One For The Road...

This summer has been full of its pick-ups and hang-ups. For the last ten weeks I have spent my time contacting people that I had never heard of and had never heard of me. Most of which I will likely never speak with again. Some days were more productive than others but overall I can see results of my effort.

This summer began slowly, few people were quick to answer their phone and even less qualified. After two weeks when it was time to turn in my numbers I didn’t have anything to show. While numbers didn’t show the effort I had put in I still had a desire to make a difference. Week three resulted in the beginning of answered phone calls and more event filled days. During week four the clinic visits began with an impromptu trip on Sunday to a clinic for the homeless. I was beginning to burn out from the lack of success but energy from the people I was meeting gave me what I needed to keep going. Weeks five and six were much of the same with many meetings and more energized volunteers. As things began to slow at the end of week six and into week seven I was beginning to lose that desire I had as the summer began. The Thursday of week seven however I knew I was presenting to a group at a Donate Now Seminar and I devoted my time to getting ready for that day. I only had one person show up and while that didn’t lift my spirits the meeting that afternoon brought me back to that desire to help that I had when the summer began. The clinic I had the opportunity to visit was what I envisioned from week one, someone who truly desired the help I had to offer and was even interested in how she could help me. As my summer started coming to a close I had the opportunity to speak with this Executive Director many times all of which seemed to help me as much as she said it helped her. Needless to say when I had donated computers to deliver I knew who I was taking them to.

Failure is always a little easier for me to judge, I can always see how things don’t go the way I planned them. I feel my biggest failure this summer was not pushing the whole Donate Now program. From the beginning it seemed a little harder because I was pushing a program that I didn’t really know the people behind it. It didn’t help my progress in that area either when I only had one person show up to my Donate Now Seminar. The hardest thing for me to do was pursue people who acted like they didn’t have the time for me.

Success was small in numbers for me this summer but I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot in the way of self-discipline and getting up in the morning when I didn’t always feel like it. I also learned that cold calling isn’t that hard. The easiest thing for me to do as well as my favorite thing to do was just sitting down and meeting with people. Finding out why people did what they did and trying to help them the best I knew how.

Over all this summer was a great experience in learning what I want and don’t want to do. I also did what I wanted to this summer in that I helped people as I increased my skills for the future.

Final Thoughts

Well, now that the summer is coming to a close, it is interesting to look back and assess my time spent. This has been a fantastic summer of growth and opportunity which has provided me with enriching and valuable experiences. I will be heading into the ‘real world’ very soon (maybe too soon?) when I graduate in December, and I feel I have had a real taste of what it’s going to be like when I get there. I don’t believe that I can be one hundred percent prepared for the transition into life after college, but this summer has put me miles ahead of where I have been.
The success and failures of my summer sometimes feel like they are one in the same. A few of the things that I have struggled with have become my greatest accomplishments. In that case, I guess that means they aren’t failures at all. My successes include personal issues such as time management and self-motivation as well as social aspects of the job – cold-calling, meeting so many new people, and feeling the responsibility of being the face of the company. I really like meeting new people, but I get nervous when I have more responsibility than saying ‘hi’ and remembering their name. I question my knowledge of the company or our products, if I will be able to convince these people that what I’ve got to offer them is worth their time and extremely beneficial to them, and even if I am representing Aidmatrix in a way that would make the ‘clients’ feel positive about their experience with me/us. I think it was Keith who helped during training, and told us to think of it differently. He helped a good deal. He taught me not to think of it as a make-or-break experience, that if they don’t understand me for who I am and why I’m really there, then so what? He asked what was the worst thing that could happen? They don’t talk to me again! It’s no big deal, I’m not going to die, I’m not going to lose my job or have the incident permanently inscribed on my record that this person didn’t like me. It was comforting to hear that, and what helped even more was getting a couple meetings and calls over with. After I did that several times, I realized that Keith was right; it’s not so bad at all. I’m really not a newcomer to ‘sales’. I’ve waited tables in restaurants for nearly 4 years, and I feel the apprehension to some degree every time I go to work. It’s probably healthy for me to feel that way. But it’s really been great to finally take that salesmanship out of the restaurant and apply it to different areas. I feel much more confident that I’ll be able to know the right information and answer the right questions, and that I can be the face of the company.
To address the question of how my time was spent, I would have to say that the majority by a large margin seems to be pursuing people. Whether that includes trying to contact people for the first time, or getting back in touch to follow up or take the next step, it seems to me to be extremely difficult to get people to call or email me back. It has been one of the most frustrating things this summer for me. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned about that is that persistence pays off. If you continue to attempt to get a hold of people, you eventually will figure out an answer. It may be that the person is no longer (or never was) interested in our services, or that they have genuinely been very busy (this is the case a lot of the time with free clincs!) I’ve found that it is something that I just need to understand that this is the way it works sometimes. I can’t take it personally, I can only keep trying.
All in all, this has been a fantastic summer. I have learned a lot about myself and how I work, as well as a lot about the Big Wide World After College. I have especially enjoyed getting to learn about the fantastic things Aidmatrix is doing, and getting to know the interns and staff at Aidmatrix. I appreciate being given the opportunity to help make a difference in my community.

Life of the Party...

Well last night I was invited to attend a social gala with a clinic that I was trying to help. As you can tell I wasn't the life of the party... they kicked me out... no, don't worry I left because I didn't know anybody. It was an opportunity for me to meet the clinic administrator and I thought that Brad would enjoy more work so I went. They were showing off their new renovations to their granters and celebrating with sandwich and cake... how could I turn it down.

This Is for Diego

Well I got the opportunity on Friday to meet with a very special doctor. He was not an Aggie fan believe it or not. The first thing I saw when I walked in his office was this jersey, and his next question was where do you go to school? Then he proceeded to show me a picture of a National Championship ring and a poster of the National Champion Texas Longhorns. Turns out that his son was one of the kickers on the team and his game jersey lives in his dads office. It was also neat to find out that his other son was in the band for the National Championship team from Michigan. The Meeting went great, and it turns out even though he is a member of the NAFC the clinic isn't even open yet. But they already have 11 doctors lined up to volunteer. I also got to meet with 2 of his clinic volunteers and explain the Free Clinic Link system as well as Donate Now. So even though My Flat Tex has his Saw'em off belt buckle on he was willing to take a picture with the jersey.

Do-Over

I finally got over to the clinic that I had the mix-up at earlier this summer. It was fun just to sit in the supply room and listen to stories of which the 2 that I met with had plenty. I think they talked more than I did, and on top of that she filled out the form to update to FCL_2 before I even showed her FCL_2. Matter of fact I need to go send that...

Also had an amazing experience yesterday... I have been trying to contact a clinic all summer by phone (the same clinic that I had the whole call back at 7, oh shes not here, no shes busy experience). Well I just decided to Google the ladies name yesterday and happened to find an email address. I sent her an email and had a response before the evening was done. So if the secretary won't give you the time... just go around them!

Long overdue...

Lately I've been feeling a lot like Santa Clause! I've been delivering several computers recently, and it's really been fun to see how excited they get to receive them. This is Irving Interfaith clinic, and you can see two of the three computers I've taken them. Plus I really liked the wall in the background. :)

This is a picture of the sign to one of my favorite clinics I've been to, in Grand Prairie. They do so many different services for the patients; weekly, they have dentists, chiropractors, gynecologists, counseling sessions, primary care and more. I went to meet with Tencha for a second time today to help her finish her credit form. She gets so busy that it really helped to go meet with her again to finish up. She is a very people-oriented and loving person, so it's been fun to talk with her.

I can't believe that we have only about 2 1/2 weeks left! It has flown by. We've all learned so much about getting out and meeting with people, and it is exciting to know we're hopefully making big impacts on these communities. It's made me realize so many problems as well though, with the health system and with the number of people in need. It makes me want to solve all the problems in the world and give these people hope! But for now I am happy to know that there are so many opportunities to use what I know and what I have learned to help people. We'll see where that goes in the future.

I Accomplished Something!!!

I delivered 10 computers this morning to the Free Dental Clinic I have been working with and it went off without a hitch. I had an easy time picking them up this morning after the manager on duty double checked with the store manager. I went to the clinic and dropped them off and even, get this... got help unloading the computers. Amazing isn't it... Something went right for Charles this summer! Oh and if you are trying to count the computers in the picture... one is off to the right and the other is under the table behind the other two on the left. I am just glad I get to feel like I've done something. The question now is... what do I do this afternoon?

The day that is Today

Well today has been a full day...

This Morning I had my donate now seminar and lets just say I have been putting in a little time to make sure its a success. It was a lunch event where people bring their own lunch and sit and enjoy what I say (well that's what I envisioned).

Where is Big Tex you might ask... Well it turns out that he didn't get the memo along with everybody else so he didn't show up for the picture... I had a whopping 3 people present including myself and the organizer. O well the building looked cool!

This afternoon I had a meeting with a free dental clinic...

It went great!!! She was excited about the program and how we at Aidmatrix could help. She was just impressed with the price of the latex gloves! So she was gonna read a little more and then hopefully sign-up.

Invacare stealing customers?

I thought this probably was blog-worthy. Here's an email I sent Brad:
Brad,
I did a training session with Rick Sample yesterday, and he said he had already ordered stuff through us. It really caught me off guard, but eventually, I figured out that some Invacare salesman called him and he placed an order through the phone directly with Invacare, at the prices offered through us. I taught him how to use our system and explained that for our reporting, we need him to go through our system. Anyway, it's pretty much taken care of. I just wanted to make you aware of the situation and see if there's anything more you wanted me to do about it.

Thanks,
Ben

1st Training Session

I visited the Raphael Community Free Clinic in Kerrville this morning and had my first opportunity to train an existing NAFC member. All she had ever done was order donated products off of FreeClinic Link because she didn't realize what was available under the discounted products list. It went well and hopefully now she will check our prices for discounted products as well.