Have you ever given a speech to a hostile audience?

Have you ever given a speech before a large audience and have it go south in a hurry. Suddenly, there you are - before a hostile audience. Really tests your mettle. Let me set the backdrop against which this took place.

I am a national accounts manager, part of new national team the past six months of 1999 as part of newly formed Dynamex. They have taken the US by storm and have a network spanning the United States and Canada. I am part of a five man team and among my first sales was Crate and Barrel whose headquarters is in suburban Chicago.

I will later close Accenture and their 47 offices as I already did work for corporate prior to Dynamex in suburban Northbrook. Today I am at Baxter Healthcare, an account I had for years, doing over one million in air courier next flight out revenue. My contact is the National Transportation Manager Joe Orlando. He has flown in 35 warehouse managers for the week.

It is 2:30 on a sunny and warm Thursday in July. My power point presentation at the ready, the overhead in place. Halfway through my presentation, a manager raises his hand to ask a question and make a statement. The brisk wind is about to spawn a tornado of anger and upset.

"Eric, we used to use your company before they were acquired by Dynamex. We had all sorts of problems. Billing, service, you name it. They were terrible. Soon other managers are shifting in their seat, some suddenly leaning forward. Another pipes up, "Hey we use you guys now and we are having the same issues."

People start elbowing each other and talking amongst themselves, some are pointing at me. Others are raising their hands. A wave is forming like at a baseball game. I glance in Joe's direction as he stands off to my right. He has a look of sudden grave concern. He shifts his weight nervously from foot to foot.

I don't like standing behind a lectern. I like the freedom of walking around. It diffuses and dissipates tension. you can be energetic and demonstrate positive body language. It also make it easier to smile and add occasional humor. Which right now is in very short supply. The tension is mounting and becoming downright palpable.

Hitchcock said suspense is when the audience knows that there is a bomb under the table but the actors don't know. But when the bomb fails to explode, you have suspense. You have tension. Tension that is ratcheting rapidly before your eyes. He was the master of suspense as most know.

Well folks, that is what we have here. I am able to respond positively to the flood of remarks. And this white collar crowd is giving me the benefit of the doubt. Skeptical yes, but open minded as well. And while questions remain, I have passed the audition.

Afterward, Joe's immediate reaction was - in a word - grim. "Eric, I may have won the battle and lost the war." No deal was struck during the two years I was there. I was later let go as Dynamex downsized the staff to 3 after 9 -11. I was not allowed to travel and this really impacted my ability to sell.

I did close did close Accenture and our take was 3.1 million. Frozen in the elevator, my boss Andre Smith was stunned. "3.1. I would have been happy with just one million. Andre returned to Chicago 8 days later and fired me. When I saw the HR guy in the conference room, I knew I was toast. The meeting lasted 7 minutes. I never said a word.

I returned at 4:00 AM two days later to clean out my office, determined that no one would see me. I left four Cannonball mugs on the desk of a close friend.

Post script: Six weeks later, I got a call from my point man at Accenture. "Eric, Dynamex is blaming you and trying to change the deal. They said you did not get approval on the rates via the branches you negotiated with." I calmly told him that I secured proof in writing via email from every contact. Dynamex has the emails. He brightened noticeably and thanked me profusely.