Everyone loves a gong.  It’s the ultimate feelgood factor for recognition of a job well done.  A new product, a staff initiative a successful initiative.

Over the years, I’ve been on many a judging panel and been surprised and shocked at the variance in entries from hopeful participants.  So, here are ten things you should take care of: -

1. Ensure that you have answered all the questions that the judging panel are asking for.  I see this so often, entries which do not meet the criteria.  Create a checklist and ensure everything is covered.
2. Don’t just copy and paste text from your website into your award entry.  Each entry, should be crafted for relevance, text that is copy and pasted sends a message that you can’t really be bothered.
3. Keep it brief.  It’s not a competition as to how long your entry is, it’s about it’s quality.  Think like a judge.  Judges have to sometimes read hundreds of entries and a really long submission will elicit a heavy sigh, particularly if it begins to ramble.
4. Don’t bend the truth.  Keep it factual.  It’s surprising what judges know about, particularly if it’s for an industry award.  They will tend to be experts and can spot a rat a mile off.  A whiff of a mistruth and you’ll be discarded.
5. Drive out your USP (unique selling point).  Ask yourselves what really sets us apart?  What one message do we want to leave this judge with that will stick in their head relevant to the category?
6. Don’t state the obvious.  If you’re entering a green award, resist saying things like “we take our environmental responsibility really seriously (yawn).  Doesn’t everybody?  Think, what things will everyone be submitting and how do we do it differently?
7. Get a fresh set of eyes to read the submission.  Quite often the same person(s) is in charge of the end to end process of completing the award entry.  When they think it has been done, ensure it gets passed to someone else to do a fresh look/edit of the whole thing, particularly for spelling mistakes.
8. Meet the deadline.  People still miss deadlines and expect their entry to stand.  An awards deadline is there for a reason, work to it.  If you miss it, expect not to be judged.
9. Don’t add loads of attachments.  Tempting as it might be, don’t just upload big powerpoint files.  Make your written entry stand out.  Only add attachments in support (such as an image/advert example) if you are submitting on-line and you can’t include the information in the entry form.
10. Use bullet points.  Entries normally go through a pre-judging stage.  Use bullet points in your submission as much as possible to allow a judge to scan it and make a mental ticknote in their mind.  If they get the headlines, they are more likely to delve into the detail.

On Wednesday 17th August, I got the news that the Paralympic cyclist we support – Simin Richardson MBE – had been airlifted to hospital in an horrific hit and run road accident.  Simon, whose condition was critical, fought back from a similar accident in 2001 to go on and win three medals at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics (2 Gold and I Silver, aswell as breaking two world records).  You can read more about him and why we sponsored him here.  Media interest in the story was very high, as Simon was preparing for London 2012 in the hope of catching the selectors eye, this was a standard road training session for him.

Simon doesn't have an agent so I stepped in to assist the family with the media relations.  I heard of the accident at 2.30pm, by 9.45pm I was on Radio Five Live, the following day I was recording TV intereviews for BBC, ITV and Radio 4 whilst in London on a business trip aswell as fielding multiple calls from national media – The Guardian, The Independent aswell as Cycling and Regional Press.  I've been media trained, so here's my Top 10 tips to apply in the the middle of a media crisis: -

1. Quickly establish a central point of information.  One number or place to call for media enquiries, ensure that the people on the end of it are fully briefed at all times.
2. Have all potential media contact points refer media enquiries back to this point (family, relevant organisations, employees, hosptial etc).  Not always possible, but do what you can.
3. Only deal in facts, dates, times etc – don't speculate or embellish facts, say them as they are.  The media will do the speculating for you.
4. Check stories that have been written to ensure that they are factually correct.  If necessary, call the journalist back up.
5. Keep dates, names and times of which journalists you talk to and what you said.  I carried a notebook with me, that way you can refer back.
6. Update regularly.  I used Twitter and my cycling blog to issue news as and when we had it.  One source of information, factually correct.  You can read the updates and timeline here.
7. Wherever possible keep interested organisations pro-actively checked in.  Business partners, sponsors, stakeholders – ensure that they learn things in real time.
8. Have a call to action set up.  I could quickly direct people to my blog or Twitter feed, so when asked "Where should people go to?" I could quickly respond.
9. Utilise social media where it can assist you.  We used Twitter to launch a hashtag called #SIMONSTRONG where concerned cyclists could send their messages of support for Simon.  This quickly morphed into a dedicated bike with all the Twitter follower names on.  Read more about that here.  Subsquently we launched a "Ride for Simon" campaign which went live over the weekend. 
10. Stay calm and rational.  Float yourself above the situation and see it through another persons eyes. It will allow you to be more constructive in your help.

If you can, employ a media professional to do this for you.  Not all businesses are of the size that they can afford to, but depending on what the crisis is, it may pay in the long run, particularly if it's a product or brand reputation issue. 

As for Simon, he's still critical (10 days on) but getting better and making steps in the right direction.  By positively managing the media, we've allowed his family to be at his bedside, protected them from interruption and managed the overwhelming support he has received from all areas of the cycling community. 

Understanding your competition is an important component of being in business. 

Yes, you’re important.  Your products, people and services.  However, when did you last benchmark yourself against your most important competitor?

What are they up to?  When did you last have a good look?  It’s easily overlooked in the hubbub 0f everyday.  Smart businesses take time out to understand the wider competitive landscape.

Here’s some simple tips for you to get started: -

1. Download their last company accounts from companies house.  They normally cost £1.00 a set.  You can have a look at whether they’re growing, their cost structure, their profit, stocks, gross margins and cash situation. 
2. Is one of their executives speaking anywhere?  Go listen to them. Hear what the culture is, how they motivate employees, how they see the market.
3. Are they advertising?  What are their key products?  How do they compare against yours?  What products do you have  that you could position against them?  What media are they using?
4. See what keywords they may be bidding in on google adwords.  What keywords might people be searching for in response to their ad that you might be able to hijack in google either through pay per click or organic search.  Get a blog going quickly to bag some easy clicks or implement a PPC campaign.  Seek advice if needs be.
5. Get on their mailing list.  Always good to hear what things they are saying.  What tone are they using?  What calls to action?  What offers?  Are you missing any tricks?
6. Ask your customers.  It’s surprising what they know.  They may have been to a recent launch, had a titbit off of a sales rep or spoken to the CEO by phone.  People will share quite readily if asked.
7. Prepare a SPOT chart.  A rectangle split into four.  In each box write one of these words. Strengths, Opportunities, Problems, Threats then detail all of yours down under these headings.  Then pretend to be your competitor and do the same thing and compare.
8. Visit their website.  Look at their news sections, special offers, announcements.  What messages are they sending?  To which markets and customer profiles?  What product is on the homepage?  Does this mean they might lose focus on some secondary products which might be your primary product offer?
9. Follow them on social media.  Check out this post I wrote on “The CIA in Social Media“.
10. Allocate time to this.  The clearer you understand where they are going, the easier it is for you to adjust your own strategy.

Was thinking earlier about when I first started out in sales.  Just had a mobile phone and an address book.  Laptop came after the 3 month trial!  Comparing that to now, there is just a huge amount of tools we can use to optimise our working life.  Here are the ones that I use most regularly: -

1.  MS Excel (the daddy of all things spreadsheety).

2.  MS Powerpoint (always been there , still unstable, slowly going to Keynote).

3.  MS Outlook (e-mail still the #1 communication tool).

4.  Twitter (fast catching up e-mail for instantaneous).

5.  Tweetdeck (best app for Twitter).

6.  Blogger (hosts my cycling blog).

7. WordPress (hosts this blog).

8.  Google (still the best search engine by far).

9.  Basecamp (Great cloud based project management tool).

10.  Adobe PDF (still the best at minimising documents for sending).

What are yours?

Speaking at an event I did in London yesterday, I was approached by one of the audience members at the coffee break to ask for some tips they could use for an upcoming and important presentation they were doing.  Speaking in public isn’t difficult, it all depends on how much work you put in to make it an enjoyable/stimulating experience for your audience.  Let me share some of the tips with you.

1. Really think of your message and take out, build the entire talk around this.
2. Never read from bullet points.
3. Use images to support your words.
4. Stand still, except when moving to another fixed positon.
5. Speak with your mouth and use your hands to exaggerate.  Vary your voice.
6. You will either gain or lose your audiene in the first minute, think about what you can do/say to really gain their attention.
7. Be yourself.  Authenticity matters.  Share stories that show you are human.
8. Prepare.  Your audience can spot an unprepared speaker from a mile off.
9. Engage with as many people as you can when you talk.  Look for the “nod”.  What this means is, look into a particular audience members eyes and speak at them until they nod at you, then move on to someone else.
10. Be engaging and interesting.  Nearly all subjects – bar the obvious – can be made more interesting if you really think about it.  The more interesting, the more engaged your audience will be.

I’ve been blogging for over a year now. Seems if you get over the 90 day hump then you’ll stick with it. About 90% of people don’t, they give up because they run out of ideas, time or energy. Blogging is excellent for personal reputation, organic search, business leads or just sharing the things you know. I’m not an expert, however my blog that you’re reading now has readership in over 50 countries across the world, so something seems to be going right. Here’s what I’ve learned so far: -

On Thursday this week I delivered a workshop around social networking for business. One of the focus areas was around Linkedin. Here are the Top 10 Tips for a Linkedin beginner to get the most out of the platform.

1. Fill out your full profile. Remember to upload a picture. Populate as much of your career history as you can, it will help when asking people to connect .
   2. Check your existing contacts first, look them up and connect. You’ll be surprised who you know.
   3. When you connect with someone, see who else you have in common by looking at their list of contacts. Court warm introductions/referrals.
   4. Update your status profile every week. Your network will get an automatic update sent to their e-mail inbox.
   5. Join groups. It increases your visibility and will accelerate the number of contacts you communicate with.
   6. Contribute. Answer questions posed by others. It will increase your credibility.
   7. When you meet someone new in person or on-line, ask if they’re on Linkedin and hook up (do it the next day). Wherever they work, you’ll always be able to reach them.
   8. Got a new appointment, check out someone’s profile in advance and use the facts uncovered as a conversation opener. It’s an amazing way to start a meeting.
   9. Regularly check your Linkedin profile. Refresh the information. Give people a reason to keep tracking back to you.
   10. Be selective. Remember, it’s quality, not quantity.

Networking is about adding value.Remember, networking on-line is no different to networking in real life. Don’t be too pushy. Take your time and develop your network carefully. Building a successful and trusted network is about giving and establishing credibility over time.

Here’s a list of 10 low-cost things that you could do immediately to reduce your carbon footprint in a business of any size: -

1. Switch off your monitors at night (saves around £35 per year, per monitor).
2. Put timers on your photo-copiers and printers that switches them off when you’re office is closed (a copier left on over-night used as much energy as it needs to copy 2,000 pages).
3. Put a motion sensor switch on your lights (No activity, no lights = save costs).
4. Print on both sides of the paper (there is around 17w of embedded carbon in a piece of A4 paper), print on both sides, save energy.
5. Take the train.
6. Introduce a Cycle2work Scheme. Employees will save CO2 by cycling not driving.
7. Upgrade your office technology. Newer IT is more energy efficient and can offer quick ROI through reduced energy consumption. Look for the Energy Star mark.
8. Re-cycle your paper. Incredibly many business still don’t do this most simple thing.
9. Switch to renewable energy.
10. Hold more web meetings. It’s so easy and cheap now. I use Webex. Saves on travel, you can show Powerpoint presentations and share applications in real time.

Lot’s of people go out to networking events. There are good ones, bad ones and simply brilliant ones. But what makes the difference between a decent night with some good new contacts or a total washout? Here are my top ten networking tips.

1. Choose your events carefully, don’t turn up to everything.
2. Get the attendee list in advance if you can, highlight who you would like to meet and ask others for introductions if you don’t want to go in cold.
3. Be polite, courteous and listen to the person you’re talking to. Ask plenty of questions.
4. Don’t pitch to people unless they specifically raise a problem appropriate to your line of business with you. Suggest a follow up, rather than do a pitch there and then. Subtlety is key.
5. Follow up anyone you meet who you would like to stay in touch with. A couple of lines in an e-mail the following days re-capping your chat goes a long way and proves you were listening.
6. Look people up on social media such as Twitter or Linkedin. Either before or after. Link up with them using the tools available. See who you have as common contacts so that you can mention that you met them.
7. Add value whenever you can, don’t always expect things back. Networking is about building relationships over a period of time and establishing trust.
8. Look out for people you know in the papers. Drop them a line if you see something relevant about them or their industry.
9. Recommend people to others, but be precious with peoples details. Always ask permission before you hand out someones contact details to a third party.
10. Have a clear objective before going to any event. Why are you going? How many people do you want to meet? Who do you want to meet.

There are varying levels of event you can go to. Some, where it is a pre-requisite that you pass leads on to others and others where the prospect of lead generation would rightly put people off. Basic rule of thumb is, the more senior the people the more likely they are to want to talk toe to toe with people of the same level and not be sold to.

Meetings. They can be the death of you. Further up the ladder you go or bigger your business gets, the more of them you have to attend. Most people sigh and groan at the prospect of some meetings. Why? Because they are a talking shop, regularly political and often poorly managed. So, here’s my top tips for running better meetings.

1. Understand why you are meeting. Do you need to meet in the first place or will a phone conversation do? Use Webex or a similar service to cut down travelling.
2. Make the outcomes clear. What decisions do you need? From who?
3. Do your teas and coffees 5 minutes before, start on time.
4. Have an agenda. Time limit things where possible.
5. Keep the numbers small. Fewer people means more productivity.
6. Have a start and end time. Don’t let it drift.
7. Circulate as much stuff in advance as possible, particularly background reading or key powerpoint slides.
8. Use Powerpoint as little as you can. Not everything has to always be formally presented.
9. Get clear, assignable outcomes and actions.
10. Follow up and make them happen.

Many years ago I used to work alongside a Japanese executive that regularly used the word “ketsuron.” This basically means conclusion. He preferred that you showed your conclusion slide in any presentation before anything else. By doing this, if it was a simple decision or recommendation, then he often made the decision on that one slide, without seeing all the detail. However, he often went back to the detail to check whenever he felt the conclusion required further analysis. It always stuck with me, the idea of “ketsuron” and summarising is a great skill. Try it the next time you meet, it feels like a human Twitter conversation at first, however it does save time in the end.