Another Day Another Great Supplier

How many fliers arrive in the post on an average day? Four or five perhaps? Maybe ten on a busy day. How many go straight into the bin? If you are anything like me it would be 99.9%. And yet one very simple, very amusing and very straight to the point little cartoon booklet sent by Workhouse Marketing at the end of 2007 not only grabbed my attention but compelled me to do what it suggested and get in touch. I figured that if anybody could get my attention in the seconds betwixt envelope and bin, they must be people worth talking to.

And I figured right. I got in touch and went to see Workhouse MD Mark Jones in his offices in delightful rural Lancashire and was totally impressed by the Workhouse set up. If workhouses conjure up dark images of starving children begging for more, nothing could be further from the truth as the bright design studio was staffed by a happy team of young people working with the very latest technology. I immediately warmed to the Workhouse set up and was confident that they had the skill to take Instanta further.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Our 2008 brochure won plenty of plaudits from our customers and would be hard to match but Workhouse pulled out all the stops again last year and, as I leave the company, I feel that our latest brochure (above)is our best ever. Considering that Instanta is a British manufacturer and that the country has just been through the worst recession in living memory I have to thank Workhouse for their help in providing us with the sales and promotional material necessary to weather that storm and sail through with an increase in sales that went against the industry trend.

They are not a company to rest upon their laurels and have invested heavily in developing their business and now have a purpose built photographic studio and an excellent in house photographer. Their repertoire extends far beyond sales brochures as you can see from their last year's Xmas video which ends today's blog and captures the company's sense of humour perfectly.

It's very rare for me to enthuse so effusively about a company but it is extremely rare to come across a company that has values that are close to my heart. In the end all business has to be about profit, without it the country would grind to a halt, but other things are important too such as ensuring that clients and staff are valued equally. I feel that, in running their business, Mark and his wife Nita have applied similar principles to those used by us here at Instanta. It has worked for us and it works for them and I am happy to recommend them strongly. Sharing many interests and tastes it is no surprise that we have become firm friends away from the working environment and we have enjoyed dining out with Mark and Nita at several excellent North West establishments and are looking forward to meeting up with them again in a couple of weeks. 

I don't share Mark's passion for rugby which saw him and Nita flying to South Africa to follow the British Lions last year and has made him a near ever present at Wales Rugby internationals but he also loves cricket and even goes to watch Blackburn Rovers from time to time (although whether that marks him out as a football enthusiast or merely a masochist is open to question).Mark and Nita, who, like Marion, does a hard job in credit control amongst many other things, have two sons Ben and Tom. Ben, (front) who works at Workhouse is just off to Australia on a sabbatical, whilst Tom has opened an excellent wine shop in nearby Whalley named, appropriately, The Whalley Wine Shop. It stocks an excellent range of wines and a big variety of other drinks and is well worth a short detour when you travel along the A59.

Before finishing with that video, a quick word about Steve Gerrard. I have been highly critical of Stevie G over the last few years. It's not that I don't think he's a good player, his ability has always been beyond doubt. It's just that I felt that he had become a scowling prima donna who, instead of inspiring inferior players with his captaincy and leadership, treated them with contempt and limited Liverpool's performances by not involving them in the play. Last night he rose above that, played as part of the team and inspired Liverpool to a win that at half time looked extremely unlikely. Hat's off to him. But come on Steve, can we please see more smiles and less scowling. And supporters, whilst being able to pass the ball forty yards may well be a fine asset what has being big and f******g hard got to do with it?

Max Wins The Instanta Open

A group of Instanta staff and friends enjoyed a wonderful weekend recently at Formby Hall. They were contesting the annual Instanta Golf Tournament and here is organiser Lee Moore (right) presenting Service Manager Max Vidal with his hard won trophy. I hear that the course was a fiendish one and a number of scores topped the hundred mark but after two days and 36 holes Max came out on top, followed closely by Northern Area Sales Manager Peter Brindle and Sales Administrator Craig Buckley. A big thank you to Lee Moore for organising the event so successfully. Here are some of those who took part,(left to right) Carl (a guest) Nick Neal Sales Director,Peter Barlow from stores,Peter Brindle,Max Vidal, Craig Buckley and Mike Chubbs from our machine shop enjoying a post golf burger and chips.





It was our (almost) retirement party on Saturday evening and a group of ten of us were lucky enough to have wonderful weather for the do which went down very well. Local chef Brian Wareing came round and prepared us a lovely summer buffet and a fine selection of wines were provided by The Whalley Wine Shop - rather too many wines for me and, after six weeks of exemption from booze due to my diet, I literally fell off the wagon as the evening wore on and managed to bang my head on the ground. Fortunately the bump was a minor one or I could have ruined the evening and ended up as one of the binge drinking statistics in the local A & E. I woke up yesterday feeling like I had done a few rounds with Mike Tyson but fortunately the hangover is wearing off now although it took a lot of will power to drink the yogurt, kiwi fruit and banana smoothie prescribed by the diet this morning some thirty six hours later. Roll on the real retirement party



Our Buyer Gavin Ford was on holiday last week but found time to pop in and introduce us to his lovely little grandson Harvey. Harvey is almost two now and was a big hit in the office. He's a real little character.



Finally I would like to congratulate Gavin's mum Margaret who celebrates her sixty first birthday today. Margaret helps us out keeping the office and canteen clean and tidy. She's an animal lover and keen horsewoman who rides her own horse Max on a regular basis. When she's not looking after children (she's also a qualified child minder) and out with Max, Margaret loves listening to the music of Elvis and if there were a prize for his biggest fan, she would be well in the running. Have a wonderful day Margaret and many more to come.

We had a great soundtrack for our party on Saturday. I asked every guest to provide a list of their top ten all time favourites and we ended up with just over a hundred pop classics. I should had added this one.

This could be very costly

We're still in the early days of the volcanic dust crisis but the fallout from this could be far higher than we ever imagined. Being a British manufacturer we are not reliant upon bringing our boilers in from overseas but if we run out of the tiniest imported component production will dry up. And it is the tiniest components that are most likely to be shipped by air. At the moment things are OK but we buy our taps from the USA and some of our electronic components originate from the far east. As we have had an exceptionally busy period lately we could see a shortage. So come on all you politicians. This is an ideal opportunity for you to sort things out by putting emergency procedures into play and boost your election ratings. The election could swing on how this one is handled.



One advantage of life here in my solitary office is that I was able to complete the management accounts for April without any distraction. This meant that I finished them in half the time that it usually takes and, what's more, they balanced to the penny. That's a huge relief as I am one of those accountants who can't live with discrepancies even of a few pence. When I started out as a cashier in Barclays in the early seventies I was always proud of balancing my till to the penny. This tended to get up the noses of some of my colleagues who, after months of accuracy, contrived to pinch 5p from my till and then fell about laughing when I spent over half an hour trying to find my mistake.



Liverpool entertain West Ham United at Anfield tonight although whether or not they will entertain the crowd is another matter. I was impressed by the Hammers' performance at Everton the other week and with Torres out for the rest of the season I wonder who is going to score for us. I have given my seats on the Kop up for a customer tonight. He is taking a relative to celebrate his 30th birthday so I do hope that they both have a good time. Now that's what you call good customer relations.



It's a big day today for Mark and Nita from Workhouse Marketing's young son Tom. Tom is opening The Whalley Wine Shop today. In case you don't know it, Whalley is a pleasant and thriving Lancashire village with an ancient abbey on the banks of the river Ribble. Tom used to manage the premises for a major off licence chain but they closed last year and Tom has made the bold decision to take the shop on as an independent. Good luck Tom. We all wish you massive success and will be coming to you for your advice and some of the excellent wine that your mum and dad have told us about.

We missed the new Britain's Got Talent this weekend. I read that the star of the show was a dancing dog. So let's see what we missed.