Ft Fbt Discussion Threads

[chriscallen] 28/2/2019 11:20

Exactly one month ago we were favoured by an RNS concerning Pelaton, a win that might be significant if they succeed but which even the Release admitted was not even the gnat biting the gnats bum. The only real "win" was the expansion of the TownNews deal; that was not due to anything that FBT did but to the takeover of an existing client by Lee Enterprises Inc.
Of the promised "large" deals referred to publicly in November by the CEO we have heard nothing despite at least 2 trips by the CEO to the USA. It's becoming clear that they are stirring up a lot of interest but have a marketing and sales team that doesn't seem able to close the deal. Since there have been no RNS Reach releases on other smaller wins (<£70K) we can only assume that there have been none worth publicising. So we have once again an expensive team actually selling nothing commensurate with the cost. Has anybody got any evidence that FBT is achieving worthwhile contract wins or was Gervais Williams led up the garden path?

[bonio10000] 27/2/2019 15:16

Great price action.

Glad I didn't buy into the pre-Christmas spike on the back of IM and Miton's comments.

Clear as day no deals would arise and it would fall back.

[paulcon1] 27/2/2019 14:52

ChrisC

Are these trade/tech show appearances not a 'necessary evil' though? Just to keep your 'eye in' to what is happening and to see and be seen.

Not in the tech industry, so no idea of how financially viable they are as one-offs but viewed them as part of a marketing whole.

McSean

Hmmm!!

GL

[mcsean2164] 27/2/2019 14:50

Chris,

Excellent post, can you please talk with ss and get a job in fbt?

Paul,

I think results will be bitterly disappointing, just hoping 7p holds.

[nickb] 27/2/2019 12:20

To add to the above

Blackbird Awareness is still INCREDIBLY LOW amongst the workers in the industry. Imho.
Disappointing.

Maybe Blackbird awareness is strong at the C-suite level?

[nickb] 27/2/2019 11:28

Chris
Having been to BVE many times the value is in who you meet and the conversations.

The small presentations that are put on are great.
(It might be filmed)
It’s also about raising awareness then selling.

In the U.K. it’s pretty easy to find and identify potential customers to talk to and Post Production companies are a walk around Soho.
Silly not to attend and low cost compared to NAB in Las Vegas.

Got to show your face if you want to be seen and heard!

[chriscallen] 27/2/2019 10:37

Personally I'm not convinced by these trade shows... good for promoting a totally unknown product perhaps but for everybody else just a junket with attendees expecting a sales pitch and very resistant. In other words an unsatisfactory alternative to the hard work of a focused pitch. I'm not a professional marketeer but I got our strike rate up to better than 80% so what would I do now? Firstly, put a lot of effort into identifying precisely which potential buyers could really benefit from my product (more efficient? cheaper? faster? better quality? more versatile?). Then identify the key people who can actually give you an order, what their interests are and what they are involved in other than work (in other words what makes them tick). Ascertain who the gate keepers are (those who can stop you seeing your targets or block them giving you an order). Find a way around them or better still how to neutralise them. Then work hard on your pitch... no more than 25 mins (you can always come back once they are really interested): intro, 2 max 3 key points with practical examples, why you want the order, close. Practice it so that you know it inside out and are totally confident about the timing and content. I habitually spent 3 days on this, revising content and coaching those who were pitching (probably two)so they were 100% confident and could deal with questions from any direction.
There's a lot more but above all it needs enthusiasm, a will to win and imagination to find the right key that turns the pitch into something that clearly works for both parties. My concern is that the conversion process just doesn't seem to be happening often enough... if it's such a cost/time saver buyers should be queueing up and fighting to get it on board even if the roll out is over a longish period. But it doesn't seem to be happening even with customers who are delighted saying so. Something isn't right and it needs to be fixed.

[paulcon1] 27/2/2019 09:35

Apparently they are sponsors but not exhibitors - And speakers of course (Thurs - 1.00-1.30)

[paulcon1] 27/2/2019 09:29

Has there been any FBT press coverage or feedback re BVE - 26-28/02/19 - London?

[bonio10000] 26/2/2019 17:43

"Winning deals hand over fist"

The proof will soon be in the pudding.

[chriscallen] 26/2/2019 17:24

Some time during the next week or so the date for the annual accounts release should be announced. It seems likely in the absence of any positive news that there will be more marketing razzmatazz. I wonder who is keeping an eye on what is being spent, what is being won in terms of new business and which initiatives are giving the best return for each £1 spent? By now Lees must be semi-detached from all of this so it's probably not him. But it needs to be done and done properly; otherwise those bright marketing and sales guys will spend the company into the ground and generate nothing worthwhile in return. For example, in 2018 there was only one full RNS which was the TownNews extension all the others being RNS Reach.

[paulcon1] 26/2/2019 15:44

McSean

Hope all is good.

Agree, Am not confident about the next few weeks and the share price, you?

GLM

[bonio10000] 26/2/2019 15:19

Has Nickb been spouting that it is next year's financials that really matter?

I think he has been saying that since 2015.

I bet we see a rise in IM's salary too.

[paulcon1] 26/2/2019 09:09

They could rebrand mentioning all their major partnerships.

(www.) SoftBlackGardenTownBird (.com)

😂😂&#128514;

[bonio10000] 25/2/2019 09:54

Another rebrand, another website etc etc

IM - word to the wise, you are selling due to the name.

Amateurs.

[paulcon1] 23/2/2019 19:12

Perhaps they are looking to have the Tech updates ready for 21st March, that would be cool

GL

[cabi1] 23/2/2019 18:56

hxxps://www.blackbird.video/event/uk-blackbird-user-group-2019/?fbclid=IwAR35BoDLdjYtbYwS8jym7pCTVbs7qpXKgXC5YbJFOPhVhXVLAZvXrADMX6U

[chriscallen] 23/2/2019 17:03

Having nothing better to do I thought I might have a look at TownNews to see what they have on their website other than buying companies. In the last 3 weeks they have reported 14 items on customers. Clearly quite a lot may be small stuff but what it certainly shows is a record of selling upgrades and new services which, if these 3 weeks are typical, is impressive. At that rate they would be selling extra services to over 10% of their customer base this year without including any new customer wins. The list in case anybody is interested seems to be quite widely spread:
20/02/2019 The Moab Sun News went live with a new Flex redesign, moabsunnews.com, on February 20th at Polk County Itemizer-Observer went live with a new Flex site, hxxps://www.polkio.com/
20/02/2019 Polk County Itemizer-Observer went live with a new Flex site, hxxps://www.polkio.com/
20/02/2019 Omak-Okanogan Chronicle went live with a new Flex site, hxxps://www.omakchronicle.com/
14/02/2019 Peoria Times went live with a BLOX Flex site, hxxp://www.peoriatimes.com/
14/02/2019 Buffalo Bulletin went live with a BLOX Flex site: hxxp://www.buffalobulletin.com/
14/02/2019 J. Frank Publishing, Inc. went live with a BLOX Flex umbrealls site, hxxp://www.nolangroupmedia.com/
14/02/2019 hxxps://townnews.com/site/site_launches/buckley-newspapers/article_498f271c-3078-11e9-8a19-3f0e2719460c.html
13/02/2019 Enterprise went live with a new Flex site, hxxp://www.whitesalmonenterprise.com/
12/02/2019 The Tribune 242 (Bahamas) went live with a new Flex site, classifieds.tribune242.com
12/02/2019 Hood River News went live with a new Flex site, hxxps://www.hoodrivernews.com
11/02/2019 The Dalles Chronicle went live with a new Flex site, hxxps://www.thedalleschronicle.com/
08/02/2019 The Lodi News went live with a new Flex redesign, lodinews.com
04/02/2019 Milpitas Info went live with a BLOX Flex site, hxxps://www.milpitasinfo.com/
31/01/2019 Telemundo Atlanta went live with a new Flex broadcast site and Field59 video services, hxxps://www.telemundoatlanta.com/

It certainly allows them to sell to new customers by saying that lots of businesses just like them are benefitting from TownNews services and bying more.

[chriscallen] 23/2/2019 13:06

In reality they have already rebranded the company's activities to Blackbird; all that remains is to change Forbidden to something with Blackbird in it.