A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to Srilanka and make a presentation to the Director General of Tourism there about how we could help in Srilanka’s tourism promotion, especially with reference to audiences in South India.

A few days before the D-Day I asked my team to do some ground work on the actual situation that had to be tackled. I also asked them to dig up some info about the DG so that I could tailor my presentation accordingly.

The team went online and supposedly googled up a huge amount of data. So I knew the man’s habits, his golf handicap, his family details and so on. I was also given a set of photographs that depicted a very suave and dapper man.

Thus prepared I landed up in Colombo and was pleasantly surprised to see the Director General, Tourism Srilanka welcoming me to the island, courtesy of a billboard just outside the airport.

As we drove into Colombo I saw many more hoardings displaying his smiling countenance and welcoming the world to the many facets of his country.

I was truly impressed that a Director General of Tourism seemed to have taken his portfolio to heart and made it a habit to lead from the front.

I began to look forward to the presentation as I thought I began to understand him better, even before we interacted personally.

When the day of the meeting dawned, the local paper also carried his photograph on Page 1. Now I was truly awed and my desire to meet the gentleman became even deeper and stronger.

Imagine my surprise when I walked into the conference room where the presentation was slated to be made, and ‘he’ was not there. I thought to myself that this was obviously an entrance test of sorts, and that the committee would have to be spoken to first.

I rallied on with a smile, and I knew the presentation went down well when they asked me to stay on for lunch and fixed up to meet the big boss in the afternoon.

I walked in to the DG’s office and was shocked to see that the DG was someone else. And he had a picture of the man who I thought was the DG, mounted in a frame and hung prominently behind him.

It turned out that the man who I thought was the DG (Director General), was actually the President of Srilanka. My foot behaved itself that day and kindly desisted from landing up in my mouth. And the meeting went on quite well and we did manage to do some work for Tourism Srilanka. But the lesson I learnt that day I shall never forget.

Get to know your client, really get to know your client before you actually meet him. And you may be spared some truly embarrassing moments.