Richard Harrington Summerby (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} the_richard) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} finnigans_rpg, |
He asked how Lucy preferred her coffee, and poured her a cup to her tastes, grabbing a bottle of water for himself. "Maybe a quick rundown then. International Exports started as a trade consortium in the early 1500s. Buy things here, ship them there, sell them. Share the risks and the profits. Some of the senior partners still prefer to do it that way. I occasionally do it myself. More likely, though, is that I know somebody who wants to buy something, find somebody selling it, and somebody else to transport it, and take a commission on each piece of the deal. Or vice versa if I know somebody with something to sell. Each folder here represents one contract, or part of a contract. When the transaction is completely done, all the paperwork is gathered in chronological order and sent to Printing and Binding next door and ends up in that big library we came through. Tracking paperwork and putting things together would be part of your job."
"Factors, or agents, if you prefer a more modern term, work under a junior or senior partner visiting their clients and trying to find and write new business until they can afford to buy a junior partnership like I did. I'm taking a junior partner's share of the risks, and get a junior partner's share of the company profits while I gather up the ten mil to buy a senior partner's share. And I'm out there three or four days a week meeting clients and trying to develop new business, as is Millicent, who is one of my better agents and who runs several of her own under her direction. Dreadfully confusing yet?"
He chuckled. "My great great grandfather broke into the muggle trade world, and now it's 'toss that one to the Summerby lads, they're the muggle experts'. So there are telephone conversations, emails, owls, muggle letters, and face-to-face meetings all the time, and all over the world. If you're not multilingual, I know a charm that will help you become so. One part of my success in this business has been speaking to clients in their own language. And all our client files are coded for muggle, wizarding, or muggle in the know. Questions so far?"