Another "New" idea that didn't sell...even for free
 

"We've been doing it this way for 40 years and it works just fine...thanks anyway". That's about the nicest response I had ever gotten to the "new" idea.

It wasn't really new at all. It was just a rearrangement, a change here, a tweek there, and the willingness to prove that it would work. We had to create our own company to prove it...and even then nobody would believe it or begin to accept it.

Following is an excerpt from the introduction to my book "The Ag Pilot's Survival Manual", that describes what we did.

<snip>
The aerial application industry was about 40 years old when Stan and I decided that things could be a whole lot better. We proved our point so astoundingly that when it happened right in front of them, people didn’t believe it was real.

When we finally got a shot to prove ourselves, and our secret business system, we had been ready for weeks and had been practicing and training for all those weeks.

The caller said we were to spray 1,100 acres of cotton at 10 gallons per acre and he needed it done NOW, TONIGHT. So we saddled up and were ready to start the job at 10 o’clock that night. Southern California has a lot of night work due to the heat of the day and the fact that the moth is out flying at night and is more likely to be killed. In the daytime the moth hides under the leaves.

We did the job, finishing up about 4:30 the next morning. By 5am we were just walking into the office when the phone rang. Of course it was our guy who needed his work done. “I’m out here at your airstrip and I don’t see anybody. WHERE ARE YOU I NEED THIS WORK DONE NOW” and on and on raving about the work. Stan told him we had already finished the work and were going to have our naps.

Well, the guy went ballistic yelling at Stan. He swore there was no way we could have done all that work with one airplane, and he was going to check every field before he paid us, and on and on he raged.

There were two other operators in the valley, one had 10 airplanes, and the other had 7. Both of them were swamped with work and weeks behind schedule in spite of their numbers. The 1,100 acres could be sprayed by the 10 airplane operator in 12 hours. Start at 10pm and finish around 10am, having sprayed half of the job in the daylight hours.

We had just done the work of 10 airplanes with one airplane and did it in just over half of the time. When the fields were checked, and he did check every one of them, and there was no question but that we had actually done it, a big light went on in the guy’s head. From that moment on, we had all the work we could handle, which was a bunch.

There is currently a buzz about a process known as SCAMPER, which describes how to take a business process or product and improve it markedly. We weren’t aware of the scamper system, but we invented our own. It boiled down to a statement one afternoon when somebody remarked “It’s all here, we just need to rearrange it”. And that’s what we did.

We modified the tools of aerial application and combined the methods of race car pit crews, to come up with a system for turning around on the ground in less than one minute. When the airplane came in for a load, we started timing when the tail wheel stopped rolling and stopped timing when the tail wheel started again. Where the accepted loading time was 10 – 20 minutes in any other company, we were saving 9 to 19 minutes per load. When you have a 34 load job to complete before the sun comes up, those 9 to 19 minutes per load come in real handy. Where the normal practice was to spend 5 of the working hours putting a load in the plane, we would only spend 34 minutes loading.

Over the years I’ve showed a few operators how to do that, but not a one of them thought enough of the idea to implement it. It’s different here, they’d say, we don’t need to save all that time.
<snip>
Photos here for those interested in airplanes.

Re: Another "New" idea that didn't sell...even for free
 

Whether somethings sells or not is NOT based on the merits of what's being sold, it seems.

What it IS based on is the question. I don't have the answer (it seems).

-- TW

Re: Another "New" idea that didn't sell...even for free
 

Most correct.


Correct again.


Ankesh gave the answer, you just didn't hear it.

I've got a friend in town who has almost the exact opposite personality than me. We help each other out on projects that take 4 hands instead of just 2. Some of them require 2 heads as well, but none of them require more than one decision maker.

More than a couple of times we've disagreed on a method to use, when I was right and he was wrong, but it was his decision to make. Days later he decides to do it the way I suggested, and each time he has said "I've figured out how to do this, and...". Like it was his idea.

I don't care that he thinks it was his idea. That's just me. All I want is to get the job done because it's the doing of it that's fun. It's also fun to watch him go through his decision antics, but I keep that part secret.

Emotions drive what people do. Those that need to be right will do whatever it takes to be right. When people buy something it's based on emotions first. What's in it for me?

You know that TW, yet you walk up to the girl and blurt out "Let's get married because you're beautiful, and I'm smart, and we can do this and that and it will be wonderful." And then you're hurt because she gives you an odd look and slams the door in your face.

What's up with that?

You're out there doing what most people are terrified to even try. Toe to toe with business owners, making an offer of some sort and being rejected over and over again. Most people would not even be out there unless you held a gun to their head. And even those would stop at the first rejection and tell you to go ahead and shoot, rather than knock on another door.

Having problems getting your idea across because your prospects are stupid, or liars, or crooks, or whatever other excuse you can name?

Take another look in the mirror that Sandi suggested. Look beyond the clothes and haircut. It's not the prospects, it's YOU.

I know I'm right (lol) because every time it's happened to me it's been ME.

I couldn't sell water in the desert at one time. The story I told about the flying company was proof of that. Couldn't sell the idea, so we created a company, proved it, made a pile of money, and moved on to other things.

Then I learned a few things about sales, and confidence, and such as that. The most important was that if you enter into a conversation or negotiation or sales presentation and you HAVE to win, you'll lose every time.

If you go in not caring whether you make the sale or not, you're just there for the experience, or just to test out another approach, or just for something to do one afternoon...you'll start making sales.

You care you lose. Obviously you care. End of story.

This is my first pain free day in over a month, and the first day of almost no drugs, and I feel great. That's why I'm going on and on. Sorry if I've annoyed you TW, or the rest of the group. :cool:

Re: Another "New" idea that didn't sell...even for free
 

Doesn't annoy me at all (ok, it did when I first read it a little).

I see what you mean about 'blaming' the prospects.

I'm not really doing that -- I blame myself (that's why I'm asking for help here).

Maybe there's a twinge of blaming the prospect *at first*.

If you knew the biz I'm in, you'd know that I have 'the customer's always right' firmly implanted in my psyche. Has to do with being a performer (like, on stage -- really on stage). If a show goes badly, it's NEVER the fault of the audience. Same with sales or running a biz.

If I really look in the mirror, I CAN see how I'm contrarian -- I want to learn, but my mind is kind of closed to ideas I don't like (don't WANT them to be true, etc.).

And, yes, I see the irony in complaining about prospects who don't have an open mind, then also admitting that *I* don't have an open mind. -- so there's the raw truth. That's something that has plagued me forever. A quirk that gets me into pig-headed trouble sometimes. I see it more clearly --- but I have a hard time shaking it. It's a curse. It's a learning disability -- who knows. I defend my little tea cup -- even though it's clearly too full for anyone to add tea into it (as the parable goes). So, I guess I can't complain about close-minded prospects, if I have the same problem, in a slightly different form.

I'm sure this post will come back to haunt me in the future.

-- TW

PS: the threads are not really about door to door sales. The only thing I was considering using that method for was the motel channel guide thing - which I STILL might try, just to see if it's as bad as I think it'll be. Who knows, maybe it'll be a breeze -- what with me being such a charmer. I'll report back. And I'll apologize to D.A. if I make some $$ at it.