We now have so many electronic ways to communicate with clients and colleagues in business that we are losing the art of actually talking to our clients! So close your Facebook, shut down the email, and get out there, look the client in the eye and remember how to do business the old fashioned way.

Who says?

Sahar Hashemi is one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs. She built the Coffee Republic empire from scratch with her brother, and is now setting out on a totally new venture to experience the thrill of building a business all over again.

She supports a recent groundbreaking research project, which showed that younger businessmen and women are too reliant on electronic tools to communicate with potential clients and partners. She believes that although modern day communication tools have an invaluable role to play in business, you can’t replace the trust and understanding that comes from a face-to-face meeting.

If you’re interested in making sure you get all the business you possibly can, and aren’t losing out to the competition, this webchat session will be invaluable. Why not submit a question to Sahar so you can pick her business savvy brain for all the answers you need?

Sahar Hashemi joins us live on the Business Show on Friday 9th November at 15:00 to discuss client communication

H: Mark Ryse, host
S: Sahar Hashemi, co-founder Coffee Republic

H: Hello there, welcome along to the Business Show brought to you by Vodafone, I’m Mark Ryse. Well there’s been an awful lot of talk recently about social networking sites like Facebook, but how good are they in fact for business? Wouldn’t it be better in some respects simply to talk to people? Close down your email, close down your Facebook and talk to people face-to-face. New research is highlighting that the personal touch is very much the way forward and the way to secure new business as well. The research – conducted by Vodafone – shows that picking up the phone, very often, is the best way. Well here to talk about networking and business is the co-founder of Coffee Republic Sahar Hashemi, welcome along to the show

S: Thank you

H: Now lots of questions to get through and you can join in as well, you can send us a question if you like, the little box that you’re watching on, just type your name and the question and then hit send and it will come through to me live in the studio and you can ask your questions to Sahar. Let’s talk about this research from Vodafone first of all, it really does suggest back to basics with business doesn’t it?

S: Yes absolutely I mean I think it’s great to have this research because I think it’s slightly daunting to think well the internet’s great, it’s enabled us to do things much quicker, but the downside is these young kids, that’s all they’re used to so for them they think just sitting behind Facebook and networking online is it

H: I think the clue with Facebook is that it’s a social networking site not a business networking site

S: Yes, no it’s not and people think oh I’ve got so many contacts, well actually that doesn’t really mean anything. I mean it’s good to have the contacts but you’ve got to then pick up the phone and call the contacts and meet them, and for me I think you get business ideas, you make businesses happen by talking to people because you can have a conversation with someone and nothing could come of it, but they could lead you in another direction, and that’s how it’s sort of safety in numbers in a way – talk to a lot of people and they’ll lead you in the right direction. If you send an email you’ll get a response back, that’s it, nothing else comes out of it

H: Do you think that we’re in the position that people haven’t got enough time in their day, they don’t want to have a 15 minute conversation with someone when a one-line email may be able to do it, or are we missing the point when we think like that?

S: Well if someone says they haven’t got enough time in the day what else are they doing? And the problem is I think sometimes the whole internet is such a time waster. You can just sit there for hours glued to the internet, we all can

H: And a lot of businesses have banned some internet usage in their companies anyway

S: That’s right which is such a good idea, and I myself – you know I’m very much master of my own day and I’m now actually very much trying to limit the time I spend on the internet, I just make sure I’ve switched it off, put the sort of computer down and then go and think, be able to make phone calls, talk to people, because you just sort of sit there, it’s quite a passive state and everything goes on there but you’re not actually doing anything and starting a business is about doing something

H: And the research of course shows that face-to-face contact, actual meetings, meeting people, shaking their hands, pressing their flesh as they say, is really really important

S: Yes and you know the thing about our generation if I may say now, in my late 30s is we had to do it, there was no other solution you know sort of, even if you were shy, even if you’d never done it before you had to get out there and meet people, you know you had – whereas it’s not like that any more so you had, the great thing about this Vodafone research is it’s slightly kind of raising the alarm bells, you know

H: Well I guess you see both sides of it because Coffee Republic was set up – what 15 years ago – there or thereabouts, and now you’re setting up a new company, Skinny Candy

S: Yes

H: What’s the difference, because you’re going right back to scratch, what’s the difference between building up a business now and building up a business then?

S: Yes I – very very similar, the whole journey is very very similar, but what has changed is technology, I mean when I started Coffee Republic, my brother and I, we started it together, I remember we eventually got one mobile phone that we shared basically for kind of emergency phone calls because it was so expensive. Now it’s very different, nowadays, I remember when I did my research at Coffee Republic I could get to know about the market and the suppliers and stuff, you’d like pick up the Yellow Pages, call up a supplier, they’d say sure we’ll put the brochure in the post for you

H: The days when you used the big telephone directory have gone

S: Do you remember –

H: It was very different wasn’t it?

S: Yes and then someone would pick up and go sure I’ll put you on the list, I’ll send you the information, they would send it within a week in first class post, whereas now in two seconds you have got every single thing that that brochure has on Google, so I found it made a real difference being on Google basically, I mean Google and the internet made a real difference, I’ve got a site for Skinny Candy I can tell people what it’s about instead of describing it to them. So the internet is amazing, I mean it’s just enabling us to do things much faster, but this Vodafone research has highlighted actually there’s a downside and we have to be careful not to get too much sucked into it and use it for the best of what it is, so for me I’ve seen that the technology helped me so much with Skinny Candy but also at the end of the day it’s about me sitting in front of the buyer at Tescos and Waitrose and Morrison’s and persuading them that this is going to work

H: Because they’ve got to trust you, and it is a trust issue isn’t it?

S: And they’ve got to see you and they’ve got to see what you’re going on about. I mean we read things and words just – words have no passion, I mean –

H: Quite. Absolutely

S: They cannot have passion

H: Well some questions have come in, Chloe has sent us her first question, thank you for sending it in Chloe, don’t forget that you can still send your questions in. Chloe wants to know why do you think that it’s younger business people specifically that prefer to communicate on electronic means rather than face-to-face?

S: Why is it the younger? I think it’s just habit actually, I mean the Vodafone research that was this information coming out saying young people use the phone one third less than the generation before did

H: Really?

S: It’s because they have that, they have that sort of exposure, they’re all on Facebook so they’re sort of dragged into it already and I think you can hide behind it, that’s the scary thing

H: Do you think that schools and whatever, because certainly when I was at school and I’m sure when you were as well, those kind of social skills and leading towards business were taught in certain ways, you were taught how to have a conversation with people – is that perhaps missing now?

S: Yes because you sort of feel you don’t need to have a conversation. I think it’s – you know if you’re shy you’ve always got the internet, you know you can just click a button, go join my circle or whatever that is, but before if you were shy I mean you just had to get out there or else you’d sort of die of boredom in your own room really, that’s the problem and I think the internet’s just enabling that and I think it’s good that we know that and try to get these young people out

H: Let’s make it very clear you’re not suggesting you can run a business without a Blackberry, without a mobile phone –

S: No

H: Without the internet by any means are you?

S: No no and the point about getting out there which is get, I mean for me – I don’t have an office. Now because of technology I’ve got my mobile phone so the beauty is I can be out there, I can be in a coffee bar if I may say so, be sitting there watching the world go by sort of just being out there, being alive, you know in a way smelling the flowers and working as well. You know you could be out walking in the park and you get an email, you get a phone call. I’ve had amazing business phone calls when I’m walking in the park the other day. Nothing stops you doing that and I think we have to force ourselves to get out there because it’s out there where the customers are, it’s out there where the products are, it’s out there where your competitors are

H: Peter sent us a question, Peter Green wants to know, he says “hello there. I find it hard to encourage my young staff to make cold calls. What’s your advice on building their confidence?” This is classically what we’re talking about here

S: Well what you’ve got to do is I think practice makes perfect really, you sort of make it easy for them to make a phone call, you sort of somehow motivate them to do that and it just comes from practice

H: It is true, cold calling has never been easy let’s face it

S: Yes and who enjoys it? It’s not easy to do it, but once you’ve done one and it works you then get this energy and that’s what life’s about really, sort of practice makes perfect I think and the more they do the better

H: Are you worried that being able to take phone calls in the park means that actually business people are on-call 24/7?

S: Yes I mean a way because of technology work is seeping more into our lives, but it depends on how you use it. You know I use it in a way for me that’s beneficial because I think there is this whole work / life balance doesn’t mean anything to me because work and life you don’t really define it as such because necessarily no one’s leaving the house every day thinking I’m in the office and now I’m not in the office, so it’s much less of a defined boundary, but then that’s great as well because you can in a way work when you want, where you want

H: I guess what you’re talking about, what the research suggests as well is it’s about working smarter and not working harder

S: Yes exactly whereas before I remember when I started Coffee Republic for example, if I’d gone out to see a supplier I would have missed 20 phone calls, I’d come back to an answering machine, I mean can you imagine that at that time, there were no emails, you had to wait for the post, and now when I’m often the best bits of work I do is on my mobile phone when I’m waiting to meet someone, you know 20 minutes

H: So the dead time from before is now the time when technology steps up to the mark

S: Yes

H: And really enables you

S: Exactly, enables you and I think maybe for our generation, because we weren’t used to it we are using technology as an aid, perhaps the danger is for the 20-somethings, that’s all they’ve seen, so they’re, you know unless in life, unless you sort of pushed yourself, sometimes – we were pushed to go out there and present and meet people, and that’s what we now realise, after this research, we need to do with young people, get them out, get them out of those just sort of online networking, it’s not enough

H: Well Sahar we’ve got a number of business people watching this afternoon, thank you very much, keep your questions coming – Paul Mackenzie-Ross has sent in a question, he’s done just that and says “hi Sahar”, Paul Mackenzie-Ross of eastforprofit.com, that’s his company, he says “how do you record or recall the facts of a face-to-face conversation with clients or partners? Have you got any tips to help business people remember or record details when you’re having a conversation?” Maybe when you haven’t got a pen and you’re writing everything down

S: Yes to be honest with you I always, I have a notebook with me which is – it’s the same notebook I always use, I sort of make sure I don’t put any bits of information other than on this sort of big notebook that I’ve got that obviously I regularly fill up and change and I’ve always kept them, and so whenever I come back I have a to-do list of what happened from that meeting so I try to write things down because you just tend to forget so if there’s a to-do list to come out of that meeting I write it down so I make sure I do it

H: One of my friends whose quite big in property and a property landlord makes sure for his own sake as well as the other person’s that he records everything, just a little MP3 player that records, he takes that along and actually records his meetings as well

S: Yes

H: Again the idea of using technology

S: You can do that but I mean what people are doing now as well is – you meet someone and then you come back and then by email you sort of almost repeat to each other what you talked about which I think is also great, we had a great talk about that, let’s recap, that’s what you know we’re going to do together, so it’s great, just use technology as an aid, it’s just made such a difference, but not use it as some little, some sort of barrier to hide against. And it’s a pity because life is fun isn’t it, the fun is being out there, the fun is meeting people, the fun is in getting contacts. Meeting people is fun, what’s the point of switching on, just pressing a button to meet people

H: Yes let’s face it, networking came from networking in a room and working the room, didn’t it?

S: Yes exactly and if you can use Facebook I think oh ok that’s my network, I’m going to go and meet them, give them a call, email them, arrange to meet them up – just having them on your list is just meaningless

H: We’re halfway through the show now, thank you very much for your questions so far, do keep them coming, if you’re online at the moment we’re live and you can send us a question, we’d love to hear from you. Louise Quinn’s done just that saying “Hi Sahar, I’m from North and West Lancashire Chamber of Commerce”

S: Ok

H: Nice to have you with us this afternoon. She’d like to know “what advice would you give other aspiring entrepreneurial women” – I mean you’re at the top of your game, what advice would you give?

S: Well you know my book is called “Anyone can do it” so if there was one motto I had it’s anyone can do it, every single dream you’ve got, any dream you’ve got, you can make it happen. There’s just no reason for anyone not to enjoy what they’re doing, to have a dream but they just can’t make it happen, and women, men, the same – I don’t believe gender makes any difference. Just go out there and make it happen. And the reason why – she’s specifically mentioned women, what really suits entrepreneurship for women is, for women we’ve got other priorities

H: Very much so

S: We’ve got families, got a home, and so for a woman entrepreneurship allows you that freedom, exactly what we’re talking about, to be able to work and be at home. If you want to work on a Sunday take Monday off, you can do that

H: Has the revolution in broadband and in mobile communication helped women specifically, people who maybe need to spend a few more hours a week at home, so doing business from home as well?

S: Yes I think it’s made a tremendous difference. I mean the fact that no one knows where you’re working home, and technically your phone –

H: And it doesn’t matter I guess?

S: It doesn’t matter at all and the more, I mean the other thing I believe in you should be yourself in your work, you know this whole idea we used to have before of go to the office, leave your emotional baggage at the door because this is work, it doesn’t apply

H: That was a very ‘80s theory

S: It was very 80s do you remember, like you can’t be yourself –

H: Yes, very much

S: This was kind of, you know – and this, you need to be yourself, so if you work from home you’re more yourself and I think as a woman the more you can be yourself the better that is, and I think interestingly enough I think men quite enjoy going to the office, that sort of more – not say one-track minded, but then they’re focused on one thing, where we’re multi-taskers, women, we can do a million things at the same time

H: I know an awful lot of men that would disagree with that, but yes fair point, I’ll give you the point

S: But it’s true, one minute we’re in the kitchen, next minute – I mean I just can’t believe how that is

H: Fair enough

S: But for women that whole sort of multi-tasking, it’s such a cliché but it’s true, women are amazing at that, which is why you can be like cooking something, on the phone, answering an email, yes so it’s just a really great solution for women

H: And to be fair, thank you, we have asked you to keep your phone outside the studio just for now, but –

S: Exactly

H: Rather than taking calls as well! Jennifer would like to know “what have you found to be the biggest barrier when starting up your business?” And again this is good comparison between when you set up Coffee Republic and now setting up Skinny Candy

S: Well I think there are so many barriers, I don’t even know where to start, because if you think about it you’re starting a business, you are bringing something new into the market, and it’s something which you believe the market needs, but the market doesn’t realise it needs it, so you need to persuade people. I had to persuade people yes you do want to drink half-caf, skinny, vanilla lattes.
Now I have to persuade people actually yes you know what you do want to have a sugar-free chocolate bar that tastes just like your normal chocolate bar, so it’s all about obstacles because when you’re doing something new you’ve got to realise you know innovation is active creative destruction, you’re destroying what went before because you’re doing new ways – so of course no one’s going to say “wow that’s amazing” – people are going to resist it, so you’ve got to break through those barriers and there are so many barriers all along the way

H: And the research I guess is saying it’s easier to break through those barriers if you’re face-to-face with someone

S: Yes I mean to be honest with you if someone ever sends me an email and I don’t want to do anything about it, the easiest thing in the world – just send back a lovely, polite email, thanks a lot, not my thing. But on the phone it’s very difficult because if that person had called me I might have been able to lead them in another direction. So – and I think sometimes you can pursue something in life and then you realise actually a changed course, but you can’t change course on email because no one’s going to give you any leads, whereas you can get so many leads on just calling people randomly talking to them

H: And also, email is quite bold in that respect as well

S: Completely

H: Once you say no,

S: Absolutely

H: Exactly

S: Yes there’s no room for error, there’s no room for creating something together you know? I mean life’s all about energy and creating something together and talking about meeting someone and talking around it, that you can create something

H: Got a great question in here Sahar from Dalia who wants to know “you’ve clearly learnt the lessons of succeeding in business, what would you say – and this is a thinking cap moment- what is the single most important piece of advice that you’d give to someone wanting to start their own business?”

S: Well the single most – single most – to be honest with you it’s to actually just go for it

H: Don’t be put off?

S: Don’t be put off, don’t sit there dreaming, wishing, wanting, just go for it. Life’s too short, just go for your dreams. My motto in life is actually leap and that will appear, and so anyone who takes that jump –

H: So really leap before you look rather than look before you leap?

S: Well it’s difficult to say because I think, what I always believe is you’ve got to do a lot of good research and stuff when you start a business, but definitely once you’ve done the research, once you think you’re going to go for it, just go for it. Just go for it and somehow the net will always be there for you

H: Interesting. Well Sarah Colme has led on very nicely from that question to say “what are the five top tips for setting up a business?” So I guess, number one, your top piece of advice is go for it, what follows right behind?

S: Exactly. Go for it, have an idea you’re passionate about, so I believe if you’re doing it just because you want to make money, no, you’ve got to have an idea that you want yourself you know? For me I wanted skinny lattes myself, I want to eat sugar free candy myself, so ideally if you really want it for yourself, you really believe it will work, I was passionate about the idea, do your market research, you know you’ve got to do it, know it inside out

H: There’s no real substitute for that really is there?

S: No no and I think I judge a lot of business awards and all I do is ask someone, yes so who are your competitors, when everyone else is around there, and if I see they don’t really know their game, there’s absolutely no hope, you know you’ve got to become the world expert in your business, and that’s just – it’s nothing to do with business figures it’s about this is who sells – I mean now I can tell you exactly every kind of sugar-free market, sugar-free candy on the – you’ve just got to know your business. Do your research, raise money, you just want to – you want to do something whereby you’ve done your financial planning, do financial planning about how you’re going to do this, how you’re going to pay for it, how much is it going to cost you. Do that cautiously and then just go for it, just make it happen and the last thing is just persist, stick with it, don’t get put off

H: It’s easy to be put off in the first few months actually isn’t it?

S: Yes

H: But again the meeting people, the being in constant contact is so important when –

S: Yes

H: When you’re talking business-to-business

S: Absolutely, all I can say, my lesson I give people about don’t be put off is when we opened Coffee Republic and Coffee Republic was the first coffee bar of its kind to open, we opened the first one now there are 2800, it was a disaster, no one came in. And if I had given up in those first six months I would have missed out on the biggest coffee craze in the country

H: Indeed absolutely and you really did capitalise on it. So let’s just wrap up because we’re in the final minute or so of the program, it’s a question of talking face-to-face to your clients, to your buyers, to everyone

S: To your suppliers, to everyone, to your friends, if you know mates whose got, who works somewhere where you might get help on, go and see him, go and have a coffee with him, he’ll lead you in a million other directions, then you meet someone else, give you another – you know that’s what networking is to me, it’s not about you know having a list of oh this is who said yes to my connection

H: And a question also of using the best technology alongside that face-to-face approach?

S: Yes it just goes back to basics, you need to sort of establish that emotional connection with someone, you can only establish it face-to-face

H: Well thank you very much indeed Sahar Hashemi, thank you very much

S: Pleasure

H: And if you’d like to find out more information it’s very simple, go to the website, www.vodafone.co.uk/smallbusiness and thanks for watching

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