Attention spans aren't what they used to be. Some of you won't even get past the end of this sentence.

Intellectual heavyweight Nicholas Carr has just released his thoughts on the matter in his new book The Shallows - what the internet is doing to our brains.

...you need to think like a Starfish.
Starfish have been around for quite some time now and they know a thing or two. In fact, they know a thing or five.

I hate to be the person who pops your ego bubble but nobody cares what you do. Honestly. No one.

This seems to be one of the most commonly overlooked facts when people start to market their businesses.

"Get out of my office and never darken my door again" is not a phrase you would expect to hear from a supplier - but perhaps it's time to start saying that to some of your clients?

When I first started out in business I got very busy, very quickly. By busy, I mean I was working long hours and really giving my customers my pound of flesh.

"I know how my product is being used!" I hear you cry. But do you really?

Let's look at a dying product. The pen.

If you are responsible for bringing in new business for your company you probably got a momentary sense of relief when you read the headline for this article, probably followed straight after by the rational side of your brain shouting something like "Yeah right - now get back on the phone and start cold calling again".

I think I speak for the majority of male readers who can't understand the concept of paying £80 for a haircut.

My barber is just around the corner from my house and charges £4 for a haircut and £3 for a cut throat shave. I have yet to go and not queue - he's a very busy man.

We are working with a new client that manufactures tools. Within the hand tool market they are, comparatively speaking, a tiny company. In my early discussions with our client they didn't want to spend money on a brand as they saw the process as being "too expensive".

As part of the project we conducted some customer research to see what the paying public thought of the tools.

Cavemen had the right idea about acquiring new business.

Way back in time, around the stone age, some bright young thing went after a wooly mammoth with a newfangled contraption called a spear.

Up to that point in time your average caveman was content with pounding his prey with rocks and sticks but clever caveman decided a sharp point at the end of a long stick was more effective at getting through the leathery hide of a savage beast.

Earlier this year my parents (by which I mean my Mum because my Dad gets no say in these matters) were considering putting a gas fire in their living room to replace the coal fire.

My Mum said she wanted "the kind with a door on that looked like a coal fire but didn't require the maintenance of a coal fire".