Contrary to what I witnessed at the political event, it was quite heart-warming to see someone who does not indulge in political manoeuvring, but rather is actively involved in business and in helping young people to get to the same position of success as himself being so open and honest about what he thinks about his business. He spoke candidly about the pros and cons , the many mistakes and hot headed decisions that came back to affect him and his new found passion for business. He went all the way to talk about the people who inspired him and his new mentors for the different things in his business and personal lives. Things that he used to take for granted but has realised the importance of, adding a lot more detail to everything as it’s always the little things that make a big difference. By this time he was rubbing shoulders with some of the family members who are also successful in their own right, which spiralled into a lot of business related conversation.

Now, after lengthy questions and answers on business, I was ready to move toward something more light hearted. Like his passion for surfing. This brought a big sigh from some and from others there was a sign of relief on their faces.

“There was a time where very few managers were allowed to express their opinion, in our prima donna English premiership, like the likes of Ferguson, Wenger, Mourihnos and in the past Daglish and Keegan. You occasionally get the likes of David Moyes and Martin O’Neil who are sometimes candid about their opinion on the subject matter discussed at the time. Listening to Ferguson is like listening to a seasoned politician, no wonder he was consulted on matters on national politics by erstwhile labour government, because of his boisterousness and bullish attitude towards the press- which in most cases is deserved.

“Then the Wengers and Mourihnos tend not stick to status quo, always finding ways of getting officials to their way of thinking. The constant denial and ‘I didn’t see this or that’ incidence is common among managers as diving is to Ronaldo, Drogba and Van Persie. With obvious alliances between some so called established managers, it’s almost like a no go territory to talk about other
managers. You can’t necessary blame them as they have to be able to pick the sleep out of their eyes.

“This season has been interesting from different perspectives, players, fans, owners and managers. The one thing that is intriguing to me is of Blackpool, who are currently living the dream. With odds in favour of their relegation following their sudden promotion to the premiership, and incredible and passionate fans in the most exciting football colours to brighten
our days in the midst of doom and gloom, you can’t help but to admire the one person who has been the architect of this extraordinary success with little or no resources. Ian Holloway springs to mind as the main orchestrator.

“They can talk and argue about this all day, but with his candid opinion about the goings on in the football world and the meticulous planning of events that sometimes baffle even the seasoned pundits, I find it hard not to talk about his management style and abilities and the cunning ways he does his press conferences and discusses issues he thinks affect his team and the game he loves. There are other managers currently doing good jobs but he wins my vote if there were to be a contest even amongst the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson who I have admired for ages.”

If anything, what he has observed as a director of Primus UK Ltd is that he can learn big lessons from Blackpool’s success in the sense that when he learns how to cut his cost and increase efficiency with the scant resources he still can achieve tremendous results. More so, in this time when there is not much money in the system, if people are able live within their means and are
honest with themselves and others around them, they will be successful no matter how hard it gets.

The views in this article only represent that of the director and not the entire Primus UK Ltd.

For more information contact manchester@primusukltd.com

Primus UK Ltd was established to service an indentified gap in the market for quality face to face customer acquisition teams in the UK and Europe.

This has prompted the Director of Primus UK Ltd, Mr Richard Clark, to caution job seekers as he is concerned about these stories. He believes he has a moral obligation to help people identify these companies, be able to deal with the aftermath if people are already affected, and most important of all, advise people to stay clear of these companies. For these reasons he has come up with a self help guide to help potential candidates to differentiate between companies that provide opportunities and those that indulge in scams. There are few key areas to look for before you turn away a good career or opportunity:

Do not part away with your money no matter how great it sounds.
We will always advise people to stay clear of businesses that require people to pay money upfront or hand over copies/demos/designs upfront especially in creative industries (publishing, music etc). Just call up before your interview or email and ask if you will have to invest any money, if you do then STAY WELL CLEAR.

Look for work from accredited job or recruitment companies or websites.
There are numerous websites that advertise jobs on behalf of several companies. Make sure you are on the right jobsite as they have to protect their own brand by carefully vetting all their own clients before placing ads.

Seeing is believing – Attend open days.
Most companies offer voluntary open days where potential candidates get the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the company and its operations. As these are on voluntary basis people should take advantage of it to find out more about them.

Always ask questions.
You should get all the answers you require to make a good decision rather than start a job in haste. Asking the right questions either on the phone or by email is always going to put you in a good situation as the right companies respond to you curiosity.

Do a thorough research on the company’s clients.
Use all the resources available to you to make an informed decision on your next career path. Most companies will provide a list of the clients they work with and are always very co-operative as their clients require their openness in their recruitment process.

Have you been a victim of career scam.
If you found yourself in a career scam you can contact the office of fair trading, consumer direct or the police. They will help, where possible, but all too often the trail will stop dead.

For more information contact manchester@primusukltd.com

Primus UK Ltd is an independent sales and marketing company established to service an indentified gap in the market for quality face to face customer acquisition teams in the UK and Europe.

At an extraordinary annual meeting between staff, other directors and independent personnel at the head office of Primus UK Ltd in Manchester, Richard underscored the need to stay focused and not lose sight of the fact that 2011 offers a lot of challenges as the economy is still not growing at the expected rate. He intimated that it is only by working together and making sure we provide a better playing field for personnel that the company can achieve the results he is setting out for the company. There are three areas he is looking into improving to make sure as an organisation they are as competitive as ever and are
meeting the demands of the clients. These are:

• Customer service driven: there has to be a concerted effort to meet the demands of the 21st century customer. This has to done by making sure the image representatives and clients are always spot on and also represent the client in a manner which brings greater prosperity to all. Using up to date information and technologies to gain the trust of customers, providing as much information as possible to help their decision making and instilling greater confidence in acquisition processes he says are the way forward.

• Client focus: with an upward increase in clients in 2010 and currently working with some of the industry’s biggest names in and around the country, he stressed that the company has to move towards securing all the work that is subcontracted to
other rival companies. This is the next direction he wants to pursue and in doing so properly the company can represent these clients not only in the UK but throughout the whole of Europe, says Richard Clark. The company is looking to expanding its
existing client base to other sectors like home improvement, solar and sustainable energy, and also venture into new, exciting and challenging markets like Brazil, India and Australia.

• Personnel: he reiterated the importance of working alongside people who share the same ambitions and are inspired about the fact that they too can play a vital role in the company. This he challenged everyone involved with the company to strive for
the best and be the best at all times. In his own words, he says “in an ever changing world of business, every organisations’ goal depends on the aspirations of its people who are either directly or indirectly connected to the business. Results from the last
few years have shown that growth wasn’t only reliant on the people who had great experience and qualifications in the industry, but the ordinary men and women who are looking for opportunities to prove themselves but haven’t had a company to harness their talent and potential. All because they don’t have requisite experience and qualifications or in some cases look different from us”. He has thrown down the gauntlet to the people of Primus UK Ltd to adopt a ‘bottom up’ approach which will
provide an equal and better playing field for all who are involved in the company. People’s attitude, work ethic and their ability to transform themselves, will be the key to sustainable growth and expansion in the coming months and years.

His speech was met with intermittent applause and ended with a 90 second standing ovation, cheering and chanting of the company’s Latin name ‘primus inter pares’ meaning ‘first among equals’.

Below are some of the reactions of some of the people who attended the fever pitched event:

Chris Dixon, a director at Primus UK Leicester, “his insight into today’s modern working culture is going to define the company beyond the first two quarters of the year, it was really as good as the food!” he quipped. “In my professional life I haven’t experienced anything like this, from the preparation to the actual program was immense”, said Usman Mansoor, a newly accredited trainer for one of the clients. James Flynn campaign manager in Leeds, “I have always wanted to do public speaking and these speakers took it to a whole new level. I honestly believe in the direction the company is going.” Were you at the annual event? What is your say?

For more information contact manchester@primusukltd.com

Primus UK Ltd is an independent sales and marketing company established to service an
indentified gap in the market for quality face to face customer acquisition teams in the UK
and Europe.

After a few years Richard realised he needed to settle down a little, so he started working for an IT company that wrote time recording and accounting software. From working in the support department he was promoted to manager and started going into consultancy. It was at this stage, however, that he started to realise that the opportunity for progression was really limited. As he says himself:

“It is that way in most companies because promotion is dependent on somebody else leaving.”

After 4 years at the same company he became frustrated that he wasn’t able to achieve his goals so he started his own web design business in Portugal. Soon it dawned on him that there was a real need to balance the creative side of the business with the more pragmatic side in which he excelled.

“I realised that although there are a lot of brilliantly creative people out there, they sometimes need to team up with somebody like me to manage accounts and handle clients.”

Looking back now as the owner of Primus UK it is quite ironic that Richard actually hired somebody else to do the sales and marketing because he assumed that he would never be able to it having had no experience of it himself.

A few years later Richard moved to England and it was at this time that he saw an ad for Outsourcing Sales saying that he could start immediately. This was all the motivation he needed and despite knowing very little about the industry, Richard decided he would give it a go and the foundations for Primus UK were laid.

Richard is 38 now and for a long time felt it hard to settle but it is clear that the industry has treated him well and that he finally has a business that can keep him rooted.

Richard believes female referees should be given the same support as their male counterparts. “There have been an incredible number of women who have done tremendous jobs in our footballing world, some with spectacular views and understanding
of the game.” The likes Jacqui Beltrao (sky sports reporter), Kelly Smith (former England ladies captain) who has achieved unprecedented amounts of success in football, Hope Powell ( former England women’s coach) who at some point was linked to several coaching jobs in the premiership have shown great insight into today’s sports.

Sexism doesn’t only exist in football, it just happens to be the one that was caught off air, but it does exist in the wider working environment and homes. As a director at Primus UK, he has discounted the many time he has read numerous stories about women and sometimes men are refused certain opportunities based on their sex. He also believes, “we should look at the wider picture of not only sexism but racism, religious and political intolerance and homophobia as these also affect a lot of people and work places.”

As we look to close the chapter on Andy Gray and Richard Keys’ unwarranted comments on assistant referee Sian Massey, he advises that we look at better ways of integrating well in our work place and provide a better, freer and fairer working environment and also promote equality in our work places and homes.

The views expressed here do represent Richard Clark and Primus UK Ltd in general. For more information contact manchester@primusukltd.com

Primus UK Ltd is an independent sales and marketing company established to service an indentified gap in the market for quality face to face customer acquisition teams in the UK and Europe.