#// thought that compiling things like this might make things a little neater | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

desperationandgin · 5 years

Text

Deep As The Road is Long (Part I, Chapter 5)

Rating: General Audiences

Also Read On: AO3

Read Previous Chapter

Try, try, try just a little bit harder So I can love, love, love him, I tell myself Well, I'm gonna try, just a little bit harder So I can't give, give, give, give him to nobody else.

August 2015

It takes five weeks to know. Five weeks of trying not to dwell on test results and failing miserably. Five weeks of waking up in a cold sweat and needing to watch Faith breathe. Thirty-five days to know the stem cells took. No more treatments, the port in her chest removed. There’s remission for now, but Jamie decides they’re staying put for a while; he won’t leave it to a doctor back home to look for any signs of cancer when he already has the best right where they are. If something happens to Faith, she needs Claire. And so Jamie decides they’ll stay for a year, and after that, fly back annually for checkups as long as it takes.

For now, all Claire hears is that they’re staying. As he leaves the last check-up for a while with Faith, he mentions he’s getting more furniture so the next time she comes over for chicken nugget stars, it’ll be fancier. It makes her smile to know he wants her to visit again; he’s on her mind, always, somehow. She’s met other parents, other single fathers, even. But she’s never met someone like Jamie before. Confident, playful, strong, with the ability to be incredibly sensitive. Now that he’s sleeping, now that there are more reasons to smile, she sees more of that, and she sees it in Faith, too. How easily she laughs, the way the dark circles under her eyes are slowly disappearing. These are people who’ve invited her into their lives beyond the doctoring, and she can’t stop thinking about them.

That may be why, as she shops for herself, she comes up with an idea of something Jamie should have in his home. Good music, on actual albums, not just on his phone. She narrows everything down in her shopping cart to just two things: An honest to God record player and a Janis Joplin album. A compilation. One with the song Try. It’s a good record; she stands by it and takes both gifts with her the next time she’s invited to dinner.

When Jamie lets her inside, the first thing she notices is that he’s shaved; he’s always had some sort of facial hair, but there’s less now, it’s neater and his curly hair is a bit shorter. He’s also in more than just jeans and a t-shirt. Well, he’s still in jeans, but they’re his actual size, they’re nicer, and the shirt is fitted. She can see, clearly, every muscle in his upper arms.

Christ, how did a bookseller get so fit?

“What’s all this?” he asks, moving to relieve her of her packages.

“A gift. For you. A housewarming gift, really,” she explains, stumbling a bit for God knows what reason. Thankfully, Faith is a good distraction, immediately wrapping herself around Claire for a hug. She’s still so slight that Claire lifts her easily and makes her way back to the couch, sitting with an exaggerated sigh, as if Faith weighs more. “You’re definitely eating all of the good food I told you to,” she praises.

Faith nods with a grin, then gestures toward the kitchen. “We made dinner and it’s no’ chicken nuggets this time.”

“It’s not?” Claire asks curiously. “What are we having that smells so delicious?”

“ Pizza! Our very own and now ye have to pick toppings to make yours.”

Claire lets herself be led by the hand toward the kitchen as she glances back at Jamie with a wide smile. Soon, her own pizza is being slid into an oven next to his while he pulls Faith’s out to cool. Letting the little girl lead the conversation mostly results in Claire being told tales filtered down through her father about Highland cows and all the animals of Lallybroch missing her. Glances are shared between Jamie and Claire; her silently hoping they decide to stay here in Boston for good, him wondering if one day he might be able to show her all the things Faith describes.

Once everyone’s pizza is ready (Claire’s toppings: cheese, green bell pepper, and pepperoni. Jamie’s: everything but the kitchen sink. Faith’s: Plain cheese.) they sit at the new dining room table, and now it’s Claire’s turn to talk when Faith begins asking her all sorts of questions. Where her favorite place ever to go is (The Museum of Fine Arts on a rainy day), if she has any pets (no, she isn’t home enough and it wouldn’t be fair) and whether or not she’s ever seen a double rainbow (very regrettably no).

Jamie’s pleased at the mild interrogation, filing some information away and realizing she’s hard to stop looking at as she engages with his daughter. She’s open as a book, not holding anything back, which is why he leans over and whispers in Faith’s ear. The little girl beams and looks at Jamie, who nods, and then her grin is turned to Claire.

“Doctor Claire, what’s yer favorite breakfast?”

It’s such an innocent question from the mouth of five-year-old, and yet when Claire’s eyes meet Jamie’s she can just about feel the heat from her cheeks fill the room. Clearing her throat, her mouth opens, then closes. What a clever bastard.

“Well. I don’t always sit down for a proper breakfast. Most of the time I eat yogurt or a piece of fruit...”

“How boring for ye,” Jamie interjects cooly, pretending to buff his nails on his jeans.

“...But I like pancakes with syrup and bacon.”

“That’s good! I like my pancakes wi’ chocolate chips in them,” Faith informs her.

“Well, I’ll have to find someone who makes really good chocolate chip pancakes and hope they invite me to breakfast,” is the natural reply.

“Daddy can!”

“Mo bheannachd, I’m honored ye think my cooking is so good, but I have no’ made pancakes in a long while. They would be all funny shapes, I reckon. And now it’s time for ye to go change for bed. Go on,” he says, nodding toward her room. He does pull her close for a quick kiss to the forehead before she disappears down the hallway.

Clearing her throat, Claire stands as well. “I’ll help you clean up.”

“Hold on,” Jamie decides, getting up as well and walking toward the gift sitting on the coffee table. “I’m a wee bit curious.” Not waiting on her to give her blessing, Jamie opens the record player first, then the record and looks at it with a curious smile. “Janis Joplin?”

“Her voice was made to be listened to on vinyl. It’s a good record,” Claire defends, watching as Jamie begins to take the player out of the box.

“It’s only that I never thought of ye as the type, is all,” Jamie shrugs, plugging in the record player. “I thought of ye more as a…’slow jazz with a glass of wine’ sort.”

For a moment, Claire doesn’t say anything, and then she finds her voice. “You think of me?”

Now, it’s his turn to avoid looking at her, but the tips of his ears pink nicely. As he unwraps the record, he nods a little. “Aye. I do.”

Before they get much further than that, Faith comes back in, dressed in soft pink pajamas with Care Bears on them, pink slippers on her feet. “Can Doctor Claire tuck me in?”

It’s a small request, but one that feels like a high honor as Claire looks at Jamie, trying to be sure it’s alright if she says yes.

“I think that’s up to Doctor Claire, mo ghaol.”

Two sets of eyes look at her now, one hoping, one curious, and she smiles softly, nodding. “Of course I can. I would be happy to.” Reaching out, Faith’s hand curls into hers and Claire’s heart feels like it very well might burst. Children trust her to make them well, parents put all of their hope into her, but the innocence of this, that even outside of the hospital Faith trusts Claire, means something else on perhaps a different scale. It’s bigger than medicine and healing, whatever it is. She can’t quite name it. In Faith’s room, she helps her to bed and there’s Trunky, waiting to be received, and Claire tucks him in right beside her.

“Goodnight, Doctor Claire,” Faith says with a small grin, snuggling under her sheets and blanket.

“Sweet dreams, Faith,” she murmurs, reaching out to stroke her forearm softly. It’s different, watching her drift off, comfortable in her own bed, warm, taken care of. Claire never gets to see this part, the after, and it takes her breath away. When she seems to be at least dozing lightly, Claire rises and makes her way into the living room as the first strains of Little Girl Blue filter from the record player. She knows the song, knows it as something a bit melancholy. But she watches Jamie, standing there and listening to the sultry, scratchy voice of Janis Joplin sing about being unhappy. As soon as he’s aware of her, Jamie looks up, then extends his hand.

She’s drawn to him without more prompting and takes his offer. Before she can register it, she’s dancing with him in a slow sway to words about raindrops and sadness. It’s a slow dance, one where they barely move, but she’s very aware of him, the smell of his aftershave and soap where her head rests on his shoulder. Eventually, the song fades into another, but for a long while, they don’t move until she realizes they’re standing completely still, arms wrapped around one another. Raising her head, she looks up just as his head dips and his lips graze hers. It’s a soft kiss, but one she feels blossom deep in her belly. She lets herself get lost in the way she feels right now, in how he feels, the way her body naturally curves to his and there’s no question about how they fit together. Without thinking much about it, Claire’s lips part, inviting him to kiss her deeper, until she realizes what she’s doing.

Kissing a patient’s father.

Breaking the moment by ducking her head, she takes a few deep breaths and lets them out softly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t, it’s… it could be seen as unethical because I’m treating your daughter.”

Immediately, Jamie lets her go, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “I dinna… I dinna want to make ye uncomfortable.”

“It isn’t that, Jamie, it’s not. With Faith as my patient, it just. It clouds things. My judgment,” she explains, and it isn’t a total lie. Though she’s already so attached to that little girl, kissing her father likely doesn’t matter much as far as judgment goes. Still, Claire clears her throat. “I should go.”

Reaching out, Jamie stops the record and nods. “Thank ye. For the gift. I suppose I’ll need to go buy more records,” he says with a gentle smile, trying to ease her, trying to keep her from thinking it’s too awkward now for her to ever return. It’s not the first time in his life he’s been turned down, but it is the first time he’s left feeling dizzy by everything he just felt but can’t have.

“There’s a great place about a mile from here. Huge selection. Something better than old Janis Joplin songs, maybe,” Claire explains as she walks toward the door, semi-apologizing for her selection.

“Something better? I think I have a new favorite song,” he decides.

One he can listen to and remember the way she felt as she pressed close.

Next Chapter

#outlander fic #outlander #jamie x claire #jamie fraser #claire fraser #datril #deep as the road is long #you should listen to little girl blue

301 notes · View notes

webart-studio · 5 years

Text

The Final Information to Gross sales and Advertising and marketing

Peanut butter and jelly.

Puppies and the park.

Seaside days and ice cream.

Some issues simply clearly go collectively — however what if I put gross sales and advertising and marketing collectively in that record? Would you continue to assume they labored higher as a pair?

Greater than possible, you have not fairly thought-about your gross sales and advertising and marketing to be the “peanut butter and jelly” of your organization. However, in 2019, alignment between these two groups is extra important than ever.

Merely put, alignment between advertising and marketing and gross sales is basically about specializing in the client — and, in 2019, the client’s shopping for habits has modified considerably.

Fortuitously, the higher you possibly can align your gross sales and advertising and marketing groups, the extra possible you’re to please a prospect. In truth, organizations with tightly aligned gross sales and advertising and marketing groups expertise 36% larger buyer retention charges.

Right here, we will discover why gross sales and advertising and marketing matter to an organization — and, equally importantly, why they matter collectively.

Definition of Gross sales and Advertising and marketing

Advertising and marketing is the method of getting folks curious about your organization’s services or products, whereas gross sales encompasses any actions concerned in promoting that services or products to a client or enterprise. One can not exist with out the opposite. You can’t promote with out initially igniting curiosity within the client by way of advertising and marketing, and also you can’t be a marketer with out having a group ready to promote the product as soon as you’ve got captured a client’s consideration.

To begin, let’s discover some great benefits of each gross sales and advertising and marketing to your group.

Gross sales is finally important to your organization’s backside line. You can’t have scalable progress with out a formidable gross sales group. At its most simple, your gross sales group’s objective is to first qualify prospects, attain out and construct relationships with them, and finally, present an answer that can profit the prospect. When performed properly, a gross sales transaction leads to a sale, a glad buyer, and income to your firm.

For gross sales groups to excel, your salespeople should be invested within the success of your clients. They have to perceive your prospects’ ache factors and obstacles, and show how your services or products is an answer — one of the best resolution — to these issues.

Alternatively, advertising and marketing is all about igniting curiosity in potential customers, and telling the world your organization, and its services or products, exists. Advertising and marketing makes use of each emotion and analytics to achieve an viewers, and convert curious viewers into certified leads.

This is the factor, although — in 2019, a purchaser is not following the normal “advertising and marketing to gross sales to buyer” funnel.

As a substitute, every particular person prospect follows a singular path. One prospect may know they need to buy your product earlier than even talking with a gross sales rep, as a result of they’ve already been satisfied by your Instagram account.

Alternatively, one other prospect may communicate with a gross sales rep first, and then require extra advertising and marketing within the type of webinars or weblog posts, earlier than closing the deal.

Your purchaser has limitless info at her fingertips — she will take a look at your Fb web page, weblog posts, web site, and buyer product evaluations earlier than even talking with a gross sales rep.

When a prospect who has already learn 13 buyer evaluations will get in contact together with your gross sales rep, she’s going to require a distinct dialog than a prospect who’s solely heard of your organization from a Fb advert.

That is why your advertising and marketing and gross sales groups must be in tight alignment in 2019 — as a result of your purchaser must be communicated with, and offered to, wherever and at any time when she needs. The standard gross sales and advertising and marketing techniques not work. To seek out scalable progress, it’s vital your advertising and marketing group talk all the knowledge they’ve a couple of prospect to your gross sales group earlier than a salesman even will get on the cellphone.

Gross sales and Advertising and marketing Technique

To actually delight your buyer, it’s vital you cut back friction by implementing a technique to align your gross sales and advertising and marketing groups. As an illustration, you may need your gross sales and advertising and marketing groups work collectively to craft a purchaser persona, or doc content material hole’s alongside a purchaser’s journey. Whereas it would look like the 2 groups have completely different measurements of success, they need to finally share the objective of being customer-centric, even at the price of their particular person processes.

Gross sales and advertising and marketing alignment can assist your organization develop into 67% higher at closing offers, and can assist generate 209% extra income from advertising and marketing.

Not aligning your gross sales and advertising and marketing groups is not simply unhelpful for the client — it is also damaging to your backside line.

Nevertheless it’s simpler mentioned than performed. Aligning gross sales and advertising and marketing, notably when you will have a rising firm, can really feel like an extremely troublesome course of.

Fortuitously, there are a number of methods you possibly can implement to make sure a smoother relationship between the 2 groups, instantly.

1. Ask your advertising and marketing and gross sales group to create a purchaser persona collectively.

Your entrepreneurs have a agency pulse on the patron — they’ve performed intensive analysis, they’ve engaged with prospects by way of social media and electronic mail, and so they’ve held focus teams.

However, greater than possible, your entrepreneurs have not spoken instantly to those prospects. They may not totally perceive your prospects largest ache factors, or the challenges they face that your services or products presently cannot resolve. These insights can solely be obtained out of your gross sales group.

In the end, to get a full image of your client, it’s vital that every group assist craft the customer persona. As an illustration, maybe you will have your advertising and marketing group create an preliminary purchaser persona by way of analysis and brainstorming periods — however then you definitely collect enter from salespeople to switch and refine that persona.

Getting preliminary enter from salespeople, in addition to asking for ultimate approval on a purchaser persona, is important to make sure every group is working along with the identical client in thoughts.

2. Doc content material gaps alongside a purchaser’s journey.

Your gross sales and advertising and marketing groups ought to take the time to compile every little thing each groups have created to assist resolve for the client — together with white papers, infographics, e-books, case research, and electronic mail streams.

Then, staff from every group ought to have a candid dialogue about what’s lacking. Possibly a gross sales rep notices your advertising and marketing group hasn’t created any e-books on a difficulty most of her prospects’ face. Alternatively, possibly your advertising and marketing group wants your gross sales group to offer enter to craft a extra helpful buyer case examine.

Moreover, each groups ought to take the time to arrange and perceive what content material works greatest for which stage of the customer’s journey. Whereas possible a tedious course of, it will assist each groups develop into more practical of their methods over the long-term.

3. Preserve observe of each interplay your buyer has together with your firm.

These days, this is likely one of the most important methods it’s essential to implement. It eliminates friction for the client, and it additionally helps your gross sales reps shut extra offers.

As an illustration, think about the way you’d really feel in case you spoke with a gross sales rep for the primary time, and he already knew the place you labored, how lengthy you’d been there, which electronic mail newsletters you’d subscribed to, and which firm networking occasions you’d attended. You’d possible be extra impressed than in case you spoke to a gross sales rep who’d by no means heard of you earlier than, proper?

It is vital you discover a option to maintain observe of every interplay your buyer has together with your firm — a free CRM is extremely helpful for this.

4. Be customer-centric together with your language.

All too typically, entrepreneurs and salespeople use completely different language and depend on completely different analytics to measure success. As an illustration, a marketer’s measure of success is perhaps primarily based on weblog site visitors, Fb likes, electronic mail subscriptions, or YouTube viewers.

Alternatively, a salesman’s final measure of success is income.

Nonetheless, there is one objective each groups share — and that is to be customer-centric.

To align each groups, it’s vital your salespeople and entrepreneurs think about, firstly, the client. When a marketer emails a prospect, she ought to think about the individual on the opposite finish — and whether or not they need to obtain that electronic mail, and the way that electronic mail might be useful for them.

Moreover, when a salesman picks up the cellphone, she wants to recollect the dialog is not about making a sale — it is about fixing an issue for a prospect.

With this in thoughts, your groups can have a neater time blurring the strains between their particular person duties and tasks, and recognizing their very unified need to resolve for the client, even over their very own processes.

source https://webart-studio.com/the-final-information-to-gross-sales-and-advertising-and-marketing/

#start up #entrepreneurs #new business #online marketing #wordpress websites #productivity #sm

0 notes