Flavia Coffee Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is the first ALTERRA coffee to use 100% Rainforest Alliance Certified™ coffee

The Rainforest Alliance is an independent organisation with a rigorous certification process that comprehensively covers social, economic and environmental factors.

Flavia Sumatra Coffee

Our 100% Sumatran arabica beans are dark roasted to give a heavy bodied, complex cup with a bold finish.

Part of our dark and intense range of coffees for the Flavia office coffee machine.

A UKV we don’t just care about great coffee, we are also committed to minimising the environmental impact of our operations.

We are aware of the impact we have on the environment and this awareness guides many of our decisions.

With more than 50% of our range containing coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms, we help you achieve your own sustainability targets, and we know we are helping conserve biodiversity, ensure sustainable livelihoods for grower communities and help environmental conservation.

The Rainforest Alliance is an independent organisation with a rigorous certification process that comprehensively covers social, economic and environmental factors.

Here’s something that is fast becoming the most fundamental aspect of marketing we all have to get right, especially if we want to build a truly sustainable high quality organisation (of any size) in the modern age:
Ensure the ethics and philosophy of our organisation are good and sound.

This might seem a bit tangential to marketing and business, and rather difficult to measure, nevertheless…
• Price is no longer the king, if it ever was.
• Value no longer rules, if ever it did.
• Quality of service and product is not the deciding factor.
Today what truly matters is ethical and philosophical quality – from the bottom to the top – in every respect – across every dimension of the organisation.

Fifty years ago when we were first in business UK Vending Ltd would, in the much-understated terms of the day, have been called an excellent supplier, a decent and caring employer and a good neighbour. We understood then, as our family always had, that a really good business was a long-term business. We needed to be corporate friends with those who mattered to our business. In time we figured out that meant pretty well everyone. We also understood that a good business to be successful does not have to ride rough-shod over anyone – in fact quite the reverse. It has always been to our advantage that we are a family owned and run business. People recognise that this has a particular connotation and implies, correctly in our case, that we are involved and close enough to what goes on to take our personal reputations seriously and are hands-on in managing care to all we are associated with. Over the years, as we became a significant national company, the ‘family owned’ message helped humanise us in the minds of our customers and prospective customers. It helps us establish firmly with those our business touches something of our ethics and our philosophy.

Modern consumers, business buyers, staff and suppliers too, are today more interested than ever before in corporate integrity, which is defined by the organisation’s ethics and philosophy. These are reflected in environmental concerns, use or supply of Fairtrade™ or Sustainable goods, attainment of or compliance with published and recognisable ‘standards’, publishing your policies and displaying a uniform Corporate Social responsibility programme.

Good sound ethics and philosophy enable and encourage people to make ‘right and good’ decisions, and to do right and good things. It’s about humanity and morality; care and compassion; being good and fair and being seen to be so.
Profit is okay, but not greed; reward is fine, but not avarice; trade is obviously essential, but exploitation is not. If your marketing message does not conform with these be aware that you risk the shunning of many in the community with whom you might like to do business.

Psychological Contract theory is helpful towards understanding and developing fair balanced philosophy, especially in meeting the complex needs of staff, customers and the organization.

People naturally identify and align with these philosophical values. The best staff, suppliers, and customers naturally gravitate towards organisations with strong philosophical qualities.

Putting a good clear ethical philosophy in place, and communicating it wide and far lets people know that your organisation always strives to do the right thing. It’s powerful because it appeals to people’s deepest feelings. Corporate integrity, based on right and good ethical philosophy, transcends all else.

And so, strong ethics and good philosophy are the fundamentals on which all good organisations and businesses are now built.
People might not ask or talk about this much: the terminology is after all not fashionable ‘marketing-speak’, nor does it correlate obviously to financial performance, but be assured; everyone is becoming more aware of the deeper responsibilities of corporations and businesses in relation to humanity, and morality, the natural world, the weak and the poor, and the future of the planet.

Witness the antagonism growing towards certain multi-nationals. People don’t rail against successful corporations – they rail against corporations which put profit ahead of people; growth ahead of society and communities; technology and production ahead of the natural world; market domination ahead of compassion for humankind. None of this is right and good, and these organisations are on borrowed time.

People increasingly prefer to buy from, deal with, and work for, ethical, right-minded organisations. And whether an organisation is ethical and right-minded is becoming increasingly transparent for all to see.
So be one.

Aside from which – when you get your philosophy right, everything else naturally anchors to it. Strategies, processes, attitudes, relationships, trading arrangements, all sorts of difficult decisions – even perhaps directors’ salaries and share options dare we suggest.

It need not be complicated. The ultimate corporate reference point is: “Is it right and good? How does this (idea, initiative, decision, etc) stack up against our ethical philosophy?”

Organisations are complex things, and they become more and more complicated every day. A good ethical philosophy provides everyone with a natural, reliable reference point, for the tiniest detail up to the biggest strategic decision.
So as you start to write your marketing plan, be it for a new start-up, a huge corporation, or a little department within one, make sure you put a ‘right and good’ ethical philosophy in place before you do anything else, and watch everything grow from there.

Martin Button is the Managing Director of UK Vending Ltd, Britain’s longest serving vending company. UK Vending Ltd (UKV) is a national supplier of prestige vending products and a provider of unique financial packages supporting UKV sales. UKV is a family owned business started some fifty years ago by Martin’s father John. It was the first vending company anywhere in the world hosted on the internet when most had not yet heard of the World Wide Web. One of Google’s ‘naturals’, UKV had an online shop before Amazon and Ebay. UKV had a successful background in email marketing before most companies had begun to understand its power. Imaginative marketing coupled with excellent staff recruitment and management, planning and customer service may be key to UKV’s long-term success in this competitive market. However, sheer business savvy and insight is what makes it work.

Flavia range of Herbal Drinks

Writing effective copy for ads, web pages, sales letters and other marketing communications isn’t difficult when you know what works. These rules apply to writing copy for any type of marketing communication.

1. Define your objective – what is the goal of your message?

Define what you want your message to accomplish before you begin writing. Do you want to generate inquiries (leads)? Do you want to get orders? What action do you want readers to take? How do you want them to respond? Put your goal in writing and refer to it often as you develop your message.
Everything you write should directly support this goal. Get rid of anything that doesn’t.

2. Know your audience and what they want

Maybe everybody CAN use what you sell – certainly every organisation on earth could use vending products from my company UK Vending Ltd. But one targeted group WILL be most likely to buy it NOW. The group changes in turn with seasonal shift and market forces. You can discover that group by defining the characteristics of your best customers – develop a ‘Loyalty scheme’ i.e. not one like ‘Nectar’ unless you are a retailer but one which analyses the type and buying patterns of your customers and which allows you to target them in groups and prospects just like the ones you already satisfy. Once you know your audience and what they want you can personalize your writing to appeal to their specific interests.

TIP: Advertising copy produces the biggest response when each reader can believe the message was written specifically for them. As you write, visualize you’re writing to one person instead of to a large group of people. This will help you write in a less formal and more personal style.

3. Appeal to their self-interest, not yours

Customers don’t care about you, your product, your company, or your professional qualifications. They only care about the benefit they get from buying your product or service. The only thing a customer wants to know about your 1/2 inch drill or my 8ozs cup is that it’s guaranteed to give them a 1/2 inch hole or a darn good and satisfying drink. Keep your ad copy focused on the benefits you provide.

4. Make an emotional appeal, not a logical one

Your ad copy should dramatise the feeling your customers get whilst enjoying the benefits provided by your product or service. Get them emotionally involved so they want to start enjoying those benefits immediately. Use word pictures and real life stories to draw readers into your message. Powerful messages use powerful words. What makes a word powerful is how apposite it is in the mind of the target reader.

5. Don’t give them any choices

You may spend a lot of time writing your sales message and getting it “just right”. Unfortunately, your prospects will rush through it and make a fast decision – however, if you don’t get it right, the decision they make consciously or unconsciously is to not take up your offer or respond to your message. Don’t slow them down with any choices. They’ll be afraid of making the wrong choice and will protect themselves by making none. You’ll lose sales.

EXCEPTION: Offer many different ways to respond to your ad or sales message. Customers already know whether phone, fax, email, online, etc. is more convenient for them. They’re more likely to act immediately when their favourite way to respond is available.

6. Make your best offer

The offer is the “deal” you’re promoting (free information, special price, free bonus with order, etc.). It’s the only reason people respond to your advertising copy. The stronger your offer the greater the response you’ll get. Always include the best offer you can afford and a reason to act fast.

7. Simplify Everything

Simple, clear copy is easy to read and understand. Remember the KISS principle. It propels your customer to the decision point with no hesitation. After you’ve written your copy, edit it for simplicity and clarity. Use lots of 1 and 2 syllable words. Shorten sentences and paragraphs. This is especially important for your web site where relief is just a click away.
EXCEPTION: There are many examples of ‘best’ copy also being longest copy. Most people do not respond to sales offers based on a single reason to proceed. Likewise, when a salesperson calls, a mere one reason to proceed is usually not enough. Less is not always more and the compiled statistics of many large organisations in this field bear this out. Repetition is good as it reinforces the message. P.S.’s are powerful closes as many ‘calls to action’ are best contained within a P.S.

Martin Button is the Managing Director of UK Vending Ltd, Britain’s longest serving vending company. UK Vending Ltd (UKV) is a national supplier of prestige vending products and a provider of unique financial packages supporting UKV sales. UKV is a family owned business started some fifty years ago by Martin’s father John. It was the first vending company anywhere in the world hosted on the internet when most had not yet heard of the World Wide Web. One of Google’s ‘naturals’, UKV had an online shop before Amazon and Ebay. UKV had a successful background in email marketing before most companies had begun to understand its power. Imaginative marketing coupled with excellent staff recruitment and management, planning and customer service may be key to UKV’s long-term success in this competitive market. However, sheer business savvy and insight is what makes it work.

• Keep your ear to the ground

Knowing our competitor’s offers, pricing policies and guarantees means you can legitimately claim you offer the very best. Remember, watch them but don’t be tempted to copy them! In fact, the opposite applies; try to be innovative and stress our unique selling points.
• More positive thinking
Use all the media available to us to deliver good news about our business and raise our profile. Well written press releases (and we have interest in us form both TV and Radio presently) focussing on new initiatives, promotions, or company events and celebrations are likely to get published. It’s free advertising and the good news will make a nice change for people to read!
• Rabbit rabbit rabbit

Regular contact with our customers is essential. Write to them and thank them for their custom, send them promotion information or just pick up the ‘phone to remind them who you are. Email newsletters are a great idea and won’t cost us the earth and these will go out monthly.
• Stress the value

Try to focus our messaging on the things that matter most to buyers in slow economic times:- i.e. their bottom line, great value for money and a fast return on their investment. Remember, our customers are facing tight times too.
• Measure, measure and measure again

Do we really know what’s bringing in the business? Evaluate every one of our marketing activities carefully including those you specifically use. Set yourself specific goals, such as a number of calls to make, a percentage of call-backs, etc, and then track how each activity delivers against those goals. Be ready to change marketing tactics that are not driving immediate business value and sales.

My friend the wise man also said, “There are two answers to every problem. Answer ’1’: Test everything. Answer ‘2’: Refer to answer ‘1’.”

Of course at UK Vending Ltd we test to find out whether one marketing message will work better than another. But there is another, even simpler reason to keep testing. It is to eliminate useless discussion. Why waste time? Let the prospects and customers decide for you! If your ideas work then you will grow them organically – both ideas and customers. If they don’t, you may ponder a while and try something else. But don’t think too much or too long. Procrastination may be death. Doing something, (in promotional terms), is always better than doing nothing. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate… (and if my message here is not clear enough) Communicate again.

There is one thing I can certainly predict and that is that I cannot predict with certainty which message will work, with whom and when. I have compiled all sorts of statistics over the years which give me clues because they tell me what worked, to what degree with whom. But wasn’t it Beaverbrook who said “half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted, I just don’t which half”. This dilemma did not deter him or his thousands of paying advertisers. I cannot guarantee that pound for pound I or you will get the best possible return on promotions but I do know if I don’t promote, sell and advertise then my business will diminish. So will yours. So sure, I try to ‘sell smart’ and target my messages wrapped in the best offers affordable, but volume is key as is repetition.

It was once said of newspapers (and newspapers still carry 41% of all marketing messages) that to make an advert work it needs to be inserted at least four times. The first time they ‘see’ it, the second time they ‘read’ it, the third time they ‘consider’ it and finally, on the fourth pass they action it. Not every reader sees the advert for the first time on the same day. My first time may be your fourth time. Therefore, there is no argument that says the advert should only be repeated four times. It should be repeated in my experience until the law of diminishing returns sets in. Then rest the successful advert with a mind to renew and refresh it in due course. Incidentally, for ‘newspaper advertising’ read any form of printed advertising in hard copy or electronically – the same rules apply.
I’ll wager that if you communicate more often than your competitors, you will outdo them. Keep at it till it doesn’t pay … then give it a rest and try again.

There is a direct relationship between profit and communication. The more you tell the more you sell.

If you spend 5 minutes a day thinking of reasons to talk to your prospects and customers – about things that might benefit or interest them (not you) – you will find it the best ROI you ever had.

Martin Button is the Managing Director of UK Vending Ltd, Britain’s longest serving vending company. UK Vending Ltd (UKV) is a national supplier of prestige vending products and a provider of unique financial packages supporting UKV sales. UKV is a family owned business started some fifty years ago by Martin’s father John. It was the first vending company anywhere in the world hosted on the internet when most had not yet heard of the World Wide Web. One of Google’s ‘naturals’, UKV had an online shop before Amazon and Ebay. UKV had a successful background in email marketing before most companies had begun to understand its power. Imaginative marketing coupled with excellent staff recruitment and management, planning and customer service may be key to UKV’s long-term success in this competitive market. However, sheer business savvy and insight is what makes it work.

1. Location
2. Water connection
3. Energy consumption
4. Reliability
5. Cleaning
6. Range of drinks
7. Quality of drinks
8. Backup service
9. Sustainability
10. Ease of use

UK Vending

Ring 0800 454301 for your free demonstration.

Selling and sales training ideas, courses, programmes, products, etc., are just part of the picture.

Modern selling requires understanding and capabilities that extend way beyond traditional ‘sales training’ skills.

Modern selling is about life, people, business (and increasingly, ethical business and corporate responsibility), communications, behaviour, personality and psychology, self-awareness, attitude and belief. Selling is about understanding how people and systems work, and enabling good outcomes. (By ‘systems’ I mean organisations and processes and relationships and rapport, not just systems in the sense of tools and IT.)

Sales training of course addresses some of these issues, but not all of them.

So consider and learn about other aspects of modern business, management, and self-development that interest you, and extend this principle to your people if you are a sales manager or coach.

Develop your experience and understanding of organisations, management and business – beyond sales training alone – and you will greatly increase your value and effectiveness to employers and clients, and to the organisational and business world generally.

The more you understand about how people think, how organisations work and how they are managed, the more effective you will be.

Look beyond sales training and selling, and strive to become an enabler and a facilitator of good outcomes. This is the role of the modern sales-person. It’s a highly valuable, sought-after and transferable capability.

One of our sales managers remarks how 30+ years he was confronted by a chap at a party who introduced himself as someone in the same line of work as our manager. “Oh yes” said our man, “And what line would that be?”. “I’m a rep” said the other chap. “I’m a professional salesman” said our guy. “What’s the difference?” he was asked. “Around forty grand a year” our guy replied.

Forty grand a year was once an awful lot of money especially when it represented the difference in income between workers. But it also reflected the very fundamental difference between what trained salespeople were and the traditional ‘rep’ or, alternatively, ‘the spiv’ high-pressure con man. People like our man were relentlessly trained by the big companies of their day with big training budgets to understand time management, communication skills, management skills, general business subject and so much more. They did not limit the training of sales people to just objection handling and closing skills. They actually taught them formally to understand business communications with business people. To present their companies well in a brief and apposite manner. They were taught questioning skills so as to bring to the table detailed understanding of their customer or client. Negotiating skills so as not to lead anyone in a win/lose situation but to an agreed win/win conclusion. Yes of course the preferred outcome to the salesman’s employer was another customer but a customer that understood what was on the table and who chose to buy the product or service offering without ever experiencing ‘buyer’s regret’.

My company, UK Vending Ltd invest considerably in our sales force. Why when in today’s economy non-performers are so readily available? Because, we like long term relationships with both our staff and our customers. Therefore, we want the very best representation we can find to complement our excellent products and services. We want our customers to stay with us. Marketing is expensive so once we have fought to find our customer we will fight doubly hard through our customer service to keep him. This means we need to get it right at the outset and ensure our people, all our people, especially sales people are as professional as they can be in the product knowledge and their people knowledge. Their success usually means their longevity of stay with us. We have a remarkably small staff turnover. Our staff like us and stay with us. So do our customers – we think because our customer care of them begins with our sales people well before our customers become our customers.

The key to our relationship with both our staff colleagues and our customers? Rapport . Our definition of rapport? An atmosphere of friendliness, trust, confidence and co-operation – it is what makes all relationships work – especially long-erm business relationships..

Martin Button is the Managing Director of UK Vending Ltd, Britain’s longest serving vending company. UK Vending Ltd (UKV) is a national supplier of prestige vending products and a provider of unique financial packages supporting UKV sales. UKV is a family owned business started some fifty years ago by Martin’s father John. It was the first vending company anywhere in the world hosted on the internet when most had not yet heard of the World Wide Web. One of Google’s ‘naturals’, UKV had an online shop before Amazon and Ebay. UKV had a successful background in email marketing before most companies had begun to understand its power. Imaginative marketing coupled with excellent staff recruitment and management, planning and customer service may be key to UKV’s long-term success in this competitive market. However, sheer business savvy and insight is what makes it work.

UK Vending Ltd

Writing effective copy for ads, web pages, sales letters and other marketing communications isn’t difficult when you know what works. These rules apply to writing copy for any type of marketing communication.

1. Define your objective – what is the goal of your message?

Define what you want your message to accomplish before you begin writing. Do you want to generate inquiries (leads)? Do you want to get orders? What action do you want readers to take? How do you want them to respond? Put your goal in writing and refer to it often as you develop your message.
Everything you write should directly support this goal. Get rid of anything that doesn’t.

2. Know your audience and what they want

Maybe everybody CAN use what you sell – certainly every organisation on earth could use vending products from my company UK Vending Ltd. But one targeted group WILL be most likely to buy it NOW. The group changes in turn with seasonal shift and market forces. You can discover that group by defining the characteristics of your best customers – develop a ‘Loyalty scheme’ i.e. not one like ‘Nectar’ unless you are a retailer but one which analyses the type and buying patterns of your customers and which allows you to target them in groups and prospects just like the ones you already satisfy. Once you know your audience and what they want you can personalize your writing to appeal to their specific interests.

TIP: Advertising copy produces the biggest response when each reader can believe the message was written specifically for them. As you write, visualize you’re writing to one person instead of to a large group of people. This will help you write in a less formal and more personal style.

3. Appeal to their self-interest, not yours

Customers don’t care about you, your product, your company, or your professional qualifications. They only care about the benefit they get from buying your product or service. The only thing a customer wants to know about your 1/2 inch drill or my 8ozs cup is that it’s guaranteed to give them a 1/2 inch hole or a darn good and satisfying drink. Keep your ad copy focused on the benefits you provide.

4. Make an emotional appeal, not a logical one

Your ad copy should dramatise the feeling your customers get whilst enjoying the benefits provided by your product or service. Get them emotionally involved so they want to start enjoying those benefits immediately. Use word pictures and real life stories to draw readers into your message. Powerful messages use powerful words. What makes a word powerful is how apposite it is in the mind of the target reader.
5. Don’t give them any choices

You may spend a lot of time writing your sales message and getting it “just right”. Unfortunately, your prospects will rush through it and make a fast decision – however, if you don’t get it right, the decision they make consciously or unconsciously is to not take up your offer or respond to your message. Don’t slow them down with any choices. They’ll be afraid of making the wrong choice and will protect themselves by making none. You’ll lose sales.

EXCEPTION: Offer many different ways to respond to your ad or sales message. Customers already know whether phone, fax, email, online, etc. is more convenient for them. They’re more likely to act immediately when their favourite way to respond is available.

6. Make your best offer

The offer is the “deal” you’re promoting (free information, special price, free bonus with order, etc.). It’s the only reason people respond to your advertising copy. The stronger your offer the greater the response you’ll get. Always include the best offer you can afford and a reason to act fast.

7. Simplify Everything

Simple, clear copy is easy to read and understand. Remember the KISS principle. It propels your customer to the decision point with no hesitation. After you’ve written your copy, edit it for simplicity and clarity. Use lots of 1 and 2 syllable words. Shorten sentences and paragraphs. This is especially important for your web site where relief is just a click away.

EXCEPTION: There are many examples of ‘best’ copy also being longest copy. Most people do not respond to sales offers based on a single reason to proceed. Likewise, when a salesperson calls, a mere one reason to proceed is usually not enough. Less is not always more and the compiled statistics of many large organisations in this field bear this out. Repetition is good as it reinforces the message. P.S.’s are powerful closes as many ‘calls to action’ are best contained within a P.S.

Martin Button is the Managing Director of UK Vending Ltd, Britain’s longest serving vending company. UK Vending Ltd (UKV) is a national supplier of prestige vending products and a provider of unique financial packages supporting UKV sales. UKV is a family owned business started some fifty years ago by Martin’s father John. It was the first vending company anywhere in the world hosted on the internet when most had not yet heard of the World Wide Web. One of Google’s ‘naturals’, UKV had an online shop before Amazon and Ebay. UKV had a successful background in email marketing before most companies had begun to understand its power. Imaginative marketing coupled with excellent staff recruitment and management, planning and customer service may be key to UKV’s long-term success in this competitive market. However, sheer business savvy and insight is what makes it work.