Some of you may have realised that I’m part of a group called Staffordshire Marketing Academy. It’s a group of business pals  (Denis Sidebottom, Mandy Robinson, James Capper, Damian Brittleton, John Capper and Phil Oakley) who are giving up their time for free to offer on-going marketing support through an online group and further face to face events to anyone who is looking to grow their business and create jobs and wealth in the area.

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! What’s remarkable is that they run their business exactly the same today as they did when they were just two businessmen trying to make a name for themselves.

I met one of the two businessmen just last week. He’s a fairly humble chap and incredibly honest, insightful, likeable, ambitious and tenacious. What his company does is not especially remarkable. Some would say dull. They sell vehicle insurance. You see? Dull.

But guess what?

They sell vehicle insurance VERY WELL!

They sell vehicle insurance so well that they also design and develop systems to sell vehicle insurance to other much bigger insurers. Far bigger than themselves.

How cool is that?

Very cool.

How do they do this?

They’re creative and innovative. They constantly challenge their business and anticipate what could happen next in the marketplace. Most of all they’re NIMBLE and they KNOW THEIR STUFF.

The man I met is Ian Donaldson. Ian grew up in Kidsgrove, Stoke on Trent. If you don’t know –  Kidsgrove is a fairly ordinary place. It has some nice historical buildings and it’s profile is typical of most northern towns. Fortunately, for Staffordshire’s business community, Ian has agreed to share his “story” since starting Autonet in 1998 – now the UKs number one van insurance company – and growing it to in excess of £90m and a staff of over 450 at their headquarters in Burslem, Stoke on Trent.

If you’d like to hear Ian’s inspirational story…

…Listen to the world’s leading authority on personal branding, reputation management and networking…

…and enjoy a half day of education and inspiration around marketing strategy and planning, brand, web design, customer management, referral marketing and how to build relationships using social media and video technology you should book a seat.

Action for business: LIVE takes place at the Moat House, Festival Park. The event is designed to support established and start-up companies to encourage collaboration and raise the profile of Staffordshire as a whole.

It’s on Friday 27 May (just before the bank holiday weekend).

Over 60 Staffordshire based businesses have booked so far.

It’s a not for profit event.

More detail can be found at www.staffsmarketingacademy.co.uk

You can read more about it at here and here

You can follow us on Twitter