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Archive for category Innovation and Creativity

How to train to Win/Win

Jan 11

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

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

Training to win/win
You and your staff should be trained to make the whole show win, then the customers can win too. A great position to get to and stay in.  For some the idea of training staff means showing them the bare basics of their job, but go a bit deeper and encourage thinking around the idea of Win/Win, when they get the idea the concept will probably become infectious.

  • Find out more about win/win and how you might create some examples you can discuss with your team.
  • Look for examples of win/win already at play in your business.
  • Use the concept to develop a team get together every so often to ask about and pass on ideas in business development.

Getting all this together is a great way to cause the team to work effectively together and can build the business to a strong position where people feel valued. This will then pass on to the customers and cause them to feel valued as well, in the end that’s what we all want.

How to create a business that is enjoyable to run

Jan 8

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Innovation and Creativity, 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.

Enjoyable to run
Who wants a business, which is a hassle to run? Who wants to work in a tough field? No one… Make it a joy to be part of for you and staff and the low hassle enjoyable nature of the business will probably rub off onto the customers over time.

  • Make the systems simple effective and clearly understood, no one wants to run a system they have little idea of why it is being done, especially in larger organisations.
  • Ask the staff for suggestions on ways to make the work more enjoyable, perhaps multi tasking could be a useful starting point.
  • Figure out the culture or if it’s a new business create a suitable culture one that is inclusive, cooperative and has fun some times, this way you will be encouraging the best from everyone involved.
  • Make a Profit! This is an obvious point but without it the stress you suffer might soon spill over into the business. Take it easy that bad stress can wipe you out! So make sure you “juggle” things properly to ensure you have a profit and not just cover the overheads and wages.
  • Smile, show you love it, show you love being there, show you love the staff, (yes love them!) let the positivity rub off.
  • Ask lots of questions from all angles, the customer, the staff member, the senior staff and you… if there are common areas to be tackled then focus on those first.

If your business is enjoyable to run now, what would it be like if you went through and made it MORE enjoyable to run!

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 people love

Jan 5

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, 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.

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 make your business readily understood.

Jan 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Innovation and Creativity, Planning, 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.

Is it readily understood?
If your business produces widgets for the trucking industry it’s important for the target market (trucking companies in this case), to readily understand what it is you are providing. If you are in the start up phase your brand may not mean anything until the prospect sees it a few times (probably 6+ times!) so you have to make sure that it is presented in such a way that they know who you are, what’s on offer and how it’s done (online, retail, wholesale etc.)

There are many companies that put a logo on their vehicle, drive around and no body has a clue what they do or if they are of value to them (i.e. target market). It can be ok if the target market is a niche In this case a trucking supply Co, but if even your target market does not know then you have a challenge on your hands.

Consider working closely with your designer or PR people to make sure the people that should know clearly do know, otherwise your marketing $$ can be wasted.

A moment or three to reflect…

Dec 19

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Innovation and Creativity | No Comments

I was out and about today, the roads getting busy with Christmas shoppers, the car radio warbling with the odd Xmas song (yes I mean XMAS!) and I had to make two trips to the one location to collect some gear for a client, as well as two trips to another spot out much further than I would usually venture, but such was the task at hand.

It meant I had to negotiate my way around the back of a disused reception centre, it has a fairly leafy fernery out the back, out the back of that is what appears to have once been a nursery, overgrown and messy.

It took about nine trips to my vehicle loading up the various ‘bits’, I went from full sun and the noise of a busy road to the cool shade a muted tones of the traffic in the background. Tall ferns and deep green lattice under the cover of a huge roofed in pergola created a “solid slice of serenity” in my busy day.

Not long after I started I noticed a sound I had not heard for a very long time, a bull frog. The deep “Breebit” sound it made was short and deep, very resonant. At about trip seven back from the car I wanted to find the frog amongst the ferns and watch it. I got close and found a pond with lots of growth, green froth I guess it was tadpole eggs and slowly as I peered into the water emerged a few gold fish, very light, almost translucent white, slowly they moved gracefully amongst the ideal green growth.

I crouched down and waited, I was just a few feet back from the edge, finally after about a minute “Breebit” I honed my senses a bit more and moved closer I was sure I had located the area where the frog would be, I waited again.

The background muted traffic faded even more as I waited for signs of movement, signs of ‘frog life’ and I waited… “Breeeebit” I now had a better idea of where it was located and I watched, intrigued, deep in thought. I recalled watching and catching frogs and tadpoles as a kid… muddy farm dams with long reeds the frogs would easily hide in… I was transfixed on one spot… nothing.

My hustle and bustle day had folded in on itself, I was not concerned about what I had to do next, I was not hassled by the thought of the phone ringing… none of it mattered, I looked around (conscious that if you stand in one spot and it happens to have an ants nest nearby you can become a painful snack…) No ants.

I breathed easy enjoying the serene scene before me, wait where did that fish go? How come this pond has survived so well without any tending by people to top up the water? Oh yeah it’s in a shaded area of a fernery… very nice too. No frog, not a sign of it.

Standing up I noticed that the area was well protected against any predators so the frog had a great chance to thrive, the environment was fairly ideal really… I took a few steps in another direction to see if I could get a better view of the frog, no luck not a sign, not a peep.

For a while as I finished off my tasks I was more relaxed, breathing with ease, noting how my thoughts were strongly tinged with green lush foliage and a calm smooth pond that formed a trigger in my mind for quieter reflection.

I never got to see the frog, I managed to hear it once more as I left, I felt as if it was toying with me. The rest of my day was guilt free, not a rushed moment, not a hassle not a care really for the tasks ahead, just a sense of knowing I had stopped to reflect, to make time to “stop and smell the roses” as they say. I had a good day and was thankful the client had given me a nice little task.

In our busy business lives we often get too bogged down in the daily grind… now ask yourself, what can I do to take a moment or three to reflect? Guilt free, openly almost in defiance of the hustle and bustle we might have in front of us. What’s your story, your point of reflection, your time to connect deeper and relax, even if it is for just a fleeting moment…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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The art business continum

Nov 6

Posted by Steve Gray in Innovation and Creativity, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | No Comments

Later this morning I have to go and pick up some paintings I have on consignment at a local art gallery. I suspect things have been a little slow in the sales area, as the gallery is only open now at set times on set days and is about to close down. Ok we live in a mainly working class area so I never did hold my breath for an “arts led recovery”. The two shows I have held in Metro Melbourne to date were nice but did not garner any major earnings either… as a business possibility the visual arts can be a hassle.

Nearly every week the art gallery directors in major areas get fresh faced “wanna be’s” emailing images, sending in portfolio’s and bios, some will look, others send an automatic reply “no thanks”… one gallery told me of up to five artists per day presented themselves and their wares. So during a 5 day week they got 25 new faces in the door (that’s a lot of art!) now imagine for an artist to pluck up the courage and do this they would have to have more than a few images to present, in fact probably enough to have a show. (lots more art than I thought…)

It gets me thinking, (ok this has been brewing for a long while) each year in our state there is an outpouring of young hopefuls… final year graduates of visual arts. Fervent minds challenging convention, grinding a fresh edge on life (probably on the axe handle actually rather than the head of the axe). So let’s see, a bunch of about 10 Technical and Further Education Colleges, and about 6 university level courses… if each only pumped out 8 students each (lets play the average game here) that gives us… 128 grads…

Some of the 128 will go into work… drop right out of the art scene, and keep it as a “dream point” they might grab onto later on. Some just wanted to get the starting point qualification to do graduate studies or higher level than a Cert IV so they go across into more study. Lets rough out a few numbers… further study – 50 – Work – 40 – drop out and move on – maybe 30… (I am guessing here give me a break) so that’s 120 that leaves 8.

Out of the 8 some will want to exhibit and others want to build a bigger portfolio first. So lets say half go forward and exhibit (its not that high but I am an optimist) so that’s 4 to get a show and the rest (4) go on to develop their portfolio.

So over a period of 10 years this would be 80 people, but take into account the ones that come from interstate and overseas and the market can soon be full to the brim of of young (and old) hopefuls., some get snapped up, some have to face the reality that their work might have got them good marks while studying, but in the cold hard light of day rate no where on the gallery directors scale.

It’s a tough world indeed a tough business and it requires a great deal of persistence and determination to make a go of it. Also remember our little end of the world (Australia) has nothing on the big apple, New York with over 250 art galleries (most of the commercial kind)!

I guess for new hopefuls the art scene can offer a glimmer of fame and for some fortune, but in the main its as tough as any business and still requires all the same due diligence of any business.

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.

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?

Art and business

Oct 21

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

An often overlooked area of business is the art scene.

Diverse in its offerings, Art is often seen as the realm of the rich (in mind and $$). And can offer the purchaser more than just a decorative device, it can also boost their stakes in the up and up of social climbing as well as their investment assets.

Although often seen as a lofty pursuit, the need for artists to communicate and the want for purchasers to invest in visual literacy and one up-manship is solid. However a challenge arises when people arrive on the scene with limited knowledge of art and how it fits in the scheme of things. So here is a quick guide. Note I am more specifically talking bout painting and drawing here, not the crafts so much.

1. Contemporary - Considered to be the cutting edge of what’s taking place in the art world… New players abound, your research for pieces to invest in should focus on longer term artists of repute who have earned the title of contemporary artist. However the new players can provide the art lover with fresh perspectives and emergent investment opportunities.

2. Mature contemporary – These artists have been selling for years, some have passed on, some are still with us, but the work has gone from owner to owner being auctioned off in the revered art auction houses. Usually a much lower risk than an emergent Contemporary artist and often no where near as expensive as a classic.

3. Classics – The bigger picture of art from the past, from high level well renown artists to others of little note. Again in the bigger auction houses and from antique dealers, usually these works are for the “bigger players” in the investment market.

4. Leisure – The art works of people who create for enjoyment, some of these works attain a level of notoriety (often localised) However their value is often in the technique and style rather than the ability of the works to communicate contemporary themes. Often these are hobbyists that sell to help supplement their income or pay for their materials. As an investment they offer little in the way of $$ return as the artists often have little recognition to the active investment art world, any value is often sentimental.

5. Decorative – Renovation and do it yourself shows on TV show how to ‘take a canvas and tun it into your own piece of art’ the aim is to decorate a wall or space. This is all about colour and design basics and not about art for art sake. The images are usually meaningless and serve only as decoration, therefore they are not expected to appreciate in value.

There are probably a whole host of categories in between that fill various gaps but for now the above list is a starting point.

When looking at works of art you now have a perspective from which to view and assess them. So when asked “What do you think of our latest acquisition” when Aunt Millie points to a new painting in the lounge… you can start out with a discussion using a few of the points above. “Oh Aunt Millie, its rather colourful and fits the space nicely, tell me all about it…” then listen to hear how it was purchased, for what purpose, decoration or for investment.

For the artist they can take the list a see where they are at and or where they might be aiming, for galleries they can clarify their position and see who or target market might go for.

From all sides the list gives a starting point to understanding so the business of visual arts might be more clearly defined for all parties.

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.

“Brand You” trademarking…

Oct 14

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

In a previous post I mentioned trademarking as a development tool and I discussed “See something – Do something” It’s a nice simple model for business but it can be taken further than a business context, here’s how and perhaps why…

In the branding stakes there is a lot of mention these days about “Brand You” If you look at yourself as a device or commodity (how strange) branding is therefore important, on the basic personal level a resume is the marketing ‘hype’, and your actions (should you land the job) are the results. In a decent brand the hype or spin matches the end product… So the same with Brand you. It’s about congruency, things working in alignment.

I am sure you have met people that are full of ‘hot air’ and they say more than they do, well in their case there is a low level of alignment between their words and actions. that’s where this newer idea of trademarking comes in.

Using the premise of “See something – Do something” the astute brand developer, would say I have things to develop in me that will benefit me and then probably benefit the company, in the long run. This is fairly standard personal development thinking for some of you whilst for others it will seem like a new thing ripe for the picking.

In the business context the see and do device is relatively easy to work out (focus on marketing – operations and management) bu for the individual its a bit different. However in the business owners context they could map across from the business context, by noting “In each of the areas of the business I can influence, how well do I do those things?” leadership therefore becomes an issue, the management and then communication, then time management.

So make a list of the areas you want to improve then do your level best to chip away at those areas to make them count, not just for you, but for the business as well.

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.

7 Steps to finding your most profitable target market by Emma Rhoades (Guest Blogger)

Oct 11

Posted by Guest Poster in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Operations Dept, The Sales Dept | 3 Comments

So often people delve into advertising their business, without much thought to the process. This not only a huge waste or precious $$, but it leaves your business vulnerable to cash flow problems. Taking the time to research exactly who your most profitable customer is, will ensure you receive a higher return on your advertising investment.

  1. How many products or services do you have? Is it 1-2, or 30-40? Write them all down individually.
  2. Write down who buys each product. It’s ok to overlap a few people here. Try to make it as detailed as possible. For example, mothers with children 0-2 yrs, men who like golf, etc, rather than mothers and men. The more detailed you can get it, the more profitable your advertising can be!
  3. Work out your profit margin for each of your products. For example, how much would you make if someone bought your product. Again, the more detailed you can get, the better.
  4. Take your top performing product and have a look at who buys this. You may have more than one type of person on that list. Choose one person to start with, and think about the type of person they are. Do they shop online, do they read magazines- if so- which ones??
  5. Do lots of research!! Find these people and ask them! Ask them what type of magazines they read, ask if they prefer to shop online of offline etc. Don’t try to skip this step; otherwise you will be flying blind in your advertising. These have now become one of your target markets. Do this for all of those who purchase your products.
  6. Once you know more about them, you can start looking around for places to advertise. Don’t be tempted to go for the cheaper option- always make sure that it is getting directly in front of your target market
  7. Start with one product at a time and one customer type at a time. Always start with your most profitable product or service, and this will ensure you get a higher return on your advertising investment.

Today’s guest blogger is Emma Rhoades.

Emma owns advertising business Diva Promotions. She aims to give women with their own micro business highly targeted, cost-effective advertising campaigns. Visit www.divapromotions.com.au today to book into your next campaign and start growing your business! Emma can be contacted via the website, admin AT divapromotions DOT com.au or 1300 76 36 76.

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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.

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…

I found something interesting…

Oct 1

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

In flipping about the net I came across this link. http://www.bcg.com/

Simply put the publications section has some great resources for businesses of all sorts, check it out, there’s plenty for everyone…

Very professionally put together, usually when I come across resources like this you end up having to pay or need to be a client with a special password to get in. So it was refreshing to come across this one from a large consulting group.

Crafty management

Sep 30

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

A blog that chats about the craft of management now that’s useful! Check out the ten x 3 article I liked them all!

Management as a craft seems to resonate with the idea of the manager as an artisan, with a unique blend of artistic and practical skills. If this is the case the business could then be evaluated for its beauty, craftsmanship, structure, design and practicality. In a cultural context there is probably a lot more philosophy and depth that would show through as well.

I think if we take it further and imagine the artisan creating a clay bust for example, it needs to be built around a solid armature and the end use needs careful consideration, if the craftsman gets it wrong the bust could crack, not hold the clay or be unusable for a range of other structural reasons.

On the other hand if it is well constructed and suits its purpose the result will be a thing of beauty with a sense of elegance that enthralls the viewer. Now that’s the art of business.

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.

You do NOT have my needs!

Sep 28

Posted by Michael Crooks in Innovation and Creativity, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 3 Comments

Printed on the sign were these words, “We have your plumbing needs.”

No they don’t. You see, they can’t have my needs. Only I can have my needs.

If I need a sink-stopper thingy, I seek out someone who has a sink-stopper thingy. I don’t need someone who has my sink-stopper thingy needs. Because if they have my sink-stopper thingy needs — that means they need a sink-stopper thingy too!

Mr. and Mrs. Retailer please, if you are currently saying, “We have your ______ needs”, please change it to:

“We Satisfy Your ______ Needs.”

Here’s the difference:

1) “We Have Your Sink-Stopper Thingy Needs”
2) “We Satisfy Your Sink-Stopper Thingy Needs”

#2 is a lot more inviting and quite frankly it tells prospects, clients and customers that an answer, a solution or possibly satisfaction is just beyond that door.

Please remember this as you put together your adverts: You don’t have the consumer’s needs, rather, you have what can satisfy the consumer’s needs.

Use Pens As Effective Promotional Marketing Tools

Sep 25

Posted by Michael Crooks in Innovation and Creativity, Planning, Starting out in business, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 1 Comment

Everyone was screaming. Chaos ruled. Then, from nowhere she appeared. With surgical precision, she dismantled her pen, quickly cut a slit into the man’s neck and inserted the pen barrel. As color returned to the man’s face our hero wipes her brow and everyone cheers for joy.

Isn’t TV Great? You may never use your pen to create an emergency airway, however, you can use a pen to breath some fresh life into your promotional marketing activities.

First, a word of warning. There is a huge difference between a cheap pen and an inexpensive pen. Remember, even if you desire to simply hand out a pen to every Jill, John and Samantha that walks by your trade show booth, the quality of what you hand out is a reflection of you and your company.

Let’s assume you’ve chosen a pen that is appropriate for your need and your budget. Let’s explore some ways to use that pen to promote. While not all of the following may be appropriate for your particular situation, I’m going to paint with a broad brush in an attempt to generate a number of possible ideas for you.

Lumpy Mail. A pen is lightweight yet causes a regular envelope enough distortion that it will usually get opened. If you’re sending a letter to prospects and you want to increase the chance your letter will get opened, a pen will do it. Combine this idea with Prize Derby or Design Contest (explained later) and you could have a real promotion on your hands.

Targeted Placement. Where does your target audience hang out? Does your target audience frequent a local coffee shop? Maybe the hair salon is the best place to target your market. I often leave promotional items such as pens and note pads on the counter at the local chamber of commerce where I’m a member? How about your Gym or health club? Where ever your target hangs out or frequents, ask the owner or manager if you can leave a supply of your pens there.

Quick-Draw McGraw. About four times a week I’m somewhere when someone asks, “Who’s got a pen?” I am usually the first to hand over my imprinted pen. Key Point:A pen that is received at a time of need is more highly regarded than one that’s simply given when no need is present.

Forget Your Pen. Use your pen and leave it every time you sign a credit card receipt. It doesn’t matter if it’s at the gas station, a restaurant or retail store. Leave your pen, ya know … as a public service!

Permission Based Usage. Consider making friends with local sit-down restaurant owners whose clientele may be your prospects. Then get permission to supply the wait staff with your pen. Encourage them to allow patrons to “swipe” the pen. If you choose the right, low –cost retractable pen, they will want to.

Pen Design Contest. Have your clients and prospects supply you with ideas on a unique design for the imprint of your pen. Post the top designs on your website letting your clients and prospects know through e-mail or snail mail that the designs are up. Let them cast their vote for their favorite. Make sure you get their e-mail and other appropriate contact information as you are now building your database.

The winning design wins 50 of the pens. You can bet they’ll show them to everyone they know. This whole tactic is designed to drive people to your website. Of course everyone who votes gets a pen.

Prize Derby. Pay extra, if possible, and have the pens sequentially numbered. Imprint the pens with “Go to www. _______.com.” and if the number on this pen matches a number on the prize page you win!

Prizes can range from other promotional items (mugs, t-shirts, tools) or your product or service such as free samples or special package deals. Every couple of weeks you change the numbers on the web site so people have a reason to hang on to the pen and check back every couple of weeks.

Search, Explore and ASK! Look around. I go to tradeshows where a booth will want people to fill out a sign-up card with plain-Jane pens. Sometimes they let me replace their plain pens with mine. Every now and then the tube canister at the bank drive though doesn’t have a pen. You bet I stuff one in there. Opportunities are everywhere, especially with non –profits. They can always use a few extra pens. Perhaps they’d agree to send your pen out with their next mailing asking for donations.

Pens can be a powerful promotional marketing medium when supported by an effective, appropriate and creative idea. Opportunities to promote yourself are all around. But if you don’t look, you won’t see. And if you don’t ask, the answer will always be, “no”.

The “easy in” franchise start up.

Sep 24

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchising, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Negotiation, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

For the Franchisor: How do you make the start up phase easy for the Franchisee?

For the Frachisee: How does the Franchisor make the start up phase easy for you.

This is the sort of question both parties should be asking themselves and for the Franchisor reviewing it often to make sure they have the best systems in the business.

Lets take a look at perhaps a usual scenario… the Franchisee joins the business, signs up and does the training, they start the business and pay the usual franchisee fees in the first month or so… it’s baptism by “deep end” immersion!

Lets step back a bit further and take a look at what really happens. For some this business opportunity is a start up, no business experience, and while there is probably great support systems in place after the training, some may not know how to use them, or perhaps might feel as though they would be embarrassed to use them. Although the Franchisee is keen to start there will probably be a range of issues they have to contend with, a new start, a change of work habits, new systems, training to learn… and the list could go on… and ON!

It might be suggested that the Franchisor’s role (in part) is to make this transition phase as simple and easy as possible so they can build the esteem of the Franchisee (vital really). So here are a few suggestions that could make a solid point of difference to the way your franchise business starts its new recruits (remember to use these as selling points!)

Fees - Consider not having the first two or three months of fees, and or making the fees a low start option (e.g. they pay an increasing percentage in the start up phase) To redeem the loss you include it in the start up fee for buying the franchise.

Income – During the training period and the first few weeks of set up, there is probably a loss of income, if you do not have an income guarantee, include a short term one to take the pressure off. Let the franchisees focus clearly on the training and getting things right.

Support – coaching – mentoring – training – Training is usually a given, the coaching, mentoring and other forms of support may be voluntary, or the onus put on the Franchisee. The aim being to ensure the Franchisee is a “happy camper” your role is to make these aspects more robust and easy to implement. If the new recruit is thrown in the deep end, how can you provide ‘services’ to ease the pain and ‘stop them from drowning”? Lets face it there are too many Franchise horror stories and the time stop this is at the start. If you have support staff in contact with franchisees how well do they coach, mentor and support?

Advertising – A vital part of the business mix, advertising can make or break a start up business. How many ways can you build extra value into the start ups advertising to ensure added value and possibly more customers? Show them the Press Releases you have sent out to their local media, then scour their local papers for articles that have been printed and show them, look for opportunities in the local media and utilise those to ensure the start up phase is happening with a lot of interest. Perhaps consider teaser adverts to build intrigue. Of course all the extras are in the price of the franchise.

List – Frequently asked questions for new franchisees (perhaps in an intra-net) and provide a whole range of support materials for them, from simple short video examples to PDF type documents or power point presentations they can get answers with very quickly. give the peace of mind in knowing the answers are there 24/7 so they do not have to wait for an “Area Manager” to call them back with an answer on Monday and it’s Friday night!

Family – A little touched on area of business… but the family support is vital to how the new franchisee feels. What material can you provide to raise their awareness of this new change to their lives? How it might effect things, the rewards it might bring later on… and so on. Most of all though provide something, even a brochure or leaflet is better than nothing and encourage them to get involved. For smaller franchises it might be as simple as inviting them to help out with the bookkeeping (if they have those skills) or delivering pamphlets in the territory. Any way they can help out can be very useful to the family stability in the early phases.

Thats the list for now, but keep searching for ways to help the new recruit. For Franchisees, look for franchises that offer as many of these support devices as possible and ask existing franchisees about how well these worked in reality.

For more franchise info…

The entreprenurial franchise?

Sep 22

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Planning, Starting out in business, The Board Room | 1 Comment

It’s probably thought of as a no go zone, the franchisor wants their members to follow a system, and the franchisee wants to have a system that ensures ongoing viability, and therefore $$ in the bank to fund their lifestyle.

For most the entreprenerial activity in a franchise will happen at the “top end”, where the franchisor develops the business and puts a lot of effort into finding opportunities the franchisees can utilise. This is the real entreprenurial catalyst area, being proactive, being innovative and taking risks… But wait, what would happen if the franchisees did that too! ARRGH! You want them to follow not to lead… well yes… to a point.

Imagine you have a franchise with 100 franchisees, and only you provided the system and there as no feedback, sounds ideal right… but What if… they were to find ways of doing things better and pass them on to you. If each of them put in one small idea that impacted the business by 1% then you would have a business that was 100% better! (okay stop laughing its a concept not a mathematical model! But you get the point.)

Many franchises have fully functioning adults as franchisees, and over time you could utilise their collective intelligence to make a difference to the overall business, to their business to our business experiences as customers. Often all you need to do is ask.

- Provide an avenue for the franchisees to have input into the business, from start to finish.

- Encourage them to think outside the square (not to create headaches) to find ideas and opportunities that could make a positive difference to the way the business runs.

- Explore focus groups and think tanks so they can feel part of the whole business and ts overall success.

- Become a business that is known for listening and then acting when appropriate. Then encourage your franchisees to do the same.

Whatever the orientation of your franchisees entreprenuerial or not… utilise their expertise and experience to build a business that can offer greater stability and strength, in the long run a well managed entrepreneurial franchise will always beat the compeition hands down, due simply to being one step ahead of the game.

Trash Talk & Delete Buttons: A candid letter from your prospective customer. By Jill Konrath (Guest Blogger)

Sep 20

Posted by Guest Poster in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

Dear Seller,

I only have a few minutes, but I understand you’re interested in what you can do to capture my attention and entice me to want to set up a meeting with you.

Let me say this loud and clear right now – you have no idea what my day is like. You may think you do, but you’re missing the boat. Until you understand this, my advice to you makes no sense.

I got into the office early this morning so I could have some uninterrupted time to work on a major project – something I can’t seem to squeeze into the normal business day, which is filled with back-to-back meetings.

But, by 9 a.m. all my good intentions were dashed. My boss asked me to drop everything to get her some up-to-date information on a major reorganization initiative. Product development informed me that our new offering won’t be available for the upcoming tradeshow. Sales is already in an uproar because they have customers waiting for it. Then HR tells me that one of my key employees has been accused of cyber-stalking.

Starting to get the picture? Welcome to my world of everyday chaos where, hard as I try to make progress, I keep slipping behind. Right now, I have at least 59 hours of work piled on my desk, needing my attention. I have no idea when I’ll get it all done.

Did I mention my how many emails I get daily? Over 100. Everyone copies me in on everything. It drives me crazy. Then, add to that at least 30 phone calls – many from vendors who want to set up a meeting with me. And the pile of junk mail I get each day is ridiculous.

In short, I have way too much to do, ever-increasing expectations, impossible deadlines and constant interruptions from people wanting my time or attention.

Time is my most precious commodity and I protect it at all costs. I live with the status quo as long as I can – even if I’m not happy. Why? Because change creates more work and eats up my time.

Which gets us back to you. In your well-intentioned but misguided attempts turn me into a “prospect,” you fail woefully to capture my attention. I’m going to be really blunt here: I could care less about your product, service, solution or your company.
I’m not one bit interested in your unique methodologies, extraordinary differentiators or one-stop shopping. Your self-serving pablum, while designed to lure me into your clutches, has the exact opposite impact.

It’s trash talk! I quickly scan your emails or letters looking for those offensive words and phrases that glorify your offering or your firm.

The minute they jump out at me, you’re gone. Zapped from my inbox or tossed into the trashcan. When you talk like that in your voicemails, I delete you immediately. Delete, delete, delete.

That’s the most expeditious way to handle bothersome telemarketers. Use those same words on the phone with me and I’ll quickly raise an objection you can’t address.

I’m a master at sniffing out trash talk and deleting it. I have work to do and refuse to waste even one iota of my time on something that’s irrelevant or self-promotional.

You need to know though that I’m not always like this. Occasionally a savvy marketer or seller captures my attention, gets me to raise my hand asking for more information and even entices me to request a meeting.

What are they doing? They’re completely focused on my business and the impact they can have on it. That’s what’s relevant to me – not their offering.

I’m always interested in ways to shorten time to market, speed up our sales cycles and reduce our supply chain costs. Notice that this is business talk, not marketing speak!

When you get even more specific and tell me how much impact, now you’re really talking my language. I guarantee that if you mention you’ve helped organizations similar to mine increase sales conversion rates by 39% in just 3 months, I’ll be on the phone to you in no time flat.

Do you have any good information or fresh insights about the challenges my company is facing? How about how other companies are addressing these issues? If so, I’m interested in that too.

That’s the good stuff. It stems from a focus on the difference you can make for my company, instead of how you’re different from every one else. When you emphasize that, I’m interested.

But you can’t rope me in with the good stuff, then slip back into that trash talk. If so, you’re gonzo as fast as I can hit the delete button.

I pay attention in about 5 second increments, too. I don’t have time for fluff. If it’s relevant info, you’ve got me; start meandering and I hit delete.

Get the picture? I hope so, because I’m late for a meeting and while I’ve been writing this, the phone’s been ringing off the hook.

Hope this helps!

Your Prospective Customer

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and founder of the Sales Shebang, is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and industry events. For more articles like this, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com. Sign up for the newsletter and get a BONUS Sales Call Planning Guide.

The exceptional organisation.

Sep 17

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

The exceptional organisation according to Tom Peters associate Ed Michaels, is one that provides and nurtures rigourously the following…
“Remarkable challenges, rapid professional growth, respect, satisfaction, fun, stunning opportunity, exceptional reward, amazing peer group, full membership in ‘Club Adventure’, maximized future employability…”

All this leads to attracting more of the right people both internally and externally. In a world where skilled and motivated people are in hot demand then this list is just a starting point. Now take the list and make your organisation “fit the bill” or miss out, the race for influencing great people to partner with your organisation is fast running out of options!

The info was sourced from www.tompeters.com and makes for great reading.

Suggestion, make a list of the items above and get your team and or yourself to create a list of ways to make it happen, I would do it as a table or matrix and see what’s already in place and what can be added. Go on go for a WOW organisation!

3 more favourites

Sep 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Innovation and Creativity, People! | No Comments

From our forum to you here are more favourites from the last year.

Entrepreneurs mind set

Keeping employees happy

Exceptional yet?
Most of these also got lots of views from our members so that’s useful. But mainly I see these as having the scope to get people involved, mindsets and keeping people happy… I guess there is always the power of having a catchy headline too (Exceptional yet?)

UK Business resource website

Sep 14

Posted by Bren Ryan in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Operations Dept | 1 Comment

I, like many of you, know running a small business can be a lonely existence – you need to wear many hats and keep up to date with the latest developments and thinking. It was one of the reasons we started this site.

But I am not one to rest on my laurels and just use this site only for my research, I am always on the look out for new resources. I recently came across Uk business resource site.

Freshbusinessthinking.com is an on-line resource for small business owners, directors and entrepreneurs. It is where information hungry and time-poor business decision makers can source information and advice to help them run their businesses more effectively and efficiently.

Screen shot of Freshbusinessthinking.com

It’s a wealth of information, there are articles, Business news (although i found this was a little biased towards UK news, but it’s a UK site, what did I expect?), Documents and forms templates, and Videos.

It really is a great online business resource for entrepreneurs. It’s the leading UK website giving advice, information and ideas to successful and growing businesses

Check out freshbusinessthinking.com, but be warned, you may be there for a long time reading!

The ideal monkey

Sep 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Planning, The Sales Dept | No Comments

No this is not about Homer Simpson getting a helper monkey! it’s about the ideal clients we all want to chase, but hey there are issues about going for gold, its time, money and often our attitude.

Firstly the ideal customer “monkey” is at the top of the tree, try to climb it too fast you might scare the monkey (not good!) Those that have wooed the monkey in the past know that once they are off the ground and climbing, they have to entice the monkeey (influence it if you will) with the right food, if you have things right the monkey may even come to you!

Secondly you have to be aware that the non ideal monkeys don’t like to work so hard to get to the top of the tree, and therefore they stay to the lower branches and on the ground, they are lazy and want you to go to them, enticement or not, they cost time and money in the long run, but they help to pay the bills. These monkeys create a hard bond to break.

Okay, so it would be good if you could climb the tree quickly and quietly and be back in time to look after the monkeys on the ground, but the top monkey wants to be courted on their terms, not on yours, so what to do?

In an ideal world your sales rep could be trained to court the monkey in the right way while you keep the lower end monkeys happy, but until that happens not much can happen, and note how the lwer level monkeys keep you too busy and not earning enough to hire a sales rep?

Its an age old conundrum, if you take the slow path, costs can overrun you, but once the top monkey is in the giving mood you can then free yourself up to look after more of them and jump readily from tree to tree as the other top monkeys can see you coming at their level and are often more welcoming.

To get to the top monkey takes a strategy, and an action plan to ensure you have the steps in place to get to the right monkey at the right time. This is called a sales process, its a step by step method of research, sending info, and building up to the final presentation. Then and only then if they are happy with what your offer, will they give a little.

Some monkeys are a pest, but a top monkey can be a sought after leader in the pecking order of business, If you want to get the “monkey of your back” you have to find ways to get to the top monkey.

Post Cards As An Effective Trade Show Giveaway

Sep 8

Posted by Michael Crooks in Innovation and Creativity, Planning, Starting out in business, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 10 Comments

Tired of handing out pens and other junk at trade shows that don’t give you any return on your investment? Consider the benefit of a 4″ x 6″ postcard.

A postcard is a great trade show handout …. IF, it is backed by an effective idea. Many describe a great postcard handout as little more than a giant business card. While a postcard may be better than a business card, it’s still a yawner — unless it contains something of value or potential value to the prospect.

Lets explore some examples. Let’s say you own a high end women’s clothing store. In that case your postcard could offer the prospect a “Private In-Home Showing”. High-end buyers like to be catered to. A private clothing showing in the prospect’s home or place of business speaks to that desire. The card asks the prospect to call to make arrangements. Over the phone you get her preferences, likes, dislikes and sizes. Then you make the appointment and take a fine selection of clothing to her. This also allows you to gauge your Return On Investment (ROI). Best of all, it allows you to develop a personal relationship with the prospect.

Lots of marketers, eager to cast a big net like to offer discounts and freebies on their postcards. By and large, I detest dollar-off coupons, discounts and freebies to build a loyal, money-spending client base. Mostly they attract “bottom-feeders” with whom you are establishing a relationship based on price. If your goal is to make money, then a relationship based on price works in the prospect’s favor — not yours.

If you insist giving away the store to get new clients or prospects … at least make it a buy one get one, a buy one get the second for 1/2 off or a dollar amount off with a specified dollar amount in purchases.

A more effective approach to rewarding prospects and getting your name spread around is to offer an imprinted promotional item or gift with purchase. This can really help drive trade show traffic to your retail location. This way, you are only giving promotional products away if they actually take the time to visit your location and spend money. For instance, a restaurant could offer a free steak knife with purchase of two dinners. Combine this with a punch card program and give customers the opportunity to collect a complete set though subsequent meal purchases.

Another way to use a postcard is to make it a ticket to a special after hours store event. You can give the highlights of your product or service at the trade show. Those who seem genuinely interested, receive the “ticket” for a more in depth demonstration, product review or test drive at the special event. In this case, you only give the postcard to those who express a desire for your product or service. Those who show up for the event are genuinely interested. And genuinely interested prospects and are YOUR golden ticket.

If any of the product lines you sell has a co-op program, check to see if the post card can qualify for one or more of your suppliers co-op programs. This will help you lower the cost of the entire program.

Use of the tactics described above can also help drive traffic to your website. In cases where the postcard is used as a ticket, you can give people the option of reserving their place at the event via phone or through your website.

By and large, a postcard that’s little more than a glorified business card is a waste of your time, energy and money. However, if you marry the postcard with an effective idea … then you may have promotional marketing trade show gold.

My 3 favourite articles…

Sep 4

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

 Okay world, here are my 3 favourite articles for the period Sept 2006 – 2007 our first year of www.freebusinesstips.com.au

Jenny Stilwell  3 pillars… Because at the time it knocked me flat! I loved the depth yet a simplstic approach that ANYONE in business could follow. I love most of Jenny’s work and so the link is her name, but this one article grabbed me, and to think that its available free for all to use WOW!

Business profiling a 3 tiered approach  Because it has the potential to make waves, waves of understanding, there is still more to come to add to this but time will tell. I am very proud of this one, and yes its mine… It came about because of freebusinesstips.com.au and my involvement in it, it was like shuffling through so many options and possibilities and then it hit me, it had to be done.

My third choice is a culimination of the many “Cries for help” that have echoed across the forum posts, some are loud, some are probably caught between the lines as pockets of distant hope, pockets loaded to the hilt with grief, drama and pangs of guilt. To those with the strength to put up their hand I salute you, to those that put in to the whole web page experience here at free business tips, then I say a HUGE thanks for assisting us to make this all possible.

“From the dirt and moisture comes a sprout, a tiny green organism pointing skyward, its roots grabbing tight to the ground its potential unknown. It may be a weed, a strangling vine or a mightly tree that lasts for a few hundred years. Either way it makes its imression on us, lets hope that impression is highly valuable.” 

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