Larry Bailin is the founder, CEO and thought leader of Single Throw, Inc. Larry is involved in the day to day sales and marketing activities as well as spearheading research and development of new Internet marketing services. Larry founded Single Throw Internet Marketing in Late 2000 and opened the doors of the company’s first office in Lakewood, New Jersey in early 2001.
Under his leadership Single Throw has grown to be the top Internet marketing companies in New Jersey and one of the best Internet marketing companies in the nation. Single Throw has provided Internet marketing services to some of the top companies in the world.
Larry is the best selling author of the marketing book, “Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?” and is a renowned professional keynote and conference speaker, speaking 30 times per year to organizations across the country. I recently had the opportunity sit down with him and talk about the Internet Marketing landscape. Here is the transcript of part one of a two part interview:
Steve: Your firm has been doing a lot of pioneering things in the Internet marketing space. Could you tell us your vision and mission for Single Throw?
Larry: I’ve never been a big proponent of corporate visions and missions. In my experience they are written for the corporation and not the customer. Missions seldom seem to be followed and end up being a valueless proposition that no one believes or adheres to.
If I had to pin just one philosophy to my company, I guess it would be to never take on a client we cannot help and never sell a solution where we profit more than the client.
I’m sorry for the limited answer but my company’s vision is ever-changing and always evolving so I guess my mission is to always improve my vision.
Steve: What are the Internet marketing services you provide customers?
Larry: We have quite a wide breadth of services we offer. Primarily any type of marketing that uses the Internet to help our clients connect with a customer we handle. We do everything from customer centric website development, conversion enhancement, application development, search engine optimization, social media / networking campaign development etc.
What we won’t do is anything we cannot completely support in-house. That’s not to say we don’t recommend services we don’t offer. If we feel that a client will benefit from a service we will recommend it even if we don’t offer it. We won’t do something just because we can. Sometimes we can best serve a customer by referring them elsewhere. An example would be affiliate marketing. There are so many great people out there that specialize strictly in affiliate marketing that we refer our clients to the people that can help them the most.
Steve: You have been building Single Throw for the last few years. Since this not your first startup, what are some lessons learned, good or bad, which you have applied to this venture?
Larry: One major lesson I learned early on is that failure is a pre-condition to success. We have failed more times than I care to count but each time, each failure contained lessons that lead to great successes.
Steve: Since you are a serial entrepreneur and have been through many business cycles, with the economy in a tough spot these days, do you feel it is a good time to start a business?
Larry: That is a very difficult question to answer. I was moving furniture into my first office at 9:00 am on September 11th 2001. Living and growing up so close to the twin towers at the end of the day I had many emotions flowing through my head related to the tragedy of that day, I also wondered if I would be able to sustain my fledgling business in most uncertain times I’ve ever experienced. To make matters worse I had to overcome the stigma of the dot-com bubble bursting and the fact that very few people knew what Internet marketing was or believed that they needed it.
As someone that started their business at one of the worst times in history to do so I’m a big believer that if there is a need for the services or products you offer than there are no other factors that matter.
All a bad economy is going to do is make it harder to sell your services. I know that sounds like a big thing but it’s not that it just means that you have to be a better salesperson and work harder. If you’re adverse to enhancing your sales skills or working harder then you shouldn’t be starting a business in any economy.
Case in point, my business will be up over 25% this year and the third quarter is shaping up to be the best in our six year history. I have to work harder, longer and smarter but we’re thriving. As far as sales skills go I’m proud to say I’m not someone a competitor wants to go head to head with. I never stop working on my sales skills and I have yet to ever lose a deal to a competitor, good economy or bad.
NEXT TIME: In part two of this two-part interview, we discuss Internet marketing plans, differences between marketing product and service-focused companies, advice for the next 12-18 months.
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