by lesley | Jan 19, 2015 | Reputation
That’s a big question – and one that it’s probably difficult, if not impossible to put a number on. Most of us work hard, try to keep our customers happy, help people where we can and hope that people like what we do and say good things about us to...
by lesley | Jan 5, 2015 | Inspiration, Opinion
It’s that time of year when everyone is busily planning all the amazing things they are going to do over the next 12 months – and, by now, have often actually got started. Some people have already fallen off the wagon too! Those people who promised...
by lesley | Dec 3, 2014 | Reputation
Everyone talks about ‘exceeding expectations’; in fact, this phrase has become so over-used that it’s almost lost its meaning. Getting something wrong in your customer relationship can have long lasting consequences – and people do talk when...
by lesley | Nov 14, 2014 | Writing Skills
People often ask me how I put together web pages, articles, blogs and emails so they don’t ramble and get the point across effectively. To be honest, after years of writing, I’ve got quite good at doing the analysis of where I’m going and what the key points are and...
by lesley | Oct 20, 2014 | Marketing, Newsletters, Social media
In an ideal world business owners would have an effective lead-generator that delivered hot prospects daily. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as it sounds and it takes serious effort to get the attention of prospective customers and then convert them to sales....
by lesley | Oct 6, 2014 | Reputation
I’ve just read a book that was quite good, but the author used the word ‘discreetly’ from time to time – except that most of the time it was spelled ‘discretely’, which means something completely different*. A couple of times it...
by lesley | Sep 15, 2014 | Marketing
If you’ve grown a healthy list of people who have an interest in what you’ve got to offer you’ll need to do something to build and maintain your relationship with them. You might have them in your customer relationship management (CRM) system or they might have...
by lesley | Aug 12, 2014 | Newsletters
There are two ways to look at newsletters – whether they arrive in the post or, more likely, in your inbox – as the sender or as the receiver! It’s interesting that people who complain about the amount of spam email and post they get still send out...
by lesley | Aug 4, 2014 | Social media
Social media wears many hats – the secret is knowing which ‘outfits’ to wear them with! Let’s take a look at the biggest platforms and examine how they work – for relationships, business, job hunting and more. Facebook is VERY social and...
by lesley | Jul 28, 2014 | Marketing
One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is ‘How long should I spend on marketing?’ Realistically, I think you should be investing at least three hours a week, but most small business owners insist they haven’t got that much time to spend....
