OMG… let’s have a laugh…

This memory just came up from my business 11 YEARS ago, and contains some BIG shows of HOW I got to where I’ve got that you NEED to know…

I had only been in Australia for a year, but had already won some massive Corporate contracts doing curriculum design, corporate training, training management and workforce planning services.

Despite having JUST tipped over the million dollar mark when this picture was taken – this ‘office’ was actually my KITCHEN…..

….and we had about 5 people working in it at the time

Back then it wasn’t the ‘done thing’ to work from home, so every day felt like a full-blown covert operation!

HOW had I got those big contracts as an immigrant with no friends, no money and no contacts???

I stood outside of a Convention Centre (which I’d cycled up the Freeway to on an abandoned bike I found on the verge)….

…because there was a conference taking place that contained thousands of my target corporate client…

I didn’t have the money to buy a conference ticket when I first arrived in Australia.

So I waited outside and asked EVERYONE that came out on the first day if they still needed their lanyard.

After getting judged down by about 60 people, eventually a bloke called Pete threw his at me like a used c0nd0m – and I’d never been so happy in my life to have somebody’s leftovers

I adorned myself with Pete’s lanyard like I was blessing myself the Pridelands SIMBAAA , and was proudly called ‘Pete’ for the next 2 days.

I made it my mission to talk to EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the conference, and get their business card – so that I could pitch them later.

Note the GIANT book of business cards in this photo next to Helena in the pic….

The equivalent of today’s ‘CRM’.

I would go to events and collect as many as I could (and talk to them all);

….then I would lovingly place them all in these wallets and call call call call all day every day until I got a date to present my offer to them at their big shiny office in the city.

Note the folder of emails she is working from with highlights on them…. that was our record of ‘leads’.

Today’s equivalent of the digital sales pipeline.

Except we hand-wrote notes on them back then instead of making digital notes

And wanna know something mad….

Although we now use technology to manage and systemise and automate almost all of this today (on TekMatix), I STILL use these strategies of exposure, lead collecting and pitching and sales to this day.

Is is sexy?

Nope.

Is it always fun?

Nope.

Do I have my own bike now?

Yes.

It’s crazy to see the evolution and yet similarities in strategy employed over a decade apart.

What strategies were you using in your business 11 years ago?

What strategies were you using at the beginning of your business that you might need to bring a little back of?

Keep growing, learning and evolving my friends! xxx

#throwback #businesstips #Sales #BusinessGrowth