Time at Dave and Buster's

We've been kind of busy lately with having the car inspected, Dee working and me doing research on Barbershop Harmony topics and going to the Mars Library Used Book Sale. It's been very cold and it snowed again last night although the temp got up to 44 during the day.

Last night we went to a Pittsburgh Baptist social function at Dave and Busters. It was a chance for pastors and their families to relax, enjoy a nice meal and then chat or if they wanted to join the kids playing the various video games and skeeball. It was very nice. I sat next to Bonnie Kirby from the Monongahela church. I knew her and her husband when I was growing up. We chatted about our work, our families and church experiences. I told her about my mom and how we're keeping in touch with her more often now. I asked her to possibly have someone look in on her, or be more intentional (from the church) about contacting her. She said she'd talk with some of the ladies in mom's Sunday school class. That would be great.

Dee sat next to the pastor's wife from the Coraopolis church. They really seemed to hit it off and conversed all night long. There were about 25 people there (three of whom were children). As I looked around the tables at the people there I realized how much the PBA had changed and became ever more aware that I'm glad I'm retired.

I bought several books at the Book Sale. One is about "How to Be a Star Salesman." Now that I'm in the Marketing side of the Barbershop Chorus, I want to learn the best ways to approach people, tell them what we have to offer, and then "close the sale" as they say. It's forced me to try to verbalize the benefits of using the "Bogmeisters" and thinking through what "needs" we'd be meeting for a local company or business. This particular author, Brian Tracy, says we should refer to ourselves as "consusltants" rather than sales people. Consultants listen more than talk, and they awk questions to better understand the needs of the person they are trying to "help". We'll see.

I've even been working on various "topics" to address during my 60 second "talks" at the Chamber Networking sessions. It's a challenge to think through what to say and how to connect with business people in creative ways. It's going to be fun to see what I can come up with for my "60 second spots".