I’m not left-handed but my son is, and to be honest I’ve never really thought about the problems that may cause – maybe because he’s never actually complained about it!  However browsing the internet recently I came across an interesting site – http://www.lefthandersday.com/index.html.

It’s full of interesting facts and information about being left-handed.  For instance did you know that famous left-handers include Prince William, Leonardo da Vinci and Jimi Hendrix or that studies of cave drawings have indicated a preference for the left hand?

There’s also a left-handed product shop where you can buy left-handed scissors, left-handed notepads and left-handed rulers!

I wish I’d come across this when my son was at school – I think I’ll send him the link now.

Businesses today have an abundance of data to deal with, including customer details, supplier information, stock lists and employee details.  Keeping all this information in filing cabinets is one way of handling it but a much more effective and productive method is to set up and maintain an accurate database.

A database not only keeps all the information in one place but by entering relevant and up-to-date information which you can then sort and process you can:

• find out how your business is performing
• see how profitable your product lines are
• see if your customers are making repeat purchases
• identify business trends and valuable customers
• manage your inventory
• track employee holidays and sick leave
• identify which suppliers are most competitive

Business Link has a couple of excellent guides on ‘Benefits of databases’ and how to ‘Manage your customer database’, helping you to choose the best solution for your business and outlining the practical steps in getting a database started.

Make the database a part of your sales and marketing strategy today.

Visiting my local library a couple of weeks ago I came across “Get Clients Now!” by C J Hayden, a 28 day marketing programme for professionals and consultants.  Having decided to put a lot more effort into building my virtual assistant business I took the book out on loan and I’m so pleased I did.  This book is a fantastic resource for helping you decide what you should be doing and how you should go about doing it.

“Get Clients Now!” takes you through the universal marketing cycle of ‘filling the pipeline, following up, getting presentations and closing sales’, in an easy to follow guide full of worksheets and actions plans.

It definitely motivated me – and now the book is due back at the library I’m certainly going to buy my own copy!