Falling debris

Back in the early days of our company I was trying very hard to win our first major multi-million dollar account. It is nearly impossible to sell one of these unless you have other mega clients. The first question a client will ask is always, “Well who else my size is using this system?”, and when I respond with a sheepish grin on my face, “Well you will be the first, but I promise I will serve you well”, one can be assured that at that point it is identical to pouring ice water in their lap.

Over a period of months I had been trying to impress a potential buyer from just such a multi-million entity that our company was a good fit for them. He was disgusted with his existing system and vendor and seemed impressed with my overall enthusiasm, straight-forward genuine approach, and the quality of our products via my initial presentation. My over-riding goal was to project an image of complete professionalism for myself and our new company. I knew it was an uphill battle and it was going to be a doubly tough sale because of the fact that I had zero references that were his entity’s size and he already had a very bad taste in his mouth for his old vendor and software companies in general and potential customers have a tendency to throw all vendors into the same pot when in that frame of mind.

I finally got him to agree to a major demonstration of live software and he had nearly fifty people lined up to view it. This was the chance I had been waiting for and I was determined to make the most of it. I was up hours prior to the meeting preparing for it. I dressed ‘fit to kill’ in a brand new Armani suit, double starched white shirt, new tie, gleaming shoes, my teeth were scrubbed and every hair on my head was perfectly in place. I was only two minutes from the meeting so I saw no reason to leave too early, so about five minutes prior I whispered a prayer and out the door I went. As I walked down the sidewalk enjoying the bright sun and crisp air I walked under a tree and a bird pooped on my head and partially on my right shoulder. Apparently it was a very large bird and it had been eating very well; whatever that bird had been eating did not agree with him as there was no shortage of poop and I was covered’ in it. It was a direct splattering hit!

Aghast I ran back to my room, but I had locked the key inside the room. I had to go to the lobby with bird poop splattered all over my head and the shoulder of my shiny new navy blue Armani suit to obtain another key. I ran back to the room. I did not have time to take a shower and/or change clothes. I used a damp wash-cloth to remove the poop. By now I was completely flustered, I rushed to remove the mess and when I looked in the mirror for the final time, all color in my face was gone; I left the room pale, and completely frantic.

Minutes later, I arrived at the customer site shaken and nervous. I met my software engineer at the site. My engineer was very overweight, (obese and 400 plus lbs). He was good at programming but not very appealing to look at and he was not a conversationalist either. I would never have brought him to meet a customer had they not wanted to see the demonstration of the actual system utilizing live data. I did not feel confident with a deal this big to show live software myself and preferred to have one of our very top programmers there for added insurance in case something went wrong.

Envision this for a moment. Approximately fifty people were crowded into a small room focusing on a single computer terminal with a chair in front of it, ( Back in those days LCD projectors had not been invented yet). I was standing there trying to smile, but internally my mind was racing and I was frantically wondering if I had removed the bird poop from my hair and clothes in its entirety and I distinctly began to think I could smell it. One never knows what will happen in live software demonstrations and I was hoping and praying that the software would perform well and not lock up or have some other malfunction. Just then my 400 lb. plus technician stepped over to the chair to begin the demonstration and just as he tried to sit down on it, the chair rolled out from under him and he fell to the floor with a loud noise. He was rolling back and forth flailing his arms and legs in the air floundering around trying to get up and it reminded me of a beached whale or perhaps more appropriately a huge manatee struggling to try to get back into the ocean. So much for projecting an image of professionalism.

The potential buyer and I, and several other people were trying to help get him into an upright position and help him up. After what seemed like an interminable delay we were successful. Aside from his pride being damaged, nothing else appeared to be wrong with him. His face was beet red; so was mine. I could see his face and could feel’ mine; it was flushed. Oddly no-one laughed; you could hear a pin drop in that room. I should have said to myself, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Unfortunately what I was saying to myself is not fit to be repeated much less put in print. I was humiliated, unnerved, and wishing I was anywhere but in that room.

Most of that was in my head. No-one knew about the bird poop but me and everyone felt sorry for the programmer and knew he was embarrassed to no end. In spite of everything, we did get through the demonstration flalessly and the programmer did an excellent job and we answered all of their questions. Believe it or not, in the end we won this account and many more after that one, because this account turned out to be one of our best references and still is to this day.

I am aware that the Bible states that a bird cannot fall to the ground without God seeing it. I assume God saw the bird poop fall to my head as well. I wonder if He laughed. I think He did. I must admit now it seems humorous, but back then I was not laughing and I was not entirely confident that God would help me get through that ordeal. Shame on me! God knew the outcome would be good and the buyer would buy our system and it would just be the first of many and that our company would thrive and He knew it all before it ever happened. I think it probably made it all the more humorous to Him. God was with me every step of the way through this test whether I knew it or had faith or not. I probably let Him down some with some of my thoughts, but I was praying to Him also and I am delighted that He understands my weaknesses far better than I do and most of all forgives me for my mistakes.

I wanted to recount this incident in the hopes that you will remember it the next time you are in a similarly apparently bleak looking situation. When it looks as though all is lost, don’t give up! We are always closer to succeeding than we can ever imagine at the time and God is right there with us every step of the way. Laugh with God when you are besieged with trials, it is better than getting bent out of shape over it. The bird poop is long gone but we still have that influential customer. Somewhere in all of this there is a profound messageI think All I can think of is God is good all of the time…

Psalm 100:4
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His
name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures
forever;
His faithfulness continues through all
generations.