He would be the best-looking man on that stage this afternoon, whether he wanted to be or not.
He rose his hand to give me a little wave and I waved back in return. His eyes turned back towards the stage as people started to settle in their seats, but then I saw him turn his eyes back towards me.
Not his entire face, just his eyes.
And for a split second, I could’ve sworn he winked at me.
Chapter 15
Colin
Abby looked gorgeous in the clothes she was wearing. Whether she meant to wear something that was flattering to her body or not, I found that my eyes kept searching hers out. As I stood on stage and buzzed through the main points of my speech, I found my eyes automatically falling onto hers in the crowd. Her big brown eyes were staring up at me as her hand moved across the page. She took notes without ever once glancing down to look at what she was doing, and that idea was astounding to me. I could feel her eyes on me from the crowd as I continued on through my speech, but my eyes kept bouncing between her and the empty seat next to her.
The seat I would take up once I was done talking.
“The European marketplace has the largest number of formal dialects on the planet. The biggest hurdle when branching into that market is clearing the language barriers you will encounter. Now, many businesses will just market to countries whose second formal language is English. After all, the language of business is English, right? Why should we have to branch out and learn theirs?”
My eyes fell onto Abby’s again and I could see her smiling up at me.
“Two reasons,” I said. “One, dedicating yourself to the task of catering to their language opens up a multitude of avenues to channel revenue. And two, it creates a trust between your growing business and their cultural customs. If we leave it up to individuals to translate what we’re trying to give them, then there is a high margin for misrepresentation. Misrepresentation alone accounts for forty seven percent of falling revenues many companies see over the course or two, or even three yearly quarters. And that is a massive blow to a company’s bottom line.”
I looked back over towards Abby and saw her head down at her notepad. It was the first time I was aware that she had looked down during the entire keynote speech, and I wondered what she was writing down. Was she quoting me? Was she jotting questions down for later? Was she taking personal notes for some reason?
I wanted to be a fly on her shoulder just so I could peek.
“Dedicating yourself to a specific marketplace means bringing everything to them. A business is only one-third product. The other third is customer acquisition, and the last third is customer service. If you have the product and you want to acquire regular customers, then you have to build a reputation. Establish trust. Reach into their marketplace and tailor things to them. People inherently do not like change. This is an established scientific fact. So, you have to make everything easy for them to reach for. That means bringing them a product they need that fulfills a specific purpose, adhering to their cultural norms, and yes, speaking their language.”
My eyes scanned the room before I found Abby’s eyes, only this time her notepad was put away. Her leg was crossed over her knee and she was leaning back, relaxing as her eyes danced over my form.
If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought there was a sort of pride in her eyes.
“If you are going to delve into the European marketplace, be prepared for the language barriers. Be ready to cater to them. Because if you’re going to half-ass it, you might as well not do it at all. That’s what separates the good from the best. You can coast, or you can commit.”
The audience erupted in applause as my presentation visual display clicked off. I nodded and waved out towards the crowd as throngs of people got to their feet. I smiled out at them before I exited off the stage, my hands already working at removing the microphone from my body. I was ready to get out into the audience and listen to some of the other speeches. There were brilliant minds here that were speaking. Minds I revered and business individuals I had learned my own skills from.
That, plus I was ready to sit my ass in that seat next to Abby.
I slid my way down the aisle and was filled with excitement when I saw the seat was still empty. Abby smiled up at me and curled her legs into herself, allowing me to slip by before I sat down. Her hand came down and patted my forearm, a silent look of congratulations pouring from her eyes.
But all I wanted to do was listen to the speeches and soak up the warmth I could garner from her presence.
The two speeches that came after mine were phenomenal. There were many things I committed to memory, but now everyone was breaking for lunch. Abby kept her seat and waited until the crowd died down a bit, then I stood when she did and turned towards her.
“That was a phenomenal speech,” she said. “You should feel very proud of yourself.”
“I couldn’t help but notice that you weren’t looking down at your pad when you were taking notes. Do you always do that?” I asked.
“Ah, so you were looking at me, huh?”
“It’s hard not to.”
Her eyes fluttered up towards mine before they started darting around.
“Don’t worry. No one’s paying attention to us,” I
