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Brick No160: Happy Birthday :-) In a message time-stamped at 19-Sep-82 11:44, Scott E Fahlman, a computer scientist from Pittsburgh, USA, first proposed the use of :-) to flag jokes in emails. "Read it sideways," he explained. Brick No159: The phenomenon of the Professional Smile David Foster Wallace: "You know this smile: the strenuous contraction of circumoral fascia w/ incomplete zygomatic involvement, the smile that doesn't quiet reach the smiler's eyes and that signifies nothing more than a calculated attempt to advance the smiler's own interests by pretending to like the smilee." Brick No158: The Most Important One-Thousandth This might be a third-hand story, but it's good. Brick No157: Do Not Touch The Porcupine Test Close According to two unhappy readers, recent columns have been (a) "flowered up with little stories", and (b) "more [about] storytelling than actual selling techniques." Brick No156: David Manning Is Dead His name was David Manning, and he just cost Sony $1.5m. Brick No155: _______'s Big Idea His idea defied categorisation, and that made it difficult to explain, even after a cold beer. Brick No154: How To Be A Yes Man Meet Danny Wallace. Brick No153: It's Usually Good To Copy The Big Guys Or not. Brick No152: They lied to me on the first page of this site "You will get the hang of it immediately," they said. Brick No151: What's Wrong With Your Inbox? How to deal with spam. And non-spam. Brick No150: Networking Is Broken Because most networking is selfish, and because most networks aren't weird enough. Brick No149: How To Use Photos Ten pictures that say way more than 10,000 words. And a look at how LEGO sells using photos. Brick No148: Keep Your Town Weird It turns out British towns are very samey, (according to research by the nef). But the way to react isn't to lobby politicians! Instead take a lead from 110 small businesses out in Louisville, Ky. Brick No147: How To Have A Number One The Easy Way How a manual written by Eighties chart-toppers, The KLF, can teach you how to start a business with no money. Brick No146: How To Be Human What a difference two "teeny" words on the back of an Innocent Drinks bottle can make! Brick No145: My license to print money expires on 31 May A last reminder about the free Google AdWords vouchers. Plus two highly recommended ebooks. Brick No144: The Kudos Of Queues In search of an obvious enough conclusion - that Brits don't really like queues - the stupidly named David Stewart-David spent 92 days standing in 2,000 queues. But (whisper this) queues can be positively great for sales! Brick No143: They Work For You An election-day special. Brick No142: 181 Home Truths How to rethink the whole idea of the Elevator Pitch. And 181 small business readers give feedback on other small business websites. Brick No141: Mel, Nick, Lucy, Emma, and Chris You critique 5 more small business websites (selected from a long-list of 72): baby wear for tots under two, a handyman, a recycling project, an art agency, and "the UK's first and foremost lost & found system". Brick No140: 47 Cries For Help A broken promise, some loose ends. And why saying Yes or No to a client is like any other business decision you have to make. (You pick them like they pick you.) Brick No139: The man who may make Specsavers rebrand The PR people behind Glasses Direct have more connections than a Meccano set. The site has had full write ups in The Telegraph and The Times. But somehow the site disappoints. Two easy ways to fix glassesdirect.co.uk Brick No138: You Are Number 9,453 A discussion of when automation works and when it doesn't, taking in anti call centre militancy, McDonald's and its 108 Happy Meal Combinations (TM), oh, and The Samaritans latest -- award winning -- ad campaign. Brick No137: How To Use Buying Signals It's easy if you're an auctioneer. If someone tugs on his left ear, puts a finger to her brow, raises his biro or touches her lapel, you recognise it as a buying signal. But what if someone is in your shop, or on your website? Brick No136: Do Not Eat Michael Gerber A super-simple "how to grow" exercise borrowed from E-Myth author, Michael Gerber. But why, (like the iPod Shuffle), the writer shouldn't be swallowed whole. Brick No135: Your No1 online competitor Believe it or not, the second most common thing people click on the web is the phrase "skip intro". In other words, fast-forward. But what takes first place? Brick No134: A bad way to deal with change A fresh take on changes to maternity leave. And why "bodies" like the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) don't represent this small business owner. Brick No133: Fixing The Film Shop "Stepping in from the cold, you'll see that The Film Shop mostly stocks movies that feature Kevin Bacon, or his Spanish, Argentinean or Japanese equivalent . . ." Brick No132: The Power Of Prototyping Prototyping isn't just for inventors and their inventions. You can use it as a technique for just about anything: products, websites, adverts, sales pitches, packaging, market research, and business plans. Brick No131: The Hot Or Not Rule In 4 years over 4 million people, mainly 18-24 year olds, have posted their pictures online to be rated 1-10 by Hot Or Not visitors. And this helps your small business how? (Includes the "It Will Grow Back" story.) Brick No130: At Last, Five Ways To Do Less Friday's Brick -- AKA If You Want To Get Ahead, Make Time Out In Jan, Feb and March -- went down like Kleenex at a wedding. Why doing less, not more, drives progress. Brick No129: The problem with January, February and March Unless you didn't read a column inch of news this last week, it can't have escaped your notice that last Monday 24 January was officially dubbed the gloomiest day of the year. Brick No128: Confessions of an amateur web designer Jeremy Freeman writes: "Re: your new website. There is no way amateurs would be able to create a site like that themselves. I'm referring to Brick Nos 86 & 87! :)" Brick No127: Now in Orange, Red and White The new Business Bricks website (Mk3) is live in its Day-Glo glory. And: How to extract more wisdom from the Aussie Dentist, Paddi Lund. Brick No126: My "Get Out Of Jail Fr*e" Card A warm round of applause if you may for Tim, Sarah, Martin, Jay and Shirley: our third batch of new, overhauled or broken reader websites for you to critique. Brick No125: How to land "Type A" customers "Finally, someone in a chicken costume who will do what you want." How an Australian dentist can teach you more about word-of-mouth than Burger King's Subservient Chicken. Brick No124: The Corrections Readers write in to right wrongs, and more on the BBC2's Dragons' Den, Hotmail and branded brollys. Brick No123: The mistake in BBC2's Dragons' Den Dragons' Den is car crash telly. How - in the first episode - the only successful money-raiser missed out on the best advertising money CAN'T buy. Brick No122: Your 8 favourite business books A teary farewell to 2004: reader nominations of your favourite new, old, reprinted, UK, non-UK, hardback, or paperback business books. Brick No121: The easiest way to write a bad headline Curiosity killed the cat. It also killed a lot of ads. The majority of advertisers have a tendency to write headlines that rely on curiosity, and curiosity alone. Brick No120: How sitcoms get you laughing With the explainable exception of The Office - which plays the silence for awkwardness - almost every classic sitcom of the last five decades has been backed with a laugh track. Why they work. Brick No119: More secrets and lies Five examples of transparency in action: (1) The first bagless Dyson, (2) An Innocent Smoothie, (3) A pencil that used to be a plastic cup, (4) eBay, and (5) Reader business Honey Church Toys. Brick No118: The ghost of Matt Weston past As Mark Twain quipped: "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." So what gives when a small business masquerades as a big business? Brick No117: If you fire unprofitable customers, what happens? Generally the customer facing the bullet falls into one of two camps: (1) The unreasonable or (2) The unprofitable. What you should do. Brick No116: The fastest way to master Google AdWords Sure, writing killer ad copy helps. The better your ad, the better your click-through-rate, and the better your ad position (or the cheaper your cost-per-click). But keywords are king. Brick No115: How my last paycheque got me my first 500 subscribers Business Bricks Ltd was - and is - a bootstrap business. In 9 months, we've bootstrapped our way to a remarkably loyal readership (yup, you chaps) of 8,798 and counting. Here's how. Brick No114: Five more websites to critique Another five new, impending or broken websites, all owned by business bricks readers. Can you help our star turns? Brick No113: Five must-read books Another five must-read small business books from the Guy who "starts up startups", a maverick Brazilian, an adman dead 70 years, a bald-headed marketing celeb, and the author of "The Tipping Point". Brick No112: How to convert trials to sales More on the f-word (free) . . . Two lessons from the spam cop: (1) How SpamSieve converts free trials into sales and (2) Why lumbering big businesses are just like static spam filters. Brick No111: How to use the f-word You needn't brace yourself for a potty-mouthed crash course in swearing etiquette. Not THAT f-word. Brick No110: How to write little ads that pull big results It's far harder to write briefly than blahly. A classified ad writing bootcamp: a handful of easy techniques to help you turn your complex message into . . . a blockbuster ad. Brick No109: Five websites to critique The first batch of reader websites for you to critique: a Rogues' Gallery of websites that need feedback or need fixing. Brick No108: A third way to network Most people go about networking in one of two ways: (1) You give it the soft sell, or (2) You give it the hard sell. Why it's time to introduce a third way to network. Brick No107: The real purpose of customer service Reader Iain Row writes in response to Brick No105 on using the web to cut costs. Also: what outstanding customer service really boils down to. Brick No106: The most frequently used sources of business advice A recent survey by the Federation of Small Businesses showed that only 16.7% of small businesses took advice from government agencies. But surely this isn't the true horror stat? Brick No105: A crash course in website usability You have just three options: (a) You use the web to show off, (b) You use the web to cut costs, or (c) You use the web to make a sale. Brick No104: Why the web isn't a level playing field As big businesses cut costs by putting hoops in between themselves and the customers, we (as small businesses) can do the exact opposite. The playing field isn't level: We have the upper ground. Brick No103: I'd have sacked the clown, not the M It may have slipped under your radar this week, but McDonald's has taken the first step towards dropping its iconic golden arches logo (the giant yellow M). Brick No102: Highlights from A & E Written from Homerton Accident & Emergency . . . SnipURL VS TinyURL . . . and why soft feedback is more useful than hard feedback. Brick No101: How to make your advertising more believable Fill in the BLANK: " Every type of advertiser has the same problem: to be believed. The mail-order man knows nothing so potent for this purpose as . . . BLANK . . . yet the general advertiser seldom uses it. " Brick No100: How to apply Brick No99 Remarkable produces brilliantly coloured recycled stationery: the range includes pencils emblazoned with "I used to be a plastic cup" and mouse mats that say "I used to be a car tyre". One of five "heroic" products. Brick No99: Before And After My 90lb Weight Loss If your product or service itself is remarkable (heroic), you must make it the centrepiece (the hero) of your advertising. If not, you're relying on spin. Brick No98: Secrets from inside a Russian doll Readers bear their teeth over Brick No97. And how adman David Ogilvy used Russian Dolls to prove that personality-based businesses can scale. Brick No97: Why we start-up in business Why bestselling authors, VCs and investment bankers think you should flush all of your personality out of your business if you want it to succeed. And why they are wrong. Brick No96: Have you hit a brick wall? (Part II) Complaining about hitting a brick wall - as Tony Benn once said of politicians and the media - is a bit like sailors complaining about the sea. Sea happens. Brick No95: The one tool which will make or break your small business Take it away, Tom Peters: "I want to focus on . . . THE ONE TOOL WHICH WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOUR CAREER. Namely the . . . To-Do List." How you can apply Tom's message to your small business. Brick No94: The language of the upstart As Jay Conrad Levinson puts it: " The more money Coca-Cola and Pepsi spent on advertising, the more it helped the Uncola. " How 7-Up invented the language of the upstart. Brick No93: A holiday reading list What's Worth Reading and What's Not? Four books and one "non-book" to help you fill in the first gap in transmission since Brick No1. Brick No92: A quick Bill Gates roleplay More on the Elevator Pitch, only this time, Bill Gates turns interrogator. He asks this question: "So How Are You Going To Make Money?" And, as you struggle for words (it wasn't part of your pitch) the lift doors slide open. Brick No91: In Defence Of The Elevator Pitch Mark Twain wrote: " I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one. " The point? It's far easier to leave in every detail than boil it down to what's genuinely important. Brick No90: How to win at skittles A quick exercise: pretend you only need one sale to succeed, but that you're only allowed to talk to one customer to get it. The Life Or Death Pitch. Who - exactly - would you pitch to? Brick No89: Advice from Stephen King Stealing business advice from Stephen King . . . yes, that Stephen King, the man who penned Misery, The Shining, The Tommyknockers . . . but honestly there's really no need to cower behind the sofa. Brick No88: How journalists work To get your story in the papers (online or offline) you need to understand how journalists work. Most journalists look for the easiest story. Here's how to give them a "gimme". Brick No87: An open note to web designers Web designers bite back in reply to brick #86 . . . Why sometimes you need to get your hands dirty . . . and a final word from an ex-web designer. Brick No86: How to fully understand your core skills A reader asks: "Who codes the business bricks website?" Outsourcing VS DIY: a very personal lesson every early-stage business owner should take heed of. Brick No85: How to stand out from the flock Spare a thought for Dolly The Sheep. Why, until scientists find a way of cloning humans (and making it legal), small business owners will always have an edge over the big boys. Brick No84: An easy way to make your customers feel special How a Spanish kids retailer used a simple trick to get the key decision-makers (Kid A) involved the second they entered the shop. And how you can apply the same principle. Brick No83: Probably not the best way to advertise Nobody really believes that Carlsberg is "probably the best lager in the world". But the point is, unlike your small business, Carlsberg really doesn't have anything else it can say. Brick No82: Have you hit a brick wall? The very first thing you need to do if you want to break through your brick wall . . . and how Alcoholics Anonymous has used the same approach to help thousands of "hopeless drunks" since 1935. Brick No81: Why Julian Richer ripped out the doors Richer Sounds shops don't have doors . . . MD Julian Richer ripped them out! How you can apply his record-breaking approach to any offline or online business. Brick No80: Four Mr Muscle businesses "Mr Muscle. Loves the jobs you hate." As a small business owner, every time you see hate, you should see an opportunity. If people hate having to do something, then you can sell them the solution. Brick No79: Why I got more mail than Urs Meier Beyond feedback: how asking your customers for "feedforward" can help shape your small business. And how eBay has used this approach to become the No1 e-Commerce site in the world. Brick No78: Your greatest source of learning As Bill Gates puts it: "Your unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." Ironic that it's from Bill, if only he had a dollar for every time Windows crashed . . . oh wait, he does. Brick No77: A second way to create urgency Simple deadlines and limits work. But the most effective way to convey urgency is to use real competition from other customers. Somebody will benefit, but unless you act quickly it won't be you. Brick No76: How Dyson gets customers to buy right now You don't buy a Dyson because it runs off centrifugal cyclone technology (feature). You buy it because it picks up more dirt (benefit). But how does Dyson get customers to act immediately? Brick No75: The best role model any girl can have Quivering with emotion, Halle Berry started: "I'm sorry. This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll." How does this help your small business? Brick No74: The best way to keep sight of the bigger picture It's easy to lose sight of why you started a business in the first place . . . "the Bigger Picture". The only way to really regain perspective is to take the biggest step forward in time you can imagine. Brick No73: What Ghandi, Clough and Ramsay have in common Typical response to brick #72: "What Gordon Ramsay knows about leadership" . . . was "---- all." But you can learn from great leaders, even if you hate their style. Brick No72: What Gordon Ramsay knows about leadership A great Tom Peters one-liner: "Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders." Gordon Ramsay's aim isn't to develop chefs who will always need their soufflés watching for them. Brick No71: How to deal with email Your inbox is just like a kite. If you don't control it, it will control you. The majority of us treat our inbox as though it's an ever-increasing pile of paper. Your 5-step action plan. Brick No70: Why the best salespeople don't sell (part II) "If customers are not sure about a purchase, our staff are instructed to tell them NOT to buy it." How Julian Richer used this approach to build a £50m business. Brick No69: Why the best salespeople don't sell The only choice Henry Ford offered his customers was Hobson's choice. Order your Model T Ford in "any colour . . . as long as it's black". Why that doesn't work 90 years on. Brick No68: Are you getting the most out of business bricks? Don't just read it . . . use it. Take a step back. What is "the most rewarding way" to use this email that drops into your inbox twice a week? Brick No67: How to make business partnerships work Finding the "perfect match" isn't the secret to making partnerships work. Advice via Roger Hargreaves (of Mr Men fame) and The Dynamic Duo (yes, Batman and Robin). Brick No66: The small business world's best-kept secret What your business can learn from "Boiled Eggs and Soldiers". And how a subscription-only magazine published in Wales really is the small business world's best-kept secret. Brick No65: What makes a business card memorable? If all your business card does is flatly list your contact details, then you've missed an opportunity to imbed what your business does in the recipient's mind. Brick No64: Unless you have money to burn, you need to do this "Let's see . . . Onion Bhaji, Vegetable Jalfrezi, Sag Paneer, Mushroom Rice, Kulcha Naan . . . washed down with Cobra beer." How copying Cobra can save you money. Brick No63: Three business plan mistakes Strictly speaking there are three big mistakes you can make when it comes to your business plan . . . find out what they are and how you can avoid them. Brick No62: Answers to your two most-common questions It was Tom Peters, the doyen of business thinkers, who first popularised the mantra, "Ready. Fire. Aim." (Yeah, in that order.) Often it's better to shoot first and ask questions later. Brick No61: When every week feels like a four-day week All these Bank Holidays! As a small business owner or start-up it's easy to let April and May fly by without really moving your business forward. That's if you plan on a daily basis. Brick No60: How to get ready-made loyal customers Almost all the advice given, chapters written and money spent on getting customer loyalty focuses on keeping existing customers loyal. Here's a fresh solution. Brick No59: Two real-life reasons not to price low Why one young entrepreneur went out of business, and how another avoided the same sorry fate. A follow up on brick #58 inspired by feedback from readers. Brick No58: What really happens when you price high As David Ogilvy puts it: "The higher you price your product, the more desirable it becomes in the eyes of the consumer . . ." Find out how to choose the right price for your product. Brick No57: Why the world's best-known marketing men are wrong According to Al Reis and Jack Trout, "the single most important marketing decision you can ever make is what to name the product". Eh? Why they are wrong. Brick No56: Keep the queue, keep the queue There's a map on the wall smattered with fluorescent yellow stickers representing business bricks Meet-Ups - from Bexley to Leicester; Exeter to Edgbaston; and Jersey to the Isle of Arran! Brick No55: A new way for you to use business bricks Announcing business bricks Meet-Ups - a new way to meet up face-to-face with other small business owners and start-ups in your area. Brick No54: The No2 reason websites leak sales Making your website look 'in demand' just isn't as simple as sticking up an amateurish counter reading, "You are Visitor Number 2009". Four easy ways to make your website sell more. Brick No53: It must be good, there's a 30-month waiting list As Harvey Mackay says: "If it's in demand, then everyone wants it." If customers see a queue, they'll join it. But how do you get demand going in the first place? Brick No52: Claim your share of £5 billion worth of UK grants Shockingly, only 5% of small businesses access their share of the £5 billion in available UK grants. This simple 4 step-plan will help you claim your share of the pot. Brick No51: How to give and get great feedback Big companies treat customer feedback as if it's pointless white noise. They claim to welcome all customer feedback, but really it's just a ploy to look customer-centric. Brick No50: The biggest change from the 9 to 5 The biggest change from employed life to self-employed life is the need to self-promote. Learn the art of self-promotion - as Tom Peter's puts it, "Starting today, you are a brand". Brick No49: The 80:20 rule & how to use it The 80:20 rule (that 80% of results comes from 20% of effort) isn't an exact science, it's a rule-of-thumb. But if you apply it properly, you could turnaround your business. Brick No48: The easiest way to boost your sales by 50% Your customer guarantee can give you the edge over your competitors, and it can tip the balance between you winning or losing a new customer. A 5-step action plan to lift sales. Brick No47: How 190,000 blind-taste tests still gave the wrong result Coca Cola infamously spent a whacking $4m on market research before launching New Coke in 1985. But just 87 days after launch, it had to haul it off the shelves. What went wrong? Brick No46: This myth could burn your advertising budget How to book and test adverts. Exposing a much-quoted advertising maxim as a myth. And what you should do if your first advert bombs. Brick No45: The most profitable six words in business history How a simple, six-word phrase powered McDonald's meteoric rise. And why striking whilst the wallet is open is the key to up-selling your customers. Brick No44: What do you call a dream with a deadline? How an old DIY joke applies to starting up your own business. And how "be realistic" isn't always the best advice when you're trying to get off-the-ground. Brick No43: The most neglected part of your business plan Peter Drucker argued that every business problem fell into three camps: #1 Your Product; #2 Your Market; #3 Your Route-to-Market. How to ensure your business plan doesn't neglect #3. Brick No42: 7 web design conventions you can't afford to ignore If you're launching a new website you have, at most, 15 seconds to tell your visitor (a) what the purpose of the site is and (b) how to navigate the site. How to do it. Brick No41: What beats quality and price? Fast is king. And the good news for us is that big business just can't compete with small business when it comes to being fast. 5 ways to think fast. Brick No40: Can you spot the entrepreneur? Every time there's a poll for Britain's greatest entrepreneur, Sir Clive Sinclair and Robert Dyson make the shortlist. But only one is an entrepreneur. Brick No39: The Original Sin of Marketing Carly Simon famously sang, 'You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you.' Many big corporates think that advertising is about their brand, not about their customer. Brick No38: Time to fold away your Swiss Army Knife? The sole-trader is the Swiss Army Knife of entrepreneurs - you need to multi-task fast. But a time comes when you need to fold away the SAK and take on your first employee. Brick No37: Why the murder-rate in New York dropped by two-thirds in the 1990s How New York police chief turned around the city's crime problem. And how "Broken Windows" theory can help you become more pro-active with your small business. Brick No36: How to escape being a small fish in a big pond One of the secrets of business success is carving out your niche, and one of the best niches to start off with is your local area. How to become THE local leader in your field. Brick No35: Jump the 3 hurdles of cold-calling Cold-calling is a necessary evil. It's one of the most cost-effective ways of growing your customer base. How to transform your cold-calls into profitable conversations. Brick No34: Why in catalogues do watches almost always show the time as 10 to 2? Discover the answer to one of life's little mysteries, via a Chinese Proverb; Mary Poppins; Pierre Luigi Collina; and Emoticons ;) Brick No33: How to start your business plan This new 4-step method will help you structure and write your business plan. You need your business plan to stand out, so bring your simplest, strongest message to the forefront. Brick No32: How to get your message across in one sentence The Elevator Pitch: you're stuck in a lift with Bill Gates and you've got just 30 seconds to convince him before the doors open. What do you say? Brick No31: TV Licensing Officers will soon be visiting Prince George Road Big Brother Corporation is watching you in other words. We know where you live, and we're coming to get you. How to use fear to get customers to buy your product or service. Brick No30: The most useful business cliché How a catchphrase high-jacked by David Brent should underpin the way you deal with all your important business relationships - with your customers, suppliers and staff. Brick No29: How JK Rowling made her millions The first big error many would-be entrepreneurs make is mistaking an idea for a one-off product with an idea for a viable business. Brick No28: 6 ways to help you work ON your business Take heed of the old saying that the entrepreneurs who fail are those who spend too much time working IN the business, and not enough time working ON the business. Brick No27: 10 Must-Read Books (part 2) Includes something from the genius of modern-day advertising, the must-read business planning book, and something for the work from home-ers amongst you! Read on. Brick No26: Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment That's how Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) puts it in Godfather III. Focus your energy on your own business and your customers, not on your competitors. Brick No25: 10 Must-Read Books (part 1) First-hand experience is the best way to learn, unless as the joke goes, you're a brain surgeon, pilot or tattoo artist. But for the entrepreneur, reading books must come a close second. Brick No24: What Hitler taught me How Lord Kitchener's famous volunteer recruitment poster ("Your country needs YOU") can teach you everything you need to know about advertising. Brick No23: How to Make Brochures Work If glamming up your brochures means that they cost 10p rather than 5p each to produce, then you need to sell twice as much to justify the expense. Cost-effective advice. Brick No22: You're not merely selling, you're doing business Few small business owners have any experience of selling before they start-up. Learn this new approach to selling for non-salespeople. 11 ways to start fast. Brick No21: The Six Degrees of Networking It's a small world. In fact, it's possible to link yourself by acquaintance to any other random person in the world within six moves. Here's an all-new approach to becoming well-connected. Brick No20: 'Can-do' or 'No Can-do'? James Cagney famously said that if someone asks you if you can do something, always say yes. If you believe you can do something you're probably right, and so is the man who believes he can't. Brick No19: Shoestring PR Just one favourable article written about you could generate thousands of new customers for your business - for free. A guerrilla PR plan for businesses with small budgets. Brick No18: Turning Features and Advantages into Benefits A feature is what a product is or does (like 'this car has ultrasonic sensors fitted to each bumper and electronic power-steering'). Features don't sell. Benefits do. Brick No17: When I see a frown on a customer's face, I see £30,000 about to walk out the door If you're about to start a business, I believe that the viability of your business plan and your business model revolves around one single figure. Brick No16: Add 7 extra working weeks to your year Why the early bird catches the worm. How an early hour is more productive than a late hour. And how setting your alarm 1 minute earlier every day may be the best thing you ever do. Brick No15: Treat your suppliers the way you would treat your customers (Part 2) Wave goodbye to the old "treat 'em mean" school of supplier management. An 8-point action plan to help you build strong relationships with your suppliers. Brick No14: Treat your suppliers the way you would treat your customers (Part 1) Treating your suppliers the way you treat your customers will help you build valuable, trusted relationships that will in turn help you achieve your business goals. Brick No13: My advice on logos All marketing, branding and advertising is an investment. Its end goal, whether immediate or long-term, has to be to generate sales. Logos are no different. Brick No12: Sell on your time, not your customer's If you spend over £2,000 a year at Sainsbury's, you hardly want the hard-sell when you're trying to pick your fruit and veg. Why your customer's time is more important that yours. Brick No11: Parkinson's Law Parkinson's Law, 'that work expands to fill the time available for its completion', holds true for small business owners. Find out how you can be someone who gets things done. brick #10: A-B=C Richard Nelson Bolles' simple formula will help you work out the skills and knowledge that you need to start and run your own small business. Brick No9: The problem with web developers Let your web guy look after the design, development and coding, but it's your job as an entrepreneur to sit in the driver's seat and make sure you new website delivers. Brick No8: What would you do if you weren't afraid? According to the DTI, 3.3m Brits resolve to start a business every New Year's Eve, yet only 0.5m of us actually do it. 2.8m dreams die unrealised every year because people are afraid of making the leap. Brick No7: Count your first three tackles Find out how this pep-talk can help you get your working day off to a much more productive start. Learn this trick and your 'to-do' list will never look as daunting again. Brick No6: Are you a 'Yes, but' person or a 'Yes, and' person? Keep a tally - how many times do you start a sentence with "Yes, but"? Get into the "Yes, and" habit and you will become a more constructive person overnight. Brick No5: Amazon.com - 3 lessons you can apply to your small business What on earth can small businesses learn from a company that offers the 'Earth's Biggest Selection' and has a turnover of more than a billion dollars a quarter? Here's what. Brick No4: The man who knew 'fifty thousand people by their first names' In the small business world, people literally ARE their businesses - it's vital you know people and they know you. 4 simple tricks to help you remember the name of everyone you meet. Brick No3: Don't let your prospects off the hook If you're a fisherman it's unforgivable to let a fish off the hook once it's taken the bait. And if a prospective customer shows a real interest in your product, you must reel them in. Brick No2: 9 qualities you need to look for in your mentor Even the smallest business should have a mentor to turn to. He or she might be someone you already know. Here's how to work out and find your ideal match. Brick No1: The web's best kept secret A website so uniquely useful, that web and marketing people try to keep it all to themselves. 4 ways to use Alexa.com to transform your small business. back to top |
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