Trip Report: Vancouver & New York
I just got back from a week-long trip from Vancouver to New York, where I had the opportunity to speak at sales meetings for AAA and The NPD Group. NPD is one of the world’s leading suppliers of retail and consumer data.
Vancouver is one of my favorite cities in North America, but unfortunately, because of my schedule, I was only there for about 18 hours until I had to fly back across the country to New York. However, while I was there, I got to stay at a terrific hotel, The Sheraton Wall Center, right in downtown Vancouver. A beautiful hotel with really nice rooms and terrific service all up and down the line from the front desk; to room service; to the meetings staff; everyone was great. I highly recommend this hotel, especially for a business meeting.
Another discovery I made in my short time in Vancouver was that every taxi cab takes credit cards. For someone like me, and I’m sure for many of you, this is a big deal, since, very often, I’m not in a city long enough to want to go through the hassle, and expense, of changing money. Besides, using a credit card gives you a much better rate of exchange. It makes you wonder why other cities don’t do that. It would make me more likely to take a cab rather than hire a car service, which I normally do.
I’m pleased to say both speeches went extremely well. In Vancouver, my audience from AAA were sales people from their travel division, while The NPD group audience was their international sales force.
While in New York, I also had the opportunity to visit with my Editor, Matt Holt, from John Wiley & Sons and I am very pleased to announce that my book, The Best Damn Sales Book Ever: 16 Rock-Solid Rules for Achieving Sales Success,is selling extremely well. In fact, in just 8 months the book has already gone into its 4th printing and has sold approximately 20,000 copies and we’re already making plans for the next one (the next book will be about customer service or the lack of it)!
Another highlight of the trip was my flight from Vancouver to New York on Cathay Pacific Airlines, which is based in Hong Kong. I had the opportunity to fly in Business Class and I will tell you Cathay’s reputation for service is well deserved. The flight attendants were incredible; the food great and they offered over 50 movies. In addition, in Vancouver, they had a separate lounge for 1st class and Business class travelers with a VERY well-stocked (and free) bar and kitchen area. And, of course, we took off and landed right on time. If you ever have to go from NYC to Vancouver, you’d do well to avoid any American carrier and fly Cathay Pacific.