Brand "ME"

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:38:00 GMT

Personal branding, self-branding, self-positioning, whatever you choose to call it, it’s really about personal marketing. Why would you want to do that? It’s a great way to market your business in a way that can cost you nothing. You see it in action constantly. Donald Trump, for example, uses his name on his buildings, but he also has it placed on products that he endorses. While you mightn’t be prepared to go that far, let’s look at some ways of using personal marketing.

Remember, prospects are everywhere

Whenever you travel, attend a sporting event, go to a parents’ night at your local school or even wait in line at a bank, it’s possible there is a potential customer among the group. So always be willing to talk to people. You never know who you might be talking to. Naturally not everyone is going to be a potential customer but even if somebody isn’t a prospect for your business they may well know of another person who is.
This doesn’t mean pushing yourself onto anybody and everybody with a business card in your hand, but it does mean keeping a business ear tuned in to the conversations you are having. It’s really a matter of your mindset.

Develop your elevator speech

It pays to prepare a little story about you and your business that’s interesting and only takes a minute or less to go through. Most conversations eventually get into a “What sort of work do you do?” phase and that’s your chance to tell others about yourself. “I solve people’s mobility problems by working out the most cost effective way to maintain their cars” is a lot more interesting opening line than “I’m a mechanic”! You could discuss the way your workshop assesses how clients use their cars, who uses which vehicles for what purpose, and how you use that information to suggest a maintenance schedule that provides best value for money. The car that just does the weekly shopping doesn’t need the same level of expenditure as one that is used for constant long trips. People will be impressed and intrigued – they’ll certainly remember you.

Show a real interest in the people you talk with and take the time to hear their story. Listen carefully and you’ll always learn something. Ask additional questions if you think there’s more to learn since some people only tell part of their story and wait until they’re encouraged before they say anything else.

Help whenever you can

The old maxim, “those who help others, help themselves”, definitely holds true in business. If you realise during a conversation that you can be of some assistance to the person you’re talking with, it’s an opportunity to get to know them better. This extends to those you’re already doing business with. You might have a solution to their biggest business problem, and suddenly find you have a great new customer, or a new business affiliate.

Share your expertise

Whatever your line of business, you’re an expert in it. Before you disclaim this, just think about it. You know more about what you do in that business than anybody else who isn’t in the same business. If you can make up an interesting presentation about what you do, others will gladly listen.

Contact local organisations and offer your services as a guest speaker. Begin with any that you’re already a member of and go from there.

Join Twitter and start posting short comments – you’re limited to 140 characters so it doesn’t require a long essay on the subject! Check out what others in your industry are saying and comment.

When it clicks, personal marketing places you in a one-on-one situation with a prospective customer who shares many of the same concerns about running a business that you have. If you can be informative, interested and helpful you’ll find your business growing and possibly make new friends at the same time.

How To Conduct Fair And Effective Employee Appraisals

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:37:00 GMT

Most organisations review the performance of their employees on a regular basis (usually annually), for the purposes of determining pay adjustments, promotions, terminations and training requirements. Unfortunately, the very idea of being “appraised”, of having some superior pass judgement on them, is resented by many employees – unfortunate because, in fact, a structured Performance Appraisal is the most objective method their employer can use to reliably evaluate their standard of performance and reward them according to their real merit. Even the most technically sound Performance Appraisal structure can be sabotaged by non-cooperation, usually arising from some idea that it is “unfair”. To operate effectively, you must build a Performance Appraisal system that demonstrates fairness through every aspect of its operation.

Building a fair appraisal structure

“Job creep” can mean that what the supervisor understands a job involves is at variance with what’s actually in the employee’s job description, or what they really are doing. The fairness of a Performance Appraisal system is grounded in a set of current, accurate job descriptions that define the tasks an employee is expected to perform, along with a set of clear explanations regarding what criteria will be used to assess how well they perform them. This information provides a common understanding between employer and employee, and a level playing field among employees performing the same job.

Many off-the-shelf Performance Appraisal software tools work off a generic set of assessment criteria – that’s unfair. Only an appraisal tool customised to reflect the way things are actually done in your particular business, and the particular expectations that you have of employees, can be considered as fair.

Building a fair appraisal report

A common failing of Performance Appraisal is to begin noting observations of your employees just before conducting the appraisal interviews. This limited observation period is unlikely to provide an accurate reflection of performance over the whole period between appraisals.

Ideally, employee’s performance should be observed and recorded in a systematic manner over time to provide a fair picture.

Throughout the period between reviews performance issues must not only be noted, they must be addressed as soon as they arise. It’s easy to pass on a compliment or word of recognition for good work – far less easy to tell someone they are underperforming. Nevertheless, it’s only fair that an employee know everything that may come up in their review, and that they have an opportunity to improve before the review.

Employees should be informed of who will be submitting information about their performance (supervisor, co-workers, customers, etc). Multiple appraisal channels can improve accuracy and reduce bias, but will only be acceptable to employees if they are satisfied that these appraisers have adequate knowledge and direct experience of their performance to make a fair assessment.

Building a fair Performance Appraisal interview

Providing appraisers with some formal training ensures that they understand the goals of Performance Appraisal, and how Performance Appraisal interviews work (what can be asked, how to deal with difficult situations, how to give feedback, how to stay focused on behaviours and avoid discussing personality etc). Since the appraiser may also be the supervisor, a professionally conducted interview can neutralise the potential for supervisor bias, and increase the employee’s perception of its fairness.

Ideally, the employee should be allowed to make a self assessment of their own performance. This provides an opportunity to explain any circumstances that may have caused them to underperform, to identify barriers preventing good performance (e.g. out-of-date equipment), and suggest things that could improve their performance (altering procedures, extra training, etc) – that’s fair.

Building a fair performance improvement system

The goal of performance appraisal is to support and improve your employee’s performance, so it makes sense that having identified any barriers to performance, steps are then taken to remove them. It’s unfair to have discussed a shortcoming in performance, recognised its origin in something outside the control of the employee, and then not to address the issue to allow the employee to perform up to the mark.

Selecting The Right Web Solution

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:36:00 GMT

Choosing a web solution is not just a matter of throwing up a few pages, as cheaply as you can by using friends and tech savvy kids to toss it together. The online market these days is as valuable and important as the physical marketplace you do business in so when it comes to creating a website it’s worth investing the same commitment of time, money and resources that you put into the physical set up of your premises, or selecting essential tools and equipment for the business.

Your web solution will need to be able to grow and develop with your business. If you choose a web solution that isn’t flexible and can’t be upgraded, you may end up having to replace it as your needs change.

Here are some points to consider:

Communicating with customers

When choosing your web solution it’s important to look at the options for communicating with your customers and prospects. Blogs and forums are examples of using technology to make your website more interactive. They are both effective ways to open the lines of communication between you and your market. Even if your business is not ready to start a blog, forum or other interactive tool right now, choose a web solution that is flexible enough to easily add them in future.

Managing your website

Look for a web solution than offers a content management system (CMS). A CMS enables you to make changes to your site without expert help – and hence reduces your costs. You can update text on pages, add pages, and publish articles, blogs and announcements. A CMS allows you to communicate with your customers more quickly as well.

Online selling and database capabilities

If you want to sell your products online, you need e-commerce features that are easy for you to manage and make it simple for people to buy.

Once again, using a content management system will allow you to update products and descriptions on your site. Other common features available are real-time stock management, advanced purchase calculations if you offer bulk, trade and valued customer discounts, and online credit card payment processing. If you sell electronic files, such as MP3s or e-books, you will want an e-commerce solution that enables downloads once the purchase has been made.

Along with e-commerce, a complete web solution includes an integrated customer database. This will enable you to grow your database when prospective customers interact with your site. Details about existing customers, including past enquiries, purchases, downloads, and marketing campaigns received, can be included in the database. The integrated database plays a crucial part in an email marketing strategy. This facility will enable you to manage lists and provide statistics to monitor responses to email marketing campaigns.

Reporting the return on investment

If you can’t measure the effectiveness of your website, you could be wasting time and money. Your website should have reporting capabilities that will tell you how many people are visiting your site, what they are doing when they visit, how they found you, and how many are turning into customers. Measuring, collecting, analysing and reporting data about how people find and use your site is crucial for providing the information that can help you improve it over time.

Statistics such as the average time on site and average page views will tell you how interested visitors are in your site. The bounce rate will tell you the percentage of visitors who only visited one page on your site. If people are leaving your site from certain pages, there might be a problem with content. If you have an e-commerce site and visitors commonly exit at one of the steps, you can take a closer look to determine why this is happening.

Small Business Spending Strategies For Tough Times

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:48:00 GMT

Like most business operators, you’ve probably been doing a lot recent pondering over where to cut spending. Whether you’re just being cautious, or outside forces have inflicted a need to slash budgets, consider a redirection or re-think of spending habits first – it can really help support your bottom line while the economy recovers.

Switch your pitch for a recession-time loan

After years of flowing loan funds and easy credit, your routine plans for business borrowing might face new obstacles today. Economic pressures have shifted lending attitudes. If your business was banking on a loan, there’s better chance of success if the recession scenario is set into your pitch. Present a realistic business plan to lenders that confronts the hard times relevant to your company, and show what you will be doing to meet the challenges ahead. Demonstrate an understanding of the economic environment, rather than a “business as usual” approach.

Outsourcing options

It’s tempting to keep everything in-house when your finances are falling, but the strategy could produce expensive traps. Not only do you displace team time that may be better spent on other strengths, but the risk of errors and a less than professional image could prove costly later on. Examine where you can spend money to save money. Outsource tasks like bookkeeping, IT support, direct marketing, public relations, writing or web design. Even loyal customers will scrutinise your professional image closely now. One advantage of a downturn is that there are many more specialist freelance skills on the market offering competitive rates.

Cut business cycles

In tightening economies, it’s wise to review business activity more frequently than usual so that you can take swift action on cash flow if required. Quarterly financial revision could revert to fortnightly or monthly; monthly to weekly if you’re already in that cycle. Your customers will be spending less, but that won’t last forever. With shortened business cycle planning, you’ll see the upward trends sooner too, and can respond accordingly.

Plan for even worse conditions

Keep in mind that serious unexpected changes could upend even the best-designed business plans for a downturn. Include an analysis or two for serious scenarios that could test your revenue, expenses and cash flows. For example, extreme inflation or deflation, a change of government policy or oil price hike; a supplier’s demise, move offshore or takeover.

Check for technology lag

It’s tough to even consider borrowing or leasing new equipment when cash flow is tight, but there might be situations where your technology is being outpaced. Should you invest in the latest gear to stay in the game? Beware that if your competitors have upgraded their machinery or equipment, they will be achieving better time - and cost-savings, passing the benefits on to their customers and worse – pitching to yours.

Bring your website out of hiding

Your website may already be doing a lot of sales legwork for you, but could it do better? More people will find you online if you invest in search engine optimisation (SEO). By moving higher up the search results page, potential customers see your site sooner when shopping around.

Searches can be promoted by key word, by your location or even by an image, using html programming. “Vertical searches” are emerging as an even better way for niche professionals to find refined information and reach highly specialised audiences. Diverting marketing funds to SEO is a good alternative – or addition – to traditional promotions, with the important bonus that you can see precisely how many people searched, looked and booked.

Use a business mentor

An empathetic, experienced business mentor is useful in times of boom and bust. As a general sounding board during expansion in tough times they help keep you focused on your greatest business challenges. Committing time and money to a mentor will energise your business.

The benefits include finding opportunities or threats you have missed; an experienced and professional sounding board; clearer guidance during growth (or decline); improved networking and; a sense of accountability through refined milestones that are more formal than if left to yourself.

Keep up the marketing

Ongoing marketing lets your customers, and prospective customers, know that you’re still around and operating as usual, in any economy. Promotions are easy to cut when income slows down, but consider the risk of ‘disappearing’ from the industry or public radar when the media and others are constantly talking about business foreclosures. You might be able to negotiate better advertising or printing deals now, so don’t be afraid to ask.

Performance Related Pay Schemes - Can They Be Made To Work?

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:27:00 GMT

Employees who perform well should naturally receive more than their lower performing associates, right? An effective performance related pay (PRP) scheme should deliver benefits to both employer and employee since it is driven off the employee’s ability to earn extra for more effective performance in their job. It sounds intuitively right in theory, it looks good on paper, but the implementation of such schemes has proven highly problematic.

What is a PRP scheme?

The essential feature of a PRP (aka ‘appraisal related pay’, ‘pay for performance, ‘merit based pay’) scheme is that increases in pay are wholly or partially based on an appraisal of an individual’s performance against pre-agreed targets. This differentiates them from other productivity based systems such as payment by results or piece work.

In most cases the bonus paid is a percentage of the annual salary to be paid out on top of regular salary the following year. Employee and manager will generally meet at the beginning of the year to set the goals and objectives that must be achieved. They will sit down again at the end of the year to determine whether the objectives have been met and if the bonus has been earned.

Issues with PRP schemes

While there is widespread acceptance that the concept is right in principle, human nature is such that putting this into practice can open a can of worms. It can be viewed as introducing inequalities in pay level and give rise to fear and jealousy among employees over how they might fare under the new system.

PRP has also raised resistance from some employee associations who view such schemes as an individualised method of payment running counter to the principles of collective bargaining. These objections will best be overcome if, through negotiation and/or consultation, employee associations have an opportunity to work with management in developing the details of the scheme so as to reassure themselves that the process will be fair to their members and deliver clearly demonstrated benefits to them.

The concept of fairness is pivotal to a PRP scheme. Because they are based on appraisal of the individual employee, often by their line manager, they are open to the perception that bias and personal favouritism can influence the result of pay reviews. PRP may also fall foul to the belief that pay is not related to performance, but to having the ‘right’ contacts and an ingratiating attitude.

The primary goal of a PRP scheme is to improve performance but ironically, PRP schemes can backfire by engendering self serving behaviours that lead to long term decreases in productivity. For example, a focus on short termism or an unwillingness to work as an active team member because they are too interested in pushing their own barrow to achieve their individual PRP award for the year. The aim should be to create a set of assessment criteria that promote both hard and soft behaviours in the context of both individual and team achievement.

Performance can be difficult to measure. In some industries like sales, job performance is easy to quantify through quotas and sales revenue. When it comes to nurses and teachers it is not so simple. The fact that in some jobs the critical skills can be difficult to identify and even harder to quantify at times makes PRP a questionable reward methodology

Performance appraisal – the bedrock of a performance related pay scheme

For a PRP scheme to succeed effective arrangements must first be in place to define, measure, appraise and manage performance.

A performance appraisal system in itself is of benefit to a business allowing it to objectively identify the strengths and weakness of its employees, highlighting training needs and assessing promotion potential. It is fully appropriate, and makes good business sense, to introduce an appraisal system for its own sake. Should it be decided subsequently to introduce a PRP scheme the performance appraisal system provides the perfect platform from which to launch - teething problems to do with the appraisal process itself will have been resolved and the effectiveness of the appraisal criteria already gauged.

The focus of a PRP scheme should be on encouraging high performance through an effective performance management and appraisal systems first – and only then on pay as an incentive to help achieve that goal.

Long Live Coupons

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:21:00 GMT

In this world it may seem that change is the only constant – but there is one other thing that appears to right up there with change – the attractiveness of coupons to consumers.

Coupons have always been popular but since they became available electronically their use has exploded. Emails that provide a printable coupon for in-store redemption, banner ads that offer discounts to new customers, onsite coupons for immediate discounts on online purchases and even coupons delivered via text messaging to cell phones are among the most popular forms of electronic distribution. And the great thing is that they are working better than ever.

Consumers hurting from the economic downturn are increasingly turning to online coupon offers to slim their spending. They’re economical marketing for your business too - no postal cost and any printing cost is borne by the user (who prints the coupons) rather than the issuing business.

There are two prongs to an online coupon marketing strategy. Put coupons on your own site of course. But also submit them to some of the myriad coupon aggregator sites that have sprung up in recent years to display in one place the thousands of coupon deals on offer. Coupons.com, a site that allows consumers to select and print coupons that can be redeemed at stores offline, had 8.5 million visitors in November 2008 alone. Focus on submitting your coupons for listing on some of the product/industry specific sites first, then on these general directories. These sites are easily found using terms such as ‘your industry sector name’ plus ‘coupons’ or ‘coupon site’ in your search engine.

Good for more than just immediate discounts

While coupons most commonly offer a discount on the immediate purchase they can be used to encourage repeat shopping by making the discount available on the next sale.

Getting the most from online coupons

If your shopping cart doesn’t already support coupon purchases get it modified (or buy a cart system that does). Offer the code on the page the consumer is purchasing the item from so that they can enter it at checkout.

Customers who might otherwise be wary of supplying their email address to receive your promotions may well feel comfortable about providing it in exchange for a coupon code and more inclined to allow you to add them to your email permissions list to receive future offers. New customers can be asked to create an account before they can make a purchase and their email can be part of the information gathered. If they are that interested they are likely to respond favourably to an offer to receive email notification of future offers. You can also use a coupon offer to get current customers to market on your behalf. An offer delivered by email that contains a printable coupon for 25% off for friends and family will quickly be forwarded to those people giving you access to a previously unreachable bunch of prospects. When you do send emails with a coupon offer in future, include the words ‘coupon offer’ or something similar in the subject line. Knowing there is a coupon offer increases the opening rate considerably.

Consumers love coupons

Many people, in any economy, simply love hunting for bargains. When financially strapped consumers using internet shopping to stretch their budget join the parade, the benefits for the small businesses are considerable. What’s more, coupons represent a truly affordable and effective marketing strategy. If you're not using coupons in your marketing mix, you're definitely leaving money on the table.

Keep Your PC At Peak Performance – Using The Internet

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:12:00 GMT

Using the services available over the Internet means that over time you will accumulate vast numbers of cookies and ‘temporary’ internet files and will be exposed to a range of nasties including all sorts of malware that will reduce the speed of your computer or bring it to a halt altogether. The tips below will keep your computer safe while web surfing and preserve its speed.

Enable Windows updates (DIY safe)

When your PC is equipped with the most recent updates from Windows it is much less likely to suffer security breaches. The best way to ensure that you have the latest security updates (aka ‘patches’) is to enable automatic Windows updates on your computer using the Automatic Update utility.

Delete temporary internet files (DIY safe)

When you visit a website your browser adds a file to the computer’s hard disk in which it stores data about every page or URL address you view. The next time you visit the same website the browser will take the data from the Temporary Internet File first while only content added to the page since your last visit needs to be downloaded. This allows the page to display quickly in the browser without waiting for a response from the website's server all over again. If your internet connection is unavailable you can view the cached version of the webpage while offline. However, the name Temporary Internet File is actually a bit misleading in that the files are not really temporary. They will stay on your hard drive until you purge them and the buildup of data in the cache will gradually slow the processor down (there is a privacy issue also – anyone who checks the cache can see which websites you have visited). Eventually, the cache can take up a significant proportion of hard disk space. Browsers that use a Temporary Internet File cache have methods for deleting these files using the Internet Options utility. Don’t rely on running the Disk Cleanup tool for this job – it will delete only files, not cookies or shortcuts in the cache.

Change the browser history options (DIY safe)

The browser maintains a running list of the links to websites you have visited, its History function. One way to save on memory is to change how many days the computer saves this record of visited webpages. By saving these pages for a smaller number of days you can clear out more of your PC's memory.

Protect against malware (DIY safe)

Malware is the coverall term for all the nasties that exist in the world of cyberspace – viruses, Trojans, some types of adware, spyware et al. Their intent may range from being simply annoying (shoving an ad in your face) to being totally malicious (stealing your credit card details and other forms of identity theft) but, regardless of intent, the malicious files and registry entries they introduce will eventually erode the computer’s performance if not prevent it functioning altogether. Installing and keeping up to date on your anti-virus/anti-spyware utility is one of the most important things you can do to extend your computer’s life and safeguard its performance. You can purchase software such as Norton AntiVirus or Spyware Doctor, or free software such as Spybot - Search and Destroy. Set it up to scan automatically at least once a week but preferably daily.

Delete useless cookies (DIY safe)

Cookies are pieces of text that the web server at the site you are visiting sends back to your computer and that get stored on your hard drive. Cookies serve a legitimate purpose (saving login information to cut down on what you have to enter, remembering your name and preferences to provide a more personal experience at the site for instance) and do not invade privacy, pose a threat to the security of information or to the functioning of your computer.

Nevertheless, they add up and should be managed periodically. Get in the habit of reviewing the cookies accumulating in the browser and deleting unnecessary ones. Your browser will have a tool for doing a universal cookie delete but this will remove the useful with the unnecessary. They can be checked individually by going to the Cookies folder and deleting particular ones – not too time consuming if done regularly.

Good Personnel Management Means Better Profits

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:51:00 GMT

As a business coach, I know that most small businesses operate a tight ship. They manage overhead expenses and watch cost of sales to stay on the credit side of the ledger. But when you’ve reached a point where you cannot see any further ways to reduce costs, there could still be an opportunity to increase your profits through increasing productivity. Probably the most important way managers can increase productivity is in the way they manage their people. There are a number of practical steps you can take that revolve around your people management systems.

Select the right person for the job
Give them clear directions and clear systems to direct their work processes
Manage the differences between your team members to get the best out of each person
Don’t ever think that they will put in the same effort that you, as the owner, will
Document clear performance indicators so everyone understands just what’s expected of them

Select the right person for the job

Granted it’s always tough to really be sure in an interview, but it’s still the best tool you have. Consider questions such as whether the applicant fits in with your current team (Shape Your Business clients refer to it as "culture"); are they the sort of personality you want to work with; do they seem to have a good work ethic; do they have enough experience and if not will they train up easily; do they have a history of useful contribution in their previous workplaces? Also prepare your interview questions carefully - it is quite legal to include technical questions and even practical exercises to assess skill level or capability. Ask questions about what they might do in a situation where a certain kind of problem arises. You’ll be able to assess better whether they’re a fit for your business. Settling for someone you’re not sure about can be costly on your time and money, not to mention on team morale, if they don’t work out.

Give them clear directions, and clear systems to work with

Most people will try to achieve what they think is expected of them. The biggest problem is in making sure your instructions and systems are not open to misinterpretation. Take time to fully induct your new team member in the way you expect things to be done. Systemise your processes so they run smoothly and try to get them written down in procedure guides so employees can check on the correct way to do things, without wasting your time, if need be.

Manage the differences between your team members

Try to understand how each person ticks, what makes them feel motivated at work, and then deal with them on that basis. Some people are competitive - they want goals and targets and the autonomy to achieve them; others need plenty of close supervision; others thrive on praise and recognition. There are useful tools around that help you understand personality types and help you adjust your management style to get the best out of each person.

Accept that they won’t have your drive

Your team members have a life outside work. For a salary, they are prepared to allot you some of their most precious commodity – their time. But your business is not theirs and its success won’t have the same impact for them as it does for you. Don’t expect them to perform as you do. Don’t overburden them or you’ll end up with reduced productivity and high turnover.

Document work related key performance indicators (KPIs)

KPIs have been around for a while now. And that’s because they’ve been shown to work. They work because you set clear activities that are needed to achieve measurable targets, and that makes it easy for you and your team to see what’s working and what isn’t.

As a manager, give people encouragement and praise, provide them with constructive feedback and you’ll see productivity and profits increase.

What do you think?

Are You On Top Of Your Competitors?

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:05:00 GMT

Here’s a list of questions that every business manager should be able to answer with an unqualified ‘yes’. They relate largely to the fundamental need of identifying and understanding your competition, and if you find yourself giving a ‘no’ answer to any of them it means you could be short of valuable information that would provide you with a competitive advantage.

Do you know who your competitors are? Do you know where they are and how big they are? Would you be aware if any new competitors entered your market?
Do you regularly monitor your competitors’ advertising and promotions by looking for their advertisements, visiting their premises and looking at their websites?
Do you talk to your suppliers about your competitors and gather information about what they’re buying and what quantities they purchase?
Do you encourage your team members to keep an eye on marketing activity by your competitors and pass any good ideas on to you?
Do you keep up to date with technological developments in your field and will you know if your competitors adopt new technology into their business?
Do you know the statistics of your marketplace - what your share of market is and what market share is held by each of your major competitors?
Have you conducted an objective SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis on your business? Are you prepared to deal with any competitive threats that might be identified?
Do you know what opportunities exist for you to grow your business – either by taking business away from your competitors or by expanding into new market areas?
Do you know what is happening in the legislative environment that might affect your operations such as new laws relating to workplace safety, environmental or product standards that could pose a threat to you or mean that you will have to change the way you conduct your business?
Do you regularly research your products against those of your competitors? Are you able to respond quickly if you find your product offers fewer features and benefits or needs improvement?

There may be a lot of work involved in finding the answers to these questions and using them to improve your product but, thankfully, yours aren’t the only eyes and ears available to monitor your marketplace. If you work together with your team you’ll be in a much better position to answer the questions and to make gains against your competitors. A business that knows and understands its rivals has a much better chance of being able to withstand competitive onslaughts and to formulate strategies that will take business away from others in its industry.

Or, you could use us. We have a specific methodology that has been effectively used for some years now. We call it a business diagnostic, and you can call us for more information on 1300 791 600. Or have a look at this process.

Protecting Your Most Important Assets – Intellectual Property Rights

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:15:00 GMT

When you think about protecting company assets several things probably come straight to mind, such as land, buildings, machinery, inventory and vehicles. In many instances companies overlook their intellectual property, which can be one of their most valuable assets. By understanding the different types of intellectual property and how they can be protected against infringement you can help your business stay ahead of the competition.

Your "intellectual property" can include:

patents
trade marks
designs
copyright
trade secrets

A patent is an exclusive right for commercial exploitation granted by a government body to the owner/inventor for a device, process, method or substance that is new, innovative and useful. The length of time for which the patent is granted varies between countries, but typically lasts for 20 years. If you are thinking about patenting an invention, it’s important to not make knowledge of it public before your patent is granted. Discussion with employees, consultants and business associates about the patent should be conducted confidentially, with confidentiality agreements signed in advance. The main shortcoming of patent protection is the complex and costly process of preparing and filing one. Professional assistance from a patent attorney is recommended.

Trademarks cover a range of elements (letters, numbers, words, phrases, smells, shapes, logos, pictures, aspects of packaging, or combinations of these) that distinguish your goods and services. They can be a vital part of your marketing and require protection. Trademarks need to be unique or closely associated with your business. For example, Coca Cola is trademarked as an original name. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft, as it is the name of its computer operating system, while anyone can use the word "windows" to describe the glass used in buildings. By registering your trademark you gain the exclusive right to use, license, or even sell it, for the goods and services it has been registered for. Before registering for a trademark, it’s advisable to conduct a trademark search (which can be done online in many countries) to see if it has been registered by another company. You can be subject to legal action if someone else has already registered the mark you propose to use.

Designs are the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation, which gives a product a unique appearance. For example, if you were marketing a new soft drink and came up with a unique bottle design to differentiate your product, you could register the design to protect your right to use it exclusively. Design registration is meant to protect designs that have a commercial or industrial use so works of art are not eligible for design registration but can be protected under copyright. Designs are registered by submitting photos and/or illustrations of the design along with the required form to the government department that administers intellectual property. If your design is assessed as being new and it satisfies legal requirements, the registration will be accepted.

Copyright protects the way original ideas are expressed, not the ideas themselves. It is free and automatically covers original works of art and literature, music, films, sound recordings, broadcasts and computer programs. Although copyright is an automatic right under international conventions, it can be registered in some countries for additional protection and legal evidence of claim to rights of use.

Trade secrets include such things as formulas (think Coca Cola!), processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that are not generally known or reasonably ascertainable and therefore are kept secret to give the owning business an advantage over their competitors. In comparison to a patent, it can be the right strategy when it’s difficult to "reverse engineer" the product to copy the construction, manufacturing process or formulation. Trade secrets can be protected by requiring employees and contractors to sign a confidentiality (non-disclosure) agreement before being given access to the information.

Protecting the intellectual property of your business can be just as important as protecting other types of asset. If you are unsure where you stand with your intellectual property, consult with an expert.

Are You Referring To Me?

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:17:00 GMT

Getting other people, your customers, suppliers or other business associates you have dealings with, to recommend your business to others is one of the most economical ways to grow trade. A referral comes pre-qualified as a hot lead because of the positive recommendation they have received about how good your product or service is.

Encouraging referrals should be an active process. You can do nothing and just hope people will refer you - or you can work on making it happen. Here are some ideas on how to make it happen.

1. Make it easy for people to refer you

Make referral a convenient and simple process. Instead of requiring referrer businesses to keep your details in mind or go to a directory to find them give them some materials such as a bunch of your business cards or a small brochure to display.

Now you don’t put your referrers on the spot over explaining what you do or why you do it or how to contact you – it’s all there in the brochure. Brochures and business cards out on display also keep you front of mind with the referrer.

In professional services firms one of the best strategies is to let potential referrers know exactly what sort of person you would like referred to you. The person being asked probably doesn't have a clear idea of what a great referral would look like for you and so don’t feel sure about who to mention you to. Think up a short clear statement describing the type of client you service best. For an architect it may revolve around the type of work they are best at - building dwellings or factories; doing sensitive restorations; creating energy saving homes.

2. Reciprocate - prudently

When another business person refers someone to you a tacit understanding of reciprocity is set up. They will likely expect referrals from you in return.

Try and keep a balance between the number of people a business refers to you and how many you refer to them. Where one person is getting all the referrals without reciprocating a ‘trade deficit’ occurs and can generate bad feeling or even dry up the flow as they swap their referrals to other businesses who do reciprocate.

On the other hand be sure you really do trust the quality of service of businesses you refer people to because if they happen to fail the customer your business will suffer by association.

3. Reward your referrers

Because referring is a reciprocal obligation and sets up a social bond between the referrer and the referee it helps to cement the relationship by observing a few social niceties. When a customer tells you they have been referred to you by Business Y take the time to thank your contact at Business Y. Where your referrer sends a lot of business your way an occasional gift or even a referral fee might be in order. For major customer accounts it might mean sending them a birthday card or personal note about the birth of a child.

Don’t become complacent about your referral sources. Make the people who refer to you feel appreciated and they'll want to refer you again and again.

4. Build your network of referrers

Everybody is a potential referrer for your business including family members, friends, business associates and current customers.

Think through who could be a possible referrer for you and how you can make it your name that comes to mind when they are thinking of advising someone about a business that could service their need.

For many small business owners a consistent flow of referrals has been the basis on which they have built their entire business. In professional services firms referrals can be the most productive source of clients. People want to do business with other people they know, like and trust and when that person refers them on to you, some of that trust automatically attaches to you. That’s why referrals are so valuable - having someone’s trust is the very best starting point for making a sale.

You Can Quote Me On That

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:27:00 GMT

Many types of small businesses routinely offer customers some idea (either a quote – which is legally binding, or an estimate, which is not) of the cost for doing a job. Often customers require such an estimate for a sense of safety or to compare quotes from different businesses before they will commit to a purchase. There’s always the pressure to supply the lowest quote to win the job so an inaccurate quote can wipe out any profit margin on a job. Better understanding how to price and more efficient ways of developing quotes can reduce the risk of getting it wrong.

Know what you are quoting on

It is imperative that you scope out the extent of the work in detail before providing a quote.

Protect your profit - predict the cost of the job accurately

If you aren’t able to tell whether you are making money on your jobs you are going to end up with financial difficulties. Running a business that produces a predictable profit means accepting the nuisances associated with collecting and analysing job cost data. Developing a job costing system will be more or less difficult to get right depending on the type and size of jobs you perform. However, developing one that provides you with accurate costs to put into your quotes is essential to survival. It may be as simple as quoting the standard market rate for your labour or for someone with your level of expertise and the type of service you offer. Frequently it will be more complicated and include estimates for the cost of labour, of materials, of transportation, for hiring special equipment and so on. The first step is to identify all the direct inputs and have accurate information on their cost ready at hand.

Other input costs are harder to identify and estimate – what about the cost of the advertisements you placed in the Yellow Pages? Or vehicle maintenance costs? Or the office photocopier you use to prepare documents? You can’t recover those as items on the quote but you do need to have an accurate idea of your overheads so you can factor a percentage into your quote to cover them. For difficult-to-quote-for jobs, for example repair work where the cause of a problem can’t even be identified before some preliminary work, a 'time and materials' quote (the time and materials it takes to finish the job) might be better than a fixed price approach.

It can be enlightening to look at how others in the trade prepare their quotes for similar jobs. Some industries and industry bodies have created pro-forma documents such as the standard domestic building contract. Accounting programs such as Intuit's QuickBooks include easy-to-use features that track all your costs and allow you to do job costing and quoting based on time, materials and overheads so you don't have to worry about having to track it all manually.

Cover all costs and conditions attached to the quote/estimate

Omitting costs and conditions from a quote can create legal problems, not to mention whittle back your margin on the job. Specify the products and services you are selling/providing to the customer; what those items will cost; the delivery date of the proposed transaction; any discount offered; shipping information and payment terms etc. Provide an expiration date to define the time period for which the terms of the quote are valid since costs are likely to increase over time, some materials may become unavailable or other contingencies preclude meeting the quote conditions as specified.

Work smart – save time and money preparing quotes

Avoid working out quotes on scraps of paper. There are a number of good industry specific quote development products on the market while standard business software packages such as Microsoft’s Office Accounting Express 2008 include quote creation modules. These include all the necessary items and options you need to prepare a quote and get the maths correct. If you have the customer’s email address you can then send it out at the touch of a button.

In A Slow Economy Your Website Could Be Your Most Effective Marketing Channel

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:42:00 GMT

In the current economic climate your marketing, like most other things in your business, has to achieve more with less. So, think about your website. It could be the most important marketing channel you have with much greater reach than the newspaper, radio and TV combined. As in past recessions, the businesses that make the right marketing moves will emerge from the economic downturn in the strongest position. One of those ‘right moves’ according to the experts is to keep up your marketing efforts. Your website should be playing a major role in this so business owners need to take a close look at how they can improve the effectiveness of their website to attract visitors, hold their attention and to eventually sell to them.

Remember, internet marketing is always cheaper than other media. Here are some thoughts on how to expand and improve on what you're doing on your website.

Improve search listing position: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the art and science of developing page text, keywords, metatags and subject headings that will get your site listed high in a search engine’s results page. If you haven’t already done so, then now is the time to invest in hiring a web developer to optimise your site. It’s worth the cost of some professional advice because SEO is the cheapest form of internet advertising and really contributes to conversion rate, but it can’t be done by guesswork. Web developers have the knowledge and the tools to do it right.

SEO can also align your website to current customer concerns by introducing words like ‘discounted’, ‘cheaper’, ‘low prices’, ‘sale’ – words likely to have increasing resonance with cash strapped consumers. You can make changes like this by adding and/or modifying pages on your website and have them available almost immediately.

Improve stickiness: Keeping people on the site long enough to get them involved and searching your offerings is a battle. Some proven ways of keeping their attention include the freebies on offer, the attractiveness of the webpage, and how easy it is for them to contact you and get questions sorted out right away.

Free Reports (aka White Papers) can be offered no strings attached or as an incentive to an opt-in subscription to your email newsletter. Create them as Word or PDF documents so people can download and print them to read at their convenience. Or, better still, direct them to a page on your website as more and more people are reluctant to download potential virus-ridden documents.

Landing pages have to be visually attractive to visitors so start with the basics – do the colours, fonts, graphics and layout make each page easy to read and present the information clearly? Introducing rich media such as video can provide a very powerful way of promoting product. A blog provides an informal way to update people on what’s happening with the company and get feedback from visitors that may be useful to creating the right product for them or the right marketing message to appeal to them. Rework your marketing copy until every single webpage is a perfect sales letter. Constant improvement of your copy will mean better conversion and better search rankings.

Again, unless you have particular skills in this area, the services of a web designer are recommended. The pulling power of individual pages can be fine tuned by running experiments on them to determine which layout, offer, creative and copy combination delivers the most actions for your business. You’ll know if it’s working or not by analysing the statistics from the website. This means looking at the numbers and the flow of visitors on your website. Are the majority of visitors coming to just one page and then leaving? Are many visitors starting a shopping cart but then abandoning it? The answers to these questions will help you and your web developer to make the necessary changes to your website in order to continue improving it and increasing the ROI.

Make it easy for visitors to contact you: Listing your email addresses and phone number on the website is fine but an online contact form provides an immediacy that removes the opportunity to forget or lose your contact details if shoppers have to put it off till later.

Warming Up For The Cold Call

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:53:00 GMT

The bad news is … if you want business, you need to put a lot of effort into chasing it. And the really bad news is … that will mean doing some cold calling. From my business coaching experience I know that many entrepreneurs look forward to cold calling like they look forward to a visit with their dentist. However, there is some good news: if it's done properly, cold calling is a (sort of) effective sales tactic. It really needn’t be the futile, gut wrenching experience it’s so often pictured as.

I really do not believe that there is a "right" way to do this. But attempting to make a sale with someone who doesn't know anything about you is a futile excercise. I will say that to a large degree the success of your cold call is determined before you ever pick up the handset because the key to cold calling success lies in the preparation you make beforehand. Here’s some advice on how to prepare to make a business winning cold call from a business coach that doesn't envy you the task.

Understand the goal of a cold call

It’s NOT about making an immediate sale; it's about getting the chance to make the sale. Specifically, the purpose of a cold call is fact finding, creating a dialogue (a request for you to send more information or even a quote means another contact) or, perhaps best of all, arranging an appointment with your contact where you can make your sales pitch.

Prequalify your targets

Find out as much about the prospect’s business as you can and work out where your product or service meshes with what they do. Local newspapers, industry journals, and their website make good starting points for discovering this information. In this way you can start your call by discussing some aspect of the prospect's business and what need your product/service could answer to. If there’s no mesh, there’s no chance of getting the appointment – or if you did it would be a waste of time for all concerned.

Identify the decision maker

If you have done your homework and prequalified your prospect you should have some idea of who the decision maker for the type of product/service you sell is likely to be. That’s the person to ask for when you ring. Treating a gatekeeper (say, the company secretary) with respect can get you that information and an open door (or phone connection) to the decision maker. Have a story in mind to encourage them to put you through – something that makes them an ally rather than a barrier.

Have a prepared opening gambit

Your opening statement can make or break your chances with the prospect. Base your opening statement on the business need you have identified in your research. It might go like this:

Good morning, Mr Reese. This is Ray Jones from Enviro Plumbing. I read in the local paper that you recently won the contract for Prime Estate development. We specialise in supplying and installing hot water systems that substantially reduce electricity charges and comply with the latest environmental regulations. They also attract a government subsidy in some cases. I'd like to ask a few questions to determine whether our product might meet your needs for the buildings on the new estate.

Practise your opening gambit before ringing – you don’t want to make it sound like you are reading from an autocue. Rather, use your statement to arrange your thoughts so that during that critical first few seconds with the prospect you stay relevant, remember the hot buttons and keep their attention.

Prepare a script for the rest of your cold call

Having prepared a winning opening, don’t blow your chances by mishandling the succeeding conversation. The conversation may flow freely and widely but through it all you should know the questions you need answers to, points you want to make about the benefits of your product/service and how to answer any objections or questions the prospect may raise. So this ‘script’ isn’t a piece of dramatic dialogue – you can’t control the conversation to that extent. It is more like a set of notes to yourself to keep you focussed and make sure you are prepared for anything that comes up. It can include information on the features of your product/service (you’ll be selling the benefits but technically inclined prospects will have some features in mind they’ll consider necessary as well) and factual data, such as statistics or case studies, to knock down objections. If an objection arises that you hadn't anticipated, react as best you can. Then write it down and prepare a detailed response before you try the next prospect.

Practise until it’s perfect

As with any job requiring some level of skill, the more cold calling you do, the better you'll get. Rehearse your pitch out loud with friends or associates until you have all the points clear in your mind. Then go make that call!

Out-Competing The Competition

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:21:00 GMT

Ever walked through a shopping centre and suddenly been confronted with a new product that is the very product you deal in and had that sinking feeling of “Yet another competitor to outmanoeuvre”.

But how do you outmanoeuvre competitors? As a business coach I need to say that the only way to really get to grips with them is to know about them, how they operate and what they are doing to make themselves attractive to customers – and then beat them at their own game.

In the business world gathering information about other businesses that could have a significant impact on the way you conduct your own business is known as competitive intelligence and two really good sources of competitive intelligence are close at hand and relatively cheap to tap into – the competitors themselves and the people who might use their product.

Find out what competitors say about themselves

Understanding how your competitors are selling themselves and their products is useful to understanding how to best compete with them. There are a number of recommended ways to gather competitor intelligence, some of them quite time consuming and expensive. But by and large you can get quite a good feel for what the competitor is up to by looking at the obvious sources; their own store, their website, their advertisements. As well, your salespeople will have spoken to customers and suppliers about your competitors so get their insights also. You can even order a product from your competitor and compare their packaging, service and quality to your own.

What they say about themselves is often a great insight into what they feel their strengths are, reveals their product range and what features they promote (and so think will be attractive to customers), shows what channels they use for marketing (do they have a website or use email as well as the yellow pages – should you be thinking of following suite?), what product support and guarantees they offer. How do your products and customer service rate against them?

Know what others say about your competitors – and about you

The other great source of information is the consumer of products like yours. Surveying a group of people likely to be in the market for what you supply and getting their opinions about your product and your competitor’s version can provide invaluable insights on how to make your offering more attractive. Do they buy from you because you have a wider range? Do they prefer the competition because they provide free parking or have a customer loyalty scheme running? Those customer decisions affect your profit, so knowing what they value is important.

In my role as a business coach I have conducted these many times and recommend a focus group with your A-type customers. Shape Your Business also has a system for use by other advisers. An independent presenter like a business coach can be an advantage – people are naturally reluctant to be negative to the business owner in person but it’s the customer turn-offs that you really need to know. This will collect information you can use to evaluate your own performance against the competition, suggest ideas for exploiting their weaknesses and even identify potential new customers.

Take control of the game

Competition is a fact of life in business and you have to have some type of an edge to be the winner. You may have an excellent product or service, but if everyone else is selling something similar, then just how much of the market can you expect to capture?

Getting to know your competitors is the first step, and the most important, in winning a competitive edge. You can use the knowledge to play the game better yourself by considering what you have learned from customers about what they really value or ways to stand out from the competition. And you can pick up ideas on how to play the game differently, for instance in recognising currently unmet customer needs that would provide market opportunities for you or new ways and places to advertise.

What are your thoughts?

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