After eleven hours sat in a crowded conference room the last
thing I wanted to do was to decamp to a restaurant with the same group of
people for a “team event”. Unfortunately I found
myself wandering up Regent Street
in the early evening to spend an unspecified number of hours in an even more cramped restaurant and be
frustrated attempting to hone in on one conversation amongst a babble of
voices.
I hastily pulled together a plan to stop off at the
restaurant have a quick G&T, make excuses, leave and head back to the hotel
for room service and an evening of solitude. Unfortunately that was never going
to happen and I ended up sat next to my Sales Executive and opposite the
Client’s EMEA CIO. Salvation was at my right hand provided by an Australian Exec
and we spent much of the evening swapping stories and anecdotes. The Aussie was
also my “get out” as she was understandably suffering from Jet Lag so when she
decided to retire early I made my excuses and shared a cab with her and the
Singapore Exec back to the Team Hotel.
To be honest the working day had been interesting.
The presentations had been delivered effectively but it was apparent from very
early in the day that the EMEA Client was not a fan and was going to do his
best to pick holes in everything we had to say. He didn’t let facts or the
responsibilities and failings of his own organisation get in the way of his
criticism either. As the working day came to a close he set out his stall
and informed us that there was no way that he could put our proposal or price
in front of his Management team. This was an interesting position to take as he
is responsible for a “Geography” and this is a Global Deal. The Global CIO and
CTO seem far more aligned with what we were proposing. If the Global CIO decides
to proceed the EMEA CIO would have painted himself in to a corner with
his local Business Team, the Global Client Organisation and us as a Supplier. I
wandered away from his stroppy positioning wondering why he would take such a
resolute position that would be so difficult to recover from ….
… it was only later that I discovered that he is a
Contractor and therefore has no real investment with the Client.
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