Archive
Death of the Christmas “drinks”?
First of all, Its not missed by me
Around eight years ago, when I was first brokering, there were any number of invites from lenders for “chritsmass Drinks” and “networking”. In truth the networking aspect was pretty useless given that you were only likely to meet other brokers or accountants who simply passed all their leads to the lender in question (unprofessional to put it mildly). Secondly, drinking in the afternoon was not at all appealing.
Maybe its my regular non attendance but in the last couple of years the invites have largely disappeared. The days of the endlessly boozy pre xmas seem to be a thing of the past and I cant say that thats a bad thing at all.
In fact the lead up to xmas has been exceptionally busy for me and I also understand from trusted lenders that it has been the same in many segments of the market.
I will drink to that
Have a good break
Pattiserie Valerie. Too clever by half?
Pattiserie Valerie appear to have regularly fallen foul of suppliers over recent months. Many will of corse excuse that as simply being “cash management” but consider this..
Brakes, a catering supplier, and Booker, a food cash and carry business now owned by Tesco, both refused to provide goods to Patisserie Valerie for not keeping its credit account up to date, according to the source.
There are always certain suppliers who need you less than you need them and I would suggest that this was the case in this instance. The explanation is perhaps within this quote
Ian Cass, head of the Forum of Private Business, said: “Either it is embedded in its [Patisserie Valerie’s] policies to pay people late or they are incompetent and the business is deeply flawed.”
This may well shed light on the whole organisation and the dismal mess that it found itself in. Incompetence would be my favoured explanation and its actually far more prevalent amongst corporate FDs than often imagined but either way this story has a long way to run
NHS nightmare for suppliers?
The NHS may be a “great british institution” but the reverence in which it is held can also blind many to its many flaws. Clearly treatment of patients is it upmost priority and of course it could be argued that treatment of suppliers is simply not on the same level of importance. On the other hand, as in business, a particular culture will resonate right across an organisation and many would argue that with the NHS bureaucracy and dreadful communications are amongst the biggest issues.
This frequently results in late payments (as one of my clients has to endure) but is this entirely accidental ?
Perhaps not. The article below makes for intersting reading
Rising insolvencies ? Tony Groom on the reasons why
Tony is a highly respected and well known turnaround specialist who is a good friend of mine. His insights are always worth following and noting. Here he addresses the recent rise in business insolvencies
The Gunmakers Pub. A special place
Just over eight years ago I got together with two networking friends and decided that rather than complaining about the networking events we were attending, we should start our own.
The key issue we had found was the quality of the attendees. That decision was not entirely elitist but we believed that with attendees that were like minded and genuinely able to interact then the event should be a success. That did mean barring certain categoriesof networker. Tough decision but it proved worthwhile
The venue for the first event was The Gunmakers in Marylebone. One of my co hosts is still a friend (the other has since emigrated to America) and there are still a handful of people from that event who still come along. Yes, the event is still successful after all this time.
We have used a number of venues (the current is Rudds in Blackfriars, which I heartily recommend) but the Gunmakers will always have a special place even though we hosted just three events there.
The abiding memory of the evening was standing back and looking at a room of 30 people, who had larely arrived around 6pm, all thoroughly engaged three hors later. We knew we had a success on our hands.
They had a wonderful first floor networking room which was also excellent for presentations. It was the venue for one of my very first presentations which gained me a very valuable business contact who remains a friend to this day.
The Gunmakers was a typical traditional London pub that went out of their way to assist us but sadly it is now closed. Cycling through Marylebone the other week I passed the shuttered premises “awaiting redevelopment”.
A poignant moment and reflective of the times. A great pity that a genuinely popular venue such as the Gunmakers could not survive in this climate.
A sad ending but ill never forget this venues place in my life.
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