Day 79: 20/3/13
This morning at training they were giving us a pretty big lecture as the sales in the whole channel are down. There were some of the top sales people talking to us while the managers had their meeting. They said they just chill out and drink/smoke eat with customers and sign everyone up. Anyone that tells them to get lost they are rude back to them. I would hate to watch these people selling- a lot of them seem to be a screw loose!! They were giving out then that we aren't all chat in the morning and we aren't in competitions with each other, but most of the people haven't been there that long so we don't know each other! They don't give us a chance to talk so I don't know what they are going on about!!
The van was better this morning. Chloe drove and others gave smart comments aswell about Doug driving fast so I think they get the message.
Most of the houses on my turf were crossed off so I didn't have that many doors but I got an extension during the day which gave me a few extra streets!
I sold to one woman early on. She said she didn't like door knockers but wanted to see the rates compared to her own anyway. Ours were slightly cheaper- she would only save about thirty dollars every bill but she was still happy to sign up for it!
After that I met a lovely old man who asked me in to look at the bill. He had no intention of changing anything to do with his electricity but he just wanted a chat! He was a right talker so I ended up with him for ages! He was from the bush and moved to Melbourne at 16 or something to earn money and he used to do door-to-door sales. His grandfather was Irish, from Cork. When I said I was from Galway he sang the first few lines of Galway Bay as his aunt and his friend used to sing it. His friend was called something like Billy Maloney and they used to be 'on the grog' together! He was talking about his son too and how he doesn't call that often and that his daughter-in-law is a b****!! At one stage he even used the phrase fair dinkum- which Alf Stewart says! He was a great character and I'd a great laugh although it took me ages to leave as he kept talking!!
Later in the day I got to a house where they were in a payment plan like yesterday. They pay $45 a fortnight, regardless of what their bill is and the amount they owe just keeps adding up. She owed $1200 to AGL. She wanted to change company for cheaper prices but didn't think she could. I rang Chlor to see and she said you can move- your debt goes with you and start a payment plan with Energy Australia at whatever price you want. The woman was happy with that as she can't afford the $45 a fortnight and wanted to change it. So she signed over. Later in the day, Chloe told me she lied to me so that Id make the sale. She has to keep her payment plan with AGL and start one with Energy Australia aswell. Her bill price over all will be coming down but she will be paying more than $45 a week, as she has to pay both. I had left Chloe's number and the customer care number there so she coul speak to them about her payment plan. Hopefully she does that soon so that she can cancel if she wants. I feel bad for her, but I did all I could- I was just given the wrong information. If she cancels I don't mind at all!! If she doesn't, she might have to pay an extra $20 a week but overall she would be cancelling her debt so I suppose it's not too bad.
I knocked a few more doors then and met a man talking to his neighbour. The neighbour had had one of he other girls from the bus earlier on in the day- our extensions had obviously overlapped! He said though that it might be something that would interest the first man I was talking to so he said to come in and he'd look at his bill. As he was just home from work he was all distracted and trying to fees the dog and everything! He got the bill though and went through it with a fine tooth comb. He was paying higher rates and a higher supply charge and when he had checked all the numbers a few times he wanted to sign up! He seemed sort of cross like he didn't have time for it and was sighing a lot on the verification call, but he was happy to do it at the same time!
So I got 3 today! That last one was late in the evening so when I text that I got its he picked me up first. I beat my pb so they all congratulated me! It feels a lot better than ending on 0 and I didn't feel like I had pushed anyone or that anyone was rude to me- so good day all round! I think the team ended on 11 today which is better than the last two days, but still not great compared to other vans!
We were in a different place today than yesterday so we got back to the train station way earlier which was good. The van ride was way calmer too! Matty got off at the train station with Sherry and I. Sherry had told me the other day on the train that she's quitting on Friday. Marty told us this evening that today was probably his last day as he's got a new job in real estate. So our bus is going to vanish again!! I don't know what's going to happen now as Matty is one of the top guys and Sherry has been here longer than most of the bus so we will be well down in experience!
I went for some food when I got home and then watched tv. Nothing exciting. I should check gumtree again, but ill get up in the morning to do it!