Edwin James Lynch

Why License Plate Recognition is not A.I. I got a fine yesterday. No, sorry, not a parking fine , it's a bill from Wilson Parking Enforcement Services (the "Border Force" for shopping car parks). The bill is for liquidated damages . In other words, the shopping centre could have had another car, people and fresh buyers using the same bay. Oh it was all very clever, really. But it's not A.I. Wilson Parking has automated its Parking Enforcement Service . Without people being involved, I was auto-fined. To be fair, a person did leave the infringement notice under my wiper. I'm sure one day that will be a long-armed robot. Today? A human with a thankless job. A perfect fit for A.I. Let machines do all the work, so that people have time to think. [IBM's Pollyanna Principle (1977)] Let's get one thing straight License plate recognition technology is not A.I. License Plate recognition (Optical Character Recognition) has been around since 1978 - we...

Take note hard-sellers I get a lot of people coming up to my pop-up roof restoration table asking, "How much for a roof restoration?" I explain why I can't answer that question. I don't have the skills. Only the boss can do quotes. We have to see the state of your roof first. How big is the roof? What kind of tiles do you have? Is it Colorbond? Do you want tucking and pointing or do you want the whole gamut of latest technology cleaning, painting and roof protection up there? "It's why I have to send the guys around to give you a quote." At this point, about 50% of the people leave. They don't want "guys coming around" is the only reason why. Many times more people ask me where the toilets are. That's easy. "Over there" I point. Some of this bugs me. I know a lot of sales people who take it personally when they don't get a sale. Boo hoo . . . Wha-? I spent a whole day in Bali (back in 2000) with a guy trying like bla...

Generating Leads. How hard is a soft-sell? I'm working part time for a mob. On commission. Six days per week. For those of who know me you're probably wondering - but why? I spend so much time promoting Content Marketing , why would I actually go sit in a shop and wait for people to approach me? It would be a thousand times worse if I had to push flyers into people's hands. But it's nothing like that. I literally just sit here, at a table, hiding behind flyers and leaflets. What I'm actually doing is working on client websites and doing SEO. I do nothing at all to promote the product I'm selling. YOU come to ME. It's a slow sales revolution. Everybody's tired of the intrusive fast sell . Surrounding me are flyers, leaflets and promotional material advertising the services of Climate Roof Restorations . Technical information about tiles, roof cavity heat and sun reflectivity surround me. Sometimes I forget to look up. That actually works best. Am ...

How we perceive the world. Today I'm a living poster. A mascot for capitalism. I am - the passive sell . For 7 hours I sit at a desk in the middle of an air-conditioned shopping mall. 6 days per week. An array of pamphlets. A nervous smile. It's 2:30 in the afternoon and I've barely exchanged glances with anyone, let alone produced a lead. I'm helping a mob called Climate Roof Restorations ( www.climateroofrestorations.com.au ). The idea is simple. I sit here, in the middle of this fairly obscure suburban shopping mall in the Northern Suburbs of Perth (I didn't know there was a North)  doing whatever it is I want to do - on my iPad (that's mostly doing SEO and setting up websites for clients). Should anyone come up to me, I am to engage them in conversation, takes notes and email the lead to HQ. It costs $800+ to hire this spot for a week. A bit under $800 for me, plus a commission of $XXX for each successful lead. After paying about $700 per month la...