Footfall

I read this article today about George Gregan, Aussie Rugby Union legend now turned catering entrepreneur.

As an ex-rugby player and lifelong England RU fan, I knew that if George was on the field then he would win the tactical battle, I didn't like this so much but seeing that even when making solid bucks as a professional rugby player he was thinking strategically about his future after rugby and carrying out intelligent market research.... pretty inspirational!

My business is quite different to George's but we are faced with the same problem, how do we get people to our door?

George spent his spare time on match day very differently to how I did during my many times lower level rugby career. As you'll read in the article he spent his time 'people counting' outside train stations to find the best sites for the start of his coffee empire http://georgegregan.com/. Although the article doesn't state it I bet he'd invested in a hand tally.

What we did was become experts in a niche area of the Salesforce ecosystem, but a niche that has broad appeal to the market i.e., Data Integration, Migration and Master Data Management. To bring footfall we've gained massive expertise with the best tools in the market - the Informatica Cloud toolset, and worked closely with Informatica to develop the products and the market. Finally we offer these competencies to as many Salesforce partners as we can.

If we've learned anything it's that you need to put yourself out there and 'if you build it they will come' doesn't work.

Knowing George, although he seems to be limiting his businesses to Australia right now, I expect him to be conquering England in the very near future.

Martyn Leman