CHAPTER 7
“It’s too much.”
“What is?” Sarai asked.
“The price in this agreement. She’s saying she gave me a ten-percent discount and included some additional things during implementation, but it’s still way too much. At least twenty thousand more than we can afford.”
“We can’t stretch the budget a little?”
“Sarai, our budget is limited to begin with. I’m thinking about going with the other one. I liked them, too, and Arlowe said it was fine, just not as good as Cerebral.”
“Well, if they’re better, doesn’t it make sense to see if Stella can help us out a little bit? Maybe we can offer to do a testimonial for Cerebral or some interviews once we’re using the software. That sometimes gets them to knock down the price.”
“We’re an unknown company. What would us doing that actually do for them?”
“I don’t know, but it’s worth a try. Want anything from the kitchen? I’m grabbing a snack.”
“No, thanks,” she replied.
Sarai stood up and walked out of the garage, and Violet decided that since Enya was in the living room and Arlowe was sleeping in after another all-nighter, she might as well go work in her bedroom, so she carried her computer back to her room and set it up at her desk.
Deciding to email Stella back, she opened her notes app and started typing a draft that she wanted to read and reread before actually sending.
The other night had been awkward, and she knew that it had been her fault.
First, she’d said yes, which had been a mistake.
Second, she’d invited her friends because she hadn’t wanted to go alone, but she hadn’t informed Stella that they would be there.
Then, she’d gotten up and left when they’d all tried to leave her there alone with Stella Ross.
Violet hadn’t exactly liked Stella in school, but she’d always been nervous around the woman.
Stella was smart, and she had kept Violet on her toes, but she was still just as pretty, if not more, and she’d always exuded confidence, whereas Violet had talked about her girlfriend back home constantly just to try to seem cool.
When now-older Stella had tried to strike up a conversation at the bar, Violet had felt those nerves returning, and when her friends had decided to flee all at once because they hadn’t wanted to go in the first place, she’d reacted poorly.
She’d turned back to see Stella putting the chair she’d brought over back in place and had felt awful, but she’d hoped that Stella would make good on her word to help her out with the pricing.
What she’d sent over wasn’t much better than what they had listed, though.
Stella,
I’ve been reviewing the agreement with my team, and we’re still a little concerned about the price.
There’s an upfront fee that seems to relate to the implementation, but the work that we’d need to do on our end feels pretty heavy there, so I’m not sure why a fee is necessary, even with the additional tasks you’ve mentioned your team would do for us.
Can you please send me a few pricing options?
Maybe a one-year, two-year, and a three-year option that I can review and take a look at the fees and the overall cost for us?
Violet
She hit send after reading it for the third time and went back to work, but only a few minutes later, she had a response, so she opened the email.
Violet,
I already came down by ten percent on a software that costs more than a hundred grand, so that’s a pretty substantial discount.
On top of that, I waived two fees entirely.
I’ll also be lending you Monique for more than thirty hours of implementation when normally, we only include fifteen hours in this kind of agreement.
I can’t waive the rest of that fee, but if you want to go down on her hours, back to the usual fifteen, I can take something off it.
Please let me know, and I’ll work up the options you want.
Stella
“She’s the SVP of Sales. She can’t take twenty percent off and still give me those thirty hours?” Violet said to herself and typed.
Stella,
I am certain that, as the SVP of Sales at a major software company, you have the ability to discount your services far below the ten percent you’ve given me.
I’d like to keep the thirty hours of Monique’s services since I don’t think we’d be able to implement your not-so-user-friendly software without her as quickly as we need it, and I’m hoping that if I offer you some sort of testimonial or interviews or something to help your marketing team, that maybe you can reconsider and grant me even just a slightly larger discount.
If not, I might have to go to one of your competitors.
Given our shared past, I wanted to give you and Cerebral our business, but at these rates, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do so.
Violet
She hit send, felt good about herself, and didn’t have to wait long for Stella’s reply.
Violet,
I’m sure that you know, given that you’re a CEO, that sometimes, even leaders of departments cannot make all the decisions, especially when it comes to the bottom line, and the reality is, I’m sorry to say, your account wouldn’t pay for itself, so to speak, for a while.
If I went to my CEO and told him that I wanted to go down more, he’d ask me why, because your company is small and not the size of an account we’d normally even offer the initial discount to.
I suppose an interview or testimonial might help me make that case, but the real thing that’s going to let me go even lower on costs is having you introduce Cerebral to the other companies that Russell operates.
If you can get me three intros to companies that are doing substantial business revenue-wise, or even employee-size-wise, I can probably drop your price and offer them a discount as well, should they sign.
Stella
“Ah…” Violet said to herself. “That’s what she wants.”
It hadn’t dawned on her that Stella was only taking on her account personally because she wanted access to Russell brands.
Violet wasn’t part of the Russell Group, to her father’s great disappointment, but Stella must have assumed that her company was and that she could get connections through Violet to the others, which Violet wouldn’t do, but especially not now, with how Stella was acting.
Stella,
I’m afraid I’m unable to do that. Our company is not part of the Russell Group.
My connections there are only familial, and I haven’t worked there since my internship out of college.
I didn’t realize you’d taken my company on in order to have an in at Russell, but if that’s the reason, I’ll tell you now that I won’t be introducing you to anyone there.
Since I don’t think you’ll lower the price for me given that, it looks like I might have to go elsewhere.
Violet
“Hey, why are you in here?” Arlowe asked.
Violet turned around and saw Arlowe standing there in her sweats, rubbing her eyes.
“Did you just wake up?”
“I had a bug that I had to work on all night. Why aren’t you in the garage?”
“I needed some alone time.” She sighed. “Stella won’t lower the price any more than she already has, and she’s very annoying. I think she’s trying to get connections to my family’s business, and that’s the only reason she took the demo meeting with me.”
Arlowe shrugged a shoulder and said, “So? Makes sense to me.”
“Her using us makes sense to you?”
“She’s in sales, Vi. It’s all about networking. It makes sense that she’d want their business.”
“Then, she should’ve offered me a better discount.”
“She didn’t? Did you tell her that you can introduce her around?”
“No, I told her I wouldn’t. She suggested it first; gave me a number even: three intros.” Violet held up three fingers. “Only then would she help me get a better discount.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Arlowe asked, sitting on the end of Violet’s bed. “Seems like it’s not a big deal. You get her three intros. I get the software I want, and we’re able to grow the business faster.”
“You said the other one was fine.”
“It is. It’s fine, but it’s not what we need. If we can’t go with Cerebral, I’d rather just build the thing myself.”
“Arlowe… You know I don’t talk to my parents about business. Any of my family.”
“I know. But it’s just asking for them to take a call or something. They don’t have to buy their software. What will she give us if you do it?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t give me an exact number, but my guess is at least twenty percent. Maybe more.”
“Vi, the thing is a hundred and twenty thousand dollars. That’s, like, twenty-four thousand dollars off, and she’s giving us more hours with their sales engineers to help me out. I think that’s a pretty big deal.”
“Yeah, I know. I budgeted a hundred thousand, so ten percent doesn’t do enough. Twenty would, of course, and it would give us a little extra cash in the kitty, so to speak, but it would involve me talking to my father about this, and I don’t want to do that.”
“It’s literally just asking him to take a meeting. He’s all business. He’ll get it.”
Violet turned around when she heard her phone ringing.
“Who’s calling you? I haven’t gotten an actual phone call in, like, six years,” Arlowe said.
“Yes, you have. You just don’t answer. And it’s an unknown number, so I don’t know. It’s probably business. I’ll be out in the garage in a minute. Hello?” she answered the call.
“Hi. It’s Stella.”
“Stella?” Violet said, feeling completely unprepared to actually talk to her.
Arlowe took the hint and left her room without another word.
“Yeah. I thought it would be better just to talk this out since email is getting us nowhere. Got a minute?”
“Um…” Violet looked at her calendar as if she had to be honest with Stella and couldn’t just tell her that she didn’t have a minute. “I have… a meeting in five.”
“We can keep it short. Violet, I’m trying here, okay?
I’m aware our product isn’t cheap. It’s not built that way, either.
It’s got all the bells and whistles that the competition doesn’t, which is why it’s expensive.
I gave you ten percent off, when I didn’t have to do that, and I can lend you Monique for forty hours instead of thirty if that would help get you to sign, but that’s all I can do unless you can do something for me. ”
“Something for you?”
“Yeah, introduce me to the other Russell companies.”
“I told you, I’m not part of the group, Stella. I started this company on my own with my friends. I don’t have connections there.”
“Your father is literally the CEO.”
“Yeah, and I see him twice a year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s it. We don’t talk about business. He’s not exactly happy that the daughter he spent all that money on sending to the best schools decided to turn against him and start her own company instead of running his one day.”
“Turn against him? You wanted to do your own thing. How is that turn–”
“I don’t really need therapy from you, Stella,” she interrupted. “I need twenty percent off. That’s all we can afford, okay? I’ve got a budget, and I need that plus whatever extra time with Monique you can offer.”
“I can’t, Violet. I’ve got power, but that kind of deal is going to cross the CEO’s desk. He’s very involved, and he’s going to wonder why the hell I agreed to that without something in return. Can you get me one meeting, at least? Throw me a bone.”
“No, I can’t,” Violet stated and nodded to herself.
“Then, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can agree to twenty percent and everything else we’ve talked about.”
“Well… Fine,” she said.
“Fine,” Stella echoed. “I guess you have a meeting.”
“I do, yes,” she lied.
“Then, bye forever, Violet Russell. Good luck with your business, I guess. And it’s nice to know that you’re still pretty much exactly how I remembered you.”
Stella hung up then, and Violet grunted and wondered why she was always like this around this woman.
“Hey, I’m getting out of here,” she said a few minutes later after grabbing her bag, shoving her computer inside it, and walking into the kitchen, where she saw Arlowe and Enya at the table.
“Where are you going?” Enya asked.
“Coffee. Need anything? I’m going to work there for a bit, so it’ll be a while. I need to clear my head.”
“The call with Stella went well, then?” Arlowe joked.
“Not now, Arlowe. We’ll talk about it when I get back.”
“Can I get a drink?” Sarai asked, emerging from the garage.
“Text me what you want. I’ll bring it back,” Violet said and walked out, heading to where her car was parked in the driveway.