The Aristocrats of Information Technology
My second job was the real deal: cold-calling sales - a Gun-Slinger. At the time, I did not know what I signed up for. But I had bluffed my way in and would soon find out. I was sent directly to the US Head Office for training. We were a smallish consultancy of maybe 30 souls and the founder was a gifted 30-something experienced and avuncular sales guy who quickly became my mentor. There were some awkward moments including his younger but very heavy little sister rubbing her crotch up against my knee and asking me out on a date but that’s another story. At the end of training Bruce challenged me to put everything I had learned, into practice and he would be my hands-on sales manager while ‘we’ worked to build my and the company’s first ever sales trip to France. To do this I needed one hour appointments with the CIO (Chief Information Officer/head computer guy) of the largest companies in France and a one hour travel gap to the next and to fill three days with a target of fifteen appo...