Amelia and the cards
by John Passmore
There has to be some spontaneous fun – and so, on a whim, I went to the cinema and saw “Amelia”.
So now when I’m sitting in a Career Opportunity Presentation and they ask: “Anyone here seen a good film… Did you tell your friends…”
I’ll have something to say.
But walking home afterwards, all the fun went out of the evening. It would be an exaggeration to say that I suddenly racked with guilt and remorse. But I did put my hand in my pocket and found that I still had about 20 cards left.
The thing is, I spent three hours on the Win-a-Mini stand today. I talked to dozens of people. I made three appointments. I felt that today I had done my bit.
But I still had 20 cards left.
Now that’s not allowed – and I know why.
Earlier on I had looked on the screen and saw that an inactive distributor in Surrey had suddenly gone from four customers to five. When this had happened, I have no idea – but I just noticed it because if she gets to six, she could be key to the structure of my business.
I rang her up. She had no idea how this had happened.
“It’s probably an email,” I told her. “You have a link on your emails don’t you? Have a look and see if you recognise the name.”
Later on she sent me a text. Yes, it was a friend she hadn’t spoken to for ages.
On the Sunday evening conference call the other week, we heard the same sort of story. The company’s top customer gatherer had six new customers who joined out of the blue. He could only presume he had given them a card somewhere – because he gives out 50 cards a day – every day.
It’s obvious really. If you give out enough cards, that’s going to happen.
So why was I walking home with 20 cards in my pocket?
I looked around the street. It was deserted. I looked in the window of the pub. I could see one couple deep in conversation. How was I going to get rid of them?
And then I realised I was standing beside a door with a letter box. So I stuffed a card in it.
…and then another one in the next letter box.
So here’s a tip: Never leave the house in the morning without 50 cards in your pocket.
And never go home at the end of the day with any left.
You never know what can happen…