Adams Jette Marketing
+ Communications
100 Argyle Avenue
Suite 202
Ottawa, ON  K2P 1B6

Tel: 613.235.5445
Fax: 613.235.5514
info@adamsjette.com
www.adamsjette.com

I was travelling to Vancouver through the Rockies on a train a few years ago and I happened upon an older--and much wiser--man in the dining car. I'll never forget that guy--he gave me some of the best advice a marketer could ever get.

"Be nice to people--everyone," he said. "You never know where your next big sale will come from."

I listened to that sage advice and can now tell you countless stories about people I met by chance who turned out to be great clients.

I talked to a fellow on the telephone the other day--clearly, he hadn't met this guy. Or, if he did, he didn't listen. And it cost him a job.

I needed a new designer and someone had suggested I try this guy out.

"Hi, Barry," the conversation began, "this is Ron Jette from Adams Jette Marketing. Do you have a minute?"

"This is a bad time right now," he responded. Click.

"Hello?" I could hardly believe my ears.

Maybe when I introduced myself he thought I was going to launch into a sales pitch and he just wasn't in the mood. Whatever the reason, he hung up on me.

Little did he know--and little did he care enough to see--that, in fact, I wanted to hire him.

I waited a few minutes and called him back.

When I introduced myself again, I could hear he was frustrated--the clucking of the tongue and the heavy sigh gave it away.

"Before you hang up," I said, "I just have to ask: Is this how you treat all your clients?"

There was a moment of silence. He composed himself, completely changed his demeanor and asked how he could help.

Of course by then, I had already decided that this was not a guy I wanted to work with. But, I thought, maybe I could leave him something else that would help him increase revenues.

"Be nice to people--everyone," I said. "You never know where your next big sale will come from."

A former CPP staffer who knows the system inside out, Mike hung out his shingle eight years ago after he realized just how many people were not getting the benefits they deserved. "My research shows that about one out of seven pensioners are not getting enough," he says. "My job is to fix that."

(The Canadian Association of Retired People [CARP], an association that endorses Mike's work wholeheartedly, reports that pensioners might be owed as much as $1 billion.)

Mike also assists those who have applied for CPP Disability Benefits but have been rejected. "More than 60 percent of people are turned down," says Mike. "I have a 94 percent success rate in reversing the cases I take on."

The good news for his clients, many of whom are on fixed income, is that they face no risk. Except for a very small service fee to cover his administration costs, Mike gets paid only when he wins.