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Archive for November, 2007

Bad Acting Is Bad For Your Business

Nov 27

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 2 Comments

I called my stockbroker a couple weeks a go. I had a question. I wasn’t sure who to ask for because it’s been about a year or so since I actually talked to anyone there. Anyway, I finally get “my guy” on the phone. What a phoney!

This guy doesn’t know me from a fence post but acts like he just saw me yesterday. He ACTS like he cares about me, but his act is so bad no matter what he’s saying it sounds like this:

“Haaaaayyyyyyy, how ya do’in? Boy It’s nice to hear from you! I haven’t a clue who you are — but as long as you called — I’ve gotsome really great ideas for you to consider that will suit you perfectly, what-ever-your-name is. We should sit down and talk. I’ll pop some information in the mail to you. You look it over and give me a call. Cause, hey! I don’t remember your name, so there’s no way I know your phone number … as evidenced by the fact that you never, EVER hear from me.”

I got the info in the mail and I’m like, “Whatever!” I didn’t call him. Course, he didn’t call me. Until three days ago … I called him.

“My guy” wasn’t in. Someone took my name and number and said “my guy” would call me back. He hasn’t.

I’m moving my account.

Sure, maybe he wants my account and the fees that go with it, but it’s obvious he doesn’t care about my account or me. And no, sending me a birthday card every year doesn’t make up for treating me like I don’t matter the other 364 days a year.

Here’s My Points:

If the only communication I get from you is a birthday card, then the card simply calls attention to the fact that I never hear from you.

If you make me feel like the small account I am … I will never become a bigger account … at least not your account.

If you really don’t want my business … fine. But if you really do want my business … then genuinely treat me like I matter.

What support do I need?

Nov 27

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchising, Growth, People!, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

It can be surprising how much support a business can require. Even if you look at the basics of Marketing, management and operational issues and the sub headings under each, then you would have to be highly skilled to be able to do all of them, so some support can go a long way!

Most males will try to doggedly forge on independently (and don’t say you won’t!) thinking they know best… But when push comes to shove there is a lot of expertise that can be obtained if you ask for support.

In a small business it might be having a partner do the books, working closely with your accountant, working with a business coach to build marketing plans. In the larger business it might be hiring a person or company to look after your an area of the business like marketing or sales, the more time goes on, the more of your business you should be able to hand over to these types of support services.

Support can come in the simplest form and often that can be the most powerful. I was chatting with a tradesman the other day who mentioned his business support. “My teenage kids have been trained to sort a few things out when I get home at the end of a long day. My boy sorts the junk out in the front of my vehicle, clearing the rubbish from a day on the run, he gathers the receipts up in a small folder and takes them into my daughter who we have taught to input the info into the accounting software. It frees me up to unwind at the end of the day, once a month we have a clean out session of the vehicle and I pay the kids for the duties they perform.”

A great way to get things happening I thought, simple straight forward and results driven.

Take a Look at your business and ask, what support do I need and what support would be useful, then start handing over the things that fit to this criteria. Only then will you truly have a business that gives you the lifestyle you have taken risks for.

How vital is your business success?

Nov 26

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

You do what you do in business because… it pays the bills, it fulfills a lifelong dream, it gives you the lifestyle you want, it gives you something to do where you are the boss. The list can probably go on. and on… but in all of this reasoning is it vital to you that your business succeeds?

Many will say “well its  important to me, but vital? I’m not sure…”

So how will you figure out if it’s vital to you?

Lets try this, can you do without it? If the business was taken from you, would you feel the loss badly? and is the loss likely to be short or long term?

I guess if it’s a long term sense of loss then it is vital to you.

Now let’s think about the success of the business and its link to that vitality. Success in this sense being, “working towards any worthwhile goal” so it would relate to the goals set in the business and the ability for you and your team to achieve them.

Therefore…

  • Make sure your team has the right resources at its disposal to do the job at hand to make the goals come to fruition.
  • Invest in the training of you and your people so you can all grow with the business.
  • Explore lots of creative and innovative ways to make your business and the teams stretch so you can all know you put in a top effort to find more ways to succeed other than the ‘normal range’ of options.

There will be many things you will discover about the vitality of your business when you start to look, so may I suggest  you start looking today.

Who are you supporting?

Nov 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning | No Comments

In the crazy mixed up world of business we can often forget why we are in business… of course it’s to make a profit but what kind? is it just money or are there other profits to be had?

Other profits might include

• People learning more and benefitting society by utilising their new found skills and abilities.
• Suppliers to your business having to grow their business because your business provides them with the need to create more product due to increased sales on your behalf.
• Local community growth due to your business providing increased capacity for the local community to spend and earn.
• More community support due to your business providing executives on loan to not for profit groups.

I am sure there are many more ways you are supporting the community and those near and dear to you, often I find businesses that realise their impact is so vast they start to smile a lot wider, and get a warm feeling in their heart. It’s not just the cash, its the wider community benefits as well.

You may not plan for it or you might want to plan for it… Either way when it happens it makes the whole idea of business take on a fresh new meaning.

Who’s supporting you?

Nov 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchising, People!, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

Studies show clearly that many businesses fail in the first 12 months of operation, often due to lack of cash to be able to run the business through the crucial start up phase. But there’s more to the start up phase than just cash, in fact it goes well beyond the start up phase.

Support… Who is supporting you and your business idea? Family, friends, Franchisor… It’s one thing to have a business idea and or take on a franchised business, and another entirely to make it work.

Research is clearly indicating that people in business that do well are those who are supported in their endeavours, sure there will be exceptions but in the main if you do not have support you may as well kiss the business good bye.

Support can come in many forms, positive language, physical involvement or both. The idea being to foster the support whichever way it happens and ensure you are making the best use of it.

Examples, a husband in a trade based business utilises his wife as the phone contact person, the wife offers positive support of the business and is actively interested in marketing, and operational issues. A negative example might be a person who wants to go into business but gets negative feedback right from the start from family and who refuse to have anything to do with the business even though it may provide the income for the family to live on.

Overcoming the negative support model can potentially be very difficult, however if you intervene early and discuss the issue/s you may stand a better chance of altering the situation.

In business life can be tough enough as it is, without the right support things might be tougher than they need to be.

Two steps forward two steps back… or where did the money go?

Nov 20

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Growth, Planning | 2 Comments

The accountant chatted about the year that was, big deal it had happened, he mentioned a few down points in the year (a few too many for my liking…) but my trouble was I was focusing on short term here and now, not longer term way back when…

So I was on the up and up and he was on the ‘old stuff’ and there was a big difference. It made me flat for a while and in thinking about it there’s nothing I can do about it, it’s history.

Question… how often do you focus on the past only to miss the present, or the future for that matter?

Perhaps it happens too often.

So what can be done…

1. Keep the review times short – our accountant is talking about things six months ago that we knew about and have moved on from there.

2. Follow the plan – No plan no action – No goals no milestones.

3. Work smarter – The way forward may well need to seem like a backward step sometimes so you can move forward, put some serious effort into thinking things through and testing the various scenarios out BEFORE going head long into things.

4. Know your expectations might provide limitations too – Some times I expect gold medal performances from other people or organisations and am disappointed by the results (or lack of them…) Be clear in what you want and make sure they can match to that.

Until next time, keep your business real…

Strategic Alliances- what are they??

Nov 19

Posted by Emma Rhoades in The Board Room, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

Recently I’ve been helping a few people brand new into business with no advertising or marketing budget whatsoever.

One of my main methods that I tell everyone to do is to develop some strategic alliances. “what is that?” is the general response that I am receiving!!

A strategic alliance is where you develop a win-win situation with another business who targets your same market. For example, a beautician targets stressed corporate women, and so does the hairdresser up the road. Both provide ‘anti stress’ and relaxation devices in their salons. They both decide to work together and offer a package deal for both of their services.

Clients visiting the hairdresser only will be given a complimentary face scrub from the beautician and clients visiting the beautician will receive a complimentary wash and shampoo from the hairdresser. Both of these services do not cost a much to either business, yet they receive a powerful 3rd party recommendation, plus access to the other businesses database.

Think about how it could work with your business? Do you have a database? Do you currently market to it? Then start searching for someone else who targets the same people you do. Ask them to work together with you. This could be in the form of newsletter swapping, referrals, competition prizes etc.

This marketing idea is truly a ‘outside the square’ one, so take some time, and your thinking cap and start building your business relationships!!

Pretend Role-Playing Solves Real Problems

Nov 18

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

“Daddy”, my 11 year old daughter excitedly exclaimed. “All I have to do is sell seven Holiday wreaths and I earn enough money to go on the school trip to the amusement park at the end of the year!”

As I reviewed the info packet with an advertising professional’s eye, I casually asked, “What do the wreaths look like?”

My daughter pointed to a photocopied, black and white line drawing that was totally void of warmth or cheer. I looked at the drawing and immediately became depressed. Then I became irritated.

The ability of a businesses to “think things through” is paramount to launching a successful promotion or for a non-profit to launch a successful fundraiser. Unfortunately, no one thought this wreath fundraising thingy through.

Without a photo, you’ve got 11 year-olds trying to sell warm, Holiday cheer by showing people a crude drawing that evokes about as much warmth as sticking yourself in the eye with an icicle.

One of the best tactics you can employ to help you “think it through” is to role-play the steps of your promotion or fundraiser. Walk it through. Use props. Have fun and actively look for problems or difficulties. If possible, role-play the activity with an outsider, someone who has had nothing to do with the planning of the activity, event or promotion.

I saved a client an embarrassing moment just the other day, because I helped her “think it through”.

Jan asked me to print up some raffle tickets for a fundraiser for the church. She wanted “Need Not Be Present To Win” printed on the ticket. No problem. Then I asked her to explain to me how the raffle would work — verbal role-play.

“Well, we’ll draw the first ticket,” she explained. “The person with that number comes forward and chooses the prize they want. Then we draw the next ticket on down the line.”

“That’s great, Jan,” I replied. “But how does that work with the whole, “Need not be present to win” thing?

A moment of silence was punctuated by a blank stare. We then revised the drawing protocol to facilitate the attendance issue.

As for my daughter’s wreath fundraiser? All I can say is, “Thank God” for grandparents, aunts and family friends who don’t have the heart to say “No”. In two hours of going door to door my daughter managed to sell one wreath. That’s when we invoked the friends and family tactic.

Then my wife asked me how many we were buying. I noted she said, “how many” not “are we”. I then quickly role-played in my head a scenario where I said, “none”.

Boy, that wreath sure looks nice on my front door.

Retail, retail, retail… When will people learn…

Nov 16

Posted by Steve Gray in Innovation and Creativity, Planning, Risk Management, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

I have been doing some work near a newish shopping centre, it was completely revamped in the past few years. It has a supermarket and some other shops to act as a draw cards and so far so good.

I went there for lunch on two occasions, an Asian food shop is near one of the entrances, clean neat and tidy, I took a look at their menu and chose garlic prawns. Okay so far so good, I sat and waited. Of course I checked out the details. Next door is a fashion store JAMMED with stock and while I was there (a good 1/2 hour) only two people wandered in and out again with no purchase.

I noted that the shops on this side of the entrance are set back about 5 metres from the flow of pedestrian traffic, so there was little chance of any browsers wandering in as the menu was on the counter and not out the front.

Lunch arrives, it was a seafood and chicken combination. Whoops it was wrong… I was now very hungry so I took it, tasted ok but not what I had ordered.

In the time I was there only one other person came into the shop, had a glance at the Bain Marie and walked out. So it struck me, here we are at peak lunch time, they sell food but no one was buying… In the mall there were lots of others shopping and not coming this way.

My thinking cap went on…

  • What if they had a super cheap loss leader to get people at least trying their fare? (eg. very small $3 lunch specials)
  • What if they gave out some discount vouchers (by wandering the mall and actively handing them out) so that people could be tempted. Normally I do not advocate discounts but in their case the idea of some customers is better than no customers.
  • What if they had made sure I was given the right food… (that’s another issue!)

Here is a business that will fail due to lack of income, no doubt about it (they can’t sell too late as they have no outside access and people will stay away from the closed shops near by even if the place is open late for the supermarket.)

I ask… what is it with people throwing money away by not trying to boost heir business to at least get some sales… The downward spiral has begun.

The message here for other businesses is to be vigilant and open to fresh ideas to ensure your business has every opportunity of succeeding.

My Article Could Have Prevented A $53 Million Dollar Lawsuit

Nov 16

Posted by Michael Crooks in Finance, Growth, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

Back in September of 2006 I posted an article here warning business people to only guarantee that over which they have control. I advocated only guaranteeing such things as, “Your Money Back” or “Replacement”. I specifically warned against guaranteeing a customer’s satisfaction because you have no idea what will satisfy a customer.

Better than 9 months after I wrote that article, a Judge in the U.S. took his suit to a dry cleaners that guaranteed satisfaction. They lost his pants. That made him unsatisfied. And even though the dry cleaners offered to buy him a new suit, the judge felt it was more important to make a point and sued the cleaners for $52 million dollars for failing to live up to their “satisfaction” guarantee.

The judge was a judge by appointment. He is no longer a judge because those who had the power to appoint him again, decided that it may be in the best interests of the entire free world that he not sit in judgment of others. That’s great news.

The bad news is, the owners of the dry cleaning business, have lost about everything in an attempt to defend themselves before the lawsuit was dropped.

How much better their life would be today, had they been avid readers of FreeBusinessTips.com.au, had read my article and decided to guarantee “replacement of lost garments” instead of satisfaction?

Warm Regards,
Michael Crooks

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