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Seeds For Thought
Knowing Is Your EdgeKnowledge along with desire, determination, patience and faith are your keys. Knowledge will separate you from the competition and give you a winning edge. Knowledge will show you the roads to take and the obstacles to avoid. Knowledge is portable. You can take it with you anywhere.  Remember that the business doesn't matter; your style and attitude matters. How can you love selling tires? Maybe, you can or can't. 
You certainly can love the idea of making money from selling tires. You can make lots and lots of money from selling tires. You can live comfortably and invest and retire early from selling tires. You can buy a boat and go fishing and raise a great family from selling tires. You can help many worthy charities by selling tires.How do I know this about selling tires? I don't. I only know about style and attitude of a winning salesperson. I know that you can sell anything if there is consumer demand. I know that if you are a salesperson following the Catholic Action Principles™ philosophy that you will have the proper style and attitude. I know that you can go way beyond making a living; you can prosper. You can do this with your own tire selling business. Or, you can work for a tire selling company where they appreciate you. Among many things about the tire business, you'll surely want to know which tires are best and why. You have to know the various types of tires and grades of quality. You have to know manufacturers and suppliers. You have to know buy/sell margins. You have to know the wholesale price that you can pay your suppliers so that you can offer the tires to the public at a competitive price. You have to know about inventories, stock and storage. You have to know about the mechanical skills necessary to perform the various jobs at your tire dealership. And, you have to know how to select qualified people with these necessary skills. In the tire business, you have to know the difference between gimmicks and come-ons and genuine sales and values. You have to know who buys tires and when and why and you have to be able to vary your salespersonship accordingly. When selling, you have to know your customers. You must be attuned to your customers' primary objectives. Do they want safety, durability, style or a good price? Do they desire a combination of these factors? You have to be able to advise them professionally yet persuasively. You have to be able to sell on the phone as well as in the showroom. You have to know about all the items and services related to tires that can mean extra profits. If you sell one tire or four tires to the average consumer, can you sell one hundred or four hundred or four thousand tires to rental car companies, fleet buyers or government entities?  You have to know a lot to succeed in the tire business or any business. Knowledge is power. How do you learn about these things? You devote yourself to continuous, rigorous study. You commit to continual self-improvement. In general, you want to know the relationship of your industry to the economy as a whole. It's a good idea to get into the habit of reading one or more general business publications. General business publications include the daily newspaper, The Wall Street Journal and weekly or bi-weekly magazines such as Business Week, Forbes or Fortune. All of the major business publications have on-line editions. What do you want to know about your particular industry? In your specific sphere of business, you want to know everything. In most cases, you can't go to school for the information because the information is too specialized. You have to ferret out the information for yourself. You read the business. You talk the business. You work the business. You read the business. If there are books written on your specific business, you'll want to read them all. If there are books written about people who have been in your business, you'll want to read them all. But, that's just a start.  You want to get your hands on all the trade publications you can. You want to receive all of the manufacturer and supplier spec sheets that you can. You want to read your competitors like a book. You want to read their catalogs, their brochures, their fliers, their circulars, their coupons, their menus and especially their ads and anything else that they are using that they think will bring them new business. You want to be a master of the Internet. You'll want to study all the industry websites and the websites of your competitors. Of course, you'll want to create your own Internet presence. You talk the business. You'll want to attend all the trade dinners, meetings and conventions you can. As often as possible, you want to be able to "talk shop" with other people in your business. In other words, you want to be able to talk business with different people who won't find your topic to be completely boring. You want to talk with manufacturers and manufacturer's representatives and suppliers and agents and delivery truck drivers. You want to locate retired veterans of your business and you want to sit and listen to their stories and advice. Just think of how many people have spent thirty or forty years engaged in a business that you're just entering. What a great source of information and contacts! And, the icing on the cake is that in most cases they will be only too glad to answer your questions, based on their long years of experience. Remember that the secret of talking and learning is often to sit back and listen. Don't be an argumentative bore by trying to impress everybody with your newly found knowledge of the business. Sit. Listen. Learn. This is your objective. You will impress many more people through the simple fact of your success rather than by blowing hot air and trying to dominate every conversation. Even when you disagree with the speaker, remain polite and respectful. This is the attitude of a winner.  You'll want to visit both formally and informally, as many different tire dealerships as possible to assess locations, lot and store sizes, signage, sales presentation areas, customer waiting areas, work bays, storage areas, etc. You see the place; now look at the people. See the number of employees and how they both look and act. See the number of customers and how they both look and act. What is your overall impression? Is this a place where you would feel comfortable doing business? Get tough. Most people at work will not understand why you are doing all the extra work that you do. They may even scoff at your initiatives. However, you are a Catholic Action Principles Champion. You are a hard working spiritual thoughtful person of action. You have freely chosen a more challenging path. Of course, you have to do things differently. If you act like everyone else, if you think like everyone else, you aren't special; you are just like everyone else! How much information can you find on the Internet? As you read and talk and surf and experience, your base of knowledge increases and your chances for success increase proportionately. As a knowledgeable businessperson, you are often in a position to turn one good idea into a very profitable strategy. Where will the next good idea come from? Sometimes, it will come from a book, magazine, customer, competitor or the Internet. Many times you will find that new ideas, inspiration and a renewed source of vigor will come from your prayerful meditation. It happens. It happens all the time. Get in the habit of soulful reflection; pray. Good things happen. They happen all the time. Romano's Homestyle Pizza, ContinuedHowever, Kevin keeps his comments private. His sole purpose is learning - that is, self-education. If there is a weak spot in Kevin's research, it is probably financials. While it would have been impolite and counterproductive to ask a shop owner during either the on-site or phone interviews, "How much do you gross a week?" Kevin has gathered basic information by asking direct questions and receiving direct answers to questions, such as: "Could you give me a very rough idea of how many pizzas you think I could expect to sell in a week?" Here might be a typical answer to Kevin's question, "Yes, well I don't know. Newton's a good town but you got a lot of good shops there already. And, remember take it slow. It takes awhile to build a business up, you know. And, you gotta have a good location. We sell 450, 500 pies a week here plus we sell plenty of sandwiches but that's after 26 years in business. You can't expect to do a business like this right away." Whatever answer Kevin is given he is appreciative, "Yes, Sir, I certainly do that. Thank you." Even if Kevin thinks he can sell a thousand pizza pies a week, he must remain respectful and thankful to those helping him. He doesn't brag, argue, gloat or try to put anyone else's ideas down. He doesn't try to prove how smart or great he thinks he is. He listens. He learns. He is thankful. Humility is a virtue. Kevin asks, "What can I do?" rather than "What do you do?" when asking financial questions in all of his interviews. He gives the interviewee the opportunity and option to volunteer information or sidestep the questions. From any single response, Kevin may get answers with inflated or deflated figures. But, with all the responses taken together, Kevin gains a general sense of the volume he can expect from an average pizza shop. Source Three - For Sale AdsThe ad reads, Pizza Shop, top location and potential,Kevin calls Ventures and asks them to email him a copy of the listing sheet. The listing sheet should include basic information such as: address, ownership, income, expenses, rent, lease terms, menu, inventory and a brief history of the business and current status. From the listing sheet, Kevin should have a reasonably good idea whether this particular restaurant meets his acquisition criteria. However the listing sheet Kevin receives is inadequate. It shows the gross of the business to be $4,000 a week with listed expenses of $2,500 a week. And, it is obvious to Kevin that many line item expenses for such costs as uniform cleaning, printing, trash removal, and pest control; advertising and promotion have been omitted. At $4,000 a week, this shop may only break even with little or no salary to the owner. There has to be more to this listing. 
Kevin takes the initiative and calls the storeowner, Mr. Kozopolus. Mr. Kozopolus sounds like a really nice, talkative guy. He explains to Kevin that he was really half-hearted in listing the restaurant with Ventures Unlimited. He agrees to meet with Kevin and proves to be a great source of practical information. This is just what Kevin needed, an experienced mentor actually in day-to-day operations; making pies and greeting customers. After twenty years, Mr. Kozopolus knows the tricks of the trade and can accelerate Kevin along the learning curve if Kevin listens to learn. This is what sets Kevin apart from the ordinary. After a few weeks studying the business, he does feel entitled to debate with a proprietor who has decades in the business. Kevin also proves himself exceptional by offering to work for Mr. Kozopolus during his free time for no pay. How many people would be willing to do this? To Kevin, the learning experience is pay enough. Yes, certainly, Kevin should spill some sauce on his pants and get some flour in his hair before he invests his hard earned cash and leaves a good job. He should see the faces and hear the compliments of satisfied customers. He should observe how to deal with any complaints. So, Kevin is still working full-time at the department store. He is actively researching his new business. And, he is volunteering to work part-time in an operating pizza shop for a master willing to accept him as an apprentice. What has Kevin got? He has got a lot less time to watch television and carouse with his buddies. He has got a great opportunity to learn a business that can make him a fortune. Kevin is what Kevin must be; a hard working, spiritual, thoughtful person of action. Go to Lesson Six1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6Index
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