better business focus

Better Business Focus July 2012

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Better Business Focus is the essential key for business owners and managers. It achieves that by focusing on the way in which successful businesses

compete and manage their organisations. It focuses on how people are recruited, coached and developed; on how marketing and selling is undertaken in

professional markets as well as in markets with intense competition; on how technology and the Internet is reshaping the face of domestic and home

business; and on how people are being equipped with new skills and techniques. In short, it offers expert inspiration for a better business.

July 2012

The Business Magazine that Business owners love to read

Better Business Focus

Expert inspiration for a Better Business


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This Month’s Articles: 2 Can You Ever Be ‘Too Expensive?’ By Andy Preston

5 4 Highly Effective Selling Tactics By Bob Leduc

6 Garden Sheds, First Impressions… and why everyone has to be a salesperson now By Gavin Ingham

7 Safety First By John Stanley

8 What Is Your Conversion Rate? By Rob Garibay

9 Attributes of an Effective Board By Paul Chapman

10 In The Know By Colin Coulson-Thomas

12 10 Fantastic Ways to Add Fun to Your Marketing Flyers By Karen Saunders

13 Keeping Staff Onside In An Exit By Mike Robson

14 Awaken the Leader in You: Ten easy steps to develop your leadership skills By Sharif Khan

16 On The Radar Screen – Turbulence Ahead Taking a journey to somewhere? By Barry Urquhart

20 Partnership Power! The Four Steps to Success: A smart new way to improve your business and your life By Ron Kaufman

21 Top Tips On Copywriting By Chris Cardell

22 7 Questions You Must Answer Before A Customer Will Buy By Bob Leduc

23 Talent Management and Transforming Performance By Colin Coulson-Thomas

25 31 Simple Ways To Make Your Ads Generate More Inquiries By Robert Bly

26 Five Things to Boost Innovation and Entrepreneurship By Paul Sloane

27 Start Thinking Differently If You Want To Succeed By Martin Pollins

29 Innovation Is Not In My Job Description By Cris Beswick

31 Influencing the Board By Nicola McHale

32 New Marketing Is About Building Assets By Grant Leboff

Brought to you with the compliments of Bizezia Ltd


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Can You Ever Be ‘Too Expensive?’ By Andy Preston

This

article is about…

dealing with price objections

“One of the biggest reasons people get price objections, is that the price they want to charge isn’t what the prospect was expecting to pay. This often occurs when the salesperson fails to find out or manage (and on some occasions set) the price expectations of the prospect.”

In this article, leading sales expert Andy Preston talks about the objection “you’re too expensive” and how you can avoid this when pitching your service.

I recently noticed a fellow professional speaker post on his Facebook page that a potential client had told him that the fee he wanted to charge them to speak was too expensive. He went on to say he was a bit surprised, as he doesn’t normally get that kind of reaction. I know this particular speaker pretty well and I know that he’s good value for money, but what was interesting was one of the responses to this post. Somebody commented: “You can’t be too expensive! You’re value for money. They must have cash flow issues!” Now whilst I would agree the speaker concerned is most certainly value for money, there are 4 quick things we can learn from the other person’s comment. Sales Tip Number 1 – People’s Beliefs Are Reality – To THEM The problem I see here is that I think you can be too expensive. One of my favourite sayings when it comes to sales (and pricing in particular) is that ‘people’s beliefs are reality – to them!’ What I mean by that in this example is that if someone says ‘that’s too expensive’ it may be that in the moment they do consider you too expensive – as long as it’s not a negotiation tactic to bring your price down of course.

Now of course there will be some context behind them saying that. They might think it’s too expensive compared to their budget. They might think it’s too expensive compared to what they’ve paid in the past. They might think it’s too expensive compared to what they were expecting to pay. However, unless you deal with the fact that right now, they consider you too expensive – it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to win this deal and bring them on board as a customer. Fail to change their belief (and therefore their reality) and you’ll fail to pick up their business! Sales Tip Number 2 – It’s Not Their Fault – It’s Yours If someone says to you that you’re too expensive, make sure you don’t dismiss them and the sales opportunity too quickly. As an ex-sales director, I often used to hear my team come back from new business appointments with excuses like “they weren’t ready to buy”, “they didn’t have the budget” and “our price was too rich for them”. My belief is that the majority of the time, a price concern, or price objection, is normally the salesperson’s fault, not the prospect’s. It might be that the prospect doesn’t see enough value in your offering to think it worthwhile paying the price you asked for – YOUR FAULT for not positioning your value to them correctly. It might be that the prospect doesn’t have the budget to pay the price you want – YOUR FAULT for not finding that out, or speaking to the person who can make a new budget.

It might be that the prospect has bought a similar product or service in the past and not paid anything like the price you want to charge them now – YOUR FAULT for not finding out their buying history and positioning correctly against it! It might be that the prospect won’t get enough value from your offering, in order to generate enough ROI to justify the purchase – YOUR FAULT for not qualifying the Sales Opportunity well enough in the first place! How many of the above are you and your team guilty of right now? Stop putting the blame for price concerns on the client and see what you and your team could do to handle them better. Sales Tip Number 3 – Find Out Their Expectations One of the biggest reasons people get price objections, is that the price they want to charge isn’t what the prospect was expecting to pay. This often occurs when the salesperson fails to find out or manage (and on some occasions set) the price expectations of the prospect. In the old days, Sales Managers used to lecture their reps “make sure you get the customer’s



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Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value. Albert Einstein

Anything that just costs money is cheap. John Steinbeck

Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued. Socrates

Value is not made of money, but a tender balance of expectation and longing. Barbara Kingsolver

And who's to say that just because something lasts only a short time, it has little value? Alice Steinbach

Traits That Set Entrepreneurs Apart

Top entrepreneurs tend to have:

Integrity They stick to their principles, even when it is difficult to do so.

Initiative Plan over a year ahead but the here-and-now can sometimes be forgotten.

Commitment They have a tremendous capacity for gruelling hard work. However they often forget that others may not have the same interest or potential reward in the project.

Drive and Determination They are motivated by beating standards of excellence and they have very little time for mere mortals who simply want to get home and "see their children".

Confidence They have infectious self-belief.

Self-direction They focus on areas they find exciting and do not dwell on failures. Finance and marketing are often far too tedious.

Single-mindedness They do not tolerate poor performance; they find it difficult to listen.

Selling ability They use energy, enthusiasm and vision to persuade and sell to others.

Leadership

They can spot talent and inspire others.

budget BEFORE talking about price!” Whilst back then that was pretty solid sales advice, these days people don’t always have budgets. They don’t always have cash available right now, but they always have price expectations and if you don’t find out what they are, re-set them if necessary. How well do you and your team set prospects’ price expectations currently? Sales Tip Number 4 – Qualify Harder Early In The Process Another reason I find that salespeople come up against price objections is that often they’re sat in front of, or speaking to, the wrong people. People that may not have the money to be able to pay the price the salesperson wants to charge, or have the authority to find extra money if necessary. This is usually caused by a failure to qualify well enough earlier in the process. Then often results in the salesperson spending lots of their precious time dealing with people that aren’t able to buy what they offer at the price they want to charge. Often this leads to the salesperson becoming frustrated, having to walk away from deals, or heavily discounting just to win the business – none of which are good outcomes for the salesperson. How well do you and your sales team qualify your opportunities right now? Follow the tips above and watch your performance and that of your sales team soar! I look forward to hearing about your future success. © Copyright, Andy Preston About the Author

Andy Preston is recognised worldwide as the Leading Authority on Cold Calling and ‘New Business’ Sales Techniques and is the creator of ‘Stand Out Selling’ – a sales method that allows you to stand out from your

competition, win more business and do so – even when you’re a higher price! With a background as a professional buyer, a top-selling salesperson and for the last 7 years a sales motivator, professional speaker and sales training expert, working with Andy Preston is guaranteed to improve your sales results! Companies like IBM, Nissan, HSBC and Target 250 turn to Andy when they want to improve their sales performance – will you do the same?

Co-ordinates

Manchester Head Office (& International Enquiries) Andy Preston Ltd Houldsworth Business Centre Houldsworth Mill Houldsworth Street Stockport, SK5 6DA, UK Tel: +44 (0) 161 401 0142 Web: http://www.andypreston.com LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/andypreston Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/AndyPreston



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Misleading Advertising On 14 June 2012, the Committee of Advertising Practice Ltd (CAP)] said that 61% of the complaints the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received in 2011 were about misleading advertising. That equates to about 80% of the ads it looked in to. Making sure you don’t mislead people might seem straightforward, but it is a broad area that can require careful navigation by marketers in all sectors. So here we give a quick guide on how to avoid the most common pitfalls.

The Codes The rules are broadly the same for both non-broadcast and broadcast advertising, but for simplicity, here we will quote the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising. There are various elements to the Misleading advertising sections in the Advertising Codes, but the overarching principle is captured in Rule 3.1 which says “marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so”. The background to that section of the Code explains that the ASA will take into account the overall impression created by an ad, as well as specific claims. The ASA adjudicates on the basis of the likely effect of the ad on consumers, not the marketer’s intentions. So the ASA can find against an advertiser even if it wasn’t their intention to mislead.

How does the ASA judge whether something is misleading? There are two main tests in the Codes that the ASA applies to judge whether an ad is misleading and both tests must be satisfied. But in making judgments the ASA also considers to whom the ad was addressed and what message the target audience would understand from it.

Marketing communications are considered to be misleading if they:

• are likely to deceive consumers; and

• are likely to cause consumers to take transactional decisions that they would not otherwise have taken.

What is meant by “deceive”? Ads can deceive consumers by ambiguity, through presentation or by omitting important information. In short, that is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product or service. They can, of course, also mislead by including false information.

Transactional decision The transactional decision test essentially means that the misleading claim has to affect the consumer’s behaviour - a “transactional decision”does not only involve the decision of whether or not to make a purchase, but can also be a matter of simply making further enquiries or navigating further into an advertiser’s website, for example.

What does it mean in practice?

• You should try to be as clear as possible in your communications with consumers. This means that as well as not making false claims, you shouldn’t hide information from them or exaggerate any claims you plan to make;

• You should make sure that you hold evidence for any objective claims you make i.e. those claims that can be proved. Claims that can’t be proved include, for example, opinion: “Our most stylish range ever!” Advertisers must hold the evidence for a claim before publishing an ad;

• The best way to make sure you don’t fall foul of the Codes is to check your ad carefully against the Codes, it might help to look at our free online database for advice on particular topics.

Checklist

• To give you an idea of the sort of things you need to think about CAS has compiled a checklist to help you avoid ten common mistakes:

• Care should be taken to consider the likely message consumers will take from a claim. For example, the ASA found claims on a vegetarian and vegan dating site, where the majority of members were meat-eaters, to be misleading.

• The capability or performance of a product should not be exaggerated.

• Make sure your pricing is clear. Our guide to Price statements will help you keep in line with the rules.

• All relevant information should be made clear in the ad itself. This includes any significant conditions to an offer, which should be stated close, or clearly linked, to the main claim.

• Qualifying text also known as small print, should only be used to clarify a main claim in an ad, it shouldn’t be used to hide important information or be so great a qualification that it actually contradicts the primary claim.

• You should hold, before an ad appears, adequate evidence to support all objective claims (i.e. those that are capable of being proven), bearing in mind the impression consumers are likely to take from the ad. Remember that for claims such as those in health, beauty and slimming ads, the level of evidence required is likely to be high. It could take the form of a body of evidence that includes controlled clinical trials on humans, for example.

• Unqualified environmental claims (e.g. environmentally friendly; zero carbon) should not be used unless you can provide convincing evidence that the product will cause no environmental damage, taking account of the full life cycle of the product from manufacture to disposal. Although less absolute claims (e.g. uses less energy than X) are generally less risky, marketers must hold evidence and make the basis of the comparison clear.

• If you can’t make a claim yourself (e.g. ‘cures migraines’), you can’t get around the Code by using a testimonial (e.g. ‘it cured my migraines’). Marketers are responsible for substantiating claims that appear in testimonials in the same way as other objective claims. You must also hold documentary evidence and contact details for the person who gave it.

• It is permitted to make a comparison with a competitor, in the interest of vigorous competition and public information. However you should ensure the basis of the claim is clear, that it is made on an objective, like-for-like basis and, where necessary, that you hold evidence that relates to both your product and your competitor’s. If you can’t gain access to your competitor’s data to confirm the comparison, then you can’t make the comparison.

• Finally, obvious exaggerations (“puffery”) and claims that the average consumer is unlikely to take literally are allowed and don’t need to be substantiated - provided that they do not materially mislead. For example, the ASA considered, in the context of an ad for a Chinese restaurant, the average listener would understand the claim “world-famous” to be tongue-in-cheek and exaggerated.

Source: http://www.cap.org.uk/Media-Centre/2012/Misleading-Advertising.aspx



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4 Highly Effective Selling

Tactics By Bob Leduc

This

article is about…

using simple selling tactics, often

overlooked by

businesses.

Many businesses overlook these 4 simple but highly effective selling tactics. How many are you using?

1. Avoid "What To Buy" Choices Promote only one product or service at a time. It limits your prospect's buying decision to a simple "yes" or "no". Don't complicate your customer's decision-making process by including a "which one" option. Some customers will have difficulty making a clear choice. They will avoid the risk of making a wrong choice by making NO choice - and you will lose a sale unnecessarily. You can develop separate promotions for each product or service you sell. Or you can combine several products and services into one package for one price. But always make your prospective customer's buying decision a simple "yes" or "no". It produces the maximum number of sales.

2. Offer Many "How To Buy" Options Offering choices of WHAT to buy, reduces your sales. But offering choices of HOW to buy, increases your sales. Offer many different ways for customers to buy from you. The same method is not convenient for everybody. Prospective customers are more likely to act immediately when their favourite way of ordering is available. For example, many online marketers only accept orders online. They could easily increase the number of sales they get by including options to order by phone, fax and postal

mail.

3. Use A Simple Buying Procedure You can get more sales by making it easier for customers to buy from you. Look for ways to make your buying procedure easier and faster. For example, many online marketers use a shopping cart to process their orders - even when they are selling only 1 or 2 items. Don't force your customers to endure the complicated process of a shopping cart just to order 1 item. Some of them will abandon the process... causing you to lose sales unnecessarily. Use a simple online order form instead of a shopping cart when you only offer 1 or 2 items.

4. Follow Up Every Sale With Another Offer Customers are very receptive to more offers immediately after they buy from you. Offer them another product or service related to the one they just bought. Many will accept your offer, producing an easy sale for you. If you don't already have additional products or services, find or create some. For example, offer instructional material related to your customer's original purchase. It can be a printed book or e-book, a group of books or e-books, a training course, computer software, membership in a fee-based web site or any other type of instructional material related to their original purchase from you.

How many of these 4 simple selling tactics have you overlooked? Start using them now. They will produce an immediate increase in your sales - with little or no increase in your expenses. © Copyright, Bob Leduc About the Author

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. Co-ordinates

For more information... Email: [email protected] Subject: "Postcards". Phone: (001) 702 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time) Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133, USA

Tip: Look for an affiliate program selling the kind of instructional material you can use. All you have to do is sign up as an affiliate and announce the product or service to your customers. The affiliate program handles everything else and pays you a commission for each sale you generate.



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Garden Sheds, First Impressions… and why everyone has to be a salesperson now By Gavin Ingham

This

article is about… how to

make the right first

impression.

I’ve just been to look at a new shed for the garden. It’s not exciting, it’s not hi-tech and it’s not complicated but it is amazing how wrong people can get such simple things in their businesses. Just quickly, here is what happened…

I went to the local shed shop (they also sell fencing and other wooden garden stuff). I want to use them because they are local and I want to support local businesses. People are always moaning about local businesses shutting down but then they buy online, so what do they expect? Personally, I do not expect them to be as cheap as online. Why should they be? They have overheads, they have road front premises and they have real UK staff to employ and all that it entails. I do not expect them to match prices. And I do not expect them to be open 24/7 like the internet. But I do expect them to provide a better, more friendly, more local and more understanding service. After parking the car I walked to the office. At least three members of staff saw me walk to the office so I did not ring the bell and stood and waited instead. I am not (usually) impatient and I figured that they would not just leave me there and it would be rude of me to ring the bell. But I was wrong and they did leave me there. So, after a couple of minutes, I rang the bell. And waited. And waited. After about five minutes I decided to pick up a brochure and leave. I would not be buying from them but it would be useful to use their (expensive) brochure as a reference point. As I left, a man walked past me into the shop, totally ignoring me. I turned and he said, “Have you been served?” I said, “No” and then the phone rang and without saying, “Sorry, can you hang on a minute” or any such polite

phrase he just picked the phone up and turned his back on me. I walked out never to return. Now, I have no idea how much this company spend on advertising but they are in the Yellow Pages. I have seen their adverts locally and they do pay for prime retail premises to catch walk in trade. They have changing signage, brochures and marked up vans. Someone somewhere thinks they want to attract business. Someone somewhere realises the importance of sales for a successful business. But what is the point of attracting business if when it arrives you treat it this way and it walks out of the door never to return? We like to think that we are doing everything we can to help our businesses grow, to improve our sales (at home and abroad) and to get the economy moving. But many aren’t. If you run a business you need to embrace selling. You need to make your business a veritable sales machine and you need to make sure that every customer is looked after. Here are some simple maxims…

• First impressions count, you may never get to make another.

• Everybody in your organization is a salesperson.

• Everybody is responsible for sales.

• Your company is only as good as your weakest link.

• Sales is simple, it starts with the customer and a positive attitude.

• Smile, greet, communicate, follow through.

What can you do to encourage everyone in your business to make sure that they make a strong first impression? © Copyright Gavin Ingham About the Author

With a unique background combining sales experience with personal development and communications technologies, Gavin brings an inspirational yet real approach to sales

training and coaching. Unlike most trainers Gavin excelled as a sales professional winning a European sales award for a FTSE company in his first year of selling and progressing rapidly through to a hands-on managerial role. After a successful project growing a business from zero to £5m within 3 years, Gavin moved to his most recent role as a Sales and Marketing Director for a FTSE 250. Here Gavin combined high level hands-on selling skills with strategy, staff development and full budgetary responsibilities. Gavin knows how important it is that every investment in training produces real sales results and that is his sole objective when delivering sales training and coaching. Gavin is an NLP Master Practitioner and a trained coach and his depth of sales experience allows him to share true life anecdotes and examples which resonate with sales staff. This shared experience encourages greater learning and application of the skills taught because the trainees know that Gavin understands them. Nowhere is this clearer than in Gavin's approach to objection handling where he does not rest until the delegates have beaten every objection they can think of! Or in his telesales training where trainer and trainees alike get on the phone and make live calls to clients. How many trainers will do that?! During his career Gavin has won business with a multitude of blue-chip clients including IBM, Lloyds TSB, AT&T, Siemens, Vodafone and Citibank and has trained and coached successful telesales teams, sales professionals and sales managers. Whether you want telesales skills, sales presentations or negotiation skills, Gavin will design a course that exactly meets your needs and wins you more business. Co-ordinates

Gavin Ingham, Performance Coaching International Tel: + 44 (0) 1708 510345 E-mail: [email protected]



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Safety First By John Stanley

This

article is about…

the importance

of the hidden

points of difference

we all have.

Volvo Cars. If I mention that name, what ideas and words come into your mind? You would probably think Swedish, luxury, comfort and I bet most of you also thought Safety.

If I said Qantas, you would probably think Australian, Jumbo jets, red kangaroos and again safety.

Are Volvo cars safer than other cars, is Qantas a safer air travel provider in 2012? I do not really know, but what I do know is that both companies have used safety as a marketing tool, as a point of difference in the way they promote their products. I mention this because I have just finished a tour of Chinese furniture companies - there seem to be hundreds of them competing for the same market. During the visit with one company, I got to know the owner reasonably well and he asked about my thoughts on Chinese furniture. I mentioned that the perception of many consumers was that Chinese furniture would not last. Consumers were unsure about whether the furniture would support their weight and how long would it be before the furniture broke. In fact were they getting value for money? Rather than look offended he looked surprised he told me he had the safest and most robust furniture sold in China. He was the Volvo or Qantas of the furniture industry.

He then took me to the testing laboratory and showed me how they tested tables and chairs. It was like watching the Volvo safety commercials and adverts. Furniture was bombarded with weights and pulled around to ensure it was as robust as was possible. The key was that although he had the high ground, he did not promote this to his clients or consumers. He assumed that they would not be interested. My reaction was he should take a YouTube video of the testing room in action and show the consumer what he did to the furniture to ensure it was safe in the home environment. I assume other furniture manufacturers do the same, but I do not know as they have never communicated that message to the market. My advice to this manufacturer was to take the high ground quickly and promote this to his consumers. I said he should take the YouTube movie, place it in the catalogue using a QR Code and make sure all guests to the factory were taken to the testing room. In fact sell the theatre before you sell the product How many of us have this hidden point of difference that the consumer is not aware of? The challenge is 1. What are the consumers

concerns? 2. How can you use those

concerns as a reassurance marketing concept?

3. Can you take the high ground on that issue before your competitors pick up on the ideas?

The secret marketing ideas that can make a difference may well be in your manufacturing process and need to be communicated to the consumer. © Copyright John Stanley About the Author

John Stanley is a conference speaker and retail consultant with over 20 years’ experience in 15 countries. He regularly contributes to retail magazines around the world and has co-authored several successful marketing and retail books including the bestseller Just About Everything a Retail Manager Needs to Know (obtainable from Amazon: ISBN-10: 0975011804/ ISBN-13: 978-0975011805).

John Stanley Associates produce an e-newsletter specific to retailing; this includes innovative ideas and advice to help you grow your profits. If you would like to receive a regular copy, please visit www.johnstanley.com.au or email [email protected] Co-ordinates

Mail: John Stanley Associates 142 Hummerston Road Kalamunda, Western Australia, 6076 Tel: (+0061) 8 9293 4533

Fax: (+0061) 8 9293 4561

Email: [email protected]

Web:

http://www.johnstanley.com.au



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What Is Your Conversion Rate? By Rob Garibay

This

article is about… five ways to make

your business

more profitable.

When I ask business owners this question, most reply with either “I don’t know” or “What do you mean by conversion rate?” On a macroscopic scale, conversion rate is simply the percentage of sales leads that you convert into a sale. However, there is much more information and value to be gleaned from tracking your conversion rates.

In coaching my clients, I focus on five ways for increasing the profitability of a business: 1. Leads 2. Conversion Rate 3. Number of Transactions per

year 4. Average value of sales for the

year 5. Profit Margin

Of these five ways, increasing conversion rate is generally the second easiest and most cost effective area for improving sales. Despite conversion rates being one of the easiest areas on which to focus and improve, from my experience as a business coach, it is also the one most neglected by business owners. Here is how to change that! Why is conversion rate so important? First, understand its importance and why conversion rate warrants your focus and monitoring. Do you realize that if your business has a conversion rate from lead to sale of 20 percent and we work together to increase that conversion rate to 30 percent the result is not just an increase of 10 percent. It’s a whopping 50 percent increase! This in turn means that your revenues (on average) would increase by 50 percent! Do I now have your undivided attention?

Test and measure your sales gates Second, the key to increasing your conversion rate is to test and measure it at every level of your team’s sales process. To do this you need to identify and break-down your entire sales process into the smallest “chunks” possible so that you have a series of standardized “steps” your team performs with clients as it takes them through the sales process. Let’s call these steps “gates within the sales funnel”. The key to closing a sale is to get each prospect through all of the gates within the sales funnel. For example, let’s say you are in the IT business. Your sales funnel could look something like this:

• Gate 1. Initial contact: begin a relationship with a decision maker from a large list of leads

• Gate 2. Discovery: invest time learning about prospect’s issues and how you can help, as well as meeting others involved in the decision and determining the timing and budget available for purchase.

• Gate 3. Demo of Product: get them excited about wanting to purchase

• Gate 4. Proposal: include in the license agreement, if not too complex.

• Gate 5. Signed agreement: get down payment.

Measuring the conversion rates from Gate 1 to Gate 2, Gate 2 to Gate 3 and so on is key to knowing what your conversion rate is at each critical stage in the sales process. Work on the bottlenecks Third, have every sales team member measure their own conversion rates so that you identify the individual conversion rates of each of your sale team

members. Then average all of these percentages to obtain an overall team conversion rate for your sales. Finally, identify where the largest “bottlenecks” are for individuals and the team. Then work on improving the conversion rates between these gates first. Innovate and coach your team to dramatically improve the percentage of prospects they get through that gate. Let’s flesh out this example. Let’s say that out of 1000 leads your sales force, on average, has discussions with 100 decision makers. That is a conversion rate for Gate 1 of 10%. Next let’s assume that your sales force averages scheduling 30 discovery sessions. Your conversion rate for Gate 2 is 30%. From those discovery sessions your team has determined that they can help a certain number of the prospects with your product and are able to schedule a product demo with 15. Gate 3 has a conversion rate of 50%. After providing a demo of your product, your sales team averages 3 who are interested enough to entertain a proposal or discuss making a purchase. Your conversion rate for Gate 4 is 20%. Finally your team is able to convert an average of 1 out of 3 into a sale, resulting in a Gate 5 conversion rate of 30%. What is your overall conversion rate? It is 0.1%! Just increasing that to 0.2% will double your revenue! Do you see the value in monitoring your conversion rates for every step in the sales process? Where would you focus your attention to dramatically improve your sales? Instead of wringing your hands and saying “I have to get more sales”, you now have the information enabling you to do exactly that! © Copyright, Robert Garibay



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This

article is about…

the attributes a good board

of directors

should have.

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it - this is knowledge. Confucius

True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. Socrates

About the Author

Robert Garibay is an ActionCOACH Business Coach. He is no stranger to success as both business owner and competitive player in the corporate world. With an engineering degree from Case Western Reserve University, he has a successful track record in sales, marketing, management, team building, strategic planning and leadership; both in his own companies and in the corporate world. His professional career spans building businesses in manufacturing, R&D, distribution, retail and IT. Co-ordinates

Mail: Rob Garibay 3209 N Flood Ave, Norman, Oklahoma 73069, United States Phone: (001) 405 684-1021 Work: (001) 405 237-0019 Fax: (001) 405 573-4017 Email: [email protected]

Having the ability to produce accurate, timely and relevant reporting and forecasting, together with access to detailed understanding of the market they operate in, are the prerequisites of almost all businesses.

This information-driven base then needs to be augmented with a set of robust financial and non-financial controls, with very clearly defined lines of direct accountability. Upon this solid foundation, there then needs to be built a strong new product or service introduction process – from idea generation through assessment to implementation, which the Board can actively review and manage.

Outside of tight fiscal management, driving growth has to be the key task for a board. Aligned to this process there needs to be an effective risk assessment capacity, which looks across both new projects and the evolving core business.

These should be the common foundations for any business, but what are the additional factors that are required for a board to be really able to propel the business forwards? The key factor is a clear vision of where the business is now and where exactly it can go. Vision can’t be acquired, or bought in – it has to originate from the top team and more often than not from a single leader, who must then have the ability to articulate and develop it with his or her board.

Without a clear sense of vision, nothing will move forwards. The business environment is littered with companies who have met with previous success, but have then not been able to determine what the way forward should be. Yahoo is a typical recent example: the business grew quickly, made money, rewarded investors and then stalled. Because the CEO couldn’t create a vision that their outside investors were prepared to buy into, she was deposed. This vision then needs to be combined with real drive and focused commitment across the board. And crucially, individual board members must all be able to clearly articulate the company’s vision. Without this the

wider business will not be able to participate, so it is vital that the senior team have strong communication skills, as a fundamental part of their day to day role must be to impart this vision throughout their respective departments.

The vision may start from a single leader, but that does not mean that the board has no role in developing and indeed challenging it. We believe that it is very important to have a structure within which meaningful discussions and challenge can take place and a culture that supports this. Such a culture must inevitably be built on mutual respect.

It is also important to ensure that the board is kept refreshed in order to avoid ‘group thinking’ descending on the board over time. This can be done either through introducing external DNA in the form of non-executive directors or advisers with the right knowledge, experience and the will to offer a different perspective and challenge existing thinking.

Finally, it is important that a proper amount of time is allocated for individuals to prepare and contribute properly. This too needs to be built into the culture to ensure that when the board does meet, it does not simply go through the motions.

© Copyright, Paul Chapman

About the Author

Paul Chapman had over 20 years’ experience of marketing, sales and general management in the UK, Europe, USA and the Far East in both blue chip and early stage companies. He held managing director and marketing / sales director positions in 3 very high growth companies. He has experienced an IPO on NASDAQ, is a member of the Institute of Directors and has been a company mentor with the Universities of Southampton and Surrey. He joined the Azure Partners board in 2004.

Co-ordinates

Mail: Azure Partners, New Broad Street House, 35 New Broad Street London, EC2M 1NH, UK Tel: (UK) 0207 100 1233 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.azurepartners.co.uk

Attributes of an Effective Board By Paul Chapman



10

In The Know By Colin Coulson-Thomas

This article is about…

the importance of keeping abreast of the latest changes in

your industry.

Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas argues that sales teams need to understand trends and developments that drive prospect requirements.

Some sales teams appear ambushed or taken by surprise by events in the marketplace. They find themselves ill prepared to react to both challenges and opportunities. Other businesses are much more alert to what is happening in the business and market environment in which they operate. Their people track issues, anticipate events and monitor competitive activities.

A sales force can be so focused on hitting targets and what a company is endeavouring to sell that people may overlook what is happening around them.

Successful sales teams are different. They endeavour to get their heads around the drivers of buying decisions. External trends and developments can influence benefits sought, cost of ownership and other factors that buyers take into account. My continuing ‘winning companies; winning people’ investigation into why some people are more effective than others at winning business reveals that high achievers put much more emphasis upon understanding the business environment in which their customers operate. They try to put themselves in the shoes of prospects in order to appreciate their view of the world and the pressures they are under.

Over 2,000 companies and professional firms have participated. We rank them – and those who use the research databases to benchmark their performance - in order of outcomes achieved to

reveal why some are more successful than others at competitive bidding, building customer relationships and related activities. Companies may have similar offerings, people, processes and systems yet winners in the top quarter of the league tables can be two, three or four times as effective bottom quarter losers. Quite simply the most successful sales teams do things differently. They adopt more of the winning ways we have identified and their approaches include more of the critical success factors we have set out in a series of research reports covering winning business in particular commercial sectors and seven professions. In the bidding for business surveys understanding the business environment in which customers operate emerges as a ‘top ten’ critical success factor. So what do the winners do differently in relation to understanding the business and market environment? Let’s start with the least successful – the ‘losers’. They are focused on themselves and the here and now. They are often unaware of impending challenges and pressing requirements to change. They simply do not see them or fail to detect warning signs. Those who are most focused upon securing the next sale are sometimes the least aware of what is happening around them.

The low achievers tend to be largely oblivious to developments in the market places in which they operate. They also do not anticipate or look ahead. They are not alert to threats and opportunities. Hence, when they do wake up to what is at stake they may have little time in which to adapt even if they had the will and means of doing so.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Losers just hunker down. Their senior colleagues on the board may make cosmetic references to environmental and social concerns in annual reports and accounts, but

they are mainly preoccupied with their own agenda. They stick to what they know and feel comfortable with and plough ahead regardless, hoping any problems they encounter will blow over. If they do stop and take stock of where they are it is usually infrequently. When the least successful sales teams do make changes in response to an external development that is ‘spotted’ and ‘addressed’ these tend to quickly become permanent features. They do not continually monitor significant trends in order to continually adapt to challenges and opportunities. Instead having made an occasional adjustment they get stuck in a new groove. Losers often settle into a learned way of operating. Sales managers may be reluctant to alter what they feel has worked for them in the past. Opportunities may be resisted if responding to them would require changed practices and behaviours. New requirements may be perceived as distractions until such times as they become so pressing and potentially lucrative that they can no longer be ignored or avoided. Some only act when legislators or competitive activity require them to do so. In contrast, the more successful sales teams or ‘winners’ have more acute and sensitive antennae. They look out for the weeds that can foul propellers. They are aware of what is happening around them and in the business and market environment. They are also entrepreneurial. They view problems as arenas of potential opportunity and take the initiative in shaping the future, challenging assumptions and creating new options and choices.

Winners identify and monitor economic, political and technological trends and assess their likely impacts upon both themselves and their customers.



11

They then consider what if anything they should do in response. Such exercises are undertaken on a regular basis and at least once a year. Resulting actions are subsequently reviewed and if need be challenged and amended as events unfold. Because they read the road ahead, winners generally give themselves sufficient time to register, react and adapt. Changes are made quickly as and when they are needed. Suggested responses to significant trends and developments can be built into sales support tools. Changes can be implemented before they are imposed by a Government or regulator. People in winning companies are encouraged to address problems rather than conceal, ignore or avoid them. Hence, they do not build up to a point at which they are either insurmountable or appear to be. Steps are taken one at a time. A series of adjustments over time – some small others more fundamental - may allow winners to cope with radically altered circumstances. When losers react it is often too late. Being alert to what is happening in the business and market environment is vital for building strategic and partnering relationships. Senior decision makers will expect partners to be looking out for them and alerting them to significant developments and new possibilities. A desire to retain access to alert antennae and a flow of both warnings and fresh ideas can also help to lock a customer in. Customers prefer to deal with those who are concerned about them and who look after their interests. Successful sales teams should be ever alert to developments affecting their customers and their customers’ customers. They should think about likely impacts upon their customers’ businesses and whether or not new opportunities might arise. Helping a customer to respond to a challenge or take advantage of an opportunity can both create goodwill and lead to incremental business.

Do’s And Don’ts Do be alert to what is happening around you in the business and market environment. Be sensitive to how your customers might be affected. Think through the likely impacts upon the factors that drive and influence customer buying decisions. Think through whether external trends and developments will create new needs that you might be able to satisfy. Maybe your capabilities could be used in new ways. Don’t be so focused upon yourself and your own targets that you ignore developments in the market place that could be significant for you and your customers. Don’t just think about how you will be affected by external developments. Consider how your customers might be affected and what you and your colleagues could do to help them adjust and adapt. Don’t just see external trends and developments as potential problems. Look out for new business opportunities. In the case of certain trends and developments there may be both winners and losers. Do think about whether helping either group, or both groups, to adapt could lead to new business.

Issue Monitoring And Management Smart companies have an issue monitoring process (IMP) and undertake formal issue monitoring and management. If not done more frequently this could be an annual exercise to which all board members, key personnel and even customers, suppliers and business partners might be asked to contribute. It should also precede any annual budgeting or planning. The most successful approaches involve continual monitoring. IMP participants are asked to identify major issues, trends and developments in the external business environment and consider:

• how will they impact upon firstly the company and secondly its customers and suppliers;

• what the company needs to do in response at local, operating unit and group levels; and

• how it might be able to help customers and suppliers to respond (i.e. possible business opportunities).

Experienced users of IMP find that it is difficult to track more than ten issues and better to concentrate effort on a smaller number of the more significant issues. To aid comprehension the summary of each issue, its impacts and what needs to be done in response should, ideally, be no more than a page. Those reporting issues should be asked to think through their implications and make practical recommendations for action to confront challenges and seize opportunities. Significant positive developments and negative issues need to be continuously managed. If left unchecked even minority interests can grow like waterway weeds and block navigation. Proactive approaches can generate considerable goodwill. For example, BP-Amoco acknowledged the risks of global warming ahead of other oil companies and announced its intention of securing specific reductions in carbon dioxide emissions over a defined period.

© Copyright Colin Coulson-Thomas About the Author

Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas, author of Winning Companies; Winning People and a new report on talent management and creating high performance organisations, is an international consultant who has helped over 100 boards to improve board and corporate performance. He is chairman of Adaptation, process vision holder of complex transformation programmes and a business school academic at the University of Greenwich. Reports covering his investigations are available from www.policypublications.com Co-ordinates

Tel: +44 (0) 1733 361 149 Fax: +44 (0) 1733 361 459 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.coulson-thomas.com



12

This

article is about…

making your marketing material work for

you.

A flyer is an inexpensive and highly effective way to grab attention in a very busy marketplace. How do you make your flyer stand out in the crowd? Here are some techniques that professional designers use to make flyers "fly."

1. Write a snappy headline or title. Make it memorable, unusual or provocative using a few carefully chosen powerful words. Popular titles contain one or more of these words: Easy, The Secrets to, Unlock, Finally, Insider, Time Sensitive, How to, Free Bonuses, Now You Can, Discover, Proven.

2. Use colourful or striking graphics. One large image will have more impact than many smaller images. A stunning photo or illustration grabs attention, creates a mood and supports your story. This image is your "focal point" and will draw your readers in. You can purchase inexpensive but quality stock photos on the Internet. Download individual photos or purchase a CD with hundreds of images.

3. Focus on the benefits of your product or service. Your prospects will ask the question, "What's in it for me?" Write from their perspective using the words "you" and "your." Avoid using the following words: “we”, “us”, “I” and “our”. Be sure to keep your text short and to the point. Some of the most powerful words to use are: free, save, love, new, results and guarantee. Break up long paragraphs with bullet points and place them in a separate box.

4. Use compelling testimonials and case studies. Nothing strikes a chord like an endorsement from a happy customer, especially if it demonstrates the results they've had with your product or service. Be sure to include the first and last name, company name and location of the person providing the endorsement.

5. Organise your page with boxes, borders and areas of contrasting colours. You don't need to fill your flyer with wall-to-wall text and graphics. Incorporate some white space to make certain elements stand out and to make the flyer easy to read.

6. Make your points easily identifiable. Highlight titles and subtitles in bold, but avoid using ALL CAPS because they are more difficult to read.

7. Don't get too complicated. Make it simple with two typefaces and align items to a grid. Your page layout program will provide non-printing guidelines. Use the "snap to guidelines" function to align items easily to the grid. Be aware of printing margins. I suggest you create your layout with 1/2" margins on all sides, or add 1/8" for bleeds on items that print off the edge of the page.

8. Don't forget to proofread. Have someone else proofread your work. Check your contact information. Dial the phone numbers on the flyer to make sure they are correct and type in the URL of your website to make sure it is correct, too.

9. If you are on a tight budget, try this. Select bright-coloured or unique paper and print with black ink. Use shades of grey to provide tones and contrasting background areas.

10. Offer a discount or special limited-time price. Design a coupon on the bottom quarter of the flyer. Be sure to clearly state the deadlines and limitations of the offer. If it is a mail-in coupon, be sure to include the payment specifications with areas for filling out credit card information, mailing address, etc. You don't need to re-invent the wheel when creating your flyer. Use these proven techniques and you will see big results in your marketing efforts. © Copyright, Karen Saunders About the Author

Karen Saunders is the author of “Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools!” Learn about her book and get free instant access to her eCourse: "5 Deadly Design Mistakes that Could Kill a Sale and How to Avoid Them" and audio class: "Put the Bling Into Your Brand" at http://www.macgraphics.net or call toll free (001) 888 796-7300.

Co-ordinates

Mail: MacGraphics Services 3454 S. Cimarron Way, Aurora, CO 80014, USA Toll-free: (001) 888-796-7300 Web: www.macgraphics.net/FreeStuff.php Email: [email protected]

10 Fantastic Ways to Add Fun to Your Marketing Flyers By Karen Saunders



13

Keeping Staff Onside In An Exit By Mike Robson

This

article is about…

how to keep employees

happy when you decide to sell up.

Deciding to sell a business doesn't only affect one person, it also impacts your staff as well. Mike Robson, director of Azure Partners, explains how to keep your employees happy as you make your exit from the business.

When first announced, the sale of any business will inevitably create a level of concern with staff. The fear of the unknown is very potent, especially when combined with today’s uncertain economic environment. This means that you have a potentially very destabilising issue on your hands that will need to be dealt with quickly and effectively to avoid undermining the morale around the exit event. In our experience, the one overriding principle in managing this process is that it is essential that you don’t let people find out for themselves. This will provide the single greatest opportunity for misinformation, mistrust and conspiracy. You must therefore ensure that you are in control of the information and that you are actively managing your potential buyers, who could unwittingly be the most likely source of an information leak through indiscretion or exuberance around doing the deal. When you are ready to share this information, then the first step to addressing any staff concerns is to position the change from the acquirer’s perspective. This will always have a positive angle; otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. There are plenty of positive messages that can be promoted; from being part of a new and faster growing company to

opportunities for personal development and promotion. The timings as to when you should share this information will vary primarily according to what type of sale process you are involved with. We would categorise the four predominant types of sale as follows: fire sale, financial sale, strategic sale and management buy-out (MBO).

Fire Sale In the case of a fire sale, where the business is being sold under financial duress, it will probably be necessary to try and keep the situation under wraps until a buyer is in position. While the business’s plight is unlikely to come as a complete surprise to your management team as cash flow problems are likely to have led to issues with creditors, we would still advise that you have the new buyer in place before sharing any news. Take your management team into your confidence then, explaining that maximising the chances of continued trading and thereby employment, depends on keeping the company afloat as a going concern. This state of affairs may call for unavoidable management action, which again must be communicated to the wider workforce with both sensitivity and a sense of realism.

Financial Sale In the case of a financial sale, where the purchaser is looking at the business as a profitable concern capable of development with further investment, staff should understand that the change of ownership should be seen as an opportunity not a threat. Here the staff should be informed as early as possible to enable a fast and efficient transfer.

Strategic Sale This too will be the case with a strategic sale, where the purchaser has recognised that integrating the business can

achieve major added value benefits due to the synergies that will be created. In general this type of sale should provide significant opportunities for at least some of the staff.

Management Buy-Out (MBO) Lastly, with an MBO, the players will be known by the staff who will probably perceive the change as relatively minor, so a smooth transition can be realistically expected. Depending on the size of your organisation, either address the staff together or bring the managers together and announce the acquisition. We also recommend that you provide a hard copy version of the announcement and a comprehensive set of answers to all the likely questions that will be raised. The announcement and these questions and answers should be available on-line internally for staff to refer to. This will help avoid Chinese whispers. You should also let them know what will happen next and the time scales. Fix a set length of time for the meeting while offering easy access to a high-level contact that will be available for individuals to ask further questions after the meeting. Be positive but not unrealistically optimistic if you know that restructuring and redundancies are likely and provide frequent information updates. Finally, work with the purchaser to produce a list of the media who are likely to be interested in the acquisition and together develop press releases that focus on the positive aspects so as to pre-empt publication of misinformed articles. If you take these steps, then you should be able to effect a smooth transition which enables your staff to move forwards into a new and



14

Awaken the Leader

in You: Ten easy steps to

develop your leadership skills By Sharif Khan

This

article is about…

10 steps you can take to

develop your skills as

a leader.

positive future, while allowing you to enjoy a trouble-free exit. © Copyright Mike Robson About the Author

Mike Robson is an experienced and entrepreneurial businessman with Board level experience as Chief Executive or Chief Financial Officer in a number of industries both in the UK and internationally. Mike joined Azure Partners 2004 and now enjoys actively assisting a range of owner-managed businesses to develop and, where appropriate, exit their businesses. For seven years Mike has actively helped business owners through the different development stages (growth, plateau and exit) and with people issues including management structure and the sourcing, hiring, assessing, rewarding and motivation of senior staff. He specialises in merger evaluations, non-financial due-diligence, setting KPIs, dealing with banks and auditors and helping to run effective boards. With colleagues at Azure Partners he is involved in developing efficient and effective marketing and sales capabilities and processes for clients. Co-ordinates

Mail: Azure Partners, New Broad Street House, 35 New Broad Street London, EC2M 1NH, UK E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.azurepartners.co.uk Mobile: +44 (0) 7711 21980

Many motivational experts like to say that leaders are made, not born. I would argue the exact opposite. I believe we are all natural born leaders, but have been deprogrammed along the way. As children, we were natural leaders - curious and humble, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge, with an incredibly vivid imagination; we knew exactly what we wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we wanted and had the ability to motivate, inspire influence everyone around us to help us in accomplishing our mission. So why is this so difficult to do as adults? What happened?

As children, over time, we got used to hearing, “No,” “Don’t,” and “Can’t.” “No! Don’t do this. Don’t do that. You can’t do this. You can’t do that. No!” Many of our parents told us to keep quiet and not disturb the adults by asking silly questions. This pattern continued into high school with our teachers telling us what we could do and couldn’t do and what was possible. Then many of us got hit with the big one – institutionalised formal education known as college or university. Unfortunately, the traditional educational system doesn’t teach students how to become leaders; it teaches students how to become polite order takers for the corporate world. Instead of learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant and think for themselves, most people learn how to obey and intelligently follow rules to keep the corporate machine humming. Developing the Leader in you to live your highest life, then, requires a process of ‘unlearning’ by self-

remembering and self-honouring. Being an effective leader again will require you to be brave and unlock the door to your inner attic, where your childhood dreams lie, going inside to the heart. Based on my over ten years research in the area of human development and leadership, here are ten easy steps you can take to awaken the Leader in you and rekindle your passion for greatness:

Humility Leadership starts with humility. To be a highly successful leader, you must first humble yourself like a little child and be willing to serve others. Nobody wants to follow someone who is arrogant. Be humble as a child – always curious, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge. For what is excellence but knowledge plus knowledge plus knowledge - always wanting to better yourself, always improving, always growing. When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you will be a far more effective listener, which is the #1 leadership communication tool. When people sense you are genuinely interested in them and listening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what you have to say.

SWOT Yourself SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Although it’s a strategic management tool taught at Stanford and Harvard Business Schools and used by large multinationals, it can just as effectively be used in your own professional development as a leader. This is a useful key to gain access to self-knowledge, self-remembering and self-honouring.

The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime. Babe Ruth



15

Start by listing all your Strengths including your accomplishments. Then write down all your Weaknesses and what needs to be improved. Make sure to include any doubts, anxieties, fears and worries that you may have. These are the demons and dragons guarding the door to your inner attic. By bringing them to conscious awareness you can begin to slay them. Then proceed by listing all the Opportunities you see available to you for using your strengths. Finally, write down all the Threats or obstacles that are currently blocking you or that you think you will encounter along the way to achieving your dreams.

Follow Your Bliss Regardless of how busy you are, always take time to do what you love doing. Being an alive and vital person vitalizes others. When you are pursuing your passions, people around you cannot help but feel impassioned by your presence. This will make you a charismatic leader. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, be it writing, acting, painting, drawing, photography, sports, reading, dancing, networking, or working on entrepreneurial ventures, set aside time every week, ideally two or three hours a day, to pursue these activities. Believe me, you’ll find the time. If you were to video tape yourself for a day, you would be shocked to see how much time goes to waste!

Dream Big If you want to be larger than life, you need a dream that’s larger than life. Small dreams won’t serve you or anyone else. It takes the same amount of time to dream small than it does to dream big. So be Big and be Bold! Write down your One Biggest Dream: The one that excites you the most. Remember, don’t be small and realistic; be bold and unrealistic! Go for the Gold, the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the Oscar, the highest you can possibly achieve in your field. After you’ve written down your dream, list every single reason why you CAN achieve your dream instead of worrying about why you can’t.

Vision Without a vision, we perish. If you can’t see yourself winning that award and feel the tears of triumph streaming down your face, it’s

unlikely you will be able to lead yourself or others to victory. Visualise what it would be like accomplishing your dream. See it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it in your gut.

Perseverance Victory belongs to those who want it the most and stay in it the longest. Now that you have a dream, make sure you take consistent action every day. I recommend doing at least 5 things every day that will move you closer to your dream.

Honour Your Word Every time you break your word, you lose power. Successful leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life. Your word is gold. Honour it.

Get a Mentor Find yourself a mentor. Preferably someone who has already achieved a high degree of success in your field. Don’t be afraid to ask. You’ve got nothing to lose. Mentors.ca is an excellent mentoring website and a great resource for finding local mentoring programs. They even have a free personal profile you can fill out in order to potentially find you a suitable mentor. In addition to mentors, take time to study autobiographies of great leaders that you admire. Learn everything you can from their lives and model some of their successful behaviours.

Be Yourself Use your relationships with mentors and your research on great leaders as models or reference points to work from, but never copy or imitate them like a parrot. Everyone has vastly different leadership styles.

History books are filled with leaders who are soft-spoken, introverted and quiet, all the way to the other extreme of being outspoken, extroverted and loud and everything in between. A quiet and simple Gandhi or a soft-spoken peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter, who became president of the United States and won a Nobel Peace Prize, have been just as effective world leaders as a loud and flamboyant Churchill, or the tough leadership style employed by ‘The Iron Lady,’ Margaret Thatcher.

I admire Hemingway as a writer. But if I copy Hemingway, I’d be a second or third rate Hemingway, at best, instead of a first rate Sharif. Be yourself, your best self, always competing against yourself and bettering yourself and you will become a first rate YOU instead of a second rate somebody else.

Give Finally, be a giver. Leaders are givers. By giving, you activate a universal law as sound as gravity: ‘life gives to the giver and takes from the taker.’ The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect, support and compassion, give love, give respect, give support and give compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a leader, the only way to get what you want, is by helping enough people get what they want first. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”!

© Copyright Sharif Khan

About the Author

Sharif Khan is a professional speaker and author of Psychology of the Hero Soul, an inspirational book on awakening the Hero within and developing people’s leadership potential. He provides inspirational keynotes and leadership development workshops that entertain, educate and empower. To book Sharif as a speaker for your next event, see contact details below.

Co-ordinates

Mail: Sharif Khan Diamond Mind Enterprises 35 Douville Court, Toronto, Ontario M5A 4E7 Canada Tel: (001) 416 417-1259 Web: www.herosoul.com Email: [email protected]



16

On The Radar Screen – Turbulence Ahead Taking a journey to somewhere? By Barry Urquhart

This

article is about…

a humorous view of the economy.

“This is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard this around-the-world flight, visiting some of the globe’s economic and political hot-spots. Fasten your seat belts. There is turbulence ahead. We can and will ride it out, but it will be a bit bumpy. It may be necessary to reset our course several times to negotiate the conditions which lie ahead. Be advised, we will be changing altitudes at various times in an endeavour to find the smoothest possible passage. Our route on this trip has us tracking north and west. We do not anticipate any tailwinds. Therefore, the engines will need to work at full power and there will be no early arrivals.”

Late in the flight do keep your eyes open, because we will probably see the sun setting on a number of countries, as we have known them. European air-traffic control has issued a warning. There is a heavy flight of capital out of Greece to Germany, creating some congestion and its own slipstream. We will remain mindful of this. However, it should not cause us any major concern or delays. The impact will be relative(s) and should be limited to certain suburbs in metropolitan Melbourne. Our instruments are showing a drag on the left wing and we expect that to increase over France. We are monitoring the situation closely. The atmosphere

in Spain and Portugal may exacerbate conditions. The global forecast is for a series of storm fronts to gather and stay over Europe for around a decade. There will be flooding in specific localities and businesses will bear substantial costs, many will incur damage (to revenue, sales and growth) and some will be washed out to sea. Analysis at this time has identified much structural damage and the re-building program will be long, complex and costly. In most instances, there is no insurance cover to off-set the costs and premiums will be re-graded. That appears to be a prudent policy, with little risk that it will not occur. National business, political and economic lexicons will witness additions. Already, there is widespread and conspicuous evidence that the Greeks, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Irish are experiencing difficulty comprehending, articulating and applying simple words like austerity. We have received word that the volcanic Mt Etna in Italy is active, which is in stark contrast to the national government. The former Prime Minister has been found to be a “Little Emperor” without clothes. He has given up his political party in favour of another bunga-bunga party. Advice is that we should avoid that airspace as a precaution to possible fallout. A large depression has been identified over Ireland. Yes, that is correct and confirmed... to-be-sure, to-be-sure.

Here is an interesting aside. European business schools, political science facilities and universities are offering new and refresher courses on profits, costs, margin risk and capital management. At this time interest and enrolments are sparse. It seems many of the potential students are otherwise engaged in reclaiming and Occupying The Streets of cities throughout the continent. The worst of the storms across the Atlantic Ocean over the North America continent have passed and dissipated. A lot of rebuilding is needed, not the least of which is confidence. This will be no tea party. Regrettably, no one is showing or paying any interest. We will be avoiding that area because wind-shear and down-draughts will make it hard for us to take off and achieve any uplift for some time. Reports have been received that China is experiencing an unseasonal cold chill, which is affecting the local atmosphere. Movement and air-traffic have slowed appreciably. There are fears of a pending avalanche which will affect Beijing. We are assured that the Central Communist Party is drafting a most positive forecast... Our scheduled stopover in India has been cancelled. We have received advice there has been another earthquake which has shaken the country. Five more cricketers have been found to be negotiating to cheat with the bowling of no-balls, wides and donkey-drops.



17

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra The map is not the territory. Alfred Korzybski

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain

Tourists don't know where they've been, travellers don't know where they're going. Paul Theroux

Don’t worry if you don’t know what these Insolvency terms mean… • Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) – this is a voluntary arrangement for a company is a procedure whereby a plan of reorganisation or composition in satisfaction

of its debts, is put forward to creditors and shareholders. There is a limited involvement by the Court and the scheme is under the control of a supervisor.

• Partnership Voluntary Arrangement - a voluntary arrangement (under the provision of The Insolvent Partnerships Order 1994) for a partnership (PVA) is a procedure whereby a proposal is put forward to creditors for a composition in satisfaction of its debts or a scheme of arrangement. Such a scheme requires the approval of the court and may be proposed in conjunction with individual voluntary arrangements in respect of each of the partners.

• Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) - voluntary arrangement for an individual is a procedure whereby a scheme of arrangement of his affairs or composition in satisfaction of his debts is put forward to creditors. Such a scheme requires the approval of the Court and is under the control of a supervisor.

Source: Bizezia’s Glossary of Insolvency Terms is available through Bizezia’s Online Business Library, the UK’s leading online business library with 650+ self-branded publications. Visit: www.bizezia.com © Copyright 2012, Bizezia Ltd

Hold on. Disregard that advice. It seems the situation is normal. Oh, my goodness! We have been able to connect with the Australian-owned and sited Jindalee Over The Horizon Radar System and can report we are tracking what appears to be a significant number of well-heeled Australian consumer refugees, who appear to be trekking overseas for relief from high prices, appallingly bad customer service and an incompetent Federal Government. Ladies, gentleman and children, we anticipate a relatively soft-landing after a somewhat “bumpy” ride. And so, please sit back, enjoy the spartan service (with due deference to the Greeks) and have faith. There is only one way and that is up. And at the moment the First Officer is in full flight using the sextant trying to conclude which way that is. © Copyright Barry Urquhart About the Author

Barry Urquhart, Managing Director, Marketing Focus, Perth, is an inspiring speaker, author of Australia’s top two selling books on customer service and an international consultant on dynamic innovation and creativity. Barry is author of six books, including the two largest selling publications on service excellence in Australasia. His latest is: “Marketing Magic – Streetsmart Marketing”. Barry is a regular commentator of consumer issues on ABC radio, is featured on a series of interview topics on “Today Tonight” and contributes articles to 47 magazines throughout the world. His latest presentation is: “Insights on ‘The Big Picture’ - Future-Proof Your Business”. He is one of Australia’s most active keynote speakers and is an internationally recognised authority on quality customer service, consumer behaviour and creative visual merchandising. Marketing Focus is a Perth based market research and strategic

planning practice. The firm and Barry consult to multinational, national and local entities in the private sector and the public sector. He is a former lecturer in Marketing and Management at the Curtin University of Technology and has degrees in marketing, political science and sociology. Co-ordinates

Mail: 26 Central Road, Kalamunda, Western Australia 6076 Tel - Office: 006 1089 257 1777 Tel - Mobile: 006 1041 983 5555 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.marketingfocus.net.au



18

This

article is about… a smart new

way to improve

your business and

life.

Partnership Power! The Four Steps to Success: A smart new way to improve your business and your life

By Ron Kaufman

In the beginning, great products were enough to guarantee business success. Product sophistication, six sigma manufacturing and zero defects clearly beat the competition.

But benchmarking, product imitation and reverse engineering soon appeared…and now everyone seems to make great products. Next rapid delivery arrived. Those who made, shipped, installed and served their customers faster were rewarded with growing market share and higher profits. Digital delivery, cycle time reduction and 24-7-365 access (by phone and Internet) accelerated the speed of commerce and competition. Now everyone's got a Website and courier services cross the planet overnight. To stay ahead of the competition, even excellent service mindset has come back into vogue. Suddenly, being polite, competent and concerned has become as important today as it was in your grandmother's age. And while not every company has mastered this field, competition at the high end is quite intense. Whether you stay at the Sheraton Towers or the Shangri-La, dine at the Rainbow Room or the Hard Rock Café, fly

British Airways or Singapore Airlines, the service you receive today will often be quite good. With competition so intense, winning companies are growing in another vital dimension. In addition to great products, rapid delivery and excellent service mindset, market leaders are now building stronger partnerships with their most valuable clients, suppliers and employees.

The Four Styles of Interaction What does it mean to "build strong partnerships"? Why do you need to master this vital skill? What practical steps can you take to achieve it, right now? First, let's put "partnership" in perspective. There are four different styles of interaction in business (and in life) and three of them are not partnerships at all!

The One Shot Deal The first style of interaction is characterized by a short term focus between the parties. Beyond completing the exchange of the moment, no lasting commitment is intended nor implied. Asking someone for directions, buying goods at a close-out sale, or picking up a newspaper from the corner newsstand are all clear examples of the "One Shot Deal". Many familiar

phrases are associated with this kind of brief and immediate interaction: "Take it or leave it", "What you see is what you get" and "Here today, gone tomorrow". With no promise of future involvement between the parties, one more phrase certainly applies: "Caveat emptor" in Latin. In English: "Let the buyer beware".

Transaction Satisfaction The second style of interaction takes more time than a "One Shot Deal". More "moments of truth" are involved in these transactions and additional effort is required to meet or exceed customer expectations. Taking a flight from one city to another is a good example, including telephone reservations, airport check-in, on-time departure, quality food, entertainment and service on-board, timely arrival and speedy delivery of checked-in baggage. If all of these "perception points" are well managed, customers are satisfied; a state of affairs called "Transaction Satisfaction" then exists. Although no future involvement is promised or required in these transactions, customers do tend to return to those vendors and suppliers who consistently meet their needs.



19

Reliable Relationship The third style of interaction extends "Transaction Satisfaction" into the future. Consistency and dependability are essential, as customers and suppliers count on each other for more frequent business. When done well, this can evolve into a "Reliable Relationship" where both parties consistently benefit over time. Examples of "Reliable Relationship" include daily newspaper delivery to your doorstep, occasional purchase of office supplies on a store credit account, ongoing maintenance contracts for essential equipment and annual check-ups with your family doctor.

Powerful Partnership The fourth style of interaction also extends into the future, but the value and importance of the interaction actually grows significantly over time. In a "Powerful Partnership" both parties learn that working well together brings new possibilities, unique opportunities and otherwise unachievable growth. A "powerful partnership" does not grow unattended. Substantial effort and ongoing investments of time, creativity and resources are required to keep a "Powerful Partnership" going and growing. Examples of "Powerful Partnership" may include research joint ventures, marketing, manufacturing and distribution alliances, excellent boss and secretary combinations and indeed, just about every healthy marriage.

Key Question to Consider: Which of these "four styles of interaction" describe the current situation with your customers? suppliers? colleagues, managers and employees? Amongst the four, where are you right now? Where do you want to be?

The Four Stages of Improvement Leaving the "One Shot Deal" aside, let's focus on how to make your transactions more satisfying, your relationships more reliable and

your partnerships increasingly powerful. In each of these styles of interaction, four stages can be identified for self-assessment, competitive evaluation and focused action towards improvement.

Stage One: Explore The first stage is the domain of exploration, discovery and open-minded speculation. Both parties must engage with a commitment to mutual disclosure and the invention of new possibilities. In business and in personal life, robust exploration uncovers needs, wants, concerns, good and bad past experiences, present constraints, future interests and a wide range of competitive and collaborative considerations. Traditionally this is the domain of marketing, research and strategic visionaries. But the "explore" quadrant actually plays an essential role in launching most successful interactions. This is the time and place to build rapport, develop an open dialogue and listen sincerely for spoken and unspoken concerns. Even contingency planning begins here with a willingness to discuss the upside and the downside of future plans, looking into what can go right together and what might unavoidably go wrong. How well do you explore? Do you regularly meet with your prospects and customers "just to share ideas"? Or do you only contact them after they call you, or after something has broken down? Do you survey your market, conduct interviews, customer focus groups and on-site visits? Do you have a methodology

for doing this consistently, or is it an ad-hoc process "as and when required"? And how easy is it for your customers to explore more about you? Is your history and philosophy conveniently presented in print or on the World Wide Web? Can prospects learn quickly and thoroughly about your products, competencies, capacity and directions for future growth? Do you share stories of how you helped other clients, including testimonials and references upon request? If you do not explore well, you develop a reputation as a mere "order taker" - responding when required, but only fulfilling direct and straightforward requests. When you do explore well, you build a very different identity as a person or organization who listens, who is interested in the future and who cares about your customers' true possibilities and concerns. This identity opens vast horizons for collaboration, commitment and extended business agreements.

Stage Two: Agree Robust exploration leads to new opportunities for creating a future together. Initial requests, proposals and offers are often the first step towards mutually satisfactory agreements. In business, excellent agreements are clearly documented, with a detailed listing of specifications and expectations, including quantities, schedules, prices, service levels and warranties (among others). In a simple Transaction, negotiations towards agreement may be conducted in an atmosphere that is competitive and highly charged. But if you are working towards a longer term Relationship or Partnership, negotiations should be infused with a shared commitment to win-win agreements and mutual, long-term satisfaction. Contingency planning is essential at this stage. By carefully thinking through "what might go wrong", strong and detailed "back-up plans" can be agreed to long before they are needed.



20

Finally, in world-class organisations, the very process of coming to agreement is itself world-class, with easy-to-understand documentation, user-friendly procedures, around-the-clock access and flexible terms and conditions. How smoothly and thoroughly do you forge your agreements? Do customers praise how easy it is to do business with you, or do they complain about your bureaucratic systems? Do they thank you for your flexibility and understanding, or are they left cold by your rigid "one-size-fits-all" products, pricing and conditions. Clear agreements enable effective delivery. Lack of clarity breeds suspicion, uncertainty and misunderstanding. Vague promises may get you started, but if things don't turn out as expected, misunderstanding can quickly lead to disagreement and escalate to legal disputes. In a world that prizes ease-of-use, saving time and maximum convenience, improving the way you make agreements can give your organization a powerful step-up on the competition.

Stage Three: Deliver With agreements complete, your deliver stage begins. Here you take necessary action to fulfil your promises and thoroughly execute your agreements. You serve, develop, customize, manufacture, test, ship, install, train, modify, upgrade and provide promised training and support. Here you need people who understand what to do and have the necessary resources to get the job done. This means your delivery team must have a crystal clear understanding of the promises made in your agreement. It also means they have the tools, time and training to successfully and completely deliver. Throughout delivery, it is essential to track progress and keep appropriate parties well-informed. If everything goes according to plan, then frequent updates reinforce confidence amongst customers and colleagues. And if the unexpected occurs, the

sooner you communicate this to others, the sooner your contingency plans can be launched and put into place. This willingness and ability to quickly "declare breakdowns" is an important area where world-class companies differentiate themselves from the rest. While some organizations try to "hide bad news" and discreetly "put out the fires", others pride themselves on rapidly alerting all parties so that new actions can be quickly and effectively taken - even capitalizing on unexpected or unintended opportunities.

Stage Four: Assure In many industries, the ability to deliver has been honed to a fine art with six sigma quality controls and continuous cycle time reduction. But effective delivery does not complete the cycle - not if you are interested in continuing or expanding your involvement over time. The final stage is called assure and is one of the most fertile areas for generating new possibilities in business. In the assure quadrant, you accomplish three vital tasks: 1. Check to see if the promises

made on both sides have been fulfilled. If they have, then acknowledge, recognize and reward. If they have not, immediately return to deliver and complete the job.

2. Confirm that the needs of your customer have been truly satisfied by the actions you have taken. You may discover that you have faithfully completed all the terms of agreement, but the original concerns of your customer remain unfulfilled. This is not necessarily the fault of either party and may instead be the result of further learning and clarification that has occurred. When this happens, promptly initiate a new round of exploration. Work together to uncover a more refined set of needs or expectations. Create new agreements to satisfy these needs and move forward again to deliver and assure.

3. Finally, during the assure process, find ways to work even more effectively

together. How could the cycle you just completed be done more quickly or with even better results? What changes should you implement as you move forward once again to explore, agree, deliver and assure?

A well planned and sincerely executed assurance can be extraordinarily beneficial for obtaining new business. Detailed follow-through often leads to new possibilities and agreements. How well do you and your team members assure? Do you consistently follow-up with a proven plan of surveys, interviews and on-site customer visits? Or do you subscribe to the old school of "no news is good news" and wait for disgruntled customers to contact you…if they ever do.

Taking a Holistic Approach In many organisations, the four stages of improvement are handled by four different departments: explore is the realm of marketing, agreements are completed by sales, deliver is domain of manufacturing, operations and logistics and assure is provided, if required, by after-sales warranty and customer service. Unfortunately, this approach often leaves customers with a schizophrenic experience of your organization. Customers are told one thing by one department, but hear a different story from another. They cry out for "one face" to work with rather than an ever-expanding list of business cards, names and telephone numbers. Inside the organisation, the fragmented, specialised approach can lead to mistrust and even outright resistance between departments. Fortunately, the solution to this problem can be built right into the procedures and the culture of your organization. First, connect the four distinct stages with frequent and detailed communication between



21

Top Tips On

Copywriting

by Chris Cardell

This

article is about…

top tips on copywriting

departments. Second, institutionalise shared understanding with cross-training, cross-functional teams and longer-term attachments. The more your people understand what colleagues are doing, the better your colleagues and your customers, will be served.

Building a Foundation of Trust Each time you successfully complete a cycle of explore, agree, deliver and assure, another layer of trust is built between the parties. In fact, this is perhaps the only way that humans have learned to build trust together. Want a large order from your customer? Prove yourself with smaller jobs first. Want more responsibility from your boss? First demonstrate your skills and your commitment with a series of well-executed projects. This makes good sense in business, but it can apply in your personal and social life, as well. Indeed, building trust with others is the foundation for all our successful relationships. It is the necessary glue for strong partnerships we build now and into the future.

© Copyright, Ron Kaufman About the Author

Ron Kaufman is an internationally acclaimed innovator and motivator for partnerships and quality service. He is the author of the best- selling book, “UP Your Service!” and the FREE monthly newsletter, “The Best of Active Learning!” For more information and FREE copy of the newsletter, visit: www.RonKaufman.com Last month, he unveiled his most comprehensive work to date: "UPLIFTING SERVICE: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues and Everyone Else You Meet" Co-ordinates

Ron Kaufman - Active Learning! 50 Bayshore Park #31-01, Aquamarine Tower, Singapore 469977 Tel: (0065) 6441-2760 Fax: (0065) 6444-8292 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.RonKaufman.com

Here are five top tips for brochure and copy writing: This applies to brochures, letters, advertising, internet copy and emails.

Step into the mind and the shoes of the person reading your copy. Everything you write should be designed to meet their needs, wishes, desires, hopes, fears and dreams.

Keep it simple Don’t use language or sentence structure any more complicated than you would use in conversation with someone over dinner.

Benefits, benefits, benefits You must focus on the benefits of what you are offering, rather than the product or service. When you buy a new hi-fi, you’re probably not interested in how it was made or how many wires it has (the product). You’re interested in how it will sound (the benefit). If you buy a new chair, you don’t really care if it took three years for a man in China to make it (the product). You’re interested in how comfortable it’s going to be (the benefit). So, all of your copy should focus on the benefits.

Remember the magic word – YOU By continuing to use the word ‘you’ in your copy, you are forcing yourself to have a personal conversation with the person reading it.

AIDA Follow this classic rule of copy writing and you can’t go too wrong.

AIDA stands for Attention Interest Desire Action All of your copy, whether it’s a letter, brochure or email, should follow this simple process. First you need to get their attention – this normally happens in a headline. Then create some interest. You then need to turn the interest into a real desire for your product or service. All of which is useless if the reader does not take action. So make it very clear what action people need to take to begin a relationship with you. © Copyright Chris Cardell About the Author

Chris Cardell is one of the UK's leading Marketing experts and has been featured on BBC, ITV and in the national press. Chris works with business owners and managers, using powerful marketing strategies to grow their businesses and increase their profits. He is a trusted advisor to business owners across the world on marketing, internet marketing and Entrepreneurial success. For two decades, he has shown business owners, managers and the self-employed how to win more customers and increase their profits using advanced marketing, advertising and internet strategies. Co-ordinates

Mail: Cardell Media Ltd

1 Northumberland Avenue

Trafalgar Square, London

WC2N 5BW, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7872 5419

Email: [email protected] Web: www.CardellMedia.com



22

7 Questions You Must Answer Before A Customer Will Buy

By Bob Leduc

This

article is about…

the questions a customer

asks before buying from

you.

Customers buy from you because they expect to get something more valuable to them than the money they pay for it. You can assure them of getting that value by answering 7 important questions.

Prospective buyers usually don’t ask these questions. They may not even think of them. But they won’t buy from you until all 7 questions are answered in their mind.

1. Exactly what are you proposing? Prospects won’t buy unless they know exactly what you’re offering them. Make your proposition simple and easy to understand.

2. What’s in it for me? Prospective customers don’t really care about you or your company. They only care about how they can personally benefit by using your product or service. Tell them what they want to know. Describe in detail how their life will improve when they buy your product or service – and why it’s worth the price.

3. How fast can I get it? The faster you can deliver your product or service the more sales you’ll get. Consider offering an option for overnight delivery if you sell something that cannot be delivered immediately after being purchased. One Internet marketer told me her orders increased almost 30 percent when she added the option for overnight delivery – even though she charged the additional cost to the customer.

4. What if I don’t like it? People are reluctant to risk the chance of not getting what they expect after buying your product or service. Offer the most liberal guarantee you can afford. An unconditional, money back guarantee will produce the most sales because it completely eliminates all of the customer’s risk. State your guarantee prominently and in detail. Clearly reveal any conditions that apply.

5. Why should I believe you? A prospective customer will not buy from you until you remove all doubt in his or her mind that you can and will deliver exactly what you promise. Testimonials are a powerful tool you can use to accomplish this. They provide proof you’ve already delivered satisfaction to other customers.

TIP: Avoid using any claim that sounds exaggerated …even if it’s true. A bold claim creates doubt in your prospect’s mind and jeopardises the sale. Reduce any bold claims to a more believable level.

6. Is my decision to buy a good one? Customers usually make an emotional decision to buy. Then they look for logical reasons to prove their decision was a wise one. That’s the time for you to talk about how long you’ve been in business, how experienced you are or how much research went into developing your product or service. It provides the logical reasons your customer needs to justify their emotional decision.

7. How do I get it? Did you ever walk out of a store empty handed instead of waiting in a long line for somebody to take your money? I have. Many buyers abandon their orders at online shopping carts instead of

trying to figure out the confusing instructions. © Copyright, Bob Leduc About the Author

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. Co-ordinates

For more information... Email: [email protected] Subject: "Postcards". Phone: (001) 702 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time) Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133, USA

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching. Unknown Source

In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want. Alice MacDougall

Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service your competitors will. Kate Zabriskie

Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business. Zig Ziglar



23

Talent Management and Transforming Performance By Colin Coulson-Thomas

This article is about…

the importance

of talent management.

The quality of an organisation’s human resources can be critical and talent management has become a topic for boardroom discussion. Will talent management endure or turn out to be yet another fad?

A five-year investigation of various approaches to transforming performance has found that general initiatives such as corporate restructuring are time consuming, expensive and disruptive. By the time they are implemented requirements and priorities may change and opportunities can be missed. The investigation’s report Talent Management 2 sets out a more affordable approach to creating high performance organisations. It advocates a shift of emphasis from recruiting and developing high fliers for an unknown future to helping people excel at activities that are crucial today and handle challenges as, when and wherever they arise.

Experience of Talent Management Many applications of talent management involve a focus on ‘high fliers’ or ‘future leaders’ and investment today for future benefit. Attempting to build a ‘talent pool’ involves risks, such as whether an individual will ‘fit in’ and shine in a particular context, or whether talented people will be retained long enough to yield a return on their recruitment, induction and ‘fast track’ development. The evidence examined suggests the approaches of many organisations are costly and doomed to disappoint. More

encouragingly, a practical and much more affordable way of quickly achieving multiple corporate objectives and measurable benefits for people and organisations is being overlooked.

Recruiting or Building Talent Should one recruit for a job, or select people perceived as having potential and build roles around them as circumstances change? The latter seems attractive, but is it affordable for sufficient people? Could building talent and supporting job roles as needs arise be more cost effective? Finding better people can be problematic. Recruiting and inducting new members of staff can take time and be expensive in comparison with changes of support to enable more to be achieved from an existing team, especially those who are open to taking advice, prepared to learn from their peers and willing to adopt superior practices. Talent wars to attract ‘the best people’ can push up salary costs, be distracting and involve collateral damage. It may be better to concentrate on understanding critical success factors and capturing and sharing what top performers do differently, especially if a quick response is required. Talent Management 2 focuses on particular jobs and the requirements for success in them. It involves assessing the roles and tasks that will be required; identifying steps in work processes that have the greatest impacts; and ensuring that people in these jobs are enabled to excel by providing them with appropriate performance support.

Addressing Contemporary Requirements Identifying high potential and/or future leaders can require considerable commitment and effort. Talent Management 2 does not preclude initiatives to develop leadership potential, but it can enable a wider range of people to build upon and complement natural strengths. It can also be liberating and adopted relatively quickly. A view of what represents ‘top talent’ can become quickly out-of-date. Hence, a requirement for more flexible ways of enabling affordable people to confront and handle tricky and unfamiliar situations, as, when and wherever they arise. In essence, this is what Talent Management 2 and performance support are about. While the ‘ordinary’ person may hugely benefit, by capturing and sharing what high performers do differently, Talent Management 2 also greatly increases the beneficial impact that ‘superstars’ at key tasks can have on organisations.

Addressing ‘Known Unknowns’ Cadres of ‘high fliers’ can be expensive when the cost of ‘fast tracking’ is taken into account. Going to the market as needs arise may be a cheaper option. Setting out to buy high performance can also be costly if a star in one context may not perform so highly in another. It may be cheaper to work with the people one has and put the right support environment in place. While some of the qualities that people have might be transferable, an exceptional talent in one area may be found to be average in another. Achieving objectives often depends on the skills that are employed in particular jobs, especially ‘front line’ jobs that have a disproportionate impact on



24

priority areas for improvement and customers. The cost of developing a talent pool can be daunting for smaller enterprises. In comparison, the entry ‘price’ to Talent Management 2 - and providing a solution for a scattered workgroup that addresses a critical problem for an organisation - can be around the cost of recruiting and paying the first year’s salary of one new hire.

Managing Exceptional People Clever people represent a challenge and an opportunity for organisations. They can be difficult to manage and retain. Giving special treatment to them can alienate others. Large amounts can be spent on expensive people who are not engaged, effectively used, or appropriately supported. Talent Management 2 recognises people who excel at particular activities and performance support enables them to push the envelope and help others to emulate what they do differently. Staff turnover and costly talent wars are problems for many organisations. The focus of Talent Management 2 upon helping and developing existing workgroups can aid retention. People may be reluctant to move and leave support which makes it easier for them to learn, develop and do a difficult job. The author’s investigations of key corporate activities have identified critical success factors for key corporate activities. Even superstars can have areas of deficiency. Talent Management 2 focuses on particular tasks, which makes it easier to identify high performers. Support provided can incorporate critical success factors and the superior ways of high achieving peers. The performance of workgroups sometimes suffers when experienced members of staff are replaced by those who are less capable. Capturing and sharing superior approaches can address this problem. Talent needs to be applied to what an organisation is setting out to

do. Talent management 2 looks beyond ‘high fliers’ and is especially relevant to ‘front line’ support. It also integrates learning and working. While tactical and local applications can quickly generate significant returns, a more strategic approach is required to reap its full potential.

A More Cost-Effective Alternative Many organisations fail to reap the benefits of learning from people who excel in certain areas. Talent Management 2 and performance support offer a way of achieving a high performance organisation and multiple objectives with the people one has - average people who do not cost an arm and a leg to recruit and retain - and an existing corporate culture. Organisations require an affordable approach which can achieve improved results by taking people as they are, rather than as we would like them to be. Early evidence from pioneer adopters of performance support suggests it represents a more focused, relatively quick and cost effective way of securing large returns on investment. The approach brings together various elements, from helping people to understand complex areas and making it easier for them to do difficult jobs, to a cost-effective mechanism for providing support on a 24/7 basis to people wherever they may be. It has been shown to be relevant to different sectors and can contribute to creating flexible, adaptable and high performance organisations.

Conclusions In many companies talent management has focused on ‘high fliers’ rather than people in ‘front line’ roles. It involves ‘top down’ management rather than the provision of ‘bottom up’ support. Performance support can ensure compliance and enable more to be achieved by fewer and less costly staff. People can be enabled to handle more complex cases and feel more confident and ‘in control’. By making it easier for staff to do difficult jobs performance support also speeds up responses and reduces stress.

Talent management 2 develops and deploys talent at the point at which work is done to increase performance and reduce risk. In place of ‘investment’ in talent and ‘potential’ for an unknown future, the focus is upon boosting the performance of today’s key workgroups, quickly delivering multiple benefits and ensuring continuing relevance and vitality.

Further information Talent Management 2 by Colin Coulson-Thomas is published by Policy Publications and can be obtained from www.policypublications.com

© Copyright Colin Coulson-Thomas About the Author

Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas, author of Winning Companies; Winning People and a new report on talent management and creating high performance organisations, is an international consultant who has helped over 100 boards to improve board and corporate performance. He has received international recognition for his work as a change agent and transformation leader. He is chairman of Adaptation, process vision holder of complex transformation programmes and a business school academic at the University of Greenwich. Reports covering his investigations are available from: www.policypublications.com Co-ordinates

Tel: +44 (0) 1733 361 149 Fax: +44 (0) 1733 361 459 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.coulson-thomas.com

When I examine myself and

my methods of thought, I

come to the conclusion

that the gift of fantasy has

meant more to me than

any talent for abstract,

positive thinking. Albert Einstein



25

This

article is about…

making your ads create

more sales.

A client phoned with a problem I’d encountered many times before: “Our new ad campaign’s main goal is to create awareness and build image, not generate sales leads” the ad manager explained. “But my management still tends to judge ads by counting the number of inquiries they bring in. Is there some way I can increase my ad’s pulling power without destroying the basic campaign concept?”

Fortunately, the answer is yes. There are proven techniques you can use to increase any ads pulling power, whether your main goal is inquiries or image. Here are 31 techniques that can work for you: 1. Ask for action. Tell the reader to phone, write, contact his sales rep, request technical literature or place an order. 2. Offer free information, such as a colour brochure or catalogue. 3. Describe your brochure or catalogue. Tell about its special features, such as a selection chart, planning guide, installation tips or other useful information it contains. 4. Show a picture of your brochure or catalog. 5. Give your literature a title that implies value. “Product Guide” is better than “catalog.” “Planning Kit” is better than “sales brochure.” 6. Include your address in the last paragraph of copy and beneath your logo, in type that is easy to read. (Also place it inside the coupon, if you use one). 7. Include a toll free number in your ad. 8. Print the toll-free number in extra-large type. 9. Put a small sketch of a telephone next to the phone number. Also use the phrase, “Call toll-free.” 10. Create a hot line. For example, a filter manufacturer might have a toll-

free hot line with the numbers 1-800-FILTERS. Customers can call the hot line to place an order to get more information on the manufacturer’s products. 11. For a full-page ad, use a coupon. It will increase response 25% to 100%. 12. Make the coupon large enough that readers have plenty of room to write in their name and address. 13. Give the coupon a headline that affirms positive action -”Yes, I’d like to cut my energy costs by 50% or more.” 14. Give the reader multiple response options-”I’d like to see a demonstration,” “Have a salesperson call,” “Send me a free planning kit by return mail.” 15. For a fractional ad-one-half page or less-put a heavy dashed border around the ad. This creates the feel and appearance of a coupon, which in turn stimulates response. 16. In the closing copy for your fractional ad, say, “To receive more information, clip this ad and mail it to us with your business card.” 17. A bound-in- business reply card, appearing opposite your ad, can increase response by a factor or two or more. 18. Use a direct headline-one that promises a benefit or stresses the offer of free information-rather than a headline that is cute or clever. 19. Put your offer of a free booklet, report, selection guide or other publication in the headline of your ad. 20. Offer a free gift, such a slide rule, metric conversion table, pocket ruler, etc. 21. Offer a free product sample. 22. Offer a free consultation, analysis, recommendation, study, cost estimate, computer printout, etc. 23. Talk about the value and benefits of your free offer. The more you stress the offer, the better your response. 24. Highlight the free offer in a copy subhead. The last subhead of your ad could read, “Get the facts-Free.” 25. In a two-page ad, run copy describing your offer in a separate sidebar. 26. Be sure the magazine includes a reader service number in your ad. 27. Use copy and graphics that specifically point the reader toward using the reader service number. For

example, an arrow pointing to the number and copy that says, “For more information circle reader service number below.” 28. Consider using more than one reader service number. For example, one number for people who want literature, another for immediate response from a salesperson. 29. In a full-page ad for multiple products, have a separate reader service number for each product or piece of literature featured in the ad. 30. Test different ads. Keep track of how many inquiries each ad pulls. Then run only those ads that pull the best. 31. Look for a sales appeal, key benefit, or theme that may be common to all of your best-pulling ads. Highlight that theme in subsequent ads. © Copyright, Robert Bly About the Author

Robert Bly is an independent copywriter and consultant with 3 decades of experience in business-to-business, high-tech, industrial and direct marketing. He consults with clients on marketing strategy, mail order selling and lead-generation programs. Bob has written copy for such clients as Sony, IBM and Swiss Bank and his work has won several awards including a Gold Echo from the Direct Marketing Association and an IMMY from the Information Industry Association. He is the author of more than 70 books including The Complete Idiot's Guide To Direct Marketing (Alpha Books) and The Copywriter's Handbook (Henry Holt & Co.). His articles have appeared in numerous publications such as DM News, Writer's Digest, Amtrak Express, Cosmopolitan, Inside Direct Mail and Bits & Pieces for Salespeople. Co-ordinates

Bob Bly Copywriter, Consultant and Seminar Leader Mail: 590 Delcina Drive River Vale, NJ 07675, USA

Tel: 001 201-505-9451 Email: [email protected] Web: www.bly.com

31 Simple Ways To Make Your Ads Generate More Inquiries By Robert Bly



26

Five Things to Boost Innovation and Entrepreneurship By Paul Sloane

This

article is about…

Paul Sloane’s ideas on

improving the

economy

It is generally agreed that the best way for Western economies to compete with China and India is on innovation not cost. What steps can the Government take to improve innovation? Here are some practical suggestions.

1. Make it as easy as possible to start a new business. Most radical innovations come from start-ups and we need a lot more of them. It is already reasonably easy to start a new business in the USA or UK. However, we could further reduce administration and tax on new businesses e.g. no corporation tax for the first two years trading. 2. Increase the availability of loans for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). At the moment many smaller enterprises cannot raise the finance they need to expand. Banks are keen to rebuild their balance sheets and are unwilling to make loans. We need to encourage venture capital funds, business angels and banks to invest in or lend to start-ups and smaller enterprises. This is risky so the government can help lay-off some of the risk. 3. Tilt higher education towards Science. Somehow our country has lost faith in Science. The media is cynical about Science in general. It is no longer seen as something that can solve problems and make life better. We need to rediscover the belief in Science and Engineering displayed by our predecessors. Many valuable high-tech start-ups come out of PhD studies or University research departments. We should encourage more bright students to take degrees and further

degrees in Science based subjects. We should say that a degree in Physics is more valuable than a degree in History. One way to tilt the playing field would be to make tuition fees lower in science and engineering courses and higher in arts subjects. 4. Invest in Infrastructure not consumption. Much government spending is wasteful or goes into welfare or consumption. This leads to immense pressure to cut government spending but increased spending on infrastructure would be an investment for the future and could spur high-tech developments in the private sector. We need better transport systems, highways and railroads, cleaner energy supplies and better communications networks. These can all be prompted in full or in part by government and they can generate business for small and large companies. 5. Buy more from small companies. Public sector spending is huge but relatively little goes to very small companies because the procurement processes are so long and convoluted. If government allocated a proportion of its spending for SMEs and start-ups then that would channel some much needed business to this sector and help it to grow. We need more innovation in all parts of the economy including large corporations and the public sector. However, we should start with the SME sector. Over a period these proposals would encourage more start-up businesses and more high-tech businesses. This will help fuel entrepreneurship and innovation. © Copyright, Paul Sloane

About the Author

Paul Sloane writes and speaks on innovation. He is the author of The Innovative Leader. www.destination-innovation.com Paul was part of the team which launched the IBM PC in the UK in 1981. He became MD of database company Ashton-Tate. In 1993 Paul joined MathSoft, publishers of mathematical software as VP International. He became CEO of Monactive, a British software company which publishes software asset management tools. In 2002, he founded his own company, Destination Innovation, which helps organisations improve innovation. He writes and speaks on lateral thinking and innovation. His latest book is The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills published by Kogan-Page. Co-ordinates

Web: www.destination-innovation.com E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 7831 112321

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure. Napoleon Hill



27

Start Thinking Differently If You Want To Succeed By Martin Pollins

“If you’ve followed all the rules and listened to all the conventional wisdom and you’re still not getting what you want out of your website, maybe now is the time you should try a different approach.”

This

article is about…

changing the way you

think to take advantage of

the multimedia web world.

If you want to improve your bottom line using the Web, you’ll have to start thinking differently. The same old marketing and sales models of the past are simply not going to work on tomorrow’s new multimedia Web.

Web-audiences want more than a sales pitch or product specification sheet from your website. The Web has evolved from its early days into a fully functioning multimedia communication environment. If you’ve followed all the rules and listened to all the conventional wisdom and you’re still not getting what you want out of your website, maybe now is the time you should try a different approach. Most companies are missing an opportunity to transform their relationships with customers and prospects. They are simply not using their websites to full advantage. Their focus is too often upon the superficial appearance of a website rather than whether it is functional, engages users and enables them to help themselves. Here are some key lessons for change and survival in the teeth of the recession.

Listen, Learn, Retain and Recall Human beings are hardwired to listen, learn, retain and recall information based on how the brain receives information. People just don’t like reading information on computer screens. The linear narrative (storytelling) delivered by the sound of a human voice, enhanced by the moving image of a real person is how information is most effectively transmitted. It’s about

communicating the message and how best to deliver the content. The Web’s hyperlinked nature is a two-edged sword. As quickly as people can be directed to a website by high search engine ranking or reciprocal links, they can also leave at hyper- speed when they are frustrated by reams of text, outbound links and distracting advertisements. People want content delivered in familiar, easily understandable and digestible formats - audio and video.

Recession survival depends on the Internet Research by the internet company Easynet Connect shows that 45% of businesses regard the web as vital to their safe emergence from the economic crisis. The critical difference between now and the recession of the early 1990s is the web. In March 2009, the digital agency Design UK said that businesses wishing to boost their productivity may like to turn their attention to the usability of their websites and the online errors they contain. Design UK uses an eye tracking machine to see where on the page online users focus the most of their attention on and where their concentration begins to tail off. This provides a detailed insight into how customers interact with a website which can reveal key recommendations for maximising the usability of websites and help companies to get more from their online budget.

Going from a static website to a multimedia one Traditionally, websites are divided into sections that provide information on the company, the products and/or services, clients, help resources, company news and PR initiatives and contact information.

These traditional website elements have to be reformatted into more effective program-style presentations using video interviews, expert opinion and “how to” sessions, as well as audio FAQs, knowledge bases and product or service descriptions. Testimonials, success stories and corporate histories can be turned into entertaining and compelling video documentaries that establish brand personality and build confidence.

The website of tomorrow The narrowcast communication-on-demand website model will deliver information formatted in audio and video programs. Text and static pictures will be provided for those who need to print hardcopy information for reference purposes. This model offers businesses the ability to take advantage of the Web’s full communication capabilities and the hardwired nature of people to respond to human-based presentations that enhance attraction, comprehension, retention and recall of information. If you want to make your point, get your message across and attract interest in what you do, you have to provide quality content that is entertaining, compelling and, above all, memorable. As successful as some companies may be with their PPC (pay per click) programs, the vast majority of small and medium size businesses are not. It is impossible for every business that is prepared to pay for placement or for SEO-expertise to be number one or even on the first



28

Ricardo Semler on the Virtues of giving employees more power

“What is important is treating your employees like adults. From my point of view, that means learning to relinquish control and allow other people to make decisions. I have spoken to many British business people and although they are intrigued, even fascinated, by Semco, most are under the impression that if they give in on issues like flexible working, they give up on productivity.

We don’t see an adversarial relationship between quality of life and work and in an industry like manufacturing, you have to always question whether here is a more intelligent way to work. Plus, someone who works five hours a day might perform better than someone who does ten hours. What’s important is that the employees get to make the choice.

When employees are given control they act in their own best interest, which will be in the interest of the business. All our company’s finance details are available to staff. Those who can’t read profit and loss sheets are trained to do so.

But we also believe in the virtues of dissent. We don’t want a crowd of workers singing the company song. We listen and if the dissenter is right, maybe we can all learn something and change the way we work.

My goal is to get people to take more control of their lives, find solutions to their own problems and, in doing so, make the business go forward. The challenge is to get the middle of the organisation to make way for the freedom and lack of control for a system like ours to work.”

“I believe in the virtues of “dissent. We can all learn something”

Ricardo Semler is president of Semco and author of the Seven Day Weekend (Century) and Maverick (Random House Business).

page in any particular search category. There are just too many companies in similar businesses, with similar objectives to all rank on the first page of search results. As a consequence, businesses will begin to focus on delivering more effective content to truly interested Web-visitors who take the time to find you on the Web or who respond to your direct marketing efforts. More emphasis will be placed on how long visitors stay on a site and what visitors learn and retain from that site rather than spending money on attracting just more random traffic. Delivering meaningful content to interested audiences takes precedence over attracting volumes of uninterested traffic. Advantages of new generation websites include:

• Users can be helped to do difficult activities and checks can be built in to avoid quality, commercial, regulatory and other risks.

• It’s smart to enable site visitors to undertake tasks previously performed in-house in a ‘winning way’ as it speeds up responses and enables bespoke solutions to be quickly developed.

• Even with complex products and services, on-line tools can be used to enable a visitor to assess their requirements and configure solutions. On-line support tools can automate routine tasks and provide support for every stage of the buying process.

• Suppliers who commission more interactive and supportive websites gain from greater user understanding of the relevance and value of their offerings and capabilities. Other benefits can include fewer errors, higher success rates, greater customer retention, less support staff and increased order value as users may discover other offerings and additional possibilities while assessing their requirements.

A White Paper published by popular Better Business Focus author Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas, shows how a period of economic recession can be the ideal time to introduce a new generation website that can benefit both customers and suppliers in a variety of ways. Professor Coulson-Thomas, author of ‘New Generation Websites’ says:

“In a recession, customers need to assess alternatives and evaluate different possibilities. Suppliers that enable them to do this can generate goodwill, obtain incremental business and secure competitive advantage.”

Conclusion It’s a fact: new generation websites offer opportunities to both increase engagement, satisfaction and sales revenues and reduce sales and operating costs during a period of economic recession. © Copyright Bizezia Limited

About the Author

Martin Pollins is a former ICAEW Council Member. In 1986, he founded The CharterGroup Partnership and LawGroup UK and is now Managing Director of Bizezia Limited a leading provider of value-adding solutions to professional firms and others serving the SME market. The products range from website marketing apps through to practice management tools. For further information, please contact Bizezia Limited at +44 (0) 1444 884220. Co-ordinates

Mail: Kingfisher House, Hurstwood Grange, Hurstwood Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH17 7QX, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1444 884221 Email: [email protected] Web: www.bizezia.com



29

Innovation Is Not In My Job Description By Cris Beswick

“Innovation should be the underlying current that flows through an organisation, which means it should be a natural part of what you do. My perspective is that ‘innovation is a by-product of being exceptional’ and that unless we strive to be outrageously good at what we do the chances of us being truly different, innovative and world-class are remote.”

This

article is about…

the importance

of innovation

in every organisation.

In this article I outline what I think is a more contemporary, commercial definition of innovation. So to help you understand why innovation is absolutely part of your job, let me explain.

The word ‘innovation’ has now become the marketing/branding person’s buzzword du-jour adorning straplines and corporate slogans the world over. However, it’s easy to use a word where the common dictionary definition is so vague: Innovate: \ In”no”vate \ , v. To begin or introduce something for the first time If that’s really innovation then I’m wrong and all those corporate straplines and slogans are accurately depicting every company they represent. However, you and I know that’s not the case. If you begin to do something new in your company that your competitors have been doing for years, is that an innovation? If you invent something that delivers no real value to your customers or your business, is that being innovative? I would answer no in both cases and suggest that a better business definition of innovation is this: Anything that can be described as an innovation needs to add value as well as being different: Innovate: \ In”no”vate \ , v. The successful exploitation of an idea that adds value to the customer and commercial return for the creator Anything that can be described as an innovation needs to add value as well as being different. It could

change the way a business works so that it becomes more efficient (and therefore more profitable). It could also change the way people are managed and motivated (and therefore retain and attract staff, reducing recruitment costs), or it could be a new product or service that helps drive customer spend and generate sustainable and profitable shareholder returns. So, if the above is what innovation is there to deliver then it’s absolutely part of your job! Innovation is more of a mind-set and a cultural thing rather than a specific process solely linked to the creation of new products. Innovation should be the underlying current that flows through an organisation, which means it should be a natural part of what you do. My perspective is that ‘innovation is a by-product of being exceptional’ and that unless we strive to be outrageously good at what we do the chances of us being truly different, innovative and world-class are remote. So, if being absolutely outrageously good at what we do as individuals, teams or companies drives innovation then ask yourself is that part of my job or is being average good enough? However, I’ll fight in the employees’ corner for a second, as it can’t all be down to them. Creating the right culture and engagement that inspires people to want to be exceptional is the key and that falls squarely on the MD or CEOs desk! Innovation should be embedded in the very fabric of an organisation as fundamentally it’s about thinking and doing things differently in order to push further and faster forward.

Competitors can easily copy products and services but what’s almost impossible to copy is how you do what you do and that makes it a sustainable point of differentiation! You need to redesign the traditional business model, as the hard metrics of control and delivery are no longer the main drivers of shareholder value, people are! So if you’re the MD or CEO, from now on I want you to think of yourself as being in the people business! You’re new mission in life is to create a talent-rich, entrepreneurial community, collectively passionate about what you do and how you do it. You need to create in your people a desire to move away from average and head towards the exceptional. To do that you’ve got to start some fires burning in people’s bellies, you’ve got to start using a different language and you’ve got to get passionate about what you do and how you do it. So, MDs, CEOs take note and also all employees out there show this next bit to your MD/CEO. Instead of three golden rules I’m going to give you my three golden emotions of business.

Emotion 1: LOVE! You and all your people need to absolutely ‘Love’ what you do and



30

Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two -- and only two -- basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business. Peter Drucker

Working With Unhappy Customers

Most business owners would be happy if customer complaints were resolved quickly and courteously every time. However, that's an impossible goal, because some problems can't be fixed (or at least immediately). But you can keep your customers very happy with your service and even raving about it, if you implement this simple policy:

• Begin with an immediate, sympathetic apology - even if the complaint is unfounded, misdirected, or just plain idiotic.

• Repeat the complaint to the customer to verify that you understand. This should get the customer to (i) say "yes" -a very important first step - and (ii) pause in anticipation.

• Then say either "I can solve that problem for you right now" or "I'll start working a solution immediately."

• Explain that your business has a policy of compensating customers with problems. Tell him about some inexpensive but valuable gift you are going to send him. Good examples might include information products that can be delivered via email to reduce your costs. Ask where the gift like that should be sent. Again, this should help to neutralize the complaint.

• Tell the customer exactly how you are going to solve the problem. Ask if that is acceptable.

• If the customer's expectations can't be met, tell the customer you will speak to your superiors to see if something further can be done. Some time later, your superior should call to offer some additional compensation.

how you do it. MDs/CEOs, if you don’t, your people won’t! Great leadership is absolutely critical if you want to create a culture of innovation. You’ve got to be inspiring and sincere enough that your people bestow you with the leadership badge and want to be part of your companies journey. That’s when people start to ‘Love’ what they do. If you achieve this, people will be motivated, inspired, engaged, dynamic and creative and they’ll be exceptional. Best of all, they’ll be doing things differently, looking for new ways to tackle old or existing problems, tensions and challenges and when that happens innovation becomes the natural by-product.

Emotion 2: DESIRE! As a result of the organic move away from the mediocre towards exceptional every area of your organisation will raise its game. When you become outrageously good at what you do your customers will start to want not merely consider what you sell. They will ‘Desire’ your brand to the point that you’re the no-brainer choice because you’ll have company-wide and experiential differentiation as well as great products.

Emotion 3: HATE! If you’ve nailed these two then your competitors will absolutely ‘Hate’ you. You’ll have them constantly scratching their heads trying in vain to catch up. Now, if you’re an MD/CEO and that isn’t what you want your innovation efforts to deliver then I don’t know what is! If you’re an employee and you don’t want to work for an amazing company, be surrounded by talented and engaged people and be looked at by your customers and competitors as being the best, then maybe innovation isn’t in your job description! © Copyright Cris Beswick

About the Author

Cris Beswick is leading a new revolution in the way organisations approach strategy, leadership and innovation. He is a successful entrepreneur, renowned Speaker, Author and Advisor to some of the world’s leading organisations including the likes of B&Q, M&S, BP, Nokia, BMW and GE and has over a decade of experience. His proven expertise and skill in the field of innovation has led to his appointment as a member of the NHS think tank for innovation and leadership, as the Director for Cranfield’s Creative Growth Programme and he is also working with The Henley Partnership. His latest book ‘The Road to Innovation’ (available from Amazon at: http://tinyurl.com/675arqm and associated workshop ‘What it takes to innovate!’ illustrates the fundamental building blocks any organisation should address in order to create that illusive culture of innovation that many companies strive for. Co-ordinates

Web: www.crisbeswick.com/index.php Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 8453 724 422



31

Influencing the Board By Nicola McHale

The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need. Napoleon Bonaparte

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another. Napoleon Hill

This

article is about… how to

influence boards of directors.

I have been amazed just recently because we have been running some ‘Influencing the Board’ sessions for some high-profile companies across the UK. We have found that even specialists with many years’ experience are not good at influencing senior people at Board room level. Why?

Because they don’t listen and they don’t hear what is being said and what is not being said.

Listening is an art. It is vital to building influence and to selling.

Generally they came in and immediately started to sell at me, telling me all about themselves and their company. The conversation was all ‘I’ instead of about what I wanted. Questions were not asked for several minutes, losing out on the opportunity to influence me.

When I was asked a question, as I was answering, they would come up with something else that was irrelevant to my answer instead of using the link I had given them. Often talking over me and telling me what they wanted me to hear, rather than ‘listening’ and hearing what I was asking them.

Even when I did ‘throw’ them a lifeline they generally did not hear it or act on it.

At this level it is a values-based sale not a behaviour-led sale! It’s a ‘why’ not a ‘what’ question.

So just make sure you ‘really’ listen and hear what someone is actually saying to you:

• Listen and hear

• Reflect back that you have heard and understood

• Listen for a values based statement e.g. Trust, Credibility and Respect

• Stop listening to your own ‘self-talk’ and start focussing on the other person

• 1st Impressions count – take the time to do the ‘small talk’ and really get to know someone on a deeper level

• Keep your eye on the time – ensure you achieve your objective

If you are selling to the big Corporates then you need to position yourself differently. They will expect you to know about their business, their challenges and their culture. They will expect you to listen to them and respect what they want.

© Copyright Nicola McHale About the Author

Nicola McHale (Ross) has over 20 years of experience as a ‘results focused’ Executive Impact Coach, working with global leaders as they drive sensitive transformation. Her success means that they take Nicola with them as they move organisations and roles because they know she makes a significant difference to their success. Her depth of knowledge and extensive experience delivering throughout Europe, Asia and the United States gives her the ‘edge’ when working with culturally diverse teams. With an early career in the competitive world of fashion, beauty and health in London, New York and Paris she brings with her an in-depth knowledge of the critical components of personal impact and presence in leadership. Nicola has worked with many prominent leaders to improve their Impact and ensure they are prepared for media involvement. Working alongside Presidents, Vice Presidents, CEO’s and GM’s within organisations like

American Express, Diageo, Virgin Atlantic, Microsoft and HSBC Nicola’s practical approach and challenging questions provide a Team and the individuals with the power to fast track success throughout their organisations. Co-ordinates

E-mail: [email protected]



32

New Marketing Is About Building Assets By Grant Leboff

“… new marketing doesn't rely on campaigns. New marketing relies on providing value to potential customers. This leads to 'engagement' with a prospect and a share (however small) of 'their attention'. When they are then ready to buy, you will then be one of the suppliers they consider. Marketing cannot guarantee you the business. However, if your marketing activity ensures you get a seat at the table, when someone wants to buy, your

marketing is working.”

This

article is about… what new

marketing is all about.

'Old Marketing' was transactional in nature. One would organise a direct mail, telemarketing or advertising campaign and one would measure the results obtained. If it achieved a 'return on investment' the campaign was deemed successful. If not, it failed. As soon as activities were undertaken, e.g. phone calls were made or letters landed on the doormat of prospects, one could hope to receive some sort of response. Therefore, using this old model there was always a possibility of some 'quick wins'.

There was also a lot of wastage. For example, a mailer could be sent to 5,000 households. For a good campaign, a company may receive 150 responses back, but nothing would happen with the other 4,850 letters to which there was no response. Of course, today, response rates from traditional channels of marketing are in decline as consumers find less value in this type of communication. So, the days of that kind of response, in the main, are over. Consequently, companies are looking to new ways of marketing to attract customers to their business. However, new marketing doesn't rely on campaigns. New marketing relies on providing value to potential customers. This leads to 'engagement' with a prospect and a share (however small) of 'their attention'. When they are then ready to buy, you will then be one of the suppliers they consider. Marketing cannot guarantee you the business. However, if your marketing activity ensures you get a seat at the table, when someone wants to buy, your marketing is working.

You do not engage with prospects and customers by campaign. It is an ongoing process. By having good Customer Relationship Management software, utilising web analytics and monitoring responses received through other social media platforms, you will be able to assess where customers find value in your communications. In this way, you will be able to enrich the experience they have when interacting with you. This, in turn, makes it more likely they will want to engage again, in the future. Not only, therefore, are one off campaigns no longer relevant, but the nature of marketing has also changed. When a company sent out a direct mail piece or launched a billboard advertising campaign, there was no lasting value in the communications. Once the campaign was over, the company had no residual value from the activity other than the new business it may have generated. Of course, there were legendary campaigns that remained in the minds of consumers for years, but these few 'hits' were relatively few and far between. Today, however, this is not so. Whether a company posts videos on YouTube, podcasts on iTunes, starts a forum for people to ask questions or creates a game for users to share and play, there is inherent value in these communications. In other words, the shelf life of a good video can be many years, as can a good series of podcasts and articles. The tools utilised to engage an audience over the long term provide value to the company. Moreover, the engaged user base that is created and the data this provides, also becomes an asset of the business in a way that was never achieved in traditional marketing.

So for example, a small firm of independent financial advisers starts producing regular monthly videos on its website with the latest economic picture and what it means to its clientele. These videos have a shelf life of several months and even when out of date, they keep working for the business. This is because they provide an impressive amount of content on the site, which in turn helps make the IFA look credible and an expert in their field. Moreover, as word spreads about the videos, the content gets carried by other websites and blogs. With more people subscribing to receive them, the IFA ends up with an engaged database of ever increasing prospects. These are people who are regularly watching the videos on a monthly basis. This database and video channel becomes an asset to the company in their own right as well as bringing in regular leads and opportunities to the business. Of course, it took a while for the channel to start working and build momentum. When there were only two videos and ten viewers, it wasn't bringing in leads.



33

An innovation is one of those things that society looks at and says, if we make this part of the way we live and work, it will change the way we live and work. Dean Kamen

Important Notice © Copyright 2012, Bizezia Limited, All

Rights Reserved

This publication is published on our

behalf by Bizezia Limited. It is

protected by copyright law and

reproduction in whole or in part

without the publisher’s written

permission is strictly prohibited. The

publisher may be contacted at

[email protected] (+44 (0)1444

884220).

Articles and information contained

herein are published without

responsibility by us, the publisher or

any contributing author for any loss

howsoever occurring as a

consequence of any action which you

take, or action which you choose not

to take, as a result of this publication

or any view expressed herein. Whilst

it is believed that the information

contained in this publication is

correct at the time of publication, it

is not a substitute for obtaining

specific professional advice and no

representation or warranty,

expressed or implied, is made as to

its accuracy or completeness.

The information is relevant within the

United Kingdom. These disclaimers

and exclusions are governed by and

construed in accordance with English

Law.

Publication issued on

1 July 2012

This is just one example of how new marketing works. The bad news is it takes time to build. There are no quick wins. The good news, however, is that for the first time, marketing is now not only responsible for generating new business opportunities, but it can also add real value to a business, over the long term, by building tangible assets for a company. It is time for the message to reach Small Business Owners and Corporate Boardrooms alike. Marketing should no longer be seen as a net cost to a business. Today, marketing can create real value in its own right.

© Copyright, Grant Leboff About the Author

Grant Leboff is one of the U.K's leading Sales and Marketing experts. His first book, Sales Therapy®, introduced businesses to a new and highly effective Sales philosophy. It made the Amazon top 10 bestseller list on publication and is one of the top selling books on Sales in the UK. It is now available worldwide. His current book, ‘Sticky Marketing’, provides companies with the new principles of marketing so they can thrive in a Web enabled world. On release in January of this year it immediately went straight to number 1 in the Amazon Sales and Marketing Chart and went to number 5 in the overall Business Chart. Grant provides businesses with new Sales and Marketing strategies to be successful in this new environment. Having built a successful direct marketing company, which he started in 2002, Leboff sold it in 2008. He is now CEO of Sticky Marketing Club™ Ltd., working with businesses on effective Sales and Marketing strategies. Grant’s 2011 launch of his Sales and Marketing portal, stickymarketing.com produced a wealth of resources and

information on effective Sales and Marketing for business. He is a highly sought after speaker and is constantly presenting at conferences and events all over the world. As well as sitting on the Advisory Council of The Global Marketing Network, Leboff is a regular contributor to many business magazines and newspapers. Amongst others, he has been featured in the Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Financial Times, The Daily Mirror and The Sun and has appeared on BBC Radio on numerous occasions. Co-ordinates

Mail: Sticky Marketing Club Ltd, Caldecote House, Bushey, Herts, WD23 4GP, UK Tel: +44 (0) 844 478-0044 or +44 (0) 208 958-5695 Email: http://www.stickymarketing.com/contact-us Web: www.stickymarketing.com Blog: www.stickymarketing.com/blog/sticky-marketing-club

It's not enough that we

do our best; sometimes

we have to do what's

required. Sir Winston Churchill


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“Since installing Bizezia's Online Business Library on our website we have found it an extremely useful resource. The publications are not only handy as a proactivity tool for keeping clients informed on a range of topics, but also as an internal reference. It has been a great addition to our website, making it even more of an information source our clients can keep coming back to.”

Better Business Focus

Better Business Focus is a web-based monthly magazine that is personalised to your firm, underlining your

credentials as a specialist business adviser. It will strengthen your clients’ confidence in your firm and demonstrate

that you are a progressive and innovative organisation, willing to go that extra mile...

“We are very impressed with your Better Business Focus magazine which we receive without fail on our website every month. It is jam packed full of helpful and inspiring ideas!” AVN Peterson Limited

“This is a great magazine!” Melanie Benson Strick, The Big Idea Catalyst & America's #1 Optimum Performance Coach and a BBF author

“There is so much good stuff in this publication…” Kevin Stansfield, one of the top business coaches in the UK and a BBF author

“Better Business Focus provides an ideal platform for my business authors to reach an engaged audience…” Helen McCusker, Managing Director, Booked PR

Bizezia Limited, Incorporated in England and Wales, Company Number 04017546. Kingfisher House, Hurstwood Grange, Hurstwood Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH17 7QX, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1444 884220

Fax: +44 (0) 1444 458882 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.bizezia.com

IMPORTANT MESSAGE If you want to out-pace your competitors and deliver cutting edge business improvement ideas to your customers/clients, then

subscribe now to Better Business Focus and Online Business Library. Own-branding is now available: Both products can be delivered from your own website with your own-branded corporate image to

your clients and prospects. For details of subscription rates, visit Bizezia at: http://www.bizezia.com

or call +44 (0) 1444 884220

better business focus

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