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Archive for category Risk Management

What’s A Burned Business Bridge Smell Like?

May 29

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Growth, People!, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

The reason burning business bridges are so fatal is because when you burn a bridge … it releases no odor. That means, you can be burning business bridges all over town and never even know it — until it smacks you in the face later.

Here’s an example:

There is a woman with whom I’ve been attempting to establish a business relationship. We spoke over the course of a couple months at a monthly business expo. She expressed interest in my products and services and sent me her e-mail for some “ideas”

I followed up asking for a face to face or a phone conversation so I could get a better handle on her advertising and promotional needs, wants and desires. I called, left a message and e-mailed her. No response.

After seeing her again at the business expo, I wrote her a lengthy memo detailing some great, usable ideas. I hand delivered the memo to her in an envelope at the next business expo. Again, I followed up by e-mail and phone several times. No response.

Today, here name is in my e-mail in box. “Wow”, I thought as I opened the e-mail. “Wow” quickly became “ow”. I shook my head in disbelief. This woman, who can’t or won’t return my phone calls and e-mails, has the audacity to send me an impersonal, e-mail blast solicitation for a donation to her golf outing.

It’s not gonna happen.

I simply can’t get across that bridge she burned by not taking the time to, at the very least, tell me she’s not interested. Yes, by ignoring me she “told” me that. Bottom line is: Now she wants something from me and she’s not getting it.

Are you burning bridges by not responding to vendors? Are you burning bridges by being rude to people you deem as “unimportant”. If you want it to matter to me when it matters to you … treat me like I matter — even when I don’t.

This is the basis of effective networking — making people feel as though they matter … even if they don’t. Sometimes it’s as simple and easy as acknowledging them with a return phone call, a smile or a nod.

Burned business bridges emit no smell. On the other hand, those who burn bridges do.

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I’m thinking about going into business, should I?

May 29

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

A friend and I were chatting, he is to be made redundant, and after many years in his role with a big multinational he stands to get a good pay out. He’s still got plenty of time as an able bodied worker and wants to work… But.

There have been a number of larger businesses fold up their operations locally and he’s not about to move out of the area. He could invest the money and watch it grow, his wife is still working a fair bit so that could be useful, but he would probably get bored (in fact I know he would…)

Doesn’t take long before his mind turns to business. “Hey Steve what do you recommend? One of those franchises or???” Well it’s like this it depends on what you want to do I thought.

It turns out someone had given him the hint that a franchise could be useful, I set him thinking by asking… “What do you currently earn per hour, and do you think you could earn that in a franchise, especially if there are people being put off work in the area…” It got him thinking.

But the temptation is there, to the untrained eye it could look okay, you get the system, you milk it and the planning side is partially done, the brand image is there? What more could you want? In all honesty a LOT more.

And here is where most people seem to go astray, they get emotionally wound up in the idea “Be my own boss? YEAH!” and the rest they say is history… It’s all very well for me to say “Go do your homework…” But what if you don’t know what to REALLY research?

So the short answer is to ask lots of questions, check out lots of options, and get savvy on the language, biz speak can be daunting for those not in the know.

In any business there are risks, so before you commit your funds find as many people as you can in that field then ask them lots of questions. In fact I suggest you get to more than 10 in any one group, and then more in other groups as well.

So do the due diligence, and make sure the full on emotional satisfaction you feel in the beginning is something that will last well into the future, just in case things go “belly up”.

You set your own standards…

May 26

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

Current news 26th may 08 Victoria Australia. It was announced today that an aged care facility is in the hands of administrators today, 100+ residents are unsure if they will have a place to live. lets leave the emotions to one side for a moment and look at it from a business viewpoint.

Here is a facility one would imagine the operators have figured out what the costs should be, the income, the profit etc. At the end of the day one would imagine it would not be too difficult to figure out if the whole idea was viable or not… So how is it that the are now in strife?

Well I can only guess at that, however as a duty of care one would think they would have covered all bases to ensure this vulnerable sector of society is well catered for.

I don’t want the Government to mandate how these facilities are run, however there should be an equitable model these sorts of facilities should run by to ensure they are viable for the long term, not some device that collapses due to factors beyond the residents control.

Leaders seek out top talent

May 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

Leaders are an interesting lot, often found wandering, “dazed”, plodding, planning, scheming and making sure everything is in it’s right place for the team to do what the team does best. So in the plodding and wandering the astute leader searches and hunts down exceptional people to be part of the team. They also work hard at developing the talent they already have.

Leaders find great ways to recruit or “poach” people to cause them to “come over” to their team.

The reason great leaders go for top talent is really simple, they want the best in their field to be part of what the leader has, and make it the best it can be. Over time the leader might have a few top people and then lose them to another leader, but then all they do is soul search, tweak a few skills and attitudes (their own) and move on to find even better people.

Training people to be better at what they do means being a good evaluator, negotiator, assessor, mentor, coach, trainer… the top leader then influences their teams skill uptake to ensure they are at the top of their game.

Remember Great leaders love people and therefore it’s simple that they would seek out the best, finding and keeping them becomes another thing entirely.

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The basics of the basics of business.

Mar 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | No Comments

Let’s get simple with the $$ and the practicalities of business.

$$ in, this comes from the sale of goods, services and the income from investments made on behalf of the business.

$$ out, these are the expenses your business has.

Profit (or loss) is the difference between the $$ out and the $$ in.

The aim of the business, from a financial perspective is to make a profit and therefore have more in than out. (There are exceptions but in the main this is the main idea.)

With the practicalities of business, either you fulfill a want or a need with the service or product you are offering, if there is no need or want for what you have then no one buys.

So knowing the above points, a few questions come to mind, the profit amount you need to make, and is the product and or service range on offer sustainable when I make that level of profit?

Big questions perhaps, but ones that you should keep quite simple. If you get these right then your business will provide you with the sort of lifestyle you believe you deserve. One way of doing this is to figure out the industry average for profit margins and apply that to your business and or to look at what you need to grow your business to keep up with the costs of living and development that takes place, this way you can adjust the profit to suit.

It might seem okay to provide the market with 1,000 items per week @ $5 each, and make a profit of $4 per unit but if the price of living etc goes high too fast then it can fade into insignificance. Therefore the astute business operator has to make sure they have their finger on the pulse to effectively know what’s going on so they can balance things effectively, otherwise they can soon end up working for very little.

That’s the basics, how you go about measuring them and implementing the ideas presented are another thing, but being able to do so will ensure you can keep ahead of the costs and see things grow effectively over time. Therefore if someone says they do not want to grow their business you know they don’t know about the basics and why it’s so important to do so. Perhaps one of your tasks is to remind them…

The money or the end product?

Mar 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Finance, Growth, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room | 2 Comments

When you start out in business or develop a new product there is an inevitable challenge to figure out if the emotion that motivates the initiative is the only thing making it happen or the $$ are a motivator as well.

I guess the ideal is both. People want the product, you make it, they pay the $$ and at the end of the process you benefit by getting $$ in and make more than the cost of the item, therefore you have a profit.

Here’s part of the challenge as I see it, people want to provide “stuff” and so they do so with the intent of it being a, something people want (it fills a gap or need in the market place) or A, something they need. Sometimes however they run into the idea that they can do it at a good price and not need to make much int eh way of $$ (the emotion takes precedent over the practicality of having $$ to run the business and make it prosper.

Lets work on the idea that both can be useful and in the case of a business with two or so partners this might become an issue early on, one wants to solve a problem the others want to make $$. Not a long wrong with that, and in fact if a partner in business does not want to make $$ then I question if they realy should be in business.

So it’s a conundrum that many businesses face how far do I go with both the emotional and practical side of the business and how do I measure this to make sure I don’t tip the scales one way or the other?

Until next time I want you to keep checking your business or business idea for both and see if there is a balance that is readily struck or not.

Lets say sorry and move on…

Feb 13

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

In an historic address to the nation today Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said “Sorry” to the stolen generation. He said sorry for the pain, sorry for the ongoing indignation, sorry for previous governments not apologising, for taking indigenous children from their families many years ago.

In essence he is saying we are sorry for the human rights abuse that took place in less enlightened times.

In analogy, is this any different from a business which, may treat its people poorly, that may provide only scant regard for safety, that may let its policies of profit grabbing rather than capacity building be the norm, that may let or indeed support bullying and harassment.

In these enlightened times, lets say sorry for these indiscretions, and actively seek out ways to make our workplaces, places where people can be engaged without hostility, or fear, for our safety, security, esteem and lifelong education.

Let’s find more ways to truly engage with the people we do business with, and those we employ. Together we can ensure the future of contemporary business is one where the “vanguard avant-garde”, is a beacon of hope and inspiration. In doing so we can only hope these champions of business embrace the ideals of sharing to allow others the opportunity to follow in their mighty footsteps.

Lets say sorry for past indiscretions, lets forgive those that perpetrated those acts, lets then take steps to embrace the future by taking positive action to fully engage all levels of business to ensure we can stay clear of the problems and utilise the precedent which has been set to full advantage.

So you are in business… Are you making any $$?

Feb 12

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

You have the business set up and things are running ok. You handle customers well, you pay the staff, you keep things ship shape in the bookkeeping area, all seems well, but are you making any money, real money, real income?

In the scheme of things those that have gone from an employee to a business operator will no doubt note there is a big difference between turning up and getting paid and turning up and wishing for more customers, the hassles to stop, and the seemingly endless challenges that creep up and take you by surprise.

Lets do a basic sum here, if you were on $700 a week income (take home) in a job, you had few hassles, in fact you got paid if you were sick, or on holidays… Now as a business owner you are the boss and you only get holidays if your business earns enough, if you trust the staff to run things while you are away etc… the list probably goes on AND ON!

In your business you need to be able to take into account a range of things to ensure viability, the cost of overheads, materials, marketing and so on, then have a margin on top of that to cover wages… then a profit (remember to pay yourself from the wages area!)

So the way forward is to project the cash-flow for your business and see if the amount you have to earn per day is do-able, and not outside your threshold for earning… As an example, if you are used to earning $700 per week, imagine how it might be if you have to turn over $700 in two days, just to make ends meet. For some that trips their mental threshold on money and they fail fast in the business stakes due simply to this psychological hurdle.

Once you establish the cash-flow for the business and how it fits with your money threshold, then ask are other businesses in this industry area able to do that with ease… or is it a struggle?

Answering the vital questions on cash-flow will either open a “Pandora’s box” of issues and hassles, or show the way to prosperity from being in business.

Here’s a tip, if you are currently employed and are thinking about going into business on your own, take a few days leave and check out what similar business types do… if it’s a retail store do some serious spying on them to see how many customers walk in the door, and at what time. Then check out their marketing, is it enough? Is there too much competition? Or is there scope for a new player in the game to take the lead and give it a good shot.

So if you go into business and take the inherent risks that go with that notion, consider the above points carefully, otherwise you may find you will work flat out and get nowhere fast, in fact it may cost you a great deal more than the initial investment.

Disinterestedness

Feb 8

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, Personal Development, Risk Management | No Comments

I know it’s a big word, but its an interesting one (anything that big has got to have some merit.)

The thing is it’s all about being (or becoming) dis-interested and for this forum dis-interested in business.

I know what it’s like being in small business, lots of challenges, lots of ways to run astray, simply because I am a small business operator.

The challenge for most of us is in trying to figure out ways to over come the “monkey on your back”, the “black dog” of depression so to speak. Sure there are those out there who are perennially positive, up there and happening, they get knocked down 5 times and get up 6… so they weather any storm and keep on going and that’s great, in fact often they started with nothing and inspire us as a successful business person that made it big from nothing… but for the rest of us the reailty could not be further from the truth.

For the “rest of us” there are those times when the smallest thing can throw us off, a few things then become a real issue and before we know it the whole spectre of business falls in a heap. We then have to struggle to contain the emotional roller coaster as we come to terms with a business that fails and looming large is so many negative options the biggest of which is probably the loss of the thousands of dollars we have invested.

Of course there are the things that people told you that will haunt you…. “It’s risky… it requires long hours… it will eat your money in no time…” and the list really does go on, becoming a veritable “I told you so…” or perhaps worse still the look that says “I told you so…”

I will finish this  article by saying it happens, we become disinterested in things business, and for some it will be a short term lapse of reason while for others it’s the beginning of the “spiral of doom.”

The big thing is being aware that it can and will happen, noting if it is short or longer term and perhaps most importantly what we can or want to do about it.

For ideas on what to do, consider reading books by successful people, finding a mentor that can lead you carefully through the challenging times, or a coach to guide you on what to do next. Either way it’s about getting support to ensure you do not run out of energy to keep things going.

Are you a point scorer?

Jan 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Finance, Personal Development, Risk Management | 2 Comments

I learn things from many sources (hey don’t we all?) but today I was listening to a business owner talking on an issue that reminded me of a useful story that fitted to the situation, here it is…

Pete had been investing in shares for many years, and had weathered many ‘storms’ and made and lost lots of $$ along the way. One thing he said that made the difference for him in building a successful share portfolio was using points instead of $$…

“What I realised was I was having an issue about money, if I lost some I would say oh $#*%! then when I made $$ I would say the same but with a positive inflection and think I had made a fortune… On average I maintained a healthy bank balance and it certainly grew well, on average… but the roller coaster highs and lows took their toll on me emotionally… until.. Until I decided to think of the $$ as points. Basically I would say ok, I made x No: of points or lost X No: of points… It meant I was not adding the pressure my mind had created about $$, Simple really and it made the world of difference, it was as if I was using monopoly money in a sense.”

Back to the initial chat I was having… it involved $$ he was stressing out about the amount of $$ he had to earn to break even on a daily basis… no work meant no $$, or low work meant low $$… when the $$ were above his set level he was okay, but the stress the low level caused him could probably become unhealthy quite fast. If your stress is negative you may not perform as well and make a mistake that could cost you dearly.

The real lesson here is changing things that cause our ‘thresholds’ of understanding (in this case $$) so that we can reframe them so they take the pressure off.

Note if you had to earn $1,000 per day to break even in our business and that caused you grief, then altering your mindset to 1,000 points a day might just be the way to reset how you handle your threshold thoughts on amounts to be earned.

In short re framing how we look at and experience things can make a huge difference to your results.

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 where the overheads are easily covered

Jan 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Finance, Franchisees, Franchising, 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.

Covering overheads easily…
Overheads are often the thing, which can break the camels back, so make it easy for the camel and take the pressure off. In this case keeping the turnover and cash flow up so the overheads are not a challenge EVER! (I know, easier said than done…)

  • Sell things which are wanted by your target ‘ideal customers’ this will mean you have things moving in and out again fairly quickly, and that’s good for business.
  • Set your pricing right, sure beat your competition if you want, but make enough to make a profit too, then you are sure the overheads are covered.
  • Know what your industry average is for turnover and profits, this way you can measure (benchmark) against the industry average and see how you fit in the scheme of things.
  • Ask your customers what they want more of, it might be as simple as “better service” then you will know “It’s not the products or after sales service it’s the SERVICE!”
  • Know exactly how much your overheads are and how many things need to be sold per day to cover them, then anything over this amount puts you ahead.
  • Know what is selling and what’s not, aim to make every square inch of your sales area sell well, (even if it’s an online page!) simply by providing more of what your customers want. perhaps just moving something to another spot in your ‘store’ will make a difference.

Getting an objective view of your business is vital to figuring out which areas to focus on to improve cash flow and keep your overheads under control, so ask lots of questions, observe thoroughly what’s going on.

Now put these things into action and watch the results alter in a positive direction.

How to create an easy saleable range

Jan 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to create a business that really fills a need

Jan 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to create a business people love

Jan 5

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 grow your business

Jan 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to make your business profitable.

Jan 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to create structural integrity in your business

Dec 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, 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.

Structural integrity
The systems and procedures for your business are vital to ensuring a solid foundation and the supporting structures up from there are suitable. The aim with developing structural integrity is to ensure that “when the wind blows” the house stays in tact, or when it rains and a tornado comes through after it that you have the ability to get the business back on track quickly.

Depending on the business will depend on how you plan to develop the structures to keep things in place. If it’s a retail store you might keep some stock off site, the same with databases and records in the event of sabotage (yes staff can do it to you if they are displeased…) or a natural disaster, you have a back up.

You can extend the idea right through the business to leadership, HR policies and so on, so that the organisations backbone is supported by healthy muscles, all finely worked and tuned to provide the right amount of support.

To begin working with ideas on structural integrity you would probably start with looking at the values and beliefs the business has and how the ‘culture’ supports that and vice versa, then you can identify strengths and weaknesses and start to see the spots to tackle.

How to create a sustainable and robust business

Dec 29

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, 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.

Sustainable and Robust
When you start up in business you probably do so wanting it to last, so you can get more than just the $$ it cost you to get started. So you need to think about what will make the business sustainable and strong so it can last. Ideally you will want to set up a profitable passive income device so that you can reap the rewards of being in business without having to be there.

Sustainable will probably mean your industry niche is one that means people will be require what you have for a long time to come, it may be a flexible area so that you can go with the flow and include new innovations with ease.

A robust business could be seen as one that has good investments in place that create passive income returns JUST for the business, so that it can be supported by its own wealth. This can be done by putting away a percentage of profits, so that in the event of a disaster happening you can weather the storm. (You still need insurance though!)

These are just some of the ways to create a strong business and over time I suggest you add these points to discussions you have on business planning, this way you can really know that they are being considered and acted on for the future.

Retain and engage staff, or else…

Dec 23

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management | No Comments

In the race to maintain and or grow their business many business operators find another hurdle that pops up far to easily, and that’s staff turnover. Some call it churn, but whatever you call it it costs the business $$.

Some businesses try to keep their wages above the award rates in the hope it will keep people in the business and not move on. Some use other tactics to retain the employees and even engage them further than the usual 9 – 5 arrangement.

In reality a lot has been written on this subject over many years and the fact that it is still a major issue is testament to the fact that not a lot has been done, or not a lot of understanding about the issue has filtered it’s way through.

Whatever the situation and the outcome, the effective engagement and retention of staff requires innovative approaches to ensure they are mentally stimulated enough to want to hang around and give positive input rather than just being driven by the $$.

Over time people can fade in their energy and interest levels, and this can have wide ranging effects on productivity, leadership, communication and probably a whole raft of other things in the business. So to ensure ongoing engagement, a variety of techniques should be employed, not just one.

Giving cash is one thing, but it’s often a short term fix, giving training is a good option, but should not be the only option as not all people want to be taken away from their work to attend leadership training for example. The astute business needs to find ways to adapt to the person and become more flexible in the delivery of retention devices.

Issues around working hours, family friendly work practices, and now health schemes are becoming more obvious as options for the team. Again innovative approaches need to be used to implement and develop these practices so the staff member can not grow or feel complacent, but rather feel more valued as the various options get rolled out.

Imagine a workplace where a range of options were put to staff, where they could elect some of the options to retain them, then there are more options they do not get to choose but are put in place as well (formal and informal training for example.) The upshot of all this is that an employee feels valued, to the point where they don’t want to go elsewhere, they want to simply contribute at 110%.

In an age where quality workers are lured by better players in the market any employer needs to consider the best ways to get and keep the best players, otherwise their business could find itself on the scrap heap faster than it might care to know about.

The miserly boss, or Scrooge revisited…

Dec 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Risk Management | No Comments

Many of you will have seen forums where the nasty boss is mentioned and various people have jumped in with numerous stories of how they have had to put up with a lousy boss. The stories are amusing enough, the problem is they are all too common.

In this day and age the idea that a miserly boss exists seems a huge anomaly to me and thankfully I have not had too many over my career.

Examples will cover low wages, poor conditions, poor recognition of work done, seemingly not knowing that a Christmas party boosts morale and not only celebrates Christmas.

The challenge is that this issue can quickly become a hassle and if the business does not come to terms with it, in a buoyant market place the staff turnover will be one form of evidence things are not running effectively. Follow it up with the chance that pilfering and fraud can happen too, and the outcomes can be very costly!

Ok Mr (or Mrs) Miser, it’s time to wise up. There is an old saying that you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. Therefore to be in a position where staff turnover and the other hassles are minimised you need to take positive action now.

  • I appreciate that you may have been bought up to have frugal ways and you are tight with money. Hand the function of staff happiness to another person and set a generous budget.
  • Assign others with the task of finding out what is making your staff happy, or not (try a paper survey), then look at what research has been done on this issue (lots!) and take action to rectify it now!
  • Appreciate there are times when these things can snowball out of control, your aim is to stop it snowballing, when yo do a direct measure of it will be people smiling followed by lower absenteeism, these are probably the key indicators you have done things right, so don’t stop, keep going.
  • Your profits are one thing but the idea of chasing $$ profits only is really just a part of the equation, happy staff are happy staff.

Enough of the ideas, you can get more by some simple Googling on staff incentive options and create a workplace that staff willingly come to work, make it productive, put in ideas and in all make the profits go wild BUT it requires $$ to be spent (often not much) to make a happy bunch of people.

Creating a business where you are the employer of choice may not be easy, but the results will be well worth it.

The business of red-hot core values

Dec 9

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dec 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dec 8

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

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

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

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

The 10-20-30 power point business presentation

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

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

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

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

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

Running on autopilot

Dec 7

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

This is the seventh 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.

Automatic functioning (the skills are already known)

After a while of doing a task you can become competent at it, then at the next level become proficient, at this level, things can seem automatic. Do that with the basics of what you do in business and a solid foundation can be built for your enterprise. Teach others to do the same and the base structure can become much stronger again.

  • Recognise the things that are BASIC skills for your business and then train (often its informal) you and your team to do them well, (effective beats efficiency hands down.) Then find a person in your team that picked it up fast and see if they have the skill to put the process in writing so anyone can learn it.
  • Chunk the skills into groups so as you and your team learn higher level skills, the previous skills have become proficient and form a solid foundation.
  • Review the skills you and your team have at all levels and work to understand areas to be developed further. (Leadership and communication skills are often good examples.)
  • Work to make your business a lifelong learning exercise so your organisation can be highly flexible in what they do.

Getting an organisation to run on automatic may seem like an easy thing to do, and that’s often the challenge to be able to figure out what skills are simply hidden due to them being automatic and therefore hidden.

Get uncomfortable and see the results…

Dec 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have you decided what to do yet?

Dec 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

The journey begins and ends with you and your goals…

Dec 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conviction, have you got the all important edge?

Dec 3

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

This is the third 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.

Conviction (You are sure it’s a great product and or service, otherwise you would not be doing it… RIGHT?)

This is an important area of new business and project start ups. It’s the strength of conviction you have that will probably appeal to people when you are selling your concept/s. the question is what is it and how will you develop it?

If you are starting out the product and or service should be convincing, to you and your target market, if they don’t want it and you are not sure about it, then how will you have the internal fortitude to make it work? I guess the obvious thing is checking out what you have from all angles to ensure it has a fit in the right product and or service niche and also in the buying niche of the intended audience.

So how to build in it?

  • Test the idea with people who might understand, family and close friends may not… so go for independent advice (accountant, other entrepreneurs and so on) see if it does have a place in this world. Sure there may be confidentiality issues, but just remember if an idea is any good you will probably have to RAM IT DOWN PEOPLE’S Throats to get them to be interested. (at least in the initial phase). Also telling family and friends about it can set you up for failure if they think you have a “hair brained idea” and want to put it down to help you “save face.”
  • You have done the research so you might need to know find ways to present the concept. A business plan is one way to do it, but before you get in too deep, consider the basics. then jot them down in point form. What it is, how it will be done, what it might cost, who will do it, how much time will it take, where will this happen, why it fits to the niche you have sought out, how it is different from other concepts and so on… This will assist you to assess the idea first.
  • Look at others who have done this type of thing before, how did they get started? were they confident from day one, or… If they were not confident, how did they build that confidence? If need be try different short courses that may assist you to stand tall and tell the world about what you have, This might be public speaking and or personal development courses of some kind. Whatever you do make sure you are sure about the conviction you have to make things work well.

I am sure there are more points that this start up list puts forward, but really give it some thought so you can formulate things clearly in your head and then articulate them on paper.

Building stamina and resilience

Dec 3

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

This is the second 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.

Resilience – stamina (The ability to keep on keeping on and to bounce back)

I have put these two together as I felt there was a natural attraction to both, they cross more borders for me than they stand alone.

Have you ever noticed that some people give something a go once and give up trying… or they say “it’s not for me” often without really giving it a go so they can develop the basic skills to a reasonable level to fully assess if they “have it or not”. have you also noticed some people can go “hard” at the start and then fade out too quickly. If that’s the case then the following points may assist you to understand the issues a bit more and possibly even be able to assist you in overcoming the issues in yourself.

  • Do some soul searching, if you have given up on things easily in the past, is starting a business really right for you? And is the ability to start out strongly and then fade fast an issue? It’s better to face this now than later when the stakes might be much higher.
  • Can you build your resilience? Falling down and getting up again is one thing, but doing it repeatedly might take it out of you. What qualities do resilient people have? and are they the sort of qualities you can learn… and how long can that take if it is possible for you?
  • Having the energy to run a race is one thing, but if you trip during the race that often saps some energy you might need for later. If a sports person can build their staying power by more exercise in a carefully worked out training plan, can you do the same? and how will the plan differ for your business prowess as opposed to a sporting scenario…
  • Check out the biography of business people, and look for examples of how they built their ability in these areas, then ask are these things you can implement? If not keep searching and asking for answers that “fit right” for you.
  • Know your limitations, then push them a little each time to build your capacity to go a little further next time.
  • Having support from others can help to build your resilience and stamina, its that cheer on as the chips are down, or a welcome “You do this really well” when you may be in doubt. this can come from, family, friends and associates and can make a big difference to the way you ‘handle things’ being aware of this, ask yourself, can I foster this so I can get more support? The short answer, yes…

Enjoy building your stamina and resilience, hopefully the “workouts” to get you there will be well worth it.

Preparation makes all the difference.

Dec 2

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business | 1 Comment

This is the first 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.

Preparation (No plans no direction)

The topic of preparation takes into account research as well as plans, so lets look at these.

Many people in business make the error of not doing full research or think they know better than any research often going off a hunch they have a great idea that will bring them great profits. Fact is many people are throwing away thousands of $$ by not getting the research in the start up phase right.

Some research basics

  • Find out all you can about your competition, chart it on paper and figure out what sets them apart from the rest in your line of business.
  • Find out what the basic profit margin is for your business then figure out how much you have to sell to be able to make that kind of turnover, then break that down into a daily figure to see how much you have to earn.
  • Know what it will cost to run the business (find info on cash flow and make a LONG list of every aspect of your business and its expenses.)
  • Know if it’s legal, do you need special licences or registration to run the business, find out now, NOT LATER!
  • Chat to an accountant or solicitor about the right structure for your business, there are a few options here, pursue them and know the difference.
  • Get smart around business terminology, create a glossary of terms (Google that, there are bound to already be a few.)
  • Know your target market – focusing specifically on a group of people or types of businesses you want to target then find out how these people buy
  • In business (especially in the start up phase) you will be selling, ideas, then products and or services so do some research on the right sorts of sales methods and then practice them to build your skills in this area.
  • How much money is required to set the business up.
  • How long it takes before the business will make money (They rarely make money from day one…)
  • How will you pay your way in the start up phase? (a wage or similar…)

Planning

  • A business plan is vital so you have a guide to follow, it can be The Mini Business Plan or a fully blown complex one but have one ON PAPER, they are no good in your head.
  • The plan will at LEAST set out the goals you have for the amount of sales, the way the business will run (management) and the marketing.
  • Because planning needs to have goals set, find easy ways to make goals work (the SMART system works well.)
  • Make the plan usable, and make it the FIRST thing you turn to when you need to have an answer.
  • Use a calender a 12 month one even if it’s a photo copy of a 12 month diary page, it’s better than nothing. Then write in all the things that will happen from start up day.
  • Check out a bookkeeper to handle the accounts do you can focus on your business and running it right. Learn the bookkeeping terms and how they effect you. If you plan to do your own books, make sure with your accountant this is the best way to do things. Some will not accept your input of the info and prefer a bookkeeper (a professional) do it for you. (accuracy counts.)

There is a starting point for for your business preparation. I hope it makes things easier for your business planning phase.

How vital is your business success?

Nov 26

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Therefore…

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

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

Who’s supporting you?

Nov 25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Retail, retail, retail… When will people learn…

Nov 16

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

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

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

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

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

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

My thinking cap went on…

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

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

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

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

My Article Could Have Prevented A $53 Million Dollar Lawsuit

Nov 16

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warm Regards,
Michael Crooks

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.

Excellence is a state of mind…

Nov 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Personal Development, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

I don’t mind stating I feel less than excellent. I have some quotes to do, some work to do, some people to chase, some calls to make, bills to pay, $$ to chase and frankly I don’t care if it all gets washed away in a great flood (or any other disaster for that matter.)

We all have our down days, but at the moment I am swamped by all sorts of minor details and they are driving me nuts. My answer, do things one step at a time and let the rest hang for a while.

Okay I am feeling “fluey” sore throat, headache, sore joints and all the rest but that’s not the only thing on my mind (list too numerous to mention here or waste your time with…)

Lets face it it can be too easy to say “I provide excellent customer service”, or “satisfaction is our business” or any one of a thousand other customer service clichés. But if you are feeling lousy the truth is they can all go to Hades…

So after a “Nana” nap late yesterday afternoon and a restless nights sleep, some light work this morning I feel like I am slowly getting back some mind space so I can head back towards excellence.

Your brain can shout excellence all it likes but if the body is unable or not willing then that changes things all together.

Activity and decisions, there effects on your business

Oct 29

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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