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The original was posted on /r/nostupidquestions by /u/Mrmiyagi808 on 2023-09-15 19:57:56.
I am a client facing project manager for a construction-technology company and have worked here for a year. We recently landed a project with a high-profile customer that I will be leading. The president (worked here 25 years), the VP (worked here 13 years) and the regional director (worked here 9 years) all insisted they join me on a conference call with the customer for the project kickoff.
This is a smaller company and it is in an industry I was not previously familiar with, so I have asked a lot of questions over the past year. The company makes it a point to let everyone know that the doors are open to talk to the president or VP about anything, and I anytime I have asked them a question regarding the actual products they have no idea.
We sit down for the meeting with the customer, and the president, VP, and regional director go on this long tangent about what an amazing customer they are and how good of a team we will be together, basically just kissing their ass. The customer starts asking technical questions and then they just go silent and expect me to answer everything. It then clicked with me that they literally know NOTHING about the product we sell, how it works, how to use it, anything. In the past, most company leaders I have known or worked for have known their products inside and out!
Is this normal in business or do I just worked for a bunch of dummies?
Years ago I worked for an ISP who sold fixed wireless and satellite internet. My wife, while she wasn’t an executive but high enough to be part of the meeting said one of them kept complaining about the company introducing fibre service and asking why do people even need it.