Page 8 of Advanced Chemistry

“Craig could be an atheist or a polytheist. Or he might think you’re taking the lord’s name in vain.”

I rolled my eyes, secretly loving how much Sebastian thought through things.

“God has the right idea,” Craig said. I smiled triumphantly at my partner. “But I don’t think it was because of the vending machines in their break rooms.”

“We get that,” I said. The words rolled off my tongue smooth as butter. Was there any better feeling than a sales call where you could feel momentum growing? “Rent and office head count are usually the biggest factors in whether a company renews their agreement. But what we’ve found is that just underneath those two factors, there are several little factors that can, over time, turn a renter against their office space. If employees keep logging frustrations over things like cleanliness, temperature, or outdated vending machines, then it’ll inspire their boss to evaluate the company’s relationship with their office space, and make them take a hard look at rental terms and head count. With working from home becoming more popular, companies are evaluating any reason to downsize their physical footprint. Were there any hints from the two companies that didn’t renew?”

“Now that I think about it, I’d heard whisperings about one of them being annoyed by the hot air blower in the bathroom not working consistently.”

“How difficult is it to find new tenants versus keeping current ones satisfied?” I asked.

“It’s much more difficult, but I think you know that already.”

Oh hell yeah, we knew that. Anyone in sales knew that.

“Craig, if you could provide a delightful vending experience for your tenants, say with sparkling, brand new machines stocked with healthy options that appeal to Gen Z and Millennial employees, how would that help strengthen your renewals?” Sebastian asked.

“It would make staying in our building more appealing,” Craig asked, stammering for an answer. “I guess if employees raved about awesome vending machines that were installed, it would make them like coming to the office more, which would keep clients renewing their rental agreements.”

Sebastian and I gave each other fist bumps. The best salespeople didn’t talk at prospects. They asked the right questions that made prospects come to the right conclusion themselves.

I winked at Sebastian.Time to close.

“Renewing their rental agreements sounds like a huge win for Hollis,” Sebastian said. “Because you’re looking to improve client experiences and reduce unwanted churn, we’d love to meet with you to discuss Beverage Solutions’ offering in more depth. Would Wednesday at nine a.m. work for you?”

“Why don’t you fellas just email me and we can take it from there,” said Craig.

Oh, Craig. We weren’t letting you get away that easily.

“We’ll send you some information after this call, but in our experience, we’ve found that it’s a much more efficient use of your time to have a thirty minute meeting rather than spending weeks trading emails back and forth,” I said.

Emails were a blow off black hole.

Craig let out another phlegmy sigh. “Can we do eight-thirty on Monday? I have a busy week, and I don’t want this meeting creeping into my workday. Like I said, our vending machines are fine, but I’m willing to hear you gentlemen out.”

It was a good thing this wasn’t a video call because Sebastian and I were dancing in our chairs like we’d won the lottery.

“Eight-thirty works for us,” I said. “We’ll send you a calendar invite with some information recapping what we discussed. Enjoy your weekend, Craig. We hope you can make it to the links tomorrow.”

Craig wished us a good weekend, and we hung up. I double-checked the phone to make sure the call was officially over.

Then we celebrated.

“YES!” We said in unison as we leapt out of our chairs and gave each other a sloppy high-five that folded into a monster hug while we jumped around the room. We were one combined ball of unstoppable energy.

“We have a meeting with Hollis this week,” Sebastian said, dumbstruck.

“We have a fucking meeting with Hollis this week. I told you, Seb, all it takes is one yes.”

“We don’t have a yes yet. We have a scheduled meeting with a mid-level executive who isn’t the decision maker.”

“If we impress Craig—excuse me,whenwe impress Craig, then we’ll get on the radar of Perry Hollis himself.”

Perry Hollis, a legend among business owners in the area, was the white whale we were chasing. Wait. Were they chasing whales or sharks inMoby Dick? I should’ve paid more attention in class.

Our call whetted my appetite, and there was no going back. Hollis Property Management was within reach. I wasn’t going to let it go.

“We need to celebrate.” I knelt on my office chair and spun around like I was a kid. “We need to go out.”

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