The FSB ‘Voice of Small Business’ survey revealed that small businesses still have difficulties finding suitably skilled staff despite a steep rise in unemployment. In order to solve this global crisis, businesses will have to look at new flexible approaches as a knowledge driven work environment makes it much harder to find the right person for the job, regardless of geographical location or business size.

Quite some time ago the Government announced that it will introduce new legislation that will persuade individuals to build a private pension. The legislation will start to take effect next year with the largest employers. Smaller businesses will have up to four years to implement the change.

The marketing landscape has changed significantly in the past few years with the shift mainly driven by new technology, changes in customer needs and the evolution of consumer tolerance.

A few years ago marketers were talking about customer relationship management and brand management to drive loyalty and retention. Fast forward a few years and the new buzz words are customer engagement and brand experience. So you may ask, what is the difference? Notice that the words management has evolved into less authoritative terms, engage and experience.

Receiving the dreaded ‘At Risk’ letter has the ability to put your life into a complete tailspin (in my case this was a TUPE notice that we all knew would lead to redundancy). I remember the ice cold chill that flushed down my spine, followed by a feeling of complete disbelief that all my hard work over the last few years has been for nothing.  After I got over the initial shock and evaluated the situation objectively things looked significantly better.  Most people will go through a phase of dismay, it’s normal.

The ultimate outcome of an effective CRM strategy should be customer loyalty and increased customer life time value, which will positively contribute to your bottom line.

As a rule it is more expensive to recruit a new customer than to re-serve an existing customer, as the relationship of trust already exists. It therefore makes good business sense to spend some time on developing a CRM strategy that engages your customers.

I read an article a few days ago about how you can build Emotional Capital on your balance sheet by inspiring everyone connected to an organisation. Even though emotional commitment is very important, I see something wide of the mark with this approach.

For many smaller businesses, making decisions about advertising can be difficult. Especially if you have a persistent advertising sales rep on the telephone trying to flog you, what may seem to be, a bargain / not to be missed deal.  Before you fall for the crafty salesperson’s charm, there are a few things you should always consider first. So take a breath ask them to send you information via email and politely put down the phone so that you could assess the opportunity objectively.

To secure sustained growth an organisation must have the ability to jump S-curves at the right time, doing this effectively separates an organisation from the pack and puts them in the star player category. The ability to climb and jump S-curves distinguishes star players from those who never manage to transform brief periods of accomplishment and single wins into an ongoing series of successes.

Globally 63% of organisations have gone through, or in some cases are still going through, significant reductions in their workforce. Many of these organisations did not base their workforce cuts on individual performance or careful planning, but rather on those who responded to voluntary redundancy options and retirement offers. This means many organisations unfortunately have a situation where they are no longer ideally suited to assemble a team of top performers who are able to drive growth.

In cut-throat markets small improvements in your business processes can put you ahead of the competition. But it’s important to decide which process are the ones that matter. Once identified you’ll have to develop the disciplines to manage and also sustain these processes.