Posted on March 22, 2010 by Nick
Have you ever watched that extraordinary business TV show, “Mary, Queen of Shops”? In it, retail guru Mary Portas dispenses her wisdom to struggling shops around the country. I’m always impressed when TV pundits put their reputations on the line with real, sound advice; and Mary is a triumph. But I remember one episode of [...]
Filed under: retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, business advice, business process, business skills, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, mary portas, mary queen of shops, production line, restaurant, retail, run a business, running a business, service, small business, start a business, start your own business, time management | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 15, 2009 by Nick
What, I wonder, is the corporate party season going to be like this year? A friend of mine, who works for one of the big merchant banks, tells me that he’s not allowed to have a Christmas party. In fact, his company is so paranoid about bankers being seen as profligate that he’s been told [...]
Filed under: PR, people skills, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, catering, christmas party, competition, competitiveness, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, hospitality, marco pierre white, PR, reputation, restaurant, run a business, service, start a business | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 24, 2009 by Nick
Regular readers (yes, you, Mum) will know that I spend a fair amount of time here banging on about customer service. Today, I doff my cap in honour, because I’ve got a guest writer in to tell his story. Eamonn O’Rourke is a great friend of mine – and mighty funny too. So pop the [...]
Filed under: people skills, sales, service | Tagged: business, CRM, customer satisfaction, customer service, ebay, eBay business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, gardening, industrial revolution, inventions, inventor, run a business, service, shed, start a business | Leave a 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 [...]
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 March 9, 2009 by Nick
Hi there! I’m trying to make this blog as much about my personal business experiences as about the advice I both give and receive as I navigate the world of business. And sometimes that means being critical. I’m not going to name any names, but the following is absolutely true, and if the person responsible [...]
Filed under: marketing, people skills, sales, service | Tagged: business, customer service, employees, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, freelance, freelancing, outsourcing, run a business, sales, service, staff, start a business | 4 Comments »
Posted on November 19, 2008 by Nick
I’ve spent the past few weeks blogging about the recession, but I want to go back today to one of my old hobby-horses: customer service. Yesterday, I was back in the studio doing some video work. One of our guests was Judy Naake, a lady I have met once before, and who is a supremely [...]
Filed under: business heroes, marketing, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, businesswoman, businesswomen, customer service, Judy Naake, self tan, service, start a business, women in business | Leave a Comment »
Posted on September 5, 2008 by Nick
You know that feeling when something small looks like it’s going to turn into a financial nightmare. I had one of those episodes this week (Excuse the glass-half-empty attitude- don’t worry, this story has a very happy ending). So, after 18 months of living in my jeans pocket, the little electronic thingy which operates my [...]
Filed under: business heroes, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, car alarm, service | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 11, 2008 by Nick
In a comment on my post “On the hunt for new ideas”, Ash asks what I think about consumer transparency. Me have an opinion? I’m more than glad to oblige. For anyone who needs some help slicing through the jargon, consumer transparency is a pretty universal term for “being honest” in all sorts of ways. [...]
Filed under: marketing, service | Tagged: agility, BA, blog, BT, business, carphone warehouse, charles dunstone, consumer group, consumer transparency, corporate social responsibility, crisis PR, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, forum, people power, reputation, reputation management, service, start your own business, talktalk | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 23, 2008 by Nick
Today, a salutary lesson in business planning and customer service. This is a story which my good friend Darren likes to tell; about his father-in-law, John. I’ve met John several times. He’s now in his 70′s, still thoroughly full of life, and a ‘mad inventor’ type of chap. John has had more hare-brained schemes, inventions [...]
Filed under: people skills, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, choice, customer service, retail, sales, service, start your own business | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 2, 2008 by Nick
Earlier this week, I met up with an old media mate, Zach Barfield. Zach is a veteran serial entrepreneur, one of the best networkers I’ve ever met, and also horribly good fun. Since I last saw him, he’s become a mentor for The Prince’s Trust; which I thought was rather good. So I asked him [...]
Filed under: service, tips | Tagged: barfield, business, entrepreneurship, overfeliver, prince's trust, service, start a business, stuffed animals media, young entrepreneurs, zach, zach barfield | 1 Comment »
