New troubleshooting service for small businesses losing the credit crunch battle

Business troubleshooting experts at Johnson-Young Associates are holding out an olive branch to struggling start-ups and small businesses with the launch of their new troubleshooting service designed to help those at crises or near crises times to achieve stability and realise their growth potential.

Launched on 30th September, www.troubleshooters.org.uk can provide critical crunch-saving services specifically designed for small businesses ranging from recovering struggling projects right through to ‘crises’ management and strategies for survival.

The unique service was devised by Johnson-Young’s award-winning founder Phil Young, who wanted to bring his wealth of knowledge and expertise as a top-level executive to the SME market that does not have the finances to afford the expensive troubleshooting services, which are readily available to larger organisations.

Young believes that as 2007 saw business start-ups at their highest level for 20 years, there could potentially be over 470,000 fledgling businesses who may be struggling to cope with ever tightening market conditions and don’t have the expertise to steer their business through the troubles.

 “At uncertain times such as this we are seeing more and more small and medium size businesses start to experience near or actual crisis situations and the continuing credit crunch is placing even more pressure on smaller businesses that have less available cash than their larger counterparts to survive the dips”, says Phil, who has built three successful businesses from the ground up and understands the pressure start-up businesses in particular will be currently facing.

 “I am pleased to say that Johnson-Young are responding to this issue by making available some very unique, personalised and above all affordable troubleshooting services to help small businesses not only get through problem times, but better position them so that they can look forward to a brighter and more stable future”, adds Phil.

For more information visit www.troubleshooters.org.uk

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Recession mentality forces businesses to change tactics

A global recession mentality is forcing businesses to adopt radical networking strategies in order to survive, according to business performance specialists at Abelard Management Services.

According to experts at Abelard, as business is becoming harder and companies are taking longer to decide about buying products and services, suppliers are rapidly realising that they need to be even more visible and credible than they were before.

William Buist, founder of Abelard believes that in the on-line world, this will result in rapid behavioural change which is more embracing of others and serves to widen their network of business friends, partners, associates and advocates as they strive to be liked and trusted by more people.

“Businesses are understanding that they can generate the same number of leads as before by simply increasing their audience, demonstrating past success and attracting new potential customers, therefore increasing their sales pipeline. To do this successfully they need to change their strategy and previous behaviour in order to get a different (and hopefully better) result”, explains Buist, who is also president of the BlackStar Life Community on business social network Ecademy.

“My concern is that those who lack sufficient credibility, in particular, will be working hard to change perceptions and how they portray their products and services. They must avoid being seen as desperate, as being forced to make these changes rapidly, because of market conditions, may fail without a clear strategy and focus”, says Buist.

For more information visit www.abelard-uk.com

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One hour a day of DIY online advertising keeps credit crunch at bay

Despite news that online advertising spending is falling, spending just an hour a day on Pay Per Click advertising is still the cheapest way of generating new leads and is proven to be the most effective, especially if you take the time to learn how to do it yourself, according to web experts at Computer Training Solutions.

Pay Per Click advertising is still the cheapest way of generating new leads and is proven to be the most effective, especially if you take the time to learn how to do it yourself

According to Computer Training Solutions founder Claire Jarrett, Pay Per Click advertising, of which Google AdWords has the largest market share, has the advantage of working immediately, saving small businesses valuable time whilst gaining instant results. This is something which Google AdWords specialist Jarrett feels is crucial to small businesses battling to survive the impact of the continuing credit crunch.

“Now more than ever, a company website shouldn’t simply be a brochure, it should work as an unpaid salesperson 24/7, answering visitor’s questions and persuading them gently to buy”, explains Jarrett, a former teacher who founded Computer Training Solutions in 2006.

Jarrett also believes that smaller business with tighter budgets actually manage their advertising more effectively as they are forced to think smarter.

“The reason why Pay per click advertising is perfect for smaller businesses is because it is totally measurable, which ensures results and helps you to track what is and isn’t working, and increase budgets on what is working to ensure you are still increasing your market share”, explains Jarrett.

“By combining Pay Per Click with Search Engine Optimisation, the SEO will eventually “kick in” and you will be found organically and it is entirely possible to manage your internet marketing in-house for just one hour per day”, adds Jarrett, who released her own Google AdWords training DVD last week.

To find out more about DIY internet marketing or for more information on Claire Jarrett’s Google AdWords training DVD, please visit: www.clairejarrett.com

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Notes to Editor

Former high school teacher Claire Jarrett is an experienced IT trainer who now specialises in training people in effectively using Google Adwords to grow their business, through her own company Computer Training Solutions.

Unlike many in her field, Claire Jarrett is passionate about helping her clients to understand how to create their own advertising campaigns using Google Adwords. She takes people through the whole process of identifying keywords, creating adgroups, writing adverts and tracking results.

Claire is a Google AdWords Professional and has experience of managing and training in multiple campaigns across all industries and is a leading expert in her field. In the past 12 months Computer Training Solutions has worked with Motorola, Sir Robert McAlpine, Amey, Mothercare, Nokia, GE, Early Learning Centre, RAC, Chelsea Building Society, Zurich Financial Services, Lloyds TSB, PHS, Aldi, Audi, HBOS, WS Atkins, Centek, Forestry Commission, Logica CMG, Laing O’Rourke, National Car Rental, the Met Office, NPower and the University of Bath.

Claire fully understands the importance of getting onto the front page of Google and with her back to basics training she makes sure that her clients gets the best results possible. She guarantees to help people expand their databases, target new customers and ultimately increase sales.

Claire can deliver expert comment on a wide range of topics including Google Adwords, IT training, Internet marketing for small businesses, DIY Internet marketing, using Microsoft applications and on being a successful entrepreneur.

Information supplied by Media Jems. For further information or images, please contact Jenna Gould or Rebecca King on 01603 283 506 or email info@mediajems.co.uk

Job-hopping Gen Y’s get the raw redundancy deal

With news that HSBC is the latest to announce substantial job losses, many highly valuable Generation Y employees across the UK may be unfairly lost due to their perceived job-hopping mentality, according to leadership consultancy Dynamic Transitions.

Gen Y feel little loyalty to the company and are more interested in what the company can do for them

There is much discussion over the emerging trends of Generation Y employees, most importantly the disappearance of a ‘job for life’ approach to employment and Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain believes that this, combined with increasingly tight market conditions, is forcing out some of the most talented younger individuals and potential successors, in a bid to keep costs down.

“Generation Y individuals tend to change jobs frequently in their search for personal development and a company that shares their same values. The talented ones understand that they will have many jobs and indeed careers in their working life, so they feel little loyalty to the company and are more interested in what the company can do for them”, explains Germain.

This sentiment is reflected in a recent survey into Generation Y employees which suggested that the average length they stayed in a position was under two years and a panel for the Association of Women in Technology revealed that Millennial (Gen Y) workers actually feel they are discriminated against due to their age.

“The ‘always-moving’ approach to working life displayed by Generation Y employees can put them at a huge disadvantage when it comes to the securing of jobs, especially in an environment when big companies are downsizing to save costs and ‘older’ managers interpret many jobs on the CV as lack of commitment or fickleness of the employee”, adds Germain.

Germain believes that the distinct clash of culture between X & Y generations is the primary cause of talented Gen Y job losses and says “at the moment ‘Y’ are generally ‘workforce’, with ‘X’ being ‘the managers’, so they are already at a disadvantage as their approach to working life is markedly different”.

Dynamic Transitions is a leadership company specialising in working with Troublesome Talent ® and improving leadership performance within organisations. The full version of their recently released whitepaper ‘The Generation Game: How to manage a new generation of Mavericks’ can be downloaded from http://www.developing-leadership.com/generationy.html

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For press enquiries please contact Rebecca King on 01603 283 506 or email rebecca@mediajems.co.uk

The Great Debate gets the online vote

The great debate has taken on a whole new meaning after taking a bold leap into the world of social networking, thanks to the efforts of networking specialist William Buist. After recognising the need to inject the passion of the ‘good old friendly debate’ into the social networking scene, ‘The Debating Society’ was launched on popular social business networking site Ecademy, and has attracted over 500 members in less than three months.

The Debating Society is a free online club, which is open to all members of Ecademy and has proven to be extremely active within recent months, with new debates and discussions added independently by its members on a daily basis. Other members are then able to add their comments and express their views until the debate is concluded, with the final vote cast and the house motion announced.

With heated debates on subjects ranging from personal privacy and child development through to whether Beijing really deserved to win the Olympics, Buist believes that it fills a much needed gap in the social networking marketplace and is encouraging people to ‘just talk’ if they want build better relationships with their peers.

William Buist

“The art of debating is a highly valuable communication skill that is becoming less and less prevalent in a society that is increasingly using the web as the foundation on which to build business and personal relationships”, says Buist, who is a highly acclaimed speaker and writer on the subject of on-line networking, collaboration, and building business through word of mouth.

“There was once a time when the greatest debates would be held over a glass of wine with a group of your closest friends or business colleagues and I remember having some of the most engaging and thought-provoking conversations over a dinner table. I wanted to bring that same passion and enthusiasm to members of our ‘virtual table’ through The Debating Society, whilst at the same time helping them to build stronger relationships with each other”, adds Buist, who is aiming to reach the 1,000 members mark by Christmas.

The Debating Society is planning a number of face-to-face debates, which are due to start in the autumn. Further details will be posted on www.performing-teams.co.uk in October.

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For press enquiries please contact Jenna Gould or Rebecca King on 01603 283 503 or email jenna@mediajems.co.uk.

Book Midwife challenges CEO’s to get real…or blog off!

Further to reports that Google founder Sergey Brin has written a blog revealing intimate details about his personal health worries, executive communications strategist Mindy Gibbins-Klein, a.k.a The Book Midwife, is challenging other CEO’s to follow suit if they want to get up close and personal with their clients and other followers, but only if they are prepared to write it themselves.

“Vulnerability sells and more CEO’s should drop the slick facade and try it”, explains Gibbins-Klein, who suggests that there is nothing wrong with an executive like Brin sharing something personal on a blog, as it will most certainly be seen as attractive and endearing, and will probably turn into more trust, and more revenues.

Gibbins-Klein argues that the problem with most big companies is that the customer gets little to no exposure to the top exec and his or her views and that it is very difficult for an assistant, marketing staff or ghost blogger to write the real personal blogs, which are an outpouring of emotion and sharing of the CEO’s personal experience and not just an marketing exercise.

 “Blogging is one way in which executives can bridge the gap between the ‘corporate ivory tower’ and real customers. An example of an authentic executive blogger is Bill Marriott, chief executive of the hotel chain. His message comes completely from the heart, and is exactly in keeping with the feel and tone that Marriott customers have come to expect”, says Gibbins-Klein, who is also a published author and international speaker.

 “And in the political arena, we have seen Barack Obama take control of the blogosphere, pulling in more loyal supporters than his rivals and raising an unprecedented amount of campaign money in record time, again by writing and speaking from the heart and sharing concerns and vulnerability as well as the good news”, adds Gibbins-Klein.

Mindy Gibbins-Klein is better known as The Book Midwife and has helped over 300 people to write and publish their books. For more information please visit www.bookmidwife.com

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For press enquiries please contact Jenna Gould or Rebecca King on 01603 283 503 or email jenna@mediajems.co.uk.

‘Doom and Gloom’ mentality preventing recruiters from taking the lead

The recruitment industry is still buoyant despite the continuing credit crunch, yet recruiters’ doom and gloom approach means they are failing to maximise the opportunities provided by an influx of candidates pouring back into the unemployment pool, according to recruitment sales experts at leading training company, Outstanding Results.

The fact that more and more candidates are coming back on to market due to factors such as redundancies and temporary contracts not being renewed should be fantastic news for recruiters, who will now have far more chance of filling roles that they’ve been struggling to fill for months.

Equally, candidates are more desperate to secure work in the current climate and as a result will become easier to deal with. In the past their attitude would have been ‘well it seems like a good position, but I’ve got 3 other interviews and I want to see how they go first’, but now they’re keener to get a position faster, and don’t want to miss out.

Yet experts at leading sales training company Outstanding Results suggest that many recruiters are still using the downturned market as an excuse not to meet targets, choosing to believe that companies aren’t recruiting at the moment, which simply isn’t the case.

“It’s the same reasoning as used by sales people who don’t make calls on a Friday afternoon – and in the past some of my best deals have been closed primarily because I made the call when others believed it wasn’t worth trying”, says Andy Preston, MD of Outstanding Results.

“Recruiters need to get out of their ‘doom and gloom’ mentality – there’s good work out there for the ones that stay motivated, tenacious and determined.  The ones that aren’t will struggle”, says Preston, who has worked with clients such as Antal International, Evolution Recruitment and SQ Computer Personnel.

Preston warns that recruiters’ success will also depend on how they have managed their relationships with candidates on their database.

“If they’ve taken them a bit for granted, as a lot of recruiters will have done when the market was ‘easy’, they’re now going to struggle to pick that relationship back up, compared to another recruiter who’s looked after that candidate better in the past”, adds Preston.

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For press enquiries please contact Rebecca King on rebecca@mediajems.co.uk or 01603 283506.

Lib Dem cause more damage than good with bungled Cold Call

The Liberal Democrats poorly executed automated telephone campaign to approximately 250,000 homes this week has come under fire from sales training company Outstanding Results as a classic example of a campaign which is totally counterproductive and likely to push people even further away from supporting the party.

Outstanding Results MD and Cold Calling expert Andy Preston says that whilst professional cold calling done well can be one of the best ways to bring in new customers, poorly thought out and badly delivered cold calling will only serve to damage reputation and leave a negative impact on the targeted recipient.

Poor cold calling strategy could backfire on Lib Dem

“Whilst the appeared outcome of such a campaign was to get more people to be aware of the Liberal Democrats, they have clearly not thought about the impact of the activity”, explains Preston. “Let’s consider that many of the recipients were settling down to watch Coronation Street or the Champions League football and were disturbed by a recorded message from a party leader you don’t know and probably don’t support, asking for up to four minutes of your precious time for supposed market research purposes”.

“Not only do they have a poor approach in the first place, they have combined it with one of everybody’s pet hates, the press 1 for this, press 2 system. You can imagine simultaneous groans around the UK in response to this message”, says Preston who has travelled the globe delivering cold-calling training.

 The campaign is currently being investigated by the Information Commissioner after complaints from The Scottish National Party, claiming that the calls should be considered ‘unsolicited’, something which political parties are banned from doing in the UK.

“In cold calling you have to have a defined outcome and aside from the potential illegalities, the Lib Dems clearly did not think this campaign through at all well, or consider the impact and potential damage to the brand that might result”, adds Preston.

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For press enquiries please contact Rebecca King 01603 283 506 or email rebecca@mediajems.co.uk

UK’s first Sales Training Breakfast expands to include new London venue

 

Small business owners and salespeople in the south will soon be given the opportunity to get more sales and customers each month through thirty minutes of quality sales training, and all for the price of a breakfast! Due to its highly acclaimed success in the northern region, the UK’s first and only Sales Training Breakfast Club has announced the launch of its brand new London event, which will be held at an exclusive venue in October.

First launched in Manchester in March 2008 by leading sales trainer Andy Preston, the club is designed to help small business owners and sales people, who often do not have access to high quality sales training.  In the face of difficult trading conditions, Preston believes the Sales Training Breakfast Club gives people the ideal opportunity to thrive even in a ‘slowdown’ or ‘recession’.

Preston, who is director of sales performance training company Outstanding Results, says “Many small businesses often don’t have access to high quality sales training because of the cost, so I wanted to give them an opportunity to get involved with something that suits their budget, their diary and provides instant return-on-investment”.

 “After speaking all over the UK, Europe, the USA and Canada, I wanted to start something so that UK businesses could benefit regular practical advice and tips on how they can grow their sales and their customer base”, explains Preston, who has over a decade of experience and success in the sales industry, working his way from sales representative to sales director in less than twelve years.

“The Sales Training Breakfast Club will give people access to bite-sized,valuable sales training that they would not normally have access to and it is set to be the best value sales training available in the UK”, adds Preston.

The London launch of the Sales Training Breakfast Club will be held on Thursday 9th October at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) near Great Portland Street, starting at 7.30am. For more details or to book a place please contact Andy Preston directly on 07968 481729 or visit www.salestrainingbreakfastclub.com. Places are in high demand so early booking is recommended.

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Online business network offers helping hand to Lehman staff

After hearing that over 5,000 Lehman Brothers staff may lose their jobs, the UK’s leading business social network Ecademy is encouraging those affected to look to their network as a resource for finding their next job. ‘With warnings that other financial institutions may also be in trouble, those who don’t have a network outside of their workplace may struggle as they hit the unemployment pool and become victims of a ‘corporate refugee’ mentality, says Ecademy founder Penny Power.

Power, who is offering former Lehman Brothers employees free subscription membership to Ecademy says “leaving the workforce involuntarily can be very traumatic for everyone involved and it is important to realise that it is about far more than just losing your immediate income”,

“For many, it is also about losing your sense of identity, your friendships and your network. Suddenly highly talented, skilled and often very senior individuals are left to find new direction but don’t know where to go and how to go about it and become ‘corporate refugees’, explains Power.

“There is also the larger issues of change and loss that accompany losing a job and this is why it is crucial to lean on a your network for critical support when you need it the most”, she adds.

Simon Rogers, director of Market Sentinel, is testament to the value that his network has provided him throughout his career. “I have only moved job twice through the outside agency route and it was a disaster on both occasions. Every other move has been made as a result of knowing someone who knew someone, and I have recently helped others in the same way”, adds Rogers who has been a member of Ecademy since 2003.

“Ecademy is offering all former employees of Lehman Brothers a free subscription membership to help them expand their network of valuable contacts and get back on track to planning their next career move”, adds Power.

For more information visit www.ecademy.com. If you are a former Lehman Brothers employee, please email lehmanoffer@ecademy.com for details on how to obtain your free Ecademy subscription membership.

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For further information, images or interviews, please contact Jenna Gould 01603 283 503 or email jenna@mediajems.co.uk.