On this episode of the Engaging Marketeer, we have David Roberts who is the MD of Nu-Heat as well as being the host of the People With Purpose podcast.
David bought into Nu-Heat many years ago and took it from, let’s just say a certain amount of turnover, to a much larger turnover and then sold the business on. Darren and David will be discussing how he did that, how he raised the money to do that and how he increased the turnover of the business to then go on and sell it.
The full podcast is available now but here are some key talking points.
Reasons behind attending a progressive speakers course
Darren: We met progressive speakers course, what was your reason for joining that?
David: That’s a good question. I do a fair bit of speaking, I quite like talking and I found myself spending a lot of time preparing, and I think preparation is important. It’s important to be really clear on what your message is to make sure that what you say is going to have the desired response.
So what interested me in that was, I suppose, two things really, one was a system. To be able to have a system in your mind where you can structure what it is you want to say with maximum impact but minimum prep time and the other thing was the community.
When people speak with impact, the thing that really stands out is the story and the ability to find a safe place where you can explore your own stories and be very fortunate to be trusted, if you like, to be a participant whilst other people unravel and expose their stories as well.
And these don’t have to be deep things, actually sometimes the most interesting things are where somebody has a moment of revelation, because they start to talk about something and they realise something about themselves. So it sort of created that environment where you could really explore some of that stuff, so that’s why I did it.
Darren: And is that something that you’ve always had an interest in?
David: I’ve always an interest in people, I’ve always had an interest in communication and how people interact with each other. So it was as much about the other parts of communication as the speaking part, the body language and how it’s interesting if you sit in a cafe or a train station and just watch the watch the world go by. And people watching is a is a fascinating thing to do that I really need to make more time for.
But then when you get to a company that with a conversation and really get to explore the wherefores around somebody else’s opinions, behaviors, passions and all of those sorts of things, then it really unlocks a new understanding of what the human condition, if you like, is all about.
David on how he used the skills he picked up on that course
Darren: When I joined the speaking course, I know there were some people that were there because they needed more confidence to talk in public, they needed it maybe for their job or they wanted to do some sort of selling or presentations.
I wasn’t there for the confidence because I had all the confidence in the world, not a lot of the technique, but all the confidence in the world. So it was more, as you mentioned, about the structure and how to say what you want to say and indeed the silence and the body language as well, not to fill the void with “er” or “um” because you’re just worried that somebody’s going to interrupt or it’s not going to be listened to.
How have you used the skills that you picked up from that in your everyday world?
David: When speaking as a speaker, I’ve used it to good effect actually to structure a message. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of assuming that other people are going to get what you’re talking about straight away, so learning the value of using some time that you’ve got with somebody else, whether you’re speaking to an audience or one to one, to provide that context in a conversation to create that shared context.
Something I’ve done naturally, I guess, I’m naturally curious about people but quite often using the word “I” is something that I would do quite a lot and realising that actually if you use the word “you” it makes it about them. And there’s things that you can do with how you structure sentences and when you’re running businesses when you’re in any relationship with somebody else, the other person knows that you care but if you can tailor the way you approach the conversation and the words that you use to keep reinforcing that sense that it’s as much about them as it is about you, then that creates a whole new level of trust between people.
It often becomes mirrored, I find that the more I’ve made it about other people, they’ve actually then been more interested in me and why I’m there.
David on his interest in buying businesses
Darren: One thing I saw about you, that I think is really interesting, you’ve got a an interesting buying businesses. Where did that that passion start from and how did you first get into it?
David: So I start off my career in in very much a conventional way, getting a job, being an employee, the boring way that we’re told that’s the way we should do things in society. And for a good few years it worked, I learned a lot, developed some skills and made some mistakes on somebody else’s time and money. So it gave me education but when you see the CEO stood up there and they’re talking about the company and the mission and all of that, with real passion and desire and you’re sat there in the audience as an employee and you think “I’d love to work for the company that he’s talking about, what she’s talking about but the company that I’m working for feels absolutely nothing like that”
That happened to me a couple of times in a couple companies and it was that point where I realised that actually what was important to me was creating an environment where, as the MD, as the CEO, when you’re talking about the business it’s authentic and it’s real. And it can’t feel like it 100% of the time, but most of the time it feels like that kind of an environment and that sort of tied in with a realisation of seeing people do things I didn’t think they were capable of.
So I was then going after that opportunity to, in business, create that role for myself, that opportunity for myself and, in truth, I’m probably more of a scale-up type person than a startup type person. So I have started businesses and one in particular is doing really well, I’m not involved with anymore, but they’re doing really well. But I actually had more success with helping founders, perhaps, who would like to move, like to retire, they’ve got a business to a certain level but really needs some support and help with picking it up and taking it on further and if you can do that as an investor in that business, as opposed to an employee, then you are invested both from a financial point of view but also, they talk about having some skin in the game, it sharpens the focus on building it and the whole phrase “You’ve got to own it” well when you do own it, you really do have to own it and it brings a different kind of mindset and a different impetus to your role.
Darren: So how did you get into something like that?
David: Well I left a job to join another one and the boss I was leaving said “I couldn’t really talk to you about this when you were an employee but you really need to talk to these people over here” because again, it was these founders who wanted to create that opportunity for themselves to retire.
So I spoke to them and nothing happened straight away but a couple of years later, that’s when I then got involved and it bought into it and then worked hard to make it a success.
It comes back to the whole be, do, have thing for me. So if you want to have certain things, you’ve got to do certain things but the way it starts is with the person that that you are, how you are the person that you that you need to be and if you can start to be that person, whether you’re an employee or whatever, then be the person that that goes the extra mile, be the person that shows that willingness and desire to really make a difference, to really move things forward, be true to yourself and to your values.
The thing that would cause me to move from job to job was if I didn’t see an alignment between my values and the values of the organisation. If I saw the alignment and it was written down, great, that was a good starting point. I would then have some fertile ground to work with, if you like, to agitate, to make those values come to life.
But then, if I didn’t see any movement from anyone else, once I’d tried I then had to move on and in a way that became part of the story, value driven businesses who are aligned with my evolving picture of what my life was all about.
And, I suppose, if you be the person that that you want to be almost before you get there, it’s not a fake it fake it till you make it. In the NLP World they talk about ‘act as if’ and that’s about evolving that that confidence to be the person that you want to be just before you get there. If you think about the sprinter who wants to win an Olympic gold medal, in a way they’re an Olympic gold medallist in their head before they’ve crossed the finish line in the final.
About David Roberts:
David is the MD for underfloor heating and renewables company, Nu-Heat as well as hosting his own podcast called “People with Purpose.” He also has an interest in buying and developing businesses which, its fair to say, he has been quite successful with.
Connect with David:
People with Purpose Podcast: https://peoplewithpurpose.live/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidRobertsPeopleWithPurpose
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidcroberts_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-roberts-nu-heat/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@davidcroberts_
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/DavCRoberts
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3bkr1A74F-ESA4ISL3-rmw
About your host:
Darren has worked within digital marketing since the last century, and was the first in-house web designer for video games retailer GAME in the UK, known as Electronics Boutique in the States. After co-founding his own agency, Engage Web, in 2009, Darren has worked with clients around the world, including Australia, Canada and the USA.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/engaging-marketeer/id1612454837
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenjamieson/
Engaging Marketeer: https://engagingmarketeer.com
Engage Web: https://www.engageweb.co.uk
