Marketing Automation Help

I was telling you last time in my storytelling Marketing Automation help series how I got fired from a toxic job selling fax machines.

I wasn't out of a job for long. Completely by chance, I noticed a tiny ad in the Manchester Evening News…

The Poxy Ad

“Young textile graduate wanted,” the ad began, “to take over as managing director of North West's leading yarn importer.” It was literally three lines – you'd have missed it if you blinked.

The job involved shadowing the old managing director, the most miserable guy you can imagine. He'd just sold the business to another firm. He was on a two-year earn-out where he’d show me how to do his job.

The market we were in wasn't glamorous. We operated at the lower end of the knitwear market. Cheap acrylic jumpers; really pitiful stuff. You’d find our clothing on market stalls in Oldham and Rochdale. BUT there was good money in it!

I worked hard, but the guy who was retiring always said I would fail. “You’re not cut out for this job!” he would say, bluntly. “You’re not outspoken enough.”

Failure Loomed…

But unlike my departing mentor, I actually got on well with our customers. I wasn’t underhanded. I built solid relationships. I took the good lessons from what he had to teach and avoided the bad.

At 24 I became managing director, earning good money. I bought a BMW 5-series and began to accumulate the trappings of success.

You don’t have to be underhanded, but the secret to great results is knowing what to do. This is true in marketing automation just as it is in knitwear. You need mentors. You need support.

I do a handful of free marketing automation help calls each week – book a call here if you’d like to talk.

P.S. I would eventually lose all my ‘trappings of success’ – which I’ll tell you about another time!