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The 'Ology'

what is an 'ology'

An 'ology' is a specialisation... and a way of doing things. The English suffix -ology or -logy denotes a field of study or academic discipline, and -ologist describes a person who studies that field.

The word 'ology' hit the public's attention in the 1980's BT adverts... a Jewish student calls his grandmother (played by Maureen Lipman) to confirm his exam results. He is disappointed that he has only passed Sociology, but his grandmother will have none of it. 'Anthony,' she insists, 'if you get an ology, you're a scientist!'

In fact, my mother also used to talk about "a man having an 'ology''' - an 'ology' would be a specialisation or degree in psych-ology, or physiol-ogy, or bi-ology.

so what's the 'ology' at the directors' centre?

Essentially, there are two 'ologies' at The Directors' Centre:

• The 'ology' we apply to businesses we work with: the tools, techniques, ideas and processes
• The 'ology' we apply internally: how we do stuff to make sure that the client gets what they want and more; our techniques and processes for marketing, selling, delivering and so forth.

the 'ology' that is used when working with clients

Our 'ology' is a kitbag of tools, techniques and processes that all our consultants may introduce to you and your business. If you look at Robert's books 'Kick-Start Your Business' and 'Customer Is King', or if you have attended any of our workshops (Bright Marketing, Customer Is King, Kick-Start Your Business, More Profit, Understanding Small Businesses) then you start to get an insight into the sheer number of tools and effectiveness of our toolkit.

So what? So, what's the big deal about having an 'ology'?

It is one thing to own the tools to grow a business but other things need to be in place:

1. The tools are literally owned by us and anyone else using them without our permission/licence is infringing copyright law
   ...so what?
   ...so you will be working with the original creators/developers and probably the most experienced users of the materials.
2. The tools were developed, designed and tested by The Directors' Centre team, working with real businesses. We know that these tools work.
   ...so what?
   ...so you get to benefit from all that experience and you get to use these tools in their most productive form.
3. The Directors' Centre team has been trained in how get the best out of each tool
   ...so what?
   ...so you work with someone who knows how to apply them into your business.
4. Tools can be applied as and when they are needed. While most assignments follow a certain direction, the tools and how they are applied will vary according to the needs of the client and the client organisation
   ...so what?
   ...so you get tools that are appropriate to what you are trying to do with your business rather than some 'one size fits all' shoe-horning approach.

so what's in this 'ology'?

The 'ology' refers to the toolkit's contents as well as the actual philosophy behind the tools. Tools include:

• 'FastStart' - a fast-track process to healthcheck and agree the way forward for your business
• 'Business Healthcheck' - a fast no-nonsense approach to identifying the strengths and weaknesses in your business and identifying key actions
• '22 Immutable Laws of Growing Business Marketing'
• The 'Bright Marketing' Manifesto - characteristics of faster growing businesses
• The 'Customer Is King' - Seven Point Plan
• 'Creating a Customer Culture' - 13 Point Plan
• 'One Minute Brand Test'
• 'Customer Experience Audit'
• 'Auditing Your Marketing People'
• 'Same/Better/Wow Index'
• 'Strategy Awayday'
• 'One Page Business Plan'
• The 'Expert' model
• 'Applying the 80:20'
• 'More Profit' toolkit
• 'FastStrat' - a four step process for putting together the strategic action plan

what next?

If you like what you see on our website then we'd love to talk with you about your business and what is is that you are trying to do. Call our office on 01225 851044 and speak with Trish so that you can set up a no-obligation chat with one of our team.