Once upon a time — of all the good days of the year, on Christmas Eve — very sad man sat busy. It was cold, snowy weather: he could hear the people outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them.
His name was Mark. He worked as a marketer. He felt that life was unfair as never before. His head was heavy with dark thinking.
Surprisingly he heard the bell above door rings. The strange figure appeared to him. It happened so fast and Mark even couldn’t understand what was going on.
“Hello. I am the Ghost of Christmas. Why don’t you go home? Why are you looking so glum when the holiday is coming?”
“I’d like to go home, but I haven’t planned the budget for next year yet. If I don’t finish it today, my boss Scrooge will deprive me of wages. By the way, to celebrate Christmas with unfinished business is a bad luck”, answered the marketer.
“So finish it and go to buy gifts for dear ones”.
“I can’t bring myself to do it. Every year I face up to the same thing. I try to have an intelligent approach to planning and calculate all the costs in advance, but Scrooge thinks that I’m trying to ruin him. He tells that expenses on analytics are the extra way to fleece him. I’m so exhausted!”.
“That sucks for you, man”, exclaimed the Ghost.
“Yep, dude. He says, “You don’t need to have analytics. You’re an expert, right?” However, the truth is Scrooge doesn’t want to spend a penny.”
Mark has turned his color and got angry.
“How can I explain that the work without analytics is racking my brain? I make the advertising. But Scrooge says that I spend his money without reason and don’t work effectively. He’s always complaining, “We don’t have enough clients. We waste a lot of money. Why do I need such a bad marketer?”. I’m generating more and more and more new ideas, but he denies them and counts every penny!”
The Christmas Ghost smiled and said.
“I know how to help you. Rise and walk with me. I want to show you something.”
Mark gave his hand and they flew away. In a few minutes, they stood upon Scrooge’s cabinet. In there Mark saw his twin sitting at the table. Everything seemed real but more gloomy.
Scrooge was furious and cried.
“Why don’t we have sales? How did you waste my money?”
Mark noticed that his double tuck the head and answered.
“I spent your money on sensible things, I swear. For example…”
“It’s not my business. Why doesn’t the advertising perform well?” interrupted Scrooge.
“How can I know? Perhaps, it works. I’d like to understand which advertising brings customers to make a phone call. I haven’t spent a single dime without reason, honestly. If we had the way to learn about ad effectiveness, the things would get better. “
“Oh, I’ve walked through the similar dialogues lots of time. Christmas Spirit, take me away”, quietly said real Mark.
And they flew away. Heavy snow and the moaning of the wind moved Mark.
In a few minutes, Mark saw his twin sitting in the accounting department. Everything didn’t seem doom and gloom as before. Mark’s twin looked more cheerfully than previously.
“I have the bill. We need to pay… “, began Mark.
“We have no money!” interrupted bookkeeper.
“But this bill is very important! If we don’t pay, the next month I won’t know what brings customers to our company. You can’t even imagine how much time I waste every month to convince Scrooge that analytics is a disaster without this tool! I’m just tired and you…”, argued Mark.
“And I’m tired to foot the bills every month. Why don’t you pay in advance for the whole year as a normal person? You regularly use it anyway.”
“But Scrooge said…”
“Did he say we currently have no money? Yesterday we bought large volumes of goods. Today we aren’t able to pay for that service.”
“What about tomorrow?” plaintively questioned Mark.
“Tomorrow I’m taking a leave. By the way, January is coming. In January all the normal people just go about their lives. You should’ve thought of that before!”
“It’s always like that”, sadly said Mark to Christmas Spirit.
Spirit invited him to the next scene. They were floating above the roofs.
Suddenly they landed in Scrooge’s cabinet.
All colors were brighter. Everything seemed newer and even Scrooge looked incredibly delighted.
“I’ve never seen this before. Is this a future?”
Spirit inclined its head. That was the only answer he received.
Scrooge was smiling gaily.
“That’s fantastic. Our company had a dazzling success this year. Seems like I pay you the decent salary for a good reason. You’re a clever boy.”
“But it’s not a surprise really. One night a year ago I was sitting very sad planning the budget ahead. Then it hit me: as was December, we still had some money. So I decided to obtain the useful tool for the whole year. As you see, it paid off. The discount for advance payment helped us have more clients for less money.”
“Oh, I adore discounts. We have to buy the biggest turkey in a butcher shop for saved money every month!” answered Scrooge and his eyes lit up.
Then he laughed and continued.
“By the way, do you know that Marley from the office opposite considers January as a poor month for business? But come to think of it, the life goes on in January. People continue to sell and buy dresses, sled, and even houses. But if that’s Marley’s choice, it’s better for us.”
Mark hasn’t heard the end of this and tugged Spirit’s sleeve.
“Christmas Spirit, take me back. I think I know what to do.”
