M & A Rainmaker

Charlatans, swindlers and mountebanks !!! Purveyors of Snake Oil !!!!

This is from the Wikipedia entry on ” Charlatans “:

In usage, a subtle difference is drawn between the charlatan and other kinds of confidence people. The charlatan is usually a salesperson. He does not try to create a personal relationship with his marks, or set up an elaborate hoax using role playing. Rather, the person called a charlatan is being accused of resorting to quackery, pseudoscience, or some knowingly employed bogus means of impressing people in order to swindle his victims by selling them worthless nostrums and similar goods or services that will not deliver on the promises made for them. The word calls forth the image of an old-time medicine show operator, who has long since left town by the time the people who bought his “snake oil” or similarly named tonic realize that it does not perform as advertised.

Pietro Longhi: The Charlatan, 1757

This article that appeared in Forbes online magazine recently stated:

“If your self-worth and your confidence is based on you being an expert, you’re in deep trouble, because there aren’t any experts”

and

” To succeed in marketing moving forward …… “What you need more than expertise is curiosity, someone who’s interested in what’s happening, loves change, and wants to develop ideas and drive change. If you’re not one of those people, you’re going to hate what’s going on in marketing and you won’t be effective. I have friends who have told me they’re just trying to hang on before people realize they don’t know what they’re doing. But I don’t think you can fake it another five years. You’re just not relevant if you’re fighting the reality of what’s happening.”

I think there are two main sorts of ” Social Media Charlatan ” at the moment: There are those who don’t know what they are doing and are not trying to find out what the real solutions are – they are just selling what they have as long as they can – and there are those who are trying to figure out what the solution is as hard as they can but have just not found the answer yet.

I can live with and understand the latter – I have no time for the former. ( By the way all of them are in a very precarious position at the moment ).

In the Forbes article referred to above, Dorie Clark , the writer say that there ” aren’t any experts ” . Actually the article says that Dorie and Clark Kokich ( Chairman of Digital Marketing Agency Razorfish ) were speaking at the recent HubSpot Inbound Marketing Conference in London.

When Dorie Clark says this he means ” except HubSpot ” – who will certainly tell you that THEY are Digital Marketing Experts and part of the solution and not the problem. No doubt Kokich would also want you to believe that Razorfish are Digital Marketing Experts aswell.

I would also say that Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek of the Six Figure Mentors are Digital Marketing Experts ( New Era ) and that the Digital Experts Academy, founded by Stuart and Jay, is one place where you can find the answers that you need if you are currently masquerading as a Social Media or Digital Marketing Expert !!!

The problem is not so much that the answers are not there it is that they are hard to find.You also have to be ” ready to receive ” the answers. This rules out a lot of people because their eyes are shut and their head is buried in the sand.

They look at HubSpot, Six Figure Mentors and maybe even Razorfish and shout ” Snake Oil !! ”  even as they sell bucket loads of it themselves.

Personally I have been here before. I don’t know why but I have always been involved in leading edge ideas and businesses. This is what this is – it is leading edge marketing and guess what ?? – only the early adopters are going to get involved.

Only those people who have been searching will find the answers. Only those people with an open mind will see the possibility of a solution.

The rest will keep doing what they have always done and getting what they always got. Actually the real problem is that what they used to do, used to work. That’s what many of them hang on to … ” Well, it used to work “.

Another problem is that most social media and Internet marketers are just that – marketers. They are NOT salespeople. Typically they have never been in a selling role ( apart from selling themselves – which, admittedly is an achievement ). They have not had to meet targets, make forecasts and nurture people from prospect through to customer. They typically avoid commitments to ” Numbers “. ( Visits to the website, Conversions into leads, conversions into customers, revenue generated, analysis of how it was done ). Not that it is easy to make these commitments and put the systems together to track visitors, leads and orders and how you did it.

However, both HubSpot and the Six Figure Mentors can provide this information.

Anyway, I will coach my ( sales and marketing ) team like this – Present the information, answer any questions, show how it helps, why it’s a solution BUT don’t expect many people to understand it. Only a few will – those with the humility to understand that ” there is another way “.

Don’t waste time with people who don’t get it. Move on to ” the few ” who will.

A TRADITIONAL EDUCATION CAN HELP YOU MAKE A LIVING… OUR DIGITAL EDUCATION WILL HELP YOU LIVE THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS.

There are four levels of training Silver, Gold, Platinum and Black.

The objective of this training program is to make YOU totally self sufficient in terms of being able to operate a Digital Marketing System from anywhere in the world with essentially, a laptop and an Internet Connection.

Once you have been through this training program you will have the skills for life – like learning to swim or ride a bike.

Today sees the start of HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Conference in the Congress Centre in Central London. In January 2013 HubSpot will open it’s first European offices in Dublin – a location which I recommended to HubSpot.

HubSpot was founded in 2006 to address a problem that the founders saw as follows ” That traditional marketing was broken and that the tools needed to do inbound marketing were too complex and disconnected ” .

HubSpot’s name has become synonymous with ” Inbound Marketing ” which is a ” meme ” that it is credited with starting.

I am a massive fan of HubSpot’s but I am actually more of a fan of what HubSpot seeks to achieve for it’s clients. ( HubSpot’s revenue from it’s clients was about $28.5 Million in 2011 ). HubSpot has a ” mantra ” which is ” Get FOUND ” ( for relevant words and phrases in Google and other search engines ) , CONVERT ( traffic and website visitors to leads and customers ) and ANALYSE how you did it.

If you are, like me, a former salesperson ( are we ever former ?? ) sales manager and sales director these three words make it look possible that you can apply offline sales and sales management techniques to online ( digital ) marketing and sales.

In an offline world ( the old world ?? ) success for a salesperson is about building up a prospect list and then nurturing and qualifying that list – through the sales funnel – from prospect to qualified opportunity. Many of us use a percentage qualification system to show the difference between a vague prospect ( 5-10% ) and an increasingly qualified opportunity ( 40% might mean we have visited, 60% – we have put in a proposal that meets the needs, 80 % – we are pretty sure that we are going to get the order, 100% we got it and the money is in the bank ).

We can predict for our Board the amount of orders and revenue that we, as a Sales team are going to bring in. Order Value times Percentage Likelihood equals Actual Order Amount that will be realised. We can also monitor the progress of our sales team and look at sales campaigns that worked and ones that didn’t. We can try and learn from these and do it the way that works going forward.

How did we get our prospects in the first place ?? Actually, we create lists. We know what we have to sell. We know the people that are likely to buy and we find them, contact them ( in some way ) and then nurture them until they buy from us. We sort and prioritise these lists. We put the ones that look like they are likely to buy at the top of the list and we concentrate on closing those deals first.

When HubSpot said that traditional Marketing was broken it actually meant that traditional Marketing and Sales was broken. They were building on the idea that ” PUSH marketing ” ( Advertising, Cold Calling, Mailshots etc ) was failing and that ” PULL marketing ” ( Being found in Google, having your White Paper downloaded, giving training in a webinar etc )  was the way forward.

In sales this is very similar to the idea that you don’t sell ( successfully ) by the ” Hard sell ” you sell more effectively by understanding what people’s needs are and meeting those needs in an empathetic way. ( Telling is NOT selling ).

HubSpot was also correct that the tools required to do ” Inbound Marketing ” ( Predominantly Internet based marketing ) were too complex and disconnected.

Actually in 2007 Stuart Ross ( Founder of the Six Figure Mentors ) was following an Internet Marketing strategy put forward by Jay Kubassek ( Founder of PRO U ) in around 2004. Stuart often describes his Internet Marketing Strategy as basically ” Build a LIST, sell something and then sell something else “. 

Sound too simple ???

Well it is spookily like the ” old, traditional way of selling ” isn’t it ??

Except that it has been adapted for the Internet.

Building on what Jay had started Stuart created a system that was even simpler and more connected than HubSpot’s.

Between them Stuart and Jay will drive more revenue than HubSpot with a system that is more suitable for solopreneurs ( Home based entrepreneurs ) and Small and Medium Sized businesses.

If you would like to find out more about Stuart and Jay’s system please go

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> HERE <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Where you will be able to access a FREE 7 DAY ONLINE MARKETING BOOTCAMP.

STOP PRESS !!! January 2013 – The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( mentioned below ) has now been incorporated into Centripetal Network Consultings’ Digital Marketing Ecosystem. Watch this video >>>> HERE <<<< to see how a system that provides all of the functionality of a HubSpot system at a much lower cost has evolved over the last couple of years.

I have been and am, a member of many online communities ( too many too mention ! ) but the Six Figure Mentors stands out above even the best. I know that at the moment the Six Figure Mentors team are struggling to keep up with the number of people joining – globally. Stuart Ross is flying all around the world establishing new communities.

I have said it before but I think that it is worth repeating that my objective has been to find an Internet Marketing System that REALLY generates leads and orders. People who follow me know that I am a massive HubSpot fan and that I developed the Internet Marketing Ecosystem to help my clients improve their Internet Presence, ability to rank for selected keywords and phrases and rate of conversion from visitor to customer. HubSpot’s mantra is ” Get Found, Convert, Analyse ” one of Stuart’s mantra’s is ” Build a List, Sell something and sell something else ” – see that sort of simple, direct objective appeals to me !!

When you review the best digital marketers and web and blogsites in the world you see that  Listbuilding ( the collection of an opted in list of email addresses ) is key as is the nurturing and collection of that list. An email list always has a value but some are more valuable than others.

Click free report in this Call to Action here

and you are on an email list.

Click ” Learn More ” below

and you are on an email list.

Click ” Download Now ” on this HubSpot Call to Action

and you are on an email list.

I think you get the message ??

But I digress because I wanted to talk about the Six Figure Mentors Community..

When I paid my $20 I got what Stuart said I would ……. MASSIVE VALUE !!

I got confirmation of everything I believed in. ( regarding Internet Marketing ).

I was also on the email list !!! ( Actually I was on a couple !! )

I got  autoresponder emails – one a day – from Stuart. I also got emails from Martyn Hickey.

There was a lot of information to take in but it was all good.

After some time in the Six Figure Mentors Community Website ( access requires a monthly subscription ) Martyn Hickey introduced me to Stuart Chalmers – an Ordinary but very special guy.

I just want to feature Stuart’s personal website here

http://www.stuartchalmers.com/

by way of a thank you for everything that he has done to help.

Note that Stuart’s ( WordPress ) website has everything you need on a lead generating website – Call to Action’s, Email Opt-In’s, Blog, Social Media joins and shares.

The Community spirit shown by Martyn and Stuart makes Six Figure Mentors tower above other Digital Marketing Mentoring System’s.

TEST OUT THE SIX FIGURE MENTORS here FREE and no obligation !!

The Silicon Crossroads Technopolis based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England has helped Inbound Marketing Megastars HubSpot decide on Dublin,Ireland as the location for their European Headquarters. The official announcement from Hubspot is here. Chris Windley, Managing Partner of the Silicon Crossroads Technopolis and of the Silicon Crossroads V.C.T. ( Just voted #100 of 1000 Tech. Investors globally by PeekIndex – full story here ) said ” Some time ago HubSpot asked our opinion on where they should base their European Headquarters – we highlighted as possibilities London, Lichfield itself  and Dublin, Ireland.”

The story of that early conversation with HubSpot is here . ” Whilst we would have been proud to welcome HubSpot to Lichfield and perhaps even the Technopolis itself, we are delighted that HubSpot decided on one of our recommendations. ” Chris said.

As highlighted in our early conversation above there are some compelling reasons why U.S. companies should base themselves in Dublin, Ireland . In all likelihood this will be followed by sales offices in Benelux and London. This is a well worn path that e.g. Google, Twitter and Facebook have followed.

You have to admire the Irish and Irish ( Inward Development Agency ) I.D.A. for the way that they have positioned ” brand Ireland ” and for the way that they handled this opportunity. There are many places where HubSpot could have based it’s European Headquarters but it chose Dublin, Ireland.

Chris said ” I have contacts within the Irish I.D.A. and they have a Boston office which has been communicating with HubSpot for a number of years . The Boston team of the Irish I.D.A. obviously did a good job in presenting the case to HubSpot “.

To me this just emphasises what we have said elsewhere – there is an unstoppable flow of fully funded companies coming from the U.S. to Europe and other countries. This is particularly true of High Tech and software companies.

4 years ago HubSpot was a small Boston based software startup. Today it is one of the fastest growing SaaS companies in the world. Probably second only to Salesforce.com.

When HubSpot received further funding earlier on in the year and investment from e.g. Google and Salesforce it was almost inevitable that they would open a European Headquarters soon. Around 300 companies in Europe are HubSpot customers but this is not enough. HubSpot needed a European base to compete against WordPress based competitors and new startup – The Six Figure Mentors – which is rapidly expanding across the globe from the U.K.

FREE 7 Day Digital Marketing Bootcamp at http://www.chriswindley.com

STOP PRESS !!! January 2013 – The Internet Marketing Ecosystem ( mentioned below ) has now been incorporated into Centripetal Network Consultings’ Digital Marketing Ecosystem. Watch this video >>>> HERE <<<< to see how a system that provides all of the functionality of a HubSpot system at a much lower cost has evolved over the last couple of years.