I’m often amazed at how many people I meet who tell me that they are no good at making small talk. They are happy to chat with friends, or people that they meet at a party. But when it comes to business, when it comes to networking, they find it tough.

There are few reasons for this, but the most common I find is the pressure that we put on ourselves to talk business.…

We all want the very best candidates for our shortlists, and having consistent access to these people is one of major issues facing the recruitment market. All our client’s want the best people for their vacancies and as we all know, quite often the best people for these roles are already working.

So, if they’re not sitting on our database, we need to identify the…

In the professional services marketplace, little is as valuable as the word of mouth referral. That wonderful moment when the phone rings and the person on the other end says something like “so and so mentioned I should call you”. There really isn’t anything nicer.

And where does this come from? It is most certainly not just dumb luck. It comes from doing a lot of…

I’ve just re-read Richard Denny’s fantastic book ‘Selling to Win’, in which he mentions a time management technique that I learnt many, many years ago from an old boss of mine.

Unbeknown to me, as I have been teaching this technique to people over the years myself it was actually first taught to Charles M Schwab of Bethlehem Steel by a training expert called Ivy…

I am constantly amazed at how poorly many company switchboards handle incoming telephone calls. How your phone is answered and how that call is handled says so much about your business.

Just today whilst phoning clients and prospective clients I have had company names barked at me, been put on hold without being asked, been put straight through to voicemail, and my…

Its a really common thing. You work with a really great candidate, you place them into a great job.

Yippee.

You do all the good stuff – the congratulations lunch, the follow up calls, you make them non-active on the database and your job is done.

Right?

WRONG

Of course this person should then become a client and you should work to continue to build the relationship into a really great one for the future. A client for life, if you do it all…

We all know that it is important to spend time thinking about our businesses. You need to work on your business, as well as in your business, we are told.

This is not just good advice, it is vital advice.

But, I don’t have time

The problem is that we don’t have the time, or we don’t make the time. We are busy, we…

We all use email, and we use it all day long. It’s both a great help and a great hinderance. Great for some tasks, massively overused for others. In many ways, it has changed the way that we work, and the speed at which we correspond.

The reality is that email is as much a part of our working lives as the telephone is, in fact it has even taken over a lot of what…

So how do you go from nothing to the top of www.google.co.uk’s natural search? This is a massive question and not one easily answered. There are plenty of ‘gurus’ who are happy to tell you their thoughts.

There are plenty of companies who will take your money off you promising no end of fantastic results, just as long as you put…

I was a recruiter for a very long time, actually longer than I would like to mention (okay 16 years) and in that time, and ever since, I am asked by people to help them in their careers.

I’m asked to look at CVs, help with interview preparation, give general advice, and refer recruitment consultants. I am used as a sounding board and career coach for those I have…

With ‘silly season’ almost upon us, many are thinking of the wasted working weeks coming up, where their clients aren’t around to speak with, or are too busy being entertained and entertaining to think about new business.

I must say I have to differ.

What a great opportunity to be networking

This time of the year is a…

We all want to grow our businesses. We all want to bring on and work with new clients. And, we don’t want just any clients, we want the right kind of clients. Ones who fit our businesses, who share our values, ones who value our service, ones who pay our bills!

Many of us spend large amounts of our time networking. We meet new people, we look for the potential to…

Well, that is a really big question. And the answer completely depends on your definition of a cold call.

If you mean, calling completely cold and hoping to sell your services there and then, well, yes it is.

If you think of cold calling as a business development tool to introduce yourself and your services to a researched target contact, then no, it is…

It’s been an amazing summer, and it’s still not over yet.

For many of us the day-to-day routine of early mornings, making lunches, school drop offs, and rushing to get to work on time has returned. In the haze that is normal life, it is so easy to forget the good things that the summer brought.

London 2012

Top of the…

I can listen, I hear you say. But, can you?

Listening is a very developable skill. Listening is far harder than speaking. Really listening takes effort and skill. Really listening means ignoring the urge to speak and to leave questions waiting. It is a kind of magic.

Being able to actively listen can truly transform the way we interact and communicate, not only…

Like a lot of business people, I enjoy reading business books. I read on all kind of topics, but find myself regularly coming back to the writers who really fire my imagination.

If you’ve been on any of my workshops you will know that I often quote from my two favourites: Tom Peters and Seth Godin.

Tom I enjoy, but Seth inspires me.

Seth’s word help me…

Networking is a word that means many things to many people. At one end of the scale its a nerve racking experience that you make yourself do, for others its an opportunity and a fun way to meet new potential contacts and business partners.

The truth is that most of us go out to network in one way or another, by very few do it well. This is often due to a…

I am often really amazed at how easy it is to make a great difference to our clients’ experience of us, in very small and easy ways.

Today I visited the dentist. I’d broken a filling and needed to have it replaced. I don’t like going to the dentist, I have no logical reason for this or any phobia, but I just don’t enjoy it.

But, today was different. Today my…

Does the following sound familiar to you?

“I met this great person at an event last night, we got on really well, and they are about to instruct an advisor to do what we do, but the opportunity just didn’t come up to ask the question”.

What a wasted opportunity

What a shame, and what a waste. To go to all the…

Like most business people, I read a lot of business books. Many I start and never finish, mainly because I feel that the writer doesn’t connect with me.

Of course, many of these book sell in the millions, so they must connect with many people. Just not with me. And, why is that? Is it that I haven’t got the message? Or perhaps, it’s not relevant to the problems I’m…