Columns, blogs and opinion from some of the UKs leading business opinion makers and entrepreneurs and small business owners
If you want to get this year off to a bang and are planning to invest in a direct marketing campaign, then think very very carefully about this. You should try not to settle for what you used to do, and instead look at exploring more innovative ways of reaching your audience in this new year.
I’ve lost count of the amount of times someone has called another person ‘lucky’. And that situation happens just as much in sales, as it does in other aspects of life!
I applaud the choice of Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor. Ed Miliband should be commended for his unselfish decision to promote the unelectable and therefore ensure the Coalition’s success.
For those forward-thinking SMEs already reaping the rewards from moving their sales and service to the cloud, the next stage is to build in real-time business collaboration. Time is a premium for most SMEs, particularly in today’s highly competitive business environment it can be difficult for management to stay in touch with employees and ensure they are kept informed of all the latest company or market developments.
There is a worrying tendency that has developed over the years for a level of ‘being promoted to the level of your incompetence’ to become ever more widespread. We’re taking a look at public and motivational speakers and wondering what qualifies us for the title.
Sales expert Andy Preston gives his tips for what your sales teams should be planning for the New Year.
Customer service is a crucial way to differentiate your business and increase its robustness to weather out the current economic uncertainties. Rather than just examining best practice, examine and learn from any examples of poor customer service you experience yourself to stimulate improvements in your own business.
How long are yours? Four pages? More? But what do you do when you get them from prospective suppliers? I’ll bet that 99 per cent of you, like me, turn to the back page, look at the price, and then make a decision whether to bother reading the rest of it.
The typical strains associated with the run up to Christmas highlight what can happen when one gets overloaded. The challenge is – how best to handle it? Top Tips and some real life examples of people who have handled some exceptional “crushes”!
Since the coalition announced the need for a VAT rise I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen that it’s the right move. However, I think the rise should be deferred for a few weeks to counteract the disruption to the economy caused by the extreme winter weather.
To be in the final is really exciting, especially waiting for the former candidates to come back. When they arrive and you stand their picking your team, it’s almost like being back at school! For me, Chris picked a really strong team. He had both Jamie and Liz who were two of my top picks from the beginning. However, as good as Chris and his team were, it was Stella’s night.
Follow these tips to ensure that your business doesn’t get the ‘call me back after Christmas’ objections, and make sure that in January you can still get hold of them!
The interview episode always makes for great TV but having been through the process, there is so much the viewers don’t see.
Small businesses may soon be ordering double doses of aspirin following the news that the wording of the Equality Act (which came into force on 1 October this year) has thrown the validity of compromise agreements into confusion.
I’ve just come off the phone to someone who asked my advice on £2,000 of advertising they had been offered. I told them they’d be better off printing their web address on two hundred tenners and chucking them down the street. Spending money is easy – earning it is harder.
