Julie Lawford Notepad and News

Holiday reading

Mon,23 Aug 2010 10:51:12

Singled Out is my first published short story. It won first prize in the monthly short story writing competition in Writing Magazine and was published in the June 2010 issue. You can read it here.

My top ten ridiculously easy ways to generate hot leads

Wed,07 Jul 2010 18:16:02

For small businesses owners and solo-preneurs who love what they do but hate selling it! This cheery paper is available to download here. I wrote it a while back, but somebody recently asked me for it. I thought I’d post it online one more time, in case anybody else fancied a peek.

Who's the VIP?

Mon,14 Jun 2010 10:10:51

Who is the most important person in your business? Is it you? Or is it your customer?

Take a look at your brochure, or the home page of your web site. Count how often the words we, us and our appear. Now count the number of times the words you and your appear. What conclusions might your potential customers draw from what you see?

Many people make the mistake of using their web sites and brochures to boast about how great they are, in the mistaken belief that their prospective customer will be so overwhelmed by this fact that he or she will beat a path to their door.

Customers come to purchase a product or service because it solves a problem, not because they fancy doing business with the biggest or best company. You need to communicate, in a very few short paragraphs, the fact that you understand your customers and the problems they may be experiencing, and you can offer them solutions.

Your brochure or web site home page needs to be about your customer, not about you. It needs to be about the problems they might be experiencing and the way your products or services can solve those problems, not about how fantastic, substantial, well established, or experienced you are. Those things can come later, once your customer has realised that you understand what they need and knows they've come to the right place for a solution.

Small beginnings

Wed,05 May 2010 15:05:16

My first published short story has appeared in print and I'm quite absurdly excited about it. If you're interested, you'll find it in the June issue of Writing Magazine, which is in the shops (WH Smith and others) this week. It's a short tale about two people who go to a singles night in a local bar in the hope of finding love, but first have to overcome their crippling shyness.

I hope you'll forgive me - I'm allowing myself to bask in the glow of this modest success and dream of the day when I can, without hesitation or a sense that I'm being in any way fraudulent, call myself A Writer....

For now, it's back to the day-job!

Are You 'Attractive' Enough?

Mon,26 Apr 2010 08:08:39

No, I'm not getting personal... I'd just like you to think about a different way to approach the marketing and promoting of your business.

If somebody asks you, "What do you do?" how do you normally reply?

Many people make the mistake of answering a completely different question, and in doing so, limit their chances of attracting new customers. When somebody asks, "What do you do?" they hear the question as "What are you?"… As a result, their answer often begins with "I'm a …" and ends just one or two words later, in a dead full stop. You've probably heard it before; you may even have fallen foul of giving the wrong answer to this not-so-tricky question yourself. I'm a.... dentist, solicitor, accountant, coach, clothing retailer, telephony supplier, business owner, printer, computer analyst... The fact is, in marketing terms at least, these are not very attractive answers.

In order to be attractive and draw potential customers and those with the power to open the door to other potential customers to you, your answer needs to deal with two key points – you could call them your 'Attraction Messages':

- To whom do you provide your goods or services (ie, who is your customer)?
- What problems do you solve (ie, what do you do for them)?

Did you notice anything missing there? At no point in this introductory Attraction Message is it necessary to answer the question "What are you?"

Sometimes however, in giving your Attraction Messages in response, you may accidentally divulge clues to the "What are you" question that nobody asked you, maybe even causing people to guess the answer to the question they never asked. But that's ok, since the answer you're giving them is considerably more attractive than baldly announcing the name of your trade or profession.

The whole point of your Attraction Messages is that they’re not about you. They're about your customer. And if formulated well, they achieve several objectives:

They help your target to identify for themselves whether they might be a potential customer. Whilst you’re talking, they’re asking themselves whether they are the sort of person to whom you provide your goods or services, and whether they are experiencing the sort of problem or issues that you solve. This is particularly important, as most people like to keep their cards very close to their chest, until they've built up enough confidence to announce themselves as a potential customer. They need to be able, in the first instance, to identify themselves to themselves.
They provide an entry point through which you can engage your target in a more productive conversation. These Attraction Messages practically demand that your target responds with a request for more details! They’re a 'teaser' statement, which engages your target in conversation and begins the process of building rapport.
They help your target to appreciate that you're the sort of supplier with whom they might like to do business. People warm to others who are, or appear to be, more interested in others, than in themselves. It shows you're an open, engaging person and starts the process of building trust and confidence. This in turn encourages your target to identify themselves to you.

In starting a conversation by telling people what trade or profession you're in, you are in effect pushing yourself at your targets. In delivering your Attraction Messages, you are pulling your potential customers towards you. Push is all about you, the supplier; pull is all about your customer.

Compare a few alternatives and feel how they make you react:

Push: I'm a personal trainer
Pull: I motivate, train and support people who want to build healthier, fitter and better-toned bodies

Push: I sell telephone systems
Pull: I help small businesses implement telephony systems which increase efficiency and improve customer service

Push: I'm a chauffeur
Pull: I help busy executives reduce the stress of long journeys and arrive in comfort, well prepared and rested

Follow up your Attraction Messages with a question which engages your target, and you're well on the way to creating the bond you need, and finding out whether you’re talking to a prospective customer or someone who could introduce you to other prospective customers.

Your Attraction Messages can be delivered face-to-face, for example in a meeting or networking environment, and they can be delivered through your marketing material – your brochures, letters and advertisements can all convey the same customer-focused spirit. All of these contribute to demonstrating to your potential customers that you care more about what you do for them, than about who you are – and that makes you a much more 'attractive' person to do business with.

Making an Exhibition of Yourself

Sun,14 Mar 2010 15:58:41

Trade show season is getting underway. This can mean a big investment for exhibitors in terms of time, effort and money. Having spent several years managing trade show stands, I've seen the good, the bad and the downright ugly - stands that work and stands that fall flat on their proverbial faces. Whether you're raising a simple pop-up behind a table in your local shopping centre, or a two-storey island exhibit at the NEC, there are some basic rules you can’t afford to forget.

Objectives: Decide in advance what you're there for. Is it to get as many names as possible for your contact campaigns? Is it to identify new prospects - if so, how many? Is it to meet and entertain customers you don't often see? Is it to get publicity for a new product launch? Or is it because you know your competitors will be there and you can’t afford to be absent? Whatever your objective, it will drive everything, from what position you choose and what size your stand is, to how you allocate your budget, what you do on the stand, who you get to staff your stand, what hand-outs, gifts or hospitality you offer, what sponsoring opportunities or promotions you participate in… The list is endless, and without deciding in advance what you want to achieve, these decisions will be random at best.

'Kerb appeal': Having determined your objectives, your stand needs to be designed to have 'kerb appeal'. Think about how a casual passer-by in a crowded aisle will see your stand. Will it be easy to see who you are (obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people get this wrong), and what line of business you're in? Will it be easy to distinguish company representatives from visitors? If you’re demonstrating, will there be space to do this effectively whilst making eye contact with your prospect? Will your stand be welcoming and inviting? Will you want people to have ready access to brochures? Will there be a gimmick, competition, or presentation to which you want to draw attention?

Manpower: The best way to get value from your stand is to staff it with a well-briefed and motivated team. Think about whether there should be a dress code or team shirt too, as this can often make it much easier to identify company representatives. Make sure everybody understands the objectives and any particular messages you want to communicate. Set goals or targets for stand representatives, and be prepared to motivate them with small rewards or incentives. Have enough people there that they can take frequent breaks to sit down away from the stand to have a coffee, handle phone messages or meet a client. But don't have too many - that intimidating line of sales representatives waiting to pounce will scare people away. And one very important point - make sure you have sufficient, secure 'backstage' cupboard space to store raincoats, briefcases and laptops. It will help keep your stand looking tidy and professional and avoid costly losses.

Practicalities: Stands don't happen by magic - there's an army of people handling builds and teardowns. But don't rely on other people! Arrive at your stand 5 minutes before the show opens, only to find there isn't enough carpet, or the electricity hasn't been laid, and it's too late to fix it. Be prepared to 'stage manage' the build and teardown, to ensure your stand is serviceable on the day, and re-usable for the next show. By way of a cautionary tale, I remember supervising a stand tear-down one year where it became apparent that a single stand was left untouched as all the others were coming down around it - the tear-down team had failed to arrive. A flat and empty hall soon surrounded this rather substantial and no doubt very expensive island - and that was just before the bulldozer was moved in to demolish it to make way for the next day's show.

Follow-Up: So, you've collected hundreds of business cards, or completed dozens of enquiry forms. That's great! But what are you going to do with them? Part of your forward planning should be to design a lead handling process, which should at the very least involve sending a 'thank you for visiting our stand' letter or email and perhaps making a follow-up telephone call. Here's an exercise - if lead generation is your prime objective, take the cost of your stand, plus the cost of staffing it, plus the cost of your giveaways and hand-outs, and divide it by the number of leads you collected. That's the value of each of those leads to you. Now decide if you want to squander that money by leaving that box of leads in the back of your car for 4 weeks, or strike whilst the iron is hot.

In these days of tight budgets and diminishing returns, it's dangerous to make costly marketing mistakes. But with a little forward planning and a clear idea of what you want to get out of your stand presence, your trade show budget can be money well spent.

Reading and Learning

Sun,21 Feb 2010 12:48:29

I'm soaking up everything I can find on writing fiction at the moment. OK, that's not strictly true. There is far more written than I can possibly find the time or energy to read, especially if I want to find some time and energy for... writing. Apparently, much of it is of questionable quality too, so I'm told. But here are a few books I've already found helpful:

The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Jack M Bickham. Good advice, practical and entertaining at the same time.
Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. I'm glad I waded through the impenetrable first half of this much recommended book, because the second half turned out to have some very sound advice.
Your Writing Coach by Jurgen Wolff. Easy to digest and good advice from the perspective of a writers' coach.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. Advice on technique from a Master, combined with fascinating biographical insights. A must-read, whatever your preferred genre.

I'm also now reading fiction that doesn't immediately appeal to me as being "my sort of book", watching for technique and writerly skills as well as the pleasure of a good story, well told. Today it's a cold and soggy Sunday and I can think of no better way to pass a few hours than to make a comfortable nest on my sofa, line up a mug of coffee and a biscuit and stick my head in a book.

A Leading Question

Sat,20 Feb 2010 16:05:59

You probably know the old quote, attributed to US department store merchant John Wanamaker in the late 19th century: "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half."

It's all very well to spend money on all sorts of marketing initiatives – networking, advertising, web sites and SEO, trade shows and events, telemarketing, direct mail, social networking etc – but if you don't know where your new clients or customers have come from, how can you know which of those initiatives were cost effective and which were not? If you want to find out which half of your marketing budget is working, you need to know where your leads, and perhaps more importantly, your successful sales, come from.

This is easy if you have small numbers of clients whom you know personally – you can simply ask them what prompted them to contact you. It's harder if you work in the sort of business where you don't have face-to-face contact with each individual client, or your customer volumes are high. Here, your salespeople can be prompted to ask; your web site enquiry form can contain a drop-down list of possible search or advertising sources; your coupon response can include a code identifying the source; you can create source-specific special offers. For business via the internet, web analytics and email marketing services can provide vital data on which prompts led to the highest click-through rates, and even how long people spend reading your web various pages.

Analysing your lead sources will yield so much vital business intelligence, for example:

Where your leads and sales come from
Where your most profitable or highest-value clients or customers come from
What were the verbal, written, visual or personal 'triggers' that created the best responses
Whether it is worth investing in achieving high on-line search rankings
Which lead sources gave you the highest conversion of enquiries into customers
Which advertisements worked and which didn't
What advertisement size or positioning works best
Whether exhibiting at a trade show is worth the money and effort
Whether entries in directories and web portals are paying for themselves
Whether you're getting value from your membership of networking groups or business associations
Whether adding brochures, case studies or other material to mailshots makes a difference to response rates
What newsletter articles or web site content works best for you
Whether writing a blog or building your presence on Twitter is a cost-effective use of your time and energy
Whether time spent on seminars or speaker slots yielded results in terms of new business.

It's relatively straightforward to work out the effectiveness of your lead sources. For a given time period, take the total value to you of all the leads generated, or all the business generated from each source, and divide by the cost of that lead source. You will need to allow for the fact that not all your marketing activities are directly or solely about lead generation, but are about raising awareness, conveying brand messages etc. However, it should become clear what's working, and what may not be working, and you may be surprised by the results. But then at least you can make informed decisions about how and where to spend your marketing budget and your efforts in the future.

Beginner's Luck?

Sat,13 Feb 2010 12:49:24

Is this "beginner’s luck"? Is it a flash-in-the-pan? Or is it a taste of things to come? I've just learned that one of my short stories, submitted to one of Writing Magazine's monthly competitions, has won First Prize. It's actually the first story I've ever submitted, anywhere. I had to re-read the 'congratulations' email several times, to make sure I hadn't misunderstood it. Then I bounced around the house whooping and singing - I couldn't help myself! It feels quite absurdly brilliant, that a story I've conceived and written has been judged worthy of publication.

Years ago, when I sold computer/telephony systems to new customers, each win would feel like a mini triumph. The feeling that you had, by virtue of skills and commitment, persuaded a buyer to make their decision in favour of you and your company's offering - that was pretty good.

But this, I think, is better.

Getting creative at Arvon

Mon,25 Jan 2010 12:52:25

A few weeks ago, I took myself away on an Arvon Foundation creative writing course at their Totleigh Barton centre in deepest Devon. It was so incredibly stimulating to dedicate time and energy purely to playing with words, absent of all the normal distractions - phones, email and the general background noise of life. It was fun to follow the discipline of completing a prescribed exercise in 20 or 30 minutes; to produce something you might (or might not) feel brave enough to read out; to see whether your efforts were rewarded with words of encouragement and support, or awkward fidgeting and averted eyes. It was delightfully sociable and mentally challenging, and it reminded me how much I enjoy making words come together to bring stories and ideas to life.

Over coming months, I'm looking forward to developing some creative writing projects of my own, alongside the projects I work on for my clients.

It all adds up to.... an award winning client!

Sun,22 Nov 2009 13:49:16

Document and copy writing skills get called upon for all sorts of projects. A few weeks ago, I was engaged by a new client, Pinner-based accountancy firm Sobell Rhodes as they prepared a submission for the 40th Annual Accountancy Age Awards, in the category of Medium Firm of the Year.

The Accountancy Age Awards are the UK’s premier awards for achievement and excellence in the accountancy profession. They recognise innovation in client focus and services, as well as structural and financial improvements, year on year.

Having assisted Managing Partner Andrew Rhodes with the format and presentation of their award submission and seen them shortlisted, I was delighted and honoured to be invited by Sobell Rhodes to share their table at the glittering awards dinner at Battersea Park Arena last week.

Our firmly crossed digits were not in vain, as Sobell Rhodes, one of 5 finalists in their category, found themselves the winners. As the Sobell Rhodes team stepped up on-stage to receive their award and a handshake from celebrity event host, Rory Bremner, I just about managed to stop my hands from shaking as I captured the record of their win on a mini video camera. You can see it on You Tube here.

It just remains for me to offer Sobell Rhodes my own huge congratulations on such a notable achievement, and to thank them for being a most delightful client to work with.

The thing is....

Thu,24 Sep 2009 18:51:32

..... is..... there is no second 'is'. One 'is' is enough!

Do some things people say really get to you? Make you shiver, like fingernails scraping down a blackboard?

No? Maybe it's just me then, being a bit of a linguistic fusspot. But there are one or two little clunkers that really get to me. The thing is, is this is one of them.... the way people make a big thing out of the word 'is'.... One 'is' really is enough! Unless, of course, we're in the process of creating a new word..... thingis, as in: The thingis, is we're mucking up our beautiful language, one little word at a time.

Oh dear, now I've probably spoiled it for you. That little extra 'is' will be jumping out at you from every radio interview and TV vox-pop you encounter, from friends and family, colleagues and customers, maybe even from your own lips....

The thing is, it might just make a few people do away with that little surplus-to-requirements word.

Twitter for Customer Care: Vodafone makes it work

Wed,12 Aug 2009 15:36:17

If you're one of the many who haven't yet seen a value in Twitter, you may be interested in my recent experience.

I needed to upgrade my Vodafone contract and phone the other week. It took a while, but I eventually got through to a very helpful Vodafone rep, who listened to my requirements and found me the perfect tariff. I was delighted. Until, that was, I received in the post from Vodafone, the "quick reminder" of what I'd signed up to, and realised that what Vodafone thought I'd agreed to, wasn't at all what I believed I had agreed to. Several phone conversations later (it's never just one call, is it?), and I think I had managed to rectify the disparity. But I wasn't confident, and there was still another unresolved issue outstanding.

I'd been considerably irked by one particular call during this process, and at the end of a long day, I was turning into a bit of a Grumpy Old Woman where Vodafone was concerned. I needed to poke somebody, so I went on the hunt for a Vodafone feed on Twitter. And what do you know, I found one.

I Tweeted a rather petulant "harrumph" about the service I'd received. That same evening I received a cheery and genuine 140-character response, a desire to understand what my problem was, and find a way to help. It seemed there was a real person at the end of the Twitter feed. A short exchange of emails later and my issues were swiftly, efficiently and fully resolved – by a real person, blessed with common sense, courtesy and a really great attitude to customer care.

So this is a note of my respect and appreciation to @VodafoneUK and in particular to MatC (you know who you are), on the case on Twitter, for the Web Relations Team. MatC, you may just have got Vodafone another 13 years of my custom!

I'm going on a Twitter Diet

Wed,22 Jul 2009 18:25:19

I've been shocked by how swiftly Twitter sank its teeth into me. For the first few weeks, I was in and out of Twitter every few hours, sometimes every few minutes. I 'followed' eagerly at first. I found friends, colleagues and associates, local information on my borough, people who Tweeted on marketing topics and social networking trends, business networking and entrepreneurial Tweeters (or is that Twitterers?) and home-workers who told the world every time they went off to make a cup of coffee (yes, really); I even found a cheery elderly lady who Tweets from her nursing home. Soon I was following almost 50 people. For those who 'follow' thousands of people, that might seem a little sparse, but I naively assumed one should actually read the Tweets of those people one follows. OK perhaps that's just a bit obsessive-compulsive...

People use Twitter in many different ways though. There’s a place of course, for people who want to follow and be followed by thousands, but I’m not one of them. I believe there's just so much information one person can cope with at any one time. I don’t want to drown in it, however useful it might possibly be – and in a world flooded with information-on-the-move, I've decided I'm not afraid to miss something.

So maybe I will miss the odd vital nugget by being a bit selective, but in limiting my 'follows' to less than 30, and 'un-following' anybody who bungs up my Twitter screen by Tweeting more than 6 times in quick succession (now that's another story), I'm handling Twitter in a way that just about works for me.

Cutting through the noise of Twitter

Thu,18 Jun 2009 11:06:45

I spotted a sharp and insightful article on Twitter in The Buzz, the Internet World show's promotional e-newsletter. This year's show may be history but the article, 'How you can cut through the noise and appreciate what Twitter offers your business' is definitely worth a read, if you're thinking about whether to Tweet for business. It's full of practical, no-nonsense pointers, beginning with..... yes... 'have a strategy'.

Twitter-curious?

Mon,15 Jun 2009 11:55:16

What is this Twitter thing all about? I wanted to know, so a few weeks ago, I got myself a Twitter account and I've been looking, learning, cogitating and inwardly digesting the whole Twitter experience.

The idea behind Twitter is that you answer the question "what are you doing"; in a maximum of 140 characters - the length of a typical text message. Not seeing the point of telling my 'followers' what I had for breakfast, I confess I was Twitter-sceptical at first, and, like many others, I still am. But my aim was to find out how it might be of value within the marketing strategy for a small or medium sized business, as well as for my own business, so I blocked my ears to the hoots of derision and ploughed on.

So here you have it, thoughts from a Neophyte Tweeter. This is the first of a series of Twitter postings - my thoughts and opinions only, for anybody considering using this unique new social media phenomenon.

No 1 Rule - have a strategy: As with any marketing, you must have a strategy. Without it, you are adrift in a sea of idle banter. Decide what you want your presence on Twitter to achieve, then Tweet, seek out and respond to others, and engage fully in ways that help fulfil your objective. If you allow yourself to be distracted, Twitter will suck time out of your day like a black hole sucks light from the universe.

My strategy is to use Twitter to encourage clients, potential clients and my wider business network to visit my web site, register to receive the newsletter and/or RSS feed and ultimately make contact to discuss projects or opportunities. My Tweets, which need to convey my professional expertise and style, will be focused on 3 areas: (a) marketing ideas and strategies, (b) persuasive/creative use of language and (c) current projects and activities.

Follow me on Twitter and look out for future Twitter postings here soon.

Every connection is an opportunity

Tue,02 Jun 2009 12:22:28

Here’s an interesting lesson in the value of networking. I’ve recently exchanged emails, courtesy of LinkedIn, with a former marketing colleague from over a decade ago. He had been made redundant and was connecting with past contacts, in search of potential opportunities. We arranged to meet for a chat. This morning, a few days ahead of our meeting, I received the following email:

“Hi Julie, I’m just about to accept a job offer with a company called [... ... ...] to lead their marketing in Europe. However, I think I will need to access skills like yours. Therefore, if you’re still OK to meet up we can do it on the basis of me being a prospective client.”

Every connection is an opportunity; you never know where something will lead.

Backups - a cautionary tale

Mon,25 May 2009 14:30:42

I suffered a fatal and permanent hard-drive failure the other week. My hard drive simply stopped working. I won’t bore you with the sorry tale of the next few days, but I do want to say a word about... backups. If you’re part of a larger business, somebody else is probably taking care of backups. If you’re a solo worker or a small business, the job of backing up your PC is most likely down to you. It’s possible that you don’t give this issue much of a thought – but you should.

Imagine... tomorrow morning you sit down at your PC. You push the start button, but within moments, you’re staring blankly at the ‘blue screen of death’.... Something’s gone badly wrong.

If the critical fault has resulted, as it did with me, in total loss of all the data on your hard-drive, you could be facing a crisis - depending on the state of your computer backup. So, how healthy is your backup at this precise moment? What client or customer data or projects are not fully backed-up? What sort of backups do you keep of your customer contact database, email or diary appointments?

I was reasonably fortunate. It was my habit to do a weekly backup, which I had thought was sufficient. My backup data was actually not very badly out of date, and it wasn’t too much trouble to retrieve the few missing items. Even so, I now do a daily backup instead, as I no longer feel my weekly strategy is good enough.

Your personal backup strategy must be based on the assumption that the worst can happen, and that if it does, you and your business would be able to pick up where you left off. If you can’t afford to lose it, make sure it’s properly backed up. If it would cost you valuable time, money or credibility if you lost it, back it up. If it would leave your life, work, finances or commercial relationships in chaos if you lost it, make a backup. And then keep it up-to-date.

What does your brand say about you?

Mon,04 May 2009 16:14:30

How are your customers greeted when they arrive at your front door? What happens to them when they go on-hold on your telephone system? When you say you’ll do something by a given date, can you be relied upon? What about your salespeople, and your customer service team? When you send information or a proposal to your prospect, how does it arrive – a jumble of brochures and leaflets in the wrong sized envelope, or a personalised suite of useful information in a smart folder? Do your written materials reflect an easy-to-read ‘house style’ or does everybody do their own thing? What’s the first thing people think of, when they hear your company name?

Your brand – your company’s identity and values – is communicated to your customers and prospects in many ways, and every one of them is an opportunity to reinforce strong and positive messages about the quality of your offering, how you do business and how you value your customers.

Think of how you felt, the last time you got put on-hold and fell into a silent telephony ‘black hole’. Or when a crushed and damaged envelope scattered its miscellany of un-matched leaflets, brochures and just-in-case odds-and-ends all over your desk. Did it give you warm feelings about your potential supplier’s attitude or professionalism? Did it give you confidence, or make you feel dismayed and irritated?

Your brand is about much more than having a nice logo. Every one of your staff represents your brand when they meet or talk with your customers. Every one of your brochures, fact-sheets, proposals, letters and business cards represents your brand. Your office, meeting rooms and trade show displays represent your brand. Even your coffee mugs and coasters! Everything makes an impression – small or large. Everything. They’re all clues from which your customer builds their opinion of you, and their confidence in you. And every time you get something right, in the eyes of your customer, your brand goes up in value.

To build your brand, first be clear about what you stand for as a company and how you want to do business. Then make sure that every interaction, of every kind, with anybody at all – customer, prospect, supplier, colleague or passer-by - endorses and reinforces those values.

Coffee Break Stories

Sat,02 May 2009 23:23:45

I've collated 4 of my favourite Coffee Break Stories for you to sample with your next cuppa. You can download them here. They were all written for my client, Customs Clearance Ltd, a specialist customs broker.

Julie's web site gets a facelift!

Fri,01 May 2009 23:23:54

No, not me, it’s my web site. It’s been in need of a fresh coat of paint for a while. I’ve been working on the new design and layout for the last few weeks. The new-look site at www.julielawford.co.uk has just gone live. I hope you like the fresh new colour scheme and layout. Take a moment to check out the Notepad feature, where I’ll be posting short articles, comment and news. You can receive these posts as they appear by subscribing to my RSS feed (click here to find out more about RSS feeds). I’m also starting up my regular Newsletter again, and you can subscribe to receive issues by completing the form on the Contact page. If you have any feedback on the new site, I’d love to hear it – use the contact form or email me.