No Nonsense Marketing From Doug Prentice

As part of John Thornhill’s Coaching Programme we’re encouraged to post to our blogs on a regular basis. I’m not quite sure why – but knowing John’s approach and reputation I’m sure it will all become clear.

I’ve not posted for about a week as one thinks “Oh  I must have something IMPORTANT to say” but what the hell, today may just be bit a ramble. But I suppose even a good ramble helps both sentence construction and typing skills!

Last night I went with my mate Brian to see Watchmen. I’m one of the many who has never read the comic (graphic novel) and was prepared to be bamboozled by the story (according to some of the cinema reviewers). However the plot was fairly easy to follow, except a couple of instances that left questions hanging, and strangely moral. The book, I believe is being used as a study text in some schools due to the moral conundrums it poses.

Another thing I’d read was that the violence was quite extreme in places. Well, yes – but when I asked my friend Max, who had already seen the movie, she related it to the Japanese manga style which is adult comic book. If you ever read this Max, yes I did laugh at the arm sawing off scene.

And it’s also quite long at 2 hours 45 minutes but there again I’ve spent what seems like much longer in the cinema at much shorter films.

Would I recommend it? Yes I would but not if you don’t like violent films and it helps if you’re a fan of dark comic book stories. Cracking soundtrack. If I took nothing else away from the movie it would be Desolation Row by My Chemical Romance. I’d heard of them before but had never heard any of their music.

Back soon with more ramblings.

Last Sunday night I sat and talked to my wife! I know that sounds a bit odd but as we both work from home (separate ends of the house) the end of the day falls into a bit of a routine of evening meal, chat about the day’s happenings and a bit of telly. But do we really talk to each other? Not really.

That’s why we started eating out one night  a week. It provides a relaxing environment where neither of us is cooking or cleaning up and offers the chance to sit for an hour or two, have a meal and a drink and catch up and talk to each other with no distractions.

Now I know your first reaction might be how, in these straightened financial times can they afford to eat out at all. Well we’re not millionaires but you don’t have to be nowadays to enjoy a very economic night out. The pub/restaurant chains are throwing themselves at us for our business. While not exactly haute cuisine you can have 2 filling meals and a bottle of wine at Weatherspoons for under £11.00. I know quite a few restaurants where you’ll pay more than that for 1 starter.

Recently the fragrant Mrs P and I dined at Yates’s Wine Bar in Bournemouth. Two lovely meals for £5.95 plus a bottle of wine at £4.99 (Echo Falls – you’ll pay approx £5.00 in Tesco for the same) with staff more friendly and efficient than I’ve encountered at restaurants at 5 times the price.

Moving onwards and upwards you just won’t beleive the offers at some of the other chains Cafe Rouge, Zizzi, Ha Ha Bar & Grill, Dim T, Loch Fyne, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, Prezzo and on and on. In fact it’s harder to find a chain that’s not offering big discounts than one that is. You can keep up to date with all the best discounts by signing up for Martyn Lewis weekly newsletter.

Must tell you, we went to Dexters last week and while the wine was a bit pricey we had two fantastic steaks (and believe me Mrs P knows how to cook a mean steak) with 50% off out total food bill! I didn’t believe her when she first told me how good the steaks were at Dexters but boy did I get a pleasant surprise. Lovely steak sauces and salad with a dressing you wouldn’t believe. Word has it that Dexters will soon be launching an online range for their salad dressings and other side dishes. If they do the caramelised onions as well there will be a big parcel heading towards our kithcen.

So do yourselves and your relationship a good turn. Go on out for the night and sit and talk to each other. You won’t need to break the bank (well other have already done that for us).

What ever happened to the interest on our savings! It’s oh so easy to blame it all on these horrible bankers, isn’t it? We all then have a moan to our nearest and  dearest about the state of the economy and proceed to think about something else.

But HOLD ON! When did most of us last check the interest rates we get from any savings that we’ve managed to hang on to whilst the financial hurricane lays waste to all around us? How many of you are like me – we put away what we can when there’s a bit to spare into the best offer account that’s going at the time. And then what do we do? We promptly sit back with a self righteous glow as our money grows at the fantastic opening rate.

If only! What happens in reality is that our super introductory “new customers only” rate quietly and without us noticing declines to a “we’ve got their money now” rubbish rate. At this point I have to declare myself as “gulity as charged”. But no more. This week I decided to check the rates on my ISAs. What I found was a fantastic 1% interest rate. Whooeee! Free beers on me chaps.

This is easiest if you have access to your savings accounts on line but the same result can be achieved by phoning your bank/building society. It just takes a bit longer.

A bit of investigation revealed that rates of 3.5% could be achieved with a minimum of effort. The secret I discovered was not to withdraw your money from any ISAs you have, but to transfer. Apparently you can transfer your existing ISA pot (as long as it’s within  the limits) to another provider without falling out the ISA scheme. But first check the withdrawal terms in your current savings plan. For more information on this visit Martyn Lewis website where you’ll find all best deals and how to get them.

It took me about 10 minutes to fill out the forms and zip them off into the ether. In a few days I’ll get back the hard copy forms to sign, post off and bingo I’ll be making over 3 times the interest I’m currently getting. OK. I know it’s not a fortune but if you’ve managed to build up say £10,000 in ISAs over the years, going from 1% to 3.5% will give you extra £250 approx per annum.

Add that to the £250 saving on the broadband deal  (see last post) and suddenly you’re up £500.00.

Now before you sit back in that self righteous glow make a date in your diary to keep a regular check on your interst rates.

I don’t admitting that isn’t the first (or even second) recession that I’ve lived through. What did I learn from them?

Well, I guess the biggest lesson was that the easiest and most obvious solution is not always the best one. Last recession I was running a small plastics company employing a few people. The easiest solution even with current employment laws was to amalgamate say, three jobs into two, make one job redundant, lose a salary and reduce your costs.

However this is not always the best first course of action. Other than anything else the threat of redundancies brings a black cloud over your business and all the people working within it. Your employees spend more time worrying about their jobs and speculating about it endlessly with their colleagues rather than trying help the company improve its position.

What I learned is that best first course of action is to look at all your other costs. In fact get everyone to look at all the other costs. There are so many areas in every business where lack of attention or complacency during the good times allows costs to creep up. Every employee has within their own area of responsibility opportunities to make savings however small. This helps involve everyone in trying to help the company and creates a feeling of unity through adversity.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a one man band trying to make a living on the internet and thinking “What has any of this to do with me?” eBay fees keep increasing, selling prices are falling – I’ve only myself to make redundant.

Think of all the costs in your business and where you can choose your supplier. We’re all used to being bombarded with advice about changing our suppliers of gas or electricity to get the best deal which is OK. But tell me when was the last time you checked your broadband deal? We tend to sign up for the mandatory 12 months and then can’t be bothered to change.

Hey, but here’s the secret – you don’t even need to change to possibly get a better deal. Recently I was bringing my books up to date, on my broadband provider’s site, printing off the last 3 months invoices when I stumbled by accident into the product section. What I saw there was the same deal as I was on PLUS free line rental. Digging quickly through my records I saw that I had been out of contract for some time and with just one phone call I was saving £11.00 per month. Not a lot you might say but it’s £132.00 per year for half an hour’s work. £264.00 per hour – wish I had more hours at that rate!

And I got a new wireless router/ modem!

That’s just one example without even having to change your supplier. Go to one of the broadband comaprison sites such as www.broadband.co.uk/ and check the sites of the various providers to find the best deal for you.

You may be surprised what you find.

Hi, again and sorry for the big gap between this and my last posting. Why the gap?

First it was handling sales in the run up to Christmas. Then comes January with 2 sets of tax returns (I know I should start earlier) and VAT returns and by the end of the month total exhaustion.There’s enough material in there for another posting on the importance of time planning. But that’s for another day!

Do you feel defeated by the prospect of increasing your sales in the current environment of economic gloom and doom?

Do you start every day wondering what new disaster will befall you?

Well, with a bit of planning and positive attitude there’s no reason why you should.  Out there in customer land there are still lots of potential customers. One way of looking at them is to divide them up into 3 categories:

1) Those who will remain totally unaffected by the current recession – you know who you are.

2) Those who will probably remain unaffected but are worried that they might be – usually the majority of us.

3) Those who will be/are already affected and will suffer financially.

One thing they all have in common is that they have (some ) money to spend. It’s a matter of moulding your offer to suit their needs/wants/pockets. If you take the people in category 2) they will still have reasonable disposable income to spend but need to be tempted to spend it. For example, you might have read that the take away food sector is enjoying a growth in sales as people trade down from eating out. So the restaurant chains hit back with a deluge of 2 for 1 or heavily discounted offers. Check out the restaurant chains in your area. If it’s anything like mine they’re pretty busy. My wife struggled to find a table last Tuesday night in our local centre. By the way if you haven’t done it already you should sign up for Martyn Lewis’s newsletter and get all the info every week of cheap restaurant deals (and much much more).

Similarly people will be holding back on major spending but will still want little treats. So no new flat screen TV but a new top or shirt, that’s a different matter. Again tailoring the offer to suit the customer’s pocket.

Another thought. People will try to save money by doing jobs themselves that previously they paid others to do. For example, people who are between jobs may be money poor but will be time rich. If you’re unemployed are you going to pay £30.00 for someone to clean your windows when you’ve already got a squeegee, bucket, chamois cloth and the time. But you might part with £10.00 for the extendable pole to wash the upstairs windows!

Lots of opportunities there to sell “How To” books. How to grow your own vegetables, how to sell your spare items and so on. Go to your local markets and see what the traders there are selling well. Do your analysis on eBay to check what’s selling well in your chosen sector.

Above all remain positive. Try and avoid reading too much of the negative stuff (though it’s pretty hard to avoid it all these days). Remember how happy you were before Robert Peston became a household name. Keep up to date with all your favourite positive blogs on the net.

The sun’s going to rise again tomorrow morning bringing a whole new host of opportunities.

Good luck!

Everyone’s full of doom and gloom at present with the most extreme predicting the collapse of the capitalist system and the most optimistic saying “we’ll be through it by this time next year!”.

Yes, it’s going to be difficult but remember that despite the misfortune of unemployment that will undoubtedly befall many, there are still going to a LOT of people in work and spending money. But, even those still earning are not going to be as profligate with their money as they used to be. A friend of mine works if the wholesale seafood market supplying restaurants tells me his business is suffering because fewer people are eating out and I’m sure that’s true. But that doesn’t mean that people have stopped eating; it just means that they’re probably eating at home or maybe eating takeaway – both cheaper options.

The same logic applies to eBay. There are still many things people need to buy, but will now probably look for cheaper alternatives or maybe even buying more in different categories. Take my friend Keith (they say someone should). Keith takes the family to the movies – Mr Keith, Mrs Keith plus up to 5 kids – tickets plus popcorn, sweets, parking etc. He’s not going to see much change out of £90 – £100. Nowadays Keith is more likely to be seen down at Blockbuster and picking up some takeaway food and the family still has a good night at a fraction of the cost.

Examine your own eBay stock in light of this and try and sort out the Movie type stuff from the Blockbuster stuff. Clear out the Movie stuff that’s not selling even if you have to take a loss on it and get the money into Blockbuster stuff and get it making you money. This current situation is going to be with us for a while so the sooner you get started the sooner you’ll be in good shape again.

In my next blog I’ll outline why I believe that the current situation will present endless opportunities for digital products.

Back soon!

Hi

About a year ago the good Mrs P and I moved in the the 21st century and bought ourselves a big 42″ LCD TV. We’d always had small TVs before as big ones 26″+ were physically so big they tended to dominate the room – even when switched off. The introduction of the flat screen removed this last obstacle and I had to concede defeat. In hindsight probably the best defeat I ever conceded to.

Anyway, with this we bought ourselves a didgtal recorder/DVD player. This allowed us the freedom not only to record programmes we couldn’t watch at the time but also to be able to burn them on to DVDs and watch on another DVD player/TV in the kitchen while having supper ( we both work and eat late at times). The full glory of modern technology was thus brought to bear to let us see Coronation Street later the same night.

However on the movies side it does allow me to record movies at all times and subsequently burn them to DVD to watch at a time of my choosing. Great you might think and yes it was for a while. There is one golden rule to observe that I did not. ALWAYS CHECK YOU’EV ENOUGH MEMORY ON YOUR DISC TO RECORD THE FULL MOVIE.

Regrettably I didn’t and thus so far have enjoyed some pretty disappointing evenings. Losing the last 30 minutes of a 3 hour movie isn’t a lot of fun after you’ve just invested two and a half hours watching!

So always check how much time there’s left on your disc. It usually shows up when you go to record but on my Panansonic it doesn’t shout “don’t do it you haven’t enough space left” it just lets you go ahead and make an idiot of yourself!

However I’m now gradually getting a library of movies (full length) to watch as and when it suits me – where ever I want to watch.

I check the movie listings for the week at the weekend and then go to   IMDB for reviews on any that I’m not sure about or that sound unusual. It’s a great asset for any movies you’re not sure about and give a good synopsis that allows you to find out as much as you want to know about the movie with out spoiling it.

I spent most of the day with my friend Pat an eBay seller which made me reflect on John’s arguement about selling digital products. While Pat has a successful well organised business it does require an awful lot of time and energy to source product (especially clothing where it’s often about job lot buying), set up the eBay auctions/listings, pack, post not to mention all the associated admin to keep her DSR  and feedback ratings high.

Just watching and helping her drives home the didgital message in many ways – sell the same product time after time, once the product is made you can sell it for a while with updates, space to store stock and so on. Hence I remain excited at the prospect of developing this area with the benefit of John Thornhill’s Coaching Course.

I’ve also been doing some reading up on the importance of Keywords in eBay in leading customers to you not only from eBay but from other search engines as well. I found good info at Auctiva as well as starting to search for some powerseller fora (I know most people use “forums” but there is no escape from a classics education – it sits there correcting you all the time) which I hope will help unravel some of the secrets for improving listings visibility on the new eBay sytem.

I’ll keep you up to date with my progress

Do you work from home? Piles of work to do but little stimulation except the distractions through your window (if you’re lucky enough to be able to set your home office up to be able to look out the window easily). So rather than giving in to some surfing – seldom find much of real interest and suddenly half an hour’s gone – you on the radio for some background noise.  That works well for the first few weeks and then boredom beckons. you know what I mean, favourite DJs and those you can’t stand. You’ve also usually exhausted your own music collection by this time.

Then you discover FREE Internet Music. That’s FREE as in legal – not illegal downloading and wondering if you’ll be the next one to receive warning emails from your ISP. There’s so much free music our there from free listening to free radio – unlimited.

However the latest website I came across is We7 a new website where you can create your own playlists of artists/albums etc or buy and download the tracks. The only downside is that you have to live with ads in between the tracks – but hey it’s no more distracting than DJ’s between records. They claim to have over 3 million tracks and you can find many of your favourites there, add them to your playlist and enjoy at your leisure.

I read in the media that one of the founders is Peter Gabriel who is usually at the forefront of this sort of project so being a PG fan, I entered Peter Gabriel in the search box and guess what – no PG albums available. I believe the current expression is “go figure”. But this is a minor criticism as the service is otherwise great and growing at 3,000 tracks a day offers a great alternative to boredom.

If you like live music, try Wolfgang’s Vault. There’s loads and loads of concerts recorded mainly in the States from Bill Graham’s ealy gigs at the Fillmore Ballroom up to more recent material and so much more.

I’ll post some more info soon on other internet radio options.

Back soon

Well. here goes – my first ever blog! Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks? I’m into week 2 of John Thornhill’s Coaching Course and John suggests that I write a blog about things I’m interested in think that other people might have an interest in. That’s a pretty broad canvas but not as broad as pure white page when you start.

So I’ll adopt my wife Barbara’s approach of writing it as you would say it. This course of John’s is so easy to follow – in modern parlance it does exactly what it says on the tin. If your reading this you’re probably like me and have bought a few of these get rich quick (more like get poor slowly) books that leave absolutley overwhelmed with stuff or have a support system  that makes snail mail appear hyperactive. Well 2 weeks into John’s course and everything works and my emails with the odd query are answered quickly and concisely.

On the eBay side (my modest living) I hope you other Ebayers who bring product in from $ sources have got all your stuff in or at least have your exchange rates tied up. last time I bought it $1.85 to the £ and now it’s down below $1.50 and falling fast. Better keep an eye on non UK European eBayer seller as the they may enjoy the benefit of the stronger Euro and be able to sell products bought in $ on the UK site at keen prices.