the snow started to cake on my wipers, I then had to stop every so many miles and snap the wipers. Ice had formed on the antenna and it was waving about. The spray back from the other automobiles would cover the windshield and when I would use the washer very little would come out causing streaks. I would pull over and throw snow on the glass with the wipers going.  This was ll making for a slower trip. When I finally made it back to my apartment there was a couple of inches on the ground and the snow seemed to let up and I felt relieved to had made it back safe. I set the alarm to get me up earlier for I knew that the trip might be slow to get to the office. It had snowed a small amount through the night and the city streets were still covered but the freeway was pretty cleared. 

    I made it to the office in time to get the coffee ready for my people and to see them off. I was surprised to see that they all showed up, but snow was a normal part of Iowa winters. I stayed at the office all day going through reports looking for the dollars that were causing our branch to lose money. I found some things that just wasn’t right. The last manager had allowed for spending to be done in a way that wasn’t right. We were allowed so many dollars each month to spend on advertising. That is that we would pay the customer what ever the cost to run our products in their ads. Some of the money was being spent right and some of the money was being used to buy down product so that it would reflect a lower end price to the customer. It was okay to do that but there was some overspending. When the past manager would get the call about overspending, the following months monies would be cut back. Giving the branch less to promote with.

     What I then found was that there were credits being written for some of the accounts that were very excessive. You see writing credits for damaged or outdated product is a normal part of business and it can be more alloted for a newer branch then other existing branches. I also found that there were allowances given on every single product sold on every single invoice. That would be fine if every single item that we sold to the accounts were on sale, but, they weren’t. The salesmen were giving the promotional price just to be giving it without a reflection to the end cost. As the day wore on I got a bad headache from looking at invoices and reports. I hadn’t been outside for most of the day and I was starting to feel hungry. I decided to go to Iowa City for a quick sandwich. When I opened the door I found that several inches of snow fell. I didn’t think about going anywhere. 

Part 69: Climbing To The Top!

Well hello out there in cyber land. Hope all is fine with you. The story is moving right along. In this and the upcoming next few parts you see the challenges that I had to endure, they all helped to shape me in to a better person, both in sales and in sales management. Please enjoy this next part. It was a long drive to Iowa, it seemed like I was going to drive for ever. When I made it to the Mississippi River I was relieved to finally have made to Iowa. Now I just had to find the branch office. I heading to a town called West Branch. I drove for about and hour when I came to the exit off the interstate for West Branch. The branch was located right off of the exit just outside of town. The exit was one of those that looked like so many others I had seen in my travels, a vacant gas station at the top of the exit. There were a couple of other buildings close by. One of them had to be the branch where I was to take over as branch manager. There it was, with a small sign outside. Farm fields were tilled and came right up to the building. The branch was a large pole barn that was converted with an office in the front of the building. Outside of the office was the check in room were the salesman were to do there beginning and end of day. It was the same type of set up as we had in Fort Wayne. There was one difference here though, I had 5 routes that covered almost all of Iowa, part of Minnesota, and half of Illinois. All of the routes had two overnights each week. This was an extremely large territory to cover and I thought a lot of room to grow.

          I wasn’t sure how long it would take me, but I was going to make this a great branch. I thought I would grow the number of customers and the number of routes would grow as well. The branch was the newest that the company had. The company opened it five years before and this was all of the business that it had gotten so far. I was amazed that the company would allow this place to stay open that long. There were a few problems that came along with this branch. The route salesmen were not paid  one hundred percent commission. They were paid a base amount of four hundred dollars each week. If their sales equalled more that that then they would make two hundred dollars plus the commission. I had only one route that did that most of the time. The others were content with the paychecks they were receiving. The one that were content had wives that made more money then they did. The one salesman that made commission every week was a single man and was one of the top routes in the company.

   The next problem that I has and it was a big one. For the five years that the branch had been open, it was losing twenty three thousand dollars each month. This was going to be my main focus for the next year. I had to find out why first. Why so much money going down the drain? It would be different if the money was being spent on getting new customers or even on payroll. This was not the case however.  I had to start at the branch and see what the money was being spent on. Phone and other utilities, rent, property maintenance, up keep of the trucks. 

     I was staying at a motel through the week and I had a month to find a place for me to live. Darlene and the kids were still at the home getting it ready to put back on the market. The company would pay to have movers pack everything and move us to the new location. I was traveling home each weekend it took about seven or eight hours to make the trip. I would leave Friday night and then return Sunday afternoon. It was now winter and some of the trips I made were in the snow. Little did we know that this year was to be a year of record breaking amounts of snowfall. 

Part 68: Climbing To The Top!

There comes a time in everyone lives when we need to make hard choices. In this next part a couple of hard choices are made. Were they the right ones to make? I  can look back at my whole life and I can see where I made a lot of tough, hard choices. Were they always right? Well, I can tell you that when a person looks back in their life and questions their past that they will find faults in almost everything. The thing that helps keep me straight is that I look around me now. I look at where I live and how I live and if I had not made those choices I may very well not have the things I have now. A loving family and the latest things added to my life in the past eight years, three grand children. So, now when I look back, I know things could have been different, but I would not have the life I have now with my beautiful family. So please enjoy this next part and see how I Climb To The Top!

 It was November and the air outside was already beyond feeling like fall, the sky was a gray overcast and this was the day that I was going to start my new position. I was a little nervous, however that all changed as I was welcomed by the whole staff at the store. Most of them knew me from when I would come to sell for the meat company. Training went well and after the first day I felt very good about the change that I had made. I learned everything that I could soaking up all of the information that I could. I lot of the stuff that had to be done around the stores came back to me as I had learned some thirty years earlier as a boy working in the different grocery stores before I went into the Marine Corps. As the weeks went on I would see some of the route salesmen from the meat company and we would talk and I would think back to better times when I worked there. Now, however, I was doing something I also liked running a grocery business.

     After a few months I received a call from the region manager of the meat company. He wanted to meet for lunch and I agreed. The next day I met with him and he told me that he wanted me back. He said that there was a branch managers position open that would be just right for me. The branch was located in Iowa. We I guess I was surprised that he would come and take me to lunch and offer me a position, a position that I had worked so hard to try and get before. I told him that I would have to discuss this with Darlene.

     We went outside and sat on the porch swing of our new home. The home was our dream home, made of logs and sitting on almost an acre. We had only been living there for six months and this was going to be a tough choice to make. We talked it over with our children and we all agreed that this was something that I wanted. So I went for it. I gave my two weeks notice and I left the grocery chain and went back to the meat company.

Part 67: Climbing To The Top!

I know I skipped a week. I slowing down the blog process as the book is winding down. Also last week was a holiday week and I sold a lot of chips. Still very tired, but here is a little tidbit of the next part of my book. Hope you enjoy.

A few recent by all the branch manager was off recuperating. The region manager came to see me, he stated that the sales were down and that that was probably my fault because I wasn't experienced at being a branch manager and running their routes and that I was so shorthanded, I assured him that I would do the best I could and that we would get the branch up and running as soon as we had a couple of new people hired to fill the positions that I would do would concentrate on sales. The region manager however disagreed with being and decided to bring somebody else than for the position of branch manager Bill branch manager wasn't coming back and you should have a new position selling throughout warehouses.

     Again I felt that I have been overlooked for the position of branch manager just as I was overlooked as sales manager at Coca-Cola. I knew that I could be a great branch manager thought was given a chance however they brought in someone from the outside that was young and that could do the job that that they felt could do the job. My job change a little bit, I was told to train him to teach him how to do the branch manager's job and that one day I would get my own branch somewhere else in the country.

     The new fellow arrived and I did my part and try to teach them how to do accounts receivables how to set up the ads how to use the monies that were given us every month to buy ads and buy down product all the while I was disheartened by doing this. I stayed doing this for a while actually another year and I couldn't befriend this guy at all but just wasn't to be I guess in the meantime several people were retiring from their jobs so we had three or four people and the first year and a half retire. That meant that I was going to be on the routes even more running routes by myself as a route salesman, even though I was a route supervisor.

     One day I got a call from Bill branch manager he wanted to meet with me that one of our customers. I met with them in a customer and the customer offered me a job and you'll branch manager told me I should take it. The new job would be to learn to be a general manager over several grocery stores in this chain. The position gave me a company car and good pay and some benefits. I gave noticed to the meat company and I was gone. 

Part 66: Climbing To The Top!

I just realized that I missed last weeks blog. Sorry about that. I was very busy working on the job and around the house. I guess I just forgot! Well I hope you enjoy this next part as there are only a few chapters left.    

     A year went by very quickly and soon it was another retirement and then another retirement and I had my choice of routes I went onto a route in the city it wasn't a very good route but it was close to home and I knew the territory well. I took this route and within a year it was in the top five. The route supervisor that it had helped me come to work with the meat company had taken another position outside the company so therefore this position was open. I knew how to be a route supervisor from when I was a District manager at Coca-Cola. I filled out all of the sales charts without anybody knowing about it. I updated all the sales that everybody needed to know I made sure everything was on their clipboards. The branch manager began wondering why or who was doing this.

     After a short time he figured it was me I was the one that had the initiative to do what a route supervisor would do. He offered me the position and I took it I was the new route sales supervisor for this meat company.

         Things were very similar here as they were when I had come off the route a Coca-Cola and became a District manager. There were older salesman and there were newer salesman. Attitudes were the same as what I had seen at Coca-Cola the older salesman knew everything and were not up to learning anything new it was their way or the highway after all they had seen all management come and go.

     These things I had been faced with this before. It was nothing new to me and I decided to tackle the job by again jumping on the trucks and going with the older salesman and learning all about them and their lives and what it was like for them on their routes. After a while the communication got better with these people both old and new and they accepted me as a route supervisor.

     The branch manager and I became friends and every weekend we play golf together. I thought the branch manager was in pretty good shape as we walked the whole course 18 holes every weekend. One weekend however after we played golf I got a phone call later in the day. He had to go the hospital he was having a heart condition. At the hospital they found a couple of arteries that were totally blocked. He was to have bypass surgery that meant that I was going to have to take over the position as branch manager temporarily and as route supervisor. At the same time we had a couple of new hires that we brought in to train for the routes and wouldn't you know it as luck would have it they both quit on me the same week.

     The call to the region office to let them know what was happening wasn’t easy, they decided to bring in a couple of people from out of town from another branch to help. Before those people arrived from out of town I found myself upon the trucks running routes by myself I tried to cover all the large accounts by myself and then any phone calls that came in from smaller ones that needed service I would try to get those customers as well. I tried to do the best that I could, in turn my numbers got weaker each week. I even cut the grass. I did everything around the branch that needed to be done to keep the branch running.

Climbing To The Top: Part 65

Still hot? Why yes it is. Just like a steam bath! Good excuse to stay inside and write. I'm entering another contest. Another childerns book. Wish me luck! Please enjoy this next part.


I didn't know how to really quit that job, they were very positive about my selling. That week I sold five cars and they knew I was on a roll. I did however give them a notice of one week. I told him that I was leaving and that I was going to a new position with a new company on the following Monday. They tried talking me into staying but I just couldn't do it. That week a new set of trucks came in on the truck I spotted a pretty black little Ford truck that I thought I would need, after all I've been using one of their cars and I needed one of my own in order to get to the new job so I applied to get the loan on this new truck and I was given the loan. The loan officer told me that when a salesman buys a vehicle usually that is for sure that he is going to get leave and go somewhere else to work.




That last Saturday that I was to be at work they were going to have a sales meeting. I stayed behind without going to the sales meeting it was early in the day in the dealership was not even open yet however there were a couple customers on the lot looking at the vehicles won a particular was looking at my new truck I went out to the lot and talk to the customer I talk to the other customer as well until I be with them in a minute one customer was interested in my truck so it took them back to where the trucks were located a told him that I would be back in a moment. I went to the other customer and he was interested in a used car, I told the customer that the dealership was not open yet but that I would be happy to take care of them as soon as it was it was to be open in a few minutes.



On my last day at work the Saturday before I was to start my new job I sold 2 1/2 cars half car meaning that you split the deal between yourself and another salesperson so I ended the week on a good note.



I arrived at the meat company on Monday at an early time of six o'clock all I had that day to do with paperwork so it was going to be rather boring but still kind of interesting. I met the administrator Marsha she had a mail the paperwork that I needed to fill out and I needed to go and take a physical so she had already set up for me and I went and did that to. After I returned from the physical, I met with the branch manager. He told me that I would probably be about all that we would do for the day and that the next morning I should arrive early. Early was five o'clock in the morning this is going to be new for me.



The next day at five o'clock in the morning I was at the business ready to go I met one of the fellows I was going to ride with that day on the route we had to put on these long white coats. The day was typical of any day on a route I remembered when I was on the route that Coca-Cola. It was very similar in sales except that it was meat instead of beverages.



It didn't take me long to get into the swing of things. I learned how to handle their computer system very well it was similar to what we had a Coca-Cola. Selling meat selling soft drinks through DSD sales, was still the same. It was only a few short weeks when one of the fellows was retiring that meant that the swing person that they had was going to fill that route. It also meant that I would be a swing person for about a year. That meant that the pay was going to be low but that my training was going to be at least a year and branch manager thought that the year was not enough to really learn the job but that I was a quick learner and then maybe everything will work out in my favor.

Part 64: Climbing To The Top!

Wow! Is it ever hot! Yesterday we hit 102 degrees. That is almost as hot as my book. Alright enough of that, I hope everyone is fine. This book has taken me just a little longer than I thought. Still it is very close to ending. Please enjoy this next part.


A few weeks had went by and there were no sales at all. I begin wonder about myself, whether I was going to ever sell another car. I guess I thought my luck had run out and so I decided to approach Dan the guy that I'd sold the car to. I called Dan to see if they still had a position open. Dan said they did and that I should come and apply for the position, he told me to come on in Monday.




I showed up bright and early looking my best I wanted to impress after all I was a salesman in getting back in a route sales was truly what I thought I would need to do. I had an interview with the branch manager, Dick, he looked at me and he wanted to know how old I was so I told him that I was 34 and that I was interested in this sales position and he wanted to know why somebody of my age wanted to do route sales he felt that I was a little old to do that.



I explained to him that I explained to him that I was great salesman and that I had been route sales before and I had planned to get his job. I told him that you had to start somewhere so starting at the bottom was fine with me I would prove myself in no time and you see that my positive attitude would gain sales and that I would build me one of the best route sales people he ever had as well as become a route supervisor and then his job as branch manager.



He told me that he thought that I was a little cocky but still I showed a very positive attitude and he that he would give me a try. I was to start as soon as possible and that would be on the following Monday. I would still have time to sell cars maybe my luck would change and I would get a couple of sales in before my time to start a new position.



Sure enough my sales changed and I was on a roll I started selling cars like there was no tomorrow I don't know what it was I must've had a heavy burden lifted of worrying about sales, worrying about making money, but anyhow it still worked out in my favor and I was selling cars. Although I was selling cars and that I'd sold a few that week, Darlene was still convinced that I needed to take the new job. I assured Darlene that I would stop selling cars and that I would take the job. I knew that it had great benefits, insurance, pension, and 401(k), everything that we really needed to start a new career.

Part 63: Climbing To The Top!

Well in case you didn't know it I am getting close to the end of my book. Only a few chapters to go. I hope you have enjoyed the book so far. Feel free to e mail me your responses. The next few chapter will go by quickly and then on to publishing. Please enjoy this next part.

When I hit the sales lot I was running. I thought I was that good that I was going to be the very best salesman. Talk about learning to be humble! Selling cars was tough. I started looking for ways to help me be a better salesman. I found a couple books to read related to sales. One book is probably the most popular book in the success world by Napoleon Hill, Think And Grow Rich, the other by Tom Hopkins, How To Master The Art Of Selling. 

     Sometimes you win without winning the actual prize. Recognition is a very thing for a salesman and I always, even now, loved being recognized. To be awarded Salesman Of The Month was an award that I accomplished quite a few times. I had never reached Salesman Of The Year until many years later in my sales life. There are a few reasons for this. When there are changes to the routes or you get promoted to a position and of course changing jobs. Being recognized even by being told what a great job you are doing seems to play into the ego of all salesman and managers. The dealership was no different, when you sold a car you were praised, when you sold the most for the week or the month you were rewarded. They knew that praising their sales team meant more sales.

     There were thirty sales people on the floor. It was cut throat. The was no organized up system. An up was a customer. When an up came to the sales lot who ever was the most aggressive sales person was who got the chance to sell. We were allowed to sell new and used cars and trucks. This was a very aggressive dealership. High pressure! No customer walked away without at least two sales people talking to them. Once I even saw the general manager, this little short red headed man is a suit with always a bright yellow tie, go running out onto the lot chasing after a customer leaving and trying to get them to come back inside. That’s pressure! Pressure on the customer and on the sales team.

     After the first month on the lot I was eighth in sales out of the thirty sales people. Believe me it was good to be in that position and every one in the dealership knew who I was, however It was a year of recession,and customers buying big ticket items were not plentiful. So being in eighth place only looked good on the tote board not in the paycheck. In most dealerships, even today there are only a few very successful sales people working there. I needed to find something else and quick.

     A few months went buy and I got a couple that were going to buy a car from me. It took a while to get the finance officer to get the job done and it was approaching lunch time so I sent the couple in what was to be their new car to lunch when they returned the finance manager was ready for them. I sent the car to be prepped. After the financing went through there was a period of time while we were waiting for there car to be finished prepped. I talked to the customers, the fellow, Dan told me that I was the best salesman he had ever dealt with and that he was a manager for a company that sold meats using route sales. He said that he had several people retiring soon and then he offered for me to apply for a route sales position.

Part 63: Climbing To The Top!

Wow is it hot outside or what? Here in Kentucky it has stayed in the 90's since June. So staying inside is easy to do though I must admit I still have a lot to do outside. So stay inside and enjoy my next part.

     My ten years at Coca Cola were some of the best years that I had in my sales career. I would have still been there or I would have retired from there except that I let my ego get in my way and I could not find a way to humble myself at that time. I had been a district manager for three years and I had made my numbers every quarter that I was a manager. 

     Doug had been promoted to General Manager in another state, and he had recommended me for the Sales manager position, I was looked over for someone else with less time and not as much success. I was so angry that I made a mistake, a very big mistake. I left and went to be a Sales Manager for one of my customers. End of my time at Coca Cola.

     It was 1988 when I took this new job at a large petroleum company local to the area. It was a family owned business and I was the first outsider hired into this position which had been handled by one of the owners. I received a little more pay than I was receiving at Coke. I had a company vehicle and my own office. I was in charge of ads for their c-stores. I helped to oversee the c-stores too. Once a week I would go and deliver oil products to some of the customers that this company would job fuel to.

     I missed selling and this was not selling. The job took a toll on me and after one year I became so very unhappy with what I was doing that one day I quit. No new job to go to, nothing. I look back and I think about how if I had just been humble when I was at Coke, my life would have been different.

     I looked in the newspaper for a job. There were not a lot of sales positions that looked right for me. I thought that maybe I could sell cars so I applied for a sales position with the largest Ford dealer in town. I was hired and there was to be a lot of training before you could get to the sales lot. The pay was very different. It was based on what they called a negative draw. That means that you would draw a paycheck every week in this case $200.00 per week. That total for the month would be taken from the total commissions for the month. If your commissions were more than the draw that you received then you received the amount that you were over. There was insurance and a new car to drive.

   Training took about four weeks and it was hard for Darlene to pay the bills, but I was determined to make this work. I gave her my word I would try hard. I thought selling cars would be fun, but I found instead that it was one of toughest businesses in the sales world.     

Part 62: Climbing To The Top!

Alright, so maybe last weeks post was not what you expected. I couldn't help looking back through notes from the past as some of these  helped to shape me to be the salesman that I am. This next part is in part about becoming humble. In the world of competitive sales it is very hard to humble yourself. This lesson is something that I still have problems with. However when I do humble myself to a customer or a supervisor I find that the path to what I want comes to me. Enjoy this next part of my book. Be humble.

As a manager I had an expense account and was told to use it or lose it. Entertainment was a big part of taking care of the customer. I took customers to play golf regularly and we had tickets the the Colts on the 50 yard line. We had Pacer tickets. We had a block and there were special seats right under the goal. Our company had a couple of suites at the Indy 500 track for the whole month of May. During the month of May we were expected to use the track suites. We had pit passes and garage passes for the customers. There was always plenty of food and booze. As a manager I would stay straight and be there to take care of my customers. They were my responsibility. I made sure they got home safely.

    Using my expense account I’m sure helped me to get what I wanted from the customer. My business was getting stronger, sales were through the roof. One year there was a contest for a trip to the Bahamas. It was for management and for the salesmen. Our business was so good that of the six people in my district four of them and myself won a place on the trip.

     During the three years that I was a district manager my people helped me to achieve quota every single quarter. I was so proud and I was told that I had a really big head. I had a tough time learning to be humble. I loved winning, I loved my people winning too. Once there was a contest for a cruise. Only one trip was to be awarded in a seven state region. Doug and myself built this really great display. We had a large super market with the space. We built two end caps with cans, and we bridged across the top of the two end caps and built a cruise ship out of cans. the next day after the display was built we hired a couple of models to pose in bikinis and we brought in some sand and fake palm trees. The pictures were great. Our display won. the results were that the manager of the store, my salesman, and the general manager of our plant got to go on the cruise. My name was mentioned in the article of the Coca Cola news letter. Now that humbled me.

Part 61: Climbing To The Top!

Sorry this post is late. I been taking care of business at home. The weather is hot but there are some things that just need to be done. Just as in sales, things must be done to prepare for future sales. we just came off of a very big week, and now is the time to take care of things that you might not have had time to take care during the busy week. At home I have gotten behind on some projects that I've needed to do. So here is this weeks part.

STOP, CHALLENGE, CHOOSE

Weather it's stepping off the zipline, making a difficult phone call, or telling someone what you really feel, here are three toolsfor helping you step through fear.

STOP
When you feel yourself getting fearful or anxious, stop, take a deap breath, center yourself and observe what you are thinking, feeling, and doing.

CHALLENGE
Challenge yourself, think of the things that are self-defeating. Whats the worst that could happen? Whats the best thing that could happen?

CHOOSE
Once you've challenged your thoughts, choose a response that's in your best interest. Then act upon your choice. What if? So be it!

STOP, CHALLENGE, CHOOSE to move through your fears and self-imposed bounderies.

These are notes from training that I recieved from my past when i was a manager. They hold true whether you are in management or in sales or even in everyday life. So do yourself a favor and Stop, Challenge, Choose. These will help you to be a better person.

Part 60: Climbing To The Top!

    Hello to all, I hope you are enjoying your summer so far.  This the Fourth Of July weekend so party on! Just try to keep all of your fingers in place. Fireworks can be very dangerous so be careful. This is one of the biggest weeks of the year for my business, we are selling a lot of chips. Well please enjoy this next part of Climbing To The Top!

By meeting every customer I could see all of the everyday challenges that the salesman would face with each customer. It also helped me to see where opportunities were for gaining space and for new product placement or to sell even the smallest display. Most of the smaller customers told me that they had not seen a manager if ever at least in a very long time.

     I felt that my plan was working and my sales manager, Doug felt that I was doing everything the right way too. Not every customer was great, some were to become a challenge for me too. I had a customer that owned three super markets in a small town in my territory, I had met with the buyer for our weekly appointment and I had sold him on putting a can display in the front of each of their stores. After the meeting I went to each of the stores to meet with the store manager to secure the display placement. I had two of the stores done and I was feeling pretty good when I went to the third store. I had never met this manager before and I understood before I got there that he was an old school tough case. I went and met with him. I told him who I was and his response was, “so what does that mean to me?” I proceeded to tell him how I would be there to take care of his needs with Coca Cola. He told he would be the biggest prick I would ever meet! He kind of smirked and asked me what I wanted. I told him that I had met bigger ones then I was sure he was when I was in the Marines. I told him about the sale and that there was an authorization for a display in the front of the store. I think I gave him a challenge, because, for the next six months he had to prove to me that he was indeed the biggest prick that I had ever met. Displays were hard to come by. Luckily he liked the route salesman and we still able to grow the account.

     A few months later I was invited to play in a vendor golf outing and wouldn’t you know it, I was teamed up with the biggest prick that I had ever met. The store manager and I got along great. We both loved to play golf. I found out a lot about him. How much he loved golf and how he too had been a Marine. Now we had common ground. From that day forward I got the displays that I wanted and my sales grew even more.

Part 59: Climbing To The Top!

Hey what happened? No new post last week? Well, I was very busy working on my job and had a lot of chores to do. I really didn't have time to even open the computer. At any rate please enjoy my next part.

I decided to treat all of my people the same. I would give all of them their space and I would make myself available to them for what ever their needs were. The younger salesmen had been close to me when I was on the routes, and it was easier to work with them. However the older ones, the ones that had seen district managers come and go, were going to prove to me that they would be the toughest one’s to work with.

     They thought that I would just stay away. That’s what they would have liked. I decide to prove my worth to them by treating each one of them as though they were equal to each other. My goal was to get them to join together, to form a team. I had a challenge before me in order to get this done. 

     When a newer salesman came to me with a question, I referred them to one of the experienced salesman to get their answer. Then if they weren't satisfied with the help or did not get any help then I would come to their aid. I scheduled all of the key accounts on all routes in a way that I would also maybe see that salesman while he was servicing that account. Sometimes I would bring him to my meeting with the account manager. I would ask for their input as to what to advertise or how to display the product being sold. I felt that this exercise would help to develop the salesman to be a closer part of the team. He would then feel more confident in making his own sales calls when he was expected to.

     I climbed into the route trucks with the route salesman and rode the route with them, wanting to meet every customer on all of my routes. I believed that I should meet every customer on every route at least once. I believed that the small customer was the icing on the cake. In most cases the small customer were the accounts that had been with us the longest. I felt that we needed to take care of them just like all other accounts regardless of size.

     After the first few months my district made their quota. It was a great feeling for me to get out of the gate on a winning note. It was good for the people that worked with me in my district too. I still had an upward climb with a couple of the older people in my district. These were men that were set in their ways. They still wanted everything to be the same as in the past. Like most of us they didn’t like change. The change of having a new supervisor was bad enough, but now there also was a new general manager in place too. New rules, new ways of doing things.

     Change is never easy. Sometimes it’s forced upon us. But change is inevitable. It’s the very thing of change that drives our world in sales.

     I would be challenged with change too. The change for me was leaving the ranks of Route Salesman to management. I was also met with the same change as everyone else, a new general manager. At first these changes were not easy and I would come home at night and talk to Darlene about what was said about me through the salesmen and management and what was expected of me to do this job. Though she may or may not have understood Darlene backed me with encouragement and positive words that helped me move forward and succeed. Behind every successful man is a strong women. Darlene was the strongest person in my life, the strongest person I think that I ever knew. My mother was strong and stood with me in my early years and she had since passed the torch to my wife.

     Everyday i was at the plant before any of my people and I always had a short meeting with them to make sure that they had a plan for the day and to see if they needed any help to accomplish their goals for the day. I would run reloads of product if needed, if none were needed then once each week I would go with one of my people and ride along with them on that route for the day. By doing this I would get to better know the people that worked for me. I also would get to meet every single customer in my district, large and small.