Sydney, Day 3

Day three in Sydney is “in the bag” now. It’s been all business but fun all the same. I awoke and got dressed to go to our meeting at 8 AM. After last night’s successful navigation of the Sydney train system, I confidently rode the train over to the meeting’s hotel. I didn’t expect it to be raining this morning, though luckily I had a hooded jacket and the walk to the train station wasn’t far.

Warm, humid, rainy days make for a fun ride on a crowded subway train. Uh, not. Fortunately I had one stop to go.

Our company’s invited partners were all there, so we began promptly at 8:30. Clinton led off with an overview of the company’s traditional products before turning the meeting over to me. Then for the next two hours I animatedly explained the product and how to sell it, first going into some history of the product and its previous companies. I spoke for about four hours total today. By the end of the day, the room was buzzing with questions, there was excitement on their faces: I really think I succeeded in “lighting the fire” I set out to light.

We had drinks at the hotel bar after the formal presentation, during which I heard how well the partners received the message. I was told once again how good a presenter I am, which of course thrilled me to no end. Now our New Zealand partners want me to do this in their country next month! While I’ve always wanted to visit New Zealand, I don’t think I could do another hop across the Pacific so soon, certainly not without Kelly going with me (though that may be a possibility).

Clinton did a fine job with his part, too, and got high marks for his presentation. The product’s success here is directly related to his skills. He is more than capable of doing what I’ve done here. The big attraction of my visit, though, is simply that I’m an American representative of the company. Partners consider it a big deal if someone from the company’s headquarters (or close to it, as is the case) comes out to this part of the world for a presentation. Should my travel requests become too tiring maybe I can teach Clinton to speak ‘Merican and he can pass as someone from the home office. I have my work cut out for me as my attempt to explain the Andy Griffith Show was met with blank stares!

We headed out to the Darling Harbour area for dinner at Nick’s Seafood, where I had a plate full of fried jumbo shrimp (here they call ’em “prawns.”). The guys told me that in the two hours since our presentation five more products were sold! Whatever we did today apparently caught on! We helped ourselves to a bottle of wine to celebrate.

Tomorrow morning we hop a plane to Melbourne, which I’m told is more laid back than Sydney. I’m interested to see how the two compare. On the schedule is a tour of the office and customer meetings, among other things. I’ll finish off the week in Melbourne before flying back to Sydney Sunday night. Look for more pictures once I get to check out Melbourne.

G’day!