I've used a number of blogging methods over the many posts I've written.

I moved pretty quickly away from Blogger as it's interface was very basic and didn't allow very much in the way of formatting. Plus you could wait for a while for the editing to be shown in the small editing screen.

I moved onto Zoundry which I thought was a very thoughtful and well presented desk top client. It meant that I could blog without having to be connected to the Internet. If I wanted I could have easily run affiliate adverts from the tool. It's downfall was it's lack of an integrated spell check.

So I moved onto Rocketpost which was great. It allowed the creation of tags and a nice graphic line to separate them from the main posting. It's downfall was that it autocompletes words using wrongly accented letters and also falls over every now and then when you add links. In addition I was only allowed to use my main blog for posting.

So now I've moved onto Qumana. We'll see how it goes. It looks as though the formatting isn't as snazzy as Rocketpost but as I said I'm going to give it a little time. Also the tags generated only appear to be for Technorati.

Tags: Zoundry, Blogger, Rocket Post, Qumana, Blog Marketing, Blog Client, Blog Desktop Editor

Powered by Qumana

Top Marketing Blogs as defined by their traffic rating in Alexa are listed by Mack Collier at Viral Gardens Blog.

As a race we all love statistics so it’s a powerful way of communicating what everyone else is doing.

It allows us to follow everyone else and see what they’re finding at those blogs.

I thought I’d check Mack’s own traffic ranking at Alexa and found that it’s 131,783 compared to 11,018 for his first list entry and 430,378 for the twenty fifth entry on his list.

So Mack should really be at 13a and above Marketing Roadmaps.

In fact I suspect this posting has been responsible for the top blog (Seth Godin) to go up to 8,818 rank now.

Interestingly enough Seth’s web site has a much lower ranking than his blog. The web site rank is 30,667.

For comparison purposes and to show that “Marketing For Power Packed Business Growth” is an undiscovered Gem my ranking is 5,422,486. Although my ranking was at 2,980,459 a few weeks ago when I was blogging about “The Apprentice” TV show.

But anyway I obviously have some way to go then!

I would encourage anyone researching web sites and in particular blogs to use www.alexa.com to find out about them as probably the most powerful thing that Alexa shows are the sites that someone goes to after leaving the site you’re looking at.

The only thing to bear in mind is that Alexa compiles this information from people who install the Alexa toolbar so the data is slightly skewed as not everyone has it - I don’t for instance.

Mack also notes that the list is incomplete and was only what he found. A fact you can see from the comments against the post. Good posting though. Well done Mack.

---

Google: acornservice.blogspot.com, Viral Gardens, Seth Godin, The Apprentice, Marketing For Power Packed Business Growth, Marketing, Alexa Toolbar
Technorati: acornservice.blogspot.com, Viral Gardens, Seth Godin, The Apprentice, Marketing For Power Packed Business Growth, Marketing, Alexa Toolbar
Del.icio.us: acornservice.blogspot.com, Viral Gardens, Seth Godin, The Apprentice, Marketing For Power Packed Business Growth, Marketing, Alexa Toolbar

Does the whole world suddenly slump in front of their TVs, or start watching matches and highlights over broadband?

Maybe they walk around simply watching 2 minutes on their 3G mobile phones?

The world cup will stop everyone working, won't it?

It's also known as "the sky's falling in".

Of course that just isn't going to happen. People will still go to work, they'll still discuss last night's TV, the latest film, the lastest political big issue.

It's just that there'll be a split in the market: those who care about football, those who care about their country winning, whatever it is, and those who couldn't careless about the world cup.

Now you know as well as I do that almost all advertising is aimed at the football worshipping public.

Yet think about the significant minority who don't like or couldn't be bothered about the World cup...

That's an untapped market.

What do they want? Maybe they'd like mini breaks away from the football playing regions. Or perhaps earphones, or a brand new personal video recorder - like the Archos AV 500.

So they can do their own stuff while everyone else gets on with the World cup.

As businesses grow they go through a number of stages, until they become an IBM, a Virgin, a Ford, a British Airways or other huge brand.

Did they all find it easy?

The pat answer is obviously no...

There were other companies at the time they each started that were doing as well as they were or maybe even better.

Certainly in IBM's case they had several technically superior competitors like DEC in the mini market.

So why did each of these companies succeed?

The answer to that is simple.

Let me explain by example... Look at Virgin Atlantic. At the time Sir Richard Branson had no experience at all in running an airline.

How did he give himself the best chance of success? He brought in Sir Freddy Laker who’d tried to do the same and asked his advice. He surrounded himself with other successful people from the airline industry and with that strong base he achieved his dream.

IBM asked Microsoft for a personal computer based operating system. You can see where that got IBM - they suddenly leapt into the lead in the personal computer business. In fact their computer was so important that almost every other computer maker, game maker or application developer had to be IBM-compatible.

These companies didn't get to where they are today without advice.

It doesn't mean they took all the advice.

For instance Richard Branson was told that he'd lose his shirt by running an airline. Years later his airline successfully flies world-wide. What it does mean is that you don't re-invent the wheel yourself. You build on what has gone before. That is the experience and advice of people who've been there before, or nearbye!

About 18 months ago I produced a book called "How To Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors" aimed at the SME market. I produced the book as I recognised that smaller businesses couldn't afford to pay anything for business growth and marketing advice. So many people asked me for it that about 12 months ago I created "Business Growth Coaching By Email".

This type of coaching was purely so that even the most cash-constrained SME had some marketing support.

What Is “Coaching By Email?”

I took one of my regular monthly coaching slots (at £300 per month) split it into 2 monthly email coaching slots (at £75 per month). The coaching itself is a little like distance learning except that everything is structured to help the coachee’s particular business. It involves structured coaching with coachees asking questions, getting advice, copy snippets and other resources specifically for their business by email. The coachee sends 3 emails per month and they're answered within 2 working days. So far I've given advice on things like yellow page ads, advertising, tradeshows, direct response letters, business cards, brochures, email campaigns and sales staff recruitment.

What’s The Point?

Because the plain fact is if you do what you've always done you'll reach your profit plateau. And worse my mantra: you don’t know what you don’t know!

So to get from the flat profit plateau up to the foothills of higher profits you need some assistance.

You need a Sherpa to point you to the marketing pass that will help you get further up the competition Everest! There are marketing gurus, experts and consultants of all hues and abilities just choose one you can trust. If you'd like to try email coaching email me at Acorn Service and I'll tell you a little more about the way it works.

Also check out www.acornservice.com to sign up for a free seminar series by email on "How To Push Yourself Above The Profit Plateau.

---

Google: Brochure, business growth, Exhibiting, PR, press release, Sales brochure, Sir Richard Branson, Stand design, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Ford, IBM, Microsoft, DEC, marketing guru, marketing expert, marketing consultant, free seminar
Technorati: Brochure, business growth, Exhibiting, PR, press release, Sales brochure, Sir Richard Branson, Stand design, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Ford, IBM, Microsoft, DEC, marketing guru, marketing expert, marketing consultant, free seminar
Del.icio.us: Brochure, business growth, Exhibiting, PR, press release, Sales brochure, Sir Richard Branson, Stand design, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Ford, IBM, Microsoft, DEC, marketing guru, marketing expert, marketing consultant, free seminar

I've been trying to find a list of the top 50 UK entrepreneurs of 2005.

Just so I can see who they are and see what I can learn from them.

When I eventually tracked down the list I was pleased to note that I'd met a few of them.

At number 49, Jonathan Jay. Jonathan had an illuminating story to tell about how the Coaching Academy started and I bought his book "Fire Your Boss!". I've not read it all but I really am thinking about reviewing it for www.Blogcritics.org.

I was suprised to see Philip Green at 43 as I always thought he was way up towards the top earners. He certainly appears to count Sir Alan Sugar amongst his friends. And Stelios Haji-Ioannou at number 29.

Duncan Ballantyne is at 26 with an inspiring rags, or trainers, to riches story.

Sir Richard Branson at number 7 seems about right.

Then finally in the top spot is James Murray Wells whose name I didn't even recognise. Apparently he's hitting the high street spectacle makers hard!

What I think would be useful is a list of the world's top 50. Then we'll see how the UK stands. Personally I suspect China and India will do well in that list.

As the old saying goes if you pay peanuts you get monkey, or people who aren’t trained, aren’t professional and just muck around having tea parties all day.

I was speaking to someone last week who said they’d never employ a consultant.

Wise words...

Except, what if that consultant could put another quarter of a million on your bottom line? What if that consultant could speed your introduction into a new market by 6 months, giving you 6 months more profit, earlier? What if that consultant told you that you were wasting time, money and people on a pet project that no on else dares to tell you is a dud? Or what if they could move the marketing campaign you’ve been trying to get started for months?

What if they could get you more sales, or improve your whole organisation?

Wouldn’t that consultant have paid for themselves many times over?

There is absolutely no doubt that there are consultants who rake in vast quantities of cash for no output.

Is A Consultant’s Output The Key?

Yes, and no...

Wherever possible a consultant should be linked to an outputs performance based payment.

That means you provide the consultant with a base level amount of money and tie more payments to changes in output.

The reason I say changes is because you may employ a cost control consultant whose output is reduced costs. Therefore linking their payments to an increase in sales is not relevant and does not reward them for what they’vè done.

Equally you must be careful that the consultant doesn’t undo the work you’ve done in other areas to increase sales, customer satisfaction or delivery lead times.

For example they may reduce call centre costs. What if 2-3 months down the line the impact of customers not getting through is felt in lost sales?

Could You Reward A Consultant Only On Performance?

I was so sure sure that I could improve companies growth that I was more than happy to be paid for performance.

Consultancy is a two-way thing and requires the client to contribute as well...

I discovered being paid for performance took the onus off clients to deliver their time, material or resources when I requested them.

That meant I was continually waiting to help a client take the next step.

Plus during that time I was not getting paid.

There is no incentive for the client to focus on delivering a project. Even when they know and intellectually understand it’is going to move them upwards.

A Win-Win For You And The Consultant

If you are forever worried about consultants ripping you off paying them on the basis of performance is a great way of sorting the cowboys from the genuine article. Just remember even if you find ones that will work purely on pay for performance that you need to pay them anyway to give yourself the pain of cash drain until you pay attention and help the consultant deliver the project you know you need to grow.

---

Google: business growth, pay for performance, marketing consultant
Technorati: business growth, pay for performance, marketing consultant
Del.icio.us: business growth, pay for performance, marketing consultant

The Apprentice, UK edition, has been finished for a while now.

This blog got 792 page views at the height of interest, many of them searching for information on the Apprentice.

The best thing I can advise is that you buy The Apprentice book for series two.

I've not read it yet...

I've too much other reading to do!

But I have read the book of the first series of The Apprentice and really enjoyed it.

As I think I've said before I enjoy trying to understand the reasoning behind the decisions Sir Alan takes and also those made by the contestants.

As an aside I checked out Martha Stewart's version of The Apprentice. But I wasn't too impressed. I'll give it another go next week before deciding not to bother with it.




Every one should checkout for this season.

Today I was sat in my office talking to one of my friends, or at least a client who I regard as a good friend.

I was updating him with the current state of his blog, the follow-up direct response marketing and updates to the web site Acorn Service is doing for him.

As we were winding down he told me an interesting fact about oils and how they’ve found that cold-pressed virgin oil sold in the USA may not be so! We then naturally gravitated into the best oils for health and finally we started talking about raw foods.

Now the interesting thing about raw foods is that he’d been to a party at www.rawfoodparty.com and he’d been given a cheesecake to try. Then after he’d eaten it and enjoyed it he was told that it had been made with all raw foods. It sounded very interesting and made me want to look up the web site.

So after we’d finished I went over to the web site and ended up chatting to Peter Pure (I kid you not, what an appropriate name!) for quite some time. It turns out that he’s also been to loads of Jay Abraham seminars in the USA and likes Ted Nicholas (apparently Ted’s planning on visiting the UK for a seminar in September) and he’s been to The Millionaire Mind events that I’ve been to in London as well.

He also been in sales and marketing for a long time. Or maybe it just seems like it to him!

Time Poor, Customer Abundance

He told me that the problem that he had was lack of time. He only had so much time in the week to do things. So he’s employing a salesman to take him more out of the sales role.

He has no problem with getting customers to the door. In fact he’s not looking to do much marketing as he needs a few weeks to make sure all his current clients are well serviced.

As we spoke I realised that although he knew lots about marketing he wasn’t applying it all to his business. Because it was just one more thing he had to do.

Like almost every SME owner I’ve met.

I know one entrepreneur who has set-up and run successful businesses that could have been much more successful with a proactive marketing approach.

But he didn’t have time either. Just think if he’d made 10% more profit from his turnover...

Simply by using some marketing.

Virtual Marketing

Then it struck me what SME’s need is someone who can not only think of the marketing strategies and tactics they need but can also do them on their behalf.

Funnily enough I’m already a virtual marketing department for two of my clients.

But I’d never quite seen it like that. I’d always thought that I gave advice and that was it. It is much harder work than providing a business with tactics and strategies but the upside is you get to see a business that you know has more potential do well.

Would I run a virtual marketing department for every company who asked me?

Well, my criteria for running a virtual marketing department are simple:

• I will communicate honestly with the client and I expect the same in return


• I expect to be involved with decisions that may affect marketing


• I will always charge a fair price for what I do and part will be linked to performance


• My client will understand and apply copyright laws and data protection laws


• We will have some fun when we talk/meet or otherwise communicate


• My client and I are in business for the personal freedom and responsibility and to make a difference

So if a client were to lie, or to take a decision that affected marketing without discussing it with me, or to quibble on payment, or to “borrow” a mailing list or CRM software for me to use, or to copy a web site they like we’d need to part company.

On the other hand a client who fulfills those criteria is a dream client and I’m likely to go above and beyond the call of duty to help them achieve their marketing and business goals!

---

Google: marketing, virtual marketing, communication, marketing department, Jay Abraham, Acorn Service
Technorati: marketing, virtual marketing, communication, marketing department, Jay Abraham, Acorn Service
Flickr: marketing, virtual marketing, communication, marketing department, Jay Abraham, Acorn Service

Does Your Business Card Get You More Sales?

Your business card is often the only way you can continually remind a prospect about your business without nagging them to death.

As an example I’ve 6 business cards pinned to the notice board in front of me as we speak.

• One is from a coaching client
  
• Two are clients I’m producing brochures for
  
• One is my own business card (for my mobile number)
  
• One is for the PR company for a book review I’m doing
  
• The last card is simply there because I really like it and it says right across the front “DON’T PANIC” in big pink capital letters.

It Could Be Your Business Card There

The point I’m making is that your business card could be one of those on your prospects notice board.

Reminding them they need to call you.

Remember that when your cards are designed!

Is A Business Card Part Of Marketing?

Ivan Misner, the creator of networking franchise BNI, wrote an article called “Creating an Effective Business Card” way back in 2003.

In the article Misner says, “ (the business card is) an integral part of a good marketing plan. For its size and cost, it is probably the most powerful part.”

I totally agree with that view.

Yet look at how businesses are cavalier in their creation and use of their business cards.

Like me I’m sure you’ve seen cards with no name, no obvious clue as to the business involved or simply a mobile number to contact the probably “fly by night” company.

Also business cards that remain the same year after year after year and are pretty much identical for all people in the firm.

The business card is an inexpensive way of testing your card. For example my own card has changed 4 times in 18 months.

Test Your Business Card Design

Don’t let the fact that you’ve some cards left stop you from buying some more and trying a different approach.

That’s testing.

You want to find the best format, approach and content that appeals to your prospects.

Using the same card all the time won’t do that.

Have A Close Look At Other Business Cards

I studied 425 of the business cards I’ve recently collected to see how firms used, or abused them for marketing.

The results are shown below:

• One colour text and graphics used ..............35 cards
  
• Flimsy material used....................................106 cards
  
• No role name..................................................118 cards
  
• No offer (discount, free report, coupon)....345 cards
  
• Mobile number only........................................20 cards
  
• No web site shown...........................................98 cards
  
• No email address shown..................................42 cards
  
• No benefits of doing business given.............363 cards
  
• No explanation of the business given..........296 cards
  
• No logo...............................................................47 cards
  
• The back of card isn’t used...........................236 cards
  
• Card folded.........................................................13 cards
  
• No name given on the card..............................16 cards
  
• Laminated card...................................................2 cards
  
• Oversized card.....................................................3 cards
  
• Shows memberships & awards..........................9 cards
  
• Uses non-company email (such as hotmail)...30 cards
  
• Card holder’s photo shown..................................6 cards
  
• CD card (holding a/v information).....................8 cards

What Can We Learn from The Results?

Cards that shout “UNPROFESSIONAL” are those like the astonishing 106 firms using flimsy card material, or the 20 just showing their mobile number. What about the 30 giving a non-business email such as Hotmail, Yahoo, BTinternet or others?

Cards like these start people asking, “How long are they going to last in business?”

Should You Use The Back Of Your Cards?

If you bought a quarter page Yellow Pages ad would you leave half of it blank?

Or would you simply repeat your company name in large letters in half of it?

You wouldn’t?

Good...

But I wonder about the 236 people whose card backs are either completely blank or just repeat their company name?

Here are three examples of my own card’s back message. See how it changes to test various aspects:

The First example uses an intriguing headline: “How To Transform Your Business Profit Graph From a Dead Horizontal Line To An Explosive Upward Trend”.

Now do you think businesses who feel they’re simplying treading water would be interested? You bet!

The bullet points show slightly more emotional ways that the company helps businesses. In the main these bullet points are actually not very helpful as they don’t explain how.

Finally a call to action - phone now!

This second card uses a revised headline that adds a bit of punch.

The bullets have been changed to reflect what Acorn Service can do for businesses.

Notice that there is now an Offer included for a Short And Sharp (SAS) review or business health review that we underwrite for prospects.

Finally I’ve included a quote from business guru Peter Drucker: “Business has only two functions - marketing and innovation”

This third card has a completely new headline.

There are less bullets but they’re now addressing concerns that I’m being told about by my clients and prospects.

The card offers a Free Report called “How To Leap Ahead Of Your Competition”.

Finally it gives a client testimonial.

Notice the third card is now too crowded but is easily changed for more testing.

Do You Remember The Business Of The Card Owner?

Remember I spoke earlier about the cards I’ve pinned onto my notice board?

All of them clearly state what business they’re in. So if I was a prospect I could glance up and pick one of the cards that I needed to do business with.

Yet from the results 296 cards don’t tell you what business the presenter is in.

Often blue chip companies are guilty here too. Because they think everyone knows all about them.

Well here’s some news.

We don’t...

If the type of business you operate isn’t clear from your card how can your prospect decide whether they should ring you? Especially if they’re looking for your type of business months later.

Is Your Card Getting People To Do Business With You?

345 cards didn’t offer the prospect anything for doing business with them. Would you expect your sales staff to go into your prospect without some sort of offer that makes them different, interesting or unusual compared to their competitors?

Then why not let your salesman-in-card do the same?

Obviously you need to be direct and to the point but you know your market you’re able to craft a well worded short offer on your card – after all the back of your card is ready made for it.

Put some time aside. Sit down and really think through what would persuade your prospect to do business with you.

Then decide how to get that onto your business card.

That is the aim of your card.

---

Google: Business Card, Advertising, Marketing, Direct Response, Offer, Survey, More Sales, Ivan Misner, Peter Drucker, BNI
Technorati: Business Card, Advertising, Marketing, Direct Response, Offer, Survey, More Sales, Ivan Misner, Peter Drucker, BNI
Del.icio.us: Business Card, Advertising, Marketing, Direct Response, Offer, Survey, More Sales, Ivan Misner, Peter Drucker, BNI

I asked "what next?" in my last posting about the UK Apprentice.

Well now I know because as I finished my last post I left my study and went straight in to the sitting room to see Sir Alan Sugar, with Paul Merton acting as his comedy Apprentice in the program 101.

One of the things that Sir Alan was talking about as I sat down was how advertising firms don't really seem interested in telling people what they're advertising.

They're really more about winning awards and swanning down to Cannes to collect them.

This is exactly the line I took in an article called

"Do Your Adverts Get More Sales?"

that's been published off-line and online.

The Da Vinci Code launches in the UK on the 18th May.

According to the Daily Mail reviewer today it's not as good as it's hyped. Although Ian McKellen is apparently excellent in it.

The reviewer admitted it would be a blockbuster whatever the reviewers said.

He's right.

You know why?

Sony have been getting Da Vinci stuff all over the place. It's on the Internet in several different forms. It's own site, in conjunction with other sites and has been talked through newspapers and magazines ad nauseum.

Of course the court case that Dan Brown recently went through must have been manna from heaven to Sony's marketing team.

I was quite suprised the Mona Lisa hadn't been stolen as a publicity stunt!

I'm looking forward to see The Da Vinci Code. Time will tell whether I or the rest of the great British public enjoy it or not.

If we don't and we feel we've been taken for a ride by Sony's massive marketing muscle word of mouth will soon stop people. Stop them from going to this film or the next one made from a Dan Brown book.

Beware becasue not delivering on a marketing promise is the best way I know to find your customers slipping away from you.

So under-promise and over deliver. It may mean you lose some sales. But would you rather lose all your customers?

Unconscious marketing is a phrase I've been using more and more when I talk to clients and prospects.

What does it mean?

Unconscious marketing is the assumption that whenever you start-up, run and continue in a business you are marketing.

So what aspects of marketing are affected?

Marketing is used for the following:

• Researching and choosing your market (Market Research)
• Positioning your company in your market (Branding)
• Obtaining qualified sales leads
• Providing tools & support during sales
• Providing follow-up after a sale
• Providing continous contact with clients

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list.

What happens if you don't research the most profitable market, either at start-up or later during a growth phase?

You can easily get side-tracked into a profitable business. But you may have been able to get into an even more profitable business with market research.

What if you don't position your company with well-placed yellow pages, publicity, advertising and other ways of communicating with your prospects?

You may only use the yellow pages, or more commonly word of mouth. Which gets you business. And again this may not be the optimum way to get your most profitable business.

I won't labour the point. But you see how you can, without meaning to, have a perfectly profitable businessthat's not as profitable as it could be?

What you're doing in that case is working harder for less money.

Doesn't make sense really does it?

You've sold your customer your product or service.

You have other products and services that you offer.

How do you know which one your customer could use?

You ask them...

Maybe you're thinking it would take ages to ask every customer you've got.

In which case use a survey.

So using the principle of testing what you deliver...

I created a survey last year using www.surveymonkey.com.

This is one of many sites that allow you to design, create and host surveys. There are many, many others

The survey was originally written to find out the exact answers to the question "what do my potential clients want?"

I've re-opened the survey for this month so you can check it out.

You can help me by filling in this 10 question survey because I'm interested in your opinions now.

When you've completed it you'll understand quite how powerful a survey can be.

If you want to find out what you can sell to your customers you can ask them a series of matrix style questions. This is demonstrated in the survey.

OK so the Apprentice has been anointed.

Now what?

Is the BBC going to leave us high and dry without any interesting business programmes until the next series of Apprentice?

Perhaps we should ask them to follow Michelle as she gets stuck into creating a new company for Sir Alan.

Given her technical background and that she was a programme manager she should have no problem with it. Good luck to her.

As to the other Apprentices I'm looking forward to hearing more from Ruth and Ansell - what will they go onto and achieve.

I wish the other apprentices good fortune too as they all helped to make a highly entertaining show.

I bought Sir Alan's first series book and found it a very interesting insight into Sir Alan's thinking.

The second series book is out now and sounds very similar - the key difference obviously being that there are different apprentices and tasks!

USP or Unique selling point, unique selling position, unique strategic position.

They're what everyone aspires to have.

Many years ago I attended a seminar called "Millionaire Mind" and at that seminar I was introduced to the core story.

It's a story that you create for the market you're in.

So for example if you're selling shoes you'd create something like "The Story Of The Shoe".

In the story you'd provide statistics about shoes, shoe selling, shoe shops, high value shoes, quality shoes and problem shoes.

You'd tell people how shoes reflect who you are. The number of pairs you own show what social and wealth level you're at and so on...

The result is that when you talk to your prospective customers about shoes they'll know you're an expert. When you give the core story to your salespeople they'll also be seen as experts.

Everyone wants to buy from the best they can afford. So that means in educating people about shoes they'll understand that they need to buy shoes from you.

It's all about positioning yourself as the logical choice for buying shoes.

In the same way you need to establish yourself with a core story for your industry. Simply said that means that your customers need to be educated as to their own market and then be shown how your company is really the only one that can help them.

One client I explained the core story to (in more detail admittedly)started using some of the concepts and found that his customers and prospects were blown away.

If you're in a number of different markets it's perfectly possible to have several different core stories.

How you deliver a core story doesn't matter. It just has to be appropriate for the situation. So sometimes it can be just by talking to the prospect, others by using Powerpoint and others with flipchart and marker.

So think about your markets core story. You can differentiate yourself from your competition by delivering a great core story.

The Apprentice final was nail-biting stuff.

Sir Alan Sugar challenged Aprentice Badger and Apprentice Michelle to put on a spectaular event.Some of the fired apprentices were invited back to help or, in some cases, hinder the two finalists.

Michelle won the toss and immediately chose the event manager: Sharon.

Ruth made the best of a bad job by selecting the best sales person: Ansell.

Ruth team members were Ansell, Jo and Tuan. Michelle's team was Sharon, Sayed and Paul.

Sir Alan chose Tower Bridge as the event site.

He said he wanted something interesting, things like a casino night, an 007 night or a moulin rouge night with can-can dancers.

Apprentice Michelle's Event - "Double Oh Heaven"

Michelle wisely decided to have an 007 night mixed in with a casino. Wisely because there's no doubt 007 is a great brand to associate yourself with. After all it says glamour, success, action, thrills and fun.

Michelle's team decided to get a Bond look-alike, have target shooting, a diamond auction and a high rolling casino. All for £65.

Michelle unwisely put Sayed and Paul together as the sales team. Part of me wondered if that was taking herself away from the sales action again - like she did with the Top Shop task.

Certainly the result was that Paul and Sayed talked to loads of people but didn't sell very much.

Time was lost with Paul gripping about Sayed and both of them wandering around trying to find a location position an upmarket car they didn't have to sell from!

Paul was annoyed with Sayed and when interviewed he said, " Sayed is absolutely sound when" Then he had to think for a bit and finally said, "he's asleep".

Almost at the last minute Michelle re-organised to split Paul and Sayed up.

Unfortunately the team hadn't thought to phone people they'd worked with,contacted or sold to during the previous tasks to invite them to their event.

They let Ruth's team steal a march on them there and get to them all first.

Paul rang Michelle the day before the event to say they'd sold 4 tickets.

Michelle's marketing was rubbish. They could have hired dinner suits for Paul and Slippery Sayed at the start of the selling. The two of them could have had fun going round acting like 007.

Maybe have a little stand in the Sqaure Mile serving fruity cocktails as an attraction for the event and getting people to buy tickets.

What about a little PR on the first day with the Bond theme?

Sayed said they were creating awareness by talking to people. Who cares?

Making people aware is for brands, not for selling tickets for tomorrow!

The sales pitches obviously hadn't been thought out at all. It was all “action” and “let's wing it and see what we get”. Sayed started trying to sell tickets at £200, Michelle finally decided on £65 for their tickets.

In all the sales pitches I heard they never mentioned the great things they were doing at the event.

In the end I thought their event looked good and it certainly made me itch to be there too.

Apprentice Badger's Event - "Murder Mystery"

Well it was a mystery to me. Why did Ruth decide a murder mystery event was a good thing?

It’s great for intimate dinner parties or in a large room where everyone can see and hear what's going on. Neither of which really applied to Tower Bridge.

But to my mind it wasn't an attractive sounding event. Sir Alan obviously thought the same and rang Ruth to tell her.

Ruth changed the event to create a Victorian feel and employed some can-can dancers to give it more interest.

With the best sales people in her team Ruth sold all her tickets for her event. Plus her event was a higher price than Michelle.

I noted that Ruth got her Champagne free from Red Snapper. Now there's a company that understands the power of marketing.

Tuon and Ansell found an up-market car dealer having what looked like a launch and got permission to work the floor to sell tickets. And sell they did.

When Ruth's team sold out she celebrated by raising her arms in victory and even though Tuon was in a car sat right next to her she completely ignored him.

Is she really a people person?

So Who Won?

Ruth's team made more money than Michelle's and so The Badger looked the winner.

But as Sir Alan said there's more to it than money.

The things that let Ruth down where her lack of creative thought and unwillingness to listen to others regarding her event.

The things she did well were ticket sales, her decision to contact everyone they'd already worked with on the series and looking as though she was having fun.

Michelle let herself down by selecting Sayed, at all, and then pairing him with Paul. A match made in sales hell.

She also hung back from the sales - she should have led from the front and Sharon could have organised the event. She also did nothing until the last moment on the sales front.

She did well to select Sharon as the event organiser. She also did well to reshuffle her sales team when it became obvious nothing was getting done.

In the boardroom Sir Alan was complimentary about both the Badger and Michelle.

Finally he turned to Michelle and said, "you're hired."

Was The Right Apprentice Hired?

That's a difficult question. The problem is we don't know exactly what projects Sir Alan had in mind for the winner.

If the projects weren't sales related and were more to do with strategy and organisation Michelle was the right person.

If the job was to take the Amstrad sales organisation and shake it up so it really delivers Ruth would have got the job.

If I was Sir Alan I would have given Ruth the job. Because if she's really that good at getting a plc's sales figures up wouldn't he want her to do the same at Amstrad?

Whatever happens The Apprentice has been great entertainment.

One of the interesting spin-offs has been the Alan Sugar's Books. Each Apprentice book gives some insight into the series and the people involved.

For the next series the BBC needs to pick better candidates. I think part of the way to do that is to provide a prize fund as well as the £100,000 job.

---

Google: Sir Alan Sugar, The Apprentice, Apprentice Ruth, Ruth Badger, Michelle Dewberry, The Badger, The Blonde, You're Hired, Tuon, Ansell, Paul, Sayed
Technorati: Sir Alan Sugar, The Apprentice, Apprentice Ruth, Ruth Badger, Michelle Dewberry, The Badger, The Blonde, You're Hired, Tuon, Ansell, Paul, Sayed
Del.icio.us: Sir Alan Sugar, The Apprentice, Apprentice Ruth, Ruth Badger, Michelle Dewberry, The Badger, The Blonde, You're Hired, Tuon, Ansell, Paul, Sayed

Robert Collier, master copywriter said in his famous book:

"Hundreds of books have doubtless been written about the fine art of fishing, but the whole idea is contained in that one sentence: “What bait will they bite on?” Thousands of articles have been written about the way to use letters to bring you what you want, but the meat of them all can be compressed into two sentences: “What is the bait that will tempt your reader? How can you tie up the thing you have to offer with that bait?” "

From The Robert Collier Letter Book - 1937

What’s that mean to the entrepreneur who wants to get their product or service out into a hungry market?

You Must Know Your Customers

Really know them.

Ask yourself and your customers some searching questions:

• 
  
  What is the average life-time value of your customers?
  
  
• 
  
  Why do your best customers buy from you?
  
  
• 
  
  Why do some prospects not buy from you?
  
  
• 
  
  What is your target market passionate about?
  
  
• 
  
  When they buy from you is there anything else they buy almost immediately afterwards?
  
  
• 
  
  What products or services can you provide that you know customers and prospects really want?

You are likely competing with other companies in your business. Maybe in your area, maybe in your country and certainly world-wide.

Remember prospects don’t know that your service is fantastic and wont believe it anyway, until you’ve demonstrated it. They’re unaware of your attention to details, the quality of your offering or anything else that they assume should be there.

The only differentiator from your competition you have is the way you use your marketing.

Robert Collier wrote about direct mail letters and his understanding of people’s psychology applies just as well to all the other direct response methods of marketing.

Think About Ways Your Prospect Finds You...

• 
  
  Cold called by you
  
  
• 
  
  Received a letter or email
  
  
• 
  
  Saw an ad (newsprint, tv, ezine, RSS, website, blog...)
  
  
• 
  
  Heard an ad (radio, podcast, CD)
  
  
• 
  
  Saw Yellow pages entry
  
  
• 
  
  Through a referral.

All prospects know is what they found out in the way they came to you.

It can take 8, or more, contacts before a contact actually buys anything from you.

That’s why marketing is vital for getting qualified leads to sell to.

And why Robert Collier’s quote is so important to understand.

What you’re doing is providing a product or service and tempting people to buy from you, rather than your competitor.

How Do You Tempt Your Prospects?

By knowing what your market really wants...

Which you’ve discovered from asking the searching questions.

For your customers the most attractive bait will sway them to go with you.

So giving them something from your slow-moving stock wont work.

If stock is slow-moving that means your prospects or customers aren’t interested in it.

As Robert Collier says give your customers and prospects great bait and you’ll get more sales.

---

Google: copywriting, copywriter, Robert Collier, marketing, direct response
Technorati: copywriting, copywriter, Robert Collier, marketing, direct response
Del.icio.us: copywriting, copywriter, Robert Collier, marketing, direct response

The Apprentice seems to be all over the media.

Everyone giving insights into Apprentice Michelle Dewberry and Apprentice Ruth Badger.

Interestingly enough the Times have a nice little scoop on the two of them, it says in an article

“...The Times has learnt that, since September, both women have been secretly working for Sir Alan , Ms Badger as a sales manager for his company Viglen and Ms Dewberry for Amstrad, and their performances will be taken into account in his final decision.”

Also in the same article The Badger’s boss (founder of the Compass Finance Group where she used to work) said that she’d been telling the truth in her CV.

So let’s see how it goes on Wednesday!

The Apprentices Paul And Ansell Are History

Apprentice Ansell - Should He Have Gone?

Ansell was my first choice to win. Not just because he's a "nice guy" but because I think he's got some proven talent at selling and also seems quite organised.

Certainly he came over well in the post firing review show. Sir Alan recognised that too and was obviously struggling between Ansell and Ruth as to who he should "let go".

The fact that Ruth has been in the boardroom so often and was more of a known
quantity with Sir Alan may have swung it away from Ansell.

Although Sir Alan did say he would keep in contact with Ansell down the line to make sure he was OK.

Personally I think Ansell is going to get some good job offers. My advice Ansell is think
them all through first. And don't let big bucks decide what you want to do. Choose what you know is right for you and your ambitions.

Apprentice Paul - Too Many Mistakes During
His Interview

Paul was never going to win unless he had a great CV. Which let's face it he hadn't. Now that beggars belief for someone who is a recruitment consultant. Doesn't he get people jobs, based on their CVs? Doesn't he coach them on getting through interviews? And if he's so high flying why is he only on £25k?

Maybe the company that employs thinks he wasn't going to set the world alight and would come back to them more loyal, because they kept his job open. And that firm is going to get great publicity for doing so and give its current and prospective staff a good feeling about their company's employee-caring image. And it won't hurt the company when it comes to get people into their clients either.

What baffled me was that Nick (one of Sir Alan's aides) continued to support Paul in his attempt to become The Apprentice.

My advice to Paul is, you're only 25, being in business for 3 years doesn't mean very much, at all. Learn more about how the business you're in works and use that as a base to go onto bigger and better things. Also make sure your CV matches reality and you don't make any politically stupid observations, like the one about the Big Issue sellers needing to know about their market, in interviews or the one where you said that you lied in your job - not a great admission of integrity is it?

Apprentice Michelle - Handled Herself Well

Michelle. Well she was the first one Sir Alan chose to stay for the final. To my mind she was the outsider.

I thought she didn't project manage the Top Shop task particularly well, which for a self-professed programme manager was suprising.

Her £100k salary as a contract programme manager is certainly feasible but I suspect that is probably the ceiling, or maximum she'd earn a year. So her incentive to get into Amstrad is so that she can get a definite £100k and prove herself to Sir Alan.

If she wins it doesn't matter whether Sir Alan keeps her on after her year because her CV has instantly become much more impressive as the winner of The Apprentice.

Michelle did some good interviews and answered some tough questions from Sir Alan well. And don't forget as contract programme manager she is used to being interviewed for contract jobs. That means she has her story worked out. That said, she has obviously worked extremely hard to get from where she was to where she is now. After her performance she has moved up in my estimation, but I still don't think she's as good as Ansell.

Apprentice Ruth, or Apprentice Badger, - Hanging On By Her Toenails

So "The Badger" (Ruth) is set to stay the course as Sir Alan plumped for her in the final rather than Ansell. We thought she'd get to the final as the show has gone on.

Everyone of her interviewers picked up on her claim of being a "fundamental part" of growing the company she worked for from £3 million to £13.1 million. They were pretty much suprised.

How was she fundamental? I'd be interested to know too. Her claim of cost cutting just doesn't grow profits that spectacularly.

Now tell me what sane person does the following:

1. says to their company shove the well paid job even if you're offering me a leave of absence
2. Overlook the fact that they're regarded as a hero by the MD
3. Ignore the 250,000 share options

All just for the 1 in 12 chance of a one year job with Sir Alan Sugar?

Particularly when her company had said they'd be happy if she took a sabbatical and would take her back! She waffled on about reviewing her options after the show...maybe she's trying to take James Max's niche in The Times for next year's Apprentice?

If she's reviewing her options she cut one straight out didn't she?

Interestingly she was honest enough to say that some people left her company when she was appointed. Really I think that simply underlines what Sir Alan caught onto a few weeks ago.

Ruth seems to be interested in herself. It looks as though if others are unhappy it doesn't matter as long as the responsibilities she's been given are followed through. That is the sales are made, the costs are saved, the tasks completed and all the boxes ticked.

There's no doubt that Ruth has the most impressive selling record of everyone on the show. But you can be a salesman with lots of ego and no empathy. Which is not a recipe for happy
clients or staff. The questions Sir Alan needs to ask are:

1. can she can work well with the people in Amstrad's companies and with
   their clients?
2. Is he only looking for a saleperson?

So who do I think is going to get fired in The Apprentice final?

... Sign up to get an email and you'll find out!

And hopefully I won't have to write the next episode's review on a low spec library computer whilst NTL takes hours to repair a server!

---

Google: The Apprentice, Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar, The Badger, Apprentice Ansell, Apprentice Paul, Apprentice Michelle, Apprentice Ruth
Wikipedia: The Apprentice, Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar, The Badger, Apprentice Ansell, Apprentice Paul, Apprentice Michelle, Apprentice Ruth
Technorati: The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar, The Badger, Apprentice Ansell, Apprentice Paul, Apprentice Michelle, Apprentice Ruth
Del.icio.us: The Apprentice, Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar, The Badger, Apprentice Paul, Apprentice Michelle, Apprentice Ruth

The Apprentice interviews are now over and I've done a review of what I think of them and the Apprentice's who took part.

The only (Ha! only!) problem is that I'm writing this on a Whitefield (Manchester) library computer 5 minutes before they close for the night.

So the review is written as are other things I've done.

But NTL has kindly deprived me of my 2MB broadband connection intermittently for 2 weeks and completely for the last 3 days.

Their latest fix time is tomorrow at 9:30am.

If that happens expect a flurry of Apprentice related posts

Until then ...