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If you want to know how to create a brand for your business, this story offers some useful insights. A deliberate branding exercise on my own business led to an invitation to write my book, Double Your Business, for Financial Times Publishing. There are ideas here that any business could use to increase sales and [...]

One of my clients is facing two very unscrupulous competitors operating in his local area. They have copied the broad layout and approach to their websites, they’ve copied much of his marketing and business idea.  But they are selling at lower prices. He’s been incredibly frustrated by these thieves and has asked me for my [...]

John Carmichael realised that he needed to do something dramatically different if his Edinburgh-based business was to remain strong; the recession was taking its toll on the building trades, people he had known for years were hinting at closure, and news headlines offered a continuous diatribe of doom and gloom. Doing his best to fight [...]

Zoom Answer Call provides flexible and friendly call answering services to small and medium businesses across the UK. Having started the business from scratch, as the business grew, founder Chella Heyes found herself needing to work longer and longer hours to keep on top of things. With working days regularly stretching beyond 12 hours, she [...]

In this video, the managing director of The Leaflet Delivery Company Limited, a franchise based in Milton Keynes, explains how working with Lee Duncan helped him to double his business in just 11 months. Two weeks after recording this video, Trevor sold a franchise for The Leaflet Delivery Company in Bedford. Not only has he [...]

Nobody could be blamed now for forecasting another recession, a second dip because the whole world is just too badly screwed up by the greedy bankers and the egos of the politicians. But for most small businesses, it doesn’t feel like the first recession ever really went away.  Trading is very tough and you’ve got [...]

On Friday evening I went to dinner with a dentist from Australia who has consulted with England’s rugby union team (helping them on their way to the 2003 World Cup), a major UK holidays firm and countless dentists worldwide. I wanted to interview him for the book I’m writing, “Double Your Business”. As an independent [...]

When Andrew Withers, the managing director of Southern Fried Chicken, agreed to appear on The Undercover Boss, I bet he had no idea just how much he would discover about his own business. Watching the programme, it was clear that his own expectations and standards were light years away from those of the franchisees’ sites [...]

I’m delighted to announce that work on Double Your Business is progressing well. But what can you expect from the book when it’s published? Here’s a description taken directly from the proposal agreed with my publisher, Financial Times Prentice Hall: An extraordinarily effective “how-to” manual for everybody who wants to enjoy a more successful business. [...]

People often ask what kind of results are possible through coaching programmes working with The Double Your Business Coach. In this two and a half minute video, Paul Marsden, the managing director of Virtual Business Source Limited, explains how his sales have grown substantially in just 12 months. The business is a £1 Million turnover [...]

    John Carmichael, managing director of Superwarm, rides the waves of change in 2011     Mary Portas has been enlisted by the government to try and revitalize the high streets of the UK, according to a story on the BBC website today. Good headlines for the newspapers, but there is a limit to [...]

Do you try to keep too many balls in the air at once? I read a great post about overcoming procrastination at Ian Brodie’s blog last week.  Procrastination, in case you feel the need to look it up, is the urge to do other stuff instead of the important things that’ll make you more successful. [...]

I was recently interviewed for some email marketing tips by a good friend of mine, author and content-creator extraordinaire Sonja Jefferson, who posted our discussion as an article on email marketing tips on her blog. Sonja wanted to know how to use email as part of your marketing mix.  But there are some mistakes you [...]

Munro Estates team celebrates I was delighted to hear from Jonathan Bell and George Pirie, the directors and driving force behind the growth of Munro Estates earlier today. Their company, Munro Estates, has just won the Gold Award as the top letting agency in the North East.  Not bad when you consider they’ve only been [...]

A while back, I got an enquiry from a guy who wanted help marketing his business.  But when I asked him what business he was in, I got a five minute description that I couldn’t understand. It was something to do with helping companies to choose the right insurance, but he wasn’t a broker and [...]

Two things this week that are very clever ways to make sales, but leave a bad taste in the mouth of your potential customers. Do you think these class as clever strategies, or marketing scams? In my mind, they’re not clever marketing and represent the seedy side of business. 1. A Phone Company Called Easy [...]

Do you ever wonder why you’re business isn’t growing? A 14th Century monk can give you a clue – he came up with Occam’s Razor, which is the principle that when you’re trying to solve a problem, the simplest answer is usually the right one.  We can use Occam’s Razor for business growth, believe it [...]

Client rings in on Monday morning. Lee, something you said to me last week really struck a chord. You said that we expect to do our marketing and sell right away. But if the customer isn’t ready to buy yet, no amount of clever tactics is going to make the sale.  It’s all about keeping [...]

This is an important business story about the law of the jungle. I was reminded a few days ago of the story of two hikers in the forest who startle a bear. One of the guys is terrified, and says to the other, “Oh my god, we can never outrun a bear!”. The other replies, [...]

Marketing Is Like Fishing… If you struggle with marketing your business, you’re not alone.  I would guess that a full 97% of companies have no marketing that they have any sense of control over. The very idea of writing a marketing plan is enough to make your eyes roll and wonder how many pages it [...]

Can you think of a tougher business to be in right now than the travel business? With people cutting back on luxuries and exchange rates at a real low, it’s not an easy trading conditions. This made it all the more exciting when the guys at Airworld Tours, a tour operator in London, that they [...]