The Reality of Business

Key 2025 Business Strategies: How to Thrive in Twenty-Five!

• Bob Morrell and Jeremy Blake • Season 6 • Episode 10

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Struggling to retain loyal customers? Feeling the pressure of rising costs or sustainability demands? In this episode, we’re to help you work out the secrets of business success in 2025 and come out stronger than ever.

We kick things off with a light-hearted sketch before exploring practical strategies to keep your best customers engaged and scale your business without sacrificing quality. Using insights from trusted sources like Forbes, we'll share ways to meet evolving customer expectations while staying ahead of the curve.

Worried about keeping up with industry changes? We discuss how resilience and adaptability can give you the edge, along with tips for breaking down silos in your teams to boost efficiency. Plus, with political and economic shifts reshaping priorities, especially around sustainability, we’ll explain why going green still matters – particularly for industries like food and drink.

Feeling the pinch of rising minimum wages or national insurance costs? Discover innovative ways to empower and motivate your without relying solely on pay rises. From hybrid working models and leadership development to multi-skilling, we’ll give you tools to keep your employees engaged and productive. 

Finally, we tackle the challenge of expansion: how to grow your business while staying true to your brand identity. With lessons from Gordon Ramsay's business experiences, you’ll see why focusing on your core strengths is key to long-term success. 

Packed with relatable advice, real-life examples, and a touch of humour, this episode will leave you feeling ready to take on 2025 with confidence and clarity.

For more info, free resources, useful content & our blog posts, please visit realitytraining.com.

Reality Training - Selling Certainty

Speaker 2:

come in, bobby.

Speaker 1:

Hello, good morning ah good, I'm glad you could uh come and join me, have a seat, have a seat. Um, I know it's slightly early, but drink, I'd love one. Yes, I mean, it's such a sunny day, I'm getting quite excited about 2025, are you? Well, uh, to some extent I am, although I think it's time we had a bit of a chat.

Speaker 2:

Well, I've got something on my agenda. I wonder if it's the same thing.

Speaker 1:

Well, what's your thing on your agenda?

Speaker 2:

Well, it's the thing that everybody talks about. Traditionally we've done pay rises from January. Sometimes I look back a few years. We've done them from March. I suppose two questions when are we doing them and have we got a sort of fixed?

Speaker 1:

percentage increase across the board. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean obviously you've seen the budget.

Speaker 3:

Well, yes.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so all the people that we employ who are on minimum wage are going to be paid more anyway, because the government told us we have to, and everybody else is going to be costing us way more in national insurance contributions this year. So, frankly, they're all lucky to still have jobs, but there will be no pay increases this year.

Speaker 2:

I mean to make that very clear as your FD. Our profits are still relatively healthy and I've pretty much led on to most people that there will be a rise.

Speaker 1:

Well, you've taken that on yourself and that was the wrong thing to do. We're now in for thousands, as you know as FD, thousands of new taxes that we're paying, which absolutely wipes the slate for any kind of pay rise. That's going on, I'm afraid, and I have spoken to four or five of my fellow chief executives at other organizations who are doing exactly the same. So, look, have a think about it. Think about giving them something else instead, just something instead of money Training. Oh, come on, I'm not made of money.

Speaker 2:

Hello Bobby, Good day to you good day.

Speaker 1:

Well, that was an interesting sketch and slightly sad and depressing I was.

Speaker 2:

I was picturing a jaguar driving clearly an old jaguar, not the new yeah yeah, courting an old jaguar driving. Light industrial ceo yes, light yes manufacturing. That's it, I think you. You do something with adhesives and your base not far from rickman's worth yeah, that sounds good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. Now why are we using that as our starting point? Listener, was a very good question. We are talking about our top five success strategies for 2025. And we thought we'd get a bit political straight off the bat, because 2025, in the UK in particular and in terms of business, is going to be affected by what's happened in the budget in the last few months and there's lots of commentary going on about that at the moment. But the good news for you, listener, is that I've done extensive research on various websites to look at what are the top five strategies success strategies for 2025. And we're going to take you through some of those and then, lucky old you, I've actually come up with what I think should be your five success strategies for 2025. So let's begin. So I did quite a lot of research actually on various websites and one of the best ones actually was Forbes, but I'll come on to that in a bit. If you do a straightforward chat GPT thing, you know what are the top five success strategies. This is what's thrown at you and they're very simple.

Speaker 1:

Number one customer retention. Now, we've covered this in a number of our books, so it costs way more to attract a new customer than it does to hold on to a current one. So anything you can do especially for 2025, to retain your customers is going to save you money and make you money at the same time. So that's a number one, and I think that's a fair point, and a lot of our work these days is in retention. Now number two, and I'm going to come back to this embrace sustainability. Yeah, good, now we've just been talking about this offline and I think there's a real debate to be had about the reality of sustainability in what you might call the developed world, and we'll come on to that in a bit, because I think there are some factors they're going to make that a little bit harder next year, which we'll come on to now. Number three, and this won't be of any surprise to anyone, given our recent episodes leverage ai interesting that episodes leverage AI Interesting that AI tells you to do that as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, AI tells you to leverage itself.

Speaker 2:

Keep me in business.

Speaker 1:

Yes, now we've already started to use AI quite extensively for various things like research and copywriting and stuff like that. We've literally only scratched the surface, really, of what it could potentially do, and that's an interesting one. One number four, and this is a broader marketing point grow your digital presence, and that kind of makes sense. I suppose that these days, everyone has a digital shop window, and why not develop that next year? And lastly and this may sort of sound like they're stating the bleeding obvious really make sure you have a scalable business model. Now I'm wondering whether the AI was struggling for something there. For number five, because that's so broad Well that's also very debatable Lots of.

Speaker 2:

I think we talked about this on a previous business. If your business is at its scale, if you were to scale up and the quality would drop due to your scaling, then it isn't scalable.

Speaker 1:

Well, quite Now. Let's now move that on to another CFO website I was looking at simply an article on the same question. So number one was similar to customer retention. It was align with changing customer needs. So I think that's a broader thing about, you know, improving the customer experience, regardless of the channel that they come in. Invest in technology and digital transformation. That's the same as grow your digital presence. Three and this is more our bag upskilling and hybrid work, as if the two things are sort of part of the same strategy, where you get new people in, you train them, you have your current people, you train them and you explore how hybrid working is used more creatively and successfully and possibly as a way of retaining good staff as well.

Speaker 1:

Number Number four was about finance. They think that now's a good time to borrow money for growth. I'm not so sure about that. Interest rates are kind of in the middle somewhere, but maybe for businesses it might not be a bad time. Is the article sponsored by a bank? No, it wasn't, actually. But number five is a big one, and we're going to come back to this in a minute as well. Geopolitical things are going to help you be successful and we are in a very uncertain world at the moment. There's wars all over the shop and I think a lot of businesses have to try and navigate their way through the uncertainty that's going around, and one of the ways to do that is to think okay, I can't do anything about some of these terrible things that are happening, but what we can do is continue to innovate in what we're doing and come up with ideas and try and find ways to connect with more people, regardless of their situation.

Speaker 2:

It's a tough one also what you've shared with us as the listeners. Listening is the very top line of it. There's not so much oh of a how is there.

Speaker 1:

No, no, no. So my last list is from Forbes and theirs is really straightforward Customer experience that we've mentioned. Strategic use of AI, which is similar as leveraged AI. Sustainable businesses Now, what I've taken that one to mean they're reading about it is, rather than just say, oh, we must have a sustainable business, which is one thing which you hope is going to make you attractive to customers, but I think that's debatable. There's also a focus here on look at businesses that work in the sustainability, greener, environmental world area.

Speaker 1:

That's where the future is, so that's an interesting one. They've got one area which hasn't been touched by anyone, and I love this. What do you think hyper automation is, jeremy? Hmm?

Speaker 2:

hyper automation gosh, we're now chucking that word in we've.

Speaker 1:

We've had enough of agile um yeah, you've got to be hyper automated.

Speaker 2:

I think it means a bit like um well, we nearly had an interesting client in I can't even what it was called where they would print and build entire things from their printing machines. Do you remember?

Speaker 1:

Oh, yes, Okay, no, that's nothing to do with it.

Speaker 2:

No, no, I'm connecting to it. What they were doing was they were putting their machines into the customers so they could respond quickly and replace and make their own parts.

Speaker 3:

So I'm just going to go for.

Speaker 2:

HyperBing speed that you can automate something at.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's one particular possible application that you've hit upon there, but the actual broader term means that through using AI really well, data flows through your organization, predicts demand and appears exactly when it's needed. What appears, the data, the data. So you're sitting at your desk and it goes. If you ring these 10 people today, five of them are going to buy something. If you do this today, you make these products. They'll be sold in three days time. Well, that analyzes demand and who's buying what or who's doing what or, and serves you serves you information yes that you can get very hyper and hyper about exactly.

Speaker 1:

And then the last one is the same as the last one of the previous list. It's about how are you resilient through uncertain times, given that there are large, damaging, yeah, very testing wars going on right now, and those are big issues. And I think that you know many industries are struggling at the moment because they're trying to make their products and services valid and appealing to people in a time where people haven't got a lot of money.

Speaker 2:

Or they're more discerning over where they put it.

Speaker 1:

Hugely discerning and also, I think, given the uncertainty, that's a great reason not to do things.

Speaker 2:

Well, I was going to say it's funny, I'm I don't know, you could use the word mentoring my nephew who chose not to go to university and he's working with an interesting company I won't say what it is because it hasn't launched yet and we were doing one of our sessions the other day and he said to me yeah, you see, the thing is, jeremy, it's a tough market out there now. And I said what? I'm not having you saying that on any of your sessions with me. What do you want about it? Where did you get that from? Well, people have been saying it no, no, no, no, it's between your ears.

Speaker 2:

I thought your thing about resilience and attitude. We know a lot of people start the year slowly, wind up, slowly, wait for something good to happen, blue Monday, all that cack, whereas how you feel about things, you know the classic Zig Ziglar is it's between your ears, is the market? It's not out there. It's how you feel. So there are people, you know, as he would say, there's people still buying jeans, milk, cars, and it's who's going to be in the best possible position to make them feel good about it. So so much attitudinal we to make them feel good about it. So so much attitudinal. We're kicking off. You don't know this, but this morning Anne and I, we've won a new little project. We are kicking off the new year on a purely attitudinal program for someone.

Speaker 2:

Wow, how to be resilient and robust in the face of a challenge they are going to face.

Speaker 3:

I'll tell you about that in a bit. It's quite exciting, okay, great.

Speaker 2:

Good bit. It's quite exciting. Great good, and that also fits in with your other thing on your list. We're immediately delivering it via teams because because they can react very quickly, run this training out across where it's going, to a few countries upskilling and hybrid, yeah, yeah, it's upskilling people and we're using the hybrid method to do it. Yeah excellent.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean, that's that's all part of the joy of the modern world that you constantly are adapting what it is you're doing to suit these trends, which is what they are, but, I think, for our listeners. I was looking at these and I thought these are so broad and you then got to think well, okay then, what does embracing sustainability mean to my organization or my company or my firm or my partnership or whatever it may be? So what I've done is I've taken a little bit of time to think about this and I've come up with five strategies that I think everyone should definitely do in the next few months.

Speaker 2:

After the break, let's have a listen to those then.

Speaker 1:

Okay, okay, after the break, let's have a listen to those then.

Speaker 3:

Okay, welcome back to the Reality of Business presented by Reality Training. If you're looking to boost your sales, strengthen your leadership or enhance your team's performance, you've come to the right place. Our tailored training programs are designed to deliver results. Ready to take the next step, head over to realitytrainingcom.

Speaker 2:

So, bobby, you have distilled like a whiskey maker the strategies that you think are listeners. I will just check Is this running a business, large or small?

Speaker 1:

I think a business of more than a few people definitely Okay, but some of them are relevant to all. I mean, before I look at these, I just want to say something about the sustainability thing, because that came up on a few of the lists. I just worry that businesses who are focusing on sustainability and thinking how can we be more green and sustainable, whilst I absolutely applaud the efforts, we are entering a period where so many countries in the next few months are probably going to be led by more right-wing governments who are completely climate sceptical and not in the least bothered about this kind of thing and that doesn't mean we shouldn't be. But I just think that that area of sustainability is going to have a real battle on its hands over the next year or so.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think it's always what the individual can do and believe in, sure.

Speaker 1:

But the point is that would one of our customers look at us and go how sustainable are you being? Oh good, you're recycling, good. I don't know that there's that level of scrutiny of other organizations.

Speaker 2:

Well, no, it is for well. Certainly, where it is most noted is in food and drink businesses. I saw a thing on television at the weekend. I think it's the world's first restaurant that is completely off-grid in how heats cooks. There's no, no batteries the batteries but there's no um energy, and every single thing served in the restaurant comes within five miles. Now, that's very appealing to consumers, who are who, I bet, you the prices reflect that as well, though, jay oh, I'm sure they do oh, no, no, this was this wasn't a cheap.

Speaker 2:

This wasn't punting out sausage rolls. No, no, no, no and so that.

Speaker 1:

So then you? You then realize that you're dealing with a tiny percentage of the world.

Speaker 2:

Who would actually give a fig about that, whereas most people are less bothered about it no, I think it's very hard to put an audit on a training and development business to see what we're doing that's sustainable. But in the way that everyone is still an employee. How an employee acts and behaves with their own recycling, with their own air miles, with their own food miles, with their own you know behaviors is maybe that's the evolution that you click on an employee and it goes Roger cycles to work, da da da.

Speaker 1:

And you read the profiles yes, sorry, jeremy, you're only 30 sustainable. I'm afraid we're gonna have to let you go. We had a look.

Speaker 3:

We had a look at you yeah, and also you're about to sign a contract.

Speaker 2:

I looked at four other people and uh, mary's not reading anything about gardening. I mean does she, does she not do her own bit to create oxygen? We shouldn't she grow her own vegetables?

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We're not interested.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so okay, here are my five things, and they're in no particular order. The first one is a big one for any medium to large sized organization, and it's simple Fold your silos into one Should we talk about how they might do that into one.

Speaker 1:

Should we talk about how they might do that? Yeah, so if you've got a new business team and a retention team, they are essentially the same conversations, just there's a slightly different dynamic, and it shouldn't be beyond the wit of man for you to create a system that will allow you to respond to either type of conversation Combine when you say fold, you've just been Fold them together, together, yeah. So why have two big groups of people when you could have one group of people doing both?

Speaker 2:

and it creates a greater understanding of where that customer then goes to anyway and it gives everyone a better variant of work and it also is.

Speaker 1:

it just makes sense and it's what the multi-skilling of it is, the next level, and I think people need to just bite the bullet and go for that. Yeah, so that's the first one. The second one is about marketing.

Speaker 1:

We did a thing years ago on a thing called Lanchester strategy, which I won't go into now, but it's a really simple way of focusing on your competitors, whether it be large or small, and I think if anyone gets the chance, they should read up about Lanchester strategy in terms of marketing. That's worth checking out. But I've got a really simple thing. I saw the other day on marketing that I thought you could apply to this and it was a simple sentence the best known company always does better than the best. The best known company always does better than the best. So you could have a really fantastic solicitor's firm, brilliant at what they do in every sense, but who are hardly known at all, and a much better known solicitor's firm will just do better because of that awareness.

Speaker 1:

And I think that these days we try so hard on digital marketing to be accurate and pick our audiences and pick our people and pick our individuals doing these various things that I think sometimes we forget that general awareness is a really great objective.

Speaker 1:

And, of course, when it comes to Lancaster strategy, whether you're a small or a big company, you all need that. So I think, re-look at your marketing and think how do we make ourselves the best known for what we do? That's really going to help you, especially in a difficult marketplace. Then we've got executive coaching. So we've done an episode on this a few months ago, but we've also done several features on this as a task on our other podcast channels as well. And this is about senior people. If you are a senior person running a business which is going to have an interesting year for various reasons, you're going to need some development, you're going to need some help, you're going to need some time to get your brain working and to do better, and I think executive coaching is the really superb way of doing that and I mean with anything that we're saying.

Speaker 2:

The part is, how do I start this? I think both the the first two things that you've said. Yes, you can have your big round off kickoff meeting, but a lot of it, you know, the power of a strategy isn't always the strategy. I think it's terry lee he said when we saw him speak years ago. He said all of us sitting in this room pretty much know what to do.

Speaker 2:

The companies that succeed are just good at implementation. They diarize it. They're going to do it. Now Bob's thing on coaching he's just shared. When I catch up with clients or individuals and they say, yeah, I missed it this week, I said what do you mean? I missed coaching my team, I missed two of my one-to-ones. Then your time management's shot, what did you allow to prioritize it? What knocked it out? So perhaps you hearing us saying coaching is important and you go we do that, yeah, we, we do that, do you?

Speaker 2:

How many are missed. Are they proper sessions? Are they actually pipeline chats where you sit down with someone and go? So how's your pipeline? Oh, I thought it was coaching. Yeah, but it's a sales meeting.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's a sales meeting.

Speaker 2:

And you're meant to be coaching your head of marketing on innovation and you actually say so. How many campaigns are going this month? Oh, again this month. Oh, I thought we're talking broadly and coaching me.

Speaker 3:

No, no, no, I want to know what we've got running oh right.

Speaker 2:

So it's an inventory, you know. So I think that's the point is diarizing it. Yeah, putting in the work to work on the work. That's the tough stuff.

Speaker 1:

Well, that brings me on to my fourth thing, which is team leader development. Yeah, now we've worked with loads of team leaders in this last year and it's fair to say that so many team leaders are appointed to their roles and begin that role leading a team of people who are supposed to be productive with no actual notion of how to do that, apart from what they've seen from their own team leaders. Yeah, that is ridiculous. And there's so much training you can give team leaders that will have a direct impact on your frontline people and will make them better leaders and will get better results. It's just, it's such a quick win, and I think that's one area where all organizations who have teams must think okay, when was the last time we gave our team leader, our sales manager, any development at all? You know, when was the last time they really were challenged to come up with great ideas and we gave our team leader, our sales manager, any development at all? When was the last time they really were challenged to come up with great ideas?

Speaker 2:

Well, it's interesting the famous quote from Drucker Peter Drucker which is leadership is about doing the right things. Management is about doing things right. Increasingly, we're seeing in our work more and more clients are allowing their team leaders to be team leaders and not team managers. They're actually requiring a bit of innovation at the coalface. So, instead of just implement this strategy and do it, there's a bit more oh, we didn't expect that reaction. Work with your leader on how you might respond. Work with your leader and your teams on how you're going to get through this period, how you're going to sell this, how you're going to market this, how you're going to deliver this.

Speaker 1:

So there is more leadership innovation at that level yes, so that's a big one and I think, if you're listening to this, 2025 is beginning. It's a great time to think, okay, when was the last time we worked with these people and gave them anything of value? Because that position, which is absolutely leading your people, is such an important one to get right. I think the investment there would be good.

Speaker 2:

I had a phone call about our Christmas party Hi, I'm just confirming your table for 10. And I said I've tried to change it online all week. It doesn't work the system. Oh right, what is it you need to do? I need to add one more. We're now 11. What do you think she says?

Speaker 1:

You can't do that.

Speaker 2:

No worse.

Speaker 1:

You have to cancel.

Speaker 2:

No, what are we talking about? Man managers?

Speaker 1:

I'll have to check with my manager, to check with my manager.

Speaker 2:

Oh heavens and she said I'm in charge of all of the christmas party tables. Okay, so you're leading that part of this business at this busy time of year. I, I'm, I, I can't, I can't do that. I'll have to check with my manager. And then this is even weirder they will get back to you. Don't know if it's a here, or she don't know she does either. They will get back to you if there's a problem, otherwise, just turn up and we've accommodated that extra person amazing.

Speaker 1:

Well, that brings me on to my last one, which is empowerment. Oh, there you go, there we go, and that's that's what I said.

Speaker 2:

I was on to lorraine at the time and I just said why can't they allow that lady ringing me up to go in and click a few bits and tell me if you can wedge another person around the table? Just make the decision.

Speaker 1:

Just say, just make a decision. I know Such a waste of time. It is Well the reason I picked podcast, which is this. So there is a double whammy hitting lots of businesses this year. That is an increase in the minimum and living wage, which is significant. So if that's what most of your people are paid, then you are forced to give them the pay rise. That's the first thing. And then, secondly, all employers have to pay more national insurance for all the people they employ, and in some cases it's a significant amount of money yeah, as much as you would even consider giving someone as a pay rise. So the idea that there's going to be large percentage, regardless of inflation, by the way, the idea there's going to be large wage increases over the next six months, it's not going to happen. Employers are not going to take this lying down and I think it's a really retrograde step.

Speaker 1:

I would love this new government to be doing better and to be doing well, but I find this to be such a stifling of innovation from a government who came in on a ticket saying we want to get growth into the economy.

Speaker 1:

I just find it extraordinary that they would make this move. However, I spun it positively in my brain and thought okay, if you're not going to give people big pay rises, then what can you do? Well, I tell you exactly what that is, and that is empower them to make choices and make decisions. And that comes onto the hybrid working thing and how you engage and how you work and the benefits and the kind of enjoyment that one gets from one's job. It's tough, but I think sometimes you know to do something which is restricted and doesn't have any empowerment. For the same, money is demotivating, whereas at least if you give somebody some empowerment, give them some choice, give them some brilliant leadership from good team leaders, give them some expert coaching, give them some great marketing strategies that increase awareness and increase inquiries, and also you're empowering them by your folding in those silos so that you've got people becoming multi-skilled in what it is they do. Then at least you're investing in their employability and that is almost as good as giving them a pay rise well, you're giving them variety as well yes, absolutely absolutely humans require for innovation and motivation

Speaker 2:

I'll talk a bit about strategy, if I may, just generally speaking. So you may already have an idea of what you're going to focus on, and this episode's helped you. You think, actually, we should definitely do more of that. You get the ideas in the pot and you start to write out your lists of things you're going to do. One of the great skills is to rule things out. We are not going to do direct mail this year. We're not going to try and do our radio ads. We're not going to do these mail this year. We're not going to try and do our radio ads. We're not going to do these events, whatever it may be.

Speaker 2:

You've got to look at the return on the activity what's working, what's not working, which strategy bore fruit, which one needs redoing. But you also need to make some strong commitments of things you're just not going to do. There's no point us trying to do 25 things. Well, what is our core strategy, our secondary strategy and maybe our third? I think if companies were much clearer in what everybody was really focusing on, then it'd be so much easier, rather than scrapping around to try and hit some other digital channel that you think you must perform in. You know.

Speaker 1:

Well, this is the challenge and it is going to be an interesting year for so many organizations, and we also have come through a very sort of difficult period after COVID and all that sort of stuff, and in many ways, the economy is sort of sorting itself out after that big shock, and then we've had the energy crisis and what have you. So there's all sorts of things that have happened that affect people's view on things. At the same time, there is an opportunity to, as you always say, you know, affect what you can affect. I can affect my leaders. I can affect my senior people.

Speaker 1:

I can think about our marketing and have something really simple like I want to become the best known. I can think about hang on a minute, this call is very similar to this call, or this conversation is very similar to this sort of conversation. Let's bring them together so that we actually have multi-skilled people working for us, and let's also think what the hell can we do to empower our people so they become better and more efficient in what they do. If we can do some of those things, then you're going to have a pretty good year. Well.

Speaker 2:

I think you're also making me think of something I heard Seth Godin talking about the other day, talking about strategy and marketing. He said you've got to decide fundamentally are you doing more or are you doing better? You can't always have both. Fundamentally, are you doing more or are you doing better? You can't always have both. You know if? And he interviewed a chocolate guy on his Akimbo podcast who makes chocolate and sells it at a high rate, and so on and so on. And he said what do you want? He said, well, I'd love a cafe next. And he said okay, so at the moment, the chocolate works for you. When you switch to that, you're going to be working for the chocolate.

Speaker 1:

Very good, that's great. Yeah, works for you. When you switch to that, you're going to be working for the chocolate.

Speaker 2:

Very good, that's not great. Yeah, it's really interesting. You said and every time if you've got your own cafe and every time you see a table with no one near it, no one sitting around it, you're going to go damn, that's four covers I haven't got. Uh, he put it at him in a very good way. It was just a really nice sort of like a live interview, and so he said do you really want a cafe or do you want to stay on?

Speaker 2:

I think he was on some island like Nantucket or something or said do you want to stay on the industrial estate Because people don't come to you? You haven't got a shop, you deliver it to their door. They don't need to see where you're making it, what do?

Speaker 2:

you want? Do you want more or better? And some of the things you're talking about are better. Empowerment means better. Folding or combining your silos is better, and maybe that's another thing. What could we do better this year? But won't necessarily get more, but maybe it cuts into that retention thing. Maybe our existing clients, you know, is digging a bit more with us, maybe you get a bit more traction from them. Convincing somebody of your worth who knows nothing about you is hard.

Speaker 1:

It is, it is, and therefore maybe getting them to know everything you do is too much of a stretch. Yeah, maybe you just need to make them aware of you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Simple awareness.

Speaker 1:

This is us and our universe now is, let's say, 5,000 people who are aware of us. Let's try and make 10,000 people aware of us by the end of the year and see what difference it makes. You know, it can be as simple as that, because that's going to only help you Well.

Speaker 2:

that increases your opportunity of the timing being right for more people.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

So it's funny. I had an old friend in my kitchen last week who he's doing some really good stuff, some really videos, and he was saying I'm just not getting enough meetings and I find that when I ring people they're not in the office.

Speaker 2:

You know, we've talked about this on other episodes just getting hold of people, but his awareness is extremely good and very, very high for the particular thing that his firm are offering. And I said what do you? You've just got to be there. You've got to keep increasing that awareness and perhaps you're more direct with the one way you could help, because I also think that if you've got a kind of menu of things a bit like Gordon Ramsay, you know why should I walk into this restaurant as I'm walking down this street? What is it that you do so well that perhaps that's my entry point? I'll come to you for that. So just to make you aware, we've been doing this incredibly well for this long. Maybe that's an easier strategy. That's your first in.

Speaker 1:

Although these days, at this time of year, to be able to walk straight into a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, you'd be doing well without a restaurant. Oh, one of his.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm talking about the ones he helps on his nightmare programs oh yes, you know what do you do well here, what is it you're? And they say oh, we're known for our clam bakes or whatever you know. Fine, okay. Well, why is your menu got 45 things on it? You know if?

Speaker 1:

uh, I I saw um as an aside. I saw an episode of that um, a place in america that was known known for its shepherd's pies really in the us and uh, and gordon ramsey went and ordered one and this thing was absolutely uneatable. It was nothing like a shepherd's pie. Right, okay, and he complained to the owner and said this shepherd's pie is disgusting. The owner said, right, well, you make one, I'll make one and we'll see who's his best. So the owner makes his normal gloopy, horrible shepherd's pie. Gordon Ramsay makes this most incredible shepherd's pie which, incidentally, I've been making ever since the recipe's online, and he serves it to some regulars in this place and they eat both his shepherd's pies. And he comes out and gordon's not there and he goes come on, guys which tell me which one's best, and they go. Well, gordon's is obviously they go. You're kidding me, you're kidding me. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe the gordon ramsay, the top chef might cook better.

Speaker 1:

How bizarre Would be a better lamb-based shepherd's pie than his own. And he was absolutely incredulous that they would think his was better, and it just plainly was.

Speaker 1:

The ego on him. It's extraordinary, isn't it? But some people just won't be told. Now back to your original point. Yes, we all think we're doing things the right way, but actually I think that the way the world is going, and it's so uncertain and there's such a roller coaster in terms of what things are, what things cost, interest rates, all that sort of stuff so much uncertainty going on I think, really, if you can just funnel your focus into a few key areas, I think you can have a good year, or as good a year as you can have, by making sure that you just focus on some of those key things and I think it has to be less shotgun marketing, more sniper.

Speaker 2:

I still think I get such blanket pitches to my email.

Speaker 3:

You know we do this and they don't know anything about you.

Speaker 2:

I even had a one-to-one with a person. I agreed to a meeting about books. She hadn't read the brief the meeting set up. She didn't know what we did no, no.

Speaker 1:

And what is it? You do wow I get these things recently where they send you emails and they use various things to try and get you to read the email. Yeah, and someone said so someone sent me this email and it said hello bob, I'm hoping this email finds you in good standing. Good standing, what the hell does that mean? Hello bob, I'm hoping this email finds you in good standing.

Speaker 2:

You could say I've slightly sprained an ankle playing squash.

Speaker 1:

So my standing's a little off it's such an odd thing to say, isn't it? And there was another one I had years ago, which was um, I've sent you this to bump this up to the top of your email oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I've had it and they magically bump up the original email, but this is another email, if I wasn't interested when I first saw it, why would I be more interested now?

Speaker 1:

what's your thinking of that?

Speaker 2:

oh, are you getting? This is my last one. Those are funny, aren't they?

Speaker 1:

oh, this one is my last attempt circling back after my previous email yeah, circling back where's that come from, so?

Speaker 2:

you're now an airline pilot. Yeah, who's unable to land? Yeah, yeah I.

Speaker 1:

I just find why are people doing this need to circle back flight 16? I have plenty of people who are reaching out to us.

Speaker 1:

Oh, oh yeah, yeah, reaching out, reaching back, reaching forward Everyone's doing some kind of reach. But anyway, ladies and gents, customers, listeners, thank you for listening to our podcast, but we hope you find it useful in terms of your planning. Thank you for listening to us through 2024. We've really enjoyed doing these podcasts and playing around with new formats and the new way that we're running it. We are enjoying that and we wish you all the very best for 2025, don't we, jeremy?

Speaker 2:

We do. Yeah, have a cracking year and don't try and do everything. Thank you.