A "numbers guy" can have problems

I am a numbers guy.  I am an engineer.  The two are sort of synonymous.  Being a numbers guy can get you in trouble with guys or gals who are not numbers obsessed or oriented.

Tear down at the end of a trade show is always a bit hectic.  You are almost always in a hurry to get done and get away  ---  to get on the road, to catch a plane, or perhaps just to relax. Over the years I have "worked" maybe 300 - 400 trade shows and have helped set up and tear down way more than anyone should be forced to endure. (Here I am, headed off tomorrow to do another one, with solo set up and to help tear down. Ugh!)

I have digressed to set the stage for explaining why I was once accused, after the fact, of doing "time studies" on two of our staff members to be sure they were moving fast enough getting materials moved out to the truck during tear down after a trade show.    I confess, I was timing them, but only to judge how long it would take them to complete the tear down and move out if I did not stay to help.  I did not want to make the burden too great.  At least one of them will probably read this post and  may still question if my motive was pure.   

A numbers guy can have problems, or create them for himself.

Sales numbers, money numbers, time numbers, distance numbers, probability numbers; the opportunities for numbers people are endless.

Last fall, I did a series of calculations involving several factors and the rate of rise of the national debt for the last several presidents.  I was going to present it in my political blog (link top right), but it never made it to the "light of day."  Too many words were required to explain it all.  It probably would have caused me problems anyway.

I once asked my friend, Lawyer John,  what he thought the probabilties of winning a particular case were.  I was floored that he had not considered such a thing.  He is a really smart guy with a scientific mind and I was sure all really smart people with scientific minds would think in numbers.

When you start thinking in numbers about things that not everyone tries to quantify, especially if it appears that you are trying to judge them, you may have a problem.

Don't get me wrong though.  There are lots of things that cannot or should not be quantified!!!

Is it an obsession?  Or worse?  A narrow view of the world?  Or merely an attempt to bring some order to chaos?   What else is an engineer to believe?

If you are running a business, any business, you'd better be able to think in numbers, even if not all the time.  Otherwise, you'll probably lose your direction.

 
My friend Larry, a self confessed numbers guy, writes an interesting (to me anyway) blog about the Cocoa Beach real estate market. (See his Nov 28, 2012 post for his confession)
Check out his blog by clicking this.  
Then you can go to November 28 to read the confession.  


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You've got to tell them to sell them

"Back in the day" as they say, Hamms beer was immensely popular.  In the 60's, as an engineering student at the University of Iowa, I did my share to help the cause, especially at Doc's Bar.

John Cimino, of Des Moines, owned Cimino Distributing Company, one of the top Hamms distributors in the nation.    In perhaps 1980, I read a story sbout John Cimino in the Des Moines Register.  My takeaway from the story was this quote:

You've got to tell them to sell them and if you don't tell them, you will never sell them.

That has been sort of  guiding principle ever since and reminds me that you can never stop selling.

The story went on to tell how John Cimino spent every Friday night going from bar to bar in his territory, telling people about Hamms beer.  Of course, he bought them samples to backup what he was telling them.

A few months ago, I was researching for this post and found that I had the quote wrong, though the sentiment was correct.  Never mind; the quote, as I remembered it, has been one of my mantras for over thirty years.  I stand by it!

The Captain Speaks

Just ten minutes ago I got off United flight 1629 from Las Vegas to Denver.  As an "in-flight announcer" the Captain may have been the best I have ever flown with.  He spoke loudly enough to hear and added just the right amount of humor.  He added a couple of times that we had an "excellent" and "fantastic" crew whom he knew was "taking good care of you."  Just little things like that make the flight better.  It all adds up.   (see diminutive additives post of January 25, 2013)

The Captain was standing up when I exited the plane. I said to him that he should be "the model of announcements from the cockpit for every pilot in the company."  He thanked me with a chuckle.

I have long said that you "have every right to complain" about bad service, but you also "have every obligation to compliment" good service.

A secret from a master salesman

Harlan was my mother's cousin and he was a master salesman!

As sort of a retirement activity, he became a salesman for the area Harvestore dealer.  Those with an agriculture background will know what a Harvestore silo is, for the rest suffice it to say that the presence of a Harvestore structure on your farm announced to the world that you were a success and could afford the best.


Harlan once told me the secret of his rise to be a top salesman in the whole company, not just the area dealership.

Harlan said he always wanted to get into the house for meetings and preferably to have both husband and wife present.  But his secret was to see if either or both husband and wife had any vanity items, such as a nice car, fancy truck, or especially, nice home furnishings and expensive jewelry.  The furniture, jewelry, and clothing were an instant indication that he could appeal to the wife to give approval and nudge the husband into making the purchase (investment).

As a corollary, I once read that a good salesperson will "flatter the prospect until you (the salesperson) are embarrassed, but not until he (the prospet) is embarrassed."