Simon Washbrook on CRM for Small Business, Simpler Systems and Smarter Growth
In this episode of UK Business IQ, Geoff Nicholson speaks with Simon Washbrook, founder and Managing Director of Popcorn CRM, about why so many small businesses struggle with lead management, fragmented systems and software that is more complicated than it needs to be.
Simon shares his journey from fashion and marketing into software, and explains how working with small businesses led him to build a simpler CRM designed around the real needs of growing companies. The conversation explores why spreadsheets eventually break down, why many businesses buy for future problems rather than current ones, and how the right systems can reduce overwhelm and support better sales follow-up.
This episode explores Simon Washbrook’s perspective on CRM, software adoption and small business growth based on his experience building and working in the sector. The conversation is intended to help business owners think more clearly about systems, simplicity and fit. The ideas shared are based on professional experience and opinion, and the best tools and systems will vary depending on your business model, team structure and stage of growth.
About Simon Washbrook
Simon Washbrook is the founder and Managing Director of Popcorn CRM, a platform designed to help small businesses manage leads, simplify sales processes and avoid the complexity that often comes with larger CRM systems. His background includes marketing, corporate CRM integration and software development for growing businesses.
In this episode
- Simon shares how his background in fashion, marketing and corporate CRM shaped his business journey.
- He explains why many small businesses stay with spreadsheets for too long.
- He discusses the risk of moving too early into software that is too complex for the stage of the business.
- He outlines why features are often a distraction from real business needs.
- He explains how pre-sales, finance and post-sales systems can work together without becoming one giant platform.
- He shares why habits and simple daily use matter more than complexity.
- He talks about why in-person conversations still matter in a saturated market.
- He reflects on delivery, simplicity and the importance of progress over perfection.
Key takeaways
One of the strongest lessons in this episode is that businesses do not need to solve every future systems problem today. They need tools that fit their current stage, help them follow up consistently and reduce friction rather than creating it. Simon’s advice to focus on business necessity rather than feature lists is especially useful for small business owners who feel overwhelmed by software decisions.
The episode also carries a broader entrepreneurial message. Progress matters more than perfection, systems should support behaviour rather than complicate it, and real human conversations still cut through in a crowded market.
Timestamps
- 00:00 – Introduction and Simon’s background
- 02:00 – From fashion and marketing to CRM
- 05:00 – Why Popcorn CRM was created
- 07:00 – The biggest CRM myth for small businesses
- 10:00 – Why all-in-one software can become a trap
- 15:00 – The cracks that appear as businesses grow
- 18:00 – Building better CRM habits
- 20:00 – How Simon wins business in a crowded market
- 24:00 – Neurodiversity, overwhelm and simplicity
- 27:00 – The biggest lesson Simon wishes he had known earlier
Links
Connect on Linkedin with Simon Washbrook
Final thought
This is a useful conversation for any business owner who knows their systems need to improve but does not want to create more complexity in the process. The message is simple: choose what fits now, build good habits, and let your systems grow with your business.
Transcript
Hi, and welcome to the UK Business IQ Podcast.
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:I'm Geoff Nicholson.
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:This show shines a light on the brilliant
business minds behind UK companies, the
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:people doing the exceptional work for
their clients, but who are often too busy
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:delivering results to shout about it.
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:And each episode, my guests share their
experience, lessons, and practical
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:insights to help businesses grow.
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:Let's dive into today's conversation.
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:Speaker 2: So on the show today, I am
joined by Simon Washbrook, managing
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:director of Popcorn CRM, the Small
Business Alternative to HubSpot.
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:Simon helps UK businesses bring their
sales and marketing together so they
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:convert more prospects into customers.
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:He's also the author of Halfway To Yes.
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:Which explores why so many
small businesses sales are lost,
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:and how simple behaviours can
dramatically improve conversions.
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:Geoff: Hi Simon.
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:Welcome to the show.
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
Hey there, Geoff.
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:How you doing?
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:Geoff: Very good.
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:Just before we hit record I was
admiring the Lego collection which
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:you can't see, but the Lego collection
that Simon has is quite extensive.
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
it became an obsession of
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:mine just before, lockdown.
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:most people discovered Lego during
lockdown, I was buying my kids some Lego
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:for Christmas they were young kids at
the time and I was there and I went.
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:Ooh, the Millennium Falcon and I did
what every bloke knows they shouldn't
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:do, and I just did an impulse purchase
my wife came, saw what I was doing,
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:there was an eye roll moment, and
when I was standing at till, I went.
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:Ooh, there's the imperial star
destroyer behind the counter.
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:I can recreate the whole of
the stars of this series.
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:anyway, so the obsession became that
kind of set my self a rule, and I
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:know I shouldn't really have gone into
this much detail, but, I have every
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:single ship from the original trilogy
of Star Wars and I've achieved it.
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:So that is my unique confession.
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:Geoff: let's get started
and put some context in it.
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:Who are you, what does your
business do, and who do you serve?
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Okay.
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:Hello.
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:I'm Simon Washbrook I'm
not just a Lego geek.
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:so yeah, I'm the founder
MD of Popcorn, CRM.
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:what popcorn is, we're a small business
alternative, HubSpot that's kind of
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:got the marketing tools built into it.
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:Really simple, really visual
that that's what we do.
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:Geoff: what was that pivotal
moment that kind like went, okay,
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:I need to go off and, and do this.
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: So I kind
of have a nutshell of, my history really.
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:And give me a nudge, if I go into
too much detail, but my background
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:and right back, when I was born, no.
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:so.
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:I went to university and I studied
fashion and textiles, so absolutely
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:nothing to do with what I'm doing now,
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:Geoff: Although I have
seen some of your shirts
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Had
they're beautiful, beautiful shirts.
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:What the fashion world would
say about them, I don't know.
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:well, I do know, but anyway,
let's not get into that.
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:but yeah, so it wasn't me.
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:I'm a black country lad.
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:I didn't really feel like I fitted in with
that sort of South Bank fashion world.
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:but I still went on, did a master's,
but I studied as much around marketing
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:'cause that was my light bulb moment.
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:I love.
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:What motivates people, what causes
somebody to engage with something?
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:So I did my masters, it's still
in fashion and textiles, but
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:with a marketing focus on it.
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:And then I went off and I got my first
job working for, a brilliant brand
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:company called Angle Poise Lamps.
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:they're a global name.
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:The queen used to have one on a desk.
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:but they were based out of a
tiny little factory in Redditch
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:with about 20 odd employees.
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:And so there was five of us in the office.
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:I was working directly with a managing
director who was such an inspiration.
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:I loved it.
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:It was amazing.
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:Got my hands dirty and I got
involved with so many projects.
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:I didn't realise how
lucky I was at that point.
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:and.
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:I foolishly at that point
went, do you know what?
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:I want to climb the corporate ladder.
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:I want the shiny suit and the company car.
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:and I got to there, and ended up
working for a division of BMW Group.
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:and they did, they did CRM integration
and they did to the big companies,
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:people like T-Mobile, Deutsche Bank.
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:And I was doing some marketing
over there and it was a great time.
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:but it wasn't for me.
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:What I loved was my time
back at Angle Poise Lamps.
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:. When and I know you can't go
backwards, but what I loved was.
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:Being able to get my hands dirty,
make a difference, and make change.
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:So I stepped away from there and
I made the decision to set myself
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:up as a marketing consultant.
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:So at that point I was helping
small businesses and I like
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:to work with small business.
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:You can make real change, but I
rapidly realised then that what they
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:did, small businesses are fantastic.
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:At generating leads, at doing marketing.
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:At doing networking, all that stuff.
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:But they don't join it up.
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:And I was like, well, hang on a minute.
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:You just need a CRM.
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:That's why I've done at BMW group
and you know, I'm sure everyone's
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:got a hundred thousand pounds to
set up a, a fancy CRM system, and
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:that's surprising if they didn't.
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:Um, so I end up spending all my time
putting stuff into spreadsheets and going,
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:there's the 10 people you need to phone.
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:I'm not a spreadsheet person.
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:Go back to my creative days.
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:Um, is the last thing I,
it doesn't motivate me.
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:Um, so I was doing something I didn't
enjoy and I thought, you know what?
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:It must be, it can't be that hard to
make a piece of software to do this.
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:And that was what, 13 years ago now?
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:I had more hair and I wasn't
as grey at that point.
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:Um, and so that's where I started
off with the concept of the concept
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:of popcorn was I wanted to join up
small business sales and marketing.
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:In a really simple visual way, and I
need, it needed to do lead generation.
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:So not complex, not rocket science.
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:So we built our first
version of the platform.
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:We got some good, good,
good, uh, movement on.
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:It started to grow, so we rebuilt
it and time kind of went on.
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:We've got some really nice growth,
we refined the product down.
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:Something that really works
nicely for small business.
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:It's got the essential bits in
there without overloading it.
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:But the biggest kudos we had, which
was September last year, um, was we
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:got made a partner for Free Agent,
which is the UK's largest, um,
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:accounting software for small business.
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:And we nudged HubSpot outta the top spot,
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:which was a huge, huge
achievement from our point of
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:view, and I couldn't believe it.
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:And.
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:I can't go into any detail, but then
that has subsequently opened another
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:door, which is even bigger, which I
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:can't wait to tell you
Geoff about when we are.
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:Um, we're meeting in person soon 'cause
that is gonna be absolutely amazing.
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:But yeah, so principle is we've
got a piece of software now
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:It is designed specifically for small
businesses to help them sort of manage
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:their leads and convert more sales.
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:Geoff: So what do you feel is
the biggest myth or misconception
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:around that, you help fix?
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Okay.
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:So it's really simple if I look
at my customer's journey, Small
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:businesses start up pre-growth.
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:They'll have all their prospecting,
all their lead gen sitting on
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:spreadsheets in MailChimp, on the back
of a fag packet sitting on the head.
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:It's all over the place.
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:They'll get to a point when they
hit growth and it starts to fall
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:apart, they'll start losing sales.
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:Okay?
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:That's the point.
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:They go, well, how do we fix this?
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:They look at their mate.
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:Who's got a successful business
and go, I'm gonna copy what he's
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:done or she's done, of course.
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:Um, and typically they've got a piece
of software like HubSpot, like Zoho, and
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:they're amazing pieces of software, but
they aren't designed for small business.
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:They're designed for established
businesses with teams because they're
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:designed to generic reports that
boards can run their companies on.
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:does that make sense?
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:Geoff: Yeah, totally.
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:It's like the overwhelm, isn't it?
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: One.
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:100%.
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:Yeah.
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:And, and exactly that happens.
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:They go to it, they get overwhelmed.
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:Um, it's too clunky 'cause it's moved
away from the simplicity they had.
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:And as they start going, well actually
I need this feature, I need this
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:feature, I need this feature here.
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:But we need all these features and all
of a sudden their cost goes from free
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:version of the software to costing.
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:Over a thousand pounds a month, which
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:isn't realistic for small business.
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:So the biggest myth I would say, to
go back to your question, is focus
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:on fixing the problem you have now.
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:Don't worry about the
problem for the future.
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:So if you've got a problem with
losing data and missing all
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:your prospects, just fix that.
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:Find a way to manage that.
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:Simply.
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:That's what Popcorn does.
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:We've designed it to
fix that problem, but.
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:Find the software that solves
the problem for now not moving.
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:Something that you'll be
ready for later down the line.
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:Geoff: There's two things to that.
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:That spring to mind with me is one, the
amount of companies who are stuck in
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:using the spreadsheet or the loss of
data, and they're pulling their hair out,
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:why they aren't chasing up on leads and
then there's the, advice that you gave
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:me, which was the benefit of you using.
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:multiple layers of platforms
to manage that data.
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:one of the thing that you told me
was the fact that you don't have to
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:have the same CRM doing the sales bit
as you do the client management bit.
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:And that completely revolutionised
how I was doing the data management of
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:that because it just made everything
so much easier and less noisy.
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Yeah.
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:One completely and utterly.
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:So this all relates back to that myth,
um, is they think they need to move to
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:one piece of software to do everything,
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:and you don't.
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:As a small business, what a small business
needs is, they need something that's
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:dynamic, that's flexible, that's easy,
that's cost effective, and by moving up
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:to that big software, it becomes clunky.
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:Clunky comes, becomes
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:expensive, and you get failure.
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:Then you go back to where you
were on those things and then you,
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:you yo-yo between two points in
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:failure.
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:So exactly as you are saying,
think about your software in,
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:I suppose as three components.
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:So you've got pre-sales.
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:You've got finance and
you've got post-sales.
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:Now, some businesses won't need the
post-sales side of it, but, and you use
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:your accountancy software as the conduit.
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:So pre-sales, once you win a customer,
they move over so you can invoice them.
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:You need to generate all
the reports in there.
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:Post-sales then goes up to your project
management software if you need it.
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:And that way it behaves
like one piece of software.
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:It's kept simple, it's kept dynamic.
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:So as your business then grows, which it
can do, so it's got appropriate tools,
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:you can then just upgrade your project
management software or whatever it is you
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:need and your business carries on growing
without having the heart ripped out of it.
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:But it just makes life easier.
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:You
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:think the simple way.
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:Geoff: and like you say this crazy
how costs rocket all of a sudden
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:and it doesn't matter whether it's.
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:The CRM, the big companies love
capturing in that ecosystem to make
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:you believe that the right way is
just the one way kinda like thing.
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:And it often bites you very quickly.
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Yeah.
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:The
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:best tip I'll give anybody when it
comes to choosing, choosing software is.
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:Forget about features.
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:Features are the biggest.
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:It's what those big companies use
to drag you in to go, oh, I'll just
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:upgrade it because I need the upgrade.
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:This session was, I need
this one feature here.
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:Um, I don't need the 90% around
it is, look at where you are now.
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:What do I need to do to get
from point A to point B?
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:And then we're not talking features.
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:Look at business necessity.
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:Put let the world go round today, come
back to it, and then separate that list
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:out into needs and wants, you'll find
your bin, half of the stuff you actually
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:thought was a need, and then you'll have
a quite a small list and then find a
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:bit of software that fixes that problem.
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:So it might be prospect management,
which Popcorn could help you with.
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:It might be that you
need something for go.
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:Actually, no, I need client management,
so I'm gonna go and get a piece
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:of project management software.
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:And fix your problems like that.
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:Don't focus around the feature side of it.
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:'cause it's, it's a very
deep rabbit hole to go down.
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:Geoff: Why Do you think that the
big companies are sort of hooking
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:into that psychological trap of
just come to us as one place?
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:Or what do you think the
reason that they do it?
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Completely.
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:it's the odd lead magnet.
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:so what they do, so, and I I,
I'm gonna reiterate that I'm not
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:criticising HubSpot 'cause it
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:is an
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:amazing tool if you need it.
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:Um, but what HubSpot does is
it puts out the free version.
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:And it gives you, and you can put some
contacts in there, you can do a bit
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:of email marketing, you can do a bit
of this, you can do a bit of that.
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:And then as soon as you go past
that sort of, that paywall barrier,
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:all of a sudden it, and which is
where it hits most businesses.
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:They need the email marketing
or they need extra contacts.
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:So they'll upgrade and they'll
go from there to 40 pounds.
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:Um, for the marketing need, 40 pounds
for the customer service, all of a
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:sudden you're going from Free to.
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:84 pounds.
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:Okay?
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:And then you'll need to upgrade your
contacts or you'll want automation in
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:there, and you're just taking on this
little lovely little journey, don't
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:upgrades, and they share knowledge,
share with you the whole time.
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:So they'll teach you how to do
automation, they'll teach you how
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:to do this and you don't need it
because it all gets in the way.
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:typically, it gets in the way
of what your root cause is.
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:What is your why that you need the
software and most of the time, automation,
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:ai, whatever isn't the problem.
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:The problem is.
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:I need to know who I need to call,
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:or I need to send some emails out.
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:I need to do this.
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:And you know, it's, I need to,
everybody needs to see what's
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:going on in one place, fix that,
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:and then find the next
problem and fix that.
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:Moving on.
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:And when it comes to software,
90% software, it's easy enough
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:to move away from and transition
to a new piece software.
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:So one that, going back to your
myth thing, one, the myths is
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:it's a really complicated process.
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:It doesn't need to be.
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:You can just export the data out,
bring in it may not be perfect,
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:but it'll you to grow and progress.
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:Geoff: Yeah, and it highlights
the importance of data.
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:it's like you said before, you've
gotta have a location where everyone
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:knows that is the, I guess the
AI terminology a source of truth.
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:So you can kinda like look at it
and go, right, okay, we've had
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:these phone calls about this stuff.
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:This is in location rather than
going through three years of emails
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:or whatever it may be, because all
of a sudden the energy and cognitive
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:load that is dramatically increased
from taking you away from that.
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Yeah, 100%.
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:the problem where we
see the cracks appear.
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:We, I say we think of
business in three stages.
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:You've got Pre-growth, growth established.
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:Okay.
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:Is when you're transitioning
from one stage to another.
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:So pre-growth, typically it'll be a
one man band, or it'll be two people
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:working really closely together.
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:And then it's not a problem.
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:'cause you can turn around and go,
oh, that's the information then, and
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:your numbers aren't big enough because
it can all be kept in your head or
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:you know where everything's joined.
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:But as you start to scale.
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:The cracks appear, and the worst
part is, is the people don't often
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:see the cracks until it's too late.
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:So it's a bit like an
iceberg when you see it.
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:There's a lot happened underneath,
and the painful part, we did a
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:load of research into this is.
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:A small established
business that isn't using.
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:So we're assuming they're
going to the growth phase here.
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:And everything that isn't using
CRM is losing about 72,000
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:pounds every single year in lost
sales and missed opportunities.
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:Now, if you're a bigger business,
that's obviously bigger or
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:whatever, um, but that's a lot
of money to a small business.
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:think about how many very nice
holidays or kitchens we could
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:have or, or in my case, Lego.
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:Geoff: but I think that, you go
from, I remember working in companies
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:in the past where it was, we were
a small, almost like a family.
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:where everyone sat in the same office,
just across the desk there was posted
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:notes handed over and everything else.
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:And if you brought people into the
company who didn't know our ways, didn't
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:know the systems, all of a sudden it's
like, well, it's in the usual point.
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:it's in that jar that we keep and
think and all of a sudden it's like,
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:I can't, I dunno how to do this.
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:And that shock to the system when it
goes from a family to actually having
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:to be the business, all of a sudden
everything has to radically change
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:and the learning curve is incredible.
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
you've kind of nailed a really
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:important point there is.
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:When you're dealing with it in
this way, you are being reactive.
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:So the best thing to do is be proactive.
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:and you know.
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:Just because you don't need so,
or you don't think you need it.
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:Now, by the way, the way to tell when you
need it is when you turn around and you
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:go, what did I say to that person last?
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:Or somebody start?
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:These questions start to happen.
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:That's the tip of the iceberg moment.
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:As soon as you see that, you've
got to do something about it.
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:But what I would strongly
recommend is just get yourself
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:into the behaviour, the habit.
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:So get yourself a basic CRM
and we've got a free version.
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:If you wanna have it, it's welcome.
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:There's not.
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:Uh, it's really simple and easy.
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:It's free forever, but there
are others of course, available.
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:Um, but you know, go in there, start
putting your contacts in and don't
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:worry about doing it all on day one.
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:Just
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:go, actually, I've just
had a meeting with Bob.
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:I'm put Bob into my C I'm gonna
put a note, I'm put a reminder and
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:I wanna put him in my pipeline so
I know when I'm following him up.
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:I've got it visually represented.
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:Then log in every day.
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:I've gotta call Bob today.
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:I've had also had a meeting with Jane.
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:I'm gonna put them in there and
you'll be amazed after a few.
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:Literally after a few days, a week
or so, all of a sudden the system
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:comes to life and you start developing
those really positive behaviours.
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:So 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes
in the afternoon, and what you'll find
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:is you'll start using it and you'll
start getting so much more benefit.
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:And more importantly, from a
small business world, you'll
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:have more cash in your pocket,
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:Geoff: I use that strategy after
I've been to a network meeting.
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:I put the names into the CRM, and
then I'll just voice dictate a note
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:into it so while it's warm, while
it's still in my head, while I'm not
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:thinking about grabbing a coffee or
something like that, it's like, okay,
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:let's get the details, the information.
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:And then it's already in
the system and it's done.
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:And it doesn't take as long as you
think the buildup takes longer.
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:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Exactly.
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:that's why I use the phrase behaviour.
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:Um, it's, it's a mental block.
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:You think it's gonna be a big problem.
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:It's not.
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:So I do exactly the same as you.
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:So, uh, we, Geoff, we, we met
originally at, um, networking event.
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:We co-partners
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:of hashtag events.
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:Um, whenever I'm there and I'm meeting
people, the instant I come off a
392
:call, uh, or come meet somebody,
I pop, pop corner up on my phone.
393
:I'll bring the contact up, I'll
record a note, hit set record, um, a
394
:reminder date on it, and it's done.
395
:I don't need to think about it.
396
:And that way I come outta it and
my head's clear for the next one.
397
:I'm not having to retain
all this information.
398
:And it means then that my team know what
I'm saying, even if I've perhaps dictated
399
:it slightly wrong and they can go.
400
:So what
401
:did you mean by that?
402
:Geoff: It's accent.
403
:That's all I have.
404
:that's great.
405
:I suppose another question I have is
about when you are looking at trying to
406
:grow your company, what's one strategy
that's working right now for you to
407
:win new business, and why do you think
it's effective in the current market?
408
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: So this
is an interesting one, the learning I,
409
:I had to go through, a good while ago.
410
:The CRM market, as we all
know, is very saturated.
411
:The likes of HubSpot, Zoho,
they've got immense budgets.
412
:They throw a lot of cash out there,
and as soon as you make a bit of a
413
:footprint anywhere, they're all over you.
414
:So I tried to compete in that
arena and a failed miserably.
415
:and it took a long time for me to learn my
lesson on that, if that's a big hindsight
416
:thing, but for me, what I realised and.
417
:It was important before and it kind
of feels like it's more important now.
418
:Is.
419
:The old phrase, people buy from people.
420
:So for me, expos is our
main route to market.
421
:So as I mentioned, we're a partner
with Hashtag, we attend those all over
422
:the country and they're brilliant.
423
:They generate some real nice ones.
424
:'cause we get to meet people, we
get to talk to 'em, and we get to
425
:understand what the real problems are.
426
:And that's where I can say, you
don't need all these features.
427
:Focus on that problem.
428
:And we can point 'em in the right
direction if we're not a fit.
429
:All that, but.
430
:That works beautifully 'cause that
people love that human engagement.
431
:And what we've done from that is we've
rolled that out further so that people
432
:can pick up the phone and speak to us.
433
:We've kept that engagement
going, so we've tried to keep
434
:that really personal side of it.
435
:And that's been our differentiator.
436
:That's one of the reasons we stand
out against the likes of HubSpot.
437
:Geoff: it's interesting 'cause
I'm, I'm the same as you.
438
:you look and going,
okay, how do you do it?
439
:You know, my industry's end up.
440
:Saturated market as well, and it's
like, well, okay, going and speaking
441
:and meeting, seeing the whites of
their eyes of these people who have the
442
:challenges, so to speak, rather than we,
can get trapped in a digital world, but
443
:actually being able to go and see them
and go, come on, let's go and either
444
:grab a coffee or let's have a little
chat on the stand or whatever it is.
445
:It gives you an amazing opportunity.
446
:To hear the pain points in, real,
you see the visceral, sort of the
447
:emotion behind the pain points?
448
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
Yeah, I think you are right.
449
:But it's also one of the amazing
things about the old Tinter web is.
450
:Is you can find everything out on it
and everything's at your fingertips
451
:and you can get overwhelmed.
452
:But especially now with, with things
like chat and all those sort of, AI
453
:tools that are there,
they're people pleasers.
454
:They'll always tell you
what you want to know.
455
:So I've got this problem using
analogy all about explaining
456
:about our customer journey.
457
:I've got this problem with, um.
458
:Prospect management.
459
:How do I fix this?
460
:Well, you need a CRM and do you
know what the CRM should be doing?
461
:This, this, this, and this?
462
:And they reel off a list of features,
463
:which drives you into the
overwhelm and the failure.
464
:But when you go and speak to a real
person, hopefully, when you speak to
465
:people, is you get honest advice where
they can kind of go, actually, no,
466
:realistically, what you need is this.
467
:And then you could 'cause they
understand you as a person.
468
:Geoff: you're able to steer the
conversation to the actual relative
469
:truth rather than, as you say, you
don't just need one widget, you
470
:need 47 widgets, and that will be
the answer to all your prayers.
471
:Meanwhile, you know, overwhelm,
imposter syndrome, whatever it
472
:may be, that may kick up going.
473
:I'm not a technology person,
but if you give yourself time.
474
:Do it.
475
:As you said, just the stepping
stones of entering the stuff in.
476
:It's amazing what you can accomplish
in a short amount of time really.
477
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Yeah.
478
:Completely, utterly.
479
:Yeah.
480
:And the difference we see and the
nicest thing is, I, I don't normally
481
:talk about this one here, and I,
again, Geoff, you can see my camera.
482
:I'm kind of scratching my
head at the bit, no secret or
483
:anything, but, I, I'm dyslexic.
484
:I've recently been diagnosed with a ADHD.
485
:for me I see those as massive positives,
486
:gives me completely different
outlook on the world, and I kind
487
:of, it helps me problem solve and
think about things differently.
488
:I speak to a lot of people
who are in similar situations
489
:themself, and it's all scales.
490
:But the one thing you find, especially
when you are, you've got neurodiversity
491
:going on, and don't worry, I'm not
waving any flags here at all, but
492
:is that the more noise there is, the
harder it is to achieve something.
493
:Um, so by cutting that noise out,
we then see, go, actually you
494
:can adopt this, you can do it.
495
:And then all of a sudden, whereas they
think they have, talk about the mental
496
:barrier you talked earlier on, that's
suddenly removed and they stop doing.
497
:So it really is about A, finding the
right tool, and B, just going well.
498
:Let's be about how we
move forwards with this.
499
:I'm not trying to reinvent the world.
500
:This is a long term strategy,
so let's implement it.
501
:Geoff: And I think it's like what you say,
for me, the KISS model is the best model
502
:in the world because soon as you bring in.
503
:any new software or it doesn't matter
if it's software or learning to use
504
:camera or whatever it is that overwhelm.
505
:Is gonna be there straight away.
506
:'cause you are, now, what is it called?
507
:It's Conscious incompetence.
508
:You realise how bad you are at it.
509
:So you've gotta work through
that process in order to do it.
510
:And by adding small bite-sized bits
to help build that momentum up,
511
:you're able to actually develop that
up and then learn that skillset.
512
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: completely.
513
:Yeah.
514
:keep it simple.
515
:Simon, I think is the phrase that
516
:Geoff: That's the one.
517
:Absolutely.
518
:That's the one.
519
:I, so I call this the wisdom question.
520
:if you look back at your.
521
:Many years of experience.
522
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
Whatcha trying to
523
:Geoff: the, you're youthful.
524
:You're very youthful.
525
:what is the single biggest lesson
businesses taught you that you
526
:would wish you'd known on day one?
527
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
Okay, so I suppose I've got two
528
:Geoff: Okay.
529
:Be greedy.
530
:Go for it.
531
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
I'm gonna sneak.
532
:so again, I'm gonna go back
to a bit of advice I was given
533
:when I was at anger, poise.
534
:this was, so I was, I was.
535
:Fresh face, 24-year-old kid and first job.
536
:and I wanted to change the world and
I was determined to do everything.
537
:And I remember talking to my boss at
the time and him just turning, turning
538
:around and going, the most important
thing about marketing is delivery.
539
:So 90% of marketing is
delivery, 10% is the strategy.
540
:But most people, and I've done it
myself, I still do it now, is I get
541
:hooked up on the strategy side of it.
542
:And I suppose as, as
Nike says, just do it.
543
:So grab the bull by the
horns, give it a go.
544
:If it's not quite right, doesn't matter.
545
:Just improve every single
time you'll get there.
546
:As long as you're on that journey,
which relates back to the CRM side of
547
:things, just start putting people on.
548
:You will see a difference and it'll
make a massive, change to you.
549
:Um, and it's one of those ones, which
is easy to say, not so easy to do.
550
:Um, and I suppose the other
one I've learned, and I
551
:suppose it's related really.
552
:It's minimum viable product and it's
so much easier now with some of the
553
:tools are out there is if you are gonna
develop something, don't try and develop.
554
:No, actually no.
555
:They're both related, aren't they?
556
:It's don't try and get something.
557
:So it's in a perfect sense.
558
:I remember when I launched my
first version of the platform.
559
:For those that are involved in
traditional sort of software, you'll
560
:know it's not a cheap thing to do.
561
:Um, and it cost us an absolute fortune
and about two years to get over the line.
562
:With hindsight, I should have just built
a basic version of this, got it going,
563
:improved and developed, and I would've
got to my end journey a lot, lot faster.
564
:Geoff: Yeah.
565
:And do you think that's because
it's, I mean, when we start our own
566
:businesses up, they're more like
children there's more emotion, blood,
567
:sweat, and tears that go into it.
568
:than perhaps is healthy on many of many
thing, but So do you think it's that,
569
:perfection's a big is a big one, isn't it?
570
:I'm a recovering perfectionist.
571
:It's, you try, you, you
want everything, right?
572
:So when it goes out, you minimise
that sort of, well, this is wrong,
573
:this is wrong, this is wrong.
574
:But actually that's the
best learning curve in
575
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Yeah.
576
:I think exactly what you are
saying is completely spot on.
577
:But I think the big thing that goes
around most people's heads, especially
578
:when it comes to marketing, is they
think everybody is watching If you
579
:put something out, it's not perfect.
580
:Every single customer's gonna notice.
581
:Every single customer's going to judge
and then go, they're a terrible person.
582
:and it's gonna be.
583
:It's gonna be the biggest
failure on planet.
584
:It's not in reality, most marketing
we do doesn't get noticed.
585
:It's a slow chip away effect.
586
:It's.
587
:By doing that constant improvement,
you would just get to the point
588
:and most people don't know it.
589
:And do you know what some, one of the most
successful marketing plans I've ever done?
590
:Well, I'm, I'm doing an email marketing
campaign many, many moons ago and
591
:I sent an email out which was wrong
and it was very obviously wrong.
592
:And it went out to my whole database.
593
:And you know, I dunno if you've
been there, but you have that
594
:moment and your head goes and you
go, I cannot believe I've just done
595
:Geoff: Yeah, more times I care to admit.
596
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM: Yeah, I've,
of course I've only ever done it once.
597
:and so I kind of, I did that and I
thought, oh God, what am I gonna do?
598
:How am I gonna deal with this?
599
:And then I remember just going,
actually, do you know what?
600
:It's okay.
601
:And I sent an email out
to the database going.
602
:Oops, I made a mistake.
603
:It had the biggest amount
of responses positively
604
:'cause I went, I'm human in there.
605
:It was amazing.
606
:Don't do it too often.
607
:If you all think of email marketers,
don't do it too often 'cause
608
:it does kill your reputation.
609
:But as a one off it, that's
the way to recover it.
610
:But going back to your
other point as well.
611
:They're, our businesses are our kids.
612
:100%.
613
:And it's like when you become a
parent, I've got three of the lovely
614
:little, writers, love and to bits.
615
:but nobody gives you a
manual on how to do it.
616
:And likewise, because
we most entrepreneurs.
617
:I've come into the world because
they want to do something different.
618
:There's no manual on
doing something different.
619
:So you've gotta learn, you've gotta
make mistakes, you've gotta fail.
620
:You've gotta learn from that, and it's
the fastest, best way to learn is failure.
621
:Don't beat yourself up over it.
622
:Embrace it and go, this
is what I'm gonna do.
623
:This is how I'm gonna make things better.
624
:Geoff: Fantastic.
625
:So obviously you mentioned earlier
in the interview that there is a free
626
:version of popcorn that people can
access, test it, have a look at it
627
:how can people find out more about it?
628
:Where do they go?
629
:How can they, link up with you on
LinkedIn, those sort of things?
630
:I will, I'll put them on
the show note as well.
631
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
Oh, you're a gentleman.
632
:Thank you.
633
:so if you want the free version of
the platform, if you go just onto our
634
:website, which is popcorncrm.co.uk,
635
:that's a big button in the
corner, which is get free CRM,
636
:in that it is free forever.
637
:Okay?
638
:If you want to go, do, want to
go onto our paid products, we
639
:don't charge a fortune for them.
640
:All the prices there, we
have transparent pricing.
641
:We don't have contracts, we
don't have set of fees, and we
642
:don't have hidden fees in there.
643
:So it is there, for people to understand.
644
:we've also got a lead magnet, which
I'll share a link with you afterwards,
645
:which teaches you about some of the
things we've kind of talked about in
646
:here about choosing the right systems
and that side of things as well.
647
:So I'll share that with you afterwards.
648
:And if you wanna connect with me on
LinkedIn, obviously, search popcorn,
649
:CRM or mine, mine is Simon d Washbrook.
650
:So yeah,
651
:Geoff: No problem.
652
:We'll, make sure we put
all of those links in.
653
:Simon.
654
:thank you very much for taking the
time, and for allowing the builders
655
:just to be a little bit quiet while,
while we've been recording this.
656
:It's very kind of them.
657
:Yeah, exactly.
658
:Yeah.
659
:But you take care of yourself.
660
:Simon Washbrook - Popcorn CRM:
Thanks much guys.
661
:Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the
UK Business IQ Podcast and a big thank
662
:you to our guest for sharing their
expertise, knowledge, and experience.
663
:If you'd like to connect with them or
learn more about their work, you'll find
664
:all of their details in the show notes.
665
:Make sure you follow the podcast so
you don't miss future episodes where
666
:we continue spotlighting brilliant UK
businesses and the expertise they bring.
667
:Thanks again for listening, and
I'll see you on the next episode.
