Remember Those Relationships?

So as a follow up to my inaugural post about relationships being the key to...well....anything, I offer you this:

Saturday night after the Crunch game I had just gotten home and was enjoying a post-game couch session watching NHL highlights when my phone rang.  It was my mother.

My father had gotten home shortly before and had gotten out of his car when he inexplicably passed out.  In the ensuing fall he landed hard on his right knee and hit his head.

My wife and I raced to his house to pick he and my mother up and drove to the hospital's emergency room.  We arrived around 11 p.m. and they immediately brought him in, asked the gauntlet of questions and began a myriad of testing (blood, CT-scan, EKG, etc.) 

By the time 3AM rolled around initial tests had come back OK so, not knowing the root cause, they admitted him to run more testing the next day. (I say 3AM but with daylight savings time in effect that night, we watched with moderate amusement as their clocks went from 2AM to 3AM to 1AM back to 3AM and then alternated between 1AM and 3AM for quite some time)

As Sunday rolled around, I went to visit him in the afternoon to learn that the only test remaining was an echo-cardiogram.  Sunday afternoon turned into Sunday evening which turned into Monday morning which turned into Monday afternoon.

Turns out, echo technicians are on call Sunday and only generally called in for emergencies.  Seeing as how his vitals were normal, Monday morning would be the soonest he could go in for his exam.  Also seeing as how Monday morning tends to get backed up with weekend requested echoes...he sat in his room. And waited.

Anyone who knows my father knows he does not take to doing nothing well.  I had brought him some Sudoko and Crossword puzzle books but adventures in mind games only last so long with him.  They are usually reserved for early morning coffee on the back porch (weather permitting).

Someone I met with the Crunch (he works security) has worked at that hospital for awhile.  I texted him letting him know my dad was there and to make sure they take good care of him and told him I'd be stopping by in the afternoon.  It was shortly after noon when I arrived and he met me not too long after in my dad's room.

When we informed him of the still-to-be-administered echo, he said he would make an inquiry on our behalf.

By the time I got to my car to go back to work I received this text from my father:  "John just said echo picking me up any minute."  (6 minutes later)  "On the stretcher now."

WIN!

My exchange with John:

"I (expletive) owe you big time, thanks buddy!"

"No big deal, just told him it was a friend and they need to make things happen quickly."

"Well it's a big deal to me.  My pops has always taken care of me.  You helped me do the same for him."

I couldn't help but think afterwards of my post about relationships.  They drive the world.  They make sales.  They extend connections.  And they get your dad (who is going stir crazy sitting in a room) the medical attention he needs.

Relationship Post Validation Complete.

The Maiden Voyage

So I'm kick-starting a project I've wanted to do for quite some time now.  Blog.

When you have a thousand thoughts and ideas bouncing around in your head, it's nice to put them down on paper (or virtual paper as the case may be) and toss a few of those into your recycle bin to empty at a later date.

On this, my maiden voyage of blogging, I'd like to talk about the driving force behind sales -whether it be tickets, insurance, or K-Cups:  Relationships.

If the classic phrase is "It's not what you know it's who you know" then I like to take that a step futher.  "It's not who you know, it's who knows you."

When you work in ticket sales for a professional hockey team, and thus the will call for people picking up said tickets, you meet a few dandies.  I've had the privilege of meeting players such as Jay Leach, Kevin Stevens, Igor Larionov, and more as they've passed through my little corner of the world to attend a Syracuse Crunch game.

Perhaps the biggest gem, and one of the nicest I've met, is TSN's own Hockey Insider: Bob McKenzie.

Bob passed through Syracuse back in our 2010-2011 season as his eldest hockey playing son, Mike McKenzie, was skating for the Charlotte Checkers for a Crunch home game.

Like a stalker, I had a picture taken with him when he picked up his tickets, and memorized his seat location.

During the game, I went to his seat to introduce myself and forged the beginning of a semi-relationship by talking to him about the one common denominator of conversations with any parent: their children.

We spent much of the period discussing his son Mike and his hockey playing adventures through the years- though he politely asked when his son hopped the boards to take his next shift- that he would go silent to observe his shift.

As the period came to a close, I thanked him for his time and for chatting as fellow hockey parents about our kids.

A few years later, as Guy Boucher's tenure as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning came to a close, I awoke one Sunday morning to find I had a new follower on twitter.  Yup.  Bob McKenzie.  Accompanying my newest "fan" was a direct message simply stating "Hey, how goes it? You losing a coach down there, I wonder?"

Of course, Bob was referencing Jon Cooper, he of the rising hockey fame with championships at each level of hockey and adoring players listening to his every word.

Being a ticket guy, and a bit groggy that morning, I had no clue and I'm sure Bob knew that the prospects may not have been good that I would have known anything but it didn't stop him from engaging the relationship we had forged years prior.

Even in years after (since he must have forgotten to click unfollow lest he witness my incessant photos of my wife, my dog, and other nonsensical postings) he hasn't hesitated to reach out with a hockey related request for information or even a response to our other shared passion: Dinosaur BBQ. 

At the source is what Bob does best and why he is the hockey insider: Relationships. 

In sales, it's not about asking for the sale that helps you close.  It's about establishing that you're not simply in the business to take an order and not bother to reach out again until you're ready to ask for another sale. Many days, I will break up the monotony of sales calls with the occasional call to a customer just to see how things are going.  The beauty of my job is that I'm selling an entertaining commodity.  I get to talk hockey all day every day.

It's reassuring to my clients that when they pick up the phone it's not always about spending money.  It's about continuing an ongoing relationship that goes past that of buyer to seller.

And while more recently, Bob once again reached out to inquire about the ongoing Jonathan Drouin situation (still have no clue what was going on at the time) he knows that the lifeblood of his business, or any other, will always be about the relationship.

P.S.  Bob, the offer for dinner at Dinosaur BBQ if you're ever in town is still on the table.

~VP TC