see if you can spot the incorrectly inserted word "not" in my quote...
still the broad thrust is right. Why do Universities not have a clue
about Sales? where is "agility", "lateral thinking" etc in there
programmes. Dull, 70's corporate concepts without any vision about the
way the net is changing EVERYTHING in business ( and has only just
started). Makes you weep- academics who are intellectually indolent and
lazy, relying on comfort blankets of secure tenure and casting their
minds back to their 'experience of being in business' yonks ago. Anyway,
enough for now.
http://www.director.co.uk/MAGAZINE/2010/2_Feb/education_63_06.html
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Friday, 9 October 2009
Libya 2009 -dad's 70th birthday bash
"let's-emulate-their-glorious-leader-for-the-camera" mode...
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Saturday, 5 September 2009
whoa.. a pic of me aged 18 with my first vehicle, an awesome Yamaha RS100 which cost e £165 of my hard-earned cash!
just found a picture of my first company car!
________________________________
From: Simon Biltcliffe
Sent: 05 September 2009 15:18
To: Simon Biltcliffe
Subject: IMG00038-20090905-1517.jpg
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Monday, 31 August 2009
in this weekends FT....
there was a review about the "e-book revolution" after reviewing a new book 'The British Book Trade-An Oral History'- it explains how the book market has changed and will never revert. They are all sad ( understandable) and are trying to reinvent themselves as the pace of change is fast- much faster than print
I then read my monthly fix of gadgets ('Stuff' to be exact), and they are comparing the best 5 e-books. Average price is £300 but they are good and getting better fast. They are cheap and the price will drop like a stone. This tsunami of technology is about to replace the way a lot of people read a lot of print.
I think the book industry will be a great case study as to how ink-on-paper based businesses make a good go of it in the new digital age. We wish them well and hopefully will learn their lessons- they have a much bigger challenge than we have.
I then read my monthly fix of gadgets ('Stuff' to be exact), and they are comparing the best 5 e-books. Average price is £300 but they are good and getting better fast. They are cheap and the price will drop like a stone. This tsunami of technology is about to replace the way a lot of people read a lot of print.
I think the book industry will be a great case study as to how ink-on-paper based businesses make a good go of it in the new digital age. We wish them well and hopefully will learn their lessons- they have a much bigger challenge than we have.
Friday, 28 August 2009
WE MADE THE DAILY MAIL!
Not sure if that is progress or regression! Thanks to John Billings for
owning up to reading this type of paper ;-)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1209533/MARKET-REPORT-Communisi
s-sell-looking-likely.html
( in fairness it was part of his monitoring of us- he's forgiven!)
owning up to reading this type of paper ;-)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1209533/MARKET-REPORT-Communisi
s-sell-looking-likely.html
( in fairness it was part of his monitoring of us- he's forgiven!)
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
The web 2.0 recipe to do strategy
books + one laptop with a sliver of 3G card, 8 WEBMART work-books with
previous years scrambled notes within, add sun/pool/mountain-vista for
inspiration and thoroughly mix together with a dash of beer every so
often and trance music. What comes out of the other end after being
heated for 4 days is anyone's guess but hopefully will be to the
satisfaction of the WEBMARTEERS who will each have a slice of the added
value created. Yum!
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Think free and prosper
The printing industry has an enemy.
It isn't so much that the price of print has fallen through the floor or
profitability (though they are totally shit) or that print management as
a genus has ripped profits out of printers ( though they often have) or
that credit is unavailable ( though broadly it is) etc etc, no the real
enemy of the print industry is.... irrelevancy. Who needs it?
Be honest why would you want to deal with it? As a buyer you always feel
inadequate and you have to be on-guard for being ripped off, extras etc.
They use terms you don't understand and often involve you in areas you
feel unsure of- not least industrial estates at ungodly hours. On top
of that, print isn't a "must-have" skill set on your CV, unlike web 2.0
marketing, data analytics and other sexy things to learn, so every
minute I spend learning about print I'm not learning about something
that will propel my career to the stratosphere over the next 10 years.
Now one would think the future of the print industry is therefore bleak
and return to the PrintWeek blogs to bang on about BGP/PM killing your
B1 presses loading board or trying to shag the one blond bird in the
industry with your 'subtle' innuendo. How that's going to sort out all
your ills only you know....
However the opposite is true and print doesn't have to become the latest
casualty following in the wake of typesetting and repro into obscurity.
This is how to do it (in my opinion, but I have yet to meet anyone with
a problem with it once they have run through it). It is a twin, parallel
approach ( ie they run together and not one after another). It is common
sense broadly but like all things it's about the execution not the idea,
therefore the only printers that will survive aren't those with a good
press or print, but an intellectually able management team. Read Darwin
if you want to know why this is inevitably the case...
No-brainer for starters. Fill your presses with as much work as you can
from your core clients and over-service them. Never let them down. Build
trust and ask them what else they print that you could have a look at.
Get this work as well. Then ask if you can help them by offering them
"your DAM system" to keep brand integrity ( your FTP will do for
starters). Then offer data services ( buy lists for them, de-dupe) and
delivery services ( Royal Mail walk-sort, leaflet distribution,
packaging etc etc) then offer them a internet portal where they can see
all this.You will see that you are becoming more and more pivotal to
your client if you offer this clearly- you are the one that they come to
to facilitate all their communications with their clients. You are
highly relevant to their success not peripheral. You will make more
money AND they will love you more for it. Win-win.
The other nice thing about it is that you don't actually need to buy
anything or invest in anything really, as it is already there or free or
able to be bought in on a cost-per-use basis. All the skill set for this
is in a printers pre-press, customer service or post-press departments.
What is needs is a strategy to bring it together in a coherent way (
this is where the able management team comes in).Handily these is a
sensible framework out there in the BPIF Customer-Centric strategy ( or
summat like). It's free to download via the website for non-members as
well. If you can't find it email me and I will forward a copy ( it
involves cogs and looks very whizzy!).
Then move beyond this to be the central way that clients deliver their
message to their clients and you will be pivotal to your clients and the
price you get for your press-hour will be a dim and distant past.
The nice thing about the print industry is that we already know our
customers brand ( often better than they themselves do in the SME
world), we are local, low-cost, tech-savvy, colour savvy, down to earth
and as long as we don't abuse the trust of customers by ripping them off
or letting them down, we are there for the long term. As they grow, we
grow.
We also have free tools for the printing industry that can help printers
along the way to a profitable future:
Your presses are likely to be running at less than full capacity so get
sales without getting more salespeople by using www.FreePrintSales.com
(or FPS).On there is a list of all the non-contract jobs we have and you
just give a price ( no-negotiation, as it is time-consuming and
therefore expensive). You either win the work or get feedback as to how
your price stacked up. This marketplace insight is often the first time
a printer has seen honestly where they sit in the market and often shows
areas where they can RAISE prices without risking lose work as well as
showing them they are woefully uncompetitive. Both bits of info are
useful when you are quoting out in the market generally ( nothing to do
with WEBMART) and help to increase your profitability, even if you never
win a job from WEBMART!
As we place most work with the best printers and not the cheapest, if
over the course of jobs going though your rankings (each job you get
ranked by WEBMART and our end client... but worry not, you have the
opportunity to do the same to us and our client as well!) are amongst
the best, you will be invited to become a 'Dynamic Price' ( or DP)
supplier where you give us your cost rates and then can vary your price
onto the market in real-time. The benefit of this is that if we get an
order based on your price you will get the order without having to pitch
against all the other printers. You helped us win it so you should get
it in return- it only seems fair. Worry not if things have changed since
then ( a planning board is an ever moving feast after all)- if you don't
want it you don't have to take it; we would just put it on
FreePrintSales and place it that way.
When your customer wants you to print something you haven't printed
before ( see why they would do this above!) you need often to
outsource-with-confidence which of course you can do yourself and mark
it up to make new margin. We have tried to make it easy ( and free of
course) by offering this trade-only pricing through
www.FreePrintManangement.com ( if you have registered on FreePrintSales,
the same facility is available on here as well- you don't have to
register twice). We give you an instant price with our 8% margin for
project management of the job should you give it built in already AND it
gives you a suggested sell price to your customer ( after all if you've
not sold it before how would you know what price to sell it at without
looking silly-either way!)
Once you have filled your presses and are gaining all the other print
that you can from your client, you will be making good money and will
move from survival mode, to prosper mode. Now you need different things,
complimentary services, a unified account management structure and
client-facing software to make it easy for both you and them. There are
loads of web2print solutions out there and most of them are pretty good
and not expensive. I think that Printweek and PMM have run some tests
recently so have a look on their websites.
We have created our own ( called Print Manager +) which odes all theirs
does and more. Because we develop it in house we can give it away to the
printers that we work most closely with, skinned as their own site, to
allow them to be more productive and more profitable. The best printers
are usually the most profitable in my experience.
The print industry can once again be pivotal to our clients by being the
facilitator, the executor, the replicator of our clients message for our
mutual gain. Print and prosper.
I hope this has been useful- happy to chat through with any printer who
wants further details or can't quite see what the bleedin' hell I am on
about. It does offer a way out, I assure you. Best way is via my email
address simon.biltcliffe@webmartUK.com
Have a good weekend y'all!
Simon
It isn't so much that the price of print has fallen through the floor or
profitability (though they are totally shit) or that print management as
a genus has ripped profits out of printers ( though they often have) or
that credit is unavailable ( though broadly it is) etc etc, no the real
enemy of the print industry is.... irrelevancy. Who needs it?
Be honest why would you want to deal with it? As a buyer you always feel
inadequate and you have to be on-guard for being ripped off, extras etc.
They use terms you don't understand and often involve you in areas you
feel unsure of- not least industrial estates at ungodly hours. On top
of that, print isn't a "must-have" skill set on your CV, unlike web 2.0
marketing, data analytics and other sexy things to learn, so every
minute I spend learning about print I'm not learning about something
that will propel my career to the stratosphere over the next 10 years.
Now one would think the future of the print industry is therefore bleak
and return to the PrintWeek blogs to bang on about BGP/PM killing your
B1 presses loading board or trying to shag the one blond bird in the
industry with your 'subtle' innuendo. How that's going to sort out all
your ills only you know....
However the opposite is true and print doesn't have to become the latest
casualty following in the wake of typesetting and repro into obscurity.
This is how to do it (in my opinion, but I have yet to meet anyone with
a problem with it once they have run through it). It is a twin, parallel
approach ( ie they run together and not one after another). It is common
sense broadly but like all things it's about the execution not the idea,
therefore the only printers that will survive aren't those with a good
press or print, but an intellectually able management team. Read Darwin
if you want to know why this is inevitably the case...
No-brainer for starters. Fill your presses with as much work as you can
from your core clients and over-service them. Never let them down. Build
trust and ask them what else they print that you could have a look at.
Get this work as well. Then ask if you can help them by offering them
"your DAM system" to keep brand integrity ( your FTP will do for
starters). Then offer data services ( buy lists for them, de-dupe) and
delivery services ( Royal Mail walk-sort, leaflet distribution,
packaging etc etc) then offer them a internet portal where they can see
all this.You will see that you are becoming more and more pivotal to
your client if you offer this clearly- you are the one that they come to
to facilitate all their communications with their clients. You are
highly relevant to their success not peripheral. You will make more
money AND they will love you more for it. Win-win.
The other nice thing about it is that you don't actually need to buy
anything or invest in anything really, as it is already there or free or
able to be bought in on a cost-per-use basis. All the skill set for this
is in a printers pre-press, customer service or post-press departments.
What is needs is a strategy to bring it together in a coherent way (
this is where the able management team comes in).Handily these is a
sensible framework out there in the BPIF Customer-Centric strategy ( or
summat like). It's free to download via the website for non-members as
well. If you can't find it email me and I will forward a copy ( it
involves cogs and looks very whizzy!).
Then move beyond this to be the central way that clients deliver their
message to their clients and you will be pivotal to your clients and the
price you get for your press-hour will be a dim and distant past.
The nice thing about the print industry is that we already know our
customers brand ( often better than they themselves do in the SME
world), we are local, low-cost, tech-savvy, colour savvy, down to earth
and as long as we don't abuse the trust of customers by ripping them off
or letting them down, we are there for the long term. As they grow, we
grow.
We also have free tools for the printing industry that can help printers
along the way to a profitable future:
Your presses are likely to be running at less than full capacity so get
sales without getting more salespeople by using www.FreePrintSales.com
(or FPS).On there is a list of all the non-contract jobs we have and you
just give a price ( no-negotiation, as it is time-consuming and
therefore expensive). You either win the work or get feedback as to how
your price stacked up. This marketplace insight is often the first time
a printer has seen honestly where they sit in the market and often shows
areas where they can RAISE prices without risking lose work as well as
showing them they are woefully uncompetitive. Both bits of info are
useful when you are quoting out in the market generally ( nothing to do
with WEBMART) and help to increase your profitability, even if you never
win a job from WEBMART!
As we place most work with the best printers and not the cheapest, if
over the course of jobs going though your rankings (each job you get
ranked by WEBMART and our end client... but worry not, you have the
opportunity to do the same to us and our client as well!) are amongst
the best, you will be invited to become a 'Dynamic Price' ( or DP)
supplier where you give us your cost rates and then can vary your price
onto the market in real-time. The benefit of this is that if we get an
order based on your price you will get the order without having to pitch
against all the other printers. You helped us win it so you should get
it in return- it only seems fair. Worry not if things have changed since
then ( a planning board is an ever moving feast after all)- if you don't
want it you don't have to take it; we would just put it on
FreePrintSales and place it that way.
When your customer wants you to print something you haven't printed
before ( see why they would do this above!) you need often to
outsource-with-confidence which of course you can do yourself and mark
it up to make new margin. We have tried to make it easy ( and free of
course) by offering this trade-only pricing through
www.FreePrintManangement.com ( if you have registered on FreePrintSales,
the same facility is available on here as well- you don't have to
register twice). We give you an instant price with our 8% margin for
project management of the job should you give it built in already AND it
gives you a suggested sell price to your customer ( after all if you've
not sold it before how would you know what price to sell it at without
looking silly-either way!)
Once you have filled your presses and are gaining all the other print
that you can from your client, you will be making good money and will
move from survival mode, to prosper mode. Now you need different things,
complimentary services, a unified account management structure and
client-facing software to make it easy for both you and them. There are
loads of web2print solutions out there and most of them are pretty good
and not expensive. I think that Printweek and PMM have run some tests
recently so have a look on their websites.
We have created our own ( called Print Manager +) which odes all theirs
does and more. Because we develop it in house we can give it away to the
printers that we work most closely with, skinned as their own site, to
allow them to be more productive and more profitable. The best printers
are usually the most profitable in my experience.
The print industry can once again be pivotal to our clients by being the
facilitator, the executor, the replicator of our clients message for our
mutual gain. Print and prosper.
I hope this has been useful- happy to chat through with any printer who
wants further details or can't quite see what the bleedin' hell I am on
about. It does offer a way out, I assure you. Best way is via my email
address simon.biltcliffe@webmartUK.com
Have a good weekend y'all!
Simon
Monday, 20 July 2009
Re:Webmart Rock! You make my life so easy I thought I would pop your logo in my tablet- higher status cannot be found
________________________________
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Prom-tastic!
M.D.
WEBMART® Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com- about us!
www.FreePrintManagement.com- PM FOR PRINTERS
www.FreePrintSales.com- your FREE print salesforce
13-15 Wedgwood Road,
Bicester,
Oxon. OX26 4UL, U.K.
Registered in England & Wales No.3300270
WEBMART- European Business of the Year 2009: Growth Strategy
FAST GROWTH Magazine: Best Use of Technology 2009
ECMOD Supplier of the Year 2008
PRINTWEEK - Customer Service Team of the Year 2008: Finalist
WEBMART is FSC, PEFC, ISO14001, ISO9001, PAS75 accredited and a carbon neutral business.
Sent via a YellowBerry®- the funky bro. of the Blackberry!
Saturday, 4 July 2009
What a week
Like all revolutions they are unpredictable an start with a single
incident which promotes a chain reaction. I think you could say WEBMART
being named the BPIF/PrintWeek 'Company of the Year' 2009 is the single
incident.
It was a brave move by the judges to give us this accolade. We've never
printed anything in our life and for those printers who have never heard
of us/ dealt with us we are a symbol of all that is bad in the print
industry. Those who deal with us and those who are open minded know how
wrong they are and the judges reflected that. Our suppliers last week (
yes we measure it on a week-by-week basis) in aggregate gave us a score
of 9.52/10. It rarely drops below 9.... and 5 is "everything you would
have expected/ hoped for"!
The outcome of this we shall see but this will bring the debate to the
foreground - just what role has printed media got in the future? with
that debate the future shape of the print industry will be shaped. My
view- clearly contentious to many - is as follows:
print will never have it's share of media spend again- it will decline
in the developed world but will expand in the developing world as
literacy rates and higher gdp means per capital consumption of print
will increase. There will therefore be less presses in the developed
world and more in the developing world. dead simple.
so onto the UK/EU.
our pool is drying up so we can either
live with declining revenue and die a slow death ...or decide not.
If you decide to die and move out of the print industry thereby then
that's fine- it will help the rest.
If you want to grow and prosper then you will either be taking some
print off other printers by lowering your price ( but losing your
profitability- no names needed here- there are scores of examples all
over the UK & EU) which means you will die slightly later.
Or you can look at the skill-set that you have, listen to your
customers, look at what the market is doing and grow profitably.
Print Management is solution that customers demanded and those who
filled the demand made money doing it. still massive opportunity to grow
this because it's easy for customers and once someone shows a customer
there is a better way, it's a no-brainer.
But that is only the start...
DAM/ Brand management is vital in this multi-media, interconnected
global world- big growth potential
Data services and analytics
Showing customers how to use their data to deliver higher customer
service standards
SEO
Media buying
Use of social media for business
offering logistic support and distribution/packing services.
If a printer has to look up any of these or is wondering "eh" the chance
is they are not going to last 5 years. Why? because these are what
customers want ad therefore someone will satisfy the demand and if it
is not you then you will lose the print as par of this process. sadly
this is a fact of life.
but it doesn't have to be like this. printers have all the skills to
offer all these to their customers. we know all about using data, colour
management, logistics, just in time, dispatch, media etc etc- it's just
that we put these skills to use doing one thing- filling your press. if
you look beyond this, there is a limitless landscape of opportunity.
Also- all these services don't need an investment ( but you can if you
want to... though you have to ask the question "why?" when there are
loads of people wanting to see you the service and they are experts at
it already... ring any bells?)
it's a dot-to-dot from a sales perspective
you have a print customer
say " thank you for all the orders we do for you" and ( in the best
Colombo way) "one last question- what else do you print that we don't
currently do for you? can we quote for it please"
Once you get all their print you say "what else can we help you with?"
and reel off a list of other services that will be of interest.
Once they buy more than one product line off you, you become more of a
partner than a supplier and the world becomes a happier place.
Next blog = how to deliver!
incident which promotes a chain reaction. I think you could say WEBMART
being named the BPIF/PrintWeek 'Company of the Year' 2009 is the single
incident.
It was a brave move by the judges to give us this accolade. We've never
printed anything in our life and for those printers who have never heard
of us/ dealt with us we are a symbol of all that is bad in the print
industry. Those who deal with us and those who are open minded know how
wrong they are and the judges reflected that. Our suppliers last week (
yes we measure it on a week-by-week basis) in aggregate gave us a score
of 9.52/10. It rarely drops below 9.... and 5 is "everything you would
have expected/ hoped for"!
The outcome of this we shall see but this will bring the debate to the
foreground - just what role has printed media got in the future? with
that debate the future shape of the print industry will be shaped. My
view- clearly contentious to many - is as follows:
print will never have it's share of media spend again- it will decline
in the developed world but will expand in the developing world as
literacy rates and higher gdp means per capital consumption of print
will increase. There will therefore be less presses in the developed
world and more in the developing world. dead simple.
so onto the UK/EU.
our pool is drying up so we can either
live with declining revenue and die a slow death ...or decide not.
If you decide to die and move out of the print industry thereby then
that's fine- it will help the rest.
If you want to grow and prosper then you will either be taking some
print off other printers by lowering your price ( but losing your
profitability- no names needed here- there are scores of examples all
over the UK & EU) which means you will die slightly later.
Or you can look at the skill-set that you have, listen to your
customers, look at what the market is doing and grow profitably.
Print Management is solution that customers demanded and those who
filled the demand made money doing it. still massive opportunity to grow
this because it's easy for customers and once someone shows a customer
there is a better way, it's a no-brainer.
But that is only the start...
DAM/ Brand management is vital in this multi-media, interconnected
global world- big growth potential
Data services and analytics
Showing customers how to use their data to deliver higher customer
service standards
SEO
Media buying
Use of social media for business
offering logistic support and distribution/packing services.
If a printer has to look up any of these or is wondering "eh" the chance
is they are not going to last 5 years. Why? because these are what
customers want ad therefore someone will satisfy the demand and if it
is not you then you will lose the print as par of this process. sadly
this is a fact of life.
but it doesn't have to be like this. printers have all the skills to
offer all these to their customers. we know all about using data, colour
management, logistics, just in time, dispatch, media etc etc- it's just
that we put these skills to use doing one thing- filling your press. if
you look beyond this, there is a limitless landscape of opportunity.
Also- all these services don't need an investment ( but you can if you
want to... though you have to ask the question "why?" when there are
loads of people wanting to see you the service and they are experts at
it already... ring any bells?)
it's a dot-to-dot from a sales perspective
you have a print customer
say " thank you for all the orders we do for you" and ( in the best
Colombo way) "one last question- what else do you print that we don't
currently do for you? can we quote for it please"
Once you get all their print you say "what else can we help you with?"
and reel off a list of other services that will be of interest.
Once they buy more than one product line off you, you become more of a
partner than a supplier and the world becomes a happier place.
Next blog = how to deliver!
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Interesting article on disruption
It talks about the disruption in newspapers and scientific publishing
but the principles are 100% applicable to any traditional industry.
It follows on from an article I read 4 years ago in the FT which blew my
mind at the time ( will try to find it sometime- I ripped it out,
scanned it in and sent it to the board.... I can still feel the shiver
going down my spine at this moment!) Anyway, have a read & let me know
what you think about it!
http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/?p=629.
but the principles are 100% applicable to any traditional industry.
It follows on from an article I read 4 years ago in the FT which blew my
mind at the time ( will try to find it sometime- I ripped it out,
scanned it in and sent it to the board.... I can still feel the shiver
going down my spine at this moment!) Anyway, have a read & let me know
what you think about it!
http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/?p=629.
Simon
Saturday, 13 June 2009
IMG00019-20090613-1156.jpg
M.D.
WEBMART® Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com- about us!
www.FreePrintManagement.com- PM FOR PRINTERS
www.FreePrintSales.com- your FREE print salesforce
13-15 Wedgwood Road,
Bicester,
Oxon. OX26 4UL, U.K.
Registered in England & Wales No.3300270
WEBMART- European Business of the Year 2009: Growth Strategy
FAST GROWTH Magazine: Best Use of Technology 2009
ECMOD Supplier of the Year 2008
PRINTWEEK - Customer Service Team of the Year 2008: Finalist
WEBMART is FSC, PEFC, ISO14001, ISO9001, PAS75 accredited and a carbon neutral business.
Sent via a YellowBerry®- the funky bro. of the Blackberry!
After 3 weeks finally the desk is finished- well done baby Jake!
M.D.
WEBMART® Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com- about us!
www.FreePrintManagement.com- PM FOR PRINTERS
www.FreePrintSales.com- your FREE print salesforce
13-15 Wedgwood Road,
Bicester,
Oxon. OX26 4UL, U.K.
Registered in England & Wales No.3300270
WEBMART- European Business of the Year 2009: Growth Strategy
FAST GROWTH Magazine: Best Use of Technology 2009
ECMOD Supplier of the Year 2008
PRINTWEEK - Customer Service Team of the Year 2008: Finalist
WEBMART is FSC, PEFC, ISO14001, ISO9001, PAS75 accredited and a carbon neutral business.
Sent via a YellowBerry®- the funky bro. of the Blackberry!
A temporary view of what the floor looks like... Never to be seen again!
M.D.
WEBMART® Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com- about us!
www.FreePrintManagement.com- PM FOR PRINTERS
www.FreePrintSales.com- your FREE print salesforce
13-15 Wedgwood Road,
Bicester,
Oxon. OX26 4UL, U.K.
Registered in England & Wales No.3300270
WEBMART- European Business of the Year 2009: Growth Strategy
FAST GROWTH Magazine: Best Use of Technology 2009
ECMOD Supplier of the Year 2008
PRINTWEEK - Customer Service Team of the Year 2008: Finalist
WEBMART is FSC, PEFC, ISO14001, ISO9001, PAS75 accredited and a carbon neutral business.
Sent via a YellowBerry®- the funky bro. of the Blackberry!
The office change is underway!
M.D.
WEBMART® Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com- about us!
www.FreePrintManagement.com- PM FOR PRINTERS
www.FreePrintSales.com- your FREE print salesforce
13-15 Wedgwood Road,
Bicester,
Oxon. OX26 4UL, U.K.
Registered in England & Wales No.3300270
WEBMART- European Business of the Year 2009: Growth Strategy
FAST GROWTH Magazine: Best Use of Technology 2009
ECMOD Supplier of the Year 2008
PRINTWEEK - Customer Service Team of the Year 2008: Finalist
WEBMART is FSC, PEFC, ISO14001, ISO9001, PAS75 accredited and a carbon neutral business.
Sent via a YellowBerry®- the funky bro. of the Blackberry!
Friday, 12 June 2009
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
I wonder if you can tell what cardinal sales-sin Rob has committed?
#
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Agencies had to evolve now the downstream part of their revenue is being "un-coupled", this sounds like a very logical move to me
Ogilvy extends focus beyond traditional role
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York
Published: May 25 2009 20:23 | Last updated: May 25 2009 20:23
Ogilvy & Mather is creating a multinational practice to handle clients'
communications on the theme of sustainability, in a push by its new
chief executive to be seen as more of a consultancy than an advertising
agency.
Ogilvy Earth, with a presence in 30 Ogilvy offices round the world, will
launch this week, sharing expertise from its past sustainability-themed
campaigns such as Smart Planet for IBM and Beyond Petroleum for BP but
also combining disciplines such as advertising, public relations and
entertainment content.
Miles Young, Ogilvy's former chairman in Asia who became group chief
executive in January, said the initiative was an attempt to reclaim a
role as "business accelerators" vacated by most agencies.
"The industry as a whole has slightly dumbed down, so at one point
management consultants were making serious attacks on some of the roles
of communications agencies," he told the FT. "Interestingly, their
attacks have receded and I can see opportunities to make incursions into
their territory [and] move upscale."
The move by the WPP
<http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=uk:WPP> Group-owned
marketing group is timed to capitalise on December's United Nations
forum in Copenhagen, which is expected to focus consumer attention on
the roles of business and governments in reducing climate change. Ogilvy
won the pitch last month to devise a campaign for UN to build awareness
of the Copenhagen conference agenda.
The new consultancy represented "a move back to being a partner at an
intellectual level with our clients," said Mr Young, who has shuffled
Ogilvy's senior ranks since January.
"The view of taking a message and shooting it at people is shifting to a
new world where communications is about content and content knows no
boundaries."
Ogilvy would not disclose revenue or profit targets for the new
practice, but Mr Young said he expected it to contribute to growth.
Friday, 22 May 2009
Young, bald and proud of it... Jessica hasn't got much hair either!
Marcus was WEBMARTEER #3 and now works over in Oz in the printing
industry seeing first hand the changes that have taken place in WEBMART
in the 4 years since he left. Significant I think you could say would
cover it! Great to see him and far too much was imbibed last night...
And p'raps even tonight as well! Onwards- it's only pain!
Thursday, 21 May 2009
A whole new world of opportunity for printers- it's very exciting!
Bid to take print-on-demand mainstream
By Joseph Menn in San Francisco
Published: May 21 2009 00:06 | Last updated: May 21 2009 00:06
The first serious bid for a print-on-demand bestseller began publishing
on Wednesday, as Rick Smolan launched The Obama Time Capsule, as a
customisable book which will be printed only after it is ordered.
The foray of Mr. Smolan, a photo editor whose A Day in the Life of...
series has sold millions of copies, into print-on-demand, could validate
the genre in the same way that Stephen King's first electronic-only book
brought instant credibility to that then-nascent market.
br>Apr-02
The move comes as the print-on-demand industry, where books are printed
only after they are ordered, is growing, with "Espresso Book Machine"
kiosks this month beginning to spring up in libraries and bookstores,
printing copies on the spot for paying customers of titles from Wiley &
Sons, Simon & Schuster and others.
Print-on-demand has been one of the few bright spots in the otherwise
slumping book industry. Sellers include works by self-published authors,
more of whom are selling respectable numbers of their editions by mail,
and out-of-print or out-of-copyright books that are reproduced by
various companies.
Mr Smolan's inspiration for the book came on election night, when his
exuberant friends were snapping pictures of themselves standing next to
the television as the results rolled in. "Everybody in that room wanted
to remember that moment the rest of their lives," he said.
But instead of putting out yet another Obama-makes-history tome, Mr
Smolan thought he would try to capitalise on emerging technology that
enables mass customisation. By printing only on demand, he figured he
could also allow everyone that ordered a copy to personalise it as a
memento.
Customers who order the book through TheObamaTimeCapsule.com
<http://www.theobamatimecapsule.com/> can submit a child's Obama
drawing, which will be snuck into a page devoted to kids' election
artwork; the customer's name will appear as the addressee in a photo of
a triumphant e-mail from the candidate, and so forth.
Because no publisher has to commit to an enormous press run, much of
which might end up getting pulped, Mr Smolan can keep the cost down.
Facebook, America Online and others have agreed to promote the project
for free, and a paper manufacturer is donating enough stock for 10,000
copies. The first 10,000 will be available for $34.95, after which the
price goes to a more realistic $64.95.
Mr Smolan also had luck in finding printing giant Hewlett-Packard as a
partner. The company is trying to expand its high-end press and ink
business as the more typical home and office printing business
stagnates. Earlier this year, HP opened an online store for
print-on-demand magazines, MagCloud.com, where publishers of nearly
1,000 titles charge whatever they want. Those publishers, many of them
hobbyists, have sold a surprising mean of 100 copies a piece and priced
their wares at average of about $7, said Andrew Bolwell, HP's director
of new business initiatives.
HP immediately accepted Mr Smolan's proposal. It will keep 58 cents per
copy after the first 10,000, while Mr Smolan will get $1.34-less than
the delivery charge. For both, the bigger payout will be if they can
push print-on-demand upscale and into the mainstream at the same time.
"This has never been done before at this scale," Mr Bolwell said. "We
hope this will be a showcase for how books could be produced in the
future."
Copyright <http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/copyright> The
Financial Times Limited 2009
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
How to buy better
real quote from new client on our v5 Procurement Platform "That was a
borderline religious experience"- i think we're getting warm :-)
With print being the leader in "difficult things to buy well" we have
had a 10 year head-start on everyone else in how to buy b2b more
effectively! we have found we can now buy any product FROM THE SAME
SUPPLIERS approx 20% cheaper using our platform AND make them happier.
It's a strange world at WEBMART- but it kinda works well for everybody.
borderline religious experience"- i think we're getting warm :-)
With print being the leader in "difficult things to buy well" we have
had a 10 year head-start on everyone else in how to buy b2b more
effectively! we have found we can now buy any product FROM THE SAME
SUPPLIERS approx 20% cheaper using our platform AND make them happier.
It's a strange world at WEBMART- but it kinda works well for everybody.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
very interesting article that should show the way forward for local newspapers if you think about it
Geldof aims to become main N Ireland news provider
By Ben Fenton in London
Published: May 19 2009 03:00 | Last updated: May 19 2009 03:00
Bob Geldof, the musician best known for his Third World aid campaigning, aims to become the main news provider for Northern Ireland.
He told the Financial Times his Ten Alps production company would bid to become the regional news provider in the province when the government reveals plans to replace ITV's existing network.
The founder of Live Aid saw his media venture going on to become a news supplier for the rest of the UK.
His vision is for a consortium working with regional newspapers and "very, very local" reporters to provide news and information for communities on a 24-hour basis. Its programmes would be broadcast on terrestrial television (Channel 3), but the main means of getting information to local people would be via internet television.
"I am absolutely missionary about web TV and now [Ten Alps] are the Pearl and Dean of web TV," Mr Geldof said.
The opportunity he has identified is likely to materialise after the publication of the government's Digital Britain white paper , expected next month. ITV, currently the main regional news supplier, says it will have to withdraw from providing bulletins because they are uneconomic, costing about £50m ($77m) a year.
Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, revealed plans last month for regional news consortia to bid for franchises in different parts of the UK. Media industry observers expect the plans to be incorporated into Digital Britain. Two existing Channel 3 franchise holders, STV and UTV, have expressed interest in leading consortia, with the latter likely to be a direct rival to Mr Geldof in Northern Ireland.
But the Irish musician, co-founder of Ten Alps and the largest individual shareholder, said: "Tendering out to the usual suspects just simply isn't going to work. In the age of the internet, the notion of television itself is as archaic as the word wireless - even if that has been reinvented for the digital age.
"It doesn't mean anything will be exclusively online, but multiplatform news will be required. Also, I don't think there is any way of doing this without working with local newspapers and those kind of agencies."
He said Ten Alps had offices across the UK and was already a market leader with internet television services like Teachers TV for the teaching profession and the community web channel Kent TV . On Friday, it will launch a similar channel in Northern Ireland called Fermanagh TV .
A senior industry figure familiar with the government's thinking said the proposal outlined by Mr Geldof was precisely in tune with the model being explored.
Copyright <http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/copyright> The Financial Times Limited 2009
couldn't have said it better myself.... luckily i could John Kelly as one of my friends ( and I don't fiddle my ex's) so I am unlikely to be at the wrong end of one of his articles
This lot deserve to be. Makes you weep...
http://thusmagazine.com/2009/05/britains-corrupt-politicians-deserve-a-b
reak-send-them-to-prison/
http://thusmagazine.com/2009/05/britains-corrupt-politicians-deserve-a-b
reak-send-them-to-prison/
Friday, 15 May 2009
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Happy birthday Nivi
Simon Biltcliffe
M.D.
WEBMART® Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com- about us!
www.FreePrintManagement.com- PM FOR PRINTERS
www.FreePrintSales.com- your FREE print salesforce
13-15 Wedgwood Road,
Bicester,
Oxon. OX26 4UL, U.K.
Registered in England & Wales No.3300270
WEBMART- European Business of the Year 2009: Growth Strategy
FAST GROWTH Magazine: Best Use of Technology 2009
ECMOD Supplier of the Year 2008
PRINTWEEK - Customer Service Team of the Year 2008: Finalist
WEBMART is FSC, PEFC, ISO14001, ISO9001, PAS75 accredited and a carbon neutral business.
Sent via a YellowBerry®- the funky bro. of the Blackberry!
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Monday, 11 May 2009
The shed is being transformed!
wonderment as well as an external <ahem> distinctive building.... more
as it progresses!
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Finally a pic from Rome!
Awards was a great testament to the whole team and their
graft/insight/passion for doing the right thing. We have an great
business based on good solid foundations of trust, respect for both
suppliers and clients and a way of using our skills to create new value
to all we touch.
The good thing about this award is that it gives the outside-in
validation that our strategy is both easily understood ( none of the
people judging us knew anything about print, there was a Minister of
Poland, head of a Bank, the CEO of Atradius and some dude who is the
editor of the FT) and, er, good!
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Building towards the launch!
In between strimming nettles and other spring activities in the country, I've been working on the launch of our Project Genesis, where the meek inherit the earth. Or printing companies inherit their righteous profitability instead of the parasites that are the current crop of print managers offering the print management service ( or managed print services as it's called in the US).
Having worked in the printing industry since Uni, it will give me great pleasure to help it regain some of its prestige and purpose (and profits). We have some of the most highly skilled people with the most relevant knowledge for the multi-media, globalised marketing needs of the future and as soon as we realise that a rich future opens up before our industry. The challenge is to get from a "moving-metal-means-money" mindset to a "moving-metal+meeting-marketing-needs" mindset will be a mental leap for some.
The one thing that print management has shown printers is that customers will buy print off people they trust irrespective of them owning the press that it will be printed on and you can make good money offering this wider service. If nothing else ( and I can think of little else to be honest) you can thank them for that.
Now for every printer to make the same profit doing the same thing for their customers!
Back to the laptop- after I have fed the sheep and drawn a "welcome home" poster for my eldest. Work/life balance in stark relief (blogged on my Yellowberry whilst taking the dogs for a walk!). Technology is a wonderful thing.
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Having worked in the printing industry since Uni, it will give me great pleasure to help it regain some of its prestige and purpose (and profits). We have some of the most highly skilled people with the most relevant knowledge for the multi-media, globalised marketing needs of the future and as soon as we realise that a rich future opens up before our industry. The challenge is to get from a "moving-metal-means-money" mindset to a "moving-metal+meeting-marketing-needs" mindset will be a mental leap for some.
The one thing that print management has shown printers is that customers will buy print off people they trust irrespective of them owning the press that it will be printed on and you can make good money offering this wider service. If nothing else ( and I can think of little else to be honest) you can thank them for that.
Now for every printer to make the same profit doing the same thing for their customers!
Back to the laptop- after I have fed the sheep and drawn a "welcome home" poster for my eldest. Work/life balance in stark relief (blogged on my Yellowberry whilst taking the dogs for a walk!). Technology is a wonderful thing.
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Friday, 10 April 2009
thought about it!
the reason more don't do it is two-fold:
1. ownership- most people start businesses with more than one owner
or acquire owners along the way in terms of outside investors, who pop
in money for a stake in the company to get 2x their money out. There is
no long term plan to build something other than the capital they get out
of it.
2. assuming one is the case then leaving value in the company is daft
because the other owners will be taking as much value out of the
business as you can so you think "why should I?" and do the same. To get
working capital then, you get debt ( which no owner wants to take out of
the business!) hence the state we are in now in the economy.
It's a kinda logical thing if you think about it, but if you want to
build something other than wealth then it doesn't work. That's why this
model is coming to an end due to time and tide being against it. Why?
I think we are moving into a supra-capitalist era as(being honest) you
don't need capital to start up the 80%+ of companies in the service
sector and there are many ways to make money quickly through the net-
certainly enough for a lean start up.
Sprogs want more than money- they want to do things that are
interesting, good for the planet, don't hurt people and are exciting as
well as make a good screw. Who wouldn't? You go into Uni's these days
and the people they are looking up to aren't the Branson's or Gates of
the world but Mohammed Yunus, Gandhi- they are all wanting to be "social
entrepreneurs"- basically like an old school entrepreneur with a
altruistic streak- doing well and doing good. Top banana!
So business is changing really very fast. Make money- of course- but by
helping those around you and for a purpose.- it covers the bases. Look
at Innocent drinks- they align their product with the emotional and
intellectual needs of their employees and the go stellar. Other brands
look beige in their sector.
I have always believed business is part of the community ( both
sector-wise and physically) not isolated from it and the more you engage
with it the more you gain. Have to therefore have a competitive
advantage. Everyone wins
At WEBMART I have one share that is in a trust. The wealth of the
business is hared amongst the people and retained within the business
to ensure we don't have any outside influences over what we do - any
that we don't want anyway- and remain totally focussed because don't
have any distractions. Dead easy. We always though have been on a
mission to ensure we add value to all those around us, not just within
the business.
A business that lives off the back of it's suppliers or rips off it's
clients is a bad business and in the 'net age the white-heat of
transparency will expose their flaws and they will contract and die.
They have to. If they are out to make money for the boss only or even
worse to " maximise shareholder return" ( what does it mean in reality?)
then how are you going to attract the bright young things of tomorrow
who will drive your business forward? They won't, so will have to change
to cover off the emotional and intellectual needs of a new generation
out there. OR die when someone comes into their sector and does it.
The thing is that now more companies will start up with a more
meaningful purpose than just make money; with no need for capital and on
a mission, in each market sector. Ours is print and we are changing the
dynamics within it by using all our resources to level the playing field
for the best to prosper, not just the strongest. There will be others in
each market and micro-market that will do the same. Exciting and scary
at the same time!
Onwards.
1. ownership- most people start businesses with more than one owner
or acquire owners along the way in terms of outside investors, who pop
in money for a stake in the company to get 2x their money out. There is
no long term plan to build something other than the capital they get out
of it.
2. assuming one is the case then leaving value in the company is daft
because the other owners will be taking as much value out of the
business as you can so you think "why should I?" and do the same. To get
working capital then, you get debt ( which no owner wants to take out of
the business!) hence the state we are in now in the economy.
It's a kinda logical thing if you think about it, but if you want to
build something other than wealth then it doesn't work. That's why this
model is coming to an end due to time and tide being against it. Why?
I think we are moving into a supra-capitalist era as(being honest) you
don't need capital to start up the 80%+ of companies in the service
sector and there are many ways to make money quickly through the net-
certainly enough for a lean start up.
Sprogs want more than money- they want to do things that are
interesting, good for the planet, don't hurt people and are exciting as
well as make a good screw. Who wouldn't? You go into Uni's these days
and the people they are looking up to aren't the Branson's or Gates of
the world but Mohammed Yunus, Gandhi- they are all wanting to be "social
entrepreneurs"- basically like an old school entrepreneur with a
altruistic streak- doing well and doing good. Top banana!
So business is changing really very fast. Make money- of course- but by
helping those around you and for a purpose.- it covers the bases. Look
at Innocent drinks- they align their product with the emotional and
intellectual needs of their employees and the go stellar. Other brands
look beige in their sector.
I have always believed business is part of the community ( both
sector-wise and physically) not isolated from it and the more you engage
with it the more you gain. Have to therefore have a competitive
advantage. Everyone wins
At WEBMART I have one share that is in a trust. The wealth of the
business is hared amongst the people and retained within the business
to ensure we don't have any outside influences over what we do - any
that we don't want anyway- and remain totally focussed because don't
have any distractions. Dead easy. We always though have been on a
mission to ensure we add value to all those around us, not just within
the business.
A business that lives off the back of it's suppliers or rips off it's
clients is a bad business and in the 'net age the white-heat of
transparency will expose their flaws and they will contract and die.
They have to. If they are out to make money for the boss only or even
worse to " maximise shareholder return" ( what does it mean in reality?)
then how are you going to attract the bright young things of tomorrow
who will drive your business forward? They won't, so will have to change
to cover off the emotional and intellectual needs of a new generation
out there. OR die when someone comes into their sector and does it.
The thing is that now more companies will start up with a more
meaningful purpose than just make money; with no need for capital and on
a mission, in each market sector. Ours is print and we are changing the
dynamics within it by using all our resources to level the playing field
for the best to prosper, not just the strongest. There will be others in
each market and micro-market that will do the same. Exciting and scary
at the same time!
Onwards.
Mo-jo
Ever since we all read the book good to great and it taught us a thing or too about how we could take the business forward and build a momentum in the business ( the flywheel analogy to one who has a 1959 Panther M120- a motorcycle made in Yorkshire that has broken more than the odd leg in its time if the compression from the flywheel with its 650cc single cylinder engine is not managed effectively!) We have moved forward at a pace. The SEXiSCHEME ( our profit share) aligned all the people to a common purpose and it developed the vital ingredient of altruistic capitalism- the more you give ( in time mentoring, in helping others out who need support etc) the more you get back ( the business is more effective overall and therefore you get a higher payout through the SEXi). Once this alignment of effort and remuneration is there, you have the solid foundation for sustainable growth. And we have.
Now, this is no more than common sense in most peoples book and our results show it works not only on a financial level ( average bonus to the team approx 30% of base salary each year) but on an emotional level (we do a pan company review twice a year and the overall level of trust- the highest form of business relationship in my view- in each other is 85% ) and intellectual level ( we are pushing the boundaries of knowledge in out market every day- I really do feel like a fellow Yorkshireman Captain Cooke exploring parts of the world that no one has seen before). So why don't more people do it? I shall muse a little today to think on it.
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Now, this is no more than common sense in most peoples book and our results show it works not only on a financial level ( average bonus to the team approx 30% of base salary each year) but on an emotional level (we do a pan company review twice a year and the overall level of trust- the highest form of business relationship in my view- in each other is 85% ) and intellectual level ( we are pushing the boundaries of knowledge in out market every day- I really do feel like a fellow Yorkshireman Captain Cooke exploring parts of the world that no one has seen before). So why don't more people do it? I shall muse a little today to think on it.
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Bobby does Bicester
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Where have we gone so wrong?
:-)
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Rankings in print
we all focus on the price of print but that is only part of the overall BASIC package of effective buying. The objective, the "quantitative" value
the other two are quality and service but these are subjective, the "qualitative" value of each print job
when you combine the price position relative to the average expert market rate, you have a ratio of price position against their peer group. this is a dynamic relative ratio, rather than a static value. as each printers price position changes your relative position changes. Like Einstein says, everything is relative & nothing is absolute ( except the speed of light- not particularly that relevant here!).
the same with service and quality- these are determined by relativity and subjectiveness. beauty is in the eye of the beholder. it is never "right" (or indeed "wrong"), and is inherantly biased... but it is likely to be consistantly biased so therefore valid. This qualitative ratio is therefore vital for measuring the whole.
the aggregate "Effectiveness Ratio" derived from these two individual ratios is the acid test of how good a printer is at print- eurika!
we are going to plot these on the pricing graphs that we get and publish the values to the market.
Price, quality and service transparency to the market- welcome to the print revolution.
The next step on from this is creativity, innovation and lateral thinking in a wider media space, the ADVANCED rankings for printers. Onwards
the other two are quality and service but these are subjective, the "qualitative" value of each print job
when you combine the price position relative to the average expert market rate, you have a ratio of price position against their peer group. this is a dynamic relative ratio, rather than a static value. as each printers price position changes your relative position changes. Like Einstein says, everything is relative & nothing is absolute ( except the speed of light- not particularly that relevant here!).
the same with service and quality- these are determined by relativity and subjectiveness. beauty is in the eye of the beholder. it is never "right" (or indeed "wrong"), and is inherantly biased... but it is likely to be consistantly biased so therefore valid. This qualitative ratio is therefore vital for measuring the whole.
the aggregate "Effectiveness Ratio" derived from these two individual ratios is the acid test of how good a printer is at print- eurika!
we are going to plot these on the pricing graphs that we get and publish the values to the market.
Price, quality and service transparency to the market- welcome to the print revolution.
The next step on from this is creativity, innovation and lateral thinking in a wider media space, the ADVANCED rankings for printers. Onwards
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Seminal moment in my history
Lots going on in my world. In all aspects. Mainly good but not all. The world is very disorientating with so much change and it feels like this is a tipping point, right here, right now. I want to look forward but it's not easy to move out of the here & now... but you must. Everything that was is no more.
If you look at the past and extrapolate forward you have 2 choices:
try & hope that the past will return or
create the new future.
There is not a third option. The status quo is no longer an option.
If you go to create the new future it is fraught with risks and potential pain but that HAS TO be better than the aternative which is allowing someone to create your future for you with you being a part-player in it, dancing to their tune which might be one you like, but equally might not. It's a matter of self-preservation. It's essential to take the tough decision is it feels it's the right one, no matter how unpalatable. What is, is. What will be no-one knows but you have 100% of the opportunity to make it.
Onwards and hopefully upwards....
If you look at the past and extrapolate forward you have 2 choices:
try & hope that the past will return or
create the new future.
There is not a third option. The status quo is no longer an option.
If you go to create the new future it is fraught with risks and potential pain but that HAS TO be better than the aternative which is allowing someone to create your future for you with you being a part-player in it, dancing to their tune which might be one you like, but equally might not. It's a matter of self-preservation. It's essential to take the tough decision is it feels it's the right one, no matter how unpalatable. What is, is. What will be no-one knows but you have 100% of the opportunity to make it.
Onwards and hopefully upwards....
Friday, 20 March 2009
interesting quote- makes you think- so true!
The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.
Alvin Toffler
Alvin Toffler
Musing about how exciting this recession is...
...as i head towards the World Entrepreneur Summit in London today, I'm thinking the world is inverting.
it's like a top heavy ship that is in choppy waters. all those wealthy people are in the bridge and on the top, and all those will little wealth are on in the hold. The choppy waters have made instability but it is this wealth inequality that has caused the instability to yaw and violantly list. as those on top are brought down, confused, vunerable and disorientated, those with the little come up on deck to see what is happening, blinking, seeing hte sunshine and see the opportunity... I think I've carried on with the analogy a little too lobng, but you get my drift.
Just like print was seen as heratic in the 15th century- not because of the physical act but because of the effect its output had in democratising ideas that the vested interests didn't like- the internet is just starting to do the same.
13 years ago i set up WEBMART and knowledge was power. The bigger the company, the better the quality of information. The better the quality of information, the better the quality of decision and the higher the economic benefit gained. This was a neat spiral upwards, allowing companies to grow and giving a reason for "scale". The internet now makes this information freely available and it allowed me, with a merry band of gifted people to use this but combine it with the agility of a small company. We got to market with new products faster and better than the big guys. we still do.
the recession has proven to big business the last vestiges of their old business model based on size has gone. what it hasn't done yet is show people that there is a very real advantage to NOT being in the old company structure with its stupid rules and built-in "divide and rule" mentality. But it will.
those who are economically at the bottom but intellectually agile, will inherit this new world and al sorts of exciting new products and services will be coming to market in the next few years as people are freed from the shackles of corporatism.
the world is inverting we are heading towards equality of opportunity. Isn't a recesion a wonderful, beautiful thing- enjoy the freedom from the past & make the future.
it's like a top heavy ship that is in choppy waters. all those wealthy people are in the bridge and on the top, and all those will little wealth are on in the hold. The choppy waters have made instability but it is this wealth inequality that has caused the instability to yaw and violantly list. as those on top are brought down, confused, vunerable and disorientated, those with the little come up on deck to see what is happening, blinking, seeing hte sunshine and see the opportunity... I think I've carried on with the analogy a little too lobng, but you get my drift.
Just like print was seen as heratic in the 15th century- not because of the physical act but because of the effect its output had in democratising ideas that the vested interests didn't like- the internet is just starting to do the same.
13 years ago i set up WEBMART and knowledge was power. The bigger the company, the better the quality of information. The better the quality of information, the better the quality of decision and the higher the economic benefit gained. This was a neat spiral upwards, allowing companies to grow and giving a reason for "scale". The internet now makes this information freely available and it allowed me, with a merry band of gifted people to use this but combine it with the agility of a small company. We got to market with new products faster and better than the big guys. we still do.
the recession has proven to big business the last vestiges of their old business model based on size has gone. what it hasn't done yet is show people that there is a very real advantage to NOT being in the old company structure with its stupid rules and built-in "divide and rule" mentality. But it will.
those who are economically at the bottom but intellectually agile, will inherit this new world and al sorts of exciting new products and services will be coming to market in the next few years as people are freed from the shackles of corporatism.
the world is inverting we are heading towards equality of opportunity. Isn't a recesion a wonderful, beautiful thing- enjoy the freedom from the past & make the future.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Saw Martin Sorell last night- Wpp walla
interesting what he had to say- had £7.5bn turnover his business with 135,000 employees- big numbers
Sat next to Mike Johnson of the BPIF & he mentioned that the UK print industry has £15bn turnover & 138,000 employees
Hmmm. I think advertising is heading into the maelstrom that print did 15 years ago & is still coming to terms with it. The trouble with advertising is that it is in a perfect-storm scenario and media will only have 15 months to get it's act together
outside of creative, what USP's have they got?
The only thing I can see is "insight" which is 50% of WPP revenue. With the web 3.0 coming towards us like a train- see http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html - then this will be marginalised.
I feel a www.FreeMediaManagement.com coming on...
:-)
Sat next to Mike Johnson of the BPIF & he mentioned that the UK print industry has £15bn turnover & 138,000 employees
Hmmm. I think advertising is heading into the maelstrom that print did 15 years ago & is still coming to terms with it. The trouble with advertising is that it is in a perfect-storm scenario and media will only have 15 months to get it's act together
outside of creative, what USP's have they got?
The only thing I can see is "insight" which is 50% of WPP revenue. With the web 3.0 coming towards us like a train- see http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html - then this will be marginalised.
I feel a www.FreeMediaManagement.com coming on...
:-)
Friday, 13 March 2009
The price of print
important graph in print.
Pricing information on the print marketplace. Each plot point equates to
the "market price" for print from a printer who has the optimal press
for the product that we needed a price for.
they all know that it is going to WEBMART who know their onions and
therefore will be buying well
they equally all therefore think they will be competitive
they all know we will not negotiate so there are prices they are happy
with
they equally know we will not pick the lowest price. we will pick the
second lowest price. this eliminates the "dash to the bottom" as they
would not win because they were too cheap!
all the suppliers are known to us, with good quality and UK based ( it's
sheetfed). we know this because to our clients WE are the printer
therefore we can't afford to buy poor print services, so we RANK each
supplier
how good their service is
how good their on-time delivery is
how flexible they are
how good their print and finishing quality is
Soooooooo, we know their price position ( quantitive metrics), we know
their quality position ( qualitative metrics) and we ratio both to give
an overall PRiNTELLIGENCE score.
Transparency for the first time in the print industry. Welcome to the
print revolution.
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Seminal change of the old order from todays FT
Jack Welch, who is regarded as father of the “shareholder value” movement, has said the obsession with short-term profits and share price gains that has dominated the corporate world for over 20 years was “a dumb idea”.
In an interview for the Financial Times’ series on the future of capitalism, the former General Electric chief said the emphasis by executives and investors on shareholder value since he spelt it out in a speech in 1981 was misplaced.
Mr Welch, whose stellar record in his two decades at GE helped make shareholder value popular, said that it was wrong for managers and investors to set consistent earnings growth and steady share price increases as their overarching goal.
“On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world,” he said. “Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy...your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products.”
Thank god. Another notable "inversion". Welcome to the revolution.
In an interview for the Financial Times’ series on the future of capitalism, the former General Electric chief said the emphasis by executives and investors on shareholder value since he spelt it out in a speech in 1981 was misplaced.
Mr Welch, whose stellar record in his two decades at GE helped make shareholder value popular, said that it was wrong for managers and investors to set consistent earnings growth and steady share price increases as their overarching goal.
“On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world,” he said. “Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy...your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products.”
Thank god. Another notable "inversion". Welcome to the revolution.
Friday, 6 March 2009
power to the printer*!
* and their direct clients!
to make print relevant to clients at a better value and make printers more money faster than their metal can spin. I'm worried- it seems too good to be true, but I guess when we go live any flaws will be exposed, so not to worry, just to focus on getting it out!
should be fun & I apologise to anyone who perceives us as a competitor as it will make your world a little trickier. However on the up-side as realistically we are going a different direction from all the other print management companies or printing companies, there are none that I can think of!
HH Associates, Williams Lea, Communisis, Adare, they all are just worried about offering an ever wider range of products to their very small band of (big) clients because they have been left scratching their heads as to how to add more value to them in their core print management offer. Their business model was always a one-trick pony that is now trying to learn a new one:
Cunning plan #1 client offered XX% discount off their print for X year contract AND we TUPE across the cost from you to us- too good to be true- yep in the long run!
...but no cost was eliminated, just moved, so the client was happy, the PM company was happy as they got turnover, but the profit in this contract had to come out of the supply chain by having Hobsons choice of the work being pulled very quickly or keep it with a XX% discount... which spookily matched the dicount+profit the PM company wanted. Oh and often there are hidden retrospective rebates that we will be invoicing from some far-flung tax haven if that's ok as well...
printer had no option in the short term. in the medium term they found better clients or went bust
Xyears are up- no further savings (really) could be made from printers and they had clients demanding the same savings again ( please). Eeeek.
Cunning plan #2- use the original print contract as a Trojan horse to spread out in the hosts organisation and find other areas they can offer a similar ( short term) saving to & justify existance.
it may work but looking at the financial performance of them all it's no panacea... for the client or them.
there has to be a better way & hopefully we can deliver it sooooon.... these 14 hour days are not really that good in the long term!!
onwards & upwards
to make print relevant to clients at a better value and make printers more money faster than their metal can spin. I'm worried- it seems too good to be true, but I guess when we go live any flaws will be exposed, so not to worry, just to focus on getting it out!
should be fun & I apologise to anyone who perceives us as a competitor as it will make your world a little trickier. However on the up-side as realistically we are going a different direction from all the other print management companies or printing companies, there are none that I can think of!
HH Associates, Williams Lea, Communisis, Adare, they all are just worried about offering an ever wider range of products to their very small band of (big) clients because they have been left scratching their heads as to how to add more value to them in their core print management offer. Their business model was always a one-trick pony that is now trying to learn a new one:
Cunning plan #1 client offered XX% discount off their print for X year contract AND we TUPE across the cost from you to us- too good to be true- yep in the long run!
...but no cost was eliminated, just moved, so the client was happy, the PM company was happy as they got turnover, but the profit in this contract had to come out of the supply chain by having Hobsons choice of the work being pulled very quickly or keep it with a XX% discount... which spookily matched the dicount+profit the PM company wanted. Oh and often there are hidden retrospective rebates that we will be invoicing from some far-flung tax haven if that's ok as well...
printer had no option in the short term. in the medium term they found better clients or went bust
Xyears are up- no further savings (really) could be made from printers and they had clients demanding the same savings again ( please). Eeeek.
Cunning plan #2- use the original print contract as a Trojan horse to spread out in the hosts organisation and find other areas they can offer a similar ( short term) saving to & justify existance.
it may work but looking at the financial performance of them all it's no panacea... for the client or them.
there has to be a better way & hopefully we can deliver it sooooon.... these 14 hour days are not really that good in the long term!!
onwards & upwards
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Lots going on!
well we've now got the team in place! there is no one else we need now Bolly has gone back to Oxford Uni to read Kant & we have got Prad on board. Dynamic Pricing had an awesome start with Bolly getting the idea and running with it. Prad will now take it to the next level.
Financially things going well, team in place, the world of print needing the solution we have discovered we are set for the breakthrough. Watch this space!
Financially things going well, team in place, the world of print needing the solution we have discovered we are set for the breakthrough. Watch this space!
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Monday, 16 February 2009
Thursday, 22 January 2009
WEBMART Survey- mine!
In line with previous years, my survey is the only one that is made
public to the team, in a democratic kind of way. Leadership should be
accountable and like I say to my daughters, all you can do is try your
best!
how many companies would have a company - wide trust in each other of
over 85% in a secret ballot...!?
public to the team, in a democratic kind of way. Leadership should be
accountable and like I say to my daughters, all you can do is try your
best!
how many companies would have a company - wide trust in each other of
over 85% in a secret ballot...!?
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Dynamic Pricer is live!
After a lot of work with our Tier 1 suppliers, the venerable sellweboffset.com is about to be put into the WEBMART Museum and replaced by our scalable new version, Dynamic Pricer, which will give many many printers a real-time way of filling their presses for free. Hurrah!
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Grandad does Christmas!
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Saturday, 20 December 2008
WEBMART. KARTING SHOCK
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Friday, 19 December 2008
Sprint likes trannies shocker
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Getting there!
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Friday, 5 December 2008
My share of the chicken
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Knocking one out at coldplay
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Homer does Clodplay
Doh..., accountants
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Sunday, 30 November 2008
The Prof + the poo
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Friday, 21 November 2008
SHOCKING EARLY PICTURE OF EDWARD RYDER IN TORY LANDSLIDE
He hasn't changed a bit. Except he looks the same in colour now as he
did in black & white all those years ago. Bless him and his pretentious
mate Willian"embryo"Hague of the same genre/ generation.
Friday, 31 October 2008
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Under all that protective "white" is wonderful Y E L L O W waiting to be revealed to the world outside!
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Finally, after 2 years of thinking and looking at the options, we are finally changing the metaphorical Yellow Shed of Wonderment into REALITY!!
Friday, 19 September 2008
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
The things we do in the name of market research
Ends##
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
www.webmartUK.com
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Friday, 11 July 2008
From an Australian ( potential) supplier who I explained my style of capitalism to. Come the revolution ( and 25 further years of wear & tear) I can see his point!
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
i have to say I haven't yet quite got the hang of "black tie" , "photographer" and " look cool" yet- unlike the others ( to my right Marcus Clifford, Mike Johnson & George Thompson)
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
we have good links with Oxford Brookes University, and ran an interesting link with them via the KTP programme. Click the link for more info!
Monday, 30 June 2008
WMOz
lots of coverage about our plans to start overseas. The latest here http://www.print21online.com/news-archive/webmart-confirms-entry-into-australia/
#
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
My first external weekly video on the print marketplace and WEBMART developments- hope you enjoy it. 6mb file so broadband only! Week 24; June 2008
________________________________________________________________________
Monday, 9 June 2008
A souvenir from the Alaskan mountains with Dave's fingers... You can never be too careful ( and he was). Ouch
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THE TEAM! Me, Neil, Tony, Diare, Marek, Tony, Neil, Dave, Michel
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BACK! And a dawning realisation that a haircut & beard removal was in order to avoid the Swampy taunts by all concerned. Rightly!
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Scary flight back between the mountains
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Salvation in the form of a biscuit tin with wings. Diare in the foreground- top chap from Ireland
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Time to go down. In the best Haynes manual traditions, going down is the reverse of going up. Dead easy & FAST!
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Flying the flag at the top of the world. Makes carrying it up worth it; sadly the strength of the wind precluded holding it up as it was 50mph so horizontal. Boo.
The view from the top ( nearly) makes it worth it. Sunny & -35C...an unusual combination!
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In the tent at the top, liberated from the strictures of a beanie hat, my hair goes for global domination. I luckily was unaware of the " medusa look"!
A fetching look as we neared the top. Never lose your brand ( or sense of humour...). The icicles you can do without as it hurts every time you smile. Luckily, that isn't often up there!
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Thursday, 29 May 2008
Climbing to 17000ft. The static lines behind me means that it was over 45 degrees of angle
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Pasta chef + all round tireless worker Nick.
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Inside the "Mid tent"- our communal area for eating pasta (exclusively....). From the left Diare, Neil + Marek- top blokes
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
The views from 14000 ft
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
The camp at 14000 ft.
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
You have to watch out for crevasses at every step. They are often 100m+ deep.
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
On the way up to the camp at 14000 feet
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Sunday, 11 May 2008
2 flights done now + waiting for the 3rd at Seattle.
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Last bit if support from this man
John Stocker personal trainer extrordinaire we salute you!
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
This all has to be carried!
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Who in their right mind...
Would book the flights going out from Gatwick but coming back into Heathrow?!?! Jagged Globe, that's who. Smashing. New logistics plan needed + fast.
getting ready to go!
After a years planning and 6 months training, it's nearly time to go! Went to The Outdoor Shop in MK to get the final bits for my kit ( little things like new sleeping bag & crampons...). really helpful guys there- strongly recommended. Only concern is the wound on my right foot caused by the 42mile training walk we did 2 weeks ago. Hopefully the Lead Guide will be happy with me to go when I get to Alaska...
All the stuff is in a room in Yellow Shed of Wonderment so next stop, packing. AAARRRGGGG.
Saturday will come round all too soon... hope I'm ready!
Monday, 5 May 2008
Ouch!
Simon Biltcliffe
Managing Director
WEBMART Ltd.
Reg.Office 13-15 Wedgwood Road, Bicester, OX26 4UL. Reg. in England & Wales 3300270
Sent from my YellowBerry® wireless device
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About Me
- Simon Biltcliffe
- Yorkshireman ( Barnsley). Worked for BPC/BPCC/Maxwell Comms Corp & decided that starting my own company would be the easier option. It was ( and is!). Support Barnsley FC, enjoy climbing up mountains (as high and obscure as possible, including Antarctica). motorbikes ( Ducati 916 Senna & Panther M120 for those who know of these matters), Timothy Taylors Landlord bitter & most of all being the proud dad of two girls who are growing up all too fast!