Your name? I have no idea!

Your name? I have no idea!

Regarding the name it’s a common problem to many that they are completely unable to recall names when needed. They may use a trick to avoid the embarrassment like using the name a couple of times after introduction to reinforce it in their brain. It’s probably a nice thing in that context.

I have this affliction and because of it I am much better now than I used to be at remembering names, especially when out of context. Also I decided a long time ago that the small embarrassment attached to confessing you could not bring their name to mind when meeting someone again is dwarfed by the massive destructive experience of painting yourself into a corner and never ever getting away with it.  To read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd, just click here. Simple really.

Running A Business | Business Ethics Are Key

Running A Business | Business Ethics Are Key!

The way people behave in business has been troubling me lately. The integrity of a business is what is presented to the outside world. It starts off with politeness and courtesy, moves on to turning up on time and then to doing what you say you can. It also covers not saying you can do something when you can’t!

Communication is a lot to do with it. If you say when you are going to pay, make sure you do what you say. For any business struggling with cash flow that is a useful tip. Much better that you get in first and tell them what you can do rather than wait until the boys are coming round and start bleating then!

Think about all the times you have received poor service. A lot of it was unmanaged expectation. Had you been told some investigation was needed and a reply would be given within a certain time you would have waited. Had you been told what was happening/why there was a delay/ given an apology for whatever was amiss it is likely you would have had your opinion of the place enhanced and may even have recommended it.  To read the full article by Bob Shepherd on "Business Ethics", just click here.  Simple really!

Business Planning | Is it time well spent?

I had a client who was a tyre and exhaust depot who had tyres in every corner of space. I asked him how many and he had over 600. There was no real reason why he had to keep a couple of everything made when he could get them delivered in a couple of hours. His cash flow improved when I pointed this out.

We the consumers should demand less choice. That way when your Christmas tree lights don’t work and you try to buy some bulbs you will not need to discover there are dozens of variations which are essentially the same, but not interchangeable.  To read the full Bob Shepherd LinkedIn article, just click here.  Simple really

Marketing | The Pricing Ceiling

Marketing | The Pricing Ceiling

There are interesting effects that a price ceiling invokes and there is a need to be careful in using them.

For example a life assurance plan at “less than £1 a week” is not going to be worth a look if I want a meaningful financial benefit . Assuming I am representative of the sort of clientèle the company really wants to attract, they are likely to haul in precisely the opposite. It smacks of the post war burial plans that were collected at the door at a shilling a week. In those days the sheer quantity of them made them a useful contribution to the company’s funds and since many of them got lost or were never claimed for some reason there is a tidy sum kicking about somewhere.

The value of money has skewed dramatically in the last few years. Incomes are considerable now in......... To read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepherd, just click here.  Simple really

Business Presentations | Many ways to skin a cat

Business Presentations | Many ways to skin a cat

In my corporate career, I was sent on many courses and seminars. I think every time there would be someone there saying they could not think what they were doing there as they had been doing the job for two years, or that it was bound to be a waste of their time in some other way.

I thought at the time that I was missing several major points. Even if they knew everything about the subject we were going to get another perspective on the subject. We were going to spend some time with peers which might have some contact value or the opportunity to know and show who we all were. There was always a potential for some little nugget in the presentation that would prove useful and when else would we spend some hours concentrating on that particular aspect of our working life?

Altogether a positive experience, or it should have been. A lot of people did not see it that way however.......... To read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd, simply click here

Business in a box | Franchises

Business in a box | Franchises

One very basic question applies to all Business Franchises of whatever flavour, size or type. It all comes from this.........

"Is the money you are spending to get a ready made business as much or even more than it would cost you to set it up anyway?”

You might be surprised how often the question is ignored and how often the calculation is a close run thing. There may be other reasons for using a franchise but – buyer beware! The considerations for buying a Franchise are not that different to setting up a new business. In some cases the....... To read the full Bob Shepherd Associates LinkedIn Article, just click here. Simple really.

Business Marketing | A Different Audience

Business Marketing | A Different Audience

"First rule of business marketing: Always speak to your audience!"

When you present a talk always gear it up to the level you want for the audience you are going to have. It will be appreciated more. That seems obvious doesn’t it?

So too with writing. These articles usually have some business point to make and illustrate and my natural style is not always appropriate. It needs varying to make the point hit home. So too with networking, or the broadcasting of your business in any way at all. Varying the pitch and the style applies to speech just as much as it does to writing and presenting. What is confusingly called your ‘elevator pitch’ might be different in different places. It needs preparation and some careful thought, particularly as you have only a few seconds to get your point across....... To read the full Article by Bob Shepherd Associates, just click here. Simple really.

Business Systems | That Pile of Business Cards & Other Admin

Business Systems | That Pile of Business Cards & Other Admin

I was doing quite well until a couple of months ago. I had a filing system for cards and a cross reference book for business types – printers, accountants, marketing, banks etc. That reading pile was under control and I had a (small) urgent pile and a less urgent pile.

Then it sank. I had (inadvertently) several systems with the most effective being chronological order. How long ago did I see that person/document I now need to find? It must be so far back in the run then….  Click here to read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd. Simple really

Business Marketing | Increase your social media weight

Business Marketing | Increase your social media weight

One of the few areas where increasing your weight is necessary is where you have a business with a presence on-line but you have yet to grasp it and create some waves and positive consequences for your business.

Leaving aside all else for a moment there is something you can do with Twitter that is not so obvious. Assuming you have Twitter profile and you are posting a variety of messages with the occasional flag waving for your business – that’s another article in itself, then you are probably trying to find ways of increasing your followers with useful contacts.  To read the full LinkedIn article, just click here. Simple really.

Business Planning | Building Businesses

Five years ago, after months of consideration I hit on a way to describe what I do in a short introduction at business meetings. Bob Shepherd Associates is good at building businesses. The phrase is positive and constructive and does actually cover the case.

"I’m known as Bob, the Business Builder" as a result.

When I view a business I am looking for all the components to fit together and all fire at the same rate. If they don't, then there is something to work upon. For a new start up business it is more a question of making sure the business has all the components available, but the principle is the same.  To read the full LinkedIn article, just click here. Simple really.

Networking | People in business

Business Networking | People in Business

Business is about people to a large degree. People are always in the mix somewhere. They might be customers, staff, suppliers, contacts etc. Those who have the soft skills for dealing with people successfully can find it easier to get on and to be successful. The small business owner needs to network.

The sole trader or consultant trying to cover everything certainly needs to network. That may not be formal meetings though. Stopping to pass the time of day with people, in person, on the phone, by email, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook is always important. It is becoming the case that everyone is assumed to be in with it all and taking part in the conversations.

Some people are more gifted in these things than others.  To read the full LinkedIn article, just click here. Simple really.

Business Start-ups | Part-Time Entrepreneurs

Business Start-ups | Part-Time Entrepreneurs

If you dive head first into a new business idea too soon, you could potentially be risking it all too early, with the result that you lose everything very quickly. Successful entrepreneurs don't do this, because they pay more attention to the risk and spend more time preparing properly before devoting their entire time, energy and resources into their enterprise.

These spare-time enterprises actually increase their chances of success for the following reasons:

To read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepherd Asociates, just click here.  Simple really.

Business Marketing | Corporate Speak, cousins ‘Management Speak’ & ‘Sales Speak’ are alive and well

Corporate Speak and cousins ‘Management Speak’ and ‘Sales Speak’ are alive and well

I am always interested in language usage and there is a case for jargon and short hand speech within an industry and its peers. When that spills out to a wider audience it can be frustrating or amusing depending on your view point. I am not saying language should be always plain although that can be admirable on occasions. There are many cases for using the rich heritage of the English language to create effect, or give slant or emphasis to make a point. An articulate facility with English is useful and valuable as well as enjoyable. However those who trot out the business clichés raise questions about their own understanding of their subject and their own security within their business world. Are they trying to be impressive? Are they sheltering behind familiar club or tribal terms to show they belong? I count myself fortunate to have come across two people in business who unconsciously originated these clichés.


It must begin somewhere and I was amused to see people in their audience making a discreet note with the obvious intention of using those phrases later.  To read the full Bob Shepherd assocaites article, just click here.  Simple really

Business Finance | Paperless Or Just Less Paper?

Business Finance | Paperless Or Just Less Paper?

In the 1980s we were promised a paperless office. I am not the best at technology but I have some of the tools and make an effort. Nevertheless, I have just spent 2 days sorting through some of that stuff that has accumulated. In the old days there was a pile on the end of the desk. ‘That’s interesting, I’ll read that later’ sort of pile. I have a pile like that and I have the equivalent in e-newsletters and emails as well.

When it comes to reading masses of text on screen I hunch up and eventually go to sleep. I need to make notes to keep myself awake and interested. So I still have masses of paper…

My Bank wants me..... To Read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd Associates, just click here.  Simple really

Business Leadership | Leaders, The 7% conundrum - Private Education, Top Universities and all that

Business Leadership | Leaders, The 7% conundrum - Private Education, Top Universities and all that

I am all for achieving equality in education provision and ensuring equal opportunities for those with talent and acumen and entrepreneurial initiative.

I have seen a lot of coverage critical of the system where the majority of our leaders, our politicians and our senior commercial folk seem to come from the 7% who attend the best universities and private education.

I think this is skewed the wrong way round. The question should not be ‘how is it that best universities and the private education schools seem to generate the leaders and initiative takers ?’ but rather, "how is it that an education system with the other 93% of our young people does not?". To read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepherd Associates, click here.  Simple really.

Business Planning | The big risky tickets in one basket

Business Planning | The big risky tickets in one basket

Small is sometimes better. Take the railways for example. The government has pinned a lot on HS2 the high speed line that will unzip economic miracles for that foggy bit they are unsure about up the M1 somewhere. £55 billion is big by any standards and I bet it's more by the time we have finished. It'll save a few minutes off journey times apparently.

Return on investment is a subjective interpretation in many ways . That money would be better spent financing smaller rail projects and rail regenerations. There is a stack of evidence that local rail regenerations work, and then some. The Ebbw Vale line to Cardiff is a local example for me. Lately the Midlothian "Borders railway" is a recent one.  To read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd, just click here.  Simple really

Business Finance | Alternative Investments

Business Finance | Alternative Investments

In recent times the alternative investments markets have received more attention and publicity. There are realistic markets in Diamonds and Wines, Stamps and coins as well as Gold and other metals, Fine Art and Antiques and Classic Cars.

You can have an investment in Wines for example, have the broker store it for you and never actually lay eyes on it. If you are cold blooded about it and study the 'form' you can make money from these things. In a more casual way you can watch the TV programmes and see what excites you. if you are a collector by nature you will probably have an idea what your own collection is 'worth'. Always become knowledgeable before you step in and commit your savings. 

As a collector.... To read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepherd Associates, just click here. It's that simple.

Business Planning | Networking South Wales

Business Planning | Networking South Wales

There are dozens of business networks in South Wales . I help businesses with business strategy and planning (“Business Building”) and I deal with business finance and organisation. Not a shameless plug altogether because my point is that the business planning for growth requires experience and knowledge in networking as a major sub heading under the all embracing term “Marketing”. You need all this in place to get your finance sorted to show you are a functional business, by which time you have a plan to put into action, if you have done it properly.


My view is that there is not just one answer to networking. Some networks work best with a business that can be easily pigeon holed by everyone. (Accurately or not – doesn’t matter, you can sort that out later on). Other businesses do not. Click here to read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepherd

Business Finance | Banks can't do it anymore!

Business Finance | Banks can't do it anymore

There was a time when the sensible way for a respectable business to finance the ups and downs of their developing cash flow requirements was to trip down the bank with their figures and see a friendly Bank Manager who knew them, understood their business and had the discretion to assist them sensibly and proportionately with an overdraft.

There were rules about this. With a long climb up the specialist ladder behind him (mostly a him) he knew how to assess the risk and how to apply the brake when required through monitoring, understanding and sensible appreciation of what the customer was trying to do. To read the full article from Bob Shepherd of Bob Shepherd Associates, click the link.  Simple really

Marketing | The Elevator Pitch. So Important When Networking

Marketing | The elevator pitch, so important when networking

It’s a strange term in business that has achieved the status of a phrase everybody knows and few people have examined for meaning.

Elevating is lifting up in some way and that is quite graphic. The word pitch is interesting though. There are dozens of meanings for the word, actually 50 listed in my dictionary.  In the business networking context I like the idea that it could mean the tone of your presentation, as it does in music.

More aggressively when you pitch something you throw it and the idea of hurling your service or product at someone you have just met is an anathema to business networking folk. It will get you nowhere.  To read the full LinkedIn Post by Bob Shepherd Associates, click here.  Simple Really.