Читать книгу Wake Up and Sell the Coffee! - Martyn Dawes - Страница 38

I condensed all of this into a few key statements in the form of a crib sheet for making calls. The next job was to get names and phone numbers and get some appointments. I swallowed hard picking the phone up for the first time. My target was different now. I was after retail and development directors of some of the biggest names on the British retail and consumer landscape. I knew I had to get in at the top. New initiatives happen because they get senior buy-in; they can get stuck if introduced lower down as middle management usually lack the authority to take risks with new ideas.

Some days I didn’t make any calls if I didn’t feel in the right mindset. I had to defeat the inevitable “Thank you but we already have our coffee suppliers” and “You’ll need to speak to the buyer” responses. I combated these by recognising they weren’t trying to get rid of me, they just didn’t understand.

I explained that we were different and were carefully choosing which retailers we wanted to work with. They hadn’t seen our category before and I was certain their boss would want to talk to me. Slowly, things started to happen. I quite literally didn’t take no for an answer and when I finally got through to the key person I usually found we were talking the same language: how to wow customers, bring more people through the door, keep them inside for longer and get them spending. Most were interested in hearing what I had to say and across the summer of 1999 my diary was virtually full meeting potential customers.

I met with a long list of companies including Esso, BP, Marks & Spencer, B&Q, Waitrose, Safeway, Rank Leisure (Odeon Cinemas), Warner Village Cinemas (now Vue), Holiday Inn Express, Topnotch Health Clubs, Homebase, BAA (now Heathrow Airport Holdings), Boots, Currys, Our Price and London Underground.