How Hard is Too Hard?

by Kim Lavine

How hard is too hard to push to make the sale or close the big deal? According to this Macy's Senior Vice President I met in New York City, there is no such thing as "to hard."

In order to make anything happen you have to believe in yourself 1000% and push hard for whatever it takes to make your dream deal happen, because that's how dreams happen.

You have nothing to lose

The first time I was told "no" I received some priceless advice from my SBDC counselor.

You’re gonna fail if you do nothing. You might as well fail fighting for yourself!”

I've been using this advice fearlessly on a daily basis since then. If you've already been told "no" you've got nothing to lose by "not taking no for an answer." One "no" came from a Macy's buyer, who didn't have the enthusiasm for my product that his boss did. I was suddenly faced with failure in a million dollar account unless I resolved to not take no for an answer.

Stand Up for Yourself

I took out a pair of brass balls someone had given me for a joke; these conveniently would come in handy a number of times in the next few years. I wrote the email, copying in the four V.P.s, and sent it, pleading with my buyer to put the product out on the floor so that it could sell and I could have a fair test.

I had no idea of what catastrophe I might have unleashed

One of the V.P.s called just a few days later. He had spoken to the buyer and was fixing the situation right now. But it was too late, the holiday buying season was over. I saw that V.P. in New York just a few months later, when he showed up at my booth at a tradeshow there. I was amazed that he remembered me and felt compelled to search me out of the hundreds of exhibitors at the huge Javits Center.

“Keep pushing!” he told me, while I shook his hand. I was awed that he had come to visit me and amazed that he cared this much. “I want you to call every buyer in the Macy’s chain till you find someone committed to this product’s success. Tell them that I personally told you to push it through the stores! Don’t give up until you do!”

I was shaking hands with one of the top V.P.s at Federated Department Stores

He was rallying me on with an inspired pep talk, and all this came out of one cold-call. I couldn’t believe it. I walked out into the aisle and blabbered like a baby to my fellow exhibitors,

“There goes a Senior VP with Macy’s!” while they all oohed and ahhed and looked longingly at the back of his perfectly tailored suit disappearing into the hordes.

An excerpt from MOMMY MILLIONAIRE

Read more in the newly updated Platinum Version MOMMY MILLIONAIRE Available for immediate download by eBook or PDF. Filled with all kinds of bonus materials including document templates, updated tips and the real skinny on what went down since I wrote this book.

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