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I remember Bill Cullen telling a contestant “everyone is a salesperson”, during a series of The Apprentice. The last 18-24 months has served to emphasise his point. We have experienced a significant reduction in available jobs, and a significant increase in competition for these jobs. This has placed even greater importance on our ability to sell our product effectively. Having said this, I am not convinced that all job seekers accept (or want to accept) this point. I hear resistance on a…

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Do you have paraskevidekatriaphobia? Yes! Fear of Friday the 13th (today).  For some of us the day will pass like any other however that is not the case for everyone and according to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States (not including those from the rest of the world) are affected by a fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by a fear of Friday the 13th that they avoid their normal…

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“D’ya wanna be in my gang, my gang, my gang? D’ya wanna be in my gang? Oh Yeah!” Gary Glitter used to sing that song when I was a child, and I used to love it.  Not so much anymore and not for his mis-deeds, but for the exclusionary nature of it. I’ve attended quite a few network groups over the last year, some free, some as a visitor where after two visits you either join or don’t come back. I like the fact that they give you a taster of what to expect…

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How often when you go shopping do you walk away with nothing?  Absolutely nothing!  I regularly do, I love to window shop and I have a fantastic strategy in place to stop me buying things that I’d like and know I’ll probably never ever use.  Do you often enough find when you make a sales pitch to a customer and you’ve overcome most of the obstacles and they say: “I just can’t afford it, I know we need it but….” or attend a free event where…

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Do you ever find yourself explaining something to someone and when you’ve finished speaking they look at you as if you’d just rattled off something in fluent Japanese? So, you start over, doing your best to explain it so that they understand you, yet you still get that baffled look? Then you resort to speaking slower, as if that will make it easier for them to understand, which it won’t, by the way, it will just annoy them. Sales people are often accused of selling “their way”…

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LinkedIn has revolutionised how we network for business and  job search. It has made networking more accessible to the masses. It has made networking less daunting by removing “the room full of strangers” scenario. As a result, larger numbers of businesses and jobseekers are embracing the power of networking. I recently trawled my connections and I was shocked to find many had disappeared from my radar. I compared this mystery to a Bermuda Triangle on LinkedIn. Budding friendships,…

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Yikes! Was my initial reaction when my six year old sprung this one on me during a walk back from the shops. “Errr… what does it say to you?”, “well you know, I just think about how great of a sister I would be to my friend Ellen, how funny I am and how much you and dad love me… and then… well my mind gets tired and I go asleep!” How great would that be? Going to bed and contemplating all the positives, lulling yourself to sleep with comforting thoughts. Now, this particular child…

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Personal Development is my 7th BOOM! Business Discipline (taken from my book “BOOM!: 7 disciplines to control grow and add impact to your business”) It is the discipline that may determine your ultimate success.  The success of every business begins and ends with the attitude and drive of the person at the top. All business success begins with high energy and enthusiasm driven by personal motivation and a willingness to learn, develop and change.  Business growth depends on it. …

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Some weeks ago I happened to be watching a programme on TV3 when an item came up the really piqued my interest.  Strangely I rarely watch TV3 and watch morning TV even less, so perhaps this was providence!! The item in question was about families, and more specifically birth order in families.   Alfred Adler first developed this theory – suggesting that birth order impacted on personality and thus behaviour.  Importantly though Adler wasn’t saying definitely that where you were born in…

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We’ve all dealt with them in some shape or form. Customer support desks, help desks, service support desks – whatever they are called, this is often our point of contact into a company that has or is providing us with a product or service. The people who are working in these places are, for the most part, genuinely trying to provide us with the best customer service that they possibly can. From their perspective, this can be improved by; Correct training in both phone technique/manner as…

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