On Friday 29th June, we had an away-day for the Health and Safety Team. I'm pleased to report that this was an extremely interesting, productive, thought promoting and useful day.
We welcomed some new members to the Team and then went on to discuss the progress that we have made since December 2011, when we half our last meeting of this type. In December, we set a target for the business of getting 25 new (retained) clients in 2012. At the meeting, I was able to report back that we had achieved 19 out of 25 new clients with six months left to go!
We reviewed some of the new contracts and the routes by which we had secured them. We discussed how different members of the team had been involved with these clients and we reviewed some of our other, existing clients. Some are small, local (Loughborough and Leicestershire) based companies, while others are well known national organisations.
I led a discussion on the power of social media marketing in getting our message across to potential new clients. We then focussed some of the discussion onto understanding what "our message" is - more on that subject in future blog items. It was very reassuring to get agreement (rather than merely consensus) on what our message is. We will be able to promote this message with vigour and from a concerted front.for all of our consultants rather than focussing too narrowly. We have some great ideas on where to look next!
We moved the discussion on to consider the sectors that we would be targeting next as well as the types of work that we will be promoting most strongly. Our approach will be aimed a providing work
We discussed chemical safety, COSHH, Legionella and other related issues as well as fire safety, residential flats, Facilities Management safety, Health and Safety Training Courses, etc.
Peter (aka Hagrid) gave an excellent (albeit shortened) presentation on Emergency Aid training. Pleasingly, everyone joined in and added to this from their own experiences.
Lunch was delivered to the venue on time and allowed for a fair amount of relaxed interaction between the consultants, many of whom rarely meet - due to geographical issues.
Saturday 30 June 2012
Monday 4 June 2012
After Sheffield - what now?
I have just finished an interim post as Head of Safety Services for the University of Sheffield. This was an extremely interesting and challenging role. This does raise the question: what now?
The next six months
I will be picking up on some of the things that were started in December 2011, but were put on hold to make time for the Sheffield project. In December, we had a team meeting and we set a target of 25 new clients in 2012 (not including the "one-offs" that turn up). So far we have 17 of the 25 - and it's only just June. If we can keep up at this rate then 2012 will be a very good year indeed.
The next six months will involve me spending, hopefully, more time "working on the business" rather than working in the business. This should allow me to find more of the higher value business that my team can deliver against, while allowing me to oversee the client interactions.
I have a couple of interesting, large projects to follow up on and some existing clients to discuss new services with. I will also be looking to form a couple of sensible strategic partnerships (or alliances) with local and national organisations to improve the offering to our clients. Some of the discussions for these have already started. I will also be working even harder with networking, including Social Media Marketing.
SMM
SMM, or Social Media Marketing, is an area that I intend to expand on over the rest of 2012. This will involve a lot more blogging and linking of sites, a lot more use of Twitter, etc. Other members of my team will be encouraged to do their bit with respect to SMM for the business. I intend to create more Podcasts and Youtube videos to promote the business and to provide information to others.
Website
My website will be at the centre of my SMM drive. It will need to be revamped, expanded and improved. It will be a lot more interactive as we move into 2013, with content being linked to other media.
Blogging
There will be time to create a series of new blog items covering many aspects of Health & Safety, Fire Safety and Food Hygiene. Some of these blogs will be created as (or turned into) Podcasts and Youtube videos.
Newsletter
The Newsletter will be more extensively circulated by SMM and will be available from the Website. It will be released on a six weekly basis, with more interactive content than previously included. More reader feedback will be solicited and general more appeal!
Contact me via my website
The next six months
I will be picking up on some of the things that were started in December 2011, but were put on hold to make time for the Sheffield project. In December, we had a team meeting and we set a target of 25 new clients in 2012 (not including the "one-offs" that turn up). So far we have 17 of the 25 - and it's only just June. If we can keep up at this rate then 2012 will be a very good year indeed.
The next six months will involve me spending, hopefully, more time "working on the business" rather than working in the business. This should allow me to find more of the higher value business that my team can deliver against, while allowing me to oversee the client interactions.
I have a couple of interesting, large projects to follow up on and some existing clients to discuss new services with. I will also be looking to form a couple of sensible strategic partnerships (or alliances) with local and national organisations to improve the offering to our clients. Some of the discussions for these have already started. I will also be working even harder with networking, including Social Media Marketing.
SMM
SMM, or Social Media Marketing, is an area that I intend to expand on over the rest of 2012. This will involve a lot more blogging and linking of sites, a lot more use of Twitter, etc. Other members of my team will be encouraged to do their bit with respect to SMM for the business. I intend to create more Podcasts and Youtube videos to promote the business and to provide information to others.
Website
My website will be at the centre of my SMM drive. It will need to be revamped, expanded and improved. It will be a lot more interactive as we move into 2013, with content being linked to other media.
Blogging
There will be time to create a series of new blog items covering many aspects of Health & Safety, Fire Safety and Food Hygiene. Some of these blogs will be created as (or turned into) Podcasts and Youtube videos.
Newsletter
The Newsletter will be more extensively circulated by SMM and will be available from the Website. It will be released on a six weekly basis, with more interactive content than previously included. More reader feedback will be solicited and general more appeal!
Contact me via my website
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