tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4148784594136105552024-03-18T21:04:55.522-07:00ASPIRUSASPIRUS Words - 26 letters and a sack full of syntax - making words work harder.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-83250599962627405412017-11-15T01:43:00.000-08:002017-12-05T05:27:54.754-08:00TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="font-size: large;">“ I think we should, but I don’t have time…”</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">As
part of a corporate CRM, the blog is a great way to keep the sales
communications plate spinning at the simple push of the return key.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Remember
the days of the Newsletter when we used to fell and pulp forests to
print and post interesting collections of headline-driven words and
illustrated articles to remind clients and prospects of the breadth of
service genres we had to offer ? <b>Well, <span style="color: #0b5394;">now</span> we blog it</b>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">I
don’t need to tell you how many stamps, trees and envelopes you save
and how many dustbins now avoid the thud of the wasted mailing. But,
perhaps I do have to tell you <b>how the blog helps drive your CRM</b> and how little of your time (practically none in fact) is required to make it happen.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">Words, style, frequency, contents </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">– <span style="color: #0b5394;">leave all that to ASPIRUS Words</span>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>By way of an example, let me show you how it works with JMS Engineers</b>.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">They engineer solutions for Civil and Structural developments. Their projects are many and varied, each presenting several highly technical problems to be resolved, cost- efficiently and managed. Their 40 staff operate out of seven offices in Britain and Greece, they barely have time to brief me, yet alone write the blog themselves.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQBdR__8_Nd2NIihxf9M2_Th2hkb2zVB5-CcN8-1j49KXTMAwgJOjqGRyBtlF-HeHskfIye6JW4s-OJ3R0Xn809sT2M0k36_bTyQMFoQHF8XIU4hjwkqcvvO7UZiUycL3nxNzvpWL3SF6/s1600/JMS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1600" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQBdR__8_Nd2NIihxf9M2_Th2hkb2zVB5-CcN8-1j49KXTMAwgJOjqGRyBtlF-HeHskfIye6JW4s-OJ3R0Xn809sT2M0k36_bTyQMFoQHF8XIU4hjwkqcvvO7UZiUycL3nxNzvpWL3SF6/s400/JMS.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">So <i><b>we </b></i>research it, write it, visualise it, publish it and publicise its publication through a proactive strategy of E-CRM.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">We embed technical solutions </span><br />
<a href="https://jmsconsultingengineers.blogspot.co.uk/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="https://jmsconsultingengineers.blogspot.co.uk/" border="0" data-original-height="848" data-original-width="595" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMnN_4JagwHPX3ZY55YVIJ3UPTP3cMcP9cIqzx7O-Y-7dLn1yjMIWMKnTy7vN_D5P2waCcNzQpwrWEytvY4BtXJYnyBJOMTXB9FNtfANcb8n7JeLVNbY77twUYgBFrWlEiE0GAi3b2zTjY/s400/JMS+CRM.jpg" width="280" /></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: large;">within <span style="color: #0b5394;">corporate personality</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">From half a dozen bullet points detailing the hurdles particular to the project to be covered in the blog, we research and write the appropriate technical contributions, check it with JMS, then write it in a style developed to reflect the ethos and character of the company.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">The CRM is an internal communication to their 40 staff. They then share the story with their own connections - LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook (if the latter is a corporate site). </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Head office does the same for their corporate followers, networking the message instantly.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Incredibly, even though the initial mailing is to just 40 staff (and not all of them open it!), the page hits on the newsletter / blog are far far higher that could be expected.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">To see their blog, click the image (right) or <a href="https://jmsconsultingengineers.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">What JMS gain</span></b>: </span></span></div>
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<li><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Strongly branded regular communications.</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Regular illustrated case studies.</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Pragmatic examples of application, problems and solutions.</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">A growing archive of brand / product examples they use to illustrate solution possibilities.</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Regular soft-sell communications with clients and prospects.</span></li>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>...you really do not need to use your own time to gain the benefits</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Add <i>real </i>life to your own CRM - </b></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-49594235760013892462017-10-12T00:50:00.002-07:002017-10-12T00:50:20.062-07:00Your pitch - are you a ‘we’ or a ‘you’.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><b>Your
pitch - are you a ‘we’ or a ‘you’.</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">That’s
to say, in your promotional materials – web, brochure, blog, e-mails,
correspondence etc – do you wax lyrical about yourselves, your skills, your
corporate longevity, the latest XY 31/B casting machine you have just installed
and so on.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Or
do you tell your audience, customers, prospects, readers how much they’ll
benefit in terms of their own success, security, value, loyalty by buying the
product or service from you.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFp-2VbnONx_rHDttswyUL8l27nzLUMFuzmnKvzXUgH0USjHolqQ1t4TXAvjmdITYxME-CGb9Xb4vLPrGXjiuJ6vI6EchH8TEykkyXX3LNa7MD73Y9cxPj-ZPZWpRuMVQaic6Nl9wWH3M/s400/Greycoat+1a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">[This
as a 'we' copy example - but not quite. This landing page knows it is
'we we'ing' - but in order to emphasise the 'you' as you'll see below.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">There
may well be a place and justification for corporate specifications to be
stacked up and compared by the reader, but it’s not the headline, front page
news you thought it was. You might be excited about your new XY31/B casting
machine, but why should I be.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">The
lead proposition prospective clients want to know is – have you thought about
us, the client, do you really know what we need? And why we need it? And how,
with it, our lives / businesses will improve?</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7cFBdpIpcumz6ufvXj6edHu0sfK-L4ht12wH8SZ-dzJyZm7bl3nwwI8SKUhtXZupU0fMsjFGcyY_xojbOfql0sAzKhXpUptpGJ-GsegowsUXagbkePE3lOOuHP92QOfhqwYOfi4-N_Sk/s400/Greycoat+1b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">[Agreed, this is B2C, but there is no reason why B2B should ignore it - your prospects and customers are people too.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Empathy.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Corporate
websites, particularly B2B, are often overlooked linguistically. The message is
too often ‘we’ ‘we’ ‘we’, set amongst a list of ISOs and professional
associations. <b>Yes, important, but it ‘docks the sale’ not ‘floats the boat’.</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Most
towns and cities have a particular street where all the estate Agents,
Solicitors or Building Societies have offices / outlets. The Internet and the
Inbox are the same. Drive past and try to spot the difference. Which do you
choose? What distinguishes one from another? </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Well
it’s branding, headline, message.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Your
branding is the ultimate corporate ‘we’. But your headline and proposition can
change, pitch, consider, with that all important empathy turning the ‘we’ into
the ‘you’.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Your
business will enjoy a positive difference and increased inbound
activity if you use ASPIRUS Words to review it and your e-mail CRM.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2YbOX6PbztkgK0-JOflG3YjpHLH7-ffun6ZzV0kvftKyFfiw2894motMMzBfmvltCt3yrZnv60hRYX82WZP_QBAsKH-EaTro_nTGda3KcCDw7lsJ9i2DjrXUWSEyl1Lj2zxb6GKH18Q_f/s200/Aspirus+Words.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-83085861435207866582017-10-12T00:38:00.001-07:002017-10-12T00:38:40.445-07:00Up to speed or just chugging along<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>On a speed awareness course last week</b> (46 in the 40 limited A14 road works at Kettering, 11.30 at night, quiet road…) <b>the
group of about 20 was asked … on a scale of 1 to 10 how good a driver
do you think you are? Where 1 is ‘leave your keys and walk home’ and 5
is the average driver’.</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Now,
this was interesting for a number of reasons. When I have been asked
the ‘on a scale of 1 – 10’ self-awareness question before to measure,
for example, health, sporting activity, pensions adequacy, or just to
feedback on the quality of hotel staff – I <b>and I’m sure <i>you</i></b><i> </i>have been told how poor the 1 is and how exemplary the 10 is.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">But
this course left its delegates to consider the values of 6 to 10 – just
how good is 10 and how do you realistically measure it? <b>Is excellence achievable?</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">This
utterly mixed bag of social, age, sex, occupationally occupied and
retired driving offenders answered 4, 5, 6 and a couple went as far as 7
– but <b>nobody dared admit levels of perfection </b>beyond that … and
I’m an exemplary driver, it was just bad luck / one of those things / a
lapse of concentration that I got caught.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZCp7Bm5ExPr3_gB4iW3MCC8lOPKxhNNGW2gqNi43ZitdNWzVuCD7T8tswUpTKgCqiHEHeIRKTt9HFQSrlgBEnr9uqGeP1mDBTM0cWXR-664APbvxD0LM0Najg27M735JrCuvW6E90JWH/s1600/UK-Road-Signs.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">In
driving, the rules are clear and they even put signals and signs up all
over the place to remind you and keep you on the straight and narrow…</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">…but <b>in business management, there are no rules and signs</b>, or if you see one (from the bank or solicitor) it’s probably too late.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Now try this question from the business driving seat:</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">On
a scale of 1 -10 where 1 means you shouldn't be running a business and 5
means you’re just chugging along ‘but know you could do better – it’s
just one of those things, but you haven’t been caught out … yet!’:</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">How well do you run your business?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Is it as profitable as it should / could be?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Are you generating enough qualified enquiries?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Are you converting the right type of client or customer?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Are you maximising the profitable returns on business turnover?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">How good are you at stepping back to review the way you manage your affairs?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">(And here’s a possible 10…) How much does business success equate to lifestyle achievement?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">We
can help you make a profitable difference to the business you run in
exchange for a little of your time – time to work ON your business
rather than just IN it.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">At a recent seminar I was introduced to the magic 7, aka the & Step Profit Multiplier</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQmu5_r6zE24TSD5gc0qYCF19uQrXhacOPKqOuqCLg0YAUulY4tkFHz8djCpLiZ95KNOqjT_moicgX9_Uk-hAPqjxI84RVqcW4QBjPI1dkyLJTXlmzH9NqV39u4HivNSRoA9k9ZuK6RAuz/s1600/7+step+profit+multiplyer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">These
are 7 determinable, manageable, changeable points each of which a
relatively small change in business and marketing attitude / effort will
increase the profitability of your business. Changing all 7 could (and
we do mean could) increase your profits by 86%.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="line-height: 16.7999992370605px;">‘Hmmm’
– I hear you say (amongst other un-bloggable comments) and so did I
when I first saw it. But it is very difficult to look at the platform
without at least being intrigued and at best being inspired.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="line-height: 16.7999992370605px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.7999992370605px;">One thing the first 4 keys and the 6th have in common is that they can and are all affected (and manipulated) by <b>WORDS</b> - <b>the words you</b> use to represent your business, <b>how you package them</b> and <b>how you deliver them</b>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Could words alone take my 5 score, to a 10 … well via the 7 it just might.</b></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Well,
we’re OK with the theory, but in practice every business (even within a
sector) is different. We have different keys representing different
pivotal opportunities where positive change equals growth.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">It is precisely because of these differences that, in Kent,
intime PROFIT are introducing a 7 Step Business Builder programme. This
assumes / accepts that you are a business owner wanting to unlock the
hidden profitability of the business you run. </span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;">The
Business Builder then starts with an initial interview with an intime
PROFIT (ITP) Partner at which ITP and the business owner / manager
effectively vet each other’s suitability. The Business Builder member
then joins a programme alternating a series of Boardroom events with
One-to-One meetings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;">Great opportunities here for businesses in Kent, <b>but what about everybody else?</b></span></div>
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<b>At ASPIRUS Words we focus on the quality of the message and its delivery</b>.
We work with clients who are good at what they are doing - the service
is perfect; the mechanics are tip top; and the figures all add up ...<b> 'if only more people knew about us'. </b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 9pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKCfbQSni7BdBkH0EI1VG_TNiYUYAI3IFYgH5euNfNgV7W1cnXCTpBuNTn3HukBx26mS2WaeLoJMhEa6lfJcvoD6dWnh9lwRNpzdIFRCvGnlQ2RdCH6Rx4h7ETOYb7LQWXOJas-iV93Cks/s1600/e-mail+ENDindd.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="BasicParagraph" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
Our
clients businesses are driven by their owner whose lifestyle is
directly affected by profitable turnover. Often it is their personality
that differentiates them from the competition and it's that personality
that we write into every element of the message. </div>
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<b>From
the website to the brochure; from the e-mail campaign to mailshots and
general correspondence; and across social media too, the message is
congruent and represents the personality and passion of your business</b>.</div>
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</div>
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<b>Take a look at our website for a better idea of what we do and how - just click on the image above.</b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;">Back
to driving, but in tandem with driving your business. Just as Stopping
Time is made up of Thinking Time and Braking Time, so Sustainable
Profitability is a combination of Thinking Time and its affect on
Profit.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 9pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0rHoDs3PpF88Ws1N0NYMBsHDzvCHFY3LJcGcouJwP-Ly0ftJ0e_-Na8j4KegoeK8ovhwmYEplQobkAxDCKw4X5OywliyapH40q17LCyay4A4_ZtBkJuWs6v8jQ_1uMeTYpQXSb_NaV_o/s1600/Profit+Distances.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><b style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><b style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><b style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
</span></div>
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-2926833397191971272017-10-12T00:35:00.002-07:002017-10-12T00:35:25.546-07:00Making our website fit for purpose<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In
the same way that a builder’s own extension is the last to be finished, so too
was our website the last to be reviewed and declared UNFIT FOR PURPOSE!</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">We
want to share some of the key considerations that lead us through the review
and on to the new site. To create this: <a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.aspiruswords.com</span></a>
we considered this - QUESTIONS: </span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">When you last closed
the office door and took your phone off the hook to read your website</span></b><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"> (what do you mean
you don’t review it?) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">did it say the
right thing, in the right way, in the right order, to be clear to an audience
you’d be pleased to do business with, so they can action the right levels of
contact? </b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Let’s
consider those key points again:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Does your website say
the right thing; </span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">We
all spend time reviewing and refining the corporate message – from a succinct
elevator pitch, to finely tuned correspondence, e-mail marketing, advertising,
corporate literature and blogs. But is the message on your website still singing
from the same hymn sheet?</span><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In the right way; </span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">‘It’s
not what you say but how you say it.’ When we physically make a face to face
presentation we know that tone, style, posture are as if not more important
than the content. In the same way, tone and structure can add enormous power to
the words you say on screen. Line breaks, paragraph lengths, column widths,
font, colourways and … punctuation. Is your message written in such a way that
the viewer will be able to actually read it.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In the right order; </span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">This
is crucial to a website and there are two sides to this coin. Imagine yourself
standing by the podium about to present your business, services and ethos to a
room full of prospects. You start with a sensible summary of what’s to come, then
move logically through the process from one theme to the next, ending with a
closing summary and chance for the floor to ask questions. So, that’s the home
page, service development ‘chapters’ and contact call-to-action. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiusjS3DqfzS9JB4sW8yYWm5A4ckeSPvto2B0_5yf6q5rLctRFopiz7F2BF5LPPqB0nDTXrFkOuoXyS9j4kz3xnvB-lMRGIubqnYoSgWQGtBNnyfVjuYZLEUCGtTT4WCBDJ_l745ovfe-hw/s1600/masthead+A+2+Z.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiusjS3DqfzS9JB4sW8yYWm5A4ckeSPvto2B0_5yf6q5rLctRFopiz7F2BF5LPPqB0nDTXrFkOuoXyS9j4kz3xnvB-lMRGIubqnYoSgWQGtBNnyfVjuYZLEUCGtTT4WCBDJ_l745ovfe-hw/s1600/masthead+A+2+Z.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">The
flip side is that we do not know which page the viewer will start at, or where
they will go next. Because of this, each page must have its own start, middle
and end with a clear, single-proposition opportunity to act and make contact.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">To be clear to an
audience you’d be pleased to do business with; </span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">It‘s
really very simple. Your web copy, structure, content and style should be built
with your audience profile, needs and authority in mind – as should any
corporate message and language.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">So they can action
the right levels of contact?</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">For
the viewer to confidently click that all important contact button, the benefits
they’ll gain by doing so must be clear and appropriate. We know what we want
them to do and how, but how do we impart what they will gain and why? What’s in
it for them? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Again we need to properly understand our intentions and our
audience needs. If we are just list building then perhaps free gifts,
information and discounts might be appropriate. But if we are talking to senior
decision makers for mutually beneficial corporate benefits then it’s the ‘benefit
to need’ clarity that counts.</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">This
is the process. Follow it and you won’t go far wrong. Consider the same steps
in the context of all of your communication materials – correspondence, emails,
brochures, newsletters, blogs etc etc and your marketing / CRM / customer
relations will improve enormously. Not only will you know you’ve clarified the
message, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they</i> will understand the
message too. </span></div>
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<br />
<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-58839822340387645592017-10-12T00:32:00.001-07:002017-10-12T00:32:33.609-07:00It's been a warm summer - beware the cold winter<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">I underlined the key part: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘Starting a business is easy, growing a business is the tough part.’</b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Because
it’s tough and because it is all too easy to take your eyes off the
ball – whether you are Tesco or the corner shop – you should take
nothing for granted. Step back (try sitting on the opposite side of your
desk, it offers a great perspective), take the phone off the hook, grab
a sheet of paper (not a tablet, paper) and jot down the pivotal factors
of your business.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Pivotal factors are key events that individually can swing business one way or another independently of other events. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">What are the key (basic) elements of PROFIT:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>£SALES X FREQUENCY = £INCOME<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>£INCOME - £COSTS = £PROFIT</b></span></div>
<br />
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>£PROFIT - £TAX = £NET INCOME</b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Now bring in the fulcrum for each event. QUESTION:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 72.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">How much can you increase the price of your goods / service to clients without affecting SALES?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 72.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">How
do you increase the FREQUENCY? Is your marketing effective/ Are you
communicating clearly? Could you articulate your proposition better?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 72.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Is the COST of each SALE as good as it could be? Could you ‘buy better’ or do you need to buy your office inventory at all?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 72pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 72.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Is your Accountant doing their job? Could you be more TAX efficient in the way you manage your money?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">I
hear you. There’s nothing new here. But how often have you been to a
business seminar, read the agenda, raised your eyes to the ceiling in
despair at the thought of wasting a whole morning here - then rushed
back to the office after lunch inspired by the three bright lights that
taking time out to consider even the basics, just lit in your head.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Each of the above, particularly SALES and FREQUENCY can be broken down further to identify their own pivotal events.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">If
you do nothing else, grab another sheet of paper (if only to doodle -
you know who you are), identify three fulcra for SALES and three more
for FREQUENCY and consider the effects of change on each.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>It’s an exercise worth doing to avoid a cold winter.</b></span><br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/">www.aspiruswords.com</a></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-31613520986410532682017-10-12T00:30:00.001-07:002017-10-12T00:30:28.515-07:00A wise man once said.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Well, indeed, wise men are always saying something or other. <b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>But it’s the wiser person still, <i>who makes and takes time to listen</i>.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Words spoken are meant to be heard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">But what about words written?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Logically
they’re intended to be read. That is asking a lot of your audience.
People read in different ways – that’s if they bother reading at all.
Some start at the top left and hang on every word, guided by articulate
punctuation all the way down to the end. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Actually no. Not many, if any bother reading it at all – certainly not all of it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Now,
if you write, articulate, pitch your message knowing, understanding and
respecting the readers’ limitations, then it really is possible to wrap
your proposition in a sensible handful of words and deliver it in such a
way that your clients and prospects will know:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">What you do</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Why you do it</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">And the benefits they’ll derive by embracing the relationship you are trying to develop.</span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-GB" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMUkPQB-MXRbQ8TcIN3ylTs4RZMAiBTni2Jwg5olcz5oO5ZqVudHAQwndKRm2kLuWPY7fAV06mJLKd-8aAOtWmOTw_AchmfdlEm2X_ZCKuJNrJiZstmHgawW0o33gy0P30g7HWYplFeip/s400/Block+text+no+parras.bmp" width="230" yya="true" /></span></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">By breaking the text into bite-sized portions of interest and fact, they’ll practically <i>h e a r</i> the words they read and listen to the message in digestible mouthfuls.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Click on the image (left) and even at its original size, a page of blocked text with no paragraph breaks has no chance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">The
words themselves need to be the right ones and all in the right order.
But their delivery and presentation needs to be right too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Little paragraphs</b>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Short sentences</b>.
With occasional rolling sequences of sensually sparkling alliteration
bouncing across the page as a butterfly bobs along a border of asters on
a balmy late summer’s eve. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">But. Do <b>please make sure the balmy’s not barmy and your apostrophe’s in the right place</b>. And yes, if it helps get the message across, then start a paragraph with a ‘but’ and the odd sentence with an ‘and’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">A wise man once wrote ... so the wiser man could read, understand and know what to do next.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">What <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> would now like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> to do</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"> is ‘phone or e-mail me; invite me to meet you; let me listen to your own wise words; then <b>allow me to cost-effectively re-package them to an articulate corporate presentation of you and your what, how and why</b>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" border="0" closure_uid_101809690="2" closure_uid_665050790="4" closure_uid_lpsli4="2" eea="true" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNoBdzB0OvMW2A1RSDsF7XAA-mUHM2ilI1UIPX6bJpf0t09-f9XIaHLGBcoKAlMRZOBQOwJShx2Dayttf8vALQCUoY9NUU07DTszykejNtBC5rRptHlriYB8HnanU6KKzxqmEUCNvwFrp/s320/e-mail+ENDindd.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-68578493478435438452017-10-12T00:26:00.002-07:002017-10-12T00:52:38.228-07:00Say it with an S not a Zeeeeeeee<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>If
you are involved in the Financial Services industry, perhaps a busy IFA
(Independent Financial Adviser), you will have your sleeves rolled up
preparing for RDR (Retail Distribution Review). Perhaps you are set
already or possibly one of the rather too many who have yet to
effectively respond to the FSA's calls to change.</b></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">
</span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">We have been working with <b>Greycoat Financial Services</b> who, like many, have taken RDR by the horns and used it as a positive marketing opportunity.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">It has been an excuse to use someone like me to sit across the desk and totally re-evaluate the business. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">What is it? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">What could it be? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">And how do we move it from here to there?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Whether
you are several in partnership operating joint and severally, or
whether you are one or two independents fighting the business prevention
hurdle of Compliance and the FSA (Financial Services Authority), there
is still an awful lot you can achieve to face 2013 with ambition and
drive. Long sentence, sorry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Fortunately,
thanks to organisations like Tax Briefs and Three Sixty workshops –
there’s a lot of material out there to help you write your own RDR
changed business and service propositions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Whichever route you choose to take, please ‘<b>say it with an S not a Zeeeeeee'</b>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Too
much ‘off the shelf’ solution and text is available to cut and paste
where the language is over-Americanized. Some comes from across the
pond, but much is simply written by folks relying on MS Word spell-check
… set to English (USA) rather than (UK).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">RDR
is providing the British consumer with a more professional, fee-based
Financial Services market. The gloves are off. Commissions have gone.
Competition is endemic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Now is the opportunity to review what you say and how you say it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Personalise your proposition and lift your game</b>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="216" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis4-_zECgvCJjBGeRa0NG6Z59Rf50m8-mtqQz1OaWYjijU-XxnQGCiOggyboqqhyphenhyphenmb3hz6mYK0hVPSRAAE2WzNM8wh1Bn-U4LABuSOY21Sj2YKS73nNFtUHaONI_-IDQHAgU3bN2u7LyLc/s320/Financial+market+crowd.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Your
clients now have to pay up front for advice, pensions, investments,
retirement planning, estate planning etc etc. As discussed in Money Box a
couple of weeks ago, <b>consumers are used to paying fees for legal and
accounting advice and service, so may not be too averse to paying for
financial advice – as long as it lives up to its heightened status of
‘professional’.</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">If
promotional materials presenting your corporate proposition looks and
says the same as 70% of your neighbouring IFAs, then competition will
simply come down to price. Build individuality and substance into your
image and you’ll stand out - justifiably professional. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">It’s time to lift your game.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Doable?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Yes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Greycoat
have their core services and procedures re-structured and
presentational / fulfilment materials written ready to go. The database
has been re-structured to support the new service levels and client
status. And we are putting the finishing touches to investment services,
service pricing and product / value segmentation.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">How? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Clarity, vision, creative support from ASPIRUS and not one single Zeee.</span></div>
</span><br />
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Plain English, plain speaking, pure correspondence. <span style="color: #0b5394;">Words that work</span>.</b></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="271" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKCfbQSni7BdBkH0EI1VG_TNiYUYAI3IFYgH5euNfNgV7W1cnXCTpBuNTn3HukBx26mS2WaeLoJMhEa6lfJcvoD6dWnh9lwRNpzdIFRCvGnlQ2RdCH6Rx4h7ETOYb7LQWXOJas-iV93Cks/s320/e-mail+ENDindd.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: medium;">07500 896 783</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/">www.aspiruswords.com</a></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-41618606454287306452015-09-16T04:49:00.000-07:002017-10-12T00:50:32.922-07:00Your pitch - are you a ‘we’ or a ‘you’.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><b>Your
pitch - are you a ‘we’ or a ‘you’.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">That’s
to say, in your promotional materials – web, brochure, blog, e-mails,
correspondence etc – do you wax lyrical about yourselves, your skills, your
corporate longevity, the latest XY 31/B casting machine you have just installed
and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Or
do you tell your audience, customers, prospects, readers how much they’ll
benefit in terms of their own success, security, value, loyalty by buying the
product or service from you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFp-2VbnONx_rHDttswyUL8l27nzLUMFuzmnKvzXUgH0USjHolqQ1t4TXAvjmdITYxME-CGb9Xb4vLPrGXjiuJ6vI6EchH8TEykkyXX3LNa7MD73Y9cxPj-ZPZWpRuMVQaic6Nl9wWH3M/s1600/Greycoat+1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFp-2VbnONx_rHDttswyUL8l27nzLUMFuzmnKvzXUgH0USjHolqQ1t4TXAvjmdITYxME-CGb9Xb4vLPrGXjiuJ6vI6EchH8TEykkyXX3LNa7MD73Y9cxPj-ZPZWpRuMVQaic6Nl9wWH3M/s400/Greycoat+1a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">[This as a 'we' copy example - but not quite. This landing page knows it is 'we we'ing' - but in order to emphasise the 'you' as you'll see below.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">There
may well be a place and justification for corporate specifications to be
stacked up and compared by the reader, but it’s not the headline, front page
news you thought it was. You might be excited about your new XY31/B casting
machine, but why should I be.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">The
lead proposition prospective clients want to know is – have you thought about
us, the client, do you really know what we need? And why we need it? And how,
with it, our lives / businesses will improve?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7cFBdpIpcumz6ufvXj6edHu0sfK-L4ht12wH8SZ-dzJyZm7bl3nwwI8SKUhtXZupU0fMsjFGcyY_xojbOfql0sAzKhXpUptpGJ-GsegowsUXagbkePE3lOOuHP92QOfhqwYOfi4-N_Sk/s1600/Greycoat+1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7cFBdpIpcumz6ufvXj6edHu0sfK-L4ht12wH8SZ-dzJyZm7bl3nwwI8SKUhtXZupU0fMsjFGcyY_xojbOfql0sAzKhXpUptpGJ-GsegowsUXagbkePE3lOOuHP92QOfhqwYOfi4-N_Sk/s400/Greycoat+1b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">[Agreed, this is B2C, but there is no reason why B2B should ignore it - your prospects and customers are people too.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Empathy.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Corporate
websites, particularly B2B, are often overlooked linguistically. The message is
too often ‘we’ ‘we’ ‘we’, set amongst a list of ISOs and professional
associations. <b>Yes, important, but it ‘docks the sale’ not ‘floats the boat’.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Most
towns and cities have a particular street where all the estate Agents,
Solicitors or Building Societies have offices / outlets. The Internet and the
Inbox are the same. Drive past and try to spot the difference. Which do you
choose? What distinguishes one from another? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Well
it’s branding, headline, message.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Your
branding is the ultimate corporate ‘we’. But your headline and proposition can
change, pitch, consider, with that all important empathy turning the ‘we’ into
the ‘you’.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Your business will enjoy a positive difference and increased inbound activity if you use ASPIRUS Words to review it and your e-mail CRM.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">To find out more about <b>WORDS</b> and <b>MARKETING</b> services from <b>ASPIRUS</b> Words, just click one of the two images below:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2YbOX6PbztkgK0-JOflG3YjpHLH7-ffun6ZzV0kvftKyFfiw2894motMMzBfmvltCt3yrZnv60hRYX82WZP_QBAsKH-EaTro_nTGda3KcCDw7lsJ9i2DjrXUWSEyl1Lj2zxb6GKH18Q_f/s200/Aspirus+Words.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="mailto:rodney@aspiruswords.com"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIiH9qfy_BrFBueqXnST2tGS-SvhmJemDyFclRP6sH6ukVD2h4Gw1NRp5YkFzBzQHQG885ghydoHfjuKQrxjqYN-DQKVny2ohAGfDwXLIstH5IQ4URTzliZupZ2WmMnJZQS1uJwhOwbrGB/s200/Aspirus+Marketing.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-25036483731249422462015-09-08T06:38:00.003-07:002015-09-23T00:37:37.761-07:00Are your CRM prospects tired of blank e-mails too ?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><b>Have
you considered how much easier your busy life would be if you could actually
see the gist of the e-message in the browser to support the subject.</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">In the
brain sharing business communities where many heads, thoughts, techniques,
support services really are better than trying to do it all yourself, you might
just miss an e-mail that really would have been useful to consider.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">But
when so many of them look like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgApEn7JV3FF2iIlNIUC0VPZ_4MNx1dR1e_vcOShrVVnB9RX0KVpNBcTScup-n13Vb7YCoBodqjM2DPAY1OjYiReKzxyKJN0E6rZ8wyS-wdPsoOqyfUc_Yq8gbnYkVMkYI8_l-oX5nSTdKP/s1600/E-grab+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgApEn7JV3FF2iIlNIUC0VPZ_4MNx1dR1e_vcOShrVVnB9RX0KVpNBcTScup-n13Vb7YCoBodqjM2DPAY1OjYiReKzxyKJN0E6rZ8wyS-wdPsoOqyfUc_Yq8gbnYkVMkYI8_l-oX5nSTdKP/s400/E-grab+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">…understandably
you’ll move on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">What
have you missed though. And, heaven forbid<b> if your own e-mail marketing fails
to strike a cognitive chord with your intended reader because they fail to be moved by a blank screen</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">It
really is easy to get it right as you’ll see, it just needs a little ASPIRUS thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">Too many e-designers of marketing departments use HTML designs with big picture graphic intros to head the proposition. Even using template design platforms such as Mail Chimp and Dot Mailer can deliver 'nothing' if you lead with a picture or corporate graphic...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzABdag1ahgaXswqbFe9D_Gz1NOSKHS4b6GwXAzkfmlFIOSpegNKDxMJVPAp_56zdEtnj9NetFdl8jKYywWQpGBGF7G7nuhK_7CFrXaxqIBnoJETTx9K3j6jXJf-PoceQ9QColNf5YhpJ/s1600/E-grab+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXzABdag1ahgaXswqbFe9D_Gz1NOSKHS4b6GwXAzkfmlFIOSpegNKDxMJVPAp_56zdEtnj9NetFdl8jKYywWQpGBGF7G7nuhK_7CFrXaxqIBnoJETTx9K3j6jXJf-PoceQ9QColNf5YhpJ/s400/E-grab+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">...you / they get a blank box with a red X in the corner.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">It really is natural to want to have a logo, branding and visuals in the message - after all a picture does paint a thousand words, doesn't it. But the words can only be visualised if the e-mail is opened and the images enabled.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">Your audience is less likely to open your e-mail if they can't instantly see relevance. The only way to achieve this and lift open rates is to lead with text - the right words - saying the right thing - to the right people.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">The right words</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">The right message</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">The right audience</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">Satisfy all three and your open rates will increase dramatically.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAN9CyqkjgVpAb-Ol7OlAax_HcaX-bgi7CKEs5gXj2nfbfQQktr_2gPMklt-8peArQwMWBjK7LpXc8js8EVt0SgFUFq7rNP7zk9LRgHIZ4JafwBZUeXvXByfeeRXSUP1iR-X2pipO5YBBu/s1600/Grab+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAN9CyqkjgVpAb-Ol7OlAax_HcaX-bgi7CKEs5gXj2nfbfQQktr_2gPMklt-8peArQwMWBjK7LpXc8js8EVt0SgFUFq7rNP7zk9LRgHIZ4JafwBZUeXvXByfeeRXSUP1iR-X2pipO5YBBu/s400/Grab+1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">By making an articulate, clear offer on Injection Moulding tooling to IM tooling buyers - WITHOUT a blank box with a red X in it we achieved a fabulous and relevant open rate. <b>Click to enable images ...</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;"><b>and you can do all your branding a product / service visualisation just half a scroll down the screen.</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">To find out more about WORDS and MARKETING services from ASPIRUS Words, just click one of the two images below:</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-87622614737984977972015-02-09T04:10:00.000-08:002017-10-12T00:38:47.989-07:00Up to speed or just chugging along<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>On a speed awareness course last week</b> (46 in the 40 limited A14 road works at Kettering, 11.30 at night, quiet road…) <b>the group of about 20 was asked … on a scale of 1 to 10 how good a driver do you think you are? Where 1 is ‘leave your keys and walk home’ and 5 is the average driver’.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Now, this was interesting for a number of reasons. When I have been asked the ‘on a scale of 1 – 10’ self-awareness question before to measure, for example, health, sporting activity, pensions adequacy, or just to feedback on the quality of hotel staff – I <b>and I’m sure <i>you</i></b><i> </i>have been told how poor the 1 is and how exemplary the 10 is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">But this course left its delegates to consider the values of 6 to 10 – just how good is 10 and how do you realistically measure it? <b>Is excellence achievable?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">This utterly mixed bag of social, age, sex, occupationally occupied and retired driving offenders answered 4, 5, 6 and a couple went as far as 7 – but <b>nobody dared admit levels of perfection </b>beyond that … and I’m an exemplary driver, it was just bad luck / one of those things / a lapse of concentration that I got caught.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">In driving, the rules are clear and they even put signals and signs up all over the place to remind you and keep you on the straight and narrow…</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">…but <b>in business management, there are no rules and signs</b>, or if you see one (from the bank or solicitor) it’s probably too late.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Now try this question from the business driving seat:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">On a scale of 1 -10 where 1 means you shouldn't be running a business and 5 means you’re just chugging along ‘but know you could do better – it’s just one of those things, but you haven’t been caught out … yet!’:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">How well do you run your business?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Is it as profitable as it should / could be?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Are you generating enough qualified enquiries?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Are you converting the right type of client or customer?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Are you maximising the profitable returns on business turnover?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">How good are you at stepping back to review the way you manage your affairs?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">(And here’s a possible 10…) How much does business success equate to lifestyle achievement?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">We can help you make a profitable difference to the business you run in exchange for a little of your time – time to work ON your business rather than just IN it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">At a recent seminar I was introduced to the magic 7, aka the & Step Profit Multiplier<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">These are 7 determinable, manageable, changeable points each of which a relatively small change in business and marketing attitude / effort will increase the profitability of your business. Changing all 7 could (and we do mean could) increase your profits by 86%.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="line-height: 16.7999992370605px;">‘Hmmm’ – I hear you say (amongst other un-bloggable comments) and so did I when I first saw it. But it is very difficult to look at the platform without at least being intrigued and at best being inspired.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.7999992370605px;">One thing the first 4 keys and the 6th have in common is that they can and are all affected (and manipulated) by <b>WORDS</b> - <b>the words you</b> use to represent your business, <b>how you package them</b> and <b>how you deliver them</b>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Could words alone take my 5 score, to a 10 … well via the 7 it just might.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Well, we’re OK with the theory, but in practice every business (even within a sector) is different. We have different keys representing different pivotal opportunities where positive change equals growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">It is precisely because of these differences that, in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kent</st1:place></st1:country-region>, intime PROFIT are introducing a 7 Step Business Builder programme. This assumes / accepts that you are a business owner wanting to unlock the hidden profitability of the business you run. </span><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;">The Business Builder then starts with an initial interview with an intime PROFIT (ITP) Partner at which ITP and the business owner / manager effectively vet each other’s suitability. The Business Builder member then joins a programme alternating a series of Boardroom events with One-to-One meetings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;">Great opportunities here for businesses in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kent, <b>but what about everybody else?</b></st1:place></st1:country-region></span></div>
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<b>At ASPIRUS Words we focus on the quality of the message and its delivery</b>. We work with clients who are good at what they are doing - the service is perfect; the mechanics are tip top; and the figures all add up ...<b> 'if only more people knew about us'. </b></div>
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<a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKCfbQSni7BdBkH0EI1VG_TNiYUYAI3IFYgH5euNfNgV7W1cnXCTpBuNTn3HukBx26mS2WaeLoJMhEa6lfJcvoD6dWnh9lwRNpzdIFRCvGnlQ2RdCH6Rx4h7ETOYb7LQWXOJas-iV93Cks/s1600/e-mail+ENDindd.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Our clients businesses are driven by their owner whose lifestyle is directly affected by profitable turnover. Often it is their personality that differentiates them from the competition and it's that personality that we write into every element of the message. </div>
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<b>From the website to the brochure; from the e-mail campaign to mailshots and general correspondence; and across social media too, the message is congruent and represents the personality and passion of your business</b>.</div>
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<b>Take a look at our website for a better idea of what we do and how - just click on the image above.</b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;">Back to driving, but in tandem with driving your business. Just as Stopping Time is made up of Thinking Time and Braking Time, so Sustainable Profitability is a combination of Thinking Time and its affect on Profit.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><span style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><b>If you want to take a little time out to think, click the image above, call us on 02476 609 104 or e-mail <a href="mailto:rodney@aspiruswords.com">rodney@aspiruswords.com</a></b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><b style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-size: large;">02476 609 104</span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><b style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/">www.aspiruswords.com</a></span></b></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-18394341518764420892014-09-25T01:34:00.001-07:002017-10-12T00:33:42.743-07:00It's been a warm summer - beware the cold winter<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">It’s all too easy to lose track of goals and time during the summer, particularly a good old fashioned English summer of warm days and balmy nights. Now the kids are back at college and the roads are jammed with school runs, commuters and more white vans that ever before I realise that I’ve taken my eye off the ball. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Perhaps this was Tesco’s excuse. In trying to be all things to all shoppers, taking Lidl on at one end, Morrisons in the ‘market street’ middle and borrowing quality ideas from M&S at the top. Now, of course they have ‘borrowed’ basic financial husbandry from Marks & Spencer as Alan Stewart moves into his new office (same title) as chief financial officer at Tesco.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Well, instead of paying dividends to shareholders as promised during the heady heat of the summer, Tesco in fact opened their tills to find they were short a cool, almost chilling £250 million – or to give it its full breadth of zeros; £250,000,000. In simple terms it appears that they accounted for income not yet presented and ignored costs due.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyB-udxrBc-zbq6r-2TH0rnEC0VZ4Oj8432MmwjAbSjbB4FwC_HgofKi4sQlJBISMc8IuspdEu66dm1Tv3Z4EWIWfpzZ-TE8uIhEuQpFZ4Tt5yjUKgjN6AWe0anjpjQ5WPEGpor_cwVsU/s1600/Pivot+egg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyB-udxrBc-zbq6r-2TH0rnEC0VZ4Oj8432MmwjAbSjbB4FwC_HgofKi4sQlJBISMc8IuspdEu66dm1Tv3Z4EWIWfpzZ-TE8uIhEuQpFZ4Tt5yjUKgjN6AWe0anjpjQ5WPEGpor_cwVsU/s1600/Pivot+egg.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In short, Tesco stock crashed 11.6% off the market value that flew off the shelves on day one. Now one egg short of an omelette they, like many businesses across the country, wish they had paid more attention to basic business detail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">These are the words of Penny Power OBE, entrepreneur and development coach, written for the preface of a new book – ‘Thinking Profit – the journey’ that I read this summer (get a copy on Amazon).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">“The growth of new businesses across the world reflects how easy it is now to register a company, build a website and begin trading. This is fabulous, however, the growth in failures is a poignant statistic. <u>Starting a business is easy, growing a business is the tough part</u>. Over 90% of global businesses employ less that 9 people which in many cases is through choice, but in a large number is due to the skills in building a business that can export, scale, withstand competitors and knows how to manage itself through turbulent times.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">I underlined the key part: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘Starting a business is easy, growing a business is the tough part.’</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Because it’s tough and because it is all too easy to take your eyes off the ball – whether you are Tesco or the corner shop – you should take nothing for granted. Step back (try sitting on the opposite side of your desk, it offers a great perspective), take the phone off the hook, grab a sheet of paper (not a tablet, paper) and jot down the pivotal factors of your business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Pivotal factors are key events that individually can swing business one way or another independently of other events. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">What are the key (basic) elements of PROFIT:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>£SALES X FREQUENCY = £INCOME<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>£INCOME - £COSTS = £PROFIT<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>£PROFIT - £TAX = £NET INCOME<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Now bring in the fulcrum for each event. QUESTION:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">How much can you increase the price of your goods / service to clients without affecting SALES?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">How do you increase the FREQUENCY? Is your marketing effective/ Are you communicating clearly? Could you articulate your proposition better?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Is the COST of each <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">SALE</st1:place></st1:city> as good as it could be? Could you ‘buy better’ or do you need to buy your office inventory at all?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Is your Accountant doing their job? Could you be more TAX efficient in the way you manage your money?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">I hear you. There’s nothing new here. But how often have you been to a business seminar, read the agenda, raised your eyes to the ceiling in despair at the thought of wasting a whole morning here - then rushed back to the office after lunch inspired by the three bright lights that taking time out to consider even the basics, just lit in your head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Each of the above, particularly SALES and FREQUENCY can be broken down further to identify their own pivotal events.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">If you do nothing else, grab another sheet of paper (if only to doodle - you know who you are), identify three fulcra for SALES and three more for FREQUENCY and consider the effects of change on each.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>It’s an exercise worth doing to avoid a cold winter.</b></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><a href="mailto:Rodney@aspiruswords.com">Rodney@aspiruswords.com</a></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "tahoma";"></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "tahoma";"><a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/">www.aspiruswords.com</a></span></b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-61682442215475058882014-04-07T03:29:00.004-07:002017-10-12T00:35:38.190-07:00Making our website fit for purpose<br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In
the same way that a builder’s own extension is the last to be finished, so too
was our website the last to be reviewed and declared UNFIT FOR PURPOSE!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">We
want to share some of the key considerations that lead us through the review
and on to the new site. To create this: <a href="http://www.aspiruswords.com/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">www.aspiruswords.com</span></a>
we considered this - QUESTIONS: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">When you last closed
the office door and took your phone off the hook to read your website</span></b><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;"> (what do you mean
you don’t review it?) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">did it say the
right thing, in the right way, in the right order, to be clear to an audience
you’d be pleased to do business with, so they can action the right levels of
contact? <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Let’s
consider those key points again:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">Does your website say
the right thing; <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">We
all spend time reviewing and refining the corporate message – from a succinct
elevator pitch, to finely tuned correspondence, e-mail marketing, advertising,
corporate literature and blogs. But is the message on your website still singing
from the same hymn sheet?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In the right way; <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">‘It’s
not what you say but how you say it.’ When we physically make a face to face
presentation we know that tone, style, posture are as if not more important
than the content. In the same way, tone and structure can add enormous power to
the words you say on screen. Line breaks, paragraph lengths, column widths,
font, colourways and … punctuation. Is your message written in such a way that
the viewer will be able to actually read it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">In the right order; <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">This
is crucial to a website and there are two sides to this coin. Imagine yourself
standing by the podium about to present your business, services and ethos to a
room full of prospects. You start with a sensible summary of what’s to come, then
move logically through the process from one theme to the next, ending with a
closing summary and chance for the floor to ask questions. So, that’s the home
page, service development ‘chapters’ and contact call-to-action. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">The
flip side is that we do not know which page the viewer will start at, or where
they will go next. Because of this, each page must have its own start, middle
and end with a clear, single-proposition opportunity to act and make contact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">To be clear to an
audience you’d be pleased to do business with; <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">It‘s
really very simple. Your web copy, structure, content and style should be built
with your audience profile, needs and authority in mind – as should any
corporate message and language.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">So they can action
the right levels of contact?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">For
the viewer to confidently click that all important contact button, the benefits
they’ll gain by doing so must be clear and appropriate. We know what we want
them to do and how, but how do we impart what they will gain and why? What’s in
it for them? Again we need to properly understand our intentions and our
audience needs. If we are just list building then perhaps free gifts,
information and discounts might be appropriate. But if we are talking to senior
decision makers for mutually beneficial corporate benefits then it’s the ‘benefit
to need’ clarity that counts.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">This
is the process. Follow it and you won’t go far wrong. Consider the same steps
in the context of all of your communication materials – correspondence, emails,
brochures, newsletters, blogs etc etc and your marketing / CRM / customer
relations will improve enormously. Not only will you know you’ve clarified the
message, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they</i> will understand the
message too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt;">r<a href="mailto:rodney@aspiruswords.com">odney@aspiruswords.com</a></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-33100056419784525402013-05-30T04:38:00.001-07:002017-10-12T00:30:38.897-07:00A wise man once said.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Well, indeed, wise men are always saying something or other. <b>But it’s the wiser person still, who makes and takes time to listen.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Words spoken are meant to be heard. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">But what about words written?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Logically they’re intended to be read. That is asking a lot of your audience. People read in different ways – that’s if they bother reading at all. Some start at the top left and hang on every word, guided by articulate punctuation all the way down to the end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Actually no. Not many, if any bother reading it at all – certainly not all of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Now, if you write, articulate, pitch your message knowing, understanding and respecting the readers’ limitations, then it really is possible to wrap your proposition in a sensible handful of words and deliver it in such a way that your clients and prospects will know:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">What you do<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Why you do it<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">And the benefits they’ll derive by embracing the relationship you are trying to develop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p> </o:p>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">By breaking the text into bite-sized portions of interest and fact, they’ll practically <i>h e a r</i> the words they read and listen to the message in digestible mouthfuls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Click on the image (left) and even at its original size, a page of blocked text with no paragraph breaks has no chance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">The words themselves need to be the right ones and all in the right order. But their delivery and presentation needs to be right too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Little paragraphs</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Short sentences</b>. With occasional rolling sequences of sensually sparkling alliteration bouncing across the page as a butterfly bobs along a border of asters on a balmy late summer’s eve. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">But. Do <b>please make sure the balmy’s not barmy and your apostrophe’s in the right place</b>. And yes, if it helps get the message across, then start a paragraph with a ‘but’ and the odd sentence with an ‘and’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">A wise man once wrote ... so the wiser man could read, understand and know what to do next.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">What <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> would now like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> to do</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"> is ‘phone or e-mail me; invite me to meet you; let me listen to your own wise words; then <b>allow me to cost-effectively re-package them to an articulate corporate presentation of you and your what, how and why</b>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNoBdzB0OvMW2A1RSDsF7XAA-mUHM2ilI1UIPX6bJpf0t09-f9XIaHLGBcoKAlMRZOBQOwJShx2Dayttf8vALQCUoY9NUU07DTszykejNtBC5rRptHlriYB8HnanU6KKzxqmEUCNvwFrp/s1600/e-mail+ENDindd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_uid_101809690="2" closure_uid_665050790="4" closure_uid_lpsli4="2" eea="true" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNoBdzB0OvMW2A1RSDsF7XAA-mUHM2ilI1UIPX6bJpf0t09-f9XIaHLGBcoKAlMRZOBQOwJShx2Dayttf8vALQCUoY9NUU07DTszykejNtBC5rRptHlriYB8HnanU6KKzxqmEUCNvwFrp/s320/e-mail+ENDindd.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma";"><o:p><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><b><span style="color: #538cd6;"><span style="font-size: large;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></span></b></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma";"><o:p><a href="http://www.intimeprofit.com/"><span style="color: #436590; font-size: large;">www.intimeprofit.com</span></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma";"><o:p><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;">02476 609 104</span></span></b></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma";"><o:p><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rodney Bashford</span></span></b></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: "tahoma";"><o:p><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><a href="mailto:rodneybashford@btinternet.com"><span style="font-size: x-small;">rodneybashford@btinternet.com</span></a></span></b></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-79495585072883283592013-04-30T07:27:00.000-07:002013-04-30T07:27:48.626-07:00Ladders, Snakes and Perseverance.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Business can be something of a roller coaster, or in this scenario a game of Snakes & Ladders.<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">The climbs can be tough at times, needing investment of funds, time and resources. For small / medium sized businesses the Managing Director is so often the owner, operations officer, sales director and marketing director. Are you taking on too much?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-SOkia399-9a6pP1dLVCba406873FgtPvgdAXDdXvZRSedX85t9EmZA3oQMwk_Y2tiTsf-6VY5BinPj0Ohsw9ZXe4bC3AyLlVnzjdF5-ebFBYLp_xArTotyIhfOXT7A0xOmzd6kQ54PA/s1600/Man+on+ladder+33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" lua="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-SOkia399-9a6pP1dLVCba406873FgtPvgdAXDdXvZRSedX85t9EmZA3oQMwk_Y2tiTsf-6VY5BinPj0Ohsw9ZXe4bC3AyLlVnzjdF5-ebFBYLp_xArTotyIhfOXT7A0xOmzd6kQ54PA/s200/Man+on+ladder+33.jpg" width="142" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">If you recognise this picture, you’ll know that each rung of that ladder is a brow sweating (or glowing - PC) effort. Then, when you hit that snake, you’re back where you started if not further down the competitive board. Ladders are the product of all our own efforts and combined with the prudence to bring in the support of others when we feel the goals of clarity and success merit the help. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Snakes are either operational mistakes or the effects of external forces – political, competitive, climatic, economic … the list can be endless. But snakes are all too often the result of the business leader taking on too much and dropping the ball at that oh so crucial moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh374Dc2G8xmSNzdjXqdtAiU9kZunyorAkM6PTzUIvoFjxxJVVqLFfZWNlwWd63z3RQvVYd-u3PNIMPe0OHHwAtTkw873Mg7_OjC0T4mU2ofi40uXZ_OO2Q0_M1j1U9I-svQlp1qRQ8K4O6/s1600/snakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" lua="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh374Dc2G8xmSNzdjXqdtAiU9kZunyorAkM6PTzUIvoFjxxJVVqLFfZWNlwWd63z3RQvVYd-u3PNIMPe0OHHwAtTkw873Mg7_OjC0T4mU2ofi40uXZ_OO2Q0_M1j1U9I-svQlp1qRQ8K4O6/s200/snakes.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>What’s the point?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>The point is that the ladder is always steadier / easier to climb if someone else is holding it</strong>. That supporting resource could be someone like us – <strong>ASPIRUS</strong>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1VMkjzlit3fcdqXhU3ZTPxTdx7QUPPE4dX8HgsvTkACjX3quRe9TsXtvSO1ICpJySDGn_NlR7VgJOxVczfYrlLo9yQq8zOAbtj3EAXpX06MX-g2bcBhobukcauXnk_rE5bpCzXzBl6sG/s1600/Ladder+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" lua="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1VMkjzlit3fcdqXhU3ZTPxTdx7QUPPE4dX8HgsvTkACjX3quRe9TsXtvSO1ICpJySDGn_NlR7VgJOxVczfYrlLo9yQq8zOAbtj3EAXpX06MX-g2bcBhobukcauXnk_rE5bpCzXzBl6sG/s320/Ladder+image.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">ASPIRUS Words is now proudly in partnership with intime PROFIT. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Between us we have the skills and experience to take a firm hold of our clients' corporate ladders. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Because the wobble is now steadied by professional support, you are better placed to climb with renewed confidence. Our combined services equip business owners and managers better to take on each new rung whilst keeping those snakes at bay.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>But what of Perseverance?</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of perseverance, according to Henry Ward Beecher:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.”<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Beecher</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"> was a highly regarded American Congregationalist, clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist and speaker of the mid-19<sup>th</sup> century. If nothing else, his legacy is a collection of wise words and heart felt wisdom…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>“It is easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better from the top.”</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><strong>If you want to bring clarity to your communications and to grow your business - use a strong will, not a strong won't - the view really is better from the top.</strong></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><o:p><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><strong><span style="color: #538cd6;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></strong></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><o:p><a href="http://www.intimeprofit.com/">www.intimeprofit.com</a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><o:p><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;"></span></strong></o:p></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><o:p><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">02476 609 104</span></strong></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small;"><o:p><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Rodney Bashford</span></strong></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-9407533232920933592013-01-29T03:12:00.001-08:002013-01-29T03:15:53.178-08:00Fly – the power of a three letter word:<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>I don’t know if your phone, like mine, beeps at eight o’clock every weekday morning to announce the arrival of a <span style="color: #0b5394;">‘Daily Tickler’</span> from <span style="color: #0b5394;">intime PROFIT</span> – if not, you should make sure it does.<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Why?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Firstly because they’re regular as prunes and porridge and set the pace for the day. Mainly though, because <strong>they offer those occasional flashes of amazing inspiration</strong>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Yesterday the quote was: <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Fly</span></strong>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">“Come to the edge” he said,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">“We are afraid”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">“Come to the edge” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">They came.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">He pushed them and they flew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Guillaume Apollinaire</strong> was the French poet, writer and art critic whose words this Daily Tickler recounted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>As the managing owner of a small business helping like-minded managing owners of small / medium businesses</strong> this struck a chord – sometimes subtlety suits the hand-holding management and business development style but often you need to be pushed over the edge … <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">step out of your comfort zone, jump over the edge and see if you fly too</span></strong>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Thanks to Mr Wiki I discovered that Guillaume Apollinaire was born 26<sup>th</sup> August 1880 and died 9<sup>th</sup> November 1918 and is considered one of the most important literary figures of the early twentieth century. His brief career influenced the development of such artistic movements as Futurism, Cubism, Dadaism, and Surrealism and the legend of his personality - <strong>bohemian artist, raconteur, gourmand, soldier</strong> - became the model for avant-garde deportment.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><em><span style="color: #666666;">A portrait of <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Guillaume Apollinaire </strong>by </span>Maurice de Vlaminck.<o:p></o:p></span></em></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Well, I’ve been a soldier and my girth betrays 'mes passions gourmandise' but I covet the man, the life, the environment and the skill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I had to look further and found this:</span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">La géométrie est aux arts plastiques ce que <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">la grammaire est à l'art de l'écrivain.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">“…<strong>geometry is to the plastic arts what <o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>grammar is to the art of the writer</strong>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Wow – how right. How true.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">As you know, <strong><span style="color: black;">words are my tool and making them work harder for businesses is my service</span></strong>. So often overlooked - the structure of a web page, brochure or advertisement is as important as the structure of the written message – not just the physical structure but the geometry of the message that the words impart.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I was working with a client recently <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">to help structure some key elements of his corporate message</span></strong>. It wasn’t working. The message was there but tripped over itself as one read the words … and, <em><strong>hello</strong></em> … <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">words are there to be read</span></strong>. And, readers read aloud, even in their heads. So, if the message can’t be read aloud, with ease – it just won’t work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">To make this client understand, the revelation was the introduction of a metronome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Tick tock, tick tock – dee daaa dee daaa, dee dum dum dee daaa.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">The rhythm was given, the structure was set and the words began dancing to the corporate tune.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>If you want your corporate message to fly, </strong></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong> <span style="color: #0b5394;">step over the edge</span></strong>. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Call me on <strong>02476 609 104</strong> or e-mail me: <a href="mailto:rodneybashford@btinternet.com"><span style="color: black;">rodneybashford@btinternet.com</span></a> .</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>To get your own Daily Ticklers email<span style="color: black;"> </span></strong><a href="mailto:intime@intimeprofit.com"><strong><span style="color: black;">intime@intimeprofit.com</span></strong></a><strong> and ask for your 8 o'clock wake up beep.</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><o:p><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><strong><span style="color: #538cd6;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></strong></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><o:p><strong>call for a FREE SPRING CLEAN today</strong></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><o:p><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">02476 609 104</span></strong></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: medium;"><o:p><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Rodney Bashford</span></strong></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-79767251963133806762013-01-02T05:34:00.004-08:002013-01-02T05:35:44.211-08:00New Year - new words – FREE Spring Clean<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong><span style="color: blue;">Every business starts a New Year with good intentions, fresh thoughts and a magic dust to sprinkle over colleagues, staff, clients and prospects.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="color: black;">I’ve been participating in a series of business development seminars with colleagues running SMEs in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kent</st1:place></st1:country-region> (see: </span><a href="http://www.intimeprofit.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="color: black;">http://www.intimeprofit.blogspot.co.uk/</span></a><span style="color: black;">). One of the recent exercises that caused much furrowing of brow was for each of us to refine our ‘elevator pitches’. The clash of benefits prevailing over values threw all into disarray as we tried to think on the part of our clients and customers</span>, considering <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their</i> views and needs as opposed to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our</i> intentions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">All positive stuff - as indeed are the benefits, thought provocation and pearls of wisdom derived from each monthly gathering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">So here we find ourselves starting yet another New Year with yet more fresh and invigorating ideas to carry us towards Easter.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">But:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong><span style="color: blue;">How are we applying these sparks and how are we articulating our inspiration to others</span></strong> – staff and clients alike.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>How fresh is your website</strong> – not the expensive side of its structure and functionality but the simple side of its message – THE WORDS … <strong>is it still singing from the same business hymn sheet?<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">So often the answer is NO.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">The same goes for the packaging of your key and unique selling points; your standard mailings and responses to inbound enquiries … are your clients and prospective clients hearing (reading) the story as you wish to tell it now, today, in 2013?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Again, possibly not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">ASPIRUS Words is offering an EARLY SPRING CLEAN - FREE</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Put us to the test by meeting; you talk, we’ll listen and leave you; then we’ll give you a written assessment of your written presentation, your verbal summary and how we might re-articulate the proposition to fit your New Year glitter and goals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">This will cost you nothing and – you don’t have to do anything with the thoughts we then share.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">But you never know … you just might use ASPIRUS to make accost effective difference to your business – now.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNoBdzB0OvMW2A1RSDsF7XAA-mUHM2ilI1UIPX6bJpf0t09-f9XIaHLGBcoKAlMRZOBQOwJShx2Dayttf8vALQCUoY9NUU07DTszykejNtBC5rRptHlriYB8HnanU6KKzxqmEUCNvwFrp/s1600/e-mail+ENDindd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eea="true" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNoBdzB0OvMW2A1RSDsF7XAA-mUHM2ilI1UIPX6bJpf0t09-f9XIaHLGBcoKAlMRZOBQOwJShx2Dayttf8vALQCUoY9NUU07DTszykejNtBC5rRptHlriYB8HnanU6KKzxqmEUCNvwFrp/s320/e-mail+ENDindd.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: large;"><o:p><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><strong>www.aspiruscopy.com</strong></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: large;"><o:p><strong>call for a FREE SPRING CLEAN today</strong></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: large;"><o:p><strong>02476 609 104</strong></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: large;"><o:p><strong>Rodney Bashford</strong></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-5926859282407448142012-11-19T02:18:00.000-08:002012-11-19T02:18:08.957-08:00Orla Boylan (soprano) rehearses; Mo Farah (athlete) trains; Rodney Bashford (commercial writer) goes to business development seminars <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Orla Boylan (soprano) rehearses; Mo Farah (athlete) trains; Rodney Bashford (commercial writer) goes to business development seminars including topics such as … copywriting.</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Magic Moments:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHNInDPQ5gHIxxA3eCkNPYJGQvmImVfRfFs7yaES8A4BHdOCYsUSD7uYCs8VVI5cYl6vHHsmALO0h6ii_fdDgYnyRqzpXn9iG2ZcygAn3JCZMdEC5KCrHOHKSpZOcaaSVKMkYuy4v552z/s1600/Magic+Moments.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHNInDPQ5gHIxxA3eCkNPYJGQvmImVfRfFs7yaES8A4BHdOCYsUSD7uYCs8VVI5cYl6vHHsmALO0h6ii_fdDgYnyRqzpXn9iG2ZcygAn3JCZMdEC5KCrHOHKSpZOcaaSVKMkYuy4v552z/s320/Magic+Moments.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Well, why not. My fellow delegates and I enjoyed the second of six Business Development Seminars from intime PROFIT. About twelve of us gathered around the boardroom table of a hosting company. Reeves of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Chatham</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region></st1:place> hosted the last one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">They are a firm of Accountants who themselves have a positive and innovative slant on Business Development. Their strap line is simply – business, tax, wealth. Probably one of the best Accountancy strap lines I’ve ever encountered and no, I didn’t write it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">For a long time I, like so many of you and so many of my clients, have had trouble summarising what it is I do and shoving it in the proverbial nutshell – the illusive elevator pitch or networkers’ 60 second intro can be so hard to define.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I came away from last week’s seminar with three or four inspired changing moments. Some came from the Seminar Leader David Mack. Equal value came from the comments and observation that punctuate the day, enthusiastic contributions from our colleagues around the table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">To come away with four or five ‘must do’s’ a month is perfect – that’s one a week, sufficient to make a difference because just the right number for a busy business to actually do something about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Today, for me, the 60 second service summary. It looks a little like this:<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I help businesses and organisations to identify – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">what it is they actually do</b> – to identify their features and bottle their values. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I then articulate the message through the web, blogs, brochures, advertising and general correspondence – letters, e-mails and even tweets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">These are all written to deliver, not just the product / service values, but the core personality of the people and ethos behind the business - the ‘WHY’ that makes them different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">ASPIRUS Words is a commercial writing service that makes words work harder and businesses look sharper. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Google <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ASPIRUS Words <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and you’ll see …</b> it’s not just the right words that make the difference, it’s the wisdom behind them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Hmmm … I like these Seminars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p>Life is not all about blogging (though ther are a great CRM vehicle) but I would like to share some of the other blogsites currently written by ASPIRUS Words:</o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_XWxxOcGpO6RiFLfhN6Wk6GsU6p4FRCC1LDN_apkKSe1Jlt5FF8SyNYW2S5oUx74RgdNWzzl9sOfMjfVRSTdPE0sW5_zCTb9FBALMjtcDdZIn147uK_BuzAu2Du4gy-0xICeY0E1PEN2/s1600/beatitudes+logo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_uid_8f7sm6="6" hea="true" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic_XWxxOcGpO6RiFLfhN6Wk6GsU6p4FRCC1LDN_apkKSe1Jlt5FF8SyNYW2S5oUx74RgdNWzzl9sOfMjfVRSTdPE0sW5_zCTb9FBALMjtcDdZIn147uK_BuzAu2Du4gy-0xICeY0E1PEN2/s200/beatitudes+logo+3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><a href="http://blissbeatitudes.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="color: #538cd6;">http://blissbeatitudes.blogspot.co.uk/</span></a></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVym9Ki9BoY9MWEXV1esOrbPbq_yBdeOfYVT14NXuKQqzBGbq4h12imPfMJ7e9N0F6TeAScMs4aVSS4Iu0xSU5hmmJn0PQ_0HPhBQ6DTqXW2XloqXQT3f1HfZfyjVVhfIa3MwOBn7XrKdW/s1600/logo+grab+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #538cd6;"><img border="0" closure_uid_8f7sm6="7" hea="true" height="67" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVym9Ki9BoY9MWEXV1esOrbPbq_yBdeOfYVT14NXuKQqzBGbq4h12imPfMJ7e9N0F6TeAScMs4aVSS4Iu0xSU5hmmJn0PQ_0HPhBQ6DTqXW2XloqXQT3f1HfZfyjVVhfIa3MwOBn7XrKdW/s320/logo+grab+a.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><a href="http://www.intimeprofit.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="color: #436590;">http://www.intimeprofit.blogspot.co.uk/</span></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><a href="http://www.greycoat-ifa.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="color: #538cd6;">http://www.greycoat-ifa.blogspot.co.uk/</span></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Plain English, plain speaking, pure correspondence. <span style="color: #0b5394;">Words that work</span>.</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: medium;">02476 609 104</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><strong><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: small;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></a></strong></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkFzTHFcNh7L3phUn1XgFFL8mBKNhF9HyxwEttRoEaatN6DPWRtyrQYQ1tAl6zas0e1Pt9mt0XRukycDyTSGfS8eGDO4RkwX_fXffcXyM5KWK98tTfyCCK-0ar-CdXKeRG3CMMs7EFpld/s1600/96776343_4efe3075ff_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" closure_uid_8f7sm6="9" closure_uid_qk3m7h="11" height="296" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkFzTHFcNh7L3phUn1XgFFL8mBKNhF9HyxwEttRoEaatN6DPWRtyrQYQ1tAl6zas0e1Pt9mt0XRukycDyTSGfS8eGDO4RkwX_fXffcXyM5KWK98tTfyCCK-0ar-CdXKeRG3CMMs7EFpld/s320/96776343_4efe3075ff_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-87551062970120969582012-10-17T03:27:00.002-07:002017-10-12T00:26:53.281-07:00Say it with an S not a Zeeeeeeee<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>If you are involved in the Financial Services industry, perhaps a busy IFA (Independent Financial Adviser), you will have your sleeves rolled up preparing for RDR (Retail Distribution Review). Perhaps you are set already or possibly one of the rather too many who have yet to effectively respond to the FSA's calls to change.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">We have been working with <b>Greycoat Financial Services</b> who, like many, have taken RDR by the horns and used it as a positive marketing opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">It has been an excuse to use someone like me to sit across the desk and totally re-evaluate the business. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">What is it? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">What could it be? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">And how do we move it from here to there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Whether you are several in partnership operating joint and severally, or whether you are one or two independents fighting the business prevention hurdle of Compliance and the FSA (Financial Services Authority), there is still an awful lot you can achieve to face 2013 with ambition and drive. Long sentence, sorry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Fortunately, thanks to organisations like Tax Briefs and Three Sixty workshops – there’s a lot of material out there to help you write your own RDR changed business and service propositions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Whichever route you choose to take, please ‘<b>say it with an S not a Zeeeeeee'</b>. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Too much ‘off the shelf’ solution and text is available to cut and paste where the language is over-Americanized. Some comes from across the pond, but much is simply written by folks relying on MS Word spell-check … set to English (USA) rather than (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">UK</st1:country></st1:place>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">RDR is providing the British consumer with a more professional, fee-based Financial Services market. The gloves are off. Commissions have gone. Competition is endemic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Now is the opportunity to review what you say and how you say it. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Personalise your proposition and lift your game</b>. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Your clients now have to pay up front for advice, pensions, investments, retirement planning, estate planning etc etc. As discussed in Money Box a couple of weeks ago, <b>consumers are used to paying fees for legal and accounting advice and service, so may not be too averse to paying for financial advice – as long as it lives up to its heightened status of ‘professional’.</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">If promotional materials presenting your corporate proposition looks and says the same as 70% of your neighbouring IFAs, then competition will simply come down to price. Build individuality and substance into your image and you’ll stand out - justifiably professional. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">It’s time to lift your game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Greycoat have their core services and procedures re-structured and presentational / fulfilment materials written ready to go. The database has been re-structured to support the new service levels and client status. And we are putting the finishing touches to investment services, service pricing and product / value segmentation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Clarity, vision, creative support from ASPIRUS and not one single Zeee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Plain English, plain speaking, pure correspondence. <span style="color: #0b5394;">Words that work</span>.</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: medium;">02476 609 104</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";"><b><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: small;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></a></b></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-29754003908409234302012-09-14T06:50:00.000-07:002012-09-14T06:50:48.275-07:00Words written to deliver message A to audience W, can not be tampered with to convey B to a bunch of Zeds.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I’m excited to have finally made time to join Stephen Fry’s forum @ <a href="http://www.stephenfry.com/clubfry/invitation/"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.stephenfry.com/clubfry/invitation/</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXWN2vnnzTjIX53aIZfE1_QevQlt9qeCcQ3L5uCgsj_xuMj7EYs0UJuXDSuk9EkNP6PEP6NzBIbnHmEcs6iyX2A-Zdd0JH5yjZP-h0IzMWgWFyLqfRk93r3f7VUgFiXZovTHcOpSOf_VMH/s1600/ttl_banner_sep2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="94" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXWN2vnnzTjIX53aIZfE1_QevQlt9qeCcQ3L5uCgsj_xuMj7EYs0UJuXDSuk9EkNP6PEP6NzBIbnHmEcs6iyX2A-Zdd0JH5yjZP-h0IzMWgWFyLqfRk93r3f7VUgFiXZovTHcOpSOf_VMH/s640/ttl_banner_sep2010.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">This is a man who knows the value of words and the power of literal dexterity by which they can be shaped and delivered. Quality doesn’t have to be ‘posh’ unless one is writing for ‘the posh’ whose eyes and ears understand no less.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>When writing for an audience, the writer wants that group of people to understand the message being delivered.</strong> It should pass via the eyes and literally heard, orally, as it passes to the brain. Hence the importance of writing in a style that sings as if your market is sitting before you listening to you speak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Words and language evolved as an oral tool – a vehicle to communicate from mouth to the brain via the listener’s ear. Vocabulary gives language depth. Intonation gives it life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>So why shouldn’t the written word have life?</strong> Well, it most certainly should.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Putting personality and intonation down on paper or up on the screen, in a blog, on a tweet needs a good understanding of what you need to say and who you want to say it to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Then, you can play with the tools available to you – 26 letters and a bag full of syntax.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Don’t waste words</strong> – superfluity is a communications crime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">But, equally <strong>don’t compromise the message</strong>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">So how do we square these two points. The answer is easier these days than it once was. We have different communications platforms each with sensible and accessible messaging criteria, from 140 characters in a tweet; through blogging; on to a web site; via an e-mail; plus an attachment – and that‘s just the electronic media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Hanging the style and expression to fit the audience is an art form on the one hand and an essential tool to apply to business / sales communication on the other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Once written, it is very difficult to use one style of message to convey your meaning to a different audience. <o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">But you don’t have to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Identify your audiences; understand their language; consider what they might want to hear to motivate them; write the core message to that language and medium / platform – and Bob will once again be your proverbial…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">In a blog / article called Take me to your Lieder in which Stephen Fry was writing (at some length) about the sad death of Dietrich Fischer Dieskau (a truly great Lieder tenor), he wrote of a task given him to try to translate Schikaneder’s original <em><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Magic Flute</span></em> libretto from German into English.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">He writes: “That experience, taking out the words that Mozart had set to music and trying to replace them with English equivalents, taught me one thing that I am anxious to share with an expectant world. Mozart knew what he was doing. Ho, yes. The man, as Control or Smiley might say, was Good, George. Damned good. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He knew his tradecraft</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Words written to deliver A to audience W can not be tampered with to convey B to a bunch of Zeds.<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p> Life is not all about blogging (though ther are a great CRM vehicle) but I would like to share some of the other blogsites currently written by ASPIRUS Words:</o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><a href="http://blissbeatitudes.blogspot.co.uk/">http://blissbeatitudes.blogspot.co.uk/</a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><a href="http://www.intimeprofit.blogspot.co.uk/">http://www.intimeprofit.blogspot.co.uk/</a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><a href="http://www.greycoat-ifa.blogspot.co.uk/">http://www.greycoat-ifa.blogspot.co.uk/</a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Plain English, plain speaking, pure correspondence. <span style="color: #0b5394;">Words that work</span>.</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">02476 609 104</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><strong><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></a></strong></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-33274439447351312812012-05-08T08:11:00.001-07:002012-05-08T08:11:34.971-07:00Turning RDR to a marketing advantage.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">IFAs and Financial Service organisations are only too aware of the requirements of RDR to their business. The Retail Distribution review (RDR) is the latest wave of the hand from the FSA in their continual attempts to turn the Financial Services Market in the <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">UK</place></country-region> into a safe and level playing field.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Major changes come into effect from 1<sup>st</sup> January 2013, yet so far only half of the industry has implemented the changes needed to comply.</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Key criteria for change are:</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">1. Clear charging creating structured fee based service levels.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">2. Clear service provisions, explaining what the client gets and how actions will be implemented.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">3. Increased professional status for qualified advice and efficient service.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Communication is the key to all elements of the change.</strong> Yet, ironically, the FSA hasn’t communicated the changes to the British financial consumer – that’s down to the IFA also.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">In working with Greycoat Financial Services, a <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Westminster</city></place> based IFA, we have used the requirements for change as the ultimate excuse to deconstruct and rebuild the business.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Not only have we produced a full portfolio of compliance-proofed materials, procedures and a marketing database to support the CRM – but we have helped the client to fully understand and feel comfortable about who they are and how their future relations with clients will work.</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">We’ve given Greycoat ownership of RDR and a positive proposition to build their business profitably from the changes it has required them to make.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Part of the process has used Simon Sinek’s The Power of WHY to review and structure key areas of internal and external communications:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczNCvv8htgBe2kcbxlp_BQjaYmO7NzTlfvnVGcGF0U1yV6RakRg5Moni0EYbYtBErqfKobaxumiQZj1J0chys3gozOEoZiryX5ziVLWhtT-Qm9DkB4pRlhCYcU5xG_mcRL7oCkPm0sZSP/s1600/Why+How+What.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dba="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczNCvv8htgBe2kcbxlp_BQjaYmO7NzTlfvnVGcGF0U1yV6RakRg5Moni0EYbYtBErqfKobaxumiQZj1J0chys3gozOEoZiryX5ziVLWhtT-Qm9DkB4pRlhCYcU5xG_mcRL7oCkPm0sZSP/s200/Why+How+What.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>THE POWER OF WHY:</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">“Knowing the WHY can inform your actions as a brand, your brand voice, its character, and everything else that helps build it into something people want to have a relationship with.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Attributed to Simon Sinek.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>WHAT:</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Most but not all know WHAT they do – but WHAT in who’s perspective?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">WHAT = fundamentals, intellectual property, the ‘business fuel’, USPs, KSPs, what makes a customer buy what they buy and is that in fact what you think you are selling!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>WHY:</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Very few businesses truly understand WHY. So, what is WHY?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">This is how Simon Sinek introduces his inspirational ideas:</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz8QubvWoNGI8l-6nHz2BhpDxtbL_z29Fjd_1R8gqxHZ869BZhEIIwpWgYvBZaOU6b5VZPqPSPQhGHKbXI1aA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">WHAT and HOW are vital, yes – they determine quality, viability, functionality, price, value, margin. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">We all make rational (WHAT) purchase decisions every day … because it’s there at the time I want it.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">The WHY is often forgotten in the content-driven, busy world of the Financial Services SME. By forgetting it we miss a major trick.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">WHY is what you make it: </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">personality, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">inspiration,</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">possibility,</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">passion, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">innovation, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">character, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">belief, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">vision.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">The value to the FS practitioner in understanding and applying / interpreting this thought process to their own business is what sets them apart from the competition.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Think about it - I'm not going to tell you the answer (because there really isn't a magic 'fits all' solution) this week because I want to develop the thinking in the next blog.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">If you would like to discuss it further in the mean time please:</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">call Rodney Bashford on <strong>07500 896 783 </strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">or visit <a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/">http://www.aspiruscopy.com/</a>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>HOW:</strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">All businesses know HOW they do what they do – or do they?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">HOW = manufacture, sales, service, admin, logistics, finance etc.</span></div>
</span> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong></strong></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-2418358420780374642012-01-27T04:22:00.000-08:002012-01-27T04:22:38.832-08:00A picture paints a thousand words – even my words.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">At last, my National Geographic subscription arrived (Christmas gift to self) and I was able to thumb its inspiring pages. No page was more provoking than that portraying the art of Jason deCaires Taylor, an artist, diver and photographer based in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Mexico</place></country-region>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSIX6BoafvVNcXF-9iuspROVDgb9eO9VkrbG9KpqN_6MgqGToD-0kVsYuF_PzVSzq9hzH-OQDNXUBilv_EPyp6vOjGYC6oc66yOkNudrinU0Ar23C3wV76e7_MUyxICVob_7MyTG1_TtM/s1600/Silent-evolution-Jason-sculpture07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" gda="true" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSIX6BoafvVNcXF-9iuspROVDgb9eO9VkrbG9KpqN_6MgqGToD-0kVsYuF_PzVSzq9hzH-OQDNXUBilv_EPyp6vOjGYC6oc66yOkNudrinU0Ar23C3wV76e7_MUyxICVob_7MyTG1_TtM/s320/Silent-evolution-Jason-sculpture07.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">He uses the clear tropical waters as the backdrop for installation art exhibiting life size sculptures of ‘real people performing contemporary acts’.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">The figures are cast from coral-friendly pH-neutral marine concrete, which soon host sponges and corals in turn attracting fish and colourfully assorted symbiosis of sea life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Art is a multi-dimensional expression of feeling, emotion and <span style="color: #0b5394;">service</span></strong>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Service?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Yes</strong>, why not - service? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Why shouldn’t business communication <span style="color: #0b5394;">tug at the human side of your client’s make up</span>?</strong> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">A procurement department sits all day tasked to source sustainably effective dip moulded plastic caps and sleeves, solutions for masking and protecting components in finishing. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYhKZAFEDr9HE2JjTDKucCd_QvD6rGEEjF9v3o_f7VHtfej6IcgukIMt69O8VO-Yy4dk1nqehGkLMYLCmnEEQnvj4grMv4cUQc_OdRKqnQlwNH5hIQNq6pGI_2aeZ0yeC5Y2ky8eUoYQu/s1600/Silent-evolution-Jason-sculpture10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gda="true" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYhKZAFEDr9HE2JjTDKucCd_QvD6rGEEjF9v3o_f7VHtfej6IcgukIMt69O8VO-Yy4dk1nqehGkLMYLCmnEEQnvj4grMv4cUQc_OdRKqnQlwNH5hIQNq6pGI_2aeZ0yeC5Y2ky8eUoYQu/s200/Silent-evolution-Jason-sculpture10.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Board Directors meet to consider financially and tax efficient solutions to build and protect their collective and individual wealth. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Architects and building groups are looking for build partners to effect roofing strategies across their development programmes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">But they are all ‘people’. So why don’t we treat them as such and write more personality into our CRM – our business communication strategy. <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Write to set yourself apart from the hungry competition</span></strong>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz59b2VaMH_QjU4_GLvVNZizYyIYWs1d7PI96nImHGReCH3c-z7K4jche5Ld5Mi7VdveOxKoj_lNR1V2qEAEA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Take this blog for example. Baited with a sickening headline, pictures of fish, an SEO-friendly video – and a few well chosen words (that is what I do after all), and I have <span style="color: #0b5394;">a simple excuse to re-canvass my database</span>.</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">The blog is like a crossbow bolt to fire by e-mail across the desks of those I hope to do business with, if not now, then at some time in the future.<strong> I sincerely hope that includes you</strong>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-size: large;">Please call me - 02476 609 104</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-size: large;">Or visit </span><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><span style="color: black; font-size: large;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></a></span></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-83458001667281916632012-01-12T04:25:00.000-08:002017-10-12T00:53:32.239-07:00TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG - driving sales through your CRM<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma";"><b><span style="font-size: large;">“ I think we should, but I don’t have time…”</span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">As part of a corporate CRM, the blog is a great way to keep the sales communications plate spinning at the simple push of the return key.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Remember the days of the Newsletter when we used to fell and pulp forests to print and post interesting collections of headline-driven words and illustrated articles to remind clients and prospects of the breadth of service genres we had to offer ? <b>Well, <span style="color: #0b5394;">now</span> we blog it</b>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">I don’t need to tell you how many stamps, trees and envelopes you save and how many dustbins now avoid the thud of the wasted mailing. But, perhaps I do have to tell you <b>how the blog helps drive your CRM</b> and how little of your time (practically none in fact) is required to make it happen.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Words, style, frequency, contents – <span style="color: #0b5394;">leave all that to ASPIRUS Words</span></b>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b>By way of an example, let me show you how it works with Sinclair & Rush </b>in <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Maidstone</city>, <country-region w:st="on">Kent</country-region></place>. They are a global plastics manufacturer and distributor, fabricating a huge range of product to protect components and goods in the engineering, finishing, HVAC, automotive, electronics and – well anyone needing to cap, plug, package and display work-in-progress, components and merchandising goods. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Materials revolve around the world of Plastic and the varying derivations thereof. Industrial, transit and display applications are limited only by the constraints of one’s imagination. They have a corporate website that umbrellas and collection of sub-sites, each presenting core brands, products and applications. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Customers use Sinclair & Rush products in such different ways that one would probably not recognise the other as having the need to buy from the same manufacturing supplier. On the face of it this presents a massive headache for the sales team – each prospect call being different from the last in terms of need, solution and application. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">MD, Peter Boulton, started working with ASPIRUS in the Summer 2011. Having been <b>referred because of a need for writing and communication skills,</b> he soon realised that whilst words were the ultimate product, the actual service is based on a<b> <span style="color: #0b5394;">remarkable ability to appraise the corporate environment</span></b> and build exciting solutions into the communication strategy. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">Peter Boulton is a ‘Noah thinker’</span></b>. A corporate thinker who instead of simply predicting rain, steps forth and builds an ark. Goals are important and their pragmatic delivery essential. His aim is to turn his technical team around, from an outbound sales resource to an inbound sales consultancy.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">An effective communications CRM is already being implemented, working the database with a series of generic, brand, industry and application-based mailings and e-mailings,<b> <span style="color: #0b5394;">all written by ASPIRUS</span></b>. Now, the thread that holds the process together and accelerates / supports the individual messaging, is the Sinclair & Rush blog. <b>Each article reflects a product / brand / application and links directly to the appropriate web site page to support the reader’s understanding</b>. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">It has just launched and we will use this ASPIRUS blog to follow its progress: </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span></b><a href="http://plastic.blog.co.uk/"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://plastic.blog.co.uk/</span></b></a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;">What S&R gain</span></b>:</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Strongly branded regular communications.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">A zero cost key stroke presenting an illustrated case study.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Examples of application, problems and solutions.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">A tool that removes the need to ‘predict contact timing’.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">A growing archive of brand / product examples that the sales team can use to illustrate solution possibilities.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">An electronic outbound to inspire application-related inbound.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>And at what cost:</b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">A mutually agreeable fee.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Ten minutes <b>only</b>, as part of a monthly marketing agenda – that’s all, as ASPIRUS do all the research and build the article from the half dozen key points offered by the Sales Manager. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "tahoma"; font-size: 9pt;">Well that <i>is</i> all – <b>you really do not need to use your own time to gain the benefits</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Add life to your own CRM - </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>call ASPIRUS on 02476 609 104</b></span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></a></b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-26927660537518651662011-10-10T03:53:00.000-07:002011-10-10T03:55:43.035-07:00Silverstone Education - Golden Opportunity<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">‘<strong>Silverstone motor racing circuit is to house the first of a new wave of specialist university technical colleges</strong> (UTCs)’ – when I read this this morning I was at first intrigued and then inspired. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Although my job is to write and stylise words to fine tune the corporate message – my life started at Lanchester Polytechnic sponsored by Rolls Royce in <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Coventry</city></place>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">What a wonderful opportunity Silverstone is going to provide:<span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15216987"><span style="color: #0b5394;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15216987</span></a> . <strong>Students aged 14 to 16 will combine mainstream studies – English, Maths, <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Science</city>, <state w:st="on">PE</state> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>etc</place> – with ‘technical studies’. These form 60% of their timetable</strong>. <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Their remaining time is focussed on specialities including high-performance engineering; motor sports; event management and hospitality</span></strong>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Wow. But like all things new this has its objectors. Many no doubt reject the idea simply because it’s flag ship thinking of the Conservative Party. Others throw scorn because it’s different, radical, hybrid etc etc. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Well, frankly, it’s not that different, radical or hybrid now is it? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqip7ks82YREORtStUPof1zvPsEJwaTRSSY1fknbw9rrcimcmT9jDibZH2ViwWrPAhygpjORjJnx7g_Tcqfux7VfTvMItlgVKJMnTh_jt-f7z9QcdV1sRMBuZ2FJHV4bxpshrignTuEMR/s1600/6049298583_0eb47e107c_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqip7ks82YREORtStUPof1zvPsEJwaTRSSY1fknbw9rrcimcmT9jDibZH2ViwWrPAhygpjORjJnx7g_Tcqfux7VfTvMItlgVKJMnTh_jt-f7z9QcdV1sRMBuZ2FJHV4bxpshrignTuEMR/s200/6049298583_0eb47e107c_b.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Before I was taught milling, grinding and metal work on the shop floor of Rolls Royce’s apprentice school, I did my A levels in a year at Henley College of Further Education (Coventry) – a Technical College. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Whilst I read Chaucer, Keynes and Sartre, their Catering Dept taught cheffing, waiting and hospitality management skills at one end, <span style="color: #0b5394;">with mechanical and electrical engineering skills being honed at the other</span></strong>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Late 70s <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Coventry</place></city> understood the values of vocational education</strong>. Perhaps even the skills being shared back then were too late for the motor industry, gas turbine manufacture and chemicals processing that preceded the call centres and Council Offices, which now stand in their stead. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">This is still an engineering centre with manufacturing ambition – all it needs is investment and skill. At the moment, you are more likely to get the former … but where is the skill?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Political folklore paints an over-generalised picture of a manufacturing wasteland. </strong>But these are views based on FT100 despair<strong>. <span style="color: #0b5394;">We forget that UK Limited is run by SMEs.</span> </strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Take Double Glazing for instance. Simon Jarman, MD of Everest told James Hurley of the Telegraph in January this year that: “…despite being the second-largest player in the windows-and-doors market by turnover, Everest has just 3% of a fragmented sector.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">At least 80% of this £1.6b industry (IBIS World) is made up of the plethora of small owner / fitter businesses like Streamline Windows, each of whom would like a little more skill from the school-leaver fitter they might hire. Multiply the same problem across the breadth of industry variants across the <place w:st="on">Midlands</place> alone and the need is the same.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">OK. Back to title. A possible downside of the Silverstone association is that every budding engineering student will want to be a Button or a Hamilton (well, a Button at least!). But what’s wrong with ambition and aspiration – nothing at all. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMjJ9rMYQvl2x6ZYLr6kQIPjy2URPBx6fJGbwSVUk0110s5kdZxCOEDjIygwNnRMcU5ld62T46lKgK1dnMbpvHtjl1588HT0vxgNqNyRDLkUimjSPMexCNZ-nXjl8Kth2hR2FMRnF_3Us5/s1600/P7095107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMjJ9rMYQvl2x6ZYLr6kQIPjy2URPBx6fJGbwSVUk0110s5kdZxCOEDjIygwNnRMcU5ld62T46lKgK1dnMbpvHtjl1588HT0vxgNqNyRDLkUimjSPMexCNZ-nXjl8Kth2hR2FMRnF_3Us5/s200/P7095107.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Take a look at Pasquale Lattinedu. Who? Just the nicest man with the best ever job in the world. Colloquially referred to as Bernie’s right hand man, Pasquale is responsible for just about everything logistical at each of the F1 meetings across the world. From Pits to Paddocks, motoring oil to cooking fat, paparazzi to pepperoni. If he hasn’t ticked the box, it just doesn’t happen. As event management goes – this is top of the pops.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>So, if a young person gets the chance to learn something exciting at Silverstone UTC and you’re concerned about aimless aspiration – go talk to Pasquale. </strong></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">ASPIRUS</span>.</strong></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-52537064493701275272011-10-02T05:11:00.000-07:002011-10-02T05:13:59.058-07:00Lady Godiva - think of the embarrassment we'd have saved her...<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;"></span></strong></span></strong></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCG7Dw5UBDyFJ6uobxqX7pZyZ9nUfo4CTfirP_j1e2pN-U0LAyrt0OcQl1cmzfTler1Nv2TqflyOiHhl8Ee0a9Lvb_SfX9KQz5ATVPBva8MUjY6xsAequXIF3nlt_84gXU1YCg3sAONwdX/s1600/4327930405_6d08d6b6ef_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCG7Dw5UBDyFJ6uobxqX7pZyZ9nUfo4CTfirP_j1e2pN-U0LAyrt0OcQl1cmzfTler1Nv2TqflyOiHhl8Ee0a9Lvb_SfX9KQz5ATVPBva8MUjY6xsAequXIF3nlt_84gXU1YCg3sAONwdX/s200/4327930405_6d08d6b6ef_o.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong>Think of the embarrassment we could have saved Lady Godiva if only she’d used Facebook and Twitter to network her social message as we’re doing for <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Coventry</place></city> now:</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>What I find wonderful about working with words is that the same 26 letters can be used to enhance the presentation of all manner of product and service. Obviously they’re used in a different order and frequency and the syntax varies somewhat, but the basic tools are the same.</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I may have to do some research - <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">but that’s on my time not recharged</span></strong>. Getting to know my colloquial way around the plastics moulding industry was fun in June. Once energised, Google responded bravely to my seemingly endless searches for Injection Moulding, Vinyl Dip Moulding, Thermoforming and, well, life just wouldn’t be the same without a little Extrusion. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Re-styling and writing the new web</span> site and promotional portfolio for a Westminster IFA required less on line research but much reading around a once familiar subject.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">The aim here was to set the message apart from the ubiquitous competition and inject personality into the prose. The copy needs to reflect the ideal audience, so they recognise themselves in it as they read. And the individual style of the advisors can be stylistically written to pre-empt the initial meeting, preparing the strength of the crucial client / advisor relationship from the out. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">So it has been refreshing to contribute to the efforts of Coventry Cathedral’s marketing and communications team. No ‘industry’ research, just fresh ideas and observations drawn on experience and creativity. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Preparations for their 2012 Golden Jubilee celebrations are well under way and involvement has immersed me in some of the rich history that pervades the Cathedral Quarter’s one thousand years of lives, lifestyles and architecture – all of which we’re developing in press and blog story lines as part of the celebration message. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">By developing the story rather then revealing the history in one, we build a relationship not only with the press but with the public as well. The reveal is reflected on the web sub-site and the whole thing is to be balanced with a social networking campaign. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Targeting and motivating local communities - schools, families, colleges etc - needs a fine tuned message across multiple media to deliver it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">Think of the embarrassment we could have saved Lady Godiva if only she’d used <span style="color: black;">Facebook</span> and <span style="color: black;">Twitter</span> to network her social message as we’re doing for <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Coventry</place></city> now.</span></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/">http://www.aspiruscopy.com/</a></span></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-414878459413610555.post-11248278223941277622011-09-18T05:31:00.000-07:002011-09-18T05:31:14.998-07:00Of Web Copy, Needles and Haystacks.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Too often I look at a web site and shudder at the blinding volume of visual noise that throws a smokescreen of confusion across a miss-match of magazine-style headline options</strong>. Behind this is an astonishing Pandora’s Box of pagination revealing layer after layer of promises but no real corporate ethos, personality and service. Well, it might be in the haystack somewhere.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Traditional services and professional practices tend to do one of two things – they brief a web designer and buy on price, or they syndicate to their professional body’s stock site, filling the gaps with their own images, messages and USP’s … but all too often not even that.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Financial Services</strong> is a case in point. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">But, <strong>Accountancy</strong> and <strong>Legal</strong> practices are not far behind in their decade of transition from <strong>‘faceless necessity’</strong> to <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">‘hip groovy friend of the people’</span></strong> … “follow me on Facebook and we’ll tweet you the latest happenings”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Slow down chaps. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I need advice in forming a partnership; dealing with probate; establishing a trust; acquiring a business; setting up a group pension scheme. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">I want more traditional gravitas and less ‘I wanna be your best mate innit!’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>There is nothing wrong (and everything right with) applying traditional writing skills to any communication platform befitting the business / client exchange.</strong> <strong><span style="color: #0b5394;">From web site to brochure; newsletter to blog; letter to e-mail</span></strong>. Your 140 character tweets can even be fine tuned to deliver the message appropriate to the nature of the business. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">To return to the Financial Services business web site – by having us lend a commercially attuned ear to the practitioners’ explanation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their</i> business and the type of person fitting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their</i> ‘ideal customer’ match, they’re now the proud owners of a fresh armoury of new business development materials: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">They have long copy letters targeted by client segment that Drayton Bird (Mr long-copy guru) would be delighted with. They have corporate and personal bios on LinkedIn that reflect the personalities of the persons involved. They have follow up materials that rally the initial proposition, in style and tone as well as the content itself. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">And, they have a web site. One different from stock IFA sites. A site carrying virtually oral qualities, written in digestible, relevant, informative prose. One of character, cadence and clarity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"><strong>Plain English, plain speaking, pure correspondence. <span style="color: #0b5394;">Words that work</span>.</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;"><strong><a href="http://www.aspiruscopy.com/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;">www.aspiruscopy.com</span></a></strong></span></div><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0