Happy Sunday Everyone-
My titles are starting to look very futuristic, very cutting edge, provocative! Not so much. PP2 stands for porta potty 2. AI is in fact artificial intelligence, and heels and toes is what it is, more to come.
A few folks have asked how Jack is doing selling porta potties…he has 11 on the books with multiple opportunities in the hopper. According to the leadership team, he’s exceeding expectations by a lot. His training is limited. By limited I mean a picture of a new porta potty, a territory, and a truck (his own). His 11 sales have been done by calling a few people he knows, but then going door to door in industrial areas for the rest, he’s 19, I’m proud. I’m actually not proud, I’m flat out honored he’s, my kid. In the world of sales, you sell a porta potty door to door at 19, you’re on to something. I figured I’d give it a go and help him out with the training. We went out Monday together. He picked me up at my office and off we went for a few hours. Selling porta potties with your eldest son is a surreal experience. I was nervous as all get up but played it cool. We’d pull up to a building, Jack would hop out of the truck, and just start walking in. He’d lead a couple times, I’d lead a couple of times, we made a pretty damn good team. I’ll skip the details, but our final call was full blown Karate Kid….wax on, wax off….I might have landed the biggest deal in Bay Area Sanitation history…only time will tell. I saw Jack in action, Jack saw his dad in action, it will go down as top 10 memories of my life, sharing that discomfort together, getting rejected together, being vulnerable together, losing together, winning together, hard to describe.
Full blown different subject. Went to Healdsburg yesterday to wine taste with new and interesting friends. One of my new friends just retired. He’s a very smart person and was at a very smart tech company for 35 years, engineering side. I didn’t ask for permission so will leave his details at a high level, but I’d say he’s kind of a big deal. We talked about AI. He has created his own stuff. I say “stuff” because any other version of explanation would be embarrassing. He showed me his “stuff” and it was mind boggling. He could basically talk to me for 45 minutes, get to know me, then create a video with my face on the screen, talking, explaining all aspects of mortgage, without me actually saying a single word, all of the voice and information coming from AI, sounding just like me w/ my face. AI is both welcoming and scary as all hell. Talking to him, knowing what he knows, to not acknowledge AI is here to stay and coming for us would be naive. I asked the question so many of us are thinking about, “will it replace our jobs”….and the answer on so many levels is “yes”. We talked about what positions will be eliminated, who will stay, who will go. We talked about porta potties, engineers, mortgage people, Realtors. Engineers will be replaced faster than anyone else. Then I asked the question-“who will stay”….his response was “Those that have willingness to adapt and learn”. I have it that in quotes because I stopped him, and wrote it down. “those that have the willingness to adapt and learn”. This brings me to heels vs. toes. I had our team in town for 2nd half of year business planning Thursday night and Friday. We have a couple different themes going on but one of them is the constant question as a team “are we on our heels or are we on our toes?”. Our industry is plagued with a heels mentality. Sitting back, waiting for the pain to be inflicted. No game plan, bitching and moaning about the market, rates are high, inventory is low, business is down…blah blah blah. All of this is true but there is a balance between what my new friend said “those that have the willingness to adapt and learn” will survive and thrive, coupled with Jack’s effort of going door to door selling porta potties, is the formula I need personally. Back to the basics of being on our toes, going out and getting the business, while also understanding how to navigate in a changing environment, that’s what will leave some of us successful and out in front. Our team has had this mindset before Friday and it’s working. I’ll just brag here and say our July numbers will be top 2 on record. I believe it has a lot to do with the combination of willingness to adapt and learn, and having the hunger to go out and get it when a lot of folks are on their heels. Message for all salespeople, it’s not coming to you, get better, go get it.