Alan Davies » Junction 31

What are those Marketeers talking about?

alan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:26:53 +0000

I went shopping yesterday with my wife: she needed some new reading spectacles and was after some “off-the-shelf” ones from the chemist. And she struck lucky, found some she liked, looked good in and could see through. Probably all the right boxes were ticked.

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

But the crowning glory was that they were: “Readilite Aspheric Lenses”. Wow! That nailed it – just what we were looking for.

But what on earth does that mean? Why did someone in the marketing team of the glasses company think that adding a sticky label onto the glasses with that message would increase sales.

Similarly – some disposal razors I found at home yesterday were described on the packet as having extra grip. GRIP! Who needs grip on a razor, you’re shaving an overnight growth, not a deep pile carpet.

So why do they do it? Is it because they have to say something when in fact they’ve got nothing to say?

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Chicken or Beef – it’s an indicator!

alan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:27:32 +0000

I took my wife to the Hospital today for an MRI Scan and whilst she was in the machine (a bit like a big tumbler dryer) I read the paper in the waiting room and found an interesting fact whilst doing so:
Sales of chicken sandwiches increase in warm or hot weather whilst sales of beef sandwiches decline.
Now why is that? As usual I don’t know the answer, but what else changes in our world as we cycle through the seasons that we really could take advantage of knowing?
Any thoughts you can share on that?

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What are you doing different today?

alan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:32:42 +0000

It’s a nice day, not as hot as yesterday and some would say it’s a bit muggy, but it’s “nice” nonetheless.
So nice in fact that I’ve just taken my laptop out on the patio to do some work in the garden.
And that set me thinking: I couldn’t have done this a couple of years ago, how times change.
There’s nothing special about working outside: the wireless internet connection reaches the garden and I’m wired with the world. Global reach courtesy of technology.
And then that set me thinking again: what else can I do differently to make a difference in my work and my life.
Social networking has taken the world by storm, but businesses are still slow to catch up even though a good proportion of business folks also use other social media sites. So what’s holding them back. Truth is: I don’t know, but I think it’s possibly because they’ve just not tried to do something different. The familiar is always easier.
Working indoors, in the office, is the way we’ve always done things, but it doesn’t need to be like that.
Believe me: the garden is cooler than my office most days and certainly today!
Pass the suntan cream

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Was Facebook to blame for the Speaker’s resignation?

alan — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:20:55 +0000

: Image by HowardLake via Flickr

Well, probably not. But the reality is that the world has changed and “we the people” now think that we have a bigger voice and can generate change in way that was previously not possible.

This has been driven to some extent by social media sites like Facebook and others.

All those in public office truly need to understand that a majority of people now want to have a say in what is happening and if they don’t like it they can and will create change.

Long live the Revolution!

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A stitch in time or a customer for life?

alan — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:36:37 +0000

Crisis this morning! Preparing for a Black Tie dinner engagement, couldn’t find my suit….. wife got the blame for hiding it until she found it.

Tried my shirt on – it had “shrunk” again, and the top button came off.

My sewing skills are pretty non existent: so as my wife had already left for work it was off to the dry cleaner and the lady who does alterations.

15 minutes (and a cup of coffee next door) and all is well.

Cost: Nothing! It was absolutely free. Even when I said “you’ve got to charge something!” she refused.

How many life time customers has that lady now got as a result of the way she deals with little bits of work? I suspect a good number.

I still need to diet, though.

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If Givers Gain then Mohd Rafie is about to gain “big time”

alan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:11:58 +0000

I’ve spent months developing the Junction 31 website, some of it taking me into uncharted territory, but generally supported by the thousands of developers working on open-source applications.
But there was one thing that I could not fix: my “Alan’s Views” blog layout. Whatever I did, it always seemed to align itself off the page when entering comments.
Open source forums could not get an answer. And then Mohd Rafie came along. He’s a member of Junction 31, and offered to help. I didn’t know him other than what was on his profile, but what did I have to lose?
So I gave him access to the site – and in about 20 minutes he fixed it. Not with some hack, that others may have created, but having consulted Google Analytics to check on resolutions and browsers etc to meet the need of the users of the site. And it worked. And I was happy
But he then decided to polish it a little bit more. And the result looks great – just what I wanted. So: a great big thank you to Mohd Rafie.
He’s now a friend, we plan to meet soon and how can I not recommend his design services to other people.

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Are you a warm up artist or the real deal?

alan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:28:29 +0000

There’s a big difference between someone who opens the show and someone who’s the headline. For the former it’s quite often an uphill struggle as the audience is still settling in their seats and maybe even still arriving. And they’ve not come to see him any way.
But for the real-deal, well it’s peace and harmony with great expectation and of course rapturous applause when you arrive on stage.
Why is this relevant to business? Well if you are the real deal then people will be glad to see you, indeed looking forward to seeing you. But if you are only a warm up artist, prepared to play in front of anyone, then life will probably be a struggle.
So when you think about growing your business, why not focus on the fans you already have instead of looking for new ones. Satisfy their needs by turning up and playing again and then let them tell their friends how great you are.
Experts leave the warm up work to someone else.

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NOCCI, not Gnocchi

alan — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:21:22 +0000

I like my food, so when I heard there was a meeting of NOCCI I was keen to go, thinking intially that it was an evening of Italian food. How wrong could I be.

NOCCI in Aberystwtyth last night, was a meeting of about 25 people involved in the creative and cultural industries in mid Wales. Organised by Rhodri (@nwdls) this really casual yet effective first meeting was a joy to attend. Friendly, open and relaxed it was, yet with a clear purpose of helping those in the creative and cultural industries to form alliances and provide support to each other to everyone’s benefit.

It totally supported my long held views that “shotgun networking” is pretty much a waste of time, but meeting groups with clear common ground will reap huge rewards. And it also reminded me, someone who is normally based in Cardiff, that you don’t need a big city to find big talent.

So if you want to learn how to be a DJ then you’d be mad not to visit DJ Tutor, a fantastic example of how the web can liberate business from any part of the country to deliver to a global market.

Silverspoon Films make movies: promos, adverts, conferences etc and have a range of offerings that would suit just about any business. I was stunned by the one minute corporate video for SME’s priced for less than £250 that Richard told me about.

It was a great night with a style and focus that many other networks would do well to emulate.

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G20 & Networking

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:13:16 +0000

They’ve got it right: in times of crisis it’s good to talk and in times of real crisis face to face talking is the only way to get things resolved.

But let’s face it: how well networked are these G20 guys and gals? How often do they talk? Do they swap notes or build bonds that make trust inevitable? I cannot help but suspect not. And that’s why there’s already friction in the camp as Sarkozy expresses a view that is not in accord with the others.

A little foot stamping to get things started maybe. And easily something that could have been avoided if these guys had tried to get to know each other some other way.

If they’d worked at getting to know one another at a personal level they would know where each was coming from. Had they spent time getting under the skin, or into their shoes, then they too would have had a better start. And that’s what online networking can do for you – not necessarily the G20 guys (although they can set up a group at Junction 31 if they want to) but for most of us in business getting an insight to common ground can be achieved online. It needs time and a different mindset maybe, but in the end it will save time and produce results that may not have been previously expected.

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Why are the simple things so difficult?

alan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:53:46 +0000

I went to a great meeting of the Wales North America Business Chamber and listened to two really interesting guys talk: the first was Denis Campbell of UK Progressive and the other was Henry Engelhardt Chief Executive of Admiral Insurance Group plc.

Whilst Denis was really good I want to focus on what Henry said.

In short, he outlined a series of day to day activities that make Admiral a great place to work at. These are all done to ensure that their strategy of caring for their staff is at the centre of the organisation. And the results speak for themselves.

But when I spoke to Henry afterwards, we both agreed that little of what they were doing was rocket science, and much of it was free to implement, yet so few organisations followed their lead.

Why is it that we find it so difficult to emulate others who have a great strategy for success. I don’t buy into the concept that it’s only for big companies. Small businesses can be a great place to be, but if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing is there any chance of doing it well. I suspect not.

To the question: what could you do today that would make your business a better (greater) place to work in? And what help do you need to implement it?

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