I Thought I Knew This Stuff

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…for UK Business Owners who are serious about becoming super-successful

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INSID

SENDING THE BILL TO
THE HERD Page 3
I THOUGHT I KNEW THIS
STUFF Page 4
THANK CRUNCHIE IT’S
FRIDAY Page 8
EMAIL TRICKS Page 14
UNLOCKING THE WILL
TO ACT Page 16
A NEW WAY OF RAISING
CASH Page 22
entrepreneurscircle.co.uk

TO WIN,
MANAGE
OR SURVIVE?
In a recent Mastermind session, one member was a
complete revelation. “I’ve realised that, for the last
five years, everything I’ve been doing has just been
fiddling around the edges,” she said, “but I now
know the things that make a difference and that’s
all I spend my time doing.”
I recently read a biography of
Ronald Reagan. In it, when asked
about his reputation for not
working as hard or putting in as
many hours as other presidents,
he is quoted as saying: “There are
things that must be done. There
are things that can be done. Then
there are lots of things that either
don’t need to be done or that
can’t be done. If you just focus on
the first two, you really don’t need
long hours.” It strikes me that

what Reagan is actually describing
there is discernment.
In my experience, most people
lack the ability to discern what is
truly important and what is not.
Actually, I’ll take it a stage further
– most people are so weak at
this that they deal with anything
and anyone and everything and
everyone at random.
It’s proper bonkers.

Quote for the month
“If you think you can, or you think you
can’t you’re probably right”
Henry Ford

“Who you hang around with matters - a lot”
Nigel Botterill

Jan 2014

helping businesses grow.''
''The UK’s largest Membership Organisation dedicated to

TO WIN, MANAGE OR SURVIVE? (CONT)
I learnt a long time ago of the importance of
spending the first 90 minutes of my working day on
the things that are important to me and will make
my business more successful.
And I’ve said many times before, if you track back
the history of my businesses, you’ll find that all
our success has, in truth, been built in 90-minute
chunks, five days a week.
There are hundreds of members in the
Entrepreneur’s Circle who know this and who
understand it. The majority of them would agree
that spending 90 minutes focused on the things that
will move the business forward each day is a smart
thing to do. Yet there are, in truth, only a few dozen
doing this, religiously, every single day. Bonkers.

What are you waking up and working on
each and every morning?
Are you obsessed with the essential success factors
and functions that will achieve your big, ballsy 2014
goals or have you spent hours today on the vague
and divergent activities, responding to other people’s
agendas? Is there clarity or fog? Are you out to win
or just manage? Or worse, just survive?
As we start a brand new year, many people all across
the country will be making resolutions. The majority
will be history before January is out.
It was actually May, almost 11 years ago when I
started my 90-minute habit. If you like, it was a new
May resolution, but, well over 10 years on, it’s a habit
that is still with me and it’s responsible for almost all
of the success I’ve been fortunate enough to achieve
in business.
Why? Because my daily disciplines have shaped my
life. And so it is with you.
Whether you consciously map out your day or not,
the reality is that it is your habits that shape your
destiny.
“Some people say I’m very simplistic,” Reagan told
his guest, Richard Allen, in the book, ‘Rawhide
Down’ (Reagan’s codename with the Secret Service
was ‘Rawhide’ and the book focuses a lot on the
assassination attempt).

things we’re working really hard on with Mastermind
this year is helping people to clearly and definitively
state their objectives, their targets and their means
of measuring success. It ain’t easy. Many business
owners don’t have a clue in this regard. In effect,
they’re playing what my good friend, Dan Kennedy
calls ‘blind archery’. Of course, all this new stuff like
social media and new shiny objects and software
only compound the problem, but Reagan was
right, you know. There is a big difference between
being simplistic and keeping things – like running
a successful business – simple. In a one-to-one last
month, a very high-profile member of the EC, albeit
one with only a moderately successful enterprise,
was getting so obsessed about the automation of
the marketing funnel that they’d completely missed
the point that the most sensible and obvious thing to
do with the 11 or 12 highly qualified leads they were
generating each week was to simply ring them up
and embark in the simple act of selling. Simple.
Most businesses thrive or suffer based on a very
small number of critical factors – they can usually
be counted on the fingers of one hand. A ruthless
definition of productivity, say, and another of
profitability can be used to reject or discard all sorts
of ideas, activities, distractions, even people so that
focus and focused effort is possible.
It’s all pretty simple if you think it through. There’ll be
people that you could call today, or send an email
to or a piece of direct mail that will result in your
cash register ringing. There’s stuff on your to-do
list today that’s really, really important and that will
play a hugely disproportionate part in determining
just how close you come to achieving your goals
this year or not and then there’s all the other stuff,
the flotsam and the jetsam of modern life. The
distractions and detritus of the doomed.
So, dear reader, my wish for this New Year for
you is that you are conscious throughout – and
discerning in the extreme. Deep down you know
what you should and shouldn’t be doing. It’s up to
you to make it so.

Have a great month.

“But there’s a difference between being simplistic
and simple. A lot of things are simple if you think
them through. So, keeping that in mind, here is
my theory of the Cold War… we win. They lose.”
There’s a lot to be said for clarity. Especially since it
is an advantage that few seem to have. One of the
02

Nigel.

GENERATING INCOME AT WILL

Sending
the Bill to
the Herd
However, when you are in that
position, it effectively means that
you can generate income at will
and a couple of Mastermind
members managed to achieve
this for themselves just recently.
Dominic Jones, who runs
Barton Technology renewed his Mastermind
membership for the second year in November. “I
had the money, and I paid up front,” said Dominic,
“but I just had this thought that it would be really
good if I could put into practice what I’ve heard
Nigel talk about so often. Could I ‘send the bill to the
herd?’”
What Dominic did was write a fairly short email to
12 of his best customers inviting them to join his
own Mastermind group for the bargain price of
£3,000. Within two days, five of them had signed up
– and paid the money. “It was a great feeling,” said
Dominic, “and I realised, for the first time, that I really
am in the position now to generate income at will.”
When Dominic told his colleagues in the
Mastermind group about what he had done, over

If you’ve been around the Circle
for a little while, you might
have heard me use the phrase
“sending the bill to the herd”.
It’s not offensive in any way but
it refers to passing on the cost
of anything in your business to
your customers – which you can
only do when you have a strong
relationship with them and
you’re offering them something
of real value.

dinner the night before their Member session, fellow
member, James Wilson, was hugely perturbed.
“I was really cross with myself that I hadn’t thought
of this,” explained James, “so that night, when I got
back to my hotel room, I too wrote an email, which I
sent out the next morning to some carefully selected
customers of my own. Hey presto, I’ve been able to
do exactly the same as Dominic.”

There’s no doubt that having the ability
to generate revenue and cash like this
is huge for any business owner and it
all stems from how you think and the
questions you ask yourself.
It doesn’t have to be about funding a place in
Mastermind – it could be sorting out a tax bill,
buying a new car or paying for an extra member
of staff. The truth is, in most businesses, if you’re
getting the basics right and doing the right things,
then you’ll be forging relationships with your
customers, which will enable you to offer something
of appropriate value to them and for which, in
return, they’ll put money in your account.

It is truly a wonderful thing.

03

BIG LESSON OF THE MONTH

I Thought
This Stuff
If you’d asked me before December whether I was good at
following up with my customers I would have said, “Yes.” Indeed,
if you’d really put me on the spot, I would have said we were at
least a nine out of 10 at this. We were very good. Or so I thought…
A long story short, but the week before the 2014
Mastermind Group, we were all set to kick off with
a big weekend summit for all 50+ members and we
had one guy drop out. It was for very good reasons
and I completely understood his decision but it did
leave me one member short and that’s a reasonable
chunk of revenue. Nevertheless, on the Monday
afternoon when he told me, I simply shrugged my
shoulders, figured that there was nothing I could do
about it and carried on my daily business.
The following morning, I was midway through my
90 minutes when a thought struck me. I stopped
the work I was doing and instead drafted a very
hastily written email to members explaining that
we’d had this dropout of Mastermind and that there
was an opportunity for one person to come into
the Group.
Within four hours, we had seven applications.

I was genuinely stunned.

04

It was only six weeks after we had offered and
marketed the 2014 Mastermind programme, so
it’s not as if these people hadn’t known about it or
hadn’t had the chance to buy recently. And that
was the big lesson for me: that people buy when

they are ready – not necessarily when you’re
doing the selling.
What I think this shows is the importance of
keeping in touch with and regularly reminding our
customers of what we do and how we can help
them. It’s arguably the single most important thing
for any marketer. It’s certainly getting a place much
higher up the agenda in my 90 minutes going
forward.
Every business has leads sat somewhere that,
if reignited or communicated with today could
generate a conversation that leads to a sale.
But across the country, business owners have
dismissed these leads as old, dead or dormant.
Worse still, they’ve simply just forgotten about
them – like the guy at the NEC who I wrote about
in the lead article last month.

t I Knew
ff…
At the Convention in September,
Sir Chris Hoy called these things
‘marginal gains’. I don’t care what
name or badge you put on them but
my eyes were opened massively by
this incident in
my business and I’ve resolved not to
let it happen again.
I hope this note does the same for
you.
Before you turn the page, just have a
think about the short two to threeparagraph email that you could
write in 20 minutes and send out
today or tomorrow that would bring
in some sales
that you otherwise wouldn’t get.

That’s the power of follow-up.

What’s stopping you?

05

CREASER’S BIG COLUMN

1.4 BILLION Thin
this Year to Grow
Google “growing a business” and you’ll see pages
and pages of search results. It would take you a while
to read through them, but Mark Creaser saves you the
trouble with this neat digest.
There is no shortage of people queuing up
to tell you how you can grow your business.
There are thousands of books, hundreds of
events and business coaches in every town
vying for your custom.
The fact is though, there are only three ways
to increase your business. Only three. And
you don’t even need to do all three to grow –
just get one right and you can’t go wrong.

A full 68% of business owners couldn’t
answer the following questions. Can you?
How many customers have you got? How
many people spent money with you last
year?
What’s your average sale value (before you
tell me that it’s different for every sale, remind
yourself of what ‘average’ means)?

Three Ways To Grow Your Business:

How often do your customers buy from
you? How many purchases do they make
in a lifetime? What’s the gap between one
purchase and the next?

#1 Get more customers
#2 Increase your average sale value
#3 Increase how often your customers
return to buy again

Knowing and understanding your numbers
is a great starting point for growing your
business and yes, I made the 68% statistic up,
but experience suggests that I won’t be far
wrong.

I know you’re on the edge of your seat, so I’ll
spill the beans…

I bet you’ve heard these before. I bet that you
knew them already, but I’d wager that you
haven’t given much thinking time to how
you can do them…

I’ll go through each of the three magical
business growth secrets one by one.

1) Get more customers
It is seems obvious – because it is. There’s
no mystery here, no secret formula. If you
find more customers in 2014 than you had
in 2013, you’re odds on for a more successful
year.
Here are four ways you can get more
customers…
Make sure that people looking for you can
find you.
If someone’s looking for what you’ve got,
then you need to be sure that they’re able
to find you. In most markets, that means
showing up in style when a prospect does a
Google search for something related to what
you do.
You need to be on page one. It doesn’t really
matter whether you achieve it through SEO
or AdWords. If it’s SEO that you’re relying on
to bring you new customers, you’d be smart

...there are only three ways to
increase your business. Only three.
And you don’t even need to do all
three to grow – just get one right
and you can’t go wrong.
06

ngs You Could do
w Your Business
to have an AdWords campaign set up and
ready to go live in the event that you get hit
by Google’s next algorithm change – if you
were unaffected by the Panda and Penguin
updates over the last couple of years, maybe
you won’t be so lucky with Parrot or Panther
or Poison Dart Frog.
Make sure that people who’ve got a problem
you can solve know that you exist
This one means spending some time
understanding your market. Who are your
customers? What is the common problem
that they have that you provide a solution
for? Where can you find more people who’ve
got that problem – even if they’re not looking
for a solution right now?
How can you promote your business
effectively to people who need you? Where
do they live? Can you write to them? What
do they read? Can you advertise to them?
What else do they buy? Can you tie up with
another business they’re already buying
from?
Make sure you’re not losing as many
customers as you find
Not every business is a ‘pay monthly by
direct debit’ business like the Entrepreneur’s
Circle, sure, but there are very few businesses
that genuinely only transact once with each
customer. Whether you typically do business
weekly, monthly or just every few years
with each customer, you need to make sure
you’re doing everything you can to keep the
customers you’ve already won.
It’s almost always cheaper and easier to keep
a customer than it is to go out and find a new
one. Keeping in touch is key here – it doesn’t
matter how happy they were the first time
they bought from you if they’ve forgotten
who you were and what your number is
the next time they need to buy – they’ll be
straight back to Google. A regular printed
newsletter can play a big part in a long-term
keep-in-touch campaign.
Make sure you ask your customers for
referrals

Where are you going to find people who are
just like your best customers? Why not ask
them? Referral programmes can help to build
your business automatically – if you do them
well.

2) Increase your average
sale value
First up – price. Lots of Entrepreneur’s Circle
members find that they once were nervous
about pushing their prices up. They think
they’re going to lose customers and break
the whole business. But they cross their
fingers and implement a price increase
anyway, then wait for the angry backlash.
It never comes.
Driving up prices is the easiest way to
increase the value of your average sale. If you
haven’t done it for a while, there’s no better
time than next week. Honestly.
Up Selling
“Do you want fries with that?” is a great upsell
question. Offering a bigger, better, higher
end alternative to your standard product
or service can mean a significant uplift in
transaction value.
And here’s the thing: if you get the upsell
right – and price it appropriately – you’ll
make as much profit on the upsell as you do
on the whole of the original sale. Nice.
What’s in your ‘Platinum Package?’
Cross Selling
Rarely confused with cross-dressing, cross
selling is all about dreaming up identifying
new products and services that you could
offer your customers, that are usually related
to your core product or service.

3) Increase how often your
customers return to buy again

miss you” customer reactivation letter often
produces eye-watering returns.
Make them a limited-time offer that’s
exclusively available to past customers. If
you’ve got the data, make it as relevant to
them as you can by looking at previous
purchases – what did they buy, how much
did they spend. Use that information to your
advantage.
Offer a Pay Monthly Package
Naked Wines is my favourite example of
this. There are lots of places to buy wine so
Naked Wines needs to work hard to stay
top of mind. They achieve this – and more
– with their ‘become an Angel’ programme
– and it’s worth spending seven minutes just
looking carefully at what they do (after you’ve
finished reading the Circular – obvs!).
Whatever you’re selling, if you can design
a package where your customers pay you
every month automatically, you’re on course
to increase how often your customers buy
from you.
Reward Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty programmes work. Look at
Tesco Clubcard, Boots Advantage, Airmiles,
even Subway, Starbucks and Costa. You don’t
need to give your customers another card
but you know how you feel when you see a
great offer and then it turns out that it’s only
for new customers? That’s the opposite of
what you want to achieve here.
Make your existing customers feel special.
Make them feel valued. Recognise their
loyalty. Do a good job of this and you’ll be
less likely to lose them AND they’ll come
back to you more often.

Love you.

Reactivate Past Customers
Whether or not you’ve done a fantastic job of
keeping in touch with your customers, a “we

07

MARKETING LESSONS

Thank Crunc
This month’s example of really great marketing
that works isn’t from a big national brand or a
FTSE 100 company. Instead, it’s coming from
much nearer to home in the form of Inside Track
member, Jacqui Frost who runs The Office Genie,
a call answering and VA business.
Jacqui sent out the letter that you can see on the
opposite page to her existing clients that she knew
either received voicemails over the weekend or
were open on Saturdays.
“We send an email out two days ahead of
the letter,” says Jacqui, “and we followed EC
recommendations of resending the email to those
that haven’t opened it but using a different subject
line on the second send.”
The letter, complete with real Mars Bar and
Crunchie Bar arrived on day three or four.

“The results stunned us,”
explained Jacqui.
“To date, 52% of the people that received the
chocolate letter have signed up to our Saturday
service and they all contacted us within a week
of receiving the letter. Further follow ups have
revealed that a number of other recipients are
currently considering adding the service to their
package. It’s been brilliant.
“We would never have considered doing something
like this before joining the Entrepreneur’s Circle
and I’m so grateful that you encouraged us to think
outside the box. Having had such a lot of success
with this campaign, we’re now exploring other
direct mail pieces and I’m keen to run them more
regularly going forward.”
08

Jacqui

It’s a great letter for two reasons. Firstly, the
chocolate is a real easy way to get people’s
attention and make it stand out from the crowd.
Jacqui has built on this with a nicely laid out piece,
which includes a strong offer and a deadline.
The second reason it’s worked so well is because
of who it was sent to. Jacqui’s used this to increase
the spend from existing customers – people who
already know her, trust her and have confidence in
her – and it is typically much, much easier to utilise
direct mail efficiently to get additional sales from
your existing customer base.
This might not be as sexy as some of the pieces
that have been shown on these pages but we don’t
think we’ve ever had a marketing piece before in
which over 50% of the recipients have actually
signed up for the product – and that’s why it’s
showcased here. It’s wonderfully simple – but also
wonderfully powerful and in that regard it ought to
serve as a very useful prompt for you.

Who could you send a couple
of fun-sized chocolate bars to
with a short, focused message
that would generate some
additional sales?

chie it’s Friday
The letter,
h
complete wit
and
real Mars Bar
Crunchie Bar
y
arrived on da
three or four

OVER 50% of
the recipients
have actually
signed up for
the product

To date, 5
2% of
the peop
le that
received
th
chocolate e
le
have sign tter
ed up
to our Sa
turday
service

09

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH

January 2014 Winner:

Henry Patterson
Not Before Tea
This month’s Entrepreneur of the Month award goes to nine-year-old
Henry Patterson, whose edible Mud & Worms have captured the imagination
of everybody from politicians and senior figures at Sainsbury’s to legendary
Olympian Sir Steve Redgrave and Innocent Smoothies founder Jon Wright.

Becky

We spoke to his mother, Becky to get the full story behind his amazing journey
and find out how he plans to be like ‘Alan Sugar but happier’.

It all started when I set up my sweet
shop, Sherbet Pip, which sells nostalgic
sweets.

afterwards and he sold them with dental
stickers – to keep the parents happy. He
really had all bases covered.

I recognised that, every time adults talked
about sweets, they thought back to when
they were children. Plus I always had
a secret desire to go into retail (having
been in PR prior to this).

He decided to call his page on the site
‘Not Before Tea’ – after what his gran says
to him when he asks for sweets.

While working on my product range,
Henry asked me what I was doing
for children. I explained that it was a
sweet shop for adults who wanted to
be children as opposed to products for
children. However, I told him to come up
with some ideas and, if they were good
enough, I’d think about a children’s page.
This isn’t the first time Henry has
embarked on a business venture. In fact,
this is his third. When he was six, he
started selling horse manure outside our
house after he saw some for sale at a
garden centre and realised that we had
loads at home. Our neighbours were also
doing it so he undercut their price.
Then, a little while later, he created a
niche market for selling his old toys. For
example, he noticed that there wasn’t
a farming Power Ranger so he sold his
Power Rangers bundled with a tractor.
A few days after our talk, he came back
with six jars of sweets – one of which
was Mud & Worms. I told him that I didn’t
think it would sell as it was brown and
looked unappealing but he was adamant
that kids would love it. And he was right.
Packaged with the sweets, he included a
pen so that kids could decorate the jars

10

Next he designed a logo – Pip the Mouse
– and even wrote a book about it.
So, once we had a name, a brand
and a product, I did press releases for
both businesses, sent them out – and
everybody pretty much ignored mine
and went straight for Henry’s.
Once the word was out, Not Before Tea
really captured people’s imagination.
The Daily Mail called us for an exclusive
interview and the story was picked up by
Yahoo News, The BBC, The Independent,
The Times and the New York Times.
Unfortunately, this is when we started
to get our first bits of negative press.
People online didn’t believe that it was
all Henry’s idea and started to say some
really quite nasty things. But, true to form,
this didn’t put him off. In fact, Henry got
really annoyed and asked to do a live
BBC radio interview. He wanted to show
people that it was all down to him and
was very much his venture.
Henry’s someone who naturally knows
what to say and covers the key points.
For example, at awards ceremonies he
might be asked the same question 20
times in a single day but always tells the
answer like it’s the first time. He’s very
confident but also humble – I think he’s a
little shocked to be in the position he’s in

but he takes it all in his stride.
And he needs to because we’ve been
invited to so many awards and events
over the past six months. Among them
was visit to the Bedford Chamber of
Commerce, where Henry was presented
with a plaque and given lifetime
membership.
This was an amazing honour. However,
when asked what his best moment in
business has been so far, Henry will
say the evening in September when he
attended The Great British Entrepreneur
Awards. In fact, Henry says it was the best
day of his entire life!
We met lots of politicians and business
figures and it was obvious that Henry
was in his element. From the moment
he arrived, he worked the room like he’d
been doing it for years. One of the big
highlights was when Sir Steve Redgrave
recognised him and asked for a photo.
Henry had done so much press for
the awards and, being the youngest
nominee, had become almost the
unofficial face of the event. The night
was topped off by him being given a
special One to Watch award and being
asked to speak.
None of the other business owners
were asked to say anything so I was a
little nervous about what Henry was
going to say and how he was going to
handle it, especially as it came as a total
surprise. He stood up and said that the
government is not doing enough to
help young entrepreneurs and business
people. We’re still waiting to hear what

ith his
Henry w
sweets
range of

the press are going to report on
this!
Henry was then given some retail
space in one of Start-up Britain’s
PopUp shops – an initiative that
gives start-ups the chance to get
their products onto the high street.
This was a fantastic experience
and he got loads of great customer
feedback, the type of which you
just don’t get online.
It was the perfect way to see how
his product would sell in a shop –
and we sold out of Mud & Worms.
Soon after, Henry was invited to
pitch to Sainsbury’s alongside nine
other startups, chosen from 2,000.
To be honest, we weren’t really
prepared for the scale of it all and
knew we wouldn’t be chosen but,
again, we got some great feedback,
mostly about our packaging and
the door has been left open.
Jon Wright, one of the founders of
Innocent Smoothies was also there
and that was a big thrill for Henry
to meet such an inspirational
entrepreneur.
Something else that came from
the meeting was their advice that
he should publish his story book
so he’s planning to self publish in
February.

a Doodle Pod, which lets children
decorate fabrics. When deciding
what to do next, he’s interviewed
his grandparents to find out about
what they used to do for fun.
There’s not a computer in sight
and it’s all very traditional.
Finally, earlier this month, Henry
went to Waterstones to find a
hands-on kids book on running a
business but couldn’t find any. He
looked at me, smiled and said: ‘You
know what that means, don’t you.’
So, his second book is already
well underway. He’s planned the
questions he wants to ask (he’d
like to interview Nigel, Richard
Branson, Alan Sugar and Peter
Jones) and can’t wait to share his
own advice on how young people
can go about starting a business.
Henry learns a lot from established
entrepreneurs and when asked
who he wants to be like, he
always answers ‘Alan Sugar but
happier’.
He’s also a big fan of
David Walliams and
loves anybody who
can capture the
imagination. I
think he’s done
just that so far.

you!
It could be

We are always on the hunt
for the next Entrepreneur
of the Month winner and as
‘the voice of the balls’ says...
IT COULD BE YOU!
To enter yourself (or to
nominate another member)
simply send an email to me
at nigel@nigelbotterill.com
telling me what you have
done in your business that
makes you worthy of this
prestigious prize.

It also inspired him to expand
the range. He’s currently working
on a range of baking products,
biscuit tins and something called

011

INSPIRING STORIES

Success Story
Roll Call

Another festive season has come and gone and it’s great to see that our members are ending 2013
with a bang and hitting the ground running as we head into 2014.
Our very own success detective and resident copywriter, Mark Toon has compiled the finest success
stories from across the EC. To see them all, check out www.nigelbotterill.com/success
This month, as well as the latest Success Story Roll Call, we’ve picked out a fantastic four of the best
stories to showcase in more detail.

Enjoy!
Mitch Lloyd – Petra Jewellery
Howard Wing – Howard Wing
Lee Callender – Mail Magic
Mark Rose – Boosh 365
Mike Pattle - thebestofExeter
Albert Rockhill – All Colour Envelopes Ltd
Marc Wileman – Sublime Science
Lorraine Ashover – Minerva
John Arko – FinderMonkey
Stephen Hargreaves – The Cranleigh Boutique
Jamie Reeves – The Best Singing Waiters
Ian Redding – Buckingham Ford
James Sheard – The Accountancy People
Matthew Lord – LDL
Imogen Edmunds – Redwing Solutions
Marie Cross – First Impression Training

New ways of thinking
quadruple Ben’s turnover
Having joined the EC in May, Ben Wheeler’s focus
on building customer relationships, knowing his numbers, and
implementation has seen some truly dramatic increases in turnover
for his company, Beach Software.
Having created a one-man business, Ben knew he needed to take
on more staff to grow Beach Software, as it was fundamentally
limited by his time constraints.
After his first EC meeting, Ben was so struck by what he saw and
heard that he joined as a full member that day and ordered his
tickets to the Convention the next.
Since, Ben has committed to direct mail and email campaigns, as
well as exploring the huge potential of telesales and social media.
Ben’s new way of thinking has led to huge increases in turnover
for Beach, having gone from a £5k a month business to a £20k a
month business in just nine months.
A commitment to learning and implementing has skyrocketed
Beach Software’s income, potential and goals, and is a great
example of the power of dedication and ambition. Congratulations,
Ben on some super results in a short period of time.

Ben Wheeler – Beach Software

The personal touch is worth £10,000 to Derek
Everyone should know that personalised direct mail is one of the best ways to get your customers’ attention,
and an understanding of the importance of relationships has landed Derek contracts worth a cool £10,000.
It had been a while since Derek had met face to face with a couple of particular customers, so a lunchtime
meeting would be a great opportunity to catch up and talk shop.
Rather than sending out bland emails to suggest a business lunch, Derek posted specially designed invitations in large silver
envelopes with handwritten addresses ¬– the extra cost and time in doing this was negligible, but the result was brilliant.
Derek’s customers appreciated the personal touch and were happy to accept. The good feeling this created carried on
into the lunch, and after a productive tête-à-tête, Super Structure Associates walked away with contracts worth £10,000.

Derek Mason – Super Structure Associates
12

Ash says goodbye to his
comfort zone
Speaking in front of people is something
that strikes fear into some of the hardiest souls, but
embracing such an opportunity and demonstrating the
power of following up your leads has lead to a huge upturn
in sales for Ash.
Ash faced his first speaking event in front of 235 fellow
tennis coaches recently and, despite his nerves before the
event, he did a great job and created some real interest in
his services.
Picking up 21 solid leads from his presentation, Ash knew
that the only way to turn these prospects into customers
was to commit to effective follow-up. A short email
campaign later and he had converted over a third of his
leads into sales, selling eight coaching packages worth a
considerable £545 each.

AS SEEN IN
THE VAULT
Afraid you might have missed out on some
great EC content? Maybe you just want to refresh
your memory and take another look at some of the
most practical tools the EC team have ever produced.
Either way, you’ve come to the right place. Once again, As Seen in
The Vault delves deep into the vast EC archives, has a good root
around amongst the shelves and emerges clutching some of the
most useful, practical and inspiring nuggets from days gone by.

Secrets of Writing KILLER COPY that
Really Sells Webinar

As if that wasn’t enough, Ash has also been asked to present
again next year (for a fee this time) and also managed to
pick up a day of consulting work.
Ash has combined the confidence to expand his abilities
into new areas with a great understanding of the need for
efficient follow up – great stuff, well done, Ash.

Ash Taylor – Ash Taylor Tennis
Quick thinking turns
disaster into success
There is little more valuable in the business
world than the ability to turn a seemingly
unavoidable disaster into a resounding success. And Thomas
Bower recently sent us a great example of such an occasion.
When Thomas was contacted by a customer during a
delivery and told a very large order was to be cancelled, he
could have insisted on making the delivery anyway. Instead,
a bit of creativity and some very quick thinking allowed
Thomas to turn a big problem into a profitable opportunity.

Delivering a quality product or service is one thing, but to sell,
you need the right marketing, and that’s why understanding
the difference between good, average and flawed sales copy is
fundamental to your role as a business owner.
Join Nigel and Mark for this latest webinar as they show you how to
use good copy in order to get your phone – and till – ringing!

Find it in the ‘Webinar’ section of The Vault

Where Did All The Money Go? Webinar

The boxes of unwanted food were split into four smaller
‘taster packs’ and delivered to prospective customers in the
local area.
Within an hour, one prospect had rung enquiring about
catering for a buffet and, with a little follow up, Thomas
secured two new customers worth an average of £6,000 a
year each.
We all hit unexpected hurdles in business but it’s worth
remembering that it’s how you react to those obstacles that
counts. What a fantastic way to turn a £45 buffet into £12,000
worth of new custom – well done, Thomas.

Thomas Bower
– Thomas the Caterer

Join Nigel and special guest Wayne Burgan as they show you how
keeping track of the numbers is essential in making your business
a success not a statistic! In this webinar you will learn about the
importance of bookkeeping and accounting and how vital it is to
have a good grasp of your numbers to effectively grow your business.

Find it in the ‘Webinar’ section of The Vault
13

EMAIL TRICKS

Four Auto
Responder Tri
Boost Your Ret

With more and more EC members using Infusionsoft and other CRM syst
auto responder campaigns in order to keep in touch with the people in th
I’d share with you four neat little tricks that are having very positive impac
Auto Responder
Trick 1

Auto Responder
Trick 2

Auto Responder
Trick 3

Auto Responder
Trick 4

With Infusionsoft we
can see that some
people open up our
auto responder emails
more than once. Some
of them open them as
much as six or seven
times. This is a definite
indicator of interest and
the people who open
up emails three or more
times are the hotter
prospects and the ones
who get to the top of
the list to call.

It’s okay to repeat
the same email in an
auto responder series
eight or nine months
after it first went out
– providing you use a
different subject line.
Our experience is that
this doesn’t give us any
issues with unsubscribes
and the truth is, people
don’t remember that
they’ve seen it before.
When it’s a worthwhile
value-led message,
there’s no harm at all in
repeating with this kind
of frequency.

On some of our
marketing funnels,
we put part 1 of the
message in the email
and then a ‘click here to
continue reading’ link at
the bottom which drives
people to a website.

We will often send the
same email twice. The
first time early morning
on Day 1 and the second
time in mid-afternoon
on Day 2. What we
often see is a 40% plus
increase in open rates
with not a huge amount
of overlap. The truth is
people are busy, inboxes
move at a swift pace and
this has been a really
effective way for us to
get our message across
more frequently.

14

What we’re seeing is that
the people who click
through to the second
part of the message are
more valuable prospects
– if you think about
it, it’s an indication of
their interest – and that
enables us to narrow our
follow-up focus to fewer,
higher quality people.

our
i to
H
Say ant
t
Assis ntant
u
Acco

Report Card

icks to
turns

tems to put in place long-term
heir marketing funnel, I thought
cts here at Botty Towers.
Of course, for these tricks to
work you need to have an auto
responder campaign in place…
you do have one don’t you? Just
last month we sold a franchise
to someone who first enquired
over three years ago.
A quick look at Infusion shows
me that they have received
187 emails from me between
their first lead coming in and
their five-figure purchase. Well
worth the effort.

Once again, it’s time to get up
close and personal with one
of the EC team.
This month, it’s the turn of Assistant Accountant,
Lucy Boulton. Lucy works closely with Finance
Director, Helen Sharkey and the rest of the team to
ensure that all of the EC’s finances are correct and up
to date at all times. No pressure, Lucy.
Boulton, Lucy from Tipton
D.O.B 6.8.1989
What did you do before joining the EC?
I spent three years as a trainee accountant working
in an accountancy practice (where I got my AAT
qualification) on year-end and management accounts for sole-traders and small to medium sized
businesses.
I then moved to a drinks wholesaler where I ran
the whole accounts function, from credit control
and wages right up to management accounting
and forecast reporting for the Director.
What do you enjoy about working here?
I love learning new things every day. In the
accounts team we’re always trying to see if there’s
a better way to achieve something, we bounce
ideas off each other and try them out to see if
they’re more efficient. I’m a numbers girl but I have
a creative side too so listening to new suggestions
on how we can better support our members really
interests me.
Another great thing about working within the EC
is definitely attending the events. My first event
was the National Entrepreneur’s Convention
and I loved connecting with all the people and
discovering more about their businesses.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside of work I’m a real foodie so I grow lots of
vegetables and herbs in our garden and love to
cook with home-grown produce. I’ll be making
lots of jams and chutneys this year from our fruit
trees and vegetable patch. I also like to go for city
breaks in the UK for weekends away but when I’m
at home I’m usually curled up with a good crime
fiction book.

15

UNLOCKING THE WILL TO ACT

If you think you don’t ne
then it’s definitely f
Terry

There can’t be many people in or around the EC who haven’t, by now heard
about Terry Gormley’s fascinating Unlocking the Will to Act courses.
We’ve yet to meet anybody who has been on one that hasn’t changed their
behaviour and results – in business and in their daily lives – for the better.
Here’s Terry to explain more about the course and why, if you think you
don’t need it, you definitely do...
No matter how much great
content there is, there will
always be too many business
owners not implementing it.
There’s often a block between
what they want to do and what
they actually do. That’s what
the Will to Act is about. It’s
about unlocking the secrets to
why people aren’t doing the
things that will benefit them.
For example, in my experience
as far as the Circle is
concerned, many more people
could – and should – be doing
their 90 minutes every day. It’s
about behavior change at an
unconscious level.
The thing is, people behave
on autopilot without thinking
through what they’re doing.
They don’t plan, they don’t
execute and they procrastinate.
Doing this means that their
business will remain the

same year after year and this
leads them to get angry and
frustrated because they’re not
getting what they want. In
short, they’re not in control.
I’ve talked to Nigel a lot over
the years, often about why
people don’t do the things that
are good for them and their
businesses and we realised that
we were both really passionate
about helping them.
However, it’s difficult to put
a label on what I do simply
because what applies to
one person rarely applies to
another. It’s about unlocking
what gets the job done for each
individual. We want people to
look at themselves in a way
that they don’t in any other
kind of training.
Over the years, I’ve worked
with drug addicts, sportspeople,
people who have stopped

drinking and people who have
lost weight. These are just
effects. We work hard to make
them aware of the reasons
they’re not doing things that
help them to achieve their
goals. Some have family blocks,
some people are in the wrong
businesses but they keep doing
the same things every day and
expecting different results.
The thing is, whatever the
industry and whatever
background people are from, it
works for everybody because
we’re all human and all have
self-imposed limits.
People are worried about being
uncomfortable. That’s the
secret to everything I address in
Unlocking the Will to Act.

I teach them how to feel
the fear but do it anyway.
Throughout the course, people
pick all these things up. I create

an amazing atmosphere where
people feel comfortable and
can open up, which enables
them to do different things.
The bottom line is, if you
can change the attitudes and
the core elements within
people then you can change
everything else externally.
Nobody recognises the blocks
that affect them and most
people think they’re alright.
During the courses, I use
behavioural change techniques
and language and pay attention
to people’s unconscious
movements, how they breathe
etc. I then use the tools and
resources I’ve built up over 10
years to help them change and
clear up the behaviours that
have been holding them back.
The thing is, you can only
help people to change when
they’re willing to change.

eed this,
for you
Take my own story, for example.
I was a miner then a fire fighter
then I ran a small business in fire
safety on my days off. I went on
what I thought was an eight-day
communications course to help me
to sell more stuff and it changed
my life, mainly because how you
communicate with yourself is just as
important as the way in which you
communicate with other people.

You get what you focus on.
Ask most people how they’re
doing and they’ll say “not bad”
or something similar. But if you
understand the mind, you’ll know
that it doesn’t pick up negation.
What these people are telling
themselves is that they are bad
every single day. They focus on the
negatives in life.
My fire safety business was doing
okay in its first year – I was turning
over around £60k. But I went on
this course and when I came back
I made £10k in the next four or five
days and it was all down to the
way I was communicating with my
self. Now, over 10 years later, I have
the UK’s leading fire safety training
company amongst the other things
in my portfolio.
Here’s the thing that business
owners don’t realise: for things to
change for them things have to
change in them.
On this course, people discover
advanced thinking and behaviour
techniques and the tools that build
rapport with others.
But they need to address them
because people’s lives don’t change
unless they change their thinking
and their behaviour.
Basically, what I’m saying is if you
are sat reading this article and you
are saying to yourself that you
don’t need this course, then my
experience tells me it’s
definitely for you.

For more info on Terry’s
coaching courses, call our
team on 0121 765 5551.

I was wanting to find clarity on what was stopping me from doing the things I knew I should be doing.
My business was growing massively but I knew it could do more.
The change for me didn’t occur in one single moment on the course, rather my thinking has changed
as a result of the Convention and following up with Terry’s course. There are key messages from the
Convention that I thought about more while on the course.
The conclusion I came to was as a consequence of thinking more about things afterwards.
While at the convention, a number of things really resonated with me so I got to thinking about
why this was the case.
My big take away from the course was that it made me realise that I was messing around at the edges
of my business, which was making things five or 10 percent better but what I really wanted to do was
make it 10 times better. I soon came to the conclusion that I was getting distracted because what I had
planned wasn’t actually challenging enough. I was getting bored.

Hazel Edwards, Container Team

I’ve had the great pleasure of being mentored by Terry and this has had a dramatic impact on me and
our business.
Having implemented a lot of the techniques, which we’ve learned though the EC, I realised that there
was still a barrier, which was preventing significant growth – and that barrier was my own thinking.
There is a huge difference between knowing something and actually doing it. I was that barrier and
thinking differently has changed our results. Being a small family business, I lived in fear of making the
wrong decisions and the impact they might have on our business and our family and so I placed an
artificial impediment to growth.
However, learning to act in spite of that fear, as well as getting used to being outside my comfort zone
has made all the difference. In fact I now describe it as being comfortable with being uncomfortable. I
have some words from Terry, which sit at the side of my desk and I see every day: “If you don’t ask for
more, then Chloe and Olivia [my granddaughters] will not get more” and “If you let pride get in the way
of what’s best for your family then you’re an idiot.

David Browne, The Scottish Shutter Company

The main thing I took away from the course was a better understanding of why things haven’t
worked quite as I’d hoped in my business this year.
It helped me to address some issues in my own head that were restricting my business
from moving forward.
When you’re in the environment that Terry creates, it makes you think differently. For example, there was
something called ‘map versus territory’ – which I’d never heard of – that went a long way to explaining
why I wasn’t happy doing what I was doing. Basically, I was trying to make it from A to B but using
somebody else’s map, not my own.
A lot of things were addressed at a personal level too. There was so much to think about but the key thing
was working out why I’d been so unhappy throughout much of 2013. To have a business that you’ve been
running for three years suddenly go downhill is a big thing, particularly when you don’t know why.
Now I do.
It made me address issues in a more logical way. It’s let me move beyond issues – some of which had
been holding me back since childhood – and see things much more clearly from a business point of view.

Paul Cox, Spinless Plates

On the first day of the course, all I could say was ‘I don’t know why I’m here but something made me
come’. I was interested in seeing where it would lead me.
What I got out of it was a lot different to what I envisaged. I was very aware that I had gotten into bad
habits – I can procrastinate for England – and I just wanted to understand why I wasn’t doing the
things I knew I should’ve been.
Terry steers you away from what you think the problem is and gets to the bottom of what it actually
is. I think, for many in the room, the problem they needed to overcome turned out to be completely
different to the one they thought.
For me, it was about clarity. On the first day, I decided that I had three of four separate issues but Terry
gets you to realise that they’re not separate at all. They’re all part of the same issue. He gets you to think
about your goals, what’s important and how negative behaviours stop you achieving what you want.
Every day since, I’ve done my 90 minutes – although not at the same time as before because that
wasn’t working. Instead I’ve worked out what’s best for me.

Sian Nisbett, Dizzy Ducks Day Nurseries Ltd
17

Get ready for the new and improved
14 Days of Love – now called the
Local and Loved Business Awards.
Like to see your business crowned one of the most loved in the UK?
Loved and Local 2014 is your chance to be recognised for your excellent
service and to prove to potential customers out there that you truly are
the best in town!
It’s also an opportunity for everybody to show their appreciation for the hard work that local
businesses do to maintain local pride and help grow local economies. Now in its 5th year, the
campaign is designed to raise the profile and awareness of local businesses and prove that
community spirit and engagement can make a real positive impact on towns across the country.
The campaign sees shoppers in towns across the UK voting to decide which local business will be
crowned the best loved in their area, category or even in the whole of the UK. To help support
the campaign, thebestof will be promoting it nationally through e-shots and social media and
we’ve produced special marketing packs, which will help to get customers involved and give
businesses an even better chance of scoring some great PR and building their reputation in their
local area.
Not only this but to encourage customers to leave a review, thebestof will also be holding a prize
draw every day from 1st to 14th February, with each reviewer in with the chance to win a daily
cash prize to be spent with a local thebestof member.

What now?

If you want to enter the awards and get your business recognised as one of the most loved in the
UK, then contact your local thebestof of franchisee for a marketing pack, containing banners,
postcards, flyers, flags, posters, bunting and artwork to put on your website.

Campaign winners will be announced on February 16th.

A WARM WELCOME TO…

New members
this month…
Congratulations and welcome to the latest group of forward thinking business
owners that joined the Circle last month. You’ve made a smart decision!
Make sure you make the most of your membership by booking on to our upcoming events (both national AND local),
delving deep into the super useful content in The Vault on the member’s website and taking those nuggets to
implement from the monthly Circulars. It’s great to have you on board as part of the gang. Here are the new
members who joined in the last month:
Chris Smith
Sophie Prowse
Charles Holdsworth Hunt
Tom Ronan
Tim Tandler
Felicia Basi
Derek West
Richard Ingate
Craig Jackson
Angela Belassie
Michael Trewin
Chris Hall
Martin Johnson
Robert Caswell
Paul Mooney
Michael Wilson
Pete Cann
Steve Holt
Gisa Ellis
Darren Platts
Cat Swatridge
John Wright

Suzanne Higham
Jon Kemp
Ben Lovegrove
Jude Deeks
Sarah Calder
Maria Blanchard
Dennis Wilson
Kenneth Grannell
Sally Wilson
John Murray
David Sole
Mark Powell
Tim Baldwin
Joe Hinchliffe
Martyn Carey
Lise Hardiman
Richard Curtis
Divian Mistry
Deborah Kerr
Clive Williams
Simon Webster
Steve Thurgood

Peter Amor
Mark Egan
Serhat Akca
Patricia Niland
Darren Platts
Adam Gray
Richard Curtis
Anice McNamee
Amanda Weller
David Shaw
Gareth Davies
Igor Dalavourok
Mark Potter
Posy Brewer
Richard Kirstein
Ian Spiller
Louise Deeley
Stephen Cantor
Lucy Bainbridge
Elisa Norton
Miklos Varga
Derek Boxall

Patrick Poku
David Rix
Cate Adamson
Jerry Jariwalla
Sarah Rugg
Ian Read
Paul Keogh
John Orr
Laura Mussell
Olive Segre
Gavin Flaxman
Vivienne Logan-Reid
David Feast
Adam Buttery
Mariette Jansen
Cherie Plaice
Ann Prax
Lindsey Wright
Amy Somerville
Nicky Ansty

It’s been over three years since we launched the Entrepreneur’s

Circle and we’ve learned a lot since then. We’re always on
the lookout for ways to make the Circle even more valuable
for you, and that’s why we’re going to be making some big
changes over the next few weeks and months.
We don’t want to spoil the surprise (hence this little tease!) but you’ll be the first to know when we’ve got
something to share.

Rest assured, we’re working hard to make the EC more useful and more
practical than ever, and we can’t wait to tell you what’s coming up!

THE FAB FOUR

A Word from the Experts
Carolyne Wahlen
Gap HR Services
Local Mastermind Member Carolyne formed GAP
HR Services with the aim of helping employers deal
effectively with staff issues. She also has a niche
offering for golf clubs and has been a member of the
EC since 2010.

From zero to hero –

Ed Pearson
Head of Member
Services for the EC
They were surprised he wasn’t a lot taller when they
finally met this powerhouse of business guruship...
Hang on, that’s another article.
Ed’s wide and varied background in business mean
he’s the perfect guy to take a magnifying glass to
history and use his crystal ball to determine a strategy
for the year ahead.

the reality of zero hours contracts

Rediscovering Risk

Are you one of those evil employers that the media have
been bashing throughout the summer?

Remember when you first took that scary step to set up
in business? Have you ever looked back and thought
about the huge risks that you took? The decisions you
made that, looking back, seem a little bonkers?

Are you using zero hours contracts to exploit workers?
Of course you’re not. However, if you’ve caught even a
glimpse of the media during the ‘silly season’ you might
be wondering why you’re being treated like you’re
sending children up chimneys.
Essentially a zero hour contract is simply a contract of
employment, much like any other. It provides a written
account of the terms and conditions of employment and
makes provisions for an on-call arrangement between
the employer and employee.
There is no obligation for the employer to offer work and
nor is the employee required to accept the work offered;
they do however have to agree to be ‘available for work
as and when required’ and will be paid only for the
hours they do work.
Use of these contracts is flourishing as they minimise
the risk of taking on new staff to meet demand as and
when required.
However it is worth considering that using zero hour
contracts is not good if you are trying to build a team
that works well together, and a cohesive team will
naturally deliver better results. Zero hours contracts can
lead to lower morale and less commitment from staff
that see less commitment from you!
It is also a double edged sword; while you can be
flexible on the hours you offer, there is no obligation
for the employee to accept them, so without careful
management you might find that you do not have the
staff you need. This could mean you need a bigger pool
of potential employees in order to ensure you are always
properly staffed.
20

Well, in the downturn of the last few years, a skillset of
discernment has come to the fore. It’s seen business
owners treading extra carefully when deciding where to
spend their hard earned money.
Nothing too wrong with that of course.
But now the economy is on the up again, presenting you
with a great opportunity to grow your business.
However, consider the following statement: The largest
number of insolvencies in any market happen during
periods of market growth.
You see, one thing that happens is that the businesses
that have fought long and hard to remain afloat in a
downturn market have done so on a strategy of careful
and prudent investment.
However, when the marketplace starts to grow, the
fearless Johnny-come-lately startups, realising there’re
potential profits to be harvested start to risk it all – like
you did when you first started up.
But they couldn’t possibly thrive could they? Well, the
fact is that they do and so must you!
Other long-standing competitors who stick with their
outdated strategies suddenly start to lose ground as
opportunities for growth go to the bolder emerging
businesses. Old mentality companies are left to dissolve.
So, if you prescribe to the view that the recent stories of
low inflation and steady interest rates are the signs of
wider recovery, then the time has arrived to shed the old
strategies and rediscover risk.

Every month we’ll be asking four experts to share with us a few pearls of wisdom that you can put to
use in your business. From the latest software recommendations to the best ways to get yourself and
your business in front of the people who matter, you’ll hear it all here from the guys in the know.

Dominic Jones
Barton Technology
Mastermind Member Dominic is the guy that many
EC members turn to when they need good tech
advice and, speaking from experience, we can
honestly say that what Dominic doesn’t know about
IT isn’t worth knowing.

Data Security –what can you do?
Keeping their own and their customers’ information safe
should be top of every entrepreneur’s priority list.
For example, what would happen if you were suddenly
unable to look up a customer’s contact details or access
their quotes/reports/information?
I’m betting it would severely impact your business.
When put in black and white like this you might be
asking yourself “who would even consider using a
company that could pose such a risk?” Yet every week I
see switched on business owners who really care about
their customers putting that relationship in jeopardy.
Consequently, having some kind of offsite data backup
is paramount. With hardware failure, software crashes
and viruses to contend with, having only a single copy
of your data could be disastrous. So what can you do?
Well luckily there are many options available. You could
go down the traditional route and make manual copies
of your data to a tape drive, USB stick or external hard
disk. This option is better than nothing but backup can
still be forgotten. It also doesn’t overcome the fact that
the drive is typically in the same location as the ‘live’
data, meaning a fire or theft would make it useless.
Alternatively, you could use a cloud file synchronisation
service like Dropbox, iCloud or Skydrive. These can be
cost effective but may not always be compliance suitable
due to T&Cs allowing service providers access to data.

Phil Wintermantle
EC web expert
You all know Phil as the EC’s web wizard. What you
may not know is that he’s so dedicated to all things
online, he hasn’t used a pen since 2007.

Create super-converting lead
magnets – in 3 minutes
How to find out what your prospects want to buy,
increase email deliverability and create super converting
lead magnets in less than three minutes
Let’s talk ‘Feedback loops’, here’s the concept... When
a prospect fills in a form on your website, opt’s in for
a lead magnet and gives you their name and email in
return for something of value then it’s the perfect time
to create an opportunity for them to feedback and start a
conversation.
What you need to do early on in your email autoresponder follow up (ideally in the first email you send
them) is have a reason for the prospect to reply to your
email. So you just need to ask them a smart question
that gets them to respond and give you some key
information, this question is:
“What’s the number one thing you need help
with right now? “
When they respond to you with their cries for help not
only are you improving email deliverability because they
have replied to you rather than you just broadcasting to
them, but it also enables you to fire off a personal and
specific conversation about how you can help them
right now (this might give you some clues as to what
they want to buy and how you can tailor your sales
process to want they need!).

The other solution, which works well for many, is a
cloud backup service whereby an automatic, regular
copy of your files is securely made and to which only
you have access. Many business owners prefer this
approach because it provides a cost effective, flexible
and scalable way to keep their data secure.

Finally, the third benefit is you’ll start seeing patters as
to what people think they need help with which means
you can go back to your website or squeeze pages and
change what you’re giving away to get people to opt-in
in the first place (your lead magnets). So when a pattern
emerges because people keep telling you they need help
with Facebook ads you can change your lead magnet
to offer that instead which will improve your opt-in
conversion rates.

If you would like a list of recommended providers or
more information, email me at dominicj@barttech.co.uk.

Clever right – so go do it, will take you three
minutes to implement…
21

A NEW WAY OF RAISING CASH

Dealing with
is like tread

When Mastermind Member Carole Aldred n
cash to finance an unmissable business opp
for a reply from her bank wasn’t an option. I
traditional method of finding investment…
I first heard about peer to peer lending – more
specifically, an organisation called the Funding
Circle – through my Mastermind Group.
I put the word out that I was looking to expand
my business by buying up established magazines.
I initially expected it to happen one at a time
but instead ended up with four publications
approaching me at once.

what I wanted the money for and why they should
lend to me. I basically had to sell myself. Then
needed to set out in detail exactly what I wanted to
do with the money.
When my application was submitted, they said I
would hear back from them in two to three days but
their answer actually came back in just 24 hours.

Now, this sounds like a lot to take on and I’d
obviously need to raise more money than I originally
thought but I knew about these publications and
could see how profitable they were so it was an
opportunity I didn’t want to pass up. Because of this,
I knew I needed to act fast.

Once your application has been accepted and
approved, it is put online on the Funding Circle
marketplace where investors then bid to lend you
money, depending on the interest you want to pay.
People can bid at any percentage and each business
has its own criteria regarding the optimum interest
rate, usually between 7.5% and 11.5%.

This is when I approached the Funding Circle.

Mine was calculated to be around 9.5%.

The first step was a quick telephone call. They
wanted to know my business’s turnover (they’ll lend
25% of this) and we established exactly how much I
needed to borrow.
Then I made my official application, which took just
20 minutes online.
I had to write a summary, in 700 characters, about

22

It’s also worth mentioning at this point that the
funding Circle is a great place to invest too because
you get better return than most of other places.
So, after my application made it onto the
marketplace, it was fully funded within an hour. This
meant that, I made my application on the Friday
and the money was in my account by the following
Friday.

h the banks
ding treacle

needed to raise a little extra
portunity, waiting for weeks
Instead she turned to a less
This just wouldn’t happen with a bank. It was so simple
and it was also a great feeling knowing that many
fellow entrepreneurs were willing to invest in me.
Another advantage is that 20% of the loan is also
funded by the UK government, so in actual fact, you
only need 80% from fellow business owners.
When you gain the funding you need, it works like a
traditional loan in that you pay back a set amount each
month, depending on what you borrow and at what
interest rate. You can also pay it back in full at any time.
As I mentioned, the Funding Circle and similar
organisations allow you to act quickly. When the
magazines came up for sale, I sent an email to my bank
at the same time. Within a week the Funding Circle had
allowed me to raise the money whereas I’m still waiting
for a call back from the bank. When compared with the
Funding circle, dealing with the banks is like treading
treacle.

Carole

If anybody in the Circle is looking to raise money in a
quick, easy, stress-free way, I’d definitely recommend
they contact a peer to peer lender. Just have a chat,
check out the rate and, if you’re happy with the terms,
go for it.

In fact, I can honestly say, if I wanted to
do it again, I wouldn’t even bother trying
the bank. Most business owners want
to move quickly, not wait weeks. When
it comes to raising the money your
business needs, I really don’t think it
can get any easier.

It was so straightforward, easy and there was no stress.
As somebody else who has raised investment this way
pointed out to me, you don’t feel like you’re being
grilled as you sometimes do with the banks. And – a
massive plus – there’s less chance of them saying no.

23

LIKE A VIRGIN

A buyer is a buyer,

is a buyer
Many thanks to Inside Track
member Jonathan Coleman
who sent us this email, which
his wife, Christine, received in
November from
As you can see, there’s a brand new cruise ship
launching in January and the offer was a one-night stay
on-board in Southampton for just £25 per person.
As Jonathan himself says “This is really impressive –
they’re going to fill that ship and can you imagine the
cruise deals that will be available and be sold during
those 24 hours?
The cost per visitor, which I guess is effectively
laundering the bed linen, is teeny-weeny. I bet their
conversion rate will be really high.”
He’s right. It’s a clever piece of marketing – and I’d
expect nothing less from Virgin. Giving stuff away for
just a few pounds attracts buyers – which is way more
powerful than giving stuff away for free. And that’s why
I bet the conversion rates on 15th January will be much
higher than any regular type of marketing they do.
We’ve recently made some changes to our marketing
funnels to bring people in, at very low cost, much earlier
in the cycle so that we identify those who are prepared
to spend money and we can then focus our marketing
efforts on them.

This principle applies to pretty much every
business: a buyer is a buyer, is a buyer and
making it easy for people to buy from you
first by putting together really compelling
offers like this one can make a big
difference to your customer numbers and
conversion rates months down the line.
24

THE HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN

Get your FREE ticket to the Million
Pound Masterplan event 2014
There’s a unique opportunity coming up for our members to get involved in one of the
most unique and prized events that the EC has ever run – absolutely free of charge!
The Million Pound Masterplan 2014.
Of all the events we’ve ever run, this is the most talked about and requested by EC
Members. So we’ve decided to put on another one in 2014. So what makes the
Masterplan so groundbreaking? Here’s a quick rundown of what’s involved…

Days 1 & 2

Days 3 & 4

Nigel will be onstage sharing his ‘Million Pound Masterplan’ –
everything that needs to happen (and the order in which it should
happen) to take a business from zero to a million.

This is all about making stuff happen. Nigel will be joined by his team
of specialists; people who know what they’re talking about.
What other event could you go to where you get all the work done
at the event with help from seasoned pros? The answer: none.

Currently, you can’t buy a ticket to the Masterplan. They’re unavailable for
purchase. But there is another way in which you can reserve your place:

The Why Now? Events
In January, we’ll be running 121 local events all over the
UK. They’re called ‘Why Now?’ events and will be revealing
the blueprint that will help UK business owners to seize the
opportunities coming their way in 2014 and markedly grow their
businesses into next year and beyond. And we need your help.
The events are all about introducing business owners and
entrepreneurs to the Circle and we thought there’s nobody better
to do this than you, our members. After all, you’re the people who
know all about what we do and who properly understand what
we can do for UK business owners.
So, in return for inviting a non-member of the Circle to a Why
Now? event, we’d like to reward you with a FREE ticket – worth
£1,500 – to Masterplan 2014.

The first event kicks off on the 6th Jan,
and some events have sold out, so if you
want to get your hands on a completely
FREE Masterplan ticket (usually worth
£1,500), you’ll need to act fast.

Here’s how it’s going to work:
1)

You invite fellow business owners, friends, associates and
suppliers to your local Why Now? event. Point them to
www.whynow2014.co.uk so they can watch the video and
pick their local event.

2) Once they book their ticket, they’ll be asked to give the
name of the person who referred them (that’s you). This is
how we’ll know that YOU invited them.
3) If one of your invited people joins the EC at the event and
remains a member for three months, you’ll be sent a
Standard ticket to the Masterplan 2014 event.
4)

But there’s more. If you get two people to come along and
join the Circle, you’ll be upgraded to a Gold ticket. Get
three people along who sign up as members and guess
what? You’ll get a VIP ticket to Masterplan.

What’s more, we’ve made it really easy to get people
along by providing you with three sure-fire email
templates to send out. Download the emails and get
all the info at www.nigelbotterill.com/whynow.
There, you’ll find a video of Nige explaining it all.
25

HAVE YOU GOT BANANARAMA SYNDROME?

It ain’t what you
do, it’s the way
that you do it
We all know that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth
doing properly. And we also know that not doing things
properly in your business is utterly crazy. Here Nigel
recounts a meeting with somebody who suffers from
a very peculiar – but serious – condition.
I recently did a 1:1 with
a member who runs a
successful business. She
has been going for four
years, is turning over well
over half a million pounds but is only making about £40,000
profit. When she came on the phone she told me that she
thought she was doing everything that she possibly could,
which just didn’t seem congruent with the numbers that she
shared with me.
When I asked if she did any email marketing, she confirmed that
yes, she did all that. When I enquired about her database, she
confirmed that her staff did put customer details into a database.
When I asked about referrals again, the answer was, “Yes, we do
that” and so it went on.
However, the minute I started to probe more deeply it
immediately became obvious that this particular business owner
was an acute sufferer of what I call ‘Bananarama Syndrome’.
Those of us of a certain age will remember the second most
successful girl band of all time (they lost their crown to the Spice
Girls over 10 years ago) who, in the 1980s had a string of top 10
hits. One of the most popular was, ‘It Ain’t What You Do, It’s The
Way That You Do It’ and it’s this song from which the clinical
condition ‘Bananarama Syndrome’ originates.
You see, this particular business owner was not doing any of
the things that she thought she was doing properly. Sure, she
was having a dabble but dabbling never made anyone supersuccessful in business. You have to do things properly.

26

Her email marketing consisted of just seven emails in the whole
of 2013. Seven! I send that many in a week – and so should she
(at least on some occasions when she’s got special promotions
going on, etc).
Her business served over 5,000 customers last year, yet her
database has only 700 people on it. Classic Bananarama
Syndrome. She hasn’t got a SYSTEM in place to ensure that her
staff systematically collect customer contact information. This
information genuinely has the potential to become the single
most valuable asset in her business – IF she collects it and IF she
uses it. On its own it can transform her turnover and her P&L.
With regard to referrals – without giving too much away as to
the type of business this is, she has a huge opportunity to be
handing out cards when people leave her premises inviting
them back, with an appropriate discount within the next two to
three weeks. It turns out that she has actually done this on one
occasion and, “It worked quite well…” but she has never done it
again (this is actually called ‘Bonkers Syndrome’ and it is much
more serious than Bananarama Syndrome!).

I hope my point is coming across really clearly
here. It genuinely is not about what you do when
it comes to marketing your business but, much
more importantly, about the way that you do it.
And that’s about having the systems, routines
and rigour that is sadly absent in all too many
businesses. It really ain’t what you do – but the
way that you do it...

BGA Directory

There have been a few changes to our BGA
network recently. Here’s a definitive list of
our current BGAs for your reference...

A

Andy Willcox - 07792 368366

C

Chris Olchawski - 01550 739053

Julia Canham - 01543 406115

Carmanthan/Swansea/Haverfordwest

Leicestershire/Staffordshire

Julia Bramble - 01395 349201

Cardiff/Swindon/Hereford/Worcester/Wells/
Weston-Super-Mare/Taunton/Truro

Chris Richards & Steve Allen - 01235 843272

Exeter/Plymouth

K

Preston, Lancaster & The Fylde

Clare Szurek - 07792 368270

Damian Mark Smyth - 07792 368348
North London/East London/South London/West London/
Central London/Essex/Watford & Hemel Hempstead

David Cambridge - 01727 789010
Luton & St Albans

Milton Keynes/Bedford

L

Leona & Vida Barr-Jones - 01462 757327

M

Mark Greig & Nick Howes - 02476 419576

Richmond & Kingston

Emma Melhuish - 01460 240773

G

Gemma Toner - 07792 368257

I

Bristol

Newcastle/Washington/Glasgow/Edinburgh/Carlisle/
Middlesborough/Barrow/Kendal/Stockton/Sunderland/
Aberdeen/Fife & Dundee

Coventry

Farnborough/Caversham/Maidenhead

P

Paul Chapman - 0115 9717061

R

Rob Banfield & Susan Lewis - 01865 389934

Nottinghamshire

Leamington Spa/Oxford/Shipton

Ian George - 01843 347010

Robin Sharpe - 01604 269533

Maidstone & The Medway Towns

Northamptonshire

Ian Jackson - 0289 0160498
Northern Ireland

S

Bromsgrove/Reddich/Solihull

Sue Benoke - 01425 622441

Harrogate/Leeds/Barnsley/Chester/Sheffield/Doncaster/
Macclesfield/Oldham/Stockport/Wigan/Bolton/Halifax/
Lincoln/Bradford/Huddersfield/Blackburn/Wakefield

Bath & West Wilshire

Jill Chitty - 01242 639144
Cheltenham & Gloucester

Manchester

Scarborough/York/Hull

Jay Allen - 07792 368318

Jerry Walsingham - 01225 458404

Sam Flynn - 0161 4513016

Steve Bentley & Jon Olivant
- 01759 359076

Ian Prowse - 01527 531394

J

Bishop’s Stortford/Hitchin

Martin Norbury & Chris Waters
- 0118 9680869

David Wimblett - 0208 9707447

E

Brighton/Worthing/Southampton/Portsmouth/Winchester/
Crawley/East Grinstead/Tunbridge/Croydon/Bromley/
Chichester/Worthing/Weybridge

Keith Haynes - 01234 731488

Kidderminster/Wolverhampton/Shrewsbury/Telford/Derby/
Sutton Coldfield/Peterborough/Huntingdon/Cambridge/
Bury St Edmunds/Ipswich/Colchester/Kings Lynn/Norwich

D

Karl Anscombe - 07792 368309

Bournemouth & Poole

T

Tim Savage - 01264 839777

V

Vanessa Lanham-Day - 01483 426577

Newbury/Basingstoke/Andover

South Surrey, Sutton & Epsom

Jonathan Davies - 0151 2686122
Liverpool

27

I WANT TO TELL YOU A STORY...

Did you hear the one about
the $2bn sales letter?
The most successful sales
letter of all time sold $2bn
worth of the Wall
Street Journal.
The letter was a story about
two young men returning
to a college reunion.
It started like this:

On a beautiful late spring
afternoon, 25 years ago,
two young men graduated
from the same college.
They were very much alike,
these two young men. Both
had been better than
average students, both were
personable and both as young
college graduates are – were
filled with ambitious dreams
for the future.

If you’re like us, just these few lines will
have you desperate to read on. That’s the
power of a good story.
For 20 years the publication used this
marketing piece as a control, testing
others against it – yet nothing performed
better.
So, why are stories so good for
marketing? Simple. Because we
love them.
Here’s Doodle Ads’ David Kyte to explain
a little more about how to craft stories in
your marketing...

First you need to identify your
audience and seed problems.
Describe the fears that a small
business owner has.
You’re trying to create feelings
that the reader can relate to –
for example, not making the
pay roll or being able to pay
their VAT bill.

“Poor management and the
lack of financial information
are two of the biggest threats
to the wellbeing of your
business. If your decision
making is based on no
numbers or those numbers
are out of date, then your
business is in danger.

Once you have highlighted the
problem, reveal your solution.
We’re not selling at this point,
simply describing the solution.
Don’t talk about yourself and
don’t talk about features.
Instead, focus on benefits.

Accurate and correct
management accounts
give you the tools to
monitor your cash flow
bottlenecks. They will
also allow you to ask
probing questions.

Entrepreneurs know
that cash flow is king!
You can be really
profitable on paper,
but unless you get
your invoices paid
promptly, you will get
into serious trouble.

Extend the fears. If your invoices aren’t
paid promptly, your cash flow could
suffer and you’ll find yourself in trouble
– fast.
Bear in mind that fear and pain sell five
times more effectively than aspiration. I
can wait for my Ferrari until next week,
but I need my bad back fixed TODAY.

28

Describing consequences
is a powerful way to
develop fear. Try to use
graphic words: cripple;
defences; robust.
And don’t forget, your
solution must offer the
answer.

Late payers and bad debt
will cripple your business.
Keeping a tight rein on
who owes you money,
when payments are due
and a robust credit control
policy will all help build
your company’s defences.

Do you have too much
money tied up in stock?
How much are you losing
through wastage? Who
owes you money? How
long are they taking to pay?
All these numbers are the
lifeblood of your business.

People connect better
when you mention
specific problems. Pick
the main one and extend
the feelings of fear, lack of
control and ignorance.

As accountants,
we know how
important your
processes and
systems that deliver
these vital business
metrics are.

To build trust your reader needs
to know that you understand
their problems and that you have
the solution; that you have a
silver bullet.
Your readers don’t want to
discover or be taught – they
want answers.

To show you what I mean, let’s review a
story I wrote for a marketplace that might
be considered a little dry – accountancy.
When we write scripts we ask who is the
target market, what is their problem and
how do they feel right now?

David

Everybody has a
story to tell but you need to
grasp a few rules and understand
the structure that lies beneath the surface.
If you are thinking “emotional sales don’t
apply to my business,” here’s a fact:
No business has ever bought anything.

People buy stuff.

Below is an example of one of my scripts
that tackles each of these questions in
turn, with each paragraph followed by
the thinking behind it.
Once you’ve read the script, try taking a
marketing piece you’ve created and ask:
• Is the piece about you or your prospect?

The important thing we need to
understand is that, when we buy, we do
so emotionally.
In our accountancy case study, for
example, you might be thinking
“Accountants, emotions, really?”

• Does it describe the benefit they’ll
receive by using it?
• Are you developing emotional triggers?
• Are you using colourful words or is
your language dull and unemotional?

Absolutely! You see, it’s not about the
accountant, it’s about the prospect.

For more examples of inspiring storytelling, visit www.doodle-ads.co.uk/EC
We are all afraid of
making mistakes – your
job is to prove that you
can deliver. We are social
beings and we need to
be in a crowd where we
feel safe. Social proof
offers this comfort.

Reinforce that level of trust
with additional benefits.
You’re trying to persuade
your audience that they
want you on their team.

Not only will they make
our job easier and cheaper,
they’ll deliver the critical
numbers you need to make
decisions. The next tool you
need in your bag is a well
thought through business
plan – we can help there
too.

Understand that, as
we deal with many
local businesses, we
have built up a great
contact database of local
suppliers. When you
look for local services,
often we can recommend
someone to help.

One of the first jobs you
should consider delegating
is your bookkeeping. It is
simply a cost centre. If you
want to offload this time
consuming but vital activity
we can run it for you, or find
you a bookkeeper to help.

Entrepreneurs never have
enough time. Spell out that,
by choosing your solution,
they’ll have more control,
better information and more
time.

This sentence lays out
what prospects stand
to lose. You can also
make it more powerful
by describing how
their saved money
could be spent – cars,
holidays, family etc.

If you need a friendly
ear or want to take
your bookkeeping,
management accounts, tax
advice, business planning
or pensions to the next
level, pick up the phone. If
we can’t help directly, we’ll
almost certainly know
someone who can.”

But the one job that
will hit your pocket
the most is ensuring
that you only ever
pay the tax that you
should and not a
penny more.

You can sleep easy
knowing that all your
usual regulatory paper
work is covered: like
preparing and filing
annual accounts, audits,
stock checks and so on.
Make it clear that your
solution offers so much
more than the basics. The
goal of this piece is to
develop trust, to highlight
a problem and persuade
the reader that you can
solve their problems.

Your story needs to finish
with a strong call to action.
Write your story with a
purpose. What do you
want the reader to do at
the end?

By taking the time
to get to know you
and your business,
we identify all your
legitimate expenses
and then defend
your position with
the tax man.

To take the next step and
effectively turn prospects
into clients you have to
offer a promise and a
guarantee and tell them
exactly what you are
going to deliver.

29

Ask Nigel
How Do I Answer these Emails?
Ken Fuller

“Many of my incoming emails from potential customers start
‘How much does your service cost?’
If, as you say, ‘How much?’ is a buying signal, but you want to avoid
giving them a price until they have asked, how do you get to the point
of asking intelligent questions and understanding the customer?”

Nige says:
This question has come about as a
direct result of my presentation at
the National Event in Basingstoke in
November where I talked about the
importance of understanding your
customer and not giving a price until
they have asked for it. This holds true
even in the situation you describe.
The fact is, the people sending you
these emails are interested in buying
what you have and the way to
respond to them would be something
like the following:
“Thanks for your enquiry – it’s great to hear
from you. There are a number of different
levels of service that we can provide and
the truth is we have a solution to suit most
budgets. Before I can tell you what the price
would be, I’d need to understand much
more fully exactly what it is that you’re
looking for, so if you can give me a call
on … or, if you prefer, just hit reply to this
email, send me your phone number and a
convenient time for us to have a chat.”

30

A response like that moves you onto
the next step without really pushing
any control on the sales process.
I hope that helps.

If you’ve got a queston that you’d like answered,
just log on to the members website and ‘Ask Nigel’.

Should I Outsource my PPC?
Julie Souter

“Nigel, I understand that Google AdWords will almost certainly be an effective
marketing pillar for me, but I also know enough to understand that to do it
properly and well it will require a lot of time – time that I simply don’t have.
Is there a way to effectively outsource your AdWords or is it true that ‘nobody
will ever care about your business as much as you do …’ and therefore I have
to find a way to do it in-house?”

Nige says:
The key to outsourcing anything is to
be an informed client. With regards
to AdWords, what that means is that
you have to know your way around
it. You have to understand how the
campaigns work, what the reports
mean, how frequently your negative
keywords should be updated, how
to spot new negative keywords that
need adding, what a good CTR is, etc.
In that respect you cannot abdicate
acquiring some knowledge but it is
possible to find the right outsource
partners. There are people around
who will do a good job.
Unfortunately, there are also lots of
people out there simply in it to make
a quick buck and the fact is they
won’t give your AdWords account
anything like the amount of time
and attention that it needs. On the
December Botcast (available for Club
members and above), David Brown of
the Scottish Shutter Company spoke
of how he regularly spends one or

two hours A DAY on his AdWords
account but that the impact that he’s
having on his business more than
justifies that time. The reality is you’re
unlikely to find many outsource
providers – especially those who
want to charge you based on a
percentage of what you spend (run a
mile from them!) giving anything like
this amount of attention.
So shop carefully, make sure you’re
properly informed and ask the right
questions.
Jo Davies who has run my AdWords
accounts for over eight years now
has some capacity to take on a small
number of new clients during the first
quarter and if that is of interest then
you should email her at
support@entrepreneurscircle.co.uk.

31

Your Local M
January

Topic: Writing your email campaigns for 2014

Date

Area

BGA

Thurs 2nd

Central London
Newcastle
Harrogate
East London
Barnsley
Wolverhampton
Kidderminster
West London
Leamington Spa
Washington
Brighton & Worthing
Chester
Glasgow
Milton Keynes
Watford & Hemel Hempstead
Carmanthan
Oxford
Southampton & Portsmouth
Bradford
Edinburgh
South London
Winchester
Ipswich
Colchester
Cardiff
Sheffield
Scarborough
Bedford
Peterborough
Huntingdon
Richmond & Kingston
West London
Bishop’s Stortford
South Surrey,
Sutton & Epsom
Carlisle
Manchester
Macclesfield
Middlesborough
Nottinghampshire
Derby
South Surrey,
Sutton & Epsom
Bournemouth & Poole
Swindon
Farnborough
Bath & West Wiltshire
Liverpool
Oldham
York
Barrow
Shrewsbury
Telford
Maidstone & Medway
Hitchin
South Surrey,
Sutton & Epsom

Damian Mark Smyth

Mon 6th

Tues 7th

Wed 8th

Thurs 9th

Fri 10th

Mond 13th

Tues 14th

Wed 15th

32

Date

Gemma Toner
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Jay Allen
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek

Thurs 16th

Damian Mark Smyth
Rob Banfield & Susan Lewis
Gemma Toner
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen
Gemma Toner

Fri 17th

Keith Haynes
Damian Mark Smyth

Mon 20th

Chris Olchawski
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen

Tue 21st

Gemma Toner
Damian Mark Smyth
Karl Anscombe
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
Andy Willcox
Jay Allen
Keith Haynes

Wed 22nd

Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
David Wimblett
Damian Mark Smyth
Leona & Vida Barr-Jones
Vanessa Lanham-Day

Thurs 23rd

Gemma Toner
Sam Flynn
Jay Allen

Fri 24th

Gemma Toner
Paul Chapman

Mon 27th

Clare Szurek
Vanessa Lanham-Day
Sue Benoke

Tues 28th

Andy Willcox
Jerry Walsingham
Jonathan Davies

Wed 29th

Jay Allen
Gemma Toner
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
Ian George
Vanessa Lanham-Day

Thurs 30th

Area
Bournemouth & Poole
Hereford
Worcester
Luton & St Albans
Crawley & East Grinstead
Bath & West Wiltshire
Wigan
Essex
Wells
Swansea
Kendal
Tunbridge
Kings Lynn
Norwich
Halifax
Stockton
Northamptonshire
South London
Bolton
Newbury
Sunderland
Bristol
Cheltenham &
Gloucestershire
Cambridge
Bury St Edmunds
Croydon & Bromley
Huddersfield
Hull
Essex
Shipton
Basingstoke
Leicestershire
Caversham
Leeds
Haverfordwest
Staffordshire
Lincoln
Weston-Super-Mare
Blackburn
North London
Northern Ireland
Solihull
Doncaster
Bromsgrove
Chichester & Worthing
Stockport
Coventry
South London
Taunton
Weybridge
Wakefield
East London
Truro
Maidenhead

BGA
Sue Benoke
Andy Willcox
Andy Willcox
David Cambridge
Karl Anscombe
Jerry Walsingham
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Andy Willcox
Chris Olchawski
Gemma Toner
Karl Anscombe
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
Jay Allen
Gemma Toner
Robin Sharpe
Damina Mark Smyth
Jay Allen
Tim Savage
Gemma Toner
Emma Melhuish
Jill Chitty
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Tim Savage
Julia Canham
Jay Allen
Chris Olchawski
Julia Canham
Jay Allen
Andy Willcox
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Ian Jackson
Ian Prowse
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Ian Prowse
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen
Mark Greig & Nick Howes
Damian Mark Smyth
Andy Willcox
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Andy Willcox

The monthly local meetings are your opportunity to get hands-on, practical help for your business.

Meeting Dates
Topic: Delivering great presentations that sell
Date

Area

BGA

Mon 3rd

Harrogate
Bedford
Barnsley
East London
Brighton & Worthing
Chester
Milton Keynes
Central London
Bradford
South London
Cardiff
Hereford & Worcester
Sheffield
Cambridge
Bury St. Edmunds
Manchester
Macclesfield
Nottinghamshire
Ipswich
Colchester
Maidstone &
The Medway Towns
Leamington Spa
Bournemouth and Poole
Southampton & Portsmouth
Oldham
Derby
Sutton Coldfield
West London
Oxford
Bournemouth and Poole
Swindon
Carmanthan
York
Farnborough
Winchester
Wigan
Peterborough
Huntingdon
Wells
Halifax
Scarborough
Aberdeen
Northamptonshire
Shrewsbury
Telford
Richmond & Kingston
West London
Bishop’s Stortford
South Surrey,
Sutton & Epsom
Bolton
Fife & Dundee
Cheltenham &
Gloucestershire
Kidderminster

Jay Allen

Tues 4th

Wed 5th

Thurs 6th

Fri 7th
Mon 10th

Tues 11th

Wed 12th

Thurs 13th

Fri 14th
Mon 17th

Tues 18th

Date

Keith Haynes
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen
Keith Haynes

Wed 19th

Damian Mark Smyth
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Andy Willcox
Andy Willcox
Jay Allen
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
Sam Flynn
Jay Allen
Paul Chapman
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
Ian George

Thurs 20th

Sue Benoke
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek

Fri 21st

Damian Mark Smyth

Mon 24th

Sue Benoke
Andy Willcox
Chris Olchawski
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen

Tues 25th

Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
Andy Willcox
Jay Allen
Steve Bentley & jon Olivant

Wed 26th

Gemma Toner
Robin Sharpe
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
David Wimblett
Damian Mark Smyth
Vanessa Lanham-Day
Jay Allen

Thurs 27th

February

Area
Wolverhampton
South Surrey,
Sutton & Epsom
Bristol
Crawley & East Grinstead
Bath & West
Liverpool
Huddersfield
Hull
Glasgow
Kings Lynn
Norwich
Luton & St Albans
Essex
Hitchin
South Surrey,
Sutton & Epsom
Weston-Super-Mare
Leicestershire
Tunbridge
Leeds
Edinburgh
North London
Swansea
Solihull
Staffordshire
Croydon & Bromley
Carlisle
Lincoln
Blackburn
Central London
Basingstoke
Northern Ireland
Newcastle
Sunderland
Bromsgrove
Doncaster
Newbury
Taunton
Caversham
Stockport
Coventry
South London
Shipton
Truro
Chichester & Worthing
Wakefield
East London
Haverfordwest
Maidenhead
Weybridge

BGA
Clare Szurek
Vanessa Lanham-Day
Emma Melhuish
Karl Anscombe
Jonathan Davies
Jay Allen
Gemma Toner
Clare Szurek
Clare Szurek
David Cambridge
Damian Mark Smyth
Vanessa Lanham-Day
Andy Willcox
Julia Canham
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen
Gemma Toner
Damian Mark Smyth
Chris Olchawski
Ian Prowse
Julia Canham
Karl Anscombe
Gemma Toner
Jay Allen
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Tim Savage
Ian Jackson
Gemma Toner
Gemma Toner
Ian Prowse
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Tim Savage
Andy Willcox
Jay Allen
Mark Greig & Nick Howes
Damian Mark Smyth
Andy Willcox
Karl Anscombe
Jay Allen
Damian Mark Smyth
Chris Olchawskiw
Karl Anscombe

Gemma Toner
Jill Chitty
Clare Szurek

The meetrings are all free to attend for members and timings and venues can be found by contacting
the relevant BGA whose number you’ll find on page 27.

33

THE FINAL WORD

Whoa!
Backup

Oh sh*t – two members in December had the rug metaphorically pulled from under them when their websites, on
which they depend for huge amounts of leads, enquiries, etc were suddenly no longer available. In one case their web
designer had gone AWOL and, unbeknown to them, not paid his hosting bills so, after apparently many warnings (to
the web designer – not the business owner), the hosting company pulled the plug and the business owner had no way
of getting his website back up again. The only thing he could do was rebuild it and re-launch it on another domain.
It took two weeks and cost him an estimated £50,000 in lost business.
The other one was slightly less serious but involved corrupted files and, again an
uncooperative web developer.
Both these individuals did not have ownership of their own domains and neither
did they have a back-up of the code on their website. These two simple steps are
your insurance policy against you also having that genuine nightmare scenario
impacting and affecting you.
If you own the domain name (and I mean are actually the registered
owner – not just paying your web guy to have it for you) AND YOU
HAVE A COPY OF THE HTML CODE FOR YOUR WEBSITE SAFELY
BACKED-UP IN A FILE THAT YOU HAVE ACCESS TO, ON YOUR
SERVERS, then, even if the worst happens and you get let down
by the developer or the hosting company somewhere you’ll be
able to get backup reasonably quickly. But if you don’t own the
domain and you have no backup then you really are screwed.
It’s a simple thing. Think of it as an insurance policy, almost.
Of course, it will be easy for you to ignore these words of
wisdom and think, subconsciously at least, that “it won’t happen to
me – my guy’s great…” All I can tell you is that the two gentlemen
I’ve spoken about also thought that, but boy oh boy are they
regretting it now, and that’s the final word.

Protect your website. Own the
domain and back up the code. Now.

34

Make your notes & action plans here…
Please use this space to map out the things that you’re going to be doing over the next four – five weeks to move your business forward. Hope it helps …

35

I Thought I Knew This Stuff

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