Some of you may have realised that I’m part of a group called Staffordshire Marketing Academy. We’re busy planning our first face to face event – Action for Business: LIVE – for the region’s businesses (as well as running our own businesses) and we’ve stumbled across a quite remarkable company that’s doing great things with an unusual attitude to business – well, unusual for a business turning over £90m and with a staff of over 450!

A former teacher, business man and more latterly, direct sales man, Rob decided to move away from corporate life and step out on his own. To grow his business he did a lot of networking. During a period of two years, he collected 987 business cards, went to 126 events, spent 200 hours shaking hands and £4385 on breakfasts, lunches, dinners and memberships. He won NO business! Rob reached a critical point of ‘financial urgency’ where he knew something had to change. It prompted him to learn everything he could on marketing and business relationships. In just 13 months, he multiplied his income by a factor of 15! How? Read on…