DIT Masters in Professional Practice  – the perfect qualification for SME Sector!

If you have been considering doing a Masters programme this year but have been put off by   lengthy academic programmes and concerns about going back to education when you’re trying to run a small business, the DIT awarded Masters in Professional Practice, kicking off this November, is just the right programme for you. This highly regarded programme has three major advantages over other taught Masters programmes:

Taking […]

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• Categories: Personal Effectiveness, Uncategorized
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In our case study on customer retention, we interview Janine Patterson of Sodexo. She explains how, over the past seven years, Sodexo has steadily increased its customer loyalty levels. Today Sodexo Ireland is outperforming Sodexo’s global average with over 95% retention levels. It’s an amazing achievement. But it starts in an unusual place – first you’ve got to let some of your customers go. Find out more…..

This article was published in the June 2013 issue of Hotel & Restaurant Times.https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59286216/Sodexo%27s%20Customer%20Retention%20Strategy.pdf

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• Categories: Customer Experience, Customer Loyalty, Customer Retention, Marketing, Strategy
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New Year’s Resolutions and Falling off the Wagon

Some New Year's Resolutions Just Don't Stick – Even with Glue

Laden with guilt, extra weight and fear of going broke, it’s no wonder we are all suckers for New Year’s Resolutions. I make pretty much the same ones every year and like boomerangs, they always  come back, unchanged by their flight into wishful thinking.

I’m reminded of that scene in the hit film Airplane, when Lloyd Bridges realises he’s taken on too […]

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• Categories: Personal Effectiveness
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We are so seduced by those short, self-administered tests that promise to reveal our ‘true north’. They will help us identify all sorts of hidden strengths, from our ability to brainstorm through to our natural leadership talent. The fact that it only takes 60 seconds to run the test is also a big attraction…..

But now and then, you may come across a really worthwhile article that goes beyond the over-simplified diagnosis so beloved of the Cosmo-style questionnaire.

In January 2011, McKinsey […]

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• Categories: Marketing, Strategy
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Work-Out – GE's Continuous Improvement Programme

I was recently facilitating a Work-Out session with a very dynamic company. We were focusing on building change from the bottom up, engaging staff by asking them what their solutions were to problems. But we had a problem. Staff were coming up with great action points but were then finding it difficult to work on their ideas once they went back to their desks. We were stalling because the old excuse ‘I’m too busy’ was […]

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• Categories: Business Communications, Personal Effectiveness
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Lads, I've just got a great idea!

So you’ve cut the costs to the bone. You’re working with half the numbers you worked with three years ago. Your team is feeling demotivated and you’ve run out of ideas. Are you stuck? Not at all. Like Michael Caine in The Italian Job, it’s a case of: “Just a minute, Lads. I’ve got a great idea!”

Talk to the people who are closest to the challenge. Recently I’ve been working with a number of […]

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• Categories: Business Communications, Customer Experience, Marketing, Selling
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