Changeworksblog.com

“You can’t run a business like that.” Someone once told me. This kind of challenge (I.e being told what I can’t do) seems to switch on my ‘yippee’ gene, a circuit in my brain starts buzzing and yells at me “why not?”. Then, lots of questions, doubts, negative thoughts (left brain stuff). Then perhaps, I think, “if I can’t do it like that it ain’t worth doing” , part of me might as well die because I won’t feel alive if I don’t do it.

So recognising an impending death I let go (my two favourite words), drop into a deeper expansive space and think “what if ….” (Right brain).

Then wonderful, crazy and usually very successful solutions happen. (Bye the way, this is mindfulness, just in case you ‘business’ people thought that was wishy washy rubbish)). And I might find mentors, sponsors and resources suddenly appear to support me (this is called synchronicity). Like Mrs Satir:

“Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible – the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family. ”
Virginia Satir

For any individual, nothing matters more than self worth. If you can give someone that (like a good parent does) you have given them the world. And if your people have that you will have an unbeatable business.

I run my business like a satir family, our people are or will be shareholders (it’s ‘ours’ not ‘mine’), I empower and step back, we accept acknowledge each others weaknesses and honour applaud strengths and use the latter to overcome the former. And, each seeing what the other yet cannot, we expect high standards of each other, raise the bar so we can leap higher than we thought possible (eriksons ‘latent potential).

So whatever is responsible for my ‘Yippee’ Gene – perhaps the local pub growing up in a working class area (the ‘Y knot’) or that vivid day 9yrs old at school given my first ever ‘project’ ( go out, read books, research, think for yourself, find out about the world … Yipppeeee went my brain!) – thank you!

This might not be a popular view – it may even be contentious – but there needs to be some balance against the hysteria that has surrounded the recent calls for state control of the media.

This is an incredibly complex issue so attempting to simplify things is fraught with difficulties – but here goes…

Point 1: ‘phone hacking is not necessarily a bad thing
Consider this scenario: journalists hacking the ‘phone of Milly Dowler were able to unearth vital information that enabled the police to find her alive and return her to her family. Her mother would be on TV praising the investigative efforts of the News Of The World, saying the paper had saved her daughter’s life when the police were coming up with blanks. Nobody would have cared how it was achieved, the newspaper would have survived and Leveson would never have happened. Or: what if ‘phone hacking had exposed Jimmy Saville to be a paedophile while he was still alive and unveiled a vile network that was preying on vulnerable young people? Once again, even if undercover work was not praised it would surely not be vilified. Such is the fine thread that all these issues hang on.
Read more…

We love the sense you get when you give money to people who are more needy than you are. On Friday 14th December Sue and Josh went to Birmingham to donate money to the Birmingham City Mission charity.

The Birmingham City Mission helps the homeless, the elderly, children and families in poverty. For the homeless they hold a care centre and they provide a meal every night along with any other food that the homeless want to take away with them. For the elderly they will arrange a visit to see what is wrong and prioritise to see whether they need urgent attention or can wait. They hold short exercises, informal Christian services, socializing, quizzes, slide shows and crafts.

Changeworks gave £250 to the charity while Sue added £250 out of her own money. We hope to do more to help charities like these by donating money to them.

We spent all day filming the Travis Perkins Forklift Truck Driver of the Year competition in snowy Northampton for one of our major clients, Briggs Equipment.

The event focused on health and safety and damage reduction in a fun and entertaining way, drawing on the competiveness of the forklift truck drivers that took part.

The event is an important one as it rewards safe and efficient driving practise and lets the forklift truck drivers become heroes for a day. Twenty-five drivers were selected for the event and there were three different trials that were to be completed by them:
1.    High trial-This was where a forklift truck was used to play basketball.
2.    Tag & Stack-This was where they had to quickly stack and un-stack.
3.    Wide-Where they had to take a wide load around a course as quickly as possible.

The winner, Norman Moss, got a glass trophy with £500 pounds worth of retail vouchers. All the participants got a Briggs giveaway bag which included hats, pens etc.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day and had lots of fun filming the drivers at their best. We here at Changeworks look forward to doing more ideas like these the New Year.

Marcoms bite from Alan Page
Number 3

A FULLY-GROWN elephant being pulled across the water on skis and a 15-feet sports boat towing the mighty cruise liner ‘Queen Elizabeth’ are just two of the eye-catching stunts devised by the late Carl Kiekhaefer, from America’s mid-west, as he promoted his marine outboard engines. Did they work? Well, Carl managed to sell his business for megabucks – twice. Promotions and vivid imagination can work together rewardingly, so look for the drama: let the excitement in business shine through your communications.
Sometimes, imaginative thinking can lead you down a darkened tunnel. But the payoff when bright ideas make home base can be extraordinary. Many businesses needs greater spontaneity and lateral thinking. They need more of a “why not?” approach and less “seen it all before” negativity. Products and services should be an adventure as well as a venture, at least as far as marketing communications are concerned.
Professional marketers use a set of basic rules to make promotions succeed. Wherever possible, sales promotion must reflect and enhance the feelings of the product or service. Promotional property should be created by putting across a message in such a way that it is exclusive and recognisable as such. The mechanics for sales promotions are few, but the twists to them are many, so see if the project can be tweaked to make it more compelling. The opportunity of a lifetime must be grasped within the lifetime of the opportunity. Therefore, any promotion should reflect what is hot and buzzing at the time. And the form of presentation must be appropriate to the task, as well as the style and values of the product, so put away the starbursts and exclamation marks.
But don’t let professional experience get in the way of your enthusiasm. Marry the expertise of the consultants with your own vision: use them to help you implement, but do not hand over your whole promotional show. Stay involved and let them benefit from your commitment. Make it a partnership.
It might be a product relaunch. Relaunches can breathe liveliness into tired sales curves – and selling centres on the techniques and tricks of persuading individuals and organisations to part with their money.
It could be co-promotion, where you team up with a complementary business to make your budget stretch further. Or repeat purchasing – variations on the good old buy one and get one free theme. Or sampling and free trials. Anything that normally sells in large cans, bottles or packets is ripe for sampling and “free” is one of the most powerful and compelling words in our vocabulary.
No matter what, the promotion should be laced heavily with ebullience, even a smattering of eccentricity if you can manage it. Catch those prospective customers unaware and you will capture their attention. Let your product/service appear out of context; associate it with the out-of-the-ordinary; sponsor something that can self-generate publicity for you.
At the very least, give added value to every initiative. For instance, when you log the details of a prospect at the trade show (yes, some exhibitors remember to do so) ask for the particulars of a friend or relative who might also have use for what you are selling. If you are using a special offer, make sure there is a mechanism for repeat business, such as a further offer or loyalty bonus. Then, you are establishing continuity of communication.
Back to that industrial caesar of the marine industry, Carl Kiekhaefer. Over half a century ago, with his outboard engines suffering from a reputation of “fast but won’t last” he organised a 50,000 miles continuous endurance test, equivalent to twice around the world. Supervised by a respected public body, it was a huge success and the record stands to this day. It paved the way for widescale public relations and further promotions which would wipe away any and all doubts about the durability of his product line.
“Marketing” is your entire business seen from your customers’ points of view. You will benefit enormously from making it look fresh, exciting, innovative. People will pay up for enjoyable experiences.

For more innovative communications ideas look us up: www.changeworkscom.co.uk