Sometimes someone in a short 11 pages or so, puts together a paper that gets you thinking about how business will be in the future, or what your customers will expect. Download the Trust Economies by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith for some interesting points on building trust and how we must influence people in the future.

http://www.changethis.com/44.04.TrustEconomy

In London at the moment at the Online Marketing Show. Last night whilst waiting for a friend, I bobbed into a wine merchants. Okay it wasn’t your ordinary Oddbins but it did prove that you can put customer experience into practice, by hell you can.

Apart from the outstanding courtesy and respect that was afforded me, I now know about:

1. Sulphites and how they affect wine making

2. Bio Dynamic Agriculture - this was a new one on me, fascinating!

3. How fragile wine making is and why its considered an art, a craft and a vocation

I came away with a modestly priced bottle of wine, yet had my experience enriched because the guy who served me believed it was his job to educate someone who appreciates wine (I’m obviously getting to that age) but who doesn’t really know the first thing about wine production and how it impacts on what I buy. I couldn’t get away. Absolutely fabulous, it cost them nothing. Just shows what you can do, if you make sure you have the time…actually you really can’t afford not to.

This is a great post considering that it is all about us! Definately worth a read if you work for yourself or are considering it!

http://www.boalt.com/blog/2009/06/why-sometimes-it-is-about-you/

Caffe Nero’s in Exeter is my second office, after the train and my desk at home like a lot of people. Most mornings I’m there getting my caffeine hit, I’ve noticed a group of individuals having coffee together. Turns out they meet everyday before work to chat and discuss the previous days events.

They didn’t know each other before Caffe Neros opened. They met queuing for coffee and have done ever since. After they finish they go their separate ways to do a hard days work and the session is repeated the next day!

Nothing new here you say. Well perhaps before the café culture hit the UK this would not have happened. Its only 10 – 12 years old but whats significant is that this isn’t any different to groups of people conversing on the internet, its just a different way of connecting. Okay you might have your own coffee and you may not have eyeballed the person you have been having a debate with on the latest developments in politics, but you are still having a conversation whilst online. So why is that so scary for some people?

Sharing conversations on the internet is just another form of communication and small business need to treat it like that. Understanding it and taking part in it makes it a lot less fearful. By the way, Caffe Nero have started to create a community. My bet is they haven’t realised this yet and therefore can’t do anything to encourage and embrace it. Shame!

It’s not about old versus new, or tradition versus innovation or, creativity instead of convention and slow versus fast. It’s actually about combining the them and understanding how they add value to your business. No one should drop the conventional way of doing things overnight without thinking about how they are going to develop a culture of creativity. Nor, should anything be banished to the dungeons of the company just because it ain’t trendy anymore without careful consideration.

There is a danger in abandoning everything we know. Things are definitely changing, more rapidly than we ever imagined and it will only get quicker. But sometimes, it’s the traditional things you do that make you different and sometimes even better. Occasionally, it’s very important to go slow, very slow. Change the pace of things and issues look very different.

Retaining some of the old stuff can be just as significant as embracing the new way of doing things. The important point to know is how they impact, which ones to keep and develop and which new ideas you need to go full pelt at. Is what you are doing good enough and what is missing?

This is a great article from Smashing Magazine, presenting advice on how to avoid poor design! Common sense and provides an insight into what makes great design in business.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/25/10-common-mistakes-in-logo-design/#comment-361300

If you are going to copy (or creatively swipe) don’t copy from your competition or own industry, it just produces sameness. Find another industry, look at what they are doing and do what they did. But don’t mimic the product, just mimic the process they used.

If you’re looking at building a community online go to Lego or Harley Davidson. If you want to radically change your customer experience look at Starbucks or Apple. Thinking about word of mouth marketing, consider what Ikea and Amazon did. Large companies I know, but so what? It worked for them and it can work for your small business.

Discover what they did, how they did it and then challenge yourself, your team and, if you’re adventurous enough, your customers to create similar developments. It’s likely that you will identify things that are just not done in your industry and that what will set you apart. Nice!!

My latest article! Click on the link below:

http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/does-small-business-success-come-from-a-magic-number-986186.html

Excerpt from my book “Leading whilst on your own.”

Those focused on the goals ahead are rarely distracted by the mundane. They are destined for greater success. It’s evident all around us. Small business people who get distracted, lack focus, forget what they were supposed to be doing and then wonder why they are just surviving or it takes them a long time to implement something. These people are the ones that only get a product/service to the introduction stage of the product lifecycle. Then they get bored or distracted by something they perceiveto be more interesting. I call them Jackdaws. Examples:

• Shiny things like new products where there is no market in the first place.
• Worrying about the competition too much.
• Feeling de motivated which leads to an everdecreasing circle.
• Chasing the wrong customers.
• Coming up with lots of ideas they never execute. Not even one.
• Focussing on numbers rather than value adding activity.

Oh and one more, under confidence! It’s a hard line discipline you need to be aware of and learn to manage as soon as possible. Start today.

A read of this book is a must if you are considering how social media might help you grow your business. Its structured well and, although the authors use case studies from corporate organisations, there is nothing to stop you from creatively swiping a few ideas.

Their segmentation of people using the internet and social media is particularly helpful as it demonstrates how getting identifying that correctly will dictate your social media strategy and consequently lead to success.

The best point; “Think about the customer relationship first not the technology.”