In business consistency is vital as people find lack of consistency really confusing. Nowhere is this more pertinent than in your marketing materials. The more you repeat the same thing in the same way, the more likely it will have a lasting impact on your target audience. Take proposals for example. When checking the ones my staff wrote I invariably found the same thing referred to in different ways. For example, the use of project, programme, campaign or using different words to describe them like company, business, enterprise, operation and so on. The same applies to web sites and in fact anywhere you are writing copy which you want your reader to understand without a pause or raised eyebrow. Why not check some of your copy now and see if it is consistent or confusing.

Popularity: 62%

I have just started taking piano lessons again.  I can bash out the rock numbers but want to explore the classical repertoire.  My teacher Malcolm is a most entertaining fellow and always has some interesting anecdotes about the pieces or the composers.  Today he told me that Mozart would not get out of bed in the morning so his mum devised a really great way to get him from under the covers which worked every time.  Your task is to guess what this was.  The first person who posts the correct answer gets a free signed copy of my book Grow Your Own Carrot. 

Popularity: 100%

Apparently the average time people spend looking at a web site home page is 6.231 seconds.  A very very brief attention span to get your message across.  I have been reviewing a lot of sites recently as I am writing an ebook on how to write good web copy – watch this space.  It is a depressing expereicne.  Lack of focus, mixed messages, content which should be relegated to pages deep within the site, no clear offer, far too wordy, and so it goes on.  With one site I still could not see what they were really offering after 6 minutes let alone 6 seconds.  I suppose the main error is writing the site from the perspective of what you want to say rather than what will immediately inform your audience and motivate them to click on the next page.  Try printing out your home page and giving people 6 seconds to look at it whilst talking though what they are seeing and thinking.  Love to hear how you got on with that and the lessons you learnt.   

Popularity: 11%

I have recently discovered social networking and now contribute to a few really great business forums – happy to tell you what they are. If you are prepared to add value there are lots of people looking for the views of an old timer who has won his success stripes. I replied to a request the other day with what I thought was one of my better efforts. The issue was clear and I offered some very simple improvements which could be implemented in a matter of days. I received a nice acknowledging email from the enquirer but it contained a phrase which made my old heart sink. ‘You have given me a lot of food for thought.’ How I hate that phrase. You can hear procrastination dripping out of every syllable. I am looking to stimulate action not interest and clearly I had failed with this young entrepreneur. When receiving the input make an immediate decision on its value. Is it relevant or rubbish? If the latter then dismiss it – don’t ‘chew’ on it. If the former then do it now! Business is time dependant and does not wait for you to stop thinking and start acting.

Popularity: 11%

If you live in a big city then you will be all too aware of the hectic pace of life and the serious stress this is increasingly causing.  I live right in the centre of London and although I adore the culture and variety of this fantastic capital I sometimes find myself racing like a rat too.  Here is a something you might like to try.  Next time you are rushing along in the middle of the surging throng change your pace and slow down to half of your original speed – just for a minute.  Now look around you.  Look at the faces, the furrowed brows, determined to get where they are going at any cost, totally oblivious of those around them.  That is what you looked like just before you decided to slow down for a moment.  Bit frightening eh?  Just take it all in and give a little smile that you have dropped out of the fast lane even for a moment. Does this mean I am not goal focused – not a bit of it!  I just like to enjoy the journey as much as arriving at the destination.  I have got lots more practical ideas for reducing that stress if you would like to hear them.

Popularity: 10%

In the last series of ‘The Apprentice’ the confrontational interviewers asked the hopefuls what they knew about ‘Siralan’ and his businesses.  None of them had a clue as they had just not bothered to do any research.  As Managing Director of Commodore Computers at the time his Amstrad games consul was on the market I probably knew more about him than they did.  So one would have thought that this new bunch of aspiring A’s for Sir A would not have repeated the same mistake.  Not a bit of it.  Amazingly only MENSA mind Simon had done his prep and very unfairly I thought, got chastised by the great man for doing such a thorough job.  The egotistical short list were largely too caught up in themselves to show any interest in others even their possible future boss.  What it is about pride going before a fall?

Popularity: 8%

I was mentoring a client last week who was pursuing two businesses at the same time.  Neither was making enough income to support him and both were draining energy from each other.  It was clear he had to make a decision to abandon one and follow the other 100%.  The point here is the 100%.  We say we will make something a total priority but we still hang on to other options – just a little.  Having made the decision to dump one of the businesses, I invited him to burn all the paperwork associated with that business right down to the very last business card, in a closing ceremony and delete all files relating to it on his C drive.  The look on his face was one of pure horror.  He realised at that moment that this was focused effort Kaday style, which involves 100% dedication of purpose with no side shows to divert the attention.  The energy released when you really let go of the distractions is just fantastic.  In my experience it is better to do one thing well rather than a lot of things badly.  Are there some unnecessarily distractions in your business life which you really need to dump once and for all?

Popularity: 9%