By Seamus Parfrey  

We all agree that we are not getting enough sleep.

In my younger days I was a great believer in cat napping at lunchtime for 15/20 minutes. It is now known as power napping.

I found that taking a timeout to sleep during the day gave a quick energy boost. Research now shows that it also has cognitive and health advantages.

Studies are showing that naps can restore our attention, the quality of our work, while also helping us reduce our mistakes. It also improves our ability to learn while on the job.

Power naps can alleviate our sleep deficit and boost our brains, including improve our creative problem solving, verbal memory, perceptual learning, object learning, and statistical learning. They also help us with maths, logical reasoning, our reaction times, and symbol recognition.

Naps improve our mood and feelings of sleepiness and fatigue. It is also good for our heart, blood pressure and stress levels.

A power nap happens during the day ideally between 1 and 4 PM and lasts between 10 and 30 minutes. Any longer and you run the risk of developing "sleep inertia" - the unpleasant groggy feeling that takes a considerable amount of time to shake off. 

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By Noel Murphy

Tom Wanek in his book "Currencies that buy Credibility" (2009) teaches the six currencies that you can invest in to purchase credibility in the market place to drive more traffic, sales and word of mouth business.

The 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer says "that most ads today lack believability" and that companies would be wise to pay more attention to fostering trust in advance with their customers as trust can serve as a catalyst for company growth.

Neurologists have discovered that humans are uniquely gifted to detect and respond to trust in other humans. We use these abilities to reduce uncertainty or avoid risk and the pain of loss.  This means your customer relies on the same abilities when making buying decisions.

So fostering trust goes a long way in persuading customers to buy from you.

Signalling theory indicates that the more you risk or spend the more believable your message becomes.

Wanek argues that, after years of research and observation, he has determined that credibility can be purchased by investing in one or more of six currencies.

The six currencies that buy credibility are:

Material Wealth

Warranties and guarantees are the most frequently used currencies risked in business today. They illustrate the power of risk reversal which occurs when the business reduces buyer uncertainty by assuming the financial risk of making the purchase.

Power guarantees are simple and specific. No fine print. No small print loopholes. No flaccid language.

Look at the Fedex and Domino Pizza on time delivery guarantee where if it is not always on time you don't pay a dime.

Our own accountancy guaranteed service is based on this currency. You can see it here.

In effect if you don't perform you don't get paid or you are financially penalised.

Time and Energy

Invest time and energy to arm visitors to your website with the expert knowledge that they require regarding the services you provide or the products you sell.

This free valuable information may from time to time lead a website visitor to deal with your competition but it will build trust and confidence in your company which will be of far more value in the long run.  Your content can do all the influencing and selling for you.

Opportunity

You can connect more credibly with your target customers by forfeiting opportunities in other areas.

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 By Seamus Parfrey  

Would you like to see the time in the corner of every PowerPoint slide so that you don't have to check your watch during a presentation?

I came across this tip recently which you may find useful.

It varies slightly with different versions of PowerPoint, but the concepts are the same:

• Click the Insert tab at the top
• Click the "Text Box" in the middle
• Click the place on the slide where you want the time to go
• Click the Insert tab at the top again
• Click the "Date & Time" in the middle
• Choose one of the formats at the bottom