The chairman called the meeting to order. The first item on the agenda was the Chairman’s Report. He read the facts from a paper which had obviously been prepared for him by someone else in the organisation, probably Duggie Lummox. Duggie was the only one in touch with all the nuances of the business, Travel Plan was his baby. He’d started it and encouraged others to invest. Basil Main and Phil stammers had been original shareholders and like Duggie, they made a small fortune when the company went public. Natasha quite liked Duggie. A lot of people found him a bit smarmy and his appearance did not help. With all his money he could afford to have a good cosmetic job done on his teeth which were uneven and yellowed with nicotine. Together with his sharp face and swept back hair he had the appearance of a disreputable second hand car salesman, which was a shame because he was, in fact, very astute, straight in all his dealings, well respected in the travel industry and extremely loyal to his staff.
John Toddleigh finished his report and moved briskly on to the second item on the agenda, which was The Financial Report.
Basil Main left his seat and stood next to a large data projection screen, positioned about six feet from the end of the boardroom table directly opposite John Toddleigh. He pressed a key on his laptop, looked expectantly at the screen, but nothing happened. He fiddled with the jack leading from the laptop to the data projector for several seconds before looking at Natasha. ‘Barrie, you’re good at this sort of thing. You couldn’t help could you?' Natasha gave an inward groan. Barrie was very good with computers and PowerPoint presentations were common practice for him, but she had only ever used the system once and that was over three years ago at college. All eyes in the boardroom swivelled towards her. This could spell disaster! If she left her seat to handle the equipment, it would become apparent to everyone in the room, that she did not have a clue. She played for time.
‘Have you switched on Bas?’
Basil Main checked the laptop. ‘Yes, the first page is on my screen.’
‘How about the data projector?’ Natasha hoped no one would notice the nervous edge creeping into Barrie’s voice.
Basil looked at the data projector. ‘Yep, switched that on before we started the meeting.’
Natasha noticed the beginnings of a smile twitch at the corner of Sally Barnard’s mouth; the bitch was hoping Barrie would fail. Well, she was going to disappoint her. ‘How about the mains Bas?’ Natasha got up and followed the cables snaking from the back of the projector and switched on at the plug. The data projector bleeped and the background image for Basil’s first chart slowly appeared on the large screen.
‘Ah, that’s it. Thanks Barrie; sorry for the delay folks.’
‘Well done Barrie.’ Lady Macdonald smiled as Natasha returned to Barrie’s seat. Sally Barnard scowled at no one in particular.
The first chart built on the data screen as Basil Main launched into his presentation. For many, finance is a dry old subject and it was obvious to Natasha as she furtively glanced around the table, that most of the board members would have preferred a broad brush approach. But Basil’s report delved into every nook and cranny of Travel Plan’s operation. He spent a good deal of time on Dynamic which had already paid back the start-up costs. Sally Barnard’s scowl deepened as he showed a graph which demonstrated Dynamic’s rapid sales growth; she could contain herself no longer.
‘Mr Chairman, would this be a good time to discuss the fears I wish to raise in item eight?’
John Toddleigh looked sharply at her. He obviously did not like having reports to the meeting interrupted. ‘I think we’ll leave your item to take its turn on the agenda, if you don’t mind Miss Barnard.’ He turned to Phil Stammers. ‘Don’t minute that interruption, Phil.’ Hello, thought Natasha, he doesn’t like Sally Barnard.
‘Carry on please, Bas.’ John Toddleigh had demonstrated most emphatically that he was in charge of the meeting. Basil Main smiled back at the Chairman.
‘So to recap on Dynamic’s performance. It has seen a meteoric rise, although it must be said it is early days, Dynamic has been operative for only five months and the base figure for the start of this year was of course low.’ He had a wicked sense of humour which came across, even in something as dry as a financial presentation. The bottom line profit figure for the first half of the year was superimposed over the bottom of an attractive naked female, sunbathing, face down on a sandy beach. The deepening scowl on Sally Barnard’s face showed that she did not approve, but Lady Macdonald and Pauline Sykes laughed wholeheartedly. Basil laughed with them and continued with his presentation. Natasha made headline notes as best she could for Barrie, although he had told her not to worry because Phil Stammers would provide excellent minutes of the meeting.
Eventually, item eight came up on the agenda and John Toddleigh asked Sally Barnard to elaborate. She gave a smug smile of thanks to the chair, flicked imaginary strands of hair behind her ears and read from her laptop.
‘Part of my remit as marketing director is to measure the effectiveness of our advertising for all products. Over the past few weeks I have noticed a dramatic fall in Dynamic’s sales. As you know, I had doubts about this business model from the outset. The rewards for telesales are much too high, reducing our margins far below that which I would like to see. We have invested a great deal in Dynamic and to work properly for us, it will require drastic reworking.’
John Toddleigh interrupted her flow. ‘So, what exactly are you proposing, Miss Barnard?’
Sally Barnard was not pleased with the interruption. It meant she had to jump two pages of her carefully worded presentation in a style of wording, well learnt when she studied for her MBA, a qualification which was displayed in her office and proved conclusively, as far as she was concerned, that she was the best person to run the company. She frowned as she scrolled through to the right page, once there she looked up at the chairman with a forced smile. ‘My proposal Mr Chairman is that the Marketing Department take Dynamic under its wing as the sales director is obviously too entrenched in current practices to adapt to a rapidly changing situation.’
‘So in effect you are tabling a motion of no confidence in Dynamic and Barrie?’
‘That is correct. I don’t want to, but feel I must for the good of the company.’ Sally Barnard flicked another imaginary strand of hair, behind her right ear.
The chubby cheeks in John Toddleigh’s pink face flushed with excitement. He enjoyed the procedural part of his duties. He spoke in measured tones.
‘One could question why marketing would want to take over the running of a division within the company which you have no confidence in, but, be that as it may, you have made a proposal. However, before I put it on the table, would anyone else like to comment on Dynamic‘s performance?’
Duggie Lummox raised a finger. ‘Yes Mr Chairman. Our sales director was right when he recognised that more and more people were building their own packages online and buying flight-only deals from no frills airlines; they now account for forty six percent of the market. Barrie’s concept for Dynamic has allowed us to tap in, at the top end of that market. If there has been a sharp downturn in sales, I’m confident Barrie will find out why and remedy the situation. I do not think a censure of him and his operation at this juncture will benefit the company, Barrie should be allowed to appraise us of the situation and set out his plans.’ Duggie nodded at Natasha and smiled his yellow smile. Natasha smiled back, but inside, her stomach – Barrie’s stomach, was churning. Would she be able to convince the other members of the board that Barrie was on top of the situation when clearly he wasn’t. It seemed the only thing he had been on top of was half the girls in the office.
‘Thank you Duggie.’ John Toddleigh looked down the table towards Sally Barnard. ‘I do however have a proposal, which of course I cannot ignore and will come back to after we have heard from our sales director. Can you enlighten us please Barrie?’
Natasha deliberately closed Barrie’s laptop. Unlike Sally Barnard, she could talk and think on her feet. She lifted a corner of the laptop and pulled out the copies of Samantha’s sales records as she stood up. She held them in front of Barrie’s chest as she made his reply.
‘I am, of course, on top of the situation. It is something I’ve been monitoring closely for the past two weeks. Initially, I have to admit, I treated it as a blip, but as the downward trend continued, I asked Samantha Derby, my top telesales operator in Dynamic to keep a close eye on the situation. Natasha carried on talking as she walked around the table, placing a report in front of each director. Sally Barnard snatched her copy and began to read. The others waited for Barrie to continue. ‘As you will see, this report covers all clients contacted by Samantha over the past two months. The last column shows if a sale was achieved. Week on week this column showed a steady increase in conversion of calls to sales – until – three weeks ago.’ Sally Barnard tapped her fingers impatiently on the table. Natasha carried on regardless. ‘Samantha Derby, like all other telesales professionals works on averages. Her average conversion is very high, so when it fell dramatically it was time to start asking questions. Why were clients not ordering? Had they booked through someone else? Had they reverted to creating their own holidays from
