How a 2 hour drive south changed my thinking !
I work and play in the Sarasota, Florida area and yes we have stayed busy in our area ,I was hoping for a wave of work once the snow birds arrived.
We did see increases in sales but nothing that made me jump for joy. I personally had some condominium projects get shelved until next year because of the stock market coming around to bite me.
Hopefully the market can turn around and save my ass next year when I will need it. Now don’t think I’m not grateful for what sales I have gotten because you would be wrong. I am very grateful.
I had to drive down to Marco Island about 2 hours south of me and I took I75 which in the past would be a traffic disaster but to my surprise they are installing 4 lanes each way, so the traffic was moving pretty good.
So I got to thinking and looking as I was driving and got this warm feeling that man they have a lot of construction going on down here. Just to see all the dump trucks hauling dirt and all the heavy equiptment , building concrete prefab walls along developments and the hundreds of workers working was exciting.
Then as I got to Marco Island, when you cross that tall long bridge over looking all that beautiful water way is breath taking. The island was jamming with tourist and a ton of building projects were going on.
I seen home improvements being worked on and the island had kind of a buzz to it that felt good. They were having there local arts and crafts fair so on the way back I gave Diane a treat and stopped in to look around.
By looking the way the money was flying around there, I could see no signs of economy slow down here. Everyone seem up beat and glad to have a warm day to enjoy the fair.
They had a band playing some old tunes and everyone one was having a blast. They had a police officer directing traffic and he even had his own spin on things and was very pleasant.
I was able to measure my job and meet the manager and look forward on doing this roof project this summer.
I had decided to go north on US 41 on the way home just to get a look on what was happening in Naples and Ft. Myers and to my surprise a ton of work was going on everywhere.
Since I love the marketing game I pay close attention what goes on around me at all times. When Im driving I look at all the different stores and businesses and check out the parking lots to see how full they are.
I must tell you I was happy to see a lot of business going on around these areas. The one thing that flew me for a loop was when I was in the Ft. Myers area and in car dealer row was there were a lot of closed up dealers that have been in there for 20-30 years and closed up and gone.
Again and again I see this more and more.Why do you think this happens? Even in my area business that have been around for 20 years and more are closing.
The answer is simple to me. Marketing! The owners of these business have been so spoiled and they have done business this way for so long and after a while business just came easy. Most never advertised and if they did it was on a small scale.
I have had lunch with a lot of these business people and you can see and here the fear in them. But when you try to tell them what they need to do you also see a haze come over them and they just don’t want to here it.
But ,you get that call from them and then to little to late to help them. It’s sad to see people work there whole lives and lose it all because of being to proud or stubborn in most cases.
So I guess my story today is watch what goes on around you and if you think the whole area you work in is dead. Then do what I did and take a 2 hour drive and see what really is going on. You might be surprised.
Happy Selling
Glen Kohlenberg
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