Door to Door Sales on a Whole New Level (Tenloss Corporate Expansion/Location Dev Thread on Crystals

[Popo]

Relations with the Coruscanti colony were good so far. They were a little leery of the Tenloss salesmen and the trading post in general at first. Now, they were still a little leery, but the amount of good Tenloss could bring in at a far lower price than any other company on the planet brought them in with ease. They hadn't purchased weapons or machines from him yet, but Popo felt it was only a matter of time. They either didn't think they could afford them or maybe the complex itself was a little foreboding. Either way, they'd come eventually.

Today was a different matter. Popo and a group of workers, aides, and security were on their way to the nearby Rylothian colony to discuss the purchase of yet more land nearby. The Hutt's men had scouted out the area and found it to be suitable for their needs. This time, it wasn't a swamp. That said, it was a rather scrubby area filled with briars and thorns, but those could be easily cleared with some heavy machines.

Popo's speeder pulled into the small colony there and came to a stop by their town hall or municipal center equivalent. He dismounted the speeder carefully and slid to the ground. Around him, Security troopers hopped out of speeders or dismounted from speeder bikes. His aides and other foremen followed suit out of the speeders and got their equipment ready.

With a quick glance around his group of representatives and a few looks at the curious locals all around, Popo made his way into the town hall. He had some land to purchase.

 

[Popo]

Popo entered the town hall behind a pair of Security troopers. The Hutt had ordered only men with sidearms were to enter the hall. He wanted a safe meeting, but he also didn't want to scare the locals. Those with long arms and heavier weapons stayed outside where they could be out of sight more or less, but close enough to help out. That said, these were backwater locals and Popo highly, highly doubted they wanted any trouble whatsoever.

The massive Hutt slithered up to the table where the colony's elders and spokespeople sat. The panel he faced was made up of five individuals. Three were obviously elders, a pair of wizened Twi'leks and an elderly human woman. The others must be the elected officials if the suit on one was any clue. The one in a suit was a middle aged human while the one in plain work clothes was a rather tough looking Twi'lek female. Popo took up a seat opposite of the panel and a few of his aides and foremen took up chairs nearby. The group was quiet and sat with the impression of wanting to get this over with. Popo figured they'd already agreed to tell him no, which meant he'd have to be a little quick on his feet.

"Let me guess," Popo said with a crooked smile, his tone full of dry humor. He wasn't being overly friendly, as that would more or less insult them, but he was shooting for a bit of the worker's perspective. He'd been in their place before. You didn't just take over a company overnight. "The panel decided before I arrived to tell me to go home, right?"

 

[Popo]

A few of the panel were mildly surprised that Popo had read them, but the Hutt had noticed one of the elderly Twi'leks smothering a grin. The suited man spoke up before the others could say a word. Popo figured he was either the elected spokesman for the group or that he'd seized the initiative before the others.

"Our colony has all the technology we need and our trade is sufficient for our purposes. You really don't have anything you can give us at this point that we would want," he said matter-of-factly. The others around him nodded in support. Popo nodded, too.

"You're right, I don't," the Hutt stated. The panel before him stopped nodding for a moment and the elderly Twi'lek stifled another smile. Popo had the impression the Twi'lek had had previous dealings with Hutts before.

"I don't have anything that you could really want that you don't have already," he continued. "But what I do have are things that you might need. Things that the union can't provide you and things that they can't resupply you with when they break or wear out."

The Hutt slid a datapad across the table to the panel, then slid another. Both held the same data and the same images, he just brought two for redundancy.

"Now, Tenloss mostly deals with weapons, armor, tanks, and starships, but we also dabble in droids and other vehicles. I'm here today to buy land, yes, but I'm also here to ask you, specifically you, the leaders of your community, what you need. If I have it, I can sell it to you cheaply and my trading post can replace parts or entire items quickly, easily, and cheaply. If I don't have something you need, I need to know what it is so I can have it designed and made for you. I'm not here to take over how things are run or to disrupt your way of life. I'm here to expand my business, yes. I run a corporation and need to make money to keep that corporation running, but I'd rather help others to make that money. If I can make your lives easier, maybe even create jobs for your colony, to make my money, I'd rather do that over selling boxes of weapons in a warzone. In short, I'm not asking you to buy my products as is and hope they work, I'm asking you to tell me what you need so that I can make it and sell you precisely what you need. Buying land nearby will help me supply you with those items and such with speed and ease."

 

[Popo]

"So let me get this straight," came a voice. Popo turned to find it was the tough looking Twi'lek woman. He figured her to be a work chief or maybe the equivalent of the town's blacksmith. "You want us to buy your products, but you would rather have us tell you what we want or need so you can make it for us instead? How does that benefit you?"

"Well," Popo stated with a polite nod in her direction. "I'm assuming your the lead work chief? And from your attire and the location, I'm guessing stonework or lumber, right?"

"Lumber," was the only word she gave, her eyebrow raised suspiciously at Popo.

"Lumber," echoed the Hutt. He pulled up an image on his datapad and expanded a few images before handing it back. "What that is is a tank Tenloss makes. Specifically, it's the R-10 Medium Tank. Now, if I pull off the turret, take the guns off, install a new engine and place the proper equipment on the front of the tank - say, saws, chippers, bulldozer blades, or even a tool to clear brush with ease - with the caterpillar treads and the reliability I can vouch for easily, that would make an excellent heavy machine to down more trees and stack them. If I couple it with something to move the lumber it cuts, like a crane for instance, then toss in a cargo hauler to move the lumber, it would cut your job time in half and you'd get far more done in the time frames you're out there. You'd double or even triple your income and halve your workload."

 

[Popo]

"Now, let's say you ship that lumber to other areas on Crystalsong," Popo continued. He pulled up a few files on his datapad, this time location summaries and factory output levels as well as his subsidiaries. "I currently have nothing that could haul it, however, if you work with me on the designs and what you want the machines to do, I have the factories and production centers to get you as many as you need or want, plus the spare parts."

He took the other datapad and shifted the screen to an aerial view of the colony itself before handing it back.

"I spotted some of your colony are trying to expand, which is hard to do without the proper equipment. Don't get me wrong, you guys are doing great and I'm sure the expansion would get very well without Tenloss around, but with my company and with your aid in helping me figure out what construction vehicles you need, you could easily expand twice or three times as fast. As your population grows and your economy booms, you'll need more living space. Helping me design the construction vehicles you need will get you that living space as fast as you want it there. I can even set up prefabricated homes to hold those families over until their preferred homes are completed."

 

[Popo]

"Like I said, I don't have a lot that I can sell you that you don't already have," Popo said honestly. "But I can help you get the things that you would need. I can make your jobs easier and more profitable, letting you spend more time with your family and less time working. I can make it easier to expand your market to let you garner more profit. Will your way of life change somewhat? Of course. You'll have less to worry about financially as a colony, you'll be spending less time working away, and spending more time with your families. Do I profit? Of course. I run a company, I have to profit somehow, but, to be up front, I'd make more selling weapons to nations at war. I'd rather make a little profit selling work machines to a colony and make their lives better than sell tools of destruction en masse."

Popo sat back then and waited for their judgement. The group began whispering together quietly, debating on the concepts Popo had given them. It was a great sales pitch, and one that he hoped they would bite at.

Sure, he'd have to redesign some things and fully make others, but the overall profit would be worth it. Half because he legitimately was helping these settlers and partly because he could sell the exact same machines to other groups both on Crystalsong and throughout the galaxy.

 

[Popo]

After a few more minutes the panel started nodding at each other. To Popo, it seemed that they had reached a conclusion. He hoped it was the one he desired.

The elderly Twi'lek that had been stifling grins earlier was the one that eventually spoke up. The suited human seemed a little put out by whatever they'd agreed on, which if Popo was to guess, was to give him a shot. The Hutt figured the human was a major business owner of some kind at the colony as that would explain the attitude currently.

"We have decided..." the Twi'lek began, his voice dry with age. "To sell the land you have requested to your company. We will see if you keep your promises and, if they are true, we will pursue more avenues of business. For now, you have your land and your first project. You will work with Liera, our lumber foreman, to design the lumber cutter vehicle you described that you based on one of your tanks. We will see how the machine works and functions, then make any further decisions."

Popo nodded once in thanks and clasped his hands together atop the table.

"I appreciate your willingness to give Tenloss a chance," he said gratefully. He then turned to the tough looking Twi'lek, Liera. "I'll have my engineers begin the first few prototypes and have them delivered as soon as possible. I feel we can give them a run through and see if anything needs to be fixed or altered."

 

[Popo]

The first few days after the meeting were highly productive. The brush at the trade post site was cleared and the grounds prepped for construction. In no time a wall and moat were constructed, though the moat was left dry. This was due to lack of readily available water to fill the ditch, but it was felt that making it deeper and wider would suffice regardless.

A landing platform was constructed within the walls and a gatehouse identical to the Coruscanti trading post was constructed. Another main building was erected and surrounded by outlying buildings. An armory, barracks, and motor pool were built and garrisoned similarly to the first trading post. Another shield generator, power generators, backup generator, and comm station were added along with another trading post set before the complex. All in all, the complex was identical to the Coruscanti post and regularly sent out patrols to map the landscape and maintain security.

Meanwhile, Tenloss engineers worked on new designs to turn the R-10 into a workhorse vehicle. It took little effort to find the correct design and to implement the new model. Within a few weeks, the first prototypes rolled off shuttles and made their way to the testing area where the Rylothian settlers and their work foreman, Liera, could judge their worth.

 

[Popo]

The newly made vehicles trundled through the forests and hills, arriving at the destination intact and on time, if not a little early. Popo slithered up alongside the vehicles and found Liera giving the machines a once over. She appeared unfazed, but Popo could tell she was curious and, perhaps, a little excited to try one out.

"Okay, so how do these work exactly?" she asked him.

"Well," Popo started, gesturing to the machine itself. "The turret has been removed and covered over with durasteel. Normally, they'd be armored to resist incoming fire, but we dropped the overall armor by about fifty percent. This will protect it from falling trees, debris, and the occasional falling rock if you're cutting trees near a hill or cliff. The weapons were removed entirely and we took the turret cradle's space to add in a more powerful engine and room for the cutting tool's engine. Both engines are reliable and easy to maintain and repair. The cutting tool itself is a simple pairing of twin saws that can be adjusted to various sized trees. There are small graspers mounted on either side that allow you to place the tree wherever you want after you cut the tree from the stump."

"Can you have it demonstrated?" Liera asked, gesturing at a particularly large tree nearby. "We've been finding large trees like that one and it's taking the better part of a day or two to down them. If this thing can get it in even half the time, I'm sold."

Popo nodded once and shouted out an order to the driver, who kicked the vehicle into gear. Everyone watched the tank turned tree cutter trundle forward to the tree in question.

 

[Popo]

The tank moved up to the tree and the operator kicked on the saws. Metal met wood in a whine of motors and woodchips. The graspers on either side clamped down on the tree trunk and held it firm and fast. Wood chips and sawdust spewed out from the whirring blades as they cut through the wood like a hot knife through butter. The noise was deafening, but the results were easily seen. In but a few minutes, the tree was completely cut through and held up by the grasping metal claws mounted on the front of the tank.

The modified R-10 turned slowly and the driver called a question over the commlink he wore. Popo responded calmly over his own commlink and the tank began to trundle down the road once more. It moved about a quarter of a mile and stopped. The machine began to turn carefully and precisely before slowly lowering the tree to the ground and letting it slowly fall to the ground before it. A massive crash and then silence deafened everyone. The modified tank had cut the massive tree in mere minutes, carried it a quarter of a mile, and laid it atop other cut trees with ease and surety.

Popo glanced at the Twi'lek worker that stood next to him, her eyes wide.

"Do these machines pass your inspection?" the Hutt asked politely.

"We'll buy all of them," came the monotone answer.

And thus Tenloss opened up their second trading post on Crystalsong.