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Education

The right side of the pay line and I said so. She laughed and said,
"That's just an old saying meaning
don't count your gifts until you get
them." Later on, I gained a better un-
derstanding of that saying: never as-
sume a result.

Once, when an older cousin didn't
show up to help her on a project,
Grandma told me, "That boy just don't
hunt." Later, I understood it to mean
he was lazy. Another time, a differ-
ent cousin (I had many) did a poor job
of painting a fence. She looked at it,
By Jeff Fortney shook her head, and said, "He isn't the
brightest bulb in the lamp."
I She rarely showed anger or frustra-
TouchSuite LLC
was a latchkey child before that term was coined, and I spent many
tion; she used sayings to reflect on
daytime hours with my grandma. She was in her 70s when I was born
experiences. Many of her sayings are
and had lived a full life. We talked about everything. She was a great
listener and had a simple saying to answer questions or just comment
found others that I use to help me be
on conversations. now part of my vocabulary. I've also
better at what I do. One that is partic-
When I was eight or nine, I was talking about what I wanted to do with pres- ularly applicable to our profession is,
ents I expected to receive. She nodded and commented, "Well, don't count your "Stay on the right side of the pay line."
chickens before they're hatched." I was confused. I hadn't asked for chickens,
Old wisdom applicable today
I've used it in many conversations
with merchant level salespeople
when discussing how to increase
sales. Initially, they don't understand
the meaning. Simply put, it means
sell during sales time; don't do activi-
ties that can distract from selling dur-
ing those key times.

Anyone who has worked in sales un-
derstands how easy it is to be on the
wrong side of the pay line. That's why
the saying is so important to remem-
ber, especially as we begin a new year.
I usually plan my year's efforts in
January. I already set goals and iden-
tified industry or target types during
the last two months of the previous
year. The purpose of this planning is
to define execution: how do I stay on
the right side of the pay line?

The first step is to identify selling
time for each day. This doesn't mean
setting specific hours for any given
day, that is, set aside a specific num-
ber of hours daily as selling time to be
on the right side of the pay line. The
saying "always be selling" does not
mean every minute of a day is prime
selling time. For example, calling on

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