My favorite younger daughter has been having conversations with my favorite younger grandson. He, being just a month past turning two, is finding lots of things to talk about now that a larger circle of adults can understand him. Today, she related a conversation that started with his saying, “I want to go to work.”
Mommy asked, “What do you want to do at work?”
FYG replied, “I want to play with toys.” Now that sounds like a job I would enjoy! (Oh, wait… I get to play with toys at work and I do enjoy it!)
What came to mind later is that I got into this business in 1977 because I got to play with cool toys and sell them to people. Perhaps the biggest change in the business in the last 32 years is that there are more cool toys to play with and sell every year than the previous one. That seems to be one of the few things that has not changed in the business, however.
I remember a time when “EQP” wasn’t a word or condition. I’m even old enough to remember a time when I could keep most of the industry inventory in my head while discussing client needs with my customer. That has all changed.
Today we need a search engine to find a pencil or pen out of the tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of variations on that single theme. Thirty years ago, people came in four sizes and a single shirt style worked for every gender. Today we have to keep several hundred suppliers in mind when looking for “just the right garment” to fit our client needs.
What I realized tonight is that I still love my work and my profession in part because I still get to sell and play with cool toys. Perhaps my favorite younger grandson is much smarter than he sounds. After all, any kid that wants to go to work and play with toys just might be one to groom for the next generation of our profession.
My favorite older grandson and I have been making sales training videos and sample kits of our new products. We do this on the Wednesday’s he gets a half-day off from school. I pay him because he is saving up for some cool Lego toys of his own but he is earning his money doing things that I had to do early in my career.
Being 10 years old means that I don’t expect as much from him as I might from an employee but I am frequently if not always surprised at how diligent he is helping PopPop in the office. He gets to play with cool toys, too. (Video Camera, automatic paper folder, plastic bag heat sealer and movies on the DVD) While his verbal skills are much more advanced than his young cousin, he is quite articulate when he remarks, “It was a good day, PopPop. I had fun.”
Well, I had fun today, too. I got to sell some cool things to people who like to sell cool things to people who like to buy cool things. Everybody got to play with cool toys and have some fun and make some money.
How cool is that!
Happy Selling!
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