Flawed Boards or Sounding Boards

The credit crunch crisis … Should the directors of the banking institutions have seen it coming?  Of course they should!  Questioning and recording the question is the right and a […]

Customer Satisfaction

A ‘just’ satisfied customer isn’t really good enough, only delighted ones will spread the words that encourage others to have the same experience.  So how do you know what your […]

So Wot -Speciality Speeches #3

Speciality Speeches #3 – Sell a Product (10:00-12:00 min) Use the four steps in a sales presentation: attention, interest, desire, action; Identify and promote a unique selling proposition in a […]

The Love Bug – business contingencies

Fifteen years ago the Love Bug virus cost the global economy billions.  Around 10% of UK businesses were affected in one way or another.  Even the House of Commons closed […]

What if????

I love these two little words that offer the white space to explore.  When you are faced with a dilemma that you can’t resolve in your head, the big what […]

Generation WHY?

You can’t tell Generation Y to do something without explaining why. I had no idea how long this idea has been in the public domain but I had never come […]

What’s a Smile Worth?

50 years ago, Harvey Ball designed the iconic Smiley Face.  Its aim was to ease the acrimony following a merger of two insurance companies. The graphic supported a friendship campaign […]

SMILE – If You’re Exhibiting

Why would you even consider exhibiting when, according to Robert Craven, in terms of generating sales it ranks 8th out of 10; marginally more effective than direct mail and email?  […]

When You’re Smiling … Marketing

    “Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu, When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.     I passed around the corner and someone saw […]

Just Listen – Speciality Speeches #2

Uplift the Spirit Objectives: Identify and understand the basic differences between inspirational speeches and other kinds of speeches. Learn how to evaluate audience feeling and develop emotional rapport. Develop a speech style and […]

Made Me Smile

68% of clients leave due to indifference or lack of attention …  sometimes it only takes a smile to get them and keep them coming back. This New Year’s Eve […]

Three Wheels on My Wagon

Don’t read this post … oh too late. If you’ve read the title, THAT tune is already in your head for the next … (your guess!) I heard it on […]

Voice Power for Presenters

During a weekend last year, I had the privilege to facilitate the lecture series at the Good Funeral Awards in Bournemouth.  Five fabulous and worthy speakers on a variety of fascinating […]

The Credibility Factor

When you have worked hard and have done a fabulous job for a client and they voice their appreciation; do you just blush and say thanks, or do you turn […]

How Far has your Bottle Gone?

No doubt (at all) that you set out some objectives for your business this year.  You popped them in a proverbial bottle and sent them sailing.  How far have they […]

The Dirty Dozen

Human error is estimated to cost over 3.5% of business turnover worldwide. There are three industries that are considered to be the highest risk.  They are Health, Nuclear, and Naval […]

What’s your Business Worth?

It is not too difficult to find out how much your car is worth or indeed your house but as a small business owner one of your personal assets may […]

The GOAL Keeper

  Whether we like it or not setting goals is a powerful way of making sure you get things done.  Research done by Yale university found that in 1992, only […]

Is your Business Niche Enough?

The essence of attraction marketing is creating a niche with your ideal client in mind.  This ‘customer driven’ sales strategy means you must have a good idea of your ideal […]

Bold Goals

Probably the most famous of Bold Goals has to be JF Kennedy’s landing a man on the moon and returning him to earth safely by the end of the decade.  A […]

Fly in the Face of …

An idiom – to be the opposite of what is usual or accepted His decision to start his own business certainly flies in the face of good judgment.   What’s […]

Validating the Vision

The eureka moment for any small business is not that you have found a gap in the market but that you have found a market in the gap. This blog […]

Focus V Balance?

Juggling what needs to be done and what should be done and what is fun to do can be tricky.  The fun stuff can start to impinge on the stuff […]

Marketing Harmony

The impressions that readers gain from advertising campaigns are as varied as musical notes.   The true value of marketing material is not the quality of the paper, the print […]

Plate Spinning

When you listen to this track Spinning Around by Jump5 you’re going to wonder what planet I’ve been on for the last month – not posting an’ all.  However, if […]

Zones of Perception

It is possible you can learn a lot about communicating by checking out some of the big brand success stories.  We receive somewhere in the region of 3000 commercial messages […]