Chương 11
Leonard’s face changed.
Noah continued before he lost nerve.
“That doesn’t mean I’m keeping everything.”
“I know.”
“And I’m still taking daily authority away.”
“I know.”
“But I should’ve talked to you before I called the board.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Leonard stared at the service floor.
A technician dropped a socket.
Metal clattered.
Leonard folded his arms.
“I still think you’re making a mistake.”
“That’s fair.”
“And I’m still angry.”
“That’s fair too.”
“You don’t have to agree with everything I say.”
“I know.”
Leonard looked at him.
“No, you don’t.”
Noah smiled.
Leonard almost did.
Then he looked toward the showroom.
“When I was thirty-eight, I fired a salesman because he insulted a customer.”
Noah waited.
“He was good. Not Derek good. But good.”
“What happened?”
“Sales dropped.”
“For how long?”
“Four months.”
“And?”
“I hired somebody better.”
Noah stared at him.
“You had this exact lesson already?”
“No.”
“It sounds pretty exact.”
Leonard shook his head.
“The salesman I fired was stealing leads from coworkers.”
“Oh.”
“He insulted the customer too.”
“Less useful story.”
“Life usually is.”
They stood in silence.
Then Leonard said, “Your backpack is ridiculous.”
Noah looked at him.
“My mother agrees.”
“Buy a proper bag.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It works.”
Leonard sighed.
“You are twenty-two.”
“That keeps coming up.”
The first real consequence arrived two weeks later.
A lender that financed a portion of the acquisition requested updated financial projections.
Not because of the viral video.
Because revenue had fallen.
The loan agreement did not put Noah in immediate danger, but the bank wanted reassurance that removing the dealership’s highest-producing salesperson and reducing Leonard’s role would not damage cash flow.
Priya joined the call.
So did the board.
Numbers filled the screen.
Noah hated that numbers made him calmer.
People were messy.
Spreadsheets behaved.
The dealership’s August sales were down seventeen percent year over year.
Gross margin was down more.
Advertising cost per lead had risen because the viral attention generated enormous traffic with terrible purchase intent.
“We have twelve thousand people filling out inquiry forms asking if they can test drive the backpack car,” Mike said.
The bank representative did not laugh.
Noah did.
It was either that or swear.
The board chair, Ellen Price, asked, “What is the plan to restore sales productivity?”
Noah answered.
“Hire two experienced reps, change compensation so customer satisfaction is included in quarterly bonuses, rebuild follow-up for leads that were previously marked low-intent, and stop letting people decide a twenty-year-old can’t buy something.”
There was a pause.
Ellen smiled.
The banker did not.
“Customer satisfaction metrics can be manipulated.”
“So can sales metrics.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why we use both.”
Priya muted herself.
Noah knew she was laughing.
The banker asked, “How quickly do you expect improvement?”
Noah looked at the forecast.
He could have said ninety days.
The spreadsheet supported it if everything went right.
He thought about Mike behind the dumpster.
Systems mostly just happen.
“We’ll know more in six months.”
Ellen frowned.
The banker wrote something down.
Afterward Priya called him.
“You scared them.”
“I know.”
“You could’ve said three months.”
“It would’ve been fake.”
“Yes.”
“I’m tired of fake.”
“That’s not how finance works.”
“I know.”
“Also, congratulations.”
“For?”
“You sounded like an adult for almost fourteen minutes.”
He hung up on her.
September was ugly.
October was less ugly.
The dealership hired two salespeople.
One lasted nine days.
The other, Carlos Vega, had sold high-end watches before switching industries and had the useful habit of asking customers what they liked before telling them what they should like.
Jasmine became the top salesperson in October.
Mike pretended not to be proud.
Noah noticed.
He did not mention it.
The complaint reports changed.
Not disappeared.
Changed.
Customers still complained about pricing.
About wait times.
About a service estimate.
About a cappuccino machine that was apparently “unacceptable for a luxury environment.”
But fewer complaints described being dismissed.
Mia began adding a new field to the report.
Resolved by.
Noah noticed her name appeared less often.
Mike’s appeared more.
That mattered.
Leonard’s last day in daily operations arrived on a rainy Friday in November.
There was no ceremony.
He refused one.
He packed two boxes from his office.
Most of what he took were photographs.
Noah stood in the doorway.
“You’re taking the model Ferrari?”
Leonard looked at the shelf.
“No.”
“You bought it.”
“The dealership bought it.”
“So technically I bought it.”
Leonard gave him a look.
“You’re becoming intolerable.”
“I’ve been warned.”
Leonard picked up a framed photograph of his wife.
He stared at it for several seconds.
Then placed it carefully in the box.
Noah looked away.
“You should keep the office.”
Leonard shook his head.
“It’s yours.”
“I don’t want it.”
“That sounds like your problem.”
“I work better at the table in the lounge.”
“You look like a child doing homework.”
“I am doing homework.”
Leonard sighed.
“Finish school.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“December.”
“You said that last year.”
“My mother told you that?”
“She called me.”
Noah stared.
“What?”
“She wanted to know whether you were eating.”
“You talked to my mother?”
“She is very persuasive.”
“This is a serious betrayal.”
Leonard smiled.
It was the first full smile Noah had seen from him in months.
Then it disappeared.
“Derek called me.”
Noah stopped.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What did he want?”
“A reference.”
“What did you say?”
“No.”
Noah looked down.
“Was that hard?”
“Yes.”
Leonard closed the box.
“He asked if I thought you were doing better than he expected.”
Noah looked up.
“What did you say?”
“That wasn’t his business.”
“Coward.”
Leonard laughed.
Then his face became serious.
“I told him yes.”
Noah looked toward the showroom.
A customer was standing beside the McLaren.
The car had still not sold.
“That probably killed him.”
“He said you were still an asshole.”
“Fair.”
Leonard lifted the box.
Noah took it from him.
“I can carry my own box.”
“I know.”
They walked through the showroom.
Employees looked up.
May you like
Some hugged Leonard.
Sam shook his hand and then hugged him anyway.
