Cleaning Up Messy Business

If your business is in a mess, and your thoughts are in a mess then everything is perfectly aligned! Do you agree?

Whether we like it or not our businesses are a direct mirror of what our thoughts have created and if our minds are currently bouncing all over the place then more likely than not so are our staff. And, who feels that first … the customer!

Now, more than ever, you need to develop a business strategy to assist you in gathering your thoughts and preparing a plan of action that allows you to think through the options twice, and act once. This will enable you to step into your business on a daily basis displaying confident leadership that will have your staff and customers wanting to support you. After all, everyone likes to follow a confident leader.

You can start developing a clear plan of action today by developing a business strategy that will enable you to begin where you are, right now, no matter what your circumstances but will ensure you don’t stay in the same situation in the months ahead.

First though you have to get your mind right. You have to really want to change how you think and what you do. No-one can do that for you.

Don’t let fear, worry or anxiety freeze your future. Develop a business strategy now and you’ll see the difference in how you feel, how you act and what results you get.

Why wait?

Marketing under Pressure

The marketing discipline is taking a huge knock. What does that mean for you and how can you use it to your advantage?

As we all know the first thing that gets cut in a downturned economy is the marketing budget and many companies are finding out that they’ve been paying way too much for too little delivery.

Many charlatans posing as marketing professionals have been gaily having fun spending their client’s money without tracking and reporting back on the effectiveness of the activities employed against predetermined benchmarks. It’s given marketing a poor name and brought into questions the professionalism of industry.
If you’re not working with a team that provides regular feedback on their marketing effectiveness it’s time to look around for alternatives.

A few things to look for when selecting a marketing professional:
• Marketers that take the time to understand your business
• Marketers that don’t earn their livelihoods from the commissions they receive when spending your money
• Marketers that look for ways to connect with your target market cost effectively, yet creatively
• Marketers that care more about your bottom line sustainability than their creative awards
• Marketers that can talk business, not clichéd jargon

The recession is going to be great for the marketing profession. Hopefully it’ll show everyone’s true colours and there will be a shake-up of those that know what they’re doing vs. those that just love to spend your hard earned cash.

Perhaps think about joining our growing Business Forum, where you can share your highs and lows and get input and advice from other small business owners so you don’t repeat their mistakes but shortcut the learning curve in ways where you reach your goals faster.

Business Dreamers – Where Are You?

Where have all the business visionaries gone? As we celebrate 40 years since Neil Armstrong landed on the moon much has changed.

Where that event left us with an expectation of great futures filled with possibility and achievement, the water that has gone under the bridge since has definitely discoloured and become polluted, figuratively and literally!

History tells us that the companies that positively get out there and market themselves now; focus on improving their service delivery levels and introduce some cost effective new product/service offerings are the ones that will not only survive, but thrive. They’ll steal market share from their competitors who are too busy crying over spilt milk to do anything constructive.

Your customers and your staff need you to become a true leader and show them the way. Most of them can’t see the way forward because they’re so caught up in their own personal problems right now. Besides, if they were capable of seeing the way forward they’d be sitting in your chair!

Have you got a clear strategy for your business for the next 12 months? If not, why not?

Look at signing up for The Small Business Strategy Toolbox if you need assistance in structuring your thinking and ensuring you cover all the critical success factors. Usually outside, professional yet practical advice is just what’s needed when you don’t know which road to take and you don’t have the time or money to try several options before you find what works for you.

If you don’t have the expertise and experience to find the opportunities that already exist get help earlier rather than later. To call for help when the creditors are already shouting is too late, develop your plan of action now and ensure you are still in business this time next year.

Getting out of a Business Rut

Many small business owners are battling to see the wood for the trees at the moment. They have not invested a portion of their income for the rainy days that have now arrived and they are losing serious sleep because they don’t know if their business is going to survive the change in the economy.

Now, however, is the time for the small business owner to regularly check a few critical things on a weekly (if not daily) basis.

Pessimistic Attitudes:

People are drawn to optimistic, positive and cheerful people and since it is reported that about 68% of people change suppliers or stop supporting an outlet because of poor service now is not the time to be crying in your tea out the back. It’s the time to get out the front, smile and offer positive, friendly and efficient service that builds on the relationships you’ve developed over the last few years. Don’t leave this to your staff, lead by example!

Trading Environment:

People’s negative attitudes are starting to show within their companies. The reception area is not as clean and organized; the phone rings a little bit longer; the response time is not as efficient, all because people just don’t have energy at the moment. Now is the time to step up to the plate, re-establish the standards and, where you can, raise the bar. Again, lead by example and re-energise your team when their actions become sluggish. Yes it is exhausting, yes it’s got a hassle factor, but if you’re not doing it you can bet your last Rand (and that’s probably closer than you might like to acknowledge), no-one else is.

Systems and Processes:

Make sure these are working so well that people can consistently rely on you to get the job done time and time again. Without good systems you don’t have a business. In fact, good systems and processes is what fundamentally differentiates a self employed small business and a saleable, sustainable business. You cannot leverage your potential if you are doing everything yourself and not training others to make money for you. Put the systems in place and then crank the goals and objectives up a notch or two, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.

Your Own Energy Levels:

Be forever mindful that how you feel and how you treat others will positively or negatively affect how your staff treat your customers. You cannot let your fears affect your service delivery. Not ever, but not especially in a negative economy. Regardless of how you feel when you get up in the morning the show must go on and it is your job to lead, inspire, motivate and train your team to deal with the customer in a way that ensures their continued support. As the motto goes: Get Up; Dress Up; Show Up!

Often reducing sales happens because we let it. We withdraw and stop pushing the boundaries. Our mind plays games with us and we retreat into a corner. Don’t let that be you.

Step Outside the Comfort Zone

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”
M Scott Peck

There is no doubt that we live in turbulent times but as M Scott Peck says in the quote above it is what we do with our time that makes the difference. How do you monitor what you do with your time?

Many of us manage other staff and we are very focused on assisting them to improve performance, however do we dedicate as much time to increasing our own effectiveness?

Time management is a fallacy. You cannot manage time, you can only choose what you do with the 24 hours we all have available to us. Whether you are the Queen, a Street Sweeper or the MD of a company we all have 24 hours!

If you do the things today that others will not do, you’ll have the things tomorrow that others will not have!
So what can you do to increase your effectiveness?

First: Determine what your goals and priorities are. You cannot be effective if you don’t know what you’re aiming for. As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice in Wonderland, if you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there! We are now half way through this calendar year. What do you want to achieve by year end?

Second: Make sure you allocate time to those goals. After all if you aren’t focusing on them, no one else will be. Make sure you make an appointment with yourself, which you stick to, at least twice a week to drive the next stage of your plan. Keep the pressure on and try to take many small steps that are easy to implement rather than planning giant strides that miss the mark and demotivate you and your team.

Third: Get comfortable with stretching yourself and your team. We are all creatures of comfort but we need to get really comfortable with working outside our comfort zones. The current business climate will not reward comfort; it will reward stretch, calculated risk and action! Our dreams and goals are not achieved by remaining comfortable. Take responsibility for lighting your own fire and sparking with your team. Let the energy of your team be released with your goals in clear line of sight of everyone.

The companies that are thriving in these times are the ones that are reinventing themselves, re-energising their teams and re-focusing the entire team on new goals and activities. Are you?