JEFF HOWEY
After 15 years of teaching computers everywhere from a prison to a public school, I moved on to financial service sales with little success. In the meantime, I also enjoyed a short stateside inner city missionary stint. I knew there was money to be made in sales, but I lacked closing skills. I went to two different Tom Hopkins Sales Boot Camps, and walked away with the beginning keys I was missing.
When we moved to New Mexico 6 ½ years ago, I had to prove to myself that I could really sell. I took a position as an Internet Sales Manager for a local car dealership conglomerate. After two years of successfully selling cars online and in person, I graduated to selling RV’s. Further honing my sales skills in the business/finance office for almost two more years, I had the opportunity to learn to build trust and respect, make a friend and make my living selling loans, insurance and warranties in 20 minutes or less. But, the financial industry tanked along with RV Manufacturers, and I went broke. I went into debt just to stay afloat and left the RV industry with $800 for my last check in November 2008. Eight weeks later, I answered a newspaper ad for Signtronix.
Literally weeks from bankruptcy, Copper State Cool Ray RM Harold Weatherly told me that they could train me in two weeks to make, not only a decent living, but a comfortable living. They had a proven system, but needed someone who was trainable and teachable, who did not want to reinvent the Signtronix system. Doing as instructed by Roger Pelton, I earned my samples within the first week, and less than two weeks later, I took a week long road trip with Harold Weatherly and one other new Dealer. I placed a showcase location on my first lite-up with artwork help from Harold. I made two more placements that week for a week’s total commission of $2995. I set my goal to get my first bonus sign that first 30 days with eight contracts. I did just that and put $8,000 in my nearly dry bank account. Then, I set my goal on senior dealer status, which I achieved within another week or so. Harold told me I’d earn $50,000 in my first six months. I didn’t believe him. But, I proved myself wrong and Harold right. Not only did I surpass those numbers, but because of Signtronix, we took two vacations that first year (a family graduation in California and a Disney World trip in Florida), and still managed to earn almost $100,000.
Two and a half years into our Signtronix journey, two factory trips later and a third in sight, we have enjoyed the hard work, the time off and the fruits of my labors. The freedom from severely restrictive time off from employers, the ability to work as hard as I want and can and then relax and play equally as hard, have all been a true gift Signtronix and self discipline has given my family. It has been and is hard work on the road with lots of miles. But, I’m a photographer and I take the time to enjoy the scenery along the way. All the while and most importantly, I make friends with business owners and help them transform their bottom line through highly effective signage.
