Investors tag onto tweety pie Unless you have been living in splendid isolation in recent months, you will have struggled to avoid the latest online social networking craze ‘Twitter’. Andy Lopata, business networking specialist, looks at how Twitter, Hot on the heels of ‘Facebook’ as the next great communication tool, it is being championed by celebrities such as Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry, used by politicians such as Barack Obama and adopted by people of all ages and walks of life at a rapid rate.

Ten tips to negotiate a payrise In these times of rising living costs, we could all do with a bit of extra income. But before you storm into your boss’s office and demand a bigger salary, read our top ten tips on becoming a smooth negotiator.

Business doesn't have to be any harder A sales guru has dismissed the notion that business needs to be harder during a recession in a talk to a group of London entrepreneurs.

Marcus Cauchi, of Sandler Training, revealed the golden Sandler Rules of selling that he says will help any business weather the storm of recession.

How to really persuade in presentations: Alastair Campbell An element of persuasion is key to most presentations, ensuring that an audience are on the speaker's side. But how's this done?
Speaker Mentor Alastair Campbell had one of UK's top persuasive remits as Tony Blair's Chief Strategist. "The speaker's got to work out what the main objective is of their speech," Alastair told us. "That's all about the central argument".
Alastair believes that most people will listen to a well structured argument: "If you make a case, founded on factual analysis, values, your own experiences, history, colour... you can usually persuade somebody closer to your case, even if ultimately they're not going to necessarily agree with you".

Talking with conviction: Deborah Meadon's guide Deborah Meaden says that the ability to spot somebody who can deliver with conviction is crucial, both in her day job as an entrepreneur and her TV role in Dragons' Den.
"Find the thing that you are passionate about," Deborah told us: "Automatically you'll deliver it with conviction. You believe, they'll believe it".
Even the best speakers shortchange their audience if they're not delivering with conviction.
Deborah's seen great speakers disappointingly speaking by numbers: "They were speaking very well... but I didn't come away thinking- 'I'm going to do something now'".
Perhaps that's the hallmark of a truly believable speech?

Train to Gain: It pays to develop the skills of your workforce One of the most effective funding initiatives by the Government is to help you increase the skill levels of your employees. You are encouraged to review your company’s strategy and ensure that all staff development and training will effectively support your business objectives. Then you need to specify the actions required to develop the strategy through an organisation and development plan agreed with your staff.

Embracing the Olympic dream Whilst watching the recent episode of The Apprentice we were struck by the use of The Olympics and London 2012 branding so we spoke to John Mackenzie, partner of leading IP solicitors Pinsent Masons for his advice of how to embrace the Olympic spirit without falling foul of the law.

The do’s and dont's of workplace humour We spend a lot of time at work. For many people they spend more time with their colleagues than they do with their family and friends. In these circumstances, it is only natural that as the working relationship evolves, the environment develops in such a way that people can find opportunities to let off steam by laughing and joking with each other.

Many employers actively encourage employees to find ways to make their work fun because, lets face it, a happy employee is more productive and none of us want to spend the day with a lot of miserable people.

Do Customer’s Respond the way you would Like? What happens when you ask for directions? You interrupt someone, stopping them from going about their business, yet people are rarely rude. This is because of the way we ask. We will normally say, ‘Excuse Me’ in a slightly deferential way. We continue, ‘I wonder if you can help me? Could you tell me where Bromley Place is?’

How to get the most from your sales staff in difficult times When economic conditions are hard, leading a sales force can seem like the most difficult job in the world. One of the main ingredients to achieving outstanding results is to ensure the team is motivated. The key to motivation is recognition. Ultimately, everyone wants to be appreciated and their hard work acknowledged.

How to survive in 2009 With the recession predicted to last for the whole of 2009, many of us will come back to the office in the New Year, with some trepidation. However, with the right mechanisms in place, it will still be possible to find the opportunities that are out there and prosper.

25 common characteristics of successful home working entrepreneurs Do you have what it takes to get through the recession? Here are the traits that get home based business owners through the hard times.

Regardless of your definition of success, there are, oddly enough, a great number of common characteristics that are shared by successful businesspeople. You can place a tick beside each characteristic that you feel that you possess. This way, you can see how you stack up. Even if you don't have all of these characteristics, don't fret. Most can be learned with practice and by developing a winning attitude, especially if you set goals and apply yourself, through strategic planning, to reach those goals in incremental and measurable stages.

Five Golden Rules for etailers in the credit crunch In spite of the economic slowdown online shopping is still thriving, with more people taking advantage of the cheaper prices available on the net and shopping in the comfort of their own home. However, internet expert WebTrends is warning ecommerce sites that they must provide a seamless online experience, or they could face missing out on a significant piece of the action, as internet shopping gets increasingly competitive .

Interim managers could help firms survive the slump In this current climate, hiring new permanent senior level staff to run projects might be considered a major risk and financially unfeasible for small businesses. But, to remain competitive, companies cannot afford to put plans on hold, put their head in the sand and hope the upturn isn’t too far away, while the competition steals a march.

What your insurance broker wont tell you... 10 tips to save on insurance premiums With money getting tighter and costs increasing, all businesses are looking to make savings wherever they can. Insurance brokers also have overheads and many may not be too keen to highlight things that will reduce their commission earnings.

Absenteeism - problem or symptom?

I have recently read a number of articles on the problem of absenteeism and was struck by how most of them completely ignored the causes of the problem, and instead focused solely on the measures organisations were taking to ensure that persistent offenders are deterred from taking time off.

Do you speak your prospect's language?

We all think of typical sales people as being great communicators. We say that they have ‘the gift of the gab’. But what if you are not a born sales person but regularly need to find new clients? Business development expert Richard White discusses one of the areas that can make a big difference on results - how we communicate with our prospects and clients.

Why your sales people still get price objections?

Whenever I’m speaking to sales managers and directors, I find that many are frustrated that seemingly no matter what they say to their sales team, the team is still getting stumped over price objections from their clients! In this article we’re going to look at why your sales team still get price objections and how this gets in their way (and yours) of sales success.

The value of a sounding board

In times of Change, people feel much more secure with strong and clear leadership, but they need considered action and decisions from their leaders. The trouble is, with the pace of business today, the pressure has never been higher and consequently there is always a temptation to act just for the sakes of moving things off the pending pile and appearing decisive.

Change specialist Richard Derwent Cooke suggests that sometimes, the best way forward is infact to stand still for a moment a lend some quality time to a spot of good old fashioned conversation.

Surviving the downturn part three - When it goes wrong

Many are wary of upsetting key customers by chasing slow or overdue debts. But as a frequent surprise to many suppliers, buyers often report privately that a failure to chase agreed debts is not seen as a relationship-building exercise, but as weak management. A contractual debt owed is a contractual debt to be paid!

In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we have stressed the importance of ‘starting off on the right foot’ contractually, and ‘keeping your eye on the ball’ financially.

Of course, some organisations have no shame in delaying payments to their creditors, until pushed really hard.

Whether you really want to trade with such bad payers is entirely up to you, but here are some more handy tips that might help however things might go wrong.