Friday, November 04, 2011

Globalization 2.0 : My first blog post on ecademy

I first became aware of globalization as a phenomenon about ten years ago, when it started popping up regularly in strategic objectives handed out by corporate headquarters. However the idea of globalization isn't exactly new, it been going on for a long time, it's just that recently with the availability of the high speed internet in every corner of the world its evolution has rocketed ahead.

Until the last few years globalization of the world economy has almost entirely benefited large multi-national corporations, who could afford to put in place the infrastructure and organisation required to control their markets around the world.

The latest web developments like social networking and social commerce are starting to provide smaller businesses and individuals with the tools they need to operate globally. It's never been easier to 'go global' and there is a new category of business emerging referred to as the 'global small business'. Their size makes them nimble and their ability to embrace innovation quickly will be their main advantage when competing with the giant multinational corporations.

On their own a small business or even a global small business will not seriously challenge the big incumbents, who will resort to all sorts of tactics to keep control of their markets, for example leveraging their press and government relationships in support of their business interests.

Small businesses must collaborate to compete effectively and the basis of good collaboration is great communications, a common purpose and trust. Open and available global business networking platforms like ecademy meet some of the needs, but there are still gaps in the armoury especially when it comes to delivering the business, ecommerce systems that work globally are very expensive and complicated to install and outsourcing commercial processes to a managed service provider may lead you back into the arms of a large multinational, who will only be too pleased to take a slice of the precious margin.

The unashamed mention for my new business venture gotradelive is that we are helping to equip small businesses with some basic commercial tools that will help them trade more efficiently and remain in control of the process all within their own private networks.

I recently invested some time listening to the new MD of ecademy, Daniel Priestly, talking about the new direction he is going to take the business. Reinventing the 'e' in ecademy to mean 'entrepreneur' academy is inspired and I wish him well. The massive majority of entrepreneurs are responsible for starting and running small businesses and they will need all the support they can get and we all need them to be very successful. 

Successful entrepreneurs will mean a dynamic and growing small business market sector, which will drive the economy and employment forward. As SMEs represent most of the wealth generation in every country their success will lead the global economic recovery. On this basis one would imagine that support for entrepreneurs and small businesses should be at the forefront of every government policymakers' mind when they are contemplating their challenges, let's hope they are not drowned out by the vested interests of large multinational corporations.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Gotradelive Real Live Demo - Selling £50 Note

This is a genuine opportunity to bid for and potentially win a £50 note. 

The starting price is just £1.00 and the increments are set at 1p, so lets see how good the winning deal is.

This is no trick, but an honest incentive to get you to try out the Gotradelive system. 

It's only possible to offer this deal because Gotradelive is completely free and there is no transaction fee or set up fee to be paid to a third party. Its your tool to run as you want.

To place a bid all you need to do is to register your name and email address - and choose a password. 


If you have any questions there is a brief 2 minute video introduction to the Gotradelive system on the registration page or here

Gotradelive is a new online trading platform will level the playing field for SMEs

A free online B2B trading system for SMEs could help them cut costs and boost their revenue without having to make any investment.

October 15. London. A new trading system for SMEs, Gotradelive, gives smaller businesses the trading power of bigger corporations, helping them compete more effectively and run a tighter more efficient sales operation.

This cloud based platform (explained here) provides business networking as simple to use as Facebook and really useful buying and selling tools that will add a powerful string to any commercial bow.

Gotradelive gives SMEs the capability to market their products and services more efficiently. Its features allow businesses to create an online trade for sale or tender and invite their own selected audience to place their bids. It’s very easy to use and maintains the privacy and control which is lost when using a public auction site.

Founder and CEO Robert Doughty says it gives SMEs all the advantages of the trading portals and ebusiness systems that only multinational corporations can afford. “The odds are stacked against the SME and this platform will help them compete on a level playing field. It gives them better buying and selling power within their existing markets, and it helps them find and manage new market opportunities too.” says Doughty.

Farmers, for example, are often forced to dump perfectly good stock. But using Gotradelive a farmer can quickly remarket and sell a consignment of vegetables that has unexpectedly been rejected by a supermarket, maybe just because they were ugly. Currently, finding a buyer at the last minute would have been too time consuming and the farmer would have had to bin them. But using Gotradelive the farmer can set up an online sale in under 5 minutes, contact all their alternative customers and invite them to bid for these bargains. The farmer salvages some money for his crop and the buyer gets a bargain they would have not even been aware of.

Similarly, Gotradelive can be used for reverse trades or invitations to tender. The same farmer could invite a number of suppliers of fertilizer to tender for their next requirement, or maybe use it to find a new cost effective supplier of tractor tyres.

In these cases Gotradelive brings a new liquidity to the SME sector and creates value by making new trading opportunities possible.

Why SMEs Need a B2B Trading System

1.    Global trading systems and software licenses are too expensive and complex to set up and use
2.     Consumer auction style sites are insecure and the SME loses control of the sale
3. Large consumer audience based auction portals are expensive, and fees are disproportionate to trading margins.
4.     Gotradelive is free, easy to set up and use: there are no transaction based fees and even usage costs are low given how easy it is to use
5.   The trader still makes the sale or purchase and puts the transaction through their own accounts under their own terms and conditions of business.
6.     Trade only buyers are more knowledgeable and don’t waste time – the trader controls the audience in Gotradelive
7.  Trade only sellers are considerably more trust worthy and on Gotradelive the trader manages an audience they already know.
8.      Gotradelive allows the trader to scale their business and still retain control.
9.    There is an opportunity to create an event that will act as a catalyst for action – be it a deadline for sales or procurement
10.  Gotradelive adds a vital weapon in the commercial armory which enables the SME to operate effectively in the global trading community.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Keith Collins' True Marketing Experience: Fred Greeno Launches Gotradelive to the World

Keith Collins' True Marketing Experience: Fred Greeno Launches Gotradelive to the World: Who is Fred Greeno? Watch the video and see him explain how gotradelive will give small and medium sized businesses another way of doing bus...

Fred Greeno Launches Gotradelive to the World

Who is Fred Greeno? Watch the video and see him explain how gotradelive will give small and medium sized businesses another way of doing business online.



If you have followed my blog in the past you will won't have missed the lack of activity whilst I have been busy getting gotradelive ready for the market. Now it is ready, you will see many more posts from me as we go about spreading the word about the value we can bring to SME's around the world.

Please visit the site and register, there is no commitment, no cost and you can try it out with friends and colleagues - just for fun try finding out how much your colleagues will pay for the bosses car! Seriously though   these tools which are available to anyone can really help companies improve their business, with more efficient ways of selling, buying and marketing to their private networks - and stay in control of the whole process.

The team is off to China tomorrow to kick start our Asia Pacific operations and we are totally excited about the prospect in store. Stay tuned to find out how we get on over the next few days.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Building a pipeline for TrueTalk

It’s time to focus on my own consulting business and the first thing to do is establish a pipeline of new opportunities.

If you are interested in discussing any marketing or business development challenges you are currently facing please let me know, hopefully with my experience I’ll be able to help you in some way and maybe you can join my pipeline.

I can be flexible to accommodate a wide variety of needs simply drop me a line if you’d like to set up a call or a meeting.
(email: keith [at] truetalk [dot] co [dot] uk)