Posts Tagged ‘Greg Canty’

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Thank God for Luis Suarez

June 28, 2014

Luis Suarez, Liverpool FC

Walking through town during the week I spotted a buddy of mine heading my way.

This was a little bit awkward..

Just two weeks ago his wife had passed away after losing a horrible three year battle with cancer. The last time I saw him was at the funeral home where I joined the huge queue of mourners, shook his hand. gave him a hug and did the same with his children. “So sorry” …it’s about as much as I was able to muster up at the time. His wife had always been so great to me…I’ll miss her.

Face to face for the first time since the funeral home we stopped and chatted.

“How are you doing?” while this was an obvious question I felt awful asking it ..what was I expecting? “I’m ok” he said.

“What did you make of the Luis Suarez incident?” I asked, quickly changing the subject

We stood there for 15 minutes debating the issue. He felt Suarez was a disgrace and deserved a huge ban and Liverpool FC should be glad to just get rid of him. As a huge Liverpool and Suarez fan I disagreed.

The ban was about FIFA reacting to huge pressure – Suarez seems to be a nice guy, he is respected by his team mates and in England he was recently voted by the other players as the Players Player of the Year. This is the highest honour in England voted by his teammates and opponents – if he was an aggressive, dirty, dangerous player that no one respected he would not have got this huge award.

Added to this he is a truly incredible footballer who is a gift to the sport and for me the objective with the punishment should have been to rehabilitate a player with some unusual psychological problem rather than this incorrect and brutal show of power.

The punishment was to Uruguay, Liverpool FC, football fans everywhere and of course to Luis ….none of it in my view dealing responsibly with the unusual problem that he has.

We debated, we chatted and for a while all that existed was Luis Suarez and the World Cup.

We both went on our way.

Thank god for Luis Suarez, the World Cup and all those things that keep life moving along even in our darkest days

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 Bereavement, Friendship | 5 Comments »

One complaint …two very different replies

June 28, 2014

Handling complaints

Initially I was reluctant to complain but I felt it was necessary. From what I was told I believed we were really hard done by, we received some really bad treatment and if I just let it go the same would happen again and again.

I was raging and I felt I had to do something to address this situation.

I felt it was really important to address what I felt were serious issues so I wrote a strong complaint email outlining all of my concerns to the person involved.

Reply number 1

The person I wrote to handled the situation perfectly (even if he felt like shooting me !)

He called me, assured me that my complaints were not valid but wanted to hear what I had to say because what I had complained about was very serious and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.  We had a rational conversation, he listened to my grievances and I listened to his replies. By the end of the conversation we hadn’t solved everything, all of the issues hadn’t disappeared but he understood why I felt annoyed and aggrieved and I appreciated that I was listened to.

I was raging when I complained but now I had calmed down because I was listened to.

Reply number 2

Because it was a serious issue my man sent a copy of my complaint email to his boss.

While he was busy trying to contact me to try to sort out this issue his boss was busy with a different approach.

Instead of taking my complaint seriously and wanting to listen his boss sent an angry email responding to me.

Effectively it read “How dare you make any such accusations about us and how we do our business. You are unprofessional to have done such a thing and never dare to complain again”

Hmmm..how did I feel now?

I was raging when I complained but now I was even worse.

His boss had zero interest in what I had to say, denied everything, enquired about none of the circumstances that led to me complaining and instead of treating me with some degree of courtesy and respect and wanting to genuinely listen a choice was made to attack.

This situation was really interesting as we had two different individuals taking quite a different approach to dealing with a complaint.

No one likes to receive complaints but we need to treat them like gifts, listen and learn and then deal with them in a way that diffuses the situation instead of making them even worse.

In my scenario this ‘boss’ needs to take a few lessons from the staff member ..

How you handle complaints is a critical part of maintaining the Reputation of both you and your organisation.

Defuse, don’t inflame

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 Customer Care, Handling Complaints, Management, Staff training, Training | Leave a Comment »

Are you singing the right song?

June 22, 2014

 

Elton John

We were chilling out the back garden enjoying this fabulous summer weather with our books and some music playing in the background.

I had assembled a very random playlist for the occasion and one to suit both me and Deirdre. I couldn’t be too selfish so there was a mix of George Michael, Glen Miller, Elton John and even Abba mixed in with some of my own favourites but nothing too self indulgent (that meant the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin were nowhere to be heard!).

Out of the blue on came that fabulous song by Elton John ‘Song for Guy’ which took me right back to my days of piano lessons.

When we talk about my piano lessons its a topic that brings about lots of stories. I did piano lessons for about five years from the age of seven till I was twelve when my mother eventually relented and let me pack up.

I guess she always wanted both me and my sister Laura to play the piano or at least learn some instrument – she wanted this for us and no doubt it cost her a pretty penny down through the years. Ironically I hated pretty much every single lesson and practicing even more, which is strange as I love music and would love to be able to play some instrument today.

For some strange reason my mother still has the note book from my last piano teacher “Greg is wasting my time, his time and your money”

..that was a little harsh!

‘Song for Guy‘ was the very last song I learnt. I loved the song and as a result I actually did practice it and I reckon if I had the sheet music in front of me now and I practiced long enough I might just about figure it out again (then again I could be dreaming and overestimating my talent!)

This was the teacher’s big favour to me. Mrs Murphy agreed to let me learn a song that I liked and it made all the difference. Once this song was done she then wanted me to learn one of her choices – I had wanted to learn some Queen song (to be fair to her she probably knew this was way beyond my limited capability!) but she insisted on her choice and I quickly lost interest in my piano lessons again.

A twelve year old protesting week in week out was just too much for my mum so my career as a pianist came to a end!

Coincidentally later that evening I was chatting to a relative who was very concerned about her son who had just received his 5th year exam results. He had done really badly and she was really worried about him. Her son appears to be totally disinterested, he is very laid back and extremely lazy when it comes to his studies.

Understandably she is worried about him heading into the critical final year of secondary school, which can unfortunately shape your subsequent career path.

She then told me an incredible story about him.

School Play

During transition year he was quite interested in getting involved in the school play. This really surprised her as he is normally quiet and very reluctant to push himself forward. He asked the teacher could they do a particular play but the school had already decided on something else.

He wasn’t prepared to accept “no” for an answer so he asked for permission to do the play he wanted without the help of the school. He promised he would organise and coordinate the whole thing.

He recruited the actors, he sourced the scripts, he acquired the stage props and he directed, produced and acted in his own play.

At the end of term his play was the opening act for the official school play and apparently it was really funny and quite brilliant. It turns out that when he is motivated her son is a creative, organised and determined leader once he sets his mind to it.

While it is easy to say “don’t worry” about his exam results it is clear that he is very talented and it is just a question of him finding the right song and then letting him sing it!

Are you singing the right song? 

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 Entertainment, Family, Motivation, Parenting, Personal development, Positivity | Leave a Comment »

Do you need to change your uniform?

June 16, 2014

Clothes Rack

I decided I better wear a suit for the day as we had a meeting with quite a senior group who most definitely would be wearing suits – I’ll always try to make sure it is a sharp suit with something just a little bit different going on. I won’t wear a tie as this is a step too far for me and at this stage I would feel uncomfortable wearing one.

This accountant turned marketer starting wearing suits at 17 in the accountancy practice and wore them for 21 years in my financial and general management roles within the high-tech and drinks industry. When I finally stopped working for others I stopped wearing this ‘uniform’ as I had enough.

I guess this was the appropriate ‘uniform’ for this meeting and if I wasn’t somewhat ‘uniform’ I might run the risk of giving the impression that I wasn’t taking my role seriously and I would have felt a little awkward within myself.

Later in the day I had to give a training course and later again we had to conduct a workshop for a project we were working on.

For the training course I was fine but I did feel just a little out of sorts because I wasn’t dressed in my usual way – I removed my jacket, which made me feel less formal and more appropriate.

The workshop was a totally different story – I was presenting with two other guys, each of us in our suits, quite ‘uniform’ but when the session started you just knew the group participating in the session were looking at us as we were different. Somehow we were ‘the establishment’, different to them and I felt it might have created a barrier and it could have changed the dynamic of the session.

I stood there quietly cursing my suit and wished I was in my more usual uniform, which is a smart trendy jacket/blazer with neat jeans and shoes – this is the real me (or at least it has become me and its the ‘me’ I am most comfortable and confident projecting).

After the session we went for a drink and a debrief and again I wished I wasn’t in my suit.

Was I being silly, was this all in my head or taking it to its limit should I have brought a second outfit to work with me that day to make sure that my ‘uniform’ always told the right story to my audience and most importantly made me feel more comfortable with them?

I remember a friend of mine who was working in the purchasing department of a large multinational telling me that they hated it when their suppliers would arrive dressed casually for meetings – she knew this was a little unfair because their own dress code was casual but it did work against the supplier.

When I was in Guinness in Dublin they introduced a causal Friday – while this created a more relaxed atmosphere I must admit that attitude towards work did become more relaxed as well.

Casual Friday

Could a slight change of uniform change one from being a ‘typical’ accountant, solicitor, graphic designer or whatever to someone who stands out a little?

In Fuzion we were interviewing for graphic designers recently and one poor guy arrived for interview in a suit and tie, looking more like an accountant than a designer. Maybe his mother killed him when he was heading out the door that morning in his cool t-shirt , jeans and Converse runners and insisted that he dress properly for his interview.

Somehow it was really hard to get past that he was wearing the wrong ‘uniform’ and you had to work hard to jump over those first and important impressions to discover his personality and capability.

With our clients we advise that their branding, websites, social media pages, marketing materials, vehicle livery and all other visual demonstrations of their organisation must tell the best story about them – we often buy with our eyes and those first impressions are vital. Are we any different?

What story are you telling about yourself today?

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 Branding, Graphic Design, Marketing, Personal Marketing | 12 Comments »

Hashtags and Breadcrumbs

June 6, 2014

Hasttags Explained

I see the confused look on their faces and Hashtags are often just one step too far!

“What is all this hashtag business?” I get asked.

At times it does feel like we are talking another language…

At my social media courses I think it is the one thing that definitely seems to bother people the most. It is a step too far: On Twitter they understand followers, they get following and know that tweets must be less than 140 characters but the mere mention of Hashtags and it seems to add that Tipping Point of confusion that never fails to get a few moans and groans of exasperation. Too much!

So what the hell are these nasty things and how and when might you use them?

In very simple terms a Hashtag is a means of adding a “tag” or label to a post (tweet) on Twitter by using the “#” symbol followed by a continuous set of characters. This is normally a word or a few words joined together.

For example if I prepared a tweet about a new shop opening in town I might tweet “Great to see a new shop opening on Grafton Street #Positivity“

When you do this on Twitter it automatically changes the colour of this text, making it stand out and it also adds some “link” functionality to that word(s). If you click on this “link” Twitter will display a list of all the tweets where this hashtag was used.

In a way it gathers them together, which is really handy if it brings the reader to a bunch of tweets about a topic they were very interested in.

While Twitter will track popular topics and show you the keywords that are used most frequently in posts (trending) it will also track the most frequently used hashtags. If everyone who is talking about a popular topic uses a particular hashtag to label these posts it not only gathers them together but it also helps to get the topic trending.

Hashtag ExplainedSo when might I use a hashtag?

For me the single biggest advantage to the use of a hashtag is the simple colour change to that keyword. The text appearing in a different colour draws the readers attention to it and when used properly it can help to communicate the subject matter of that post. The link functionality as discussed earlier is an added bonus.

You can use your own hashtags (there is no ownership of them) or decide to join in on conversations about topics where a particular hashtag is being used already and use it in your posts – this can give you and your tweet visibility if this topic has stirred up a lot of interest.

For me a hashtag can be used in a powerful way to signify a Key Message of yours or a significant  “Breadcrumb” (click that link for my blog about key messages) that you wish to leave behind about you and your business for the reader.

You might use a hashtag to label posts about:

  • An event or concert #LondonFoodFest or #EP14 (Electric Picnic 2014)
  • Elections #LE14 (Local Elections 2014)
  • A place #Dublin
  • A cause #LGBTRights
  • A sentiment #LoveCork
  • An outlook #Positivity
  • A philosophy #WinHappy
  • A show #Murnaghan
  • Your team #LFC #YNWA
  • Publicising job opportunities #Jobs or #JobFairy

You can use the hashtags in very many ways to suit the occasion and to draw extra attention to the point you want to make or a particular keyword(s) in your post.

Murnaghan

You will find the more progressive TV shows will encourage the viewer to tweet about a topic being discussed and will suggest a hashtag to use – in a way the viewer is asked to “join the discussion“.

Hashtags are also appearing in adverts for brands, where they are often used to help create an association for the consumer between a sentiment and the product or service #LoveLife.

For me hashtags are used best when you decide on a “family” of these, which should be used consistently for you and your business.

Having decided on your key messages you might devise a range of hashtags that might best be used to communicate these little breadcrumbs about you and your business.

For example a restaurant in Dublin who prides themselves on using local artisan suppliers, who have an extensive menu with good gluten free and vegetarian options, who stock a range of craft beers and is very proud of the city and who offer free treats on a Tuesday, might regularly tweet using hashtags such as:

#SourceLocal #Artisan  #GlutenFree  #VegMenus  #CraftBeers  #LoveDublin  #TreatTuesday (hopefully not all at the same time!)

When you are posting you are best keeping your hashtags as short as possible, memorable and try to use them just one at a time in tweets. Used consistently and in the right context you would be surprised how quickly a place gets known for these things.

For example when I tweet I use hashtags a lot to draw attention to particular things in my posts and the ones I use most frequently are #Positivity (when talking about good news or job announcements) #WinHappy (when talking about Fuzion – this is a core philosophy) #FuzionFriday (when talking about our Friday lunch with the team) #FuzionPlaylist (when I mention the music playing in the office).

It amazes me when people play these back to me (“I’d love to join ye for FuzionFriday some day”) in the context that I intended and I then realise that I have managed to convey our key messages effectively by using this simple Twitter device.

I do fully understand people’s frustration with all of this new media and it’s quirks and idiosyncrasies but most of it is built to be easy to use ….once you know how!

You may prefer not to use hashtags at all (sometimes there may be no need) but if you want to get that special message across then start using this new language…

 #HashtagHeaven

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

Fuzion Communications offer Social Media Consultancy and Training from our offices in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Branding, Marketing, Positivity, Social Media, Twitter, Web Marketing | 6 Comments »

Finding your Sparkle

June 5, 2014

Rubyhorse

Another great night of entertainment at The White Horse pub and restaurant in Ballincollig in Cork ..this time it was a really mixed and varied occasion as we came together as part of a fundraising initiative for Risteard O’Domhmaill’s ‘Atlantic‘ movie project.

This movie producer with a social and environmental conscience, who has already produced the award winning  “The Pipe” movie about the Shell pipe laying project at Rossport is raising funds so he can produce a movie called ‘Atlantic‘ to raise awareness about damage to our environment by exploration, big business interests and other issues.

Besides some thought provoking movie footage we were treated to some craft beer, delicious canapés and the very best of music from the White Horse Guitar Club (12 of them!), the quirky, inimitable and brilliant John Spillane and a very special acoustic reunion gig by Rubyhorse.

While the whole night was really special the stand out moment was the Rubyhorse reunion. This crew, one of Cork’s most successful ever music exports came together for the first time in 10 years. It wasn’t a full appearance by the band but we saw Joe Philpott (guitar), Decky Lucey (guitar and backing vocals) and lead singer Dave Farrell perform a number of favourite songs including the US hit ‘Sparkle‘.

I am a huge music fan but for some reason I had never seen Rubyhorse live so I was really curious as to what was the magic that had them at number 17 in the US billboard charts in 2002, that had them performing on the Letterman and Conan O’Brien shows and had the top brass in the music industry including U2’s Paul McGuinness interested in them.

Within 30 seconds I had my answer ..

Dave Farrell, RubyhorseOf course they are talented musicians and without doubt they have some really great songs including ‘Sparkle’, which brought them huge success, but for me the magic of Rubyhorse is the confident, enigmatic, charismatic lead singer Dave Farrell who is up there with the very best frontmen I have seen.

From the second they started their set Dave owned the crowd in a way that none of the other superb performers on the night could come anywhere near – I’ve seen a lot of bands down through the years and Dave not only has a great voice but also has a rock star swagger and a special charisma that you witness rarely.

I was lucky enough to have a chat with Dave after the gig and discovered a really soft unassuming guy who was telling me about an exciting restaurant project, which he is hoping to open later this year in Cork.

I was really puzzled as to why this gifted singer, who clearly comes alive on stage is not the lead singer in some incredibly huge band at the moment. When I put this to him he explained that he has simply moved onto other passions and interests..

If you find where you truly Sparkle how can you leave this behind?

 

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 Entertainment, Events, Personal development | Leave a Comment »

It’s been a while ..

June 4, 2014

Sicily with buddies

It’s gorgeous ..

Sitting around the pool I have my two buddies (my children) with me, Brendan and Ellen with their other halves and of course Dee, my star, who as always made this holiday happen. They are young adults now and my friends as much as anything, which is really special.

While Brendan has been on a few holidays with us during the last few years it’s been over 10 years since Ellen has come with us.

Couples separating is part and parcel of life and in my case it happened over twenty years ago. It’s upsetting and traumatic and everyone does move on but when it comes to your children this is not without a huge cost including spending time with them.

I’m lucky to be happily married to Dee who is absolutely fantastic for me and even luckier that we can all be here together.

This week I have them with me and I treasure every, ordinary yet extraordinary minute.

Greg

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Posted in Family, Holidays, Parenting, Separation | Leave a Comment »

Time for Stargazing

May 27, 2014

Sicily - Stargazing

Departure lounge in Catania, Sicily …. Holiday all but done.

Where in the name of god did that time go? What is it about holidays that makes them rocket by in a flash and yet it seems like we have been away for weeks even though it has only been 10 days.

I don’t really like going away early in the summer because I always like something to look forward to – we have been grinding it out since the start of the year (as always) so it was either go in May when we can still get a bargain or wait till September, when we would be ready to all fall down.

This time was really special in that my kids (young adults at this stage) came with us for most of it and that hasn’t happened in a long time.

It wasn’t all bliss as I got caught out stupidly with sunburn on my ankle, which was really painful and made getting around awkward but other than that it was a fantastic break.

We enjoyed the really fabulous Minareto Hotel complex just outside Siracusa, a really nice town, as well as a brief visit to the town of Noto, our stay in a fabulous villa on the North coast, the really gorgeous town of Cefalu including the spectacular coastal drive there but most of all I enjoyed the fabulous time just chilling out with my gang.

The perfect moments were spent all of us on the loungers at the villa late in the evening sitting in the dark, sipping on vino, chatting about god knows what and stargazing..

Why don’t we take time to stargaze together at home?

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 Friendship, Holidays, Parenting | 2 Comments »

Power up your Profile

May 27, 2014

Stand out in a crowdWho are you?

What are you all about, what are you interested in, what are you passionate about, what is your expertise?

What parts of you do you want to reveal and what are the parts of you that are really special that would propel you to success if only they weren’t such a secret?

Are you holding back on your personal power by staying under the radar and not letting people see the special talent and person that you are?

People Power

Pick up a newspaper or a magazine and do you find yourself reading about people? People are interesting and we want to know about them – we’re often more interested in the owner of the business and their story than the business itself. How did they do it?

Online is exactly the same with everyone from celebrities, sports stars, politicians, business people and Joe public all revealing their stories or at least parts of their stories through their conversations, photos and other revelations. We can access this information easily by following sites that reveal all sorts of news and gossip and by actually following those individuals we are interested in.

One of the great quotes I heard about twitter reveals the new opportunity that is available to all of us right now: “It makes famous people ordinary and ordinary people famous!“.

Coffee shop gal

This is a really simple statement but it gives us a insight to a colossal opportunity that is only possible ij this generation. Online you can often find that the ‘star‘ you are following is boring, just posting about products they are endorsing and you discover that the woman who runs the coffee shop around the corner is hilarious and totally engaging. She is the real star!

You can also be a ‘real’ star if you take that step and reveal the special you and harness the Personal Power that you have within yourself that will only come alive once you start flexing your muscles and make your own noise online.

With a clear vision and consistent effort it is now possible for any of us to carefully build our own powerful personal profile by using the opportunities that the online platforms present us.

There are a few simple steps to make this happen:

Clear Objectives – Decide what you want to achieve through your online activity. Write it down!
Who are You – Consider which “you” do you want to reveal online? Map out clearly all the parts about you, that you wish to portray; your information, life and career experience, interests, passions and beliefs
Choose How – Decide how you want to push this “you'” out there including the online platforms that you choose
Tribe – Decide the audience you want to cultivate a relationship with and start following and interacting with them so you get their attention

You may not want to be a star but you might just be interested in the right people discovering ‘you’ and achieving those bigger objectives of yours.

Go on, Power Up and …..make some noise!

Contact me if you are interested in the Power You online programme which I will be starting soon in Dublin and Cork: greg@fuzion.ie

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion offer Social Media Consultancy and Training in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Branding, Marketing, Personal Marketing | Leave a Comment »

Sicily and the Manager of first impressions

May 27, 2014

Sicily

Dee is the absolute best at holiday arrangements – she looks after everything and every year we have the best time when we go away.

I can’t stand picking through brochures and websites but she loves it and locks down every detail including great places to visit, excellent accommodation and this time she even managed discounted advance parking at Dublin airport!

Months in advance she managed to get a great deal on a cabriolet car rental and she double checked this with the car hire company, Atlas Choice a few days before we were about to fly out. Car hire can be a little hit and miss in particular when you can get the car you booked “or similar”, which is a term that is quite open to interpretation.

Dee had booked a Renault Megane cabriolet and the plan was we were to collect it at Catania airport after our evening flight and then drive to our hotel, which was an hour away. All going well we would be sipping on a cocktail before 10pm looking out at the Mediterranean and up the next day spinning around the coast with the top down and the wind in our hair!!

“I am sorry, there is a problem with your car and we will have to give you something else” our lady from OS Car Rental said (these were the local agent for Atlas Choice car rental).

“But we confirmed this with you just two days ago?” we said…what was the point?

“There is nothing I can do except give you a bigger car, a Kia Sportage” was her solution and hopefully they would deliver the replacement car to our hotel in a few days.

Hmm..You just couldn’t trust this crew judging by the girls attitude – at this stage she was really annoyed that we would not just accept what she was giving us and move on and out of her way.

She asked us to sign a contract for the Kia Sportage for the duration of the hire. We weren’t very happy being presented with a ‘contract’ that would technically lock us to this car. “We will sign it if you note on it that you will change the car as promised in a few days“.

At this stage she totally lost it “I sign nothing” complete with hands waving and extravagant gesturing ….”If you want a car tonight you sign the contract and take the Kia“. At one point she tore the contract out of Dee’s hand as she saw that we were going to write a note on it.

I was so amused at this point that I managed to get her to repeat her “I sign nothing” performance but this time I recorded her – if anyone from her company gives a toss about customer survive they will enjoy this!

Hotels booked and paid for and getting nowhere fast with our Sicilian friend and determined that she wasn’t going to muck up the start of our holiday we relented ….20 minutes later we rolled out of the car park in something we wouldn’t have booked in a 1,000 years with 114,000 miles on the clock.

Our first thoughts were that Sicily was a big con job and we were on high alert – what were we to expect next?

Thankfully we got the friendliest welcome from the hotel, which was much better than we could have expected and we had our cocktails a little later than planned! We were too late for dinner but the kitchen managed a club sandwich for us.

My daughter Ellen and her boyfriend arrived to Sicily the following evening and got stung paying a €96 euros charge for ‘outside normal hours‘ collection of their car and were thinking ‘what next‘. They had a frustrating hour trying to argue that people coming off a regular evening flight to collect a pre-booked car was quite normal and should not incur a penalty. Con job?

My son Brendan and his girlfriend arrived to Sicily a few days later and got caught with a €25 taxi bill for a 2 minute ride to their hotel. When they questioned the amount he grabbed their suitcase and threw it in the boot of his car until they coughed up. Rachel’s first thought was ‘I just want to go back home‘.

First Impressions All three of us had a lousy first impression of Sicily, which thankfully was replaced quickly by some fantastic ones.

Should every country, every place and every business have a ‘Manager of first impressions‘ to make sure that your first impression is great because that first impression lasts?

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 Customer Care, Destination Branding, Holidays, Hospitality, Travel | 6 Comments »

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