Andy Joins Jeffrey Gitomer’s Team

When Blogwild was hitting the bookshelves, I’d go to our local Borders bookstore every day after the gym to see if it was in stock yet. What was always in stock was The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer. The book had a distinctive binding, bright layout, punchy advice and a red ribbon bookmark. I kept seeing Gitomer all over the place. When he was in town a few months ago doing a seminar I was lucky enough to see him in action. He combines the knowledge of a seasoned sales veteran with impeccable timing and vaudeville sensibility. He’s hysterically funny. I was also lucky enough to secure breakfast with him. We got to talking about the possibilities to bringing social media to sales training and using blogs to spread the Gitomer books, training and seminars. I was on my second plate at the Chinatown Hilton breakfast buffet when Jeffrey said:

I want you to come work for me.

After I choked down my current bite of cantaloupe, we talked a bit more. A few weeks later, I flew to their headquarters in Charlotte, NC to tour his company and met the team behind the Gitomer empire. I knew they were awesome people when the first thing I saw when I walked into the offices was a whiteboard drawing with their most-used phrases during meetings. This list included:

We’ll take that offline.

Which is one of my favorites. ‘We’ll take that offline’ usually means, ‘I’m so angry with you I’m going to choke you. Later.’ My other favorite from my current job is ‘It’s on the wiki.’ which in techie parlance is ‘Go to hell, I’m not going to help you.’

So I knew this would be a fun place to work. I also got to go out with the entire Gitomer clan for his daughter’s birthday. They shoehorned a dozen of us – three generations – into a table at the local Olive Garden. The Gitomer folks have a lot of fun and a lot of heart (and obviously work very hard). A few weeks later we nailed down the details and I’m happy to announce I’m joining the Gitomer team in 2 weeks.

And we’re moving (again)! We are moving to Charlotte, North Carolina! Everyone we talk to keeps telling us how awesome the city is. We’ve got our sights set on a couple possibilities for apartments and Ron’s already chosen our future car. He’s going to try and re-domicile to work out of Chicago (he works for the airlines). We’ve already started to grow out our hair so we can have bouffants at our cotillions.

I’ll be sad to leave Six Apart and San Francisco. I never really felt like I fell in love with San Francisco. Granted, we were only here for 2 years. But I will miss my Six Apart co-workers. I have been so fortunate to work for scary-smart people for the past couple years and no matter how stressful things got we always laughed a lot. That was even more present when I had to announce my resignation and the sentiment wasn’t bitter but was ‘Darn it. We’re going to miss you. But congratulations! We can’t wait to see what you do next!’

Fortunately since we’ve moved apartments four times in the past 2 years we still have all of our boxes. So we’ve gotta find a mover to move our stuff across the country and then we’ll probably pack the cats and hard drives for a flight. I start in 2 weeks but we don’t move until mid-April so I’ve got some time to work on logistics.

Much more later!


Ginevra January 27, 2010 at 11:08 am

CAPS LOCK CONGRATULATIONS!!

I will miss you two terribly and stalk you relentlessly.


Chris Garrett January 27, 2010 at 11:16 am

Brilliant news :) Jeffrey Gitomer coined the phrase that has been instrumental to much of my work – I just Googled it so I could get it right ;) “All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends. All things being not quite so equal, people still want to do business with their friends.”


Tyler West January 27, 2010 at 12:22 pm

Wow Andy, that is exciting news! I can’t wait to see what you do next. You’re such a hireable guy, it’s no wonder you’re leaving one group of talented people for another. Congratulations on your new direction!


Matt Perelstein January 27, 2010 at 1:12 pm

CONGRATS! Good luck to you, Andy. Like a cat, you always seem to land on your feet. Enjoy Charlotte!


Claire Alcock January 27, 2010 at 1:24 pm

We will miss you so much Andy! Thank you for bringing a smile to my day, everyday and saving my bacon on tech questions I couldn’t answer!! It has been so fun working with you. I hope you and Ron will be happy in Charlotte – promise you’ll come back and visit us.


Stephanie January 27, 2010 at 1:49 pm

Welcome to the team Andy!!


Toby Bloomberg January 29, 2010 at 4:50 pm

Congrats! nice to have another Yankee come South. If you ever find yourself in Hot’Atlanta please let me know.


Lori Paquette January 30, 2010 at 8:27 pm

Congratulations, Andy! Welcome to NC!! Sweet tea and grits won’t disappoint. Charlotte ain’t San Francisco, but it’s a pretty cool city. I’m in Chapel Hill, just a couple of hours away. Good luck with your move and your new adventure.


Ellen January 30, 2010 at 8:58 pm

Congrats Andy! Welcome to the South y’all…maybe we can catch up when you and Ron move. Atlanta is an awesome city for a visit.


Gill Kilcoyne February 1, 2010 at 7:41 am

This is great news!j I can’t wait to collaborate on projects in the near future. Before you get here you may want to check out Social Media Charlotte (http://www.socialmediacharlotte.com/) and sign up! This group has been great for info and socialization in the area. WELCOME ABOARD!


Jane Johnson February 6, 2010 at 3:24 pm

Congratulations Andy! Wonderful things ahead for you! All the very best!


David Yorka February 10, 2010 at 9:22 pm

Andy you are easy to rave about and I am glad Jeffrey Gitomer wrote That first Little Red Book ….it is amazing the learning that I digest from afar and what a fantastic new adventure. Enjoy!


Donna Payne February 25, 2010 at 5:13 am

How KEWL!

I love all of Gitomer’s little books – you’re in great company. Ears perked – and eyes peeled for the next book that has your touch.

Best, Donna
@thewebcoach


Cathy Perkins February 25, 2010 at 5:28 am

Welcome to North Carolina!! I live about an hour or so north of Charlotte – in the foothills. NC is a beautiful state and I’m sure you’ll like Charlotte. Lots of cool stuff to do!


Steve Dimmick February 25, 2010 at 6:22 am

Well done Andy! Can’t wait to see what you create with Jeffrey and his team! When’s the next book coming out? We’re waiting to buy it…


Karri Flatla February 25, 2010 at 8:51 am

Congrats Andy! Oddly enough I just bought my first J. Gitomer book a couple of weeks ago: The Sales Bible. Upon reading the first few pages I felt like I had been inaugurated into a club where the only people allowed are really smart AND funny AND uber successful at bringing their message to the world in a profitable way. Sales really does look delicious when you adopt Gitomer’s paradigm.

But I digress.

What a fascinating yet fitting combination – Wibbels and Gitomer, Rock On!

Cheers,
Karri


Terri Zwierzynski February 25, 2010 at 9:44 am

Woohoo! Welcome to NC, Andy! You’ll love the weather (well, not this winter’s weather, but spring is around the corner!)


Jason Wittman February 25, 2010 at 12:13 pm

When I first went looking for your book, I had the same experience. That little red book with the red ribbon caught my eye. I bought your book and Jeffrey’s. I have since bought all of his books and they are all brilliant and fun to read as was yours. Looks like a great match.

All the luck in the world to you and Ron.


Joan Schramm February 25, 2010 at 1:15 pm

What wonderful news — sounds like the perfect place and job for you. Congrats and all that…watch “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” and start working on your mint juleps to get in a southern state of mind!


Mitchell Teplitsky February 26, 2010 at 8:52 am

Hey Andy – Congrats on this move! My wife is awaiting decision for grad school in Boone, NC (Appalachian State U, for arts therapy) 2 hours from Charlotte. We’ve already met lots of great people from the state. I’m a filmmaker and marketing consultant/blogger myself, so nice to know about other like-minded folks….


Susan R Meyer February 26, 2010 at 12:48 pm

Sounds like a great opportunity – and it’s certainly a beautiful area. Enjoy it! And find some good shrimp and grits.


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