Every year and why!

We all do it! Every year and why.  Please can someone explain to me why at this time of year we start to focus on our New Year’s Resolutions? Ever since Julius Caesar established a start point for our calendar as January 1^st in 46 BC and then the Romans started the tradition of the New Year’s Resolution along with  the different celebrations and traditions around the world that take place, the one that we all nowadays get hooked into is our personal resolutions.

Personally I need to get fit and lose a little weight but waiting until the 1^st January is just an excuse to put the start date off and as proved over the years for the month of January I will put starting off because I need to checkout the health clubs facilities to see what’s available in the local area. But it’s just more excuses not to start.

Then once I find what I am looking for, I will then say maybe I should start after the half term holiday in February, then hopefully the better weather comes along in spring time and the novelty wears off, then you start to focus on summer time and before you know where you are it will be Christmas and time to start thinking about the next year.

There is no need to wait for the New Year as around the Maldon area we have all the facilities that anyone could ever want open 12 months of the year so why oh why wait until January. Pick up the phone and contact them and stop giving excuses all the time.

Some of our great local facilities in and around the Maldon area are, The Blackwater Leisure Centre and Swimming Pool, Maldon Squash Club Pool and Gym, Madison Heights Bowling, The Old Iron Works Gym, Curves, Maldon Golf Club, Maldon Bowls Club, Forrester Park Golf and Tennis Club and Swimming Pool, Maldon Cycle Club, Maldon Hockey and numerous Martial Arts  Club’s and Fitness Sessions just to name  but a few along with the established Heybridge and Maldon Football Clubs, Cricket and Rugby Club.

There can be no more excuses from anyone any more even if you’ve got no money just go for a walk or cycle. So don’t just wait for the New Year to come along,  get off your backsides and get going and I may even see you around walking, jogging or even riding your bike.

There is so much choice for everyone around the Maldon area regardless of your sex or age, so think about it, as it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

Wayne.

www.waynecollier.co.uk

Essential thinking

Essential thinking for 2011.....As the New Year approaches please ensure that in your 2011 yearly marketing plan includes some budget for your Internet Marketing Campaign. If not why not, all the experts expect Social Media and other technology innovations to have a bigger slice of all business’s budgets year on year from now on.

Don’t run and hide away, I know common sense dictates that the easier something is to accomplish, the more readily you will do it, so don’t worry if your techno skills are lacking somewhat just join in and become acquainted and learn as you go, and just remember we all need help to achieve our goals.

Brands such as Facebook and Twitter are now used so frequently they’ve become part of our everyday vocabulary. If you need any advice or just a helping hand just remember help is always there, why not give us a phone call, tweet, poke on facebook or send an e-mail to us.

Our success is to consistently deliver by understanding your business requirements, that’s one of the reasons why we are different at waynecollier.co.uk.  Do you share in our expectation!

Please make sure you add your comments to any off our blogs as that’s the only way we get better. As we will never be too old to stop learning.

Wayne

www.waynecollier.co.uk

Twenty Eleven (2011) and beyond

Twenty Eleven (2011)....As 2010 has been an unprecedented year for all of us, who ever would have predicted some 12 months ago that we would now have a Coalition Government in control of our Country?

However the policies and politics of our Country’s Government is set up to work under a framework of several different constitutional strategies under the Monarchy, The Queen is the head  of the Monarch then comes David Cameron, as Prime Minster he operates under his parties manifesto within the constitutional. Under them are a lot of executive groups fighting for power along with our two chambers of Parliament. It is all laid out in black and white for all the parties and personel to follow.

Whether you agree or disagree with who’s in power, all the parties and personel work under a basic strategy of a framework, with the above in mine are you ready for the New Year ahead?   But more importantly is your business strategy ready.

You must have a plan, how’s your marketing strategy looking for the next 12 months! Or more importantly have you got a plan and if so is your plan/strategy up to date and the goals achievable. If you’re unsure to the direction that your business is going or you feel that you just need a little help and advice please do not hesitate to contact us.

You strategy/plan should never be cast in stone, as it should act’s as a rough framework throughout the period set. If we had a crystal ball to map things out by now I would have won the lottery a few times, but I haven’t.

For brand building, marketing, advertising, social media and bespoke e-mail marketing campaigns, please remember we offer big business solutions at small business prices, so why not tap into our knowledge and expertise, time is money so please don’t miss out as before you know where you are it will be 2012 and The Olympics will have started, which is some 18 months away.

A lot can happen in 18 months so where will your business be in 18 months without a plan or strategy.

Wayne Collier

www.waynecollier.co.uk

New Year's Resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions, not for us...Because we all do it! Ever since Julius Caesar established a start point for our calendar as January 1^st in 46 BC and then the Romans started the tradition of the New Year’s Resolution along with  the different celebrations and traditions around the world that take place, the one that we all nowadays get hooked into is our personal resolutions.

They are very easy to say and we all do it , get fit, lose weight, save money, stop smoking to name but a few, but like so many of us after a few weeks or months we lose our way and fall back into bad habits.

Don’t get your personal resolutions mixed in with your business requirements, in business it’s so important to have a plan/strategy to work from as we can’t afford to fail or give in, so looking ahead have you got your businesses resolutions in place.

Remember in business you can’t just say we are going to do something you need to be able to carry it out to achieve your goal or goals. You need to be working at your strategy every month not just once a year.

Times are changing along with circumstances, you need to ensure that your business is ahead of the competition, and make your required changes while you’re in control of your own destiny as the year pans out.

In business you can’t look back as you should always be looking forward, because of the power of the internet the future of business changes so quickly don’t get left behind. Ensure that you make the most of your business with a little help from us at waynecollier.co.uk.

Wayne Collier

www.waynecollier.co.uk

Ripping off our Local Community in Maldon, Essex.

Ripping off our Local Community in Maldon....I know it’s been said for years that we all live in rip of Britain, taxed too much and pay too much for some services etc. However I now have proof how some of our major supermarkets price fix to kill off the competition and then proceed to rip of the local community by taking advantage.

In my local town Maldon in the county of Essex a few years ago like a lot of other towns up and down the country we never had a ring road around our town, but now we do and with it at one end we have gained a Morrisons supermarket and small retail park, at the other end a Tesco Extra Superstore and a McDonalds which is the expected norm across the country nowadays and enjoyed by most families.

Personally my family shop in the Tesco store at Maldon for all our food and groceries, we feel across the pricing structure that their food and grocery prices are fair priced against their competition Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons etc.

Now on to the main important part and the reason for this blog. The price fixing and ripping off the local community in the Maldon area.  Along with the two superstores and large car parking areas both stores have fuel stations. When the stores first opened in and around the area there was a lot of small local petrol stations from St Chad’s, Bates Motors, The Causeway and Holdings of Heybridge and over the years these have disappeared through competitive competition on pricing and the convenience to shop and fill up with fuel at the same time.

Now that the competition has disappeared the price fixing part starts, that the cost of fuel is always the same at both the Tesco and Morrisons fuel stations. The rip off part by Tesco’s to the local community of Maldon area is “Why is the fuel sold at the Maldon Tesco always more expensive than the fuel sold at the Tesco stores in the Chelmsford and Colchester areas,” it can be as much as 2 / 3p a litre.

My conclusion is in the Chelmsford and Colchester area there must still be a lot of competition, but in the Maldon Store due to no competition they now can charge what they like. How many other rural areas is this happening in?

Wayne

www.waynecollier.co.uk

High Street, Maldon

Maldon, High Street...From time to time you hear people locally saying that the high street in Maldon is dead, killed off by likes of Tesco and Morrisons on the edge of the town. The town has just become a ghost town too many shops have closed or in the process of closing down and never enough car parking, so what are we left with. A high street just full of Banks, Building Societies, Solicitors, Charity Shops and Estate Agents.

Well my local high Street like a lot of other high streets across the country this is not the case, yes we have our fair share of Banks, Solicitors Estate agents and Letting agents etc, but we also have a wide cross section of dinning establishments, coffee shops and public houses along with a few well know high street brands, MandCo, Boots, Superdrug, Iceland, Marks and Spencer Food hall, Dorothy Perkins, Pound Stretcher, WH Smiths and Peacocks to but name a few.

Then we have the SME, small and medium local business enterprises that make up the rest the local community of the high street as I call it. The hair dressers, nail bars, taxi companies, florists, sports shop, shoe shops, ladies and gents clothing, electrical supplies, tool hire, bedding, carpets, fire places, sunbed, fishing tackle, jewellers, travel agents, art and framing, gift shops, dental practices, health and beauty and wedding dress supplies the list is endless.  

On the outskirts of our town we have the Superstores Tesco and Morrisons. If I take the Tesco for instance they are a global grocery retailer ranked 2 or 3^rd in the world so they should know what they are doing by now.

Over the years the major superstores chains have also taken in-house some different sections and set up small shops like the Morrison dry cleaning service or the Tesco Mobile phone Centre, Tesco Opticians along with the Pharmacy departments etc.

So the trick for any business is to specialise and try not to compete head on with the Tesco and Morrisons of this world. They have great brands built up over years with the help of endless national marketing and advertising budgets that no one outside the major companies can even think about competing with.

Well I came across such an instance the other day by chance it’s not usually a man thing to buy flowers or not in my case anyway. I needed some flowers and yes both the superstores do sell bunches of flowers etc, I have seen then in the entrance areas, I just wanted it to look a bit special, I don’t mean cost a fortune but to look as though I had taken pride in the purchase and not just grabbed the first bunch of flowers that I came to as I passed through Tesco on my weekly shop.

That’s when I found at the very top of the high street in Maldon, number one in fact the high street Maldon, a recently opened new business called “Stems” flowers for all occasions it said on the door, a small bespoke flower shop offering great service with a smile. The two young ladies were very helpful and the advice given about my requirements and the presentation of the product the flowers was truly amazing, and it didn’t cost me a fortune.

Living proof that if you company services are a little unique or you offer a bespoke service, along with being able to specialise away from what the major superstores offer, your rewards through hard work offering a quality bespoke service with a smile, value for money, your business can and will succeed against the big boy’s.

It certainly has changed my outlook about my local high street and I would certainly recommend anyone to visit businesses like Stems if you require flowers, and in future I would also suggest in the future that you don’t neglect your local high street, trust me you will be pleasantly surprised at what’s on offer.

Wayne

www.waynecollier.co.uk

Motorway Service Stations

Motorway Service Stations...Ok before anyone starts I know a lot has been written on how much a rip off the food and drinks are but being that I am a frequently motorway driver I feel they are a must and as a service to the motorist we need more of them across our motorway network.

The reason for my writing today, I have found a very good way to find out if it’s a good services before you pull in and stop, because I am a caring soul I will let you all in on my findings.

Dating back to our first motorway the M1 and then in 1976 the number 4 hit single “CONVOY” by ex Radio One DJ Dave Lee Travis (DLT) or “The Hairy Monster” now I am showing my age. As the song went along the lines off “Newport Pagnell, Toddonigton and even Watford Gap etc, etc,”.

We have always had a great regard for our motorway services, we all moan about them but really we love em with a passion, like a lot of folk I have visited my fair share over the years and as I get older I seem to be having to visit them more and more but that’s a different story, all to do with my age so I am told.

Listed are seven of what I personally feel are some of the better one’s. I know once you look and read the list you will say straight away, all right then some of these are newer services stations and that’s why the facilities are better but I have found out another way of checking.

M6 Toll Road Norton Canes, M6 Stafford North bound, M1 Northampton, M4 Reading, M3 Winchester, M27 Rowehams Southampton and M25 Clacket Lane Kent.

Because of large format advertising and marketing opportunity at the side of a motorway on the entrance slip way into the Motorway Service station area, my conclusion is, if the motorway services sign out on the motorway has got a Costa Coffee logo on it, the chances are the facilities inside should be ok as the seven above are.

Personally speaking I prefer the taste of Starbucks coffee when I am out on the road, however experience over the years has shown and taught me that the coffees as always have a great taste but the surroundings around the coffee shop areas aren’t that great in my opinion at other motorway service areas.

I might be wrong about this, have you got any thoughts on this or is it just a strange coincidence that the seven service stations that I visit regularly have a Costa Coffee Shop within them.

Wayne

www.waynecollier.co.uk