There was silence as I looked at Heidi and she pretended to headbutt the table.
‘No way! We love those guys,’ I said, through gritted teeth.
We hated those guys.They’d pipped us to the post on the pitch for Dinky Drinks last year and it still stung.
‘Leo Kendrick is CEO there now and Zach Evans is their creative director – I believe you know each other?’
Heidi folded her arms with an animated eye roll but kept her voice steady. ‘Yes, we know them.’
Amplify were fast becoming our PR nemesis. We’d pitched against them eight times in three years, and they were beating us five-three. But that was allnewnew business. We’d never pitched against them for one of our own accounts. What was that even called? Newoldbusiness? Whatever it was called it was a new level of low, even for them.
Leo Kendrick had gained himself quite the following in the PR press and was forever spouting his opinions next to his overly quiffed headshot. He’d recently been promoted to the chief job at Amplify and been listed as one of Forbes’forty under forty. But his entire new business strategy seemed to involve snapping at our heels, and I could just imagine his Cheshire cat grin at the thought of taking our biggest account.
‘Yes, we like to support start-ups,’ Heidi said, pulling herself together. ‘Their creative director used to work for me, in fact. Back in the day.’
‘Oh, really? Zach?’ Brooke sounded delighted at this unexpected kinship. ‘He’s got some pretty wild ideas on how we can shake things up around here.’
‘I bet,’ Heidi said, shaking her head. ‘Yep. Zach Evans. He was my protégée when he first started out – it’s good to see him doing so well.’
‘A pitch rivalry,’ Brooke breathed into the microphone, and I could practically hear her drooling at the idea. ‘I love it!’
‘Hardly,’ I said, lying through my teeth. ‘They’re an interesting choice to pitch us against, but we don’t see them as rivals – and especially not when it comes to the cruising industry. Even they would admit we’re the experts.’
‘Oh, quite the contrary. They told me you often compete for business, but they usually come out on top.’
‘They didnotsay that!’ I blurted, before I could stop myself.The audacity.
‘Oh yes they did!’ Brooke squealed with glee. ‘Those cheeky boys think they’ve got it in the bag.’
‘There’s plenty of something in their bag, that’s for sure,’ Heidi said, mouthing the word ‘bullshit’ at me. ‘But there’s a fine line between overconfidence and bare-faced lies!’
I tried to maintain a dot of decorum. ‘Well, we look forward to showing them – and you – how uniquely positioned we are when it comes to your business.’
‘Well, ain’t that just wonderful to hear?’ Brooke sing-songed. ‘Nothing wrong with a little healthy competition between friends now, is there?’
‘Nothing at all. Bring it on,’ Heidi said, her voice strong and steady despite her deflated body language. ‘No one knows Excalibur like we do.’
‘That may be true,’ Brooke said, ‘which is why this pitch process is such good timing. My knowledge of the cruising industry isunrivalled– as you gals can imagine – but when it comes to the Excalibur business specifically, I’m still getting my head around how it all hangs together, y’know? I can talk to the team until the cows come home but there ain’t no better way to find out about it than to discover it for myself.’
‘One hundred per cent,’ Heidi said, nodding vigorously. ‘You have to know it to sell it – that’s what I always say, isn’t it, Kat?’
She glared at me then pointed to the phone.
‘It sure is,’ I said, loud and clear into the microphone. ‘You’ve gotta see it to be it, right? Love it and live it to… give it.’
Heidi pressed the mute button. ‘Stop now.’
Brooke cleared her throat. ‘Quite. Anyway, on that note, I’ve decided to get samplin’ the goods as soon as I can to get me up to speed across our cruise portfolio.’
‘Makes sense to get out there and experience it,’ I said, slightly jealous of that kind of induction.
‘As you both know, we have a new flagship product, theEsmeralda, set to sail to Portugal in three weeks or so. She is a cut above our other cruises as we look to acquire a bigger share of the market and as such I’d like you bothto join me on board. It’ll give us chance to get to know each other while we witness our latest holiday proposition first-hand.’
‘Really?’ Heidi gave me a thumbs up across the table, eyes shining.
It had been a while since we’d gone on an Excalibur Cruise – we’d been on and off the different ships while they were docked, for a quick photo shoot here and there, but it had been a couple of years since we’d had the full passenger experience.Ye bloody ha.
‘Oh yes, really. The pitch will be all about theEsmeralda, so you’ll need to know her inside and out. What makes her different? What makes her tick? Talk to the guests, understand how they think and what would bring them back. I’d like to set a pitch date of July twenty-first, here in the boardroom at Excalibur head office, so you’ll have a couple of months to prepare.’
