Today I had an extraordinary experience. I was in a meeting with 12 people, none of which were sales reps. It was interesting, there were product managers, purchasing agents, marketing people, even a finance person but not one sales rep or anyone in sales at all.
As we spoke I heard them all talking about “The Office”, at first I thought they were talking about the TV program. As it turns out they were talking about their office and how it was to work there. The picture they painted wasn’t pretty, at least not to me. They talked about their “Cubicles”, the break room, the copy room and one of the marketing people actually was telling us how wonderful the new bathroom was.
I tried not to laugh, but when the bathroom came up I lost it. I was the only person in the group that didn’t work at the company and the only person in sales. I was the outsider. They asked what the office was like where I worked, I couldn’t help myself.
I told them that my office wasn’t the largest office I have ever seen but it was brightly lit with daylight coming in the picture windows. I said the ventilation was awesome and the air was always fresh. I said that the view was fantastic and always changing. I said that the food was terrific and the selection is vast. I told them that the temperature fluctuated quite a bit but the climate control worked well.
At this point I could tell I was laying it on rather thick and I was losing the group so I told them I worked in the field and was in cars most of the time.
They smiled and each one of them made some comment as to how lucky I was. It felt good to have people think I was fortunate to be an outside sales rep.
After the meeting, while I was driving home, I realized that as thick as I laid it on about my “Office Environment” I really did have it better than anyone in a cubicle. That is when it really hit me that a bad day in the field selling is better than a good day stuck in an office. Especially on a beautiful spring like day in Atlanta.
Enjoy what you have and realize how many people can only wish they were us!
Lorin
No comments:
Post a Comment