Succession Planning

Check out our advertorial in BQ Magazine - go to page 17

BQ Magazine

We also have a fact sheet on the same subject - Succeeding at Succession

Amazing how much information we can publicise through social media

Mobile Phones and Presentations Don't Mix..or do they...

A couple of years ago Nick Poole of Latimer Hinks presentated a talk on New Employment Legistation to an audience of around 30.

Nick normally requests that attendees "turn off their mobiles" so that there is no interruption to the presentation. On this occasion he forgot. Halfway through the presentation a jarring mobile phone jingle was heard -Bat out of Hell i think it was!

The phone owner then proceeded to take the call - he was seated in the centre of the room! All other attendees looked on, stunned at what was happening. The guy was around 50 years old so his blatant disregard for the speaker or the audience could not be blamed on immaturity. The phone was eventually escorted from the room by another partner of Latimer Hinks.

Now, scroll forward to the present. I have attended presentations where the audience were asked to "leave mobiles on - we wouldn't want you missing that all important sales call!"

I agree that mobiles should be kept active but silent. The mobile phone is now basically a hand held PA to us - they have demands, deadlines, alarms to remind you that they are there to look after you and your business!

So when your mobile vibrates with an urgent phone call, take it - but make sure you leave the room as you do!!

If we move on to social media, live video streaming, twitter interaction - then we;re opening up another can of worms!!

Take a look at this article from Connectegrity - How Social Media is Changing Business Etiquette

Interesting stuff, but i think i must be "old school" as i consider the use of texting, tweeting etc during a presentation to be bad manners and extremely rude.

Why Use Social Media?

wikipedia states that "Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue" Translation - getting to know people/businesses online and building relationships and sharing information.

Social media gives you the opportunity to promote your business branding, provides exposure through networking and enables you to build relationships and trust. It can also provide much needed feedback.

Feedback could be used from a customer service perspective. Latimer Hinks have used feedback from online surveys to provide answers to "burning questions."

For our most recent online survey we wanted to know if businesses had noticed an increase in debtor days.

The social media sites used were:

• LinkedIn groups as well as asking members of LinkedIn in "answers".
• Twitter
• Facebook

I'll let you know which site was most successful in generating completed surveys. We will of course "pay back" those who have responded as all results will be collated and a press release generated from the information we receive. 

Some tips on social networking
1) Don't ask for favours
2) Build a rapport, get involved in discussions
3) Your home page may not be the best link to share with someone whilst networking. Consider linking to a more relevant page on your site
Correctly done, social media can grow your online business faster than any other means. Social media also saves money, however there is a time element to successful social networking that sould be considered.

For interest, I came across this article about the use of social media in emergencies.