The Office: Season 2, Episode 7 “The Client”

Good morning and happy Friday to everyone as we congregate back in the breakroom. What started as a relatively standard week is ending on some big happenings here in the office. Michael is currently meeting with his boss, Jan, as they prepare for a joint sales pitch to bring in what would become our biggest client! Rather than skimming over the details, let us go right into all, shot by shot!

While they’re busy prepping, the rest of us are going about our business except for poor Ryan. Keeping up with typical temp duties, he was sent out to pick up Michael’s clothes from the dry cleaner; the important piece was his lucky tie. Like I said, this is a pretty big account so Michael isn’t pulling any punches. Additionally, it seems Michael had also had his pair of Levis jeans dry cleaned; cannot say I know many people who dry clean their jeans. Pam didn’t seem too surprised, evidently these are Michael’s favorite pair of jeans. So much so, she is pretty sure that the entire intent of him implementing Casual Friday was to give him more opportunities to wear them.

While not every company recognizes Casual Friday, many of them do and can often be a fun concept for workplaces. For a deep dive into the concept, I went to the Workspace Group who has a breakdown on the history of this concept. It seems to have originated in Hawaii during the 1940s when locations began to introduce the option of wearing Aloha shirts as part of the year, ultimately becoming Aloha Fridays. As clothing manufacturing began to be outsourced internationally, the cost of casual clothing was significantly reduced which prompted a push for the concept of Casual Fridays into the United States during the 1970s. This hit the greatest stride during the 1990s and 2000s during the dot-com boom with new companies trying different innovations to improve upon the American workplace. From there, the concept has explained internationally and is still recognized by many locations today. There numerous benefits with the biggest being employee morale by offering the chance to have at least one day where they can dress comfortably, and bring some added self-expression into the office which can have an effect improved productivity. But there are some negatives to it, the biggest being that some companies find the casual clothing as “not professional” and could be detrimental to the company’s image. This is especially true if employees are too lax with the guidelines and become too casual. At the end of the day it is up to the company to decide if they wish to implement this, or a variation often referred to “dress for your day.” Since not every office or employee has meetings or sees customers every day, there is often some flexibility in how they can dress¹. Regardless, if you are looking for ideas on how to boost morale you might consider reviewing the company’s dress code and see if there is a possibility for flexibility. Of course, if you let your casual clothes disrupt your work you might have them taken away by Pam.

As I mentioned, Michael and Jan are spending time preparing for their big sales pitch to bring in one of the largest clients this branch has ever seen, Lackawanna County. That’s right, the entire county is up for grabs which includes thirteen schools and two hospitals all using our paper. Now, as they are prepping we really start to see that different preparation strategies that these two use. Jan has come prepared with charts and statistics that she is going over so she understands the specific needs; Michael seems less than enthused to be going over all of this and seems fully confident he could go right in. Well, he did actually done thing to prepare for the interview and that was changing the location. Jan had lined it up to be at the local Radisson, but Michael had it changed over to Chili’s. In his words, “Chili’s is the new golf course” because that is where business happens.

It is not a new concept to meet with individuals outside of the office to discuss meetings and close business deals, but what are the best places to do so? Restaurants are often a staple because it’s easy to schedule since you’d normally be doing these at lunch or dinner. Additionally, by including food into the meeting can help ease any tension or awkwardness as you ease into the discussions. Traditionally, these meetings would be done at a nicer restaurant to set that professional tone that Jan was trying to incorporate at the Radisson. Besides wanting to ensure there is good service and food, these restaurants are traditionally quieter and therefore easier to conduct a meeting at. Michael’s take is the opposite in that he wants to double down on breaking down the tension and focus on building a rapport first, with the sale being his secondary focus. Aside from sit-down restaurants, what are some other good locations to meet at? I went to Inc.com and found several other options if you’d prefer something besides a restaurant. A coffee shop is another common location, this could be seen as a step away from the eatery but there is the option for coffee or another beverage. Just my personal opinion, while some might be nervous with holding onto a beverage I do find it nice to have a “prop” to keep my hands busy or perhaps take a sip of to keep myself from letting my mouth run. Museums and libraries were also mentioned; not every city will have a suitable location but as these are public venues and landmarks they can make excellent neutral locations. I would advise taking the time to scope them out if you haven’t been before to ensure there is a location there where a meeting could be held. And finally, there is a co-working space; larger cities are more likely to have these locations which are a great alternative to hotel meeting rooms where you can take on a room for an hour or so for personal use to conduct a meeting². While a restaurant might be classic, it never hurts to mix it up and cater your location to the individual you are meeting with.

Now while Jan and Michael are preparing for this huge sale, about half the staff are currently in back on break. Evidently, the topic came up on worst first dates; I guess Oscar once had a girl come with a print out of his dating bio and wanted to go through each line. Although, Pam was pretty quick to beat this when she had a date where the guy brought his brother along to a hockey game, and then left at the end while she was in the bathroom. Certainly bad, although not so bad as to not be willing to continue to date him since this was his fiancé, Roy. I know everyone is entitled to correct a bad first impression but I have to admit, that is a pretty bad one.

With that, Michael and Jan are off to their meeting! Michael was actually going to let us all go but Jan cut him off so unfortunately we are stuck here. Again, there seems to be a misunderstanding to their tactics; Michael is thinking this will take all night but Jan is confident it should take no more than an hour. Even further, Michael loves to have a safe word in place in case the other needs to be quiet to which Jan again is not up for. But they ultimately get to the restaurant and prepare to implement their game plan, although not before Michael panics when he discovers Jan recently got divorced and never said a word. Ever the rock, Jan sails right over this and goes into sales mode with the representative from the county, Christian. It’s pretty obvious his task is to reduce costs so he is pretty hesitant to agree to big terms, and this doesn’t bode too well for what Michael has in mind. But we start to see Michael’s tactics at work; first thing he does is cut him off and order an Awesome Blossom from the server and then tantalize him with a joke. One joke only, so this is when he loops in Pam to look through his joke books to give him a good one.

Today is really a productive office day because while Pam was looking up jokes for Michael she stumbled across his copy of “Threat Level Midnight.” While we should not be surprised by this, Michael has been writing a screenplay of an action movie staring Agent Michael Scarn of the FBI. With the boss away, Jim and Pam thought it’d be fun for us all to read through the screenplay together so we could see just how good it is! Unfortunately, it is not the greatest and actually seems to be a mix of varying ideas and names from other action movies (Samuel L. Chang, anyone?). It was still a lot of fun, but Dwight’s opinion was soured when we caught a typo in the script that leads us to believe Michael originally named his fool of an assistant, Dwight. With the screenplay over, Dwight broke out some fancy fireworks to end the evening on a high. Jim and Pam disappeared someplace because I didn’t see them outside but Dwight and Kevin were having a great time running through the sparks.

There is often questions of how Michael got to be where he is, as he is not seen as the most conventional manager. His biggest perk is that he was an incredibly talent salesman, having brought in some big clients and he does very well with closing these deals, and his talents were on full display tonight. First, he was very quick to cut off any and all business talk and evening going to lengths with some pretty crazy noises to cut Jan off. Next, he kept the food and drinks coming all night to get Christian in just the right mood. I think it’s safe to say that most of us would be pretty pliable following margaritas and baby back ribs. Then there were the jokes from his books, playing around with his tie, and evening going into a rallying rendition of the Chili’s rib song. Post ribs, we are entering some pretty personal conversation about divorce and past pain to really open up with one another. Finally, Michael talks about he grew up in the county and knows the pressure the schools and hospitals are under and is able to close that deal. Michael might not be the most orthodox person but he does seem to know his clients because it’s almost like he had his own game plan the entire time, which got us that huge sale!

For those going into the sales field, it is important know that there is often much more to the sale than you’d realize. While storefronts or restaurants have it easy where costumers literally walk through the door to spend money, companies like Dunder Mifflin need to seek out clients to keep as long-term customers. This means it is important to understand different sales techniques and tactics to the close the deal successfully. Many companies will offer seminars or training, but it would be beneficial to educate yourself and even practice these techniques. I went to Indeed and found an entire article on some of the best tactics to use. Included are offering a choice, such as a one or other option rather than just one option; build rapport, much like Michael did customers are more likely to buy from you if there is a connection; and focus on their goals, get them to see how the purchase would be beneficial to them³. At the end of the day, perhaps the biggest technique is learning to be a people person. Much like Michael you need to be able to anticipate what sort of customer you are dealing with, plan ahead with your techniques, and map out your conversation.

With that sale made, I guess Michael and Jan must have gone out to celebrate because Jan never came back for her car until early in the morning. I assumed that the night simply got late and she decided to stay at a hotel rather than drive back to New York so late, but then I talked to Michael and it sounds like they got together last night. Now if that is true, I really am not sure who made the biggest mistake: Michael making a move on his boss, or Jan making a move on someone with as big of a mouth as Michael. More to come because I do not think the office will let up on a piece of gossip like this any time soon.

And with that, the office is abuzz and we are ready for the weekend. I do not know about you but I’m pretty sure I’ll be chatting about Jan and Michael right up until the end of the day. But I hope everyone was still able to learn a little something; whether that be a brief history of Casual Fridays, or a bit of insight closing a sales deal. Until next week, I’ll see you around the breakroom.

Does anyone here have any favorite locations for business meetings? Feel free to leave a comment with possible ideas for us!