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It will get better when we stop saying it will get worse.

November 30, 2009

Brian Cowen - Fianna Fail

Getting Better

It will get worse before it gets better!

What was he thinking when he said this?

I am talking about Brian Cowen of course, the leader of our government, the leader of our country.   I consider myself to be one of the very lucky ones in the last week with the floods. Except for a leaky roof in our office and a lack of running water, no floods and pretty much business as usual.

It is difficult to empathise with people who have had their houses flooded and their livelihoods effectively ended or at least seriously threatened due to the floods. What is it like to be exhausted after days of battling with flood water, struggling with no water to drink or wash, trying to clean up and rescue what you can from the debris? I can only imagine.

In that position I imagine I want to hear things like: “Don’t worry, you will be looked after”, “We will have it all sorted really soon”, not “It will get worse before it gets better” – that must make your hole seem ever deeper. Hope or despair?

Come on Brian, have some cop on will you? Bring people hope not despair. Besides managing how about leading for a change?

You made the same comments after the last budget – why do you think most of the country is half petrified about the economy and their livelihoods. Confidence and positivity will bring optimism, will loosen the purse strings and assist recovery not “It will get worse before it gets better”

It will only get better when we stop talking about it getting worse..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Dublin & Cork

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Posted in Irish Economy, Irish Politics, PR, Recession | 2 Comments »

The SuperValu Girl!

November 28, 2009

The SuperValu Girl !There I was shopping basket in hand at my local supermarket picking up a few bits for a night in watching TV and all of a sudden I spotted her! This was my moment at last..
As a happily married man this might sound very suspicious but let me assure you that there is nothing sinister about it.
You see, this day was a special day, in fact a very special day.
Liverpool had beaten Man United that morning and I knew the SuperValu girl was a Man U supporter and for once I was able to have a little fun with her, with me being able to take the upper hand eventually. She spotted me coming, threw the eyes up to heaven and just took the teasing like any true fan!
I pick up bits and pieces in the store on a regular basis and as a result would be quite familiar with some of the staff and this girl in particular. She has a pleasant word to say to absolutely everyone from young kids to quite old customers and she always seems to be in good form, even when Man United lose to Liverpool!

The store might be a little bit more expensive than the local Dunne’s or Tesco’s, the selection probably isn’t as good but at the end of the day you just can’t beat a good atmosphere created by efficient and pleasant staff.

The SuperValu girl and all the other really good staff in stores and different businesses all around the country are worth their weight in gold, more than any marketing campaigns can hope to achieve. Campaigns are terrific at communicating what your business is all about but the proof is in the eating. Excellent staff are the best marketing of all.

…so even though we are on a bad run of results I will still bravely return, do my shopping and look forward to the chit chat with the SuperValu girl.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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Posted in Irish Economy, Marketing, PR, Retailing | 3 Comments »

Getting Past the Menu

October 4, 2009

Getting past the menu

How can searching for the perfect meal in a really nice restaurant teach us valuable lessons about our own business?

I am sure like myself most of you absolutely love dining out!

After all enjoying a good meal in a good restaurant is one of life’s greatest pleasures and a bad meal is a huge disappointment and feels like a wasted opportunity and will leave you totally disgruntled.

Have you noticed with restaurant reviews that they talk about the food in intimate detail, examining each dish, discussing each flavour and the textures of the food – mouth watering stuff indeed!

I find it really interesting that most of the reviewers rarely talk about all the complicated steps that come before the food, which I find are often as important as the meal itself.

Ok, where am I going with this argument?

On holidays I always look forward to meals out – for me it is one of the very best parts of the holiday. In particular if you are in a place that you are not familiar with there is a fabulous sense of discovery and adventure as you search for the ‘perfect meal’.

Now this is where the difficulty lies – how to negotiate your way through the choices on offer and finally get past the menu and find the perfect meal?

If you have had the time to do your research in advance you may have been able to get your hands on some reviews, searched for restaurants on the web (how many restaurants have websites?) and then maybe visitors on Trip Advisor may give you a clue as to where to go.

Maybe some friends have been there before and can make a recommendation. No doubt they will have been through the same tricky process in trying to discover the perfect meal.

You may just wait till you arrive at your destination, study the local guide books and adverts or then again it might just be a case of hoping for the best and heading out and leaving it to your eyes and ears to decide where you will find the perfect meal.

If you are anything like me you will probably end up walking the streets and judging places by how the look. Very scientific!

What does the building look like, does it look clean on the outside, what kind of food are they serving, have a peep inside – busy or quiet, what do the staff look like – smart, casual or too casual, have a peep at the menu outside, what is your overall impression?

No doubt at this stage you will have looked at too many places, probably walked too much and starvation starts to kick in.

Eventually if you are lucky you will find a place that you are happy with or if you have been searching for too long you might just settle for a place that looks ok.

You are one step closer to the perfect meal.

And now for the closer look – the greeting, the cleanliness, the cutlery and the napkins, the toilets and the menu?

The menu – Besides the actual contents, is it clean, do the pages stick together with bits from previous meals, is it battered from overuse, are there pieces of paper covering over prices or menu items that have changed, are the menu items spelt properly? – chickne (I am not kidding!). How many times have you sat there and realised that you have probably made a mistake? – Get up and leave embarrassed or just give in and order and hope for the best?

It is your chance to have a perfect meal and you shouldn’t blow it!

We recently experienced the ‘sticky menu’  did just that, admittedly having ordered a starter and some wine, consumed them quickly and moved on. The food may have been superb but we weren’t going to risk it. Eventually we settled on another restaurant and a not-so-bad meal was had by all but the holy grail of the perfect meal was never found.

When you get it right it is fabulous, when all the parts come then you do tend to tell everyone how great a meal you had.

Eating out can be tricky and very frustrating – maybe that is why we end up going to the same restaurant over and over, where we pretty much know what to expect. The low risk strategy!

So how does all of this relate to you?

In your business, whatever that may be, do your prospective customers get past your menu?

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion PR, Marketing and Graphic Design, with offices in Dublin and Cork

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Sticky Solutions

September 5, 2009

I bumped into a friend of mine yesterday as I headed for a quick sandwich at lunchtime. We chatted briefly in the glorious sunshine and we both kicked off with the usual conversation: ”How are things?”, “Not bad but cash is really tight out there”, “Lots of people are under pressure”, “Survival is the key for this year” etc – nothing unusual in any of this, we have all had these conversations, probably more than once in the day!

My friend works on the management side of a shopping centre and he was telling me how many of the tenants are under pressure. I was asking what the procedure was with tenants that fall behind in their payments and he was saying that while they do understand their procedure is to take legal proceedings against them.

He did acknowledge that this process was probably a total waste of time as he knows the tenants are under pressure. It is difficult for him to make exceptions as there are clear cut procedures that must be followed. In a black and white world of contracts and procedures it is difficult and messy to stray from these.

All of this makes total sense but at the same time it makes absolutely no sense.

Effectively both landlord and tenant are in a partnership of sorts with the property. Logically for this arrangement to work both the tenant and the landlord must make money, but the pie has got smaller and there is a general acceptance by everyone that this is the case.

The solution is probably some form of adjustment on the lease, some form of turnover related rent, some solution that acknowledges that both parties need to make money from the property. The solution may be for 12 months with a review. Even better if the tenant and the landlord can openly review the sales performance of the business and have an open and fair conversation. Better again is the tenants working together on a Marketing programme to generate new business for the centre. Focus the energy on positive solutions instead of solicitors and aggro.

The alternative makes no sense and will probably result in a closed unit that the landlord is unable to rent to anyone else – even offering a better deal than the original tenant! On top of that we will have staff out of work, less wages being spent at the centre, less traffic to the centre.

There are no winners in this game so we should work hard at finding positive solutions to deal with these exceptional circumstances. These solutions will be ‘Win Win’ – for the landlord it may not feel like this right now but long term tenants are better even if a short term sacrifice of principles and income is required.

I call this a ‘Sticky Solution’ for two reasons:

Firstly it is not straight forward – the rule book and normal procedures need to be put to one side and a different solution needs to be worked out – it is a little messy or sticky . Secondly the solution requires for both landlord and tenant to work as a partnership. Like it or not they are on the same side facing the same problem and effectively ‘stuck’ together. The problem needs a Sticky Solution.

Sticky Solutions are required everywhere in order for us to see out this recession.

To find Sticky Solutions we must all have the common goal of keeping businesses open and staff working. Fairness, openness, respect and honesty are critical attributes that are required to find these solutions.

All of this probably sounds very utopian but why not?

Sticky Partnerships

Today we are all co-dependent – employees, business owners, suppliers, customers, landlords, bankers, government and even the taxman. We all need to play our part in keeping business going and staff working, which in turn keeps us all in income.

Owners & Staff – Take the work situation with contracts and agreed % increases and bonus structures etc. The electrical workers strike recently is a prime example of this – in the context of the current economic climate the strike made no sense. A Sticky Solution was required but was not achieved.

Staff should not be taken advantage of in the current climate but they need to be realistic about expectations regarding pay and hours of work. Digging deep, sharing the burden and doing everything to keep the business open and your colleagues working is the order of the day. Dealings with staff need to be open and honest in terms of revenue and costs. A Sticky Solution.

Business & Suppliers – We need to work together with our customers and suppliers through these challenging times. Everyone needs to make a profit and everyone needs to get paid. Be fair, open, honest and human, showing respect in times of crisis. Positive solutions are required instead of solicitors when a business faces financial problems.  Let’s do everything to come out the other side of this crisis together.

The Taxman –The Revenue Commissioners play a huge role in whether many businesses will keep going or will fold. As a preferential creditor the Revenue are effectively ‘judge and jury’ with businesses that are in trouble. Keeping businesses open and people employed must be a priority in all feasible situations. Settlements and payment arrangements must be structured to take this into account. A very Sticky Solution.

The Banker – Now where do we start with this one? We all know of a dozen instances where the banks have taken over properties due to non-payment and then offered them back to the marketplace at a fraction of the original loan values. What is the point of this? – Is it not better to come to some reasonable arrangement over time with the existing customers instead of shutting them down, transferring the bad debt to the tax payer and then crashing the value of commercial properties in the process?  The Stickiest Solutions of all are required here.

..So, we need ‘Sticky Solutions’ to our very exceptional problems. We are in this together and we will have to throw out our rule books and our fixed procedures and put positive effort into real solutions even if they are a little messy and very Sticky.

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Posted in Irish Economy, PR, Recession | 2 Comments »

Dare to be Different

July 3, 2009
Cystic Fibrosis - Irish War Crimes Campaign

Cystic Fibrosis – Irish War Crimes Campaign

Dare to Be Different?

I picked up on an expression lately that I found was really interesting: “Sheepwalking”, referring basically to our general tendency to follow the norm, doing what everyone else is doing and I guess basically conforming to a general expectation or code of practice or behaviour.

We apply this to everything we do in our lives from the anguish of “What will everyone else be wearing?” to “I really have an opinion but I dare not say anything”.

There is a risk of embarrassment and feeling a little self conscious when you go that little bit out of the way but the person that is generally remembered will probably be the one who dared to be different.

When it comes to your business the same logic applies and you could argue that in the present climate it would be very risky to do anything that it is a little different. “Keep the head down”; “do what we always do”; “play it safe”. Sounds familiar? We are conditioned to obey the rules, stay within the lines of the conventional way of doing things and stay within the normal boundaries and expectations.

Now let’s turn the argument on its head and explore the dark side!

In the current economic climate, or in fact anytime for that matter: ‘Is it a bigger risk not to be different’?

Unless your business is one of few exceptions, you are feeling the effects of the recession and every day you are constantly making tough decisions; cutting back on staff, reducing wages, cutting back on marketing activities, supplying customers whose payments have slowed up, dropping prices, selling or even liquidating the business. We are all caught in this storm and are boxing our way through it in ways that are probably new to most of us.

Is it a time for playing it safe or should you dare to be different?
• Cut back or proactively look for the unique opportunities?
• Pull back or start marketing creatively?
• Pay it safe or Dare to be Different?

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions but if it is right for your business to be proactive, it is clear you need to get maximum return for your activities and your investment.

Daring to be Different will get you noticed and will bring you the greatest return for your investment and change how the marketplace views your business.

What do we mean exactly by ‘Daring to be Different’?

Tick the Box and the Wild Card?

“Ticking the Box” is doing the normal thing for every situation: the typical advertisement, the typical sale, the typical window display, the typical mail shot, the typical response to a query, the typical company policy, the typical special offer, the typical business card, the typical sales presentation, the typical advice, the typical packaging, the list goes on..

“The Wild Card” is pushing out the boundaries and exploring some ideas that were never tried before in all these situations and considering them. Some of these you will throw out as being too costly, impossible to execute and totally impractical, but some might actually stay in the mix and merit further consideration.

Eventually you will land on a wild card ‘type’ idea that is feasible but will make you feel uncomfortable because it is not the norm and after all what will people think? What will my boss think? What will my customers think? What will my potential customers think?

The idea will be debated in the business and some will totally disagree and feel it is the wrong thing to do. Democracy probably won’t help you here unfortunately – Daring to be Different will involve someone being forceful and putting their opinion and conviction on the line. When you are in this ‘uncomfortable’ territory you have entered the ‘Dare to be Different’ zone.

Go for it? – This is a really tough one and you have to have a good look in your business mirror and decide what type of organisation and culture do you have.

The answer depends on a few simple criteria:
1. Make sure everyone is on board with the objective – at least agree on this much!
2. Ensure the business is capable of executing the idea properly
3. Does the culture support those with the conviction of their beliefs? There is no place for ‘the sitting on the fence brigade’ rehearsing patiently for the moment that they can recite a chorus of ‘I told you so’.

What if it does not work? – The worst that will probably happen is that you will get noticed and you move on and try the next thing. At least you tried and were positive – This is a good thing.

Let’s try a little experiment to test the ‘Dare to be Different’ argument by answering a few questions?

• What adverts can you remember having read through the newspaper today?
• What adverts can you remember on the TV and Radio from this morning or last night?
• What special offer that came through your letter box did you actually read instead of filing in the waste paper bin?
• Which bank would you consider switching to because they are doing something or anything different to the others?
• Which window display made you stop and consider going into the shop?
• What rep made a presentation to you that really impressed you by the level of preparation?
• What customer rang you and was really honest about being in difficulty instead of ducking and diving your calls? (Might you go the extra mile to help him out or call in the 7 day letter crew?)
• Which business card did you actually notice?
• Which politician really stood out in the local elections?
• What brochure did you actually stop and read?
• What event did you attend and you still talk about it?
• What product feature made you consider a product above another one?
• What have you seen or heard lately that made you laugh, smile, angry or talk about after and debate?

Whichever way you decide to go ‘Daring to Be Different’ is something to really consider for your business.

Do you have a culture that will support it? If not forget about it. However if you do, then you should strongly consider going for it. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but it will get you and your business noticed, something we all need right now.

Do you Dare to be Different?

Greg Canty

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion who offer Marketing, PR and Graphic Design services from our offices in Dublin and Cork

 

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Posted in Irish Economy, Marketing, PR, Recession | 4 Comments »

Spend Ireland – Saving The Irish Economy

May 24, 2009

Spend Ireland - Saving The Irish Economy

Spend Ireland - Saving The Irish Economy

Your Country Needs You
Spend Ireland – Saving the Irish Economy

Are we all totally helpless faced with the current recession or is it just possible that each of us could make a difference and pull us out of the hole that we find ourselves in?

I believe that we can all take personal responsibility in both our personal and professional lives and really make a difference to our economy.

The simple principle that drives the whole economic wheel is ‘Spend Ireland’, which is encouraging money to be spent in Ireland and on Irish products and services. We need to fuel the economic spend wheel by putting our euros back into it and ultimately it will come back to us somewhere along the line. It is time to be very patriotic and spend our euros where it will have a direct Irish benefit.

The recent budget is an excellent example of how lack of spending in Ireland can affect all of us – the tax take is down, unemployment is up so we get increased taxes: Would you prefer to spend and enjoy your money rather than it being taken from you at source by the taxman?

How can I play my part in my personal life to contribute to the Irish economic recovery?

• Firstly if you have disposable income don’t be afraid to spend it – there is great value to be had and you can contribute to our economic recovery. Only spend what you can afford and by the way enjoy spending it!
• To oil the Irish spend wheel try to spend your income in Ireland and on Irish products – this can’t be done in every instance but as much as possible make those little choices to ‘Spend Ireland’ and they will all add up.
• These small personal choices can make a huge difference when we all make them:
o Buying Irish products when shopping, everything from fresh food and other product choices – avoid the imported option if possible, it will do nothing for the Irish economy
o Buying that CD in the music store instead of online – the music store could do with that margin
o Eat out instead of buying that ready made meal in the super market – the early bird specials offered by restaurants are great value and they could do with your business. If you but the ready made meal make sure it is Irish!
o Buying your holiday clothes before you leave instead of when you get there
• The big personal choices can make an even bigger difference when we make them:
o If you are in a position to buy a new car and would normally change around this time then buy your new car – your motor dealer could do with the business
o If you have been planning that extension or that redecorating job then go ahead and do it – you will get great value and the builders could do with the work right now
o Holiday in Ireland if you can or choose Ireland for those weekend breaks instead of breaks abroad. Like most of us there are probably loads of special places in Ireland that we have never visited. There is fabulous value to be had as well as terrific quality. The hotels, restaurants, bars and tourist attractions could all do with Irish euros at the moment.
• If the Irish option is more expensive don’t be afraid to ask for a discount and explain that you are trying to spend on the Irish option

I was chatting through all of this recently with friends and they were quite angry with me explaining that the Irish have been ripped off for years and why shouldn’t we shop where it is cheapest?

Of course there is an onus on the Irish service and goods provider to offer good value and this ‘idea’ will only work where this actually happens. We should at least give the Irish supplier the chance to offer the value – the economy needs us to ‘Spend Ireland’.

The much bigger part of the whole Irish spend wheel is the effect of our personal choices in our professional lives, as employees, managers, developers, landlords, business owners, bankers and yes even politicians.

For the business person – buy Irish products and services wherever possible and really work hard at trying to make the Irish option work – if you need to grind out a viable option with your Irish supplier then try to make it happen. Keep as many employees working as possible. If you have the financial strength and performance to see out this downturn sacrifice ‘super’ profits for ‘average’ profits and maintaining employment. You will need your best and experienced staff in better days. Be open and honest with staff and avoid taking advantage of the current circumstances.

For the employees – times are tough so appreciate what it is like at the moment for your employer. Roll up the sleeves, deliver excellent service and go the extra mile whenever possible – this is now an expectation. Be prepared to be flexible if necessary – be fair as long as you are being treated fairly.

For the developer – the previous business model is broken, the same buyers are not there due to banking rules. Look at your sales model and be creative, with some flexibility and other options such as Rent2Buy you will find new buyers and the wheel can start turning again.

For the landlord – your tenants are bleeding and you have many empty properties. Work with your tenants in a partnership way – adopt a new way of working that is fair for both of you and not the usual confrontational model. Full units are better than empty units.

For the banker – you need to start taking reasonable risks again so that the wheel can keep turning.

For our politicians – for God’s sake show real leadership and lead us positively from this awful mess. While you have to do the accounting job you also need to take positive initiatives that encourage business in a real way and encourage the Irish to start taking risks and spending again.

So, there it is. A possible solution to the mess we find ourselves in. Let’s show our colours and play our small part in fuelling an Irish recovery and let us not forget the painful lessons we are learning now in a hurry.

Greg Canty is a partner in Fuzion Communications, providing Marketing Consultancy, PR and Graphic Design services.
For a consultation contact greg@fuzion.ie

Web: http://www.fuzion.ie Phone :(021) 4271234

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The Fear Factor

May 23, 2009

Greg Canty, Fuzion Communications

Greg Canty, Fuzion Communications

It started off with gentle messages about ‘tightening our belts’ and gradually built into a frenzy of bad news mania. The media were willing partners, picking up on every negative story and then a new breed of ‘doomsday experts’ appeared who started telling us that not only were things really bad but that they would be bad for even longer than initially expected. The experts became even better experts, making even worse predictions and in the process became the darlings of the media as well as the after dinner speech and conference circuit – and doing quite nicely in the process! At least there was one growth industry in the recession!!!

The overall campaign was a resounding success with huge momentum as the country was gripped by absolute terror by the start of this year; the fear in everyone was tangible. The natural business lull in January was interpreted by many as the new norm and companies started laying people off (even those who were actually doing fine), cutting back on wages with 10% decreases being quite a standard number, and cutting out on many of their service providers.

Some of it made good business sense and we would be fooling ourselves to ignore reality and acknowledge that some serious market correction was required, but we must question the situation – “Is the market performing worse than it needs to be due to the ‘Fear Factor’?” “Are people largely unaffected by the recession behaving cautiously and not spending due to fear, or the new trend to start being thrifty?” Two years ago you were the ‘odd one out’ if you didn’t have a holiday home and some investment property, now you are the ‘odd one out’ if you are not shopping in Lidl or Aldi.

Is it any surprise that the government tax take was below expectation at the start of the year?

The country is now gripped by fear and even those with money are holding back. When quite a sensible friend of mine, who prudently buys a new car every 6 years, confessed that he felt a little embarrassed in his ’09 car, that people might think he was being too opulent in these times, I knew things had gone too far!  Especially when the car he purchased was a Skoda – not that I have anything against the brand, but it hardly screams extravagance!

We are now free falling into a self fulfilling prophecy and things have become as bad as we feared.

The terrible financial outcome from this lack of spending due to the “Fear Factor” is that our government have not allowed for a recovery period and have decided to take the tax off people directly. Instead of being taxed when we spend (and enjoy) our money it is being whipped off us at source – brilliant piece of logic and leadership!!!

The recent emergency budget was totally negative – it does nothing to stimulate the economy, but will take money directly out of our pockets, including paying double for our dreadful Health Service (don’t get me started here!!!) with absolutely no signs of tackling the level of public spending. There is a small crumb thrown at enterprise – a new €100m fund to help business, based on passed experience, the agency set up to oversee this will probably take half of the budget to cover its operating costs!!

All of this was compounded by Brian Cowen’s final words on the budget ‘Things will get even worse in the next few years’ or words to that effect. Even his body language communicated negativity.  Why would he make such a negative comment at the end of such a harsh budget?  The most worrying aspect is that he said this without understanding the damage this negativity would cause.

This was the icing on the cake for the ‘Fear Factor’ campaign, overall a resounding success!

But who should step up to the podium and in front of the flashing lights to receive the award?

My vote goes to Brian Cowen, the leader of the country who has to accept a large portion of the responsibility for the success of the “Fear Factor” Campaign.

Neither Brian nor his colleagues have showed strong and cohesive leadership since the reshuffle last year.  We need our leaders to lead at this critical state we are in.  We need leaders to do more than fight fires.   Our government needs to start leading a positive campaign and really quickly as this is the only way to drag the country out of the current mess.

Real recovery will only come with hope and optimism, when we believe there is some light at the end of this dark tunnel, not another even darker tunnel.

Greg Canty is a partner in Fuzion Communications, providing Marketing Consultancy, PR and Graphic Design services.For a consultation contact greg@fuzion.ie

Web: www.fuzion.ie Phone :(021) 4271234

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