It is 7:28 AM on Tuesday March 5th, 2019. I’m at SFO airport waiting for my flight to Phoenix. It is another business trip and this time for our annual West Coast team meeting.
Unlike past team meetings I’m not anxious for this one. I think back to previous team meetings and with Avis I was always a bit nervous. Five or so years ago these meetings were two days long and we would go through the entire database of accounts with the VIP boss questioning us on each account. I always did fine but those were unpleasant. Later in my Avis career we ditched the entire database format and went with a 15 minute presentation. My numbers were always pretty good but one year I only had one new account to report for the entire year and the meeting was attended by someone even higher up, Beth. When I said I didn’t sell many new accounts she replied “You sure didn’t.” I’ll always remember that.
No matter though because my numbers were always good and soon I had cornered the entire market in terms of big accounts.
With my current company the environment is fantastic and it really is like a family. Avis said we were a “family” too but the CEO who said that was soon let go and we weren’t like a “family” at all! But this company is fantastic and I’m actually looking forward to my presentation. We’re only allowed two slides and five minutes.
My numbers are down but so is the entire corporate sales division. I’m working hard to hit goal and have brought in a ton of new accounts and my activities and what I’ve been doing are lock tight. So even though the numbers are down the business I’ve brought in and my pipeline are fantastic so I’m not concerned. It is also a quick trip: one day getting there, checking in and a team event in the evening followed by a morning and afternoon session and then we fly home in the evening. Nothing too stressful.
I have been stressed however about the numbers. With this company and more than ever I want to hit goal not only for myself but to be a productive and contributing member of this team. So for the past month I have been a bit anxious and given my new business March should go well for me, fingers crossed.
I’m now on the plane and on takeoff I could see the hotel where we had a few of our Avis team meetings. Now I’m on a plane to another team meeting, with a different company thinking of team meetings from years back. Time goes quickly.
The lady in front of me is talking about going to her therapist and how her mind is full of thoughts she cannot turn off. First world problems. Seems that the society we live in causes a lot of mental issues due to all the stress and pressure.
I’m now in my hotel room and my first impression of Phoenix is there are a lot of people who want to look handsome/pretty. I posted a picture of Phoenix from the plane on Instagram and was immediately followed by a tall blond who likes to post pictures of herself.
After landing I met up with Pete and we went to a restaurant called The Hop Social Tavern and it was the same story. There were pretty people everywhere. It seems to me that a lot of people here are focused on looks but lack worldliness and substance. I imagine there just isn’t too much to do here in the desert aside from paying too much attention on your own looks. I prefer the Bay Area.
