Week in review 15th April 2016
The weekend is finally here and its about time. This week has been pretty hectic and the team have certainly covered some ground taking the JAK Brand to Birmingham, Exeter and Manchester. We’ve done networking, home working, art working and plenty of donkey working but you reap what you sow right!
Tuesday was a day of meetings and I met up for a breakfast meeting with good friend Lee Flanagan from Bespoke Financial. Once again we could have chatted for hours, however we both had other meetings planned in. I was in Stockton for a meeting with a really nice guy Ben from Precise English who I will absolutely be using in the future for various projects and maybe some other exciting stuff, Watch this space!
It was also good to say hello to Russ Sawdon, The Regional Director of BNI who was having a meeting with some of his team.
Also on Tuesday Julie (our North East BDM) headed south from Durham and Terry headed North from London for a 1-day training course on websites. Even though we have offered websites for years it’s a market space that changes so quickly and its very important that we keep ahead of product knowledge. After the training Terry headed further north to our HQ in Chester-le-Street for some more training after he joined the business last week. Special thanks to Lumley Castle who gave us a great deal and looked after him for three nights.
Sadly I wasn’t around to welcome Terry to the fabulous North East as I was heading to Exeter in Devon to meet our other new starter Kevin for 2 days of appointments that he lined up for us. Unfortunately my flybe flight was delayed an hour from Newcastle so it wasn’t until after midnight when I finally arrived in Exeter. Kevin kindly collected me from the airport and took me to his beautiful home in Whimple where his wife (Bridget) and Kevin offered to put me up. Well that’s one way to get to know your new boss!
Wednesday was an early start and by 8am I had taken over his kitchen table with maps and bits of paper with marketing ideas and scribbles. I was eager to get out and about and start meeting some prospects in our new territory.
It’s the first time I’ve been to Devon and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a beautiful place with chocolate box style cottages, fresh air and miles of lovely coastline. It was a lot different from central London, although I like that too just in a different way.
Our first appointment was with a large Web developer in Exeter who loved our Print Partner model and was quick for us to get started on a new portal for him. What a great start!
Next was a printer who Kevin had been trying to offer our trade business cards to for a while. It’s interesting that JAK Inc can offer lithographic business cards to printers cheaper than if they printed them in-house. It also saves paper and energy so we are all doing our bit for the environment too.
As we walked into the printers office there was a bust of William Caxton who is said to have been the first person to operate a printer and bring printing to England. Its funny but I reflected on this moment later and thought how time had moved on. William Caxton introduced a printing machine in 1476 and 540 years later a tech company without a printing press was in a meeting discussing opportunities to sell them business cards. Welcome to a brave new digital world!
After this meeting we viewed some office space in Exeter and found a really good location that we hope to move into within the next couple of weeks.
So far it had been an extremely productive day and it was time for a cup of tea. A short distance away was a coastal town called Shaldon. Now even though I haven’t actually been there I felt that I had as Kelly used to holiday there with her family and I had enjoyed her dad share stories from The Ness (a pub overlooking the bay) and the campsite (coastal view) where they used to stay. To mark the occasion I bought Kelly’s dad some clotted cream biscuits to give him something to remind him of happy times there.
Later that night after work I offered to take Bridget and Kevin out for dinner and we ended up in a really nice restaurant called The Jack on the Green that served fresh locally sourced Devon produce and was a real destination place. We also bumped into one of the Exeter Chiefs and England international rugby players Tom Johnson. What a lovely guy.
On Thursday we were up and out early for a breakfast networking meeting 35 miles north of Exeter in a place called Bridgwater. We met some really interesting people and I enjoyed the meeting format. Maybe we should visit again pretty soon.
During the day we had several more meetings and yet more opportunities. I was beginning to feel that JAK Inc had struck lucky with this new territory and I can’t wait to start helping people out with websites, design and print.
I headed back on Thursday night and got back in the house after 10pm for tea and toast with Kelly sharing some of my experiences and of course hearing about her days at work.
Earlier today I had a really good meeting in Manchester and I’m now planning next week where I’m back in London joining up with Terry for more appointments and training.
It’s a busy but exciting time for JAK Inc and I hope all of this hard work pays off.
My greatest goal is to overhear a conversation between two people chatting about their JAK experience and how we helped their business grow whilst offering outstanding customer service.
Have a great weekend.
Anything is possible,
Andy Knowles
Managing Director
