Business Ideas For Smes And Start Ups

“Sponsorship is the future of business” Jackie Fast, Pinpoint: How challenging the norm is the only route to success in selling sponsorship. Only someone who has successfully navigated the choppy (and occasionally murky) waters of sports marketing and sponsorship can make that claim with any confidence. As Fast points out in her book, advertising and marketing has changed. Media consumption and channel proliferation has made it harder for brands to fully engage with their audiences but if advertising has changes then it is fair to say that sponsorship has also changed. A logo on a shirt is never going to be enough. In fairness, it never was. There is greater demand on sports properties to demonstrate something beyond “equivalent media value” and greater pressure on brand owners and managers to make their sponsorship money work. Jackie Fast sold her sports marketing business, Slingshot Sponsorship having worked with Sir Richard Branson, Spotify, IBM, Renault, Haymarket Consumer publishing and Shell.

Is "Practice" part of your sales process? How many of you spend time in 'rehearsal' preparing questions, answers, eventualities and outcomes for those big sales presentations? In fact, not just those big presentations but for everything you do? There are examples everywhere of those people who take the time out to prepare hard for the main event. In a previous Podcast with Damien Hughes, he described how Pep Guardiola would spend 7 hours preparing for a 20 minute team talk. Benjamin Franklin was renowned for preparation in his writing. Do you make practice an integral part of your preparation - please, get in touch and let me know what you think.

So, you all set for GDPR? The much talked about but not always understood changes to the 1998 Data Protection Act kick in on 25th May 2018 As the way we store and transfer data changes so too does the legislation protecting customers - non-compliance could be costly. In this podcast, I talk to Orlagh Kelly, Barrister and CEO of Briefed - the go-to GDPR training and compliance consultancy in the North or Ireland. Over the last number of months, Orlagh and her team has been working closely with hundreds of businesses across the UK and Ireland implementing procedures and de-mistlfying legislation - in the podcast she gives valuable insight into the impact of the legislation on SMEs, how you need to prepare and the impact it has on businesses using email and telephone data for business development. For more information, visit briefed.pro or email Orlagh directly on info@briefed.pro

Delighted to welcome Damian back - last time we spoke we in May this year and much has happened in the intervening months. Damian has been working with Scotland Rugby Union, English Rugby League and is in the middle of publishing ANOTHER book - this time on Barcelona FC and what we can learn from their "culture" and how those learnings can be applied to sport and business. The previous podcasts with Damian have proven to be incredibly popular - he is a Professor, consultant coach and an author and more importantly he's incredibly interesting and a fantastic guest. Enjoy

Telephone sales is a much maligned business development tactic yet is undergoing something of a renaissance and when blended with a clearly defined digital strategy, tic an be very powerful. This solocast offers 7 tips on how to up your telephone sales game. For more information visit www.shift-control.co.uk

Over the last few weeks and in collaboration with no less than 4 clients, I have experienced first hand the challenges businesses are facing when recruiting sales personnel. Regardless of sector or position, it's not getting any easier. What are the challenges facing your business and where do you see the answers coming from - millennials AKA "The Trophy Generation:" or the over 50s...too old to train them, right?

SOSTAC® is a marketing planning framework used by business professionals globally and was voted in the Top 3 Business Models worldwide in the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Centenary Poll. The architect and brains behind SOSTAC® is PR Smith, marketing consultant, mentor and coach, public speaker and author of best selling digital marketing books including. Digital Marketing Excellence and SOSTAC® Guide to The Perfect Digital marketing Strategy. in this episode PR breaks down SOSTAC® into the easy but highly effective stages, discusses the importance of 'internal" actions and gives some valuable advice for all marketeers on the importance of credibility over visibility. Check out www.prsmith.org and www.sostac.org

A pleasure to get to interview Oliver Lennon, current CEO of Syndeo and driving force behind Speechstorm, local start-up success story. In this episode Oliver shares some valuable insights into the world of tech start-up, the importance of self belief and how the world of sport has influenced him in business, through transparent leadership and teamwork - empowering and enabling those who work along side you. Whilst Oliver despises the label "entrepreneur" he evidently thrives in an environment where the odds can be seriously stacked against you. Brilliant backdrop for the recording at the Ormeau Baths - the co-working space in Belfast. And great coffee at Root and Branch too.

According to Dave Trott, everyone is turning into a story teller these day and suggests it maybe a bad thing - check out his brilliant blog (www.davetrott.co.uk). He makes a valid point but I would argue that storytelling has never been more important when it comes to your brand and your business.

Trust is the accepted currency of any relationship - personal or professional. It is critical in building meaningful relationships but there is more to it than simply trying to be-friend someone. This short podcast covers some thinking on how to better create trust in sales and business development.

Powerpoint has been around for a little over 27 years and in that time, little has changed in terms of functionality, usability so Microsoft must be doing something right. This podcast looks at the different ways we absorb information and questions why it is important to at least try to integrate audio, visual, kinaesthetic and digital methods in presentations for maximum effect.

Easily one of the best books I have read on business development and sales in a very long time. Blending cutting-edge research in social psychology, neuroscience and behavioral economics, The Science of Selling shows salespeople how to align the way they sell with how our brains naturally form buying decisions, dramatically increasing their ability to earn more sales. The Science of Selling reveals an evidence-based approach that connects the dots between science and situation salespeople face every day to help them consistently succeed.

Bundoran, a seaside town in Donegal has threatened to reinvent itself over the last number of years. Whilst it has become something of a mecca for surfers, it will need more entrepreneurial spirit from the likes of Laura Hardaker, owner of the beautiful cafe and bakery, the Hardy Baker. In Episode 19 Laura talks about the importance of passion, attention to detail and the provision of quality products if you want to succeed.

The second episode includes more insights and anecdotes from Damian Hughes, author of 5 Steps To A Winning Mindset, where he goes deeper into values in action, behaviours and reconfirms the importance of culture at the heart of any team - either in sport or business. This has been one of the most fascinating conversations I've had during the short time I have been doing the Shift Control podcast - mirroring my feelings about the 5 Steps to A Winning Mindset. Damian has an ability to break down the complex into manageable and easy-to-understand chunks. I hope you enjoy listening to this podcast as much as I did recording it. Cheers Damian

There are many obvious crossovers between and business and sport when it comes to high performance - mental toughness, controlling emotions and communication, to name but three. In Part 1 of a 2-part podcast I discuss with Damian Hughes, the core of his latest book: "5 Steps to a Winning Mindset" SIMPLICITY, THINKING, EMOTIONS, PRACTICAL and STORIES all make up the STEPS acronym and Damian shares some insights into all 5 over the 2 episodes. Author of 10 books and currently working on his 11th, Damian is a Professor of Behavioural Psychology, coach and mentor in both sport and business - check him out at www.liquidthinker.com and enjoy the show

It has never been harder for brands, organisations and businesses to stand out for the right reasons. Right now, everyone is short on time and overwhelmed with interruption and so to connect with any audience, your message needs to be succinct and easily understood. Park Howell, the driving force behind The Business of Story believes that a strong narrative can have an incredible impact on a business.Park Howell, Brand Story telling for business Technology and data may give us global reach and market intelligence but it is the ancient craft of storytelling, which truly helps make the connection between a brand and its audience. In Episode 17 of the Shift Control Podcast I discuss with Park the Hollywood origins of The Business of Story and how big business is waking up to the possibility of tried and tested storytelling techniques. Over the last number of years, on his Business of Story Podcast, Park has interviewed some of the very best content creators, advertising creatives, authors, professors, maker

Do you see your brand as investment or an expense? Developing a logo or brand identity is a skill. And skill costs. At the gig platform, Fiverr, a logo can be crafted fro as little as $5...let the rant begin... Music intro from www.bensound.com

Delighted to be presenting this episode of the shift control podcast - in discussion with Carlo Pignataro author of the brilliant Sell With Style. Sell with Style: The Ultimate Guide to Luxury Selling is easily one of the best books on sales, branding and value delivery on the market. Carlo gives some great insights into personal branding, offering value and the idea of "perceived value" and shares some of his experience working for some of the biggest brands in the luxury market. It was a genuine honour for me to have this discussion with Carlo - and my first online / Skype podcast - so please forgive my first night nerves. Enjoy.

ccording to a recently published Neilson Sports report our appetite for fitness health and wellbeing will see the gym sector become the shining star of the post Brexit Economy. Someone who is well prepared to take advantage of that market opportunity is CEO and founder of Belfast-based BLK BOX Fitness, Greg Bradley. For Greg and his team, the business isn’t just about the gym industry in the UK and Ireland – the company has already established a solid reputation throughout the UK and Ireland in many of the major sports, including GAA, rugby and soccer and have already plans further afield with upcoming projects in UAE and mainland Europe. This podcast has been a long time coming – I have known Greg for a few years now and have closely watched his progress in the industry. Much of the brand’s development has come from his ability to create and retain meaningful relationships with a wide range of people – influencers, decision makers both here in Ireland and as far as Australia. Driven and hardworking, his

Al and Astra McNIcholl are the co-founders of The Itty Bitty Book Company - this podcast is a conversation with Astra, where she explains what motivated both her and her husband to leave their previous jobs and set up their new company. She talks about the importance of positivity and how a positive mindset can have an incredibly powerful impact on people and in particular young children. For more information on Astra and the business, check out their website: www.ittybittybookco.com