A few weeks ago, I stood before a room of 75 people and asked, “How many of you have heard about SuperTech?” Imagine my dismay when only one person raised her hand. Imagine my further dismay when I realized the person who raised her hand worked for the Nebraska Trucking Association.
What can a committee do when the hard work it did publicity-wise hasn’t been working? Keep on keeping on.
Even though no one had heard of SuperTech, I still stood up there and gave an impassioned speech about the competition. I convinced several people to sign up. I recently drove four hours to North Platte, Neb., to get some interest from the western part of the state. I walked into a shop, along with their service manager, and we had a “question and answer” session, and were able to get three technicians signed up on the spot. I’m calling a lot of people I’ve met through networking sessions, and I’m talking to them about SuperTech. Slowly but surely, the word is getting out. We’ve got close to 20 technicians signed up so far.
The point is, if you launch a competition, it takes a lot of hard work. You’re also going to have to get used to rejection. But if you have the commitment and passion to the project, you just have to pick yourself up, find a new person to talk to and move forward.