If You're In Business And You Are Making New Year's Resolutions, Make This One

"The problem with these food-related accounts" said my interlocutor, "is the people I open the account with tend to leave and be replaced by people who don't know me and give the account to one of my competitors. I have to keep going back in and reselling the same account over and over."

"How often do you get a call from one of your old contacts asking you to come and service his new employer?" I asked. 

"Almost never."

"Instead of losing accounts every time your old contacts change jobs" I said, "you should actually be so close to them that when they go to a new employer you sign up the new employer while also retaining their old employer. The fact that this isn’t happening in your business tells me you aren't staying close enough to your contacts to know when they change jobs or keep their loyalty when they go to work for a new company."

"Tell me something,” I said, "how much does it cost you to acquire a new account? Food. Lodging. Gas. Technology. Estimated cost of your time or an account executive's time. What's the total cost to your business of acquiring a new account?"

My interlocutor didn't know. Therefore, he had no idea how much time and money he should be prepared to spend to better retain his accounts, and, he had no idea how much he could lower his cost of acquiring a new account if he was close enough to his contacts to stay in touch with them as they transition to new companies where they can become his "insiders" who help him land the new account.

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If you're in business and you are making New Year's Resolutions, make this one: "I resolve that in 2015 I will learn my cost of acquiring a new account and that I will spend the necessary time and money to retain the accounts I have."

I wish all my readers a prosperous 2015.





Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

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Open Letter To New Kanawha County Prosecutor, Chuck MIller

In December 2013 I invited former Prosecutor Mark Plants to speak to my neighborhood watch about  what prosecutors and judges can do to rid our neighborhoods of drug dealers. In a crowd of about 30 people, Prosecutor Plants was asked about my ward's two most notorious drug dealers. Mr. Plants didn't recognize their names but he promised to get back to us with the disposition of their cases. He didn't. 

When some time had elapsed and I didn't see an indictment in the first Timothy Basham case I made a phone call to the courthouse and was informed that Judge Webster had dismissed the case because Prosecutor Plants' office didn't have their case ready. It was a slam dunk case. The SAPD did everything right. They arrested two Detroit drug dealers and seized thousands of dollars in drugs and drug money. Plants simply botched it. 

And since Prosecutor Plants had no mechanism in place to keep police departments informed of the status of their drug bust cases, Chief Michael Matthews didn't know the Basham case had been botched and all his man-hours and great police work squandered until he got a phone call from me. 

In a later phone call with Prosecutor Plants, I asked Plants if he had regular staff meetings at which his staff were required to update him on the status of pending cases. He admitted that he didn't. I told Prosecutor Plants that he was failing Management 101 and that the taxpayers and the police deserve to have a prosecutor who holds his staff accountable so that the solid police work of our local police is not squandered and so that our neighborhoods get some relief from the break-ins, the home invasions, the burglaries and even the murders that almost always turn out to be drug-related.

At our next neighborhood watch meeting I told my group that it is no longer enough for neighborhood watch groups to watch bad guys. I told them that we now have to watch the good guys, too.

So now Kanawha County has some new good guys to watch. Chuck Miller is the new prosecutor. Maryclaire Akers, who was fired by Prosecutor Plants, is now back at the Prosecutor's office. 

The police I've spoken to are happy about these changes. Prosecutor Miller, don't let them down. Don't let the taxpayers down. When the police hand you a slam dunk case, do everything you can to put the drug dealer out of business. And by "out of business" I certainly don't mean ankle monitors and home confinement because these things don't stop the drug dealing. 

Ask the judges to sentence drug dealers to community service where they will be unable to continue business as usual. Ask judges to use creative sentencing. If the prisons are full ask judges to sentence the dealers to 16 hours per day chained to a chair at their local police department if that's what it takes to stop the drug dealing. 

Use the power of shame and humiliation. Hire a PR person to bring as much media attention to convictions as is brought to perp walks and arrests. Saturate media with the names and faces of convicted drug dealers. 

I've already written letters to every 13th circuit judge asking them to use creative sentencing. 

I've also written letters to the media asking them to start following up on the arrests that make such good TV. Oh, how TV reporters love shining blue lights and swarms of police cruisers. And exploding South Hills mailboxes. Reporters may have to be taught to report on convictions but if you hire a PR person who Tweets and emails the media making it easy for them to report your court victories you can condition them to report the convictions as well as the arrests. 

Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

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So Why Didn't Judge Johnston Sentence Animal Abuser, Thomas Pepin, To A Little Starvation and Asphyxiation?

I've long believed in "in kind" punishment for criminals so when I read Kate White's Gazette news story about District Court Judge Thomas Johnston sentencing Thomas Pepin to a month in prison after Pepin starved and suffocated turtles he had illegally captured and shipped to customers I wondered why Johnston, who clearly understood that the real crime here was the torture, not to the illegal shipping, didn't make Pepin suffer, too.

"Quite frankly, the worst part for me is the cruelty exhibited to the turtles" said Johnston. 

So why didn't Johnston hand down a sentence that would remind Pepin of what he did to those turtles?

The prisons are full of people whose incarcerations have nothing to do with the crimes that put them behind bars. Judges have the power to change that. So why don't they? 

Judge Johnston, next time you have an animal abuser before you, do to the abuser what the abuser did to the animal. Pepin could have been starved, deprived of water and suffocated a little.

And why don't judges use the power of shame and humiliation to punish monsters like Pepin? As a taxpayer I'd be willing to pay for it if judges would publish photos of animal abusers like Pepin in their hometown newspapers along with a headline stating what they did. 

Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, branding, naming, home rule, dog tethering,  Peoples Party, portmanteaus, ghost writer, ghostwriter, ghostwriting, ghost writing, neologisms, neologism, brand names, brand name, dog racing, Grey2K, Carey Thiel, Phil Kabler, Rob Casto

Sweeping New Changes to Compensable Working Time and Rounding Coming in 2015

Why aren't Charleston area reporters reporting these seeping changes to West Virginia wage and hour law beginning Jan 1 2015?

It has gone almost unnoticed by Charleston area reporters but the Huntington Herald-Dispatch and two law firms have reported it. See the links below.

Here's the ream of paper filed at the Secretary of State's office about it:
http://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/csr/readfile.aspx?DocId=26358&Format=PDF

Rodney Bean, employment lawyer blogged about it:
http://www.sjlaboremploymentblog.com

The Law firm of Martin and Seibert wrote about it:
http://www.martinandseibert.com/emergency-rules.php

Ben Fields of the Huntington Herald-Dispatch wrote about it:
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x1753195186/Concerns-raised-over-new-labor-rules

Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, branding, naming, home rule, dog tethering,  Peoples Party, portmanteaus, ghost writer, ghostwriter, ghostwriting, ghost writing, neologisms, neologism, brand names, brand name, dog racing, Grey2K, Carey Thiel, Phil Kabler, Rob Casto

Why Ending The Cruel Dog Racing Industry In West Virginia Will Never Be Easier Than It Is Now

It's a road map for ending cruel dog racing in WV so I recommend today's Phil Kabler column to all my readers. 

For those of you who think of yourselves as animal protectors but haven't followed this issue, let me give you just a little background.

- Dog racing is cruel. Dogs suffer horrible injuries and don't get out of their cages except to race. If the dogs don't win, they are killed. 

- Dog racing loses money. Dog racing in West Virginia survives for two reasons - both of which the 2015 legislature can remedy: (1) $86 million in subsidies and (2) a state law that requires casinos to offer live animal racing, too. The casinos would gladly close their dog racing tracks if the WV legislature would allow them to provide casino gambling without the live animal racing. 

To the members of the 2015 legislature who told me on the phone that I can count on you to vote for animal protection legislation: it'll never be easier for you to prove it than it is now. It's right for the dogs and for WV taxpayers to let dog racing die. All you have to do is end the $86 million subsidy to dog racing and then repeal the law that requires casinos to also provide live animal racing. 

Here's the link to Phil Kabler's column: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141207/ARTICLE/141209449

Higginbotham At Large does not read or publish pseudonymous or anonymous comments. When you click the "submit" button your comment is not yet published it is merely sent to me for my approval or deletion. Commenters who hide behind "handles", nicknames or other pseudonyms will not see their comments published here. If readers won't know who you are, I will delete your comment. No Ring of Gyges for you. I like email addresses that include the submitter's actual name like mine does: JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com.

West Virginia, Saint Albans, St. Albans, Dunbar, Charleston, Kanawha, Speaker bureau, speakers bureau, speaker's bureau, speakers' bureau, guest speaker, 25177, 25143, 25303, 25309, 25301, 25302, 25305, 25311, 25314, 25304, neighborhood watch, animal rights, animal welfare, no-kill, shelters, crime watch, neighborhood crime watch, ward 4,vegan, vegetarian, liberal, liberalism, progressive, branding, naming, home rule, dog tethering,  Peoples Party, portmanteaus, ghost writer, ghostwriter, ghostwriting, ghost writing, neologisms, neologism, brand names, brand name, dog racing, Grey2K, Carey Thiel, Phil Kabler, Rob Casto