SharePoint Sales, Learning, and Cocoa Puffs

As a recently hired member of the sales department here at Bamboo, one of the interesting things I've noticed is how often my outgoing phone calls are greeted with elation to be hearing from Bamboo. People are always excited to bend my ear and tell me how their trials are going with the Web Part they downloaded to make their SharePoint site better. It's always "fun" to talk with our customers, as most of them are IT and IS type personalities and they tend to make the assumption that I have a MOSS certification as well. This has led to some interesting exchanges.

Customer: My Cross List functionality is not working with the Holley Carb Lifters on the back of my SQL outtake valve.

 Me: Uh huh

 Recently, I have spoken with several people who have described themselves as being frustrated software engineers. I guess this is pretty rampant in the Tech world (I think fondly of my Thinkgeek shirt that says, "I void warranties"). The fun thing is that they are usually telling me their ideas to make our products even more supercharged. I of course take full credit, and then take the idea and present it to my boss or one of the Software developers as my own. Usually this ends up with hilarious results, kind of like a bad game of telephone.

 Me: I think a great idea would be to have a people tracker in the Active Direction.

 Software Engineer: I'm pretty sure you mean Active Directory.

 Me: (blank stare).

 It really has been great talking with folks, and helping them identify how our Web Parts make their systems easier to use for the "fish" at their companies. I look forward to continuing to help everyone out there in SharePoint Land with this goal.

 P.S. It's also really great having a seat right next to the kitchen here at Bamboo so I can get first crack at the Cocoa Puffs in the morning.