Posts Tagged ‘Fuzion’

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Can you do good business when you have a bad relationship?

September 15, 2012
Dispute

No quarter given ..

There is no point taking that phone call and even trying to sort anything out.

You may have read a previous blog post of mine titled “Are you doing bad business?“, which basically looked at business that is not good because something isn’t right between you and the supplier or the customer.

I gave a few examples where we ended up doing what I call “bad business” and at the heart of each of these there was a poor relationship between both parties.

One of the examples was a supplier of ours who I just hated dealing with because of their attitude towards us. I felt they never had any respect for us, their manner was always poor and there was no appreciation of the business that we brought them.

I always disliked dealing with them on the phone or by email as I found them to be unpleasant but on the flip side they were quite a reliable supplier who offered good products at competitive prices, so we continued dealing with them.

In truth I resented every order we sent them and every cheque we paid them but despite my best efforts I struggled to get my guys to find an alternative supplier. I found myself living with this poor business relationship and accepting that sometimes maybe it is not important to “like” or respect who you deal with as long as they deliver the goods – isn’t that the most important thing?

After all it’s probably unnatural and quite unrealistic to like everyone you deal with but given a choice (where you have one) it is clearly better when there is a good relationship. Right?

I guess this scenario is fine as long as the relationship is not put under pressure or tested in any way.

This week I had to deal with an issue that occurred with my “favourite” supplier. Something messed up on some work they did for us and cutting a long story short they were putting the blame on my guys and as a result wanted us to cough up 100% of the cost of this unusable job.

We do a lot of work with this crew (incredibly a relationship going back nearly 8 years) and even if we were to blame for the error I would have expected some level of compromise or willingness to come to some fair arrangement between both parties – I was shocked to hear my guys struggle on the phone with our supplier trying to resolve the issue.

They weren’t accepting any blame whatsoever and furthermore were most definitely entertaining no break or compromise with us – listening to conversation I knew this was not right.

I decided to jump in and investigate the “mistake” for myself and realised that the error was actually on their side. I’m not saying we never make mistakes because at times we do – mistakes can happen but it’s how you deal with them that is important.

If our relationship was good we would probably give each other a break, and arrive at some fair compromise. Both parties would want to address the issue and protect the good working arrangement for the future.

As it stands they say we are 100% to blame. For me they are 100% to blame.

In a normal scenario we could easily resolve this. In this scenario I know we won’t. Do I want to?…nah.

Bad business always bites you in the end!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Customer Care | 11 Comments »

Taking Sweets from Strangers!

September 9, 2012

Sweets from strangers - Fresh Milk Clothing Company5pm and I knew I had some more work to do but my brain was totally fried and I was exhausted so there was no point continuing unless I took a small break.

I decided I’d pop out quickly for a coffee and 2 minutes of fresh air so I ran around the corner to O’Connaill’s Coffee and Chocolate Cafe for a breather and a jolt of caffeine to keep me going for another while.

I ordered an Americano and while I was waiting a retired gentleman came behind me in the queue, with three large bars of chocolate in his hand.

“It’s a big weakness of mine” he piped up as we both waited in the queue. He said the chocolate in there was gorgeous and told me that last week he actually broke a tooth while satisfying his craving!

“Fair play, we all deserve a treat every now and then” I said to him. “Have you tried the dark chocolate from here yet?” he asked.

Before I knew it he had his giant bar of dark chocolate opened and two big pieces were broken off and put in my hand. What a gentleman!

It warmed me up to think that in a queue in a shop in Cork two strangers can have a polite conversation and end up sharing some chocolate.

Maybe sometimes it’s a good thing to take chocolate from strangers!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

The really cool image is courtesy of the Fresh Milk Clothing Company – you can buy t-shirts with this visual on them and many more of course!

Fuzion are a Marketing and PR firm with Offices in Dublin and Cork

 

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Posted in Ireland, Personal development, Positivity | 7 Comments »

Ray of Sunshine

September 7, 2012
Vision Express - Search for a Star Pupil

It’s all go !!

Our Dublin troop weren’t available so I found myself and Dee on a Saturday morning at 6 am with the car pointed in the direction of Belfast!

Our job was to oversee a clever Vision Express initiative at their store in Belfast – basically Vision Express were searching for a “Star Pupil“, a kid with a sense of style, bags of attitude and someone that was a star pupil in school.

We knew it was going to be a long, long day – after our “spin” to Belfast from Cork we had the initiative to oversee from 10am till 5pm.  The brief was to find 60 willing kids (with their parents permission of course) who would pose for pictures with a professional photographer and then answer a few questions. The kids had to be between the ages of 3 and 15.

With the help of a great promotional girl we had to grab up to 60 kids at the shopping centre, get their parents consent and then pass them to the photographer who had to do his best to encourage them to pose for photos wearing either their own glasses or some really cool ones that we had on display. Glasses have changed!

Once they were finished with the photos they had to choose their favourite (tough job!), which was then printed for them to take away. While helping them to choose their photos I had to ask them a few questions to discover their attitude about glasses and to find out some stand out moment from school.

Kids are great …. we had shy ones, bubbly ones and very honest ones!  “What was your proudest moment in school?” I would ask. Let’s put the question a different way “What day in school did you really feel good about yourself?” Some would look at you as they contemplated this question as if I had two heads !!

“The day we get our holidays” …. I must admit, good answer!

We did also hear about how proud they were on their first day at school, when they were made class prefect, when they helped a friend who fell in the school yard, when they were awarded the most improved child, when they did well at the sports day ….some great kids, all kids are great – it was fun, but it was tiring.

I was astounded at their attitudes about people who wear glasses – for many they are  now a “cool” fashion accessory and even those who don’t need glasses wanted to wear them.

Things have definitely moved on so far from when I was at school!

India - Ray of Sunshine After a few hours of standing in the shopping centre on a warm day my batteries were starting to flag and then I met the most special girl.

A concerned mother gently grabbed me by the arm and quietly whispered that her kid had a deformed (if I am using the wrong term I apologise) arm and hand that she was very self conscious of. She suggested that I might have a quiet word with the photographer.

I looked over at the girl being photographed and was surprised to see the most animated, confident and bubbly girl effortlessly moving from one great pose to another like an experienced model – surely this wasn’t the self conscious girl?

When I looked again I did notice one arm slightly shorter than the other and a hand that effectively had no fingers – no bother to this girl as she threw her arms in the air for some of her poses.

She bounced over to me, I’m guessing she was about 12.

“My name is …” – by a country mile she was the brightest and warmest kid I dealt with throughout the whole day. After she had chosen her pictures and answered the questions she helped her younger sisters through the same process. This kid was incredible, she had the most generous, fun spirit and there was the biggest ray of sunshine just beaming from her with every word and every smile.

Before I knew it I was home ..

Special girl.. thank you for the sunshine and making a long day so much shorter

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a PR firm with offices in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Motivation, Photography, Positivity, PR | Leave a Comment »

Revenue Commissioners on Target?

August 28, 2012
Target Express

Parked up for good ?

It is absolutely terrible to hear that Target Express in operation since 1988 who employ 390 people between Ireland and Northern Ireland have ceased trading due to an attachment order by the Revenue on it’s bank accounts. Target Express are clearly a big operation operating 12 depots and distributing for companies such as L’Oreal, Smyths Toys and AWear.

In 2011 they won the Haulier of the Year Award and they opened a new depot in Monaghan – well done guys, we loved that positive, drive forward mentality (have a peep at their Facebook page entry).

On Target for better days!

For those who are not sure what this means, basically the Revenue have taken over the bank accounts of the company. According to reports there were delays with payments to the Revenue (as is the case with so many businesses) and clearly they got fed up of waiting, used their ultimate power and crashed in.

390 people did not get paid last Friday as a result according to reports. I’m just picturing drivers going home to their families petrified about the future and trying to solve the dilemma of shopping for groceries at the weekend.

The pieces I have read on the papers suggest that negotiations were ongoing with the Revenue but ultimately someone there made a call to say “enough is enough” and they have effectively shut the business and helped to put nearly 400 people on the dole queues.

Maybe the company gave the Revenue the two fingers for two long and were not playing ball, maybe the revenue were unreasonable and abused their power, ignoring the tough and very real circumstances this company (fuel prices have gone through the roof as well) found themselves in – this recession ain’t pretty!

Without knowing any of the detail there is a good chance that Target Express (who are definitely finding cash flow really tight) could not look to the bank for extra funding and the only real wiggle room was to delay payments to suppliers and yes, squeeze some extra credit from the Revenue. Would you do this instead of paying your people on a Friday?

The Revenue will argue that they are not a bank and should not be funding a business with their Vat and PAYE/PRSI. Viewed in one light they are right – however in the grand scheme of things they are possibly very wrong. I would prefer to see those arrears being paid over a reasonable time and 390 people still working.

The Revenue must not have the power to take such action without recourse to some “Job Protection” authority (run by business people please) who can access the situation and put something reasonable in place that will protect valid jobs where possible and feasible.

Surely if we believe our Government’s stated objective, creation and protection of jobs is the biggest objective that there is right now in Ireland – everyone’s objective must be aligned to this, including the Revenue Commissioners.

When it comes to “Power” the Revenue just have too much and I don’t trust that it is being used properly – the “Target” must be jobs and Power needs to be with those who can generate and protect jobs, not take them away.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

 

Fuzion are a Marketing and PR Firm with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Irish Economy, Irish Politics, Positivity, Recession | 35 Comments »

Hiding from the customer

August 26, 2012

Old Pub

We had a great evening in Kinsale.

Tommy, our buddy wanted to hook up with Liam Brown who was back from Florida for a few weeks to visit some family members. Liam, a successful businessman was originally from Castleisland in Kerry but emigrated to the States over 20 years ago. So a bunch of us met Liam at the Blue Haven for a meal on a really pleasant Saturday evening.

Tommy and Liam exchanged stories and banter about football, the hospitality industry, the economy and some tales about characters from the “old days”.

Liam said he will never come back to Ireland because of the climate but still loves visiting. The recent weather won’t change that mindset!

One of the tales was about a certain publican in Kerry who according to Liam was the laziest publican ever. He was at his worst in the mornings and on one particular occasion he had just opened his doors for business and a bunch of Americans landed, all of them looking for Irish coffees.

This was all a little too much for our publican so early in the day who was more interested in browsing through the sports pages. “Sorry folks, the boss is gone to the bank and he won’t be back for at least an hour” and the Americans went on their way!

Sometimes even the boss isn’t able for customers …

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Customer Care, Hospitality, Ireland, Travel | 4 Comments »

Sometimes are you better off not saying the right thing?

August 19, 2012
terrible names for a business

Must be a great shop!

At this stage between the initial briefing meeting and the time spent researching and working on the plan we have spent well over a day’s work before we meet with the prospect and present our Marketing\PR plan for his business.

This is always a tricky stage for us – if you want to have a chance of winning the new account you have to punch in the time, put in the research, brainstorm and put all your best ideas and thinking into the plan.

We don’t get paid for this but we do obviously hope that the client likes what we are proposing and then engages us to execute the plan for them – Put your best foot forward if you are serious about winning the business.

We are two hours into our presentation and the prospect seems to be embracing the plan and it is all looking very positive. Our plans are always quite comprehensive and cover everything from being found on-line, a review of marketing collateral and website, a PR plan including ideas that should generate the right media coverage and a social media plan to accelerate all of these efforts.

At the end of the presentation, while everything seems to be going well there is one huge, risky issue that we wish to discuss.

“We feel your business name isn’t right” we gently explain to the prospect. This could be as delicate as telling someone you don’t like their child’s name!

“But what about my website, my branding, the money I’ve invested to date in advertising, pushing the name out there?” he asks.

“It is saying the wrong thing about your business, it is giving the wrong impression of what you are about” … he seems to be digesting and contemplating what we are saying , so we continue “we feel strongly that we would be doing a huge disservice to you if we drove on with a plan without first addressing the issue of your business name“.

After a few minutes he admitted that he always had some concerns about the name “fit” and we were the only (maybe foolish?) ones he met that had raised the issue.

We presented him with some alternative names that we felt more accurately captured the essence of the business offering and he seemed genuinely interested in them.

In truth we could have made life easier for ourselves and probably for him by just ignoring the business name issue and presenting a plan that was in keeping exactly to the brief.

He asked us to leave the plan with him to mull over while he went on leave and we are still waiting to hear…

Sometimes are you better off not saying the right thing?

(p.s. – We’ll let you know how this one turns out!)

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a PR firm with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Advertising, Business Planning, Marketing, PR, Social Media | 19 Comments »

Clannish – Who is missing out?

August 15, 2012
Taxis

Who’s the driver ?

I totally hate getting taxis, I hate having to leave our car in town and I hate having to get back into town the next day to collect the car …. I hate taxis! (and I do admit to being quite odd at times ..)

After a long day on the Cork Gourmet trail sampling food and wine in so many great establishments followed by a few visits to some popular watering holes, getting a taxi home was a necessity.

I wasn’t really in the mood for small talk but our driver was a really pleasant, cheery guy from Pakistan. He asked us about our day and on the journey to Balincollig he shared with us some of his life stories and his love of Cork.

It turns out our driver was a senior bank official in Pakistan but found that when he came to Ireland this experience counted for nothing so he ended up spending a few years packing shelves in Tesco. Acknowledging his lack of progression he decided to save hard and invest in a business course in Ireland, which he felt might change perceptions of him.

Despite doing really well on his course his job prospects never improved and he found he was lucky to even get to interview stage. At admits now he has pretty much given up on his career dreams and has settled for his job driving a taxi.

Always upbeat in his intelligent conversation with us, he did hope that his two kids, who according to himself are as Irish as we are, (complete with Cork accents!) would have better luck than he did in fulfilling their full potential.

It upsets him that the Irish are so “clannish” and while not being considered for jobs he is more than qualified for is quite upsetting,  he really gets upset when some people get in his taxi and jump out again when they see he is coloured.

He reckons that he is experiencing now what the Irish experienced many moons ago in other countries.

In the back seat of his taxi I reflected on what he was saying to us and quite honestly I couldn’t disagree with him or offer any great words of wisdom. At the end of our ride home we shook his hand, gave him a decent tip and encouraged him to keep chatting, sharing his story and changing minds one by one.

To use his very politely chosen words, maybe we are “clannish” and I wonder are we sometimes missing out on the best people because of our prejudices?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Ireland, Personal development, Racism, Recruitment | 43 Comments »

Katie Frenzy

August 10, 2012
Katie Taylor - Frenzy !

You just “have” to win Katie

Like the rest of you the Fuzion crew ended up ducking out of work early and headed to Sober Lane (great name for a bar!) to watch Katie Taylor’s Gold Medal Winning Olympic Fight.

I must admit that I had never seen her box before these Olympics but my heart was in my mouth for that really close, nerve racking match as we all watched on the edge of our seats.

Of course it was fabulous for Ireland to win a Gold medal and it was extra special that such a special young girl did it for us, but I did feel there was an extra dimensiongoing on.

To me it felt as if the whole country had funnelled all of our hope, our depression about the recession, our frustration about the lousy weather and even our disappointment about the Euro Championships onto the shoulders of this girl and really “needed” her to do something great – we really, really needed her to do this, maybe in a disproportionate way? After the fight was over I saw a tweet by someone who declared the “recession to be officially over” – I knew what she meant!

The match was really strange with both boxers being very cagey and slow to engage – it had all of us quietly biting our nails but then I listened to the Irish crowd in the stadium and they were literally in a “frenzy” lifting the roof off with their sheer noise. I wondered were they even watching the match? – if they were as nervous as we were, they would have been in near silence. I worried at one point that they might pressurise Katie into launching right in there too quickly, but she kept her focus and did her job.

Were we watching more than a contest for an Irish gold medal – I wonder?

Well done Katie & thank you! 

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Ireland, Irish Economy, Motivation, Olympics, Teamwork | Leave a Comment »

Big Dreams and Bad Sums

August 5, 2012
Kingsley Hotel

Kingsley Hotel – Under Water?

Driving past the Kingsley Hotel in Cork on the “Straight Road” as the locals call it, it’s really sad to see the place still shut and sadder again to know that it is now in the hands of the Receiver along with it’s sister hotel the Midleton Park.

The Kingsley Hotel was originally opened in 1998 on the site of the old public baths (I used hate going there as a kid!) by Thomas McCarthy and Thomas Kelly, two experienced hoteliers.

Dreaming big and with the help of willing lenders, this business duo transformed the then successful hotel in 2003 into a large five star hotel with over 130 bedrooms, suites and a separate luxury apartment development called The Residence.

We passed the hotel on a regular basis as the major renovation transformed the existing premises, including the building of an underground car park, which caused some costly delays to the project.

The work seemed to take forever and was eventually completed leaving Cork with a superb large capacity five star hotel. We regularly met clients there for meetings and we also had a few Fuzion brainstorming sessions, which invariably ended up being helped along with a few glasses of vino!

My last memory of the hotel was attending a book launch for Brian O’Connell’s fine publication “Wasted” in one of the superb reception rooms.

The freak Cork floods in November 2009 managed to shut the hotel and unlike all the other business properties affected it has remained unopened, apparently due in part to drawn out and complicated disputes over insurance.

Kingsley Hotel bedroom

Big Dreams?

As already mentioned the hotel and it’s sister hotel, which is reported to be trading well have been put into receivership by the bank continuing a trend, which we have witnessed across the length and breadth of the country.

This particular “episode” has been complicated by a freak flood but similar to every other scenario the banks/NAMA have decided that the high level of debt will not be recovered so they move and take over the operation.

Does this course of action and the relavant sums make sense?

– Lend too much to a business on the back of silly (hindsight is a great thing!) property values
– The business can’t sustain the high level of debt during the recession
– A depressed property market puts the whole scenario in the red
– Turf out the existing (experienced?) operators and replace them with high fee receivers and management companies
– Negotiate a sale at a stupid price (watch this space) to an opportunistic investor (the bargain hunters are queuing up to get the best of the rich pickings)
– Chase the individuals unrealistically for the balance of the debt
– Eventually write off the unnecessarily huge level of unpaid debt (taxpayer mops up the difference)

This is the worst, laziest and most costly solution to a very tricky problem and unfortunately it seems to be the most popular course of action being taken.

With the Kingsley example and so many others that we are witnessing on a regular basis, surely it would be better to let proven operators manage the business through this difficult period in a “realistic” manner and let the economy and the property assets recover over time.

Businessmen with Big Dreams are the lifeblood of our economic recovery and the institutions that let these dreams go too far need to stop doing such Bad Sums..

Let’s dream again by having the courage to do Big Sums.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing and PR firm with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Accounting, Hospitality, Irish Economy, Recession | 8 Comments »

Getting your business found online with Google Adwords

July 31, 2012
Website Marketing

Looking for traffic to your website

I heard a really funny story from a client of ours who was dealing with an elderly couple.

The gentleman asked one of his salesman a question about one of their products. His wife told him not to be bothering the salesman as he was too busy – “When we go home we can Doogle it” she said.

The salesman bit his lip as he tried not to burst out laughing but it does show you how we all use Doogle.. sorry Google to find what we are looking for these days.

We use Google Adwords campaigns for many of our clients and I even lecture for the Digital Marketing Institute on the topic of Pay Per Click advertising, of which Google is the main player.

I call Google Adwords “Sniper Marketing” – when executed properly you are able to target anyone online who is looking for exactly the products and services that you are offering.

If your website is not being found online when one of your possible prospects does a search then you are simply “not in the game”.

With a combination of a well optimised website, supported by a Google Adwords campaign you can ensure that you don’t miss any of that important online traffic.

Easy?

The big problem as I see it, is that a Google Adwords campaign is too easy to set up yourself!

With a few clicks you can run adverts on keywords you start bidding on, and before you know it your credit bill is creaking.. often without a lot of success.

I was that soldier until I found a guide to Google Adwords many years ago written by a guy called Perry Marshall. After downloading this guide I quickly realised what I needed to do in order to create value for money campaigns. With Perry’s advice I learned how to create effective campaigns at the lowest possible cost.

Operating successful Google Adwords campaigns requires skill, knowledge, hard work and practice and Perry’s guide set me on the right road.

Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords

Ask Perry Marshall!

Recently I came across an updated version (3rd Edition) of “The Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords” and this time Perry Marshall has enlisted the help of Byran Todd, another experienced marketing consultant and adwords specialist.

Google and the online world in general has moved on and this guide brought me nicely up to date with some of Google’s new features and opportunities. The basics are explained in a really practical and interesting manner – study these and put them into practice on your campaigns as you work through the guide. The guide also offers other resources for deeper analysis and insights.

The guide touches on other areas such as web optimisation, social media and a benefit I did not expect was a lesson in marketing! Follow the advice and you will learn even more about your customers and the magic words that will have them making enquiries and placing orders.

I’ve already applied the learnings to both our own and client campaigns and I can see the improvements.

If you are are contemplating a Google Adwords campaign or you are already running one I can guarantee you that this guide will save you money and help you achieve better traffic and results.

Thanks Perry and Bryan for the refresher course – you have made me a better “G” man!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion offer Web Marketing Services for clients including the management of Google Adwords campaigns .

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Posted in Google Adwords, Online Advertising, SEO, Web Marketing | Leave a Comment »

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