I'm writing this for Melksham. And for Melksham's Businesses. Let's make Melksham a town of destination businesses.

Are YOU running a business that trades in Melksham? If you are, then read on - there's something in this for you AND there's something in this for the town. And - together - it's for the mutual profitable benefit of your business and of the town.

What do I mean by a Destination Business? I mean a business to which people will travel, - rather than one they'll use because it happens to be where they're passing. I'm not limiting myself to the physical world - I'm talking online too.

Diagram - visitors to Well House Consultants' web site from the UK over a 24 hour period. See here for worldwide diagrams and ask me here if you want to 'do' diagrams like this on your web site. Diagram updates daily.

Why do I want to be a destination business?

Because I don't want to have to rely on the reflected glory of other businesses that ARE destinations in order to support my own business!

At the start of January, Woolworths in Melksham closed its doors. Talk to the other local traders who are not destinations, and you'll hear them telling you how the number of people through their doors dropped. Talk to local traders who are destinations, and they'll talk about how the vacant shop front can at least be kept nice, and what they would like to see in there in the future.

How do I make myself a destination?

By providing a something that people will travel (in real life, or online) to buy! A quality product. An unusual product. Excellent customer service. Something that's tailored to meet their needs. A friendly welcome. Follow ups that make them feel special. Co-operation with other businesses to turn your network into a destination. Providing marketing information that makes your destination an easy one to reach. Making it physically and logically easy to reach your destination.

But my business isn't suited to being a destination one

"Oh yes it IS". Well House Consultants (my own business) has two very different products. The first is a computer training company, and our courses are so different that new customers ask "where is Melksham?" as part of their booking process. But the second business is a hotel ... and you would think that people don't come just for the hotel. But they do! Training delegates come back with their partners for weekends. Honeymooners looking for a quiet, romantic spot for their first nights together will stop with us. People attending trade shows in the town will go out of their way to stay with us when they're doing another show in a neighbouring town.

And it's a matter of degree, too. It may be that Mr G wouldn't be coming to Melksham at all if he wasn't due to have meetings at KB - but when he's in town, he makes sure that his destination in the evening is Well House Manor.

The wider picture

Now here is something beautiful. If you follow the "destination business" philopohy, you're also going to be promoting the interests of your town (Melksham in our case) and of complimentary businesses. And you can make a real contribution in your own specialised way to the community. Encourage the destination choice your customers make by supporting good travel links, a welcoming town, a wide selection of eateries and complimentary stores. It become natural to work with the area board and the town council to represent your needs and your town's needs to the Unitary Authority, and with organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the FSB to futher your needs at all levels from locally to nationally.


What now

If you want to learn more about the Chamber and what it's doing in Melksham, then make your destination Well House Manor on 23rd April for our Chamber of Commerce Networking Breakfast. Or if you've missed that, we have a networking lunch on 23rd June and a Networking Evening on 23rd September. None of those dates suitable? Still get in touch! I'm graham@wellho.net and I aim to answer all emails within 24 hours.

Sunday, 5th April ... - The Chamber of Commerce event on 23rd April is already open for bookings. It starts at 10 a.m. at Well House Manor on Spa Road, and we're limited to 20 places as it's a networking breakfast with a keynote talk on effective networking by Andrew Jackson. Places are £10.00 for Chamber members, and £15.00 for non-members. Call us on 01225 708225 or Ann Marie - the Chamber's Admin - on 01225 355553 (mornings) to reserve your place.
(written 2009-04-05 09:46:02)

 G997 - Well House Consultants - Newsletter Lead Articles
  [2743] Public Open Source Training Courses running this summer and autumn in Melksham - (2010-04-27)
  [2538] Open Source Training Centre and Courses for 2010 - (2009-12-16)
  [2425] Weekend and Christmas Promotion - Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham - (2009-09-26)
  [2370] C++, Python, and other training - do we use an IDE - (2009-08-21)
  [2253] Walks in and around Melksham, Wiltshire - (2009-06-21)
  [2052] How was my web site compromised? - (2009-02-24)
  [1912] Book now for 2009 - (2008-11-29)
  [1819] Calling base class constructors - (2008-10-03)
  [1754] Upgrade from PHP 4 to PHP 5 - the TRY issue - (2008-08-15)
  [1663] Python in an afternoon - a lecture for experienced programmers - (2008-06-01)
  [1600] Cambidge - Tcl, Expect and Perl courses - (2008-04-04)
  [1545] Letting new visitors know we provide training courses - (2008-02-19)
  [1488] New trainee laptop fleet for our Open Source courses - (2007-12-30)
  [1386] New software product for warmblooded programmers - (2007-10-10)
  [1318] Well House Manor - feature comparison against the old place! - (2007-08-24)
  [1224] Object Relation Mapping (ORM) - (2007-06-09)
  [1136] Buffering output - why it is done and issues raised in Tcl, Perl, Python and PHP - (2007-04-06)
  [1065] Graham Ellis - an Introduction - (2007-02-05)
  [1000] One Thousand Posts and still going strong - (2006-12-18)

M100 - Introduction to Well House Manor
  [2125] We have lost a regular business guest - (2009-04-10)
  [2076] A New Advert for Well House Manor - (2009-03-11)
  [1975] Well House Manor Hotel - on plan for 2009 business guests - (2009-01-03)
  [1968] Review of 2008 - (2008-12-31)
  [1866] What a difference a day made - (2008-11-02)
  [1706] The Story of Well House Manor - (2008-07-12)
  [1492] Well House Consultants Training and Hotel - 2008 news - (2008-01-01)
  [1388] Well House Manor - a year on - (2007-10-12)
  [1384] An email update for past guests and delegates - (2007-10-08)
  [1371] Hotel in Melksham at Christmas - (2007-09-29)
  [1332] Melksham Hotel - Five Star Kitchen! - (2007-09-04)
  [1261] High summer at Well House Manor - (2007-07-08)
  [1211] A lot has happened in a year - (2007-05-31)
  [1132] Well House Manor, Melksham, Art Gallery - (2007-04-02)
  [1112] Bank Holiday country breaks in Melksham, Wiltshire - (2007-03-17)
  [1072] Well House Manor in the Snow - (2007-02-09)
  [1069] Rail trouble forced me to buy hotel - (2007-02-07)
  [1018] Open Source Courses and Business Hotel - products and prices for 2007 - (2007-01-01)
  [1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
  [978] Wellhouse Manor, Hotel, Melksham - (2006-12-10)
  [940] Winter at Well House Manor - Open Houses - (2006-11-23)
  [902] Brand new hotel and training centre, Melksham - (2006-10-22)
  [891] Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire - (2006-10-10)
  [793] The Wilts and Berks Canal - (2006-07-05)
  [756] Seeing the bricks for the trees - (2006-06-11)
  [677] Sympathetic development - (2006-04-09)
  [571] Well House Manor - (2006-01-21)
  [512] Exciting futures - the Well House Manor project - (2005-11-30)

Z402 - Melksham Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  [2883] Melksham Oak - photos of the new community school - (2010-07-22)
  [2872] Moved - Melksham Lorry Park - (2010-07-15)
  [2867] Cycling in Melksham, and looking forward - (2010-07-11)
  [2853] Transport in Wessex - today and into the future - (2010-07-04)
  [2837] Lorry Parking in Melksham - (2010-06-29)
  [2827] Melksham - a gem in Wiltshire - (2010-06-26)
  [2782] Tell the Melksham Chamber or you only have yourself to blame - (2010-05-26)
  [2779] The history and future of Melksham Chamber of Commerce - (2010-05-25)
  [2770] Melksham Chamber of Commerce - Presidents report to AGM - (2010-05-19)
  [2725] How do our tactics help us meet the strategy, for the greater good? - (2010-04-16)
  [2683] Car Parking in Melksham - (2010-03-18)
  [2666] Random thoughts on Melksham Town Planning and development - (2010-03-08)
  [2640] How is your tax pound spent? - (2010-02-18)
  [2594] Melksham Area - your community view is sought - (2010-01-23)
  [2568] Forums for your Melksham and open source discussions - (2010-01-09)
  [2546] How well do you know Melksham - a quiz for Christmas - (2009-12-21)
  [2544] Vision for Wiltshire - (2009-12-20)
  [2531] Melksham - new Tuesday Market - (2009-12-09)
  [2521] Melksham Market - Tuesdays, 09:00 to 14:00 - (2009-12-01)
  [2514] The road show has been - where now? - (2009-11-27)
  [2508] Community Area Partnership - inaugural AGM - (2009-11-20)
  [2495] Planning the future of Wiltshire - (2009-11-07)
  [2487] Melksham Forum - (2009-11-01)
  [2465] Melksham Town - asleep or awake? - (2009-10-21)
  [2459] New Web Site for Melksham Chamber of Commerce - (2009-10-18)
  [2437] Wiltshire Unitary News - Chamber of Commerce Intelligence - (2009-10-04)
  [2328] Melksham - no trains, no southbound buses through the town - (2009-08-08)
  [2289] pre-Inaugural briefing - Melksham Community Area Partnership - (2009-07-15)
  [2288] Wiltshire Community Area Partnerships - (2009-07-15)
  [2260] Important - the future of Melksham / Chamber of Commerce - (2009-06-28)
  [2220] Melksham Traders - where do we go? - (2009-06-05)
  [2194] Melksham Business Map - Chamber of Commerce, Tourist Information and Town Council - (2009-05-21)
  [2181] You cannot please all of the people all of the time - (2009-05-14)
  [2111] Business Networking for Melksham - 23rd April - (2009-04-01)
  [2095] Blue Ridge and Melksham Chambers of Commerce - (2009-03-21)
  [2043] Confidence, Customer Service and Tourism in Melksham - (2009-02-15)
  [1987] One Cheer for Local Democracy - Asda in Melksham - (2009-01-11)
  [1979] Looking forward, in Melksham, in 2009 - (2009-01-05)
  [1934] Lidl opens in Melksham - (2008-12-11)
  [1904] Ruby, Perl, Linux, MySQL - some training notes - (2008-11-23)
  [1892] Melksham Chamber of Commerce and Industry - (2008-11-17)
  [1881] Wiltshire Council says - part 1 - (2008-11-13)
  [1792] All the pieces fall into place - hotel and courses - (2008-09-10)
  [1748] Hotel room prices - Melksham, Wiltshire - (2008-08-11)
  [1642] Summer! - (2008-05-15)
  [1633] Changing a screen saver from a web page (PHP, Perl, OSX) - (2008-05-06)
  [1507] Comments on proposed Asda Superstore for Melksham - (2008-01-14)
  [1504] Flooding by Asda-s proposed new supermarket - (2008-01-12)
  [1476] Shopping for Christmas and looking forward - (2007-12-17)
  [1432] Wiltshire County Council - Budget Consultation - (2007-11-15)
  [1429] Remembrance day - inside a church and inside the day - (2007-11-11)
  [1250] Business speed networking - a place tonight! - (2007-06-28)
  [1223] Asda opening large new store in Melksham - (2007-06-08)
  [717] A customer service company - (2006-05-11)

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Forward to Java on the Web Server - course for delegates with some prior Java experience

Using Python with OpenOffice
Commission Creep
Out in the Vale of Pewsey
Java on the Web Server - course for delegates with some prior Java experience
Make your business a DESTINATION business
Spring Sprung
Choosing a railway station fairly in PHP
Why do we delay new forum members through authorisation?
Finding your java program - the CLASSPATH variable
Which Version of Java am I running?