Wednesday 28 August 2013

How Raving Fans Create Profits But… Ignore the whole social media hype at your risk

The raving fans of an elite set of businesses simply can’t get enough of the brands they love.

These fans actually set up websites and discussion forums praising and promoting the brand they love. Roberts, in his book (Lovemarks Effect), explains the relationship between Lovemarks and other selling concepts through a simple schema based on respect and love.

The full schema is as follows:
·         Mere products (commodities) command neither love nor respect
·         Fads attract love, but without respect this love is just a passing infatuation.
·         Brands attract respect, even lasting respect, but without love.
·         Lovemarks, explains Roberts, command both respect and love. This is achieved through the trinity of
o   mystery,
o   sensuality, and
o   intimacy.

Fig 1 – Brands People Love To Be Associated With



“’Disproportionately High Profit Margins’ – I‘ll have some of that!”
These businesses (see Figure 1) have disproportionately high brand loyalty and disproportionately high customer service ratings and consistently have disproportionately high profit margins. These are linked. According to the Peer Insight Study (2005) businesses in the Forbes 100 with a key strategy of customer service saw average profit levels ten times that of the rest!!! I rest my case!


Opinion – you get the customers you deserve
Surely it is easier to get the basics right in the first place. The customer experience determines their feelings towards you. You get the customers you deserve except that now they can fight back.


Opinion – keep your friends close
My mother always said “keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer”. To rewrite this for today, “Keep your raving fan customers close but keep your dissatisfied customers closer still!”


So, what can you do...?
·         Find out what people are saying about you; Google Search, Twitter, Technorati, Diggit, Facebook (to name a few) enable you to track the ‘word on the street’ both about you and about your competitors.
·         Create a more compelling offer that focuses on the value that you add.
·         Respect your customer. After all they pay the bills.
·         Get into the discussion. Be honest and authentic (even if I hate the word!). Be there to discuss, share and understand the customer’s point of view.


Surely, It’s the “same as it ever was” (Talking Heads)
In some senses it is the same as it ever was. You must listen to your customer, be different from the rest etc., etc.


So, what has changed? Why is it any different right now?
The new future is one of customer involvement and participation. Forming groups has never been easier: unpaid volunteers build an encyclopaedia (wikipedia.org), mistreated customers gather together to take their revenge on an airline (www.flyersrights.com) or a bank (FaceBook Campaign Forces HSBC U-turn). One man with a laptop can raise an entire army to retrieve a stolen phone (Ivanna’s Phone). You cannot deny the existence of a new world of easy collaboration. You can put your head in the sand but it won’t go away.


And what happens if you don’t do something
·         Customers will always talk. You can’t stop them. But now they are able to do it more than ever.
·         You will be seen to be a dinosaur business – out of touch, old world and potentially dead in the water.
·         Progressively your web-savvy competitors will have their ear closer to the ground, will be closer to the customers and, as a consequence, will be giving the customers exactly what they want.


Five suggestions for your business
1.    Corporate blog – you can dissipate antagonistic customers by giving them the platform to share their angst.

2.    Insider Twitter account – quite fashionable at the moment as long as they are genuine and not an attempt to fix the result.

3.    Track what is being said about you. Start the conversation with the complainants.

4.    Sort the social media – by definition you cannot control the social media but you can encourage the conversation explicitly (set up a Facebook page) or implicitly use (or pay!) ambassadors to spread the word.

5.    Do not try to fix the result by interfering – Sony will wish they had never tried to fix the Rage Against The Machine vs X-Factor scenario – a so-called Facebook campaign under-written by Sony! Their intentions were dishonest and they were caught. They deserved the backlash.


In conclusion,
the ‘customers talk...’ and ‘getting close to the customers’ arguments are usually presented as ‘nice to haves’ or the rants of some relatively insignificant hysterically evangelistic social media fan. The reality is that while the future is a little ambiguous, the ‘customers talks...’ agenda will become one of the key axes for business survival in the next few years. The ability to ‘get it’, to tune-in and respond to what the customer thinks, feels and wants will influence the business landscape.

Telling the customer what they need is for the dinosaurs. Interruption Marketing is Dead. 

Start talking - and fast!

The Mastermind or Consultancy Dilemma...





Many businesses recognise that they need some form of external intervention to help them grow the business. And there is no shortage of options on offer from coaching to mentoring to consultancy to mastermind groups to conferences, seminars, workshops and bootcamps. I have put them in approximate order from one-to-one to one-to many offerings.


Conferences, seminars, workshops and bootcamps are great at updating you on latest tools and techniques. By their very nature, they are one-to-many events and while the networking opportunities are a plus, they will not have the intimacy or immediacy required to reflect the specific needs and issues in your own business. It simply is not possible for the speaker to do more than speak in general principles which may or may not be 100% relevant to your business. The result is that the required actions and follow-through may not be put in place.


At the other extreme is mentoring and coaching. For the purists, I have already committed the cardinal sin of lumping the two together. While there are differences (coaching tends to be more facilitative from someone who knows how to get others to perform; mentoring tends to be slightly more prescriptive, based on the experience of the mentor) I see these as one-to-one activities that tend to focus on the individual in question.


We then have the middle ground, consultancy and mastermind groups, two very different beasts designed and appropriate for different purposes.


Consultancy comes in many forms and blurs around the edges with other interventions according to one’s definitions. The external expert comes to your business; someone who is an expert in diagnosing what is really going on and what needs to be done and assisting in the implication. Different consultants are better/worse at different stages of the process. Some are totally independent of any ‘ology’ or specific framework, others are brought into a particular methodology or toolkit, some are great at the diagnosis and others are great at helping with the implementation. While considerably more than a ‘gun for hire’, the types and varieties and definition of what you get from a consultant are many and varied. However, you usually end up with a solution to a problem (eg better marketing, clearer strategy, a more profitable business, a working boardroom...)


Mastermind groups typically run over 12 months. A group of like-minded individuals (6-10?) come together with the shared objective of helping each other’s business to grow. Usually led by an expert in the particular field (business, growth, marketing, social media), the key benefits of attending include: accountability to the group and leader, support from the group and leader, expert direction and facilitation, regular one-to-one and group communication (meetings, calls, conference calls). The results can be stupendous; delegates on past programmes have seen their businesses literally turbo-charged as self-enforced/imposed limitations are removed and businesses achieve their true potential.


To many, the expert interventions (from mentoring all the way through to bootcamps) often pitch themselves to the same people yet a successful one-size-fits-all solution is rare. Often a coach sells coaching and will try to persuade you that coaching is the solution. Likewise, the marketer/salesman for a bootcamp will also try to persuade you that his/hers is the solution.


Can both be right?


Well, yes and no.


If a business owner is just looking for something to help them then they will probably pop for the first shiny thing that looks like it might help. After all, they will all claim to make you more profitable and more successful and happier. However, this cookie-cutter approach to one’s clients is not only short-sighted but also short-changes the client. Yes, we all know about ‘buyer beware’ but I am afraid that not enough business support people will turn down your money even if they know they may not be the best solution for you. That, of course is a disgrace.


In an ideal world, the supplier will undertake some kind of filtering system and possibly even a diagnostic to understand what the issues are and what would be the most appropriate solution for the client. After all, the client doesn’t know what the client doesn’t know.


Meanwhile, and in defence of the practitioners, the potential client phones up demanding a price. Yet, apart from in the one-to-many situations, how can you give a price? How do you know if your approach, style or method is appropriate or even relevant or even efficacious? You wouldn’t ask a consultant heart surgeon to recommend a treatment before any diagnostic tests had been carried out; so why do you expect an expert business person be able to give you a solution and price without having a proper ‘look under the hood’? But I digress.


We see plenty of potential clients wanting, say, mastermind or consultancy services but maybe they are not really sure about the relevant and relative benefits and disadvantages.


Consultancy is great if you want 100% attention on your business and results for your business from someone who knows how to solve your problem. The assignment should be focused on a clear end point and result for you, the client. You go to a marketing consultant to sort your marketing, etc etc.


Mastermind, on the other hand, is less focused on your specific problem but more on the combined effort and resources of the group helping each other. Key reason people sign up to the group is for sharing, sense-checking ideas, loneliness, accountability, working alongside others and the expert... It is altogether a different proposition to consultancy.


While the benefits of participating (more sales, more/better customers, better lifestyle) may be similar, one has to recognise that different paths are more appropriate depending on your individual situation.


It is one thing to recognise that you need help. It is quite another to know to whom (or to what) you should turn...


Thursday 22 August 2013

How to compete with the big fish - a care home case study

Shark and fish
The tendency of most smaller businesses is to feel like a cork floating on the ocean, incapable of influencing how or where the market takes them. 


This is true in almost every industry. 

But it doesn't have to be that way.


Just because you're the size of a minnow, it doesn't mean that you have to have such fatalistic views. With a clear and honest understanding of the marketplace, you can still find a niche for yourself and thrive as a result. You do not have to play the same game as everyone else (get bigger, borrow more money, buy out the competition). You can choose how you play the game.

Consultants, accountants, bankers and business schools all tell us that thriving companies grow their profits and revenues year-on-year (and if you aren’t doing it then you feel like you must be failing).

But bigger isn't necessarily better.

You could reject the pressures of endless growth and instead focus on being the best at what you do, creating a great workplace, legendary customer service, and a sense of community (both locally and in the workplace).


Here are six attributes of small giants:


1) The founders/leaders recognise the full range of choices they have about the type of company they could create. They haven’t accepted the standard menu as given.

2) They have allowed themselves to question the usual definitions of success in business and to imagine possibilities other than the ones all of us are familiar with.

3) The leaders have overcome the enormous pressures on successful companies to take the paths they had not chosen and did not necessarily want to follow.

4) Each company has an extraordinarily intimate relationship with the local community, with customers and suppliers, and in the workplace.

5) Because they are privately owned, they have the freedom to develop their own management systems and practices.

6) The leaders had unbridled, limitless passion for their business and their service/product.


We currently have a number of clients who endlessly beat themselves up because they are not achieving year-on-year exponential growth…
  • Maybe the growth lifestyle doesn’t suit them?
  • Maybe their business hadn’t been designed to grow?
  • Maybe you don’t want to sacrifice all you have created to create a Frankenstein’s monster?
  • Maybe there’s more to life than selling the business for a huge profit?

Case Study - Care Home

Take, for example, a small, moderately successful care home group in the Midlands. 

The business had grown organically but found the competition from nationwide groups harder and harder to beat. To win new residents, it was simply cutting prices. It was a road to nowhere. The owner-director had the right caring and entrepreneurial instincts, and his team were good at running the homes day-to-day, but had no real direction, strategy or plan for growth – nor experience of doing it.

The big decision was whether to “milk the cow” or grow the herd: the consensus was that growth was the only realistic strategy – but not by playing the same game as the rest. The key recommendation was to position the business as a caring, “family” business in contrast to the efficiency-and-facilities positioning of the “big guys”, and from this three core campaigns were born:
  • Home From Home Care: Focusing on residents feeling at home, and being treated like family – just what you’d want for your mum. A home, not a hotel.
  • Fair Prices: A from-the-heart campaign by the owner-director about how people deserve a fair price for care, and not to be ripped off by the financially-driven market leaders with dividends to pay their shareholders. Lots of media traction.
  • Care Home In The Community: As a means of recruiting prospective residents, and ensuring current residents stay in touch, a range of initiatives were developed. These included a minibus for use by the local community as well as residents, and a Silver Stars awards scheme with local media rewarding contributions to, and achievements by, older people.

    And the results? 

    The care home is attracting new visitors which means prices can float up a little. Net profits have increased from ten per cent to close to 20 per cent in 18 months. The "Home From Home Care" experience is being reproduced in new homes, and an accelerated programme of new home openings has started. The group has a clear strategy, identity and profit performance, so is becoming an attractive acquisition target. As a result, the owner will be able to choose the next steps on his own terms.

    This is a simple example of a smaller/independent business using its size and agility to compete with the big boys and come out on top. 

    Remember: you, too, can design your business to give you what you want.


    Thursday 15 August 2013

    Customers Talk

    Customers Talk
    "Everybody's talking about me. I don't hear a word they're saying, Only the echoes of my mind.
    People stopping staring, I can't see their faces, Only the shadows of their eyes."
    (Harry Nilsson)

    What’s happening...
    Customers talk. They talk a lot and they talk to each other. Often about us. And we can’t control it.

    So what?
    When they talk they are honest. About us. About what we do and how we do it and what they think about us,

    Some quick examples

    - HSBC withdraw graduate loan fees imposed arbitrarily when Facebook group gets over 1,000 members in one week 


    - Eurotunnel have to rethink entire customer service strategy after Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn campaigns culminate in IHateEurotunel.com and similar websites 


    - Hotels get caught trying to ‘fix ‘ their TripAdvisor reviews and shoot themselves in the foot 

    - United Airways get flamed by one unhappy customer who gets over 1 million hits 
    link


    We all know the social media hype: “everyone is a media outlet”. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus’s exponential and meteoric rises are cited as to why everyone must get involved but this misses the point.

    The reality
    “Interruption Marketing” no longer works. Gone are the days when you stick up an advert and people will buy from you. If only those days were to come back.

    A quick sense check

    - Advertising revenues are plummeting in all media


    - 76% of people don’t believe that advertisers tell the truth, ie they lie! (Yankelowitch)

    - 78% of people trust the recommendations of other people, ie word of mouth rules! (Yankelowitch)
    And the word we are looking for here is TRUST. You need to create a relationship where they trust you.


    A ratchet point
    A shift away from believing that corporations know best and work in our interests has taken place. Years of capitalist exploitation of the masses has created a cynical and distrustful consumer. This is not some green anti-capitalist stance but a fact of life for the foreseeable future.

    For instance, how can ‘the people’ ever trust:

    - Politicians with their
    expense claims?

    Ratners and their self-confessed ‘crap products’?

    Ryanair and the Vulgar Mr O’Leary: ‘alliances, and connections are all about "how do we screw the poor customer for more money?" and ’We don't fall all over ourselves if they... say my granny fell ill. What part of no refund don't you understand? You are not getting a refund so f-ck off .’


    What does this all mean for us? Some thoughts...


    - FACT: For a start it is and will continue to get harder and harder to sell your product.

    - FACT: Clients and customers will need more and more convincing of the value that you add.

    - FACT: They will be less impressed by cheap distractions and cheap gimmicks


    - FACT: You need to have your ear to the ground – listening and defending yourself in the chat rooms and discussion forums.


    - FACT: You need to work WITH customers – one bitter customer with a vendetta can bring you down.


    - FACT: You can use the word on the street to review and revise your product (see Cisco Systems who use user discussion forums to refine their software).


    - F
    ACT: With the price of media production at virtually zero and the increasing power of the intermediaries (Google, Bling, Diggit and YouTube’s algorithms determine what gets found and what does not), you cannot afford to be on the wrong side of the wave.

    - FACT: Beware competitors who are ahead of the game, pumping their brand with false characters on the web (if it is good enough for Nike and Red Bull...)

    - FACT: Excessive advertising no longer creates excessive revenues but the reverse.

    - FACT: Excessively effusive advertising and promo copy no longer creates excessively effusive customers.

    Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

    Friday 9 August 2013

    Count the ways the Credit Crunch changed our lives - D Telegraph

    Six years ago I quickly wrote a book, Beating the Credit Crunch

    It was only meant to be of use till Christmas... 

    and of course it is still as popular as ever...

    The credit crunch has been impacting on us all... on and on...



    The Daily Telegraph's article 
    Count the ways the credit crunch changed our lives 
    succinctly describes the last six years...:



    "From a worsening of the nation’s teeth to an improvement in its lofts, we investigate the bizarre reordering of our universe after six years of austerity Britain



    Six years ago today, the high summer of economic prosperity ended with an horrific bang. On August 9 2007, BNP Paribas, the giant French investment bank, stopped investors withdrawing their money.
    It was the start of the credit crunch and “the day the world changed”, according to Adam Applegarth, chief executive of Northern Rock, which just a month later caused the first bank run in Britain for 150 years.
    We all know what happened next. The credit crunch turned into a financial crisis, which morphed into a deep and nasty recession. Businesses collapsed, many of them well-loved favourites such as Woolworths.
    If you were lucky enough to keep your job, you probably had to accept a pay freeze. Interest rates were slashed, hitting savers and ushering in an era of uncertainty and austerity."



    Read the full article at Count the ways the credit crunch changed our lives 



    Thursday 8 August 2013

    Growing our medium-sized businesses

    For the last twenty years I have been working with successful high-growth firms and I have to say that a set of themes recur again and again. While this is no perfect model of business growth these themes just won’t go away.


    The successful businesses tend to have three main obsessions:

    • Strategy - “where the heck are we going?”
    • Marketing - “how are we going to sell this stuff?”
    • Teams - “how can we get on better?”


    Beyond that there needs to be a recognition that external advice and probably external finance will be needed.


    With respect to strategy, it makes absolute sense to focus on recession-proof consumer trends, the general digitalisation and exporting. In fact, we could do well to learn from the Germans. It always seems to end up that way. And finally, there is always a call to get the right external support, get the right business services and support.


    Every few years we are reminded to look at the German model. Mittelstand companies often focus on niche areas (where they become world leaders!), tend to be innovation-focused, committed to long-term profitability. I know that these are sweeping generalisations, but we could learn a thing or two from them. So, yes, we should spend more time examining what they do so right.


    None of the statements above are remarkable. Just plain common sense. But how often do we see that? In fact the ‘ology’ borders on the ‘motherhood and apple pie’ type sayings. However, they are actually backed by sense. More importantly, this relatively straightforward approach (strategy, marketing and teams + external support and finance) seems almost too simple.


    The high-performing businesses that I deal with consistently get ticks in these boxes. I have been running programmes at business schools, as well as in my mastermind groups, and the great businesses are hitting all the hot spots again and again. I will repeat them again - strategy, marketing and teams plus external support and external finance.


    Recession-proof as a phrase makes sense but actually we are now in Year Five of the recession and it shows no sign of ending. So, your business must sell something that really is needed in a recession. Too many businesses are based on five-year-old business models using outdated assumptions about how customers relate and behave. It will never be 2007 again. We need to understand how the recession-hit consumer behaves. The answer is that they will still buy most things but they will also expect more for less.


    So, what’s recession-proof? Gyms, janitorial supplies, customer acquisition, auction houses…


    The three As (Automation, Asia and Abundance) change how the world acts and behaves. The digitalisation of just about every aspect of our world needs to be embraced. Those businesses that ignore it do so at their own peril. The sheer scale of change can only be grasped when we step back and look at how much the world has changed since 2000.

    All businesses have been hit by the Three As. Competition, access to bigger audiences, threats from global competition, many costs heading towards zero, all impact. Auction houses now take bids worldwide, suddenly China is a realistic market for a precision engineer.


    Export is not just the theme promoted by the Government but it makes sense. If you cannot sell to the depressed domestic market then you need to look elsewhere. And hence the logic to get involved in exporting. It expands your customer base, but is not so easy in reality. Working with some 50 exporters, every case has been different. There is no simple template you can apply. Each case seems to require its own rules of engagement.


    Businesses need to surround themselves with the right support. It is the recognition that you cannot do everything yourself that separates the exceptional MD from the ordinary. You need to bring in the best support, advice and team to help you grow your business. End of.


    Medium-sized businesses (however you wish to define them) are often referred to in revered terms. Sweeping generalisations expound as to how to help them, how they should help themselves, and how they will solve all the ailments of our weakened economy

    Wednesday 7 August 2013

    Help please - what have been the biggest changes in marketing and customer service?




    Some help please.... what do you think have been the biggest changes in marketing and customer service in the last 10 years?

    Virgin Books have asked me to update and revise my book, 'Customer Is King - how to exceed their expectations' (Foreword by Richard Branson) from 2002. 

    10 years have flown by and so much (and so little) has changed!!!!

    What do you see as the big changes???

    Thanks

    Robert

    Proven Recipes for Business Success with Tom Herbert, Hobbs House Bakery

    RC Logo
    Proven Recipes For Business Success     
    Greetings!    Hobbs House Bakery 

    I am pleased to announce a brand new food-related business growth event taking place in October.

    Proven Recipes For Business Success
    I have teamed up with Tom Herbert of Hobbs House Bakery to bring you a morning of business insights from a successful food business.

    About Tom Herbert
    Tom Herbert is a celebrity chef and star of the popular Channel 4 programme The Fabulous Baker Brothers. In 2009, Tom's family business, Hobbs House Bakery, sought the help of The Directors' Centre to reassess their business strategy. Since then Hobbs House has grown steadily opening new retail outlets, building an online business and becoming a nationally acclaimed brand through their TV shows and best selling cookery books.

    The Event
    During the event Robert will take you through the Bright Marketing methodology that has been used to create hundreds of exceptional brands and improve many others. Tom will discuss his journey from student baker to celebrity chef and the lessons he has learned.

    Who is it for?
    This event is for business people who want to learn ways to grow their business in an interesting enagaging environment. The content and lessons will be applicable to all businesses and will be especially beneficial to people working within, or looking to work in, the service, food and catering industries. 
    Event Details
    When: Friday 4th October 2013
    Where: Hobbs House Cookery School, 39 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, BS37 6BA
    Price: £100 +VAT

    Book you place

    The event will run from 8:30 to 1:30pm and will include breakfast and an informal sit-down lunch with Robert and Tom.

    *This is not a cooking or baking course although we will talk about baking I am sure; it is all about how to grow a business - "practical solutions; tangible results".

    Regards,


    Tuesday 6 August 2013

    Robert Craven - Professional Speaker...

    ROBERT CRAVEN - SPEAKER PROFILE

    About Robert

    Robert is one of the UK's best-known and sought-after speakers.

    He helps you get more customers and sales in to your business.


    Precious few UK speakers combine his academic credentials, entrepreneurship thinking credentials, and communication skills.

    How many combine the wisdom of experience, yet offer a fresh and compelling presentation that makes all of that history relevant and pertinent to today’s businesses? 


    He is not full of theoretical rhetoric; he offers practical solutions - tangible business results.


    Robert's work on customers (getting and keeping them!) has been widely published and acted upon by thousands of businesses.






    Welcome to this webpage:



    Published Books




    Specialist Topics

    • Customers – and customer experience
    • Strategy – making it happen
    • Marketing – generating revenue
    • Profit – delivering to the bottom line
    • Service Firms – running/growing professional service firms
    • Innovation and Entrepreneurship - making things happen

    Sample Topic Titles (2013)

    “Customer is King?!”* - more, better customers... and more profit

    David And Goliath Work Together! - what small and big business teach each other

    Bright Marketing* - why should people bother to buy from you?

    More Customers  - how to get more and better customers, now

    Disruptive Marketing - playing (and winning) by your own rules

    More Profit - how to significantly increase sales and profit

    Kick-Start Your Business* - 100 days to a leaner, fitter organisation

    10 Things To Do In The Next Ten Days… - to increase sales, profit, cash, customers

    Making Strategy (and Results) Happen - how the winners plan and deliver

    Beating the Credit Crunch* - survive and thrive in the current recession

    Grow Your Service Firm* - how to run and grow a profitable service firm

    Entrepreneur’s One-Day MBA  - everything you wanted to know about growing a business but you were afraid to ask!
    (* = from book of the same title)




    Testimonials

    “Robert Craven says that ‘your whole business hinges on what your customer gets from you’. I wholeheartedly agree.”
    Sir Richard Branson

    "… fundamental in improving our understanding of what it really takes to set up and run a business. In particular, it was great to see the customer satisfaction scores improve materially."
    Jerry Blackett, Sales and Performance Director, Barclays Bank plc

    “His animated action-packed style demands participation. Robert does not give his audience the option of sitting back and merely reflecting.”
    Professor David Storey, Warwick Business School

    “One of the UK’s best-known and sought after speakers on entrepreneurship; anyone who has experienced one of his impactive presentations will know exactly why.”
    Professional Consultancy Magazine

     “The Entrepreneurship Guru.”
    Financial Times

    “Inspirational Stuff.”
    Christopher Browne, The Independent




    Read More

    Robert's track record at helping businesses is very impressive. Add to this his broad experience at board level and you will understand how and why he uniquely adds value to all the businesses that he works with.

    Alongside his numerous speaking engagements, Robert personally works with a select list of personal clients, acting as mentor to the managing director or the board. Typically these are fast-growth businesses, most of whom have won awards for their exceptional business performance.


    Recent clients include: AirBus, Barclays, RBS/NatWest, Land Rover Jaguar, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Warwick and Cranfield Business Schools, E.ON, Nando’s, Serco, Tenon, Post Office Counters, Dept for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS), Virgin, Ritz Carlton, and Sandals... 

    International work includes: Spain, France, Cyprus, Greece, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, Jamaica, Mauritius, Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, Iran.

    As a speaker, Robert shows you and your team what you need to do to grow and develop your business.
    His message works in two directions: he shows growing businesses how to be more businesslike; he shows multinationals how to be more nimble.
    Robert delivers his message in a straight, honest and frank way - a way that you and your team will understand.  
    He helps companies as they face the challenges of growth, showing how to develop and implement strategies that focus on customers and profitability.
    His books have been described as 'truly inspirational' by The Independent.


     



    Video Showreel and Video Testimonials

    Short Showreel (1 Min):



    Longer Showreel (4 mins):




    Mastermind Strategies:



    What do you think of Robert Craven?:



    Four Business Tips in Four Minutes:



    Recent Testimonials at a Presentation:




    Robert on Marketing: