November 2013 £2
DIGITAL MARKETING INSIDER THREE IMPORTANT SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS YOU SHOULD TAKE NOTICE OF THE TOP 7 BOOKS ON PROPAGANDA HOW TO HAVE AN AFFAIR ONLINE ENTREPRENEUR INSIGHTS GUY STEAD
A Note From The Editor First a warm welcome to November’s edition of the Digital Marketing Insider, produced by ROARlocal.com.
If this is the first time you’ve received this a hearty welcome to you! You’re receiving this because we want to show you what we’re all about and also give you some usable strategies to help your businesses grow. We’ve had a very interesting month here at ROARlocal. Crazy storms in the UK, Fires in Australia next will be the Zombie Apocalypse! Google announced that it’s search revenue had jumped 13.5% meaning that more people than ever before are clicking on ads. That can only mean 1 thing for you, if you’re using adwords it’s time to optimize it!
Facebooks share price has jumped due to their new mobile strategy, our clients are seeing healthy profits from the Facebook campaigns we’ve created for them and so now is the time to get your business on Facebook. Finally we were Judges Finalist for the category Innovation at the Adur & Worthing Business Awards....YAY for us! So we’re pleased as punch as you can imagine. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this months magazine it’s jam packed with our usual level of brilliant content and as always if we can help you in any way please get in touch Neil Asher CEO ROARlocal
About Us
Contents
We create great looking online advertising campaigns that enhance your brand, we use scientifically proven online advertising methods to drive visitors to your website and adverts and then we optimise your site to make sure those visitors become paying customers that tell all their friends and come back for more.
01 / A Note From The Editor
Our team is different, we focus on making you MONEY we couldn’t care less for winning awards for being “creative” our reward is money in your bank. We’re successful online entrepreneurs, world class copywriters, website optimisation specialists, online advertising mavericks and the geekiest SEO people!
04 / Pricing Strategy For Online Marketing And Ecommerce
02 / Three Important Social Media Trends You Should Take Notice Of 03 / Does Google Local Carousel End Local Business Marketing?
05 / The Top 7 Books On Propaganda 07 / How To Have An Affair Online 09 / Entrepreneur Insights
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by Neil Asher
Three Important Social Media Trends You Should Take Notice Of
Social media is ever changing and there are so many trends, it can be difficult to know which ones to focus and profit from.
Nicola and I were chatting the other morning and we’ve drilled the list down to three essentials that you need to be doing to maximise the revenue potential of social media. By focusing on these three facets, you can stay focused and put your energy towards the trends that are going to have the most impact to your bottom line.
This means focusing not only on building mobile apps that can drive traffic and increase brand knowledge, but it also means taking advantage of mobile marketing mediums that can help drive business to an actual location. Mobile marketing is definitely the wave of the future and you need to get on board before you get left behind.
Mobile commerce is growing faster than anyone predicted. At first we thought this trend was being driven by teenagers and people doing hyper local searches such as “best restaurant is Bondi” for instance.
A few years ago, Pinterest was considered the “cute” social media, and many thought it wouldn’t go anywhere. Fast forward to right now and you can see just how wrong the nay-sayers were. In fact Pinterest is having an impact on many different platforms as consumers embrace their visual design style. If you’re not utilising Pinterest to help build your brand and find new customers, you need to start right now. In addition, with Pinterest opening up new opportunities for businesses, there has never been a better time to start taking advantage of this service. With a little innovation, you can make Pinterest work for just about any kind of industry. The Mobile Shift We already knew mobile was hot, but look for it to be “the” priority in 2013 – 14.
BUT… That’s not how this is playing out. More and more everyday shopping is done online – books, clothes and even cars! 2 things to do VERY quickly: 1. Make sure your marketing is mobile friendly, your ads suit the mobile users, and that you treat them differently from a tablet or PC user. 2. You MUST have a mobile optimised website, if you don’t you’re losing money, simple as that. We’re building all our sites on platforms that adapt based on what our customer is using when they find us. You’ve gotta do the same.
The Rise of Video Monetisation Video monetisation has been in the works for years, but sites like YouTube have finally found the magic way to make it work for everyone. In fact, online video advertising is actually starting to compete with traditional television advertising. Although the format isn’t as forgiving, with the average ad lasting 15 seconds, it is definitely time to start taking this venue seriously. From creating original content as part of a content marketing plan, to actively using video ads to promote your services, video is where it’s at in 2013. YouTube has formed a HUGE part of many of our clients’ overall marketing strategy, and in niches that you would never think it would or should…. But it works, and it’s making money for them. See Libby’s brilliant article about monetising YouTube videos here Want us to look after your social media marketing for you? Then take a look at our results here
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Does Google Local Carousel End Local Business Marketing?
by Neil Asher
Before I start I want to make one thing clear… The Google Local Carousel is not in the UK…. yet.
It is, however, dominating the search results in America. And rest assured, if it’s in America, then the Google Local Carousel is headed across the pond too. With the release of Penguin 2.0 last month, we saw Google’s algorithm favour local search. Soon after, Google introduced their carousel feature for local searches at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Though this feature just arrived on desktops and in the States (so far), Google has been testing it on iPads and various tablets since December. When users search for restaurants, hotels and other local businesses, they can interact with this horizontal carousel of images that appears at the top of their search results screen. This new “knowledge graph carousel” is replacing the 7-pack local listings that originally showed up in the organic search results. With this new layout comes new ways to find what you are looking for in Google search. Zooming into the map below the carousel to a more specific location will adjust the options listed on the Carousel. Clicking on an image in the carousel will pull up all the listings on Google for that company’s name. On the right hand side, users will see the company’s contact information, as well as the option to view their Google reviews (can anyone say IMPORTANT!). The number located at the bottom left of the image on the carousel is Google’s score for the company, based on the reviews on their Google+ page. There are two types of scores: group and individual. Individual user ratings are on a scale of 0 (poor) to 3 (excellent). Group ratings are similar but on a larger scale; excellent being a score between 26 and 30. How To Get Your Business On The Google Local Carousel Google draws the majority of information for local listings – and now the carousel – from a company’s Google Plus local business listing. Here are three steps to get your profile in good shape:
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Completely fill out your Google+ business profile.
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Make sure all photos of your company on Google+ and anywhere else online are updated and web ready.
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Ask loyal customers to write reviews on your Google+ page.
Google’s focus on local search is opening doors for smaller local companies to show up in SERPs without having to design a website and labor over SEO. Google+ provides an easier way for these companies to share their information and images with the public. Once your Google+ business profile is ready, get yourself listed in local directories such as Yelp, City Search, and Insider Pages. Businesses can either use their website URLs or Google+ pages as their link in the directory. Keep in mind your phone number and address should be consistent on every listing and social profile so you don’t confuse the search engine. Now’s the time to get your company included in the local listings search results. Google has made it very easy for your company to be seen on the carousel by millions. Every second you wait could be a missed opportunity. So here are the important points: 1. Embrace Google+ Whether you like it or not, this platform integrates directly with Google Places to be the driving force behind the Carousel. We now build Google+ into all our local SEO strategies. Not only should your business have a Google+ page, but it should be well-maintained with up-to-date content and you should be constantly working to grow your natural followers. Also make sure to upload high quality pictures as these will be used in your Carousel listing. With visual appeal and layout being paramount features of the Carousel, the more eye-catching your images, the better.
2. Verify and Optimise your Google Places Listing The better optimised your listing is, the more likely it will be to be shown for given search terms on Google’s new Carousel. Make sure you submit to all appropriate categories, optimise your business description, and add photos. 3. Don’t neglect the importance of other online directories One of the main factors that goes into where your business will be “ranked” in the Carousel, not unlike the old version of Google Places, are the reviews written on your business. However, the new Carousel seems to scour listings and reviews from other directories much more so than the old version of Places did. Sites like InsiderPages.com, Yelp.com, Patch.com and more – plus industry-specific sites like urbanspoon.com – are critical to your overall local optimisation and to your ranking on the Knowledge Graph Carousel. Also for restaurants, which is one of the first industries that Google has rolled this out to, it pulls a score for your restaurant in the listing based on your Zagat score. 4. “Traditional” SEO is still important With the Carousel format “freeing up” a lot of the first page real estate that was formerly being dominated by Places listings, organic listings are once again taking center stage. A well optimised site and good ongoing SEO strategy will give your business more frontpage exposure. Plus, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander: the better your website is optimised, the better it will support optimisation of your Carousel listing, and vice-versa. As I said, Google local carousel is not in the UK yet… But it will be, and the question is will YOU be ready? If you’d like us to look after your Google + listing and SEO then get in touch here P.S Want to see how we ranked a website in just 3 weeks? Then check out our SEO case study here
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Pricing Strategy For Online Marketing And Ecommerce
My wife wants a new car; she insists we “need” one. I insist otherwise, but she’s VERY persistent (marketing lesson No 1) and so I spent the weekend looking at cars.
as important as what your product means to them. And this second part — the story of your product — is what yields the greatest pricing power of all.
She wants a Porsche Cayenne (ugliest car on the planet), so I started doing some research. Did you know that Volkswagen owns Porsche? You did? OK, how about this – did you know the Volkswagen Touareg uses EXACTLY the same chassis and running gear as the Porsche but costs half the price! (FYI the Audi Q7 uses the same platform too).
valuable than another. What makes one pair of shoes more valuable than another pair if they both deliver on the functional basics of comfort, durability, and protection?
So given that the 2 cars are virtually identical, how on earth does Porsche manage to charge twice as much for their Cayenne? That, my friend, is down to the story that Porsche communicates about the Cayenne and the rest of its cars. Their story is basically much better than Volkswagen’s Touareg, and forms a part of their overall pricing strategy. •
Pricing strategy usually follows one of four tracks:
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Bottom up: calculate the cost of everything that goes into making the product, and add a fair margin on top.
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Sideways in: analyse and adopt the price of competitors’ products.
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Top down: target a demographic or economic segment, and engineer the product to meet that price.
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Or dynamic: use a complex, real-time calculation to gauge supply and demand, usually with the help of an algorithm.
What you almost never hear about is a fifth track, which I call story analysis: an analysis of a product’s capabilities to fulfill a profound human need, to tell a story that gives your customers’ lives richer meaning. In a world of abundance, what your product does for your customers is important, but not nearly
Not convinced? Consider this story. Back in the summer of 2006, New York Times Magazine columnist Rob Walker was mulling the question of what makes one object more
People Pay Damian Hirst Millions For Paintings Of dots… Why? Why does one piece of art cost $8,000,000 and another, $100? What makes one toaster worth $20 and another worth nearly $400 if they both make toast? As Walker turned these questions over in his mind he concluded that it is not the objects themselves, but the context, the provenance of the objects, that generates value. In other words, the value isn’t contained in the objects themselves, but in the story or the meaning that the objects represent to the owner. Walker decided to test this conclusion in a simple and direct way. With the help of a friend, he began buying random, worthless, or low-value objects at tag sales and thrift shops. The cost of the objects ranged from one to four dollars. An old wooden mallet. A lost hotel room key. A plastic banana. These were true castoffs with little or no intrinsic worth. Next, Walker asked some unknown writers to each write a short story that contained one of the objects. The stories weren’t about the objects, per se; but they helped to place them in a human context, to give them new meaning. When Walker put the objects, along with their accompanying stories, up for sale on eBay, the results were astonishing. On average, the value of the objects rose 2,700%. That’s not a typo: 2,700%. A miniature jar of mayonnaise he had purchased for less than a dollar
by Neil Asher
sold for $51.00. A cracked ceramic horse head purchased for $1.29 sold for $46.00. The value of these formerly abandoned or forsaken objects suddenly and mysteriously skyrocketed when they were accompanied by a story. The project was so successful (and so interesting) that they have now repeated it 5 times and put all the results up on the web. It is also a book. Walker’s experiment reminds us in a very easy to understand way way how the concept of value works in the human brain: a can opener is a can opener is a can opener until it is a can opener designed by Michael Graves and a part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. A shoe is a shoe is a shoe until it is a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes. For every pair that I buy, a child who has never been able to afford shoes gets a free pair as well. Suddenly, these objects are part of an inspiring narrative — one that I can use to reveal something meaningful about myself to others. That’s something I am willing to pay for (and your customers too). That’s where real pricing power comes from. And as the number of products and brands in the world proliferate at an ever-accelerating pace, the power is only increasing. In 1997, there were 2.5 million brands in the world. Today? The number is approaching 10 million. So the trend is toward rapid commoditisation of just about everything. In a world of almost overwhelming abundance, an authentic, meaning-rich story becomes the most important ingredient to drive a company’s margins up. So, how do you charge more? Simple, tell your story, and tell it often.
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The Top 7 Books On Propaganda Propaganda is one of my favourite marketing disciplines. When you think about it, social media done well is pure propaganda.
As such I read as many propaganda books as I can get my hands on!
2. Crystallizing Public Opinion – by Edward Bernays
3. The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda – Noam Chomsky
The same laws that are applied to influencing entire nations of people are equally as compelling when applied online.
Yes that’s 2 for Ed, but in my defense, this is a damn good book!
This book should be called - People with Real Power vs. The Masses.
In his 2nd book Bernays crystallises his thinking to two propaganda pillars. First, he recognises that “the public, …due to the spread of literacy and democratic forms of government (feels) that it is entitled to its voice in the conduct of these large aggregations, political, capitalist, or labor, or whatever they may be”. Therefore, any organisation in society, no matter if it is a political entity, a company or a non-profit organisation, is looked at as some sort of public service. To succeed they will have to recognise this demand and communicate accordingly.
It’s slightly dour in nature and although short, it’s a brilliantly written piece.
In fact this has lead to an entire field of marketing study. There are some brilliant books on propaganda as well as some great documentaries, so without further ado; Here’s my top 10 propaganda books 1. Propaganda – by Edward Bernays Bernays was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, who had a MAJOR impact on propaganda. So much so that he ought to have all 10 spots! But, his work had to be applied to the art of manipulating men, so I’ve kept him out of my list. If they say that the devil’s in the details, then these are the details. This is the first, and most honest, recount of how to manipulate public opinion. Bernays was a maestro and became a VERY wealthy man from his ability to manipulate. Not all liked him though (look up his work for Beech-Nut, and the CIA. Bad stuff. Not to mention his promotion of smoking for women as “Torches of Freedom.”) Reading this, you will see propaganda at work in just about everything. Read this short book and then follow the news cycles. You’ll surely gain more insight as to how propaganda is used and will be able to more easily separate the 99% b.s. from the truth.
Second, Bernays regards the “average citizen (as) the world’s most efficient censor. His own mind is the greatest barrier between him and the facts. His own ‘logical proof compartments’, his own absolutism are the obstacles which prevent him from seeing in terms of experience and thought rather than in terms of group reaction” (p. 133). This leads him to conclude that PR is of no use unless it has something to say which the public, consciously or unconsciously, expects to hear. PR is thus not primarily about authenticity or believability, as many current observers put it, PR is merely a communications effort which functions as a catalyst of change if it resonates with the public. As such, PR may bring order to what is otherwise be conceived as chaos.
Chomsky shows how real power is applied to the masses for their own gain. It’s powerful stuff that will have you angry in places and amazed in others. If you you would like to know what the role of the media is in contemporary politics (and open your mind to new ways of thinking if you are not familiar with Propaganda) this is a book for you. Well worth reading. 4. Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear – By Dr. Frank Lutz I love this book! This is a modern day take on political influencing and the tell all style will make you gasp in places. Luntz has great pedigree, having advised many of the Fortune 500 on their PR strategies, as well as many political campaigns. Some of the shocks in store for you: 1. Gender can obstruct understanding. 2. It’s about the children. 3. How you define determines how you are received. I won’t go into detail but suffice to say, it’s a forthright book that has a no BS feel.
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by Neil Asher
5. Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes – by Jacques Ellul Ellul’s masterpiece is required reading for anyone who wishes to fully comprehend the toxic combination of technology and mass media as it seeks to manipulate the human mind. To his credit, the author anticipates techniques and practices that are more relevant today, 43 years after this book was published. Our drive towards social media has opened up a whole new area of propaganda, and this book gives insights in how to use that medium and the effects on it. If you THINK you understand propaganda, you MUST read this book — maybe twice — to fully understand the nature of this art of “manipulating TO manipulate.” This is not a ‘how-to’ book. If you’re looking to acquire knowledge from the dark side, read Bernays (see above). If your intention is to insulate and protect yourself as well as educate others, THIS IS the book for you. 6. The Ten Commandments of Propaganda – By Brian Patrick If you want to truly understand how you’re being manipulated then this is your book. Get this just for chapter 8, “Address Psychological, Spiritual & Social Needs”, This is a brilliant chapter and I think the most important part of the book. Here it is that you’ll learn the aim of all propaganda is to answer for its targets the existential question, “Who am I, when in the dark, alone?” Every person needs to know who he/she is, where he/she belongs, and what is his/her purpose for living.
My experience has taught me that facing that question alone and in the dark causes one to vacillate between two answers – “I am EVERYTHING” and “I am nothing”. Very cool book that’s well worth your time to read. 7. The New Rules of Marketing & PR – By David Scott I am a big fan of the author of this book. He really opened my eyes to online marketing possibilities, both in his books, his blog, and speaking appearances. Now whether you are an experienced corporate marketing pro, or just starting out in life with your own one person shop, no matter, this all applies. Of course, to understand “new rules” we must make mention of the “old rules,” which is typically a one-way communication with potential customers via publicity campaigns or buying ad space. The “New Rules” are about harnessing the infinite capability of social media — blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so on, to connect and interact directly with your customers. It seems so obvious once you “get it” (more so now that I have thousands of prospects reading my monthly articles), but for many people, it’s a big conceptual and cultural leap. This book is the stepping stone across the chasm.
So there you go my top 7 books on Propaganda My final Neily Bonus is a great video all about early propaganda called The Century of the Self: ”1984” (George Orwell), people are controlled by inflicting pain. ”Brave New World” (Aldous Huxley), people are controlled by inflicting pleasure. Orwell feared that our manipulated fears would ruin us (the stick). Huxley feared that our manipulated desires would ruin us (the carrot). Unfortunately we have both. And the voters have all been to willing to exchange their Constitutional Rights for their pleasure/creature comfort rights.
The New Rules of Marketing and PR covers the many ways one can use these new tools to reach your customers, build your brand, and let customers search for you instead of the other way around. I caution you, this is NOT one of those “light reads” with one idea and a lot of filler. Your brain will be spinning when you start to see all the avenues of marketing possibilities that you never thought of before!
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How To Have An Affair Online Writing about how to have an affair online has the potential to get me into a lot of trouble.
No doubt some people will take this as me advocating that you should have an affair online. I’m not. Let me quickly tell you the background and then I’ll show you the strategy. And then you decide if I’m suggesting you should fool around. BACKGROUND I LOVE psychology, I study it all the time. In fact, I did my degree in behavioural psychology, with a major in statistics. One of my favourite psychologists is Carl Jung. He was something of a pariah at the uni I went to, as all the lecturers were trying desperately to measure behaviours so that they could claim Psychology is a science rather than a humanitarian study… I believe it’s part art and part science. Anyway, I study my dreams. They can teach you a lot, and I’ve often had some great ideas, or the inspiration for great ideas from my dreams. So last Saturday I had a dream, and in the dream I used Facebook to find bored housewives who work from home and who would be interested in being seduced. Now the dream is an analogy for a new business I’m starting, but that’s a theme for another post. I told my wife Natasha about my dream, and she thought I was repressing the desire to sleep with lots of women. I told my business partner Nicola, and she thought I was nuts to tell my wife! And she thought the strategy was ingenious! So here we are today, with me writing the strategy for you.
Now that you know the background, I want you to know 2 VERY important things: 1. If you are in a loveless relationship you only have yourself to blame – you can get out at anytime; having an affair will not help IMO. 2. This strategy will work for ANYONE you want to find online to connect with. How to have an affair online OK lets start with marketing 101: 1. Find out exactly who is your target market 2. Find out their biggest problem 3. Find out where they go online 4. Put an advert in front of them that offers to fix their biggest problem 5. Once you have the click, fulfill their problem OK that’s very basic marketing 101 (that’s forgotten by 95% of businesses I see). So as I said, my dream was all about finding bored housewives to sleep with. So what do we know about them? They are at home They are bored They’re alone during the day They want to feel loved What do you do when you’re bored? Most people go online and hang out – Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube etc. Now we know the answer to question 3 – find out where they go online. So, now we must place an advert in front of our target market where THEY are online. Not where we want them to be, but where they actually are.
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by Neil Asher
Let’s choose Facebook for now.
How To Have An Affair Online
OK, now I can target my perfect prospect where she is online.
So, with our targeting, we have a pool of 17,200 perfect prospects. REMEMBER I’m using a sexy time example, but what I’m showing you works for anything or anyone.
Let’s delve deeper into my perfect prospect. Let’s say that you want to go after: •
Women (this would work for guys too, I’m sure)
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Aged between 29 and 36 (whatever age is important to you goes here)
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Who like Yoga (Yoga ladies tend to have nice bodies)
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Who have children between the ages of 4 and 15 (life after kids can be quite unfulfilled for some women)
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Who live in Bondi, Australia (close to me)
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Who are into Fashion (they like to look good)
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Who work from home (they will be home alone during the day for illicit liaisons)
Your targeting would look like this in Facebook:
All that remains to do now is to run a Facebook campaign during the day (school hours) offering them something of value. If this were me I’d take them to a page with a video that had me telling them about my situation and being very blatant. With 17,200 prospects you’d very quickly get some opts ins, so to speak. So let’s recap our steps… 1. We thought about our perfect prospect 2. We put ourselves into their shoes and worked out their biggest problem that our product / service could solve 3. We found out the whereabouts of where they went online and then we placed our advert in front of them 4. We took them to a page that outlined the benefits and realised that this is a numbers game – some of your prospects will like what you have to sell others won’t 5. Wash rinse and repeat As I said, this post was inspired by a dream I had. The dream was a metaphor for a business I’m starting, but the marketing principles are solid. Do you think I’ve gone too far?
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Entrepreneur Insights
New ROARlocal client TradeRiver Finance were introduced to us by Guy Stead, who owns independent broker Rainmaker Finance but who has now started to work with TradeRiver in a Sales Director role. Guy knew he wanted to get us involved with the online marketing. He started in financial services in 1986 and has worked previously for a high street bank, independent invoice finance company and two multinational US Corporate organizations, prior to starting Rainmaker Finance in 2007. Hobbies include dining out, playing golf and Texas Hold’em (which is how he knows Nicola, COO of ROARlocal!) What one thing about your childhood, personality or upbringing do you think had the biggest influence on your becoming an entrepreneur? I don’t think I can identify one thing that was the biggest influence, since there have been so many lessons in life that I reflect on, that it’s impossible to decide on one. With an older brother, often setting the lead with being the first to do things; taking his driving test, getting a job and company car and then with a younger sister too, I recognised one essential character skill that developed of wanting to be different, learning from someone else’s experience before applying myself to the same task. This was after many years of the inevitable ‘hand me down’ world of everything from clothes to cars, so putting my own stamp on something became a personal feature, certainly by the time I was 18 year old. My father was very successful in a large corporate and gave us a good grounding about having a profession or skill to leverage and develop. Mine became selling from
a young age. Either selling my gardening services from the age of 14 or selling on personal belongings such as a chopper bike and oh! how I wish I had kept it now; I think they are now retro collector’s items. With the older brother and firm career aspirations from my father, the Forces were attractive to me for the discipline and opportunities it provided and for a long time I wanted to be a Royal Marine. But having passed my driving test within three weeks of my 17th birthday, freedom and the wide range of career choices made me realise that the Forces was not for me. After A levels at school, which I never worked hard enough for and hence didn’t get the grades for University, my selling career started with a direct sales job in financial services, commission only, with one of the big life firms. This was exciting and gave me the formal structure for selling and repeating the ingredients for a successful result. I enjoyed the character analysis selling skills, where you identify if someone was task or people focused and passive or assertive, meant you could adapt your selling method. In a short space of time I won top salesman of the month and with it two tickets to Wimbledon for the Saturday and Ladies finals. I took my brother and I now look back and realise it was a way of showing my competitive achievement and proving I was successful. So perhaps I look back on my childhood and now realise that a lot of my personal influences, family development and upbringing shaped this ability to find a ‘win / win’ result in
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almost everything I wanted to achieve. How did you do at school and what did you most love or hate about school? Without a doubt, my strengths at school were maths and sport. I was in most school teams, from the obvious football, rugby and swimming, to a few lesser expected skills of archery and the photography society. The competitive side of my childhood has been constant and developed into a view that I will try anything once and then decide how good I was, to either become the best I can or just partake because I enjoyed it, although accepting I might not be the best. Academically I just never worked hard enough and found those final exams too much. I worked hard when required, but generally look back on exams as being an unpleasant experience and one that I could have done better at. I left secondary school with nine O levels and one A level in Economics and an O/A in Maths. Two of the O levels were achieved whilst doing the A levels. English Literature (as for my brother) was not a strength and Geology an addition that was great fun purely for the two field trips to Swanage and North Wales in the one year course work. What would you say was the ONE THING that made the difference in your professional success? Not giving up. Because of my sporty interests and desire to be seen as successful in my father’s eyes, I would say persistence and finding a way for getting ‘the result’ has been one thing that has led to my professional success. This means when something hasn’t worked or a job ceased, I would find something else as a replacement to fill what was missing. I remember one occasion in the early days of financial services my boss explaining a mind set about making direct calls to households in an evening, trying to sell pensions, investments, mortgages, saving and life products. I had the telephone directory open in front of me and two hours of calling ahead of me, trying to make appointments. After about 30 calls, my boss asked what my results were like. One in ten I replied. He said “Great, you now know that there are nine “no’s” before another “yes”, start thanking people for saying no”. I did and before long my entire mind set had changed to rejection and the conversion rate on calls made, because when you thanked someone for saying no, they ask why you have thanked them and once I had explained
the reason, they became curious about what they were missing out on and that what I was doing was of value to others. Within about a week I was booking a new appointment from five cold calls and no longer recognised or felt the rejection and negativity that so often destroys others in the sale role.
If you would like to know more about the lending market and how you can save time and money by getting introduced to the right lender, suited to your company, please visit www.RainMakerFinance.co.uk
This has led me to always monitoring what I do, recording call rates, activities in the sales process, results, successes and failures. I often ask others for their feedback and I do think that other people opinions, particularly when I’m involved in a process or task, is valuable. Sometime if you don’t ask, people will not volunteer their opinions, so I now embrace these whenever possible. Oh and spreadsheets help! What ONE THING would you do differently, knowing what you know now? Without a doubt, I would have started my own businesses sooner, if I had my time over, or had known then, what I know now. I enjoyed corporate life and the structure and surety it provides, but realised at 40 that I was only ever making money for others and until I had my own business, this situation would not change; so at 40 I started my own company for the first time. What really gets you buzzed NOW about being in business? What fulfills you most? Three things make me feel successful and give me a buzz, Not having to worry about money – I am now earning as much as when corporately employed but have the freedom of my own time and no demands from a boss Don’t be afraid of doing something different if your first attempt wasn’t successful. Not having to try too much – with maturity you learn efficiency in everything you do, knowing when to move on, when to put in the extra hour of work and being content with that is satisfying. I am a great believer with the phrase “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” Having clients that thank you and rely on you, so that they are happy to recommend you to their friends, is also very rewarding. It’s often said that referrals are the most important type of new business and when these start and then increase over the years you soon realise that more of the same does have its place in life, especially when it works.
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