The Passenger Seat
A slowly-built bourbon Old Fashioned — an hour of conversation, ten minutes of the ask — the masterclass Matt watched from the car
Newt Collinson would talk about everything except the sale, then near the closing bell get to it.
Why this cocktail? An hour of rapport, ten minutes of the ask. This slow-built Old Fashioned is the masterclass from the passenger seat.
The Story
For three years Matt's job was to drive the car — ten sales calls a day across the southeast — while he watched the most accomplished salesman of his career run a clinic. Every meeting opened personally and stayed there: how is your family, did your son get in, I saw this and thought of you. Then, near the closing bell, the ask, direct and unembarrassed. The lesson under the lesson: the rapport is the product. This bourbon Old Fashioned, built slowly and stirred without hurry, is that drive — patience first, the ask last, and the relationship doing all the real work.
Ingredients
- 2 oz bourbon
- 0.25 oz demerara syrup
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Orange peel
- Brandied cherry
Preparation
- 1.Stir bourbon, syrup, and bitters over ice — slowly, without hurry.
- 2.Strain over a large cube in a rocks glass.
- 3.Express an orange peel over the surface.
- 4.Garnish with a brandied cherry.