This past week, while delivering a series of workshops titled Designing Better Customer Service in Tourism on behalf of TiCSA across South Australia’s Mid North and Southern Flinders Ranges, I encountered two markedly different customer service experiences. We started the roadshow in Watervale at the incredible Watervale Hotel where service is exemplary, proceeded the next […]
Category: Small Business
Google Has Become A Lying Pile Of Horse Manure: Unpacking The True Cost Of “Added Value”
In an era where digital tools are extensions of our professional and personal identities, the recent move by Google to hike the prices of Workspace services under the guise of “added value” feels, at best, arrogant, and at worst, outright disingenuous. This action sends a clear message, echoing a broader trend of tech giants making […]
We Thought This Was Going to Be Easy”: Reflecting on the Small Business Journey
The spark for this reflection was ignited by a simple act: sharing a meme that carried a message many of us in the small business community felt in our bones—”We are not doing this because it is easy; we are doing this because we thought it was easy.” The immediate and widespread connection with this […]
Last Car Wash Then I’m Outta Here: Will Ending Loyalty Cards Cut The Cord And Set Your Customers Free
On Sunday, I went to the family owned and run service station I’ve used for 17 years to get some petrol and to run my car through the car wash. I told the attendant that I just finished my latest car wash loyalty card and will grab a new one with today’s car wash, only […]
A Question For Marketers: Why Do We Need To Belong To A Community?
We’ve noticed all the makings of “community” within the hundreds of business owners and managers who are clients (and friends) of Talked About Marketing, which has our reflecting on why humans need to belong to a community. You’ll be hearing more from us on this topic but in the meantime, here is some thinking that […]
Y Natural: The Inner Beauty Of Buying Local When You Say You Will
There is a resigned sadness among many small business owners like Barbara Gare from Y Natural, when they hear friends say they believe in buying local but don’t actually follow through. As small business owners and leaders we are right to feel disappointed in these friends while at the same time making sure that we […]
Learn More By Expecting Things To Be Harder
We can learn more by expecting things to be harder, according to Oxford professor of mathematics, Marcus du Sautoy, which is one of two small insights I shared on my regular small business segment with Richard Pascoe on FIVEaa last weekend. In small business, we don’t have the luxury of having the HR department organise […]
The Kytons Bakery Story – A Small Business Profile On FIVEaa
Could you work with your spouse or partner in the same business for 20+ years? Darren and Sharon Sutton have, and they seem to thrive at it. I was on Adelaide’s FIVEaa last weekend, with Richard Pascoe, and I shared the Kytons Bakery story which covers not only their 20 years of running Kytons, and […]