Chapter 17

I was up earlier than usual and didn't want to wake the girls yet. I was going to meet the aircraft at the nearby airport at six thirty with the hope of being at the Reno office no later than eight. I think that the time it will take to takeoff and land and then get a car will take longer than the flight itself.

I looked at the shoulder holster and gun, but didn't put it on. I didn't think I should have a gun on me that I didn't know how to use. I kissed both women when I was finished dressing and told them to get up and get going if they were going to get a workout.

Brindle and Yori were in the kitchen getting some breakfast while waiting for me. I had some scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, and was ready to go. Brindle told me on the way to Bob Hope Airport that a rental car with GPS would be waiting for us in Reno. She said it looked like it would take about twenty minutes to get to the Mooney office if traffic wasn't bad.

We arrived at the airport at six ten and found the plane, a small single-pilot Citation ready for us. He made sure Yori and I were buckled before closing the door. He told us, "We'll be in Reno in an hour. It should be a smooth ride."

I pulled my Reno file out to review everything in it so that I'd know what I need to be looking for. I think a top priority would be looking to see if the Manager's attitude had improved now that he had help from an interested attorney and he had a new Sales Manager.

The pilot made sure that we exchanged cell phone numbers so I could alert him as to when to have the airplane ready. The rental car people had a car ready for me, so Yori and I were driving to the office within minutes. The streets in Reno were confusing when you got close to the city. We were thankfully heading around the city and directed by the GPS to pull off the highway into a nice semi-business district.

The building was a similar design as mine and San Diego when I saw it. There weren't many cars in the lot yet because it wasn't quite eight o'clock. A girl behind the receptionist counter said, "Good morning, Mr. Johnson," when I walked in. "Dorothy said that you like to come early. Who is the gentleman with you?"

"This is Yori, my personal assistant, and you are?"

"I'm Angie, the receptionist most of the time, and Tas' secretary some of the time. We have trouble keeping receptionists, but we may have a good one coming for an interview today. Go on back, first office on the right. Tas is here."

Tas was on the phone and quickly ended the conversation when I walked in, but was blushing while he did. Curious. He jumped up and stuck his hand out, "Welcome, Brad. You look just like the picture in the newsletter. How about some coffee, and we can go over a few things before the crowd gets here in a few minutes?"

Yori had coffee with us this morning, and sat at a small table Tas had in his office. He had a secretarial desk positioned similar to Kelly's. I had thought that the former Manager in my office had made his office larger but this must be the way the company was building offices now.

He said, "I have to thank you for finding Rose for me," when we sat down. "She has been instrumental to getting my attitude back. She handled the bullshit with the former Sales Manager, and filed a lawsuit for alienation of affection. She wouldn't let cops arrest me for assault of the guy when they wanted to, and demanded that I be immediately arraigned. She told me to keep my mouth shut and she would take care of it. She was in front of the judge and asked him to have the police show any evidence they had that I had done anything wrong. They didn't have anything, of course, but the County Attorney said they should be allowed to prepare. The judge said that he wouldn't allow them to manufacture evidence and told me leave. He would make sure I wasn't harassed again."

"She filed a suit against my former Sales Manager, and filed for my divorce on the basis of my wife being unfaithful while we were at the courthouse. She hired a process server on the spot and sent him to serve both the former Sales Manager and my soon to be ex-wife. Her lawyer still hasn't filed for whatever reason, so we're going to get this done fast under the Nevada six-week quickie, but it will be faster since I'm already a resident."

Tas lowered his voice, and said, "I did take Rose to dinner that night she called and we had a drink before she took me home. I hardly knew this woman, but she takes me home, and we knew each other very well by morning. We've been constant companions since that day, Brad. She's talking about us moving in with each other. I'm going nuts thinking about all this, but thank you, Brad. I may owe you my life for finding Rose for me."

I smiled at the man, and said, "I love what Rose has done for you. You're smiling, energetic, happy, and enthusiastic. Now take me to see your new Sales Manager."

We walked down the hall to the sales room. This guy had an office, and I noticed that it didn't have a door. That was smart so that it could never be closed. I asked the Sales Manager, "Can you show me your advertising plan? I'm interested in what approach you want to take with your new development." after Tas introduced me.

The man said, "I'm still very new here, but I found out that the home office has several plans and ads for developments like we're starting. I asked for everything they had, and we'll have an ad Sunday, but we don't have a model yet. The ads for Friday and Saturday will be for our existing developments, and they will also be included in the Sunday ad. I'm using Sunday as a teaser to prepare the public to get ready for some upscale homes in the most desirable area of Reno. Our other two developments are there too, actually, but I want to enhance the new area to be able to get what I want to charge for a custom home. I've never done well with TV, but your company likes TV. How should I run those ads?"

I told him, "TV is good if you subliminally do it. Do some short ads on some re-run channels Friday evening. You can get a package rate, and then have your thirty second and full minute ads during sports programs on Saturday and Sunday. You only need about six to eight ads during the two days, and you will attract more than you think. You need to evaluate what sports and talk radio stations have the best ratings and make up a dozen short ten to fifteen second ads and run them all week. They are really driving my sales right now. I also think that you can do some promotional work by getting on some daytime women's talk shows to talk about the different developments, Tas. I know it's hokey, but it's free advertising. They'll have you back often if you do a good job, and you will be 'Mr. Popular' with all the housewives."

Tas was laughing at that. "Yeah, sure; I will be shunned as soon as they find out that I'm getting a divorce."

"You might be surprised at what happens if you tell them that you caught your soon to be ex with a lover in your bed. Women love an underdog."

The Sales Manager said, "I'll do the daytime show. My wife will be my guard dog and protect me from the masses of hungry housewives."

It was my turn to laugh.

I told the Sales Manager, "Get those ads on the radio during the week, and make sure you focus on only the best sports and talk radio stations. You have to have spots during drive times and continue them through about eight or nine in the evening. Start at seven in the morning, and stop at seven or eight in the evening. It's cheap and very effective."

I wanted to see finance/loan group next. A woman was the Manager there and seemed to be a go getter. According to the P&L, her department was showing a strong profit by making loans for other real estate offices, as well as our own. I congratulated her on her business, and she told me, "I spend at least three hours a week, and when we are slow, calling real estate offices. I make sure the banks know that we might take someone they won't, and ask them to send them to us. I love the bonus money."

Tas said, "I didn't know that you earned a bonus for more loans. No wonder you push them."

I asked the lady, "What would you think if you had an in-house insurance company to sell the property coverage you need and to also sell other forms of insurance?"

The woman squinted at me and said, "That could be good. It takes away from my focus of selling loans when I have to write something. A couple of go getters could sell all forms of insurance and probably make the company money if you had them."

Tas was thinking, and said, "I know some insurance salesmen who would probably like to work for Mooney. Can I try that here?"

I smiled and said, "Do it, Tas, and see to it that the people you hire sell to your base and then spread out. Keep a close eye on it and watch it happen."

We checked in with the decorator who I found was also an architect. I asked her if she could handle two or three times the sales volume they had now. She looked at me with eyes nearly crossed, and said, "Hell, no; I barely keep up now. I'd need at least two more decorators and probably one or two more architects.

I told her, "Look around for the right people for Tas to hire. He's going to experience a lot more sales now. You need enough decorators to sell to other realtors and to be sought after by people remodeling their homes or businesses. I'm sure you've seen the bonus schedules and wondered how to get there. Think about it, and you'll see how you can get there. Let me suggest something extra that I've experimented with and has brought in more sales for decorators and also more sales for the company. I like to have a decorator in the models on weekends. They can take days off during the week and make some money on weekends. My decorators back in Florida said that even people who didn't buy our house used us for decorating their new home whether new built or pre-owned."

"I like the sound of that." She looked at Tas and asked, "Can I bring on a couple more decorators and a secretary? I think we'll need one more architect when you get the sales for custom homes moving." She turned to me and said, "What do you think about having evening appointments here in the office, Mr. Johnson? We could use the closing rooms for that kind of event and get double duty out of them."

Tas said, "Get yourself some help, but I'm not sure about after hours appointments. You know I'm trying to do what that article in the newsletter said about having people go home at closing to be with their family every night. We've been coming in earlier now and getting more done it seems, so I'm not sure about after hours appointments."

I spoke up, "Here's the deal, Tas. There are some things that require people to work after hours. You must monitor this and give them time off to make up for their extra effort. I'm the one who wrote that article, and I still believe in the concept of getting our work done during the day and being home with family at night. I have an architect and decorator meeting people after hours and on weekends, at the same time. I have a night receptionist and one on weekends to handle any calls and to direct people. It's a perfect job for a high school or college student to earn some extra money. You might need extra decorators and architects, but you will be getting your custom home sales planned and into construction that much faster."

Tas nodded his head in agreement, and smiled at his decorator. "You heard it from the master. Just make sure you work a normal work week and don't stay longer than you should. I'm really excited about all the changes and efforts to succeed."

We probably left the decorator/architect creaming her panties, and headed toward the title office. Tas said, "You know the company held your Florida operation up for everyone to follow. They said your offices produced more with less than anywhere in the country. I talk to the various departments in the home office, and they always told me to call you to find out how to do something. I didn't want to bother another Manager who was probably busier than me. You're the man now. You are my first real Regional Manager that I've seen and met, and I never did meet the last Regional who was in LA for nearly five years."

The title office had an older gentleman with Coke bottle glasses. He had very organized stacks of paper on his desk while looking at something on his PC monitor. He looked at Tas, and said, "What can I do for you, Mr. Stribling?"

Tas said, "I want you to meet Brad Johnson, our Regional Manager. He is looking at how we do business and making suggestions."

"I won't be needing you, Mr. Johnson. I've been handling closings for Mooney for over twenty years and don't think you can teach me anything."

I wanted to smack the guy and yell at him, but I didn't, and said, "I notice on the P&L that you barely cover the cost of the office with the company closings. I even noticed that you farmed out some of the closings for pre-owned homes. Is there a reason you won't close a pre-owned home?"

The man looked aggravated and looked at me over the top of his glasses. "Why would you care if I have someone else close a lesser quality home? You should know that I only close our custom built homes and homes that are worth at least what we sell our homes for."

"I see, so you consistently give income opportunities away instead of earning bonuses for the manager and yourself."

"Pshaw, how much of a bonus could that be? I won't compromise my principles for a lousy hundred or two a year."

I leaned over his desk, and looked him in the eye, "So, you haven't read your contract to know that you can earn those bonuses monthly, and you don't know that you have a minimum requirement to close outside loan organizations' deals." (That wasn't really true, but I thought I could bluff this guy.) "You're in default of your minimum requirements, so you will have to be replaced."

I thought the guy was going to have a coronary until he composed himself. "I suppose I'll have to read my contract. I still don't want to close loans on substandard properties."

I stood up and said, "Clean your desk out and leave. I'm terminating someone who is sabotaging our ability to increase our business. Now get your stuff and get out of here. You're not even willing to try to make this a better office. The guy was slumping in his chair."

"Please let me stay and let me try to make this a better office. I'll close everything and work at selling our services, but I do need this job. This is where I've invested my life's career and I guess I've become complacent. Please give me the opportunity to change my attitude and to be more of a contributor."

He looked back and forth between Tas and me. I was angry, but I also knew that blowing off a long-term honest employee wasn't the right thing to do to. "Okay, I want you to stay, but you must send weekly activity reports to my office so that I know you're working toward increasing your activity. If you need more people to do the increased activity, get them. You should revel in teaching new people what the title business is all about."

He took a deep breath, and said, "I promise that I will work hard to make Mooney Title a name here in Reno."

I stuck my hand out to the man, and asked, "Deal?" He shook my hand, and with a smile, said "Deal."

We walked out, and Tas said, "Christ, you're tough. You were going to fire a twenty year guy. You didn't, but he had to buy in to what you wanted."

"There are times when you have to be tough, Tas. Find out why someone isn't performing. If someone isn't making the effort to be better, find out why. It all starts with a sale and works its way to the title office. That's where we get paid. Mooney doesn't get a dime until that property transaction closes. We want the new sales, but we want everything in between too."

Tas said, "Do you want to meet my Accounting Manager?"

"I sure do, and then we need to check on construction."

I asked Tas if he could get us a couple of cups of coffee when I was introduced to the man who was in charge of accounting. The accountant smiled as I did that. He said, "Tas is as straight as you are reported to be," when Tas was out of the office. "I know Connie, and she warned me you would want numbers and more numbers. I think the place is okay, but there are areas where we could do better."

"Don't tell me, tell Tas. You have an assistant to help with the mundane stuff, so constantly give Tas numbers and don't be afraid to tell him about something slipping."

Tas came into the office, and we all sat and talked a few minutes. I told Tas, "Your man is going to give you numbers on a more frequent basis so that you'll know how you're doing in each phase of your business. Let's get this place rolling again. You've made some good changes, and we've stirred them up a little today. Circulate in the office to get the feel for what's going on. As for some advice, listen to this man right here. He'll see things develop while the outside world is clueless. Visit with him for a minute or two daily. He's going to be giving you a lot of numbers for you to look at in order to help you decide on each step. He'll happily find the answer, or die trying to get it, for anything you need to know that's number related."

The guy stood and stuck his hand out when I got up. "It was good to meet you, Brad. Come back and see us often."

Tas and I took our cups back to the break room before going back downstairs. Angie was at her desk when we came back. She bounced up and said to Tas, "Come meet our new receptionist. You'll love her."

There was an older, conservatively dressed, woman who had that same sex appeal as Joan back in LA. Angie said, "Tommy, meet Tas Stribling, our boss, and the Regional Manager, Brad Johnson."

The woman gave us a very warm smile, and said, "I'm pleased to meet both of you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to prove my worth. I promise to be an asset to your company."

I would have attacked the woman if I was fifteen years older. She had something about her that told me she knew what life was all about.

We went back into the Tas' office, and he said, "I'm going to take you to lunch, Brad. Angie will get your assistant's lunch with hers. They usually order sandwiches from a nearby deli."

Tas checked his watch and hustled me out of the office. He said, "We have a lunch appointment with Rose," as soon as we were in the car. "She said she had to meet you, so this is both your and her opportunity to do so. This woman isn't all there, Brad, but she is really something."

We pulled into what looked like a honky-tonk bar and grill. We went into the cool air-conditioned restaurant area and went straight to the far corner and found a woman about the same physical size as Katie, who had a very impish smile. She slid out of the booth and stood in front of me, and looked me up and down. She elbowed Tas, and said, "You're so sweet, you brought me a toy."

I was laughing with her during the first five seconds we met. She said, "Daddy told me you were probably a good catch, but that you were already shacked up with a couple of lookers. Sit, get a load off, and let me molest my man here."

Rose pulled Tas to her as I sat, and gave him one of the hottest kisses I've seen in public. She sat, scooted in, and Tas sat down with a glazed expression.

Rose said, "You know, you sent me to the man I've been looking for, for so long. I owe you, but I don't know how to pay up since I'm locked into this guy. I'll have to buy you a drink at a casino one of these days. I'm going to get Tas out of his marital problem, and then steal him away from the world. I'm not sure about marrying some character fresh out of a divorce, but I'm going to fuck him into submission so that he stays with me forever."

I was smiling, and Tas was blushing. A waitress came and took our drink order and left menus. Tas said, "All their food is great, but you don't want to eat in here later in the evening when all the cowboys come in. This place becomes a disaster with the cowboys and bikers. You'll see some in the bar area shooting pool now, but there will a lot more later."

Rose was a typical female lawyer, and asked me about everything except whether I dressed to the left or right. We had an enjoyable lunch until Tas looked at his watch, and said, "It's time to get back. Thanks for coming to meet my boss, Rose. I know you two talked before I got to talk to you and meet you, but you still didn't know each other. We'll go down to LA to visit him soon."

Rose stood, and said, "Thank you for sending me my dream guy. I don't know what he has that others didn't, but I'm ready to lasso him and tie him down." She pressed her full body to me with that, and gave me a very sweet kiss. She said, "Thank you again."

We three went out to go back to work. Rose got into an older Corvette convertible and left in a cloud of dust, spewing gravel out of the lot. She knew what she was doing, because none of the gravel came close to any other car or the bikes lined up at the other end of the building.

We got into the car smiling, as Tas said, "The woman is certifiable, but she sure has my interest. What a change to go from a very cold relationship to something like she is. It sure makes me a happier guy."

Angie was at the receptionist counter when we came back in. She said to Tas, "I relieved Tommy for lunch. She's eating with Yori."

We went in and I had Tas sit in his desk chair, while I sat in one of his chairs across the desk. I told him, "Let's review today's meetings: Sales is going to grow in people, the Manager is going to get the advertising in the papers, on TV, and on the radio. The one thing to push is to get as many listings as you can. The resale of existing homes is a great source of income. You're going to make sure the finance group continues to loan money for other realtors. You're going to push the title people to market their services and to close any size sale. You're probably going to have to increase your appraisers with the increased activity. The decorating department needs to grow and will probably require at least one more architect. That's a lot to do, but I know you can do it."