Apparently it’s pretty much impossible for me to keep any type of regular update going on this thing. While it’s supposed to be a weekly blog, it’s often only updated bi-weekly or longer. But then again this past week I was in 10 different city airports over one week, so that makes it a little bit difficult.
The trip started off with a stop in a city which will go unnamed for confidentiality reasons, to meet with a relatively large credit union. I walked in expecting to close a deal, and they were apparently on a different page. It was easily one of the top 5 worst sales meetings of all time, but you gotta roll with the punches right? The thing that pissed me off was that I felt like some cheap salesman trying to pitch brass. The fact is that we have yet to spend a single dollar on advertising, ever, and our product speaks for itself. If you don’t see the value, I’m not going to waste my time pitching it to you, because there are plenty of other people who get it. It was a depressing meeting and it didn’t help that when I got back to the airport, my flight was delayed.
I then flew across the country to North Carolina and had a meeting the next day with Coastal Federal Credit Union in Raleigh. The meeting was like night and day compared to the day before. Everything with Coastal clicked. Typically I would not mention a credit union’s name, however due to the request from their marketing staff, I promised them a shout out on the blog. So Coastal, consider this your shout out, and I still have to try Bojangles because I just haven’t ever tried ‘heaven on a biscuit.’ I also was privileged enough to take a tour of their new facility which is amazing. Their board room has something like a 90 inch TV projector, and the bathrooms on the executive floor have marble flooring, wow! I’ve included a picture below of the front of the building, but it doesn’t really do it justice. All in all it was a great trip and we’re looking forward to working with everyone at Coastal.
The same day I drove down to Wilmington, NC for a presentation to a board, fighting through a Tornado warning some 50 miles away or so. It’s definitely a culture shock going from Oregon to all kinds of different places like Wilmington, across the US.
Once I finished my stint in NC, I came back to Oregon for a day, and then headed down to California. The first night I had a chance to grab some dinner and beverages with a friend of mine I met in Cabo over spring break who is part owner of a hot club in LA called Ivar. We caught up for several hours, and it was very interesting talking because he and I both come from families with farming backgrounds from the middle of nowhere, so it’s pretty crazy for us two nobodies to be where we are now compared to where we came from.
The next day I spoke at a conference and then kicked it with the grandparents and had some meatballs and gravy. That stuff is so good. On my trip back we froze a second portion and packed it in my carry on to bring back to Oregon. No really, I’m serious. I transported frozen meatballs across state lines in my carry-on.
My last day in LA I headed over to Wescom Credit Union in Pasadena. Those people know how to do things right. I got to meet with several people from their credit union, and then received a tour of their impressive facility. I swear one of their rooms where they count all the cash has more cameras than Vegas. After getting the tour, we headed over to Angels stadium to catch a game that Wescom was sponsoring by handing out 40,000 T-Shirts. It was good times, and I’ve included several pictures from my trip below.
That’s about all I’ve got right now. Sorry if this entry sucks, but I’m pretty much running on fumes right now which means I’ve got absolutely no creativity and my ability to come up with my typical sarcastic comments decreases significantly. On that note, I’m cutting my losses. Later.
Bryan
