Springfield

This is my first "blog" writing from on the road. It has been a nutty couple of days I will tell you that.

So I drove up on Monday to play golf with Mike Swartow who is a good client from Boston. He is a good client but not a good golfer and I played pretty well. I have been not using my driver as much lately to keep the ball in play more, especially on new courses so that helped. Anyway after golf, we decided to go the hotel and have dinner at the Champions Sports Bar and watch the football. Let me tell you driving for 3 hours, a round of golf in the sun, and a football double header with Mike Swartow led to way too many beers. They had a bunch of those New England microbrews at the bar and we tried em all. I was one hurtin pup on Tuesday morning at the convention.

This is the first convention I have been to with Grant Hunt and he is not really the same as Jerry Rogers used to be. Grant really wants us to stay at the booth and is giving the real corporate schtick. He is not a sales guy so it is different. There were some of our clients there and Grant was good with those guys in saying Hi and making sure that the back end issues were up to par but when propects came that is when I stepped in. I sometimes think the best relationships at these events are not made in the booth but more when you are just walking around and stuff like that. Grant did not like being at the booth without me so I had to stand there from 8-4 with only two little breaks. Swartow did not even hit the floor till like 11 and I think he left at 2.

We had a dinner planned that night with Matt Parker who is from Boston. He has a pretty big distribution network up here and he would be a great client. I know he has done some buying from George Macredes who is from my town and is in my dart league. The company Macredes works for does not have as quality product as we do so I was hoping we could have a shot. We went to a pretty nice steakhouse that was across from the Marriott and the Convention Center. They had a great cajun rib eye and some of the same beers that the Champions had.

During dinners like that I prefer to talk more about other things than work- Sports, Movies stuff like that but Grant Hunt kept bringing it back to work stuff. All in all it was OK. Going back to the hotel we had to walk by Champions and it was packed with all the people from the Convention. Swartow was there. Macredes was there and a bunch of other people I know. Grant and Matt Parker did not want to go in but I felt it was a good networking thing so I stopped in. I knew I could not do it up like the night before but I still had a good time.

It was a bit weird because I was talking to Macredes about darts and some stuff back home and Swartow came up. I like Macredes and Swartow is a good guy but also a client. I didn't really want to introduce them but I had to. I only stayed till about 11 and they were both going strong when I left.

Well I gotta hit the the booth and catch up with Hunt. More later

Springfield Trip

I am driving up to Springfield today for the convention this week. I am going up a half day early so I can sneak in a round of golf with Mike Swartow.

I am looking forward to this as I like conventions. I can make some good contacts and it is fun to socialize with clients. This will also be my first time hanging with Grant Hunt from the District Office. I hope he is up for some fun. We are taking Swartow to dinner tomorrow night and that is usually a fun night and no doubt I will be hurting on Wednesday. Swartow likes to tie one on and he IS a client so I have to join in. Ha Ha

I need a big night from Frank Gore tonight in my fantasy football league to win. Romo had a great game but Benson killed me against the Chargers.

I am taking my laptop to Springfield so I will post from there.

Labor Day Weekend

Getting back to this Blogging thing and trying to be better about it. Big few weeks ahead of me. Next week I have to go to Springfiled Mass for a three day convention. The convention is at the MassMutual Convention Center. I get to stay at the Springfield Marriott and that is one of my favorite Marriotts. It has a Champions Sports Bar and that is always a good place to unwind.

Grant Hunt from the District Office Schenectady is coming up to this and it will be good to spend time with him. I really liked Jerry Rogers who left the District Office and Grant seems like a good guy. Jerry and I certainly had our fun at some of these Conventions and I hope that Grant will be as much fun. Mike Swartow, who is a client, is going to come up to this so we have a dinner planned with him. Matt Parker is a guy in the Boston area who I have been trying to sell to for a long time and I finally have a dinner with him. I am trying to find a good steakhouse up there to go to. I hope it goes well, he would be a good account to land.

Some other stuff... I was thrilled to see Lefty beat Tiger this weekend in the golf. It was great to watch. Rivalries like that are good for sports. I had my NFL Fantasy League Draft last week. My team name is The Camp North Star All Stars. That was based on one of my favorite Bill Murray movies, Meatballs. I love that movie. My team is pretty good and I have Cedric Benson of the Bears, Frank Gore of the 49ers, Tony Romo of the Cowboys, the Cowboys D and a bunch of other guys. Draft night is always fun. This year we had it at Chaucers where we usually have our dart league and it was a good night out. The league is made up of me, the McGilvary Brothers, Timmy Chiocco, Russ Davis, Russ's brother Scott, and two friends of Scott's-Glenn Pritchard and Peter Flynn. It has been the same bunch of us for a few years and it is fun. Glenn Pritchard got Tomlinson with the first pick.

Long time

One of the things they talked about in the conference where I heard about blogs was that you have to update them frequently and I have not been doing that but I am back.

I am not a man to make excuses but work has been nuts and we went away for vacation with Joe McGilvary and his family. Good times. We went to the Outer Banks and rented a place. Our wives and kids get a long so that is good and Joe and I were able to sneak out and play some golf. Lots of BBQ and beers but a heck of a drive.

On the drive down I was able to meet with Mike Curtis from the DelMarVa region. Terry Buohl who is one of my clients picked up some space in Newark, DE which is technically Mike's territory but as Terry is my account we needed to work out some details. It is going to work out. Mike is a good guy and we came to a fair arrangement.

I am a big sports fan and have been outraged by a few developments in sports these days. The NBA ref gambling, Michael Vick and the dogs and Barry Bonds. It is just terrible. I really did enjoy the Little League World Series last week though, those kids are playing for the love of the game and it was just fun to watch.

I am very excited about the NFL season. Even though I am from the Northeast I am a big time Cowboys fan going back to the Roger Staubach days. I can't tell half my clients that I like the Cowboys. Buohl in Harrisburg is a big Steelers guy, Phil Schnatz in Philadelphia bleeds Eagle green and Mike Swartow is a huge Giants fan. I have my fantasy football draft on Thursday night, I always enjoy fantasy football and the draft is just a good night of ball busting with the fellas.

The fall is really the busy season for work. I have three conventions and then there is the end of year National Sales Conference. This year it is in Arizona in December. I am pacing to have a great year and if things go well I could be in line for one of the top regions so I have to be on my A game all fall.

On my vacation I read a great, great book called You, Inc. about how to use selling your self to be a better sales person. I am going to apply some of these methods and see how I do.

District Office

Before I tell you about my trip to the District Office last week let me say something quickly about Cal Ripken. I am a big baseball fan, a big sports fan in general and I want you all to know that Cal Ripken is a true hero of mine and should be to all of us. This guy came to work and played hard every day. When you look at some of the so called baseball heros of today they have nothing on Cal.

As I mentioned, last Thursday I had to head to Schenectady to go to the District Offices. I was staying at the Marriott there for Thursday also. It was more of a Courtyard Marriott but I still got the points. I also happened to be there for Jerry Rogers goodbye party. He has been the customer service manager for a few years and we are sorry to see him go. I was glad to get to his party, there was a time last fall when he really helped me out with the people from Velocorp in getting them some extra inventory when they needed it. It was huge on his part and really helped me make my numbers.

Anyway, I like going to the District Office. I work out of my home and am on the road quite a bit so I like to check in and see how people are. I also feel that even though I do not share an office with the people there they are my co-workers and a lot of what they do is important to me so I should know them. I know some of the other reps do not do this as much as I do and I pride myself in it. I like to go about once a month and spend some time with the key people who help manage my account- Terri in Billing, Jerry in CS, Tom in Finance (great guy) and then hopefully coincide my visit with Gil Miller. He was not here this time.

I spent some time catching up with Jerry and also met his replacement Grant Hunt. As I said I am sad to see Jerry go because he and I have been through some wars together but Grant seems like a nice guy. It is always good to catch up with Terri as without her doing the billing and tracking down the invoices, I don't get paid. She is an unsung hero of the company. I always put a good word into her boss Tom for her when I am there.

Jerry's goodbye party was at some a brew pub called Van Dyck. That of course inspired some pretty good jokes. It was a great time. Jerry got lit up and some of the people who worked for him were pretty sad. Jerry is married and his wife came to pick him up. I decided not to make too much of a night of it as I had to drive back to the Courtyard Marriott and do not know the roads all that well. It was a good time. Jerry wrote a great goodbye email that he copied me on and I was glad to get that.

Adios, Farewell, See Ya....

As many of you know, tomorrow will be my last day here. It has been a very happy 7 years and it is with mixed emotions that I am saying goodbye to everyone. My experiences here have allowed me to grow both personally and professionally. I leave extremely thankful for all the opportunity it has presented me. What I hold highest from my experience has been the personal and professional friendships that I was able to make.

You guys are also the greatest gang I have ever worked with. We worked hard and played hard but got it all done.

Below I have included my personal email and my cell phone. Please keep in touch as I'm sure our paths will cross again soon.

Good Luck with everything moving forward – I wish you the best!

All the best,
J-RO

Dart League

I am in a Dart League with a bunch of my friends. Most of the guys in the Dart League with me, with their wives and kids make up most of the friends of me and my wife and our kids. They are a great bunch of guys and I have known most of them for years in fact I went to High School with the McGilvary brothers - Joe and Steve. Every other Tuesday we go to Chaucer's and play darts. Chaucers's is a good bar. It has that British Pub type feel and great beer and burgers. When I drink beer I often like micro brews but here I like the English beers they have like Guiness and Harp.

It was great this week. All of us were there- Steve, Joe, Timmy Chiocco, Russ Davis and me. Usually in the summers it is tough with vacations and the kids being around so it was good to get out and get together. Steve was the designated driver so that was also good if you get my drift.

We played against a bunch of guys that we all knew. We were in the same Sunday Slo-pitch Softball League a few years ago and one of the guys George Macredes has a similar job that I have for the competition. He is not a bad guy though and sometimes it is good to share stories.

We played great team darts this week. We all hit the shots when we had too and were picking eachother up. The way it works is that we play 4 games of 501 and then 5 games of cricket. We play best of 9. Anyway we killed them this week and won in 6 games. It was fun to rub it in Macredes and the other guys. It is part of a league but usually there is also a $10 a man side bet and that usually buys a few beers at the end of the night so that was a good time.

It was a little rough on Wednesday morning but luckily I didn't have to make any calls until 10. I have to go to the district office on Thursday and am going to stay over night there at the Marriot. I like going to the district office as it is good to catch up with the people who really do the work after I make the sales. The office people who do the invoicing, customer service and all that. One of the guys is leaving so there is a little shin dig for him Thursday that I will make too.

Friday

Usually on Fridays in the summer, I like to find a client who lives pretty close, within a few hours and take them golfing or something. Yesterday I decided to take Terry Buohl from Harris Industries in Harrisburg, PA golfing. He is a great guy, a bit of a wild man but a good guy.

Anyway, I hopped on 78 and after a few hours I was there. I spend a lot of time in my car traveling to clients and stuff. I have a company car so it is not so bad. Anyway after 2 hours of ESPN Radio and another hour of some good classic rock I was there. The radio station was playing some Genesis. I always loved them. They are playing some concerts this fall and I am still trying to figure out if I can expense some tickets.

I picked up Terry and we went to his local golf course. Terry is not the best golfer but he is fun. I think he knows every line from Caddyshack and Tin Cup.

We did talk a little work. He told me his company has an option on some property in Newark, Delaware and wants to expand. That was the most interesting tid bit of the day. Obviously when a good client expands I can sell them more but they are expanding technically out of the Northeast into the Del-Mar-Va region. Curtis is the Sales Rep there and he is good guy and I would like to work more with him. I could bring him into the deal but that will take away my commissions but if we were able to work together more it would help me expand and maybe bring more money to me. I am more senior than Curtis and we talk all the time. Gil Miller, at the ECSLDC last week, talked about the "rising tide theory" we should all be aware of. I think it meant that if all of us sell more than the compay does better or that if we work together it will help us. I may use this as an opportunity to talk to Gil and see what he says.

After golf we went to a sports bar that Terry likes, Goalposts. We were able to watch some of the British Open on TV. I really do not want Sergio to win this, I hope an American golfer wins. I knew I was going to be driving a while home so I only had two beers and then moved to Arnold Palmers- Iced Tea and Lemonade. Terry knew I was paying so he was hitting it a little harder and was downing the Coronas. Anyway, after a burger and some beverages it was time to me to head back. Traffic was lousy driving back but I really don't mind.

Should be a fun weekend. We have a BBQ with a few of the families we are friends with. The British Open will be on in the mornings so I should get to watch it.

ECSLDC

So in learning about Blogs at ECSLDC over the weekend one of the things they said is they work best when they are updated so here goes.

ECSCLDC stands for the East Coast Sales Leadership Development Conference. We held it this year at the Executive Park Marriott in Charlotte, NC http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/cltnc-charlotte-marriott-executive-park/ . The past couple of years it had been held closer to my territory in the Northeast but we tend to move it around. It was a good event.

I flew down on American Airlines Friday withouth the wife and kids. They went to her parents house so I missed a trip to the in-laws. Our company has deals with Marriot and American so they get to save the money but I get the full points, it is a good deal.

Friday night was a cocktail party reception as everyone was just pulling into town. All the different Sales Reps and some of the support staff from the East Coast were there. The National Sales team from corporate was there. It is a great team. Made sure to not go crazy on the first night but there was this local microbrew that the hotel bar had that was pretty damn good. I spent most of the night talking to Mike Curtis who does sales in the De-Mar-Va region. He is a good guy. I would love to pick up some of his territiory or at least figure out ways that we can work together.

The next day was filled with Seminars and Breakouts. There was the usual bs about how to treat customers and what they are looking for now. Trust me, I would not be third in the country in growth in 2006 if I did not already know that.

Then there was the Blog talk. I really did not know how many people were doing this blog thing but now I am one of them.

The breakouts were pretty boring. Barbara Harris who is in charge of accounting spoke about the invoicing process blah blah blah. I was sitting next to Jim Petterson from the South East Region, he cracks me up.

Gil Miller from Corporate sppoke. I really admire him. He started out in Customer Service and now is VP of National Accounts. He is not like the other sons of bitches in corporate but most of those people are not in sales.

That night we went to a great BBQ dinner at the Richard Petty Museum. Sadly none of us got to drive and Richard Petty was not there but he has some cool memorabilia and stuff. It was a good old Southern BBQ. That good southern microbrew was not on tap there but there was plenty to drink. I got to talk to Gil Miller and that was great. He told me he was impressed with the growth my region had seen and wanted big things from me. I also met Kevin Jenkins who is in sales from the UK. That guy was a riot.

After the busses took us back to the Marriott a few of us went to a local sports bar. Petterson, Curtis and a few other guys went out. Everyone bought a couple of rounds, lets hope the receipts don't get kicked back from accounting.

Sunday was the golf outing. I woke up and as Petterson predicted, I was "Hurtin for Certain". I had just bought a new Nike Sasquatch driver http://www.golfsmith.com/products/NK790?PHPSESSID=e790986a296717d17791786f490c47fd in May. I was having a golf outing with a bunch of college buddies and figured it would be good for this trip also. Luckily a gatorade and the breakfast buffett at the Marriott sobered me up and I was ok on the golf course. Shot a 93 but considering the hangover and it was a new course I was fine with it. I came third in the Long Drive contest. Curtis, who never plays, won the closest to the pin on the 16th. He got a $400 gift certificate at Golfsmith.

After the golf outing there was a luncheon and then it was off to the airport and back on the 4:58. I made good time from the airport to my house considering it was Sunday and all the traffic from the shore was heading home too.

About Me

So, this past weekend I was at a Leadership Development Conference for my Company and someone brought up how other companies have "blogs" and we should too. I did a little research on it and it seems like it is a big opportunity so I figured I should get one too.

I am in Sales for a pretty big company. I handle the Northeast Region. Last year I increased sales to the territory by 26%- second biggest increase in the company.

I am married with 3 kids.

I am in a Softball League in the summer. I do Fantasy Football in the fall. I like to play poker and shoot darts with the fellas in the neighborhood whenever I can.