Coffee and buns

 January 18 – I thought the cold snap was over until I went to a client meeting this morning. They were having major problems with heating – and we all sat around in coats and scarves and tried to concentrate until I invited everyone to a nearby hotel for coffee, buns and a more fruitful environment.

So it resulted in a disallowable entertaining cost for our company – but it also created goodwill all round. I do genuinely believe in the need for such initiatives. The result was that I have little doubt that the contract review went better than expected.

There’s a moral in the tale: it is the job of managers to know suitable hotels and venues all over the place to which they can take customers, suppliers, interviewees and more at short notice. Whenever I’m driving anywhere I’m always on the look out for such venues. And don’t stick to the obvious chain hotels. There are also many good pubs and pubs do not need to involve alcohol. Indeed, in my case they rarely do these days.