By Emma Rhoads, Insights and Tech Writing Specialist
With international projects, we spend hours doing mental gymnastics about time zones...and you often start by comparing each other’s opposite weather...
But more than that, our international customers remind us how small the world is.
Our latest US project with Rain for Rent demonstrated this over and over again.
We'd completed a Depth Sounder for Red Bull Powder and one of their Non-executive Directors is advisor to a huge US company called Rain for Rent.
Who has a Kiwi CEO.
He was so impressed with our work, he recommended they use us.
We pitched for a customer insights project against one of the biggest market research companies in the US.
And we lost.
It was the right decision, and we were just stoked to have a go as we learnt a huge amount in the process.
But luckily, our refreshing approach and great reputation kept cropping up in discussions and they decided to use us AS WELL.
That was an exciting day.
It was perfect timing as I had just moved back to the US.
In typical WLB fashion, many customer calls were made while on the road.
Our team is known for making our calls in the wildest of places.
It could be sitting on the coast after a quick spearfish, on a ski break up in the mountains, or in our car in front of the coffee shop we’re working from.
We have the training and the tools to ensure we are ‘in the zone’ for every call, so it doesn’t matter where we are.
During one call, I found myself in the parking lot of a gas station and realised I was near the Rain for Rent headquarters.
Here I was, making a call for my NZ employer, while sitting only minutes away from the US customers headquarters.
Amazing!
A few weeks later, I settled into a cosy little town (California small, not NZ small) on California's central coast.
During one of our zoom calls, I filled in Brian, Rain for Rent's Director of Marketing, our caring and fun key point of contact, about my move.
He chuckled and shared that it's where his Mom resides and he spent a good chunk of his life there!
The world felt even smaller!
This international project we started from Raglan, New Zealand was now in my backyard.
Brian had spent his life walking the same sand dunes that I walk every day.
The customer feedback and insights work we do is on-going, it's not a one-off project.
Though we're such different businesses, it feels like Rain for Rents, and WLB values are aligned.
Oh, and Brian…if you’re reading this, let your Mom know she’s welcome for a cuppa anytime!.
__________________________________________________________________________
PS - I ran this blog past Brian for his signoff and his response encapsulates how aligned we all are, he said:
"I love everything about this! We hired people, not spreadsheets to help us understand our customers better!".
___________________________________________________________________________
Rain for Rent is the largest privately-owned rental equipment provider in North America. They have been in business for 90 years and currently have over 1,500 employees across over 70 locations in North America and Western Europe.