Catching up with Colin Thornton, Brainchild behind Dial-a-Nerd

Colin is the brainchild behind the very successful Dial-a-Nerd brand,  an affordable IT support company providing IT services including Managed Services, Outsourced IT and remote support for SMEs and schools.

Initially Colin did not have a grand plan of starting his own company (who does!?). Dial-a-Nerd happened by default. After a stint at varsity, and hating it, he dropped out and was forced to face the reality of covering his monthly expenses. Armed with not much more than knowing how to fix computers in 1998, he decided to start charging for this skill. Today, Dial-a-Nerd has become a household name and has expanded to a team of 72 people, helping tens of thousands of customers simplify their technology. 

What has been one of the most important business lessons learnt since starting?
As with most business owners, Colin explains that there isn't really one specific lesson that stands out, but one of the key factors is picking the right people around you and trusting them to get on with their job. As Colin says, the theory is to hire people that are better than you are; there is a tendency to hire people that are similar to you; it's important to bring people on board that compliment you - even if it means that you don't necessarily get along with them. You don't want people that think or do things the same as you do.

How does he keep the team motivated? They have spent a lot of time investing in incentives and recognition programmes; but not everyone is motivated by money - so it is about finding the balance.

How does Colin keep himself motivated - It's not something that he thinks of consciously - he is more focussed on finding ways to do things better and be better than competitors. It's important to be passionate about what you do, and keeping up to date with the latest trends, news and innovations - this he does by continuously reading books and  blogs. 

Dial-a-Nerd has widely recognised branding, what are some of the key lessons learnt? Colin explains that branding builds the foundation for an organisation's marketing and sales systems. Having a catchy, humorous name has worked in their favour and after that word-of-mouth. He sees public relations (PR), as fairly immeasurable, but it is an important part of the communication mix in order to get the message out there and to be seen (this was incredibly refreshing and good to hear, as it is something too often neglected and disregarded!) Other elements that they include in their marketing strategy is active lead generation and Facebook advertising. 

Speaking about communication in general, every organisation is faced with many challenges and frustrations when not done properly. What is Colin's biggest frustration in this regard? The lack of internal communication and sharing of information; what sometimes happens is that due to a lack of communication, people keep information to themselves and then two people may end up working on the same project - this is a big waste of resources. Creating the right culture to share information is very important 

What does integrity in the work place mean? It is something which is incredibly important, it all forms part of a puzzle to be a successful entity. If you don't have honesty, motivation and a drive to achieve more, the team and the results will fail too. Other pieces of the puzzle include a willingness to help, compassion and pride. To make this a reality, it is important to lead by example.

As with the other dynamic business owners that I've interviewed, flexibility is what Colin loves most about running a business, especially now that his brother has taken over as MD, he can spend a lot more time on the more exciting things of running a business such as working on the strategy instead of operations.  

Any other advice for growing business owners? Don't take the business and what you are doing for granted - keep a very watchful eye on the market and environment, and always make sure that you have a backup plan. 

Finally, Colin refers to Jim Collins' advice to first fire bullets and then cannon balls. In other words, first test a couple of options and get your service offering accurate by listening to feedback, then when the most successful option has been identified, go big!

www.dialanerd.co.za