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At one point in my career, I sold cars. Two life lessons I learned were about tire kickers and the 100 pound telephone.
Like an old rotary dial phone, the 100 pound telephone really does exist. I saw it many times.
It was especially evident on the quiet, slow, days.
Days with very few people driving in to tour the car lot.
Walk-in opportunities near zero.
In an automobile dealership there are two groups of salespeople. There are the coasters and the go getters.
For the coasters, well, they continued to do what they always did. Stand at the window. Watch. Wait. And hope.
For the go getters, days like this were tackled as an opportunity to check-in with people they previously sold and to follow-up with prospects.
From time-to-time, I would suggest to the salespeople at the window, “How about making a few calls to some of your sold customers? See if you can shake the tree. Maybe get a referral.“
In response, I would hear a chorus of answers like:
The one that use to irk me the most was, “They don’t want to hear from me. They’ll just see it as a nuisance call.“
The 100 pound telephone syndrome, any excuse not to pick-it-up!
How about you? Have you experienced the 100 pound telephone syndrome?
Do you regularly follow-up with the people important to you and your future?
Do you actually schedule time to reach out to your supporters, your network, the people who influence you?
Regardless of your life situation – professional, industrial, sales, management, self-employed, network marketer, just starting out, whatever – there are people who helped you get to where you are today and there are people who can help you grow even more.
Are you maintaining a relationship with them?
It is our human nature to think no need to call, no need to send a note, no need to follow-up. We rationalize it as, “I will just be a nuisance.”
I get it. I really do.
Picking-up the telephone to call someone you might have only exchanged business cards with or perhaps someone you met through an associate or friend, is not easy.
It requires a lot of muscle to pick-up the 100 pound telephone.
Yet in that very act of reaching out you are doing something others are not. You are strengthening your relationship and expanding your opportunities with those people.
I was reminded of this recently. A client mentioned he was not getting any call backs from a trade show he attended.
I asked, “Have you reached out to the people you want a call back from?”
Silence.
The answer was loud and clear. The 100 pound telephone syndrome.
What does all of this have to do with you building your web presence?
Simply this.
There will come a time when you reach a rough patch. And there will be a time when it will just seem over whelming.
Pick up the phone. Call us. Email us. Text us!
Reach out in any way that works. We are here to help you.
Just like those car salespeople, your website will not miraculously come together simply by waiting, watching, and hoping.
When there are hiccups, and there will be just like there were slow days in automobile sales, listen to the folks who have been there, done that, and got the tea shirt.
We are DIYers here for you. Don’t let that little gremlin get between your ears and cause you to think … “They don’t want to hear from me. They’ll just see it as a nuisance call.“
Quite the opposite … we do want to hear from you 🙂