Not Sergey or Larry, but someone from Google Local.  ‘Not a bad website’ Mr Google  said.  ‘Hey, thanks, I’ll tell my website designers’. How would I like to get more leads and enquiries? They could place my business in the top three listings of their Local Pages listings for video production for just £90 per month. Mmm,  sounded tempting. Then I realised that the clients I build productive relationships with are ones that I meet at seminars or ring up and make appointments to go and see.  It takes an effort to maintain relationships in business, but a phone-call (don’t forget to smile) or an email can work wonders.  I’d rather be proactive and use my marketing resources to maintain and build fruitful relationships with my clients than set up a direct debit to that great cash machine in cyberspace.

Driving home in the sweltering heat of last week I found myself behind a white van.  White van man had his elbow leaning out of the driver’s window in a rather languid pose.  On the back of the van was a small  panel advert – ‘Air-conditioning service from £35′ and a mobile number. Not only had the air conditioning unit in my car packed up, but my garage normally charged £80 for the service. I rang the number and a few seconds later the elbow shot in ”Hello – hang on a minute, I can’t hear you. Let me just  pull over into this lay-by‘.  His van pulled over and I followed him ‘Where are you calling from?’ ‘I’m right behind you’ ‘Oh my god that is spooky – are you the blue car?’ ‘Yes’ I replied ‘And anyway why is it spooky? I simply called the number you advertised on the back of your van’. He roared with laughter – and I was able to book a service on the spot. And an excellent service it was to – the car feels like a fridge now.  If you want to attract an impulse purchase put your mobile phone number on the back of your van and not just your email address.