Don’t Shoot the Messenger

July 28, 2010

“Good luck getting anyone to show up.”  That is how I was greeted during a recent visit to one of our client’s locations for a live workshop.  Needless to say this was not the response I was looking for.  For several weeks we had been reaching out to this particular location to try and schedule a workshop, and for weeks they had been resisting, telling us that the workshop would be poorly attended, and not worth the trip.  But this meeting was going to happen whether they liked it or not. The home office had requested it, and I was there to do it.  So I bit my lip and simply asked where I should set up.

To my surprise, when the workshop was scheduled to begin, the office manager went around telling everyone to step into the conference room for the meeting.  I guess he figured since I was there (and corporate made a point to arrange for the workshop) that they may as well sit through what was obviously perceived as a waste of time.  So what was his response after the workshop?  See for yourself:

“The workshop was excellent and Greg did a great job communicating retirement strategies to our employees.  Very helpful – – thank you for including the factory stores in the workshops.”

So why the apparent change in tune?  Well, as I later found out while having lunch with my new BFF, he was afraid that the workshop would be like workshops he had attended in the past.  He was afraid that despite the fact that we repeatedly told him we were an unbiased provider of financial education, and that we did not sell any products or services, that I would somehow try to push a financial product or service on the employees.  He told me how the last group that came through the office tried to get everyone to purchase supplemental life insurance, and he was simply protecting his employees from another sales pitch.

Who can blame him?  If every time I sat through a workshop I felt like someone was trying to get me to buy something, I’d be a little leery too.  Although it is sometimes hard to believe, I really do work for an unbiased provider of financial education.  I don’t sell any products.  I don’t offer any services.  I don’t carry any business cards.  I just provide financial education, so please, don’t shoot the messenger.