Business Branding | What's In A Handshake

Business Branding | What's In A Handshake

Actually a lot. Get it right  and you are giving the right messages and no one thinks any more. Get your business branding wrong and you are giving impressions about yourself that will set you off on the wrong path. It’s one of the First Impression things you do better to get right. In a small way it is part of your branding.

Some years ago I had the pleasure of running some mock interviews for a local Comprehensive school sixth form. The CVs presented were wonderful. The interviews nearly all went wrong the moment the candidates appeared in the doorway. It seems incredible that some youngsters do not know how to walk into a room. As well as that they did not know how to greet someone or how to sit in a chair and look attentive and interested. Any one of those small attributes would make a difference between getting a job or contract or place of some kind.

Presenting yourself is a small part of being in Business. A wider part is presenting your business...... Click here to read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd.

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 Planning | Executive summary or just an introduction

Business Planning | Executive summary or just an introduction

What on earth is an ‘Executive Summary’? For some reason the term grates with me. What happened to the word ‘Introduction’?

The trouble is that it has achieved a position of strength in the average business mind such that no business plan or feasibility study or similar document is complete without one. I am not saying it is not needed.  I adopt the Ladybird school of learning where if you are tackling a large project or subject it is invaluable to gain an introductory view and thereby a scope of the topic. That way you can see how much is involved and you can gain an appreciation of the whole thing.  To read the full LinkedIn article, just click here. Simple really.

Business Running | No Word For 'Entrepreneur'

Business Running | No Word For 'Entrepreneur'

George Bush is famously supposed to have remarked that the trouble with the French is that they have no word for ‘Entrepreneur’. Quite funny but there is another aspect here. Any business needs to have a spirit of enterprise amongst its employees. It has been called Intrapreneurialism.

The best companies invite a spirit of ownership in the doings of their employees which instils a sense of value and helps with staff retention. According to some UK small businesses research.... To read the full LinkedIn post by Bob Shepherd Associates, just click here.

Business Expansion Has To Be Balanced

One of the greatest enemies of business expansion is simply the business balance. It is no good, for example having the orders come flooding in if the company cannot handle the work-flow. Equally the business resources are finite and you cannot have resources waiting for an expected work-flow which doesn't materialise.

Retail is an easy one to judge as we all use shops. Have you ever noticed a shop closing down and thought you knew why? Was it location? Or was the location right but just not for that sort of shop? If the business owner compromises on location because of cost perhaps the results can be disastrous.  To read this article in full on LinkedIn, just click here 

Leaders and Managers

Leaders and Managers

The old ideas of leadership are changing in business. In truth they have been changing for years and 'evolving' may be a better word to use. The old autocratic ideas of a pyramid hierarchy with someone at the top are rarely found these days.

Quite apart from the gender roles disappearing and the values that went with them watering down, the structure of business has changed. Some of that is good and some not, as with all change. What was there before was a mixture of good and bad as well and it is a mistake to ever think everything is or was fine.

Some have started to realise that leadership is present at all levels and is an integral part of the mixture of all things. 'If you want to know how to build a pyramid ask the man with the trowel', is a phrase I heard many years ago and it touches on the same thing. Leadership is managing people upwards, downwards and sideways. It's managing your people, your boss, and your colleagues: Click this link to read the full post on LinkedIn

The muddy waters of an SME

The muddy waters of an SME

Of the 5.2 million businesses in the UK, 70% plus are "SMEs" - Small and Medium Enterprises. They form a major component of all that gives life to business and especially so in South Wales. If you stand in a major supermarket and consider the amount of money going through the tills, realise that all this is less than a couple of per cent of what goes on! These small or start up businesses go from A - Accountants to Z - Zookeepers and there is no single definition of what an SME actually is.

Neither is there much agreement as to when a business stops being "small" and starts being "medium". The 2006 UK's Companies Act defines a small company as one that does not have a turnover of more than £6.5million, a balance sheet total of more than £3.26 million and not more than 50 employees. A medium-sized company is one with less than 250 employees and a turnover of under £12.9 million.  To read the full LinkedIn article, please click this link.

How To Avoid Alientating People During a Presentation

How To Avoid Alientating People During a Presentation

Do you feel obliged to have a presentation for that little talk?

You need to demonstrate a command of your subject and yourself, but there is more to this than having a comprehensive set of slides.

There will be times, though, when you’re in front of an audience or a group and actually need some other presentation aid. It could be worthwhile using a flip chart or some props. How about standing up and winning them over with strength of personality? Humour is more powerful than statistics.

This post by Bob Shepherd contains some insightful thoughts around achieving a successful presentation. Remember you are taking the audience on a journey. Don't lose them! “Click this link to read the full article, on LinkedIn”