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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
Keeping Business Local. But is that realistic?

"Shop in your High Street" says the Town Council, the Melksham Independent Traders, the Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Melksham Independent News, and many more.

"Shop Online" say Wiltshire Council (via Wiltshire Online), and many more including some of those very same businesses that are members of the FSB, the Chamber of Commerce, and even the Melksham Independent Traders.

Are the two statements pulling people in different directions? To some extent they are, but both are pulling people away from driving to some town across the county to do their shopping, with all the time and energy that may take. At the same time, we could be considered a little hypocritical by encouraging people to come here to our town rather than shop in their local high street.

Of course, the two soundbites I started with are simplistic. Much can be bought locally, but for more specialised products (not available in every High Street, but sprinkled across the country) there's much merit in online. Some of our Melksham Independent Traders fall into that specialist category - did you know you can buy handpainted glasses and Comics in Melksham, whereas you'll be hard pushed to find them on the High Street of Devizes, Chippenham, Trowbridge or Corsham. And, yes, there are things you'll find in Trowbrigde that are missing from Melksham.

The typical business's customer base is shaped like a pile of sand - the white line on my graph. A shop at "*" attracts local shoppers, and as people get further away, the number of them that come to the shop reduces. For example, we have excellent Indian restaurants in the town. Customers from Melksham account for the majority. Some will come from Calne, Bradford-on-Avon, Westbury. But the customer from Solihull, Axminster, Chichester or Hereford will be rare unless he's in town for some other reason.

So - what's that mauve line?

Well House Consultants runs two linked businesses and at first they appear to have nothing in common. Firstly, we provide niche training courses in computer programming - see [here]. And secondly we provide hotel rooms for visitors to the Melksham area - see [here]. But it turns out they do have a great deal in common - the shape of the customer profile, which is dramatically different to the norm.

There aren't very many local delegates on our courses. That's because we're so specialised that people come to us from far and wide. And anyone who's local and looking for IT training is likely to be looking for a far more general course than we can offer. You'll note that I'm not saying "never". We have trained people who live within walking distance, and we have trained people who work in Bowerhill. And my very earliest memories of Melksham are of visiting Avon Tyres (as it then was) to talk about specialist computer graphic systems for the design of Tyre treads with their R&D department.

And there aren't many local guests at our hotel. That's because they have their own homes in Melksham, so why would they want to stay with us? Yes, there are exceptions - people buying into the area or moving out. People who are having major works done on their homes, etc.

So - we try and place our business locally when we need something that's easy to get close by. And we order online where it's a bit more specialised. But the flip side of the coin - in our case - is a business which brings people into Melksham. We're not actually competing with other centres - they don't offer courses like ours. And we're not actually competing with online suppliers, as certain courses (and programming course are notable amongst them) are not as effective online.

(written 2012-02-13, updated 2012-02-18)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
G502 - Well House Consultants - Business Practice
  [15] 90 to 10 or 80 to 20 rule - (2004-08-15)
  [27] Sales technique - (2004-08-25)
  [68] Get the strategy worked out and the tactics just fall into place. - (2004-09-30)
  [77] Telephone systems - (2004-10-07)
  [88] Getting the right level of trainer - (2004-10-14)
  [95] Five red flags - (2004-10-21)
  [108] A typical morning - (2004-11-03)
  [121] Fair and Simple - (2004-11-17)
  [125] Staff theft - (2004-11-21)
  [129] Trawling our site to prevent student copying - (2004-11-24)
  [137] Certification schemes - (2004-12-02)
  [157] Automatic service upgrades - (2004-12-19)
  [180] Skunk works - (2005-01-17)
  [188] Pink elephant and appreciation - (2005-01-24)
  [200] Tips for the top - (2005-02-03)
  [211] Look after your staff and they'll look after you. AOL. - (2005-02-12)
  [217] Use of time - (2005-02-16)
  [226] Growing our systems - (2005-02-24)
  [297] A reminder that the customer is King - (2005-05-01)
  [321] Sales - the alternative close - (2005-05-23)
  [399] simplicity hides real size - (2005-07-31)
  [438] Fair system for travel and accommodation expenses - (2005-09-07)
  [457] Do the work and take the risk - a PHP contract to avoid - (2005-10-06)
  [467] Tell them three times - (2005-10-17)
  [487] On line course booking - credit card protection - (2005-11-06)
  [491] Being atypical is typical - (2005-11-10)
  [536] Cancellations and penalties - (2005-12-21)
  [626] Not just a pretty face to answer the phone. - (2006-02-26)
  [652] Morning Post - (2006-03-20)
  [664] Ruby course - oops - it's not happening - (2006-04-01)
  [766] Discounts and approved supplier lists - (2006-06-17)
  [808] Sales call - (2006-07-19)
  [849] Staff Meeting - (2006-08-30)
  [869] UNABLE TO ATTEND - (2006-09-16)
  [883] Age discrimination law - (2006-10-01)
  [906] A commitment we won't be making - (2006-10-27)
  [1057] Selling by phone and Skype - our policy - (2007-01-30)
  [1084] Writing terms and conditions for conferences and other events - (2007-02-17)
  [1133] B-2-B Networking, 20th April. Useful for YOUR business? - (2007-04-03)
  [1157] Speed Networking - a great evening and how we arranged it - (2007-04-21)
  [1165] Extended Credit request - train in June and be paid in September - (2007-04-27)
  [1243] Heavy duty hole punch - (2007-06-24)
  [1260] An inspirational business talk from one of our prospective MPs - (2007-07-06)
  [1263] 0800 043 8225 - a new phone number for Well House - (2007-07-10)
  [1319] Customer feedback - lifeblood of a business - (2007-08-25)
  [1342] Google, wwmdirectory, Freshwater, ATP - new scam? - (2007-09-09)
  [1373] New Month, New Quarter, New Laws - (2007-10-01)
  [1394] Business to Business Networking - North and West Wilts / Melksham - (2007-10-17)
  [1453] What makes our courses special? - (2007-12-02)
  [1485] Copyright and theft of images, bandwidth and members. - (2007-12-26)
  [1626] Early May - a short chance to regroup and improve - (2008-05-01)
  [1713] Ways to accept credit cards - or not! - (2008-07-19)
  [1855] Volunteer v Employee - a skewed balance? (FSB) - (2008-10-25)
  [1913] Alastair Darling helps make paperwork and confusion - (2008-11-30)
  [2044] Please Trouble me - (2009-02-16)
  [2122] Commission Creep - (2009-04-08)
  [2126] Weeding out old phone numbers - (2009-04-11)
  [2161] Get it right ... if it goes wrong, it takes so much effort to sort out! - (2009-05-08)
  [2187] Are we IITT (Institute of IT Training) members? - (2009-05-17)
  [2190] How you are (re)presented at an exhibition - (2009-05-19)
  [2283] Everyone is in the customer relations business - (2009-07-12)
  [2331] Certification Revisted - Lua - (2009-08-09)
  [2465] Melksham Town - asleep or awake? - (2009-10-21)
  [2598] An excuse for making a sales call - (2010-01-26)
  [2788] Cost of Sales - (2010-06-01)
  [2821] Chancellor George Osborne inspires Perl Program - (2010-06-22)
  [2936] The service that customers should receive - (2010-08-27)
  [2966] Cheap Country Hotel in Melksham, Wiltshire? - (2010-09-21)
  [3073] Customer Service - the boundary - (2010-11-27)
  [3157] A new monopoly on the ferry to Northern Ireland - (2011-02-04)
  [3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
  [3506] Cold call contacts - preference services and turning off spam sales approaches - (2011-11-03)
  [3665] Will will smile? - (2012-03-22)
  [3750] Matching opening hours to when customers can come in and buy - (2012-06-04)
  [3755] Cruising on the Mersey Ferry? - (2012-06-07)
  [4107] Snog, Marry, Avoid - (2013-05-31)
  [4293] Certification - (2014-09-15)
  [4415] Buffet review - taking the price into account - (2015-02-05)
  [4520] No cold sales calls please - but delighted to hear from others! - (2015-09-29)


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Tcl - dicts - a tutorial and examples
Some other Articles
The fileutil package and a list of file system commands in Tcl
Bus top - colours of London
Historic documents for Wiltshire
Tcl - dicts - a tutorial and examples
Keeping Business Local. But is that realistic?
Help to get online in Melksham
A customer thanks Well House Manor
Training to do a job, or training to pass an exam?
How do classes relate to each other? Associated Classes
Design Patterns - what are they? Why use them?
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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