l think it was adding radio and TV advertising to the full-page newspaper ads of yore, that made Patio Village (PV) such a big success. Duhhh. Of course, employing ten top-of-their-class sales professionals( TTCS Pros) to chase the results of that advertising, contributed to our result, (greatly). l used that phrase in the help-wanted ad l placed in the Mercury News for PV staff (including Lauralai Timmons, the voice l hired to be the first sound our callers heard. There is no way l could make the reader know what a wonderful voice she owned. So moving, so pretty, musical, yet so in charge. She so reminded me of Lil, our receptionist at the Bascom Ave. location. Voices aside, Lil was my favorite receptionist. But, from her first day Lauralai was a close second and eventually she took first place, in my opinion. For sure, Lauralai was a big boon to our business. She really was something special, drawing prospects to our place like a magnet. And when she set up an appointment (lead) all the blanks are filled in, all i's dotted, all t's crossed.
As sales manager, much of what i did was paid by the modest sales mgr's
salary. When l was "managing sales" time could be taken from my closing leads, and dollars from my bottom line. So, early-on at PV, l made less in sales commissions than any of my salespersons. But they were doing so well that my overide on their sales more than made up for the shortage. Sometimes (almost
always) l was blown away by what ten TTCS Pros could do with a plentitude of quality leads. There were a few moments at PV, when l thought l might be on the road to millionarity. (lt turned out to be miscalculation).
Our highest quality leads (those that resulted in closure of high-end jobs) whether they came from newspaper, radio or TV ads were all made in PV's lead
generation department, led by Deanne Drake. Her artists (4),and placement agents (2) generated so maany great leads that all the sales staff got more leads than could be scheduled without extending appointments into the late evening. Some of us would probably have been happy with fewer leads, but none of us ever complained, you can be sure.
Deanne worked well with the sales staff. We all appreciated the high quality leads that came from her department. She and her staff of six (together comprised our own "Magnificent Seven" ( M-7),and when you consider that all the advertising that we did in all three media employed was created and produced,except for TV taping, which Deanne's crew taped at KNTV.
M-7 was Thom's brainstorm; he called it "integrated lead generation"and it involved all the media of the time; Newspaper, broadcast radio and TV. On Thursdays and Fridays ads which the M-7 made in house for the Sunday Mercury News and for Thursday and Friday radio commercials on four San Jose
area stations. Also, on Thursday afternoon, M-7 produced a one minute taped commercial which would be played at agreed times on Thursday, Friday and
Saturday evenings on radio. All the ads of the week were linked to each other
and focused on the current weekend. The very first week our integrated lead-
generating program was employed, two of it's main legs,full-page newspaper ads and half-minute, TV spots both brought many leads, but radio brought few
and most of them didn't seem to understand what our product was,let alone any interest in acquiring any of it. To me, it was apparent that our product's appeal was visual and radio doesn't do visual. Original thinking on this was that be integrating our message, one to another, they would each broadcast the current
week's offers. So, it was possible what might have been first heard on radio, could wind up a TV or newspaper lead. So, while my first thought was to cancel the radio ads, cooler heads prevailed, radio ads continued and the total number of leads per week continued to grow. When we got so busy that Lauralai couldn't
keep up, we asked all employees who happen to be present at PV to answer the phone if it hasn't been answered before the third ring. Eventually, everyone who might find himself at HQ during business hours was taught the right way to turn a caller (on the phone or afoot) into a M-7 lead. Patio Village was a vast improvement over the Bascom Avenue. As our one-month Grand Opening slipped int history, we found ourselves achieving weekly grosses four, five, even six times our best weekly grosses at Bascom Ave.
When PV had been opened for two Months Thom began work on two new Patio
Villages; one in Hayward and one in Walnut Creek. At that point, Thom hired a
three-person crew to investigate some California cities with the goal of determining which would be good locations for future Patio Villages. He settled
on a team of three brothers who first spent six weeks under Thom's (and a couple of Thom's best closers) in training for the job. Thom was definitely taking PV to heights that Cal-Lum had never seen. Corporate staffers in Hayward said
the only thing that would have made Thom's transition better was it's happening sooner.
Some of the things that contributed to my having so many jobs in my life: l like
to talk to total strangers; and a hand-full of jobs came from that. And when newspapers were relevant, l read the classified section every day. l found what l consider the best job of my life in the SanJose Mercury News classified. Add to that a sort of sales-slut personalty,if you will, that had me, on many an occation, leaving a good job with a good company to join some "promising" start-up which turns out to be anything but what l expected. That scenario became reality more often than what could have happened if l had looked at the situation a little more closely and completely. Even so, in those years, when we lived in the south Bay, l broadened my horizons, learned much, made many new friends and forged more than a few connections. lt is just as well that l seldom think of the real opportunities while l sometimes chased air.
lt soon became apparent that l would not have the time to both manage Patio Village and sell jobs. Since we had such a great sales force already, l wasn't
really needed there, though l thought not selling jobs may leave me a little short
of income. My first check after Grand Opening Month settled it for me;There was no money for product sales, but my salary and overide checks exceeded my earlier salary and commissions checks and l became the full-time branch manager of Patio Village and l liked it. Only one person (of the 17 employees
at PV) was kind of an A-horn but never to the extent that firing was considered.
The rest were a pleasure to work with. The work of the lead generators made many high quality appointments for our closers, who, overall closed above 75%
of our class one, in house leads.(the fruits of M-7). The leads themselves contribute much to the high percentage of closes. By the time the prospect welcomes our represenative into his home, he has already had s much as 15 minutes of affirmative input, relative to PV during routine communications leading up to the appointment. All of it part of our pre-sale which greatly reduced missed sales and appointment cancellations. l should say eliminated,
because, in all the time l managed there,we never had a cancellation. All that stuff adds up,too. The nearly unanimous success of the ten closers and sheer dedication of every employee there, especially Adoph's five installation crews,
who, unlike some of our competitors,never failed a post-construction iinspection.
For me, the job changed much when l stopped closing contracts; l'd come in about nine. Thom would call about 9:30 if he was going to call. Sometimes l wouldn't hear from him for a few days but we did work pretty closely. l spent the most of every day talking to walk-ins and counselling closers who stop by with a "Yah got a minute, Prince ?" (Prince being a nickname given me by one of Adolph's crew leaders, one Orville Lytle, a craftsman of superior constructions, who became a good friend.
When l realized that l needed to stop selling and become a full-time manager, l thought that might reduce my income considerably, and as much as l liked my overall situation, if l was to make much less, l'd have to look for something else.
But, from the start the income was more than enough and grew continually. At
first l sorely missed the give-and-take of closing contracts but learned to accept my new life and the increased income that came with it
