Yee-haw! We got back from the Books Are Fun national sales convention ("Proud to be Partners", refelcting the relationship between Books Are Fun, Readers Digest, and all independant sales reps) in Dallas/Fort Worth last night after midnight.
We left Sunday morning (before the sun) and got to spend half a day exploring the Gaylord Texan before we went to the awards dinner. The Texan was not as big as the Gaylord Opryland that we stayed at three years ago, but it was still very cool. There will be pictures of our trip coming in the photo album soon!
On Monday, we got to preview the fall product lineup and meet with some of the publisher/vendors that Books Are Fun works with. Last year, in Pheonix, was the first time that the publishers met with us at the convention. All of them had freebies to give us. This year, only a few of them had sample product to hand out, but there were reps that had brought extra luggage to haul their freebies home. I'm not upset that there were not as many giveaways (most of what we were given, I either sold as product or gave away myself, since I didn't need it). But some reps obviously felt that they were owed the free product. I couldn't believe what I was seeing: some people were waiting for the publisher's rep to turn away and they were loading merchandise off of the display table into their bags! Unbelievable! With the line of business that we're in, you would think that BAF reps would be especially sensitive to theft. I know I've had my share of it at bookfairs... I'm keenly aware of the price of stolen goods. It's not like these publishers are not going to know what happened, either. We all had to display our badges to get into the room.... I'm sorry to say that these are my "partners".
Tuesday was a day of meetings. Hannah stayed with Heather and Mammie for the day, and Tom, Jimmy and I went to the breakout meetings. Lots of new things coming down the line for Books Are Fun.
My day started off with the announcement of an increase in our commission for web-based sales, and an introduction to our new individualized websites. I can use http://richm1.bafrep.com however I would like to as a merchandising tool, both for actual events and online sales. Only the default page is there now (functional, but boring). I'll be updating it soon with pictures from my events and perhaps a schedule of events that are open to the public.
Many other new things were introduced on Tuesday, including a restructuring of the marketing procedure, many commission-based incentives for growing our business, unveiling of new promotional programs, and an all-new centralized support structure to give us what we need from corporate with only one phonecall. Cool stuff! The new higher-ups in management at BAF are really listening to our feedback from the field. Not just listening, but acting on it!
On Wednesday morning. we had the inaugural meetings of the Rep Advisory Councils. I actually sent my first text message during this meeting, because I got in right as it was getting started and didn't have a chance to call anyone to let the family know when I'd be getting out. It took me about 10 minutes to figure it out (holding the phone under the table) and send a quick message to Jimmy that said "Meeting until 11:00". Exciting stuff, huh? It was Jimmy's first text message that he had received, too - and he sent me back his first outgoing text message: "OK". I know it's old technology by now, but it's still fun!
In the meeting, I brought up the issue of competition in our area, specifically The Book People, part of Scholastic Books. The VP of merchandising and marketing (a former Scholastic executive) informed me that the relationship between TBP and Scholastic has been dissolved. I'm waiting for further clarification on that, but if it is true, than we have a good shot at getting many lost events back for this fall and next spring, in addition to many accounts that would be new to us (they've been with Scholastic for several years, after being unhappy with the services of other BAF reps). I'll definitely post updates about that here as things pan out!
Okay, that's enough about business! Now for the fun stuff we did!
Hannah was an angel for the whole trip! We got her up at 3:15 Sunday morning so we could get to the airport. We were hoping that she'd go right back to sleep, but not so! We got her out of bed and into the car seat while she was sleeping, but she stirred when I was buckling her in. She KNEW that we were going on a plane ride, so as soon as she had her eyes open, she was saying "elmo, elmo" (which is "airplane, airplane" in Hannah-talk). She was awake the whole way in to Manchester, alert to everything going on around us. She recognizes the scenery because she's been to the airport many times for deliveries with Mommy. We parked at The Highlander and took the shuttle to the terminal. No problems with check-in or the trip to the gate. We were allowed to pre-board (the only flight of the four we took to offer that to us), and Hannah was awake and looking all around for the whole flight from take-off to landing in Philadelphia. She didn't make it ten minutes into our connecting flight though! She slept for a lot of the flight from Philadelphia to Dallas/Fort Worth.
Our flight landed at DFW minutes after Heather's parents did, so we were all able to meet up at our baggage claim. Jimmy had been through the airport the day before and knew where to go to get all of us. He had picked up the car seat from Baby's Away that morning and we were ready to go as soon as we had our bag! We checked in to the hotel, dropped our luggage and headed out for lunch at Esparza's.
We had requested a crib for the room ahead of time, but did not mention it at check-in at the hotel. We had only wanted it for backup anyway. We intentionally put Hannah down on the second bed in the room, and she slept there all three nights with no problems! She's been taking naps in a "big girl bed" at home, so it wasn't a drastic change for her. We put her down in the big girl bed when we got home last night, too. It seems like a good time to graduate her from the crib. She fusses a lot during the night when she is in the crib, because she's getting too big for it. Moving her now will be better for her than moving her when the new baby needs the crib, too. She won't feel displaced if she hasn't been using her crib for months.
Hannah learned a few new words on this trip. I was surprised to hear her tell me Monday morning "Elmo, wide, sky", which I believe translates into "we went on an airplane ride in the sky". She says "fly" and "cow" after this trip, too. I heard her say something that sounded like "yeehaw" yesterday evening, too... must've been a bit of Texas wore off on her!
There were a few things in the atrium at the Gaylord Texan that Hannah really liked. Of course, there was the "wawa": water everywhere! Fountains, streams and waterfalls, not to mention the indoor and outdoor pools! She knew right where to see the "cow", which is a steer (not sure if it is an artificial animal or one that has been to the taxidermist, but it was realistic and life-size) in a pen along the path we walked between the room and the convention center. There was also a "choo-choo" set up on one end of the atrium that she liked and kept asking to see. It was two large-scale trains running around and around on top of a large platform that was in the shape of a guitar. I'll post a picture of it when I get a chance.
Tuesday night the whole Books Are Fun crowd (close to 1000 of us) went to spend an evening at the Circle R Ranch in Flower Mound, Texas (about half an hour from the hotel). We got off of the buses and went into a small arena where there were about 20 rows of tables set up each with 50 bottles of Diet Pepsi, and with each bottle was a Mento, a poncho, and a Geyser Tube. Guinness World Records was there to officially record our attempt. The local NBC station was there as well, and we saw a clip at the end of the 10:00 news when we got back to the hotel. I'm told that it actually appeared on the Today Show Wednesday morning.
After removing our sticky ponchos. we moseyed on into the ranch, lined up to get the best steak that I have ever tasted, have our pictures taken on a steer, have a wagon ride behind a team of Belgians, and watch armadillo races.
Wednesday before we went to the airport, we went to eat at a place we saw while we were riding back to the hotel from the ranch. Love and War in Texas is one of those places that you love to find when you're traveling! Not something you can get anywhere you go!
It was a good trip, we had lots of good food and lots of good times! Back home safe and sound, it's time for me to be getting back on Eastern Time and back to work!
Wow ... yep, another long "catch-up" post. If you've actually read this far ... thanks! Keep watching for photos!
