The Diplomat--Part Five

The Diplomat-Part Five

Some of the changes that were taking place in Jane’s life were easy to adjust to and some were not. The easy part had to do with the grace and the subtlety that she was acquiring due to the ballet and the yoga. From the ballet she was acquiring an ease of grace that made her seem as if she were gliding across the floor when she walked. It almost appeared as if she were moving to some sort of rhythm or tune. It wasn’t dancing, it was fluid motion; a motion that went from move to move with little effort. It was a natural movement brought on by knowing your body and its capabilities. It was a union of mind, muscle and joints. It was a celebration of life.

The yoga had given Jane not only flexibility, but also poise. Her instructor had an expression that she used over and over. It was, “Yoga is a surrender, not a struggle.” Jane had not understood this until in one session she had had a moment of clarity. She was in a position call the “Cobra”. Lying prostrate on the floor on your stomach started the position. Slowly the hands were placed beneath the shoulders and the arms pushed away from the floor. The result was that the lower half of the body, from the waist down, lay on the floor while the upper half of the body, from the waist up, was raised until the person resembled a raised, hooded cobra. It was a position that Jane had had some difficulty with. Usually when she raised herself into the position her back and legs had tension in them. On this occasion the tightness didn’t happen. She was relaxed. She began to understand what her teacher was trying to tell her. Yoga was a surrender, not a struggle. These exercises were supposed to teach you to be in control but to be relaxed at the same time. It was a discipline, not just a physical exercise. Jane began to concentrate on relaxing in every pose. This not only affected her yoga sessions, it affected her every day affairs. She found that she could relax in circumstances that she would normally be apprehensive about. She began to try and practice these principles in all of her affairs.

The harder part of the changes had to do with the attention she was getting. Jane had never gotten a lot of attention from either her fellow workers or the few people that she was around outside of work. People were nice to her, but nobody went out of his or her way to compliment her, invite her to join into events or make conversation with her. She was just Jane Plano, the secretary. Now, people were stopping her at work or dropping by her desk to ask how she was doing. Both men and women seemed to suddenly know that she was alive and part of the establishment. She was recognized as a co-worker. She was one of them. Some of them began inviting her to lunch or out after work for an icebreaker at the local after-hours hangout. She seldom took them up on the after hours invitation, but she did go to lunch with them sometimes. When she did, she said little. She wasn’t quite confident enough or comfortable enough to say much. She was apprehensive about saying the wrong thing.

She adjusted better to the women’s compliments and invitations than she did to the men’s. There seemed to be two things that were barring the way to her settling into a comfort zone with their advances. One was that she was not sure whether they were sincere, or whether they were just trying to get next to her for the money or for the sex. The second thing that kept here from being at ease with their gestures was that she had no intention of having a steady relationship with a male at this point in her life. She was just now finding out who she was and she was not about to climb back on a couch and watch TV again. There was a whole world out there waiting for her and she had the means to experience part of it. She wanted a partner at some point, but not now. She intended on going slowly when it came to an emotional path. She would talk to Joe and Jamie about this part of her life.

There was another part of her life that was changing. That had to do with her confidence level. Her relations with the Diplomats were beginning to expand her as a person. She lost some of her shyness and began to introduce herself to some of the people she came in contact with. She might still be a little shy with some of the persons at the office or on the street, but the Diplomat club was a safe haven for her. Even if she didn’t know some of the people at the functions, she knew enough of them to make her feel secure. Besides, Joe was always there to rescue her if she needed rescuing. That gave her courage. She could venture out into deeper water knowing that the lifeguards were on duty. She wouldn’t drown.

As her confidence level rose, Jane began to get restless again. She was sitting at a desk all day, answering a phone, greeting visitors, ushering salespeople to their appointments or doing general secretarial duties such as making copies or typing letters. She never really got to use much of her newly acquired skills. She began to wonder if maybe she shouldn’t look for another job. She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do, but she knew she wasn’t happy continuing to do what she was doing. She had taken the job as a secretary because she didn’t know what else to do and because it was available. She still didn’t know what she wanted to do, but it wasn’t sitting at the same spot all day relating to machines or answering a phone. She needed to interact with people. She needed to talk to her reliable friends about this.

She knew before she even brought up the subject to Joe and Jamie that they would not tell her what to do. They never did. What they did do was to make suggestions to Jane about where she might go to explore some possibilities. They would never make decisions for her. She needed to learn that on her on. That was part of growing up and of life. Jane had never made many decisions because she hadn’t had to. Either there were very few decisions to make or her resources dictated the decisions. When you didn’t have much there weren’t a lot of decisions to make. They were already made for you.

She could use Joe and Jamie as sounding boards but she would have to follow up on her own. The outcome of the career change would be determined by what she did, not what she would like.

-2-
As usual, Joe and Jamie had listened, understood, and had made suggestions. Joe knew someone at Career Challenges, a headhunter. He would contact the man and see if he would take a personal interest in Jane. Jamie knew someone at another agency. That gave Jane two places to start. If she were lucky she would get a job that was fee paid. She could start working somewhere else without it costing her anything. She knew she could afford to pay a finder’s fee to someone for giving her a lead on a job but she had an aversion to that. She couldn’t see paying someone to work for them. That’s how she classified an employment fee. It was like paying an insurance company an annual fee for having an insurance policy. You had to pay them for the privilege of paying them a premium each month. It was legal robbery. Jane would not ascent to paying the fee unless it was absolutely necessary. As it turned out, it wasn’t.

-3-

James Little, Jane’s boss, had been watching her. He had seen the transition from what Jane had been when she started to work for Real Life to what she had become under the tutelage of Joe, Jamie, and the Diplomats. He was impressed. He also knew that Jane was intelligent, had a good personally, and caught on to things quickly. She was a quick study. He wondered how she would do in sales.

When he hired Jane he had done so because he believed that she was efficient, she had a presentable appearance, and he knew she could handle the job. It puzzled him that she wanted to work as a secretary and he had asked her about the choice of jobs. She told him that she had gotten a BS in Psychology because she didn’t know what else to get a degree in. She was interested in Psychology because she was interested in people. After the degree, she was not offered a graduate assistantship anywhere. James couldn’t understand that. He had a copy of Jane’s transcript and her grades were good. Jane had simply said that sometimes that was the way things turned out. She had not mentioned to James that when she applied for the assistantships that one of her teachers had given her a bad recommendation. Jane had never found out which one it was or why the professor had done what he or she did. Jane had never had any disagreement with any of her instructors. It was just one of those things that changes the course of a life. Some things were unexplainable.

Normally James would not have given Jane the job. People of Jane’s caliber usually didn’t stay in a job such as the one James was offering Jane. They went looking for a better position, better pay or both. It might be three months or it might be one year before they tried to upgrade, but they would try. That was one of the reasons that he had hired the persons to begin with. They were bright. But the downside was that bright people are always looking to better themselves. They don’t have to settle for something that doesn’t use all of their talents. The longest he had seen someone stay, who had Jane’s potential, was eighteen months. She had gone on to become an executive secretary, in another city. The CEO she was working for was one of his competitors. James had broken her in and the CEO had stolen her away. It just wasn’t fair. James failed to admit to himself that the CEO had offered the ambitious secretary a good salary and good benefits. That was her main incentive for leaving.

If Jane quit, James didn’t look forward to conducting interviews again to fill a vital position. James knew that a lot of people regarded a secretary’s job as something that was the lowest rung on the ladder. He knew differently. A secretary’s job was not something you could downsize. There had to be a secretary.

But there was something about Jane. She had brains and education but she didn’t seem to have a lot of driving ambition that would lead her to search for fame, fortune and notoriety. Jane would probably stay put for a while. He hired her.

Now, something was changing. James could read the signs. Jane was getting restless. James had followed her progress as she improved herself. He noticed that the clothes she was wearing now were not only considerably better that they had been when she first started working for him, they were now upscale, more expensive, and looked better on Jane than James had been used to seeing her in. He had taken notice. He also noticed that there was something else about her. She seemed to be surer of herself. She moved with an easy confidence that told him that she was not the same person that he had hired a year ago. James could see the shift taking place from someone who had nowhere to go to someone who didn’t know where they were going but who had started on a journey. James needed to make a move if he wanted to keep her on his staff, and he wanted to keep her on his staff. She would be an asset to his company. He decided to talk to Jane about becoming a salesperson. She would become a living representative of what he manufactured, dolls. What better advertisement could he want? It was better than a billboard. He called Jane into his office.

-4-

The offer had been fair, Jane thought, but then she didn’t have anything to compare it too. Her boss had asked her if she was thinking about leaving Real Life to take another job. She had been honest with him and told him that she was thinking about it but that she hadn’t done anything about it yet. If it had been another job, and if she had had some experience with the world of business, she might have said something else. As it was, if James fired her, she had money to live on. It would not last forever, but she was confident that she could get employment somewhere else.

James had said that he had been watching her and that he was thinking about promoting her to a sales position. He believed she could handle the job. She had been surprised. She had never thought about being a salesperson before. The ones she saw going in and out of the doors of Real Life seemed to be busy, but she didn’t know much about what they did except that they sold things. She didn’t know if she wanted to be a salesperson or not. She knew that there were women in the Diplomats that were sales representatives for different companies, but she had never asked them about their jobs. Maybe that was a good place to start asking questions, with some of her Diplomat friends. She would also ask Joe what he thought about the job. Joe would give her an honest opinion. He had been in sales for the last thirty years and he knew all there was to know about sales, both pros and cons.

She told her boss that she would have to think about it. He told her to take her time but to let him know before she decided to take a job somewhere else. She started calling the women salespersons that she knew. They would do lunch.


-5-

Ron Falkenheimer hated going to small towns. Anything under 500,000 people was small to Ronnie. He also hated to be called Ronnie. Ronnies were kids, Rons were adults.

The reason that Ron hated going to small towns was the type of people that he always had to deal with. It was the same thing every time. All kids were Shirley Temples or Jackie Coopers, and every stud male was the perfect model for Calvin Klein. It was the same everywhere. Ron was a talent scout looking for models. He didn’t really care whether the participants could sing, dance or act, he was looking for warm bodies, but the singing, dancing and acting was always part of the show. They had to do something while he sized up there usefulness. What he was really looking for was models.

Part of his job every year was to go to some of the smaller cities and seek out new Cindy Crawfords. They were supposed to be growing somewhere out there like lilies in the field. At least that’s what his superiors said every year. “Who knows what you’ll find out there.” “You’ll never know if you don’t look.” He heard it every year. So far the track record was not impressive. Ron had been with Shapers for six years and only about 3% of the talent had come from the small towns. Ron thought he was more valuable than to be sent to Smallsville, USA looking for the next Godsend for the agency. Didn’t Shapers know that he could do more good interviewing the wanabes that came through the doors of the office than he could listening to one of the little darlings that had been in the local talent show singing “I don’t want to grow up.” But he had to do it; it was part of his job.

Lately Ron had adopted the habit of not really listening to what was going on around him when he did the auditions. He would smile, nod his head, and say, “That was nice. We’ll be in touch.” but he couldn’t have gotten in touch with the recipient if he had wanted to. Each time the singer, dancer, or actor or whatever had walked out the door, Ron had waded up the application and thrown it into a wastebasket that sat next to his feet. He could have just dropped it into the wastebasket, but that wouldn’t have given him a means of showing his frustration and contempt. The wading was his therapy. It relieved his tension. Wad, throw, “Next!” The show went on. If the ambitious Moms who brought their talented children to the show would have ever thought to look in the trash bags behind the theater where the auditions were being held, and if they would have ever gotten together, Ron would never have been bothered with going to a small town again. He would have never survived the onslaught. Mothers who have had their children slighted are an angry mob. He thought about this occasionally, but never altered his routine. He didn’t think the idea of looking in the trash would ever cross the minds of the starlet’s groomers. Ron was glad he only had two days left in Conelsonville. He was looking forward to going back to New York.

-6-

Miss Boschere, Jane’s ballet teacher, was the one who suggested that Jane go to the audition. Actually, she more insisted that Jane go rather than suggested. She told Jane that it would be a good test of her training. If she could elicit a favorable response from this Mr. Falkenheimer, that would prove just how far that Jane had come in developing poise, grace, and balance. Mr. Falkenheimer would know quality when he saw it. After all, he worked for one of the country’s top modeling agencies. He knew what was good and what was not. His evaluation would be something that could boost Jane’s confidence. Jane was not convinced. She was looking at the other side of the coin. Suppose the scout did not like what he saw. What then? Miss Boschere told Jane not to worry. These men were trained in being cordial. He would not hurt Jane’s feelings. The most he might say, if he didn’t like what he saw, was that she had a little talent but it needed to be developed. He wouldn’t tear Jane to shreds. Jane did not want to go. Miss Boschere stated that it was part of her training and that it was one of the exercises that were part of the course. Jane knew that her teacher was lying in order to get her to go to the audition, but she didn’t want to confront her about. She agreed to go.
She only had one day left to schedule an appointment.

-7-

It was a wrap. The show was over for another year, maybe two. Ron could go home. He was looking forward to it. He was desperate to find a way not to have to do this again. Maybe he could change departments. He had one more entrée and he could shut this baby down. He already had his things packed up. All he had in front of him was a blank sheet of paper. He hadn’t even bothered to keep the appointment schedule. It was already in the trash. He didn’t know the name of the next contestant but it didn’t matter, she would be a dud too.

Jane walked in.

Ron stared at her as she closed the door and approached his table. This one was a keeper. The thought he had about going back to New York were suspended for now. He was alive and well in Conelsonville, but his mind was racing towards the goal of keeping himself in New York forever. This woman standing in front of him might be his ticket out. This was better than changing departments. If he could bring home the bacon, he might be able to eat fat off the hog. Ron was wide-awake. He got up from his chair and walked around the table. He introduced himself to Jane. He was ready to talk.

Jane was self-conscious as she walked across the floor and moved closer to the desk where a dark complected man in a pullover and slacks was sitting. She noticed that if he were standing he couldn’t have been over five feet five inches tall. He was what she would have considered short. Even though he was wearing a bulky sweater, she could see that he had a paunch. He had been eating well. He was not an unpleasant looking man but he would never have been what a woman would have considered handsome, or even good looking. He was just an ordinary guy. You saw hundreds of them in the course of a week. You would not ever remember him again if you met him a second time. He was not outstanding.

But he seemed to be pleasant; at least to Jane. She held out her hand as he came around the desk. She was used to doing this now and it didn’t embarrass her as it had when she first started doing it. It was now part of her ritual.

Ron extended his hand and took Jane’s, but he did not let go of it immediately. It wasn’t until he realized that she was beginning to be uncomfortable that he released it. He had been looking at the features of her face and had not even noticed that he still held it. He liked what he saw. He began to ask questions.

“Where did Jane work?” “What did she do for a living?” “Had she ever modeled anywhere before?” “Was she interested in doing any modeling work?” “Did she have a portfolio?” “Did she have an agent?” The questions kept coming. Jane was surprised and a little uncomfortable. She had never thought about any of the things that she was being asked. She tried to take the questions one at a time and think about them before she answered. She was new at this.

No, she said, she had never modeled before and had never thought about doing any modeling. When she said that, that pretty well answered some of Ron’s questions about the agent and the portfolio, but he let Jane answer the questions herself. Jane didn’t know if she would be interested in doing any modeling work because she didn’t know what it involved and what was expected of her. Yes, she had seen models on TV and on the covers of magazines but she didn’t know much about their lifestyles. No, she didn’t have an agent or a portfolio. She didn’t even have a current picture of herself, just some older snapshots taken the last time she had pictures taken for her college yearbook. She was currently working as a secretary for a company that made dolls. Every time that Ron asked her a question she answered it. After her initial nervousness, she had regained her composure by using some of her yoga techniques. She was now clear headed and calm. She would answer anything as long as it didn’t violate her privacy. She could control that.

Ron asked her if she would consent to a photo session by a local photographer if he could set it up. She asked him what she would have to do at the session. He said that she wouldn’t have to do anything that would make her uncomfortable. That he would direct the session and tell the photographer what he wanted him to do. It would be easy.

Jane told Ron that she would have to let him know; that she didn’t want to make a decision without talking it over with some of her friends. This annoyed Ron but he didn’t show it. He didn’t want to scare Jane off. He asked her how long it would take her to talk to her friends. She said that she could let him know something tomorrow. He agreed to that. It would mean that he would have to stay in the hotel two or three more nights, reschedule his flight and unpack his suitcases again, but he was hoping that it would be worth it. He asked Jane if he could take her to dinner that night. She said no, she already had plans. Ron decided to have supper at the hotel and then go to a movie. Even if the one he saw was one that he had seen before, it beat sitting at his room staring at the wall. He was sick of watching TV.

-8-

The photo session went well. At least Ron said that it did. Jane didn’t know whether it had been good or bad. She had no point of reference to compare it to. Her only experience at being photographed was the yearly yearbook pictures in high school and college. There had also been an occasional church directory picture when she was active in her church. Ron could have told her that the session had been a flop and she would have believed him. She didn’t even rank as an amateur when it came to evaluating something like this.

Jane had called Jamie as soon as she had left the meeting with Ron. She was excited, but she also wanted input from someone who might know a whole lot more about life and about the world than Jane had managed to cram into her 23 years of life. Jamie would be a good place to start. She told her about the interview and about what Ron wanted to do. Jamie listened.

Jamie Diplomat knew something about the world of modeling. She had never modeled herself, but she had been exposed to the world of modeling. Because of her makeup skills she had been allowed, from time to time, to meet with and observe some of the makeup experts who prepared the models for their walk down “the ramp”; the viewing platform that the models walked along to present to the buyers and guests the years top fashions. It had been an education.

Jamie knew that a models career could be short, that she could be up one day and down the next, and that her “look” might be out when the next season’s fashions emerged. Things could change as fast as the clothing designers wanted them to just by the designs that they created. There were super models that had been around for a while, but there were also hundreds of models whose careers were over or who posed for catalogues such as JC Penny’s or Sears. They had been on their way to the top and had been derailed. It was a twist of fate that nobody could predict, nobody could control and that showed no mercy. It could be rewarding, but it could also be cruel. Some of the girls who had fallen from grace had not been able to handle it. Suicides were known to happen in the modeling world.

Jamie was not sure that Jane should enter it or even skirt around the edges. She told Jane that. Jane asked Jamie if she would contact some of her friends and see what she could find out about Shapers. Jamie agreed to do it. At least she could check out the agency for her foster daughter and see how legitimate it was. That was another thing about this world of glamour. Thing weren’t always what they seemed to be. Many young women or girls who were desperate to have a name and a career for themselves had been duped into signing contracts that paid them next to nothing and that they couldn’t get out of. Even if the did manage to make it big later the agency that first contracted them still got the biggest part of the wages. It was an industry that had made a lot of people rich for doing nothing, and it was legal. You had to know what you were signing.

The offshoot of all of this was that Shapers checked out. It was legitimate and it did take care of its girls. If Shapers chose you, they would develop you, pay you and only take 10% of your fees. That was of course after you had paid them back for photo sessions, training, coaching and the salary they paid you until you got on your feet. If, after a year, you had not been successful, they released you from the contract and terminated their relationship with you. Part of the contract stated that you could not sign with another agency for one year from the date of your termination. If, after a year, the potential model still wanted to pursue modeling as a goal, Shapers would take another look at her or him. If Shapers decided not to put the person under contract they were free to sign with whomever they wanted to. Shapers was willing to foot the bill for grooming someone but they weren’t a training table for the modeling world. They were in business to make a profit. That was why they were so careful about the trainees that they chose. They could spend as much as $60,000 training someone to wear clothes and display them. If it didn’t work out, the loss was theirs. It was a write off, but an expensive one.

Nobody could just put on a set of clothes and walk out on the ramp. There were rules to follow and a certain way of walking, turning, smiling and standing. Not just anyone could do it. You had to have the right figure, body structure and ability. Part of the key to a successful model was the mental attitude. It was one in which the model stood apart from the people she, or he, was modeling for. It was not an arrogant poise, it was a separate poise; one that said, “I’m one of the few that made it and here’s why.” It was an attitude that didn’t offend anyone; it just got people’s attention. Ron thought that somewhere inside Jane was that attitude and that it could be developed.

He had scheduled the photo session the same day that he had talked to Jane. He didn’t know if she would even consent to it, but he wanted to be ready. He had been ecstatic when she called and told him that she would allow the pictures to be taken. She would meet him at the photographer’s studio. She had arrived on time.

Before he met Jane for the session, Ron had been busy. He had called Shapers as soon as the met with Jane for the first time and told them that he would be delayed. When he gave them the details, his orders were to stay as long as it took to get the photos and feel the girl out as to the chances of her talking to someone at the main office in New York. He stated that he would do his best. They told him to do better than that. It this girl was as good as he said she was, they wanted her. He better bring home the goods.

Ron was sorry that he had built Jane up as much as he did. It would have been better to have told Shapers that he had a prospect that he wanted to explore. Then, when he did bring in Jane, he would have had a much bigger reception. Now, he was pretty sure that they would take all of the credit and leave him out of the picture. He hadn’t played his cards right. He had been too eager. He would not be as eager with Jane. He would downplay everything. He went to the shoot.

-9-

Ron had been frustrated when he left Jane, or rather when she left him. She hadn’t signed a contract, had refused to fly with him to the home office, and said she didn’t especially want a copy of the photos that had been taken at the session. She had agreed to be photographed because she thought that it had been a good idea at the time. That was all. She wasn’t going to be rushed into anything. She would take Ron’s card and would call him if she decided to pursue the idea of modeling anymore. She really didn’t need a copy of the photos because she wasn’t putting together a portfolio. She didn’t intend on contacting other modeling agencies to see what they had to offer. In the mean time, she thanked Ron for his interest in her and told him that it had been an experience; something she wouldn’t forget.

Ron had some explaining to do when he got back to the home office. He wasn’t as anxious to get back to New York as he had been the day he met Jane. Maybe he could extend his traveling tour a little while longer.

-10-

James Little offered Jane a job as a salesperson and she took it. Under Joe’s guidance she had negotiated a contract with Mr. Little that was fair to Jane and to the company. That was what Joe had taught her; that a deal had to be fair to both parties. It was a matter of honor.

James had wanted to put her on straight commission. Joe told Jane that since this was her first sales job, the offer that had been made to her was not a fair offer. He knew that Little was trying to take advantage of Jane and Joe was trying to look out for her. Joe believed that the sales position was a good thing for Jane and that it would help her in many ways to grow as a person and as a woman. He didn’t want her first experience to be a bad one. He gave a counter offer to present to her boss.

He told Jane that she should ask for a base salary, with expenses, and an override after she reached a certain sales figure. If she reached the sales figure, she was to be paid both the base salary and the commission due on the sales. If, after six months she hadn’t reached a sales figure that had been set as a minimum, James could either put her on probation or let her go. Joe was certain that Jane would reach the figure. He would help her any way he could to not only reach it, but also surpass it. Jane was a natural born sales person, Joe thought, she just didn’t know it yet.

It was a good arrangement for both Jane and the Real Life Company, and James knew it, but he had been hoping that the contract would have been more in his favor. He knew, or suspected, that Joe was helping Jane to negotiate, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he wanted Jane to continue to work for him he had to at least be reasonable, and he couldn’t cut Joe’s contract because he knew that he needed Joe’s product and that Jane would never stand for it. He was trapped into signing a reasonable agreement. He had outsmarted his own self. He had forgotten about Joe.

-11-

When Jane talked to Joe about the new attention that men were paying her, Joe, with his usual level headedness had suggested that she not date the men at work. He didn’t know what their intentions were, but he knew that relationships that involved people who worked together could often become complicated, and sometimes nasty, depending on the outcome of the pairing. He had another suggestion; why didn’t Jane start by dating some of the men in the Diplomats. Not only could she ease into the dating scene, Joe thought that there was some safety factor for Jane by dating within the club. Not too many men would try forcing themselves on Jane if their reputation was at stack. Besides, it would give Joe a chance to keep an eye on Jane. He had become protective of her.

Jane thought that the idea was a good one. She felt comfortable with the fact that she already knew some of the men in the Chamber organization and that she had formed somewhat of a friendship with a few of them. She still didn’t have the courage to ask one of them out, but some of them had been hinting that they would like to ask her out. She had made up her mind that if one of them did ask her out on a date, she would go. It would happen sooner of later.

When Jane decided to take the sales job, Joe had mentioned to her again the value of making friends in the Diplomats. He would announce to the organization the news of her new position and see if he could acquaint her, or reacquaint her, with some of the Diplomatic members who might be able to help her to see the decision makers in a business. It was critical that Jane give her presentation to the right people. Otherwise, she was wasting her time. Networking would help her find the right people.

In sales, Joe explained, it was all about networking. Until now, it had not been important for Jane to network. Now it was crucial. Without networking it would be hard to make quotas or get ahead. This also might give Jane the chance she needed for someone to ask her out. The networking would serve a dual purpose.

Jane wondered that someone had not already asked her out. She expressed her thoughts to Joe. Joe smiled. What Jane didn’t realize, Joe told her, was that she was too good looking. The men were afraid that she would reject them. In their minds she was already dating someone, and they wanted to save themselves the embarrassment of being turned down by her when they asked her out.

This didn’t make any sense to Jane. She thought that being attractive was an asset. She didn’t know that it would put some men off. Joe laughed again. Her attractiveness wasn’t putting them off, it was their pride. They were the same as she was when it came to being turned down about something. Nobody wanted to be rejected. She would soon learn that if she were going to be in sales. She would have to learn that when somebody said no to her sales pitch, that they were not saying no to her, they were saying no to the offer. It would take some getting used too. She would then begin to understand how the men felt. She might even have some empathy for them.

Jane didn’t understand any of this, but she took Joe’s word for it that he knew what he was talking about. He was a man.

-12-

The contract was a sizable one. It was a deal to sell dolls to Toys for Kids, an international company. It was her biggest so far. Jane had made the sale her sixth month out. She was ahead of her quota.

Jane had been scared when she first started sales. Joe had said that was normal, that she would have to learn to live with the feeling, but he also said that she could not let it affect what she was doing. She would have to go through the motions anyway. He would be beside her all of the way.

Every day, he took a little time to go over with her what she had done that day. He analyzed what had gone on during the transactions and told Jane what, in his opinion, she had done right and what she could improve on. He never told her what she had done wrong. There was never that negative connotation. It was always “what she could improve on.” Joe believed that you built on strengths, not on weaknesses. He was always careful to build up when he worked with people, never tear down. Joe knew that in any given circumstance a negative posture might discourage someone for the last time. A career might be lost because of words that didn’t need to be said. His Father had taught him that. The strategy worked. Jane began to make progress.

One of the first things that Joe taught Jane was to listen. This came easy for her. She was used to doing this. She had been doing it for a long time. Joe built on this strength. The key, Joe told her was to listen to the prospective client and let him or her tell Jane about the business. People loved to talk about themselves and their business, their accomplishments. Joe also taught Jane how to ask key questions such as “Are you doing more business this year than last year?” and “Do you have any plans to expand your sales markets?”

These were vital questions that would tell Jane what the potential might be for placing Real Life’s products on the inventory list of the business she was dealing with. These were tricks of the trade. Joe was trying to give Jane thirty years of experience, boiled down, refined, and workable in a short amount of time. It was an education that Jane would never find in seminars, books or classrooms. It was real life knowledge, and it was priceless. Nothing could have prepared Jane for the world of sales like Joe’s hands on attention. It would become one of the key factors in making her successful.

Another one of the success factors was her eagerness to be around people. She liked people. She had been interested in them since her days in College. This liking had attracted her to her Psychology degree.

She had been isolated from people, not because of fear, or because of shame, but because of lack of opportunity. Dating only Cliff, and doing the job of a secretary had limited her exposure to different types of people. The exposure to the Diplomats had stimulated her desire to not only meet people, but to experience them. It was evident in her greeting that she was glad to see you when she met you. The message was in her eyes, her smile and her body language. She was open and relaxed. These messages communicated to others that dealing with her was going to be a pleasant experience. They, in turn, were open with her and accommodating when it came to hearing what she had to say. They were often impressed with her knowledge of her industry.

The reason that they were impressed was that Jane studied. She had not completely eliminated her ballet and yoga classes, but she had cut down on them. She had substituted studying for bending and flexing. She studied not only because she was interested in knowing about the products that she was selling, but also because she believed in being prepared and doing a good job. It was one of the things that was helping her to get ahead.

Although Jane had worked as a secretary for a little over a year at Real Life, she never really knew how the dolls that were shipped from the plant were made. Understanding the manufacturing process was not part of her job. Now, she wanted to find out as much about the making of the toys as she could. She took manuals home with her at night.

It wasn’t unusual for her and Ginger to stay up until midnight while Jane was going over specifications, material guidelines and style changes that had taken place in the past few years. She wanted to know everything. Ginger didn’t mind staying up with her as long as she got her walk in the evenings. As long as the walk had been completed, she would curl up in a ball and dream dog dreams. Sometimes Jane could hear a whimper and see Ginger’s legs moving. She was probably chasing a squirrel.

The studying paid off for Jane in a number of ways. Not only did it show that she knew what she was talking about, it also proved to the prospects that she was not just “another pretty face.” Jane had heard that some women sales persons were accused of “selling shirt.” That was a slang expression that meant that the woman was trying to flatter a male buyer and seduce him into buying goods from her. There didn’t have to be any sex involved and seldom did the saleswoman go out with the man. She just led him on. If he made the buy, she got what she wanted; a commission and what looked to be a good sales record. The women who were selling shirt usually didn’t stay at the job for more than twelve or eighteen months. By then, they had worn out their welcome. They just moved on to another company and started the process all over again. It was a living.

Seldom did men who were led on make a second buy. By the time the next order came up for renewal they had caught on to the game. They preferred to buy somewhere else unless the buy was so good it saved the company money and made them look good. The minute the rates changed for whatever product they were buying, they switched companies. It was no use trying to salvage an account by pointing out that good service was part of the price they were paying, they weren’t getting any, and they knew it.

Jane avoided all of this. She knew her products, was professional, and stated that she didn’t know the answer to a question if she didn’t know it. If that occurred, she would either pick up the phone in a prospects office and find out the answer to the question before she left the appointment or she would promise to get back to the prospect within twenty four hours with an answer that was suitable. She always kept her promises. She demonstrated that she was not only reliable, she was also consistent. She applied the same principles to clients as she would her friends: courtesy, honesty, openness, and loyalty. It wasn’t a stretch for her. She didn’t have to change anything. She was just Jane.

She prospered.

End of Part Five