Trade Pennies for Ideas

I am a Sales Blogger

There, it's out in the open!

"I am a sales blogger!"

"I am a sales blogger!"

"I am a sales blogger!"

"I am a sales blogger!"

For those who aren't scared away by the word SALES, I will illustrate the meaning of sales in classic Zig Ziglar style -- with a story from my life. Like Zig and my mother, I tell a long story with lightly hidden meanings. So, let's start!

The Blue Diner

I remember a trip to my grandmother's house when I was young. While my older sister, older brother and I were taking turns using the bathroom, my father packed the three brown suitcases into the trunk of the new Ford Fairlane. Some may remember the flesh colored Fairlanes from that time. Ward Cleaver had a similar one. My mother powdered her nose with the little pad in the compact.

In classic "Leave it to Beaver" style, we piled into the car. Mom and Dad in the front, kids in the back. We had already worked out (fought over) who got to sit in the middle with the hump on the floor.

It was about a 12 hour drive from Belleville, New Jersey to Everson, Pennsylvania back then.

My father would stop at the Blue Diner around 11 o'clock to beat the lunch rush. 

Truck drivers to the left where there were stools at the counter. Families with kids to the right. We usually sat at the second window to the right. 

We took turns using the restroom, and then slid into the long booths. Kids on the left side as you look at the front of the diner, Mom and Dad on the right. 

We looked at the menus, but we already knew what we would order. Dad had a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and soggy canned green beans. Mom ordered fried chicken. My brother and sister each had a hamburger and fries. I ordered the hot roast beef sandwich so I could be like my Dad. 

The same waitress who was there every trip came to take our order. Somehow she remembered us from previous trips and she knew what everyone wanted. She even remembered our names!

While we waited for the order, we played with the IQ tester. You know, that triangular piece of wood with the golf tees in it. If you could eliminate all but one, you were a genius! We had to take turns because there was only one game. You could buy them at the counter if you liked.

While one was playing with the IQ tester, another turned the leaves in the jukebox player. All the latest songs were there: Jailhouse Rock, Rock around the Clock, Blue Suede Shoes. For the truck drivers, there were songs like Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. My cousin Mickey would have the 45's for the popular songs. 

One would read the sugar packets which had Amish sayings on the back like "Too soon old, too late schmart!"

We didn't have dessert because we knew we would stop at the Howard Johnson's in Mechanicsburg for pie. 

When we were finished eating, it was another trip to the restroom.

As my father paid, we were allowed to pick something from the candy rack. My father got multi-colored Lifesavers, my mother got Wrigley's Spearmint gum, my brother got Beeman's gum and I got Necco Wafers. I forget what my sister bought. These helped relieve the boredom later in the drive.

What was the Blue Diner Selling?

On the surface, the Blue Diner was selling food for hungry travelers. On another level, they were selling quiet kids with entertainment at the table. The most valuable thing they were selling was memories! These memories have lasted about 55 years and I expect them to last many more years. 

What am I selling?

Well, illustrative stories are the meat and potatoes from the Blue Diner. On one level, I'm selling the method of using stories from your life to illustrate a point. I learned this from Zig Ziglar and others. But I'm not only selling storytelling.

The value is not in the meat and potatoes. The value is in the ideas I'm selling around the meat and potatoes. The books on the sidebar each have an idea you can use. The cost is small. Only $2.99 for most of them, and free if you have Kindle Unlimited. They all come with a seven day money back guarantee from Amazon. If the value isn't there for you, return the book.

In sales, they say "Sell benefits, not things." The benefit must exceed the price by so much that a person would be insane not to buy it. As John D. Rockefeller used to say, "I trade plates for platters." I say, "Trade pennies for ideas."

The cash register sale

I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't offer you something special at the door. Learn how my mother's father turned one banana and a single vision into infinite wealth.

Every chapter is an illustrative story that reveals carefully guarded secrets about successful sales. My grandfather, TR Colby, literally turned pennies into ideas and ideas into infinite wealth.