A Sales Guy

I decided I wanted to epoxy my garage floor. You know that cool gray coating with the speckles you put down to protect it and make it pretty. I’ve always wanted to do it, but I’ve never gotten around to it. I’m not known for my home improvement capabilities. So this past weekend, I went all in and did it. I was rather proud of myself.

This is what my garage looked like when I started.

Before

This is what it looked like when I was done.

After

Putting the stuff down is not that hard. I went with Rustoleums Epoxy Shield. It comes with DVD and pretty clear, step by step instructions. Combine that with a little help from the Home Depot contingent and I had what I needed to be successful.

What made it hard was the prep work. It took 12+ hours to complete the work and 10 of it was the preparation. It started with moving everything out of the garage including finding a place for the freezer and refrigerator. I then had to sweep out the entire garage and spray it out with a high-pressure hose. Once that was done, I had to clean and degrease the floor by scrubbing it from end to end with degreaser. Once I was done with that, add another round of the high-pressure hose. Then the next step was the etching. This is an active chemical that picks up the remaining dust and embedded elements. This was also done with a scrub brush. Once done, I had to hose out the garage again, not once, not twice but 3 times to ensure all residue from the etching was removed. After each hosing, I had to squeegee out the excess water. I started the prep work at 9:00 on Saturday Morning and finished by 6:00 on Saturday night. I was exhausted. It’s a 3 car garage, about 600 square feet. I was over, high-pressure hoses, wire brushes and scrubbing.

The next day I put down the epoxy. It was a walk in the park, compared to the day before. It took about 2 hours beginning to end. That was it. I just rolled it on like I was painting and threw the speckles on to the wet paint.

The whole process was a great reminder that the win is not in the battle, it’s not in the sale but in the preparation. Without good preparation the epoxy won’t stick and neither will your sales efforts. Far too often we cut corners, go too fast, and don’t do what is necessary to be successful. We don’t put in the upfront work. We don’t do the necessary preparation. We forget the work IS the preparation.

In sales and business, like in sports, you’ve won or lost long before you stepped on the field or epoxied garage floor.