Attendees: [1], [2]
Source: Fathom Recording
Weekly sync covering four main areas: a new inventory liquidation project proposal for [3], urgent SEO and Google Ads setup tasks for [4], an escalating overdue invoice situation with [5], and an internal Salesforce email template fix.
Doodla Farms is facing a building financing gap after a bank loan shortfall. They have committed to a new building and have already drawn on grant funds, but cannot cover the remaining balance.
Proposed approach: A dedicated sales project to liquidate ~1 million lbs of white popcorn inventory, targeting buyers who can purchase in bulk. This is framed as a sales project with marketing support (positioning materials, outreach), not a traditional marketing engagement.
Key details:
- At $0.50/lb, 1M lbs = $500,000 — a significant portion of the financing gap
- Mark believes the inventory can sell for better than $0.50/lb
- A new popcorn-specific grant (~$250k) is available to fund the project work; Mark intends to draw project fees from this grant rather than the existing retainer
- Selling family land (~800 acres, in the family for three generations) is the emotionally charged last resort; the client wants to exhaust all other options first
- Fundraising/donations were considered and ruled out — Doodla Farms is a commercial enterprise
Timeline: Mark to draft the project proposal this week or next (before or just after Thanksgiving).
Several urgent operational tasks are blocking Old World's marketing progress.
The first Cora Italia invoice is 100 days past due.
Current stance: All work and new proposals are on hold until payment is received. This is a matter of principle, not just cash flow — the invoice amount is not large.
Immediate action: Lincoln (client-side contact) is in Italy this week. A call is scheduled for the following day with Lincoln and the Cora Italia team to force a resolution. Melissa will walk through the website work completed to date; payment will be addressed directly.
Account risk: The account has been relatively hands-off, which creates a risk of client detachment — they may begin to feel they aren't getting value and look to cut costs. Mitigation strategy is to maintain high-frequency communication (2–3 emails/week) and continue website updates.
Internal note: Matthew (a Cora Italia contact) has been requesting a quote for a separate project but appears unaware of the outstanding invoice situation — suggesting limited internal communication on their side. Lincoln has been unresponsive to recent emails.
An HTML email template built by Raphael is blocked from use due to a broken unsubscribe footer.
Root cause: The template uses a static href link for the unsubscribe action. Salesforce requires a platform-specific unsubscribe variable (not a hardcoded URL). Because the variable is missing, Salesforce appends its own default footer — which is visually messy and inconsistent with the template design.
Resolution path:
1. Mark has contacted Jessica for assistance
2. Goal: fix the template and have Jessica record a short video tutorial so the team can handle this independently going forward
3. Once fixed, Raphael will own all email creation and automation in Salesforce
| Decision | Detail |
|---|---|
| Doodla Farms inventory project | Mark to propose a new paid sales project funded by the popcorn grant |
| Cora Italia work hold | No new work or proposals until first invoice is paid |
| Old World GMC | Mark to set up Merchant Center + shopping feed (~3–4 hrs) |
| Salesforce template | Engage Jessica to fix unsubscribe variable; Raphael to own email creation after |