It’s Monday, June 4th, 2012 in Waterloo, Iowa. I’m in my hotel room. My head is spinning. 
The first thought that pops into my head is, “Holy sh**, what happened last night?” Am I missing a tooth?! The scene I’m describing is not from the movie ‘The Hangover.’ This actually happened to me at VGM Heartland, and is part of the reason I’ll keep coming back to this great conference year after year.
In order to explain, I’ll need to start from the beginning. In 2010, my buddy Bill Klein was to be the keynote speaker for VGM Heartland. At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about VGM besides the fact that it was in Waterloo. I really didn’t want to go, but decided to anyways in order to support my friend during his first big keynote speech.
I was bitching and moaning until we arrived. Then somebody extremely nice and very smart picked us up. They took us to our hotel and gave us home-baked cookies. At this point, I was thinking that was cute and quaint, but nothing else.
The next day, we took a tour of VGM headquarters. We walked through Homelink and my eyes were opened. I was amazed with its state-of-the-art call center and unbelievable operation for serving thousands or probably millions of patients every year. You could compare Homelink to NASA, and NASA could learn some things from them. Our guide was describing how their technology interfaced with members and I realized there was a lot more to Waterloo than I previously thought.
We toured all the operating divisions, and were introduced to all the great people here including Van Miller. Here is the CEO and founder of this huge business, and he was gracious enough to spend a half hour with me. Me being me, and a student of business, I wanted to understand how he built this great business in Waterloo. How did he find all these great, smart people and what was the secret to his success? I soon discovered that his secret was simple: find good people, support the heck out of them and then let them do their thing.
What is so impressive about Van Miller and VGM is the loyalty factor. It’s the loyalty Van has to his employees and his devotion to his members, the loyalty VGM associates have to VGM and the pride everyone takes in wearing the VGM logo and serving their customers. I heard a story once about when Derek Jeter first put on the New York Yankees pinstripes and what it meant to him. He immediately felt the responsibility to live up to the legends of Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio. Well, that same pride exists in every VGM associate, and is obvious through the hospitality of every associate who volunteers at VGM Heartland. And it’s that very VGM hospitality that led to why I was missing a tooth!
Just when I thought I understood Midwest hospitality, they took to it to a whole new level. Two years later, at the same conference, I woke up with an aching tooth. The pain was so excruciating I couldn’t even think, and I was scheduled to speak the next day. So I got dressed and wandered into the convention center.
I see Jim Phillips, Greg Schmitz, Tom Powers and some other folks( all top executives with the company). As soon as I told them I was in pain and needed help, they dropped what they were doing. Everybody started dialing phone numbers and quickly got me a dental appointment. Tom Powers (my hero) was able to get me an appointment within 10 minutes. The next thing you know, I was escorted to the dentist and 30 minutes later I had my tooth yanked out of my head. This dentist had to be between 75 and 85 years old. He told me that he could get rid of my tooth without any pain. Who would believe that? Long story short, 20 minutes after leaving his office I was eating lunch. I experienced no pain, no swelling, spoke clearly and had no bleeding. It was miraculous what that man did to me!
The next night, you can imagine what a great mood I was in. The speeches went well, I’d met all these great people from VGM, I met a lot of my clients, my tooth felt much better and it was time to celebrate. And when I say celebrate, I mean this New Yorker was doing the two-step in some country bar in Waterloo, Iowa. And that is how I ended up toothless in Waterloo.
What’s on this year’s agenda?
- Presenting “The Elephant Man Married a Super Model! The Secret to Achieving Big Goals and Winning New Patient Referrals” at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12th.
- Presenting “The Power of Love (Upcaring): the Key to Cash Sales” at 9:00am Thursday, June 13th.
- Presenting with Jeremy Kauten on “The Referral Source Speaks: Digital Media” at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 13th.
- Exhibiting as the newly appointed president of Renewal Technologies.
- A dentist appointment with my favorite new Waterloo dentist.
- And maybe a tattoo – it’s Heartland in Waterloo, right?!
About the Author:
Mike Sperduti is president of Emerge Sales, Inc. and recently appointed president of Renewal Technologies, Inc. Sperduti is leading the expansion of LaserTouchOne, a breakthrough pain relieving device. He is charged with connecting and empowering healthcare providers with the millions of people in pain with this remarkable innovation and giving them a renewed quality of life.
