If I just had more time!

Probably the most frequent response I hear from business owners is that there is just not enough time for them to do all that needs to done.  This is completely understandable if these owners, who are in the majority by the way, are working in their business rather than on their business. I recently met Jack a business owner for more than 20 years.  His wife had just returned from a trip overseas after attending her father’s funeral.  “I should have been with her but I just can leave the business unattended,” he told me.  “Why couldn’t you do that Jack?”  I asked.  “Well there is simply so much going on I have to be here.  I wouldn’t be able to respond in time if I was away.”  On another occasion, I was playing golf with a business owner.  As we walked the course, our frustration built as he was continually taking calls from the office.  I asked him “can’t someone else do that for you.”  “No.  I need to make sure we deliver on time.”  Well I had had enough!  “If you can’t turn your phone off for the rest of the round we are just going to move on without you.”  He got the message, even if it was begrudgingly.  You see these people are working in their businesses not on them.  In both cases, they had management who they were not prepared to make accountable for the day-to day operations of the business.  If they did, they would have had time to do what a good entrepreneur does and that is work on the next stage/phase of business growth or planning for their ultimate exit from the business.

Working on your business requires that you develop the discipline to do the planning required.  “I don’t have the time” I hear you say, again.  Yes you do.  It is really that you choose not to.  If building your business is your priority then make the right choice.  Start working on your business today.  Don’t wait.  Step back and try to look from outside in or take a ‘helicopter’ view.  Review your company’s vision or mission statement.  If you haven’t stated a purpose for your business develop one.  Then, look at your current business strategy.  Don’t hold back.  How can we improve, what management do you need to realise the opportunities and so on.  Take this right through to marketing and selling of your business, products and services and then into the financial aspects.  Get your team involved.  They are in the ‘front line’ every day.  You will be surprised at what great ideas for improvement they have but never thought to tell you about. (May be you haven’t asked).

There are some great tools available at www.thesmallbusinesstoolbox.com that will help you build and achieve your dream.  Giving yourself time to work on your business is not a luxury it is a necessity.

 

Until next time

 

Your, sitting back and thinking about it, business coach

Neville@thesmallbusinesstoolbox.com

 

 

Sales Letters – Part Three

In this last in a series of blog posts about how to write sales letters that work we look and two more story-line angles that have been tried and tested over the years and have been found to elicit the right action from recipients, purchasing the product concerned!

Connect with the reader by highlighting a problem or fear they may have.

This is one of the most effective tools and connects on a basic psychological level, which can convert, if written correctly, at an astonishing rate.

For example: “You may feel safe from retirement worries now, but did you know that nearly all small business owners reach 60 without having a business that is saleable and without having made adequate provision for their retirement income? Now is the time to develop your Small Business Strategy to ensure that you can sell and receive a lump sum payment or develop a business model that will ensure your nest egg is in place and well tended when you want to start slowing down!”

This approach has been used by the advertising industry for years. It’s referred to as “pushing the ouch button” and you’d be surprised at how many situations you can use it in. It really works like a charm.

Finally, you can mention someone the reader knows.

This is a very effective method if you can personalize your communication and use someone that the recipient admires, respects and wants to emulate.

By way of example: “Did you know that your friend *Sue Brown* told us that you could really use some help in developing a more effective business model for your business? That’s why we’re inviting you to visit The Small Business Strategic Toolbox and find out how you can work smarter, rather than harder, in your small business. She loved the programme and knows it can help you too.”

If you introduce a referral programme at the same time this can be an extremely effective way to reach out and touch your potential new clients and reward your satisfied customers at the same time.
Approach your clients and ask them for the names of a few people who they believe may benefit from also using your products or services. Offer them an incentive if those people respond and you’ll develop your own sales force of committed and loyal followers very quickly and effectively. These types of referral programmes take some time to generate, but they’re well worth the effort!

In closing this Sales Letter mini-series:

Always remember that it is your primary objective in writing a sales letter to “hook” your reader as quickly as possible! We’re all receive tons of e-mails, brochures, flyers and phone calls every day from someone wanting to sell us something so you have a limited amount of time to grab their attention and get them reading on.

Ideally you want to keep your sales letters to within a maximum of two computer screens or two A4 pages and while there can be exceptions it is vital that you only write as much as you need to connect with the reader and share the benefits of buying your product/service and no more. People don’t buy waffle, they buy solutions to their problems so get to the point in a way that makes the reading a pleasant experience!

Financial Scams – Beware!

It seems that there is no end to the number of people who are able to set up supposedly legitimate businesses and proceed to use them to relieve the unsuspecting public of their hard-earned cash and increasingly much of their retirement funding.

It appears that we have learnt little from Masterbond, Supreme Bond,Fidentia, Bernie Madoff et al. Now we have another alleged scam in the Frankel Chemical crisis. It also seems that the South African public are as gullible if not more so than our overseas counterparts.

There is one very simple rule in investing money – if it seems too good to be true, then it almost certainly is. When the market is paying around 10-12% and someone tells you that he can give you returns of 15-20%, that is the time to look very deeply into the package you are being offered. It is alleged that the latest debacle of the Frankel Chemical Corporation is yet another elaborate “Ponzi” scam and that it could run into billions of rands.

Recently in KZN, an investment business taking funds from investors for ostensibly investment into private companies also appears to have hit the wall – and hundreds of investors – mainly private individuals as it appears is the case with Frankel – will in all probability lose their money. And all this despite the fact that the Financial Services authorities have apparently been bolstered and certainly legislation has been tightened up.

So what are the lessons for us in small businesses? Well, whilst you will come across the odd brilliant entrepreneur who has spotted a gap in the market and is charging through it making an undivided fortune, for the rest of us, making money equals hard work, long hours, persistence and endurance mixed with the odd stroke of good fortune and a great deal of vigilance!!

So when someone approaches you with one of these “too-good-to-be-true” offers or schemes, your first reaction figuratively should be to button the pocket in which you keep your wallet. And when you do look at opportunities, leave no stone unturned. And when someone resists your efforts to check every detail and every supposed “fact”, then run a mile and carry on protecting your hard earned cash.

The more successful you are in making money, the more you are likely to attract those who may have schemes and ideas which may be less than honest. If it looks too good to be true, then think again!!

It is difficult if not impossible to flout the laws of the market – to consistently produce returns that are 5-10% ahead of what the market is paying is just not a realistic proposition.

Time will tell how much the investors in Frankel will lose – but one thing is certain, they ain’t getting all their money back! And this should set the warning bells ringing in the heads of any local investor with a grain of common sense.