Posts Tagged ‘Greg Canty’

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Bad haircut ..

August 12, 2011
Greg Canty Fuzion

Haircut? – I’ve just had one !

For years and years I went to the same hairdresser to get my curly mop chopped. For anyone that has witnessed my curls they will know that it is not a regular head of hair – at least that is what I have convinced myself!

Yes, I am particular and once I find someone who I trust to look after my hair I will continue to go there every time, asking for the same person – you end up feeling comfortable with the surroundings and the staff there, which in particular for a guy is a big deal … A hair salon can be a daunting place for a male, surrounded by women nattering, getting blow drys and with their hair in all sorts of weird tin foil! (surely there must be a better method?)

The guys reading this will be wondering why I don’t just go to a barbers – trust me, anytime I have done this it has been a total disaster … even when I was a kid the regular barber just couldn’t handle my hair. So, unfortunately I am destined for a life of embarrassing moments at hair salons ..

My hair trips have been interesting down though the years – ending up in the window under red lamps in Peter Marks at Wilton Shopping Centre when you are 15 on a Wednesday afternoon half day from school is not funny when your buddies are in convulsions looking in – last time I agreed for my hair to be dried naturally!

Or wondering that no matter what instructions I gave the salon I always ended up being scalped – years later I learnt that when I left the house my mother would ring the salon and warn them that she was coming for a refund if they did not give me a decent hair cut – for years I went around thinking hairdressers were deaf!!

The worst was being handed a brush to clean down my clothes and instead I start brushing my hair with it – mortified and red faced I left the salon with the staff thoroughly enjoying the hilarious experience ..

Now, do you understand why I am sensitive about the hairdressers and how important it is that I am comfortable there? – you can also understand that it would take me an awful lot to change from my regular salon.

Sure enough it happened – a few times I rang and they were always too busy and couldn’t squeeze me in, would the following Wednesday week at 4:30 suit? Not really ..

This happened a number of times and eventually I took a huge leap of faith and changed salons and 5 years later I am still going to the one that I switched to – I now know the staff quite well and am comfortable going there.

Truth is most of us are very slow to change our habits unless something has gone wrong, until the day you get a bad haircut – I guess there is more than one hairdresser in the land that can cut my strange mop of hair after all ..

As comfortable as your customer is with you and your team watch out for bad haircuts..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

PR is all about managing your reputation – while at Fuzion we can enhance your reputation through the media the most important aspects come directly from you.

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Posted in Brand Loyalty, Customer Care, Irish Economy, Marketing, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

Never look a 70 Day FAS Gift Horse in the mouth!

August 4, 2011
Only another 50 days left!

Only another 50 days left!

Oh my God what an opportunity for the Minister for Education & Skills Ruairi Quinn T.D. and the government to take on a really straightforward issue and lay down a marker for all sorts of unnecessary excess, total extravagance and total waste.

What better way to show the Irish public that it is no longer going to put up with this rubbish and that the Irish “Gravy Train” is totally finished.

What better way to take on a ridiculously powerful union who are defenceless against something that is so blatantly wrong  and corrupt. The union officials who negotiated this 70 days retirement “acclimatisation leave” originally must have been astounded that it was agreed to – the bubbly was flowing that night!

When such a clear opportunity comes along to management to sort out something that  is so blatantly wrong they just have to grab it with both hands and display a little bit of mettle and lay down the smallest of markers. To not grab the opportunity would be a total catastrophe.

This is obviously a sad legacy from FAS that quotes of itself:

“FÁS enhances the skills and competencies of individuals and enterprises in order for Ireland to further develop as a competitive, inclusive, knowledge-based economy. It strives to do this through the provision of tailored training and employment programmes that suit everyone’s needs.”

(Oh my god … paper never refuses ink)

Ruairi & Co – this is easy …. accept the gift of the 70 issue and show us some mettle.. please.

It would be good for the country and for your PR!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Holidays, Ireland, Irish Economy, Irish Politics, Retirement, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

JFK – the back garden speech and Social Media Magic

July 31, 2011
JFK - Famous Speech

JFK - Anyone Listening?

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man”

Imagine if JFK had made this famous speech on 20th January, 1961 in his back garden over the fence to his next door neighbour instead of in front of millions around the world  – What a waste that would have been!

Imagine having the same audience and wasting the opportunity by delivering a short, boring speech and saying nothing of any significance – What a waste that would have been ..

While social media is still pretty much in its infancy I am amazed how many people are struggling with it – yes, they have jumped in there, have decided it is for them and that it warrants some effort but getting it right in most cases just isn’t happening.

I am seeing two quite contrasting and very common things happening in our work with clients and in our social media training.

The Posters

This crew have found the knack of posting on-line, they are pumping out status updates, clever links, uploading fabulous pictures of new stock or from customer events, sharing videos on Youtube that are relevant to their business. The problem often is that they are devoting a lot of time to posting but to a tiny audience – what a waste.

The Collectors

This very different crew are in a race for numbers, busy accepting connections on LinkedIn, accepting followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook but posting very little – “But, I don’t know what to say?” – what a waste.

The Message and the Audience

If you want to start winning with your social media efforts make sure you spend equal amounts of time and effort creating your worthwhile messages as well as creating an audience for these messages. Be patient, over time you will get better at posting, you will build the size of your audience and you will enjoy success with your efforts.

To achieve Social Media magic I will leave the last word to JFK and I will steal some part of that famous speech that is not as well known: “In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure or our (your!) course”

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Web Marketing | 4 Comments »

Making the Sale or Changing the Customers routine?

July 31, 2011
Cafe Chico

What would make you change your routine?

I admit it … I’m boring!

Every Sunday morning myself and Dee go for a walk with our four legged creature, Bing to the local park with our good friends Tommy and Joan and their four legged creature, Tammy.

This routine was so predictable – walk to Ballincollig Park, lap of the first field, walk alongside the river to the lower fields, cut up through the Gunpowder mills and the GAA fields, into the village, stop for coffee and scones at Nosh and Coffee, chat, walk through the village and home. This as I mentioned is what we do pretty much every Sunday.

A few months ago a very cute little mobile coffee kiosk moved into the car park at the start of the park serving coffee and buns and they even have a few very neat tables and chairs outside their unit complete with flowers in vases. Now, this didn’t really suit our break “routine” as the location of the kiosk was at the start of our walk and not in the middle so even though it was a really nice set up it wasn’t quite right for us (its a big deal changing people’s habits!).

Recently we did our usual walk but some of the “crew members” were a little hungover so having completed stage one of our walk we double backed, cut the walk short and went back to the little kiosk, “Cafe Chico” (the owner called the kiosk after her dog, who she brings with her for company each day) for some very welcome refreshments.

The woman working in the kiosk was really friendly, the coffee and home made scones were perfect and to top it all she offered us biscuits from a tin especially for the four legged creatures – Wow! this woman knew and understood her customers really well.

Officially we have changed our routine! Now the first leg of our walk is the same as it was before but now we do a few laps of the lower fields, double back along the river to lap the first field again and then return to the beginning to enjoy our coffee, scones and chat at Cafe Chico!

I know.. exciting stuff!

Why? She runs a great little friendly business, she understands her customer and she goes a little further than you would expect but fully appreciate.

Are you making a sale or are you changing a customers routine – which is worth more?

While we can look after your PR needs, your reputation starts with what you do yourself.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Brand Loyalty, Customer Care, Marketing, PR, Retailing, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Are you doing Bad Business?

July 27, 2011
Judge Judy

Are you doing Bad Business?

I sat in the corridors of the Cork District Court for about 6 hours last week waiting for a really stupid case to be heard between us and our previous landlord.

Apparently Monday is HSE day at the District Court and these cases can drag on a little if they are not settled – the whole scenario is very strange with all sorts wandering around, many bored and others huddled in corners negotiating and planning. The odd person walks by with tears in their eyes – didn’t quite work out the way they wanted!

I wasted a full day at the court, my solicitor wasted a full day and the people on the other side wasted a full day, the judge wasted his time for something that should never have gone as far as the court.

Who won? – truthfully.. no one  – I felt like I was in an episode of Judge Judy and the the outcome was fine from my point of view with  Judge O’Leary (I was not expecting his approach to the case) slapping the landlord across the knuckles for not being better at minding his building and his “customers”. To be fair to the Judge it was late in the day and he must have been tired and not in the mood to listen to this “nothing” case – there must be a better way of ensuring that court time does not get taken up with rubbish? He did however give the case his full attention.

It was quite funny as I presented pictures of the front of the old building to the judge – the old saying, a picture paints a  1,000 words applied as the Judge reviewed the cobwebs on top of cobwebs pictures and then listened to how the landlord visits the building up to two times a week and checks everything. The other side argued that the pictures were irrelevant as they were just taken!

My day was  worth a lot more than the outcome and the pointless hassle that went on. A little bit of reasonableness and this could have been long sorted – the eventual result? – a compromise offer I made to sort it out 6 months beforehand is exactly where the whole thing eventually turned out! Having said all that I am sure that the little experience of sitting in the box, preparing an argument will stand to me later down the line for more stupidity at some point.

This was all about Bad Business ..

Day one we had hassle with this guy even before the lease was signed – ultimatums etc – Trust your gut and walk away when you get any hint of this – we didn’t – Bad Business

We have secured a judgement against a business in Dublin that we were dealing with and who owed us a lot of money – they still haven’t paid after a lot of hassle. They were terrible from the very first moment – not turning up for meetings and then leaving us wait forever at other times. They were inefficient, sloppy, constantly changing staff and changing their minds. We should have trusted our gut and walked away, we didn’t – Bad Business

I’m sure most of you have heard about Famous and the Credit Control Warrior at this stage – just read my blog about this saga. This is another one that will do the rounds with solicitors. We wasted more time working on the account and more again chasing what is due to us. I should probably leave it off at this stage but I don’t want him to get 1% satisfaction of walking away from anything after the way we were laughed at when we looked for our payment (I’m getting angry again just thinking about it). We should have trusted our gut in the first place and never agreed to take on this work, we didn’t  – Bad Business

We deal with a printer who are really awful to deal with. They are some of the most unpleasant people that we have to deal with. We still buy from them as their prices and quality are good – as soon as another viable option  comes along we are using someone else. I resent placing orders with them and hate ever having to lift the phone to deal with them  – Bad Business

Often the Bad Business is our own fault as we should know better and trust our instincts from the beginning. I guess at times in the depths of recession you will take on business if things are quiet but this doesn’t change the eventual outcome.

Are you doing Bad Business?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Customer Care, Irish Economy, Legal | 18 Comments »

Google Adwords and when you should try other forms of “Sniper” Advertising

July 18, 2011
Fishing for customers

Fishing for new customers!

I am a big fan of Google Advertising  used as part of marketing campaigns for our clients fishing for new customers – the Google Adwords platform is really valuable and I often refer to it as “Sniper” advertising.

Instead of your traditional “blanket” type advertising on newspapers or other media with your Google Adwords campaign you can target anyone that is searching for your products or services – effectively you can target the “low lying fruit” – those people who have already decided that they want what you have to offer.

If you are not found you are not in the game.

Google Adwords operates on a bidding basis whereby you “bid” on particular keywords or phrases – when someone searches for these your advert will display (if you are bidding competitively enough) and if the user clicks on your advert they will be directed to whatever page of your website you have specified. That’s powerful stuff – bringing them right to what they were looking for.

The great thing is that these campaigns operate on a Pay-per-click basis, which means you only pay when your advert is clicked on.

This sounds like an automatic recipe for success but there is no guarantee that the customer will order or enquire – once they arrive at your website you need to ensure that the content excites them sufficiently so that jump into some form of action.

Google Advertising

To Google or not to Google?

Google Adwords Tips

There are many tips for making the most of your Google campaigns:

  1. Avoid broad match – make your bids either “phrase match” or [exact match] (Google either of these phrases and you will find explanations)
  2. Build up Bidding gradually – start low and nudge your campaigns up slowly, keyword by keyword
  3. Quality Bidding – be careful with your adverts – split your campaigns into different groups, write separate adverts for each set of keywords and specify an appropriate landing page for each. Optimise your website ensuring that important keywords are catered for.
  4. Variations – work on your keywords – spend some time working on all the different variations and add geographic variants of these (PR in Dublin etc)
  5. Google Suggestions  – the Adwords software will help you with word variations (make sure you add these in “phrase” and [exact] match formats)
  6. Know your Margins – don’t go beyond what is sensible for keyword bids (pause keywords that are too expensive)
  7. Measure SEO – make sure that you are not bidding on keywords where you are performing well organically
  8. Position First is not necessary – sometimes Position First can be a lot more expensive than 2nd or 3rd, which may make a lot more sense
  9. Reporting – set up your reports and keep an eye on the keywords that are using up most of your budget – make sure it makes sense to spend money on these keywords
  10. Be Patient – people might come to your website a few times before they purchase – would you buy 1st time you visit a website
  11. Awareness – while orders and enquiries might be the ultimate goal other benefits could include awareness in the sector
  12. Compare Value against Traditional Advertising – Google Adwords is another form of advertising – compare the effectiveness of your budget against what you are getting in other forms
  13. Database – Once you get people to your website try to get them to sign up for any form of database (newsletter, Facebook or Twitter)
  14. Content Placement – Avoid content placement adverts in most cases (where Google places your adverts on various websites on the net)
  15. Professional – Get help from a professional when you are setting up your campaign but ask for training on how to use it (if you do not know what you are doing Google can be a hungry beast!)

(I’m sure you can add many more tips – I will gladly include other suggestions!)

Facebook advertising

Facebook Advertising a serious player?

While Google is a great form of online advertising it doesn’t always work and there are times when you should consider switching budget to either Facebook or LinkedIn advertising.

With both of these platforms you target a “fixed” advert(s) and pitch it to a certain demographic of people – these adverts operate on a pay per click basis in the same way as Google. (LinkedIn is the more expensive of these platforms).

The demographic options with both are quite different and as you would imagine LinkedIn is much more suitable for Business to Business advertising.

When advertising here it must be remembered that the person using the platform has not executed a “keyword search” – they are merely using the platform – this probably means that the “click” onto your website is probably less valuable or less immediate than with Google.

I would consider these platforms as an option when:

  • Your keywords are just too competitive, and as a result too expensive on Google
  • Your product or service is quite new and people do not yet know how or what to search for
  • Your objective is more about awareness and branding and building a following (Facebook)
  • You want to advertise to your prospects in a more social or specifically business environment (Facebook/LinkedIn)
  • You want to target people with declared special interests (Facebook)
  • You want to target people who work in particular industries and who hold particular job types (LinkedIn)
  • Demographics are more important that search keywords

A superb feature of Facebook advertising (this is why Google are starting to target the social media space with Google +1 as it is a real threat to their revenue) is that you have the option of bringing users to your facebook business page – here you hope they will “like” the page when they get there and then you will enjoy a cumulative effect with all your advertising efforts.

Once you have an interested person on your page you can then excite them with your content, which should lead to plenty of business over time.

Summary – Pay Per Click

Pay per Click advertising is still growing and should be seriously considered as part of your marketing mix. Now there are even more options online and it is important that you understand each of these and explore how these could work for you.

Each of the platforms present unique opportunities, which if executed properly should bring extra business to you.

Pay per click? – It’s just a click away, what are you waiting for?

Google, Facebook or LinkedIn

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion and runs Pay Per Click campaigns for a wide range of clients

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Posted in Advertising, Online Advertising, Social Media, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »

The Lost Chef from Sheffield ..

July 11, 2011
The Lost Chef

The Lost Chef from Sheffield!

Walking through the village early in the morning with Bing (the four legged one!) we were met with the unusual sight of a guy approaching us from a distance wearing a white chefs uniform complete with black apron and dragging behind him a big suitcase on wheels and carrying a heavy shoulder bag. We quietly wonder what this guys story is.

Getting closer to the lost chef we make eye contact, nod and greet .. “Good morning”

“Excuse me mate, do you know where the Westfield B&B is?” – He was quite a tall young lad with an English accent.

We had no idea where it was but just had to help him – a quick Google search on the smart phone and a minute later we find the B&B on-line and then call for directions.

In between the Google search and the phone call the young guy explains to us that he is a trainee chef from Sheffield and had just completed his first shift in his new job in a nearby hotel.

He had been booked into the B&B by the hotel if he could just find it!

The poor guy looked lost, lonely and totally out of sorts.

It turns out he had dragged his heavy bags in the wrong direction from the B&B, but it didn’t matter as the B&B landlady informs us that there was a cancellation by a guest of the hotel where he was working and he needed to head back and stay there instead.

He politely thanked us for the help, crossed the road and started slowly making his way back to the hotel.

Working away from home – it is a long and lonely journey ..

To the lost chef from Sheffield, all the other young people looking for work away from home, our sons and our daughters – take care out there, wherever your journey takes you..

Life’s great adventure ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Hospitality, Irish Economy, Personal development, Positivity, Recession, Staff training | 2 Comments »

The Last Day

July 11, 2011
Palio

Father & Son !

I didn’t check emails, I promise ..

For a whole week I managed to avoid emails, leave my phone turned off, avoid surfing the net except for some random tourist stuff and yes … I didn’t go near social media , well, except for one post about the holidays.

The week (yes, just one week) just flew and here we are back at the airport with some time to spare before flying home.

Before leaving it seemed like a herculean task just to get work out of the way so we could get away for the week and I am already planning an assault on the email traffic jam that awaits – over the weekend I will probably get through most of them.

Truthfully I didn’t really think about work and I know there was nothing that our crew couldn’t handle while we were away so I am really looking forward to another week later in the summer. It was great to chill out and let the brain preoccupy itself about what to do today, where to eat and what to see and of course keeping your wits about you on the Italian roads!

It always surprises me that when I let my brain chill out a little I start dreaming about weird things, strangely work related, but not current work but dreams about old jobs – what is that about?

Sitting at the airport I am sad, sad that the break is over and in particular that this time my son Brendan came with me and Dee – he finished college this year so he came with us for the first time in many years, which could be the last time for many years as well – I know that, which has made the week extra special.

Greg & Dee

Greg & Dee - in Florence!

Convertible at the airport, fabulous old rustic hotel high in the hills in a Tuscan hamlet outside Siena, the famous Palio horse race in Siena, next hotel (too modern and souless) in a town called Pistoia, visit to the beautiful town Lucca, incredible steak dinner, sunbathing (me under an umbrella!), visit to the incredibly beautiful town San Gimigmano, a tour of the Chianti region with some wine tasting in the Melini winery, Max Gazze and his band do a double Pink Floyd set of “Live at Pompeii” and “Dark Side of the Moon” – incredible, part of the Pistoia Music Festival, visit to beautiful Florence after some manic traffic and a welcome dip in the pool at the hotel, drinks in the busy and very lively square in Pistoia, some people watching and the last supper, scenic drive by the coast and a visit to the very sleepy town of Grosseto and ….. here I am, airport boarding area.

As sure as night follows day another holiday has come and gone and before we know it we will be back at work pumping it out again – better book that next break before we forget.

If you haven’t been away yet, enjoy …. If you have, think about the next one!

Ciao!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Holidays, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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 »

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