The pump begins to gush!

by John Passmore

All I knew was his name and the fact that he had downloaded an information pack.

Every day he appeared on my list of people to call - yet still I had no idea who he was. The only contact we'd had was two brief phone calls in which he said he was too busy and could I call again.

Well, today, when I called while walking the dog, he finally decided he had time to talk.

He sounds ideal: A quantity surveyor by profession, he now runs several companies and employs other quantity surveyors. His only problem is that none of this activity provides quite enough money for his daughter's school fees.

He very nearly agreed to sign up after the first two boxes of the Martini presentation. However he just wanted to look at the information pack properly (the fact that people have downloaded it doesn't meen they've got the information).

But what is most exiciting is that just before saying goodbye, I asked him where we'd met.

"In Tesco's," he said. "I was just putting my PIN into the machine at the checkout and you gave me a card."

It turns out we hadn't exchanged a word - I suppose I hadn't wanted to distract him.

Isn't it wonderful when this happens? It proves that everything everyone tells us about giving out information is true - even though we may keep on doing it without any apparent results. As long as we get the information out there, something must happen eventually. It's like working away at an old fashioned village pump.

So I was feeling pretty good. But guess what? Five minutes later, just as I got home, the phone rang and I found myself talking to a man who said I'd handed him a card as he was coming out of the accountant's office in town.

"As a matter of fact, I've had it for about six weeks," he said. "I've been using it as a bookmark."

"Did I say anything when I gave you the card?" I asked him.

"I don't think so. I think you just said: 'Have one fo these'."

The fact that the rest of the day turned out to be a bit of a rush and I managed only 25 cards and two DVDs doesn't seem to matter. Can you imagine how many I'm going to be giving out today? And because I'm going to the dentist at 10.30, I probably won't be able to say anything at all!