Topic

grapevine

A collection of 648 issues

Got A Trophy Product?

I came across this thought-provoking concept half-reading an article [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/3539900/Recession-is-no-menace-for-publisher-Dennis.html] in a coffee shop provided newspaper. The Economist weekly mag is, apparently just such a “trophy product”. Half of its sales go unread. Instead, they’re left in swanky reception

VIP Nights

I picked up some interesting figures from the efforts of a Swansea retailer. Their boss liked to run an event that he said never failed. In the run up to Christmas, where he apparently made two-thirds of his money, he’d invite his best customers to a special night where

Recession Busting Lick Of Paint

So everywhere in the Free World is in credit crunch precipitated shrinkage meltdown. Thankfully for those of us whom refuse to participate in the recession, the world ought not stop turning. The other Saturday I spent a most pleasant evening with a few pals drowning our sorrows over the cluelessness

Gladwell On Brand Extension

Malcolm Gladwell has a new book out. I’ve got his earlier two; The Tipping Point and Blink. That doesn’t mean though that I’m a number-one-fan, next stop stalker. His books lack flow and colour, making them a trial to push yourself through. In terms of prose he

The Perfect Phone Call

Many an old seller considers cold-calling an essential rite of passage for the budding rep. Most of us can remember one time being sat down and talked through how to dial someone that we neither knew nor was expecting our call. In my couple of decades of selling, one of

Inspiring The Tired Shopkeeper

As you might have picked up, in my downtime I’ve become a bit of an iPlayer surfer. It’s the BBC’s catch up service. Pretty much any show from the past seven days can be seen at your leisure. Like much of the Beeb though, its provision falls

Morphing Your Bonus Into Malus

O-oh. Not content with bringing the rest of us to our knees through their own tyrannical greed, are bankers about to spell the beginning of an unjust commission regime, or is it simply the heralding of a necessarily more altruistic, responsible approach to performance rewards? I’m referring to the

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,

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