Dont judge a skinhead by his boots

Going to see The Specials at the weekend highlighted the danger of jumping to conclusions. True, the sight of scores of skinheads with Dr Marten boots might at first appear intimidating. Surely they must be racist thugs, mustn’t they? No….genuine music loving skinheads have a passion for ska and rocksteady originating from Jamaica . I talked to a group of skinheads before the gig in a pub and what impressed me was their knowledge and respect for black culture that inspired bands like The Specials. They despise the right wing element that were attracted to the British 2 tone movement in the late 1970s. The Specials is for everyone black and white, dreadlocks and boneheads.

What conclusions are you jumping to in your marketing? Are you really putting yourself in your clients Dr Marten boots?

Just Do It

Do you get frustrated like me by peoples difficulty to move from planning to implementation? It seems that despite the industries created by time management and project management philosophies work is still not being delivered. Quite simply, people are not delivering on promises. What is the answer?

Where’s the milk?

Visited a very posh tea shop today (I am not going to name it to avoid embarassment). The owners had clearly invested significant money in creating a fantastic ambience to position the venue as an upmarket tea shop for a genuine dining experience. Now granted the cakes were fantastic and the tea top drawer. However, they forgot some important basics. The tea arrived (leaves and tea strainer to boot), but no milk. The cakes arrived with posh forks, but no plates. And, there was no clotted cream for the cream tea! There is an important lesson here….don’t forget the basics. A lot of good work was undone by failure to get the simple things right. Are you getting the basics right in your marketing and business development activity? Are you focussed on the right stuff?

Focus on ROI not your Marketing Budget

Is it just me or do you share my angst about people focussing on marketing budgets when they should be thinking about ROI?

Size 10 1/2 Boots is like any other business in looking closer at expenditure as the recession bites. However, we are continuing to invest in marketing activity where we can see a payback on investment. Now more than any other time businesses need to be highly visible and work harder to get cut-through amongst the noise in the market place. Better surely to evaluate potential marketing activity vs return on investment (ROI) than respond with a knee-jerk, “we dont have the budget”, isnt it?

Girl Power

Despite the economic fog there is some uplifting news in the legal sector. Twenty-three lawyers and support staff from Allen & Overy’s private client practice, are setting up their own firm, Maurice Turnor Gardner. Interestingly it will be staffed and run mostly by women, so perhaps they are better positioned to deal with the multi-tasking required in a new business start-up. ‘Good luck’ to them we say. What do you think?

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to the new Size 10½ Boots blog!

We’ll be sharing our expertise and knowledge of growing businesses through a series of blogs, bootcasts and Top Tips, aimed at helping you grow your business. We’ll be regularly updating this blog so keep checking back to hear the latest from the Size 10½ Boots team.

In the meantime visit www.tenandahalf.co.uk to learn more about our products and services.