Rounding up Stray Sheep

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

From time to time I deal with a contact that proves a little awkward to meet. Strictly speaking, if they are difficult to get hold of, I don’t want to pursue them as a business partner, but there again, some of them prove irresistible.

A typical comment lodged by me runs “This number has a plain-Jane voice mail. A better strategy might be to drop in to the office, but there again it might be a drop-box”. The firm has issued a press release on Canada News Wire with a contact name, title (President!) and phone number, but when I dial the number the call always drops straight into voice-mail, and a sweet young thing asks me to leave a message.

That makes it difficult to talk with someone.

On the other hand, this might be a nice little boutique firm that could use some dedicated help.

The address is an office suite at 45 St. Clair Avenue West, just a short walk from Yonge Street and the St. Clair subway station.

I am not going to blow two hours and six dollars to go check the place out, but it would be a neat thing to do next time I am visiting someone else in that area.

But how to remember?

Not every boutique firm will hide on a major street such as St. Clair Avenue, and anyway, the known firm I’m visiting may not be right on St. Clair Avenue West, so doing a match-up of street names in the contact data base won’t work.

Postal codes are not much help, since there is a completely different prefix either side of Yonge Street (and either side of St. Clair Avenue West).

I could delve into Google maps or Google earth, but I don’t want to become an expert on Google applets this year; or the next.

My current solution is to pin a transit map to the door and mark these rogue firms with a labeled push pin, so that before I head out the door I can see at a glance if there is an auxiliary errand in the district.

Got a better idea?

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