I had the pleasure of selling apartment buildings in Long Beach in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1976, my soon to be second wife Bernice who was already selling apartments convinced me to quit my day job and get a real estate license. I say pleasure because although I didn't much care for Realtors and "the business", I did learn the valuable skill of salesmanship. A not so minor side benefit
of learning this craft is I also made a very nice living.
I know you are wondering who the hell Ludwig is and why did I name this little opus Ludwig. I'll get to that soon enough but right now I'm telling a story.
I actually met Bernice in 1971 at a lamb roast in Manhattan Beach. Walt, one of the salesmen at work invited me and my wife to his brother's annual lamb roast. I had a great time at the party doing my usual schtick, drinking beer and telling funny stories with a guy named Stan. Stan was at the time, married to Bernice. While Stan and I and the rest of the guys were being our usual obnoxious selves, Bernice was off to one side chatting with Judy my first wife. Judy was showing pictures of our four year old son Ed. Judy told me later that Bernice commented that she would love to have a cute little boy like Ed.
Fast forward three years and Judy and I are divorced as are Stan and Bernice. Stan ran a "cabin" up at Mammoth Mountain for the last few years along with Walt and his brother Stan and a few other guys. The cabin started out as a smallish house and later on became a condo across the road from the Moguls restaurant with a hot tub and sauna. We would all pitch in $250 for the year and take our skis and gear up to Mammoth for the season. If a friend accompanied you he, or she, would cost them $10 per night. This usually filled in the short capitol. Bernice on one occasion called Stan to see if he was going skiing one weekend. As it was, he wasn't so she went up to the mountain. She and I skied together all weekend and one thing led to another.
Bernice had quit teaching English at a third world school in Carson ans said if she could make a living in real estate over the summer that she wasn't coming back. And did she ever make a living. She persuaded me "to work smart not hard". I went to real estate school and passed the test and got my license. All of my life I had been told that I was "a natural born salesman". But it takes more to be really successful in the Southern California real estate market than talent. You need to be trained. So I went to several courses taught by people like Tommy Hopkins the Ayatollah of closing and others and I did quite well. My first year I owed more in taxes than I earned the previous year. By 1981, I was burned out. The economy was in the toilet and the prime hit 23.
My motto for years is I don't believe in luck but I do rely on it. I got a call from a company in Gardena that I knew of as the rep for West Instruments. They told me that they could get a contract from Barber-Colman if they could get someone who thoroughly knew the BC product line. Ron, the president of the Gardena company asked just where am I to find some guy like that in the LA area? The product manager at BC mentioned me by name. Ron called the office manager of his company in Santa Clara who also mentioned me by name. Ron was not a very good poker player and asked me to come to talk to his sales manager. Mister I have multiple degrees didn't know squat about sales. He couldn't sell ladders in a burning building. He droned on for two hours telling me how smart he was so I asked him if he was interested in hiring little old me and if he was, to kindly make me an offer. I made me a pretty good offer and I told him he'd have to do better than that. I felt like Joe Montana playing Pop Warner football. This was all too easy. He told me that he'd have to talk to the owner. So I said thank you and left. Early the next morning my phone rang and I knew I was about to change professions.
OK, I'm about to get to Ludwig.
Month in and month out I was not only the top salesman in the office, I did always at least twice as much as the number two dog in sales. Both the owner and the so called sales manager started asking me what my secret was. I told them that there were no secrets. It was all a matter of training and experience. They asked could I, would I, train the other guys. I said I would but I didn't want to impinge on my sales so if they were OK with on the job training I could have the other guys one, by one, ride with me. By ride with me, I actually meant they would do the driving and I would explain to them where were going next and what we intended to accomplish when we got there.
They were bringing on a new guy, a kid from Boston straight out of college named Ludwig. They wanted to know how soon I could start on Lud. I said I would love to start with a blank canvas and not have to break him out of any bad habits.
Next chapter I'll tell you my Lud stories.
