Salespodder (Page 378)

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Dreamboards

Relaxing in front of the telly the other night, I smiled to see one of the peerless Louis Theroux [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Theroux]‘s Wierd Weekends being re-run. The entire world outside of America views their self-help protagonists, it is fair to say, negatively. From mildly amusing,

Strengthening Idea Fragility

With the help of iPlayer I’ve managed to watch national treasure Stephen Fry [http://www.stephenfry.com]‘s travelogue throughout America. His goals featured visiting each of their 50 states whilst celebrating the USA and its ideals, rather than mock and dismiss, as he felt was currently the vogue.

Focus On Skills Speeds Recovery

In all the papers a couple of weeks ago, quango The Skills Commission placed ads urging companies to continue with investment in training and the like. Their Chief Exec, Chris Humphries, quotes an alarming stat that firms which do not maintain their spend on improving skills are 2½ times more

Graphic Sensitivity Analysis

There I was watching Newsnight last night the old-fashioned way, when yet another gloom-laden report into all things credit-crunch was lightened up by some BBC lackey not being able to pop up a key graphic on cue. That’ll be a 5-day Powerpoint course in the Maldives rushing their way

Sales Admin & Parkinson's Law

I met a paper-selling pal of mine for a cheeky pint or two the other night, and we got to talking about the devils of sales admin. One particular gripe was that he’d been given an extra remit (frighteningly close to a marketing role) to work out how to

Lengthen Shorter Days

I rib a pal of mine that he’s a painter and decorator. Not that there’s anything wrong with such a noble profession, it’s just that for the money spent on his education he feels he should be looked up to, not upon. Still, found a useful guide

Why Wouldn't It Work?

I was reminded earlier today about a meeting I had with a brief IT chief at a FTSE100 company. The poor fella had the misfortune to arrive immedaitely prior to a tumultuous takeover so didn’t stay long. Anyway, I needed the requisite number of ‘signatures’ including his, so met

Who's Got Your Attention?

Less than three hours drive hugging the coast East out of Rio lies the delightful tourist area of Buzios (don’t pronounce the ‘i’). There are 23 beaches, unspoilt marinas where the local fisherman will fry up the most divine caught-that-morning fish (Chovo & Desugo I think were the names

Brilliant Recovery From Failure

Spending a lot of time in airports recently, I got chatting to a couple that had the usually catastrophic experience of losing their holiday luggage. Yet rather than the typical “never fly with such-and-such again” (usually the woeful BA naturally) they sang the praises of their airline, Air France. Flying

Win-Lose Haggling

Back from a week without internet, a touch of surfing over a coffee just revealed a delightful article on how to make the credit crunch prefaced recession work for you on your personal spend. It’s all about haggling [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/3377202/Haggle-your-way-to-a-bargain.html]