Do we need a movement?
The other day, I was discussing with someone the need to re-invent capitalism (so just a light chat…). We were having a heated agreement about the need for business to be values driven, doing good for all stakeholders, not just investors. Then I menti… Continue Reading
Boris Brand
Boris Johnson – probably the best brand in Westminster. So what can we learn from the Boris case study in brand development? A man with a clear vision and mission – he knows where he’s going and he believes he knows where London (and the… Continue Reading
Client relationships
I attended a professional services event last week with the snappy title of: “Getting your fee earners to focus on client relationships and shifting the culture to push this up the strategic priority list”. The speakers gave a lot of excellent, practic… Continue Reading
Sales coaching
Last week I attended an excellent Train the Trainer course in selling skills. One thing that became increasingly apparent as we worked through the week was how important it would be for sales people trying to adopt their newly learnt skills to be coac… Continue Reading
It’s all about communication…
When I’m not working, one of the things I do is row. Rowers are dedicated individuals. We all love the sport. You have to really in order to enjoy doing it at 7.30am on a Saturday or Sunday. So with that in mind, I had a very instructive experience… Continue Reading
Out of the mouths of painters…
Our painter is a model of outstanding customer service. Nothing is ever too much trouble. He delivers a great end result and is always a pleasure to have around the house. Which makes the story of a recent experience with his bank even more entertai… Continue Reading
Sharpen your brand
Brand projects have a reputation for being vastly expensive and largely superficial. But it doesn’t have to be this way. When times are hard, typically people react by cutting their marketing budget and focusing on sales. Nothing wrong with that. Bu… Continue Reading
Thank you Google!
Isn’t it strange how one day you think or write something and the very next day something else happens to make it true. My rant about a gentler form of capitalism and the call for more organisations to live by a higher set of values was followed almos… Continue Reading
A gentler form of capitalism
Like many others, I was shocked (although not surprised) by the speed at which the banking world returned to its core value of greed once the financial crisis had seen its worst. I thought at the time that a golden opportunity to re-assess the model h… Continue Reading
How not to woo your customers
Call me old fashioned, but I have always been trained do everything in my power, within the bounds of sanity and cost, to enhance customer relationships. So it came as a bit of a shock when I spoke recently to O2. We had had truly awful service for s… Continue Reading