I am "JUST ME" Part Two

(This assumes you read Part 1)

I ended up spending 7 years with Boots starting as a lowly 'Audio Consultant on sixteen GBP a week but, again, staying with them -despite my success at the same time as a DJ - was ultimately a great choice. If I hadn't stayed I would never have become proficient with computers (which back then were the "BRAND NEW" thing - even the internet was unknown to most people then). After a year with the company I saw an opening in another branch 30 miles away for a Computer Consultant. Boots had seen the potential of these brand new devices and built whole new specialised departments to cater for them. The trouble was computer experts in those days were few and far between. I knew nothing about them but I applied anyway and read a few magazine articles to learn some 'Jargan' and then proceeded to bluff my way through the interview and got the job. 

I learned what I could from my customers and then started up a dialogue with them. first by Post (snail mail) and telephone then by email and developed a database which i introduced as a marketing tool to the company and won the Customer Service award for showing Mailing Lists to them. This was a send one by one system then - no Auto Responders etc. But it is what turned me on to marketing and also the power - even then- of the internet. So I took a Marketing correspondence course with Open University.

That 8 years were HARD WORK! I was 8.30 -5.30 6 days a week with Boots, Working 5-7 nights a week with my roadshow and at nightclubs and trying to study for two of them. I almost forgot what sleep was some months and I built my humble 'disco' set up into one of the largest roadshows in the U.K. I was in demand after coming in 6th (of 3,600 entrants) in the Sony/Luxembourg DJ of Great Britain Contest one year - the winner got their own show on Radio Luxembourg, a major station at the time. What I got was even more work and connections and I ended up mingling with the celebrity circuit being invited to BAFTA and similar awards events. I also worked with many famous acts in some of the venues I played so life, although exhausting, was great. Being an M.C./DJ gave me the confidence and communication skills with people and I spent a lot of time simply "People Watching", learning about human behavior and psychology after reading a book called 'Man Watching' by Desmond Morris. these 8 years shaped my Sales and Marketing life and I've been hooked on it ever since.

The image below is Me and Jimmy Saville. He was a very famous and respected celebrity then (he became infamous after his death when accusations of pedophilia started coming out). This is a BASCA awards night and this photo ended up on their official magazine cover because it was a strictly black tie event and he and I ignored the rules as you can see. 

So there is Part 2 which I hope will, along with previous and future bio clips, will be inspirational or at least midly interesting to all you marketers everywhere.

More to come - Keep on keeping on my friends

You can see a brief personal profile of me by clicking HERE