Cacophony!!!

Hi ,imagine running down a gravel country road in the pitch black dark with the surf roaring in the background and the lightening flashing and crackling in behind a curtain of black angry clouds crashing together to produce a deafening cacophony! This amazing amphitheatre greeted the Jones boy this morning,the wonder, power and the beauty of Mother nature,awesome!!bit scary though!!:)

DNS, not three letters that thrill me especially when they stand for “Did Not Start” my triathlon. There were a number of reasons the main one being a lack of time in the bike saddle prior to the event. Never mind it has made me more determined to complete the entire series later this year.

We reluctantly sold Sir Paul to a VW enthusiast last week, just one problem however, just like our motorbike sale,our buyer is from out of town……a long way out of town in fact,Christchurch !!!! Our buyer Jan (pronnounced Yarn) is headed up to Auckland to drive Sir Paul back via SH1 next weekend! Whilst we have sold our machine as a mechanically sound investment this impending trip has the potential to push that claim to the limit !!....good luck mate!!

I am always on the look out for new words or ones I don’t use a lot. Last week I heard one that I liked a lot and have attempted to use as much as possible recently. ‘Indomitable’ (incapable of being subdued : unconquerable) very cool to use. It is a good idea to incorporate new word usage into your vocab, why not try a new word every week…..starting this week….(mine is cacophony used above!!).

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend with family and friends as we head into yet another short week with Anzac Day approaching. I have added the Friday to create a nice four day long weekend. We hope to take Fletcher to his first dawn parade to commemorate our service men and women.

Cheers Jonesey.

Harry and the Hendersons used the thunder and lightening to good effect joining us petrified and huddled in our bed, together with Fletcher 6 in the Queen bed =chaos !!! :)

 

“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” Vince Lombardi

 

I am enjoying chasing leads in the field at the moment, banging on doors until they open and following up on referrals from the network we have established……sounds easy but it is far from it!

It is hellishly busy and the follow up is relentless and seemingly never ending. There are times when I feel so tired I cant continue but it is always the same thing that spurs me on and keeps me going! That is the sheer thrill of the chase and the buzzzz of winning and most importantly fear of losing!!

Quitting cant be an option, it is too easy to give up on a prospect who is hard to contact or elusive to the point of distraction !! That is the point where you need to double your determiination to make contact,set appointments and close sales.

It is particularly hard when you are out in the field on your own you have to be self motivated and driven but hey that’s why so many fail because they give in to the rejection, the pressure and the frustration of being a dreaded sales person….but guess what…..?

We are highly trained  professionals who have accepted a mission to sell to our existing and potential customers. We are ethical and honest and empathetic to our customers needs, we are going to make sure they deal with us because we are going to make it so much fun and mutually beneficial to do so.

Belief my friends belief in self, company, service and/or product is what we are about and what we have embarked on a lifelong career to convince all whom we come into contact with why we are out here walking the streets every day to achieve.

These are my self thoughts as I take on the world of sales every day, I hope they help you to do the same !! Good luck out there my colleagues !!!

 

“If you can accept losing, you can't win.”Vince Lombardi

 

'Fly' by nighters !!!!

         

Edition 181 Monday April 15th 2013

Hi ,white ceilings and walls are lovely and work well with the coastal theme however the common house fly,native to our hood is not coming to the party!! How is it they can suspend themselves from the ceiling upside down and still manage to mark my pristine paint job with their # twos?!!! Grrrrrrr, arrrrggghhhhh yes I am anal (excuse the pun) about this to the point of obsession!! This combined with enough dog hair discarded inside daily to make and sell wigs to bald people online tend to obsess my thoughts far too much. That is until I hear or see someone who has far greater things to worry about than I will ever have! It is then that I refer back to the ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’ mantra and realise the things I might perceive are problems don’t even feature on the problem radar of most others.So stop moaning when you have your health,happiness and a winning ruggers team!!

Speaking of winning what about those Breakers!!! NBL Champions for the third year in a row,cool!!

Winners are grinners and these guys certainly have made a lot of people happy over the years!!

I loved the story last week out of Christchurch about the Mum who has devoted her life to her two mentally handicapped sons. They are now in their early fifties and still both believe in Santa Claus! The Mum was appealing for some help and you couldn’t help but be moved by her story….bit like my reference above to there always being those who have bigger worries and need more help than we ever will.

We visited Nana and Poppa this weekend in the sleepy hollow of Devonport, they freaked out how big Fletcher had grown (now eight months!!),note to self we need to get there more often!!!!

I hope you were all able to catch up with family and friends too this weekend, there is nothing more important !!!! Have a great week ahead……….  cheers Jonesey.

Harry and the Hendersons are doing their bit snapping at flys around the windows and in mid air. Makes amusing watching like Mr Miarghi with his chop sticks on Karate Kid !!! :)

“Use it or lose it” Jimmy Connors

When we were kids at school we learnt stuff that we were told we would need for the future. That stuff was stored in our memory banks and I reckon most of it hasn’t been used to this day, well that’s how it feels to me anyway.

These days I find that the stuff I learn is from doing and that the more I do things the better I get at them. A lot of the stuff I learnt at school was theory rather than practical and as a result it varied greatly from the reality of actually doing things physically in the practical sense.

Enough of the rambling, what I am trying to say is that the people who succeed in this world are the grafters, the ones who fine tune, polish existing and regularly learn new skills(by doing).

The only way to do this is to always be looking for opportunities to extend yourself and your skill base.

To to this you have to be daring, to feel the fear but to take the plunge regardless, this is the only way you will get better and develop new skills and knowledge.

For example I was asked recently to run some workshops for a business I know little about. Instead of freaking out and declining I accepted and stepped up to the challenge. Some basic research and a consultative approach has led to a mutually beneficial outcome for all involved.

 I have got as much if not more out of the sessions as the attendees.  Any one can do this, you just need to always be on the lookout for opportunities to share experiences and  practise your skills so you can help others grow whilst getting better yourself….remember the goal for 2013!!!Be Better !

“Rather than viewing a brief relapse back to inactivity as a failure, treat it as a challenge and try to get back on track as soon as possible.” Jimmy Connors

Gold !!!

         

Edition 180 Monday April 8th 2013

Hi ,Zzzzzzz, Zzzzzzz, Zzzzzzzz the sweet sound of an extra hours sleep, gold !! Only trumped this weekend by Sara Lee apple crumble topped with slowly melting Movenpick maple walnut ice cream, also gold!!,Ahhhh lifes simple little treats and pleasures !

An extended Easter break enveloping a spectacular family wedding and visits to old favourite Matua and new favourite Auckland Zoo were definite highlights as well as the compulsory indulgence in annual favs,chocolate caramel eggs and hot cross buns with more than enough butter soaking slowly throughout the raisins and cinnamon ohhhh my god gastro gold !!

Hmmmmmm if I met my so called complimentary friend last week after our super indulgent wicked Easter he may well have been excused(not) for commenting about weight gain?!! Needless to say last week saw a return to the triathlon training with April 21 loomiing large on the radar!!

Poor old Oscar Henderson has pulled up lame and we find ourselves considering a number of options regarding the funding of surgery/ treatment including another house mortgage!!! When I pass from this world I want to come back as a Vet !!! Some tough decisions already taken with Sir Paul on the market after a brief stay with us and some big calls still to make. Normal family drama at 48 the house of Jones !! I trust you all had an awesome Easter break and enjoyed the two short weeks. A time to focus on where to from here as the wonderful Autumn hues abound and the thermometer drops slowly as our seemingly endless Summer drifts ever so subtly toward Winter!

Have a great week,  cheers Jonesey.

Harry and the other Henderson (Katie) love Oscar the magnificent to bits but reckon a donor hip is stretching that love a beach walk or forest track too far bro !!! :(

“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” Ray Kroc

Luck is a funny thing the more unlucky you think you are the unluckier you seem to get?

Then when you don’t worry about it you seem to get lucky breaks as you go along and sometimes find that you can get on a roll with one break seeming to come on top of the other and so on.

I have always believed you make your own luck and by just getting on with things rather than dwelling on others good fortune or your own lack of it that things will invariably work out.

Classic Example;….We are currently trying to source a new truck for our fleet but find there are no suitable new or second hand ones available, we are also trying to employ a new sales person but also find there is not a lot of suitable people walking around looking for the type of role we are offering.

In both cases we have particular requirements that the market seems incapable of providing at present……….until !!!........drum roll please …..

I was talking to one of my hardworking suppliers about a new customer when he mentioned his wife was pregnant with their second child. He indicated he was looking to sell his business and move into a more normal role that allowed him to spend quality time with his wife and young family…….WOW talk about a number of lucky breaks all rolled together!! From a point where we had no extra truck or sales person we are now presented with ; 1x truck (right size and set up), 1x sales person (right attitude and experience) 1x existing customer base and revenue stream, huge potential for future growth in an associated but new business area to the Green Gorilla!!

Crikey,who would have thought a multi solution to our needs was just round the corner? We would never have discovered this opportunity if we were busy dwelling on how unlucky we were at not being able to find what we needed instead of being focused on getting on with life anyway!

Hang in there, solutions to all our problems and challenges and more than our share of luck surround us daily…………GOOD LUCK haha !!! J Don’t wait, make some of your own !!!! Cheers Jonesey

“Diligence is the mother of good luck.” Benjamin Franklin

Doggie bag

         

Edition 179 Monday March 25th 2013

Hi ,its official the hours of weekly training have a new focus,I am on a collision course for the Mission Bay Tri series on Sunday April 21 yeehaaa!! Cant wait to have another crack at the triple torture test!

I am determined not to get drowned by the women who start their swim 5 minutes after the men unlike my last outing where several of the leading ladies swam right over the top of me L!!!

Speaking of audacious what is it with people who have to tell you they think you have put on weight?? I have decided it is they who have put on weight and they are merely attempting to deflect the focus off their own spare tyres and love handles. As I quickly pointed out to my so called friend who had the cheek to tell me recently he felt I had gained a few pounds…..”You are so right, it is muscle because of the training I am doing for the upcoming tri….now whats your excuse tubs? and by the way you are no friend of mine!! Grrrrrr some people really have no idea !!!

I love walking the hounds , it is therapeutic for Harry and the Hendersons as well as the great white golf ball hunter. Things can and do turn to crap (quite literally) sometimes when the canines come across a human deposit left by a desparate golfer or freedom camper. As if eating the offending material isnt bad enough our three often feel the need to roll themselves in it. Apart from cursing the offenders and the dogs it makes for an interesting car ride home !!!! yuk !!!you have to laugh/choke!

Paul got a much needed stretch of the mags this weekend as we picniced again amongst the sunny vines at Matua, love where we live and that we get time to do this together most weekends!!!

I hope you had a good weekend, the penultimate one before the Easter break, yay bring it on !!

Have a successful and safe week ahead, cheers Jonesey.

Harry and the Hendersons reckon golfers and freedom campers need to pick up their poos in bags just like they do!!!!!(no complaints there from the grumpy man!!!)

 All right Mister, let me tell you what winning means... you're willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else.” Vince Lombardi

We have recently won a couple of tenders where we were the incumbent provider of services. These are times when you have to back yourself and believe in what you are doing is the best thing for your customers. There is always a temptation in the face of intense competition to doubt yourself , what you are providing and to feel pressured to cut prices to hold the work.

In each case we backed ourselves and the relationship we had formed with the key people in both organisations. Interestingly they decided to stay with us even though their previous suppliers submitted lower prices in an effort to win the work back !!

It proved for me that we didn’t have to lower our prices and that our customers were happy paying a bit extra for a superior range of ;products and a better all round quality of service.

We had enough confidence in the benefits we had provided our customers to project more to come in the future if they stayed with us. Another thing we had done in both cases was work closely enough with the staff of both organisations so they saw us as a part of their team rather than a mystery/ghost supplier who didn’t really understand their business. These things weighed heavily in our favour as key points of differentiation when it came to re-awarding us another contract term!

So there you go, all this stuff we talk about in the ‘Sizzle’ can and often does have a huge effect in determining the future success of your business. You have to back yourself and believe in your product and business! Then you need to project that at all times to prospective and existing customers…..ask yourself “Are you living and breathing your company vision with relentless energy and enthusiasm?” If not , why not?? Because you need to be……….daily…..Good luck.

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way” - Henry David Thoreau

'Hand me ups'

         

Edition 178 Monday March 18th 2013

Hi,it is kind of cool having adult children,mainly because in most cases they don’t live with you and there are some other fringe benefits. I have found our four boys in their twenties and thirties to be a constant supply of good quality work and casual clothing, in fact I havent bought a stitch of clobber for years!! It was all going swimmingly until the recent ‘do’ at our place when they all recognised bits of their ‘pre loved garb on the old man and spent some time ribbing poor old ‘steptoe’ Jones J

I guess in our situation being ‘older’ parents it is also very cool to be able to hand up and hand down baby/kids clothes to our siblings young families as well. We are pleased our kids recognise the value of recycling stuff including clothing not that they have much choice with the Green Gorilla around !

From the Fletcher file; we can confirm last week was a big one on the business/finance front for our little man opening his ‘kiwi saver’ account with $1000 ‘free money’ contribution from John Key and to cap it off he won $20 in the latest bonus bonds draw! Yes FJJ is a winner, now how about those Mighty River shares Dad?? A visit to Plunket last week confirmed the rumours that this kid qualifies in the heavyweight class for his tender age cruising along at 98% growth weight and height!

We had fun this weekend getting caught in the rain for a change, seemed silly to waste the chance to get soaked given we havent seen any moisture for so long. Paul the VW spent the weekend under his flash new cover and the Blues retained their existing record with the bye this weekend Yay !

I hope you had a good weekend mixing some fun with rest, relaxation, family and friends.

Have a great week ahead, cheers Jonesey.

Harry and the Hendersons love Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain !!Scooby Doo !

 “Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think”. A. A. Milne

The humble Green Gorilla continues to fly under the radar but it is getting increasingly difficult as we come to the attention of more customers and more of our competitors!

We recently acquired another business and their customer base that we have ‘tucked’ into our existing business to give us a more economical and profitable ‘critical mass’ of business in a particular service division. As part of the customer base we have several companies in our industry that we provide this collection service to as part of a range of waste and recycling services they offer.

The companies we are ‘subcontracting to have their own sales teams out selling their services who are now also adding the service we provide to their own range. This has given us an opportunity to work smarter by getting together with these other sales teams to provide training on our own unique points of difference. By doing this we have effectively quintupled our own sales team and we now have an extra nine sales people on the road selling our services……hold on to your hats folks this could be bigger than Texas, Topsy, Green Gorillas and sliced bread put together!!

Here we were wracking our brains about how to increase our market share , do we hire more people and wear more shoe leather knocking on doors or do we get smarter and use a resource that is already out there calling on the customer base we want to penetrate further?? Sure the answer came from the acquisition but it didn’t have to. The companies we are partnering with were there anyway and open to the combined approach to growing business and profit. This is a good example of the value to be gained from ‘thinking smarter and outside the square/box’  We all get radical ideas from time to time but not many of us have the confidence to pursue them,back yourself,its worth a crack!

“Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.” Russell Simmons

"Better never Stops "

Edition 177 Monday March 11th 2013

Hi, the newest addition to our family (‘Paul’ our Vee dubbie) couldn’t have got a better reception. He got a thorough clean inside and out, a naming ceremony(‘Paul’after ‘beetle’ Paul McCarthyJ) and his very own car cover (top of the line ex Repco!!).As with most impulse buys it all seems to have turned out ok in the end……except for the fact that the new ownership model doesn’t appear to have a clause in the terms and conditions that allows for the purchaser (muggins) to have driving rights!L

Christine correction;…Paul is the same age but they were both born in 1967 not 65 as reported in ‘Upbeat’ 176!!! No wonder I am not allowed to drive ……beetle off Jonesey Boy !!!

Fletcher file; Our little boy was 7 months old on Saturday and we celebrated with a couple of glasses of sparkling pinot in the brilliant sunshine amongst the vines at the Matua Estate. Paul was our special guest having done his bit by transporting us there in classic style.Fletcher also had his first visit to Play Group last week and immediately took control of the black sandpit,yum sand(photo).

Noticed last week; The Auckland Blues rugby slogan for this season is “Better never stops” not entirely unlike my own multi goal this year…..”Be Better.” Also, saw a guy walking along the road with a “Bring back Buck” shirt on…….good onya mate !!

We enjoyed watching the Black Sox NZ Softball team instead of ruggers this weekend YAY !!!

Life is good and we are lucky to be able to enjoy it by doing heaps of stuff together close to home. I hope you are also focused on enjoying your lives by taking time for you and those that mean the most to you and your family. Have a great week ahead, cheers Jonesey.

Harry and the Hendersons also love eating and spreading black sand everywhere especially in the grumpy mans bed!!, he may as well sleep on sand paper or at the beach!!!grrrrruff

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”  Aristotle,

I attend a Toastmasters meeting fortnightly on a Tuesday. On that day for the rest of the day I am on a roll and always have an amazing day. I feel in control,unbeatable,bullet proof and confident.

In effect Toastmasters is a training session where all the communication skills I am going to need are practiced before I need to use them. If you take the sporting analogy it is no different to practicing a sport before playing a game. It is the practice and the quality/regularity of that practice that ultimately determines how well we perform both individually and as part of a team.

Golfers practice their swing, their drive, their putting constantly so they can improve their game. As employees we need to practice the skills we use at work on a regular basis so we too can improve.As a sales person I need to practice presenting and listening so I can be a more effective communicator with my customers and my staff. The only way in the two weeks between Toastmasters meetings I can do this is to seize any opportunity I can to practice my skills. This involves presenting solutions to customers and accepting invitations from others to present to any one who wants to listenJ.

With most things in life if you don’t “use it you will lose it” , this definitely applies to sportsmen and women (ask Tiger Woods!) and it applies to us as well no matter what we are in to.

One of the things we talked about at last weeks meeting was ‘never saying no’ and how we could avoid saying no to requests we get from people be they customers, staff or friends. One of the things we came up with was challenging ourselves not to say no in the coming weeks but to look for alternatives like, “I cant do that but what I can do is” so in essence always looking for a positive alternative to saying no. I have had fun putting this in to practice but where I have managed to do so the outcome has been positive and mutually beneficial. Why not do some training and join me !!

“The way anything is developed is through practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice and more practice.”  Joyce Meyer

'Beetle' off !!!

Edition 176 Monday March 4th 2013

Hi, my Dad is an impulsive buyer,when he sees something he likes he buys it without too much thought for any implications thereafter.I remember times I came home to find his latest impulse buy sitting in the driveway. A lot of the time they turned into ongoing ‘fixit’ projects but became treasured family possessions. They were mostly random vehicles or boats and quite often a bit unusual looking but that was my Dad.Well I am certainly my Fathers son because I definitely have the impulsive buy gene. A classic example last week was my impulse purchase of a VW Beetle classic car. Born in 1965 (same year as Christine so on a winner there!!) she is a honey and totally irresistable. Hidden down a lonely little industrial street in Pukekohe I was drawn like a magnet to it for some strange reason and the rest is history! It was so impulse that I didn’t even open the door or start the engine! That didn’t really worry me until the seller offered to deliver the car to us on a transporter! (crikey I hope it has got a motor !!) See attached photos, I am sure you will agree she is a little cracker!(with a motor J).

As Muriwai residents we found our bit of coast and our village the centre of national and international attention for all the wrong reasons when one of our locals (known to us) was tragically attacked and killed by a shark last week! Certainly every swimmers worst fear and nightmare and something that has stunned us all. Life is so unpredictable sometimes it is scary,who knows what is going to happen when and why?, best to make the most of every day because none of us know how long we are here for. Seize the day and make every minute you are here count, never miss an opportunity to make a difference to yours or someone elses life

I hope you had a great weekend in the sun yet again, have an awesome week, cheers Jonesey.

Harry and the Hendersons continue to love those Blues! = a happy ‘Rugbyboy’ Dad!

“It's never crowded along the extra mile.” Napoleon Hill

Going the ‘extra mile’ is something that has created a lot of opportunities for our business during our short history.Whilst mostly new opportunities,doing extra last week helped me to retain customers!

I took valuable time out of my day to rectify situations that threatened to cause business loss through cancellation! You see no matter how crash hot your service is (or you think it is) there is always the potential lurking to let down customers.

Both instances of going the extra mile involved doing stuff outside of my normal daily routine and job description. Have you ever read that sentence in your PD that says something like…..”these are your duties and anything else you are asked to do from time to time”. So many of us overlook the need to extend ourselves outside our PD no matter what, in the interests of customer satisfaction!

Last week saw me jump inside a bin to hand unload it in my work clothes, an interesting situation that’s for sure especially when the local cats had been there first!! My car smelled like a litter tray for a couple of hours afterward, but hey I am hopeful this display of commitment will mean enough to our customer to retain our services. If it doesn’t I will be after those cats!!!

The other situation saw me dodging a 20 tonne loader at a transfer station to pull some plastic pallets out of the rubbish to deliver to another customer to protect the surface under our bins on his housing subdivision! I didn’t have to but I did because I cared enough to make a difference to the overall service we are providing. I ended up getting covered in dust and dirt for my trouble but figure it will be worth it in the long run as we continue to be the exclusive provider of services to this huge site.

So there you have it, the Green Gorilla leading by example and saving the customer and the planet along the way. New business is cool but hanging on to existing customers is equally as important !

Edition 176 Monday March 4th 2013