Coming out of the woods...

It's Tuesday now and I am finally beginning to get out from underneath all the emails, voicemails and various notes left spread all over my desk after being gone for several days. Our National Sales Meeting was a huge success, in my opinion. All of the work that was put into completing the catalogs, coming up with sales programs, building sample bikes, etc, etc. It's a lot of really hard work, much of it extremely tedious, but the payoff in the end is already worth it. I am very excited about things...

The meeting went really, really well. All of our reps and a few International Distributors were there and the response was very positive. The first day was mostly set up and then it was time for an introduction meeting and then dinner. The beer was flowing, as was the wine, and the dinner was great. Afterwards, it was time for more socializing and some fun. Just for the record; never go drinking solo with three Canadians. I think I might have made some predictions about the industry and some riders, but I know I'm going to be in Canada for the ExpoCycle trade show in September... and I'm really looking forward to getting up to Montreal and seeing all of my Canadian friends.

The next day was all about the bikes! All the lines were introduced and explained and the sales force was trained and informed. Standing under the lights at the stage, I was sweating pretty good when it was my turn to talk about MY bikes. I got some compliments afterwards, so I guess I did ok. Nobody could tell I was sweating beer and just trying to make it past my nerves.

After the meeting, I was off on a road ride with my rep from Montana (David Haberkam) and our UK distributor, who is not yet distributing the Masi line, but things look good. I was happy to be on my bike and sweating. Near the end of our 25-30 mile ride, I thought I might have to pull off and take a nap. Thankfully, a great dinner was awaiting us...

Dinner and an awards ceremony at a great restaurant. Not a bad deal. The food was great and it was a lot of fun to recognize the hard work of our sales force. Without sales guys, we'd have no sales...

The last day was review of some more product info and then the details of selling stuff. The usual sales meeting stuff. A lot of details that would bore you beyond belief. Then off to another showroom to showcase product again, like a little miniature trade show. After this, it was time to race... go kart race! What a blast! We hit the track and giggled and screamed like a bunch of school kids... a bunch of overgrown school kids. What fun. Our rep in Texas, Nathan Frazier, proved to be the best driver. That would explain his great sales- I doubt he's ever late or misses an appointment. I pity the fool that gets in his way when he's on the road.

That's it. 3 days of fun and product, with months of build up to make it all happen.

And now we head off into trade show season...

Tim