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Lahore Leadership Masterclass
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MCB Bank, CEO and top team
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Karachi Leadership Masterclass
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Kuwait CEO Masterclass
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Mumbai Business Growth Masterclass
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| Staying in the Helicopter Workshop |
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The Academy for Chief Executives
Middlesborough
Tuesday 6 July 2010
8.30am - 12.30 pm
More information:
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| Staying in the Helicopter Masterclass |
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Sheraton Hotel
Club Road
Karachi, Pakistan
Friday 16 July 2010
More information:
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| Exclusive CEO Masterclass |
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The Capital Club
DIFC
Dubai, UAE
Monday 19 July 2010
9.00am - 5.00pm
More information:
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| Staying in the Helicopter Workshop |
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The Academy for Chief Executives
Gibraltar
Thursday & Friday 23-24 September 2010
More information:
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The Helicopter
Business Alert Vol6 No2
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Q2/2010
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I was recently in Kuwait for the first time in many years. It is a delightful, hospitable, country where I was made to feel extremely welcome. There is a ancient tradition in Kuwait of "diwaniya" which is simply "open house". Many people throughout the country regularly, usually weekly, open their house to anyone - absolutely anyone - to come along, sit down and chat about anything and stay as long as they like.
I had the privilege of being taken to three diwaniyas including one in the home of a an MP. It was a fascinating experience and Kuwaitis say that one of the reasons that they have never had a history of extremists is because of diwaniyas - where everything is discussed and, as a general rule, extremist views don't thrive.
I ran a business growth Masterclass in Kuwait for 150 people including top industrialists and members of the government and I was presented with an amazing gift of a Kuwaiti ship encapsulated in glass.
I'm very much looking forward to going back again.
I've also had the pleasure of speaking at the annual conference of the Association of British Travel Agents to France (ABTOF) in Lille recently. I was interested to find that Lille, a city associated with coal mining and dourness, has been totally transformed it is now a delightful modern city and with it being less than an hour's drive from Calais I'd recommend a visit.
OK - hands up anyone who has been listening to someone speak, either in-company or in public, where the Powerpoint slides detracted from rather than enhanced the presentation
- every single one of us I am sure!
People talk about death by Powerpoint but for me it's something quite different - not even just "death by a bullet point" - it's more fundamental than that. I have got so annoyed by the number of occasions that I see it used merely as a lazy "prop" for the speaker to read from or used quite inappropriately I recently recorded a short video on YouTube: "How to really use PowerPoint" . Have a look here
I often get emails from companies offering to get my website higher up the search engine rankings by using SEO -search engine optimisation - and the vast majority give the appearance of being complete cowboys and I've avoided them up until now. Imagine my pleasure therefore when I was recommended to a local company "Momentum" who are real professionals in this business and I commissioned them earlier this year to have a look at my site to see what more I could do to get up the search engine rankings to complement the Google Adwords work and I already have done.
They produced a very enlightening and comprehensive report and ran a workshop to explain their findings. We are now using this to revamp my website with my web designers RockKitchenHarris and I'm excited to see this going live shortly.
By the way - what is the second largest search engine after Google? Here's a clue: it's owned by Google....answer YouTube. It gets 5 billion views a day! - and no matter what your business you should be using it to promote your business. Here's my YouTube channel
Without getting political - I'm concerned whether our governments really know how to cut costs effectively - which so many have to do.
See my article below.
Let me remind you of the "Helicopter"
awards for outstanding service and for lousy
service.
Two "Golden Helicopter" Awards and three
"Ditched Helicopter" this time.
I welcome nominations in either category.
Explanations of why they're being recommended
should be put on my blog to back up the
listing.
Click here
to follow me on Twitter
I hope you enjoy this newsletter and find it
valuable and may I thank you for your support
and smiles.
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Do govenments know how to cut costs effectively? - Do you?
When I first started out in general management and indeed for a number of years afterwards it was in a climate of a decline in Britain's traditional engineering industries and I was often in the difficult position of having to reduce costs dramatically and usually make people redundant. The first time I had to do this I didn't sleep at night and was one of the most difficult things I ever had to do in businesses. Nevertheless it had to be done - for the benefit of all - and those years taught me some powerful lessons.
All around the world now we have governments in the position of simply having to cut costs. They have no choice - their outgoings, particularly in relation to interest payments on debt, are now significantly exceeding their income and they have to correct that.
The lessons that I learned are somewhat stark and brutal but they are these: firstly, if you want to cut costs significantly you have to cut people - they are by far the biggest cost for most organisations and if you are going to cut people you have got to start at the top.
Rarely do I see this happening. I was working with an accounting practice last year and they asked me to run a one day workshop for their 22 partners. I had a phone call one day asking if they could delay the workshop because they had just made 10% of their people redundant "of course" I said "I assume that means there will only be 20 partners there now?". There was a silence followed by " well no - we just making people redundant at the lower levels".
That is bad management - not only is it bad in terms of the way it's viewed by employees and the psychological effect on the company - with only be lower levels affected, but it's also bad management in terms of cost savings. If you want to make significant cost savings the big costs are at the top - and that's where you should start, difficult as it may be.
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The Professions CAN market themselves successfully
- Case Study: Jackson Barrett & Gass legal practice
by Tabitha Barda
The brief
The legal sector is still relatively wet behind the ears when it comes to marketing, so when Manchester law firm Jackson Barrett & Gass (JB&G) hired the even younger Rick Barrow as its first marketing manager, some legal wigs were turned. With only seven staff members, the marketing department had suddenly become a major part of the firm's operations.
But old fashioned attitudes to legal marketing are having to change as competition heats up, says CIM affiliate member Barrow, and the marketplace is soon set to open up further when the so‑called "Tesco law" comes in to play, allowing third-party ownership of law firms.
"In October 2007 I joined a historic firm with an excellent reputation and client-care focus. However, I was starting all marketing activity from scratch," says Barrow. "While our local presence was relatively strong, years without marketing had affected our market share."
The strategy
Faced with so blank a canvas, Barrow needed a hook on which to hang his marketing vision. "I came across Home Information Packs, or 'HIPs', which at the time had only recently been introduced," he says.
Legally required in order to market a property for sale, HIPs must contain certain documents such as an EPC (energy performance certificate) and may include additional information about the condition of the house and the surrounding area.
Roundly resented as extra work and a waste of time by house buyers, sellers and estate agents alike, Barrow spotted an opportunity for his firm to create a unique selling point.
"Despite their negative image, I still considered HIPs a potential marketing platform for our firm because I identified the benefits of customer loyalty and lifetime value that they could generate. HIPs are prepared prior to a house sale and therefore prior to any legal work, which is where our main area of business lies," explains Barrow.
"Also, whether people like it or not, they are legally required to have one to sell their home. While HIPs are technically a legal document, I saw that non-legal companies had taken aggressive market share, having forged strong links with estate agents, often with the payment of referral fees. The legal market either ignored HIPs, or missed the chance to take the lead in producing them."
Barrow decided to embark on a customer acquisition plan, producing high quality and good value HIPs as the bait with which to attract new clients, in the hope that they would make use of the firm's legal services later on in the conveyancing process.
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The 6 Truths of Life
1. You cannot touch all your top teeth with your tongue.
2. All idiots, after reading the first truth, will try it.
3. And discover that The first truth is a lie and feel superior because they can do it.
4. You're smiling now because you're an idiot.
5... You soon will copy this to another idiot.
6. There's still a stupid smile on your face.
I apologize about this.
I found out that I was an idiot too and I needed company...
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Interesting Stuff
For years I've been looking for something replace the old fashioned OHP projector - but using my laptop & LCD projector.
It's arrived! PaperShow . I've just used it for the first time in earnest at my Masterclass in India and it is simply brilliant.
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Have a look at this map of the world - All countries are best at something!
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I love this Aussie take on the European debt crisis
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Posterous - A dead simple place to post everything!
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Workers at the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen went on strike because all beer had been removed from work fridges and lunchtime-only drinking was introduced. In the past workers helped themselves to beer anytime in the day - so long as they didn't get drunk!
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The world's first gold vending machine has been installed in Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace Hotel. Called "Gold to Go' it vends one gram, five gram and 10 gram gold bars.
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The "Helicopter" Service Awards
I find myself increasingly putting the
service I receive
from organisations into one of two categories
either "outstanding" or " lousy" - there doesn't
seem to be just 'average' any more.
I've introduced therefore
"Golden Helicopter"
outstanding service awards and "Ditched
Helicopter" lousy service awards
You'll find the story behind each in my Blog
Please add your comments and any
recommendations of your own for awards.
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Ditched Helicopter Awards
- for Lousy Service
Costa Coffee
Barclaycard
The Meat Company
Alfa Romeo
British Airways -
again!!
Abbey
National Bank
Seven Sands Hotel,
Dubai
Air
India
PaperShow
Ripples
Bathrooms and
Keramag
Find out why here
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Roger Harrop spent 25 years leading
businesses at the highest level putting him
in a unique position to deal with
contemporary business challenges. He
inspires, motivates and entertains his
audiences with his acclaimed Staying in the
Helicopter series of speeches, seminars,
workshops and masterclasses focused on
transformational profitable growth. Over
10000 CEOs, business leaders and others have
achieved massive growth in profits and sales
through his thought provoking and
entertaining speeches laced with real-life
stories, anecdotes and humour. He is Past
President of The Professional Speakers
Association and a Speaker of the Year with
The Academy for Chief Executives
What People Say
"Roger, we have seen a sustained
increase in
revenues and profits as a direct result of
attending
your workshop. Thankyou ! "
Martin Mulligan, CEO,
Martin
Mulligan Group Limited
"Without question Roger's workshops have
been the catalyst in enabling our six operating
companies to unlock the door to profitable
growth and
without exception, everyone has a real desire
to be in
the renewal room and when there, reside in it
permanently!"
Trevor Hebdon,
CEO, H&H
Group plc
"Roger Harrop's Helicopter analogy is a
great one. Having the skills to rise above
the clouds to set the vision and see the big
picture, but also the ability to fly down low
and drive the details are both essential
skills for a successful President or General
Manager. Roger's pragmatic approach and
outstanding delivery make his message
meaningful for all audiences."
Dan Daniel,
Group Executive, Danaher
Corporation
"The sessions were really good - Roger is
particularly skilled at asking the right
questions to make you find the answers to
move forward yourselves as opposed to telling
you what to do. He is a perceptive man who
is clearly skilled in motivating and getting
the best out of people. It is refreshing to
see the train of thought his influence has
provoked company wide."
Caroline Singleton, Sales Representative,
Thomas
Graham & Sons Limited
"It is no coincidence that the Group's
dramatic
improvement in performance, over the last 18
months, relates directly to Roger's
association with
us"
Ian McKernan, Chairman & CEO Molecular
Products Group plc
"Congratulations! - your workshop scored 8.9
in the survey results which is very good"
Maneesh Garg, Education Chair, Young Presidents
Organization, Lagos
T:
+(44)1491613635
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