Hank Trisler
And it’s been a brute, Jeffery. I hope you were as lucky as we were, in that we lost no family members, or others close to us. We did, however, lose a likely 6,000 innocent fellow Americans and that fills me with sadness and RAGE. How dare that low-life scum come into our house and kill us where we live?
Like you, I was in shock on Tuesday and sat watching CNN and saying: “Ain’t it awful?” The kids all called in and we said: “Aint it awful?” I’d call friends and they’d call me and we’d say: “Ain’t it awful?” I had fifteen customers set up to call, but of course I didn’t do that. It wasn’t proper.
On Wednesday, I lit up my computer and found I now had eighteen calls to make, but I didn’t. I turned on CNN and said to Barbara: “Ain’t it awful?” We were both thoroughly and appropriately miserable. Some time after noon, I was sitting in a funk, thinking about the terrible mess in which the terrorists had put us when a thought hit me, completely unexpected. Those bastards are winning. They have killed thousands of our fellow citizens, but there more important objective was to cripple the most wondrous economic machine the world has ever seen. If they could crap us out sufficiently, we’d all stop working, the country would plunge into depression and we’d be as economically miserable as them. They would win by default, with not a shot fired or another bomb detonated.
“NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEBODY SELLS SOMETHING” Red Motley said that some 50 years ago and it is as true today as it was then. If you and I don’t sell, the factories stop building, the trucks stop rolling and the whole economy shuts down. Salespeople are the foundation of the American economy.
I want to help with this horrible situation, but I’m too old and fat and chicken to go to Afghanistan and hunt Osama Bin Laden. It’s impractical for me to go to New York or Washington and help sift through the rubble. I’d be more in the way than doing good and they’d tell me to go home and drink my Metamucil. The blood banks already have more blood than they can use. What can I do?
I can sell. DAMN them, I can sell and I’m good at it. It is the only concrete thing I can do to help save my country. I snuggled in with my computer and began to dial down my list eighteen calls. Sixteen of the people weren’t there. Most of them were probably watching CNN and saying: “Aint it awful?” This is a completely acceptable human response. Ineffective, but acceptable. I reached two people and they were somber. We said: “Ain’t it awful?” But then we went on to discuss what we could do about the situation and how we could prevent our companies from slipping into the doldrums. When we stopped talking, they felt better and so did I. What can a salesperson do other than call people to sell goods or services and make our customers feel better in the bargain? I began to call people who were not on my list, but to whom I hadn’t spoken for too long. The results were very similar. They felt better and so did I. By the time business shut down on the Left Coast and I had to stop calling, I felt really good for the first time in two days.
Monday’s coming and I’m going to be up, bright and early (or at least early), and I’m going to be working the phones to save my country and my raggedy old butt in the bargain. I hope you’ll join me. To make it just a wee bit easier, I’ve posted the August 2001 issue of THE TRISLER TIMES to my web site. As usual, it costs you nothing to read and you just might learn something to help you in your business. If not, at least I can guarantee you a couple of grins which may help you feel better and if I do, I’ll have done my job.
> Hank Trisler
> Phone: (408) 978-6000
> Fax: (408) 978-6080
> e-mail: trisler@nobullselling.com
> Please visit us on the web at http://www.nobullselling.com
