I watched The Apprentice with our sales supremo Iain last night. He is an avid fan. I hardly watch it but just as I was itching to go the pub, he explained to me that 'this is the sort of dull stuff me and Matt go and do' - that is pick up the phone and try to get a buyer to meet him, go and meet the buyer with some unlikely products and get them to make an order. Of course on The Apprentice, there is also the threat of being fired to spur people into all kinds of backstabbing and crazy pitches - but it also shows what can be done in a short space of time with the right approach. Iain said that he actually learnt quite a bit from watching the show. I guess I should start watching so I can see what he does when I'm at home blogging on BR. I kind of know actually because I saw him pitch in front of the mighty Dragons not that long ago, and I know he does not take No for an answer.
On a slightly different theme, I don't know how typical our experience is of a small creative company, but it wasn't long into last year's financial crisis that we realised how everything that was in the news affects us. A banking crisis affected our ability to borrow; falling consumer confidence affected retailers' willingness to try our wonderful new product; and, when you manufacture abroad, currencies can seriously trip you up - one minute the pound is high and dollars are cheap, next minute the reverse is true. We had to learn the hard way that when you manufacture abroad you better be aware that all your calculations can go out the window if you don't keep an eye on the currency markets.
We are a small company and we launched a single product in the UK, yet our supply chain is global, and now as we launch in two major new markets, we are buying and selling in four currencies across three continents. Our communications are global and our customers are also international. It's an exhilarating and surprising discovery - even if globalisation is a cliche now. It's definitely not dead.
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Joe Gill
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Member since: 03 Jun 2008
Last login: 19 Nov 2009
Total Posts: 34
