First Contact
With Kay
Terry
Stardate 1980
In 1980, there were a series of automotive jobber conferences educating the jobbers and their
employees of manufacturer programs.
This conference is where my first contact occurred with Kay Terry, at a Wisconsin Dells hotel & restaurant using a banquet hall for the show.
There were several manufacture representatives at this conference to
highlight sales and marketing programs
to the jobbers. The general manager and
sales manager of the Stevens Point NAPA distribution center were present to
orchestrate the event.
The night before first contact, many of the manufacturer
representatives had arrived to set up displays for the conference and while
doing so had noticed there was a Mary Kay conference going on in the same hotel
near the proximity of the Napa conference.
Needless to say the two groups mingled later that night and made for a
very hung over morning for many of the Napa participants.
Later that morning, many of the manufacturer reps who were hung over
finished preparing the displays and got together for lunch.
By 4 pm Kay Terry had arrived on the scene and was mingling with other
factory reps.
Kay had no booth or display. Kay was there to be introduced to the
jobbers as the new NAPA battery rep for Stevens Point.
Steve and Jim set the agenda of speaker rotation and I was assigned to
introduce Kay.
At around 6:30 pm, NAPA Stevens Point General manager Steve Wardrop and NAPA Stevens Point Sales
manager Jim Corbet got up on center stage and called the marketing conference
to order.
Various representatives followed Steve and Jim and would than introduce
the following representative to center stage till I was called.
My presentation went smoothly until I introduced “May Kay” as the new
Battery rep.
No sooner had I got the introduction out of my mouth when I heard from the back of the room Steve Wardrop hollering twice
“ Mary Kay”? “Mary Kay”???
The crowd roared at my error.
Kay was sitting in the front row and I whispered to Kay, What is your
Name?
She politely stated Kay Terry and I reintroduced Kay by her proper
name.
Kay was very quick witted, came up to center stage promptly belittling my
mistakes, stating she had been called a lot of things, then announced to the audience that I was partying the night before
with the Mary Kay cosmetic teams. Kay didn't miss a beat.
The room was filled with laughter.
