When Sam was finally declared ready he found himself walking to the elevator in a black skirt suit and a white silk blouse. He wore silver earrings, enclosed black heels and carried the same black handbag he had taken to dinner the previous night.
Perhaps most surprising was that Sam felt comfortable in this attire and was only nervous about his upcoming presentation. He really wanted this contract!
Jordan also wore a skirt suit but hers was blue over a lacy green top. Together they went to the foyer and waited for the concierge to call them a taxi.
The next few hours went well. Neither Sam nor Jordan fluffed their lines. Cheryl Montgomery came across as an intelligent woman who asked probing questions, fortunately Jordan was able to give her satisfactory answers.
There were three other staff members at the presentation. One was with their legal department and the other two were evidently staff in Angus’s department. One of those, a man named Alistair seemed quite negative about the need to purchase a new management tool and needed a lot of convincing. It seemed he was the creator of the in-house package the company currently used and in a way was protecting his own turf. He asked Sam a lot of technical questions, hoping to uncover a weakness in the new software. Sam was able to respond to them all. It was actually a good thing as Sam was able to point out a few things that the new package could do that the old package could not.
It was gratifying to see Alistair floundering for words when Angus asked him “Can our current program do that?”
Angus asked what sort of support package came with the contract, Jordan answered that “All our contracts come with full support for the first two years and thereafter on a fee for service basis”
He then specifically asked Sam “And will you be the technical expert assigned to any contract we have with your firm?”
“Ah…. That’s not up to me….…” Sam wasn’t sure what to say.
“Samantha, can be the technical expert” cut in Jordan. “We would just need to add a clause to the contract”
“That would be required” answered Angus
At lunchtime the two left. Angus and Cheryl seemed positive but were not making promises. Together and with the help of the lawyer they had drafted up a contract, adding the clause of “Sam Colson” being the assigned support person and inserted dates of start and finish times. They ended up negotiating 3 years of support before fees were applicable. Angus would be taking it to the board who were meeting that afternoon. Angus promised to give Jordan a call with the outcome as soon as possible.
Jordan and Sam caught a taxi back to their hotel and had lunch at a restaurant nearby. They were both positive about gaining the contract but both knew not to count their chickens before a contract was signed. Sam did chide Jordan though “Why did you say I would be the support person? Samantha doesn’t exist. I’ll hardly be able to answer a call from Sanguine industries once I’m back in my own body”
“Well don’t answer the calls. We’ll just let them know to contact you via email”
“But what happens when they request a site visit?”
“Well we have the medallion. I guess Samantha just makes a comeback”
“No way!”
“Look, I’m sure we will find a way around it. Let’s just get the contract signed first then we can worry about the details”
Sam reluctantly agreed. He had reservations but had gone so far already that he didn’t want to bail out now.
Back in their room, Sam was happy to get out of the heels and set his computer up on a desk in the lounge to start working on some other accounts where he was providing technical support.
Jordan went to her room and made initial contact with some of the possibilities on the list that Angus had given her. She emerged from her room 30 minutes later and told Sam. “One of these companies has said they can see me if I go to their premises straight away. I’m going to do so. It’s better than sitting around waiting to hear from Angus”
“Good luck. Let me know straight away if Angus calls”
“I will. You do know though that if we are successful we will likely to get an invitation out to dinner to celebrate”
“Yeah that’s what usually happens when we make a big deal” It was exactly what usually happened.
“So you are happy to come? I will accept on your behalf”
“I guess so” Sam reluctantly agreed. He would need to keep up the masquerade of being a woman. It would be worth it though for the big bonus.
“Fingers crossed in that case”