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Accountants and Marketeers Working Together?

May 11, 2010

Can these professions actually work together pro-actively and deliver excellent results for a client or for a business?

Tug Of War

Accountants and Marketeers pulling together?

At the beginning of 2009 when fear had totally gripped the whole business community I was staggered by the amount of clients ringing to cancel their Marketing activities – Advertising, PR and even some suggestions to get rid of their websites!

As someone who is a reformed accountant it made me cast my mind back to those days in practice and I had to question myself – when I was wearing those shoes is that the advice that I would have been giving my clients?

The logic is simple – Remove “unnecessary” expense to protect the bottom line.

With my marketing hat on I always question where current and future sales come from and I ask why did the business conduct these activities in the past?

Is attracting customers less or more important in a downturn?

Ok, we have to extract the best value for money, be extremely careful as to where every single euro is being spent and make sure that every euro must work hard in delivering value. However we just can’t cut out the activity totally.

Is this how accountants generally view Marketing?  Many of them don’t but I wonder do many think this way?

How about a scenario whereby the Accountant and the Marketeer work together for clients in devising proactive but yet prudent solutions that protect the business in the short term and the long term?

We have only ever once met a client with their accountant – Should this be the case?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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Grace Under Pressure

May 5, 2010

Grace Under Pressure

Thank God for the Good Guys!

Many of you will have read the “Credit Control Warrior” piece I wrote having being inspired by the behaviour of a particular businessman, Famous.

Basically, if you read the piece you will have learnt that not only did he not pay his bill but he felt this was quite funny, the joke was on us. He laughed in my face saying “We would never get paid!”

The joke is on all of us who do our best at all times to behave honourably, pay our bills and behave honestly. If you think about it we are all subsidising these guys.

The circumstances of a changed economic climate have worked against many of us but this does not stop the honourable guys still behaving properly even when they just cannot pay. Once a gentleman, always a gentleman.

As long as someone who is under pressure communicates with you, realises that you are out of pocket as a result and will try their best to sort you out I have no issue. Unfortunately we have a few clients who have been caught in the storm and thankfully they have not stopped being good decent people.

I Salute You

I Salute You

This morning I received an email from one such client who has been doing his utmost to sort us out on an unpaid bill. At all times he has been upfront and honest, he always returns calls, he always appreciates that we are out of pocket as a result of his misfortune and he has done his best to give us a few quid whenever it is available.

The email:

“Hope you enjoyed the long weekend.

Just wanted to let you know that I’m transferring €xxxx off the account in the morning – some modest funds came in from the sale of the leasehold but we couldn’t have money come in and not deal with your account.  You’ve been beyond fair and I sincerely want to clear the account faster than we have been up to this point.  This will leave us with a balance of just over €xxxx and I’ll increase the monthly payments on that.

Once again, thank you for your patience and understanding”

This is what I would call Grace Under Pressure.

I salute you.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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High Five When You See a ’10

April 19, 2010

Isn’t it fabulous to see the amount of ’10 Registration Cars on the roads since the start of the year.

Last year people, even those with the necessary funds were wary about buying a new car due to the “what would people think” syndrome – we need the positive activity to set the wheels in motion for our economy!

So, the car sales are up 31% in the first quarter – if you think about it this is probably with about 2/3 of the garages that were there last year and the good chance is that the existing garages are well down in staff numbers – time to start recruiting I wonder? Maybe a little bit premature? Whichever way you look at it – it leads to a higher tax take for the government and an industry starting to move again and some funds are back in circulation. All of those garages and car salesmen have money to spend elsewhere.

From what I can gather those sales are probably less than they should be – a few car salesmen I have spoken to have been telling me that accessing cars is a difficulty due to pessimistic predictions when they were placing advance orders – you will be lucky to get a new 5 Series BMW before next September!

And what else does all that mean? – well, that is a lot of positively motivated individuals driving around in their new cars – a new car is a great feeling – well done! It does put the rest of us in the mind for a new car – it’s a positive target to have for all of us. I want to buy a new car in 2010 – that’s a goal for you.. try to make it happen.

The “confidence wheel” is simple and this is what will get our country moving again, not any superb government policy – in my view their attempts to positively mobilise Ireland have just not happened. On the jobs creation front there has been zero strategy – the government have even slashed budgets in “job creation” departments, I’m deadly serious – if anyone has the time to check budget allocations, check out if budgets in government departments with the agenda of helping new business have been increased? – I promise you they have been cut in the same way as everything else, strategy – I don’t think so!

Ok, so there is positivity creeping through and that is coming from “us”, from pure positive attitude.

Performance will follow “positive attitude” – despite the odds, so keep it going.

While we are on the “positive” agenda and this is so critical for recovery I can finally report that the house across from us has been sold!

The sale seemed to be almost completed and then fall through a few times in the last 9 months. The same banks that would have handed out a mortgage at double the price have eventually approved a loan to our new neighbour (and they have picked up a fabulous bargain at the bottom of the market) at half the price. Something wrong somewhere!

Sherry Fitzgerald - Sold!

The Big "Sold"

The amusing thing is the sign put up by, Sherry Fitzgerald the auctioneers – in the same way that I am saying to celebrate the ’10, the auctioneers are celebrating the ‘sale’ with giant ‘SOLD’ text across their signs.

Well done to whoever is completing purchases out – high 5 when you see a  ’10 and celebrate those ‘Sold‘ and lease agreed signs – things are looking up, celebrate the positivity that is all of us ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Marketing & PR

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Michael Courtney Tribute

February 1, 2010
We will meet again

We will meet again

Last week (26th January) a man that was very special to us sadly and unexpectedly passed away.

We were working together on the Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Committee in Killarney for the last two years. Michael Courtney, a Councillor in Killarney and Chairman of the Committee brought energy, warmth, commitment and a unique sense of humour to the project. The whole team have made terrific strides since we began the project and in Michael’s honour we will be even more determined to achieve our ultimate goal.

Michael always appreciated our input to the project and thanked us  in such a way that made you always feel very special.

We will miss him greatly at our meetings and we will especially miss the cup of tea afterwards in the restaurant at the International Hotel, where he always spent half the time chatting to pretty much everyone who entered the restaurant!

Michael, thank you ..

Greg Canty is a partner at Fuzion Communications

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Blackberry Problems

January 3, 2010
Blackberry - Rollerball Problems

Blackberry - Rollerball Problems

I heard before about a blog that was written by a guy about terrible problems that he was having with his Dell computer, which resulted in a huge reaction from others and eventually a reaction from Dell itself.

I am having a simple problem with my Blackberry, the rollerball is sticking. Ok, small problem but I can’t check texts, emails without spending ages repeatedly rolling and rolling and rolling.

Of course I popped into an O2 store who told me that there was a problem but it would have to be sent away for a week for repair. I have too much information on it and use it too much. I will probably be given a new one but you always end up with a huge pain in the backside of transferring contacts and losing some photos etc.

The friendly guy in the O2 store “off the record” suggested using a pin to poke out the rollerball and then use some cleaning materials on it. I failed miserably at my attempts to squeeze the rollerball out.

I should have known … I had the same issue with the previous model and still agreed to switch to this one!

I put my trust in a Google search to realise that loads or people are having the same problem – surely Blackberry know that this is a huge defect but are not dealing with it officially.

I have decided to switch to an iphone but as an experiment I am writing and tagging this blog to see if I get any reaction from Blackberry!

Blackberry are you listening to what is being said about your products online?

Let’s see !

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Marketing & PR

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A Merry Irish Christmas and a Happy New Year?

November 21, 2009

Bah humbug – we have just seen the NAMA legislation passed by the Dail and we are about to face a round of public sector one day strikes with the government and the unions both posturing in a serious game of who has more bottle for a battle as we nervously approach the second Budget day this year. Who knows where all of this will lead and how it will affect us? For the most part we are quite helpless with little enough ability to influence anything. Are you as fed up with all of this as I am?

The one thing that we can be sure of is that Christmas is around the corner and as with every other year since we can remember we will all be stretching our budgets on presents for loved ones and friends and even gifts for our customers and staff who will have looked after us during the year. As always we will indulge in extra treats for ourselves and for our home between food and decorations… Merry Christmas, we deserve it!

How can we take this opportunity to take some small element of control of our circumstances and positively influence the economic environment around us and help not only to make it a Merry Christmas but also a Happy New Year?

My simple challenge is that we all consciously influence that spend on our Christmas budgets will be on Irish products and Irish services as much as possible. Without a doubt there will be less spent this year compared to last year but at least if we consciously Spend Irish, the money will stay in circulation in Ireland with more money in the country coffers come January, which will help kick off 2010 in a really positive way.

Ok, this may sound very noble and patriotic but when it boils down to it are we really going to be able to do it? .. I think so.

Let’s have a look at the typical shopping list:

– Books: Irish books by Irish authors by Irish publishers – make the effort to specifically choose Irish where possible. There are some fabulous books available
– Music & DVD’s: given a choice can we vote for the Irish artist, comedian, movie?
– Vouchers: can we opt for the restaurant, spa treatment or weekend break instead of an alternative?
– Turkey & Ham: make sure these are from Irish suppliers, that should be easy
– Other foodstuffs, relishes etc: Irish all the way, there is plenty of terrific choice
– Booze: which brands are produced in Ireland? – can we substitute our favourite for an Irish alternative? Cork Dry Gin isn’t a bad substitute for Bombay!

This list can go on forever but if we consciously make it our business to choose for the option that keeps money in Irish circulation then, that is better for our economy, for jobs and ultimately for us.

And how about thank you gifts for customers and staff?

If you are in a position to allocate budget for Christmas gifts then consciously choose gifts that are Irish, Irish food and beverages, Irish vouchers, Irish books, Irish Christmas cards and so on. Without too much effort we should be able to easily steer all our precious Euros towards Irish products and services. Many of the hamper suppliers specialise in Irish products.

Where it just isn’t possible to choose an Irish alternative (Transformers and Hannah Montana and nothing else will do!) you will at least help the cause if you carefully choose how and where you purchase these products. You can help keep more money in the country by supporting our retailers or if you shop on the web try to keep the business for the Irish providers.

The retailers and Irish web retailers can also play a huge part in all of this with their choices about the products that they decide to stock this Christmas and how these are displayed and promoted. Purchasing behaviour can be significantly influenced by the retail space the products are given, by products featured in window displays and adverts and by the products featured on the home pages of the websites. Suppliers and retailers should proactively work together to ensure that Irish products are given a fair crack of the whip or even a significant advantage. How bad? – We will all benefit.

Recession or no recession, a huge amount of money will be spent between now and Christmas
…so when you are making your list this Christmas, try to check it twice and where possible decide to keep as much as possible of that money in Ireland, have a Merry Christmas and help to make it a Happy New Year!

 

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Have you heard of Hugh?

October 19, 2009
Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty

Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty

Just as Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize you might think about Irish people down through the years who may have been worthy of the same award. How many people spring to mind and in the same breath I will ask you ‘Have you heard of Hugh?’

Two years ago I was coming back from Berlin after a fabulous weekend with some friends. We had a great time with the usual mix of late nights, shopping and visiting the various tourist attractions. We had a very sobering visit to the Holocaust museum, which was quite depressing and a very real reminder about how crazy our world is capable of being.

On the plane home I spotted an article in the Irish Examiner reviewing a new book The Vatican Pimpernel, about an Irish priest working in Rome, who had helped save over 6,500 people during World War II. First I thought that it must be a fictional story about the war and I read on quite intrigued. To my utter amazement I discovered that this actually happened and the Irish priest in question had been born in Cork and grew up in Killarney!

How could this be possible? How was it that for all 40 plus years of my life that I had not heard about this Irish hero who was from literally just down the road? Asking practically everyone I met I was getting the same response – no one had heard of this terrific Irish man.

The man in question was Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty.

During World War II, the Monsignor held a senior position within the Vatican. However despite the fact that the Vatican had a neutral capacity during the war the Monsignor could not just ignore pleas for help from people in need. When approached at the gates of the Vatican by people who were in danger and were looking for shelter the Monsignor decided he had no choice but to help. During the course of the war he provided shelter and ultimately saved the lives of over 6,500 people of all nationalities and religions.

Besides being incredibly courageous what I find most fascinating was the strategy, sophisticated planning, organisational and business brilliance of the Monsignor. Despite his life being in constant danger he managed to manage and finance a project that secured a network of safe houses to protect and shelter prisoners of war in Rome through a combination of friends and rented accommodation. With his own life at risk, he managed to raise funds on an ongoing basis that paid for these premises and also provided food and clothing over an extended period for all the people in hiding and kept all of this going until the Allies arrived in Rome in 1945.

A key element to keeping the operation going despite the constant presence of the Nazis was his intelligence network, which succeeded in keeping everyone safe despite many close shaves.

After the war his work did not stop there, the Monsignor spent much of his time visiting German prisoners ensuring that they were being treated properly by the authorities.

The Monsignor received many decorations, including, Commander of the British Empire and the US Medal of Freedom. The Monsignor retired to Cahirciveen for the last three years of his life and on 30th October, 1963 he sadly passed away. His death was mourned throughout the world, including a front page tribute in the New York Times.

Up until this past year, the Monsignor has never been officially recognised in Ireland by either government or church.

While we can’t exactly compare, we all are now in tough times and we need courage, flexibility, adaptability and ingenuity to steer our way through this tough economical crisis. At the same time we do need to do our best to work with our colleagues, suppliers and customers in a compassionate and respectful manner as they could very well be under severe financial pressure.

To learn more the Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty check out the book by Brian Fleming, The Vatican Pimpernel, visit the memorial website http://www.hughoflaherty.com or hire the DVD The Scarlet and the Black featuring Gregory Peck as The Monsignor.

On the weekend of the 6th November in Killarney, the second annual memorial weekend takes place, in honour of The Monsignor. The weekend includes a presentation of his life in pictures at The Killarney Outlet Centre, the presentation of the Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award and a fundraising concert so that funds can be raised for a permanent memorial to be erected in Killarney in honour of the Monsignor.

Have you heard of Hugh? We must never forget..

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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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