Your bloody nightmare, as promised, Sir! Plus my Shit List

Well. moving home has lived down to its billing.

The majestic new couch wouldn’t go through the door at the new place so we had to put it in storage; the cleaners hadn’t cleaned properly; the man who brought the bed couldn’t be arsed to bring it up; the removal guy suddenly announced he wanted cash not a bank transfer.


And we have a flood of work for clients, all urgent.

On top of that I’m about as much use during a removal as a spare prick at a wedding.

But we did find an astounding handyman and a terrific carpet firm. (I say “we” metaphorically; it means “she”).

But business goes on, which moves me to ask you a question.

Do you ever feel desperate when you contemplate what you have to do? I do.

It goes onto my Shit List – stuff I really must get to grips with.

So …

I have got at least one and maybe two terrific new speakers for my branding event.

We found a “lost” interview I did last year with a gentlemen whose business turns over £20 million plus a year -and who says he owes a lot of his success to one of my books. There are a few people who say that, oddly enough, which makes me wonder where I went wrong.

I am also going to interview a friend who has been voted more influential than the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a lady whose mail packs for charities are producing extraordinary results and a friend who knows more about direct marketing than I do. (These interviews are for my Commonsense Marketing members, by the way – and I am a good month behind on them).

It appears a few of you want “mentoring” – God, I hate that word; why not advising? – including one chap who is worth a few million but obviously wants some new jokes, because I doubt if I can teach him a thing.

And … and there is the copywriting event I have in mind plus another spectacular thing I’ve only mentioned twice during speeches in the U.S. Plus something for people who want to sell cars. Er … and there is EADIM – but that’s months away

Miserere mei!

In the words of The Book of Common Prayer, “I have done that which I ought not to have done; and I have left undone that which I ought to have done” – but it all seems to happen in the end somehow.

About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

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