Thread by @ThyConsigliori

26 August 2021 #MyStory #8

The math just hit me. In the summers of 1980 & 1981, I only worked 6 weeks each, total of 12 weeks. This sums up to 11 weeks of no sale, and 1 week of 2 sales. And what sales they were!

2) Have you ever noticed how awesome the towing trucks are that tow out of service trucks? They're amazing machines, truly glorious. Just look at this incredible powerhouse!

3) I wish I remembered the name of the man who bought our first quarter page ad, and the name of his firm. It was a truck towing company, and it was based out of Northern Indiana. His purchase was an act of kindness, of respect as well, and a great decision.

4) I'll never forget driving back to Chicago from that meeting. I don't have any specifics, but I think I stopped and bought myself lunch. No matter. It was the drive home, knowing I closed a sale. Didn't realize it yet, but I was hooked. As in, for life. I love selling.

5) You know, his name might have been Jim. Maybe it really was, not sure. But that's what I'm going to call him. Jim attended our kick-off meeting the previous summer. Jim and Phil were longtime friends. Jim was no easy sell, mind you, but he was warm and friendly.

6) Jim put me through my paces. I had to give him the full pitch. I had to answer his questions about why the magazine did not yet exist and what was his risk. I had to answer questions about ROI and value. What closed the deal was Jim's ambitious vision.

7) He knew he would be the first advertiser to sign on. He liked that. I did NOT cut him any special deal or compromise on price. I'm guessing we charged him $1,500 for a year's contract. If so, then I covered for my first summer + $300 to the good.

8) Walking into our warehouse business, I was at least 6 inches off the ground. I walked up to Phil's desk. There was an office with, oh, five or so people in it, and everyone was always on the phone. I threw down the signed purchase order and walked away.

9) You know how real men in action movies never turn and look back at the explosions they just set off? That was me. I closed a deal. I sold the first advertising for my father's new magazine, as yet not even actually commenced. Who was the man? I was the man.

10) And I knew what it meant. Capital in place. First revenue accepted and in place. The magazine had just been born. He was its father. I was its midwife. I attended the birthing. I sold the first advertisement. I generated the first revenue.

11) A man of great passion, Phil struggled with love. To the degree I knew him, that magazine was the great love of his life. Conflicted, Phil loved his customers for his first 3 businesses, but hated the businesses themselves. He hated his life. He hated his wife, my mother.

12) We'll discuss the love and hate quotient between Phil and me, myself, another time. Just mind, he was a conflicted man. But that damned glorious little industry rag sheet magazine, he love it purely, completely, utterly. It was the great love of his life.

13) I'm thinking that my sale to Jim closed on Monday, 17 August 1981. Why? Because I know that my second sale closed on Wednesday, 19 August 1981. That's my birthday. I flew back to California the next day, to start my junior year in college.

14) The second sale was for $4,500. Who remembers AT&T, the American Telegraph and Telephone company? I just looked it up. They were broken up by the DOJ's Anti-Trust Unit in January 1982. The second sale I made was to them, just before the breakup.

15) Here's how that occurred. Frustrated with Phil's prospect list, I decided early in the summer that I needed to find new prospects. I don't recall the research process in any detail. I do recall this. I found a new contact, one Phil did not know.

16) I also just looked this up. Illinois Bell started in 1971. When I found them, they were 10 years old. And low and behold, they had an entire department dedicated to nothing but truck fleets. Remember, our magazine was called Transport Fleet News. It was PERFECT for them!

17) This is me in 1978, at the beginning of my senior year in high school. It's the closest picture I have to my meeting with AT & T on my birthday in 1981. And, I was wearing this exact suit. Man did I love that suit!

18) Naperville. I'm thinking an office building in Naperville, Illinois. I'd found this outfit, found its boss, called, set up the meeting, and showed up on the morning of my birthday. A truly fresh 21 years old. We walked through the information. All good.

19) Let's call my new friend Tim. I hate that I don't actually remember his name. He changed my life. Tim listened attentively and signed on without hesitation. Signed on? Yep. Our two-page centerfold. We were the magazine Tim needed. We were most close to his bull's eye.

20) And imagine that. A two-page ad, every month, from AT & T, the most powerful name in business at the time. Besides that, just consider the cash. $4,500 covered how much time for the magazine's costs? Leverage that against other advertisers? Success. The real deal.

21) There is a tragic ending to this glorious success story. I brought home the purchase order. A contract was required to seal the deal. Flying out to California the next day, I honestly thought I could trust Phil with the contract. I was wrong.

22) Please understand, I was thrilled with my $1,200 salary for the summer. I didn't need any commission. All I wanted was for the magazine to succeed. And I wanted to be able to claim credit for having generated $6,000 in revenue against my $2,400 in salary. I cared about that.

23) Phil never generated the contract. He never collected the $4,500. AT & T was never in our magazine as a two-page centerfold ad. He simply never executed. I sold and closed that deal. Phil, my father, refused to consummate it. That is a tragedy, believe it or not.

24) This was my prospect, not Phil's. This was my sale from start to finish. I did that. But it was never completed. Where Phil never forgave me for extracting his story from him, I never forgave Phil for failing to complete that contract. I still haven't. And won't.

25) Let's talk about that. Forgiveness is overrated. We're told, we do it for ourselves, not the other person. Okay. I get that. Hogwash I say. When you forgive someone for what they do not regret and will not change, you make yourself into a victim.

26) I have not, cannot and will not ever forgive Phil for failing to consummate my sale with AT & T's Illinois Bell's Truck Fleet Department. He was jealous. He did not have the chops to pull off what I accomplished. So he quashed me.

26) Here's what Tim told me that changed my life. We were done with our negotiation. The purchase order was being generated as we spoke. He looked deeply into my eyes and asked me, "How old are you?" I told him 21 that day. He simply shook his head in amazement.

27) Tim said, "I have 8 salesmen on my team. If I knew I could replace them with people like you, I'd fire them all today. With just 6 of you, I could be the most profitable department in Illinois Bell."

28) In school, I majored in Social Science, focusing on Psychology and History. I left for school the next day. But what I carried with me was the job offer. At 21, I could have worked for Illinois Bell Telephone. I was something.

29) I sold that manager. That my father refused to accept the sale tells you a great deal about him. He worshipped on the altar of his own ego. He did not worship on the altar of his son's victories.

30) Yet I found and sold AT & T. I did that.

And I knew that I could sell anything of true value. I am not a faker and cannot sell what I do not do or believe in. But, what I do, what I know...I can sell.

Today's thread - 26 August 2021 - ends at #30

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