Chapter 3

The shoe-selling business was going well for Jerry. He was adding new sales locations, and Bifty Shoes was becoming a popular shoe. The raised-heel shoes for women were a good seller, and other shoe companies were now starting to copy this shoe design. Maybe these companies would affect Bifty Shoe sales in the future, but so far Bifty was the leader in this shoe design. While Jerry thought business was going well, he knew there could be people who could have different opinions. Jerry thought that when he received a text message from Bud Palmer, the mid-west sales manager for Bifty Shoes. Bud Palmer was Jerry’s boss. The message was that Bud wanted to do a virtual call with Jerry at four, and Jerry should make himself available. Jerry had no idea why Bud wanted to have a phone conversation. Precisely at four, Jerry signed on to Zoom for this virtual call. Bud greeted him and thanked Jerry for making himself available. There was a little talk with Bud confirming that he was presently in Florida. After a short time, Bud indicated his reason for this call.

“Okay, please tell me what is your secret? I want to know how you are establishing sales locations in all parts of your territory. My other sales reps are not doing it, so I want to know how you are doing it.”

“It is no big secret. I am just applying the Bud Palmer method of sales management.”

“That sounds good for me to hear, but what in the hell are you talking about?”

“Remember when you did not like what Tom Chapman was doing in Wisconsin since he concentrated only on the Milwaukee area? I heard that you added salespeople to his territory. I just did the same thing and hired people who work for me.”

Jerry explained the three salespeople he added and their compensation. He could hear Bud laughing and saying that was something he should have his salespeople doing instead of him adding these additional people. He said he would tell his salespeople they should do what Jerry is doing.

“Jerry, I believe in rewarding good performance, and you are performing well. Because of that, I want to give you a ten-day cruise that leaves from Fort Lauderdale and goes into and back out of the Panama Canal. Also included will be airfare and expense money for this trip. Since the cost is the same for one or two people, you can decide to either go by yourself or take someone with you since the price is the same. When you decide you want to do this cruise, let Jane at my office know, and she will make the arrangements. Thanks for what you are doing and for telling me what I should be telling my other salespeople, what they should be doing.” In ending the call, Jerry could not help but have a good feeling about how well things were going for him. A few days later, Jerry received a phone call from Jill Cassidy. She identified herself as a high school counselor. The reason she said she made this call was that she noticed the excellent dancer Jerry was when he was dancing with Caroline at her wedding.

“Some sophomore students have told me they want to improve their social skills by learning to dance to fast-tempo music and are asking for help. In talking to Caroline about you, she mentioned how she and two of her girlfriends helped you to develop that skill. I hope you will impart some of that knowledge to the students here. I am not trying to put you on a guilt trip, but it would be a way for you to give something back. Will you do a dance instruction class at my school?” Jerry was at a loss for words as he did not know what to say. Teaching sixteen-year-olds how to dance was something that came out of the blue. He did remember how tough it was for him to get up the nerve to ask Caroline to teach him. There was more discussion with Jill about when and where before he agreed to do this dance instruction. He arrived at Hamilton High School at the agreed time of four. A young boy was waiting for Jerry at the entrance door to escort him to a large room. In this room were four boys and three girls. There was also a lady there he assumed was Jill Cassidy who greeted and thanked him for coming. Jill was a good-looking lady about his age. He thought that because of her looks, he was glad he agreed to do this dance instructing. Jill introduced him to the students and told them to pay attention and watch what Jerry does as he is a very accomplished dancer. She then turned it over to Jerry. Jerry started by saying that most of what he does in dancing comes naturally to him. He said that in dancing, you need to feed off your partner and try to match your dancing to your partner. He would start dancing to a song doing some basic dance moves. The boys should watch what he is doing, and the girls should watch what Miss Cassidy is doing.

“Oh no, you are the dance instructor,” said Jill.

“As are you Miss Cassidy.” The music played, and Jerry started dancing with Jill. He kept his moves very simple and basic. He saw the students were trying to mimic what he and Jill were doing. He also noticed that Jill was a good dancer. When it looked like the students had mastered a dance move, Jerry changed to a different dance step and watched the students mimicking him. After three songs played, Jerry paired the students, with one of the boys being with Jill. He said he would watch each couple dance and give some one-on-one instruction while they were dancing. That went well, and it caused the time doing this dancing instruction to fly by. Jerry ended this dance session by telling the students they all did well. He said they should now be comfortable dancing to fast-tempo music. Jill thanked him for doing this instruction. All of the students came up to Jerry to thank him and asked if he could do a session like this one more time. Jerry thought about how he should respond.

He said,”I will do this one more time only if Miss Cassidy agrees to have dinner with me.” His saying this appeared to have momentarily stunned Jill. He could see she was at a loss for what to say. Jerry and the students were looking at her to hear her response. Jerry noticed she was starting to blush. She composed herself and said she would agree to have dinner with Jerry. That caused Jerry to turn to the boys and say,