Friday 5 February 2010 - my the week goes quickly

Well another week has passed and we e have secured some appointments, not out of the cold calling but through the survey we are conducting.

People are perverse, they are not prepared to respond to direct questions but prefer the oblique approach. Oh well, I need to learn and we will start to employ that technique with the next set of leads we'll continue with the survey not the cold calling!

This is an enormous learning curve for me and I am, for the most part, enjoying the journey. I have been learning electronic marketing this week. What a strange beast.

I do not understand how people who are trying to sell marketing on the internet can make their own sites so unwieldy. Navigating a lot of them is a complete nightmare; they are just not clear. I have learned, for example, that there are basically two types of company out there, those that use pre-made lists and those that don't. Trying to tell them apart from their sites has become an art which has taken all day to acquire. Why not say, up front, we do/do not sell lists? It would make it so much easier.

I eventually had a very nice conversation with a young lady from oop North and I think that we may be doing some business together. She spoke English that I could understand and answered my questions without any BS. Watch this space!

Maggie and I have had long discussions this week about the basics. I consider myself to be erudite and experienced and get really cross when someone involved on the fringes comes along and points out the bloody obvious when you've been trying to find it for ages. Several times in the course of talking she has come up with suggestions that have simply evaded me - and I hate her for it. She doesn't read this blog and may take what I have just said the wrong way - as though I am praising her - and I wouldn't want her to grow a hat size, so please don't let on.

The tide is definitely turning now and we are seeing the progress we needed to see. My business plan said 4 months and it looks as though it will be about right.

So on we go older, wiser and even closer to meeting the grim reasper - with that happy thought I'll leave you in peace

Chris