Chapter 219 Road To Upper Management

Verum Trading Company did not experience stellar sales numbers in their first month of operation. Not many publishers and bookshops were willing to hedge their bets on an invention they had never heard of. This was understandable since there was no analogue to a printing press in existence in this world. There was only so much a sales representative, which was mostly Furion, could do with their use of flowery and descriptive language to convince a customer without making it sound like a total scam.

A total of ten Gutenberg Presses were sold in the first month. Accounting for the cost of production and distribution made it so that the company just broke even. Furion felt discouraged as he perused through the finances while delivering his report to Guy.

"Don't feel so down. We're just starting," Guy said to assuage the boy's discomfort. Not all businesses operated the same way. While a business is judged on its ability to generate a profit, it shouldn't be used as a blanket parameter to measure its success.

"A start-up usually never generates profit within its first year of operation," Guy reminded.

"I get that," Furion said with a sigh. "It just feels discouraging to see negatives, you know?"

"It's only temporary. We have done our due diligence, investigated the market, and built a robust business. I'll let you in on a little secret," Guy said with a whisper. "The Printing Press was never supposed to be the profit generator."

Furion's eyes widened in incredulity. It made no sense to him that the product which the business was selling wasn't designed to generate a profit.

"Remember the day when I pitched the business to your father?" Guy reminded. "Can you repeat to me your suggestion for how we should sell the Printing Press?"

Furion closed his eyes and tilted his head. "I believe I said that we shouldn't sell the product at first, but lease it."

"Why was that?"

"W-Well the product isn't a consumable, and we expect it to last for a long time so periodic purchases are out of the question-"

"Sorry to interrupt you there," Guy interjected with a raised palm. "Your statement about periodic purchases is false. There will be periodic purchases, only that the said 'period' will be in years rather than in days, weeks or months. As we upgrade our product and release newer versions of it with a series of updates bundled together, our customers will be enticed to purchase it thus sustaining brand loyalty."

After all, this was the same business model employed by the technology industry in Guy's original world. AND, he knew for a fact that it was a viable and lucrative model at that, so why not just replicate it in this world?

"I'm sorry, the product can be upgraded?" Furion exclaimed.

"Of course! Everything can be innovated upon. That's the whole purpose of our business. As it stands, the Printing Press is wholly manual in nature. We should strive to automate it. We must automate every stage of the process from the typesetting to the printing. In fact, it is also possible to automate the process prior to publishing - the writing of the draft manuscript," Guy explained.

"I'll let you in on a potential product we will be producing which will synergise with the Printing Press," Guy whispered as he edged closer to Furion. He retrieved a roll of parchment and unfurled it hastily, revealing an immensely intricate design that looked incomplete. "I'm still trying to figure it out... It's a bit beyond my level, though..."

"What is this?" Furion inquired as he tried to make heads or tails of the diagram.

"It's called the Typewriter," Guy answered. "It's a machine that holds the same function as the Printing Press but at a smaller and more personal scale. It will replace handwriting."

Guy then proceeded to give a brief overview of the device's functionality.

"This is more ubiquitous! This product will find use everywhere. We can have one in every house!" Furion rambled excitedly. "Office work, note-taking, finance..."

"Let's hold on to our horses there," Guy interjected hurriedly. "This is still a bit beyond us. Let's say that I can figure out the kinks of this machine and complete the blueprint, manufacturing this machine will be a massive task that will take a very long time. The cost of manufacture in terms of temporal and physical resources will far exceed the price we can set for it. We are still a few more technological levels behind."

"Anyways, sorry for derailing you there. Let's get back to what you were saying before," Guy traced back.

"Right! As I was saying, the Printing Press isn't something people will buy on a regular basis. Even if they do, I predict the period between successive purchases of the device following the upgrades to span at least half a decade at least. In that case, we cannot profit from selling this product, thus I devised the leasing scheme," Furion reasoned.

"But to benefit from this business model, we will have to lease a lot of these machines," Guy added. "I figured that it would be the case from the start. That's why my goal wasn't to profit from selling-slash-leasing Printing Presses but to squeeze out profits from auxiliary purchases."

"Auxiliary purchases?"

"Once the market evolves after the release of the first round of books published through the Printing Press, we will see a sudden increase in intrigue and demand for the source of these uniquely 'transcribed' books. Competitors will scramble to figure out how these books were produced, and they will learn about the Printing Press. Sabotage, theft and corporate espionage will follow, during which we can expect the breakdown of a lot of our sold products due to the enchantment that induces said breakdown if the product is tampered with in any way."

"Our customers will file complaints with us and call us for a free refund, in which case we will point out a clause in our contract that denies said refund since it was caused by a fault at the customer's end. However, we will 'graciously oblige' for the first time. During the subsequent months, we can expect to accumulate revenue through maintenance and repair orders. Then, we can expect additional orders as more and more publishers get enamoured by our product and its efficiency and efficacy. As this pattern progresses, the book market will start becoming saturated with similar looking books and that is when our customers will start seeking out ways to stand out."

Guy snapped his finger and pointed at Furion excitedly, "That's where we come in! What were the additional services offered by Verum Trading Company written in the script you've been using?"

"Are you talking about the training, custom font, and so on?"

"Exactly! This is when all these overlooked goods and services offered by our company will shine. For the simple cost of man-hours and piddly resources, we can accumulate revenue. For an hour-long workshop about basic typesetting, we can bill our customers a substantial amount. This is where I will need you to help me out, Furion. I need you to brainstorm and collate ideas for ways to generate revenue."

Furion nodded resolutely and said, "I'll get on it, but I have my hands full at the moment with sales."

Guy frowned lightly, causing Furion's expression to falter. "Furion, between the two tasks assigned to you, which is more important?"

Furion didn't need to think much before saying, "It's the sales." Yet after seeing no affirmation from Guy, his tone wilted with indecision, "Right?"

"Always look beyond the surface," Guy said as he returned to his desk. As he didn't have his own private space to work from, the classroom doubled as his office.

"Sales ARE important, that's how we generate revenue, after all," Guy affirmed. "But what then? Are the company's resources being used to their full potential?"

Furion furrowed his brows and bit his lips in thought. "That's why you're asking me to brainstorm additional possible revenue streams that can be explored in the meantime?"

"With that established, do you still think sales is more important right now?"

"No," Furion answered. "So, I'll put my current sales tasks on hold-"

"No," Guy interjected. "You need to do those as well."

"B-But I can't do both."

Guy stared at Furion hoping to spark an epiphany from the bumbling boy.

"Both tasks need to be addressed. One is more important for the future of the business, while the other is important for the business' present. Yet both need to be achieved simultaneously," Guy reiterated. "Obviously, you can't split yourself in two. What will you do?"

"I could..." Furion mumbled, "hire someone?"

"Good thinking," Guy lauded. "What will you have the new hire do?"

"Work in sales?"

"Perfect," Guy said with a smile. "You will have to train them and bring them up to speed. Do you think you can handle that?"

"I will!" Furion answered with confidence.

Guy moved his hand towards Furion, who flinched by instinct. Guy's approach faltered, but he resumed nonetheless and gently ruffled the pudgy boy's hair.

"This is your first step towards upper management, Furion," Guy explained. "In a business, it isn't the manager's job to do everything. You hire people for that, while you focus on the bigger picture."

"Congratulations!" Guy applauded. "As of today, you are unofficially assigned the title of Chief Operating Officer or COO of Verum Trading Company. On paper, you will be receiving a salary bump to reflect the additional responsibilities that will fall on your shoulders. I will be training you from this point onwards so that you can assume this position officially at a later point in time when I deem you ready."

"T-Thank you...?" Furion did not exactly understand any of what was said, but the nature of Guy's tone implied it was a good thing. 'I heard there was a raise, so it must be a good thing... I guess?'

Guy smiled wholeheartedly while whooping in relief on the inside. He did not enjoy business management. He hated it. Despised it. Deplored it. Resented it immensely. He planned to hand off everything to someone more capable as soon as possible so that he could return to what he enjoyed doing most, which was teaching. Furion appeared to have the proper business acumen, all that was left was to unearth it. Guy was doing his best to guide Furion down that path.