Top Things I learnt from interviewing Dean Salakas of The Party People

If you’ve already listened to the interview you’ll know that I could have carried on chatting to Dean for quite some time!

Here’s the key lessons I took from our discussion:

Team Management Tools aren’t just for Efficiency they’re for Happiness

Dean raved about Asana (the team/task management tool I use too). Not only because it make running the business much easier, but because 2 of his team had been suffering from stress, but are now really happy in their jobs and not feeling those stresses. All that from just a simple piece of software!

“Don’t research from Scratch – ask your peers”

Dean is a huge advocate of learning from your peers – others who know about running eCommerce businesses. So when he’s trying to find a solution to a problem he starts by finding out how his friends dealt with the same issue. Saving him lots of research time AND helping him find the right solution faster.

“Be agile, be first” – go beta!

Especially with new marketing methods. We spoke a lot about the benefits of being among the first to use a new marketing method. It’s cheaper, there’s less competition, you can build a good relationship with the supplier. And ‘whilst everyone else is starting, you’re already learning’.

BUT Dean also warned against doing this with software because there’s usually bugs to be found.

So keep an ear to the ground for beta tests.

‘As seen on TV’ is a great way to boost customer trust and increase brand awareness

Consider getting yourself and your products onto TV anyway you can – because it has a big impact on how the audience, your customer sees you.

Dean and his business have been on MasterChef, X Factor, Shark Tank and many more – great at the time, and great to feature on the homepage too.

He said it’s the most cost effective marketing he’s done.

Listen to the full interview and hear all about it here

 

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