CEO Intern Cast Diary

Hi America I am back, sorry I left you for so long. As is always the case when we speak I have mountains share so sit, read, envision, and engage this blog for time is its spine and immortality is its reward. This past week has served to be another awakening for me, you may ask how many times will I wake? To that question, my response is simple; I will stop when the sun has finally set.

Lets move on to the details of this past week now. This week the five interns, Mr. Paulin and our producer Prescott started the city tours (Parker came too). St Louis was up first and in this city, we did two sales presentations one to a billion dollar military contractor known as DRS and the other to “a plant manager” of Omega steel. On a side note, I put plant manager in quotes because that is the repose I was given when I asked if making a trip to omega steel would be worth our time and gas. As you can imagine getting the door to DRS was no easy task, but thanks to some persistence as well as a few inside connections, we made it to a fancy conference room. Everyone needed to be an American citizen, and have a passport to get into the building, and that is one of the many reasons why Prescott’s camera was not allowed to enter the building. We asked the camera if it had a passport and got no response so we left it in the car with the king of the castle. Sorry we didn’t get the sales pitch on camera America, the presentation was textbook, take my word for it.

In the meeting with us from DRS there was a CTO, metallurgist, several other engineers, and a logician, oh my a logician (as he shakes his head and smiles). This sales pitch is exactly what school is supposed to be preparing me for but ironically, this experience can’t be taught in a class room America there is no simulating reality there is just reality so after graduation, at whatever level that may be remember one thing, school has started (another side note). Four interns presented a power point we created to kick things off.  From slide two our audiences was engaged and asking questions about information on the slides so, we had to pull out our terminator Mr. Paulin earlier than expected. He shot there question out of the sky as if he was shooting trap or skeet, PULL! After the slides were done, the questions continued and Mr. Paulin just kept loading shells.

When the meeting was finished, we made a stop toured Wachovia’s headquarters and continued to our 3’oclock with Omega. I had my reservations about omega but either way I look at it my resulting response is the same. It was an experience for the ages. Omega was like going into a large garage. There was no fancy table or leather chairs like DRS just a plant manager and an assistant in an office. We stood huddled facing the manager while Mr. Paulin politely engaged the man in conversation then bid him farewell. In one day we experienced both sides of the sales experience, one side exceeded expectations and the other was reality check.

Sales was not the only thing we learned about on the trip though, we also learned the importance of being prepared, polite, punctual, organized, aware, intuitive, energetic, dedicated and the list goes on America. The amount I learned in one day as been the theme of this whole trip and that is what  brings me to my current predicament, a question I have been struggling with since week two. The question is how do I say thank you to the Paulin’s for a summer like no other, one that has been filled with life lessons that currency can’t pay for, that a thank you letter alone cannot service. Let me put it this way I have taken a loan from the Paulin bank. My loan does not have an interest rate because the Paulin’s are not concerned with a rate of return but instead with the rate at which I learn. I call it a loan because I plan to repay. I know that I am deeply in debt and since time in this case is inflation, I will never be able to fully repay my debt. The answer then to the question posed above is time and service. The only way for me to make payments on my loan is to use my time and my hands to foster and maintain the relationship that has been established in my time here.

America you stay thank you for the intangible by giving of yourself and never leaving the thoughts of the ones you are indebted to.  Irie I, One Love. Charlie H.         

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Sales can be broken down to three words: hello, yes or no. Everything in between is competative confusion.

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Yesterday we started making calls to the companies that we want to deliver presentations to. You would not believe how easy it is to get shut down making cold calls. I just want to tell people that we save companies like theirs money every day. I don't want their social security number, I don't want their date of birth. I want to talk about deep cryogenic tempering, wear resistance, stress relief and stabilization, but some of the people that I called are genuinely skeptical that I am who I say I am and don't want to put me through to any of their engineers. I have some contacts in St Louis, but none at all in Indianapolis, and I know a guy from Chicago. This is going to be tough.

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Yesterday we started researching companies that we can try to sell to in the area. We're going to give sales presentations to 5 companies in each of three cities. We have to decide what companies to approach and research them and their need for cryogenic treatment. There are hundreds of companies in every major city that would benefit from cryogenic tempering the only question is how large of a company can we walk into, talk to the right person, and sell them on the benefit to the company? If a company makes $1,000,000/year in sales? Probably. $10,000,000/year in sales? We could, but is our time better spent with a $5,000,000/year company, or should we try our luck with a $100,000,000 company? I can't really say at this point. I've never been on a sales trip...

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Yesterday we received and assignment from the chairman. He instructed us each to research nine companies; three in Chicago, three in Indianapolis, and three in St Louis. After selecting the nine companies we are each responsible for selecting one company in each city that we will call and schedule an appointment with, for a total of 15 company visits. There are compensation incentives set out for us as well as being responsible for the dinner reservations after presentations. So can I get an encore, do you want more. Irie I, One Love. Charlie H.

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Today was an interesting day. We presented or findings on the company history as well as suggested industries to focus on. I apologize for the short blog today, just received a sales call. America staying in the office a little longer is not a bad idea. Irie I, One love. Charlie H.

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