The Fall and Rise of David Beckman Ch. 03

"Hey, David, where are you?" It was Jeff's voice that brought my attention back into the room.

"What? Did I miss something?" I asked as I brought my focus back to the matters at hand.

"No, but we are ready to talk about this proposal now and you looked like you had mentally left the planet," Jeff said.

"Sorry, I guess I did kind of drift off there for a minute," I said.

I sat back down at the table with Jeff and Don and said, "Okay. What do you think?"

"This would be a tremendous deal for us but it is too big. We don't have the resources for a project this size," Don said. "We only have four technical people on staff and only one of them has the level of skills we need for this deal."

"I've already thought about that," I said. "Here is what I'm thinking. You take your highest skilled technician and assign him to the Augusta plant site. I am almost certain that I can convince Bob McClure to leave BDS and join us. He lives fifteen miles from Clinton Products' Macon plant site and he has been working at that account for nearly ten years. If we offer him a little more than he is currently making at BDS and give him the same benefits he'll come work for us. That just leaves the Kennesaw site. I know a couple of guys that took early retirement from BDS that live near Kennesaw. I am pretty sure they left BDS because they got tired of Mike's bullshit. I'll bet we can get at least one of them to come out of retirement to work on this project.

"With at least three people in place to begin the project, we can start hiring and training more people. I am betting that we can steal a few more technical skills away from BDS and also get some other highly skilled retirees to come work for us part time."

"That might work," Jeff said. "What do you think, Don?"

"If David can deliver the Clinton Products contract to us, I say let's do it."

*****

It was four o'clock in the afternoon when I made the call to George Harris. His secretary answered the phone.

"Is Mr. Harris available to take a call?" I asked.

"He is very busy today. Can I take a message?"

"Can you ask him when he would have time to talk to David Beckman?" I said.

"Can you hold on for a minute and I'll check?"

"Yes, I'll wait."

She put me on hold and about a minute later I heard a click and a voice on the phone.

"David, I was hoping you would call today," George said. "Have you decided what you are going to do about our project?"

"As a matter of fact I have," I said. "You told me before that the only reason you were going to give this contract to BDS was because of me. Is that still true? I mean do you still have that level of trust in me?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good, because I have a proposition I'd like to make to you. If I bring you a contract that covers the full statement of work that we previously agreed to, would you be willing to sign it if the company delivering the service isn't BDS?" I said.

"I guess that would depend on who this company is and what relationship you have with them. I would also need some assurance that this company can deliver on this contract," George said.

I looked at Don and Jeff and smiled before I spoke. "The company is Henning, Spears and Beckman."

"Is the Beckman in that name anyone I know?" George asked with a chuckle.

"Yes, sir. We are a new company but we will have the skills necessary to deliver on the contract and our plan is to make your account our top priority. We want you to be our reference account. Do I have your interest?" I asked.

"Yes, you do. Why don't you and your partners come over here next week with the contract. I just need you to make my team comfortable that you will be able to deliver. If everything goes well, you will probably leave here with a signed contract."

"When would be a good time for us to meet?" I asked.

"How about noon on Monday? I'll let you buy me lunch and then we'll get together with my team and go over the contract."

When I put the phone down Jeff and Don gave each other a high five and then each did the same with me. We discussed what we would name our new company and Jeff said that the name I told George Harris was fine with him and Don agreed. So we became Henning, Spears and Beckman. Jeff said that he would contact their lawyer and have him write up the new partnership agreement. I told them that I would put the preliminary contract together and I would come back to Augusta on Friday so that we could get the contract printed on our new company letterhead.

*****

To be continued...