How much time off can you take this summer?

June 26, 2011
Summer Holidays

One week or two?

I am a few days away from my annual holidays and I can’t wait – it’s been quite a while since our last decent break and at this stage I could really do with it!!

For the next few days I have a “lorry load” of work to get through so that I can go on leave with a clear head, knowing that there is nothing important left undone.

This might sound like I am going away for a month but I am taking just one week off!

Feel familiar?

I wonder am I doing something wrong that I am managing just a week off?

I know the importance of some chill out, switch off time to recharge the batteries and I wonder is a week enough? To be honest I don’t think it is – I always need a few days to fully unwind, then I start to properly relax and with a few days left I tend to start thinking about work again. With a one week break you have barely relaxed when the break is nearly over!

While I know and understand this I feel a week is the maximum amount of time I could take off without disrupting the business to much. Deirdre, my other, and much better half is my partner in the business and she is holidaying with me, which affects the amount of time we can take off together but surely we should be able to manage more than a week?

In Fuzion we are really lucky in that we have a dedicated hard working team who we totally trust, so we should be able to take a longer break- this makes me wonder are we not delegating properly and enough?

I was chatting to another business owner about his holiday plans and he totally shared my anxiety about leave – he reckons the very most he could comfortably take off is about 10 days. So much for working for yourself!

Is this the reality of self employment or does this mean we are disorganised or have issues about effective delegation?

How much time off can you take this summer?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Marketing, Personal development, PR | 15 Comments »

Bobby Kerr’s Top 10 Life & Business Tips

June 26, 2011
Bobby Kerr

Bobby's Top 10 Tips

Bobby Kerr, from Dragon’s Den fame and successful businessman spoke at the ceremony that took place at MacroomE last week where he presented the Greenshoots graduates with their certificates for completing the inaugural new business programme.

Bobby shared his business wisdom with the new graduates, mentors, trainers and invited guests and gave us all his Top 10 Life and Business Tips:

1.Avoid the begrudgers and those who have a negative cloud over their heads – all they will do is drag you down! Make sure you surround yourself with positive people.

2. Do something you enjoy doing & have fun doing it!

3. Put a priority on your health and your family

4. There is real value out there – negotiate, negotiate, negotiate

5. Be honest and do your work with integrity – never do anything that you will look back on with regret

6. Make sure you have a clear plan – set goals and targets for yourself

7. Be realistic, everything will take longer to work than you thought and will cost more – allow for this from the start!

8. Don’t be afraid to change or adapt your plan – life changes, so should you

9. Network as much as you can, make connections and learn from others

10. Make sure you “stay in the ring” – do what you need to do to survive, things will improve and you need to be one of the one standing when this happens

While there was no rocket science in what Bobby said it was great to hear such basic and practical advice delivered in such a no nonsense way from such a successful businessman.

Bobby endeared himself with the crowd with a simple story about his first visit to Macroom many moons ago –  he had told his dad that he was going to The Mountain Dew Festival in Macroom to listen to the poet Rory Gallagher.

Rory, I’m not sure if you were a poet, but you could definitely play guitar!!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Business Planning, Positivity, Recession, Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

The Glamourous Toll Booth Woman!

June 19, 2011
Toll Booth Blonde!

Glamourous Toll Booth!

Pulling into the Portlaoise toll booth and I know I am making good time for the meeting in the centre of Dublin, as long as traffic into the city is OK. That can be a lottery at times ..

As usual you scramble for change as you pull into the quietest toll booth.

“How are you today?”

I wasn’t expecting that.. as I look up I discover the voice behind the friendly greeting was a smiling and very glamorous woman, well groomed, perfect make-up, blonde hair and wearing a very neat blouse and accessorised with necklace and earrings. My guess is that she could be in her early fifties.

She quickly hands me my 20 cent change and I am moving again.

I certainly wasn’t expecting that friendly greeting, but why not?  I guess we can quickly get too used to the, no rapport, nothing interaction type of interpersonal transaction that can happen so often on the phone, in the shop, at the coffee shop, at the train station or anywhere that we quickly interact with people.

Somehow the toll booth was not a place where I was expecting a friendly interaction like that.

I am guessing that working at the Portlaoise toll booth was not my glamourous woman’s dream job but she has clearly decided that she is going to do it in the best possible way, with pride, efficiency and personality.

All the thousands of drivers on their monotonous journeys who she deals with everyday benefit from her decision to do her job in this way.

Glamourous blonde toll booth woman, thank you … and thank you to anyone who is not exactly doing their dream job but makes a decision to do it the best possible way, with pride and with a friendly smile.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Customer Care, Marketing, Positivity, Uncategorized | 13 Comments »

Is your natural instinct holding your business back?

June 6, 2011

George Lee - The Business Show

“There is no way that I am going on TV” , “Neither am I, not a chance”

Here was a golden opportunity for the Fuzion team to achieve some national coverage for the business, which would be invaluable and the PR team’s first reaction was a collective “No way“!

The call had come through from RTE as they were looking for the Fuzion team to appear in the new George Lee, Business Show.

As soon as I heard about and understood the opportunity it was time to put the foot down – Guys, we’re doing it , end of story .. like it or lump it and that was it (for once I got away with being authoritative!).

This was a terrific learning for all of us – here was a clear opportunity for the business, which better than anyone we fully appreciated but the immediate “gut” reaction from the team was – No way!

What was that all about?

I think for most of us there is a humbleness, a shyness, a natural instinct to stay behind the camera – we are more comfortable as the reader than being read about, we are more comfortable watching than being watched. Is this even more exaggerated in Ireland or does it happen everywhere?

The learning was terrific – all of a sudden we were the reluctant client!

Everyday we spend our time negotiating opportunities for our clients, pitching their businesses to newspapers, radio stations and TV programmes all with the objective of achieving valuable coverage for them. We will look at every angle, attempting to excite the different media with that interesting story that they hopefully agree to cover.

Bingo! ..they love the story but they insist on an interview, an appearance, a photograph of our client. Often the media prefer the “people” behind the story rather than the story itself.

Thrilled with the successfully negotiated opportunity, we pick up the phone and call our client to convey the great news, the success..

Hmmm, what is this reluctance from the client about? “They want to do a piece about me? Will my photo be shown? Will I have to answer some personal questions as well as business ones? Will they want me to actually talk on the radio? Will I have to go on TV?”

Even though this is what they are paying us for, even though they fully understand the benefit to their business of the coverage in that instant “something” takes over and we get a point blank “I’m not doing it”

Oh my god, the frustration – we have negotiated a clear win and the client is letting it slip through their hands.

Richard Branson
Richard Branson was really shy but realised that he had to push himself forward for the business

Our own experience with the George Lee Business Show at least gave us a deep understanding of what it feels like for our clients.

Our appearance went great and we were featured on national TV with other big companies such as Google and it was superb for our business. If we had given in to our natural instincts and refused to appear a huge opportunity would have been wasted.

.. Is your natural instinct holding your business back?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Personal development, PR, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

Pessimistic, Realistic or Optimistic – Which are you?

June 6, 2011
Optimistic, Pessimistic or Realistic?

Would you sit next to this guy at a party?

My friend was killing me with his negativity, I was feeling hot, uneasy and uncomfortable.. despite really liking him and not having seen him in quite a while I just wanted to get out of there!

I guess I’ve been accused of the opposite, taking a general optimistic approach to things. For some this can come across as being uplifting and for others it could be seen as being naive and maybe they want to get away from me?

It can be difficult at times when we are surrounded by doom and gloom, bad news, tangible signs of distress and people that are really struggling with things going badly wrong for them and we all have a different way of dealing with this environment.

In the meaty discussion with my quite successful friend I found myself not wanting to be in his company any more as he was sapping the energy from me with his pessimistic view on everything. I could literally feel a cloud creep over us as we chatted.

His big argument when I challenged him about his “outlook” was that he was being realistic as opposed to being pessimistic. In his view I was being optimistic and not realistic!

Of course neither of us were wrong and we agreed to disagree and having thought about this even more I think the real secret is all about adopting a “positive” attitude – even in a pessimistic frame of mind this can be quite powerful.

Even though the environment has been terrible my friend’s business has done really well by him positively tackling the lousy climate and continually adapting, despite his pessimism!

Whatever is happening in your business you do need to get through it “yourself” and part of this is equipping yourself with the tools, attitude and general approach that works best for you.

For me I recognise that part of my own personal armour is adopting a positive approach, which at times can be quite challenging. And yes, I am optimistic about how me and our business will survive and thrive but being realistic I know this will only happen if we work our socks off and continue delivering for our clients.

My medicine?

Even when things are going wrong attack the situation with positivity, be optimistic about your future success but realistic about what you need to do to achieve it. And if the guy sitting next to you is dragging you down with his negativity, pessimism or realism then move on politely..

No one said it was going to be easy!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Irish Economy, Personal development, Positivity, Recession, Uncategorized | 19 Comments »

The Ultimate in Brand Loyalty, Bobby Stokes and a Pencil case?

May 29, 2011
LIverpool Pencil Case

Loyal for life!

Chatting to a friend of mine last week the conversation came around to football, the Champions League Final and the ultimate in brand loyalty – the undying support for “your” football team.

Supporting your football team through thick and thin must be the ultimate in brand loyalty and is one of life’s greatest mysteries – how does this happen, when does it start and why do supporters never waver from their team despite success and otherwise?

How do we end up with this incredible bond with a football team from another country? – it really makes little sense but it exists and it runs so deep that it affects us, our moods, our friends and even those who we may not like!!

As a die hard Liverpool fan I can honestly tell you my form is great when they win, lousy when they lose, I get anxious about new signings and I get suspicious of people who support their arch rivals!!

I’m not from Liverpool (but I do like going there – the people are great fun!), my parents aren’t from there, I will do my utmost to watch every match (on TV or computer), I feel betrayed by Mr Torres, I did meet the legendary old club chairman Peter Robinson once and I think You’ll Never Walk Alone is the greatest football song ever!

How is it that in a lifetime we might have many personal relationships but we never change football teams? – what is that about and where and how does it actually start?

My friend is an Everton fan – how did this start? Well, his mother who he admits knows nothing about football bought him an Everton pencil case – he tells me the following year she bought him his first ever football shirt, a Liverpool shirt (she does have taste, that woman..), which he refused to wear. The ultimate brand loyalty had set in, he was a die hard Everton fan.

Bobby Stokes celebrates FA Cup winning goal versus Manchester United

Well done Bobby Stokes !

My cousin who I hadn’t seen in a very long time proclaimed he was a Southampton fan – curious I asked him how this happened? He nearly killed me that I did not know – he reminded me that when we were kids (1976 to be precise) he was visiting our house on FA Cup Final day when Southampton (in the old 2nd division) were up against the mighty Manchester United.

I warned him not to support Man Utd if he knew what was good for him – Bobby Stokes scored a winner (do click the Bobby Stokes link – the goal is worth watching!) for the Saints in the 83rd minute to  seal an unexpected win and a new “brand loyal” fan was won for life! To this day despite few opportunities to celebrate memorable wins he has remained loyal to his team.

Getting deep about this topic with my Everton buddy we actually agreed that you could even use the word “love” to describe that bond with your team – whoah, that’s heavy?

How can your brand or business instil even a fraction of that kind of loyalty with your customers?

– buy them a pencil case?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Brand Loyalty, Marketing, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

Aer Lingus celebrate 75 years by bringing back the Peanuts!

May 23, 2011
Aer Lingus Air Hostess

Peanuts anyone ?

“Aer Lingus celebrate 75 years by bringing back the Peanuts!”

Can you imagine a headline like this?

While it would seem like a terrible way to celebrate 75 years (On May 27th 1936 Aer Lingus launched its first ever flight between Baldonnel and Bristol, with just five passengers) for me it would be the best possible news to come from our famous airline.

Do you remember the days when flying was a treat and when the smiling hostess would genuinely look after each of the customers with water, orange juice and peanuts?

In so many businesses the level of service has increased but in the airline business the exact opposite has happened with a horrible race to the bottom. The level of service has reduced to such an extent that air travel is now a right pain in the backside.

Aer Lingus seem to be caught in no man’s land trying to compete with the “Low Care” airline Ryanair – I honestly get really cross when I hear people waxing lyrical about the great businessman, Michael O’Leary who proudly boasts about his brand of lousy customer service. While they might make record profits (€401M in the last 12 months), Michael will use every situation and every trick to squeeze a bob out of you – listening to jingles on board selling tickets is not my idea of a good time!

When we plan holidays it will never be to a route serviced by a Ryanair flight – plenty don’t mind so who am I to argue? I don’t want to travel with anyone who values customers in such a way.

Ryanair

Tickets for Ryanair charity anyone?

So, Aer Lingus – go for it … bring back the peanuts, that extra little bit of customer service, take a premium on the price and stop chasing Ryanair to the bottom.

What have you got to lose?

Happy 75!!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Advertising, Air travel, Ireland, Marketing, Uncategorized | 12 Comments »

Queen Elizabeth and our problem with the two flags?

May 17, 2011
Queen's welcome

Welcoming the Queen

Oh my God – is this an emotive subject or what!

It amazes me how opinion is quite divided on the subject of the Queen’s visit – I make the assumption that for most people it is a great thing for Ireland that she is visiting our shores but very quickly after a little chit chat you realise that some people have quite the opposite opinion.

We really do seem to have a problem with our neighbour but if you dig a little bit deeper do we really have a big problem with ourselves?

Two Flags?

At Fuzion we are lucky to be on the Queen’s route – she is passing by the front door of our office in Cork city (and I genuinely mean this – I feel privileged to be in such a location to witness such a historic event) and I would love in an ideal world to hang two flags from our windows – an Irish flag and a British flag with a welcome sign in the middle.

This is how I feel. We should be putting out a genuinely warm message to everyone who is watching. After all we are (most of the time!) a welcoming nation and in reality we benefit  from visitors and we do need them now more than ever. Outside of the tourism agenda we should be welcoming.

I casually ran this “two flags” idea by one of my buddies and I was quite shocked at the reaction..

Marketing Initiative ..

Irish Flag

Welcome to Ireland!

Knowing I was on a roll with my upset friend I then suggested a great promotional idea – How about producing a flag for cars (you know the type, displayed from the side windows) with the Irish flag on one side and the British flag on the other? We could sell them for €10 and ALL proceeds would go to charity after the cost was covered. Wouldn’t this be a huge, positive gesture of peace and welcome that would benefit charities at the same time?

I decided to stop when my buddy starting frothing at the mouth and visible steam was seen coming from his ears!!

I was joking of course but deep down I did think it was a good idea.. After all at big European and International football matches you often see the scarves with a 50/50 scenario between both teams that the supporters buy as a souvenir of the occasion.

Ok, we seem to have a problem with our neighbour (even though we support their football teams with a passion) and the idea of a flag sharing gesture is a big step too far.

The Irish Flag

But … what about our  own flag? Dig a little deeper and it points to a much bigger problem.

Would you hang an Irish flag proudly from your office?

Probably not – “our” flag has come to represent many of the wrong things and an Irish flag waving patriotic gesture can now communicate something totally different.

We have  a problem ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Ireland, Irish Economy, Irish Politics, Uncategorized | 22 Comments »

The Waiting Room Etiquette

May 15, 2011

Who waits for who?

Sitting in the waiting room for my solicitor and I start to wonder..

What does your waiting room and your waiting room etiquette say about you and your business? In my case, on this visit it probably doesn’t really matter too much as I am already a customer/client but what about your  prospects?

It’s funny but I pretty much knew that I would be kept waiting so I came prepared!

Who goes to who for meetings is another strange dynamic that varies industry by industry – for some reason with solicitors you always end up going to see them – how did that happen? At what point did that become the norm? I can understand in some industries how it needs to be that way but with solicitors, I’m not sure why?

Ok, you have done the travelling and in nearly every case you end up waiting in the waiting room for a while before they are ready to see you. I guess the solicitor could be on a call, finishing a meeting or maybe having a quick glance over your file before they are ready for you.

The customer coming to see them is definitely a big time saver for them but I’m not sure if they get a good grasp of what you and your business is all about – if they are representing you that should be important? At least some of the time it would be good.

I’m writing this by the way on my iPad while I am waiting! Now I am on a roll and don’t want to be disturbed ..

The carpet is a little worn and the seating area is a bit tired and shabby. The window on the door is cracked a little and the magazines on display are over a year old and there is even a little basket of kids toys! Hmmm..interesting client mix!

Oh, I’m up ..

Well, she apologised for keeping me waiting as she always does and we conducted our business efficiently enough after a little bit of general chit chat.

I wander back to our office and think about who comes to see us, what do they think of our waiting area and if I keep them waiting when they arrive?

Mustn’t do that …. They might start blogging about me!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Customer Care, Legal, Marketing, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Barack Obama and his “Penny Drop” Social Media moment

May 8, 2011
Barack Obama - Social Media

Barack Obama's Penny Drop Moment!

I have come to realise that no matter how you map out the Social Media Opportunity for clients, or try to demonstrate the success that others have had using the different platforms, they themselves have to realise the magic, the possibilities – I call it the “penny drop” moment!

Once that happens they are “off”, they are converts, they assign resources to their social media efforts and they start seeing results.

The “penny drop” moment arrives at different times for everyone and for each of the different platforms.

For me it happened at different times :

Facebook – a peer I met in Dublin casually commented on “how well Fuzion were doing“, I gladly accepted the compliment but asked how they arrived at that conclusion, ” Oh, I follow you on Facebook” … Hmm, I didn’t realise how many people were listening or paying attention to what I was saying

Twitter – we were able to achieve valuable coverage for a client, an International NGO during the Haiti disaster by communicating directly with journalists on Twitter who were actually out there  …. Hmmm, now I get it!

LinkedIn – this one was easy, reaching out to the business community in your target locations and being able to generate relevant discussions on your areas of expertise. You go to networking meetings and people you have never met, come up and chat to you because they have seen your posts and recognise your ugly mug …… Hmmm, this seems to be working – no brainer!!

Blogging – in the beginning you wonder how this will work for you, then you see with “sticky” content (stuff that is interesting, or made interesting) and posts in relation to your areas of expertise that you receive large numbers of hits and your search engine scores are great. I even managed to highlight nasty issues, quickly sorted out issues with a national phone provider and had material published nationally …. Hmmmm, now I get it!

If you are in any doubt or need further convincing about the value of Social Media we might ask Barack Obama, the leader of the free world, the first ever “social media” President , when was his “penny drop” moment? ….. Hmmmm, I’m the President of the United States!

Have you had yours ?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Facebook, Marketing, PR, Social Media, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

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