The best sales course ever - Girl Scouts Cookie Sales
Last year Fiona finished her first major sales training exercise, selling Girl Scout Cookies. The training process occurred "on the job," which meant going door to door for two hours around the neighborhood. Fiona's sales "manager" was her friend Phoebe, who had sold cookies 2 years prior and gave her great advice like:
* Know your product - people often ask, "What's the best flavor?" or "Which one has peanut butter?" Knowing the answer helps keep them interested.
* Don't worry if people don't want to buy. They may not like cookies or may not be interested. Just keep going. This really helped with the fear of rejection.
* If people don't answer the door right away, wait and then walk away from the door slowly and loudly (stomp and drag your feet). The customer may hear you and come out to see what's going on. This worked twice for us that day!
* Bring a box of cookies as a sampler. The new Cranberry cookies taste better than they sound and Fiona sold several boxes this way.
* If people don't eat cookies, ask them if they would want to donate to the troops. Amazing - teach them how to overcome sales objections right out of the gate!
* Always collect payment - ask for the money :)
As a professional sales person, I enjoyed watching the girls sell for many reasons:
* They asked the sales question, "Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?" and waited for the answer. Lots of sales people get nervous and "jump the question" just to break the tension, but not these girls!
* They were taking orders with no product on hand and no immediate estimate of when they would arrive. They had to sell the future and get people to want the product with no immediate gratification.
* They handled "warm" leads (i.e. friends) and "cold" leads (neighbors they'd never met), one after another. The cold leads were harder, but they sold just as well.
* They managed weird people well - one man had to tell them that they were late and he'd already bought 10 boxes the day before. Here's a guy in his mid 40s making the girls feel like they missed out, instead of just saying, "No thanks." In response, the girls thanked him and said they'd be back earlier next year... and were the "older" people.
Fiona later branched out and sold cookies at soccer games, the grocery store and at church, gaining confidence in different situations and practicing great sales etiquette. She sold at the top of her troop and made me proud :)
This year, Fiona surged ahead and learned a few more things.
* Start selling early to lay claim to the neighborhood. She came across another girl scout down the street who had not started selling her cookies. The competitor realized she'd lost out on selling on her street as it's really hard to sell to a house that just bought a stash.
* Print out a Google map of the neighborhood and mark the houses that buy big and the ones who reject you. Next year, we know where to go... fast.
* Be upbeat and positive. One woman had already bought cookies from her office but liked Fiona's approach and bought some more. Another lady didn't want any cookies around her house, but bought some for friends.
All these core ideas will help Fiona in her professional career. Thanks to the Girl Scouts for keeping up such a helpful tradition.
New shifts in learning - welcoming the potential of an iBook revolution
Do you remember your favorite textbook from elementary school? Yeah, me neither. I remember burning through Charlotte's Web in a single Saturday down by the beach. I learned Pi from A Wrinkle in Time and cried at the end of Where the Red Fern grows. Reading books were alive, but textbooks just delivered terse school-board-approved information. No spark, no wow, just the facts. Making info interesting was up to my teachers, who rose to the challenge and inspired me.
That was then.
Now, I listen to TED talks when I run. I hear from Planet Money, This American Life, RadioLab and Standford Entrepreneurs when I drive. I listen to everything in double speed, which works great as long as the speaker's accent isn't too thick. Awesome ideas, amazing delivery and astounding insight are all available for free, in literally thousands of hours of content. Now, if I'm not inspired, I just click Next and soak up another great storyteller.
Our children deserve this level of inspiration as well. Not just every so often, but in every lesson. Khan Academy's doing it with thousands of lessons for millions of people. RSAnimate takes great talks and brings them even further to life. And now Apple's introduced a new learning ecosystem to bring multi-sensory learning into thousands of classrooms. Auditory or visual learners in my class could never hear or watch a textbook, but now they can. Teachers will be able measure and monitor student progress the way that Pandora learns about your song choices, as explained by the School of One.
I've heard people complain about books going away. I too prefer the crispness of a page turn while reading a book I love. I just never felt that way about textbooks.
Corpus Christi School iPad program highlighted this week in the Palisades Post
This week the Palisades Post, our local newspaper, published a detailed article on our school-wide rollout of iPads from kindergarten through 8th grade. I'm quoted frequently throughout the article, but am over-attributed as the head of the Educational Committee. Here are some of my thoughts on the iPad program so far.
PROS
- Our Educational Committee broke lots of new ground quickly this summer to find leasing, insurance, subsidized internet connections and standards-approved digital text books. This deserves its own entry and will get more soon.
- Students and teachers have adopted iPads faster than laptops into the flow of the classroom. The iPads take up less room and turn on instantly, so they can be moved in and out of the lesson plan as a simple tool.
- Interactive textbooks pipe in much better information, explaining concepts through video, audio and animation.
- Teachers can score tests in real time and discuss group performance issues with the class. When we were on campus, the 8th grade was reviewing an Algebra test, looked at a problem that seemed off and discovered a typo in the test!
- Backpacks are much lighter as books are becoming digital.
Kindergarten class learns to carry their iPads like teddy bears, wrapping both arms tightly around their devices.
CONS
- Games, digital books and schoolwork on iPads don't mix well. It's too easy for that 20 minutes of iPad reading to become 5 minutes of reading and 15 minutes of Temple Run. Although Corpus Christi allows games on screens 3 or 4, most parents have removed games all together mainly out of frustration.
- iPads are cheaper than laptops, but they still are $500 investments that require extra care and attention. Ours already has a small crack on the screen.
- More e-textbooks are needed, as the industry is just starting to provide state and national standards-certified textbooks.
- Our kids forget to charge their iPads, which isn't a problem for standard textbooks.
- Managing Apple, Google and school accounts across multiple iPads becomes confusing, especially for kids under 13. I find toggling between their accounts and my account to install paid apps or buy books is still a pain, as their apps now show up on my iPad.
- iPads introduce messaging and video chat, which forces conversations of digital communication protocol and personal relationship management. Get off ichat, go outside and hang out with your friends to experience Actual Reality.
iPads next to the traditional arts/crafts supplies. iPads are additive here - hands on skills will always be necessary.
Music appreciation day
I'm preparing for a music class tomorrow with the 3rd grade and remembered one of my favorite songs, Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens, that I heard in elementary school. Check out this version on YouTube, cut to clips of Tim Burton. Classic!
(download)
Nicely done, Pythonthepirate! Here's the YouTube link.
Trying to catch Santa Claus in the act!
Christmas Eve, my older daughter Sophie came up with an ingenius plan - set up the iPad on record and see if she could capture Santa Claus!
Separately, Fiona (younger daughter) set out cookies, milk and carrots for Santa & friends.
Sophie DID catch something on film, but it wasn't what we expected. The iPad recorded for 50 minutes before running out of space... otherwise she would have seen Santa later on that night. He better be careful - these 10 year olds are getting pretty smart. Enjoy!
(download)
What's the best camera? The one you have with you...
I'd have to extend the phrase to be the best camera (iPhone 4s) and app (Autostitch or Camera+). Sure, the kids may hate it but we'll have a lot more photos... and some will even turn out well :)
Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Sophie and Fiona walking down the path at Ecola Park.
Sophie's having so much fun, she can't be contained in a single location.
I'm gonna getchu :)
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from Seaside, OR
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Updated Road Warrior - Verizon iPhone 4s & iPad2 combo
After years of dropped calls and multiple complaints, I finally switched over to Verizon from AT&T and onto the iPhone 4s. Results so far - Verizon is a better choice, but still far from perfect. Here are some of my observations over the last 2 weeks, specifically as it relates to cell carriers.
Call strength - better, but drops hard
AT&T phone calls failed miserably in 3 places for me, at work, in the car and at home. Cell calls at work were the most problematic, because they occurred most often. I would only have 1 signal bar and would routinely ask people to call me on my office phone in order to understand them. My conversations from work to home typically resulted in 2 to 4 drops within the 30 minute trip. At home, I simply wouldn't bother.
With Verizon, my signal strength shows 3 or 4 out of 5 at both work and home. Woohoo! Conversations come in clearly and I am much less concerned about having to repeat myself or hang up and call from the landline. Unfortunately, Verizon didn't pass the tech support test, which means repeating the long hold process if the call drops. Last week, our home phone line cut out completely, so I rang Charter tech support to troubleshoot. Two minutes into the lovely hold music, the connection failed, even though I had 3 bars and clear sound. Call #2 failed immediately and call #3 lasted for five minutes, long enough for me to reach a customer service agent and talk through my issue. That call dropped suddenly as well, as I was walking back to the computer room. Call #4 finally worked, because I "found" that reception zone by the window and didn't move.
Data Issues - Poor 3G coverage and no Internet during calls
AT&T couldn't make calls, but did serve up data pretty well. Verizon is flipped, which is strange. I notice this issue most with my new found friend, Siri, while driving in the car. I am a huge fan of voice dialing, which works really well on the iPhone 4 and lets me keep my eyes on the road. Voice dialing on the iPhone 4s sounds the same but requires a solid web connection. No connection, no voice dial :( This happens more often than not, which is a shame.
Verizon does not allow you to talk on the phone and connect to the web, which renders Google Maps ineffective.
I am directionally challenged, so this issue required resolution. My iPad still runs on AT&T (better data signal) and works really well as a temporary data screen on my dash. The Zagg keyboard case is heavy enough to stay in place without adhesive, making the iPad easy to setup and pack up.
Are you having luck with your vPhone?
Great message from my "other" day job - personal tech support
I do tech for a living, which means I provide tech support for friends/family on my off hours. I received this call from someone very close to me and just had to share (I received permission to post it, btw). Enjoy!
Hey Bill,I hate to bother you at work but I have a computer problem. I've lost my little round circle with a compass in it... the icon. I don't have it anymore and it says "Ethernet connected" or "Airport Self Assigned" and "Firewire not Assigned" and it says "Location Automatic" and then it says status, "I'm connected." But I'm not on Ethernet, I'm on Gmail and I don't know how to get my little round circle back with the compass in it. I don't know what I did to make it go away and I don't know what to do to make it come back. Could you give me a call because I think you could talk me through this. Thank you, bye bye.
Fortunately, I did nothing and the problem went away!
Do you have any shining moments in tech support?
Workplace Subjectivity Chart --> Absolute Genius
Thanks, mom, for sending this over! Very funny!
They are missing sales people... that would add even more levity to the situation :) So, where do you fit on the chart?
About Me
Bill SewellLiving So' Cal with the family.
President of Wiredrive.
Bass player. Violinist.
Freeheel skier.
Beginning longboarder.
Learning to repair major appliances... cuz I can.
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