Anyone who has watched Very British Problems or followed them on Facebook will probably remember the segment on the use of the word ‘sorry’ by us Brits. Seemingly, we can’t get enough of the word and even Adele decided to write a song about it. We use it when we walk into people, and when they walk into us. We apologise for being late, for being on time and for being early. We apologise for the way we look,…
Do you ever think that you could do more to attract or retain business but you’re not sure exactly where you are going wrong? Try this technique to see if it will help you: Get a pen/pencil/phone/ipad etc and make a table like the one below. Fill in all the communication methods you use. These might include email, face to face networking, Facebook ads, leaflets. How I communicate with prospective clients How I communicate with existing clients…
An Interview With…Presentation Genius Catch up on our recent newsletter interview with Presentation Genius Simon Raybould. Many of us have to give presentations in our roles and for the majority it can be a daunting time. I caught up with Simon to get his thoughts. Simon, public speaking is one of the biggest phobias in the world. Why do you think that is? In many cases it’s the fear of standing out – of being separate from ‘the herd’. Being the…
Communication Failure We all know people who struggle to communicate well, but there may be some things we are all doing that could make us ineffective communicators. Have a look at the following five habits and see whether you are guilty of any of these. Number One “Not Today Thank You. I’m Very Busy.” Bad habit number one is constantly telling people you are in a rush and don’t have long to speak to them. Obviously, sometimes it can’t…
Following on from National Apprenticeship Week, you might be considering taking on an apprentice or wondering whether an apprenticeship is right for you or someone in your family. There are no easy answers but there are some things to consider and I hope my blog might give you some more insight to help you make your decision. Thinking of Taking on an Apprentice? An apprentice can be a good solution for a small or medium sized business looking to…
I’ve jumped on the bandwagon of giving out January advice. There are lots of people making resolutions, or choosing not to make resolutions, and lots of people giving advice about resolutions so I thought I would join in. Now, although I’m not generally a fan of resolutions, I do agree with the idea that the new year can be a good time to start putting in place the changes you want to make. Putting on the advice giving hat, I…
In my last article, When Does a First Impression Become a Last Impression?, I discussed what aspects we judge people on when they make first contact with us and the fact that we have to use this very limited information to decide whether we want to connect with them. In part two I will be focusing on professional profile pictures and what kind of impact different types of pictures might have. For each type of profile picture below I’ve looked…
This week I’ve been thinking about first impressions. Even though most of us like to think we don’t judge other people, our brains automatically form an opinion within the first few seconds of meeting someone. In our digital world first impressions are often formed by reading an email, a tweet or looking at a profile picture. Once we have the first impression we then need to decide whether we want to take that next step to include that person within…
Networking – is it really for me? I’ve been attending quite a few networking events recently and it’s been interesting gathering various points of view about whether networking is really a useful tool in business. Nobody can deny that you get to meet many other small business owners. This is where the case becomes controversial. Some wonder what the point is of meeting other people in the same situation as yourself when it will be rare that they want to…
If we can’t have it now, is it worth having? Western society is travelling at breakneck speed to becoming an instant society. We are becoming used to everything being instantly available whether it be food, information, gifts and entertainment. How many of you have given up on finding the answer to a question because it didn’t come up on the first page of Google? Studies show that 50% of us give up on waiting for a video to play if we…
