May 31, 20183 min read

Conducting Global Biz #2

Updated: Feb 21, 2019

Bond with your Partners & Customers

(Speaking Topics for Corporate Events)

We spent Friday night in El Salvador at the bar, and savored the victory right up until closing time at midnight.

“Hey Joe, join us for "The 21"? We can pick you up at 7am...”

Bond with your Partner.

The El Salvador 21 (Veinte y uno)

My VAR, ITS, and I were closing in on a sale of software licenses at the Cassa Sugar Factory near the Central American nation’s capital of San Salvador.

We had introduced the upgrade to a virtualized SSD-Flash blade environment, and they were progressive enough to see the benefits. Score.

The local VAR Team and I dug in & worked together for three days in a row and closed the deal Friday afternoon! We then spent Friday night at the bar drinking & eating Salvadoran stuffed pupusas, and savored the win right up until closing time at midnight.

“Hey Joe, join us for the 21? We can pick you up at 7am...”

These were my people on the ground.

I agreed immediately.

“Por supuesto, parece bien… (Sure, sounds great) – um, what’s a 21?”

Turns out the Viente y uno (21) was short for 21km (13 miles), a.k.a. a half marathon - through the roiling hot streets of San Salvador and into the countryside heading towards the volcano. Even with limited sleep, the team was cheery when they rolled in to fetch me at 6:50am, and we had an absolutely brilliant run and team bonding event.

Spectacular.

Some months later Cassa’s IT director Rene came to our New York City office for software training, and having heard the fun we all had back at the factory, we added a fantastic run through Central Park.

Bonding with your Partner.

Win.

Bond with your Customer

Meet them on their Home-Turf

As a good vendor we need to go to them when it matters…

When I was at Brocade, our Credit Suisse team always met in either New York or London. But the decision-makers for the big upcoming storage/networking decision were the admins plus first-line directors that sat in Zürich, Switzerland.

Their big team meeting was on Wednesday, which was incredibly inconvenient for a trip from the States, but that’s when the decision could be influenced best.

So when we arrived, since we had only heard each other’s names or communicated via email previously, we spent a full 20 minutes talking about family, common acquaintances and common experiences in America & abroad.

We had reached the target audience, and had won them over on their comfortable home-turf.

Sold.

P.S. Given that our meeting was taking place at this extraordinary location, I included my engineer Bob Jaconetti to join me:

1) We were a united team & he was stellar at noticing the tech nuances that could trigger a competitive advantage.

2) He was a loyal soldier who had earned the international showcase.

Best decision I ever made – externally we upped our credibility with the customer, and internally we cemented our personal loyalty for life. In following trips, Bob would share his favorite lighthouses and national park sites, plus his love of geocaching... my son Jake loves "Uncle Bob".

Win. Win.