Most of you who have been keeping up with my posts know I have started a new business. I have been reluctant to push it up until now as I was waiting to sing the business partnership before I showed my hand. People can change and greed is in most people so I have had to wait and be patient. I am not saying that my business partner is greedy or underhanded , but I didn't want anything to cloud his judgement.
Today I showed some of my cards that I have been holding and made a few phone calls to contacts that can open things up and change the whole business. The phone calls went better than ok and it was like Moses parting the Red Sea. It is difficult to get into these places and you need some inside knowledge who can make things happen. No matter how hard you try somewhere along the line you will find your path being blocked. These accounts are not normal accounts and are dream accounts that very few ever get close to.
I don't like calling on favors and have always tried to do things on my own. Sometimes though it is advantageous to use who you know as everyone else does it. The first one is a family member who is retired now but was an International CEO of a massive blue chip company. My business partner has managed to get around 10 percent of the business with this company already and after one phone call have been promised the other 90 percent plus other items. i had no idea a distant relative is also still involved and is the uncles brother in law.
The funny thing is I have never asked and he was so willing to help and offered way more as his contact list is basically who is who in the zoo and promised more than a foot in the door, but guaranteed business. No wonder it is hard to make inroads into places as the accounts are kind of protected unless you know someone.
The other phone call was to someone I met on a flight to New York around 5 years ago. He is high up in his industry doing seminars around the world and I got hold of him today. he had changed his number a few times since we first met and thank God for Linkedin. He had lost my number and we chatted for around an hour and are meeting up early next week.I didn't beat around the bush and asked for his help building up my client base. I had no idea he is sitting on the board of 3 massive companies and will introduce me to the right people.
Relationships are key to most things and first impressions do count. If you are selling an item that is similar to something else then it is the relationship that will win at the end of the day. I haven't seen him for years and yet we hit it off immediately as he is just an all round decent guy.
My biggest fear now is a good problem seeing how the factory performs under pressure as just these few accounts will treble the current business size overnight. I had a target in my head for year one and I may have to review that very shortly.