Palmer Blog
November 22, 2010
Last week we had an important appointment at our office and took the afternoon to do a long overdo clean-up and used that same opportunity to reorganize the office to make better use of our space. As I looked on, I must admit I felt a great deal of pride in seeing everyone working together towards a common goal. In this case the goal was simple and achievable. No one doubted the outcome. Everybody contributed […]
November 5, 2010
Fall is typically a good time for business activity. In conversations with our predominantly transportation clientele, most companies are climbing their way back to previous revenues but not staffed or equipped to the point they were pre-recession. The result, fewer cooks making more meals and thus everyone is busy, busy, busy! When things are going well, it’s easy to make the mistake of thinking you’re more or less invincible. I’ve come to realize all business […]
October 14, 2010
Anyone on the sales side of the equation knows how hard it is to turn a single transaction into a repetitive one and a business contact into a customer. Screwing up and subsequently how you handle a screw up is one of the defining moments in establishing lasting supplier and customer relationships. As much as we strive for perfection the fact is we are all going to mess up occasionally. When we do, we need […]
September 28, 2010
In one of my blogs not too far back, I suggested that if you have a diversified service mix you need to maintain the quality of each product to a similar high standard…maybe not. Last night some musician friends of mine were backing up a Japanese blues guy and invited me to come by. After viewing the performance it made me rethink my previous stance. So here is a young blues man who has studied […]
September 10, 2010
In our business, the thing we try to avoid like the plague is letting a project slip to the bottom and stay there too long. It doesn’t happen very often as most projects have a deadline and deadlines are what keeps our world moving. The bulk of our work stems from a pending need like; we are totally out of brochures, we need material for an ad placement today, we have a customer event next […]
August 16, 2010
Working in marketing has allowed me an opportunity to meet many successful business leaders. Our process of discovery before rolling out a marketing program has given me an even greater opportunity to have in depth discussions with these visionary entrepreneurs. Your chance for greatness can be realized if you adopt their common entrepreneurial traits. They’re excited about what they do, they know their business inside out and they are without exception… workaholics. Life balance may […]
July 23, 2010
As I get to know my customers better, I’m surprised to find so many boomers in charge of transportation sales and marketing who share my interest in riding motorcycles and playing guitar. Many of us have rekindled these passions later in life, but is it a mid-wife crisis, a way to keep our Mo-jo workin’ or just good old fashion fun? Regardless of the reason we enjoy the 3M’s, here are a few things to […]
I started Palmer Marketing at age 34 in January of 1988. I had 2 kids in diapers and a crazy idea about running my own company. I came from an entrepreneurial family and had no good reason to believe it wasn’t possible and as it happens, it was.
I’m definitely a country girl. I didn’t grow up in an actual town, village or hamlet. It was more like the middle of somewhere along Highway 28, surrounded by trees. Many thanks goes to my high school art teacher, Mr. Edwards, for inspiring me to choose this career path. With the realization that I actually could create art for a living, college lured me away from country life to the big city. Kitchener, to be exact, to study Graphic Design & Advertising at Conestoga College. Talk about beginning an adventure and a culture shock! Not staring at people with purple, green or some other wildly coloured hair was a bit of a challenge. City buses (lol thinking back), who knew they only stopped on the same side of the street as the bus stop sign!? Lesson learnt.
I love my work like I love summer. Why not? Summer is when I get to play my favorite sport—golf! Playing artist is a lot like playing golf. You need to be calm and cool under pressure if you ever hope to keep the ball in play; that’s rare for an artist. My best shots happen when I talk less and concentrate more; that’s not so rare for an artist.
I am the 8th of 9 children raised in Essex County outside of Windsor, Ontario. We lived on a gravel road, no sidewalks and our greatest adventures were in our own backyard. I still have friends I made in grade 1 and continue to stay in touch today. After graduating from the University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, I moved to the big city of Toronto and have worked most of my career in the printing industry. I got to know the folks at Palmer Marketing as a key supplier to them for over a decade.
To say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree would be an understatement in my family; at least when it comes to picking a career path. There isn’t a person in my immediate family that hasn’t at some point or another worked in the IT field. I guess there’s something in our DNA that pulls us towards computers.