Fic: A Good Sales Pitch (Cain/Gina)
Title: A Good Sales Pitch
Author: phoenixstorm
Pairing: Cain/Gina
Rating: G
Word count: 2,080
Summary: Cain and Gina's first meeting. Gina attempts to sell the new Gaius Baltar network system to the Admiral, who is a reluctant customer.
Notes: Blah, written over a couple of lunch breaks at work so I apologise for, erm, everything. (I'm a salesperson so you can see the basic inspiration. But I'm not on commission so I'm not evil!)
Important! Please read before starting the fic:-
Basic basic basic sales rule is that when it comes down to decision making time for the customer, the first person who speaks loses. (The theory is that if the customer speaks first they'll buy, and if the salesperson speaks first they'll lose the sale.) It's hardly set in stone and is mostly there to discourage the salesperson from looking nervous by continuing to babble, but yes.
~A Good Sales Pitch~
Cain drums her fingers on the table, impatient, and although she knows that it’s still five minutes before the agreed upon meeting time she’s still irritated that she’s wasting her time waiting here. In her opinion there is no need to upgrade any system on her ship. The Pegasus itself is perfect, and the only way to improve it further is to improve its crew. Of course, the fact that a large percentage of the Colonial fleet has already given permission for these upgrades to be installed convinces Cain that she should at least hear this representative from Integral Systems Engineering out.
Still, she’s sceptical. Cain dislikes people who aren’t in the military pretending to know everything about the military, and on top of that she distrusts anyone trying to sell her anything. One perk of being in her profession is that she so rarely goes shopping, and telemarketers and hawkers tend not to bother admirals. But although it has been a long while, she still remembers having to shove off pushy salespeople with entirely false smiles plastered all over their faces as they look down on her and mentally start calculating how much of the new stereo this commission will pay off.
Another minute or two passes, and there’s a knock on the hatch. “Come in.” Cain calls while keeping her back to it, wanting to let this person know that she is in command of the situation, and that just because most of the Battlestars are already being fitted with this system that does not in any way mean that the Pegasus will follow suit.
She hears the hatch open and the sound of footsteps entering as the hatch is closed again. She doesn’t bother to move, and a young woman’s voice asks “Admiral Cain?”
Cain turns, and although she manages to keep her face blank she mentally gasps, just a little. A tall blonde stands before her, her head tilted slightly to the side as she reaches up to brush some hair behind her ear. She seems to be waiting for Cain to make some sort of reply to her enquiry, as if she could possibly be someone else, and Cain merely raises her eyebrows to let the woman know that she should introduce herself. The woman mimics Cain’s movement as she realises what Cain wants her to do, but she quickly covers this with a smile. “Sorry, I’m Gina Inviere and I’m here on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.”
Interesting, Cain thinks, she introduces herself as representing my superior officers rather than her company. Does she think this will lead me to believe that this upgrade isn’t optional?
“It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you.” Inviere finishes, sticking out her hand. Cain accepts it as her lips curve ever so slightly up into a smile of her own, and she replies “and you, Ms Inviere.”
“Call me Gina, please, ‘Ms Inviere’ makes me feel like I’m an old married woman.” Inviere’s smile widens as if she thinks that the ice between them has been broken, and Cain is a little surprised to note that her smile isn’t as forced as she was expecting it to be. Still, wanting to get out of this meeting and back to real work as soon as possible she ignores this comment, and gestures for Inviere to put her charts on the table beside them. She wants no more small talk.
--
Gina worries that she’s off to a shaky start, having gotten nothing more than ‘and you, Ms Inviere’ out of the Admiral since entering the room. She had been warned that this woman would be one of the least likely to accept the new Gaius Baltar network system, complete with a hidden back door for Cylon use, but after hearing about all the successes her model has been having around the colonies she hadn’t thought this would be too much of a problem. Now she can see that Admiral Cain wants to get straight down to business, but first she wants to establish a bit of a connection with her. She scans the room subtly as she pulls some papers out of her case, and spots her opening sitting on one of the shelves across the table from her.
“Oh, is that a copy of ‘Portrait of a Caprican Woman?’” She asks, placing down her papers and walking over to the Admiral’s collection of books. “I have to admit, my favourite of the classics that we studied in school.”
She’s lying, of course. She found a battered copy under a bench not two weeks ago, and through boredom had begun to read it while waiting to go into a meeting that she was very early for. As long as the Admiral doesn’t ask her about anything beyond page fifty-seven...
Her hopes start to rise when she sees the Admiral raise her eyebrows again, because this time it seems to be in admiration.
“I’m surprised. Normally people lose interest around the seventy or eighty page mark, and don’t continue to where it picks up another fifty pages along.”
Oh dear...
“But I’m glad to hear that someone can actually appreciate the subtleties of those first few chapters. They show that even through routine, one can lead a fulfilling life if they work to try and perfect that routine. It’s useless to move from one thing to another without ever mastering any skills.”
“That’s exactly what I thought, and it’s a shame there aren’t more people today taking in that message.” Gina nods her enthusiasm, trying to look like she completely understands the subtleties the Admiral is talking about. Though now that she thinks back on the book, small things the main character Lucy had said or done through those first fifty-seven pages are beginning to make sense. Gina knows that Admiral Cain must be rather intelligent in order to attain the rank she has in such short time, but she hadn’t thought that the woman would be creative or smart as well. Gina finds herself becoming slightly intrigued with the Admiral, and although she wishes to hear more of her thoughts she realises that her lie might be exposed if she’s asked to give her own opinions on it. No, now is a good time to get back to business.
--
“Now, I don’t want to keep you too long, so I’ll let you know a little about this new network.” Inviere shakes her head lightly as if she’s coming out of a daze and turns her attention back to the papers on the table. Cain watches her sort through them, studying the woman as she decides that she may have to reassess her opinion. As she’d said a moment ago, there aren’t many people who have actually finished ‘Portrait of a Caprican Woman’ so she finds she respects the few who do. At least a little anyway; Inviere is still a salesperson.
Cain listens to her explain the specifications of the network, and is surprised to find that Inviere really seems to understand the system. Inviere admits that she isn’t as versed in military protocol as she’d like to be, but that she wants to spend some time with Cain to completely finetune everything to the Pegasus’ standards so that it is installed especially for this Battlestar and this commander. Cain finds her respect growing without her wanting it to, and when she realises that Inviere really wants to put in the extra work to get the network tailored exactly to the Pegasus, rather than sleazy sales pitches like “all the other Battlestars are doing it, and you don’t want to be left behind”, she finds that she’s becoming quite interested in what the blonde has to say. Or rather, she corrects herself, a little embarrassed to be letting her guard down so easily, I don’t feel the need to just announce that the meeting is over and order her back onto a Raptor. Not yet, anyway.
She finds she likes the way that Inviere smiles when they both agree on something, and how alive her blue eyes seem. She justifies these thoughts by amazing over how different Inviere is to what she expected, though she stubbornly ignores the way her eyes follow the blonde ponytail as it flicks from side to side when Inviere moves to pick up a new sheet.
Unnecessary ponytails aside, as Cain reads over the statistics for the third time she grudgingly admits to herself that the network does sound like it would make operations run a little more smoothly on her ship.
--
Watching the Admiral flex her fingers with a sceptical look on her face as she reads through the papers, Gina becomes a little concerned again. What’s her objection? she wonders, studying the other woman’s expression for any signs. Gina had seemed to be on a very similar wavelength as Admiral Cain earlier while explaining everything, and she had found that her own act was starting to drop and she was starting to speak and smile more naturally. She’d taken this to be a good sign, but now...
Cain’s lips move into an expression of displeasure, but it’s only very brief as she finishes one page and moves onto another. Gina realises suddenly that it isn’t that the Admiral is finding things wrong with the network; it’s that the Admiral wants to find things wrong with it!
Coming to the end of the fourth page Admiral Cain seems to find something to work with, and she hands the sheet to Gina.
“This states that the previous network of the Pegasus must be shut down and removed, and that it will take a week to get the new one up and running. I won’t have the Pegasus without a network for that period of time.” Her voice says that there will be no room for compromise.
Gina bites back a grin as she gives thanks to God for the only problem being such an easy one to overcome.
“That won’t be an issue,” she assures the Admiral, “since I heard that the Pegasus will be going in for a three month overhaul in a couple of months. You won’t need an operational network during that period of time, and the new one will be installed and we’ll be long gone by the time you’re done.”
The page Admiral Cain is holding is the final page of summarised specifications, and Gina sends small prayers to God that the Admiral won’t find any further problems. She’s given all the information she can, and she decides that while Admiral Cain may be somewhat unfriendly and unwilling to agree to this upgrade easily, she is still a smart woman who won’t let any silly feelings towards the matter stop her from making a logical decision. Feeling that this is the right time, Gina keeps her mouth closed and waits.
--
Cain feels herself frowning somewhat as she realises that, aside from her concerns over the lack of a network, the rest of the program seems sound. She knows that she has the power to just refuse without any explanation, because after all the Pegasus has been running just fine without this new program, but at the same time her pride won’t allow that.
This Gina Inviere has been more helpful than expected, frustratingly so, and has given Cain more than enough reason why this would benefit the Pegasus. It’s unusual for her to be conflicted about something, as more than salespeople she dislikes those who hesitate, who ponder, who flinch. It should be a simple yes or no answer. However, her stubbornness holds her back from saying yes, and her pride won’t let her say no.
Her eyes move from the papers to the hand resting on the table, and then follow it up the attached arm and finally get to the blue eyes. They lock gazes, both completely silent, and Cain tries again to figure out what’s going on behind them and why she’s so curious to know the answer.
It would be smart to get more information first, before making a decision. She concludes, her eyes not shifting. Let’s see if she keeps to her promise to tailor this especially for the Pegasus.
The silence drags out a little longer before she finally speaks. “Well, then in that case I’d like to schedule another meeting so we can go into finer details about the more precise specifications of this network.”
And Cain loses.
Author: phoenixstorm
Pairing: Cain/Gina
Rating: G
Word count: 2,080
Summary: Cain and Gina's first meeting. Gina attempts to sell the new Gaius Baltar network system to the Admiral, who is a reluctant customer.
Notes: Blah, written over a couple of lunch breaks at work so I apologise for, erm, everything. (I'm a salesperson so you can see the basic inspiration. But I'm not on commission so I'm not evil!)
Important! Please read before starting the fic:-
Basic basic basic sales rule is that when it comes down to decision making time for the customer, the first person who speaks loses. (The theory is that if the customer speaks first they'll buy, and if the salesperson speaks first they'll lose the sale.) It's hardly set in stone and is mostly there to discourage the salesperson from looking nervous by continuing to babble, but yes.
~A Good Sales Pitch~
Cain drums her fingers on the table, impatient, and although she knows that it’s still five minutes before the agreed upon meeting time she’s still irritated that she’s wasting her time waiting here. In her opinion there is no need to upgrade any system on her ship. The Pegasus itself is perfect, and the only way to improve it further is to improve its crew. Of course, the fact that a large percentage of the Colonial fleet has already given permission for these upgrades to be installed convinces Cain that she should at least hear this representative from Integral Systems Engineering out.
Still, she’s sceptical. Cain dislikes people who aren’t in the military pretending to know everything about the military, and on top of that she distrusts anyone trying to sell her anything. One perk of being in her profession is that she so rarely goes shopping, and telemarketers and hawkers tend not to bother admirals. But although it has been a long while, she still remembers having to shove off pushy salespeople with entirely false smiles plastered all over their faces as they look down on her and mentally start calculating how much of the new stereo this commission will pay off.
Another minute or two passes, and there’s a knock on the hatch. “Come in.” Cain calls while keeping her back to it, wanting to let this person know that she is in command of the situation, and that just because most of the Battlestars are already being fitted with this system that does not in any way mean that the Pegasus will follow suit.
She hears the hatch open and the sound of footsteps entering as the hatch is closed again. She doesn’t bother to move, and a young woman’s voice asks “Admiral Cain?”
Cain turns, and although she manages to keep her face blank she mentally gasps, just a little. A tall blonde stands before her, her head tilted slightly to the side as she reaches up to brush some hair behind her ear. She seems to be waiting for Cain to make some sort of reply to her enquiry, as if she could possibly be someone else, and Cain merely raises her eyebrows to let the woman know that she should introduce herself. The woman mimics Cain’s movement as she realises what Cain wants her to do, but she quickly covers this with a smile. “Sorry, I’m Gina Inviere and I’m here on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.”
Interesting, Cain thinks, she introduces herself as representing my superior officers rather than her company. Does she think this will lead me to believe that this upgrade isn’t optional?
“It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you.” Inviere finishes, sticking out her hand. Cain accepts it as her lips curve ever so slightly up into a smile of her own, and she replies “and you, Ms Inviere.”
“Call me Gina, please, ‘Ms Inviere’ makes me feel like I’m an old married woman.” Inviere’s smile widens as if she thinks that the ice between them has been broken, and Cain is a little surprised to note that her smile isn’t as forced as she was expecting it to be. Still, wanting to get out of this meeting and back to real work as soon as possible she ignores this comment, and gestures for Inviere to put her charts on the table beside them. She wants no more small talk.
--
Gina worries that she’s off to a shaky start, having gotten nothing more than ‘and you, Ms Inviere’ out of the Admiral since entering the room. She had been warned that this woman would be one of the least likely to accept the new Gaius Baltar network system, complete with a hidden back door for Cylon use, but after hearing about all the successes her model has been having around the colonies she hadn’t thought this would be too much of a problem. Now she can see that Admiral Cain wants to get straight down to business, but first she wants to establish a bit of a connection with her. She scans the room subtly as she pulls some papers out of her case, and spots her opening sitting on one of the shelves across the table from her.
“Oh, is that a copy of ‘Portrait of a Caprican Woman?’” She asks, placing down her papers and walking over to the Admiral’s collection of books. “I have to admit, my favourite of the classics that we studied in school.”
She’s lying, of course. She found a battered copy under a bench not two weeks ago, and through boredom had begun to read it while waiting to go into a meeting that she was very early for. As long as the Admiral doesn’t ask her about anything beyond page fifty-seven...
Her hopes start to rise when she sees the Admiral raise her eyebrows again, because this time it seems to be in admiration.
“I’m surprised. Normally people lose interest around the seventy or eighty page mark, and don’t continue to where it picks up another fifty pages along.”
Oh dear...
“But I’m glad to hear that someone can actually appreciate the subtleties of those first few chapters. They show that even through routine, one can lead a fulfilling life if they work to try and perfect that routine. It’s useless to move from one thing to another without ever mastering any skills.”
“That’s exactly what I thought, and it’s a shame there aren’t more people today taking in that message.” Gina nods her enthusiasm, trying to look like she completely understands the subtleties the Admiral is talking about. Though now that she thinks back on the book, small things the main character Lucy had said or done through those first fifty-seven pages are beginning to make sense. Gina knows that Admiral Cain must be rather intelligent in order to attain the rank she has in such short time, but she hadn’t thought that the woman would be creative or smart as well. Gina finds herself becoming slightly intrigued with the Admiral, and although she wishes to hear more of her thoughts she realises that her lie might be exposed if she’s asked to give her own opinions on it. No, now is a good time to get back to business.
--
“Now, I don’t want to keep you too long, so I’ll let you know a little about this new network.” Inviere shakes her head lightly as if she’s coming out of a daze and turns her attention back to the papers on the table. Cain watches her sort through them, studying the woman as she decides that she may have to reassess her opinion. As she’d said a moment ago, there aren’t many people who have actually finished ‘Portrait of a Caprican Woman’ so she finds she respects the few who do. At least a little anyway; Inviere is still a salesperson.
Cain listens to her explain the specifications of the network, and is surprised to find that Inviere really seems to understand the system. Inviere admits that she isn’t as versed in military protocol as she’d like to be, but that she wants to spend some time with Cain to completely finetune everything to the Pegasus’ standards so that it is installed especially for this Battlestar and this commander. Cain finds her respect growing without her wanting it to, and when she realises that Inviere really wants to put in the extra work to get the network tailored exactly to the Pegasus, rather than sleazy sales pitches like “all the other Battlestars are doing it, and you don’t want to be left behind”, she finds that she’s becoming quite interested in what the blonde has to say. Or rather, she corrects herself, a little embarrassed to be letting her guard down so easily, I don’t feel the need to just announce that the meeting is over and order her back onto a Raptor. Not yet, anyway.
She finds she likes the way that Inviere smiles when they both agree on something, and how alive her blue eyes seem. She justifies these thoughts by amazing over how different Inviere is to what she expected, though she stubbornly ignores the way her eyes follow the blonde ponytail as it flicks from side to side when Inviere moves to pick up a new sheet.
Unnecessary ponytails aside, as Cain reads over the statistics for the third time she grudgingly admits to herself that the network does sound like it would make operations run a little more smoothly on her ship.
--
Watching the Admiral flex her fingers with a sceptical look on her face as she reads through the papers, Gina becomes a little concerned again. What’s her objection? she wonders, studying the other woman’s expression for any signs. Gina had seemed to be on a very similar wavelength as Admiral Cain earlier while explaining everything, and she had found that her own act was starting to drop and she was starting to speak and smile more naturally. She’d taken this to be a good sign, but now...
Cain’s lips move into an expression of displeasure, but it’s only very brief as she finishes one page and moves onto another. Gina realises suddenly that it isn’t that the Admiral is finding things wrong with the network; it’s that the Admiral wants to find things wrong with it!
Coming to the end of the fourth page Admiral Cain seems to find something to work with, and she hands the sheet to Gina.
“This states that the previous network of the Pegasus must be shut down and removed, and that it will take a week to get the new one up and running. I won’t have the Pegasus without a network for that period of time.” Her voice says that there will be no room for compromise.
Gina bites back a grin as she gives thanks to God for the only problem being such an easy one to overcome.
“That won’t be an issue,” she assures the Admiral, “since I heard that the Pegasus will be going in for a three month overhaul in a couple of months. You won’t need an operational network during that period of time, and the new one will be installed and we’ll be long gone by the time you’re done.”
The page Admiral Cain is holding is the final page of summarised specifications, and Gina sends small prayers to God that the Admiral won’t find any further problems. She’s given all the information she can, and she decides that while Admiral Cain may be somewhat unfriendly and unwilling to agree to this upgrade easily, she is still a smart woman who won’t let any silly feelings towards the matter stop her from making a logical decision. Feeling that this is the right time, Gina keeps her mouth closed and waits.
--
Cain feels herself frowning somewhat as she realises that, aside from her concerns over the lack of a network, the rest of the program seems sound. She knows that she has the power to just refuse without any explanation, because after all the Pegasus has been running just fine without this new program, but at the same time her pride won’t allow that.
This Gina Inviere has been more helpful than expected, frustratingly so, and has given Cain more than enough reason why this would benefit the Pegasus. It’s unusual for her to be conflicted about something, as more than salespeople she dislikes those who hesitate, who ponder, who flinch. It should be a simple yes or no answer. However, her stubbornness holds her back from saying yes, and her pride won’t let her say no.
Her eyes move from the papers to the hand resting on the table, and then follow it up the attached arm and finally get to the blue eyes. They lock gazes, both completely silent, and Cain tries again to figure out what’s going on behind them and why she’s so curious to know the answer.
It would be smart to get more information first, before making a decision. She concludes, her eyes not shifting. Let’s see if she keeps to her promise to tailor this especially for the Pegasus.
The silence drags out a little longer before she finally speaks. “Well, then in that case I’d like to schedule another meeting so we can go into finer details about the more precise specifications of this network.”
And Cain loses.