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The ‘Mixing-Desk Metaphor’: ‘Pound-Notes’ poised to ‘go live’!

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:59:00 +0000

It was a pleasure to attend this morning’s BRX Bloomsbury meeting and co-present (with BRX regular and my business partner John Hamilton) a commentary on the progress of our company ‘Pound-Notes’ – by definition, a ‘teamwork and leadership development’ provider business, poised to go to market sometime this Autumn.

With a little ‘post-production’ colouration from me, John re-iterated from his first presentation, back in April of this year:

“In the recording studio, the mixing desk is centre of operations; put simply, each fader represents a musical instrument. Push a fader up (let’s say controlling a guitar’s volume) - our guitar would get a little louder…pull it down…well, you get the picture.

Imagine we try that with a piece of rock/pop music (with all its component parts playing – bass, guitar, drums, keyboards, backing vocals, vocals…) and grab hold of the ‘drums’ fader (drums being the driving force of the music) …what would happen to our musical performance if these drums were to drop out altogether?

Now suppose these drums represent Sales…

…just as our remaining instruments keep playing, so Marketing, Accounts and other departments may also keep functioning…but what of the overall effect on company performance?

Hmmm?!

During the Pound-Notes one-day inter-active course, by exploring this (unique!) ‘mixing-desk metaphor’, delegates will acquire a more focussed sense of their roles within the team and develop an enhanced view of the role their team plays in their overall corporate structure.

How does this work? Well, we (they) make a pop record – a day-long course seeing delegates record every element of a well-known song’s accompaniment (drums, bass, guitars, keyboards…you name it) and work with a top London session singer between 2-3pm (only!) on the big day to achieve a lead vocal, supported by the team’s freshly-created backing track.

A hit single and a successful business have much more in common than we may at first imagine…get the ‘balance’ right – in both cases – and you’re in business!”

John put one of our many mixing-desk metaphors to the BRX group, questioning what might an ‘out-of-tune’ guitarist represent and how might we react to it within a corporate team environment (?) The panel promptly identified that our guitarist was not ‘fitting-in’ with the team around him, not ‘sympathetically working with the other instrumental parts’. When questioned ‘what intervention might be required here?’, the group’s response was poetry to my ears – “sack him!”…possibly…”retune it?!”…yes…in real terms – retrain him! I truly believe that, in our ‘mixing-desk metaphor’, we have a strong model for delivering a true sense of the importance of delegates’ roles within their team, no matter how small their contribution is perceived by an individual and further, how crucial their collective role in the overall effectiveness of their company is.

I (albeit somewhat at the last minute, delegated from ‘guest’ to ‘co-presenter’ at some unearthly hour of the morning!) offered the group an update as to company progress since April:

“Both John and I are excited; the four months prior to today have seen such progress and we are very close to bringing our service to market – ultimately adding tremendous value to individuals and, in turn, teams and companies globally!

Our one-day course was delivered to four employees from a consortium owning two motorway service stations, employing in excess of 100 staff. The course, held at EQ Studios, London and led by John proved a rewarding and successful day for all – we were able to confirm that the pace and structure of the day was well-balanced and crucially, our aims/objectives were delivered effectively to delegates – from results gathered during two reflective plenary sessions during the day.

Following this, we received psychological input from a Psychologist and Behavioural Geneticist operating out of Kings College, University of London. We are now beholden of an endorsement from her that succinctly concludes:

‘If you are ready for your team to achieve what they are really capable of, then this course is for you.’

…I’d add…if a manager identifies that a team member is not ready to help their team achieve what they are really capable of…they should send him/her along to us too!

And so to absolute evidence that BRX meetings such as today’s really do generate progress: as a direct result of fellow ‘guest’ Peter Armstrong’s reaction to John’s company-presentation of April, John and I were able to meet with Sony Europe’s Head of Talent at their Head Office in Weybridge. A tremendous 1.5hr meeting of energetic, deep-thinking and candid discussion took place as to how Pound-Notes courses might add value to colleagues/teams at Sony – a lengthy meeting developing well-beyond ‘pleasantries’ as their psychology-background Head of Talent understood our metaphor and its powerful potential for use in building a more efficient, harmonious organisation where colleagues value their roles, the roles of others around them and communicate with each other to positive end – in short, building a fully-fun(k)tional, rockin’ and rollin’ team!

Through this same meeting, we became aware of the demand for such a course to be delivered to larger groups, beyond four delegates in a smaller studio facility. We have developed a model for a one day course, delivered to between 14-20 delegates at a major London recording studio; where required, we now have the potential to interact with 100 employees within just five working days.

Finally, bringing the Pound-Notes story ‘up-to-date’, two days ago saw the filming of a promotional video – four delegates, a top London session singer and myself as course leader, engaged in activity within John’s EQ Studios…filmed to compile footage for a two minute video with two functions: i) delivering our ‘mixing-desk metaphor’ and ii) delivering a sense of the one-day course’s itinerary – action and reaction by participating delegates. The completed video should be finished within a week or two; with a considerable re-write/re-structure of our website at www.pound-notes.com to follow in preparation for the uploading of the video, we’ll be ready to go to market very shortly!”

With much discussion following, I left this first-ever BRX experience charged, feeling supported by group members – who seemed to genuinely ‘believe‘ in the rationale behind our proposed Pound-Notes ‘experience’ and suggesting clear pathways to intellectually secure the concept, exploit a whole host of HR contacts offered from the group during the morning and with long-term suggestions for growing the business into a globally licensable entity…tremendous, positive consciousness – great…and thank-you!

Although Pound-Notes is in its infancy, its current rate of development and early inroads into major corporate organisations can, in part, be put down to contributions from BRX meetings – at the very least, setting Mr Hamilton’s creative drive on fire every Thursday morning – and that’s infectious, if not slightly scary!

Commercial cold calling tips over breakfast

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:08:00 +0000

Last week’s BRX Bloomsbury business networking meeting was a sure-fire opportunity for me to promote my business, Independent Business Resource. I was able to network with 6 prominent London businesses and it wasn’t even 8 o’clock in the morning yet. It was good to have the advantage of presenting my credentials, explaining the unique selling points of my business and generally getting everyone involved in the world of commercial cold calling.

The group did a role-play exercise involving cold calling. Each of us had a chance to role-play the part of the cold caller and then switched around to be the prospect which resulted in some very lively conversations. I found that there were a few thespians in the group since they used their script with a natural flair. I think role-playing does play an important part in putting oneself in each role. To imagine the scenario and know how to react to the person you are approaching to gain new business is all important. Cold callers must be able to react to overcome objections smoothly and calmly with a relaxed demeanour.

If I were to offer three elements of advice to the fledgling cold caller, it would be:

keep the conversation positive at all times,
use polite terms and common courtesy we all use in normal, everyday conversation like ‘please and thank you’ when appropriate
keep your level of professionalism together – don’t be too familiar with the prospect.

With experience you will eventually be able to gauge when to be more familiar with people in cold calling

I am relatively new to the BRX Bloomsbury Group group and so far, for me each week has been an enlightening experience. It’s well worth setting the clock for an early start to come out to BRX Bloomsbury every Thursday morning.

Changes to company pensions

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:19:00 +0000

I was chatting to one of our regular members this mornings BRE Breakfast networking meeting and he asked me if I knew anything about the upcoming changes to company pensions as he had heard there were some things happening. As a financial adviser working for Forum wealth Management and specialising in pensions I guessed this was not a chance question! Of course I said, I know quite a bit about it as it happens.

He was mainly concerned with something he had heard that the current rule that an employer needs 5 employees to designate a Stakeholder Pension plan might be changed.

I outlined to him the forthcoming effects of the Pensions Act 2008 which means that an employer who employs 1 (one) or more people will not only have to set up a pension plan but will be obliged to contribute 3% minimum into it as an employer. The employee will have to contribute 5% as the new rules set a minimum of 8% of salary. So a generous employer might contribute 5 or 6% with the employee matching it.

One of the new quirks to the pension changes is that the new pension schemes must have an automatic joining facility and designated default fund.

This means that a new employee should be automatically enrolled in your pension scheme and there should be no requirement for them to have to fill out any forms. They may request to opt out but the employer will have to opt them back in again every couple of years.

This is to make sure that the balance should be on being in the scheme as opposed to out!

Forum wealth Management, I told him, can take care of the pension scheme for the employer and make sure it all runs sweetly.

This highlights one of the great benefits of networking with BRE networking. The access you have to a huge range of knowledge and experience and as it’s a friendly chat getting help is easy.

All pulling together

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:30:00 +0000

Now a growing core group of six trusted professionals and friends we are all focused and committed to assisting each either by introducing business or new contacts.

As usual the meeting commenced with a one minute overview from each member. Ian Swycher from Accounting Help reminded us of that he also provides bookkeeping services, Nigel Jackson of Jacksons Solicitors want to meet clients who need assistance with divorce and Joseph Hanlon of Forum Wealth has helped his clients to increase their returns over the past year. Roy Duncan of RG Duncan Accountancy Recruitment (that’s me) has been assisting group members to recruit part-time accountants and John Hamilton from EQ Studios has been busy helping clients introduced by Nigel Jackson of and myself to make music! Aaron Brockhurst of Covenant Solutions is a specialist in providing e-commerce sites and many other web based applications.

Our newest member is Mark Brestelli, of Independent Business Resource who was introduced by Ian Swycher of Accounting Help

Independent Business Resource provides telesales and business development. Mark explained how a professional approach to cold calling to engage with current and potential customers could lead to increases business. By way of example we performed an exercise cold calling each other. Needless to say, the point was made - if you want a job done well, get an expert! Indeed, Mark has already assisted a client of Accounting Help our group who won their largest contract directly as a result of his efforts.

The meeting ended in an upbeat note when our guest Rasheed Ogunlaru provided us with some useful tips asking us to think if three things that we do very well, three priorities that could make a big difference and finally invited us to consider 3 Actions from the above which I am sure we are all executing this week!

Hot sales tips that work

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:56:00 +0000

I love BRX. The breakfasts are fantastic. I dont just love it for the breakfast. It's a great opportunity for us to meet like minded business people and talk about what's great for their business in a warm and friendly environment. This often leads to ideas about how we can improve our own products or how we can work with them to help their business work better online.

This week BRX Bloomsbury had a group discussion on what was helping people increase their sales. Here's what some members are doing:

Client referrals
Rather than just ask his clients if they could recommend anyone that could use their services one member asked his clients for honest feedback about how they had performed. This then led onto discussions about what was great and what could be improved and in the process some of his clients provided testimonials for him which they then forwarded on to people they knew.

Revist your current client base
Most companies can increase sales by contacting existing clients who they haven't spoken to for a while.

Looking for opportunities
Identify niche markets where you can sell your products or services. Alternatively look for ways that you can change your products that wll create a gap in the market for you.

Get a coach
A good business coach will help you to focus on your goals so that you're doing what needs to be done. A great business coach will ask you those difficult questions to help you achieve your goals.

Networking
All of the members said that networking was an important factor in their business.

Business Networking with like minded People

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:47:00 +0000

About ten months ago, looking for new ways to generate business, I decided to investigate business networking groups and events. Until then, this was an alien world to me and my employers Pinesoft Ltd, a world of early starts, breakfast groups and chatty people around tables.

Pinesoft Ltd, a bespoke software development and IT support consultancy based in central London, have been in operation for fifteen years. In that time, Pinesoft have enjoyed great success, especially within our primary vertical market, software solutions for the mail express and logistics industries. Always on the lookout for new ways to market ourselves and generate new business, we decided to give the Business Referral Exchange a go.

BRX, as the name suggests, encourages members to give business referrals, tips, leads and recommendations to other members within the group. BRX Bloomsbury currently has ten members, from a wide and diverse range of businesses. We are actively looking for new members and often the meetings are augmented by guests.

This week, as a case in point, the group will be motivated and empowered by our guest speaker Andy Preston from Outstanding Results, a company who help improve sales performance. Certainly a talk much anticipated within the group.

How can I sum up my ten months as a member of BRX? Well the early starts, 5AM in my case, haven’t been great. Once the meetings begin though, the commitment shown, shared knowledge available and general camaraderie makes it all worthwhile.

Is business networking for you? My advice would be to give it a try, come along as a guest, meet a wide variety of fantastic people and of course get a hearty breakfast.

Andy Dennis is the Systems Operations Director at Pinesoft

Fireworks at BRX Bloomsbury

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

We missed the firm leadership of our chairman Roy Duncan at BRX Bloomsbury this morning but this did mean an interesting start to the meeting as people aired their various mugging and vandalism experiences (as muggees rather then mugg-ers!). BRX meetings have a good blend of structure and informality, so that maintain our focus on helping each others' businesses to grow without being stifled by too much structure. Which makes it fun as well as fruitful.

The 60 second presentations followed. I had an opportunity to explain how the London Print Company half price offer on silk leaflets would benefit theatres and people organising music and dance events.

Being November 5th, John Hamilton of EQ Studios gave an explosive 10 minute presentation – possibly the best 10 minutes ever. Assisted by his trusty guitar and laptop we heard how a song goes from conception to birth and we are all watching to see if this written by John and his daughter will go to number one! Watch this space.

At the London Print Company we're always looking to improve 'the customer experience' and John's 10 minute presentation certainly did that. Entertaining presentations like this demonstrate how getting up for a 7.30am breakfast is worthwhile. (The cooked breakfast helps).

We walked out into the mist of an autumn London morning with the voice of Benjamin Franklin ringing in our ears: "Drive thy business or it will drive thee." quoted by our visitor and business coach: Daphne Clifton.

Nick West is the Managing Partner of The London Print Company