I shared with you a few weeks ago that I had failed a market tour. It may sound silly to someone outside the business, but it really is a big deal. To make it worse, we've been doing a great job here, so the expectations were set pretty high. I disappointed "them". Not a good thing. Not a good thing at all.
Now, two weeks later we had another tour. Bigger wigs were involved. And the pressure has been......incredible. And that's putting it mildly.
So, we had to prep for the 2nd tour. Fix the issues from the first tour. Plus...it's end of the year. There is a boat load of stuff to do to close out '09. Oh, and get ready for the push of 2010.
And we can't forget about business as usual. We still gotta keep plugging along. Can't take our eye off of the ball.
So it's been really busy.
And yesterday was the big tour. The Monday after Thanksgiving weekend. The day we are the most vulnerable in the entire year. Lovely.
My guys rocked. Our sales have been amazing. We were well above last year not just for a week, but for the entire period. First time all year. I'm so glad for them. They are paid on commission, and with the holidays coming up, well let's just say it's perfect timing.
And they've been hitting their other goals. Number of stops, service expectations, new account openings. Yeah....my guys rock.
And...my leadership team has been working their asses off. Tearing sets apart, deep cleaning, resetting. It takes 2-3 hours to do that, and we have 348 to do by the end of the year.
Oh, and we can't forget about those new accounts. We've been making calls and opening new business every week.
Now, back to yesterday. I was at the office about 2:45am. Mondays are my busy days. Reports, conference calls, more reports, more conference calls. And just because it's tour day doesn't mean those things get ignored, So I went in early to get it all pulled together. And to see my guys. I seriously believe that helped get me through the day, just getting to spend a little time with them in the morning. It reminded me of what we were trying to do.
At 4:00am my one manager and I hit the stores. We had to make one more sweep to make sure everything was perfect.
Although can I just say right now, that's insane. Who expects to find a set in any store perfect? Ever. Especially on a Monday. Especially after a holiday weekend. For cryin' out loud....
Anyway, despite having worked over the weekend, we found stores blown out. Empty shelves. We couldn't believe it. We crammed those shelves on Friday and Saturday. So...a few phone calls and Voila! Full sets. I fixed displays, put out coupons, talked to store managers. I felt like I was running for office. But every store we left looked......perfect.
By 9:30 we were back in the office. I was late for the first conference call. But my mind was at ease. And I was able to enjoy the rest of my Monday.
Until around 2:30. By that time, most of the guys were back and gone for the day. I was officially exhausted. And we'd heard nothing.
Not a call, not a text, nothing. The tour started at 11:30 and 3 hours into it, nothing.
I left around 4:30. I knew after I had a meeting with someone that duplicated a meeting we'd had that morning and didn't realize it, even after they pointed it out, that I was finished.
Plus, I'm sure someone will let me know how it went. I have my cell.
Nothing. My boss called early in the evening to let me know he hadn't heard anything yet. And then, I went to sleep.
I woke up this morning to no new messages. Nothing.
And the sound of silence is the best I can hope for. No news is truly good news. That means everything looked just like they expected to find it. Nothing was wrong.
It was perfect.
Thank heavens.
I warned the guys that this was the best we could hope for. As I explained to one of my sales guys, this just means that the black cloud over us from that first tour has stopped raining. The cloud is still there, but at least we're not out in the cold. We've earned a bit of break.
There are still stores to reset. Still end of the year to close out. The new year to plan for. Business to conduct.
But we can get through all of that with a little less pressure. A little less heat.
No news is good news....indeed.

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