arthurficial’s posterous



June 5, 2009

The word SELL is a myth

I have just come to the startling conclusion that nobody really sells anything. If someone claims to be a salesperson he is lying to you and him or herself.

You are actually just an evangelist for a product or service.

So in essence what you do is establish contact, then trust, and then pass on as much information to your prospect as necessary to point her in the direction of YOUR product or service should she ever need to acquire such.

In many instances you as an evangelist go beyond the call of duty and establish an actual relationship with your prospect. Through this relationship building process you attach yourself to whatever goal your prospect is working toward, and influence the achievement of that goal to varying degrees.

What this eventually translates into is a close-knit, mutually gratifying relationship and top of mind awareness about you and the product you evangelise. With the elapsing of the normal buying decision timeline, when your prospect is ready to get what you have.. who else to get it from but the person that first brought the information.. the person they know and trust.. the person they can run to for help when using your product?

And not once did you SELL anything.

Your client BOUGHT.

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December 8, 2008

Inbound Marketing wins

Three Saturdays ago at about 12:30 midday I got a call from my accountant Arvind Magan, who wanted to talk to me about the most unexpected topic of all. Online Marketing.

His exact words to me were:

"You know Arthur, I've been thinking about your business a lot the last few weeks. I know how you creative types just wanna sit and come up with ideas and run with it. You don't have time to be chasing clients for money and do paperwork and that kind of stuff. So I want you to think about doing something where all you'll do is come up with the creative ideas and implement it. Let me worry about money and admin. Leave that side of the business to me."

Arvind clearly understands that the future of marketing is online and that soon all other marketing activities will shift to the web. As an accountant in his late 40s\early 50s, he is remarkably clued up on the role of technology in business and has his entire office networked. The last profession you'd expect to be "hip to what's happening". He further assured me that he will be 100% behind me in whatever I endeavour. (i wondered whether i should tell him now that i need 500K to do a full-day seminar with David Meerman Scott in South Africa)

Since then I've been thinking long and hard about the direction to take in future. I run a reasonably successfuldesign & branding agency part-time and I have been done in to the tune of 22K by 3 people I knew well and trusted; all this just before Christmas 2007. In addition I am tired of printers wanting artwork in this format and that colour profile.. running up and down to get banners printed here, and business cards printed there - all just to increase my margins. So as a result I started thinking about the direction to take in future.

I have to say that thanks to the excellent education I have received from the guys at Hubspot, David Meerman Scott,Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki and the entire South African blogosphere over the last 9 months, I know exactly what I'm going to do and when.

I am launching an advertising agency for the internet. Call it a NEW MARKETING agency.

This was all crystallised today with the release of a captivating video by the guys over at Hubspot.

I have to admit I was still a bit lost on where to start, but was fortunate to find that Hubspot had everything I need to know to get cracking, from a webinar on SEO 101, to How to use Facebook and now this video.

I am now convinced that I will help my clients achieve optimum brand awareness and bottom line growth by getting prospects to find them instead of them finding prospects. Thank you Hubspot.


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November 27, 2008

SOLE SOUTH AFRICA DISTRIBUTOR FOR “GREEN PRODUCTS THAT WORK”

South African signage supplies distributor Sytech Supplies has been named by Crystaltek-West End Products, LLC of Alpharetta, GA USA as their sole distributor in South Africa forVinyl-Off, Adhesive-Off, and Ghost-Off, breakthrough vinyl, adhesive, and ghost image removers. "We decided to partner with this incredible distributor to introduce our environmental products into South Africa.


Although we do not usually offer sole distributorships, Sytech's size and innovative marketing convinced us it was the best choice for success in South Africa," said Dennis Lasik, product inventor and co-owner at Crystaltek."We are excited about bringing these unique, productivity enhancing products into the South African marketplace. Removing vinyl is a known problem in our industry. Crystaltek's solutions can cut vinyl removal time by 80%. Add that they are safe for both users and the environment and it's a win all the way around," said Arthur C. Van Wyk, head of Brand Marketing at Sytech Supplies.

Sytech will focus on installers of signage and fleet graphics in addition to their strong business in sign shops throughout South Africa. Vinyl-Off is a productivity enhancement chemical that dramatically shortens the time required to remove vinyl and adhesive from various surfaces. All Crystaltek products have the added advantage of being environmentally and people safe.

Sytech Supplies is a major, multi-location distributor who supplies consumable products used by the sign and display industry throughout South Africa. Crystaltek of Alpharetta, Georgia, USA is a privately held manufacturer of environmentally safe chemicals for the graphics industry.

For additional information contact:
CrystalTek-West End Products, LLC
Janie Lasik
1010 Windward Ridge Parkway
Alpharetta, GA USA 30005
jlasik@westendproducts.com
770-643-8501 X6

Arthur C. Van Wyk
Sytech Supplies
Livingstone Road, Pinetown, 3610
Tel. 031 701 4500
Fax.031 701 4516
arthur@sytechsupplies.com
http://www.sytechsupplies.com

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