Two Customers, Night and Day
Two Nights in San Diego #5
Leaving a meeting - Thu, 27 Jun 2024, 1:30pm
Today I had a few-hours-long meeting with another customer in San Diego. Unlike yesterday's customer meeting it wasn't six hours long. It also wasn't frustrating dealing with a customer who's not as smart as they think they are. That made it like night-and-day different.
At the end of yesterday's meeting (again, six hours!) I asked my colleagues, seriously, "Out of our agreed-up goals going into this meeting, which of them did we actually accomplish?" Because we had some goals that seemed fairly straightforward prior to the meeting but in hindsight they seemed ridiculously ambitious. Whereas after today's much shorter meeting, we left feeling great with confidence that we'd achieved everything we set out to achieve with this customer.
Part of the difference is that bozo factor I mused about yesterday. It's clearer in hindsight with today's comparison that the people we were working yesterday are, on 1-10 scale of "Are they smart and can they get stuff done?" at best a 6. And the problem is they think they're all 9s and 10s. While the people we met today actually are 9s- and, better yet, aren't cocky about it. I say that having worked with them over the course of 4 years now. I've often complimented them during conversations and have always spoken highly of them to my colleagues. It is refreshing to work with genuinely smart- and nice- people.
Leaving a meeting - Thu, 27 Jun 2024, 1:30pm
Today I had a few-hours-long meeting with another customer in San Diego. Unlike yesterday's customer meeting it wasn't six hours long. It also wasn't frustrating dealing with a customer who's not as smart as they think they are. That made it like night-and-day different.
At the end of yesterday's meeting (again, six hours!) I asked my colleagues, seriously, "Out of our agreed-up goals going into this meeting, which of them did we actually accomplish?" Because we had some goals that seemed fairly straightforward prior to the meeting but in hindsight they seemed ridiculously ambitious. Whereas after today's much shorter meeting, we left feeling great with confidence that we'd achieved everything we set out to achieve with this customer.
Part of the difference is that bozo factor I mused about yesterday. It's clearer in hindsight with today's comparison that the people we were working yesterday are, on 1-10 scale of "Are they smart and can they get stuff done?" at best a 6. And the problem is they think they're all 9s and 10s. While the people we met today actually are 9s- and, better yet, aren't cocky about it. I say that having worked with them over the course of 4 years now. I've often complimented them during conversations and have always spoken highly of them to my colleagues. It is refreshing to work with genuinely smart- and nice- people.