Columns, blogs and opinion from some of the UKs leading business opinion makers and entrepreneurs and small business owners
“If you’re not growing then you’re dying” – so goes the saying.
In the current harsh times, it’s understandable to believe that just surviving is enough. However, the true performers, in any sphere, are constantly looking to improve and take things to the next level. So how could you accelerate the growth of your company?
Last night The Apprentice went international with the teams travelling to Germany for a crisp selling task. So how did they do? How was going to end being told that they were to be gebrannt!
Week Seven and we’re starting to get into the business end of the show. There are some strong contenders in the mix but with a few of the weaker candidates already gone, they have to all be on their A-game from here on if they want to really win the prized job.
To start things off, I thought Lord Sugar was hilarious last night when he had a pop at Stuart for his PJ’s! Having woken up the contenders for their next task, Lord Sugar entered the house to see them all with their bed head and asked Stuart if his half mast PJ’s were his own image of “Stuart Baggs the brand!” Ha ha – quality.
I really cannot keep quiet over Lord Alan Sugar’s recent comments that the Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg are like ‘Leyton Orient suddenly being planted in the Champions League’.
Week five on The Apprentice and the boardroom has never been so catty – the three candidates to face Lord Sugar (Paloma, Alex and Sandeesh) all seemed ready to backstab each other. I have to say, after last night’s show, it never ceases to amaze me what the board room can bring out in people!
This time, I want to talk about a couple of growing pains that we had building a team. To start with, I think it’s important to explain a bit about the growth of A Suit That Fits to give you some context.
Last nights Apprentice really set the bar for this series, with both teams coming into the boardroom with quite a profit to show off to Lord Sugar. Unfortunately there always has to be a losing side but with a £76,000 profit, Jamie’s team certainly shouldn’t hang their heads in shame.
Having an efficient and effective sales strategy is key to the success of all SMEs – particularly as they battle to build a strong customer base in their critical early years. Unfortunately, they are often held back by expensive and unwieldy IT systems that drain their resources and make the process of converting sales slow and unwieldy.
I think that sleeping in the middle of the working day is ok. I know this is going to be controversial.
I’ve got an issue with some of the things that have come out of the CBI conference that I just can’t ignore…
Week three and all the contestants have now had the chance to get a real taste of what the Apprentice experience is all about. With Dan and Joy being fired in the first two weeks everyone must feel vulnerable.
Whilst watching Week 2 of The Apprentice, I joined in the Twitter debate along with many other viewers and noted a few issues that surprised me and that I also find fairly worrying.
So to task two and the beach accessory – I love the fact that they met at Heathrow, there would have been that little bit of excitement in the candidates of ‘Where are we going?’ ‘What do you think the task is?’ and then Lord Sugar delivers the fact that they are not going anywhere!!
With Christmas now a mere 12 weeks down the road, this could be the last chance for retailers to make adequate plans for everyone’s favourite annual shop-fest.
But what does Christmas mean to your business? Are you set up to capitalise on all the available opportunities? Are you even aware of what those opportunities are – particularly from a digital or multi-channel perspective?
With all of the above in mind, here’s my early Christmas present to you, in the form of my ‘5 top tips for multi-channel festive domination’ in the run up to Christmas 2010.
