Ryan’s Journal: Live from Dallas
by Ryan Pew
I’m here this week in Dallas, Texas for our company’s sales kickoff. Most of my company is remote and this also gives us an opportunity to meet in person for some quality bonding time.
I have found that these face-time meetings can create tremendous value as a company and as an individual rep. As companies continue to find talent from across the nation and world it becomes obvious that some time spent together can make a lasting impact.
Since we’re in Texas there are a few things that we must experience and do as a team. BBQ is top of the list. One of the executives within my company has a ranch in Texas and we had an excellent BBQ on the grounds of his property.
Basically, every cliché you can think of took place. Horses, cowboy hats, country music and great BBQ.
One takeaway that I learned during the evening was this, folks that travel for work get tired of restaurants. When we did the BBQ it was a moment for people to relax, spend time actually talking and not worrying about if we have tipped the server enough to stay longer.
It’s a good lesson to keep in mind when visiting clients as well. Give them some space to roam and you never know what you may find out.
Texas being Texas the week is not complete without going to a gun range. Now I realize that the gun debate is raging right now and even this week we have had another terrible school shooting. However, the experience at this range was able to cross political divides for at least one day. We had folks that are very experienced with shooting and those who have never touched a gun in their lives.
The feedback from the group was they were very happy to have had the experience to learn about gun safety from professionals and build a little confidence in what the weapon can do.
I am of the belief that weapons require respect and I carried that lesson into the events of the day. We conducted this event with clients and many of them walked away with a smile on their face after firing a gun for the first time. My takeaway from this is to get someone out of their comfort zone and you may just see who they really are.
So I went into this week with no expectations but learned three things:
Proximity matters. Give people space to roam. Create opportunities to expand your comfort zone.
They all help in business and in life.
Image credit: bryan…
