Currency Symbols, do your customers love them, or hate them?

I came across a fascinating article via twitter today and I have to share it with you.

Pricing Lessons From Restaurants from NeuroScienceMarketing.com looked at a study by Sybil S. Yang, Sheryl E. Kimes Ph.D., and Mauro M. Sessarego of Cornell University,

"$ or Dollars: Effects of Menu-price Formats on Restaurant Checks"

I was really amazed at the results and to see such a simple thing (showing currency symbols or not) having such an effect on customers behaviour.

Read the article- if you take it on board, making a few minor changes to your sales pages could result in major increase in profits! 

New Years Ball, New York, Photo Credit New York Times

So, it's new year (almost) and this is a time I traditionally review the previous 12 months, what have I achieved this year?  What changes did I make?  What successes have I enjoyed?

2009 has been a challenge, revenue slowed down as people become more careful about what they chose to spend their money on, and often preferred to keep it as savings as insurance policy against the pending doom & dread that has constantly been in our media.

Personally this year has been one of incredible growth for me, and I celebrate that wholeheartedly.  My life will never be the same again.

On a business front I've learned many, many things, and the most important of which is that my business needs to be more closely aligned to my own authentic voice.

That's what it will be in 2010.  2010 will see a new vision for Management Matters, the services it provides will be more focused.  Focused on providing valuable training & coaching to those businesses that have a vision which benefits our global society positively.  Businesses that leave their clients, communities, families, societies, environment better off.  Businesses that truly have win-win philosophies at their very heart. 

I'll write more about this in the new year, but for now I encourage you to review your year, your business year & your personal year, and write a list of everything (or everything that you can remember) that you did well in 2009.

It's what we succeeded in that builds the foundations for our successful future- lets focus on our successes & celebrate that we survived our failures. 

This last 12 months has been a challenge for me, luckily for me I love a good challenge!  Despite this, there has been times where even though I’ve had successes in my business & my life times have been difficult.  When the opportunity arose to come to Thailand for 3 months - an all expenses paid trip I considered it, researched it for 24 hrs before making my decision, it was just the right thing to do.

Now I'm here, I've enjoyed a few weeks relaxing, which is very well deserved.  I do yoga & go for a swim in the sea every morning, then I have breakfast on the beach, and start work around 9-9.30am.  To round my working day off, and to cool down from the heat I play frisbee in the sea.

My life is blissful, truly blissful and there isn't a day goes by where I don't take a big breath in & really absorb the beauty of it all- filling my heart with gratitude.

I've been doing some coaching daily while I've been here, but the main purpose of this trip is to re-assess my own business goals.  I first set up my business in Nov 2007 and since then I have made a few changes, in response to what my customers wanted & to what I wanted too.

I'm about to approach the next phase.  Up until now I've developed distinct & separate brands which I provide different services from.  I wanted to capture the maximum audience possible & didn't want to alienate potential customers.

I now realise & understand that actually that's going against the principle of niche marketing, despite my thinking I was clever by being able to capitalise on more than one niche!

Many of you reading this may be aware of my other brand- Life Matters, and many will know that I am much more "touchy feely", or "spiritual" even when discussing various matters on that blog.

I am, in my heart of hearts a business woman, doing business is what makes me feel alive.  I also am a deeply spiritual & compassionate human being & have a wide knowledge within the personal development field.  This is what I draw upon when coaching clients.  I cannot truly be authentic without embracing both integral aspects of who I am.

The next phase in my business will openly embrace both aspects of my strengths fully...

Kho Lanta- Thailand (My new office)

I have news Good News I've been dying to tell everyone & now I can!! :)

I have been made an incredibly exciting offer which I will be taking up on the 18th November- I'm going to be working from Thailand for 3 months!!!

I'll still be tweeting, blogging, coaching via Skype & phone but I will also be enjoying sunny beaches & I am SO looking forward to swimming in the sea every day, well at least most days!

I apologise sincerely for those that are green with envy right now, that's not going to stop me being deliriously happy & I do hope you'll join me celebrating!!!

Because I will miss out on celebrating my Birthday (Dec) and Christmas with you all, I'm having Leaving/Birthday/Christmas drinks in The Church on Jervis St Dublin this Saturday night (14th Nov) from 8pm and would love you to come!  

I'm really looking forward to seeing as many people as possible before I head off on my  travels and it will also be kind of a #tweetup because I'd love to meet more people I tweet with before I go!

If you can come please leave a comment for me or tweet me @ClaireBoyles 

I've been tweeting all morning that I've got news to share & tweople are in suspense so I'm about to tweet out the good news now!!! 

It's Monday and reading people's tweets on twitter this morning got me thinking about motivation.  What is motivation?  People are motivated when they know that what they're doing will result in something they enjoy.  

What do you enjoy?  For me I enjoy connecting with people, empowering people, supporting them in achieving what they want from their business, from life.

It's important to understand what it is that you actually enjoy about your business-

Is it the reward of having money come into your bank account?  

Is it producing a product you know is valuable to your customers?  

Is it making sure that your business runs smoothly & efficiently like a well oiled machine?

Is it spreading the word about your services?

Is it receiving feedback from happy customers?

Understanding motivation is even more important when leading a team, managing staff. What motivates one person may be completely off putting to others.

The most critical time this information is needed is at recruitment time.  Understanding what the role requires is essential to ensure you have the right person for the job.  

Sales roles- these are best filled by people who enjoy engaging with new people, enjoy building relationships, enjoy giving the customer what they want.  

Accounting roles?  People who enjoy getting details correct, people who enjoy following systems & making sure everything is in it's right place, these are the people you want to be making sure your accounts balance.

If you understand exactly what it is that motivates you, and your team, what it is that you and they really enjoy you'll be far more likely to achieve your business goals. 

If you're doing something you don't enjoy, it might be time to change your goals.

What motivates you and your team on a Monday? 

Opportunities

This afternoon I went face to face cold calling to a number of businesses that I know I could add value to.  Whilst waiting to speak to the Manager at one of the businesses a delivery man arrived with a box that was heavily wrapped up with masking tape.

As he was unwrapping it I made a friendly comment "Christmas is here then" :) he laughed & said yep- these are the Christmas menus!  I was surprised, I'd just made a quip because he was unwrapping a parcel!  I continued chatting and it turned out that he was EXACTLY the person that I needed to speak to about how I could add value to their business.  We exchanged numbers & I got the opportunity to continue the friendly chat about what I had to offer that would improve his business.

I'd been mulling over the idea of physically going to these potential customers businesses for weeks, but hadn't made a firm decision until I had a discussion with Veronica Canning this afternoon.  Like me Veronica understands how to get the best out of people, how to help them understand what the best decision for them is.  After the conversation with her I was inspired to take positive action, and this has truly paid off already!

I got speaking to Veronica this afternoon because I'd logged onto a webinar she presented with WXN on Wednesday lunchtime.  Veronica had covered material that was familiar to me- but it was a much needed refresher & helped me refocus onto positive outcomes. 

I'll be doing some further research from my chat & doing my follow up call next week.  I'm really looking forward to it as I thrive on new projects & challenges. 

What business idea have you been "Mulling over" in your head?  When are you going to take action on it?  If you act on it, at least you'll know for definite if it was a good idea or not.  Best case scenario- you may just have made a real opportunity open up for yourself!

If any of you reading this follow me on Twitter you may have heard that the morning after I delivered the "Tweeting for Business Success" in WestportWoods Hotel, Co. Mayo I had the pleasure of horse riding on the beach.

Michael Lennon, owner & manager of the Westportwoods Hotel also owns a riding stable & kindly arranged for me to have a beach ride at the foot of Croagh Patrick.  Croagh Patrick is a well known pilgrimage destination in Ireland, in July thousands of people walk up to it's summit- many barefoot.  It is a specatular mountain over looking the sea, and the strand where I rode.  You can see it in the background in some of the pictures. (below)

I have been riding since I was 9, and when I left school I worked full time with horses- in a riding school, and on a stud farm.  Horses are a passion of mine, they are beautiful, and extremely intelligent.  What I love most about horses, is not just the exhilaration of cantering along a beach but the relationship that is formed between the horse & rider. 

When a horse actually trusts you, listens to you, works with you it is one of the greatest honours I have had the priviledge to enjoy.

Why on earth am I writing about this on a business blog? I know some of you may be asking this.  The answer is simple, those of us in business know how to WORK.  We work hard on our businesses, in our businesses, but do we know how to stop & enjoy life too?

The saying all work & no play makes Jack a very dull boy is very true.  Taking time out for those things we love, our friends, family, music, exercise, hobbies is what brings us back to our businesses more refreshed, and revitalised than we left them. 

A lot of business owners fear loosing the time- time they could be spent working.  In my experience those who take time out for fun are a lot more productive.  Without down time we become stale.  Our fresh ideas run dry, our energy pales.

Richard Branson is a shining example of how to be a successful business man- he never stops enjoying himself.  I know in the past I have often said "Business IS fun for me" and that remains true.  However, taking myself outside of business to have different kinds of fun brings a freshness back into my stride, and that really does benefit my business.

The photo's below show the story of how I managed to destroy my mobile phone in the process....

(I'm the one in the white jacket- which I won at an event organised my Meet For Real in Dublin in August- came in very handy thanks!)

(This entry was written last week)

I’ve had an eventful day. I’ve got lost on the way out of Dublin. I got onto the N3 instead of the N4 and ended up driving through Dunshaughlin, Navan and Athboy while on the way to Westport Woods Hotel to deliver "Tweeting for Business Success" seminar I had arranged with Ger Brady from City Local Mayo. 

I arrived to be greeted by a room full of friendly faces at the stunning hotel. They were business people who were eager to learn how on earth Twitter was going to be able to develop their business and provide more people access to their products and services.

The introductory part of the workshop provided the basis on Twitter. They were shown how to set up an account. In addition, they learned how to follow, and block tweets. We also spoke about what not to tweet and discussed the importance of building relationships.

There were lots of questions, they really kept me on my toes.  One question was about the abbreviations that are used on Twitter- “What does lol mean?” I was asked. 

One gentleman had been thinking people were extremely affectionate on twitter- he thought lol was an abbreviation for “Lots of Love”, when he told us, we did all lol (laugh out loud). 

This is one of a variety of abbreviations used on the internet. Powerful although the internet is, it is impacting on elements of communication – for example there is no body language or facial expressions. There is no tempo or intonation of voice and that’s where these play a vital role. You will often see : ) (sideways smiley face) in my tweets. This is to give people, an indication of my attitude and mood. The written word can be ambiguous at the best of time, and more so in tweets, which can be taken out of context. 

Just yesterday someone I follow  tweeted “for those not in Ireland. Right now, we’re worried about Nama while the Luas has crashed into a bus.” The responses he received thought he was attempting to highlight that we should not be worried about Nama when there was a serious crash, involving injuries. 

Twitter is a reflection of any other social interactions – on it I have found good friends, acquaintances and business contacts. 

The dogs had their own room for the night, I walked them in the beautiful grounds and got to see the stunning Westport Woods Hotel by moonlight. Sasha and Goldie are now tucked up in bed and I’m enjoying the luxurious relaxing room writing this.

I volunteered to be a judge on the Irish Web Awards and was honoured to be accepted.  I'm a little behind in my judging so I need to finish off all the websites I have been assigned to judge before 6pm today.

That's doable, however I also have 60 million other things I also need to do today, thankfully I have made decisions & organised the other things to be done too.

I started tweeting as I was judging.  First thing I noticed was that sites make a very basic mistake in their content.  They do not explain clearly, in plain English exactly what the site will do for the viewer.  

A lot of websites fail to say "Exactly What It Does On The Tin".  Some of them are very pretty but I'm not sure what benefit spending my valuable & precious time will bring me.

When you work on a business, when you know it inside out, back to front it's very easy to forget that the knowledge you have about it is NOT common.  I've seen this time and time again with my clients.  

With ALL marketing put yourself in the position of E.T - he's never seen your product/service before, never heard about it before, doesn't know it's function, purpose, the benefits of it, doesn't even know what any other versions are like.  E.T is who you need to be communicating with in marketing.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not for one moment suggesting patronising potential customers, but please, please, please make sure that people who have a need for what you're selling get the opportunity to buy from you.  

When I go to a website I want to know instantly can this website give me what I'm looking for, if I can't I want to go to the next one instantly.  If it can I could spend hours on it... and a lot of money too!

Your homepage on your website is your tin- make sure it says exactly what you do!

Reunited Sasha & Claire Boyles Photo by Crispin Rodwell

If you're already following me on Twitter you'll have heard about my dog Sasha - 3 year old Brittany Spaniel who went missing last week.  It is an amazing story which has a happy ending, thanks to the power of twitter.

She went missing late Wednesday night - ran off into the distance & didn't come back to me.  After walking around for hours I finally gave up & went to bed at 2.30am.  I tweeted about it & in the morning I went out searching & again tweeted with a link to Sasha's picture asking people to keep an eye out for her.  By close of business Friday Sasha had received over 1,500 click throughs!

I also received so much support and encouragement that we would find Sasha I was overwhelmed.  It was very touching to know that so many people wanted to help me find Sasha and bring her home safe.

People on twitter told me about sites I'd never even heard of-

www.lostdogs.ie

www.irishanimals.ie

www.lostpets.ie

www.lostandfound.ie

A lovely lady called Brenda got a call from a friend who works in the Residence of the President in the Phoenix Park- they'd found a dog running around the grounds.  She picked up the dog & brought her to the vet who quickly realised that Sasha was a well cared for pet, not a stray.  Brenda took her home & she & her teenage children set about looking on the internet to see if anyone had lost a dog- and that's where they saw my advert on www.lostdogs.ie :)

Today the national papers have picked up the story- Sasha & Claire are in The Irish Sun & the Irish Daily Star (next to Ronan Keating), it makes  a pleasant change to see a story with a happy ending in the tabloids.

But why am I telliing this story here?  To illustrate the power of story- people really do care about people & animals.  They will go out of their way to help others- if they can.  I even had one wonderful lady- Lorraine Larkin

design & print off posters of Sasha for me!

Well know tweeters with large numbers of followers Rick O'Shea, Dublins98Dave, Darragh Doyle Jason Roe & PeteTheVet all responded to my requests & RTed my pleas for help to their followers.

Altogether I counted nearly 200 RTs about Sasha in just 2 days!  That spread the message to a potential 15,000 plus people!  (And that's a conservative estimate)

This is the power of twitter, I really did not expect to see Sasha again, the best case I was hoping for was that she'd been found by someone who would give her a nice new home, and had not been knocked down, or worse drowned in the Liffey. 

Both Sasha & myself were delighted to be reuinited 3 days later, she's being spoilt a lot since she arrived home.

Have you heard about twitter but haven't started using it for business yet?  Can you now see the value & power of twitter?

If you want to know more about using Twitter for business my "Tweeting for Business Success" seminars give you the foundations for using twitter as a successful marketing tool- 2 seminars are running next week:

Tweeting For Business Success in Dublin on 16th Sept,

Tweeting For Business Success in Westport, Co. Mayo on 17th Sept

Pointless Babble on Twitter

I just read another article about the report that says 40% of tweets are pointless babble.

I'm kinda shocked that so many people just don't get the simplicity of twitter!   I've decided not to directly quote the article that sparked off my train of thought, because I don't want to give it more attention!  (I know the power of twitter & links!)

The power of twitter as a marketing tool is in the ability to build relationships! Not as a means of mass communicating your latest offer- doing so is only considered spam & is scorned & shunned by the regular users of twitter anyway.  (A waste of your time & theirs!)

Simple keys to using twitter successfully: 

• Be consistent 
• Tweet regularly
• Choose 1 central theme for your tweets
• Be friendly
• Be helpful
• Tweet links to articles of interest/value
• Have a laugh

It is worth making note that the original report about pointless babble on twitter went Viral- ie it was mass distributed independently of the creator of the article. You want to know HOW that happened? Through twitter!!  I wonder if that was valuable for the creators of the report? I wonder if the free media time will result in wealth time for them? 

I tweeted earlier that I'm writing a blog post about the report that 40% of tweets are pointless babble & I got quite a few responses:

@topgold informed me that: "there are over 250,000 references to "Twitter pointless babble" on Google...."

Why is this valuable? Because small businesses can get instant world wide coverage- for Free!!  Other businesses will link to & reference your content (If it's valuable or interesting), you'll be quoted, tweeted, blogged about- people get to KNOW about what your business does!

@AlanORourke from Toddle (newsletters for non-geeks!) tweeted "One tweet yesterday saved me advertising costs on big website and brought lots of traffic"

Another tweet I received from @lecraic was to an article highlighting successful use of twitter for small business 

Pointless Babble? Not any more pointless than the friendly chit chat that people have at the water cooler at work, or when meeting friends for coffee, or the talk that happens on the golf course...

This pointless babble is what builds solid, long lasting meaningful, valuable relationships & communities.

It is always a good idea to remember that people like to do business with people, not nameless faceless businesses.  This is one of the key reasons why celebrity endorsement works.

If you haven't started working out how to build relationships with potential clients (And that's one of the things creating a brand does btw) you really are missing out....

If, on the other hand you are interested in learning more about how to Tweet for Business Success attending one of my introductory lunchtime seminars would be a worthwhile investment of your time. 

Tweeting for Business Success Dublin

Tweeting for Business Success Cork

Tweeting for Business Success Mayo

Facebook for business or pleasure?

I’ve been on facebook a couple of years now, and I love it.  It’s fun, I get to have a laugh with my friends- lots of my friends are living in England and I’m based in Dublin so it’s great; a cost effective way to stay connected to people I care about.  It has gotten me reconnected with friends that I haven’t seen in 10 or 20 years.  Often conversations have been sparked off by comments on friends status updates, and I’ve made new facebook friends in this way.  I’ve also made new real friends through facebook- friends of people I already know, that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in “real” life too. 

Then there’s the random friend requests I receive from complete strangers, serial networkers, who, for the most part don’t even tell me why they want to be my friend.  I’ve accepted these requests in the past, but given them limited access to my information.  This has it’s pro’s and cons.  I would like to make use of my online presence so that I remain open to business opportunities.  In fact I’ve got clients through facebook- from people clicking through to my website and reading my blog, from reading my status updates & initiating conversations with me.   And that’s something I want to maintain and make good use of, especially as I coach because I love what I do- I love making positive differences to people’s lives.  I had one experience where I had to remove someone from my friends as they were contacting all my friends and spamming them.   I’ve also had to remove posts to my wall that were advertisements for their business!! I mean really, just HOW on earth do you think that is ok?

There is another drawback to this situation- facebook has now, more than ever become my public face.  It’s become the way I am seen by the world, it’s become a marketing tool and I’ve become more and more prudent about what I do and don’t share.  That has affected the social side of facebook- I can no longer be blaze and carefree about what I’m laughing about.  I can no longer openly discuss, or have debates about personal views.  Things can often be misinterpreted.   Also at times I want to let off a bit of steam to my friends, have a rant about something that I find irritating, sometimes even I ask for help.  These things are not congruent with my brand.  They make me human of course, but when people look for coaching/inspiration they want to see the solutions to their own issues, not someone in the middle of one!  If you drink then you’ve also got the added risk of drunken photo’s being uploaded, thankfully I don’t have this one but I do attend parties and am in photo’s where others are in this situation!

One solution is to set up a business page- which I’ve done, but having separate status updates for another social media account is really not that attractive for me- I want to be more efficient and reduce the workload, not increase it!

Sadly this means that my facebook profile, although still very sociable, has shifted its emphasis.  I’ll miss the open discussions I’ve had in the past.  Sure I’ll still be able to keep in touch with my friends, and make new ones, but not in the same way.

Think carefully about how you use your online presence, social media is very useful and practical, but if you’re using it as a marketing tool the social aspect can be reduced dramatically.

It’s the age old dilemma, do we mix business with pleasure?

Connect with my personal account www.facebook.com/ClaireBoyles

Or my business page:  www.facebook.com/ManagementMatters

So you've heard about twitter in the media, you might even have signed up but have you been able to use it as an effective marketing tool? 

You’re not alone, most people haven’t!

80% of people who sign up to twitter stop using it after a few weeks, why?  Because most people just don't "get it".   When I first signed up I didn't really "get it" either- tweeting in 140 characters in answer to the question "What are you doing?" How is that an effective marketing tool?

Simple: it provides a medium for people to get to know you, your business, your products & services.  Twitter success does not happen overnight, in this way it's similar to all networking- you only get out what you put in.  I describe it as a savings account- you cannot withdraw anything until you've been depositing long enough and regularly enough.  If you attempt to get something out before you've put enough into it you will incur penalties.  (People will unfollow you).

So how do you deposit into your twitter account?  By tweeting consistently & regularly.

What do I tweet?  I tweet what I am doing, as well as providing valuable links to my customers & potential customers.  For me this means that I tweet inspirational & motivation quotes, links to articles with useful information on business, I tweet twitter tips & I tweet links to my blog posts.  (That may be the very reason why you're reading this now).

It is useful to know that it takes between 7-27 times for a potential customer to take action on being exposed to advertising/marketing.  Twitter is an excellent cost effective way to gain regular exposure to potential customers.

For me the key to twitter success is building relationships- I reply to people who I follow; I engage in conversation, I HELP people, and I also have a laugh!  Building relationships is key to building business- the more people who know what you’re business is about the better; it’s developing branding awareness on a quality rather than quantity basis.  It’s the viral effect- if people like you they’ll tell others about you who will tell others about you…  A positive, genuine, relationship will give you access to their entire network.  I emphasis genuine- if you attempt to connect with people with the sole purpose of what they can do for you it simply doesn’t work.  People (in general) are not stupid, and most of us dislike being used.

One of the most valuable things I get from twitter is when people RT (Retweet or forward) my tweets- this is a personal recommendation from them saying to their followers- hey look at @ClaireBoyles - she's got something valuable to offer.  The best recommendation I've received so far was:

johnleesandiego: an inspirational person @Claireboyles motivates us 2 find d best within ourselves she's the Irish #Obama #followfriday11:51 AM May 23rd 

This is why it's an effective marketing tool for me- other people are fans and they do my marketing for me- personal recommendation is powerful, much more so than me talking about the great services I provide.

TIPS:

DON’T:

1)      Tweet anything negative - about yourself or others

2)      Become a spammer- avoid signing up for “100 followers a day” schemes

3)      Constantly tweet promotions- again this falls into “spamming”

4)      Tweet anything you wouldn’t be happy to have ANYONE read! (Including your grandma!)

5)      Tweet that you had eggs for breakfast, every day!  No one cares that much that you had eggs for breakfast again!

6)      Swear- your twitter account is the professional voice of your business

DO:

1)  Tweet something interesting about yourself (But not too personal!)

2) Tweet valuable information & resources- links to articles blogs etc.

3) ReTweet others who have valuable information

4) Answer peoples questions

5) Tweet links to your own blog/website – no more than 10% of your tweets

6) Have fun with people & help others out

7) Keep your tweets in alignment & synchrony with your brand

8) Ask questions- general help & market research; twitter is a friendly place & tweeps are happy to help

Interested in attending a "Tweeting for Business Success" lunchtime seminar in Ireland?

Dublin Twitter Seminar

Cork Twitter Seminar

These past few weeks I've had a series of experiences which have given me different perspectives on the things around me.

To start with I found a new venue for my seminars- The Coach Centre Dublin 2.  After one of  my twitter seminars i was delivering a talk on networking for business success across the other side of the city, it made more sense to walk across the Liffey rather than sitting in rush hour traffic. 

As I was walking I noticed the energy & buzz of the people walking through the city - going home after a long day at work, to meet friends/loved ones, getting ready to relax & unwind, have a spot of dinner.  It's been a few years since I had a "job" in the city centre, nowadays when I 'm in Dublin I'm usually stuck in the car in traffic :( I don't get to see the friendly faces that make up our city, I don't get to hear their excited chatter of where they're going out tonight, I don't get to notice the beautiful architecture and powerful river coursing through the heart of the City.

It prompted me to reflect on how I go about my business - what do I normally notice and how much more am I missing out on by only seeing something from one perspective.

This week I'm going to focus on my business, what I've achieved, what projects are ongoing, and what things I need to cancel, and I'm going to do it from an outside in perspective- just like what I offer my clients.  I know the value of an objective view so I'm going to change my perspective and ask myself - "If I was an investor looking at this business, what would I see?"

What parts are profitable?  What parts provide an adequate Return on Investment? What parts can I outsource? What parts need to be CUT completely?

If you were to do the same what might you learn about your business?

How many positive things do you miss because you're focused on problem solving issues? Wouldn't you be more effective having a more balanced view of your business?

ACTION:

When can you schedule time in your diary to do something different, or do something in a different way?  

The something different I did was:

I wrote this when I was on the train outside of rush hour! I also wrote some more of my book.   As I sat on the train I realised maybe getting on the train in the middle of the day and doing some writing, with spectacular views of Dublin Bay mightn't be such an unproductive way to invest my time on a regular basis!

Get a different view & become re-energised & creative.

Tweeting for Success

Last week saw the success of my 2nd twitter seminar- "Tweeting for Business Success".  the seminar is designed for those that have heard about twitter but aren't really sure what it's all about.

The business proffessionals attending understand that twitter has the potential to be beneficial for business but don't have a clue how or why.  On leaving they are energised and excited at the many possibilities that twitter holds and can quickly and easily start using twitter in a way that gains brand exposure and provides and excellent platform for building quality relationships with customers.

People buy from people, not from businesses and twiter creates a friendly environment where potential customres are exposed to your product/services in a non spamming, non aggressive way.

The face of marketing is changing and twitter is at the forefront of digital engagement.

There is so much to learn about digital engagement I am now creating a full day seminar on Tweeting for Business Success- this will go more in depth on how to make best use of twitter to build your brand & how to interact with potential customers and build a valuable network.  Sign up for the Management Matters newsletter to make sure you get the latest info on all our seminars.

When is now going to be a good time to make use of twitter in your business?

Presentations @ Measurement Camp Dublin

Yesterday morning I was at MeasurementCamp -an open source to make sense of social media measurement & the first ever in Ireland. 

The people there came from varied backgrounds- technical, bloggers, marketers, PR, business owners etc.  The session was focused on a case study- how to market "K-Swift" shoes for women (18-30) online & offline & how to measure the online promotions.

The team I was with were very inspiring- full of excellent creative ideas & a wealth of market knowledge- both offline & online media.  We had fun discussing and creating ideas & I learned a lot.

Each team made a brief presentation of the ideas they'd come up with, I was amazed at the variation of different themes/ideas that had been created in such a short space of time. 

I was reminded again the power of working in a team, especially to create ideas & strategies.  No one person will have a complete perspective of any situation.  Many entrepreneurs & business owners find themselves working alone - especially in start up phase.

If that's what you're doing then ask yourself how are you creating your "virtual" team around you?  What strategic win-win partnerships do you have that support you & your business while supporting others develop theirs?

This is critical in ensuring business success, when are you going to look into how you can implement this strategy in your business?

On Monday night I facilitated the first ever wedding professionals mastermind group in Ireland - inspired & instigated by a savvy business woman who understands the value of team-work & of building mutually beneficial relationships Blaithin Murphy of DistinctiveWeddings.ie . 

The members of this mastermind group, like those attending measurement camp are the people that understand how to leverage networks to create success for all involved!

What one action can you take to create your virtual team?

Heard about it? If not then I'm guessing you don't use the "interweb" thingy that much, and I'm wondering how you even got here to read this at all?!

When I first started using Facebook a couple of years ago I was told it was just like Bebo, only it's for grown ups.  Recently I've heard the same analogy being used for twitter- it's like Facebook, only for adults!  Which certainly has  a ring of truth to it.

Twitter is a micro blogging tool that allows users to answer (in 140 characters or less) the questions "What are you doing?"

What's the point in that? You may well ask, and if you did ask, my answer would be:

It helps people to feel connected to you, we have an innate desire to make social connections; we like to make friends with people.  How we make friends is usually determined on common interests, and so it is also in twitterland.

On twitter you can choose to follow someone's tweets, or unfollow them if you find you're not interested, or you're sick of spam tweets (Yes it happens even in the Utopia of twitterland).

So what use is having tweeps (people) following me? 

It increases your brand awareness- within 2 weeks of me actively using my twitter accound I'd increased webtraffic by 120% 

As the saying goes- people buy from people not from businesses- if they like you they'll continue to follow you, you'll have interactions, you'll build twitter friendships, you'll get to build your own twitter network of friends.

Last Weds evening I spent the evening at the Ballsbridge Court Hotel at a seminar jointly hosted by PA Assist and Osborne Recruitment - "Staying Up in Down Times"

I went because Krishna De tweeted about the event on twitter and it looked like something that was right up my street and I wasn't disappointed.

I enjoyed listening to James Sweetman - Business & Personal Coach,  Speaker and author of Graduate to Success.  James is has such a warm engaging style as a speaker and covered many great ways to keep positive attitude in light of challenging circumstances. 

The really valuable things I got from his presentation was to ask myself powerful questions- questions such as:

• What are you doing INconsistently right?
• Where have you compromised too much?
• Where is your focus- on the things inside or outside of my control?
• How can I be the highest paid most successful business coach & Speaker in Ireland? (I adapted this to my goal- feel free to insert you're own version ;)

One particularly powerful question James asked us was "What fuels YOUR soul?"  I'd recommend asking yourself this regularly, to remind yourself if you're on the right track.

The audience gave a wide and varied response to that one- for me it's working with clients- I just love being able to support them in the process of creating a life of their dreams. It's also going for a jog on the beach with my dogs, and laughing with friends :)  What is important is that you know what it is for you- because the answer to that question is what you need to do regularly to keep yourself healthy, happy & wealthy.  My favourite sound bite from James was this: 'the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today' - Chinese saying.  Reminding us it is NOW that is the best time to take positive action- no point lamenting over what you didn't do yesterday- it's what you are doing today that counts!

Brendan Murphy from Osborne recruitment did mention the reality of the economic situation we find ourselves in- there are only 900 jobs being advertised in the whole of Dublin at present- that is a contraction of 90%, and, as Brendan said that's simply "Staggering".

Brendan reviewed keys to successful interviewing:

• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• Differentiate yourself from the oodles of other candidates!
• Why you?- Personally engage with interviewers- after all we do business with people we like- interviewers give jobs to people they like too!

I will write a more in depth review of what Brendan covered with the angle on career coaching over at my career coaching blog.

Krishna De rounded off the seminar with her usual energy and gave us so many tips on how to market our own personal online brand it was amazing that she was able to fit so much in!

Krishna also pointed out the need for everyone to be aware of their own online presence- when was the last time you Googled your own name? Have you ever Googled your own name?  Now is the time to do it, whether you're in business or you're an employee looking to further your career: Google is being used as a way to reference check you- if you've been late night facebooking with friends and have left comments you don't want business prospects/potential employers to see NOW is the time to modify your online communications! 

One participant shared of an innocent conversation they'd had on an online forum with some women about how difficult it was to source particular sizes of bra- and inadvertently shared her own bra size to the world- which showed up on the first page of Google!  Oops!

Krishna covered LinkedIn as a business networking tool & a way to reconnect with people who might not know what you're doing with yourself now- if you're now in the job market you need to let as many people as possible know about your skills & that you're looking for opportunities. Stay on the radar- keep in people's minds and when opportunity arises they'll know who they can recommend- YOU!

Krishna De is giving another in depth talk about LinkedIn at the Fingal Business Network Meeting in the Grand Hotel Malahide on Thursday evening @ 7pm- if you want to maximise you online presence & increase the opportunities available to you, you won't want to miss it!  See you there :)

The Staying UP in Down times was wrapped up by beautifully presented canapés by the friendly staff of the Ballsbridge Court Hotel.  The refreshments were accompanied by delightful conversation with the great people I met at the event- people that are investing their time & energy in creating their life the way they want it to be- rather than being overwhelmed by the doom & gloom that seems to be all too prevalent!

Keep your eyes open for events like this that support you in achieving your goals- and stick with positive people that will encourage you to take that step closer to creating the life of your dreams :)

Listening is the KEY to sales

Yesterday on twitter I followed a link showing a hilarious clip from Ellen DeGeneres' talk show, she'd rang one of her viewers live and the 88 year old lady cheerfully answered her phone "Hello this is Gladys, and if you're selling something I ain't interested!" which got me to thinking...  what exactly is that we hate about being "sold to"?

I go to a fair few seminars to keep myself up to date on how to continue growing my business, and to pass on tips to my clients.  One of the things I've heard at seminars about potential customers being resistant to sales is that it's "their" stuff, ie that some people just have a resistance to sales, and that it's not because the person selling is doing something wrong.  Now while I can understand that some times this can be true, quite often it's not, actually what's happening is that the person selling just doesn't understand what selling is, and hasn't followed 2 simple rules:

QUALIFY the customer- are they even interested in what you have to offer? Don't bother wasting their time or yours if not!  (And no it’s NOT good marketing to continue blathering if they’re not interested, it’ll just bug them and leave a bad taste in their mouths, and they definitely won't recommed you to someone they know)

LISTEN to your customer- if you give them half a chance, they'll tell you why they need what you have, and how valuable it is to them, all you have to do is mirror back what they've said.

This results in selling being a process whereby customers get to understand that the value of what you have to offer is greater than the price they pay, and SOLVES a problem that they have!

We hate sales because most sales people don't LISTEN to us!  If only more sales people were taught this, we'd love being sold to- because it would simply be having our problems solved for us! 

Sadly that's not the case, and right now I'm thinking of revising my voice mail to reflect Gladys' comment "Hi I'm Claire and if you're selling I ain't interested, if you've got something I want, I'm all ears!"

If you want to add some joy into your life today click through and listen to Ellen talking to Gladys!

You can follow me on twitter -ClaireBoyles to get my regular tweets

Self Discipline

Today I'm battling with myself, I've a list as long as my arm (actually probably closer to as long as my leg!) of the things that I want to get done, the things I should be doing, and the things I need to do but don't want to!

How on earth do I get myself motivated to do them?  One method I use is to talk through things with a friend, being honest about what I'm not doing & why I'm not doing it!!  This usually free's up blockages because it brings out into the light exactly what's stopping me, and once I can clearly identify it, that's half the battle, accepting it and the consequences is the 2nd step, taking action and making the change is the easy step. 

Being honest with oneself can be painful, especially when one comes to terms with the fact that today it's a simple fact of me not disciplining myself to get the things done that need to be done!  I can fantasize all I like about in the future when my business is so big I won't ever have to do anything I don't enjoy, but right now the reality is if I don't get certain things done, they don't get done!  If they don't get done, I don't have a successful business, I'll have a mediocre business, and is that really what I want? 

Do you want a mediocre business, or do you want a successful business?

What things do you need to discipline yourself to just DO?

What tasks can you delegate?

Just how badly do you want your business to succeed?

Just how badly do you want to be living the life of your dreams?

The effort needs to be put in before the benefit can be reaped- the crop needs to be sown, and watered & fertilised before it can be harvested.

What actions will you take today to ensure the growth and success of your business?

Last night I attended the Fingal Business Network in the Grand Hotel Malahide, you'll see me there every month, it's one of my home networking groups.

Last night's presentation was by Caithlin O'Connor from Accelerating Performance, she gave her expert advice on how to effectively network, gave great tips and insight on how to improve networking skills.

One of the things that jumped out for me was that Caithlin highlighted that there are different ways of networking, we don't all need to be social butterflies to effectively network.  This is something I'll certainly remind my clients, it's not necessarily about quanity of people we meet, but the quality, the impression and impact we make is essential.

We also got a reminder not to stick in our comfort zones only chatting with the people we know, but to move around, to actually meet people that we haven't previously met before.  Having the reminder gave everyone that extra momentum to do just that and the networking last night was very lively, and more than one very fruitful business connection was made!

The other great thing I came away with was a boost in confidence, and reassurance, I am doing this networking thing the right way :)  My approach to networking is relationship building, the more people that know and trust me, the more people that are likely to refer business to me.  Lets face it, 90% of business comes about from referrals one way or another so it's in every business owner's best interest to be known, especially amongst the business community.   Other business owners are people that have a wide circle of influence, if the average person has 200 contacts, the average business person has twice that- think of their customer database alone!

All in all a very successful, enjoying night networking, if you're around Malahide on Thurs 30th April, why not join us, pick up some great tips & meet some great people.

Next month's speaker is Krishna De marketing expert, the topic is using LinkedIn to grow your business :)

Passion & Profit

Passion & Profits or Passion V's Profits?

Is it really possible to earn a decent living at the same time as doing something you love?

Yes, plenty of people do it, but have a look at those that are doing it!  Study them, what are their strategies, why do their products/services sell, how do they manage their team?  Use the knowledge & wisdom from those who have gone before you- they've gained it through experience, and we all know experience can be painful at time- save yourself some pain - learn from other people's mistakes!  Start reading biographies from those that you admire, you'll learn a whole lot more than you thought would be possible!

Is it easy to earn a decent living doing something you love?

Well this depends on your mindset really; positive mental attitude can make challenging situations appear easier than you ever imagined.  Does that mean if it doesn't seem easy you're doing something wrong?  Sometimes yes, and that's why it's essential to gather around you a team of experts, Accountants, Lawyers, Business Coaches, and/or Mentors that you can gain valuable insight, advice and guidance from.  Everyone benefits from an objective opinion, and this is no truer than in business.

Does it seem like it takes forever to earn a decent living from a business you love?

It can do, but see the answer above!  Mindset- Positive Mental Attitude is key to being a successful entrepreneur & business owner!  Be prepared for things to grow steadily, just like compound interest where if you keep adding a little over a long period the growth can seem small at first but once you hit that magical point, you'll be celebrating regularly as your profits soar!

Will Positive Mental Attitude guarantee success?

No!  It can guarantee that you don't drive yourself, friends and family up the wall while you're setting up your business but it won't guarantee success.  There are other basic factors such as are you able to charge more than your produce/service costs you!  And are there lots of people that are willing to pay me for my product/service!

Should I give up my day job and pursue my dream with complete abandon?

Do you have enough money to cover your basic living expenses for 3 years?  It takes this long on average to build a stable (If any business is stable!) profitable business.  If not, do you really want the additional financial stress on top of all the other demands setting up a business will place on you?

Following a Passion is a fool's errand; I should stick with what's safe, especially in the current economic climate!

Well yes, you could stick with what is safe, and that is often a good plan, but before you do, assess what is playing safe costing me?  What are the results of playing safe?  If the answer is feeling miserable going into a 9-5 job five days a week that you gain no satisfaction from, maybe it's time to have a look at other options!

The current economic climate is an entrepreneur's dream- low cost resources available everywhere!

Do you have a question you'd like answered?  You can contact Claire here or leave a comment below :)

The Joy of Freedom!

I woke up at 7am Saturday morning, very happy and grateful to start my day, I skyped with my good pal, then headed out to the beach with the dogs.

I ran the furthest I've run so far without having to slow to a walk to catch my breath so I'm very excited about that!  Time to CELEBRATE!! 

Then after I'd ran for a while, I went down to the water’s edge, took off my shoes & socks and paddled along in the lapping waves. The water was COLD!!! And it was beautiful, I enjoyed skating my foot across the top, splashing the water as I walked, it was idyllic. Goldie was having fun swimming and laying down in the shallow water, she'd picked up an old plastic bottle and was carrying that, hoping for me to throw it for her.  Sasha was running around me in circles on the lead (I only let her off when its quiet and not too many distractions that may cause her to run off!).

 Then after a while I stopped and put my socks & trainers back on and sat on the rocks, listening to the waves and the wind :)  It was such a beautiful moment and a magical start to my day :)

Then I wrote an article “25 Random things about me”, if you're connected to me on facebook, you'll get to see the finished product!  I then cooked a delicious lunch, showered and heading off to meet my friend.  We caught up on what had been happening in our lives and sang our little hearts out on his funky Karaoke machine!  It was such FUN!

We ate, (A delicious celery soup I'd cooked earlier yummy!) then I headed off to meet a new friend & to enjoy a night of comedy.  That was interesting and gave me great insight into what works and what doesn't on stage, very useful to me as I'm actively developing my presentation skills, we also did have a few belly laughs in the process too!  Afterwards we went to get chips from Leo Burdock's (Yummy yummy!), then herbal tea and wonderful eloquent conversation till the wee small hours of the morning.

I honestly don't know how my day could have been more fun, more enjoyable, more satisfying!

Why am I telling you this?  Because the simple things in life are extremely important, when was the last time you spent quality, relaxing, fun, rejuvenating time with your friends & family, and if it was recently, did you REALLY appreciate how valuable this is?  Now is a good time to get grateful for the many wonderful things we already have in our lives, as well as setting goals for the things we have yet to achieve.

If you're running your business, nurturing your “down time” is essential to ensure you can continue putting the extraordinary effort it takes to run your own enterprise.  Investing time in Relaxation, fun & rejuvenation is what will distinguish you from your competitors, it’ll give you the edge, especially in the current economic situation.  If you’re bursting full of life & positive energy you’ll certainly be the one standing out in today’s business community!

How are you going to improve the quality of your “down time” this week?

Show Me The Money!!

So you connect with someone at a business networking event, you have some things in common.  You connect on facebook, send a few emails, you talk about possibilities of working together and arrange to meet up.

Then when you get there you get sold at.  Not even sold TO, but sold AT!  And I sigh, and wonder should I offer feedback, and suggest that with my coaching they could capitalise on their excellent communications skills and really learn how to communicate effectively, and close the deal.
Step one in sales... qualify your potential customers.  I had no interest in becoming a customer, for several very well founded reasons & I had communicated this before our meeting.  sigh.

So what have I learned from this situation?  It cost me 2 hours of my valuable time (Including travel time), €4 in parking fees, plus petrol costs which I haven't calculated.  What did I get in return?  Some information about what his business is, and how he's earning money and a mini lecture about how I should read more personal development books.  (Which I already actively do).

Not only do I need to qualify my customers, I also need to qualify my potential networking people. 

Ok so it's good to develope business relationships but also it's a necessity to evaluate Return on Investment.  I shall be keeping a close eye on whether this meeting and this connection will provide any financial return on investment! 

A catchphrase I recently adopted and springs to mind is...

Show Me The Money!! :)

Crafted by My own fair Hand!

and for other things... you need to upskill & do it yourself!!

When I first decided to step into the big bad unknown world of being a virgin entrepreneur I'd read the "how to" books, but nothing will ever replace experience.  I took onboard the advice that says you don't need to do everything yourself, outsource as much as possible, hire in experts that know inside out what you'll take years to learn.  So I did, and I spent a considerable amount of time & money hiring experts, only to find that the experts on the whole want to do what they want to do, not what I want them to do! 

Lesson 1: Website designers: I hired a few different website designers, but wasn't happy with customer service, actual design, or price.  After having my website delayed by about 6 months through inexperience of how to manage my outsourced providers I did some research on website design myself.  Guess what I discovered?  A way to create my own website for FREE!!  YES totally FREE!  (Except the hours that I put into it, which initially was about 20 hours).  I'm so happy with it that now I'm designing a course to show fellow entrepreneurs how to do it themselves all for free!  So not only has it saved me money, its also developed into a potential revenue source too!

Money saved: €2,500!!

Lesson 2:  Graphic design: I hired a graphic designer who was very patient with me and the million and one different minutae of changes that I wanted to see before I'd sign off on any of the graphics.  Then she used a printer who took 3 attempts to print business cards to a standard I would accept.  (Not the graphic designers fault but annoying nonetheless!)  Then cash flow got a little more scarce and, having Photoshop on my laptop I decided to get a friend to show me HOW to use the bloody thing!!  As I have a moderate flair for design (It's a hobby of mine) I'm now up and running as my own in-house graphic designer- what I produced this morning in an hour has saved me valuable cash!  Wooo Hooo!!! :)

Money saved: €150

In summary, if you have a very clear idea of what you want to achieve and have skills in that area it can save you a lot of time and money upskilling yourself rather than outsourcing.  In time, when your business grows and grows you'll have an inside knowledge of what it takes to get the job done, and be far better able to manage the experts you do choose to hire!

ViXi the Rockstar Chick!

Last night I arrived back home to rainy chilly Dublin after spending 2 weeks in sunny Datchet (near Windsor) in the UK, I had been attending Frontier Trainings Advanced courses: Sales Explosion, Dynamic Impact, and Business Empire.  The courses are the brain children of Clinton Swaine, an awesome phenomenal international Trainer & Coach, Clinton has designed over 100 experiential games designed specifically to teach business owners the principles of business success. 

I have attended quite a lot of training in my time and I have never experienced anything so impactful, that has created lasting change with regard to both understanding of and practical application of principles essential to be successful in business.

I had several personal breakthrough experiences, one of which concerned my presentation style, I finally realised that all the positive feedback with regards to my presentation style was valid!  I now know that my skills are valuable, and despite my being painfully aware of things I could improve, and perhaps because of that very fact I am in fact a good quality presenter.  (I could have received feedback on this until the cows come home and wouldn't have believed it, but through the experiences I encountered on these trainings it was impossible to deny the value I have to offer, very powerful dynamics are created within the training room).

I also had groundbreaking experiences with regard to how I lead, and I have now dramatically improved my leadership style to include a LOT of CELEBRATIONS!!  This will have an extremely positive impact on all of my clients!!  And I'll have even more fun in my business whilst continuing to grow my profits!!

I'm excited at how I'm going to implement all my learnings into my business, I came away with an action list longer than my arm, so my task now is to prioritise!

Like the photo up top?  That's one of my alter ego's- my Rockstar Chick "ViXi" who came out to play during Dynamic Impact where I learned how to be a Dynamic Presenter :-)

Frontier Trainings courses include games which are designed to emmulate business environments, and because of the 100% immersion by the students they leave with the ability to implement the learnings into their businesses, resulting in greater profits, more fun and they find that things become a whole lot easier!

Clinton Swaine is a genius and I will be forever grateful for the wisdom, growth and value I have gained from having the honour of attending his trainings.  

To book your free place at Play To Win (Frontier Trainings Introductory Course) go to www.frontiertrainings.com

For more information on the courses go to www.frontiertrainings.com

I mean I know it’s like amazing that someone black (Or partially Black) is now president but that’s not what makes my heart sing about Obama being president.


What makes my heart sing about Obama is the things he stands for, the principles and morals that he has, but not only those alone. What really makes my heart sing is that he really understands how to be an effective, inspiring leader. He really understands that he needs to work with the system in order to change it, not fight against it.


I feel so proud of who he is, he is a truly amazing person, not because of his race, but because of the man he is.  Don’t get me wrong, the fact that an American president who is of mixed race is certainly something to celebrate, that IS amazing in its own right, but that’s not the most important aspect of Obama. His confidence and how he inspires people, his ability to effect change, that’s what I celebrate!


I have a goal to be a leader, I’d love to become an effective leader like Obama, if I even become 1% as good at being a leader and role model as he is I will consider my goal achieved :)


How has Obama inspired you?  Has he inspired you? Are you just tired of all the fuss?  Do share, I’d love to know what you think.

Tuesday night saw the successful Pilot Launch of Alphalingo, which I proudly presented to the public.  What, you might ask, is Alphalingo?  Alphalingo is the future of Language Learning; providing an online language learning web tool that makes life easy for students and teachers! www.alphalingo.ie

Anne Watson is the founder and director of Alphalingo, and she is one of the people who get great value from business coaching @ Management Matters. 

Last night was the result of Anne attending "What's YOUR strategy?" one day workshop in August.  Anne identified a need to present the product to potential customers and designed and delivered the Pilot Launch which was considered a huge success by all who attended. 

Anne worked for years as a language teacher and she often thought about how exactly we learn languages, is it only by imitation, a subconsicous learning?  She came to the conclusion that it is possible to learn how to understand a language subconsciously, but in order to master the language at a deeper level, with a potential to become fluent in it the mechanics of a language - Grammar must be understood.  She contrasts it with driving a car- to drive a car well one doesn't need to know how the engine works, and in her own words, even how the petrol gets to the gear stick! :-)  With language once you understand the structure - Grammar you've achieved half of the goal - and when you start learning your next foreign language you already have the foundation in place making it a lot easier.

Anne's vision is for every child in Ireland to be competent speaking, reading and writing 4 languages at Leaving Certificate!  Quite a big vision, with Alphalingo utilising technology and different learning styles, reducing the time consuming work of the teacher (Lesson plans already prepared, and no need for photocopyinig!) and with the flash 3D animated characters of Rio, Bob, Muriel and Tina to guide the students on their way this is guaranteed to find it's place in every school throughout Ireland and beyond!

From one idea of a language teacher who thought, surely there's a better way?  To the launch of Alphalingo, the future of language learning may be a giant leap, but it started with a small step.  Anyone who knows Anne will know it's hard not to get swept up with the passion and energy that she has, for me it was an honour to be part of something that will make such a difference to so many people, today in irish schools... and tomorrow across the world! Watch this space for news about the individual language learning programme so you too can brush up on your German, Italian or French before you go on your holidays!

The Alphalingo Pilot Launch was the first of many Significant events that mark the success of Anne bringing her thoughts, vision and idea's into reality.  What ideas do you have that you're allowing to gather cobwebs?  When are you going to take them out and examine them in the light of day to see if you too can live the life of your dreams?!