The Silver Sales Bullet with Ian L. George

🎯 The Silver Sales Bullet – with Ian L George Unlock the secrets to sales mastery with Ian L George, a seasoned expert who’s helped transform businesses across industries. In this episode, Ian shares his proven strategies for building trust, closing deals, and creating long-term client relationships. Whether you're a startup founder, seasoned sales pro, or just curious about what makes a pitch irresistible—this is your blueprint for success.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• The psychology behind effective sales conversations
• Why trust is the ultimate currency in business
• How to turn objections into opportunities
• The one “silver bullet” that changes everything

💬 About Ian L George: With decades of experience in sales leadership, Ian has coached teams, advised global brands, and developed frameworks that consistently deliver results. His insights are practical, powerful, and refreshingly honest.

📌 Timestamps:

• 00:00 – Intro
• 02:15 – Ian’s journey into sales
• 07:40 – The trust factor
• 14:10 – Handling objections with confidence
• 21:30 – The Silver Bullet revealed
• 30:00 – Final thoughts & takeaways

🔗 Connect with Lord Russell: www.linkedin.com/in/russelljamesbaker | https://norfolklord.co.uk/ | https://www.youtube.com/@LordBaker

👍 Like, Subscribe for more expert insights every week!

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Transcript

Ian L. George: 0:00

Foreign.

Lord Russell Baker: 0:12

Welcome to the world of Lord Russell podcast talk show. And today's show is the silver sales bullet which captures the light of a business entrepreneur who is an extremely well connected, highly sought after, influential and successful international business professional with a proven track record of leading, managing and and closing complex business deals in the global professional football sector, global professional sports sectors and several additional commercial and investment sectors. This is truly where business and sport come together as a perfect partnership. I love saying that. Business and sport. Well, it's fantastic. Yes, folks, it gives me an immense pleasure to welcome on the show Ian George. Welcome to the show, Ian.

Ian L. George: 0:54

Good afternoon, Lord Russell. That was a very kind introduction and looking forward to engaging in the show, but it's very kind of you to welcome me on. Just coming to you from a meeting room at Huddersfield Town randomly, of course.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:07

And there we are, another feature of sport, you see, Huddersfield Town Football Club. You're there. Well, I'm not, I'm in Norfolk in my home. But yeah, enjoy, enjoy the day at Huddersfield Town Football Club. Sounds very exciting. I know you said earlier on you're off to Manchester City later as well for the Caribbean Cup.

Ian L. George: 1:22

So, yeah, I'm here. I've had some meetings, some commercial meetings and they've invited me to stay. They're at home to Manchester City tonight in the Carabel cup, so we'll see. Well, I say you should enjoy.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:35

Absolutely should be. Thank you. Well, I'll say. What, Ian, let's start from the very beginning. You were born and raised in London. So, so what was life like in your childhood days?

Ian L. George: 1:46

Very good, very good. Blessed with a loving family. Mom and dad, sadly lost my dad last year, the ripe old age of 92, was a football player himself before he shattered his leg sadly at Charlton where he was about to sign on. And just me and my brother brought up in, well, do you call it Southeast London or Northwest Kent? So London Borough, Bexley Heath, Blackheath, Bromley and Northwest Kent. Went to school, Picardy School, as it was then.

Lord Russell Baker: 2:27

Yes.

Ian L. George: 2:28

Now I think they call it Trinity. And because the head of PE at the school at the time was the England volleyball coach, we played a lot of volleyball and managed to represent England at under 16 and under 20 level, as you would do when the head of PE is the England volleyball coach. But.

Lord Russell Baker: 2:54

And we'll come on something later in the show as well.

Ian L. George: 2:57

And no, I had a very, very good childhood. Blessed with a loving family and moved a lot overseas. But yeah, primarily in southeast London.

Lord Russell Baker: 3:06

Wonderful. Yeah, it's great to get a good start in Life. And then you also enjoyed an illustrious early career in sports, leisure and the tourism sector, securing several senior management and marketing roles and directorships following your graduation from university, which you've just mentioned about very briefly there. So please tell us more about these early entrepreneurial days, Ian.

Ian L. George: 3:29

Well, I graduated in sports studies, Lord Russell, but those were in the days when I was young and slim. Neither of those credentials are necessarily the case anymore. And yeah, from graduated in 84, between 84 and the turn of the millennium really. So over a 16 year period I managed private health clubs in Central London, visitor attractions, theme parks, one in, in your neck of the woods in East Anglia. And yeah, the, the career was, you know, really a reflection of, of the university program that I, that I studied. Interestingly, between was it 98 and 2000, I was actually made redundant four times. In fact, I actually made more money from redundancy settlement payments than I would have done if I'd have remained on salary. But the lady I was sharing my life with at the time didn't particularly secure existence. So from 2000, which shocks me now, 25 years, a quarter of a century, I've essentially run my own affairs. But those 16 years in the corporate world I think stood me in in good stead. You learn a lot in sort of senior management roles and in the boardroom, some PLCs and yeah, thoroughly enjoyed it. But sport, leisure and tourism certainly constituted the focus of my attention up until the turn of the millennium.

Lord Russell Baker: 4:56

Brilliant. Good to hear. And throughout this period you developed your prominent sales, marketing, management and leadership skills which have provided the robust foundations that enabled you to direct the affairs of eight separate international commercial enterprises throughout the past 30 years or so, or certainly 25 years. This sounds like a very exciting part of your established professional life, Ian. So please tell us more about these successes and of course, any troubling moments you had to negotiate and resolve.

Ian L. George: 5:28

I often have the view, Lord Russell, that whilst the world is a big place, it's becoming increasingly smaller in terms of access, ease to fly around the world, attend meetings. So most of the concerns that I've either owned or managed or directed the affairs of have had an international strategic approach to business development. And initially in the early days, I found that the diplomatic and consular sector in London was a great source of extending my network, whatever. There are over 200 diplomatic missions in London, high commissions and embassies who are clearly there to bolster trade between the UK and whichever nation state was involved. And so I found that I was able to secure a number of opportunities Overseas. Worked in Kenya for some time, a little bit in Ghana, Nigeria. That was effectively Africa. A lot of my time is spent in the States, currently the States and Canada. And I think, look, you know, the UK is a great place but the world is slightly bigger and there are always, always opportunities. So essentially sport has been the main focus. But I think that the opportunities to develop your. The business development of each of the entities that you have gives you far bigger opportunities overseas and whether that's North America, Europe or Africa. I spent quite a bit of time in Hong Kong probably prior, just prior to Covid. But yeah, certainly an international flavor of benefited from which I'm very grateful for.

Lord Russell Baker: 7:24

Ah, fantastic. I mean I worked out in Hong Kong myself for a while, but that's going back to 1990 when it was still the British territories, of course, but by at that time. So yeah, Hong Kong, lovely Hong Kong island, beautiful island, enjoyed it.

Ian L. George: 7:36

I think a lot of people in Hong Kong wish they were still part of our overseas territory too actually. But there you are, there you are, that's another story.

Lord Russell Baker: 7:44

And I like this particular little piece now as well because one of your most significant early successes was secured when you elevated an international product marketing company, namely Twin Towers Trading Limited from zero revenue to over £6 million in turnover in less than three years. This is some story, isn't it? So please tell us more about how you manage to achieve. Interestingly, is a hugely successful business outcome.

Ian L. George: 8:10

I met the gentleman who owned the business in the States, it's based in New Jersey. Essentially it was an international product marketing company, which logically meant that it marketed its products internationally, but it did so by demonstrating them in the retail sector. And the product portfolio tended to be kitchen based. Food choppers, food slicers, sharp kitchen knives at one stage, coffee machines, bread makers, you name it wasn't entirely kitchen based, but broadly around the home, some cleaning products. And this particular gentleman had a hugely successful business in the retail sector in the States and Canada, namely Walmart, Kmart as it used to be, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, etc. Etc. We met and he was keen to broaden his business into the United Kingdom and beyond. So for over a period of 10 years in total, my role initially was to establish accounts in the UK and European retail sector. And we started off essentially in the department store sector initially. So back in the day it was Debenhams, House of Fraser, some regional department stores across the UK and Europe and it went very, very well. But of course we knew big opportunity was in the supermarket Sector because people have to eat and drink, they don't necessarily need to buy clothes and pillowcases as you would ordinarily do, amongst many other products in the department store sector. So very, very well in the department store sector. And then we managed to secure accounts with, oh, gosh, with Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Marks and Spencer to an extent. And Tesco's, obviously, well, at one moment it was the second biggest retailer in the world to Walmart, but it was the third with Carrefour. Managed to establish trading relationships with Carrefour as well in France, South America. And Tesco had a big operation in Eastern Europe, in Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. I remember we traded with Debenhams in Stockholm and in Cyprus, Gibraltar. Gibraltar was Morrison's. I beg your pardon. And so we had this business model which was quite American in its approach, so I think it was unique. Back in the early noughties in the uk, I think the business model sort of came to an end as we got into the early teens. The means of attracting interest were to make public address announcements inviting people to come for a free gift in a certain aisle in Tesco's, for example. And, you know, the, the volume of announcements that you would make during the day. I think sometimes after a week in East Door, the staff were happy to see the back of us. But it was immeasurably successful and, yeah, govern that business for. For 12 years. But it was interesting and I think, as I suspect we'll come on to the necessity in business Lord Russell, to get in front of decision makers at dream clients is an aspiration that every business owner, every professional in business development, sales and marketing needs to secure. If you don't get in front of the decision maker at your dream client, then arguably whatever expenditures you're committing in marketing, you can just tip it down the drain. And developing that strategy to secure these retail accounts on behalf of Twin Towers was key to that. And I ought to just really make a quick point. A company called Twin Towers Trading Ltd. Obviously our thoughts go back to that terrible, tragic day, 11 September 2001. And the reason that the company was called that was because back in the 90s, the first head office was in the South Tower. Wow. That's where it was. That's. That's the reason. And for clarification purposes, when I started the business in the UK and Europe, the question was, should we keep the name? Should we not? And we actually liaised with a number of bodies that were effectively the Bereaved Families association of the 3,000 or so poor souls that perished to say, look, this is just what we happen to be called. Because we were based in the South Tower, we quite liked to keep the name because for marketing purposes, that's what we were called. However, whatever problems we would encounter in doing so, frankly pales into insignificance compared to, you know, the grief that they've had to sustain. So we're very happy to change it. And they insisted that the name remained because however sad and tragic it was, the sight of the Twin Towers actually constitutes the resting place of their loved ones. So our conscience was clear. And I think in association with those various bodies, we did the right thing.

Lord Russell Baker: 13:24

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm not surprised, actually, that those involved, you know, the families, friends, et cetera, of those that perished in 2001, but they were actually in awe of you doing that and keeping that name because obviously it's a testament to the ongoing, you know, feelings throughout the world. Really, what happened that day. It was shocking, wasn't it?

Ian L. George: 13:46

No, I think some people sort of raised, you know, when you introduce yourself from this sort of company in the weeks and months that followed that terrible tragedy day would raise, raise an eyebrow. But as soon as I explained the approach that we'd taken, most people could understand. I think it was a decision for them to make as to whether we kept the name or not. So, yes, look, it's, it's a name that's now infamous in, in history. Very, very sad and tragic day. But I, but I believe we, we did the right thing. So very, very happy with the way we conducted ourselves.

Lord Russell Baker: 14:22

Excellent, Ian, well done. This is where you will find your truly unique ability of establishing and maintaining relationships with hard to reach executives and dignitaries across the entire globe. So please tell us more about your unique ability and the pathway to hard to reach executives around the globe. It is a difficult thing to do. I do it. I know you do it. So we both have the skills of doing this. But let's hear your story so the audience can.

Ian L. George: 14:51

I think it was in that sort of period of opening up these accounts in the retail sector across the UK and Europe that when you encounter problems and challenges in trying to determine who it is I need to speak to, to move forward with this proposal. And if I use. We're talking about the retail sector. If I use Walmart as a good example. Walmart is the biggest conventional retail retailer in the world by a country mile. I say conventional, obviously, Amazon might consider itself to be in the retail sector, but Walmart has approximately 2 million employees. Now, when you're approaching Walmart, you might be selling T shirts, tins of baked beans, or in our case, we wanted to do some product demonstrations. Walmart effectively sells anything. It could be car tires, it could be ladies clothing, gents clothing, whatever it is. And you've got 2 million employees. How do you determine who it is that you need to speak to? Who is the decision maker at your dream client? And across my various interests, Lord Russell, we have a phrase which the small businesses that everyone subscribes to, it's highlighting the importance of getting in front of he or she who can say yes or no. I think we can make business as complicated or as sophisticated as we want, frankly, it's quite simple at the end of the day. And if you cannot, if all the money that you spend on marketing, advertising, promotions, networking, whatever it is you do to raise your profile and sell your products or services, if none of what you commit in expenditure gets you in front of the decision maker at your dream client, as we would say, he or she who can say yes or no, then arguably you may as well get a suitcase of cash and just tip it down the drain. And I think that too many people, I've just, over the years, Those sort of 16 years in the corporate world, Lord Russell, and the 25 years of governing my own interests, so 41 years in total, I've just seen so many people waste so much time and therefore so much money in engaging with an individual or a group of individuals or an entity in general terms, with whom they want to trade, engage in commerce, do business. And I think it's all going swimmingly. They're having meetings, exchanging emails and ultimately that person says, I better check with the boss, and then their boss is going to check with their boss and somewhere along that chain of command somebody's going to say no. And you think, gee, what a waste of. Waste of time. So highlighting that importance was something that I became very aware of at an early stage. And we have a level. We're live. We're live. This is Paul Reeves.

Lord Russell Baker: 17:57

Hi, Paul, Nice to see you, Officer.

Ian L. George: 17:59

Hello there, Lord Russell. Yeah.

Lord Russell Baker: 18:01

Oh, very well, very well, yeah, absolutely.

Ian L. George: 18:04

We'll come and see you.

Lord Russell Baker: 18:05

We should be connected on LinkedIn. I'm sure we should, but maybe we should be after all. All right, that connection.

Ian L. George: 18:12

And we're going to look forward to.

Lord Russell Baker: 18:14

A great evening with Ian George.

Ian L. George: 18:15

Hopefully he's a lucky mascot. We will see. Cheers, Paul. Thanks, mate.

Lord Russell Baker: 18:22

Well, there you go, Ian. Live show.

Ian L. George: 18:25

There might be some interruptions I'm not in my office, as I said, I'm at Cottersfield Town. So, yeah, just highlighting that importance of getting in front of the decision maker at your dream client cannot be underestimated. And I just see so many people waste so much time and more people focused on that, more deals would get done and I think more people would generate more revenue, more sales, more quickly. So it's really a strategy and an approach and what some people might describe as a unique set of skills to be able to get in front of, of that decision maker at your dream client. And if you can do that, you're putting yourself on.

Lord Russell Baker: 19:10

And as I always say and how I do do things, I always go straight for the juggler, I always go for the owner, the chairman, the CEO, the cfo.

Ian L. George: 19:18

That's it.

Lord Russell Baker: 19:19

Because they're your decision makers, they're the ones that are going to where you're going to buy your business. So that's what I do.

Ian L. George: 19:25

And you know what, Lord Russell, if I could just. Sorry to interrupt, but I say to people, we all want a yes in life. You know, can I propose this, this initiative? Yes. Yes, yes. The next to a yes is a no. Even though we don't want to receive a no. It's the people who procrastinate and I'm waiting for the budget. Can we talk in a few weeks time? I've got to check with the boss and check with the wife. So yeah, if it's a no, we're disappointed but we can move on.

Lord Russell Baker: 19:52

Move on. Exactly right.

Ian L. George: 19:54

We just want clarity. So yeah, it's a strategic approach which I think give a lot more did it. A lot more individuals adopted that approach. I think they'd be far better off.

Lord Russell Baker: 20:06

I think you're quite right too. Absolutely spot on, Ian. And Looking back in 2012, you created your internationally renowned strategic commercial introduction service and the associated opportunities facilitation management services. All great, lots of words there. Which continue to be applied across your entire portfolio of commercial interests today. So please tell us more about these services, Ian. So that's all very complicated. But it's not, is it?

Ian L. George: 20:32

Yeah, I mean there are a lot of words. Strategic commercial introduction service, opportunities, facilitation management service. But they do exactly what they say on the tin. They're effectively done for you service. So people find difficulty in engaging with the decision maker of their dream client and we will do that for them. The business model is one of retained representation. We charge monthly fees, not for the rest of our lives, for a defined period, ordinarily 12 months, we would consider six months. And some people would give you a specific name of a person that may be on the board of a company or even if they don't know the individual specifically, they might say the marketing director at Barclays bank or the human resources vice president at BP or whoever it might be. And we will do that for them and attend or we will endeavor to do that for them and attend the meeting with them and hopefully, because obviously all that we do is a, is a two phase process. It's about opening doors, but then of course it's closing deals. So it's opening doors and closing deals. You can't close the deal unless you've opened the door. And obviously closing deal is the ultimate aspiration. But we provide those services as a done for you service and to give people an option as I think you may come onto when Covid came around. So the two primary businesses, the services that we have, one we deploy I think effectively in the global professional sports sector, primarily football, and the other we deploy the same range of services that we've just highlighted in any other sector. And then when Covid came along, Lord Russell, I think like everybody, we had to pause and pivot and you know, nobody had experienced that before and that would be a whole new discussion about my opinion on that, but that'll be for another day. But I did come out in a bit of a cold sweat because I suddenly realized that any of the successes that we've enjoyed on occasions over the years, it's not Blue sky every day. Had ordinarily been attributable to my ability to travel overseas. So if business was quiet, I could jump on a flight, perhaps go to New York or Dubai, Hong Kong and try and chibi things along. Now you could travel overseas during COVID I don't know if you did, Lord Russell. I did, but it was very nice. Very, very onions having things shoved up your nose and tests and queues a mile long at airports. And allied to that over the years people would have said to me, Ian, how do you, how do you get these meetings with the, with the untouchables in business, the chairman, the chief execs, billionaires, on certain occasions when we're talking to the owners of professional sports teams in the States, members of royal families across the Middle east, or just rudimentary decision makers in commerce in general terms. And I would always say, well, you're asking for the secret sauce. I can't just divulge that. Which is why where I suspect you'll be going to we decided to provide this essential online business training program to give people the opportunity to learn those skills, strategies and tactics for themselves.

Lord Russell Baker: 24:04

Definitely come on to that. The end of. No doubt. Throughout recent years, you have generated more than 50 million pounds in revenue for both your clients and indeed your own interests. And secured more than 100 million pounds in investments for your business portfolio of national and international clients. I mean, this is, this is an incredible business success story, isn't it? Which I'm sure you can enlighten us further with more details in. I mean, what, 50 million and 100 million, they're large numbers.

Ian L. George: 24:32

Incredible story. Well, if we look at the commercial revenues, when we talk about the one entity that executes the range of services in sport and the other entity that executes it in any other sector, probably the sector in which we've secured most success on behalf of our national and international clients over best part of a couple of decades now would be retail. We've talked about the experience with twin towers, but everybody, Lord Russell, wants to get their products into retail because it's a captive market, products and services. And so I've spent more meetings than I care to remember in the tiny little town of Bentonville in the state of Arkansas, which is the home of Walmart. Walmart is, you know, when Sam Walton created this immeasurably successful company, he came from rural Arkansas, little town called Bentonville. I think it should be renamed Walmartville because everybody who lives in Bentonville seemingly works for Walmart. And if you can get your product and service into Walmart, where they've got, I think 18,000 stores, I think across the globe, maybe that's just the states, I'd need to check those figures. But thousands and thousands and thousands of stores across the globe, plus walmart.com then the revenues for our clients is off the charts. And so that would be the primary source in retail of the doors that we've opened for our clients. In terms of the investment that we've attracted, that would primarily be with professional football club. So we're looking for investment and we will endeavor to find investors for them. We will bring those forward. As you will know, Lord Russell, sometimes deals cross the line, sometimes they don't. We can't execute tremendous influence on whether or not that deal will cross the line, but attracting the investment. I often say to people, Lord Russell, that in any commercial opportunity or investment opportunity in business, we talk about people trying to complicate matters. I think it's very simple. There are six stages in any business opportunity in My experience, very briefly, stage number one is to identify an opportunity. Stage number two is to establish interest, who's interested in that opportunity. Stage number three, conduct introductions. Stage number four, manage the process of engagement moving forward, make sure there's momentum, everybody's still engaged. Stage number five could conceivably be assisting in the process to prepare documentation, agreements, contracts. And stage number six, finally, arguably the most important stage is to execute the transaction. And what we've found over many years now, Lord Russell, is that I think, hand on heart, we do an exceptional job in those first five stages. We all know that the sixth and critical stage in any investment opportunity, in any commercial opportunity, fundamentally is down to two people and two people only. It's the most senior representative of the buying entity and the most senior representative of the selling entity. I can cajole and do as best I can to persuade, but in those cases it's not my money. And so that's why we work on retained representation, because if my soul, everyone will commission the services of anybody on a success fee only they're not incurring any liability, any risk. But if my sole source of remuneration is based on whether a deal concludes or not, I've often said that that's when I need to register as Ian L. George Charitable foundation, because I can't. And so those six stages are critical, but at some very high profile clubs, and there's one particular professional, former global icon, former professional football player, who was a Ballon d' or winner, accompanied him to China on a number of occasions where we were setting up sort of coaching schools in China and there was a fair bit of investment coming in from a couple of financial entities in China. So you add all that up and the approximate sum of 100 million in investment and 50 million in commercial, it's probably more now, but I think understanding that process is critical so we can do our best to facilitate these deals. And look, we have our fair share of success, but like everybody, you'll have your near misses. But that hopefully gives you a summary of where those figures come from.

Lord Russell Baker: 30:02

Absolutely. And that makes an awful lot of sense to me. Totally does, Ian. And of course I can remember going back in the early 90s, there we are. When I was working for a corporate. I think it was my last ever, actually my proper job, actually I called it proper job, my last employment, should we say. And the MD always would say, never be afraid to ask for the order. And he was right. Ask for it, why not? You've got to. You don't ask for it, you're not going to get anything.

Ian L. George: 30:28

So the Americans would say, show me the money.

Lord Russell Baker: 30:30

Show me the money. Exactly the same principle. Absolutely.

Ian L. George: 30:33

Show me the money. Yeah, I think, I think in, I mean, I'm, you know, a proud Englishman, a proud Brit, sometimes we would be described as somewhat reserved. And maybe, you know, some of the, the considerable time that I've spent in the States, maybe that's, maybe that's rubbed off on me a bit. I don't know. But yeah, look, you, you, you put your strategies together, you, your experience gives you an indication of what is most likely to succeed. So, yeah, we, we, we do. Okay. We don't succeed every day, but I think we, we've got sufficient evidence over my 41 years in business to let me know what I, what has got the greatest chance of succeeding.

Lord Russell Baker: 31:18

Yeah, you can smell, smell the money, smell the deal sometimes. I quite agree with that completely. It's absolutely right. And I think actually, you know, international travel is an important aspect here because I'm an Englishman through and through, and I'm certainly not reserved. And I think I've learned that through my, my many years of traveling the globe, meeting many, many different people, doing many, many different things, and it kind of makes you the person you are today, I think. And I love traveling anyway, so carry on doing it.

Ian L. George: 31:45

Absolutely. I think, you know, you have to broaden your horizons beyond the shores of the uk. I mean, the UK punches above its weight across the world. I don't know what size economy we are. We're the fifth biggest, fourth, sixth, I don't know. But we do. You know, for a comparatively small country, we certainly do very, very well. But the opportunities within the UK are fantastic. But beyond the shores of the UK are even more exciting, and hence that's the reason for the air miles.

Lord Russell Baker: 32:19

Yeah, absolutely. And well done for collecting those. That's all good stuff. And then, of course, in 2020, we were going to come onto this, weren't we? You launched a Silver Sales Bullet, the title of this podcast talk show, of course, which is a CPD certified essential online business training program that teaches professional executives in sales business development training to open doors to decision makers at dream clients and close more deals for themselves. Now, I have to say, the Silver Sales Bullet as a training service sounds incredible. So please tell us a little bit more about around the inspiration Ian, behind the Silver Sales Bullet. Plus, of course, the success stories generated. It sounds amazing.

Ian L. George: 33:04

As I explained when Covid came, and traveling around the globe made it more difficult and allied to people asking me how we do what we do. A lot of people have said you should teach what you do. And essentially the silver sales bullet has been produced as a direct result of COVID I think we would all agree that we wish the pandemic had never emerged. But from a purely selfish standpoint, if anything good came out of it for us, it would be the silver sales bullet to teach people to do what we do and hopefully emulate it. I think we're all familiar, Lord Russell, with that adage, if you give a man a fish, you can feed him for a day. If you teach him how to fish, you can feed him for the rest of his life. And essentially that's what the silver sales bullet does. As we've described, the two sort of primary entities that I have at done for you service where we will open the doors for you. It's based on retained representation over a period of 12 months or six months, and those continue to prosper. The silver sales bullet. If somebody didn't want to go down the route of paying monthly payments to have the doors opened on their behalf, they can go online and learn the acquire the skills and discover the strategies and the tactics that will enable them to do it for themselves. So I would love to sit here, Lord Russell, and tell you it's the 38th online program that I've written. That would be a grotesque distortion of the truth. It's the first. And bearing in mind the amount of time it's taken me, it's probably going to end up being the last. Although we're very happy. I didn't know how successful it would be, but we've had graduates from, I was going to say every continental structure across the globe. That's not quite true. We haven't cracked Antarctica yet. The polar bears are not interested. And also just professional executives across a whole range of different sectors who have utilized what they've learned and gone on to enjoy success. And I can give you some examples of that. But essentially it's. It's a program that is learned at your own pace, in your own time. There's no timed lectures to go to. You don't have to go to any buildings. It's the enrollee and their laptop. The duration is approximately 22 hours, unfortunately, listening to me. But there's a lot of video content. There's some interaction. We tend to use little excerpts, which we've got the. The authorization to do to show little clippets of from famous Hollywood films to substantiate the point that we're making. So it's a little bit of fun. And we were delighted in 2022 when the United Kingdom's CPD Certification Service, the acronym CPD Continuing Professional Development, certified the program, which was very comforting and very reassuring because ordinarily CPD programs, you know, you'd find accountants going on CPD programs, lawyers, chartered surveyors, health and safety executives. So in sectors where legislation changes and they need to keep up to date, so continuing professional development. But when they certified the program, bear in mind it was the first one I'd written that was very reassuring and very, very comforting. So people have that sort of independent substantiation of its worth based on its continuing professional development credentials. And so we've had, oh God, I mean, enrollees from marketing, banking, insurance, dentistry, property, a lot of, a lot of property interest, property developers, property investors, estate agents. Interestingly, we had a recent campaign where the video advertising was of me in a football stadium, not, not Huddersfield. And people could just recognize where I was just on the side of the pitch or what have you. And so we now get lots of interest from football agents or people who want to, you know, they're the decision maker at their dream client would be a board director at a professional football club, maybe for investment reasons, maybe for commercial reasons, maybe for player engagement reasons, endorsement reasons. And so just through that campaign being located where it was, that was very, very beneficial. And so people, now it's actually given our clients a choice. If you want to go down the done for you service, that's a model based on retained representation where there are monthly fees for 12 months or 6 months or. Now if you don't want to go down that route, you can go online and learn these skills, strategies and tactics for yourself. And I think probably as a, as a concluding remark to the silver sales bullet, Lord Russell, we, in fact, there's a, you know, there's a phrase in life, isn't there, if someone has done something. Well, you often find people saying, oh, that's, that's the silver bullet. That is, that is the silver bullet. And when we were looking for domain names, silver bullet had gone. So the silver sales bullet seemed to fit the bill. But if, if anyone was to say, why would anybody enroll onto the silver sales bullet? I think the answer is quite simple. It's to acquire what some would describe as a very unique set of skills, discover the innovative strategies and the incorporated tactics that enable you to open doors to exceptional opportunities in business by specifically securing significant meetings in person, face to face with the decision maker at your dream client, and close Deals. And I think, bearing in mind, as you can clearly see, I'm no spring chicken. I come from the analog world, not the digital world. So when I went to school, there were two things called a blackboard and a piece of chalk. Most of the people that helped me were born in the digital world, so they were born on a keyboard. But I think however useful the digital age is, I kicked and screamed against doing digital banking for quite a while, but that actually makes my life a lot easier. But nothing will ever. And, you know, zoom and teams, I mean, that's what we're doing now. How would we have got through Covid without that? But nothing, in my humble opinion, Lord Russell will ever to proceed to pass. The impactfulness and the meaningfulness of meeting in person, face to face. Deals are done by shaking hands, having coffee, having lunch, maybe on the golf course. Now, there are huge digital success stories like Amazon. Nobody's doubting that. But from a personal engagement standpoint, getting in front of he or she who can say yes or no is critical. And that's why what the silver sales buddy is, without Covid, it wouldn't have happened. But it now gives our prospective clients a choice.

Lord Russell Baker: 40:45

Excellent. It's very well put together, very nicely. Professionally talked through as well. Ian, you obviously know the silver sales bullet very well, which is great when you teach it, so you obviously do. That's a fantastic story to hear. In addition. Yeah, you created it, you're the owner, you wrote it, it's brilliant. Absolutely fantastic. In addition, you continue to execute the role of a guest lecturer in teaching these strategies, tactics and skills at universities and in boardrooms throughout the United Kingdom and of course, the United States of America. I mean, this must be very exciting and very rewarding too, Ian. I certainly like to do lectures and things. I'm more comfortable in front of our cameras and in front of a microphone than most people, I think. But that's a wonderful thing, isn't it? You're still doing the lectures and going around.

Ian L. George: 41:31

It is. I mean, the silver sales bullet itself is an online program, but we do provide a service where we go into universities for half a day, for a day, and we can deliver the silver sales bullet broken down into a morning session or an afternoon session, sometimes going to boardrooms where their business development team, their sales team, perhaps sales are not coming through the front door as often as the company owners would like. So by going through the silver sales bullet, which incorporates. Now, when I say 22 secrets, are they secrets? Not really. We call them secrets because that makes it Sound exciting? They're just features of common sense in business when you're pursuing business development opportunities that so few people adhere to. And the 22 Secrets feature in the silver sales bullet. But there are three rudimentary so called secrets which underpin those 22, which I'm more than happy to share with you very briefly. I mean, rudimentary secret number one is the essential requirement to identify who the decision maker at your dream client is. Who is he or she who can say yes or no? And I gave the example of Walmart. Two million employees will pick the person out of that lot. So the need to determine who that is so you know who you need to approach is clearly critical. The second rudimentary foundation pillar secret is the capacity to contact them personally. I see people in business development teams sending out emails to email addresses like admin at, info at, inquiries at, hello at. I mean, you know, we talked about tipping a load of cash down the drain. Completely pointless. Personal email addresses are by far the preferred option for me. This, I mean I still call this a mobile telephone. You don't see anybody talking on it now. They're just going tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Until such time as EE shops or O2 shops or Vodafone start calling it a mobile keyboard. I'm going to insist on calling it a mobile telephone because I like to talk on it clearly, people sending messages and WhatsApp messages. But the ability to communicate verbally is just so much more meaningful and so much more impactful than digital communications. So yeah, look, we're very, very happy with the silver sales bullet. As I said, I wish the pandemic hadn't have arrived. But the capacity to either send people online or deliver it in person face to face, which of course enshrines what the silver sales bullet is all about. Absolutely. It's the analog world, it's the management of relationships rather than digital, digital, digital. I, I only ever send emails to confirm what's been agreed when I meet somebody, you know, sending an email to request a meeting really, you know, put a bit of effort in and find out who it is. So that, so the, the second rudimentary foundation was to find those personal details, the mobile telephone number, personal email addresses. And the third rudimentary secret, Lord Russell, arguably the most important, once you've identified who it is and once you've identified how to contact them, you're talking to them on the phone or maybe. What do I say? What do I say? And so the third, third foundation pillar, the third rudimentary secret is how to engage with influence and persuasion to ensure that a meeting is staged. That's perhaps the most difficult. I think to a certain extent that comes down to your DNA. The old adage you I think you can teach somebody to teach but clearly there's an element of your DNA that, that makes you more equipped to engage with confidence. So yeah, identifying who it is, securing their contact details to be able to contact them and then engaging with influence and persuasion and if you've mastered those three and you incorporate the 22 so called secrets that are in the program then you're going to put yourself in very, very good state I would argue.

Lord Russell Baker: 46:31

It almost feels like I've been on the silver sales bullet course because actually what you're talking about here is exactly the strategies I use anyway when I go out in search. So it's interesting, isn't it? Very interesting.

Ian L. George: 46:44

Draw Lord Russell, you're an actor.

Lord Russell Baker: 46:47

Well I'll try to be. That's what it's all about at the end of the day. I mean also. Can you please also enlighten us on the entire portfolio of current commercial and investment interests you have? I mean I looked on your website, there are a number of valuable interests here. Here I mean just to name a few. I mean I didn't put any down because there's quite a large amount there actually, isn't there?

Ian L. George: 47:09

So in addition to my, to my own interests I act in an, in an advisory capacity to some companies that are investment based. You know there's so many companies called so and so Capital. So and so Capital, that's a company based in, in Hong Kong, Silver Bear Capital, Hayes Muse Capital which is a fantastic company in London and we advise them to the best of our ability and there's a number of non executive directorships which are being presented currently. And so I think actually as I what am I now 62 maybe will I ever retire? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I can't play golf. No, I'm too, I wouldn't know what to do but perhaps taking up more advisory roles, some non executive directorships might be, might be the way to go. So yeah there's the portfolio of interests of my own and those that I advise to the best of my ability and I think, think you know you get to a certain age where if you haven't got a good network around the world, Lord Russell, when you're 62 you're never going to have a good network around the world. And if I can bring that to entities with whom I'm associated to open doors for them then of course I'm very, very happy to do that.

Lord Russell Baker: 48:40

Quite rightly so too now. I mean as I said earlier on sport and business, now as most people know, I'm a huge advocate for sport and business. I talk about it all the time actually as they create the perfect marri in terms of business partnerships as far as I'm concerned anyway. So from a sporting perspective, you did captain the England volleyball team at under 16 level and represented England at the under 20 level. So some great sporting achievements here in turn. Let's talk about your sporting credentials there. And volleyball, you mentioned it earlier on with your teacher at school who's a volleyball enthusiast. So obviously you're naturally brought into it from a school level. So yeah.

Ian L. George: 49:21

Know, yeah, I suppose it's a little claim to fame. Interestingly a number of my very close friends and, and my brother indeed achieved more than I did. I just tend to shout about it a bit more. But no, you know, people that, that had the, the privilege really of, of going to a school where the head of PE was the England volleyball coach. If sport was in your DNA, then that was the, that was the, the, the sport to go down and we won the England schools championships. But many of my close friends achieved a lot more probably. I, I preferred football. I played semi professionally for a while. But of course you know, claiming that you captained England at under 16 level. If you captain England at volleyball, if you're captain England at football, you're rich and famous. If you're captain England at volleyball, you're neither rich nor famous. But yeah, look, I'm very, very proud of that. My dad, bless him and mum came to, to watch a few of the games and I think having that sporting background, so I competed to the best of my ability. I studied at university at Carnegie College of Physical Education which became Leeds Metropol University, now Leeds Beckett University, certainly an internationally renowned institute. And then sort of the 16 years in the corporate world from 84 to 2000 in health and fitness clubs, visitor attractions, theme parks and then running my own affairs for the last 25 years of which sport features prominently. Sport is in the DNA and on that basis very much looking forward to the Ryder cup this weekend.

Lord Russell Baker: 51:16

Absolutely.

Ian L. George: 51:18

As well. Hopefully a victory on American soil.

Lord Russell Baker: 51:22

Absolutely. Would be nice, wouldn't it? To walk into the backyard of the U.S. uSA and come home with the nice rider cuff. Why not? That would be brilliant. And as on my show actually a while back now I had John Attridge who's The chairman and owner of BVX World, good friend of mine and he said to me that he likes to employ people who come from the world of sport. He was actually an ex umpire here in cricket actually by the way as well. So he loves his sport. He's Australian. So that kind of says a story. He said I like to employ people who've been in sports just because they bring that competitive edge to the business world. You know that's, that's a great, great theme, isn't it? That's well spoken and.

Ian L. George: 51:58

Well it is. It's an interesting point you make. I think that sport and business are now inextricably linked. If you look at football in England, 12 of the 20 teams in the Premier League are majority controlled by American interests. And they tend to be the American owners of professional sports teams across the states. And when you look at the business rationale for them doing it, I think there are three key features that underpin these acquisitions. Not universally, but it tends to be the owners of professional sports teams across the state who are securing these acquisitions. And there are three factors which I believe Lord Russell underpin this strategy. Firstly, it's very much a, a long term investment strategy. So if we look at Chelsea for example, I mean not everybody will agree with me but, but Chelsea have to relocate as one of the traditional top six. I don't know what their stadium capacity is. 42,000, Manchester United 75. Liverpool's is pushing 60, Tottenham 62, Arsenal 60. I mean even Everton now 54, Newcastle 51. They can't compete in matchday revenue terms. They have to relocate now in West London. That's not easy but there's a huge real estate opportunity there and Chelsea have sort of revolutionized player contracts by putting them on eight year contracts never before. So it's very much the first factor is a long term investment strategy. Secondly, I think when the Glazer family acquired Manchester United, when was it? 2002, 2003. It's a good 20 plus years. Now whilst we all know that the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA, NHL and to an extent the MLS is huge in the States, they're not necessarily huge around the globe. And I think they encountered this product called the Premier league broadcast to 210 plus countries around the world. And so the second factor is they'd like a share of those voluminous broadcasting revenues. And the third factor I believe is that with most of these American controlling interests being the owners of professional sports teams across the states there, the third reason is to utilize this acquisition as a foundation to grow the fan base of their American sports team. So I, I don't have the statistics to hand, but I do know that the global fan base of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has gone through the roof since the Glazers bought Manchester United. The global fan base of the Boston Red Sox since John W. Henry acquired Liverpool. Similarly the Jacksonville Jaguars when Shahid Khan bought Fulham, and many, many more. So that link between business and it's very, very commercially driven, I, I remember a story, I won't mention names, but when it was declared and disclosed to the American Chelsea ownership that there's nothing else to sell, you never say that to an American. There are blades of grass, there's this, there's that. You know, if you imagine commercial partnerships, there's an infinitesimal number of industry sectors, so very much a sales driven attitude, commercial growth attitude is coming in, which I think is a good thing. And yes, sport is there for to be enjoyed, but, but it is, it is undoubtedly a business and like most businesses, Lord Russell, depending on the way it's managed and governed, it can be very, very successful. So those are the three reasons why I think they're continuing to embrace the professional football sector in England and Scotland to an extent.

Lord Russell Baker: 56:09

Absolutely. And I think in Chelsea's case, I was there actually down there in August with Steve Wicks with his new book coming out. Steve Wicks is a very good friend of mine, of course, center half of Chelsea and there's an Italian there called Belushi. Is it Belushi or something like that? Bruschetta. Bruschetta. Italian. Well, actually that particular premise is owned by Chelsea Football Club. And of course, when you look at that all the way along from that shed end entrance all the way down to Fulham Broadway train station, all that property is owned by Chelsea Football Club. So they've actually got a lot of potential to actually build out the west stand and the old shed end stand, the south stand for bigger stands and for raising the attendance levels. They can't do much with the north stand or the east stand because they've got train lines sitting right behind both of those areas, but certainly the west stand. And I think they are looking to do that because I think Pruschetta have been told they're going to have to give up the business because Chelsea are going to do something. So I think those plans are already happening and I found that out in August this year.

Ian L. George: 57:10

Well, I say, I mean, I think it's in the public domain that now whether this is still the Case, and I don't know that there was an opportunity to relocate to Earl's Court. I'm not sure that that's an opportunity that's still being pursued. But unless they get up to a capacity. Now, if that's at Stamford Bridge, all well and good, but as you say, they have physical limitations on two sides of the ground, but they need to get up to a minimum of 60,000 to enable them to compete. And Chelsea is, I think, the only club in the world that has won everything. They've won the club, World cup competitions, obviously everything in England, and I don't think there's any other club in the world that can claim that. So they have a huge global fan base. They can easily. I mean, you know, if they could have a stadium with a 70,000 capacity and 80,000, I'm sure that they would fill it. But it's. Yeah, I mean, as. As a. As a QPR fan, Chelsea are our historical rivals. And I remember the days in the 70s and 80s where we would, dare I say, defeat them on a regular basis. Unfortunately, that's not the case anymore. And even though we're. We, as QPR fans are still very passionate about our rivalry with Chelsea. I don't think QPR get Chelsea too excited these days, but hopefully we're on.

Lord Russell Baker: 58:43

The middle anyway at the moment.

Ian L. George: 58:45

Sorry.

Lord Russell Baker: 58:45

Yeah, different leagues anyway. So there's no actual football rivalry at the moment, unless there's a Cup match, of course.

Ian L. George: 58:50

But it's a great hotbed in West. In West London. Not just London, but, you know, Chelsea, Fulham, Brentford. Qpr. Absolutely. So it's exciting times.

Lord Russell Baker: 58:58

Exciting times, exciting times. It's exciting times. And of course, the president of FIFA, Valentino, presented Chelsea the other week. Week with a special award for winning everything. And that also includes the youth European Champions League as well.

Ian L. George: 59:14

What's his name? Infantino. Gianni Infantino.

Lord Russell Baker: 59:16

Infantino.

Ian L. George: 59:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, look, Chelsea, it's a great brand. Hard for a QPR fan to concede that, but it is a great brand.

Lord Russell Baker: 59:26

You have to recognize the brand. Greatness. Sometimes even it's not something that you particularly enjoy or support. You just have to recognize it, don't you? Because that's. That's the way it is.

Ian L. George: 59:35

Some people say to me, it's the only London club that's located in a Royal London borough. Of course, that's not the case because Charlton are in the Royal London Borough of Greenwich and I think Wimbledon in Merton.

Lord Russell Baker: 59:49

They're in Merton.

Ian L. George: 59:50

Not sure. Yeah, but no, look, it's. It's a great brand, it's a great club. They had a certain Russian gentleman who invested his millions and billions and now, now an American seems to be doing the same. So good luck to them and hopefully we'll get back to the promised land of the Premier League soon.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:00:11

Absolutely, yeah. And I wish you the best of luck too at Queens Park Rangers because they're a lovely little club and you know, they were in the top flight for many, many years and good to see them back, isn't it? Let's be honest, go back to the.

Ian L. George: 1:00:22

Days of Stan Bowles and Jerry Francis.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:00:24

Oh, yeah, now you've got it. Yeah. Stan Bal sort of player. And of course, you know, if, if the, if likes of Bournemouth can survive on. On minimal gate gate wealth, then, you know, it can happen to Queen's Park Rangers, can't it? So it's all about sponsorship.

Ian L. George: 1:00:37

I mean, I mean I, I actually remember in May 76 attending the highest ever attendance at Loftus Road, which I'm. I'm that much of an anorak that I know it was 35,353. So how was that possible when the current capacity is 18 and a half thousand appro. Well, of course it was terror thing and what have you, can we survive in the Premier League? But as you say, Bournemouth do it on 11,000. But I think they're looking to build a new stadium. Match day revenues are significant and that's why Chelsea need to either increase the capacity at Stamford Bridge, which is difficult. They've also got that issue of the. What is it? The Chelsea pitch Owners Association?

Lord Russell Baker: 1:01:21

Well, that's the other thing that stops the sale of the club or Stamford Bridge because the pitch owners own the pitch.

Ian L. George: 1:01:29

So Ken Bates did that to raise a bit of money?

Lord Russell Baker: 1:01:33

No. Well, he did that actually to keep the bulldozers out as well so no one could come in. He was a very clever man, Ken Bates, I can tell you, A very clever man. And so what he did at Chelsea at those times. We're going off sink a little bit here, but why not? It's a bit of fun. Bit of fact, he bought all those properties along from the Shed End down to Fulham Broadway to keep the bulldozers out because he knew they couldn't come in from the north and the east ends because the railway place, so it was only the south and the west he had to protect, which he did by buying all those properties which is now serving Chelsea well, and also sold the pitch to the supporters. So the supporters owned the pitch. So the ground can't be used for anything else. So he was a very clever man, very shrewd, Mr. Bates, I can tell you. He was.

Ian L. George: 1:02:17

I mean, he went on to what he. They bought it from the Mears family. Denied. He.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:02:23

He bought it from the Mears family?

Ian L. George: 1:02:25

Yeah, then. And then Ken went on to Leeds.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:02:29

And then Ken went on to Leeds and. And helped Leeds out. Did quite a lot of good stuff at Leeds as well. But, yeah, he bought off of Brian Mears Mears family. And I'm good friends with Brian's son, actually, Chris Mears. So we. We collaborate quite well together. You know, the old Chelsea sort of boys, really. So that's all very nice. So I get to hear all the real stories, you know, about what goes on.

Ian L. George: 1:02:49

I think Ken is enjoying retirement in. In Monaco, I guess now. But a real character and definitely, you know, I think the game misses characters. I mean, qpr, we had Jim Gregory, another real character. And yeah, those were the days. Those were the days.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:03:09

That's when football was football, though, wasn't it?

Ian L. George: 1:03:11

Yeah, exactly.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:03:12

But getting back onto business, because I only picked this one up the other day and added it into the show script. I understand you also run own George Wicks Ltd. I might be wrong with the ownership level, but which is positioned as an exceptional conduit for creating outstanding investment and commercial opportunities throughout the global sports sector. So we're back on sport again. This I find very exciting. So tell us more about this particular project.

Ian L. George: 1:03:37

It's a small business. We don't do deals every day. We don't do deals every week, every month, if you can do one now and again. But it's a conduit to find commercial partners for or professional football clubs or commercial partners in sport in general terms, and a conduit, again, for attracting investment. And I think what we have to recognize based on everything that we've discussed, Lord Russell, certainly the professional football sector in England and Scotland is a very buoyant sector at the moment. And interestingly, a lot of the American interest is also targeted at Scotland. Glasgow Rangers have now come under new ownership, ownership associated with the same ownership that owns Leeds 49 Adventures, San Francisco 49ers. I think the two Dundee clubs have American investment. I think St. Johnston does. Aberdeen certainly does. That's related to the Atlanta Falcons, I believe the gentleman who owns Home Depot, Arthur Blank. So the American interest in Scotland and of course, arguably in Scotland, with the top six sort of being entrenched in England. The great exception, of course, was Leicester when they won the Premier League in 2016. I think there is a belief that beyond Celtic and Rangers, that there's arguably an easier route into Europe, Europe by acquiring a team in Scotland than if, than in England. Broadcasting revenues are more diluted and there are more opportunities now in Scotland. In fact, we're in discussions with one particular club and we're hoping that we're going to be able to help. But I think as you said, Lord Russell, identifying the inextricably linked sectors of business and sports and the opportunities that prevail at the moment with almost the cross fertilization of American and British sport, I think at the London Stadium every year now they have a major league baseball game. Tottenham and Wembley been hosting NFL games. So I think that that trend is going to continue and hopefully it does because it's, it continues to make the sector very buoyant and very, very attractive.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:06:17

I quite agree. I mean, you are also the executive patron at Queen's Park Rangers Football club. So what does this evolve in and does this mean attending every home match each season?

Ian L. George: 1:06:27

No, that, that was a description that a former managing director, I, I, I subscribed to one of their hospitality, in fact, they're very nice hospitality lounge for several seasons and he said by continuing to subscribe to this particular facility for several years, he said you're like an executive patron. So I thought if you're going to call me an executive patron, I shall take that. But that's sort of very much in unofficial terms now. Look, I'm a big supporter of Queen's Park Rangers. I think under the current ownership ship that they're, they're beginning to head back in the right direction. Interestingly, perhaps not well known, there is some American investment in Queen's Park Rangers. There was a time or 15 years ago where we were almost sort of owned by Formula One was Bernie Eccleston, Flavio Briatore, Tony Fernandez and now we have continued to have Malaysian investment. American investment, Amit Bhartia has had a tremendous influence on the club for many, many years. And look, I have blue and white hoops going through my veins and I always enjoy when I'm helping other professional football clubs, when QPR are playing away, I often ensure that I'm going to those games. I tend to prefer the away games.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:08:05

Better as well. Far more interesting.

Ian L. George: 1:08:07

Yeah. So yes, the executive patron phrase was one that a former MD used and it's certainly not in an official capacity, but one that I was very proud to receive and so I chuck it in there from time to time.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:08:19

Yeah, absolutely right. And actually as being A Queen's Park Rangers fan you are. I've got a good friend who's also mad Queens Park Rangers and he lives in Tenerife and he owns a bar called the Diamonds Bar out in Tenerife, which I visit when I go out there and it's all festooned with all the QPR flags. You know, it's QPR mad. But Queen's Park Rangers Football Club have now formally accepted Diamonds Bar in Tenerife as the official Queen's Park Rangers bar of the Canary Isles. How about that? So next time you're in Tenerife, in Pop along to Diamonds Bar are and introduce yourself.

Ian L. George: 1:08:58

Could I. Could I ask roughly what's the age of. The owner is in his 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s?

Lord Russell Baker: 1:09:05

Oh, he'll be. He'll be in his late 40s, I would think early.

Ian L. George: 1:09:10

I'm just wondering if the sort of memorabilia goes back to the 70s, sort of images of Sam Bowles and Jerry Francis.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:09:17

He'll know all about all of that. He'll love the lot. He'll love the lot. Lot. She's that enthusiastic. His name's Pete. He's a lovely fella. So next time you're in Tenerife, pop along to Diamonds Bar. You'll be surprised.

Ian L. George: 1:09:30

Diamonds Bar in Tenerife. Yeah. You've given me another excuse to go away. Go back to the island I mentioned earlier.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:09:38

You mentioned me. When you turn up, you'll probably get a free drink as well.

Ian L. George: 1:09:41

There you go. Well, no, I will. I definitely will. I definitely will. You'll have to give me some more. More details about. So the Diamonds. But bar.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:09:48

Diamonds Bar Tenerife.

Ian L. George: 1:09:50

Okay, I shall.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:09:52

Official Rangers Football Club bar for the Canary Isles. The whole of the Canary Isles, just.

Ian L. George: 1:09:58

Presumably they show the games. I don't know if they're permitted to.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:10:00

Do it, but I think they do. Yes. I think it does all of that. So you better watch a match in there. Queen Sport Rangers. So that's for sure. So what is next in the world of Ian George. Ian. You know, we talk about your sporting sides. Business side hard.

Ian L. George: 1:10:14

We'll continue to do deals as and when we can, providing people recognize that retained representation is our business model. The days of charging around the world free of charge, they. They've long gone. They've long gone. But no, look, we. We tried to do investment and commercial deals. Obviously the silver sales bullet continues to flourish. We do our little campaigns on Facebook and Instagram to attract new enrollees and hopefully keep healthy, keep smiling and enjoy life. And life. Life is There to be, to be enjoyed. We all have our challenging days, but, yeah, I don't think I'm retiring anytime soon. I need to get fitter.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:10:58

Quite right.

Ian L. George: 1:10:58

Need to get fitter, lose a bit of weight and, yeah, keep, keep going. Keep moving forward and smiling with optimism. Hopefully. Hopefully.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:11:06

Absolutely right. Yeah, quite right. And I've had a quick slide look at the clock. We're about an hour and 15 hour and 12 in, so we've done well. Time flies fast. Yeah, we have. Time flies, flies very quickly when you're enjoying yourself. It's been a great conversation, it really has. But as always on the World of Lord Russell podcast talk show, we could talk forever, Ian, about your life. I know we can. An amazing life as a seasoned business entrepreneur. It's been a huge pleasure as always and as always, the pleasure is all mine and of course, the show's audience when this podcast is released on the World of Lord Russell podcast talk show and the Lord Russell Baker YouTube channel. Thank you, Ian. Ladies and gentlemen, I'll give you Ian George, and I'm doing a clapping of the hands here as well.

Ian L. George: 1:11:49

You very much. I apologize for the interruption from the Chief Revenue Officer at Huddersfield. That's what happens when you're not in your own office. But it's been a real pleasure, Lord Russell, and we'll speak very, very special soon.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:12:00

Can you stay on for five minutes whilst I wrap up? Just have a quick shout.

Ian L. George: 1:12:03

Absolutely.

Lord Russell Baker: 1:12:04

Thanks, Ian. So the next episode on the World of Lord Russell podcast talk show is winning the 198384 UEFA cup with Tottenham Hotspur with Tony Parks. Tony Parks is an English football coach and former professional football player who played as a goalkeeper. In a career spanning over 20 years, Tony Parks was on the books of 15 different clubs. Incredible. Making more than 250 league appearances and won the 198324 UEFA cup with Tottenham Hotspur. After retiring as a player, Tony had two spouses. Joint caretaker manager of Halifax Town. So another exciting show to look forward to on the World of Lord Russell podcast talk show, available of course on all podcast media platforms and the Lord Russell Baker YouTube TV channel. And of course, I'm looking forward to seeing you all on the inside. So until then, it's au revoir from him and au revoir from me.