Everyone has a "fish tale" — the monster captured or the big one that got away. Mine has a sales slant.
I've written before that referrals from satisfied customers or word of mouth are among the best ways to secure new business. This sales lead was an example of that:
The call came from a Port Agneles, Wash., certified public accountant who had heard how our business forms were custom-designed to be used as inventory and receivable accounting systems for the salmon fishing industry.
Most small businesses at the time did not have computer systems and bookkeeping was done manually. He wanted to help his client with ease of record keeping, especially during the busy fishing season.
The client was an American Indian tribe with a reservation on the Olympic Peninsula. We would be meeting with the manager of their fishing business, who was also one of their tribal leaders.
I had not had the opportunity to work with them, so I asked the CPA if he had any additional suggestions before I came to visit. "Dress down a bit," he replied, "and just follow his lead, and you will be fine."
Etiquette holds swayIt was a long, rainy drive from Seattle to Port Angeles to meet the CPA. He left his tie in his desk before we departed on the next leg of the journey to the reservation.
As we headed into their building, I wished I had ditched my low-heeled pumps (my one nod to fashion) for rubber soled duck shoes for better footing. We reviewed their books, and I showed them samples of how the system could be designed to account for coho, chinook and steelhead poundage based on their catch.
We were making decent headway, when our manager/leader suggested we have lunch. "Great," my CPA colleague replied, "what's on the menu?"
Fish head soup, came the reply. The aroma of the soup was mouth-watering, and our host made sure there was at least one fish head per bowl. He took two. We ate silently. I was avoiding the eyes looking back at me, steering clear of the head. He noticed and simply said, "The best meat is in the cheeks of the fish head."
He picked up one and broke it apart to extract the meat. My CPA colleague was already gnawing on the meat from his fish head with relish. I took a spoon and another eating utensil, carefully scooped out the meat of one cheek avoiding the eyeball, and popped the spoonful into my mouth.
The meat was silken and delicious. I smiled and my host noticed; I had passed some sort of initiation.
The rest of the afternoon, he was more receptive to my ideas and suggestions.
In the world of business meals, etiquette holds sway. Relationships can be forged more quickly and deeply when we allow our hosts to guide us, become more open-minded to their suggestions and try something new.
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