In the future everybody will be famous for fifteen minutes.

--Andy Warhol

Are you ready for your fifteen minutes of fame? If you are like me, you probably aren't. Here's why:

1. You don't really believe that your chance to tell your story will be brief.

2. You want to communicate on your terms, not someone else's.

Leaders, consultants, human resources departments, business books and professional journals all place great emphasis on the importance of mission, vision, values and corporate culture in organisations.

Talk is cheap. Mission, vision, values: the words roll off the tongue so easily. Walking the talk however, is a very different proposition, as anyone who has tried to manage organizational behaviour knows well.

I think you'll agree that most of us have a tendency towards activities that are Quick & Easy. When things become difficult, or have more than one step, the temptation is to give up. That's a mistake since the few who take the time to actually work through the complexity, reap enormous benefits. So what's my point?

When people think about marketing they tend to focus on the Quick & Easy stuff.

The following 5 tips have been proven to work time after time to bring in more business and close more sales. Most importantly rather than being manipulative, they offer a common sense approach to business.

Think back to your past experiences in each case.

Tip #1: Have you met business people who are so intent on selling they do not listen to you?
In order to close a sale, you have to ask why the other person called, emailed or visited your store in the first place.

Anyone who is familiar with the world of celebrities have heard of public relations firms aka PR companies, but just what does such a company provide?

Well, to answer that, one has to understand the term "public relations". As one would suspect, the term implies a reciprocal relationship between two or more parties. Often, one of the parties engaged is the "public".

For years, the idea of generating customer traffic by offering a toll-free 0800 phone number far outweighed the idea of charging for the call. However recent figures are suggesting that in fact sales of the 0845 variety are today, far outweighing use of the 0800 number. So why the change and why are we now suddenly being asked to call a number that is no longer free of charge?

0845 numbers do not represent a particular geographical location.

If you have an abusive boss, one who criticises or belittles you, and shows no respect for your abilities or concern for your development, you may decide to hold your tongue, keep your head down, and get along as best you can until you find another position. But you dread getting up for work every morning.

Alternatively, your sense of outrage may take over and one day you explode in frustration and anger.

We face difficult conversations every day. They can be with our children, our parents, family members and spouses; with colleagues, employees and with the boss; with friends and neighbors; with tenants, landlords, business partners, and in the sports team.

Sometimes these conversations are about the big issues of race, religion, gender and politics.

I doubt whether you have ever opened a conversation with the words: I know that I am more to blame for this than you are; I know I do not have all the facts; and I know that what I am about to say makes no sense at all!

One of the hardest parts of planning for a difficult conversation is to think through how your own behaviour may have contributed to the problem.

Most people have experienced change in their working lives in recent years. It may have been a major restructuring of your department or your organisation, or something as apparently straight forward as moving from your own private office into an open plan environment.

Either way, it is common to find yourself working closely with a new group of people in working conditions where you have to be concerned not only about their competence, but also about their personal behaviour and often irritating habits.