Pride and Avarice by Nicholas Coleridge

Author:Nicholas Coleridge [Coleridge, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Family Life, General
ISBN: 9780312382629
Google: an-SmAEACAAJ
Amazon: 0312382626
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Published: 2010-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

34.

For two hours every Thursday morning, though it felt much longer, Ross endured the visits to his office of his presentational coach, Megan Miller of Megan Miller Associates. It had been Freeza Mart’s corporate PR company that first recommended the appointment of a presentational coach, and directed him to Megan. Ross initially resisted the idea vehemently, saying he didn’t need or want any fancy-pants consultants telling how to dress and speak, and anyway he didn’t have the time, and he’d prefer to be judged on his company results than his party manners. But following a couple of challenging interviews in the business sections of the Sunday newspapers, when he didn’t feel he’d got his message across clearly enough, and found he was battling against a lot of negative spin from competitors, Ross changed his mind.

‘Ok,’ he said. ‘I’ll give it a try. But if they tell me to start wearing a pink bow tie and aftershave or dressing from some poncey gents outfitters, I’m chucking it in right away.’

Not long afterwards, he had his initial appraisal with Megan. A one-time newsreader with Granada television, who still made periodic appearances on screen, Ross was immediately impressed by her, and by her sexy tortoiseshell glasses. Megan explained her role would encompass everything from media training for TV and print interviews, to helping Ross position himself as a coherent brand.

‘And what’s that supposed to mean then,’ Ross asked, sceptically.

‘It’s all about building up a story around you,’ Megan said. ‘Right now, I don’t know much about you at all, nor do the public. You’re basically an unknown quantity.’

‘That’s just how I like it,’ Ross said. ‘Our customers aren’t interested in Ross Clegg. They want to know our tuna and sweetcorn are consistently less dear than Pendletons’s tuna and sweetcorn, and our household essentials cost less than the same product at Asda.’

‘Wrong,’ replied Megan. ‘Well, you’re absolutely right about value, of course, and that’s what you do best. I can’t help you with that, it’s the meat and potatoes of your business. But you’re mistaken if you think shoppers aren’t interested in you. Or, anyway, that they wouldn’t be interested if they knew who you were. People know who owns Topshop, right? They know—or some of them do—the guy who runs Marks & Spencer, he’s always in the papers. And everyone knows Richard Branson.’

Ross made a face. ‘Listen, Megan, let me make one thing clear. I don’t want to be Richard Branson, thank you very much, or anything like him.’

Megan laughed. ‘Point taken. I won’t morph you into Branson. Shame. I was about to tell you to grow a beard and get bigger teeth. Just kidding.’ Then she turned serious. ‘I don’t actually want you to change at all, I want you to be yourself. That’s once we’ve agreed what yourself is. My job is to talk to Ross Clegg about Ross Clegg, establish his character—the bits that tell a story, and work it up into something. Give you some definition for your media profile It’s an editing process.

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