Well folks, the time has arrived, 2010 is now upon us. I for one will welcome this new year in gladly, as for me I think it’s going to be a year that will absolutely rock, work-wise. Things over the past year have been picking up very well, word has spread, and the marketing efforts both online and off are really beginning to pay off.
It’s just the most satisfying feeling when you can see the results happen in front of your eyes. Long hours have been spent travelling the country …

Wherever you are in the world, whenever you watch the news nowadays, you’ll very rarely find an article that is uplifting, or just something that makes you think ‘whoah, that’s quite impressive’. Well, certainly I don’t anyway. That’s why generally speaking, I try not to watch the news that much anymore; it’s just far too depressing.
Not that I spend my entire life living on YouTube either, but more often than not, on there I regularly find some incredible videos of great human achievement, perseverance, and effort, that you just know …

Message-on-hold audio is something which many companies do implement, more so if they have more than one department or line a call could be directed to (If they don’t have a permanent receptionist etc). As you say, there are some horrendous ones out there – my aim is to start abolishing those and show how they can be implemented far better.
First port of call (in my opinion) is to hire a professional copywriter (e.g. Stefan Thomas/Mark Beaumont-Thomas – search for contact details on 4networking.biz) who can produce a highly effective …

So there I am in TK Maxx in Birmingham City Centre, doing some shopping with a friend of mine, and what comes over the tannoy but a ridiculously feeble lackluster voice:
“(microphone squeal/feedback) Duty manager to front desk Please, that’s Duty Manager to front desk, thank yooooou. (microphone squeal again – click)”
I couldn’t believe my ears – it’s not that I relish the opportunity to take the piss out of people with really weird voices, but it was something like I’ve never ever heard before. It wasn’t just because it was a voice …

Isn’t it great when random connections happen? I don’t mean connections like the intermittent fuse in your desk lamp, but real-life occurrences that could lead to amazing things?
I’ll give you an example.
A networking organisation I’m heavily involved with, 4Networking (link in my Blogroll), had Sky TV filming at one of the groups before Xmas. I unfortunately couldn’t go due to other commitments, but had heard that it had gone very well.
A few days ago, the producer of that programme called me, to offer some advice on podcast content (a request I’d posted …

Ok, is it just me, or do you find in-store intercoms one of the most frightening things in existence?
You can keep your bombs, you can keep your knives, guns, nun-chucks; nothing is more frightening than an inexperienced customer service rep in front of a supermarket intercom microphone. I promise you.
All it was was an innocent stroll round the ‘big Tesco’ earlier on, minding our own business looking at baby clothes for my honorary nephew’s birthday. (He’s 3, you know.)
/ahem.
So yes, mission had been accomplished, child catered for, clothing, toys, the usual gubbins …