Posted by Editor on November 30, 2010 under Business Mentor | 
All too often the cry is heard “you can’t get good people,” or “why can’t I get my people to do as I tell them?”
Well here’s a few ideas that may make life a lot easier …
Consider for a moment the business owner who has 10 people working in the business, yet the owner is the person doing all the work.
What’s the point!?
Firstly, let’s get back to basics.
Most people in business will understand how important systems are.
Systems are usually responsible for having a business that runs smoothly (and profitably).
With systems in place, it’s simply a matter of employing people to run those systems.
Michael Gerber’s fantastic book, “The E-Myth,” really highlights how important systems are for businesses to be successful.
A real life example of course is McDonald’s.
With a food product that at best could only be described as average, it is simply a matter of systems that keep it a hugely successful entity.
The point is, get the systems built in your business.
If you feel like you’re banging your head up against a brick wall, take a look at the systems in your business.
Look at the most basic things from answering the phone all the way through to how you produce your product.
If your systems aren’t clearly defined and easy to understand, how can anyone understand what you want.
Preferably, write them down and turn them into checklists. This is the basic foundation of business and in turn getting your people to work as a team … which means something that equals more than the sum of its parts.
So, the systems have been built and are clearly defined, and now it’s a matter of recruiting the right people to run those systems.
The DISC working personality profile can really help in selecting the right people for the job.
With this knowledge, you can then recruit the right people for the job. However, the real challenge lies ahead. It’s not just a matter of having people who come in, follow the system and get the job done.
What you are looking for now is SYNERGY!
Synergy comes from having people who are committed to a “common goal.”
If people are involved in setting the “common goal,” they are generally more likely to commit.
If you as the business owner are dictating to your team “this is the goal,” don’t expect much commitment.
If your team has ownership, they are much more likely to achieve.
Ownership is also very useful when designing and building your systems, let alone setting goals.
Keep asking the team this question…
“I’m looking for [certain outcome], how do you think we should go about achieving that?”
The successful business owner has team members that say, “I think we should do like this.”
An unsuccessful business owner has team members that say, “I don’t know, you’re the boss.”
Finally, be aware of what you are teaching your team.
By this we mean … if a baby cries and the mother comes running, what will the baby lean to do after a while?
Exactly, let out a cry and in rushes Mum!
All we ask is that you to be very aware of what you are teaching your team.
If you’re saying to yourself “no-one can do it like me,” and you jump in and do it, your team is learning from that.
For further discussion on the above strategy or coaching services, call your local ActionCOACH today.
Posted by Editor on November 29, 2010 under Business Mentor |
It’s called testing and measuring.
Most people hate it.
That’s because it means “there is a chance, however remote, that every marketing strategy you try will not work the first time.”
In other words, it’s possible you’ll spend money without seeing any returns.
But consider this – you’ve probably been testing and measuring all your business life.
Remember the newspaper advertising you tried that “didn’t work,” and the radio spots that “did OK.”
That’s all testing is… Testing what works and what doesn’t…
The next step is to do it properly; here’s the five steps to successfully working out what ‘works’ and what doesn’t…
1. Start asking people where they heard about you. Start right NOW, immediately. If there’s one thing I stress to business owners when consulting with them, it’s this – if you don’t know what’s working and what’s not, you can’t possibly make informed decisions and you’ll never know which ads to run. You may keep running an ad that never brings a sale, and accidentally kill a good one.
Customers usually come from so many sources, it’s impossible to judge how an ad is working on sales alone. You need to find out for sure. Create a tally sheet, including the ways someone could hear about you – newspaper ads, direct mail, fliers, phone directory, referrals, walk-by traffic, etc.
Every time someone buys, ask them this question – “By the way, can I just ask where you heard about my business?”
Make a mark on your tally sheet in the relevant column. Keep track, and ensure every member of your team does the same. At the end of 14 or 28 days, tally up and get the figures.
Now you can start making decisions …
2. Prune, modify and increase. The first thing to do is see what’s not working. If your ad is getting a very low response (which means the profit margin from the sales is not at least paying for the ad), kill it straight away.
Now you only have one option – improve your ad to ensure you get a great response.
There’s a few things you can do to make the task simpler.
1) Go back over your past ads and think about how well each one worked. Pull out the best couple and see if you can pick what gave them their edge.
2) Next, read a couple of books, or at least flick through them.
3) Last, look at what your competitors are doing. Do they have an ad that they run every week? What can you learn from it?
Go through this process with each marketing piece you are currently using… Kill, examine, modify… Kill, examine, modify…
Remember – the true test of a marketing strategy is whether it pays for itself. If you run an ad that costs you £600 and it makes you £1,300 in profit, then it’s a good ad.
Also run through each of the strategies you know are working in depth, examining why these are producing results and the others aren’t. See if you can pick the one important attractive point about each.
This in itself will teach you a massive amount about your business.
Next, think of a way to use each strategy that is working on a larger scale.
If it’s fliers, the answer is simple – drop twice as many fliers. That should bring twice the sales. If it’s an ad, run it in more papers, or increase its size. If it’s in a phone directory, book a bigger space next time.
But whatever you do, don’t meddle – just do the same thing on a larger scale.
3. Test and measure for another two weeks. Measure the enquiries with the new revised strategies. Also compare this with how much you’re spending on marketing.
You’ll probably find you barely miss those dud strategies and the ‘larger scale’ working strategies are paying out nicely indeed.
If it’s not, return to the original size.
4. Check your conversion. Conversion is the number of enquiries that become sales… So many times when analyzing a business, I discover that poor marketing is not the problem – it’s inadequate sales techniques.
There are stacks of businesses that have ample leads, but no skill to make them sales.
Be honest with yourself – how many leads do you convert into sales? Is it possible to increase this ratio, even just a little?
In almost every case, it is.
You just have to give the customer a reason to buy from your business.
Price is not the only reason a customer spends with your business.
What if the salesperson at the more expensive shop actually took an interest in your needs?
And what if they were that little bit friendlier?
And what if they were willing to back their product with a guarantee?
And what if they offered free delivery?
All of these “what ifs” add up, and can tip the sale your way.
5. Consolidate. Leave it for a month or so, just working on converting the supply of leads you have. A better conversion technique, plus more leads from bigger scale successful marketing strategies should give your business a boost.
6. Branch out. Remember all those marketing strategies you examined and modified? Now is the time to pull them out of the drawer, and give them a run.
Do one at a time, and track the result meticulously. Note down exactly how many leads it brings you, and how many of those turn into sales. Compare that with the marketing cost, and judge whether it has been a good strategy.
If so, add it to your list of ongoing strategies. If not, try it again – testing a different headline, medium, offer, look etc…
If it doesn’t work again, give it another try…
Very soon, you’ll develop a collection of marketing strategies that work, and weed out all the costly ones. Now that’s a business success formula!
For further discussion on the above strategy or coaching services, you may contact an ActionCOACH in your area today.
Posted by stevezog on under Business advice |
Success in business is something that all people who own their own business want, and yet for most business owners it’s something they may not have clearly defined for themselves. During business coaching sessions, when asking business owners what they want from their business, they usually say more freedom, but rarely do they end up with that freedom, as they get lost along the way and bogged down with the challenges of running their business. This article shows how business coaching will help you understand a process and simplify creating freedom in a business, by explaining the crucial steps every business owner must learn to get the freedom and lifestyle they’ve always wanted.
Business is a commercial, profitable enterprise that works without the business owner having to be there. How does your business measure up? Here are four steps a business coach would tell you:
Step 1. Building The Foundations For Growth. Growth foundations are built on knowledge, and with that knowledge, very accurate decisions can be made that will turn into leverageable outcomes for success. So the first step is to measure everything that happens in your business. The turnover per day, the profit per day and every single sale, in fact measure anything that you do not know for absolute certain.
Every single expense must be paid from every sale, so it’s important to know that from each sale a profit is being made. Then work out if there is a profit for a day’s worth of trading. If the profit margin isn’t high enough then the prices will need to be adjusted.
The number of leads per day, week and month needs to be recorded along with the conversion rate of enquiries to lead and from each form of lead generation. Next, the average sale value of each form of lead generation needs to be measured and total sales: daily, weekly and monthly. Just doing this can show where extra opportunities lie to grow the business further.
By testing and measuring your marketing campaigns, you will easily see if they are making a profit on their cost or not. And if not, you will know for certain that you should change your marketing efforts. These numbers will indicate how much you need to spend to get a customer, determine if you make a profit from your marketing campaigns and much, much more.
Step 2. Turn Your Staff Into A Team. The difference between staff and team is that staff do what you tell them to and you have to oversee everything they do, but team members take responsibility for their role and they know how to solve their own problems and are held accountable for their actions.
Once you have a “team” your productivity will increase. This leads to greater profit and more time for the business owner to focus on growing the business.
Step 3. Introducing Systems. Systems are a documented, reproducible way of undertaking a task and they are required for everything, from opening the door each morning to answering the phone on the 3rd ring. Systems are a key to leveraging your team’s time. To begin implementing systems answer these questions: Who does what, why and when? You must decide, which single person is responsible for a task then if that person is not there who is next responsible? Shared responsibilities can mean no responsibility as tasks are forgotten.
Step 4. Sales and Marketing. Effective sales and marketing is the only way to grow a business, yet so few people focus on it. Every successful company knows a business needs to focus half it’s time on distribution and half it’s time on marketing. For most business owners, it’s about 5% of their time on marketing and 95% on distribution. Reading books and attending seminars will reveal dozens of ideas to grow every type of business. Strategies virtually every business can implement include: strategic alliances, pro-active referral systems, scripts, guarantees and defining your uniqueness.
So by implementing the steps above, you’ll have more success than you ever imagined possible. But be aware, often a business owner’s first instinct is to hire a consultant to do the work for them. This will only end in tragedy, a traditional business consultant will very seldom explain to you what they are doing, or teach you how to do it yourself. Instead look for a professional coach to help you, guide you and allow you to make the changes that are right for your business – not someone else’s. So what are you waiting for, get out there and make the change, because you can build yourself a business that works without you or you can build yourself a job.
Want to learn more about business success or business coaching? Click here to find out more and how you can find a business coach in your area.
Posted by Editor on November 26, 2010 under Business Mentor |
Most sales trainers agree there are a certain number of steps that need to be taken towards making a sale; typically the steps are something like this:
1. Greet the customer, (or acknowledge, qualify & open the sale, etc.)
2. Probe to discover needs & wants, (or ask questions, sales interview, etc.)
3. Recommend product, (or demonstrate, make alternative suggestion, etc.)
4. Trial close, (or first attempt to open relationship, etc.)
5. Handle objection, (or overcome objection, re-state needs & wants, etc.)
6. Ask for the order, (or close sale, open the relationship, etc.)
7. Farewell and follow through
In these seven steps a variety of nuances are included which allow for deviation so that the sale can be achieved/won at any point.
Too frequently the sales person and prospect are “Fencing” for the advantage and see the sale process as adversarial.
Often an inexperienced sales person is so relieved at getting to “Yes” that the thought of making sure that the customer has everything they need to gain full pleasure, enjoyment, benefit and satisfaction from the purchase by asking them to spend more is simply not an option.
What a dreadful shame to all concerned!
How many times have you been left with a purchase that was exactly what you “thought” you wanted, but left you feeling less than satisfied with your new acquisition?
Let’s play with some examples:
• A camera with a standard lens but no telephoto lens to capture wildlife in Africa
• A tennis racquet with no case to carry it in
• A tin of paint with no brush to apply it with
• A new outfit without matching accessories
• A new car with no paint/rust protection
• A holiday with no insurance
• A McDonald’s burger with no fries!
According to a recent credit card survey, the average number of items on a retail sale invoice INCLUDING grocery sales was 3.3.
Think about that …
If the average grocery sale is, say 30-40 items, then there’s a heck of a lot cameras out there without film or toys without batteries.
So … how do we go about improving our sales satisfaction process?
Well, the first step is having the understanding it’s OK to want to help your customer get the most benefit from what they buy from you.
Let’s look at the camera scenario we described before.
The customer walked into a camera shop and said, “I want to buy a good camera.”
The sales person would have asked several qualifying questions and got answers like:
• Good quality
• Easy to use
• Automatic focus
• Like it to be able to grow as my ability improves
• Must have a zoom lens
With today’s technology, nearly all cameras have a zoom lens as standard.
If the sales person had probed a little deeper we might have discovered the real and immediate need was for a camera with a much longer than average zoom lens.
After all, what the customer needed was a lens that would allow him/her to take great pictures of dangerous creatures from a safe distance where they didn’t become a lion’s lunch.
And by the way, what other opportunities would that scenario present for a sturdy, waterproof carry bag, extra film, assorted accessories etc. … (but that’s another story, about turning customers into raving fans!).
For further discussion on the above strategy or coaching services, call an ActionCOACH in your area today.
Posted by stevezog on under Uncategorized |
Why are so many business owners taking on a business coach these days? They know that working with a business coach can lead them down the path to a better life, not just a better business.
Do you want a better life? Of course you do, who doesn’t? Nobody lives a perfect life, despite what they may want you to believe. As we say at ActionCOACH, there is always room for improvement, which is why so many people are choosing to work with a business coach these days.
Where does your life need improvement? Is it in your business itself or your personal life? One of the greatest things about working with a business coach is that, while the focus may be on your business, the benefits spill over into all aspects of life.
Think about it. One of the main reasons so many business owners choose to work with a business coach is because they don’t have the balance they want in life. They find themselves running all over the place just to get the day’s tasks accomplished without taking the time to enjoy the rewards of their hard work.
Does that sound like you? Is your business an albatross around your neck? Then you need a business coach.
What’s the point of building a successful business if you can’t enjoy the fruits of your labour? Nobody wants to run into an early grave, but too many business owners find themselves concerned with work and only work every day. But not the owners who have a business coach.
If you don’t have a business coach, ask yourself, do you have time to see your kids’ games or school activities? Can you afford to leave your business for a month and know your team will have it running as expected when you return? Can you afford to leave for a week? How about a day?
Again, if any answer is no, you need a business coach.
Aside from restoring balance so you can enjoy life, the benefits you’ll gain from working with a business coach are immeasurable. Imagine your profits growing and having more time to live your life. You can’t get there without a business coach.
When you’ve realised you’ve had enough of running the race just to stay in place, call ActionCOACH. A business coach that works in the ActionCOACH system is trained and prepared to make your business grow and give you back the life you always thought you’d have. What are you waiting for? Get a business coach today.
Posted by Editor on November 25, 2010 under Business Mentor |
Business Coaches with ActionCOACH use the term “testing and measuring” frequently.
This practice forms an essential part of our ongoing mentoring programs with clients.
What are we talking about anyway?
It’s quite simple … read on.
Why is testing important?
We don’t realize it but we test everything in our daily lives. You always take a new car for a test drive before you sign on the dotted line. When you go shopping at the supermarket, clerks are standing in the aisles with samples for you to test before you buy. Waking up in the morning and checking the weather before selecting your clothing for the day is also a form of testing.
See? We do it all the time … we just don’t think about it.
Yet businesses persist in embarking on expensive marketing campaigns with little or no idea of the outcome. These same businesses will spend thousands of dollars on an ad campaign and hope they get a response.
ActionCOACH firmly believes in testing a new ad campaign before the majority of the budget is committed. It may be a whale of an idea … but, face it … no one knows with certainty, the outcome of a daring new campaign.
We at ActionCOACH suggest that our clients commit 10 – 15 per cent of the new campaign budget and test for the outcomes.
This then leads to the balance of the phrase… testing and measuring.
There is little point in going to the trouble of conducting a test in the first place unless one follows through with some type of analysis of the results.
Imagine taking that new car out for a test drive and not paying any heed whatsoever to the quality of the ride, the noise levels and the engine performance.
Not reasonable … is it?
You would instantly compare this new car to your old one or other new cars you were considering… wouldn’t you?
You would have your own form of measurement to compare the car with others. Your taste is a form of measurement when you try those samples in the supermarket.
If you lost your ability to taste … why bother trying the sample at all?
Now, back to our business analogy … there is no point in testing the outcome of any type of marketing campaign with no measurement of the outcome.
Careful measurement and analysis of the results of a test campaign will provide much needed information on which to base decisions.
The results of the measurement will quantify the success of the test campaign.
The results can then be extrapolated to test the soundness of the campaign.
Here’s one example …
Say you have a test mailing to 500 households that yields 10 responses.
Each response results in an average sale of £150 with a margin of 40 per cent that adds £60 to the company’s profits which is £600 overall (£60 x 10 responses).
Let us assume the overall cost of the mailing is £1 each or £500 in all.
The company then made a net profit of £100 (£600 profit less costs of £500).
This campaign appears to be a winner!
For further discussion on the above strategy or coaching services, you may call an ActionCOACH in your area.
Posted by stevezog on under Uncategorized |
There was good news for businesses all over the U.K. in late September as the economy saw its largest growth in almost nine years. Of course that good news was tempered by the fact that this growth hasn’t been accompanied by an increase in hiring or any real change in the economic plight of most of the nation’s middle class.
Times are still tough for small businesses, despite the numbers getting better, so there are a couple of avenues entrepreneurs need to turn to if they want to make their business grow. At the top of that list is hiring Business Coaches.
Why should your business hire a Business Coach? There are many reasons every business needs a Business Coach. A Business Coach will hold you accountable, a Business Coach will give you systems and tools that will help build your business and a Business Coach has only the best interests of your business at heart.
Business Coaches are not an investment that’s right for everyone. If you aren’t truly committed to making your business grow, you don’t need a Business Coach. If you’re happy with a lack of time and money in your life, then a Business Coach may not be right for you.
But if you’re one of the millions of business owners around the world who know that their company can be doing more, and they should be doing less, then you need a Business Coach.
Today all over the UK we hear that things are turning around, that the economy is getting better, but have you seen the proof yet? If you and your business are waiting for the recovery to hit you, stop waiting and start doing.
The right Business Coaches can show you where you’ve gone wrong and what you can do to turn your business the place where you spend all of your time to a thriving commercial enterprise that works… without you there. Call ActionCOACH and partner with a top Business Coach today.
Posted by Editor on November 24, 2010 under Business Mentor |
Today, quality initiatives, superior service, cost of doing business and succeeding at doing business are commonly shared ownership issues.
Reliance on individual experience and competencies and even greater reliance on fragmented cross-organizational work units can actually prove prohibitive to achieving these.
Proven, positive strategies should be applied to influence people to work together, together towards end results, common purpose and mutual gain.
These strategies and this direction are gaining solid ground and supporting overall organizational framework goals. It is a fact that businesses of all sizes experience greater tangible payoffs and reach levels of optimal productivity when people work together.
Teamwork is all about spirit, attitude, and enthusiasm.
In the corporate sense, people are more inclined to buy into quality outcomes; it gives everyone a sense of pride and companies realize the positive effects on bottom line.
From the earliest days of civilization, the hunters and gatherers demonstrated effectively how working in groups brought greater abundance into their lives.
The underlying strength behind every team is the diversity each member brings to it.
This blending of talent, attributes and experience supports a common and shared sense of purpose: that being for the betterment of the business.
Teams become both efficient and effective in accomplishing work and achieving results. They become effective at doing the right things and efficient at doing things right…
Team members become empowered through their commitment to participate, more co-operative through their intra-dependency and involvement, more communicative and informed which raises their level of contribution overall.
This type of involvement and participation ensures and strengthens a commitment to corporate values and vision.
They see the bigger picture and realize their role is an integral part of reaching corporate objectives.
Teams ultimately become accountable and responsible to implement, measure and monitor results.
A current job description for a team member could read as follows: “Use Your Head” and “Make Yourself Valuable.”
Successful results and attainment of ownership goals are testimony to the impact that teams and teamwork have to produce significant gains in productivity and business success.
Action plans are needed to build team concepts.
Action plans take into consideration the values that drive the business and the strategies necessary to support them.
Team concepts are thriving, strong, and continually striving to develop people in the pursuit of growth and prosperity.
“Action” ..
- Actual
- Commitment
- To
- Improve
- Operations
- Now!
“Team” …
- Together
- Everyone
- Achieves
- More
ActionCOACH principles at work give you more:
- Learning
- Integral
- Fundamental
- Empowerment
For further discussion on the above strategy or coaching services, you may call an ActionCOACH in your area today.
Posted by stevezog on under Uncategorized |
The phenomenon of business coaching is among most exciting developments in the world of business in some time.
There are many reasons for working with business coaches, including an increase in your free time and cash flow.
In addition to these two big reasons, there are also many ancillary reasons to work with business coaches. After working with business coaches, you will find increased job satisfaction and morale throughout your staff.
They will also be more willing to work as a team while improving their working relationships.
Finally, working with business coaches can improve your team’s ability to execute strategies and deal with the changes we see every day in the business world.
Business coaches teach many ways to improve your team’s performance. Greater transparency and accountability throughout your organisation will help your employees to feel empowered. It will also provide them with a sense of ownership regarding not just their job, but the company itself. Business coaches have real world solutions to help you find the right way to boost productivity while making your employees happier about the place they hold in your company.
If your employees feel good about themselves and their jobs, it’s only natural that they would be willing to work together. Often companies with a lack of accountability find it difficult to get their staff to truly work as a team. Business coaches know this isn’t a good situation for any company and know what to do to change that aspect of your company for the better.
With a better attitude toward their job and co-workers, employees will naturally show an increase in production following the teachings of business coaching. It will be much easier for your team to function as one unit when working on long-term goals. Business coaching teaches you how to delegate authority, empowering your team. This makes reaching goals much easier for your employees, since they know what is expected from them and when it is expected.
Dealing with change is never easy, but it is something that every company deals with. Business coaches know how to put plans in place to ensure that any change involving your business will be handled in a professional manner.
Business coaching has many benefits in the tumultuous economic environment we live in. Aside from improving your quality of life and finances, business coaching will make your workplace a better, more productive place to be. Be sure to take advantage of all that business coaching can offer you today.
Posted by Editor on November 23, 2010 under Business Mentor |
Putting together the “dream team” for your business can be as easy as taking an “action” rather than “information approach.”
With a plethora of training options open to employers it can often be puzzling when trying to find the strategies that are going to achieve results.
There is one basic rule to apply when considering your next team building exercise.
“Dream teams” are not built through information or training alone.
Seminars, competency training, reading books and watching videos are all helpful strategies but as the age old adage goes “action speaks louder than words.”
Being able to perform tasks during training is not the same as applying them on a day to day basis. Just as information does not automatically change behaviors.
For example, we read about the dangers of smoking but many people still engage in this behavior.
Environment is one of the key factors in influencing your team’s success. People base their behavior on their beliefs about themselves and their environment.
Can they have a positive impact on their environment?
Does this environment support positive behavior?
Team members should feel that they have the capability to contribute in their environment. This means giving them the right equipment and environment to be effective is essential. It also helps if they feel safe to contribute their opinion and feedback in a supportive environment.
But how do you find this out?
You simply have to ask.
Ask your team if they think there are factors in their environment which could be improved to help them be more efficient, productive or happy. Perhaps they may prefer music while they work, better light, or flexible hours. Many organizations have realized the importance of employee satisfaction on the bottom line.
Workplaces now can include facilities such as childcare or the benefits of ergonomically designed work stations.
Beliefs are the key motivators in peoples’ behaviour.
However, changing your team members beliefs is not an easy or swift task.
Recruiting the right people through personality instruments and team interviews can be one strategy but understanding their beliefs can be important in identifying other strategies.
Common beliefs limiting team performance include:
Feedback: “I have some constructive feedback but expressing it may cause a confrontation – best to keep it to myself.”
Delegation: “The only way to get the job done properly is to do it myself.”
Sales: “Real salespeople are dishonest, pushy and arrogant.”
Changing beliefs such as these can be a daunting challenge.
Team leaders need to facilitate change by designing flexible experiences for people in organizations to learn that “maybe there is a different way to look at this.”
Experiential learning such as climbing trees and playing games aren’t just used because they are fun and help build relationships but because they work. Multiple and varied experiences must be used to inspire new ways of seeing and thinking about things.
Reframing opens the mind to new beliefs and behavior.
Information and ideas are not enough they need to be engrained in day to day activity. You need to look at training options and ask what beliefs in this organisation may hamper or aid in achieving the desired outcome?
How can our work environment be changed to support flexibility and greater productivity or what experiences will help foster changes in belief and behaviours?
Team building is not an exact science but a cast of finding the best strategies available to bring out the potential in your team.
For more information on ActionCOACH, call or contact an ActionCOACH in your area today.
