Hey - I know it has been a while since we talked. Do you remember the night I
told you that if something drastic happened up here I could get a job
down in Texas? Anything can happen once. Until it happens again you
wonder if that call was an anomaly. So it's been a while, I want to
apologize only I'm not sorry and I know that you will understand; you
more than anyone else I know listens to the silence around my words. So
it happened again, the funny thing is both men have the same name. The first gentleman is quite a bit older than his namesake. Some day
I'll ask what it was about me that he recognized. Back then I was one of
eighteen Customer Service Reps but he followed me after I was promoted
and he gave me the first sweet taste of a major success. We've since
grown more familiar but he is a Southern Gentleman so he still calls me ma'am.
It started with a voicemail; there's a prosaic explanation but I want
to believe that two people who needed each other could meet
accidentally. I
can also explain my ethical dilemma and how I handled that particular piece of the puzzle. Initially he
was interested in discussing a hypothetical situation, I get calls like
that periodically. People want to stock shoes but there is the initial
inventory expense coupled with the delivery logistics not to mention the
paperwork associated with billing Medicare. Everyone
you meet has something to teach you. A paperless office is still a
dream of mine, there was a state of unreality during that moment when I
opened a drawer and pulled out two sheets of paper with long lists of
running numbers. During that beautiful black and white moment I realized that behind our
conversation was a budget. There was a catch, nothing good comes
easily but I addressed it and moved forward.
Two me's ago I wouldn't have believed that I could discuss what it
would take for another person to set up their own shoe store. We talked
about merchandising and
cross selling and up selling. We went back and forth negotiating terms
and payment plans searching for those creative financing options.
While I long for discount power of my own I like that my boss listens when I tell her that we should roll the dice on a man, his podiatric
financier and their plan to dispense therapeutic footwear in The Lone
Star State. This could blow up in my face. The other day I
told my entrepreneurial friend that we needed to build history before
discussing further discounts. Right now he's talking about an order
that would quintuple last year's sales. Part of my job is
trying to figure out if this account is worth the gamble. In reality it isn't that big but it is mine and that's what I
wanted to share with you tonight.
Tons of love,
j