MARK GRAHAM, 37, is general manager at LinkDirect, in Birkenhead. Formerly with Newsquest media group, in London, Mark moved to the region when he moved to the door drop marketing company last year.

This is an account of his day.

6.30am: I’m woken up by my wife, kids and dogs, although it can be in any order. My wife, Ruth, has just started a new job, at the Guide Dogs for the Blind, so we’re currently practising a new morning regime. With two young kids (Molly’s four and Maisy 18 months) you have to think about these things.

8am: On the drive to work, I’m reminded again how different my commute is to 12 months ago. Then, I was living in Essex and faced with the unpleasant prospect of a lengthy Tube journey to my office in London. Now it’s a very nice drive through countryside from Frankby, where we’ve bought a house that gives us more space than we could ever have dreamed of down south.

8.30am: Once at the office, there’s precious little time before I need to get stuck in. I’ve just been promoted to general manager, and for the time being it’s important I gain a complete understanding of the inner workings of each department. I’m hoping the fact that I’m relatively new will help me view certain procedures and processes in a fresh way.

9.45am: LinkDirect is a door drop marketing company, which basically means we distribute advertising media such as leaflets, directories and free newspapers on behalf of publishers and advertisers. After I’ve cleared my initial backlog of emails and had a quick flick through the internet for any relevant news stories, there are normally a fair few distribution issues to sort out – today it’s a delivery lorry with a puncture, but it could be anything. We deliver about 5m items across the UK each week, so there’s inevitably something logistical to resolve.

10am: A highlight of the day – the butty van arrives.

11am: After a catch-up chat with the operations manager, Katie Johnson, I chair a meeting of our internal development group. It’s a bit like a staff council with representatives from all departments, and is an open forum for anyone to suggest ways of growing the business.

1pm: Back at my desk to get on with the bread and butter parts of the job – managing tender processes, and booking and planning distribution campaigns. We’ve just won a pitch to distribute 15m copies of a national consumer guide across the whole of the UK, but the campaign could just as easily be a few thousand leaflets around Merseyside. Lunch is a quick sandwich on the go.

3.30pm: Do a bit of preparation for a forthcoming meeting of the Direct Marketing Association’s Door to Door Council. This is an industry-wide group that meets regularly in London, and it’s a good opportunity to take a step back and consider some of the issues facing the industry as a whole. Green issues, inevitably, are high on the agenda at the moment. We’re doing our bit at LinkDirect with a new tool that will enable us to target addresses more accurately than ever, making it more cost-effective for the client but also creating less waste.

4.30pm: Tie up a few loose ends from the day. Have a chat with Edward, from our southern office, and also have a few words with a couple of customers about their campaign plans for the next financial year.

6pm: Get home just before Molly and Maisy go to bed. Molly normally gives me a full run-down of her day at school, and it’s great to see how quickly they’re both adapting to life up here – and how remarkably quickly they’re picking up the accent.

7pm: With the kids in bed, I nip down to Leasowe Leisure Centre for an indoor archery session. A friend of mine got me into it down in Essex, and I’ve recently joined Caldy Bowmen. On another night I’d probably take Humphrey and Ash, our dogs, for a walk across Thurstaston Common or Royden Park.

8pm: Home for some dinner and an hour of telly. For the time being at least, going out is a thing of the past.