Blue Eyed Sun

Blue Eyed Sun - gorgeous greetings cards

BES Blog

  • Blue Eyed Sun move to new premises in Burgess Hill

    Blue Eyed Sun -Victoria Road

    After ten years of working away in our old premises in Hove, which served us remarkably well for the amount of space, Blue Eyed Sun have expanded into new premises at 56 Victoria Road, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 9LR.

    Whilst we would love to have stayed in Brighton, warehouse premises there are in short supply that is reducing further as a result of changes in legislation that allow commercial property to redeveloped into residential accommodation.

    The move gives us more space and nicer premises from which to work. Many of the team now have their own offices. It's lovely and bright too as we've upgraded the lighting to LED which is also more environmentally friendly.

    This amazing new space will allow us to grow our product offering and to improve our stock control both of should help to keep our customers happy and hopefully mean continued growth.

    It's been a big project prepping the building to suit our needs and to manage the move during our busiest time of year. We've managed it though and look forward to continued success from this fantastic property for years to come.

    if you are a customer or supplier please remember to update our details on your accounts and CRM systems.

    Read more about our new beginnings for 2016

    See our latest new ranges here

    All the essential info you need for Spring Fair 2016

    Blue Eyed Sun Burgess Hill

  • Top Drawer Spring 2016 - Essential Info

    Top Drawer Spring 2016 - Essential Info

    Top Drawer Spring 2016 features many of Britain's leading design-led greeting card publishers. Here are the essentials you need for this top trade show for retailers:

    For free tickets to Top Drawer Spring please click here.

    When is Top Drawer Spring 2016?

    Top Drawer Spring 2016 runs from Sunday 17th January until Tuesday 19th January from 09:30 - 18:00 at Olympia in London and features a stunning edited showcase of over 800 suppliers.

     Click here to watch a video of the card section at Top Drawer Spring.

    Where to Eat at Top Drawer Spring

    We've tried lots of different places to eat near Top Drawer Spring. Here are our favourites:

    5 Great Restaurants near Olympia and 5 great restaurants in Earls Court.

    Where to Stay at Top Drawer Spring

    Olympia is well serviced for hotels and there are good transport links to local London areas.

    Click here for an interactive map of hotels near Top Drawer Spring.

    How to Get to Top Drawer Spring

    There's an overland train to Olympia Station to Top Drawer Spring 2016 from Shepherd's Bush (central line) or West Brompton (District Line)Click here for the TFL website.

    The Sat Nav post code for Olympia is W14 8UX for drivers. You can park next to the venue. Do book in advance as it is more expensive on the day. Click here to book parking at Olympia.

    What's new from Blue Eyed Sun?

    Blue Eyed Sun have 5 gorgeous new greeting card ranges at Top Drawer Spring 2016 on a new stand T42. You can also order any last minute Valentines, Mothers or Fathers Day cards.

    Click here to see what's new from Blue Eyed Sun

    New Greeting Card Talent

    Find new publishers at Top Drawer that have come through the Ladder Club.

    Look out for these Ladder Club publishers at Top Drawer

    Read our 12 Top Tips for Trade Show Visitors by clicking here

    To order Blue Eyed Sun's new designs for your shop or request a brochure click here.

  • Tahiti greeting cards by Blue Eyed Sun

    Tahiti greeting cards by Blue Eyed SunBlue Eyed Sun are proud to present their gorgeous new range of eighteen Tahiti greeting cards.

    Based on original artworks by designer, Jo Corner, these beautiful cards are all lovingly hand finished with jewels in the UK. The new Tahiti range is hot on the new tropical trend and currently includes 3 open birthday captions and 15 relations and occasions cards. 

    Tahiti greeting cards are blank inside and all come cello wrapped with a coloured envelope that is 165mm x 165mm. Sold in sixes the designs are available for trade customers to order through our agents, by brochure, at shows or on our website. All board used for Tahiti is responsibly sourced from sustained and managed forests by FSC accredited suppliers.

    You can see these wonderful Tahiti greeting cards first in person at the events below:

    Top Drawer Spring 17- 19 January 2016 - Stand T42

    Spring Fair at the NEC in Birmingham 7-10 February 2016 - Hall 3 - Stand 3X31

    To stock these cards in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or recommend a shop to us by clicking here. You can also visit our stockists page to find a store near you that may be selling them. To see what else is new from Blue Eyed Sun click here.

  • New beginnings for Blue Eyed Sun in 2016

    New Beginnings 2016The New Year is always a good time for new beginnings. Even though technically a new year starts every day there’s something about the 1st January and the new year date that seems to energise in a different way to most other days. Perhaps the celebrations the night before focus us on turning over a new leaf or it might simply be the fact that we are heading out of the darkest days of Winter into Spring and it literally is a new period of growth.

    New Place

    At Blue Eyed Sun, we’ve marked the change with a move into newly acquired premises which makes it extra special. After nearly ten years of toiling away in our old industrial units in Brighton we have a lovely new factory up the road in Burgess Hill. It’s a great space that we’ve refurbished and I’m sure our team will be very happy there. They’ve been involved in planning the design and look of the interiors. There’s more light and better facilities for them going forward. The units also give us more room to grow, which is exciting. We ran out of space two years ago and although it’s kept us efficient I do think it’s held us back a little.

    Out with the Old

    In preparation for the move, we have been doing a lot of clearing, sorting and so on. It’s my least favourite job in the whole world. I get side tracked with the detail of it and then despondent that I can’t get through it all fast enough. I kept discovering interesting old bits of paperwork. Like our very first order, our original brochure and a load of rejection letters from top retailers that now stock us. The letters were a good reminder that persistence is one of the things that has really kept us growing all these years.

    Despite the distractions I got most of it done and I’ve photographed or scanned the paperwork I want to keep and recycled the rest. My goal for 2016 is to get digital on most of our paperwork and do the full shift over to the cloud. Paperwork takes up space and most of it I only ever look at it when I’m try to clear out the office!

    In with the New

    Essentially the cloud is online storage for your data files. With tools like dropbox, it’s been around a while now and you can expect to see more big growth of it in the coming year or two. We have a cheap and simple NAS (Network Attached Storage) device that acts like a server which we then back up to Amazon’s servers. Yes. Amazon own that space too! It’s like having a Big Yellow storage facility on the internet for your digital stuff.

    The advantages are that you can access receipts and paperwork from anywhere in the world by logging into your cloud storage to find it. A lot of software has been moving into the cloud too, so you can do things like look up your accounts on a range of different devices. This blog post for instance was in the cloud whilst I wrote it on my iMac at home, edited on my phone in bed and uploaded it from my iPad to the blog in the morning. Being able to work from anywhere has really freed up my time.

    New Ranges

    The most exciting part about having more space is that we can launch lots of lovely new designs because we now have room for the stock. Blue Eyed Sun has had a remarkable run over the last few years. Our market leading stitched ranges like Vintage, Gorgeous and Picnic Time have been massive hits for us. We feel like we have so much more we can do. We love coming up with new ideas and techniques and are really looking forward to showing our customers what’s new at Top Drawer Spring and Spring Fair this year. Even though we’ve been really busy, with getting the new building ready and the big move, Jo has managed to produce over 150 new designs across 5 new ranges.

    “What’s new?“ has to be the most common question retailers ask publishers at trade shows. The trick is to have new of best sellers and to try some radically new ideas too (ideally ones that are on trend). Trends have been getting harder to predict of late and now move quickly because of the internet. As all designers are watching the same trend forecasts, staying fresh, original and on trend is a constant challenge for any design-led publisher.

    In addition to new product we’ve also been looking to improve our displays.

    New Stands

    For years we’ve prepped expensive Foamex boards to display our greeting cards at shows, only to find their corners bashed after they fell of the wall overnight after the velcro used to attach them failed. It’s rare for customers to mention the damaged boards and I’ve always consoled myself by saying it’s the card designs that really matter. We all like to do our best though don’t we? I imagine it’s the same for retailers. If your display and point of sale looks good it gives off a different feeling and experience for the shopper who is looking at the lovely cards they stock. It enhances it. Our stands have never looked terrible, but I’ve never been thrilled with them either. I’m looking forward to showing off our new cards on our new, custom made trade show displays for the new year.

    New Friends

    2015 was an incredible year for me personally as I was invited to attend some amazing events at 10 Downing Street, New Orleans and the Rugby World Cup. I’ve made some wonderful new friendships with all sorts of interesting people from around the world. Social Media has been a big part of all of this for me and it has led me to me changing how I operate online in 2016.

    I’ve decided to make a commitment to more connections on social media. Instead of just interacting with friends that I already know on Facebook, for instance, I’m opening up to more friendships from the card industry and beyond in an effort to engage more widely with others. I have been experimenting with all sorts of new digital tools including Slack, Blab and Periscope. WhatsApp (and instant messaging in general) has been the most powerful of the lot for me so far in terms of new meaningful connections and I’m excited to see where they take me this year.

    New Commitments

    Contribution is really important to me and I’m proud to have been asked to be Vice-Chairman of the Giftware Association and take up my post in 2016. I’ve been working with the GA at committee level for five years. With new CEO, Sarah Ward, already doing a great job it’s going to be an exciting year for the GA. I’m particularly looking forward to working with incoming Chairman Henri Davis who has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in retail.

    I’ve been a member of the GA and the GCA for many years now and, having worked closely with both at committee level, they do invaluable work. Our industry wouldn’t be the same without them. Even if you can’t find the time to serve on their committees do join and support them as a member. Whether you are a supplier or retailer, they are fantastic resources that we don’t want to be without. Remember it’s not just about what’s in it for you (although there are loads of benefits for members at each organisation), it’s about the wider community that you are a part of.

    What’s New for You?

    If you aren’t sure where to start with your goals for the new year. Try a slight shift towards something that you’d like to improve. Take small steps initially so that you can get momentum and progress. They say the one who moves mountains always starts by carrying away small stones first.

    I hope that 2016 brings you lots of wonderful new adventures and personal development. Good luck with all of your new endeavours and goals.

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  • Fleur Greeting Cards from Blue Eyed Sun

    Fleur Greeting Cards - Blue Eyed SunBlue Eyed Sun are proud to present their gorgeous new range of thirty Fleur greeting cards.

    Based on original artworks by designer, Jo Corner, these beautiful embossed cards are all lovingly hand finished with jewels in the UK. The new Fleur range currently includes 17 open birthday captions and 13 occasions cards. 

    Fleur greeting cards are blank inside and come cello wrapped with a silver envelope that is 130mm x 130mm. Sold in sixes the designs are available for trade customers to order through our agents, by brochure, at shows or on our website. All board used for Fleur is responsibly sourced from sustained and managed forests by FSC accredited suppliers.

    You can see these wonderful Fleur greeting cards first in person at the events below:

    Top Drawer Spring 17- 19 January 2016 - Stand T42

    Spring Fair at the NEC in Birmingham 7-10 February 2016 - Hall 3 - Stand 3X31

    To stock these cards in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or recommend a shop to us by clicking here. You can also visit our stockists page to find a store near you that may be selling them. To see what else is new from Blue Eyed Sun click here.

  • Using the 5 Love Languages in Retail

    5 Love Languages RetailAfter thirty years as a marriage counsellor, Greg Chapman knows a thing or two about relationships. He believes that there are 5 Love Languages. All of the important people in our lives have a primary love language that we must learn to speak if we want that person to feel loved and appreciated.

    Improving the way we communicate is invaluable, so here's how I think retailers and business owners can use the 5 love languages to improve their relationships with their customers, staff, suppliers and loved ones.

    Chapman has devised a separate set of Appreciation at Work languages because there are different types of relationships, expectations and boundaries in the workplace. I’m sure that most of us can all fully appreciate these differences, so I’m focussing on the 5 Love Languages.

    Good Intentions

    Before we start it's important to be aware that good intentions are not enough. We must learn to meet each other’s emotional need for love and connection. We instinctively offer this in the way that we wish others would express it to us. When they don’t respond in the way we might we become frustrated. The problem is not sincerity. It’s that we are speaking our language and not theirs.

    Love and Business

    Considering the way your partner prefers to be loved and then speaking in the language that lights them up inside is vital to a happy healthy personal relationship. It’s the same with your children and in your business. This is how we strengthen and maintain our relationships. A friend of mine has a saying “happy wife, happy life.” You could say the same of all your relationships including those of your customers. Keep them happy and you’ll be happy too. We can do this by considering they way they like to be spoken to.

    Here are the 5 Love Languages, how they work and how they might be used in your personal and professional life:

    1. Words of Affirmation

    Your unsolicited compliments and encouragement mean the world to some people. Your words of appreciation will be soaked up like rain on parched soil. If you hear someone say phrases like “I can’t do anything right”, “All you do is criticise” or “nobody notices,” then their love language of choice is words of affirmation. Take time to speak words of gratitude and praise to them.
    It doesn’t matter if they are a member of your family or a member of your team these words will fill them up and light up their day. Try to include words of thanks in your correspondence or dealings with customers, suppliers and staff. Those that speak this love language will feel more connected to you and your business.

    2. Acts of Service

    For these people, actions speak louder than words. When someone complains to us they are actually giving us valuable information. They often reveal their primary love language. If they accuse you of not lifting a finger to help then, for them, you need to do and not say. Nothing will speak to them more deeply emotionally than simple acts of service like making them tea or doing the dishes.

    Offering a free wrapping service to customers in your shop or opening the door for someone are simple ways retailers and their staff can appeal to people who speak this love language. Making your team members a cup of tea or helping them with tasks from time to time will make them feel more appreciated.

    3. Receiving Gifts

    For some people what makes them feel most loved is a gift. Whilst gift giving is universal, what many people do not understand is that for some this is their primary love language and makes them feel most cared for. It’s the thought that counts here.

    Sending a greeting card to these customers thanking them for their business or even just to wish them Merry Christmas will mean a lot. See how your customers and staff respond to receiving gifts or look out for them not feeling acknowledged using the other languages to identify that this is their primary love language. Bring some treats in from your local bakery and remember to get them a little something at Christmas time.

    4. Quality Time

    For some people, nothing says “I love you” like your full, undivided attention. If you hear complaints about not spending enough time together, then turn off the TV, put down your book and look into your partner’s eyes, listen and interact. Men, if your wife walks in the room whilst you are watching the game, turn off the sound and don’t take your eyes off her. If she engages you in conversation turn off the box and give her your undivided attention. She will feel loved and you will bank major brownie points if this is her primary love language.

    When dealing with customers make good eye contact and stay present and focussed on them whilst serving. If they are regular customers, asking after their families and how their day is going are ways to connect deeply with those that use this as their primary love language. Similarly some members of your team will really enjoy you spending some quality teamwork time with them.

    5. Physical Touch

    To this person, nothing speaks more deeply than the appropriate physical touch. Simple gestures like putting your hand on your husband’s shoulder as you walk by or holding hands whilst walking will light up their day.

    One study followed shoppers who entered a bookstore alone and were handed a catalogue then were either touched lightly on the upper arm or not. The touched group shopped 63% longer, spent 23 % more, and had a high higher opinion of the store. Touch can be misinterpreted in the workplace so one has to be considerate with this one. The elbow is the safest place and it must be light and brief. Outside the arm area - backs, legs and hands - are no go zones at work.

    Wait, I can’t do this!

    What if it’s difficult and doesn’t come naturally to you to speak some of these languages? If you choose to love or care for others you will find the appropriate way to express that decision every day. You learn to speak a new language by trying. Like all new things, it will get easier over time.

    You can love your wife, your staff or your customers, but if you don’t show it in a way that is meaningful to them your caring will fall on deaf ears and will not resonate in the same way as it will if you understand and use their primary love language.

    Make the Time

    It’s easy to love others who they are loving us. When we are treated well it’s no biggie to be nice back. The true test of how much you care about people in your life is how we react when they complain or don’t respond to something that you feel is loving or caring. The time when you feel annoyed or disgruntled by these situations is most valuable to you if you stop, listen and consider the love language they wish to be spoken to in. It’s not always the case that we don’t love one another, sometimes we simply aren’t speaking the same language.

    When you take the time to understand the needs of your partner or customers you will find it much easier to resolve conflicts and your relationships will become bountiful. The more resentment and anger you harbour the worse off you will be. Take a moment to think about the five love languages and how you can use them to have a lovely time with all those important people in your life.

    I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all my lovely readers, customers, suppliers, staff, family and friends.I am grateful for being able to spend time with you. You are amazing. I hope that you’ve found these posts to be of some service. Sending you lots of hugs and happiness. Here's a special gift just for you. I hope you have a very merry and prosperous Christmas. See you in 2016!

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  • Festive Friday 2015 at Blue Eyed Sun

    Festive Friday 2015 - Blue Eyed Sun

    It's Festive Friday today, the day that kick starts UK Christmas card sending. A welcome antidote to Black Friday, when we take time to think of all those we care about and get busy writing and sending them Christmas cards.

    The UK Greeting Card Association launched the Festive Friday campaign two years ago to encourage card publishers and retailers to send their Christmas cards early to help remind everyone to remember to send theirs. There are around 100,000 people working directly and indirectly with the UK card industry. If each of us sends 10 Christmas cards to arrive in the first week of December it will have a fantastic ripple effect from those first million gestures. Last year had a fantastic effect on our industry and we hope that this fun initiative will continue for many years to come.

    At Blue Eyed Sun we've been getting into the Christmas spirit ourselves and held a 'christmas card writing hour' for our team to write and send cards to their loved ones. We sponsored the cards, their time and the postage to support the GCA campaign. All our team had to do was to write as many cards as they wanted to in the hour. We managed 106 Christmas cards between us, which will be making their way via Royal Mail over the weekend to their lucky recipients.

    Our team had a lot of fun on Festive Friday 2015 with Christmas jumpers and Santa hats to get us in the mood. It's a wonderful feeling when we think about all of the love going out into the world from this short amount of time dedicated to card sending and we recommend it to anyone involved in the card industry.

    Even if you are not in the card industry, it is a special time of year to connect with your customers, friends and loved ones. Send them a nice Christmas card with a warm message in it expressing your gratitude and wishing them all the best for the New Year. We hope you enjoy spreading festive cheer around the world.

    Remember that cards really can have valuable emotional impact in your loved ones' lives.

    There are only a few days left to get cards in the post though, so do get started this week. I've listed the Royal Mail's last posting dates below. Want to print this info out for your customers? Click here to download the dates in a PDF.

    Find out more about Blue Eyed Sun's Christmas cards for 2015 here. Available at all good card retailers.

    Worried about the cost? Read the truth about How Royal Mail's price increases affect your card sending costs here.

    Festive Friday 2015Royal Mail Latest Posting Dates Christmas 2015

  • Social Psychology in Social Media

    Social Psychology in Social MediaIt’s not uncommon for companies to question the business case behind using social media. ‘What’s the Return on Investment (ROI)?’ management ask. The fact of the matter is that we are social beings by nature and this brave new world of social media is a digital extension of the way we operate in real life.

    A friend of mine recently told me that if he was to walk into a particular upmarket hotel in Hong Kong tomorrow the concierge and staff would greet like a long lost friend and ask after his wife and family, despite him never spending a night there. It’s not that they are particularly over friendly in this hotel, this happens because my friend is what is known as a familiar stranger.

    This is one of several examples of social psychology that offers another way of thinking about the business case for using social media more regularly:

    The Familiar Stranger

    We all have them in our lives, people that we recognise from regular activities, but with whom we do not interact. They are visual rather than verbal relationships where both parties maintain anonymity. Particularly common in urban environments, a good example of a familiar stranger would be someone you see on your regular commute to work, but never speak with. In the case of my friend, the staff in the hotel felt close to him because they had seen him around the lobby and the bar on a regular basis. As a policeman and security specialist he has used this technique to infiltrate secure buildings.

    If you exist on social media you are opening yourself up to a larger number of familiar strangers to become aware of you and what you do. You will be surprised at the number of people who watch and listen on these networks and become interested in you as you go about your business online, even though they never engage directly with you. Becoming a digital familiar stranger can also help you bypass gatekeepers to get to those all important sales contacts.

    The Power of Crowds

    Have you ever joined a crowd without knowing why? One social psychology study arranged for collaborators to stand together and stare up at a film camera on the sixth floor window above a busy city street. Only 4% of passers by stopped and looked up a single person was standing there doing this same, whereas 40% stopped if 15 people were already there gazing upwards. The crowd had a contagious effect on behaviour. Modern studies show variances on how this works today.

    What I find most interesting about this experiment is the small number of collaborators you need to attract a bigger crowd. You might only need fifteen people staring up at your blog and engaging with your Facebook pages for more passing people to be drawn to your business to see what everyone else is looking at.

    It’s a Small World

    Many believe that we are all connected to one another by six degrees of separation. In other words you could start with a farmer in Outer Mongolia who would know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone who knows US President Obama. This idea has been popularised by the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game.

    We are probably all more closely connected to the people we wish to connect with than we think. That important buyer, that key supplier or that particular customer we are hoping to connect with is just a hop, skip and a jump away on social media. LinkedIn in particular tracks how our networks are connected.

    Weaker Links

    The people we love and feel the most connected to us are often the ones we value the most in our lives. Yet studies have shown that it is actually the weaker links in our networks of relationships that can be the most valuable to us when landing better jobs. In other words it’s not always our close friends that help us with our careers, but our peripheral acquaintances.

    Having a wide range of relationships and connections is possible on the variety of social media tools we have for managing our relationships. If you are not using these tools you are missing out on developing these relationships and the opportunities that come with them.

    We all know elements of these social psychology experiments to be true having seen aspects of them in our everyday lives. Yet many people and businesses put off joining social media networks or engaging on them because they are so focussed on direct returns rather than seeing the bigger picture of going well in the digital world and convincing by our digital presence.

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  • 6 Business Lessons from the Rugby World Cup

    Jean De Villiers - Jeremy Corner - WRC2015Having been born in Cape Town and a Springboks fan all my life, I have been in rugby heaven over the last couple of months as the Rugby World Cup, that is contested every four years, has been played at a variety of football and rugby grounds throughout the UK.

     

    Despite the risk to my marriage by abandoning my wife for so many weekends, I have been fortunate enough to attend many of the games and thought I’d share with you some lessons I have learned during this time. It didn’t start well for my team though…

     

    1. Don’t be too overconfident

    The first rugby world cup game I went to was Japan vs South Africa at Brighton’s Amex stadium. It was to be my son’s first ever match and the night before I asked Sam who he was going to support. “Who are you supporting, Daddy?” he asked. “South Africa,” I replied. “I’ll support Japan,” he announced. Knowing my son doesn’t like to lose, I tried to get him to change his mind as South Africa were fielding their most experienced side with 851 caps between them, they’d never lost an opening match and Japan had not won a single world cup game since 1991. Nobody gave Japan a chance, yet win they did by 34-32.  As I was eating humble pie on the train home, my son leant in and shared his thoughts on the South African team, “Daddy you shouldn’t be too over confident or you won’t try hard enough.”

     

    This is so true of business, success can get in the way of you trying hard so be sure to always give your very best and never over estimate your chances of success.

     

    2. The true value of games

    Whilst I was gutted to see South Africa lose to Japan in undoubtedly the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history, I was thrilled for my son as we got to share the experience of everything I love about sport. No game has a given result until the final whistle blows and even underdogs can triumph. The Japanese played with discipline, hard work and focus. They were losing until the dying minutes and had two opportunities to take a penalty kick for a draw. Instead they chose to push on for a try, which would secure them the extra points they needed for victory. This self belief and courage was so inspiring that even South African supporters had to acknowledge that the Cherry Blossoms were great to watch. The men played with real heart and one had a real sense of the Japanese warrior spirit that day. The tournament came alive that weekend and many other teams have risen to the occasion in matches that have since followed.

     

    No matter how tough it can feel in business when things aren’t going well, digging deep and pushing hard can turn the whole experience around and be the making of you. Never give up.

     

    3. Manners maketh the man

    Football is famously differentiated from rugby by being defined as a gentleman’s game played by ruffians and rugby a ruffian’s game played by gentleman. That is not to say that rugby is without the odd ruffling of feathers between players, especially after after a late or high tackle. It is however predominantly pervaded by a sense of discipline and respect. I purchased a special ear piece at the ground which allows you to hear the microphone on the referee and often picks up the voices of nearby players. It’s a fascinating insight into how the men on the field conduct themselves. They are polite, considerate and respectful of the referee and the rules of the game. They can be incredibly sporting too as shown by Sonny Bill Williams with South African player Jesse Kriel here.

     

    Business can sometimes feel a bit rough and one can feel hard done by when a competitor challenges you. How you conduct yourself in such circumstances shows strength of character. Being polite and respectful has long term effects on your business and those you work for. If you need to lose your temper save it for the privacy of your dressing room.

     

    4. Simplify your KPI’s

    One of the Kiwis in our group shared an interesting lesson from a recent talk by the All Black’s coach, Steve Hansen. The New Zealand team simplified their team’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) down to just four key areas: scrums, line outs, tackling and catching the ball. I found it insightful that the defending world champions simplified their performance analysis in this way. We discussed how to simplify the KPI’s in my Kiwi friend’s business and decided that his two most important KPI’s are 1) customer satisfaction 2) referrals. Without customer satisfaction his clients wouldn’t recommend him. As referrals were his primary source of new business and new accounts were worth six figures to him, building systems around these two KPI’s was clearly going to benefit his business.

     

    How do you currently track your business performance? Is it simple or is it over complicated? We live in a world full of data. Sometimes too much of it can mean that we cannot see the wood for the trees. Keep it simple.

     

    5. The bounce of the ball

    You’ve probably heard the infamous joke that “Rugby is a game played by men with odd shaped balls.” The shape of the ball has a huge effect on the game as one can never be sure of how it will be bounce. I was lucky enough to recently spend some time with South African rugby captain Jean de Villiers, whose international career was sadly ended by a broken jaw in the Samoa match. He pointed out that there are things like luck that are outside of your control that can affect the the game. The bounce of the ball, the nationality of the referee and the weather can all impact the way a match goes. How you choose to respond as a team is key. If the ball bounces well, you need to be in the right place to catch it. If it doesn’t you have to adapt and compromise.

     

    There are things that are outside of your company that you cannot control too. The economy, mishaps and a changing world all have an impact on our businesses. Being prepared and able to respond quickly when things bounce in our favour is just as important as being realistic and adapting when they don’t.

     

    6. Team work

    During the World Cup, New York Hedge fund manager and avid South African supporter, David Berman, showed me the similarities between rugby teams and chess. Each chess piece has a points value in the game. The king is the highest (as without him the game is over), the queen is next highest, then the castle, then knights, bishops and down to the pawns with the lowest value of one point. Excluding the king, the points are based on how much each piece can move around the board. A queen can get to more squares than a rook and many more than a pawn. One can allocate points to each rugby team member in a similar way by looking at how capable they are as a player and how likely the are in their position to touch the ball. Those that are more capable need to be in positions where they can handle the ball a lot more. One must remember too that whilst the better players need to be able to play to their strengths, each team member has an important role to play in any team including the pawns, without whom the game would soon be over.

     

    Are your best people in the key positions that allow them to play to their strengths within your team? Do you value every team member and recognise their importance to your entire business? When teams click and work well together they are tough to beat.

     

    I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun it has been travelling the UK following the Rugby World Cup. I'm hugely grateful to my good friend Anthony who helped me get to so many games. We had a blast in Newcastle, Birmingham, Cardiff and London. The fans have been friendly and England has been a fantastic host. I’ve made new friends and reconnected with old ones too. I’ve even taken home some food for thought for our business. I hope you have too.

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  • Why you should always listen first on Social Media

    Always Listen First

    The natural instinct when first using social media for business is to shout what you do from the rooftops. We see it all the time on platforms like Twitter. New users view it as another marketing or advertising channel in the same way that they might advertise in a magazine or newspaper. They sign up and blast out their sales message.

    None of us like to be sold to though, do we? We should all know better. It’s like turning up to a party and shouting through a megaphone at people that you have a buy one get one free deal. People are likely to tell you to ‘bogof yourself’.

    As my friend Baiju Solanki often says, the secret to success on Twitter is to always listen first. For a start you need to know where your customers or potential customers are on Twitter, how they are interacting and what they are interested in. You can’t do that without listening.

    Think of your social media goals as a flourishing, abundant, fruitful orchard that you are trying to create. First you have to find the right climate for your trees to grow, then you need to identify the soil the seeds will flourish in and what sort of nutrients they will need and how often they need feeding. If you overwater a plant you can kill it. Similarly if you don’t give it enough it won’t flourish. You can’t know and do all of this without paying attention, watching and listening first.

    So how do you do this for your retail outlet? First, sit down and draw a mind map of your shop. Write your business name in the middle of it. How your customers relate to it? Are they from a specific town or geographic area? Are they a certain demographic? What is the typical profile of your top customers? What do they like to do? How do they like to shop? Where do they like to shop? What TV shows do they like? What are their interests? Next look at your products. What do you sell? What products sell best in your store? What do customers love to buy from you? Why? What key words best describe your retail experience? You can add more to your mind map as you go. This is just to get you started.

    Once you have your keywords on your mind map, start searching for them in the search bar at the top right of your Twitter page. Start following people who are using the phrases and keywords on your mind map or those that have them in their bio. Create Twitter lists to make them easier to manage as your account grows. They help you to filter the volume in your normal feed. You can also download tools like Hootsuite, which let you track keywords constantly in the Twitter feed.

    As you grow these lists you can see how they behave and what they are interested in discussing. Some may even have specific weekly chats they engage in using the # symbol. This is all part of understanding the climate and requirements of the trees in your orchard. When you are ready start engaging, do it in a way that is not motivated by selling. Make friends as you would ordinarily. Be polite, courteous and helpful. If you have a sense of humour that will help, as long as you avoid anything potentially offensive to people.

    Over time you will also learn which of your friends online care about you and are supportive of what you do and which are just in it for themselves. Once you have earned the right in your community (through sharing, caring and contribution) to tweet your own message you can do so. You must keep your sales messages in moderate proportion to your overall supportive messages in which your orchard prefers to flourish. One doesn’t harvest fruit from an orchard without taking good care of it.

    Being social means caring and contributing. It’s not all about you. There are thousands of other people who are in the room with you. Think of social media as offering a variety of business benefits rather than just direct sales. Twitter is a fantastic tool for improving the way you do things and having a better understanding of your business.

    5 Ways Retailers Can Listen on Social Media:

    1. Search for discussions on your store

    What are people saying about you? You need to know how you are perceived online.

    2. Solicit feedback from your customers

    What else do they want from you? Be brave, ask them and listen carefully.

    3. Where can you improve?

    Learn from fellow businesses that are sharing best practice online

    4. Are there more opportunities?

    Watch your competitors to see what you are missing

    5. Can you grow your sales?

    Listen to your suppliers They know what lines sell best from their offering.

    Listening is one of 7 Key Habits of Highly Effective Retailers - Discover the remaining habits here

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