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How To Create A Great Elevator Pitch That Converts

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Mike Southon is known as "The Beermat Entrepreneur", after the name of his series of business books, and he is one of the UKs leading authorities on entrepreneurship and sales. He teaches the art of selling, is an entrepreneur mentor and delivers presentations at business events up and down the country. Mike’s advice comes from experience having built and sold his own company in the 1980s. In the 90s he worked on seventeen start-ups.             When I met Mike at a Business50 event in Glasgow he kindly agreed to share some business advice based on his highly successful book "The Beermat Entrepreneur". To be specific his tips are on the topic of  The Elevator Pitch or Elevator Speech . Mike has distilled the elevator pitch into its component parts to the point wher it is an easily remembered elevator pitch template. He calls it the Elevator Pitch Five Ps:  Pain, Premise, People, Proof and Purpose . If you are thinking of starting a business or the th

How To Recruit Online with Psychometric Tests

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If you are doing a job search for graduate jobs, part time jobs or in fact any job you will more than likely have a CV. You may even have employed someone to write your CV or teach you how to write a CV but the question is, how useful is a CV in the 21 st century? I spoke to Nik Plevan, founder and Managing Director of e-Talent, an Edinburgh based software company that produces online recruitment screening systems for companies and online recruitment agencies. In Nik’s opinion the way employers have gone about recruiting for the last 50 years is no longer relevant. The use of the internet in the recruitment process and meant that it’s all change for the way companies choose their shortlisted candidates. Nik told me, “You should really stop taking paper applications because those invariably lead to huge amounts of work and effort which is ultimately fruitless because you’re working with data which is not particularly helpful. Whereas if you asked people to apply online you

Why You Have Eaten Insects Without Knowing It

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If you answered none you’re kidding yourself because it is perfectly legal for food manufacturers to include insects (and worse) in your food. To be honest it would be difficult to make bulk food ingredients 100% pure, some impurities are bound to be in there and insects will be one of those impurities. Wheat flour has an average of 150 or more insect fragments per 100 grams and ground thyme has an average of 925 or more insect fragments per 10 grams. So although you may not be eating a huge amount each day, over a year all those fragments add up. According to entomologist Marcel Dicke from Wageningen University the average person in the west eats up to 500g of insects annually through processed vegetable-based products and foods dyed with insect derivatives. Putting that into context, 500g is half a standard bag of sugar! But thinking positively those insect fragments are not going to do you any harm, I know because I've been eating several whole insects and survived the expe

5 Great Tips for Your Job Interview

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Today I welcome Magda Tomaszewska to my blog. Magda is the owner of CV World in Stirl ing and is a Certified Professional CV Writer and Career Coach. She specialises in guiding people to build careers they really want and deserve. As part of her service Magda provides job interview tips, advises on interview questions and answers and how you should handle those job interview questions. So before you send your next job application listen to Magda’s 5 Top Tips on how to have a successful interview. Tip number one . Present the best of you. Remember the first impression is a lasting impression. Look smart, professional and do something that puts you in a great mood before your interview. Be confident, positive, motivated and smile. Tip number two . Mind your body language. 55 percent of your communication is your body language . Remember to use open gestures, maintain eye contact and build rapport with your interviewer. Come across as someone they would want to work with. T

Network effectively at business networking events

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Today I welcome Janet Torley to my blog. Janet is Chairman of Federation of Small Business - East of Scotland and owner of Events for Business , the event management specialist for business to business. I first encountered Janet at the 2012 Lanarkshire Business Show, one of many business and networking events she has organised across Scotland. With countless hours of networking experience and a bulging contacts book if anyone can give good practical advice on how to network it has to be Janet. So here are Janet's five top tips on how to network effectively at business networking events.             Networking can and should be really simple and really enjoyable and my top tips are very, very simple. Number 1 : Just do it! You might find the idea of walking in to a room full of total strangers daunting but go on, put an event into your diary and just go. Number 2 : Before you go make sure you have enough business cards. Take twice the number of business cards

5 Great Tips To Improve Your Communication Skills

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 5 Top Tips for improving your communication skills  Jill Simpson is a trainer and coach from DEVA Training in Kilmarnock. She helps clients communicate their message to customers, colleagues and others by helping to remove the barriers to communication and improve their verbal communication skills. GreatCommunication skills are important in every aspect of our daily lives and it is also true for our business lives. So without further ado here are Jill Simpson’s 5 Top Tips for great business communication. One . This might surprise you but shut up and listen. It has often been pointed out that we have two ears and one mouth for a good reason:   by really listening you start to understand the other person’s point of view, and when you understand you are far better placed to put across your own position. Listening helps you communicate more effectively whether you are selling to customers, managing your staff or negotiating with a supplier. Two . Asking open question

5 Great Tips For Your New Business

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  Tony Couch from isCompliant is a former Business Gateway business advisor who has helped many people who wanted to know how to start a business but needed top notch business advice. Tony knows only too well how many of those small business ideas fail within the first few years of starting so he agreed to share his insights on how individuals starting a business can plan for long term success by putting quality at the heart of their small business ideas. One . Apply the concept of “excellence and free from defects” to your small business ideas. Gain the customer satisfaction, trust and enhanced reputation that will follow. Enjoy the confidence that repeat business brings, relish recognition for quality and benefit from the rewards. Put simply - Strive to deliver the best product or service for your customer that you can. Two . Let customer focus drive your small business. Demonstrate regular improvements by using your awareness of your client’s requirements, developm