Thursday, April 24, 2008

What do you do? (a game)

Pic credit: Flickr CC, Altemark


Right, first let's get something out the way. Linking to the same person twice in two days is not a bad thing. In fact I think it's a good thing. It shows consistency. Not a lack of imagination/slight obsession with that person's blog.

So bearing that in mind, Sonia Simone inspired the following post today. That's not fair on Naomi from IttyBiz though, because it was her original post that inspired Sonia's post, that inspired me.

Too complicated. Let's start again...

A couple of days ago I read a post by Naomi (click here for it). It was an idea for a game where you answer 5 questions about yourself and what you do, both for your own satisfaction and to inform any potential customers. I totally intended to do it and write something the other day, but got completely distracted and kind of forgot.

Then I read Sonia's answers on her blog (click here for them) and liked them so much that I decided to get my ass in gear and do it myself. Here (in convoluted fashion) is my part of the conversation:

What’s your game? What do you do?
I’m a freelance marketing guy (the non-evil type). I help small businesses get the best return from their marketing efforts as possible. The people I work with generally don’t have a marketing team and their budgets are on the small side so it’s about kicking ass by being innovative, rather than just splashing the cash on useless adverts.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?
Little bit from column A and a little bit from column B. I used to do marketing for a recruitment company, which was cool if a little unfulfilling. I’ve got the knack for writing good copy etc and coming up with cool (and effective) marketing strategies, but often my stuff is pretty counter-intuitive. I wanted to get more hands-on, with more people, so I could teach them about my non-evil ways.

I’m oddly (for a marketer) passionate about people doing the ‘right thing’; not screwing customers, marketing ethically, engaging in conversations, working with competitors and so on.

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?
All the boys and girls who want their small business to succeed but don’t know where to start with the marketing stuff.

What’s your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?
I’m really cool, so even just hanging around with me will make your business cool. Plus, although it might be scary at first, I guarantee what I come up with for you will be remarkable.

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?
I want to fix marketing because it’s an industry that is undoubtedly broken. I’ve started with Manchester but I’ll be disappointed if my stuff hasn’t spread throughout the UK by the end of the year, even if it’s not me doing it. In fact I’d love the marketing that I bang on about all the time to be really prevalent in the not too distant.

I think my main goal is basically to change the world. Which after all is why everybody is in business really, isn’t it?


P.S. This isn't a meme, it's a conversation (according to Naomi, which is cool because I don't really like memes, which is a deeply un-blogger thing to say, but there we go). So whilst I don't want to 'tag' anybody to spread the virus etc, I would be really interested to hear other people's answers. Louise for example, Pete Gold, Matt Alder, Dan McGuire (Broadbean Dan) and so on. So if any of you fancy it, answer the questions on your blog and let me know!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

I think advertising sucks (and I work in marketing)

Sonia Simone wrote a cracking guest post over at Copyblogger. Click here to read about the 'new media' way to find customers.

I'm going to blog about this in the next few days in the context of marketing for small businesses (which after all, is my business).

Thursday, April 17, 2008

5 things you need to go freelance (plus the website is live)


It's been a while coming but finally my website is live! Click here for www.jamesparronline.com

Despite the stresses involved in getting it sorted (anyone who reads my Twitter feed has heard all about it! BTW, if you're not a Twitterer yet, click here to follow me), I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. I spent a lot of time worrying that it wouldn't look right but the guys have done a good job I reckon. Any comments or thoughts, as ever, much appreciated!

So now that's up and running (and the business cards are ordered) I figure I can officially call myself a freelance consultant (I have been doing a little work in this vein up until now, but the website going up was always going to be my proper start date).

This post therefore is for anyone interested in going freelance themselves, or just curious about what goes into the process. I'm talking from my own experience obviously, so other people's mileage could vary, but from what I've read and heard anecdotally I think my experience was pretty standard.

Here are the top 5 things you need to become a freelancer:

1. Patience

It’s number one for a lot of reasons but mainly because it's been two and a half months since I left my previous company and although that may not seem like a long time, I naively thought I’d be motoring along by now. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for all manner of things to drop into place.

The website has been the main delay (and those guys worked quickly, believe me) but there's other stuff too. I had problems with my emails, my computer, the blog and my bank, all of which tested my ability not to completely lose my rag and run off to join the circus.

2. Belief

Nearly as important as patience, it’s belief in both yourself and what you're looking to achieve. Despite having thoroughly thought this decision through over and over, there have been days where I decided it was completely crazy. In a job you get a pay check every month, someone else worries about the little details and if it all goes wrong then the worst that can happen is you have to find something else. None of that’s true as a freelancer. Worst that can happen? It doesn't even bear thinking about.

I'm very fortunate though, in that I have an exceptionally supportive girlfriend and some very successful friends and associates, who've been in similar positions and believe in me even when I don't. It’s that sort of thing that keeps you going.

3. Cash.

It’s another biggy. You don't need to be Monty Burns, but you do need enough cash to get by for a while. I haven't made any proper money since I left my last job but I’ve spent plenty (a new laptop, the website, business cards, even new clothes so I look the part). I've been fairly frugal where possible but the bank balance has still been steadily decreasing. Without the redundancy package I simply couldn't have done this.

4. Inspiration.

It's massively important to keep a perspective on things and realise that there are a lot of people going through exactly what you're going through. This means sometimes looking for inspiration in the form of successful peers and approachable experts. I get my daily dose of inspiration from the blogosphere mainly but I also read books and magazine articles about my field.

Luckily there’s so much good free stuff out there you need never go short of inspiration. Click any of the following for sage advice, funny stories, tips on how (and how not) to do pretty much anything and all round inspiration: Naomi @ IttyBiz, Seth, Hugh, Penelope @ Brazen Careerist, Pam @ Escape from Cubicle Nation, Alex the Chief Happiness Officer, Sonia @ Remarkable Communication, Maki @ doshdosh and Rowan @ Fortify Your Oasis.

(Top Tip: Read those guys, then read the people they tell you to and you'll never be short of inspiration again)

5. An idea

Finally (or at least finally in this list, there's a lot more you need other than this to become a freelancer but I'm going for brevity over comprehensiveness) – it’s the strength of your idea. Whether you’e going to become a freelance IT guy or a self-employed plumber there's a very good chance that whatever you're offering is already out there in one form or another. In fact it's pretty likely that people right now are setting up in exactly the same space as you (this is definitiely true for me; the word 'marketing' in a Google Blog Search returns 98 million items!) Your idea therefore needs to be well thought out, easy enough to explain and something that you genuinely believe in (a good idea helps with point 2 in this list).

That's what I've tried to achieve with the concept of RED marketing (click here to find out what the heck that is). I knew what I wanted to achieve with my business, but it wasn't until I sat down and fleshed out an actual concept (a workable, defined one) that I felt I had an idea I could go to people with. People need that idea if they're going to buy from you, so make the best of it that you can.

Whether what you do is consultative or practical, service or product, you should be able to define your business in terms of your idea. Work on that and it’ll pay you back big time.

That in a nutshell is what it’s taken to get me to this point. I’ve purposefully not mentioned the various practicalities of setting up as a freelancer (taxes, legal status etc) because there are so many good books and articles out there that do a much better job of explaining that side than I could. If you’re considering it and want some more information then feel free to get in touch (either in the comments, or email me directly – james at jamesparronline dot com) and I’ll happily have a chat with you about the ins and outs. I can say that I highly recommend it and that’s even before my business has really taken off. Just the different perspective it gives you can be invaluable in my opinion. Even if I end up eventually going back to work for someone else, I think I’ll be a better employee for my time doing this.

P.S. Just one thing though, if you were thinking about becoming a freelance marketing consultant, maybe have a bit of a rethink; I hear there’s really not much room in that area anymore…

Thursday, April 10, 2008

A review of Recruitment Juice - training for recruiters



About 3 weeks ago Louise introduced me to a chap called Matt Trott. Matt is Director of a very interesting outfit called Recruitment Juice, whose goal in the world seems to be making recruitment training more fun. I had a brief chat with Matt about the product he and business partner Roy Ripper offer and was intrigued. Matt described it as part ‘The Office’, part training DVD, which sounded to me like a bloody horrendous combination to be honest; fist-in-mouth, cringe-worthiness delivered by money-driven, robotic, recruitment-sales folk right?

Matt very kindly offered to send me a review copy with the proviso that if I had something interesting to say about the product (good or bad) I blog about it here for all to see. Never one to turn down a freebie, I agreed!

First up – here’s the website. Perhaps go check it out before you read my review of the DVD. I’m not going to go into tonnes of detail about what actually happens in the videos so it may help for you to be a little familiar with the material (plus the website is actually really good fun).

OK, back? Seen the site? Good.

First impressions

The DVDs come in a snazzy box along with some instructions, a workbook and a survey (conducted by the guys at Recruitment Juice) on ‘perceptions of the recruitment industry’. The survey is great; really detailed and well-thought out. It confirms pretty much all self-aware recruitment folk’s worst fears – 70% on average have a PSL in place, only 1% response rate to unsolicited mails, a laundry list of ‘annoying’ recruiter attributes and so on.

The workbook looks good too, although I didn’t go through it myself when watching the DVDs (the idea is to watch 1 DVD a week with a group of people and all complete a variety of complementary thought exercises after each session to aid learning)

The DVDs

There are 6 of them and they probably last slightly over 2 hours in total. I watched a couple of episodes each week and found the pace and volume of information to be more than manageable. Matt’s mention of ‘The Office’ was pretty spot on actually as the series is filmed in a very similar style.

The ‘action’ takes place in a fictional recruitment company, Sunshine Recruitment, and centres around 2 of the staff. Wayne is a useless, self-indulgent, arrogant pillock of a recruitment consultant (an exaggeration one would hope, although I fear Matt, Roy and the rest at Recruitment Juice probably based the character on a few individuals they know pretty well). Charlotte meanwhile is the lovely new girl; all innocence, honesty and enthusiasm.

As with ‘The Office’ a camera crew is following the fortunes of the business. The voiceover chap interacts with the staff (particularly the aforementioned Wayne and Charlotte) to discuss recruitment issues.

The experts

The learning element comes from a number of ‘talking heads’; industry experts whose advice is sought to help Charlotte on her journey from newbie to super-recruiter. The experts are all pretty good and their input is generally both interesting and succinct (rare for recruitment!) A couple of them particularly are great, Angela Ashwell and Helen Curry (Ashwell Forbes and The Spencer Group respectively) standing out. Occasionally some of them slip into full-on ‘recruitment consultant’ mode and remind you of the sorts you get stuck talking to at a networking do with no escape route in sight bar the nearest window, but overall they err on the side of charming, if a little money-obsessed.

The content

So, with a good format, good cast, good experts and good execution the onus is really on the content not to let the side down. Fortunately it does no such thing and delivers in spades. The focus is winning new business this time but I really hope the guys plan on developing this into a series for different areas of recruitment because it could really work. The level of detail is spot on; it would benefit both new starters and seasoned recruitment pros alike.

The pacing of the content is good too, meaning each point can be delivered and absorbed comfortably, even if you’re slightly distracted (I watched one whilst trying to wrap my girlfriend’s birthday presents and despite the intense concentration required to scrunch the paper into a ball, sellotape it to the floor by accident, then my leg, then finally stick it down only to realise I hadn’t cut enough paper off, I still managed to get the main points from the DVD).

The topics covered take you through your attitude to winning new business, the preparation required, how to open calls, questions and communication tips, objections and closing and strategies outside of cold calling. This is pretty much all you’ll need to know if you want to become proficient at winning new business. Delivering that level of information in just over 2 hours is no mean feat.

So is it worth it?

Cold calling has never been my idea of fun but it is a vital part of the successful recruiters armoury. Winning new business can be a nightmare, but it’s not rocket science and this training solution shows that nicely and adds some fun to the mix too. It borders on being cheesy at times but manages mostly to avoid the clichés and empty sales rhetoric that I’ve seen in other offerings.

At £700 it may sound expensive but to be honest it's not really. A half-day training course covering similar material would cost at least £500 per person whilst other DVD based offerings generally cost between £300 and £1500 depending on the calibre of the trainer associated with the product. This offering is totally different to any other production you'll see and the training seems to be easy enough to implement. I'd seriously consider it if I ran my own firm.

I’m pleased I spoke to Matt as I think he and Roy are people to pay attention to in the future. I’d love to see what they come up with next; my suggestion – the candidate side of the procedure could always do with a spruce up and the characters you could create would be a hoot!

Matt also very kindly put me on their affiliate programme, so if you’re interested in buying the DVDs you can do so at a reduced cost by entering the code PARR when you order. (To be clear – as that’s affiliated as well as the discount for you, I get a fee if you sign up using my code.)

Anyway, I’m off to practice handling objections from potential clients, so I’ll leave you to have a proper snoop round the Recruitment Juice site. Any thoughts or feedback, as ever, welcome via email or in the comments.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Hugh MacLeod's gapingvoid lands a book deal

Pic credit: Probably my favourite gapingvoid cartoon










Worthy of note because Hugh's gapingvoid was the first blog I ever read. I've said before how I owe Seth Godin for the 'be remarkable' stuff; well I owe Hugh MacLeod for igniting the blogging spark in me at all.

Now I get to read him in a book. All good. Congrats Hugh.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

10 Top Tips to get on the PSL - a post for recruiters

Pic credit: flickr CC from rachelvoorhees. Follow the link for more of her wonderful photos


A little while back Louise from uk:recruiter posted an introduction to Emma, an in-house recruiter for Sky. Mentioned in the post was a forum discussion about the merits and demerits of PSLs (Preferred Supplier Lists to the uninitiated). You can see the details here. Emma was surprised that so many people suggested PSLs were a waste of time and that HR were a hindrance to the recruitment process.

Although not surprised myself (I’ve encountered a fair amount of vitriol from recruiters about in-house teams, outsourcing companies, HR etc) it stuck with me and for a while I’ve been thinking about how best to address the subject on the blog. I’ve decided (wisely I think) not to open the can of worms again by presenting an opinion piece on the subject, but rather to answer the original question in the forum discussion – what should you do if you call a company and they tell you there’s a PSL in place and they’re not reviewing?

Here are my 10 top tips:

  1. Don’t argue with them. The plan is to develop a relationship, so even if you’re frustrated and this is the 5th time this has happened to you today, don’t piss them off.
  2. Try and get a few details about the PSL. Ask how it works, how many agencies are on it, how they got there and what the likelihood of a review is. Again, remember point 1; don’t be stroppy, just ask polite, interested questions. Most HR or outsource folk won’t mind answering them.
  3. Ask for their email address. Ensure them that you absolutely, positively will not spam them and that you won’t send over endless, unsolicited CVs. Explain that you’d like to put them on your mailing list for salary surveys, industry info, fun Friday contests etc (yes, you now have a mailing list to whom you send those types of things – trust me, it will pay back the minimal effort it takes to set up).
  4. Leave the conversation on a positive note. Ideally get their permission to send them the above and possibly some standard, corporate company info (although bear in mind, that stuff always goes straight in the bin/deleted folder).
  5. Do your homework. If you’ve got their details you need to start thinking about how best to use them. Think about what relevant, useful information you can send them to ingratiate yourself.
  6. Be cool. It’s tempting to call them/email them the very next day (then every day after that until you get bored). This is what stalkers do. Nobody thinks they’re cool.
  7. Send them the relevant, useful, informative things you thought of in point 5. Salary surveys are great for example (they’re easy to create for you, but exceptionally useful for potential clients). If that’s beyond you how about a newsletter covering recruiting topics for their industry? Still too much? Send interesting highlights from your blog, or something more informal (competitions and games on a Friday are popular).
  8. Send content regularly, but not excessively. If it’s really juicy, relevant stuff then once a week is fine. Otherwise fortnightly. (Never daily; I guarantee you’re not that interesting.)
  9. Gain their trust and ongoing permission. By agreeing for you to send them stuff they give you a level of permission. That will only go so far so don’t abuse it. After a while though, it’s ok to ask for more permission. Ask them about their business, their preferences, the people they hire and so on, maybe in a short survey. Make sure you have their explicit permission to do so though.
  10. Finally, ask in one of your emails if there’s a good time to call and discuss the PSL. If they trust you, they won’t mind your asking. They may still say no, but it’s as good a chance as you’ll have. Also, if they agree, you’ll now have much more information about them so you’ll be in a better position to make your pitch.

I know the above sounds like hard work compared to just spamming as many people as you can with ‘fake’ CVs. I also know that some recruiters will think it’s all BS. The sales ‘experts’ particularly may see this as wishy-washy marketing crap that doesn’t fit with their mantra of ‘ABC’ (Always Be Closing). You know what that means though? All the more room for you enlightened folk to start doing this and reaping the rewards!

Working for a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) company I’ve been on both sides of the recruitment-sales fence, both pitching for business and taking pitches from potential suppliers. I’ve taken thousands of sales calls and rarely given away business on the strength of one. I’ve managed PSLs for a variety of organisations, from Blue Chip to small biz, and every agency on those PSLs got there because of performance, not because they managed to ‘get round’ HR and speak to the recruiting manager directly.

(Quick note to those who think that’s a good tactic – you think you can get onside with line managers by taking them to lunch etc? So does the rest of the industry! They’re not loyal to you, they just like going to restaurants! The number of managers I’ve heard say “I don’t like agency X, in fact they’re assholes, but they do know some good places to eat in North London!”...)

The best bet in this saturated market is to differentiate yourself from the dozen other agencies who are busy picking up the phone to your prospect that morning. (Be remarkable, remember?) People buy people, and the right types of relationships matter. PSLs are exceptionally easy to get on, if you do a few simple (honest, decent) things.

I’ll post on another occasion about how best to approach the pitch stage, particularly presentations to potential clients (I’ve seen tonnes of presentations by agencies but never a good one I’m sad to say). For now though, why not give this a try and see how you do?

Anyone with any experience of this subject, anecdotal or otherwise, in favour of or against my suggestions, please feel free to share with the group in the comments.

[Bonus link: I mentioned setting up a mailing list in point 3. Microsoft Outlook can essentially do this for you, or you web host might offer a service so ask IT. If you need something else though, I've just started using a service called YourMailingListProvider. It's cheap and user friendly, with plenty of features. I've no affiliation to the company, just one chaps opinion etc]


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