Tag Archives: strategy

Phil Calvert on IFA Life and Using LinkedIn to Find Clients – MPAF31

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LinkedIn is more than just an online CV.

Offering a publishing platform, research tools and discussion groups, LinkedIn is effectively a global virtual networking event.

And yet many people still treat it just as a showcase for a brief summary of their career rather than using it as a research tool to find clients and to attract new customers to their businesses.

My guest today has become successful and well-known training financial professionals about the benefits of LinkedIn.

He’s also set up his own online financial services community called IFA Life and is a passionate champion of social media and business development ideas.

Hear how you can fine-tune your LinkedIn profile to boost your position in search so that potential clients can find you. Listen to Phil’s tips on how to use LinkedIn to identify potential customers and approach them for a positive response.

Phil Calvert on IFA Life and Using LinkedIn to Find Clients - MPAF31

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Who is Phil Calvert:

Phil is a professional speaker and founder of an award-winning business social networking site IFALife.com.

He speaks at conferences and trains leaders on:

  • best practice in using Social Media to increase sales
  • how to manage professional identities with LinkedIn and Social Media
  • building Community around online brands

The story of how he created his social networking site reveals behind-the-scenes insights into how to make Social Media really work – one that prompts organisations to radically rethink their approach to using LinkedIn and online networking.

Phil specialises in working with leaders, visible experts, sales teams, regulated industries and companies that struggle to get meaningful results from Social Media. Many are shocked when he reveals how many sales opportunities they’ve missed by ‘tinkering around the edges’ with LinkedIn.

In his spare time, Phil shares one of my passions. He is a keen Yoga practitioner.

Things Phil and I discussed:

Phil’s Favourite App:

Phil’s Contact links:

Phil’s favourite books:

Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo.

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Esther Dijkstra on Scottish Widows Protection and Improving Customer Engagement – MPAF27

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Scottish Widows must be one of the most iconic brands in UK financial services.

And after almost a ten-year absence they are about to launch back into the adviser protection space.

My guest today is heading up that relaunch. Whilst she isn’t going to tell you all the secrets of the new proposition she does drop some tantalising hints.

Esther is passionate about customer engagement and shares her views on what we as an industry need to do to improve that engagement.

Hear Esther talk about the importance of using emotions rather than statistics to empathise with customers.

Listen how looking at completely different propositions, in this case, Spotify, can give you a different perspective on customer engagement.

Esther Dijkstra on Scottish Widows Protection and Improving Customer Engagement

Who is Esther Dijkstra?

After many business leadership and marketing roles at Legal and General, where she led the readiness team for RDR, Esther is now Head of Protection at Scottish Widows. She’s leading the brand’s relaunch back into the adviser protection market.

Outside work Esther regularly rides the Queen’s Horses.

Esther’s Contact links:

Esther’s favourite book:

 The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.

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Now it’s your turn:

If you enjoyed this episode – Esther Dijkstra on Scottish Widows Protection and Improving Customer Engagement – please leave a comment or a review on iTunes. And if you know anyone who would enjoy the show – please share it with them. You can use the buttons below to share on social media.

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Found! The best place to go for creative and innovative ideas?

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Do you like new creative ideas?

I do. I love it when someone comes up with an idea that is genuinely clever, new and racy. I get excited by the potential opportunities such ideas present.

photo credit: “Caveman Chuck” Coker via photopin cc
photo credit: “Caveman Chuck” Coker via photopin cc

In almost twenty years as a marketer I have seen my fair share of agency pitches for advertising campaigns. Or proposals for communications collateral to support a proposition launch. I’ve seen budgets for such campaigns as low as a few thousand pounds to many millions.

But no matter how much budget was available to entice the agency to win the job, I’ve occasionally felt disappointed when I see their pitches.

Sometimes they are too “samey”. Others are too safe or lack any originality. Granted the agency responds to a brief written by me so I have to make sure that I haven’t caused my disappointment with poorly written requirements. But when I know I have given a strong brief, the heart sinking feeling of disappointment is even harder to bear when a pitch lacks that unique spark.

For the last few years I’ve been involved with the Product Design students at The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) to run a creative project. Last year we asked them to invent four original ideas for a brand new financial services company.

In the past I have been very impressed by the concepts the students have come up with, so I was looking forward to seeing what their ideas were. Could they make financial services interesting?

Needless to say their presentations overwhelmed me. The six students had locked themselves away in a brainstorming room for a week. Not only had they met our brief and come up with four concepts, but they had also produced posters, leaflets and copy explaining the proposition, and flow charts to show their processes.

creative and innovative ideas?
The Material the Students put together

Their production was professional. The material was eye-catching. Their copy was simple and to the point.

But the jaw dropping moment came when I realised that they had come up with two ideas which were genuinely original. In fact they were innovative, clever and racy. I almost felt like nipping out and filing a few patents.

Yes really their ideas were that good.

Okay so there might have been a bit of naïvety in some of the high level concepts, but these students are not (yet) business people.

And here’s the thing. They put all this together for a prize amount of just over a grand.

Their ideas were fresher, more interesting, and more exciting than agency pitches I have seen for a hundred, maybe a thousand times that amount of money.

creative and innovative ideas
The Innovators

These students have a very bright future.

And do you hear me big corporate enterprises? If you end up employing one of these guys, don’t you dare stifle their creativity with bureaucracy and governance.

And if you are thinking of spending a fortune on an agency, why not try some students first, and then refine their ideas with an agency later? That’s what I’m going to do. I bet I end up being disappointed much less in future.

Now it’s your turn: I would really like to hear your stories about new creative and innovative ideas. Where do you go for inspiration. What’s the most unlikely source of innovative thinking that you have found. Please leave a comment below or paste a link to your own articles.

If you want to talk about creative and innovative ideas in your marketing strategy, get in touch. Send me a message and let’s talk!