Brooding about relationships in the industry

**"Jeff Ball" j*@starband.net**

I have a fair number of biases in this area of our work.  I have
developed contacts and relationships with as many companies,
associations, and pr firms as I could over the years.  
First bias - I never use data or facts from a press release.  I always
call the source of the release and try to dig out more data, and almost
always wangle my way into the client company for someone to chat with.
As mentioned in another post, that gets me down to the real story as
they say.
Second bias - if I contact a company seeking some information and they
do not get back to me, and I try several times;  they are toast.  There
are very few lawn and garden products that can't be ignored in a column.
I have had a bad experience with Woodstream/Havahart/Safer/Ringer.  They
really don't want to talk with me, so for the most part I'm not
including their products in my discussions in my columns or articles. In
most cases, there are products from competitors with similar value and
function.  
Third bias - I always pay special attention to companies who are members
of GWA.  If my topic is relevant to their product line, I want to be
sure to contact them, and thank them for being in our organization.    
Fourth bias - I think it is valuable to contact key people in the
industry several times a year, just to chat and catch up on the gossip
so to speak.  That keeps me in their minds, and allows me to pick up
some valuable tidbits from time to time.  This is particularly true for
the trade associations; they really keep up on trends and problems and
such.
Final unsubstantiated bias - I have never liked Scotts.  

Jeff Ball

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
&quot;Gardenwriters on Gardening&quot; &lt;gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters