Posted on May 18, 2009 by Nick
Mostly, this blog deals with my personal experiences of running a business. Today, though, instead of taking you to my office, I’d like to take you home. To sunny Sydenham in South London, for a quick look through my local lens at supermarket giant Tesco.
Tesco has an astonishing position at the top of the retail [...]
Filed under: business heroes, marketing, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, business survival, CRM, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, innovation, retail, run a business, start a business, supermarket, Terry Leahy, tesco | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 12, 2009 by Nick
I’m not usually a fan of Human Resources departments. It’s not particularly the people who become HR consultants (there’s nothing congenitally wrong with ‘em); no – it’s the fact that I think it’s rather hard to bat for both sides at the same time. When times are good, there’s nothing to worry about. But when [...]
Filed under: current affairs, mobile, people skills, retail | Tagged: business, business blog, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, flexible working, HR, HR management, human resources, kellogg, kelloggs, people management, people skills, run a business, work at home, work from home | Leave a Comment »
Posted on May 6, 2009 by Nick
Like many hoity-toity Londoners, I don’t get out of London much.
It’s a bit like being a politician – I get the feeling that the fine upstanding folk of Westminster don’t much like getting their hands dirty by going out to their constituencies and seeing how the other half live!
But last week, I did leave the [...]
Filed under: current affairs, finance, retail | Tagged: Birmingham, business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Halfords, heavy industry, manufacturing, retail, run a business | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 17, 2009 by Nick
On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to attend the first of the 2009 series of Digital Dinners, an informal (i.e. quite boozy) gathering of people who work in my business – the digital communications industry. It’s a great place to meet a small number of players and actully get a chance to speak to everyone; [...]
Filed under: current affairs, finance, retail, sales | Tagged: british business, business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, environmental issues, environmentalism, green, green business, jaguar, motor industry, motoring, paul walsh, recession, recovery, run a business, start a business, tata | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 23, 2009 by Nick
In these troubled economic times, much has been rightly written about customer service. If you want customers to stick with you, it seems a pretty good idea to put a bit of effort into looking after them.
A good magnifying glass for this sort of thing is the banking industry. You can’t have failed to notice [...]
Filed under: PR, marketing, people skills, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, call centre, CRM, customer management, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, run a business, service, start a business | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 12, 2009 by Nick
Today, I went to pitch for some work to a client in deepest Norfolk.
For anyone reading this who lives outside London, let me apologise right here. Yes, I’m London-centric. I barely ever get out of London – and when I do, it’s almost always on a plane to somewhere outside the UK, rather than to [...]
Filed under: current affairs, retail, sales | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 27, 2009 by Nick
There were heated discussions in the pub last night.
We discussed the BBC’s decision not to screen the DEC’s appeal for victims in Gaza (fairly heated). We discussed Celebrity Big Brother (very heated indeed). And then we discussed not one but two resurgences from the 1980s.
The first was the return of Tory ex-chancellor Ken Clarke to [...]
Filed under: PR, current affairs, marketing, retail | Tagged: advertising, Branson, business, confidence, depression, downturn, economy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Ken Clarke, marketing, recession, Richard Branson, run a business, start a business, Virgin Atlantic | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 12, 2009 by Nick
Over dinner last night, we ended up talking about the late, great Ronnie Barker.
The taller half of the Two Ronnies was as genial off-screen as he was on-screen, and unlike so many people touched by the hallucinogen of fame, it never went to his head. The story I was told last night went something like [...]
Filed under: PR, marketing, retail, sales, service | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 1, 2008 by Nick
I’ve held off ranting about the VAT cut until now, because I wanted to speak to a few other entrepreneurs, to see what they think. So: the results are in, and here is the news…
Firstly, I was on my way home at 11.45 last night, and couldn’t fill the car up with petrol because all [...]
Filed under: finance, retail, sales, technology | Tagged: 15%, business, finance, price policy, prices, retail, running a business, start a business, VAT, VAT change | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 27, 2008 by Nick
Do you run a shop? Read on, then…
As I write, it appears that Woolworth’s, staple of the high street for 99 years, is to be put into administration.
For fans of slightly soggy pick’n’mix- or sweets with a strange rubbery patina from the fingers of 50 other small children, this is bad news.
I genuinely sympathise with [...]
Filed under: current affairs, retail, sales, service | Tagged: bank, business, finance, Hilco, pick'n'mix, recession, retail, risk, running a business, sales, shopfitting, start a business, start your own business, store, Woolies, Woolworths | 1 Comment »
