Archive for category Growth

Publicity- DIY or outsource??

Jan 10

Posted by Emma Rhoades in Growth, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 5 Comments

Recently I’ve had a few people ask me about Publicity and if they should do it themselves. I find that I answer both yes and no, depending on the person. Many people talk about how publicity is ‘free’, except when you pay over $1000 for a company to do it for you.

So, how do we do it ourselves? Simple really- there are heaps of media release templates on the web- microsoft office online has a few for a start. Then do a search. Many of these are free and will give you an idea of how to structure your media release. If you don’t feel confident in writing your own, outsource this- find a copywriter who can do it at a much cheaper rate than a media company.

Then research where you want it to go, ring up and ask who to send the release to. The best process to use to achieve top results is the phone, send, phone approach. Phone the person whom you are about to email. Tell them who you are, and that you are sending a media release to them via email. Send the release and then follow up a few days later with another phone call- ‘just to check they got it’. This develops rapport with the journalist that you don’t get when you use a company.

On the flip side, if you don’t have much time, or really don’t even want to try your own PR, outsourcing to a company is a great way to go. Be careful though- thoroughly research the media company before engaging in any contract work with them. Find out what you are getting for your money. Ask to see some previous results- and actually contact those businesses to ask for their opinion. I’ve heard some horror stories about people paying in excess of $100 for a ‘media release’ that is only a couple of paragraphs- purely because they did not research the company prior.

Remember- publicity is only ‘free’ when you do it yourself!!

How to create a business with great values

Jan 10

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

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Upholding great values
People love it when you are on a positive footing and in the values area it’s a great place to start (integrity – honesty, truthfulness etc.).

Start the business with a strong stance on the rights and wrongs, if you get caught by a staff member or a customer ripping people off, word will spread fast, not a good thing to have happen. Make your act squeaky clean and others will follow.

Make a list of the sorts of values you want the business to uphold, google them on your computer and find out more about what other businesses have as values, then find ways to integrate them into what you do, yes even if you have a one person business.

You may find you already have these values, they are automatic and things that inherently are of interest to you. But there may be areas you want to tweak so you can be better at those ones as well.

Over time the staff and customers will be certain to know your business has high integrity, honesty etc.. In a highly competitive market place these things can set you apart.

How to create an easy saleable range

Jan 7

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Creating easily saleable products and services
You want people to buy, not to um and err then walk away, so it should be easy for them to select what they want and then make the purchase with great peace of mind. Especially people in your ideal target market.

It may be one thing to provide a prestige product and another thing to have enough people in the right target market to meet the needs you have. Again it might be a case of having some prestige products and more of another not so prestige product.

When it comes to business you should be making sure that customer satisfaction is a number one concern, and a big part of that is the service and support your business provides. Make it EASY for people to get things serviced, not a hassle. Make it easy for people to select the right product, Make it easy for them to find a sales person, the list goes on.

So take a customers viewpoint and walk in and out of your store as if you were them, how quickly are you attended to? how gracious was the enquiry “How are you today sir…” How easy was it to get your bearings on where things are (online or in a physical sales environment…) Now ask yourself what can be done to make changes so the people walking in and out are really satisfied.

Also look at the things you may want to add to your range… How easy are they to market? And will people readily make enquiries that could lead to sales… These are all aspects of easily saleable products and services.
Taking all these things into account you should be able to”pull apart” the customer experience to know what’s working and what you can do about it.

How to create a business that really fills a need

Jan 6

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

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Does your business fill a need and or want?
Hopefully it does both. If there is no need for what you have there will be no sales, therefore no business. This is a vital prerequisite for any business . Consider this, if you are selling diving gear in the middle of a desert you would not sell much, however a cold drinks stand would be a more obvious choice.

If you are just starting out in business do a lot of research to make sure what you have will fit, the local people, the culture, the psyche of the whole area, again if you are selling art in a working class area the amount you might sell may just be way less than a city where the arts might be more solidly valued.

Consider if are you providing for a want or a need, e.g. if you sell food, there is a need for that, if you sell dolls it’s more of a want, not a need. Ideally I guess the best scenario might be to have a needs based business that also sells some “wants” as well.

Watch out for things changing, cassette tapes were once the only portable music device, then came the CD… selling cassettes today would be a waste of time. So move with the changes so you don’t get left behind. What might start out as a solidly moving product range can become dead in the water fairly quickly.

How to create a business people love

Jan 5

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Creating a business that people love!
Customers and staff a like love the business and what it does, heck why have a business that people despise? Go for love, it’s much better. But that’s easy to say… what can you do to make people love it?

Find ways to engage the customers. – Consider a database and keep in contact – Create special deals they can’t get anywhere else (think packages) and the list goes on, get creative and explore.
Engage the staff. Right from the start, cause the staff to ‘buy in’ to the philosophy, ethics, and other values and beliefs the business has, make it strong, make it real and make it matter, make it so the idea of turning up to work is a vital thrill in their day.
How about you? Do you love the business? Why shouldn’t you aim to create an entity that really rocks, so you want to be there in such a way that it causes everyone else to believe in what you have created and it builds from there.

Now you have some starting points, what will you do to go the next step? research, evaluate, plan, budget, implement? Whatever order you put them in, make it work for you.

How to create a strong brand

Jan 4

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchising, Growth, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Creating a strong brand
You want your customers and prospects to recognise your business easily and remember it. This is where a strong brand comes in. Just as having a clear sense of what you do is important, then so is the brand for recognition.

A designer should be briefed that this is an important aspect of the logo and other design work you have done (especially at start up and as the business progresses). Otherwise thy will probably create something that might look nice to them, and they then sell it to you as a concept.

In the start up phase when you were researching your business, what sort of branding did your competition have? And the leaders in your field, who are they and what have they done? You should be aiming to be equal to that image or better (preferably better!) Even if they are a multinational company with 100’s of employees.

The brand and the resultant image it projects can be vital to ensuring you have a stable platform to launch the business from, and it also builds pride in knowing you have a rock solid image to project. Want to make this happen with ease, chat to your friendly branding expert and see what they can do to make your marketing sizzle.

How to grow your business

Jan 3

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | 2 Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Growth ability
Starting out in business is one thing, growing the business to be more than it currently is another… And for many business people the idea of growing the business seems strange, they have a fear of change it seems, and don’t want to go any further, unless pushed.

The problem is multi fold but lets take a basic view, the business operates and costs go up for supplies, the rent goes up on the lease… but without a growth strategy they are stuck paying more with the same amount in their pocket… when they do put the prices up they are apologetic about it to customers, and start to sound more like victims than business people.

Therefore the business needs to be the type that can be grown readily so that these (and other growth related challenges) can be handled easily.

To grow your business make room in your business plan for it, flag it for discussion with your business coach, accountant and partners. Explore your target market and look for ways to expand on what you have to offer.

Growing your business does not automatically mean you have to take on more staff, you may be able to find ways to delegate some tasks to sub contractors outside your business, like bookkeeping, virtual admin services and so on.

How to make your business profitable.

Jan 2

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | 1 Comment

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Profitable
At the end of the day it’s what’s left in the kitty that counts. With no profit you’re a charity or a hobby, which do you want?

Lets say that you want to be more than a hobby (that’s what business is about I guess…) so you should be able to know readily and easily if you are in profit, by how much and what to do with it.

Your bookkeeper or accounting software should be able to tell you where you are at, if you have put in all of the $$ spent and $$ earned, so that’s easy, but the other sides, what to do with it and how to make it is another.

Firstly lets imagine that you have paid yourself out of the $$ in so you are covered, and all the expenses are covered, you now have a surplus to work with… nice eh! Some people just spend it, some pour it back into the business, some do a mix of both. My thought is to create what I call a debt reserve fund or business wealth fund. This is simply a bank account where you put the $$ in and don’t spend it, you let it grow.

This is a different way of looking at what to do with profit but it sure feels good to see a bank account growing… the security it offers is fantastic and the fact you don’t touch it is even better, it compounds.

As for making a profit… lets see if you have paid everything and have a surplus, then you have a profit, so the aim is to ensure with your pricing you have left a margin to cover the profit, and in some industries the profit can be 500% in others 15%… in your research for your business you should be able to find out the average % of profit and work out some of your projected cashflow from that.

Whatever you do with your profit aim to make it work for the business, as often people simply take out of the business without a thought to it’s growth, growth potential and future.

Jerry Seinfeld’s 3 rules of life

Dec 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business | 2 Comments

Here’s Jerry’s 3 rules of life, pretty simple… so lets add some business thinking points to it.

Print it, use it, tick things off as you do them, make notes, add to the list, include some of these points in your staff training and see what happens.

Thanks Jerry lets see what happens now…

Bust your ass…

Work hard, work smart, if it’s not fun, do something else.
Following your passion, you will then want to do the work, in fact the work will be so enjoyable it won’t seem like work, you will be early and rarely late….
On something that will make a difference for more people than just you, you win they win.
On being exceptional, who wants to be mediocre? Ok so lots of people do, but why do you have to be…
Getting the next goal, and then the next, the journey of a thousand miles begins with that first step. The sense of achievement is a powerful drug.
Providing what the market place wants, you will soon be happy with the sales, they will be happy you provided what they want and those that work with you will be happy you thought of it.
Getting people to know about your business in the start up phase and then to come back for more of what you have, often.
To influence others in your circle of influence to be exceptional at all they do.
To surround yourself with great people who want to pass on great information you can all utilise.
Living life to the full, when the show is over it’s over folks…

Pay attention…

To the details so that you can understand the bigger picture from within. No point in having a business that no one knows what’s going on, especially you…
To planning. No plan no house, it should be the same in business.
To how you present what you have to the market place… Get great at marketing and sales, then do it with the rest of your team.
To the way you learn, then you will be able to pay attention more effectively.
To how others liearn, your role as a business leaer means you will probably do a fair bit of instructing on how things are done, so teach others in ways they prefer to be taught.
To the way you communicate, so get very specific about what you communicate.
To the way you listen… Be an attentive listener, that’s why you have two ears and one mouth.

Fall in love

With what you do, how you do it how your team does it…
With causing others to fall in love… with the job, the business, the customers, the service the products, their life, their significant others.
With life. Life is what we do day to day so we should get great at loving it.
With how others see the world. This level of fascination is from the old American Indian idea of “walking in another mans moccasins” it hlps to give us perspective.
With the people you surround yourself with. Are they all lovable? Are they all worth fighting for?
With the glory and beauty of nature. If the view is lousy, I wonder what you are looking at?

The business of red-hot core values

Dec 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

In business it’s too easy to fall into the trap of just doing business, then it can become a grind, the details become a blur and the idea of lifestyle enhancement as a value you wanted to chase can become minimal, in fact you may as well have just kept a job.

So where is the depth, the meaning that gives hope, strength, clarity, stamina, creativity, innovation and a whole raft of positive/emotive sensations?

These positive values are the core mechanisms that enable us to keep going even in tough times, to enable us to fall down and get up again, the resilience to bounce back, with a vengeance.

So here’s a loose definition of these “valuable business intangibles” as I see it, in this context. “Showing refinement, distinction and concern for the higher things in life.” This is where it comes down to the red-hot core values and some bigger questions to ponder in the business, and by individuals.

The points that follow are concerned with both team and individuals and how they connect or not. It’s about looking for and working with these distinctions to be able to create a business, which embodies these with a degree of ease and efficacy without having to consciously working towards them. So a degree of unconscious competence can kick in.

In reading the list, feel free to say, “If I had a business that had all these things I would be delighted, but it’s not going to happen today, nor tomorrow for that matter…” I appreciate this viewpoint and suggest the following… “You have these things in your business already, it’s a matter of ‘to what degree’ you have them”.

Your aim as the business-person would be to look at what you do in the improvements to your business that will add to the value of any of these. An example might be if you were wanting your team to service the customers more effectively, In chatting to them about the issue/s you might find yourself suggesting they be more tolerant, cooperate more with the customers and staff, show higher levels of respect and so on.

As you have just seen it may not be difficult to work with these as a group of items, but in isolation it might be. Note also some o the items are team based while others are more individual in their appeal and approach.

Honesty
Sensitivity to Others
Responsibility
Emotional Balance
Tolerance
A Deep Compassion for Humanity
Cooperation
Accurate Self Image
Respect
Development of self and others (for intrinsic and extrinsic value)
A Deep Sense of Mystery
Connectedness
Vision Mission – Personal and professional
Inner Peace
Freedom
Simplicity/Elegance
Strength – integrity
Holistic approaches to the development of – People – Environments – Culture/s

Taking a look at the list may be daunting, but I hope to show you ways to utilise each of these to enhance your business to be all it can be.

Finally, don’t think for a moment that this list is complete, feel free to add words you and your team might find that can be utilised to enhance the business further.

Risks are what business is all about… or is it?

Dec 8

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

This is the eighth in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Risk taking (all business is this, the further you go the more risks seem to ‘pop up’)

These days there is a lot of talk about risk management to ensure your business is not exposing itself to too many risks that could undermine it. In this article I wanted to point out that being a risk taker is often a useful device in starting a business, without the ability to take a risk we might never start one and spend the rest of our lives wondering what would have happened if we had…

Do your business research to ensure the risks you are taking on is minimised where possible.
Know how far you can go with the risk you are undertaking, if you pull out at any stage, will there be “something in reserve” or will the project finish you?
Explore the unknown, often great ideas come from the strangest places or mishaps in scientific research, sure there are risks involved but the ‘pay off’ can be worth it.
Making mistakes often leads to learning opportunities, far too often we are risk adverse and fail to give things a try. When you or an employee make a mistake, are you ridiculed by others for the mistake or is it seen as an opportunity to learn and grow?

Its not all risk taking but hopefully when the challenges arise you can be ready to accept the challenge and not merely dismiss it.

10-20-30 the planning guide for the rest of us…

Dec 8

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Finance, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Negotiation, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

I have been on about the Guy Kawasaki 10 – 20 – 30 planning device for a while now (since I found it in early 07) Well this week I had the good fortune to use it myself and have created a template to be used in Power Point.

Unfamiliar with 10 -20 – 30? It’s a simple device for pitching ideas, I see it as a way point in the planning process, not so much as an endpoint which seems so logical when you figure it being used to pitch ideas to investors etc. Ideally if you have a business idea I would STRONGLY suggest you use this to assist in sorting out its usefulness.

So it’s 10 slides presented to a max of 20 mins and the smallest text is 30 Pt. see I said it was simple… but of course there are fairly explanatory headings and some body text in it to assist you to make your pitch viable/useful. I feel sure you will be charmed by the thing once it’s used a few times.

The 10-20-30 power point business presentation

As you will see when you download the file, it is a plain old BxW, simple presentation. All you need to do is put the words in that fit for your project even the basic animation is done (when you view the slide show, you can click the forward button and see each point come up one at a time, how it should be, and not a whole page of text.)

I used it on an idea as a way to ‘flesh out’ a few things and in following the headings I found I was really challenged to come up with appropriate answers, after quite a while of cutting, pasting and soul searching I got it to a point where it seemed to work.

I see all sorts of possibilities with this. For pitching ideas to a boss on an area of business or a dept, which is not doing too hot, to put thoughts together for a business partner to look over, then of course to show info to prospective investors. These days when people pitch ideas at me I say to them to do this, then show me the result, thing is not one has actually done it (yet).

Those in the know, figure that’s because it causes people to look at things logically and not just emotionally.

Have a play with it, read it though, jazz it up with imagery etc and see what happens, I’m sure it has lots of uses, I hope you find the same.

Hello?! Are You LISTENING?

Dec 7

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Growth, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 1 Comment

I’m on the phone with a salesman from one of my suppliers. He asks me, “So, do you sell to any medical practices?”

“Yeah I do”, I replied. “I have some dentists and a periodontist.”

“Great!” he exclaimed. “You’ll be interested in our new stethoscope covers!”

Really, I think to myself. Let’s see, when was the last time I saw a dentist with a stethoscope. Oh yeah … NEVER!
He drones on. “So can I send you a couple samples. They’re really great and they can imprint their practice logo on them, and they keep dirt off of them, and … I cut him off.

“Sounds great”, I said. “You send them to me and I’ll see where it takes me. I look forward to getting them, I’m so excited. Wow! Stethoscope covers.”

What a moron. Sure, maybe he doesn’t know that a periodontist treats gum disease. But then again, he’s the one selling medical equipment supplies. And furthermore, why would a doctor want an imprinted stethoscope cover? The people who would see the imprint are already in his office. A better tactic would be for me to take the stethoscope cover to a business such as a pharmacy or health club that wants to get their name in front of those the doctor has access to. They’d imprint their logo and distribute them to doctor’s offices.

But here’s my real point.

How often are you so focused on selling what you have to sell … that you aren’t even listening to the answers people give you?

Get uncomfortable and see the results…

Dec 6

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

This is the sixth in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Comfort zone stretching (An elastic band is only working when it’s stretched.)

Have you noticed yourself only doing things within a set range? It might be mingling with only a select group of friends at a party… or only looking to set ways of solving problems all the time. Stretching what you are comfortable with can be a great way to develop your resilience, problem solving skills, and ability to become more flexible. In business thee skills can be very useful to the ongoing success of your enterprise.

Travel the road less traveled and enjoy the view – Literally take different roads while out driving, yo may have gone to the same destination day after day and have never thought about a different route. Now you can start to explore things by simply changing your view of the common things you do.
Ask others for ideas and input – You may never do this normally, but give it a go and see what happens, be sure to pat people on the back if you use the ideas, the recognition can be very useful for their esteem.
Explore creative options – There is more than one way to do most things, so start to look at things from different perspectives. It might be as simple as thinking about wearing a different “hat” if you usually see things from a bosses perspective try a marketing “hat” on.. how does that change things for you?
Do some internet research on creative options to explore.

It may take some time, but having the chance to find others ways of doing things might just be the break you need in your organisation.

Have you decided what to do yet?

Dec 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

This is the fifth in a set of posts designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Decisiveness (Either a thing will happen or it won’t, often the decision is the only thing that stands in its way.)

I was once told that the best way to become better at making decisions is to make the, right or wrong stand your ground and see what happens, before long you can become very decisive and develop the skills and confidence to live with the outcome/s.

Make lots of them even on little things, and see what happens, avoid the procrastination cycle of saying you will do it soon.
Check out the idea of “Whats the worse thing that can happen if I make the wrong decision?” then check to see if it really is that big a deal.
Ask others to make the decision for you (delegate) and check the results, you can be surprised just how well this one can work for you.
What is the difference between a person that is decisive and one that is not? Check out those qualities and ask if you can readily develop the skill/s or if you will need assistance, then do it!

Keep on going with the concepts laid out and put together a personal list of achievements made by being more decisive.

The journey begins and ends with you and your goals…

Dec 4

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

This is the forth in a set of articles designed as a series to complement the initial post… Strengths in your business The aim being to provide a simple “How to” guide for people daunted by the prospect of “how to” as it can be too easy to read and say “Oh yeah that’s it, I need to do that”, and then forget it and let it go.

Goals (If you know where you are going it makes it easier to get there.)

In the story of Alice in Wonderland the Cheshire cat sat in the tree smiling widely as Alice asked which road to take at a fork in the road, the cat replied “It depends on where you want to get to” The goals we set will assist us in finding the right roads to take and in business the wrong road can cost us dearly.

Setting goals is easy, making them a reality is a different matter again…

Get smart about your goals - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and tangible. If these can not be thought out readily you will find the achievement of the goal nearly impossible. Write out the details in DETAIL… leave nothing to chance.
Work on small goals first and build up from there. – Often these are the basis for a “to do list” and chipping away at the small bits will make the big bits come to fruition.
Take action, avoid talking about what you are “going to do” and get on and do it. The world loves people who take action.
Consider how well you have done with goals in the past… Easily achieved them or… make sure you build up these skills if they are a challenge, then you can get more automatic in setting and achieving them.
Use your calendar – set time lines for the achievement of the goals, then tick them off as they are achieved, the sense of achievement is often a cause for some small celebration.
Use a project plan – These help you to break up a big goal into smaller ones and fit the details to a time frame. There is specific software for this or you can create a table in a word-processing that can give you the basics to work with manually.

Go get ‘em tiger should be your catch phrase at this point and with the basics of goal setting up your sleeve the results should follow on soon after that.

Using Gossip As An Effective Management Tool

Dec 2

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Starting out in business, The Operations Dept | No Comments

Got a note from my 4th grade son’s school the other day. Seems he and a small group were standing in line and were overheard making comments about “getting wasted” in reference to drinking alcohol. They were immediately hauled down to the principal’s office and verbally reprimanded about “inappropriate topics of discussion.” What’s sad, is that the children learned they must be very, very careful about expressing their thoughts for fear an adult will hear it and over-react and “get them in trouble”.

One of the few ways we can know what’s on a kid’s mind is by hearing what they say. Once we know what’s on their mind, an opportunity presents itself to have a thoughtful discussion on the subject mater.

“Hey, kids. You know that alcohol has devastating effects on the developing minds of smart young people like you. “Getting wasted” can get you into a lot of trouble. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them for you.”

What does this have to do with business? Plenty.

While the common adgage is, “Loose lips sink ships”, I believe loose lips can also help repair ships.

How many managers and bosses are walking around clueless to what’s on in the minds of employees because the employees are scared to be frank, open and honest? How many business boats are sinking because managers and bosses have created an ATMOSFEAR instead of an atmosphere within their organization.

With the exception of slander, racist remarks and vulgarity, when employees feel they are free to express their opinions, feelings and yes, even doubts … bosses and managers can “catch wind” of potential problems, insights can surface and opportunities for thoughtful discussion are created.

For instance. A manager overhears or “catches wind” that an employee is complaining about the manager. Instead of jumping down the employee’s throat and dishing out reprimands — what if the manager asked the employee for a brief meeting?

“Thanks for meeting with me, Jim. I think you’re a great employee and you have a lot of potential. But I sense there’s something I may be doing that’s keeping you from really achieving your best. What can I do … or stop doing to help you?”

Are your employees working on the good ship Stifled Expression? Or do you have an atmosphere that allows you to take full advantage of what is referred to as the grapevine, viral communication or the arena of the overhead?

Ancillary, random communication among employees can yield golden opportunities to effectively and productively solve problems and keep your business afloat and profitable.

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.

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…

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

The people service continuum

Nov 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

In the service stakes, there are those who connect with the people they need to serve and those that quite frankly wish the customers would go away. There are of course levels within that and as always I would like you to focus for a moment on the top end.

People who serve in those lofty heights, have a few qualities which makes them stand out from the crowd, but don’t let that descriptor fool you, you probably will not see anything different in the way they interact with the customers to give away the fact, that they have this high end skill.

In simple terms what they do is often invisible, it has great depth, it is a level of intimate connectedness. This allows them to encourage, influence, involve, engage, be in alignment with, but above all it allows them to be effective with the customers.

It also means customer loyalty is built in a way that makes it hard to erase, these customers do not fade away, they become advocates of what the service person has provided for them, which is much more than a product or service, it’s that intimate and deep connectedness all great relationships have.

The customers who come into contact with this exceptional sales or service person, will follow them if they leave the company.

For the company to ensure this type of customer service person is attracted and retained, they need to carefully look at their culture and the environment they provide. In short they need to become employers of choice.

For the employee that has or wants to develop this skill level, they need to make sure they listen actively, find ways to connect genuinely with the customers (and most probably their team mates).

Great service is its own reward, and the return of customers time and time again due to the intimate connectedness of the service people, is what the sales and service game is all about.

Tags: love your customers

Win win marketing

Nov 2

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Negotiation, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

Most of you will have heard of the term win win, meaning a positive outcome for both parties, I thought about it as I was pondering some marketing options for a business.

My thought went like this, what if a marketing Co (lets say a newspaper selling advertising) were to only offer win win advertising so I knew I would get work from that advert that was greater than the cost to place the advert… (yeah I know its not about to happen any time soon.) But what if they did? Would I want to spend more $$ with them in the future… YOU BET!

What would it take… let’s see a measurement device (to see if the advert is working) and a more cooperative approach to working out the marketing “ploys” to make it work. You see often an advert on its own is not enough, it may need to have a deal attached to it, a call to action, a loss leader int he acvert as a solid draw card and so on.

It would take more effort than an artist creating an advert and the sales rep pestering you to place the ad. But would it be worth it.. OF COURSE IT WOULD… after a while the relationship built between the sales rep and the business placing the advert would become rock solid and after the initial process the rest may well become much easier.

So next time a advert sales rep says they want to chat to you about your advertising, ask if they can guarantee it’s a win win advert…

Now if only I can create a win win situation with my wife…hmmmm…

Leave the juggling to jugglers…

Nov 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

In business it seems like we juggle a whole bunch of things, from finances, planning, to marketing and operational issues and lots in between. I often say it’s about how well you juggle as to how well you do in business, however lets take some pressure off for a while and imagine if we stopped juggling. What would things be like?

Example if we outsourced the finances to a bookkeeper - handed the marketing to a marketing company, and so on… It would leave you to focus on one or two things instead of multiple things. Imagine having a clear focus on your plan, aims, objectives, and GOALS… It would free up your time and therefore it suddenly makes sense.

Henry Ford was one of the first to say “If I want to know about marketing I call the marketing people…” He did okay… I am sure there are many others in the same boat, outsourcing these tasks and creating more time for themselves.

So ask yourself, what can I give up or delegate and profit time wise, so I can create better lifestyle options. I hope it entices you to at least think about it.

Activity and decisions, there effects on your business

Oct 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

Have you ever thought about the activity and decisions that takes place in your business, or in your life for that matter? Let’s get a handle on things to explain more about what I mean.

Active and inactive – It’s either one or the other and not much in between, of course at the either end there can be a lot or a little of each.

Reactive and proactive – the other aspects to activity one being positive and the other negative.

A situation takes place, e.g. an employee makes a mistake, a proactive stance could be “Well you made a mistake, did you or are you able to learn from it?” reactive could be “YOU DID WHAT! what will that cost us!!! Oh No!!!”

An inactive stance would be to do nothing and an active stance is to do something. The question is how do you make the decision and do you think much about it?

Okay enough of the basics, which way you turn with this can have a solid bearing on outcomes in your business, in the case of staff if they keep getting reactive responses from you on all issues, after a while they will not tell you anything. On the other hand if you are always proactive they can (in time) see you as a “soft touch” a person that always sees the positive even though it may be doing great damage to the business.

The flexible approach is to be able to flip responsibly between each area, you could choose to do nothing, something, react or be proactive. Lets pick another example, a person slips on the floor of your shop, you could do nothing (inactivity) and perhaps act as if it did not happen. Yet if you react and tell them off for not seeing the puddle on the floor it could go against you as well. A proactive stance might be to offer them assistance (but probably avoid mentioning that it is the companies fault.) and see if they are okay.

The choice is up to you, so you hope the decision you make is the one that is the best option all round.

Here’s the point about all of this, it’s about making decisions and often snap decisions at that. Many people say making decisions is hard and that can be true, the challenge is to make more of them (even poor ones) so that you get used to making them often and therefore get comfortable with making them.

Once comfortable with making decisions you can check consciously if they are reactive, proactive or inactive. Then in time you will probably make more of the right decisions automatically.

Rich with the gifts of life

Oct 27

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

Business can be fickle, some succed, others fail, some just plod along making just enough to struggle on even though the market might be very buoyant.

In the end many will say business is just about money. Yes and no… I like to think I get more than just money out of what I do. In many cases I get a great deal of satisfaction out of being in business.

I recently came across a summary of the success classic Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, its simple, practical and highly effective… the thing is you need to know that richness is not about money… its more about the things. Things like how you feel, what you won, what you control, what you develop, what you create, Its all there you just need to know the simple formula for making these things happen.

Hills book was based on the success of many people and using extensive research he was able to distill the results into this classic.

Knowing that it’s easy to implement helps, but you have to be able to overcome procrastination, other peoles intervention, fears at all levels, above all you have to accept abundance is the norm, not the exception.

Stop now and think, am I rich with the gifts of life, or am I merely existing and chasing my tail… If you are ready to take on a full and rewarding life then do so by reading or re reading the classic.

The business success points

Oct 26

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

Over time I come up with a list of business success pointers and change it, the order does not matter much I think all the points are usually of equal importance.

Then I think about it some more, weigh that up against things I see and arguments I have in my head about how things are and what I am seeing. So for now as at Oct 07 this is “The list”.

Effective systems - Production – Management – Marketing – Risk management. No not systems to create a bueracracy but systems to create elegant flows of the right information and resources to the right place at the right times. Checklists, operational procedures etc.
Excellent products and services – With the right ones in place the profit margins are easy to sustain and even build on. Think apple’s Ipod, it really was just another MP3 player, but the design and the hyoe compbined made it a stand out performer, everything else (generally cheaper) paled into insignificance. It is clearly No 1 in the market If you were able to produce stand out products and back it up with service second to none then you would clearly have a siner.
Clear aims and strategies - Marketing – Operations – Management, from profit to HR issues clarity of the aims and strategies (the how to’s in the system) will (and does) make every bit of sense, your people will know what to do and when, and chances are you let them develop the aims and strategies and so they are hell bent on bringing them to fruition. Make sure innovation and leadership are a part of the aims and strategies, if not add them NOW, business requires organisations that can and do make positive use of these two.
Clear mission and vision – And I don’t care how small or large the organisation is have something you can hang a mantra on, so you and your people can chant it silently and know it permeates everything your organisation stands for. Then imagine, what if each division had its own mission and vision… could be useful for larger organisations wanting to take teams to a fresh level.
Growth and development strategies - This probably comes out of the mission and vision along with the aims and objectives, the aim in short to make sure the business is able to develop and grow in effective ways… It might be profit to begin with, then more staff to share the load… then, well its up to you, check out your aims and objectives, if they don’t fit to this area alter them now.
Brand image – People, customers – suppliers – prospective and existing staff should be able to say they know the organisation and perhaps what it does by the brand image. Clarity of communication here will build pride all round and leave a professional image in their minds. Look at the logo, the slogan (if you have one) then all the marketing materials, signage adverts THE WHOLE SHEBANG and see if it’s a rock solid image that is being presented.
Customer focus - No customers no business, so get vital about focusing on them, are they treated like royalty? Should they be? They bring $$ in to the Co… so go all out to make them feel fantastic, so much so they want to come back with their friends and buy all you have! Suggestion make it sustainable, there is no use to a focus that becomes fuzzy over time and is not sustained.

That’s the list, pull it apart, print it out and hang it on the wall, throw darts at it to figure out what to do next, I care not, I just know that this list of “stuff” works and will make a difference. date for implementation… NOW!

The impact of the “stages” of business

Oct 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

Describing business in terms of its stages, infancy, adolescence, maturity and so on is a great way to sum up the situation, but there are impacts and of course differences in each.

So in the development of the franchise from the start up infancy stage, through to maturity there are some different challenges to face that would not ordinarily show up. here’s an example, for some it will be starting out with an understanding of why they pay a franchising fee, then doubting its value when the chips are down, then up again as things turn around.

The question is will the franchisee ever fully regain the respect they had for the fee in the first place. Chances are no… Some of the edges may well have been chipped off. But its all part of the stages and this up and down attitude can happen multiple times in the course of each stage.

The challenge therefore is for the head office team and peer mentors to be able to recognise the situation and then be able to do something about it. Even if it is just a list of things to look out for, or a reminder list of what the franchisee fee covers, or even in the newsletter or Co blog it outlines more ways the franchisee fee gets used each month.

These sorts of reminders can go a long way to clearly showing the franchisees how they are being served and the value of that service.

For the non franchise business it may well be a case of looking out for challenges as they arise (e.g. why am I spending $x on insurance) then looking at the peace of mind that can bring and the potential hassles it can prevent, then move on from there.

In business there will always be stages to go through but its up to us to be able to handle the challenges within each.

Up the downhill or how to look at challenges.

Oct 24

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

In a previous article I mentioned business being like a roller coaster with its ups and downs… This time lets look at some of the causes of this “uppsy downsy” situation.

1. I feel flat – This can be from a build up of things not going too well, everything else can be okay but the flatness you feel can cause your downhill attitude to rub off. Be aware of this happening and endeavour to keep the team in high spirits. One waqy to do this is to say “I feel a bit flat today, things have been busy and I’m a bit worn out, its not so much the team here but the workload, so guys, cut me some slack if I seem a little grumpy” This clearly states the situation so they don’t have to feel as though they are at fault.

2. $$ down you are up – You know the work load has been steady and the accounts go out at the end of the month, but the expenses are piling up and there will be too much month at the end of the money! You feel okay but the word is out that the $$ are short… the undercurrent hits the team like a dumping wave in the surf, they can hardly come up for air… In a one person business this can be a double edged sword, and who knows next month when you are flush for cash the work may well slide off the scale (the bottom ind of it!) Therefore aim to build your cash reserves to cover these situations, build a buffer between you and the bottom of the $$ jar.

3. Personal dramas – Your personal life is just that PERSONAL, so keep it that way, there are times when the “chips are down” and you want to “throw in the towel” Again this is like No 1. on the list, you can communicate to the team that things are not great for you right now, so they know its not them. Then get on with things…

4. Lack of skill – You want to do a job for a customer but you are not sure of how to go about it, so you sweat on it, lose some sleep and get yourself all knotted up… over what? Often its as simple as asking someone who has done this type of job before or doing some research to see what’s involved. If you still feel you can’t do it, ring them and say so… Better to walk away with your ego in tact than make a real mess of it working under pressure.

5. You are over it – Business seemed like such an idealistic dream at first… then reality set in, long hours, low pay (how did that happen!) and the rest of the hassles that can come with being out on your own. Take a reality check is business a long term thing for you or a short term hope for the best scenario. It’s okay to start a business, it’s also okay to close one down. To be good in business there is a lot that goes into it and sometimes the only way to learn that is the hard way.

6. Permanent bad attitude – Some people seem to be born a little grumpy, or maybe you just became that way. Acknowledge it and do some thing about it. The staff turnover will be enough to put you off being in business for too long if you have a bad attitude.

That’s the list for now, maybe you have a few things you can tell us about in the comments?

Uphill, down hill is there any in between?

Oct 19

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Personal Development, Risk Management, Starting out in business | 1 Comment

The road we travel in business is a rough one at times, then it gets smooth and before we know it it turns to a dusty track with giant potholes.

I’m talking about the everyday challenges we face, be it in getting enough customers, having enough profit, ensuring staff are happy and the $$ are still rolling in…

For many in business it’s like a roller coaster and few things seem to placate this, just experience over time that tells you “here it comes again!”

Apart from experience the business operator needs to have a way of dealing with these situations to ensure they can come out on top, mentally, physically and emotionally (at least!) so to be prepared for these challenges consider a survival kit to help you on your way.

1. Get educated – If its marketing that’s a challenge? Find out how to do it better, If it’s leadership.. FIND out how to be a better leader. Get educated, take short courses, read books and implement it to make it work. I appreciate your time is precious but making time to get this one right will pay big dividends in the long run.

2. Get connected – Find a group of business people you can bounce ideas off, a business forum that provides an active place where ideas get ‘flipped about’ can be useful to help you see others are in a similar boat and there are ways out of it.

3. Hang Loose – Take some time out from your usual routine, go to a park, take a river walk… I care not for the details but give yourself a break… on your own is good, and leave the mobile phone in the car! Rain hail or shine this short break can do wonders to boost your emotional immune system and creativity.

4. Make it inspiring - The workplace is where you spend a lot of time, take a look around and say how inspiring is this place…. Now make alist of what to do and do it bit by bit if you have to, but make it happen to inspire you and your staff.

There you go a few points to help you on the road to business success. It may still have some potholes and challenging uphill sections but the goal at the end just got a fraction easier.

Who do you want to sell to?

Oct 18

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Franchisees, Growth, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

Of course you want to sell to people… that makes sense (until they invent a robot that can spend cash…)

BUT, what sort of people? Rich ones? Poor ones? Ones that work? Ones that play? Ones that have too much time on their hands? Ones that make decisions on BIG buying opportunities for a BIG business…

Whichever it is you should be sure that you can target the right people with the right offering and make sure it has a great profit to boot.

Low profit is fine for high turnover items in some instances but it all depends on your business, the costs to bring the item to market and all the rest of it. Remember you are in business so the aim is to make a profit, FIRST AND FOREMOST!

Too little profit means low cash reserves, which means a risk is being undertaken, the list goes on. So you should be thinking about what sort of people to sell to (to ensure a good profit is made) and what to offer them (product’s and services/s) then you should be able to focus on more effective ways to deliver that to them.

Go ahead and think about the ideal customer you would like to sell to, then build the picture from there, the results could well be amazing…

For more information of customer profiling… click here.

Innovation and the fight to make it work

Oct 16

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

An article by Kirsten Le Mesurier in the Age on innovation struck a chord.

The premise of CEO’s and senior exec’s saying innovation must happen… rarely works, it’s often a directive that can be buried in red tape and politics. Too many times the ideas are wanted but the process becomes a durge and in no time people resent the “new thing on the block” in this case innovation. For most it’s business as usual but with more headaches.

Organisations need to think carefully about taking on innovation as a systemic device as well and not just as a think tank option for new products and or services.

Innovation should (in my view) be about involving all, and working towards creating elegant buisness options, not just some products and services to make the profit look good.

Profit is number one…

Oct 12

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

Anything else to do with your business MUST therefore be about supporting the profit.

Before people go all money crazy though and start saying “business is all about taking and here’s another example.” I say if you are not making a profit you run a charity, and as this article is about business it’s therefore about profit. AND of course there are other ways to profit other than making money.(if your people advance their skills and are happy with that might be just one example.)

lets look at what I mean…

Marketing – This should be driving or directing people to your business, so they can buy and you make a profit from what you sell.

Management – Ensures things run well – so that your profit can be maximised. Sloppy management would mean unnecessary overheads, therefore wasting profits.

Operations – making sure things run smoothly here is vital, often this is the workings of the business and needs to be running well, imagine if stock levels ran low and demand went up… oh bad move.

Sales – No sales no $$ in, then you have an impact on your profit… not good!

Service – People vote with their feet, no service, they move on. Again not good for the profit.

Human resources – They provide (or at least should…) great people, great people systems, great training and elegant payroll options to ensure the people in your organisation are effective and efficient at what they do, if not they are eating into the organisations profit.

Wealth systems – Your profits go here to develop passive income options and leverage the $$ better. If this is not working your business may as well not make a profit… (hard words but true). Your team works hard to make the profit, now make the profit work hard for the business.

All of these impact on the profit, either the gaining of, or the use of it. To make sure you are having an impact on it take a deeper look at all of the above and get to work on those things that can make a positive difference to the profit. You might like to start with this.

See something, do something…

Oct 11

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

Earlier in 2007 I did a post on Trademarks not what you think… It gave some starting points and some background to an idea that is really all about values and beliefs but does so in a more street smart way.

I thought it was time to pull out a few more and explore how they can be developed and a bit about why they can be developed (e.g. the end product of doing all this.)

Trademarks, the notion is that it sets you apart from anybody else that might have a similar business name (in the traditional use of the word), but beyond that it says “This Co does things in certain ways, ways that set it apart.” so the same with our trademarks.

It can be used to provide guidelines and information on bigger picture things in the business Marketing – Operational issues – Management. Then of course it can go to smaller issues within each area right down to the last ‘nut and bolt’

One key to using “Trademarks” is to utilise an overall device to assist with the development of each area within the framework lets call it a mantra.

“See something,
Do something”

If one person in the organisation saw something that was not “right” within the organisation they can invoke this mantra and take it from a saying to a thing to be acted on. If anyone says we can’t do that ‘because…’ then the person putting forward the idea need not feel put down, they were just doing what was asked of them, their aim might be to look deeper to find a way that can alter the first point they raised.

An example a customer service indiscretion is witnesses, you would (under ideal circumstances) report it as a matter of urgency or act on it immediately in some other way (take action) as it would effect a key area of the business (Customers!). If a mistake was spotted in an advert, “see something, do something” should then kick in immediately before it’s too late. (Again a key area of business and one that needs to be right.)

Using this simple mantra can give the business a developmental edge in all areas… so what to do, how to go about putting it into practice… make a sign “See something, do something” and put it up, everywhere! email people in your organisation about it (keep it brief) and support it at all levels, (from the customer down…)

Next, make a list of all the key areas in the business (to raise awareness) and give a few examples of how this system could be used in each, then start developing the business from that stand point. If profit is down, start with that, you will soon see what things are preventing your profit from developing and so you will be able to action those things more strategically.

Imagine, you know have a way of creating an improvement culture in your organisation simply and effectively. So go ahead, you have seen this now do something.

Franchising and the “family connection”

Oct 10

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

In the world of franchising there are many chances to connect with the Franchisees and the Franchisors, meetings, conferences, and the initial training. As the leader of the franchise (or franchise division) or as the franchisee, search for more ways to connect with each other. Then pass on that ‘connection’ attitude or skill to your team/s.

In the process of business you will soon find you are part of an organism or a family if you like, some members you may never see (like distant cousins) and others you see often as they are very close. In franchising it’s the same with lots of family type links, The challenge is to make sure the links lead to solid loving relationships and not just sibling rivalry or a runaway “missing person”.

In the start up phase there will be lots of connection opportunities (if any) but as things more through to adolesence there is a chance that the connection can be come frayed.

The challenge is to overcome the disconnection and cause people to work together in harmony (as much as possible.) Importantly it’s a two way street and both parties need to be aware of that and do their bit to make it work.

One situation where this can happen is in training. the Franchisor can be training the Franchisee and they can pass it on to their staff and train them as well. This could be leadership skills, mentoring skills, delegation, and negotiation skills, the list could be endless.

Training can be formal or informal and why not do it over the phone, via a short video on the internet, or face to face at a franchise meeting. What ever way you do it, it can be ongoing, and benefit both parties. Over time the franchise ‘family’ will experience grater connectedness due simply to both parties being engaged in a worthy process.

Business first, then…?

Oct 9

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

You start the business and then… Well apart from working hard to make it sustainable…

A few things first, let’s make a list. Why did you get into business? Is it turning out how you wanted? Is there a profit? Is it providing a better life for you? If not when will it do that?

Note how I end up with the lifestyle side and start with the business side? That’s my focus in many of these articles, because I see people drop perfectly good jobs wth 4 weeks annual leave (here in Australia anyway) and in the most part security, for what? Hassles and more stress, more responsibility and the list goes on.

In buisness I figure you have to fight vigorously to make a profit (and sustain it, then celebrate the fact you got your goal.) So what’s next.

Wealth?
Peace of mind?
Less stress?
Less hassle?

Does all that lead to a better life? I hope so. Then pursue that, make a plan, set a time line then do something radical, halve it! Not the quantity of the results but the time frame. Get the results in half the time… What would it take to do that? Is it possible, is it feasible, is it out side of your threshold? Push that thought around for a while and figure out just how to make things fit.

I suggest that if the goal is a really worthy one you will be in a poition to make it happen in the shorter time frame because you truly connect with it. If there is no connection then try another goal, keep searching until a truly compelling one hits you. then goÂ for that.

Whatever the goal, make sure it’s one that gives you a better lifestyle. All work and no play makes for a dull person!

If you head up a franchise, what goals can you assist your Franchisees to set? What goals can they assist you to set too! Push the boundaries, go for gold, and if you come in second place the silver medal will still be quite valuable.

Whose money is it?

Oct 8

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Finance, Franchising, Growth, Risk Management, The Board Room | No Comments

In franchising there are fees of all kinds, franchisees are contracted to pay. Marketing and Management fees are often the main ones.

The fees are used for a multitude of things and are vital for the main company’s day to day operation. The money is therefore a fee paid for the provision of some service, the right to use the brand etc. I would like to put forward an idea to make a positive difference to the franchises.

Many franchises offer successful business opportunities (that’s why most people buy a franchise), however research shows there is a fair bit of turnover in the industry as people discover that franchising may not be for them (for whatever reason and there are many).

To offer a start up incentive, lots of franchises also offer an income guarantee for a start up period and then the franchisee is out on their own and hopefully running the business very profitably by that point.
All seems well, until… something goes awry, and the franchisee wants to pull out… “No you can’t do that the contract says you keep on paying fees until the end of the contract period,” for some this is a burden they endure even though they are no longer in the franchise. The pain is felt on both sides

Suggestion, the management fee could include an amount that goes into a Franchisee debt reserve fund (it’s just a compulsory savings account really) and over time as it’s added to, it could build into a sizable amount. If for instance $50 per month was taken from the management fee to add to this fund the amount is not noticed (for most) and it compounds with interest on top of that.

At the end of the contract if the person pulls out they get their compulsory saving back (no more, no less) if they continue on they could be eligible to take just the bank interest on that amount out and use it how they wish. The advantage is they have a device that is growing for them, if they pull out altogether they get the basic amount, if they stay in it gets much bigger as it compounds.

I am not putting the idea forward as a complex device, in fact the simpler the better (one big account in trust) and separate balances each month.

The aim, to put forward the idea of wealth development, and then make sure they are doing it in their business by the Franchisor leading by example. In a complex business environment it’s of ten the simpler innovations that make the biggest difference.

For more articles on franchising click here.

The fragile business

Oct 7

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Planning, Risk Management | 1 Comment

No matter what sort of business you are in, it’s only as good as the next crisis is. Has that got you thinking? I hope so. You see many business people chip away at the coal face to get ahead, but do not stop to think about how to handle major challenges that might arise. Of course we do not want major challenges to arise but they can.

Example, imagine a franchised business, lets say it’s in an early phase of development and the main company has sold a few territories and is pushing to sell more. But the offering turns out to be a flop, (e.g. customers did not want a garden watering service…) so things start going downhill. When push comes to shove they end up with no more sales, no more fees in and it goes belly up.

Well apart from a poor business concept how well the main company does will also depend on what they do to develop their wealth.

Consider this. If the income stopped for the Head Office of this organisation, how long would it last? Answer, not very long (often it’s allegedly about 2 weeks for most). For the business owner/s this means their dream has gone up in smoke.

BUT, what if they had developed a “wealth creation program”, or a “debt reserve fund”. Often its as simple as a separate bank account where a % of funds from all income goes. Over time it compounds and provides a growing liquid asset. This is left alone to grow and provides the main company with a solid foundation to build on (The key is to never spend it.) When it builds, some of it can be put into other forms of investments that can be liquidated fast if need be (shares for example) to do this effectively I would suggest a % be agreed upon to retain cash in the reserve fund (cash is king…)

Although I have used a larger organisation as an example, it can be done (and in my view should be done) by all businesses.

The aim, to build a foundation that keeps the business solid and even if things go “down the tubes” the future has at least been allowed for, obviously the longer the business can run the stronger the foundation and if need be the security can be leveraged against to start another business (hopefully a MUCH better one than the first!)

For more articles on franchising…

Some of the favourites

Sep 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, People! | 3 Comments

I get asked which of my posts are my favourites and have been asked to put a few in here for people to find. That’s hard to do in a sense but hopefully you will agree with my points.

Business spirituality this happened as the results of reading a school newsletter it was so interesting and easy to adapt the principles across to business.

Excellence this one is short but I wanted to get to the point fast!

Your annual report why just the big guys? Do your own and really get to the bottom of things.

Remember these are my favourites and if you are new to this site you might find many others, go searching and have a read or three! if its business ideas you are after there are plenty to choose from.

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