Hiring a Professional; 10 Tips for spotting a Professional Turkey

You need an accountant for your business. Or a web developer. Or a lawyer. How do you pick the right one? It’s difficult to pick the right professional because they will obviously know technical stuff that you don’t.   How to draw cartoons online 10 TIPS FOR SPOTTING A PROFESSIONAL TURKEY 1. WRITING PHOBIA Turkeys never volunteer to put anything that you agree with them in writing. Minutes, plans, reports, quotations, contracts are scarce or late. 2. FEES ONLY FOCUS Their quotation only specifies the fee and not exactly what they will deliver for that fee. 3. CAN’T SPELL, CAN’T TYPE… […]

Back to Basics: Two Simple Tips to make it easy to buy from you

“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense”. Gertrude Stein. There are two simple things you can do to help your customers buy from you. Remember to display the following prominently. Everywhere. Contact details Location information Can’t believe I’m blogging about this? It’s common sense, right? Well, lots of seriously clever businesses, (all sizes), don’t provide those two simple pieces of information.  If I can’t get in touch with you or even find your business location, it’s going to be difficult, (or maybe even impossible), to buy from you. And you will lose customers […]

Inquire Before you Hire; 3 Tips Before you Hire a Professional

You need a professional auditor/ lawyer/ web developer/ whatever for your business. You’ve been impressed by the PowerPoint. You’ve read 10 Top Tips for Spotting a Professional Turkey. You’ve got a short list. Before you award a contract to one professional, what inquiries should you make?                 3 TOP TIPS BEFORE HIRING A PROFESSIONAL 1. CHECK THEM OUT OFFLINE Ask like minded people, be they competitors, colleagues, friends or family, to recommend a professional to suit your business. Don’t assume that because Joe & Co works for your friend, that the relationship is a good one. Your friend may quietly […]

Why You Don’t Need a Superhero For Your Startup to Succeed

Being a startup business is tough. It’s hard to get every cog in the wheel working in unison. It’s hard to get the product right, to find customers, make sales and to earn profits. It really is. Do you need to have superhero talents to get it right? Absolutely not. Last week we started a three month training and mentoring programme for tourism startups on behalf of Wexford Local Development. There are twenty five businesses in the programme, all at different stages of development; from idea stage to product diversification stage, each one planning to make a success of their business. Over […]

Business Numbers that Matter

“Turnover is Vanity. Profit is Sanity. Cash is Reality.” This old finance proverb is known as “The Bankers’ Mantra” and while bankers may not have the credibility that they once did, this proverb identifies the two most important numbers for a successful business; Profit and Cash.   Lets’ repeat that. The two most important business numbers are PROFIT and CASH.   THE NOISE OF NUMBERS When we prepare or evaluate tenders, business plans and projections, we often have to sift through thousands of numbers. It’s easy to lose sight of what is important. The fundamental reason for a business to exist […]

Internet Marketing Doesn’t Work in Straight Lines

Why we need to start overlooking the “obvious” and start with the basics is covered in this guest post by David Quaid of Primary Position, one of Ireland’s leading Search Engine Optimisation, (SEO), consultancy firms. It always starts with a question. The most common question I’ve ever been asked is this “If I do this, this, that and that, will I rank on Google?” It’s also the one question I’m least likely to be able to answer with anything else but “How would I know? You haven’t told me what you want be found for….” It’s also the question to be […]

Facebook valued at $50 billion and other tall tales

When Goldman Sachs effectively valued Facebook at $50bn last Sunday night, it generated a lot of hyped-up news around the world. Is Facebook really worth $50 billion right now? With the benefit of hindsight, let’s look at two other high profile company valuations to see what lessons there are for the would-be investor. Some you win, some you lose There are two parties to every sale;  the seller and the buyer. We”ll review two separate tales to illustrate both sides of the story. Losers – the buyers of shares in Telecom Éireann in 1999, and Winners – Amstrad, (operated by Lord Alan Sugar), when […]

A Tale of Two Beers. Pricing is for Life, not just for Christmas

Do you consider yourself to be logical when you are making a purchasing decision? Most business people rate themselves as logical, but when it comes to buying what you want, chances are that you buy it first and justify it afterwards. A TALE OF TWO BEERS                                  $ ?                                  $ ? CONSUMERS ARE NOT LOGICAL Consumers are not logical. We run a number of polls during our pricing workshops that prove this over and over. Studies prove this. Global brands depend on it. If you are in business, remember this and use it well: People buy emotionally and justify intellectually. How you […]

Top 10 questions about Social Media for Business

Many businesses rush into social media, simply because they can and because it’s “free”. This article outlines 10 questions you should answer for your business when evaluating your social media strategy. Getting social with Wexford Management Forum It was a pleasure to meet a huge range of Wexford entrepreneurs at last night’s seminarwhich I delivered on behalf of Wexford Management Forum. The content of the seminar will form the basis for several future blog posts, both here and on other blogs that I write for. If you would like to find out more about this topic, please find connection options at […]

“Management is nothing more than motivating other people.” Lee Iacocca, Former president of the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation. The most fundamental component of organisational success is the leader. The leader defines an organisation whether that organisation is a business, a charity or even a school. School – a nursery for Business Leaders Last November, I attended a prize giving ceremony in Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) for Junior Certificate students who had achieved “outstanding excellence” in their business examinations. The number of students who achieve an “A” grade in business studies is just slightly less than 10% nationally. […]