A man with a young family, with responsibility for earnings, gives up a great job with a great company to sell genius business travel bags he’s invented. Alistair’s bag range literally is life changing, accelerating the efficiency and speed of the way business people travel and stay organised. He’s British and very special, I am proud to be a shareholder in his company. Alistair has one of the greatest skills of all, he really can sell. He is a great and passionate demonstrator and he’s not afraid to have clarity around the customer being at the centre of his universe.
He will have to sell an extra 67 bags per month to even replace half his previous income. Normal workings days (21) = let’s say 68 bags. That’s 3.3 per day – let’s say 4 or complaints would go up. Corporate wise Alistair needs to convince companies of the genus benefits of saving executives time – time is money to everyone, to some it is also the difference between reading a book at bedtime because you are first to exit the airport.
Next, and more importantly, he must act every minute to prioritise profit. Maximising opportunities with who he meets, networks with, (selling nights?) and he has to shift to a scalable sales focus – selling many – all be it one by one digital is terrific.
There is a great deal to learn, but he has the desire to do so. He’s proven his staying power turning a pain into a product solution range that saves time, money and takes all the stress out of business travel. He’s already trading well – now it’s all about growth.
Smart bloke, no overheads & a brilliant bootstrap & enterprising outlook – he’s game and fortunately for me (investor/mentor/sometimes coach/friend and big fan) full of energy and a drive to succeed. We have set the rewards to stay focused on the growth, daytime is for selling, nights saved for getting stuff done.
How many business leaders do not think clearly enough about the value they need to bring (sell) for their business just to cover their costs in a simple product profit equation? Do you really also know your hourly rate so you can really cost whether a meeting is worth your time?? Cost wisely, rigorously and accurately it may be the making of you.
Please do consider helping Alistair reach his sales target in any way you might. Gate8-luggage is going global, but with a plan. What is the real learning here? You have to know how much profit you make for product sales, what risk you are putting in when time is invested in new channels to build new opportunities and to have targets and rewards around progression. Most of all you have to sell disproportionately to build a company to the point where you too can take the brand pill and then grow. See Gate8-luggage.com – we incentivise you to use ‘zipoff ‘ my code to gain your 20% discount. Feel free to rave about Alistair and his story to inspire friends and family.