John Barnes and Richard Richardson, the brains behind the transformation of the Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip shops, presented their own brand of ‘Marketing Judo’ to delegates at Personnel Today’s HR Directors Club, held at Manchester Art Gallery.
“Entrepreneurs are very good at asking how things are going [with the business],” said Barnes. “You have to keep yourself trained on going back to basics.
“If you don’t get the basics right you can’t get the culture in the business right,” he said.
In just 12 years, Barnes and Richardson transformed a single shop in Yorkshire into a world-famous brand with 70 restaurants in seven countries. They achieved this despite admitting they had “never spent a penny on traditional marketing”.
Richardson said: “Emotional leverage and getting the crowd on your side are vital. We refer to HR as human radio-stations as they can be the most powerful form of communication within an organisation.”
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Richardson explained how they regard employees as a walking advertisements for the brand and that everyone should be an ambassador for the company, he said.
The Personnel Today HR Directors Club is supported by Arinso, DBM, Hammonds, Hays, PeopleSoft and Vertex.
