Page 176 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

The remarkable thing is that when you ask this question, the
answer you get is very rarely about money. It might the timing of
payment, or the deadline for delivery, or a clause that allows for
renegotiation after a certain period. Sometimes, though, it is about
money. So I would ask them what a fair price is.
‘I know it’s not right for you to do it for nothing. I don’t want
to work with somebody who has no margin, so tell me at what
price the deal starts working for you.’
I always wanted to make sure that when they walked out of the
door they were happy with the deal, and, you know what, no one’s
ever asked me the same question! It’s something that we just don’t
ask in business and yet to me it makes perfect sense. If you’re going
to be working together on a project that’s important to both of
you, isn’t it just common sense that you will work better together
if you’re both happy with the deal?
I was getting a lot of things right, but, looking back, I can see
that I also made one pretty big mistake. If I had invested in
properly computerising the company, then I probably would have
found it easier to grow the business and break out of the boutique
trap. The truth is, I almost certainly should have computerised, but
I just didn’t understand computers enough to know how important
they were. When I’d started in the mid-eighties I’d made sure I
understood every aspect of my business, but as technology became
more important there was a whole element of the operation that I
neglected. I let my personal disinterest in computers affect my
business, and, if I had taken a different stance and tried to get to
grips with what computerisation could have done for Alexander
Mann, maybe the company could have been twice, if not ten times,
as big.
I was still working long hours – on average probably fifteen
hours a day – but I always made sure I had time for my family. If
one of the girls was giving a performance at school, I was always
there; if there was a sports day or a parents’ evening I made sure

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