style="font-size:15px;"> The Home Office of SignalCorps Technologies Inc.
At the same time that Tom was meeting with his boss about his promotion, Emily was across town at a meeting with SignalCorps’ CEO, Edison Travis Shane. She wasn’t sure why he wanted to see her but had accepted the meeting invitation without asking questions. Shane had a flair for the dramatic, so whatever the reason was, she wanted to let him have his moment.
Emily remembered when she had first met Shane. It was Tom who suggested that she get a patent on the surveillance camera system she had developed to help with interventions for the Order. “It’s a great system,” he had said to her. “If you can find a partner to mass-produce it, I think the military and law enforcement would provide a terrific market for you. There’s a lot of money to be made with a system like yours.”
Emily finally agreed and filed her designs with the United States Patent Office. After receiving her patent registrations, she started looking for someone who could manufacture the system – someone who had experience with the technology and a reputation in the industry for superior products. She stumbled onto SignalCorps while reading a trade magazine and was surprised to discover that they were local. After doing some research, she decided to reach out to the company and see if they had an interest in her system.
The first meeting was supposed to be with just the head of Research & Development. When she walked into the meeting, she could tell right off that he didn’t take her seriously. Emily was a college graduate, but she didn’t have advanced degrees in electronics. The head of R&D had two PhD’s and clearly thought that no one without equal credentials could develop any product worth his time. He also didn’t believe a beautiful woman could design an advanced surveillance system that could possibly work better than what was already on the market.
However, once Emily demonstrated her system to him, he changed his attitude toward her and the system. By the end of the demonstration, she could tell that he was excited. But when he excused himself and left her alone in the conference room, Emily wondered if he were coming back. She had started packing up her equipment when the head of R&D came back with several other people.
The head of R&D introduced Emily to the heads of Product Marketing and Manufacturing for the company. Then he introduced her to Shane. She recognized him from a picture of him that she had seen while doing research on the company, and she was surprised that he seemed very friendly. From his educational background and work history, she expected someone more like the head of R&D in terms of behavior, but Shane wasn’t a typical techno-geek. He had a brilliant mind for circuits, business, and people. This combination made him very successful and allowed him to attract and retain great employees and loyal customers.
Emily was asked to demonstrate her system again, and by the end of the meeting, everyone was excited about the product and its potential. At first, Shane wanted to buy the patents outright, but Emily didn’t want to let go of control over her designs. In the end, they agreed on a partnership. Shane would pay Emily for the right to manufacture the system, as well as a percentage of each unit sold. The deal was fair, and both felt there was tremendous potential to make a great deal of money.
Now that the manufacturing bugs had been corrected, it was time to release the product on the market. Emily knew that Shane had done some test marketing, and the initial results were encouraging, but Shane wanted to make a big splash with the general release to the public. Emily wondered if that was the reason for the meeting that morning.
“Good morning, Emily,” Shane said as she was escorted into his office.
“Good morning, Edison,” she replied. “What’s so urgent that you needed to see me? Is there a problem with the product?”
“No, no, nothing like that. I have a plan for the initial release to the public, but I wanted to run it past you first.”
Once they sat down in his office, Shane continued. “First of all, you know that we’ve been testing the waters with the product, both with the military and with law enforcement. I have to tell you… I’ve never seen such enthusiasm for a product like this before. We already have a number of pre-release orders, and word-of-mouth is spreading like wildfire. I think this could be the biggest surveillance product ever!”
Emily was surprised and happy to hear this. It still felt a little surreal to her that someone else would be interested in a product that she had built primarily for herself.
Shane continued. “Second, in thinking of the best way to market this system, it occurred to me that a normal marketing campaign would simply not be good enough. People need to see this product in action, not just read about it in a press release or advertisement. So, I finally came up with the perfect idea.
“Every spring, there’s an annual military trade show, conference, and expo called ‘Tower.’ It’s the largest trade show in the defense industry, but law enforcement attends as well. There are vendors from every part of the defense industry, military personnel, law enforcement personnel, politicians – in short, our target market. I’ve made arrangements for SignalCorps to be there this year. Our featured product will be your system. We’ll have a number of live demonstrations to show people how the system works. I was thinking that we could hide cameras all around the Convention Center and at the booth to show how well the system works and how easy it is to operate. We’ve also been given the opportunity to speak at the conference regarding covert surveillance using this system. What do you think about that?”
Emily thought about it for a moment. “It sounds like a really great plan,” she said. “I agree that the product will sell better to people who have used it, rather than just read about it.”
“Excellent,” Shane said. “And I can’t think of anyone better suited to demonstrate the product or make the covert surveillance presentation than the product’s creator. You’re one of the most eloquent speakers I’ve ever met, and you know the product inside-out. I can have marketing staff there to handle orders, as well as some of the manufacturing staff there to discuss how it’s assembled, but it needs your expertise to bring the demonstration alive.”
“You’re not suggesting that I be some sort of ‘booth babe,’ are you?” Emily asked, referring to the practice of using very attractive women at trade shows to make sales.
“Not at all,” Shane said quickly. “I want the product to be represented by the best person, and that’s you. The fact that you’re stunning is incidental. If you want to ugly yourself up for the show, that’s entirely up to you.”
Emily smiled at the compliment. “Okay, you sold me. Where’s Tower being held this year?”
“It’s going to be in Orlando, Florida. I checked, and the Rothschild Centre hotel is right across the street. I’ve booked a number of rooms there already, and I was able to get you a VIP suite – a little gift to you from SignalCorps. It might be a good idea to get there a couple of days early and stay a few extra days in case we need to schedule any private demonstrations. That would also give you some extra time to enjoy Orlando. It is, after all, the vacation capital of the world!”
They talked for a while longer about the trade show and what her role would be. As she left SignalCorps’ offices, she thought to herself that a vacation would be a great idea. That would be a great way to celebrate our anniversary. Tom could use the time off, and we need a getaway after this past year. She became excited. She felt that this news called for a celebration. She picked up her cell phone and dialed the number of their favorite restaurant. She made a reservation for that evening and called Tom to let him know.
Tom was still in the meeting with his staff, so Emily left
