It's Not Luck - Eliyahu M. Goldratt [50]
What’s going on there? This morning Pete was supposed to have a meeting with one of his buyers. I wonder if his optimism is justified. I wonder if he correctly read the initial response. I wonder if it wasn’t just a polite way to tell him that his offer was not understood.
“Is Pete back in?” I ask his secretary.
“Yes, Mister Rogo, just a minute.”
“Hello, Alex, how is it going on the other side of the pond?” Pete sounds cheerful . . . but that’s how he sounds when he has to cover up for a big disappointment.
“Pete, how did your meeting go?”
“Better than expected.”
I feel my muscles relax. Only now I consciously realize how much I’ve risked. If it had turned out that Pete’s marketing idea was nothing but hot air I would have been in a terrible bind. Brandon and Jim would, no doubt, believe that I invented it to deliberately sabotage the sale. I shiver.
Calmly, I ask for more details.
“We went in. We went over the details. I gave a concession of another twenty-two thousand, and he signed the deal.” Pete sounds as if he does such things at least three times a day.
It’s okay. Everyone is entitled to show off a bit. Especially when it is well justified.
“Are you going to tell me how big the order is?”
“We signed the contract based on estimations of all his needs for the remainder of the year. It is six hundred thirty-four thousand, plus additions for every new design. But on those I had to promise a five-day turnaround. That was the last nail in the . . . marriage chariot.”
“Are you going to have any problem meeting such fast response?”
“Not according to my prep room manager. He claims that he can meet four days without any hassle.”
“Great.” But I have to continue to ask, “What about the other buyer, the one you’re supposed to meet tomorrow? Any news on that front?”
“Well, we are constantly on the phone,” he answers. “Every few hours he calls to add some more stuff to the quote. He had probably involved his marketing department in it. He’s driving us crazy, but I’m not complaining. Not at all.”
Neither do I. “Pete, remember, we don’t want to be in the hands of a few big clients.”
“Yes, we are discussing that right now. It’s important, it determines which prospects we should go after. As it stands now, with our ‘Mafia offer,’ we can get anyone we want.”
He is flying. In his place I would be too. Next week I’d better pay him a visit. With such success he might overlook some snake in the grass. As long as the sale is hanging over our heads we can’t afford any slip-ups.
Nice. It is really nice. I update Brandon and Jim. They are as pleased as I am. We raise a toast to Pete and his team.
“Are you ready to hear what happened to our tree?” I take out the big folded sheet and spread it over the table.
“More good news?” Brandon moves his chair closer to mine.
“I think so, but you be the judge.” I am proud of what I constructed this morning. Really proud.
“Where do we start?” Jim is all business.
“From bottom, up,” I answer. “That way it’s easy to follow the logic.”
Brandon volunteers to read. “If, ‘Managers try to run their companies by striving to achieve local optima,’ and ‘For every mode of operation managers develop suitable measurements,’ then ‘There are important measurements that focus on local optima, e.g., cost accounting based measurements.’ Yes, that’s what we wrote yesterday. Oh, I see, here is the new stuff. If, ‘Managers try to run their companies by striving to achieve local optima,’ then, ‘Most managers’ perception of value of a product is heavily influenced by the local efforts required to design, produce, sell and deliver the product.’ I don’t know if I agree with this last conclusion.”
“Yes, you do,” Jim is decisive. “You yourself don’t believe that’s how we should