Have a rant - I'm going to!

What's your pet peeve?

Is it queuing at the supermarket, listening to endless automated phone instructions before you get through to a human being, overseas call centres where no-one understand each other, loud conversations on mobile phones or the sound of skateboards on pavements?

Let's face it, we all have peeves. And peeves add to our stress levels, sometimes more than others. 

I was once driven to distraction by the sound of screaming youngsters endlessly knocking a football around the cul-de-sac where I lived at the time. Plants would get damaged, cars dented and nerves frayed - but still the parents didn't heed neighbours' pleas to show a little respect.

I read recently that such incidents, if they go on for a long time, can have a detrimental effect on our mental and therefore possibly physical health. I'm not surprised. Anything which causes irritation consistently (like a dripping tap, scratching on a chalk board etc) really does make one's hackles rise. I know the footballing kids gave me many migraines.

For me now, it's screaming babies and toddlers where parents don't do anything about it, people who park on my driveway without permission and block me in, inconsiderate neighbours, reality TV shows - and the list goes on. 

I have become a grumpy old woman. 

To make me feel I'm not alone, do let me know your pet peeves. And please don't say it's anyone who asks what your pet peeves are!

pla·gia·rism/ˈplājəˌrizəm/ Noun: The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

I'm interested in your views.

I've had my website copied (images and content), my LinkedIn connections systematically trawled through and used, and my clients contacted.

Now I know this is the real world. Stuff happens. And I've been known to look through the web for inspiration myself. Yes, LinkedIn is all about connecting to new people via connections but what about netiquette, doesn't that count or is that being a tad naive?

Here's the thing (in the words of that truly ground-breaking PR from the telly, Siobhan Sharpe, Head of Brand at Perfect Curve - "2012", BBC): should I get irritated by this flagrant copying, should I be flattered, should I be saddened that such people have no original ideas themselves nor ways to get their own clients, or should I grin knowingly, shrug my shoulders and get on with something more important?

One thing I've noticed though - the perpetrators have all been women. Come on sisters, shouldn't you be doing it for yourselves?

You know who you are. Actually, and please note, so do I.

Other folk out there in social media land - what do you think? 

It always pays to know what your clients do - especially if it means you have to be pampered in the process!

As PR and marketing consultant to a wide variety of different clients, I need to know just the right amount about their businesses. Not too much, as it's their business not mine and they're the experts. Not too little, as I can't promote what they do effectively.


So, purely in the interest of research you understand, dear reader, I couldn't pass up the offer of a spa pedicure at a leading beauty salon in the area, Euphoric, a client I've been working with this year. 


Of course I'd been to the salon several times before, given advice on business matters, PR and marketing, image, branding and so on. I'd even been to take photos for a press release and been there for support my client as she was filmed for her first corporate video. I'd looked at the products and all the state-of-the-art equipment - some of which looks just like something out of Transformers.


I thought I knew what needed to be known about pedicures. But I was wrong. I'd never had a 'spa pedicure' before. 


Now let's be clear - my feet are not my best feature. Far from it. Working as hard as I do, there's very little time for pampering treatments and I have to admit I don't take much care of my feet these days. 


After a warm welcome to the salon, I was encouraged to relax with a drink of my choice and then I met Katie, who would be braving the delights of my plates (of meat, I'm a Londoner). I duly chose a shade of OPI nail polish for my toes I was taken into a relaxing treatment room where a warm foot soak awaited. But the best was still to come...


The couch was just sooooo comfy, the lights were dimmed, the music played something soothing - and Katie started her magic. For an hour and a half, my feet were smoothed, massaged, lotioned, potioned and primped. I lost count of how many times I drifted off; when the lights went up, I looked down at my extremities and shining back up at me was a delightful pair of feet, barely recognisable from the 'before' version! And the bonus was - I felt wonderfully relaxed for the first time in ages. 


So what did I learn from this experience?! I can now promote my client even better with the benefit of having experienced one of their wonderful treatments. AND I'll certainly go back for more in the future, so they've certainly won another client themselves. 


Several questions arise, though ... which treatment will I choose next time, and shall I take my own advice when it comes to experiencing my dentist client's business?!!


Check out Euphoric on www.euphoric-beauty.co.uk to see more about the treatment I had, plus all the others.

How effective communications can save lives

Recently I have had to spend much time at an NHS hospital where a close relative is very poorly. 


During my hours there, partly spent talking to consultants, doctors and nurses of every rank, and partly spent sitting by the bed watching what goes on, I have come to two conclusions about communications.


Firstly, with each different department and ward my relative was on, contact details were at least eight years out of date. This matters because if they had to get in touch with next of kin urgently either to update or to take instruction, they couldn't. It also matters because if the contact details are out of date, what else is? Maybe the patient information, maybe the medication information - it doesn't exactly instil confidence. Worse still, having told each department or ward the right information, it wasn't passed on either to Central Records to put it right, or to the next department or ward - so I have to keep remembering to check.


Secondly, in certain units there is little communication about patients between staff during shift changes. On one occasion I gave some important, useful and perhaps crucial information. During a subsequent phone call I asked what had been done, to be told: "People are only supposed to be on this unit for one or two days so there's never much of a shift briefing". How outrageous is that? The unit in question is for serious medical problems - won't they get more serious (possibly life-threatening) if staff don't know what's really going on? 


Let me make one thing very clear, dear readers, the care given by doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants is second to none. I'm highlighting a need for more effective, joined-up communications - from the top down, cross-departmentally and from grass roots up.


Is it likely to happen in the NHS? Am I hopeful? What do you think?


And don't get me started on the topic of charging for car parks in hospitals!

Note to self : work/life balance means just that!

It seems an age since I had any time off. I've been working like a demon. Long days and short nights. Weekends. 


It's the Easter break coming up and I have four days on the trot to fill in. I started to plan which projects I could fit into the days to maximum effect without the distraction of multitudinous emails and phone calls. Then I had a revelation: it's meant to be holiday time for a reason. 


And as this thought permeated through my brain, I felt a release. I gave myself permission to relax and take time out. 


I've always been a great advocate of effective time management balanced with periods of relaxation and rejuvenation, to other people including my clients. I know I should be practising what I preach and actually normally I do - but somewhere along the line, I've become so busy with deadlines and workloads there just hasn't been enough time for me.


So today I have made a decision. I am taking this afternoon off (I still need to close off those impending deadlines this morning) and starting my Easter break early. My clients, I'm sure, will appreciate they need me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Tuesday morning, ready to start all over again. A revelation indeed!


Now ... just what needs doing around the house over the weekend; what jobs shall I start first?!! Oh dear, here I go again!

"Our managers don't talk to customers" says major company ...

Last week I had the misfortune to have something go wrong with an oven which I have covered by an insurance policy. I say misfortune because it was bad enough it went wrong just before dinner - but also because it was the start of some dreadful customer service and PR.


Of course the insurance company blamed the manufacturers for not being able to get to me quickly and passed me on to them. It seemed I would have to wait ten days for an engineer to call as no-one would be in my area. And no oven-cooked meals till then! 


I'm not going to go into the lengthy process I encountered but suffice to say the young woman,  third or fourth on the list of customer service assistants I had to speak to, gave me a quote upon which I will dine out for years (excuse the pun). She said, when I asked to speak with a manager, "Our managers don't talk to customers". Excuse me??! Are they too important or aren't they capable of communication, in which case why are they managers?


The result - an angry customer, presumably what the company least wants. An angry customer will tell other people how they feel, resulting in bad PR. An angry customer probably won't renew their insurance policy so they'll lose business. 


This angry customer sent out a tweet. Within an hour, the manufacturers tweeted back with a direct email and I had a new part fitted within the day - as it turned out the engineer was in my area that day after all. I didn't have to wait the ten days originally quoted.


Now that level of customer service was clearly achievable so why did I have to blow a gasket (that's another insurance policy altogether!) for it to be done?


Companies, please raise the bar and remember your customers are paying for reasonable service. Here's a thought: get rid of managers who won't talk to customers, get more people on the road and get some common sense training for your customer service teams.


Now that's what I call enhancing your reputations.

The Power of the Bite Size Chunk

I was just having a conversation with one of my wonderful clients about the piles of admin lurking ominously around her office, growing at an alarming rate in a triffid-like fashion, and how they created a sort of resentment, denial and desire for them to disappear magically.


"Bite size chunks" said I, gleeful in the knowledge I had tackled mine in a four-day admin massacre before New Year. I then explained my interpretation of the power of the bite size chunk...


If we view the demon in a David and Goliath way, we may never be brave enough to take on the challenge and it grows and grows in our minds creating a barrier to further progress. But believing we can bring the monster down in powerful stages doesn't make the situation seem so daunting and thereby becomes a manageable task.


Of course this isn't rocket science and has been said a million and one times before, but sometimes it just takes someone outside of the triffid zone to remind you! 


So my advice for the New Year is when something seems so unmanageable you don't even want to make a start (like my wardrobe clear-out!), remember the power of the bite size chunk and get your teeth round the first bite today.