I sometimes think people on the commercial frontline – in call centres etc – should be given that training.

My mother is eighty-four years old and housebound. Her challenges are all physical – mentally, aside from the odd memory lapse (which she acknowledges and even laughs at) she’s as sharp as she ever was.

Because going out shopping on her own isn’t possible any more, she buys quite a lot from catalogues. A few weeks ago, a new book dropped through her letter-box, which included some fantastic Christmas gift ideas, for members of the family who are normally really difficult to buy for. There was even something for my fussy brother – and it was all reasonably priced!

So Mum set about making a list. Then she called the 0844 number.

First issue: it went to a call centre which was obviously overseas. The line was poor and the operator had a strong accent, making it difficult for Mum to hear everything she said.

Second issue: Mum is old-school. She doesn’t like credit. So she wanted to pay for everything on her card, there and then. That, she thought, should make the process very simple. Not so!

The operator started asking her a long list of questions:
‘Full name?’ – fine, thought Mum;
‘Address?’ – no problem;
‘Date of birth’ – not sure why that’s relevant – but ok;
‘Age?’ – hang on, Mum thought at this point, didn’t I just give you my date of birth? Are you checking my mathematical powers – or are you the one that can’t work it out?!

When the girl got on to who owned the house, Mum flipped. Why on earth, she wanted to know, was it necessary to ask that when she wasn’t applying for credit?

I suspect that (and other frankly cheeky questions) was designed to build a picture of the average customer they were attracting, so they could channel the information into future marketing.  I know that because I do it myself (within reason) – as I’m sure you do – but my mother has no business experience, so all she knew was that some young kid miles from these shores was being rude for no apparent reason~! 

Did the call centre operative explain why she needed all this apparently irrelevant information? Of course she did – she said quite clearly, ‘I have to ask – you want to set up an account and it’s on the form’.

Eventually, Mum had had enough. I came in in the middle of what was becoming an increasingly heated exchange and she handed me the phone.

To cut a long story short, I tried to explain to the voice at the other end that Mum simply wanted to understand why such indepth questioning was necessary when she didn’t want credit. Why did it matter who owned her house when she was paying upfront?

All I got back was, ‘I need to set up an account and the questions are on the form’.

In the end, the perator became very snappy and Mum and I decided it was timeMum to put the phone down. She’d find what she wanted elsewhere.

So the catalogue company lost not only that order but any future orders she might have made. They also ensured she’d tell her entire social circle not to borther with them!

Most of us have to ask potentially tricky tricky questions of our customers at some point; but if they understand why, generally they’ll be happy to answer. More to the point, if we’re delegating the task to someone else, I’d have thought it was pretty essential that they should understand why they’re asking the questions in front of them! This girl clearly had no idea.

As for the overseas call centre issue – and the dodgy phone line – well, that’s another rant, for another time.

I have to say, though, they don’t work for me. Well, they might, in terms of bringing in new business – but I don’t enjoy them. I much prefer what I think of as ‘natural’ networking – walking into a room, whether it’s a networking event or not, and not having the first clue who I’m going to meet. Yes, in theory in that situation you could run across someone who does exactly the same job as you – but it’s highly unlikely. Even two people doing apparently the same job in the same industry will have different approaches, slightly different focuses – and so often, there’s scope for very productive collaboration.

I first ran across Richard Heathcote through a more open networking group. On the face of it, our activities could have looked very similar. We both work in sound; we both produce podcasts, for ourselves and others – but to be honest, that’s about it.

Whilst my focus, where audio is concerned, is on helping businesses to create professional-sounding, compelling content for download or cd distribution, Richard is primarily a voiceover artist. So while I attempt to teach businesspeople to present their own messages, Richard can speak for them.

He’s more than a mouth for hire, though. Some voiceover artistss need the backup of a professional studio to produce anything; but Richard has the technical skills and setup to allow him to be self-sufficient.

Not so long ago, he opened an online ‘audio shop’, providing a range of ‘off-the-shelf’ audio which people can download to use on their phone systems etc – perfect if you hate recording your own voicemail greeting and the like.  

He’s just helped me out with a little editing issue I was having – and he’ll be heard on at least one of my upcoming online courses. If either of us had taken a more restrictive approach to networking and the whole competition issue, we would probably have avoided each other like the plague – and missed out on the potential for some interesting and exciting collaborations.

Speaking of ‘interesting and exciting collaborations’: I have the challenge of interviewing my long-standing colleague and friend, Paul Smalley of Paper Mountain Solutions, on tomorrow’s radio show. Paul is heavily involved in the launch of a brand new business, designed to help brand new businesses. I can’t say any more until tomorrow. You can catch the show at 3PM, on 97.8 FM in the Basildon & East Thurrock area, or at gateway978.com.

If you don’t manage to listen, I’ll tell you more on Friday.

Last week’s show, with Caroline Thomas of Sales Scene and Louise Innes of Dotty Hippo Design – their ‘Thurrock’s Den’ competition is still open!;
‘Marketing for Startup Britain’ – the five-day conference which ran at venues across London, from 4th to 8th July; and
I’ve got interviews with two of the people I met at the conference –
Pete Owen of mobile bike  shop, Rat Race Cycles, and
Fiona Dallimore of Up Urs Betty. 

Catch the programme at 3:00 on 97.8 FM if you’re in the Basildon & East Thurrock area, or at gateway978.com, from anywhere else in the world.

If you’ve got any feedback or ideas for the show, get in touch.

Over the last few days, I’ve been catching up with people who were there. Some, like me, only managed one day; some managed two or three – and others did the whole week!
What I’ve been hearing has been, on the whole, extremely positive. I certainly came away inspired to change my focus on certain aspects of my new brand. Everyone else I’ve spoken to so far is in business, or going into business, for the first time and they’ve all said they learnt a huge amount.

Do you feel a ‘but’ coming on…? My English teachers would have the horros if they saw what I’m about to do, because they all told me NEVER to start a sentence – let alone a paragraph – like this…

BUT! one thing which has come through consistently about last week is that, while most of the speakers spoke very eloquently from a startup perspective, however long ago they started and however successful they’ve become, others seemed to be completely out of touch with their audience. I won’t mention any names, because they all gave their time with the best of intentions, but I’m told there was at least one whose presentation made no real reference to startups and who, away from the microphone, admitted having no interest in very young businesses. That leads me to ask what on earth they were doing there. The only answer I can think of is that they hoped some of the fledgling businesses would grow up to be something they would be interested in. There’s nothing wrong with taking the long view when it comes to building business connections, of course – but alienating people at the beginning by showing they’re too small to interest you, by talking to them about things which have no relevance to them, isn’t exactly a great foundation for a long-term relationship!

I should have had one of those very new business people on my radio show yesterday – but technology threw a wobbler – so she’ll now be on in a couple of weeks. I’ll tell you more about her then.

All I’ll say now is that she was a joy to interview and the ideal kind of guest for the programme. There’s absolutely no point in my having the CEO of some global corporate on to talk about the trials of floating a company on the stock exchange, when I know my listeners are made up largely of home-based parents who are trying to get some kind of enterprise off the ground, or wondering whether, one day, they might be able to do it. Someone who, in a very dark time in her life, came up with an idea which she’s now going all out to make a reality, is much more relevant to them. Offering them someone who can’t identify with them is like trying to communicate with a non-English-speaker by SHOUTING! VERY! LOUD! AND! VERY! SLOW-LEEEE! – frustrating for all concerned – and completely pointless!

Whatever we’re trying to say and whatever medium we use – live presentation, radio, podcasts, phone, leaflets, website, social media – you name it! – knowing who we’re talking to and at least trying to speak their language is vital. Otherwise, we end up talking to ourselves.

Last week, five venues across London played host to a five-day conference entitled: ‘Marketing for Startup Britain’. Startup Britain is a private initiative supported by the government – although not financially. This event was staged with a lot of help from the Marketing Agencies Association and its members.

I first heard about the conference via Twitter and decided I had to go to at

least one day. I’ve been in business for seven years, but I’m currently preparing to launch a new brand and I could see some great potential networking opportunities. Also, I’m a firm believer in the idea that however experienced we are, we can always learn.

I finally made it on Friday, to the session called ‘All you need to know about marketing a startup’, which pulled together a lot of the topics from earlier in the week. It was a fantastic day, both from the networking and the learning perspective – of which, more in future posts!

Almost every presentation was streamed live on the web and recorded – so I’m now working my way through the ones I missed.

I started this morning with ‘The Power of Talkonomics’ by Bambos Neophytou, Head of Planning at the marketing agency, Exposure. ‘Talkonomics’ is a trademarked term, coined by the agency, to describe the influence of word of mouth on people’s purchasing decisions.

I watched the video very early in the morning and had to resist the temptation to applaud and cheer – in case I woke the neighbours! For years, I’ve been explaining the power of speech to clients. Recommendation by one customer to another is invaluable for any business –and when all that potential is harnessed on a grander scale – in a word, WOW!

Word of mouth en mass, as I call it, used to be the preserve of the big brands, with huge marketing budgets, who could afford luxuries like radio promotions. Whilst adverts shout at us to ‘BUY!’, the promotion talks to us about a product, via someone the brand hopes we trust – the presenter. Research shows that we’re more than twice as likely to buy something when we hear about it from someone we trust. Promotions also give us the chance to get involved, to experience the product firsthand (the quickest way to create an advocate) and entertains us along the way.

As I said, all this used to be the preserve of the larger brands – but digital media has put the tools into the hands of anyone with something to talk about. The trick for anyone looking to capitalise on these opportunities is to work out what exactly their potential customers talk about when they discuss their brand. Bambos pointed out that it often isn’t what we would traditionally think of as brand drivers – the fact, for instance, that driving a particular car tells the world we’re successful. Marketing people are always telling us to ‘focus on the benefits’. It may be true that we buy for the benefits – but more often than not, we talk about the features – and not always the obvious features.

I’ve recently finished an audio-visual series on customer service for a client – and, for better or worse, customer service, it seems, is one of the best conversation starters there is. (Just look back at my posts under the heading ‘The OOPS! Awards’ if you want proof of that!).

Entertainment also gets people chatting – which is why I’m about to start work on a series of comedy sketches, for a businesswoman with a cracking sense of humour – and a serious commercial message. Some clients are a bit nervous about making entertaining downloads or putting together live presentations with too much fun in them. Obviously, the audience is key here – if you’re talking to a group of people who see levity as a lack of professionalism and you need them to see you as the ultimate pro, you probably shouldn’t try to make them laugh; but generally, I’ve seen time and time again that education might bring you appreciation, information will make sure you’re remembered – and entertainment is guaranteed to get you talked about in very positive terms.

The main aim is to bring more revenue into the TV companies, which have been hit by the economic climate like almost every other advertising medium (with the exception of certain online options).

I have to be honest and say I was sure that some of the smaller, digital-only channels, already ran way more than twelve minutes of ads per hour. It sometimes feels as though there are more ads than programme – but maybe that’s just me.

The TV companies and the advertisers are, of course, up against one major challenge here: the remote control. So many of us have the ability to stop and start shows, fast-forward through them etc, they’ll really have to work to get our attention. That’s one reason TV advertising revenues started falling in the first place.

One good thing I can see happening – I think it has to in fact – is that advertisers will put more effort into making ads entertaining and engaging. It can be done – the cult of the mear cat is testament to that. Love him or loath him, Alexander is a phenomenon in his own right now. The only danger with creating something like that is that some people (I’ve met a few) get so caught up in the character, they actually forget what he’s advertising.

If it’s done cleverly, the extended break will work – but ad agencies etc are really going to have to stay on their toes – which could be fun to watch.

Whatever our medium, whoever our audience might be and whether we’re selling a product, information or any other message, we have to be ready to entertain before we sell.

What do you think about longer ad breaks? Are you interested to see what use is made of them? Or are they just a longer opportunity to get a drink, go to the loo or see what’s on the other side?

I’m not saying we should always pay the same price for electronic information as we pay for the paper version. I can see the logic behind charging less for an ebook or an epaper than for a hard copy, because production and distribution costs will be lower. There will be costs, though, associated with producing an ebook or updating a newspaper’s website, which have to be covered by someone. When the vast majority of readers were buying old-fashioned newspapers, maybe companies could afford to make their online content free to the end user, but as fewer and fewer people buy physical papers, that becomes more of a challenge for publishers. Murdoch hailed the launch of the Apple iPad in the States on Saturday as the potential saviour of the newspaper industry. If he’s right and increasing numbers of readers move away from newsprint to the screen, some kind of charging model is going to be essential to the survival of titles. The only other option is advertiser-funding – but that’s another blog, for another day!

In the meantime, if you fancy getting your hands on an iPad before its worldwide launch, check out this article in The Inquirer.  Interesting marketing move …

At 5.00am on 6th November 2009, after yet another sleepless night, wondering why I seemed to be working my socks – and various bits of my anatomy – off just to stand still, I stood in my kitchen, coffee pot in hand and it hit me – no, not the coffee pot – the revelation! THE ANSWER! “EUREKA!” The lights went on and I saw it all – where I’d been going wrong, how to put it right – and more!

“So that’s my core skill! I thought, amazed – “I know how sound works!” Here I was, more than a year and a half after my decision to make the leap – and leap it certainly was – from law into business podcasting, finally realising that I know how sound works. Yes, I am a bit slow – especially at five in the morning!

The truth is, I knew how sound worked, how people used it and what it could do if they used it properly long before that moment – I just didn’t know that I knew. As I poured that much needed first cup of coffee, pieces of a jigsaw which had been floating around my head for nearly two years, never quite forming a picture, suddenly clicked into place and I saw the image clearly – the image of my business, how it came to be and where it could go. I spent the next several weeks redesigning services to fit that picture.

Before 6th November, the most positive response I had to my marketing efforts tended to be, “I’m really interested in what you do, but I don’t get it.” Now it’s, “I’m really interested in what you do – when can we talk?” Like most of the changes I made to our offering, it’s a small shift on the face of it – with a huge impact.

Nineteen years ago, someone said, “You should write a book” – but I was only twenty-three then and probably knew even less about life than I did about writing. So although I gave it a go, it didn’t happen. In November last year, I was planning a series of books about starting and running a business; but after that 5.00am “EUREKA!” moment, they were pushed aside by something else which insisted on being written “NOW!!!” From a pure business perspective, the timing was all wrong. I should have waited until we were truly out of recession, until the company was more established. In fact, I probably should have waited until I retired, but this book would brook no argument – the words fell out faster than I could type! The baby was coming, whether I or anyone around me liked it or not!

It started life as a practical guide to business podcasting, against a background of my experience as a lifelong media junky and obsessive communicator; but it evolved into the story of my forty-year apprenticeship in sound – the foundations on which my company and everything we now do is built. It also tells the very personal story of my development of the “womble” principle – of which, more later.

I finished the book last Thursday evening. Over the next couple of months, as I prepare for publication, I’m going to tell you a bit about how it came together and some of the things I learnt from writing it – because I did learn. Two people, both dear friends and close colleagues, have been slightly less than fulsome in their support for the project. I think that’s mainly because they’re applying cost/benefit analysis principles, looking at the amount of time this kind of undertaking demands, against the likely financial return. On that basis, I’ve just “wasted” three and a half months of evenings and weekends – but I know I haven’t. Even if no-one else ever reads the finished product, it was worth writing because it helped me work out what I’m about, how I got here and where I’m going.

I spent yesterday afternoon writing the outlines for two presentations. On the face of it, they couldn’t be more different.

The first was:-

“Who Is Fred? – and why did twenty-six seven-year-olds make friends with him?”, which I delivered this morning, at 4Networking in Ware. It was all about the children’s book, featuring a bear, which I produced with the Year 2 kids at the school where I’m a governor and the charity I one day hope to launch, to help disadvantaged kids discover and develop their potential through creativity.

The second was:-

“Whatcasting? – an introduction to using audio as an effective communication tool”, for the Business Café in Colchester, on 1st April … hmm .. I am slightly nervous about the date …

So what do they have in common? In one word, innovation and in another, potential.

The book developed in part from the need to find innovative ways of encouraging the kids (particularly the boys) to write. Several were from homes where reading and writing didn’t feature very much, so to them it wasn’t “cool”. One of the things we aimed to achieve – and I think we did achieve –by getting them involved in the book was to make it “cool” first to put their ideas into words and then to put them down on paper. Sometimes that began with a picture, progressed to a caption and eventually evolved into full sentences. Then at other times, they went straight for the pen – unleashing potential neither they nor their teachers knew they had.

My first foray into podcasting was in an effort to talk en mass to the clients and prospective clients of the law practice which I was running at the time, about legal issues. If they were aware and planned ahead, I knew they could save themselves time, money and aggravation. My challenge was how to communicate that. The people I wanted to talk to were busy. Their time was at least as precious as their cash – because it was in equally short supply! They were already bombarded with information leaflets etc – and if they’d been given one with “law” visible anywhere on the front, they would probably have switched off. Audio allowed me to talk to them directly, rather than at them, while they were doing other things.

So in both cases, a bit of lateral thinking about communication helped get a difficult and sometimes unpopular message across in a way the target audience actually seemed to enjoy! Well, they kept coming back for more, anyway.

In my experience, one of the biggest challenges we all face in business is around getting the right message to the right people at the right time – and, all-importantly, in the right language. The right people, of course, are the ones we want to talk to; the right message is the one we want them to hear; the right time is when they want to hear it; and the right language is theirs. That is, as I say, my experience – but what do you think?