Not quite sure where todays Blog is going to take us. We have had a few glimmers that the Caravan Insurance Season it about to start but then the light fades. It is very easy to simply increase our Marketing Budget but at the end of the day we know that March is when the starting pistol really goes off – so I have to sit on my hands and wait. Not something I am great at!

Our Twitter following continues to grow, mainly due to the great work being done by the Purpledog Network (@Purpledognet). You can find me on Twitter @cover4caravans. It’s mainly about me and the world of Caravan Insurance  – tune in and see what is really going on!

I passed my Health & Safety Level 4 exam  – I was very proud of this as it has been a long time since I took what I see as “proper written” exams where there is no mulitiple choice! Just writing for 6 hours was a challenge. Who uses pens anymore for that length of time? I will be applying for my letters shortly – sad but true!

I had a great few days off in half term last week. We went on the London Duck Tours which the biys loved and then jumped in a famous London Black taxi to Hamleys – sorry but what a dive of a toy shop. Not how I remember it at all!

We then had a day doing chores and went to see Star Wars in 3d. It was my youngests first trip to the cinema and he loved it.

Then it was my Birthday and the weekend came and went and it was back to work.

It is the usual busy week here with lots going on. The world of running a business is never dull and always fun – even when it is stressful! If asked what I do I know now, I run a business first and it happens to be in Insurance. It is a long time since I actually did insurance for someone!

Have a great day.

Rich

No really, I have not gone insane. I am lucky enough to love my job and our Company and waking up this morning to have my first day in our new Building in my first ever own office was like being a child waiting for Xmas Day to arrive. Sad maybe but I will be 39 years young on Friday and this is a week full of firsts!

Our new address is Baxter Building (Think Fantastic Four), 80 Baxter Avenue, Southend On Sea, Essex, SS2 6HZ.

All our telephone numbers remain the same so no need to change your mobile telephones.

Change. I wrote about that in my last blog and every day at the moment change just seems to come along.

It is funny how people forget that once you were friends – I look back and see the names of people who have stopped being friends in the regular contact way – it’s a shame but a decision made very much by them. I am never one to give up easily but sometimes you just have to respect what other people seem to want.

Off into London this morning after a Fire Alarm test and then back to the office to try and clear the decks ready for my 3 days off this week – days which areall prepared to ensure my boys have a great few days. details to follow next blog!

Have a good day.

Richard

As with all things in life things change. Sometimes we do not always like the changes and sometimes they even hurt but generally it’s wiser to embrace them and move forward rather than focus on the past. We have to ensure that we look back at the past as this is always offering valuable information to enable us to plan and ensure we don’t make the same errors again.

As a business we are always looking at our Strategy and this is something I am currently focussing on for the Company as a whole and I am enjoying reading the up to date strategy books and resources.

The Cover4Caravans rebranding has really embedded in now and I am very happy with the responses from our Customers and the way our team have embraced these changes.

Over this weekend we move offices – away from our leased floor to our own building, another change  – but this time one that brings with it long term security and the ability for us to be in total control of our own costs. This is an important factor for businesses – in my opinion.

As the Caravan Insurance season is finally on countdown to the 1st March we are busy preparing ourselves for 2012. We have seperated our teams and now have one team looking after our new business customers and another looking after our renewals and policy adjustments – all our team can turn their hand to any of these tasks but it means we can focus our resources in a more effective manner.

How many changes?

Change is good. But only if you have a choice. There is nothing worse than somone else making the decision for you when you have had no input!

Have a great day.

Richard

Firstly we hope you are enjoying the video blogs – last weeks entry can be viewe by using this link – http://news.cover4caravans.co.uk/index.php/index.php/category/video-blogs .

We are having some good fun recording them so hopefully you will enjoy them.

Watford were not able to do the one thing Sours could do  -put the damn ball into the back of the net. But we had a great evening at Vicarage Road and the team did all us Watford supporters proud. We were able to leave the ground with our heads held high – that was important us long suffering fans! Still, a tie against Stevenage would have been pretty good for us.

We continue to make giant strides on twitter – @cover4caravans – dont forget to come along and follow us. We have made some great interactions and it proves how powerful the world of social media can be. I have been utilising the services of @purpledog and if you need help as a business getting Twitter right then I fully endorse the cost effectivt and efficient services they offer.

What else is happening? Well the rebrand remains our largest focuse and we continue to receive some great feedback – thank you.

Time. Sometimes I just don’t understand why people make the choice to not find time for each other. But on the other hand maybe it is just time to move on and let it go over your head.

Have a great day.

Richard

So, Watford FC have won ourselves into a place in the 4th round of the FA Cup and we face a home tie against the inform Spurs. I have been surprised how many of my Spurs supporting friends have simply dismissed thet possibility that just maybe the Golden Boys could turn them over. Ignoring the more simple fact that the FA Cup is a one off match and that dear old Harry is likely to rest a few players we are a half decent Championship side who have not lost in about 8 games and who have a pretty decent pedigree in the cup. It seems like only 5 minutes ago I was at old Villa Park watching us play Man U in the semi finals. We are at home and we will give you a good run for your money. Don;t count your chickens Spurs – if you walk out assuming you will win then history suggests you may be shocked at the end result.

In the car this morning I was listening to Avril Lavigne’s new album, Goodbye Lullaby. It is a really good album and as I listen to it more I seem to understand the songs in new ways. Todays two favourite tracks are “Darlin” and “Remember when” – both have great words. The first has a great little line which says something like “Start smiling and I know your trying not to turn your head away…..” it reminds me of many things. Cool song. Remember when is a simple song but starts with “Remember when I cried to you a 1,000 times I told you everything and shared all my feelings and I never knew there would be a time we would say goodbye…” very good. Stupid me maybe!

I followed someone on Twitter recently called sophilcollins in the hope that this maybe someone who has a similar passion to me about Phil. How wrong was I. The articles are pretty pointless and there are some references to Phil but not what I expected at all. It just annoyed me as I was hopiung to be able to perhaps share some knowledge with somone as passionate as me about this artist, lessons learnt.

I am hoping you watched our video blog last week – we focussed on the disadvantages of the cover provided by economy type Caravan Insurance Products. We have stopped offering ours as it was clear that the small saving in premium was not worth it as many times the customer did not realise all the levels of cover that were missing until they wanted to make a claim. Taking into consideration that over 65% off all our claims are for accidental damage do you really want to save yourself £5.00 to not have this cover?

I believe in treating customers fairly and offering the best cover we can at the most competitive price, we will not and do not offer cheap cover which will only cause you problems in the event of a claim.

I hope this is to our advantage.

Have a great day.

Richard