All that sounded good, and as I expected, Ivan ate it all up, but I hoped neither of them thought that I was going to pay for Tyhedra to evaluate their system. Once they had set an appointment for her to come back, I got Tyhedra out of there.
As we walked away from Ivan’s office, Tyhedra quickly put my fears to rest. “Before you say it, don’t worry. I have no plans for sticking you with the bill for this. By the time I’m finished with Ivan, I’ll have him paying for what I do for you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “That makes me feel a lot better. Now, what do you think of my side of the house?”
“From what I see, your operation is running pretty smooth. There are some procedural issues and some training opportunities that I’ve identified. To that end, you’ll have my written evaluation in a couple of days. I remember you mentioning that you wanted me to do some training on the reporting functions for one of your staff.”
“That would be Kim.”
“I thought as much. She’s sharp.”
“I think so,” I said as I walked her to her car.
“You got any plans for the rest of the afternoon?”
I smiled and looked at her the same way that Ivan was earlier. “What did you have in mind?”
“Easy, big boy. I’m on my way to see one of my clients and I wanted to know if you wanted to come along?”
“Sure. Just give a minute to let the ladies know that I’ll be gone for a while.”
“Good, because I already told them about you and that you’d probably be with me today when I came. They have some issues that I think you can help them with. If you can sell them, I’ll either work it out so you can invoice them or you can invoice me for your time. But either way, you stand to make a pretty good bit of money on them, and they pay.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’ll get you in the door. All you gotta do is sell it.”
“Then it’s a done deal,” I said, and went inside to let Kim and Tina know that I was gone for the day.
When we got to her client, I looked over their setup. This was something that CJ was better suited for than I was. I called CJ and told her what I was into and what I had in mind, and asked her if she would be available for a conference call. “If it means new business for us, I’ll make myself available.”
Once I finished my evaluation, Tyhedra took me to meet the boss. I went into my pitch and then I got CJ on the phone and she locked them down. When I walked out of that office, I had I firm commitment and promised to have a contract to them the next day.
“I’m impressed,” Tyhedra said as we drove away. “You and your partner work very well together. You feed off each other. I can feel that just from listening to the way the two of you worked to overcome his objections and close the deal.”
“Thank you.” I didn’t think Tyhedra needed to know that the reason we work so well together was that I was in love with CJ.
“I think you and I are going to be able to do big things together, Chris. I’m glad I met you.”
“Are you kidding? I’m glad I hung up the phone so I could talk to you. I think today was a pretty productive day for both of us.”
“Those are the only days I have.”
“Well, not all my days go like this. I think we should celebrate.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Allow me the honor of taking you out for a drink?”
“I’m hungry, so if you include dinner in your offer, you have a deal.”
“Well, let me ask you a question?”
“What’s that?”
“How hungry are you?”
“I haven’t had anything to eat today. So saying that I’m very hungry is an understatement.”