365 Pix in 365 Days for 2015: Images 019 through 025

I can only describe my fourth week of January with a term I haven't used since college. No, not "beer run."  Hell week.

The week after would be the annual AHR Expo, this year held in Chicago. Our top distributor is also in Chicago and our General Manager thought it would be a keen idea for us to sponsor a field trip with a group of other Principals and Owners who could learn the value of being in the aftermarket parts business. Since Chicago is in my territory, I was charged with teeing up the Parts Manager on a presentation and arranging for transportation from McCormick Place to the distributor location and back again. I'm also one of three Regional Sales Managers (RSMs), so I was responsible for finding at least six asses to fill the 18 available seats on the shuttle. 

We had a full month to prepare for the trip, which left plenty of time. However, these are busy professionals with very fluid schedules. If a better meeting arose, and aftermarket typically gets short shrift, more than likely a Principal would cancel. Booking people for the tour was an ever changing process. In addition, the GM also wanted all RSMs to schedule meetings throughout the time we were in Chicago so he could pick and choose what meetings to attend. We were to schedule a "beer summit" on Monday and Tuesday evening; a dinner meeting on Monday and Tuesday night; and a breakfast meeting on Tuesday morning. Over lunch on Tuesday we would take our field trip.

As luck would have it, two of the distributors I wanted to visit were only available on Sunday night. Everyone else was flying in Monday morning. but I was going to fly in a day early to meet with each of my distributors. Not surprisingly, one had another customer meeting so I wasn't able to connect with him. At any rate, the entire month of January involved some degree of event planning that lead right up to the Friday before the trip.

That week I was ambushed with a series of tasks that weren't on my calendar on Monday morning. Turns out our GM was taking a trip to Winnipeg to meet with a distributor. Although I had that distributor as part of my stable before, I transitioned the account to my fellow RSM. I was still asked to provide some detail on the distributor to prep the GM for his meeting. Once on the trip, he texted me for additional information. On Wednesday, my direct boss scheduled a pseudo quarterly review. I say 'pseudo' as the company requires only second and fourth quarter reviews, the first and third ones being a regular check-up/check-in. These still require prep work to track how I'm performing to plan. Fortunately, Q3 was pretty good for me.

I also learned on Monday I would be responsible for transporting a couple co-workers who have been testing the new e-commerce site the company is trying to release to the local Rep and company Service Office. Minnesota is part of my territory, and as the most customer facing person (I actually visit these places) I was tasked with making the introductions. My whole Thursday was shot, but there was a deadline to complete a Parts Potential Sales report by each Distributor for each region. My territory encompasses the North Central, South Central, and West regions. Thursday is also my bowling night, and since I'm the league secretary, I'm responsible for making sure everyone pays and the alley gets paid. I was able to delegate that assignment to someone else.

Finally, the GM scheduled another end-of-day meeting on Friday. The RSMs were asked to create a report of the last on-site visit we made to our distributors. I was glad to see I had been on-site with a bulk of my distributors over the last 18-20 months. The meeting was a watered down table thumper, where the GM said we needed to be tougher and more demanding of action from our distributors. The report was never reviewed.

So, this is my first true ventry of the New Year. I just need to add a signature and it could be a letter of resignation. 

How about another 7,000 words (assuming every picture is worth 1,000 - without captions)?

Image 019:  01-19-2015

I think everyone will be seen wearing white trash bags
tied at the knee.

Image 020:  01-20-2015

Just a slight dusting of snow. Those are dog toys, not kids toys.

Image 021:  01-21-2015

Wabasha Street Bridge in St. Paul

Image 022:  01-22-2015

My car is a piece of crap and this may have been only the second
or third time I've run it through a car wash, but if I was going to
have people in it, I wanted it to look decent.

Image 023:  01-23-2015

A drive by shooting (get it?  camera shot?) of the Ice Carnival.

Image 024:  01-24-2015

The St. Paul Cathedral lit up for the annual Red Bull
Crashed Ice event. We had bookended trips to
Cowboy Jacks around checking the venue, since we
thought it better to celebrate two friends' birthdays.

Image 025:  01-25-2015

My liver was well lubricated by the time I flew
to Chicago.  By the end of the night a group of
us ended up at a bar that served specialty drinks.
Not pictured:  a Bunsen burner

Winners Advertising: September 1994

With the advent of Caller ID, I believe Door-to-Door salesman has replaced Telemarketer as THE most annoying type of salesperson.  Granted, Telemarketers have the advantage of numbers and the persistence of rabid dogs to garner some first place votes, but they can be fairly easily avoided.  However, nothing chaps my ass more than someone banging on my door trying to sell me something.  The very activity is counter to the shopping experience.  What should happen is a consumer develops a need for a product and then GOES OUT to research and to find a solution.  What is sold as “customer convenience” is really intrusive and uncomfortable.  Door-to-door sales calls are like prostate exams.

When I want or need to buy something, I will shop for it at a store of my choosing and at a time convenient for me.  I’m denied both when a salesman comes a-calling.  The person has no idea if I’m tying one on, sleeping one off, or rubbing one out.  The fact I might be doing any combination of the three should make door-to-door salespeople uncomfortable enough to stop the practice.

This is how I would rank the worst sales person jobs as a customer, from most to least annoying:

1.) Door-to-Door

2.) Telemarketing

3.) Mall Kiosk

4.) Used Car

5.) Time Share

I know of what I speak.  For an entire week, I was a D2D salesperson, selling punch cards for a restaurant in the surrounding suburbs of Massachusetts.  I was on the job for five days, but have memories that will last me a lifetime.

I was just out of college and was looking at the end of a temp job my aunt found for me in Boston.  I scoured the Want Ads and found an ad for a company looking for people to sell in a “fun, fast paced environment” and offered to train the “right individual” on a “fast track to management.”  I believe the ad mentioned a sports theme as an added hook.  There wasn’t an address to send a resume as interested applicants were encouraged to call.  I did, and set-up an interview for later that week.

The interview went well as I completed some paperwork and met with the location manager, an odd, mousy guy who would shake hands without allowing his elbow to leave his side, forcing the other person to come to him.  I think this was an intentional tactic.  He asked me to return early on the following Monday to meet some of the other people in the office.  I was excited, but a little perplexed as he stressed that I should wear comfortable shoes.

American Research Corporation: April 1998 - July 1999

The one and only job I had in downtown Minneapolis was with a small, start-up company located on the 21^st floor of the Rand Tower.  The company attempted to offer marketing services to a select group of attorneys, located in Minnesota, Illinois, and Florida.  Mostly, it collected fees from attorneys to make Quick Reference Guides and other books that were distributed few and far between.  Essentially, it was a cash hole that only stayed afloat by what the employees assumed were the owner’s possession of compromising photos of his bank roller.  I was jettisoned about two months prior to the whole company going under.  Lucky me.

The beginning of the end was when the owner hired a former (and possibly disgraced) Northwest Airlines executive who was charged with improving the efficiencies of the company.  The first step was reducing the floor space the company was using and subleasing the rest.  The remaining portion was refurbished and the executive was able to get his corner office by displaying three employees.  The standard cost-cutting move of reducing headcount soon followed.  I was not one of the first to get cut and was able to stay nearly a whole year after the changes.

A clever clutch of us, although not so clever as to find other employment when the writing was on the wall, found an enjoyable way to pass the time when not busy at work.  We nicknamed the executive “The Pelican” for reasons I’m not quite sure of; although it might have been because of a painting in his office.  Anyway, the Pelican had a tendency to use and reuse odd phrases during business meetings and casual conversations.  We decided to collect a list of “Pelicanisms,” several of which are listed after the jump.