This is how quickly things can escalate as this was one of the clients I visited on Wednesday last week and they reached out this morning having run out of packaging materials. I would have thought they would have stuck with their current supplier especially as this is now urgent having run out completely.
Normally I would have stock on hand and will only have that option by the end of this month for the just in case moments like this. Kind of worrying that no one noticed they were running out and would bring the business to a stand still. They will be receiving a delivery on Wednesday this week so this is a great result. They are an established logistics company who have no financial worries so they are a very good account to pick up.
I have promised a 24/7 delivery including public holidays mainly as I know no one lese offers this service and I would like to be the supplier they rely on. The hope is they do not phone on Christmas Day, but if they do I am happy with that because keeping the client is the goal here. If everyone else is at a similar sort of price it is the service that makes you stand out and becomes the selling point.
My son is pretty chaffed as he is the one who will eventually be servicing these accounts we pick up and we should pick up another 2 this week. The initial target was adding another 5 to our client base and I am confident we will land all 5. This is not difficult as you sell yourself first and then the product second sells itself due to the price and back up service.
The entire process from initial contact to landing a new client can take around 3 months which is why you have to be focusing on seeing and contacting new potential clients weekly. Next month being December is not a good month for contacting anyone as everyone in the logistics industry is working extremely hard and speaking to suppliers is not a priority. I do think adding 1 new client for every week of the year is doable and will shift focus onto achieving that for 2026. The other business is running well and I am not needed for now so at least I have the time to now set my son up.
Selling for me comes naturally and it is something I am really good at so I struggle when others who have the contacts do not land the orders. My sales lady in Durban has had zero sales and I contacted her this morning to give her a motivational talking to. She knows everyone and her contacts are like a whose who in the logistics business so she should be so busy. I will give her until the end of the year until I start asking for some of the contacts so I can speed the process up.
I find it frustrating knowing she has very little money and she should be rolling in cash and she just needs to land one account before she sees what I already know. With the people she knows she should be earning anywhere between $5K and $10K monthly without having to sweat and if she really pushed it $20K would be achievable. This is decent monthly income and a lack of self confidence is holding her back.
Employment these days is not easy to come by and finding a business that is self supporting bypassing all the company political nonsense is the smart move. She has applied for 3 positions and is still unemployed and firstly she is the wrong age being over 50 and she is white so she has very little chance. Setting herself up independently working as an agent for myself is her only chance of finding employment.
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