PRICED AT A PREMIUM
Kirstie Allsopp - she of "Phil", house-buying common sense and all things knitted - has been Tweeting of late on the supply and demand pricing policy of airlines. Ms Allsopp is, I’m guessing, investigating for a television programme the practice of airlines and their IT systems pricing seats inline with sales patterns.
REST IN PEACE - IF ONLY
The death of Whitney Houston, announced here in the early hours of last Sunday morning was another of the seemingly all-too regular reminders of how prodigious talent can be tragically snuffed out before its time. From Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison to Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, it seems clear there are some talents for whom the burden of fame and creative pressures are just too much.
A “LATE ADOPTER” – AND PROUD OF IT
I'm what the marketing industry likes to call a "late adopter". Well, that's what they used to call it. It probably has some wanky new 21st century equivalent now. You see, I'm in that category of people that does embrace new technology eventually. We just like to take our time over it. Take Amazon's Kindle for example - something over which I freely admit I have pondered and pontificated for an unseemly length of time.
THE SILENCING OF HIS MASTER’S VOICE?
The latest trading figures from the retail and service sectors make for sobering news – and there can be little doubt of worse to come. There have been positive vibes from the likes of John Lewis (consistently great service coupled with value surely being no coincidence) as well as in the form of budget hotel chain Travelodge’s expansion plans, but what of those names whose long-held tenures on our high streets – and in our hearts - look increasingly precarious.
WHO SAYS SIZE MATTERS?
There are four and a half million small businesses in the UK. Collectively, we are responsible for 58 per cent of private sector employment and 48 per cent of turnover. Crucial to the country's economy - especially in times like this - we have to navigate an assault course of challenges: rising costs (especially fuel), rents and rates, late paying clients and customers, and employment legislation such as increased rights for agency workers. One area in which successive governments have failed to recognise this is by simplifying the public sector's convoluted, and frankly at times absurd, procurement system.
RING OUT THE OLD
The word "challenging" seems perfect when it comes to summing up 2011 - a year in which any of us responsible for running and driving forward a small business will have faced numerous obstacles and, hopefully, a few opportunities. For me it's been 12 months in which it has been both possible and interesting to reflect – through these blogs - on not just my own business but the wider worlds of marketing, PR and customer service.
HAVE WE LOST OUR COLLECTIVE SENSE OF HUMOUR?
I’m not quite sure what to make of the latest outburst from Jeremy Clarkson and the resulting furore. Does it paint Mr Clarkson as an odious individual who fails to recognise that, when paid handsomely by a public service broadcaster, it comes with a responsibility to be mindful of conduct, language and behaviour. Or does it portray union leaders as humour-less trouble makers who not only fail to identify a tongue-in-cheek remark when they hear it but who are so cosseted they’ve lost touch with the reality of Britain in 2011.
COMMUNICATING A DISCONNECTION
Have you ever considered that we live in a world in which we have more assistance than ever before when it comes to communicating and yet, in many respects, we are more disconnected than possibly any other generation for decades? Smartphones, iPads, instant messenger, texting, email – all designed to make our lives easier (and in many ways they do) and to ensure we communicate with colleagues, family and friends with all the efficiency of a well-oiled military operation. Ah, if only!
CHEAP SHOTS DO NOT A CLEVER PERSON MAKE
When did that element of the plain nasty that we now seem to take for granted become accepted - and go unchallenged? And when did journalists and public figures who really should know better resort to cheap, lazy shots to make a point?
OBVIOUSLY THE CUSTOMER ISN'T ALWAYS RIGHT
You might have thought that in this current economic climate, every business would be doing its damndest to keep its customers – and keep them happy. It’s something that appears to have eluded health club chain LA Fitness. At the branch I use and have used for the past 11 years, a decision has been taken to cancel one of the club’s most enduringly popular classes.