Well here’s a list to get you started on thinking about it, feel free to add any points via the comments.

1. It provides value - The product or service is needed or highly wanted.

2. You can charge readily - For whatever you are offering you know the price is good and you feel quite okay about how much you charge.

3. You make a profit - And that profit makes sure you can develop the business further and create a “device” that provides readily well into the future.

4. It has low overheads (costs) - You don’t want to wake up in a cold sweat wondering about when the next customer will buy… you want to wake up refreshed and happy in knowing the business is ticking along merrily.

5. Service - Value - Price - All of these are to a high standard, because you set it up that way! and you make sure it stays that way… Great service, Great value, Great price.

6. You know who to target to - Your customers are vital to your business and you can specifically pinpoint their characteristics and know how to get to them with your marketing.

7. You know how to target them - The customers are marketed to with ease and they respond readily.

8. Your plan works! - You have a plan that is written down and you pay attention to it, you follow it, you alter it to suit and you make sure things happen on time.

9. You have the funds to make sure it gets a great start - And that it can carry on past the “honeymoon period” If you want to last (and who doesn’t?) you will fund it properly right from the start.

10. You look after the M.O.M. P.E.C’s - this is the Marketing, Operations, Management, People, Operations and Culture of the business, If you don’t who will?

11. Research is constant - You check your competition and are easily a few steps ahead of them, you know why and how that is the case. Before you started you did some research into the viability of the idea you had.

There, that’s the list thus far, if you business has all of those then pat yourself on the back and keep on going! Remember becoming an overnight success can take some time to accomplish!

Firstly the difference as I see it.

DRIVE - Push, bully, manipulate, rush, yell at, demean…

MOTIVATE - Influence, encourage, coach, mentor, support, work with them, respect them…

This goes for internal and external customers, (the staff and the paying customers) if you want the paying customers to stay and buy more of what you have, treat them right, and if you want to keep staff turnover to a minimum, the same TREAT THEM RIGHT!

Simply put figure out what you do, and what other people in your organisation do and see if it is MOTIVATING, because if it’s driving them, it will be driving them away.

Go on, take a REAL look at what’s happening, and if changes need to happen, make them and make them NOW!

There is an old saying that I think came out of the dot com crash… “Want to make a cool million in IT? Start with 2 million and wait 12 months…”

But seriously if you want your business to have its best chance of being seen, being heard, or just plain known…  then learn more about marketing so your business idea can reach more people than just  your family and friends.

Do you…

- Wonder why?
- Start to do all the little things that you mean to do when you are busy?
- Start marketing?
- Sack some staff!?
- Sit and wait…
- Check how things were this time last year?
- Ask what’s happening?
- PANIC!
- Change things?
- Go back to the business plan?

Or a combo of the above…

Whatever you do when things go quiet make sure you do SOMETHING other than panic, as that usually leads nowhere fast.

It takes a lot of things to be good in business and one of them is attitude, if the 9am start begins to fade, then what else might be fading too

I thinks its an opportunity lost and think they need to consider what else they can do in that time. The books, ordering, secretarial outsourced work (an hour or two a day of that sort of thing could be useful.)

It comes down to money, if you are not making any (or enough) to pay the way then you are not doing well in business and so a tough decision needs to happen, but I guess first off is recognising the challenge you face and then being able to take action on it.

So if you walked into your business late this morning take inventory… of yourself and where your business is headed.

P.S. I thanked a business the other night for being open past 5:30 (they stay open until 7pm) as I didn’t have to rush to get there. so refreshing when a store has figured out that customers matter!

Lets look firstly at one possible factor, it is said that about 10% of society is motivated to achieve, and of that about 3 % are probably the ones with enough active risk taking motivation or drive to actually get started and see the business through to fruition.

So if you take 100 people and only 3% have the drive or motivation to be able to pull it off, then what happens next?

Out of that possible 3% there may be those that blindly go forth and try being in business and will flog it like a dead horse to try and get a result, even when all the money is gone or vanishing fast.

I guess it’s a time when the emotion of going into business takes over from the logic of it, and before long if there is no “balancer” the person starting the business can run off the rails with ease. Indeed the balancer may well be a person that “holds the purse strings”, figures out the budgets and projects forward when money can be spent.

The “business achiever” on the other hand will still come up with ideas and use their energy and enthusiasm to forge forward, but now within some reasonable constraints.

I figure without the emotional side being constrained by the logical side, all hell can break loose.

So here’s to better business, know your limitations, and balance things out, your long term success might well count on it!

Firstly people start off as suspects, they move to prospect next, then when they buy they become a customer.

So lets figure out the ’suspect to prospect’ part and see if we can find ways to get them engaged enough to want to buy what you have.

Here are the three points.

1. You are not offering them what they want right now - In a shop, they might walk in to kill some time, or they might want something but they can’t see it right now…

2. Not offering them enough information for them to “sell themselves” on what you have to offer -You can have the best product or service in the world, but if the info is not there to support it how can they ‘process the information.’

3. They don’t want to talk to you, maybe they want to check things out a bit first - This can be a case of “I want to look first and see if it’s okay by my ’standards’.”

That’s the three points, so lets pull it apart a little.

Okay so we are talking about the psychology of sales, or more correctly, pre sales. So what’s going through the persons head? Probably at a sub conscious level they have a need or want to be met and are “cruising” to find a solution. If they have no need or want, they may be open to an idea, if it fits with their values and beliefs.

So they may be on a search for an answer or could be open to an idea. If they are searching in a retail context for something they “want” they might be readily put off by a sales person that says “Can I help you”, the suspect does not make it to prospect. If on the other hand they have a strong need for something they might respond more positively to the “call for help”…

Lets go for the person that has no idea of what they want, a blank canvas… a person comes along and offers them a “Business opportunity” they may turn straight off. Why? well the idea does not appeal to their values and beliefs, the things they find important at a core level.

If however the sales person was to set things up so they were in alignment with the persons values and beliefs, they will probably have a much better chance of success.

An example… You have a business proposition, the economy is down and you have a sure fire way to assist them to get through it.  1. figure out what they want, $$, financial freedom, peace of mind they can get ahead, that sort of thing. 2. Give them info that shows the benefits of fitting to those needs. 3. Give them the chance to check it out a bit first, no hassle, no bother…

The challenge is to do it in ways that do not put them ‘offside’ in the process.

Thanks to Tom and the team at Skill Soft.

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.

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”.

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.

Grab a sheet of paper, then quickly write down the company goal, or mantra (if you have one) and then look at it. Now ask yourself, “Am I achieving the goal, is my team achieving it too?” or “Do the team even know what the goal is?”

Okay so the goal is sorted, and before you “beat yourself up” for not working towards the goal as well as you would like, then I suggest you jot down things you can put in place today, right now… to help to make the goal a reality.

Perhaps you can take each area of the business and focus on that.

- Marketing - Is this focussed towards the goal?

- Operations - How are things being done that help to achieve the goal?

- Management - Of all the things under this heading, what things are focusing me towards the goal?

Now you have your week off to a flying start. make all your plans, to do lists etc work from that.

Have a great week, make it a great week, but make it fit to the plan!

The following ‘test’ is simply based on ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. See how well you go:

1. Do you write a Position Description before you employ each new person into your company?
2. Are you clear on what you are going to offer and the benefits for the employee?
3. Do you consider your offer from the interviewee’s perspective?
4. Do you know what questions to ask in the interview to uncover certain capabilities and attitudes?
5. Do you take time to build rapport and employ people you like?
6. Do you have a process to assess all the candidates from a consistent perspective? Are you always decisive when it comes to choosing the right person to employ?
7. Do you have a way to keep all your people accountable?
8. Are you completely clear on your own role and accountabilities?
9. Do you have a system that enables you to spend less hands-on time recruiting and managing your people?

Rating:
Count the number of ‘yes’ answers you have and refer to the ratings below:

8 or more You are a legend!! Well done. Way above the norm on this particular test. . .

By the way, Question 5 is a trick question!

5-8 Not bad. You’re doing a reasonable job in a difficult management area. If you were to use the People Management Blueprint, you’d make life a lot easier!

<5 Get help!! By not having a system in place you’re making things way too difficult for yourself. Get the 12-Step People Management Blueprint!! (But hurry! The price will increase significantly after May 30th, 2008, and if you purchase before then you’ll make a big saving!)

Follow these 4 steps to start creating and defining roles within your business, and writing the necessary Position Description:

1. Ask yourself these questions first:

• What functions are being done poorly or not done at all?
• Where do I/other team members need help?
• Where do we need resources the most?
• Where do we have resource gaps?
• Where do we have bottlenecks?
• Do we have any internal people who could do the job/perform this function?
• What exactly do we need done?
• What is the purpose of the role?
• How does it fit in the organization overall?
• Who would the role report to?

2. Decide on your budget, and the timing
This is critical. When developing growth strategies and their required structure with my clients, the addition of more ‘heads’ is always accompanied by the related financial and sales planning.

You can ‘play with’ costs (eg: if we reduce general expenses by 5% we can employ a junior admin assistant), or you can ‘play with’ revenue (eg: if we can increase our sales by 5% a month within 3 months, we can employ a really experienced admin support person).

3. Decide on the level of experience you want/need

• Match the role to the budget (pay less, get less)
• Recruit experience (pay more, get more)
• Trade-off against time required to coach vs higher cost, but self-starter

4. Write the Position Description
This should be easy now you know:

• the purpose of the role
• who the role would report to
• what functions form part/all of that particular role
• the experience level required

Defining the role is just one step in our latest 12-Step People Management System, a new product which I’ll be telling you more about in our next e-news. It will give you all the detail you need for each of the 12 steps, including templates, examples and checklists.

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.