Having grown up in a no-nonsense household, this was one I learned the hard way about the business world - perception is more important than reality.
One time on a consulting project, I was working at a location that required that I rent a car every week for about three months. The rental of choice for the newly minted MBAs that I worked with was the Ford Mustang convertible. It was California after all and these consultants were flying in from cold places like Chicago and Boston. For whatever reason, renting a Volvo S70 at this location was less expensive, about the same as renting a Toyota Camry.
When my project manager and I pulled up to the office at the same time one day, he was clearly displeased. I had a "do you have a second" moment later that morning about wasting the client's money. When I explained the price differential it didn't matter - Volvo was a "luxury" brand and renting something different than the other consultants was not acceptable.
That was sad.
He really doesn't makes sense. Why not let the other consultants drive a "luxury" brand like
volvo s70. especially when the rent is cheaper.
Posted by: sweden | January 31, 2007 at 09:55 PM