How I saved nigh on £2,500 on THE most important commodity in business – with an opportunity for one person reading this

I’ve told this story before, but I was reminded because of a favour an old client asked of me.


The most important commodity in your business once you’re more than a one man band is people. You can’t do it on your own.

Good people are as rare as hen’s teeth. I have just found a couple and I’m far happier than if I got a new client. With the right people I can always get clients; the reverse is true to some degree, but not nearly so.

Five years ago I wanted a new PA. My P.A. is my right hand. The recruitment people wanted to charge me something not far short of £2,500.

Even now that they are – in some cases – slashing their usurious rates they are too damn dear for my taste. And none of them know as much about your business as you do.

I ran an ad that cost me £19, took me 20 minutes to write, and got over 80 replies in 24 hours, with a good ten excellent candidates.

Are you wondering what the opportunity is that I mentioned?

No, it is not to come and be sworn at by me (do I detect a sigh of relief?)

It is to work in Bristol for Hargreaves Lansdown, managing their Adwords campaigns. Last year their website had 28,000,000 visits. It is a very important part of the business.

If you are a web whiz or marketer (or you know somebody who is) and have managed PPC campaigns before, please send your CV to Amy Watson (awatson@hl.co.uk).

If you are also a little entrepreneurial, HL usually values that. I can tell you that from working with them since 2005 (but alas no longer … they don’t need me any more.

The full address is on the HL site.

If you want a serious chance of being considered, write about any results you have got for yourself or other clients. HL are, to say the least of it, keen on results.

Do your research. And include testimonials. Good luck – and let me know how you get on.



About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

1 Comments

  1. Steve Gibson

    It's a pity it's in Bristol. Even the thought over being neighbours with the Bird isn't quite enough to get me to relocate.

    However, for PPC people who are in the Bristol area, this is a big opportunity. I've read Peter Hargreaves book, and the guy knows his stuff.

    You'll get good money plus a great education from a very smart marketer.

    Steve 

    Reply

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