“Hi! I’m Billy Mays here for ...”If you watch any television at all, you’ve surely seen an infomercial featuring Billy Mays, the dark-bearded, loud-talking pitchman for products like Orange Glo, OxiClean, Mighty Putty, Weed Auger, and now health insurance. Every commercial begins with Billy Mays bursting on the screen, introducing himself, and then delivering a high-octane pitch for the next 60 seconds or 60 minutes.Billy Mays got his start selling the Washmatik on the Atlantic Boardwalk in New Jersey. He travelled the county and state fair circuits selling food choppers (maybe the Salsa Master!) and other items. His big break came when he met the founder of Orange Glo and became their principle sales man. From there the Billy Mays infomercial franchise was born.I found it more than a bit ironic that an infomercial pitchman can become a household name. Maybe it’s a sign of the times. Maybe it’s a…

I’ve never been a big talk-on-the-phone kind of guy. But that is changing. As with many other companies, we have laid-off a number of people on the Internet side of Blue Haven Pools and Spas. This means that those who are left are wearing many hats, myself included. One of those hats includes answering the phones.Just Friday I talked with a nice lady from Bronx, NY, who ordered a couple of our inflatable snow tubes. And I had to tell a customer she wouldn’t be getting the cover she ordered for her pool. You never know what you’re going to get when you pick up the phone.In between phone calls, I try to write a little code, design a few pages, manage our pay-per-click campaigns, and listen to Marvin the homeless guy carry on a conversation three floors below on the side of 7th Avenue. One of the unfortunate perks…