It’s hard to believe that it’s already August. July just sort of sped past. As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. Part of the reason why July flew by so fast was that it was Stampede season: the Calgary Stampede.
This time of year most of my clients who have branches in Calgary run special events for Stampede: pancake breakfasts, beer tents, etc.

The good news: Stampede is a fun time. The bad news: During Stampede, hotels are like $750/night and up. Fortunately, none of my work commitments required me to stay out late drinking with my clients (THIS time!), so I didn’t need to overnight in Calgary.

Believe it or not, it made more sense in terms of managing my expenses to keep driving to Calgary and back for each event, even if it was two or more times in one week. One of my biggest clients had an event day for their own clients, including food trucks, carnival games and much more!

… Not to mention industry gossip.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece titled “Enemies, Rivals and How to Have Neither:”

“You never know when actionable intel will reach your ears or where it may come from. I learned long ago that if you are attentive and polite and let other people do all the talking, they will often tell you things they weren’t supposed to. But I digress; that’s a topic for another day.”

I’ve been working with this dealer and its sales team for a long time, and we know each other well. There’s trust and respect in our relationship. How much trust? Well, all day at their Stampede event they spoke unguardedly about their competitors, with no small amount of dirt being dished out.

In case it isn’t obvious, all my client’s rivals/competitors are also my clients. This industry isn’t that big; everyone knows everyone else. Anyway. You’re wondering if I learned anything actionable, the answer is: I’ll never tell.

One of the perks that comes from being trusted is that people trust you. They’ll tell you things even if they didn’t mean to. You wouldn’t believe how often that comes in handy. Plus, whether or not I learned anything actionable is beside the point of the story. The point is that if you listen more than you talk you hear things, and that’s always beneficial, whether immediately or in the long run.