I had to visit Dallas for a few days and I’m staying in a hotel just a couple of miles from a site where I had a very traumatic experience. It happened a couple of decades ago yet remains deeply imbedded in my memory. I wrote about it in Words for the Day back then and have reposted it today.
Back in the early days of my software development company I was trying very hard to win our very first major multi-million-dollar account. We called these accounts “mega accounts” and it was nearly impossible to sell one unless you had other mega clients. The first question a client will ask is always, “Well who else my size is using this system?”, and when I responded with a sheepish grin on my face, “Well you will be the first, but I promise I will treat you better than my own mama!”. This was akin to pouring ice water in their lap and it was rare to even get an appointment with the directors of these huge accounts due to their reluctance to serve as guinea pigs.
Over a period of months, I had been trying to impress the director of Dallas ISD who ran just such a multi-million dollar entity. I insisted that our company was a good fit for them. The director 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 overview presentation. I was persistent and finally got him to agree to allowing me to make a full-scale software demo to him and all his important staff.
My over-riding strategy 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 I had zero references that were this entity’s size, and the director 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 for which I had been waiting and I was determined to make the most of it. I was up hours prior to the meeting preparing for it. I was dressed ‘fit to kill’ in a spanking 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 ten 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 suddenly 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. The clerk said nothing; I assume he saw the menacing look on my face. I ran back to my hotel room. I did not have time to take a shower and/or change clothes. I used a damp washcloth 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 the 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 and eight minutes late. I met my software engineer at the site. He 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 with me 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 and look confident, but internally my mind was racing, and I was frantically wondering if I had removed all the bird poop from my hair and clothes 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, and I thought I felt the floor shake. 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 manatee struggling to try to get back into the ocean.
So much for projecting an image of professionalism.
The potential buyer aided by me, and several other people were all frantically 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.
Not one person laughed, and you could have heard 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.
That was in my head, prompted no doubt by Satan. No-one knew about the bird poop but me and everyone including me felt sorry for the programmer and knew he was embarrassed to no end. Despite everything, we did get through the demonstration flawlessly and the programmer did an excellent job, and we answered all 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 for many years.
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 end up being the first of many and that our company would thrive, and He knew it all before it ever happened. I think that knowledge probably made it even 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. No doubt I let Him down some with a few of my thoughts during battle, 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 today 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 even in the seemingly worst times and best of all 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 enjoyed success with that influential customer for many decades.
Somewhere in all this there is a profound message. Hmmm . . . Perhaps it is God is good all of the time and we should constantly praise Him for all His blessings . . .
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.