Ok, well the day was interesting to say the least.
It started well by catching the delivery guy with the last of the chemicals we needed for out Foam In Place Machine for packaging. We thought we would have everything last Friday, but it did not arrive. I called to check on the status of the delivery but did not hear back, happened to be driving through the complex, the driver saw our truck and whistled.
A few hours later the technicians came over to revise the settings on our machine so it could run the new material that is better for the environment. Because this is a new product and it turns out we were the first order in the region the techs did not know how to set it up. An hour of messing with it, then an hour to wait for the guy who knew more to arrive, then a little more time and we were all set to go.
I ended up having to tear down one of the pumps, clean it up before switching to the new stuff. That took a few hours because the stuff had crystalized and was very hard. So now that most of the day was burned we called it a day around 4:30Pm. Hopefully we will be able to package all 100 units tomorrow.
The other thing that we found this morning was that the 50 RocLoks we stained yesterday looked a little purple or blue. We had just purchased more stain and apparently it was not mixed perfect... so we had to fix the mix, then touch up 50 then stain the remaining 50.
Overall we made some good progress at work today but it seemed like two steps forward and a step back all day.
The real kicker was when we got home, I noticed that someone had stolen the fenders and exhaust from my donor truck (for the 39 build). Melanie went inside while I was looking around to see what else was stolen. Our dog had puked on the floor and she cleaned it up (what a way to end the day). She grabbed her laptop to finish her blog post and the hinges snapped off, the screen fell back on her lap. It was not a cheap laptop, it was a Sony Viao and was over $2,000 when we got it. Well my opinion was that Sony had great marketing and ok products... I guess I was right their products are not as good as many others on the market they just make everyone think they are better.
There were loads of other fun moments throughout the day, including a terrible experience with the Fed/Ex Kinkos near our office... Melanie will tell you all about that when she has access to a computer again. I will just say that at least with that office of Kinkos customer care is dead, buried and has maggots running through it.
Well thanks for following another day in the life of us, trying to Make It In America
-Ryan
Showing posts with label dog turd hide a key. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dog turd hide a key. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Rock Through the Window
Driving a billboard around town attracts attention. Sometimes good, sometimes well...
Yesterday we stopped off at the gas station. Here in Oregon we are not allowed by law to pump our our fuel. As usual we let the gentleman know how much we needed and a conversation ensued about what a RocLok was. Here's the interesting part, instead of wanting to know more about our product the attendant's immediate comment was "how about gluing the rock to the top of the car so you don't get locked out of your vehicle?" Obviously meant as sarcasm I made the mistake of engaging, joking that having a rock on the hood of your car might takes away from the hiding aspect of the product. To which he retorted
The throw it through the window comment seems to be by far the thing we hear the most from people when they first see the RocLok. When people first started coining this phrase I admit it irritated me. Personally I've never had a house window broken out by a rock and don't often hear about cat burglars running around town breaking into homes with rocks. Still this among all other possible comments is the most popular, hands down! So I've come to embrace it and adopted the old if you can't beat them join them theory.
However, hearing this yesterday I started to think, what does this answer say about people's psyche's? Where does this reluctance to accept something new come from? I'm guilty of it and from the numerous trade show appearances we've made over the years, it seems most people are. What compels us to want to run away or hide behind sarcasm instead of taking 2 mins to learn about something new?
For me, I think it is that deep fear of being sold to. I fear that if I learn about something, I might be "tricked" into buying it. So really I guess it's my own fear about lacking the will power not to purchase an item that drives my reaction.
Now that the roles are reversed I have to remember that everyone has their own reason to be adverse to learning about a new product. Perhaps that is why television sales are so successful. No interaction with another person, no fear of having to say no, or getting into a debate about why you don't need the thing they are trying to sell you. You can make an "informed decision" in your pajamas from the security of your own home. Even better if the sales person on the tube annoys you, just change the channel!
Still it's hard to accept this truth when you are trying to grab attention for your new product If you push too hard people push back with reasons why they don't need it, if you don't push enough noone knows you exist. It's really a balancing act and after 3 years of learning what works and what doesn't I've found out first hand what an art form sales and marketing really is. All I know is that instead of getting frustrated when someone suggests our rocks should be shaped like a dog turd, or annoyed every time someone proudly announces "they'll just steal my rock!" I just have to remember that they are just deflecting their discomfort with being sold to and it has nothing to do with the merit of my product. At least that is what I'll keep telling myself.
Yesterday we stopped off at the gas station. Here in Oregon we are not allowed by law to pump our our fuel. As usual we let the gentleman know how much we needed and a conversation ensued about what a RocLok was. Here's the interesting part, instead of wanting to know more about our product the attendant's immediate comment was "how about gluing the rock to the top of the car so you don't get locked out of your vehicle?" Obviously meant as sarcasm I made the mistake of engaging, joking that having a rock on the hood of your car might takes away from the hiding aspect of the product. To which he retorted
"yeah, and they would probably take it off and throw it through the window!"
However, hearing this yesterday I started to think, what does this answer say about people's psyche's? Where does this reluctance to accept something new come from? I'm guilty of it and from the numerous trade show appearances we've made over the years, it seems most people are. What compels us to want to run away or hide behind sarcasm instead of taking 2 mins to learn about something new?
For me, I think it is that deep fear of being sold to. I fear that if I learn about something, I might be "tricked" into buying it. So really I guess it's my own fear about lacking the will power not to purchase an item that drives my reaction.
Now that the roles are reversed I have to remember that everyone has their own reason to be adverse to learning about a new product. Perhaps that is why television sales are so successful. No interaction with another person, no fear of having to say no, or getting into a debate about why you don't need the thing they are trying to sell you. You can make an "informed decision" in your pajamas from the security of your own home. Even better if the sales person on the tube annoys you, just change the channel!
Still it's hard to accept this truth when you are trying to grab attention for your new product If you push too hard people push back with reasons why they don't need it, if you don't push enough noone knows you exist. It's really a balancing act and after 3 years of learning what works and what doesn't I've found out first hand what an art form sales and marketing really is. All I know is that instead of getting frustrated when someone suggests our rocks should be shaped like a dog turd, or annoyed every time someone proudly announces "they'll just steal my rock!" I just have to remember that they are just deflecting their discomfort with being sold to and it has nothing to do with the merit of my product. At least that is what I'll keep telling myself.
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