Word of Mouth – Marketing that Works

There are at least three major challenges in marketing our enterprise services:

More than 90% of the population does not see what we do as relevant to them – when it comes to enterprise they are pre-contemplators
Getting our messages through – what are our key messages and how to we get them where they can be [...]

Powerful Question or Cliche?

Interesting post over at SAMBA blog about the power of the:
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
question.
Does it make you a powerful life transformer – or just another cliche ridden life coach?
There is no doubt IMHO  that this is potentially a life changing question.
It IS also a cliche.
What makes the difference is [...]

Helping Clients to Exist or Become?

I have been banging on about enterprise as being a process for the emergence of identity for a long time now.  Enterprise provides the (nearly) perfect vehicle for us to explore our talents and passions and have the results of our efforts judged in real time by real people.  When you are an entrepreneur honest [...]

Enterprise Lessons from Frazer Irving

Had the privilege of attending my first Creative Networks event at Leeds College of Art.  Frazer Irving – a wonderful illustrator talked about his career – from which I took the following:

the seeds of your (your clients) future are often sown early – go back to the early years to see if the basis for [...]

Free Start Up Space!

If you are trying to engage start-ups then this is what you are up against.
Free start up space for 6 months and then cheap rates.
Plus specialist niche equipment that you won’t find in a Vanilla Workspace!
Here in Leeds we have lots of empty work spaces at a range of prices and I believe that there [...]

Twitter for Enterprise?

Why should small business engage with twitter?
Well this post and video pretty quickly summed it up for me.
http://tinyurl.com/b4enb5
Early days for me using twitter – but so far it looks promising!
I am going to twittering some tips and twitter about community based enterprise and how to develop it!
Any of you twittering?  What works and what doesn’t?
If [...]

Fighting the Recession – ‘Buildings and Others’ or Social Capital?

So Dundee is looking to get an outpost of the V&A museum, housed in a  new £42 million building – with a business plan that suggests it could feature local strengths in illustration, comics, animation, interactive media and computer gaming.  So much for  jam, jute and journalism.
It appears to be part of a longer term [...]

Business Advice NVQs

I have just been reviewing the business support NVQs – which I contributed significantly to back in the late 90s I guess.  I was thrilled to see that the standards still refer to:
The principles and practice of different modes of consulting (for example, acceptant, catalytic, confrontational and prescriptive).
I am still teaching these four styles of [...]

Getting the right enterprise clients

I recently received an e-mail from a friend and customer of mine who is managing a size-able enteprise project:
“Mike
I am using the training that me and the team have had from you to inform a business plan.
We are identifying an issue with people coming to us wanting funding for safety passports, fork lift truck licences [...]

The Advantage of Social Enterprise

Rob Greenland over at The Social Business has written a piece about how the ‘table’ that social enterprise has fought so hard to get a place at has collapsed.  I am assuming Rob means the table where policy is thrashed out and funds are allocated.
The high political table.
The table of the bureaucrats and the planners.
Rob’s [...]