Some of our branch sales managers have been asking Dr. C to visit their territory and meet with their local surgeons. I think that in general, most surgeons are more likely to trust a product if they hear about it from one of their peers, and not just some rep who could be selling anything to make a buck. As Dr. C is the brains behind the system I just launched in March, he has been in quite the demand lately.

I'm currently on my way to meet him in Kansas City (woot!), where the sales manager is putting together a dinner for about eight surgeons that they've invited. Dr. C will give a brief talk, then they'll sit around looking at x-rays, discussing each other's surgeries... how they might have done it differently, etc. Our implant set will be there for them to look at, and hopefully they'll see how certain features in the system could make their procedures go quicker or easier.

I'm not too worried about the one in KC... it seems pretty well organized, and I know these sales guys pretty well. They don't do anything half-ass.

It's the one Thursday night that's a little concerning.

Tomorrow morning Dr. C and I will fly to Phoenix, have a day to play at the Phoenician in Scottsdale, then have another dinner that the local guys there have "planned".

I called one of the reps yesterday (about 5pm EST) to follow up, make sure everything was running smoothly... to see if I needed to help with anything last minute. I asked Joe how everything was looking.

"Well, that's what we're trying to figure out. We just had a meeting to decide what to do."

Well, that didn't sound promising. Joe said that they originally had four surgeons who had committed to attend, but that now they weren't sure if any of them were going to be able to make it.

"We're all running around trying to get answers from these guys, because if we need to cancel, it would probably be better to do it sooner rather than later, right?"

It took great restraint on my part to keep from explaining to Joe what the word "sooner" means. In my estimation, we've pretty much hit "later" when the dinner is TWO DAYS FROM NOW. Idiot.

Then he busts out with, "Well, there's this one surgeon who's considering driving up from Tucsan, and if we can get him, that would be HUGE. This guy does about five of these procedures a month, so it would really be worth it for Dr. C to be there, even if it's just this one guy."

Well, yes... I can see how that would help you. I sure that this guy will be very flattered that Dr. C has traveled 2000 MILES to have dinner with him. Jesus.

I can tell you right now, Dr. C will not be pleased if there are any fewer than two surgeons at this dinner. And that's even pushing it. Sure he's in Kansas City already, but he could be home by early afternoon on Thursday if he didn't do the Phoenix dinner. At this point he'll be getting home about 4 or 5 on Friday.

I'm already on a mad hunt for cigars for after tonight's dinner. I've learned from working with him that if he starts getting ornery, a nice glass of single-malt scotch is in order, along with a great cigar. So now, I proactively seek out the cigars whenever I know I'm going to be traveling with him. So far no luck for this trip, but I'm hoping our hotel in KC will have some.

I haven't even mentioned the fact that they have NOTHING planned for the dinner. Joe: "Oh, we thought that they could just sit around and talk over dinner... you know, just keep it casual." Oy.

There's absolutely nothing I can do about it at this point, so I guess I'm not going to worry about it until tomorrow night. And I'm sure as hell not mentioning anything to him

---

Well, this whole entry is now moot. Upon landing in Kansas City, I received a voicemail from the manager in Phoenix, and well... they've cancelled. Fucking Great. While having one person show up at dinner wasn't optimal, cancelling the whole thing altogether certainly isn't either. Especially now that Dr. C has already cancelled his practice for Friday and isn't seeing any patients.

Dude. He is going to be so pissed. Fortunately I don't have to break the news - his assistant left him a voicemail that he'll get upon his arrival here. In the meantime, my driver took me to a very nice tobacco store on the way to the hotel, so I finally found him a cigar. Actually, I bought him four cigars. Heh.

Nothing to do now but wait for him to start bitching about it all night. I really hope this dinner tonight goes well. If not, I'll never hear the end of it.

feeling... I guess this means no pool day tomorrow
reading... the curious incident of the dog in the night-time
miss something?
goodbye my friend - 2005-04-29
out of the loop - 2005-04-09
a quest for clarity - part 1 - 2004-08-30
no plan for a sequel - 2004-08-27
slacker of the month - 2004-08-26