Back on the road – and writing this post at my dinner table in The Village Hotel, just outside Liverpool. I’ll be working with a dental practice near here tomorrow on their patient journey and selling skills.
Today was the Marriott Hotel, Leicester (very nice too) and a day with Servicemaster, presenting to a mixed group of franchise holders on business planning, time management and team-building.
The Marriott certainly know how to charge – but the customer service was excellent throughout and the facilities very impressive – a giant, modern cube of a hotel with an internal atrium and lovely rooms.
This morning I wrote emails from 5.00am to 6.30am – then 30 minutes on a treadmill (still dark outside), before changing for breakfast and emails over black pudding and fried eggs (no carbs).
Working at the Marriott until 5.30pm – during which I was reminded of the distinction between:

• Young practitioners – who need to know “where the hell do I start?”
• Established business owners – who want to know “where can I send my senior team for training?” and
• Entreprenuers – who want a members-only club – to play golf, sit in the bar until 5.00am (which they did last night) and chew the cud and share the wisdom

Dave Stirling at Servicemaster is trying very hard to convince his head office to supply those services to their franchise holders – and I want to do everything I can to help him in that process.
By the way – seeing Dave in good form after some serious cancer surgery is a special delight in the day. It once again proves that, with the right attitude, the benefit of an early warning and some excellent surgeons, you can beat the “c”.
Back to this evening – The Village Hotel is quite a dump – but its a dump that’s trying its best – the staff here are 100% clueless and 100% enthusiastic – and that’s an acceptable combination. Since I was here last year they have installed free wi-fi – now that’s inspired.
Bottom line – I’m in a crappy hotel tonight and feeling like a lonely sales rep.
I have a bottle of Gavi by my side and a Filet Mignon on the way.
Lets see what tomorrow brings.