Sales team and confidential deal – part 1

I grinned, “Two sales today means I get a big commission check next month. You’re still a lucky charm for me.”

She grinned back. “Maybe it’s because you’re a good salesman William.”

I asked, “How about a drink before dinner so I can come down a little bit from my high?”

She nodded yes and I made the drinks. I toasted her, “To my good luck charm.”

She giggled.

We sipped for a few minutes and then I asked, “Are you making much progress with the operations manual?”

“Yes.” she replied. “In fact, I’m done with it.”

“Jan, no one can get through those five hundred pages in a day and understand it. It just can’t be done.”

She smirked as she said, “Wanna bet?”

I replied, “A bet wouldn’t be fair. You can’t win.”

She answered with a challenge in her voice. “Okay William, make up a list of questions or give me reports to edit or change using your software package. If I do them right by the time you get home tomorrow, you have to wash the dishes tomorrow. And I’m warning you that what I’m making is going to be super messy.”

I was actually surprised and delighted with her challenge. After dinner I went through a list of the most common call back problems I had with my new customers for the last four months and chose the ten toughest and wrote them out. I showed them to Jan who asked a couple of clarification questions.

As I went to bed that night, Jan called after me in a mocking voice, “I hope you know how to wash dishes William.”

I woke up at one in the morning for a bathroom trip and saw that the living room lights were still on. I grinned to myself and thought that if she got five of the ten correct, I would call it a success.

She came into the kitchen the next morning. I teased, “Late night for you?”

She smiled, “Not really bad.”

I only had three sales calls that day and came back at about four. Jan was in the kitchen cooking. She yelled, “Hi, I’ll be right out.”

She walked into the living room. A smudge of flour was on her forehead and nose. “I haven’t made this in a long time, and it’s really messy there.”

“Who’s going to clean it up?” I asked.

“Why you, of course,” she smirked. “But there is one problem we have to talk about first.”

“What?”

“One of the test questions couldn’t be done right because there is an error in the software.”

“Impossible,” I said.

“Wanna bet?”

“Sure,” I answered.

Jan giggled, “If I’m right that there is a software error, you wash the dishes tonight and Sunday night too.”

“Deal,” I agreed, not realizing I didn’t even ask what I would win if Jan was wrong.

Short story: She nailed the first nine examples perfectly showing me what she did and printing out the final products. On the tenth problem she showed me where the software forgot to carry over a column, but then she showed me how to get around the problem.

I was amazed and delighted, and made no effort to conceal my surprise. She relished in my praise. It was obvious that my happiness in her getting the problems correct was a huge upper for her.

I asked, “How late were you up last night?”

She looked a little sheepish and muttered, “Maybe about five this morning.”

“Jan…”

She interrupted, “I hate to lose a bet. You didn’t say I had to sleep last night.”

I just grinned and shook my head.

Jan took mercy on me and helped me clean up after dinner. Thank god for little favors—she used more dishes than I knew I owned. However, the meal was one of her best. Shortly later she decided to crash and recover from no sleep the previous night.

She cooked breakfast the next morning and after the kitchen was clean I suggested we walk to the park. We circled it once and found ourselves at the same table that we sat at a week earlier. Probably the ducks swimming in the pond were the same too.

“Don’t you think week one went well?” I asked.

“It was perfect,” she said.

Want to know about week two?”

She nodded watching me, but then put her hand on top of mine and said, “Before you start I have to tell you something. Wednesday morning I saw Kinsey. She got back late Tuesday night, and her mom is going to live. She was really embarrassed that she forgot about me, and asked if I would stay with her now.

“I said no.”

Jan stared at me waiting to see my reaction.

“Good answer,” I replied, watching her grin with relief.

“Now first of all,” I continued, “This is another shopping day.” At a minimum you need to buy another summer dress, and something appropriate for business calls.”

“I have a dress,” countered Jan.

“Jan, you have one dress and you look beautiful in it, but you wore it twice now and I think it would be nice to see you in a different dress tonight.

“And you forgot; who’s the boss?”

“You,” she grinned.

“But what about the business clothes?” she continued.

“Well, that’s week two,” I said. Week one you were an apartment cleaner and cook. Week two we share cooking because you’re going to be working a little.”

“Doing what?” she asked.

“Jan, I’ve been thinking about this since the moment I saw your resume. I make money by selling the software package, but selling the product involves two things. The first is the actual sale and I can do that with one or two calls on the customer. The second is getting the customer on board to use it. He has sixty days to reject the product and if he does, I lose the commission. So I have to go back five or six times to show them how to install it and use it correctly. A lot of times the employees haven’t even read the manual.

“So instead of making new sales, the majority of my time is spent holding on to the sales I’ve made. So my brainstorm is to have you follow up on some of the installations and call backs, which will give me more time to sell and make money.”

“Do you think I can do that?” asked Jan with a nervous frown on her face.

“I’m positive you can,” I answered. “Monday morning I’m taking you to an old customer of mine. He bought the product a year ago, but just lost two key employees and they’re having trouble with the new employees getting comfortable with the software.

“He’s a really good guy and I would do it anyway since his company is growing fast and a year or two from now he might buy the upgraded version, so it’s good business to help him anyway.”

“Will you be with me?” she asked.

“I’ll introduce you to the owner and hang around for a few minutes. When it feels right, I’ll take off and make a couple of sales calls and pick you up at noon.”

“Are you sure I can do it?” insisted Jan.

“Absolutely,” I replied, and to repeat, who’s the boss?”

“You are,” she answered.

“Bosses are never wrong, even when they are wrong. It’s rule number one in business,”

I concluded, “Let’s go shopping.”

We went back to the Plaza and started looking at dresses and work clothes. She found another nice summer dress that showed a little more skin than the first one. I was all for it. For her business call on Monday she bought a silk blouse, blended jacket and a blended cotton skirt. It was the perfect professional outfit for her.

The rest of the day went by quickly. The dinner in the Plaza was great and Jan held my hand as we walked home.

Sunday was a repeat of the previous Sunday; a great breakfast and then pool time. As I rubbed the lotion into Jan’s naked back and legs I could feel her body tremble with pleasure.

Sunday dinner was a prime rib roast cooked medium rare. We had an excellent meal and once again Jan took mercy on me and helped with the clean up.

As we watched television later that night she was again becoming nervous about her first business call the next morning.

“Do the best you can, and everything will be fine,” I told her.

I didn’t tell her that the owner of the company and I had become good friends after I sold him the software package. I told him that I was bringing a rookie over so he shouldn’t be too tough on her, but that I wanted his opinion on how she handled herself. I assured him that whatever she didn’t cover, I would do a follow up and get his people on board.

Monday morning I drove Jan over to the company. She looked professional, but she was nervous. We were shown into the owner’s office where I introduced Jan to him. We talked for a few minutes and then he called two people into his office and said, “This is Jan McDaniels. She’s going to show you how to solve the problems you’re having with the business software.”

Jan greeted them warmly, gave me a quick, nervous look and followed them out of the office.