January 25, 2008

“We spent over 20 of the last 24 hours preparing for this and it only took about 5 minutes to ruin it.”

“Kinda reminds you of a bad Thanksgiving Dinner, doesn’t it?”

The disaster that prompted these quotes happened early in the meeting.  Those who were to have speaking parts in this involved sales pitch were ready and rehearsed.  Others, along as technical subject matter experts (SMEs), had been instructed repeatedly that they were invited for the express purpose of answering questions; they were not to raise issues or participate in the formal presentation.  Well, much like “offensive Uncle Ollie” at Thanksgiving, some folks simply have a hard time behaving appropriately for the occasion.  As we went around the room providing introductions, one of our subject matter experts decided to extend his introduction by re-addressing an issue that we had previously resolved to the satisfaction of the prospective client.  Once he began, it got ugly.

Many in the room didn’t understand the technical nuances our “SME” was iterating.  Others had not even been aware that this item had been an issue from previous discussions.  A few were doing our best to silence the technical confabulation.  The frustration level on all sides was palpable.  One of the technical directors from the potential customer was unmoving in his desire to continue the conversation our SME had started.  It lasted for almost 45 minutes.  Meeting ruined.  Opportunity lost.

We left the large conference room and trudged toward the lobby.  The only solace was in knowing that the misadventure was over.  Just when I wanted to lose my cool with our SME, I heard one of our team members lament, “We spent over 20 of the last 24 hours preparing for this and it only took about 5 minutes to ruin it.”

Another one deadpanned, “Kinda reminds you of a bad Thanksgiving Dinner, doesn’t it?”  The moment of humor provided the break I needed that inspired me to wait 24 hours before I addressed our SME.  In this case, we had cooked the turkey to a golden brown.  All the trimmings for the dinner were seasoned to perfection.  The table was set exquisitely.  Unfortunately, we never enjoyed the meal because of who we invited to join us.

Invitations:  an all-important consideration in sales presentations and Thanksgiving dinners.