How we do Things Differently w/ Roddy Barker

"How we DO things Differently"

Roddy Barker, Managing Director of B23 Marketing tells us how he is investing in his workforce.

“I think the secret to my success at B23 Marketing has been down to not taking myself too seriously,” Roddy quips. “I like to keep everything simple and be able to have as much fun as I can.”

Although he never planned to work in sales, Roddy’s experience of working as an Entertainment Manager in holiday parks has certainly given him the confidence to talk to people.

“The key to working in face to face sales is being that person that people want to speak to,” he said., “Being relaxed, fun and approachable is vital for what we do.”

Roddy started working for the organisation in 2008. After six months of working his way up he ventured down from Scotland to Bristol to work for James Buckley. From there he started Phoenix Global Marketing, where he focussed on growth, developing his team and was a high achiever in sales for charity clients. However, Roddy says his life changed in 2015 when his son was born.

"When I became a father I had the realisation that I wasn’t the most important person in my life any more. It was a real ‘head down’ moment for me, and I decided to rebrand the business as B23 Marketing.” By 2018 Roddy said he felt like he was juggling being a dad whilst being the driving force in the organisation. He decided to move back to Glasgow to be closer to his wider family, which saw him continuing to run his business from a coffee shop. After developing another office and again achieving impressive sales numbers over the course of that year, in 2020 Roddy was forced (along with many others) to try and navigate the Covid pandemic. This meant that fresh perspective, and a new vision was essential.

“My main focus was to try and maintain a business that thrives on face to face contact,” he said.

So after coming through the other side of the pandemic, what are the key things that Roddy has learnt?

His team “During lock down, our sales coaching and meetings relocated online. I created an online academy on Zoom which meant that we could still recruit and train. The most important thing has been to retain focus on making everything more personalised for my team. As during the pandemic we were not able to get together in the way we had before. We used to have a team night once a week, but instead we started to do Zoom quizzes which helped to bring everyone together. Not only did everyone feel part of something, but we were all focused on being connected. It has made me realise that we are a people business, not just a recruitment business. I want to help people be the best representation of themselves.”

Selling to the right people “We have a laser focus on quality in my business. For our charity clients it’s important to achieve high volume sales but also longevity, making sure we deliver the message effectively and convert the right people. This means we’ve had to train our team on how to disengage from people who can’t support the causes we work for, instead of pushing a hard sell. As a result the standards of our team have risen, in terms of better presentation, sales skills, and having more pride in representing incredible charities and clients.”

Having clear goals

The ket to working in face to face sales is being the person that people want to speak to. Being relaxed, fun and approachable is vital for what we do"

"We have a laser focus on quality in my organisation. For our charity clients it's important to achieve high volume sales, but also longevity, making sure we deliver the message effectively and convert the right people. This means we've had to train our team on how to disengage from people who can't support the causes we work for. As a result the standards of our team have risen, in terms of better presentation, sales skills and having pride in represeting incredible charities and clients"

“I’m a firm believer that setting yourself clear, achievable goals and retaining focus are important, but I have often found it a challenge to get people to voice their own due to embarrassment. Mine involve letting the team know why I travel an hour to work everyday and why I want to train people. I want to inspire people, whether it’s having a healthy lifestyle, making sure their family is looked after or having a successful business. I have introduced new goal planning sessions with the team, where we ask everyone to write a paragraph to explain their goals to the team. If they ever struggle or have challenges, then they have that constant reminder.”

Changing with the times “Being able to change with the times is something that is vital for the success of any business When we first introduced iPads to the team and got rid of paper forms, it took me a while to get used to it as admittedly I’m not great with technology. However this change made a real difference to how we worked. If you’re not willing to adapt,you’ll end up stuck in the past, which is the reason why some businesses fall by the wayside.”