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The Age of Cheap is Over

Mary-Ann-Dougherty

The bill for unaffordable business methodology is overdue.

Mary-Ann-Dougherty
Mary-Ann-Dougherty Maltix Partner.

Think this through for a minute, and yes Im shouting at you.

As prices continue to fall the value of your money goes up….. correct ?

Technology is incredibly disruptive and causing deflation.


Technology that used to cost millions to build can now be rented for pennies.

App share
App share technology


The smart phone is literally replacing the high street.


Since Covid, technology is doubly accelerating this trend.


The value of our money is going up because prices are going down…… now do your agree?


Government panic is accelerating the reaction to the point that money printing is at the point of by passing banks all together because banks are failing to lend.


Call it furlough, call it helicopter money, our Chancellors are not sleeping properly.


And in a deflationary cycle, obsequious debt deflation inhibits and prohibits the ability to pay off historical debt. It’s literally impossible.


Most people do not understand the difference between a million and a trillion, its time you looked at the 12 zeros in a trillion.

The bill for unaffordable business methodology is overdue.



Two party politics has produced an unprecedented dichotomy for the electorate.
Do we vote for socialism for the rich or socialism for the poor?

Both political divides sit on a system that historically relies on inflation to pay off historical debt.


Covid is forcing us into a scarcity mindset, the abundance mindset is long gone.

The Age of Cheap is Over


But stocks and property are our salvation right ?


Without 220 Trillion of printed money being printed what would the value of your UK property actually be?


Would your stocks actually have increased?


Inflation matches our picture memory.


The notion of deflation goes against our education.


It also flies in the face of everything in our fiscal life, even if we are 90 years of age.

The bill for unaffordable business methodology is overdue.


Questioning the economic picture from the inside is impossible.

It’s like trying to invent a new colour..

Government is preventing a free trade fiscal economy

The clues are all around.

Cash is out of favour.

PROOF: They even stop you on your travels if you carry too much !

Are you a business owner?

The opportunity for business to adapt quickly is only hindered by FEAR.

The tools to adapt to the new digital high street, to conduct A to Z business , remove Fixed costs and survive are in the palm of your hand.

You just have to grasp it before the wind blows it away.

I cannot shout any louder, talk to a partner today.

Mary-Ann-Dougherty Maltix Partner.

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The Biggest Problems Recruiters Face.

Mosley article

They cannot get off the hamster wheel because they keep repeating the same mistakes.

Executive recruitment Hallam Mosely MBA Occupational psychologist.
Executive recruitment Hallam Mosely MBA
Occupational psychologist.

It’s time to be candid about the challenges facing recruiters.

The Biggest Problems Recruiters Face.

They cannot get off the hamster wheel because they keep repeating the same mistakes.

1. There’s too much noise in the market and its difficult to get the candidates attention 

Building a brand is very expensive.

Employee referral programmes tread water.

Advocacy on social media inhibited.

2. Great candidates usually field multiple offers

Bad interviews lose the best people.

Poor smartphone immediacy discourages candidates.

3. There’s a shortage of skilled talent

Like minded and like educated people stay in touch.

Their advocacy is actually hindered with most recruiters technology.

4. Testing candidates skills is tricky.

No automation available to candidate or internal processes.

No skill sets proof available on smartphone interview process.

5. Hiring managers are far too picky.

Poor collaboration, especially in technical requirements.

Zero quality feedback from manager to recruiter.

Poor smartphone immediacy.

6. Recruiters poor technical knowledge required to answer candidates questions.

Poor technical specs provided by hiring managers

Manual slow information transfer.

Candidate immediately smell an incompetence rat and trust their own resources instead.

7. There aren’t enough hours in the day 

Poor data and time management.

Poor APP in APP implementation.

Non existent APP integration.

Poor smartphone immediacy.

Hallams final thoughts:

Common problems can lead to creative solutions.

Recruiting can be challenging.

Without a sophisticated sharing community, recruiters face a real up hill battle with the smartphone generation.

Learning from the experiences of others in your field, you’ll see that you’re far from alone in any of the challenges that you’re facing !

And since someone has almost certainly experienced the same problem before, its good to share your problems, a problem shared is a problem halved.

Newswire 20 / 07 2021

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A Company Directors cart before the horse

It’s a well known fact that Company Directors skills are visionary and conceptual, with a notorious blind spot when it comes to too much detail, especially technology.

An article in conversation with Maltix Consultancy Partners who specialise in digital transformation.

And thats reinforced more and more by a junior asking for clearance on tech projects which the Director has absolutely no idea what it’s for.

It’s as if other departments do their thinking for them.

“I have people who do that, go talk to Nigel he does that”

With an open mind, Directors are fully equipped to force downward change, but feel that they lack the ability or the knowledge to talk “savvy tech”

Worse still they assume that technology marketing is automated in all their processes.

It can be, and there is a whole new emerging technology connected to payment systems, especially subscription based business models.

They readily sign off the expenditure for SEO and Google this that and the other but neglect the knowledge and experience from their past.

Companies with savvy boards easily outperform their competition.

Marketing is not the Horse, marketing is the cart.

Marketing people have nice comfortable salaries to protect, they see their job as complex and safe, and that might be true.

But if the Marketing people do not fully understand that the sales cycle is connected to the marketing model, then it’s a Company Directors job to rap the knuckles and ask some serious questions.

It’s too easy isn’t it?

Pay out a bunch of cash and people miraculously come to your website from Google.

But the metrics and KPI’s are a bewildering moving target and the Company Director can find it nearly impossible to evaluate what the marketing budget is actually achieving.

A Company Directors cart before the horse

It’s time to focus on the horse.

Marketing is not the Horse, marketing is the cart.

Prioritising the focus back onto the horse has a profound affect with the smartphone generation.

The Millennial’s and increasingly the Gen Z Smartphone generation have up-ended the sales cycle.

WHY WHY WHY 3 words that end in Y

They require immediacy and APP simplicity and the reward is advocacy

DETAILED BLOG HERE.

By the time they source you product or service, they are only looking for 3 things.

APP based A to Z business

Fulfilment of their order

The opportunity to be a social media advocate

Now you have a simple KPI inside your business.

An article in conversation with Maltix Consultancy Partners who specialise in digital transformation.

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Property People Dont Trust IT People

broken customer service

As a result, The Customer is Seething

Chris Airey
Chris Airey a leading Digital mixologist

So much technology in the Property industry and yet customer service is still woeful.

It’s not your fault, the fact is that property technology does not serve the customer.

Thanks to some sneaky sales methods, somehow you have ended up subscribing to so many systems you don’t know what to do with them.

And that’s just your new systems, the older systems providers just take you for granted.

You seem to be using more paper than ever and chaos in your systems is accelerating.

Now you’re employing more people to type data into them!

Does anything really useful come out of this?

Bits and pieces, perhaps, but it’s costing you thousands of pounds.

You’re feeding monsters.

The fundamental problem:

You no longer trust anyone in the IT industry. And I don’t blame you

I get it.

You don’t want to spend money on IT.

You don’t value it-it’s a cost.

You’re right to be sceptical.

Property People Dont Trust IT People

Take a step back and look at the processing power your clients have on their Smartphone.

It’s a 2 way thing, you just have to listen to the smartphone users needs.

What do they want from you as an Estate Agent ?

A) Succinct & immediate communication that remembers all the dialogue

B) Connections to quality Property Video

C) Ability to book or change a viewing

D) The ability to share on their social media

E) A to Z business on their Smartphone

Grasping this will stop your clients seething because the onus is now with the client!

Their volunteered processing power is now in your hands.

Property Agents simply need to put their trust in managing the data from their clients smartphone.

Chris Airey a leading Digital mixologist. Newswire July 2021

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We had to let go of the stuff that used to be important.

Zo-clean-supplies
Tom Rice
Tom Rice Chief Executive chemical cleaning distribution Co West Midlands

This is a cathartic exercise, baring my business troubles from the last 2 years to my local small business community.

I wanted to share the pain but also encourage change in business operations for their survival.

We are a 40 year old industrial cleaning company distributing across the UK with a turn over of over £18 million.

The Company moto above the main entrance door to our premises hasn’t change since my late father created the company back in 1979

“If you do what you always done your gunna get what you always got”

And with the stratospheric growth of the younger faster generation, desperate to do business with us, we knew we were so behind the curve it was embarrassing.

We had lost over 20% of our contracts in 9 months.

Top heavy with administration, dated computers running spread sheets and word documents all cobbled together inside a telephone system we none of us had ever figured out.

You have to let go of the stuff that used to be important but no longer is.

So embarrassing in fact, the bust up inside our family business has been excruciating but unfortunately necessary.

Each department has been power washed, scrubbed with a nailbrush and desanitised !

Every Monday for 2 months I held “Starter, bumper, shaker, mover, let go day today, cat amongst the pigeons, out with the old in with the new, repaint, rethink and push the envelope of change” days.

The changes are astonishing but logical.

And all consequential, just part of the journey of change.

The staff age group that took to the challenge are dramatically more dynamic.

We moved to our own App based ordering system for clients.

No more paper invoicing, in fact no paper anything!

No telephones in the office, all replaced with an APP based system.

Adopted a Cloud based management system we calibrated ourselves in just 2 days!

The only thing that is recognisable from the brand of old is the brochure and even that is completely Smartphone enabled !

Tom Rice is guest speaker for online Events associated with the FSB and this article is distributed by Newswire. June 21 2021

ARTICLE LINK ASSOCIATION

20,000 small businesses could fold in West Midlands

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A second hand Rolex sold an expensive property.

Rolex submariner
Noah Keller cross marketing specialist
Noah Keller Swiss cross marketing specialist

Noah Keller 

Gehobenes Cross-Marketing Zurich. Swiss newswire article June 16th 2021

Interviewed by Karl Zimmerman Swiss Entrepreneurs Magazine

Noah is a savvy technologist, with a pedigree for luxury brand platform that conveys messages about quality, lineage, status, and taste

His techniques are mostly secret, but after an hour of close questioning he did give Swiss Entrepreneurs Magazine just a hint of technique.

Noah works from home, with a passion for Apple devices and a garage with 3 rare cars alongside an everyday MG RV8 (which I fell in love with)

A second hand Rolex sold a €4.7 property.

Rolex submariner
Rolex submariner

Noah and his small Company specialise in referral rewards for up market products, especially jewellery, property and cars.

His logic is fundamentally based on statistics, he states an individual in the EU needs a net wealth of €5.4 million to be among the richest in Europe.

Prestigious clients

His strategy aims to sate highest brand value and pricing power by leveraging multiple brand elements, such as heritage, country of origin, craftsmanship, scarcity, and prestigious clients.

Earning the trust of wealthy clients is a hard fought and well defended journey.

The reality ? Only one telephone number and one Smart QR code on an actual Gold embossed business card that he distributes to clients old and new from his last introduction or sale.

This week, A rare Rolex client who wanted a house for his newly engaged daughter.

The rest is secret, except that I know what a telephone number is but what is a Smart QR ?

And the property price ? €4.7 million

Karl Zimmerman Swiss Entrepreneurs Magazine

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Ghost kitchens are stealing our business.

We found a solution.

ghost kitchens
Ghost kitchens stealing our business.

An article written for Sandeep Kumar Spice Cottage, Victoria Australia.

Sandeep was interviewed by 9 News and the Newswire article is a precis of that interview.

Sandeep:

With all thats been going on its been a rollercoaster ride in our well established local Indian restaurant.

The Spice Cottage brand is well known and well respected for over 20 years !

But something began to happen around August last year.

We had a complaint on a food order we didn’t make.

AND when we asked them to bring the food in we discovered something horrendous !

The packaging had a QR code, when you held up the camera to view it linked to a food delivery APP called Indian Belmont, Belmont is our town.

Where the food comes from is a mystery to this day, but we are aware of perfectly legal ghost kitchens or black kitchens that simply fulfil orders off their own geographical delivery APPs.

Ghost kitchens are stealing our business.

This is how we are fighting back:

We bought our own food delivery APP !

We were already using ORDER-UP

And use them to distribute our own APP.

So after the APP was launched we printed an APP code that we stuck on our food cartons.

Alongside it says. ” Next time order direct for a free main course “

We get at least 10 orders a day now on our own APP and we deliver.

An article by Sally Gleeson newswire contributor.

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My Realtor brokerage was strangled by my Agents.

Summer Hopkins
Summer Hopkins realtor. changes in my industry.
Mrs Summer Hopkins

Summer Hopkins is a Registered Realtor from Mississauga Toronto.

She was asked to write an article for the Ontario Chamber of Commerce after addressing the needs of fellow Realtors online.

This article was consequently published on subscription Newswire.

“If we do what we always done, were going to get what we always got”

That was the opening conclusion in a pretty damming report of MY business !

I was in tears and angry for 2 days and two nights.

We firstly identified 5 problems in the business using a smart consultancy service registered with the certified management of consultants (CMC) 

My mindset had to change and it started when I sacked my marketing manager.

He simply refused to change our quite expensive strategy.

That was really tough, he had worked for me for 8 years.

Problems identified by the certified management consultancy.

Intermittent inventory levels.

Online competition.

Not addressing the needs of a Smartphone user.

High marketing budgets.

Poor database management.

My Realtor brokerage was strangled by my Agents.

The changes are very much work in progress, to be honest it was a struggle to transform old practices in our office alongside communications.

The first task was going paperless. Removing the printer was a massive change.

It’s as if a cooker had been wrenched out of our kitchen!

The next big change was putting our entire database into a CRM.

That took a long time to literally handball all history, names, telephone numbers, emails and addresses into one cloud system and then joining to an accountancy package.

We opted for Xero.

The training for Agents to use the CRM resulted in a couple more casualties I’m afraid.

But we are getting there, the changes are being managed by younger team members who have rapidly risen through the ranks.

The speed they get stuff done is mesmerising, its as if all the time they spend on social media is just an extension of what they achieve at work!

Very impressive.

Our inventory levels have grown by 16% in 8 months and the marketing budget has dropped significantly.

Our attention to detail with client Smartphone communications pays dividends through natural online marketing.

I’m pleased and happy to share.

The next phase is quite revolutionary, we are copying trends from other markets.

Listen out for an update in a few months time.

Summer Hopkins is a registered realtor, business woman and writer.

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Potential customers sense estate agents previous rejections.

Paul Thompson

Nothing comes close to one word – REJECTION

Every experienced Property Agent has had a family member or close friend chose a another agent over them, thats rejection!

An article from Rejection coach Paul Thompson.

Paul Thompson
Paul Thompson

Agents signing up a new property is akin to dating.

On our best behaviour, breathing deeply, trying to talk slowly as we try to impress.

But previous rejection scars are there for any new potential client to see hear and feel.

That potential customer will inevitably go elsewhere.

We all remember dates when the pain of rejection lingers for years.

Potential customers sense estate agents previous rejections.

We cannot expect all people to like us.

Building trust is more than the brand we represent.

We want to do business with, but when the rejections start to mount, it is hard not to become depressed.

Paul Thompson states it best when we lose out and get rejected to exclaim “NEXT!”

A top agent sucks it up, learns from it and moves on to find the next potential client.

For agents who are being rejected over and over, they must look in the mirror.

How do they look, how to they present, is their performance lacklustre?

The fault is usually not with the public but with the agent.

Too many agents fail and the turnover is incredible in real estate.

Agents do not learn, do not train, do not invest in their education, do not hire a coach and fail to practice.

Paul also shares the new failure of digital migration.

Much of this failure is endemic and cultural within an organisation and cannot always be attributed to the agent themselves.

The tools of their trade are missing.

Especially neglecting the immediacy of clients needs on their smartphone within the new digital high street.

No time to wallow in self-pity take action.

It’s a personal journey based on the choices you make.

It's a personal journey based on the choices you make.

An article from Rejection coach Paul Thompson.

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That old chestnut

APPs on smartphone

An interesting idiom but a difficult nut to crack especially when it comes to marketing your small business.

Hands up anybody who is content with their internet marketing ?

No such thing is there ?

Who are the experts ?

One of the never ending stream of people who claim they are internet marketing experts ?

Social media experts ?

SEO professionals ?

Pay per click providers ?

That old chestnut eh?

The old adage that “50% of all marketing is wasted, but the trouble is you never know which 50 %” is as true now as it was before the internet came along.

What if we could look through the other end of the telescope ?

To do that, do we agree that marketing you business is connected to the sales cycle?

A bit like this:

Generating leads to prospects to sales that become customers.

Sounds OK?

This graphic is much more realistic using the internet these days.

What is happening is that Smartphone users are starting with advocacy that leads them to a purchase- thats hugely different.

That the sales cycle reversed

marketing business flow from maltix the smartphone users think differently

The arrow through the middle is actually a human being !

Time for small business to grasp their future on the smartphone.

A well established brand has an unassailable head-start compared to a small business.

So you would think, but thats not true.

Googles invention of the PWA has changed everything.

If you like a RANT click here, but come back

The millennial’s and GEN Z’s are changing the rules.

gen z

And are set to control 75 % of all Smartphone business within the next 60 months.

They kind of do things backwards.

The millennial very often starts with advocacy, the bit we used to call the referral !

They prefer to use strangers views on social media as a start point.

They like to prospect themselves and use websites for research only.

What are they really searching for ?

Fulfillment from their research recommended by social media.

The opportunity to become an advocate on their own social media channels.

A willingness to conduct all their needs on the Smartphone only.

But what are they REALLY searching for ?

Immediacy in all contact.

A sense that they are valued.

Receiving deals and promotions via notifications that are shareable.

Promotions and deals that are redeemable on their smartphone!

SMS relevant to their needs.

Simple and familiar navigation styles on their smartphone.

APP’s that work without downloading, “touch it and you’ve got it technology“

And an APP that shares on social media with a simple link.

Fulfillment for the Smartphone user is perfect for small business.

PWA

A logical procedure to follow.

A process to conduct A to Z business.

The ability to use trusted linked APP’s to conduct business flow. ( APP in APP )

Examples are chat rooms, document signing, appointments or bookings or necessary 3rd party platforms, e-Commerce

They build trust with the supplier knowing where they left off in conversation irrespective of the platform they last spoke on.

Touch points from the small business perspective.

Any small business can probably write every touch point from somebody walking into their store to purchasing a tin of paint, for example.

Or prospecting to purchase a house or new office furniture.

Think of a typical flow for your product or services

TO do: Write down some touch points.

The touch points are joined to human interaction using a Progressive Web APP

Push relevant information with in APP tools.

The advice, the care, the due diligence, the questions, the answers

A feeling of care and service.

Bespoke and relevant notifications and SMS

Immediate CHAT response.

Have a think about some business touch points and book a free 30 minute call on Zoom.

To discuss a completely different approach to marketing your business or organisation.

A focus that includes your website but simultaneously enables a shareable APP for your clients Smartphone.

Book a slot today!

Register your free seat admission here.

A live discussion on the expectations of the smartphone user when conducting business.

Discussion over 6 on the call. thank you