Are you ready to Scale your Sales?
The Marketing Spaces
Know what to do, when and why - discover Marketing Strategies that deliver results for your business
We're passionate about helping you (finally) sort your marketing out.
Frankly, you deserve better. You're a hard-working Lonely Marketer, keeping the wheels turning. You're setting the marketing plan, delivering it, frantically trying to improve it...and often alone.
When you turn to look for help, there's a bewildering array of options and you aren't sure which is right for you. There are hundreds of marketing courses on the market – all labelled as slightly different things.
Some of these courses are right for you.
Just like The Marketing Spaces' Scale Sales 5-week Programme was the perfect fit for two senior leaders in very different organisations. They used the course to help them kick-start a focused, strategic, very planned approach to marketing and sales. They designed a strategic marketing plan that was tailored to their organisation – and the people and budget in it.
And that’s not all. By following the five-week programme, they amassed a significant amount of marketing knowledge and understanding – and the confidence to use it to persuade others in their businesses that a deliberate and considered approach to sales and marketing is going to deliver results.
We want to make it easy for you to decide if our Scale Sales Programme is right for you. It might not be (yet). It might not be (ever). But it could be just what you need.
Here's an open account of it for you to make an informed decision.
A bit about the Scale Sales marketing programme
This programme is all about how to scale sales.
But it’s not about cold calling or lead generation.
And the Scale Sales Programme delivers all that in just five weeks.
Introducing Jo and Caroline
Jo and Caroline joined the programme in early 2023. They have very different roles in very different organisations. Jo is Group Director of ILAG – a membership organisation for the financial services sector. ILAG’s members include leading brands insurers to consultancies, as well as independent firms and sole practitioners.
Caroline is the Commercial Director at Luminex Consulting, a fast growing boutique accounting and financial reporting consultancy that specialises in solving complex accounting problems for ￡50M+ AIM listed businesses.
Jo says: “We needed to move to a new business model, post-Covid, but we didn’t quite know where to start. I was spending my time in a perpetual loop of just getting through tasks rather than having the time to put any structure to our activities.
"So I needed a way to focus on sales and marketing strategy, where someone was going to challenge my thinking and keep me on track.”
And Caroline agrees: “Luminex spun out of another accountancy business so we already had a capable team and a book of work centred around 35 clients but no brand and no sales & marketing plan.”
Why choose this marketing programme?
With so many options out there, how do you know which programme is right for you? It comes down to three things:
1.??????Programme Content
2.??????Programme Duration
3.??????Programme Leader
If you feel these things are going to deliver for you, then you’re prepared to make the investment – whatever it is - because you know you’ll get measurable and long-term value for the time and money you’re putting in.
Here's how the Scale Sales 5-Week Programme stacks up against them all.
1.????The Scale Sales Programme content
The content is what Kara Stanford has been using as a successful Strategic Marketing Consultant for over a decade now. She has taken her 5-Phased Consultancy Approach and created a carefully planned Programme that she guides you on.
This means you have a clear journey that ends with a strategic marketing plan you can use. Even better, because Kara runs the Programme, she makes sure that it's adapted as you go along so it fits your needs.
In fact, the programme has a number of clear outputs:
·??????Sales and marketing pipeline architecture
·??????Map of activities to carry out at each stage of the pipeline
·??????A better understanding of the marketing tech you need
·??????A high-level project plan and budget outline
·??????A summary strategic marketing plan that you can adapt to your own needs and timeline
·??????A key segment profile and key messages for your audience.
If that sounds like a lot, it’s because the programme comes with certain expectations.
“Before I applied, I thought, ‘can I fit this in?’, says Jo. “It seemed to have great content and approach that I decided would give me the structure to work through the next steps, and have deadlines and clear guidance on thinking.
"I knew I needed support, liked Kara’s focused approach and felt this would give me the head start I needed.”
That’s why all participants first go through the programme's application process – so that participants and the programme leader can be completely sure it’s the right choice. This also means that people get the chance to find out more about the content and process before they commit – leading to great satisfaction scores at the end of the programme.
“I went in recognising that I needed to do it. I needed the structure and discipline that it would bring, to get me from a jumble of ideas to something I could work with,” says Caroline. “I was very much open to learning new things and giving the time to do it. By the time I got to the end, it was clear it was the right choice.”
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2.????Programme Duration - how long does it take?
Five weeks may not seem very long for a strategic marketing programme – but it is structured to immerse you in the process and to be applying it to your business instantly, from Day 1.
Why? Because if you just do half an hour a week for six months, you lose your focus. Your time gets taken over by other things, and your course slowly becomes something that’s a nuisance rather than a bonus. You need something that is going to improve your marketing immediately. Your business doesn’t stand still so you need value from this programme immediately.
So yes, our five weeks are intense.
And yes, we expect a time commitment to help keep you on track.
And yes, we do hold you to account.
But the results speak for themselves.
For example, Caroline’s business is a brand new start-up. A start-up with the luxury of a team of experienced people and a good quality client bank. It needs to gain visibility and grow that client base with similarly valuable customers.
“As Commercial Director, I’m expected to lead brand development and put together a clear plan to build the business,” she says. “I needed to get the right support to help me do that right first time. And so for that reason, I’d recommend this commitment to anyone who needs that structure to support a new business, new product, business growth, or business change.”
“It was exactly the right time for me. I’ve been asked to create a brand and started with a blank sheet of paper, so this enabled me to go through a process, supported by someone as experienced as Kara, to create a sales and marketing pipeline that’s completely tailored to our business.
“For anyone thinking – I’m not getting the outcomes I want, or I don’t know what results I want, or how do I ensure that the business comes with me on this journey?– this is for you.”
That’s quite a commitment!
We do ask for a lot – but within a supportive and safe environment that allows you to ask questions, clarify thinking and make progress. And part of the tailored approach is also advising you on what to focus on, what to delay, and (put frankly) what to ignore!
For Jo, the structured nature of the programme was precisely the attraction. “I wasn’t sure what to expect at the beginning,” she says. “But I actually really appreciated the structure – not just of the content, but the way it was delivered. There are weekly videos, a dedicated two-hour meeting, a 1-2-1 call and a Friday ‘tea break’ where we can discuss where we’ve got to.”
“I knew it was going to be a big time and headspace commitment – and it was. But now I know what I have to do in the organisation and I have a plan to get there. I’m looking up rather than down and I have real confidence to lead the organisation in this area.”
3.????Working with the right leader
For a dedicated programme with a low participant limit, it’s important to have complete confidence in the course leader. While Jo had been recommended to the Marketing Spaces by another consultant, Caroline had seen Kara speak at a local networking meeting and invited her to be a speaker at her own client event.
“What’s great about Kara from my point of view is that she is collaborative, and a challenger,” says Caroline.
“She really knows her stuff, and she’s not afraid to stop you in your tracks and get you to explain your thinking or reasoning.
"She listens, she pushes, she advises and she supports. And that works brilliantly for me – it holds me to account and helps to clarify my thinking.”
Jo also found Kara’s individual support incredibly useful, and appreciated being part of a programme where other participants were from completely different organisations.
“Being part of a group gave me an additional perspective – it helped me to stop making assumptions about my organisation based on the ‘way things had always been done’ and to think differently.
"Kara is approachable, knowledgeable and is really skilled at guiding you to find the best way of doing things – for you and for your organisation.
"This programme is about giving you the knowledge, tools and confidence to do things yourself rather than rely on a consultant to do them for you.”
Scale Sales - a transformational experience
Like everything, hard work and practise brings its own rewards. And that’s the foundation of this programme. It’s designed to get participants to do the work from day one – so they have complete agency over the process and are putting their learnings into practice all the time.
“Initially, I was surprised by the focus on marketplace and competitors in weeks one and two,” says Caroline. “I wasn’t expecting to go into so much detail, or look so widely around the industry.
"It made me recognise important factors that I had ignored previously and that set the foundations for all the work to come.”
“It’s so refreshing to feel you don’t have to be distracted by the next ‘shiny thing’. If SEO or paid advertising or video don’t fit into your plan yet, that’s absolutely fine.
"I feel I’ve grown really strong marketing roots now and I’ve got the confidence to say ‘this plan is the right plan and I’m following it’”
Equally, Jo feels that the programme has been enlightening in many ways.
“It showed me that we have great talents and skills in our organisation and we can use them better to look after our members proactively – we want to build on that to differentiate ourselves from the competition.
“I’ve already used the strategic marketing template as basis for a presentation to the Board, and I have a list of work that needs to be done which is being turned into a plan.
"I know where the gaps are and can think about how we use resource and expertise to fill them – and I have the confidence and language to explain and back up my decisions.”
So. Is the Scale Sales 5-week programme for you?
There’s only one way to find out – check out our programme information and apply!
If you’re in charge of setting and delivering marketing and sales strategy, and you’re struggling in any way to get the clarity, insight or support you need, this programme could be for you.
“It’s my job to empower businesses to harness the power of marketing,” says Kara.
“I happily share what I know to help put people in a position where they feel in control of their marketing approach and can see how it will bring measurable results.
"The Scale Sales Programme does exactly that.”
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You can apply here for the Scale Sales Programme. We'll then send you the Information Pack and arrange a call with Kara to discuss if Scale Sales is right for you.