Stay close to the market. I never assume that the technical people understand the commercial aspects and opportunities presented by developments that they see in the marketplace.
We could be adopting new ideas that either save us time and resources or opening up new doors.
I bought Seaham Hall on a whim – but the first thing I did when I’d got over the shock of being the successful bidder was to undertake market research.
We asked all of the businesses on the A19 corridor what they wanted Seaham Hall to be.
The best advice comes from the people you want to sell to. If a customer says, that’s a bad idea, it probably is. If they say it’s a good idea and you don’t think they’re simply humouring you, they look genuinely interested and start asking questions, then there’s a very good chance that you’re onto something.
In terms of finding contacts, I find the best way to create relationships is to do it face to face, not with the telephone and you can’t build a relationship with emails.
My plan was always to identify the person that makes the decisions and then try and talk to them. Right from the start we spent weeks trying find out who made the key...
The biggest challenge in business is identifying what customers value, and what they don’t. It’s more difficult than it sounds. Actions speak louder than words, so market research and focus groups can be useful, but people don’t always do what they say they do.
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