Create Leicester is now in its fourth year of delivering free quarterly events and workshops for the digital design community in Leicester. I’m very proud to say that I’ve been a part of the Create Leicester team as Co-Founder since its launch in 2017. Seeing more and more people attend the events has been very inspiring for me and the Create Leicester team to see!
I thought I’d try and do something different in 2020 and provide key takeaways from the recent Create Leicester event. If you haven’t attended one of our events before, I hope this article gives you an idea of the talks we host and encourages you to attend next time around!
LoyalFree
First up were the founders of Leicester-based app, LoyalFree, Sophie Hainsworth and Jason Nesbitt. They took us through a demo of LoyalFree – a money-saving app that encourages consumers to shop local based their location.
To stand out from competitors, LoyalFree worked on designing an app that reflects the changing demands of the consumers. Sophie and Jason highlighted how they catered to the needs of their audience by implementing the following:
– Ability to filter preferences and location e.g. users can find vegan restaurants in the area they live as opposed to across the country.
– View ratings and reviews of the brand.
– Allow users to connect with the brand.
– Provide unique experiences.
– Allow loyalty to be rewarded.
– Open up the app to other important industries, such as events and experiences – not just food and beverage.
Interactive trails and the gamification of the app has further helped users to interact with local businesses. They have included ranking users and running competitions on the app.
It’s great to see how far LoyalFree has vastly expanded their app to provide a great service for savvy consumers across the country. If you haven’t done so yet, download the app!
Ben Potter
Ben Potter started his talk on business development with a quite revealing take on our profession – one way or another, we are all salespeople. As quoted by leading business author Dan Pink in his book ‘To Sell is Human’, we spend 40% of our time ‘non-sales’ selling. One example Ben gave is that convincing your children to eat vegetables is a form of ‘non-sales’ sales.
The definition of sales has now changed from our association of the sleazy, money-grabbing salespeople we all love to hate! When we didn’t have the internet, salespeople at the time would thrive on an information advantage. Now, consumers can make an informed decision when enquiring on a product or service. The meaning of sales and business development has now changed to cater to the expectations of consumers.
So how can we become better at business development to target well-informed clients? Here are Ben’s key tips:
– Business development needs to have the same level of attention as other parts of your business.
– Make marginal changes – there is no one thing you can do to improve on selling. You need to make lots and lots of small changes to see a positive impact.
– Work on how you’re positioning your company – how can you win new clients when you’re trying to work for everyone?
– Make yourself attractive to a specific audience and stand for something to win the ‘right’ work.
Ultimately, business development is simple – work on doing the right things consistently well.
Following on from Ben’s talk, I have now purchased the Dan Pink’s book ‘To Sell is Human’. Ben has definitely helped me realise sales has changed from what it used to be!
Did you attend Create last week? If so, what were your biggest takeaways?
If there are any particular talks/themes you would like to see or if you would like to speak at one of our future events, please do get in touch!