Member Article

Planes, train and automobiles

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Let’s be honest, we all love a bit of Doctor Who, whizzing around willy nilly in a blue time traveling teleporting box.

Teleportation is still science fiction not science fact. There are pretenders to the throne (of sorts) Skype, Face time, phones… or the UK Gov’s latest attempt HS2. Not quite the same though are they, so I ask myself, do we really need it?

Here is my yes and no answer:

I recently spoke to a prospective client who had engaged a number of agencies in a pitch process.

We had been ruled out initially because of scale, but after a few (extremely well delivered and positioned…ehem) retorts we both agreed that my business was in fact a more exciting proposition than initial inspections had shown. Objections had been well and truly handled….

Excitement began to creep in through a crack in my brain, I allowed myself a modicum of hope. Foolish hope…. (Slightly over dramatized, but you know where I’m coming from).

We carried on for a couple of minutes, certainty began to set in (in hindsight a bit like rigor mortis). One more question, I was ready for it, I could handle anything he was going to throw at me.

“So where are you guys based?” Me “Leeds” Him “Oh right… we’re only looking at businesses from London, we need regular contact with everyone delivering the account”

At that moment I was sure I heard the local infrastructure creak, it turned out to be my fingerprints rubbing off as I tightened my grip around the phone.

Game over.

This is something I come across quite a lot, especially with London based businesses, and I’m certain this isn’t exclusive to me.

Is there really that much of a gap between the North and South?

Surely in this modern era of Trains, Planes and Automobiles location shouldn’t be this much of an issue. We now have technology to hold ‘virtual’ meetings and Leeds to London is roughly 2 hours on the train. How far away from London could you get in a car in the same amount of time?

Clearly a ‘virtual’ meeting or 2 hours each way for travel aren’t the same as popping round the corner for a meeting, but should this preclude us from working with businesses that are at opposite ends of the country?

I am biased as I currently live up here, but the north has a huge amount to offer; our overheads are much cheaper so we can be more competitively priced (not cheap, that implies lower quality work). And we have some major cities and educational institutions to pick the very best talent from.

This sounds like I’m campaigning for HS2, I’m not, though it would be good to know if the government has even considered (or asked) whether a slightly quicker train journey would convince southern businesses that the North isn’t too far to go.

I am a massive hypocrite though, frequently spouting the virtues of us being ‘just round the corner’. So I suppose the real question is ….. What do you consider ‘round the corner’?

If HS2 is a bench mark, we’ll all be living on roundabouts by 2026.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Selby .