better business focus

Better Business Focus November 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.

November 2012

The Business Magazine that Business owners love to read

Better Business FocusExpert inspiration for a Better Business


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This Month’s Articles:

2 How do I get my team to focus on the highest priorities of the business? By Rob Garibay

4 Don’t Just Do Something Different: Do the Opposite! By Paul Sloane

5 Business continuity guide launched Cabinet Office

6 The Customer Is Your Marketing Department By John Stanley

7 Making your marketing relevant By Paul Chapman

8 From “Unknown” to “Understood” By Barry Urquhart

9 A Message from Lilach Bullock By Lilach Bullock

10 Uncovering Opportunity By John Niland

13 Why Most Companies Underinvest in Social Media (And How You Can Fix It) By Brad Smith

14 Why is accurate sales forecasting such a challenge By Bob Apollo

18 Business growth ambitions amongst SMEs

21 Bidding to Win: the Ten Critical Success Factors By Chris Whyatt

23 Exercises for Experienced and Inexperienced Sales People By Clive Miller

25 Planning effective strategies for privately owned businesses Why some companies do not succeedBy Mike Robson

27 My Journey in Converting My Printed Book to an eBook: Lessons Learned By Karen Saunders

29 Data responsibilities when using cloud computing

30 Cycle Worse, Cycle Better A blog from Seth Godin

31 Sales Lessons from Steve Jobs By Andy Preston

32 How to Shine in the Spotlight By Charles Bates

34 Top Business Commentators and Entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter

36 How Britain can win “the relentless economic war”

Brought to you with the compliments of Bizezia Ltd


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How do I get my team to focus onthe highest priorities of thebusiness?By Rob Garibay

Thisarticle isabout…how cleardirectionand focuscan help

your teamto succeed.

Is your team not performing up toyour expectations? The good newsis that you have more control thanyou think. It could be due to a lackof clear direction and focus.

Leadership begins with painting acurrent picture of the future inthe form of a vision. As the ownerand leader of your company, youcan determine what your businesswill look like years down theroad. Steven Covey, in his bookThe 7 Habits of Highly EffectivePeople, says to “Begin with theend in mind”. Think about theimpact that your team could haveon your company if they have anunderstanding of your long termvision, are guided by its presence,and are energized by drawingfrom your passion!

By now you might be asking: howdo I communicate my vision sothat my team embraces it, isenergized by it, and becomesmore effective? Three steps: Write a vision statement

about that which you arepassionate

Creatively and frequentlycommunicate that vision toyour team

To obtain practical benefit,continuously use that visionstatement as a decisionmaking filter and require it ofyour team.

What is a vision statement?A vision statement is the longestterm goal for your business thatyou can imagine. However, to beeffective you must believe in yourvision and be passionatelycommitted to its fulfilment.

Your vision doesn’t necessarilyhave to be limited to yourlifetime. For example, the visionfor ActionCOACH is: “Worldabundance through business re-

education”. Your vision is theoverall strategic intent for yourbusiness, reduced into one or twopassion instilling sentences so thatit is easily recalled and remainsfront-of-mind with your team.

How do I communicate myvision to my team?A vision statement should beliving. By living I mean that itshould be communicatedeverywhere, in as many creativeformats as possible: audibly andvisually. Imagine every member ofyour team stating your visionaccurately and immediately uponbeing asked!

When hiring, one of the selectioncriterion should be how willingthe candidate is to identify withyour vision. As the owner of thevision, be constantly looking forinnovative ways and opportunitiesto communicate it. As you do,your team members will catch thedream and follow suit.

Of what practical benefit is avision statement?Crafted and used properly, avision statement can become theNorth Star to your overallbusiness strategy and decisionmaking process. Your businessplan should spring from yourvision. Your yearly plans and your90 day (quarterly) plans shouldalign with your vision. Everydecision that is made in yourbusiness should be congruent withyour vision. Your team should bein the habit of cross checking theirplans and decisions with yourvision. Just as the sailors of oldaligned their direction with theNorth Star, so should all of yourplanning align with your vision.

So many success stories haveevolved from one person’spassionate commitment to avision and enlisting others to carry

it out! In the absence of a vision,many businesses are challenged toidentify their highest priorities. Alack of vision and focusedpriorities is one of the reasonswhy businesses fail. Low teammorale, absenteeism andresignations may be signs that theleader must clarify the vision andset priorities aligned with thatvision.

I increasingly encounter businessowners that are seeking help torefocus and to reignite their visionfor success. With the guidanceprovided by our coaching firm,business owners are able to regainthe leadership that is so vital totheir business. Tune in to my nextarticle as we discuss theimportance of a corporatemission.

The company’s missionOnce the vision is established thebusiness owner should create adescription of how the vision willbe accomplished. This is called thecompany’s mission. The statementof the company’s mission shouldinclude: Who we are as a company In what business we are

employed The markets that we serve How we differ from our

competition

All of the above points are worthyof some extended deep thoughtand discussion, especially the finalbullet. The outcome should be thecompany’s unique valueproposition or unique sellingproposition (USP). The USP is avaluable gem that will strategicallydrive all of your marketing efforts.When properly crafted anddeployed, your USP will mitigateyour company’s exposure to pricecompetition by so dramaticallydifferentiating your company fromthe rest of the pack that the



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How to keep up with

the News across the

world

How do you keep up to date with the newsacross the world? Simply drag your mouseover the amazing map at the source linkshown below and see today's front pagefrom local newspapers in 91 countries.http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash

How to keep up withthe News from the UK

EziaNews from Bizezia provides newsstories every day and for the previous 11months. Available to read from the Bizeziawebsite at:http://www.bizezia.com/newsindex/ or youcan subscribe for the most comprehensivenews feed available for your own websiteat:http://www.bizezia.com/products/ezianews

unique value your company is ableto provide should deflect the needto discount!

You might be thinking “I’m in acommodity business so I don’thave anything of unique value toprovide.” I guarantee that withproper self-assessment, any groupof individuals assembled for acommon purpose (a company)can find something, within thatumbrella of purpose, that they cando better than anyone else; if forno other reason than they chooseto focus on that “something” andmake it so. We at ActionCOACHhave assembled a USP creationmethodology that takes a groupthrough that discovery process.

IllustrationTo illustrate the above let’sconsider ActionCOACH’s missionstatement:

ActionCOACH is a team ofcommitted, positive and successfulpeople who are always striving to bebalanced, integral and honest. Wewill work within our "14 Points ofCulture" to make sure that everyonewho touches, or is touched by theActionCOACH team, will benefitgreatly and in some way move closerto becoming the person they want tobe or achieving the goals they desire.

We will always work in competitionwith all those who believe they are incompetition with us.

We are in the business of'Edutainment'. We will educateourselves, our clients and all thosewith whom we work, while weentertain them and create a funlearning environment. We willeducate our clients in world-classmarketing and business developmenttechniques using audio, video, CD's,other technologies, and simpleworkbooks, workshops and seminarformats.

Our products and services will be ofthe highest quality, value for moneyand, whether sourced from withinthe company or externally, willalways add the most value using thelatest and most effective trainingmethodologies available.

ActionCOACH clients, whether theyare small, medium or large in size,will have a desire to have us help

them in achieving their goals and beable to take on Our Commitment tothem by returning their Commitmentto ActionCOACH. They will beforward thinking, willing to learn andgrow, and be willing to work as ateam player in the development ofan organization of people.

Our clients will be selected more onattitude than size and they will wantto do business with us because weunderstand people are important,systems should run a company, weoffer the most practical, mostapplicable and fastest strategies ongrowth, and most importantly,because we mean what we say.

We will give people back their spiritand freedom through businessdevelopment.

Here are a few thought provokingquestions (from Instant TeamBuilding by Brad Sugars) to askwhen developing your missionstatement: What do we, as a team, want

in abundance? What do we, as a team, want

to reduce? Describe the relationships you

wish to have with your:- Customers- Suppliers- Shareholders- Competition- Community- Employees

As a quality check for yourmission statement ask thefollowing questions: Is it future oriented? Is it likely to lead to a better

future for the organization? Is it consistent with the

organization’s values? Does it set standards of

excellence? Does it clarify purpose and

direction? Does it inspire enthusiasm and

encourage commitment? Does it set the company apart

from the competition? Is it ambitious enough? Is it exciting?

With a well-crafted andcommunicated vision and missionstatement, your team will be ableto cross check their prioritieswith yours.

© Copyright, Robert Garibay

About the Author

Robert Garibay is anActionCOACH Business Coach.He is no stranger to success asboth business owner andcompetitive player in thecorporate world. With anengineering degree from CaseWestern Reserve University, hehas a successful track record insales, marketing, management,team building, strategic planningand leadership; both in his owncompanies and in the corporateworld. His professional careerspans building businesses inmanufacturing, R&D, distribution,retail and IT.

Co-ordinates

Mail: Rob Garibay3209 N Flood Ave,Norman, Oklahoma 73069,United StatesPhone: (001) 405 684-1021Work: (001) 405 237-0019Fax: (001) 405 573-4017Email:[email protected]



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Don’t Just Do SomethingDifferent: Do the Opposite!By Paul Sloane

Thisarticle isabout…

how doingthe

opposite towhat is

expected,may help

yousucceed.

Innovation means doingsomething different and whatcould be more different than theexact opposite? If your currentplans and policies are not workingthen try doing the opposite.

The policy of all major softwarecompanies such as Microsoft, Oracleand IBM, was to protect theirintellectual property. Only a handful ofloyal employees were allowed accessto the full source code of majorsoftware programs and steps weretaken to ensure that the valuableprogramming secrets never left thecompany’s site.

Linus Torvalds, a Finnish programmer,decided to do the opposite. Hecreated an operating system, Linux, sothat anybody could view and amendthe source code. This meant thatanybody could effectively own andchange the software. It was difficult ifnot impossible to control but that didnot worry him because it alsounleashed a wave of free creativity andinnovation. He created the opensource movement by doing theopposite of all the big players.

The movie, The Artist, won the bestpicture award at the 2012 Oscars. Thedirector had deliberately opposedconventional movie-making by filmingThe Artist in black and white andwithout dialogue.

Jean-Claude Killy was a Frenchdownhill skier who wanted to wingold in the Winter Olympics. But hecould not do it using the conventionalmethods so he did the opposite.Everyone was coached to keep theirskis together and their weight forwardgoing downhill. He created a new stylecalled “avalement” which involvedkeeping the skis apart and sitting backon the skis. He won three gold medalsat the 1968 Olympics.

When Anita Roddick founded theBody Shop retail chain she did theopposite of her major rivals. They all

presented their perfumes andshampoos in expensive bottles andplush packaging. She used cheap plasticbottles and simple packaging to stressthat the contents were what mattered– and they were pure and simple.

We are all plagued by emails fromscam artists who tell us we have wonthe lottery or can help them movemillions out of some obscure bankaccount. The conventional advice is toignore these emails. But what if we didthe opposite? What if we allresponded by asking for more details?The scammers, who send out millionsof emails, would be overwhelmed andunable to cope.

Look at your current policies andstrategies. What would happen if youdid the exact opposite?

Keep trying – the Virgin IceCream StoryI spoke at the Like Minds conference(http://wearelikeminds.com/live/innovation-the-immersive) in London. Oneof the other speakers was Chris Moss.He was the Chief Marketing Officer atVirgin Atlantic, CEO of 118118 andthe creator of the Orange Brand. Hetold an interesting story aboutinnovation at Virgin. In the early daysof Virgin Atlantic they were seekingways of improving the passengerexperience. The question he askedwas, ‘We show movies but how canwe make flying more like going to thecinema?’ One of the ideas thatresulted was to serve ice creams.They asked the engineers how theycould do this and were turned downflat – there were no freezers onaeroplanes. However, Moss persistedand they undertook a trial usingfrozen ice creams packed in dry ice.The trial was a disaster. The icecreams were rock hard and inedible.Undaunted they kept experimentinguntil they got the temperature right.Ice creams proved very popular andwere an inexpensive but appealingdifferentiator.

It seems to me that there are someimportant lessons in this little story.

Let’s break it down into innovation

steps: Ask a different question

(how can we make flyingmore like the cinema?)

Select your best idea; The experts tell you all the

reasons why it won’t work; You find a way to try it

anyway; The trial fails; You learn from the failure

and try again.

He also told about another innovativeidea. They gave children littlerucksacks with enough sweets to lastthe flight. Another disaster! Mostchildren opened the rucksacks, scoffedall the candies immediately and thenwere sick.

Innovation involves trying an idea –and most really creative ideas don’twork first time. Keep trying – likeVirgin.

© Copyright, Paul Sloane

About the Author

Paul Sloane writes and speaks oninnovation. He is the author ofThe Innovative Leader:www.destination-innovation.comPaul was part of the team whichlaunched the IBM PC in the UK in1981. He became MD of databasecompany Ashton-Tate. In 1993Paul joined MathSoft, publishers ofmathematical software as VPInternational. He became CEO ofMonactive, a British softwarecompany which publishessoftware asset management tools.In 2002, he founded his owncompany, Destination Innovation,which helps organisations improveinnovation. He writes and speakson lateral thinking and innovation.His latest book is The Leader’sGuide to Lateral Thinking Skillspublished by Kogan-Page.

Co-ordinates

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



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Business continuity guide launched

Thisarticle isabout…business

continuityand how itcan helpSMEs tosucceed.

At the end of September 2012,The UK Cabinet Office, inpartnership with the BusinessContinuity Institute andEmergency Planning Society hasworked to produce the new‘Business Continuity for Dummies’,an essential ‘survival’ guide forsmall and medium sizedenterprises (SMEs). You candownload a sample chapterfrom:http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/business-continuity-guide-sample-chapter

Reducing the risk from emergenciesallows SMEs to go about theirbusiness more freely and withconfidence that they can managechallenges they may face.

Minister for Political andConstitutional Reform, Chloe SmithMP said: “The resilience of SMEsmatters. SMEs are the life-blood ofthe economy, providing employmentand growth, and critical services andproducts to larger companies.They’re also vital in supporting theirlocal communities cope withdisasters. The quicker they can beup and running again after problemshit, the quicker whole communitiescan recover.”

Written with SMEs in mind, theguide acknowledges that smallerbusinesses just do not have themoney, time and resources toprepare for disruptions, yet the costof dealing with them when they doarise can be significant.

The guide provides simple, and forthe most part inexpensive, ‘how to’measures to deal with difficultiesranging from being let down by oneof your key suppliers all the waythrough to major disruptions causedby challenges such as flooding,severe weather and a pandemicinfluenza outbreak.

Minister of State for Business andEnterprise, Rt. Hon. Michael FallonMP, said: “Business Continuity forDummies brings together the wealthof experience within Government insupport of business continuityplanning in SMEs. Working withbusiness, this book takes aninnovative approach to reaching outto the 5 million SMEs in this countryto build the resilience of our

communities and our economy.This Government is committed tosupporting SMEs and this bookbuilds on and supports the worktaking place to ensure the survivaland growth of our SMEs.”

In collaboration with the BusinessContinuity Institute (BCI) and theEmergency Planning Society (EPS),tens of other organisationsrepresenting or supporting SMEshave come together for the firsttime in this way, to support and helpprotect the health of our SMEs.

Jim Haywood, Executive Director,Business Emergency RecoveryGroup, said: “Business in theCommunity (BITC) has been pleasedto be involved in the developmentof this important Guide. Throughthe Business Emergency RecoveryGroup, an initiative of HRH ThePrince of Wales and convened byBITC, Business in the Communityaims to support smaller businessesand local communities in gettingback on their feet after anemergency. But prevention isalways better than cure - planningahead and building in resilience iswhat responsible and successfulbusinesses do. This Guide will be anenormous help with that.”

SMEs often suffer disproportionatelyfrom disruptions of all kinds,including bigger emergencies,because many haven’t realised theimpact to their business and theirwider markets from disruption.Understanding the importance ofcontinuity and getting it right, early,can see competitive advantages andin some areas, lower premiums topay.

Simple, practical, and low cost stepsare outlined that companies can taketo make sure they stand up to

disruptions. Based on simple thingsSMEs can do to understand their keyprocesses and vulnerabilities, thesecan include:• getting a good understanding of

the risks their business faces,and the consequences if theseevents happen;

• ensuring business continuityplans match the business, fittingin with what the company does,its size, its resources, where it isbased, and how it works;

• making sure that everyone getsinvolved, at all levels, so they allbuy into the idea of businesscontinuity, know what their rolewould be, and how disruptionwould affect those outside theorganisation too.

What is business continuitymanagement?Business continuity management(BCM) is a process that helpsmanage risks to the smooth runningof an organisation or delivery of aservice, ensuring continuity ofcritical functions in the event of adisruption, and effective recoveryafterwards. The Government aimsto ensure all organisations have aclear understanding of BusinessContinuity Management (BCM).

Further information:• You can find further detail on

Contingency and Resilience at:http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/civil-contingencies/

• You can find more guidance at:http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/business-continuity

Source:http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/business-continuity-guide-launched



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The Customer Is Your

Marketing DepartmentBy John Stanley


howconsumers

havechanged

the rules ofmarketing.

Remember the days when largerretailers had marketing departmentsand those departments developedthe marketing strategies for thebusinesses? Companies tried todecide their own destiny.

Today, consumers have changedthe rules and marketing isbecoming more and morecontrolled by the consumerrather than by the retailer.

The introduction of the smartphone and social media meansmarketing has become immediateand in the consumer’s handsrather than the retailer’s hands.

One major retailer recentlydiscovered this fact in the UK.The retailer developed a Twittercampaign to increase consumerawareness. Consumers wereasked to complete a sentence “Ishop at XXXXXXX because....”

The company expected positiveresponses to grow their businessawareness. Consumers loved thismarketing opportunity and a largenumber of the responses weredistasteful and damaged the brandrather than praised the brand. Themessage is that when youcommunicate with the consumerbe careful in what you ask for.

Shopping CrawlsIndependent retailers in the UKare working with local communitygroups and individuals to developChristmas Shopping Crawls. Thisis where consumers work withlocal retailers to develop ashopping crawl that can bepromoted via social media. Theaim is that the crawl makesChristmas shopping fun. Retailersdevelop suitable promotions andevents along the crawl andprovide a stamp on a crawl map ifthe consumer visits them.

Consumers who complete thecrawl can enter a raffle and prizesare presented to successful crawlshoppers.

This type of marketing meanslocal retailers can come togetheras a group and consumers canbuild interest and traffic throughtheir own social media contacts.

Details on how to develop a crawlare available fromwww.independentshops.co.uk

Cash MobsThe last trend where consumersare generating sales for businesscomes from “cash mobs”. A trendthat started in the USA and hasnow spread to Europe. Cashmobs are a development fromFlash mobs. Flash mobs are whena group of people assemble in onelocation and do somethingunexpected for a few minutes andthen disperse. The group hearsabout the activity through socialmedia.

Chris Smith a Buffalo Blogger tookthis to the next stage in August2011 when he suggested that itcould be developed into cashmobs. The first cash mob I believewas in a wine cellar in Buffalowhen 100 people turned up topurchase wine.

The concept is based on a groupof consumers deciding to visit alocal business. In organised cashmobs the group ask the retailer ifthey would like to be selected andan agreed minimum purchase isdiscussed. The group thencongregates at the store, have aspend commitment and then oftenmeet afterwards at an agreedlocation.

This is an example of where theretailer is not controlling theirmarketing, but is being led by theconsumer.

I am aware of one book retailerwho saw books sales go up by afactor of 600% when he wasinvolved with a cash mob activity.The great thing about thismarketing is that it gives theretailer the opportunity to engagewith new consumers in theircommunity

Develop your Own CurrencyOne of the challenges forindividual, independent retailers isthat consumers will often go tomultinational companies. If onlythere was a local currency thatcould only be used in thecommunity and with localretailers.

The communities of Stroud,Brixton and Bristol in the UKhave done that and developedtheir own currency. In September2012, Bristol in the south west ofthe UK introduced the Bristolpound. Consumers wereencouraged to convert Britishpounds into Bristol pounds to bespent at local businesses. Localpromotions were then focusedaround the Bristol pound ratherthan the British pound and moremoney circulated in the localcommunity.

Pay for the Milk!The issue in marketing today is toremember that the consumerholds the key to future marketing.My wife and I were recentlystaying at a fairly upmarket hotelin the UK. We were asked to payfor the breakfast when weentered the restaurant and feltthat the charge for breakfast wason the high side. We sat downand my wife ordered a latte. Thewaiter looked at her and said thatonly coffee was included in thebreakfast, if she wanted latte itwould be extra. “Are you tellingus that the milk is extra?” weasked him. “Yes,” he replied. Welooked at him waiting for an



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getting thebest out of

yourmarketing

spend.

explanation and were told it wascompany policy to charge extra ifa customer ordered a latte. Canyou imagine how much damagethis is doing to the hotel? Thesocial media conversation on theprice of milk in a coffee will dothe hotel damage as we will advisefriends to stay at another hotel.

We have reached the tippingpoint where the consumer has themarketing initiative and themarketing department willbecome less influential inmarketing decisions. Increasinglythe marketing decisions will bemade by the consumer ratherthan the retailer.

© Copyright John Stanley

About the Author

John Stanley is a conferencespeaker and retail consultant withover 20 years’ experience in 15countries. He regularlycontributes to retail magazinesaround the world and has co-authored several successfulmarketing and retail booksincluding the bestseller Just AboutEverything a Retail Manager Needsto Know (obtainable from Amazon:ISBN-10: 0975011804/ ISBN-13:978-0975011805).

John Stanley Associates producean e-newsletter specific toretailing; this includes innovativeideas and advice to help you growyour profits. If you would like toreceive a regular copy, please visitwww.johnstanley.com.au or [email protected]

Co-ordinatesMail: John Stanley Associates142 Hummerston RoadKalamunda, Western Australia,6076Tel: (+0061) 8 9293 4533Fax: (+0061) 8 9293 4561Email: [email protected]:http://www.johnstanley.com.au

"I know that I waste half mymarketing budget - the troubleis I don't know which half" is atruism for a lot of companiesand is not good enough indifficult market conditions.

The temptation is to cut spend onmarketing but the real answer isto cut the bits that don't workand increase spend on effectivecampaigns. Here are some ideas: Consider increasing

marketing targeted at ‘Mustkeep' customers;

Review your pricing - doyou know what parts of yourproduct portfolio are pricesensitive, and as importantlywhich parts can be priced tomaintain a good margin;

Pay particular attention towhy customers buy fromyou - does your marketingmaterial, and your sales force,articulate the business benefitof your product as well as itcan be done;

Segment your market andfocus on market sectors thatare less impacted byrecession;

Review your productportfolio - considerintroducing ‘Lite' versions ofproducts or services that stilldeliver, say, 80% of thebenefits but at a morecompetitive price;

Make sure that you knowyour most effective leadgeneration mechanismsand exploit them. Cut back inother areas to fund this;

Analyse your marketingpromotion spend - cut backon generic promotion andfocus on lead generation. Tryto keep the PR going - be seenas successful;

Focus on saleseffectiveness - make surethat your sales process isgood and it is properlyexecuted. You can't afford tocarry passengers on your salesteam. If you need to fireunder-performers do itsooner rather than later;

Use the data in your CRMsystem to target specificcustomers / groups ofcustomers with attractiveoffers. If you don't have aCRM system, then get one.

Review your websitecontent - does it promoteyou as well as it should? Is itup to date? Can you use it todrive more business?

© Copyright, Paul Chapman

About the Author

Paul Chapman had over 20 years’experience of marketing, sales andgeneral management in the UK,Europe, USA and the Far East inboth blue chip and early stagecompanies. He held managingdirector and marketing / salesdirector positions in 3 very highgrowth companies. He hasexperienced an IPO on NASDAQ,is a member of the Institute ofDirectors and has been acompany mentor with theUniversities of Southampton andSurrey. He joined the AzurePartners board in 2004.

Co-ordinates

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

Making yourmarketing relevantBy Paul Chapman



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From “Unknown” to“Understood”By Barry Urquhart

Thisarticle isabout… a

newperspective

onmarketinginitiatives.

Economic boom timesaccommodate, tolerate andfacilitate large measures ofinefficiency and ineffectiveness.

Inherent in many past massmarketing strategies and initiativeswere varying percentages of poorlytargeted communications. Wastagefactors were typically sizeable, butarguably affordable because of thesheer volume of business potential.Some customers simply fell in thecracks and felt that way, with littlerecognition of their plights,disappointments and unrecognisedand unfulfilled needs, wants andaspirations. Little wonder thatcustomer loyalty was mostly readabout in marketing and salespublications, rather than beingexperienced and enjoyed in businessrelationships.

Since the onset of the GlobalFinancial Crisis (GFC), manymanagement teams have necessarilyreviewed, refined and enhancedmany aspects of business operationsand processes. Understandably,budgets have been reined in.Communications have becomebetter and tighter focused. Wastageand leakage factors and costs havebeen identified and are beingprogressively eliminated.

Among the more notable and costlyinefficiencies of the past weregeneralised advertising, marketing,promotional, merchandising andselling initiatives. Customisation wasapplied occasionally, if not sparingly,because of a lack of substantiveinformation on primary, secondaryand tertiary target audiences.

On-Line, On-SongBeing on-line and connected hasestablished a whole new world of

expectations, demands anddisappointments among consumers.

Pre-GFC, mass media campaignswere typically generalised and lackedstrong measures of productivity,particularly in social media. Thebold, general headlines were andremain, for many consumers, turn-off factors in cyberspace.

For businesses, effective emails,texts, Twitter, Facebook andYouTube exchanges need to bepersonable, intimate and respectful.

Purchase agendas are notdetermined or set by the corporatecommunicators. The potential oractual consuming communicateesare most responsive to positiveinformation, intelligence andpersonal experiences orcommendations.

The self-belief that one is unique,different and discerning is alive andwell on-line and on the streets.Communication styles need toreflect those attributes and ideals.

Miss UnderstoodMany women are justified in being“miffed” about being ignored, notrecognised or being misunderstood.Their roles, importance andinfluence in stimulating purchasesand expediting the various stages ofthe buying cycle were and still areoften over-looked, not studied,analysed, respected or addressed.

Lagging demand and poor salesvolume can be explained, in part,because of the lack of sensitivity andresponsiveness by marketers andmanagement teams to the uniqueand divergent perceptions,preferences and dictates of femaleconsumers. For example, some 72%of the decisions for families tocontemplate and decide on thepurchase of a new residence areinitiated by the female head of thehousehold.

There are a discrete number of“hot-buttons” which “turn on” thepurchase drive of these keycustomers and consumers. Sadly,detailed analysis of the advertising,literature and promotional literatureof new home builders, real estateagencies and property developersreadily identifies glaring deficiencies,inadequacies and inappropriatetexts. The target audiences appearto be unknown or misunderstood.

Motor vehicle dealers, networks andmanufacturers exhibit the sameinsensitivities and suffer losses ofpotential sales as a consequence.

Retailers at large could profitappreciably by connecting with andbeing focused on the mind-sets,perception parameters, andpurchase paradigms of femaleconsumers. This includes hardwarestores, some of which areconspicuously “macho-male” inadvertising style, store presentationsand sales staff employment practices.

The Next StepThe era of generalisation andbroadcasting is waning, if it has notalready elapsed.

Narrowcasting is an imperative, orput another way, masscustomisation is in vogue.

Individualised, personalised anddirect communication minimiseswastage, shrinkage and leakage.Efficiency, effectiveness, productivityand velocity are optimised wheninvestments are made into theresearching, understanding andservicing of discrete sub-groupingsand individualisation.

A mutual sense of understandingfosters confidence, peace-of-mindand assurance, which, individuallyand collectively, generate urgency,demand and optimal performance.

We should all know intimately andin detail our products, our marketsand the economy. However, that is



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not enough. The needs exist for allentities to truly know, understand,value, to reach out, connect withand engage each and every targetedcustomer, consumer and client.

The journey typically starts with theunknown and unknowns, ultimatelyprogressing to the understood... thatis when you, your business,products, services and people willhave arrived.

© Copyright Barry Urquhart

About the Author

Barry Urquhart, Managing Director,Marketing Focus, Perth, is aninspiring speaker, author ofAustralia’s top two selling books oncustomer service and aninternational consultant on dynamicinnovation and creativity. Barry isauthor of six books, including thetwo largest selling publications onservice excellence in Australasia.His latest is: “Marketing Magic –Streetsmart Marketing”. Barry is aregular commentator of consumerissues on ABC radio, is featured ona series of interview topics on“Today Tonight” and contributesarticles to 47 magazines throughoutthe world. His latest presentation is:“Insights on ‘The Big Picture’ - Future-Proof Your Business”. He is one ofAustralia’s most active keynotespeakers and is an internationallyrecognised authority on qualitycustomer service, consumerbehaviour and creative visualmerchandising. Marketing Focus is aPerth based market research andstrategic planning practice. The firmand Barry consult to multinational,national and local entities in theprivate sector and the public sector.He is a former lecturer in Marketingand Management at the CurtinUniversity of Technology and hasdegrees in marketing, politicalscience and sociology.

Co-ordinates

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

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© Copyright, Lilach Bullock

About the Author

Lilach Bullock is one of the UK'smost dynamic, well-respected andwell-connected businesswomen. Shelaunched and then sold her firstbusiness within three years ofbecoming a mother. Even now, shejuggles a demanding home life withcommercial commitments. Lilach'scontribution was recognisednationally, when she became afinalist at the Best MumPreneur ofthe Year Award, presented atDowning Street, where she waspraised for her entrepreneurialefforts. Her latest venture, NetworkWaves, launched in 2011 and is amust-have for anyone whopromotes their business via theinternet. This innovative andexclusive website is a one-stop-shopfor social media and internetmarketing needs.

Co-ordinates

Tel: +44 (0) 7590 554 292Email: [email protected]: www.sociable,co.uk andwww.networkwaves.comTwitter:https://twitter.com/lilachbullockLinkedIn:

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/lilachbullock

A Message from LilachBullock


theadvantages

you getfrom

writing ablog.



10

How onethinks

How onebehaves

Individual

Focused ondeliverables

Not feelingentitled to askcertainquestions

Lack ofconfidence

Talking toomuch

Making offerstoo early

Giving awaythe answers

Forgetting toask questions

Team

Culturalaversion tosales

Risk-“minimisation”

Lack of rolemodelsCompetitionbetween teams

Dependenceon rainmakers

Lack ofsupportsystems

Random keep-in-touch

Over-servicingthe client

In a tough economy, it is morevital than ever that a professionalfirm gets a good return on itsinvestment in growth. Like thepeople, the pipeline represents thefuture.

Therefore, both for reasons ofROI and of cost-minimisation,sustainable marketing techniquesare particularly applicable to thecurrent climate. These techniquesare best defined as those that canbe carried out consistently by asmany people as possible,particularly while lead consultantsare busy on delivery.

In a nutshell, we want toempower others to do ourprospecting, so that we can focuson key client-relationships. Sowhat gets in the way?

Here are just some of the factorsthat prevent opportunities beingdiscovered (notice how many areissues of attention; although habitplays a key role, too.)

All development strategiesbecome more successful andsustainable if the professionalinvolved has the ability to createand discover opportunity. Manyconsultants can spec out aquotation or a proposal.... buthow many can uncover newopportunities with the client,opportunities that did not existbefore that vital conversation?

Habits to AvoidWorking on behaviour alone israrely enough, but that said, hereare some behaviours thatsometime have to be unlearned:

Pitching. For example, theconsultant puts forward ashopping list of initiatives orproposed actions, all of whichclearly require the support ofthe consultancy. This is notspotting opportunity, this isblatant selling, and themoment this is spotted by theclient, trust is damaged andthe client may be on thedefensive (permanently)afterwards.

Evangelism. Here theconsultant advocates an ideaor a plan in which s/hepassionately believes, in thefull belief that this is in thebest interests of the client.But while enthusiasm issometimes infectious, it mayequally be perceived asamateurish. At the very least,it may prompt the client tothink about all the constraintsand reality-checks; if only tobalance the discussion. Thenet result may be that theopportunity is not so muchuncovered as resisted.

Totally focusedon delivery in the belief thatthis will prompt value to berealised, and will win trustwith the client. A laudableapproach, but one that doesnot take account that"yesterday's bread is quicklyforgotten", i.e. that the

moment the problem issolved, there may be no timeleft in which to develop therelationship. We should neverpostpone the opportunity toexplore value; the end of theproject is often too late.

Staying too close toone client manager (usuallyour advocate). Opportunitiesare often found bysynthesising multipleviewpoints rather than bysupporting one person'sapproach... even if that personis the MD. The best way to dothis is to talk to as manypeople as possible, beingwilling to justify the necessityof doing so when necessary.

There are many more factors thatget in the way, but hopefully theabove four have given a sample.Let's now turn to some of thepractices we want to support andencourage, both in ourselves andin other people.

Practices to uncover valueIn this section, we have attemptedto compile the "top ten" practices,and to contrast these with someof the behaviours that might easilybe happening instead... often withthe best of intentions. Most ofthese top-ten are self-explanatory.

As always, it is not just aboutworking on behaviour in isolation.For behaviour-change to besustainable, it is usually necessaryto do some work on the cultureand the strategy that surroundsit... not to mention the beliefs thatlie beneath.

Uncovering OpportunityBy John Niland

Thisarticle isabout…Getting a

goodreturn on

investment.



11

Old Habits To Uncovering Opportunity

Doing what the client wants Exclusive focus on delivery

>>> Asking exploratory questions of clients, every single workingday

Total focus on the detailed content Taking the brief from one person alone

>>> Constantly exploring the context in which delivery (orproposed delivery) is taking place

Ending the meeting with AOB Forgetting to recheck value Using the word "value" too much

>>> At the end of every meeting or presentation, asking "whatabout this was most useful"? And why?

Reading mass-media, or journals of our ownprofession (only) or not reading at all

>>> Reading the specialist press of your target market (orpresentations, web portals, journals etc.)

Constantly in "task-mode" or "email-mode" Development time planned for Friday afternoon, and

surrendered easily.

>>> Setting some development time aside every week to invent,create or adapt your offer for their current economicenvironment

Only doing technical training, or none at all Learning sales techniques that don't apply well to

professional life Expecting people to absorb these talents by

"osmosis"

>>> Setting some time aside for your own development, to stayahead. Investing in client-acquisition and management, asmuch as in delivery skill.

Consumed by delivery Waiting for a better time to think, Ruled by the task

list

>>> Thinking beyond the current task-list, towards what will beimportant next year. (Leading others to do the same: "lateralleadership")

Complaining that others "don't get it" Criticising their approach or focus Pointing out "the error of their ways"

>>> Getting into the shoes of others several times each day, andasking "what would I do in their position?"

Attempting to create opportunity for clients, ratherthan with them

>>> Brainstorming with colleagues, internally and externally

Waiting until we are totally proficient ourselves,before starting to encourage others

>>> Actively coaching and mentoring others as a means oflearning oneself, as well as fostering a culture where value isconstantly being uncovered

Link to Culture and StrategySustainable growth happens whenhealthy practices are propagatedright throughout the team ororganisation. In this article, we arefocusing on the practices thatcreate opportunity, but we mightequally have been focusing onbetter team-work, servicedelivery or outstanding time-management.

Such change rarely happens intraining-rooms, but morecommonly (and inexpensively)happens when one colleaguesinfluences another. To take oneexample, if a consultant noticesthat his boss often asks a client"what was most useful about thismeeting?", s/he will probably startdoing so, too.

Unfortunately, all the same is trueof poor practice! I regularlyencounter entire teams andorganisations in which this"opportunity mindset" is totallyabsent and almost has to bedeveloped from scratch. Evenseasoned professionals can havespent decades as project-

managers or order-takers,nodding at the vague aspiration ofopportunity-spotting, but neverreally equipped to do so.

Sustainable StrategyOf the five key lead-sources for aprofessional firm, two of themcome directly from clients.

Here's the one-diagram summary.Clearly, it's an overview and thereis much to be said about eachbox. But this picture generallysuffices to show the key elementsof a sustainable strategy, and therelationship between them:



12

Five Sustainable LeadSourcesA sustainable lead is defined hereas one where we don't have to bepresent to generate it. Manybusinesses find they are relying onjust one or two sources.

Repeat-businessfrom CLIENTS. Onesometimes wonders if thishappens despite ratherthan because of the business-generation acumen of thesupplier! Nevertheless, it isthe best source of leads formost professional firms, andsometimes even lulls the firminto a false sense of security.

Introductions and referrals toothers, fromthe CLIENTS that we are /have worked with. Again,sometimes this happenswithout any intervention orprompting from us. With evena small amount of systematicreview on our part, this canbe dramatically increased.

From our KEEP-IN-TOUCH SYSTEM. Perhapsall of the above happened ayear ago, but the client wasnot ready yet. They are now,and they turn to us as arecognised port-of-call.

From our ALLIANCEPARTNERS. Perhaps wehave even embedded an itemof value in their services, sothat we are routinelycontacted when their clientreaches a certain step in theirclient-journey. Perhaps wehave a feature in theirnewsletter. Perhaps we dosome research together.

From the SHOWCASE(online or offline). Perhapssomeone notes down thewebsite at the back of the hall,sees our article on a partnerwebsite, or finds us online.Then they visit our websiteand examine our resources ofvalue. Then they email us.

ConclusionThe ability to uncoveropportunity is a vital skill inboosting our prospecting-ability.Many everyday behaviours onclient assignments are actuallycounter-productive to thisobjective. The benefits of effective

opportunity-conversationsinclude: More repeat work from

clients Introductions are referrals to

other parts of theorganisation, and/or up- anddown the supply chain, and/orto potential strategic alliancepartners.

Opportunities for value-billing(to be discussed in a laterarticle).

Next Steps:For an intensive one-day courseon "Sustainable Marketing"see www.success121.com Theseworkshops are held annually inLondon and Brussels, and include:

detailed measures to stimulatethe five lead-sources above

introduction to the "value-conversation" and its variants,in order to provide a dialoguethat rapidly explores andassesses opportunity

dealing with difficult clients andsituations

additional measures that yieldmore fees in less time

Further information

For useful checklists and exerciseson any of the above elements, pleaseemail [email protected]

© Copyright, John Niland, Success121

About the Author

John Niland is the principal coachand founder of Success 121. Heworks throughout Europe leveraginghis extensive experience of value-centred growth in Benelux, France,Ireland, Scandinavia, Switzerland andthe UK. John works withprofessionals who want to developopportunity: e.g. new markets, moresales, career-advancement andeconomic impact. He offers personalmentoring and coaching to individualprofessionals who want to advancetheir career and create opportunity,with more impact and value.

With extensive Europeanexperience in consulting, accounting,FMCG, retail, technology andfinancial sectors, John is the Authorof “Hidden Value” and “100 Tips toFind Time”, He is passionate aboutsupporting those who have the

courage to contribute as well as towin.

Co-ordinates

Mail:Brussels: Boulevard Brand Whitlock158/4, 1200 Brussels, BelgiumUK: 33 Hyde Park SquareLondon W2 2NW, UKTel:Belgium (0032) 32 2 201 1121London: +44 (0) 845 644 3407Email: [email protected]: http://www.success121.com

When one man, forwhatever reason, has theopportunity to lead anextraordinary life, he has noright to keep it to himself.Jacques Yves Cousteau (1910–1997), French naval officer,explorer, conservationist,filmmaker, innovator,scientist, photographer,author and researcher whostudied the sea and all formsof life in water.

Take advantage of everyopportunity to practice yourcommunication skills so thatwhen important occasionsarise, you will have the gift,the style, the sharpness, theclarity, and the emotions toaffect other people.Jim Rohn (1930 – 2009), USentrepreneur, author andmotivational speaker.



13

Thisarticle isabout…redressing

under-investment

in socialmedia andturning it

toadvantage.

.

“Social tactics are not meaningfulsales drivers” according to a newreport by market research firmForrester. They looked atpurchase paths of online buyers,and measured how many saleswere coming directly from eachtraffic source. And social mediasales were almost negligible.

But it does help drive revenuesignificantly - except in an indirect,hard-to-measure way. So it usuallydoesn’t get the credit it deserves.Here’s what you should do about it,and two simple ways you can startmeasuring your own performance.

The Best Marketing Channelsfor Driving SalesMarketing channels have their ownunique Pros and Cons.

But of course, we all have limitedresources. We only have so muchtime, money, or energy to investinto something at one time.

So if you’re primary goal is toincrease sales, then you shouldobviously invest in marketing tacticsthat give you the best returns.

According to Forrester’s report,summarized by Marketing Pilgrim,the channels that drove the mostsales were:1. Paid search for new visitors2. Email marketing for repeat

visitors.

Paid advertising and SEO drive high-quality traffic, because people areshowing intent by typing in exactlywhat they’re looking for. And emailmarketing is surprising stillunderutilized. It may not be thetrendy new thing like social media,but it’s still way more efficientbecause you can automate almosteverything.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t sellat all with social media. You can. It’sjust hard to track.

Companies underinvest in things likecontent creation and social media,because it’s difficult to see how theyimpact the bottom line. So here area few easy ways to track how socialmedia is impacting sales andrevenue:

Strategy #1: Use Coupons orTracking Codes to MeasureDirect SalesThe easiest way to monitor salesfrom a social media source is to usea unique coupon code. You giveeach network a different code, soyou can see how many sales arecoming from Twitter vs. Facebookvs. YouTube, etc.

There are a lot of softwarecompanies trying to create easysolutions for this right now. Onethat I’m aware of is calledSpringMetrics Smart Offers (not anaffiliate link).

If you have a more complex salessystem (and a larger budget), thenyou could also use a custom trackingcode that will pass visitorinformation for each purchase.

For example, I helped a past clientcreate a custom booking applicationfor their Facebook page. We founda local developer, and they built it ina few days (they’re pretty simple)for around $1,500.

Someone could then enter theinformation they were looking for,and then they were automaticallytaken to my client’s website fortheir results.

This passed a tracking code as well,so each visitor coming fromFacebook could be trackedaccurately. And we could see whoactually completed a purchase. Inthe first few months, they generatedover $20,000 in revenue throughFacebook alone.

Strategy #2: Use Promotions toAcquire LeadsIt’s easy to see how many peopleuse social media to find yourwebsite, but it gets much harder toaccurately track when that visitorgoes through your sales process andpurchases something.

That’s especially true if you havedifferent internal people followingup with leads. So another easystrategy is to isolate your socialmedia leads into different lists ordatabases.

You can easily do this with differentlanding pages, and even combinethem with unique email lists.

Then use regular updates to drivevisitors from your social networkingchannels, or promotions to capturetheir information so you can nurtureand follow-up with them on aregular basis.

For example, run a social mediapromotion (because it gives youmore potential viral reach) withWildfire (not an affiliate link), andget their contact information as themethod of entry (like asweepstakes).

Obviously, any sales made would beindirect because you’re still going tohave to follow up or nurture thembefore they buy. But it keeps thingssimple, so you can get back to workand at least have some informationto base your marketing decisions.

The Catch: You Need anAudience FirstIncreasing sales from social mediaisn’t the hard part.

Building the audience in thefirst place is.So the obvious catch here is thatyou need a substantial fan base first,to drive any meaningful sales withsocial media. (Because if you don’t,then there’s no one to sell to.)

Why Most Companies Underinvest inSocial Media (And How You Can Fix It)By Brad Smith



14

Why is accurate

sales forecasting

such a challenge?By Bob Apollo

Thisarticle isabout…improving

theaccuracy ofyour salesforecasts.

.

In the earlier example from my pastclient, we spent over 8 monthsgrowing their Facebook fans fromaround 1,000 to over 23,000.

Then once you have a solid fan basethat you’re keeping engaged, you canstart rolling out offers and doinginteresting things to increase sales.

So how do you get more fans andfollowers?I recently recorded an 11 minutevideo about increasing users onGoogle+ (without advertising). Butthese are marketing principles thatshould work for any social network.You can get that video for free. I’mjust asking for a quick favour.Go to: http://fixcourse.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce0b45e143c250d5bf81bc7aa&id=dd0803d2a2&e=865a0fb7f3 and take this quick, 7-question survey. When you completethe survey, you’ll find the access URLon the “Thank You” page. And you’lldiscover the 10 tips I used to grow aFacebook Fan Page over 350%.

Because once you have a big enoughaudience, then you can sell almostanything.

© Copyright Brad Smith, FixCourse

About the Author

FixCourse is an online publication thatteaches organizations how to growusing internet marketing. Their freeweekly email newsletter will teach youhow to get more traffic, leads andsales. Visit:http://fixcourse.com/newsletter/ fordetails.

FixCourse was founded by BradSmith. Brad is an entrepreneurand digital marketing consultant whohas worked with clients in a variety ofindustries including software,insurance, real estate, journalism andtravel: everything from start-ups tothe Fortune 500.

Brad has an MBA in Entrepreneurship,and a BA in Finance and Marketing.

Co-ordinates

Email: [email protected]: FixCourse4199 Campus Drive, Suite 550Irvine, CA 92612, USAWeb: http://fixcourse.com/Twitter:http://twitter.com/bradleyesmith/

Sales process expert, BobApollo, offers thisextensive guide forimproving salesforecasting accuracy.

According to the latest researchpublished by CSO Insights, lessthan half of all forecasted salesopportunities actually result in asales win. Just under a third resultin a competitive loss, and nearly aquarter result in the prospectdeciding to do “nothing”.

Just think about that for amoment. At a deal-by-deal level,the current state of salesforecasting in the average B2Benvironment is less reliable thansimply tossing a coin.

Even at overall sales forecast level,when you might hope that someof the individual errors andinaccuracies would balance out inthe overall revenue number, manyorganisations still struggle tocome up with consistentlyaccurate company-wide revenueforecasts.

Now, I’m the first to acknowledgethat successful selling is a blend ofart and science, and that trulyunpredictable changes incircumstance can sometimes tripyou up, but there’s clearlysomething going seriously wronghere.

Some companies aremanaging to do much betterIn fact, it is possible to do better -and potentially a great deal better,as proven by recent research bythe Aberdeen Group. They foundthat the vast majority (97%) ofcompanies that implemented aseries of best-in-class forecastingprocesses achieved their sales

quotas - compared to just 55%amongst those that did not.

The performance difference isstriking, but this is not just amatter of getting a number right.When forecasts are regularlymissed, employees loseconfidence, people lose their jobs,investors lose their money, and -ultimately - companies fail.

The barriers to effective salesforecastingAberdeen’s research offers someimportant pointers to the rootcauses of the forecast accuracyproblem. It suggests that the mostsignificant barriers to effectivesales forecasting are:

Sales people not havingsufficient knowledge of thedetails of specific deals, and/or(nearly as bad) failing to enterthat information into the salesforecasting system

A lack of personalaccountability on the part ofindividual sales people as totheir responsibilities foraccurate sales forecasting

Sales people displaying over-confident, conservative orsandbagging behaviours intheir personal forecasting

Management failure to defineor enforce strict stagedefinitions, milestones anddata entry standards

A general inability tounderstand or calculate therealistic probabilities andclosing dates for current deals

Although only the 4th barrier isspecifically called out as amanagement failure, in truth theseare all failures of management. Asthe old saying goes, if you don’tinspect it, you can’t expect it. Inthe remainder of this article, Iwant to share a handful of



15

pragmatic, time-tested initiativesthat can enable managers to adopta best-practice approach to salesforecasting.

The focus of this guideI want to set the scene byexplaining that these techniquesare particularly effective in high-value, complex sales environmentswith lengthy buying cycles where astatistical approach to salesforecasting is unlikely to beeffective. I’m talking aboutenvironments where - if it is to beaccurate - the sales forecast hasto be built bottom-up on a deal-by-deal basis.

If this matches your environment,this article should enable you toidentify a handful of practical,immediately actionable ideas thatwill start to improve the accuracyof your very next sales forecast.But even if your average dealvalues are low enough and yourvolume of sales transactions arehigh enough to allow you to takea statistical approach to revenueforecasting, I still think you’ll findsome of the concepts valuable.

Getting the basic foundationsin placeThere are four critical foundationsthat you must establish beforeyou can expect to achieveanything approaching best-in-classsales forecast accuracy:

A clearly defined, well-documented and consistentlyapplied sales process withexplicit milestones or gatesbetween each of the stages

Clearly defined andconsistently appliedprogressive opportunityqualification criteria that areregularly revisited throughoutthe sales process

A CRM system that isconfigured to capture, reportand analyse the key facts andfigures that affect salesforecast accuracy

An environment in which salespeople see themselves aspersonally accountable forfully understanding their salesopportunities and fordelivering accurate salesforecasts

There’s a common thread runningthrough these four keyfoundations: clear definitions,consistently applied, supported byeffective systems and personalaccountability. In fact, withoutthese in place, it’s hard to imaginehow any organisation couldgenerate consistently accuratesales forecasts.

Let’s explore each of these factorsin a little more detail:

Clearly-defined sales processMost sales organisations haveimplemented some form of salesprocess with named stages. But ifthis is to be effective, these stagesmust be clearly andunambiguously defined - andconsistently applied across thewhole sales organisation, with noscope or tolerance for creativeinterpretation.

The transitions between stagesare equally important, and yetoften poorly defined. It’s criticallyimportant that you establishobservable, evidence basedmilestones - preferably groundedin buyer behaviour rather thansales activity - and insist that theyare rigorously applied. Noopportunity should be promotedby the sales person to the nextstage in the process unless themilestone can be proved to havebeen achieved.

By the way, the first timeorganisations apply these rules,there’s often a dramatic shift inthe weight of the pipeline withlots of opportunities beingdemoted to an earlier stage. Somedrop out altogether. But it’s muchbetter that this happens there andthen, rather than clinging to thefalse hope that opportunities arefar more advanced than theyreally are.

Progressive opportunityqualificationQualification is not - and shouldnever be - a one-time event.Opportunities must beprogressively re-qualifiedthroughout the sales process, andcertainly whenever an opportunityis a candidate for promotion tothe next stage in your definedsales process.

Your qualification criteria willundoubtedly vary depending fromone offering and market toanother. They will evolve fromone stage to the next. But yourqualification questions mustalways seek to answer thefollowing questions:

Is the opportunity real?

Are they really likely to buy?

Are we really likely to win?

Is the deal really worthwinning?

Where’s the evidence?

Your CRM systemThe best place to capture theinformation you need to assesseach sales opportunity is yourCRM system - and the quality ofthat information has a criticalbearing on your ability to generatean accurate sales forecast.

If you want good information, youneed to take pains to ensure thatyour sales people see the systemas inherently useful to them, andnot just a convenientadministration system for you.

If you want enthusiasticacceptance, and not merely muteand minimal compliance, yourCRM system has got to pass yoursales people’s “what’s in it forme” test.

Avoid asking them for moreinformation than you (or they)really need to make smart, well-informed decisions. Make sureyou use the information toprovide opportunity-levelcoaching that helps your salespeople to evolve winningstrategies for each account.

Environment ofAccountabilityIt’s hard to generate consistentlyaccurate forecasts without anenvironment in which everyparticipant is held accountable fortheir contribution. Let’s start withthe quality of information youexpect the sales person to knowabout every opportunity. Be clearabout which fields you expect tobe completed in the CRM system,and make sure that the salesperson has a personalcommitment to capturing timely,accurate information.



16

Of course, forecasting isn't justabout having the facts at yourfingertips - it’s also about makinginformed judgements with thedata you have to hand. Soaccountability must also extend tothe sales person’s responsibilityfor making intelligent andthoughtful judgements about thetiming of each opportunity andthe probability of it closing.

Building your forecastAssuming you've established thesefoundations, the process ofbuilding your forecast should startwith asking each of your salespeople to present their forecastfor the relevant reporting period.They should classify eachopportunity they believe theyhave the realistic potential toclose as either a “commit” or a“upside”: The “commit” deals are those

where all the evidence (andthey should expect to beasked to provide this) pointsto a bookable order beingreceived within the reportingperiod without any need forunnatural acts.

The “upside” deals are thosewhere the evidence points toa realistic chance of abookable order being receivedwithin the reporting period ifall goes to plan (and, yes, theyshould expect to beinterrogated with regard tothe plan).

By the way, I’ve also seen somesales organisations include a “longshot” category for fast trackingopportunities that with a followingwind and a great deal of luckmight just be closable. Of course,you’ll want to keep your eyes onthese, but my strongrecommendation is that the valueof these deals must be excludedfrom any current forecast.

You’ll want them to provide theexpected deal value (erring on theconservative side if there is arange), the probability of theopportunity closing in the period,the expected close date, and thecurrent stage the opportunity hasreached in the sales process.

The value of using probabilitypercentages as a guide toforecasting is close to zero if all

you’ve done is to take the CRMvendor’s out of the box stageprobability percentages withoutany adjustment. If you use stage-related percentages, then youmust base them on the actualpercentage of opportunities thathave been shown to close fromthat stage in your specific salesenvironment. If you don’t have thefigures, then make it an urgentpriority to calculate them. And ifyou allow your sales people toover-ride the percentages, youmust define what you mean bythem (for example, is it thepercentage chance the deal willclose in the current period, orever?)

The sales stage is particularlyimportant, because it ought to be(if you've applied consistent salesprocess definitions) an issue offact, whereas the probability ofthat individual deal closing willalways tend to be more of anissue of judgement. You’ll alsowant to ensure that the projectedclose date is backed by some clearevidence of buying intent or acompelling event and consistentwith the rate of progress(velocity) usually observed for anopportunity at that stage in thesales process.

Make sure that “close date”means the same thing to everyoneinvolved in the process. Does itmean the date on which thedecision is made or does it takeinto account approval cycles,potential delays in the prospect’sorder raising system, etc? Has itbeen confirmed in writing (or anexchange of email) with theexecutive sponsor?

We’ll talk later about theimportance of measuring dealvelocity, but for the moment it’sworth observing that one of themost common “unnatural acts” isa sales person’s misguided hopethat they can close an opportunityfar faster than other similarwinning opportunities have takenfrom the given sales stage.

With each fresh iteration of theforecast, you’ll want to knowwhat’s changed since their lastsubmission. What deals have beenclosed? Which ones have movedforward? Which ones appear to

be stuck or moving backwards?Have any of the values changedand if so, why? Have any riskfactors changed, and how havethey responded? Have theiroverall “commit” and “best case”projections changed as aconsequence?

You now have the basicfoundations for your salesforecast. But you'd be very unwiseto simply roll up the forecastnumbers and present that as youroverall forecast. Assuming thatyou've carefully tested the issuesof fact at a deal-by-deal level,you'll want to apply intelligentjudgement to the numbers infront of you.

The salesperson’s pastbehaviourLike it or not, and no matter howcarefully you attempt to establishconsistent expectations, you’llknow that different sales peoplehave different approaches toforecasting. Some will beoptimists. Some will be pessimists.Others may even have a nastyhabit of sandbagging deals. You’llget to know these differentbehaviours and - if the salespeople fail to respond to yourcoaching - to adjust for them overtime.

Another factor to take intoaccount is the sales person’stypical closing behaviours. Somewill have a habit of getting thedeals in as early in the quarter aspossible. Others will seem toalways be leaving matters to thelast minute. You’ll want to takethese factors into account as well.

Sales velocityOne of the important ways inwhich you can validate your rawsales forecast is to compare theprogress required for each dealwith the typical time that it takeswinning opportunities to beclosed from that stage in the salesprocess.

Sales velocity metrics aretremendously helpful in flushingout projected sales wins thatwould require “unnatural acts” ifthey were to be achieved.

Calculating the average time spentin each stage by winning deals can



17

also be invaluable in identifyingopportunities that have become“stuck in stage” and may requiretargeted action to get themmoving again - or indicate thatthey should be removed from theforecast.

Conversion ratesYou’ll also want to validate and ifnecessary adjust your overallforecast by taking into accountthe historic conversion rates fromeach stage in the sales pipeline. Ifthe current forecast implies anunusually high or low success ratecompared to past performance,and unless some key factor haschanged, you should consideramending the forecast accordingly.

External factorsYou’ll also want to take intoaccount any changes incircumstance. These might be atthe deal level (changes in theprospect organisation are a classicred flag) or in the market as awhole - perhaps changes in yourcompetitive environment or amajor external trend or eventthat is likely to affect yourprospects’ buying decisions.

Focus on changeAs you refine and adjust yourforecast during the course of thereporting period, you should payparticular attention to what’schanged since the last review:

Check to ensure that anychanges (such as a stageadvance) the sales person waspredicting with regard toindividual opportunities havein fact happened. If not, youneed to investigate whetherthey have as firm a grip of theopportunity as they claim

Pay attention to opportunitieswhere their situation hasn'tchanged. What is the salesperson’s specific action plan toprogress the opportunity?What are they waiting for theprospect to do, and what’s thebasis for their confidence thatthis will happen?

Technology to the rescue?Keeping track of what’s changedin your CRM system can bechallenging - particularly sincemost CRM systems are poorlydesigned for this purpose. Manysales leaders are forced to resort

to exporting the data intospreadsheets and then “staringand comparing” to identifychanges and their root causes.

It’s a situation that getsprogressively more difficult tomanage as the size and complexityof your pipeline grows.Fortunately, technology solutionsto the problem are available. I'vehad particularly good experienceswith the offerings from Cloud9Analytics(www.cloud9analytics.com) andSalesclic (www.salesclic.com). Buttechnology is not a magic wand -you have to have laid a solidfoundation first.

Action planSo - if you want to make sure thatyou are in the best possibleposition to generate consistentlyaccurate sales forecasts, you mustfirst make sure that yourorganisation has the necessarysystems and structures in place:

A clearly defined sales process

Consistent opportunityqualification criteria

A properly configured CRMsystem

An environment ofaccountability

Carefully examine your pastperformance. Make sure youunderstand your average salesvelocity and conversion rates -and how they vary betweendifferent offerings, markets,sales people and saleschannels.

Last, but by no means least,make it clear that you expectyour sales people to be ontop of the detail of their salesopportunities at all times, andthat you expect them to basetheir judgements on clearevidence rather than hope orsupposition.

© Copyright Bob Apollo

About the Author

Bob Apollo is the founder andChief Strategist of Inflexion-PointStrategy Partners Ltd, apioneering B2B sales andmarketing performanceimprovement consultancy, basedin Reading, UK. Inflexion-Point isone of the UK's leading B2B Sales

and Marketing PerformanceImprovement specialists. Theirresearch-led, evidence-basedapproach enables clients toincrease pipeline values, shortenaverage sales cycles and improveaverage sales win rates. Bob nowworks with growth-mindedorganisations of all sizes to helpthem build scalable businesses. Hehas written hundreds of articleson the subject of sales andmarketing performance, spoken atdozens of industry conferencesand events, and blogs regularly fora range of thought-leading sitesincluding Entrepreneur Country,My Venture Pad, The CustomerCollective and CustomerThink.

Co-ordinates

Mail: Inflexion-Point Strategy PartnersLimitedPO Box 8087, Reading, Berks, RG69GR, UKEmail: [email protected] (Mobile): +44 (0) 7802 313300Tel (Office): +44 (0) 118 975 0595Web: www.inflexion-point.comLinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/bobapolloBlog: www.inflexion-point.com/blog

For every sale you missbecause you're tooenthusiastic, you will miss ahundred because you're notenthusiastic enough.Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar, USauthor, salesman, andmotivational speaker.

Sales are contingent uponthe attitude of the salesman -not the attitude of theprospect.William Clement Stone (1902– 2002), US businessman,philanthropist and author.



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Thisarticle isabout…Businessgrowth

ambitionsamongSMEs.

.

On 1 October 2012, theDepartment for Business,Innovation & Skills (BIS) publisheda report on Business growthambitions amongst SMEs. Itcovers research that assesses thestrength and scale of ambitionfor growth amongst UK smalland medium-sized enterprises(SMEs).

The report aims to provide abetter understanding of therelationship between ambition andgrowth performance. It focuseson why so few firms that say theywant to grow actually translatethat into growth, and howimportant is ambition to thedegree of success in achievingactual growth. Finally, it alsoconsiders the rationale for policydevelopment in this area andidentifies policy implications of theresearch.

TBR and Qa Research, along withassociates Ron Botham, SimonBridge and Theresa Crowley werecommissioned by BIS, ScottishEnterprise, Welsh Governmentand InvestNI in October 2011 toinvestigate growth ambitionsamongst SMEs. The study covereda period of 10 months, reportingin August 2012. The researchprovides a better understanding ofthe scale and strength of growthambition amongst UK SMEs, howthis affects actual growthperformance and the factorsaffecting growth ambition. It alsoconsiders the rationale for policydevelopment in this area andidentifies policy implications of theresearch.

The report runs to over 100pages and is available at thesource link at the end of thisarticle. The Executive Summary iscovered next.

Executive summaryDefining ambition and growth On a scale of one to ten, almost

one half (49 percent) of all SMEowner/managers consider theirindividual desire for businessgrowth to be as high as possible(i.e. ten out of ten).

In response to the simplequestion of whether theyintended to grow their businessover the next three years, 80percent of owner managersagreed. Accordingly, there is aneed to develop a more refineddefinition of ambition to betterunderstand how meaningful thatambition is. For the purposes ofthis study three typologies ofambition (substantive, moderateand low) were created based onresponses to a series ofquestions in a telephone survey,as well as an “index of ambition”which gives each owner/managerwho participated in the survey ascore out of 100 depending ontheir level of current ambition.

In addition to analysing currentambition, levels of past ambitionfrom three years previous weremeasured and analysed alongsidechanges in employment andturnover performance (using thetelephone survey results) toassess links between ambitionand actual growth. Respondentswere asked to rate their personaldesire for business growth threeyears ago on a linear scalebetween one and ten and werecategorised into the followingthree groups:- Weak past ambition (1-5),- Medium past ambition (6-8),- High past ambition (9-10).This approach recognises thatthe survey asked only onequestion regarding past ambitionand therefore it is not possibleto recreate the more refinedambition typologies to assesspast ambition over the previousthree years.

SMEs typically define growthusing financial measures; 33percent of owner/managers use

turnover as the primarymeasure of the size of theirbusiness, whilst 29 percent useprofit. Conversely, only 6percent measure the size oftheir business by employment.

Headline figures on the scale andstrength of ambition 81 percent of owner/managers

have ambition to grow thecompany: 59 percent havemoderate growth ambitionwhilst 22 percent havesubstantive growth ambition,which means they intend toscale up their businesssignificantly and are determinedto do so.

Owner/managers in Englandexhibit the highest level ofsubstantive ambition (23percent), followed by NorthernIreland (19 percent), Scotland(18 percent) and then Wales (13percent).

80 percent of SMEs intend togrow in the next 3 years whilst82 percent of SMEs have takensteps to grow in the past 3 years

Determinants of ambition The determinants of ambition

include the following factors,which will affect theowner/manager’s perceivedrisk/reward ratio for following aparticular course of action:- Security- Satisfaction- Success- Economic factors- Owner/managers’ personal

circumstances- The perceived ease of doing

business The most common reason for

increased ambition anddecreased ambition in the lastthree years is the impact of theeconomic climate. Thisillustrates how a single issue canimpact SMEs and their ambitionin opposing ways.

The lack of access to finance isregarded as a key barrier to

Business growth ambitionsamongst SMEs



19

growth. One quarter of SMEsindicated that it was a specificbarrier holding back theirattempts to grow, the secondmost critical issue behind theimpact of the current economicclimate at 38 percent.

Business advice, whetherdelivered by private or publicsector, or informally, has thecapacity to heighten desire togrow. This is likely to occurindirectly, where the focus ofthe advice is on a particularchallenge or belief/perceptionabout business development andgrowth. This finding shouldmotivate the providers ofbusiness advice to seek toincrease ambition.

Difficulties navigating regulationsand obtaining access to financeaffect not just an SME’s ability togrow, but also theowner/manager’s desire to grow.

Increasing skills ofowner/managers would lead toincreased ambition, with 39percent of owner/managersstating that they would have ahigher ambition for businessgrowth if they had additional,specific skills. Focus should beon marketing and sales, finance,industry specific skills andmanagement skills.

Many owner/managers attributerecent business growth toimprovements in organisationalefficiency as a result of newmanagement processes whichraise the ambition levels of theentire management team andworkforce.

Ambition is one of a range offactors that underpin growth.The relationship betweenambition and other influences isoften complex and subtle.Because of this it is possible thatambition is more influential thansome of the data suggests.

Characteristics associated withambition In terms of size of business,

owner/ managers of SMEs with1-4 employees are most likely tohave substantive ambition (25percent compared to 22 percentof SME owner/managers overall).This drops to just 17 percent forSMEs with 5-9 employees.

Owner/managers aged 25-34 arethe age group most likely tohave substantive growth

ambition (28 percent). Just 15percent of owner/managers aged55-65 have substantive growthambition.

Owner/managers of youngerbusinesses are also more likelyto have substantive ambition (43percent of owner/managers ofbusinesses established between3 and 5 years ago).

A higher proportion of maleowner/managers (24 percent)have substantive growthambition compared to femaleowner/managers (15 percent).

Owner/managers who foundedtheir business are significantlymore likely to have substantivegrowth ambition than those whohave inherited the business (26percent and 4 percentrespectively).

Links to growth Although 81 percent of SMEs

have moderate or substantivegrowth ambition, a relativelysmall proportion of firmssuccessfully realised theirgrowth ambitions in the pastthree years: During the lastthree years a higher proportionof SMEs have seen theiremployment decrease (27percent), rather than increase(19 percent). In contrast, alower proportion of firms haveseen their turnover decrease(33 percent) than increase (35percent) over the same period.

SMEs with high past ambitionproduced mixed performancebut overall they generate apositive net impact in turnoverand employment terms.

The net marginal gain ofbusinesses with high ambitionover the last three years hasbeen £124,000 per firm inturnover and 0.3 employees perfirm. Whilst the net turnoverimpact has been positive acrossfirms with low and medium pastambition, the employmentimpact has been negative forthese groups.

SMEs with high current ambitionlevels are more likely to havegrown than those withoutambition:- 46 percent of substantive

ambition SMEs increasedturnover in past three years

- 32 percent of low ambitionSMEs increased turnover inpast three years

- 32 percent of substantiveambition SMEs increasedemployment in past threeyears

- 14 percent of low ambitionSMEs increased employmentin past three years.

Growth leads to higherambition. Owner/managers whohave presided over employmentgrowth in their business in thepast three years are more likelyto have substantive growthambition now (35 percent)compared to owner/managersthat have decreasedemployment in the same timeperiod (22 percent).

Ambitious firms more likely togrow significantly- 6.4% of all firms with high

past ambition grew by 90%or more in either turnoveror employment terms in thelast three years. None withweak past ambition grew bythis scale.

- 31 percent of substantiveambition firms whichincreased turnover in thelast three years did so byover 90 percent. Theequivalent figure for lowambition firms is just 8percent.

However, high ambition is alsolinked to a higher likelihood ofSMEs decreasing in size. SMEswith substantive ambition aremore likely to have seenturnover and employmentdecrease in the past three yearscompared to those withmoderate ambition. Thisindicates that overall, theperformance of the mostambitious SMEs has been morevolatile than other SMEs in thepast three years.

Owner/managers with abusiness plan are more likely torun an SME that has experiencedgrowth in turnover over thepast three years. This suggeststhat firms which plan to groware more likely to achievegrowth.

SMEs that are run by anowner/manager who inheritedthe business have the highestprobability of being non-growth.

SMEs are affected by incidentalconditions which are beyond thecontrol of businesses but notnecessarily outside the scope ofambition since feedback loops



20

mean that events that occurwithin the business environmentand that affect businesses willinfluence ambition (positively ornegatively).

Policy Policy options seeking to

address the issues raised in thisreport could take two broadapproaches:- Increasing levels of ambition

across the SME population,for example moving morebusinesses from moderateto substantial levels and/or

- Increasing the likelihood ofambitious SMEs realisingtheir potential.

These two options are notmutually exclusive. Evidencegenerated in this study suggeststhat past growth leads toincreased levels of ambitionamongst SMEs, creating avirtuous circle.

Introducing policies to increaseambition of owner manages isproblematic. This is because:- The relationship between

moderate ambition andgrowth is relatively weak

- Most owner/managers (81percent) already havemoderate or substantivegrowth ambitions

- It is difficult to targetrelevant individuals

- The effect of interventions isunpredictable as they affectowner/managers in oppositeways.

However, as the evidencesuggests that substantiveambition has a stronger link togrowth, there is potentially anargument for increasing thenumbers of SME owner/managers within this category.

The findings also support theimportance of existing policiesdesigned to improve thebusiness environment, allowingmore ambition to be realised.The study provides evidence ofclear feedback loops whichheighten ambition in the face ofsuccess and diminish it in theface of challenge and failure.

It may be possible to targetcertain groups with ‘marketing’messages and case studiesdesigned to influence ambitionof the entire businesspopulation. The evidence of thisstudy also suggests that social

norms (e.g. the desire to beseen as a success) influenceambition. Possible receptiveaudiences for efforts to helpSMEs realise their existingambition include:- SMEs which have downsized

due to the recession andsurvived, as they typicallyhave a strong desire to growback to previous levels.

- SMEs (particularly microbusinesses) concerned aboutdifficulties in breakingthrough a threshold (e.g.hiring their first employee).

- The ‘ambitious butunprepared’. More than onefifth (21 percent) of firmswith substantial growthambition have no activeplans in place for growth.However, there is achallenge associated withpinpointing this exact groupof owner/managers.

- It can be difficult foryounger owner/managers (adisproportionately largenumber of whom havesubstantive ambition) toachieve growth with lessexperience. A mentoringprogramme would help tocompensate for this andpeer-to-peer mentoring maybe the most appropriatevehicle.

- Owner/managers who arewilling to take risks to growtheir business could betargeted, for example byoffering investment to thosewho are willing to matchinvestment (up to a certainthreshold).

- SMEs that export or plan toaccess export markets.

Whilst there may be somegroups that appear to bereceptive audiences for policyinterventions there may be acase for focusing on themajority. Most businesses (72percent) want to grow, plan togrow and take steps to grow.Also, more than three quartersof SMEs whose turnoverdecreased in the last three yearstook steps to attempt to grow.

Cognitive-based approaches tocoaching could be helpful insupporting ambitiousowner/managers to translatetheir ambition into growth byhelping them identify their

business goals, reduce negativethinking, and deal better withthe stresses of growing abusiness.

A general communicationscampaign could help some firmswith unrealised ambition toovercome any false perceptionsabout the financial andregulatory environment thatmay be affecting ambition and/orability to realise ambition.

Framing policy in a way that ismeaningful to the SME audience.For example, SMEowner/managers are much morelikely view to the primarymeasure of growth in terms ofincreasing turnover andprofitability rather thanemployment.

Assisting owner/managers torecognise the importance ofambition embedded within theorganisation which can helptranslate ambition of a singleindividual in the organisationinto something that affectsgrowth performance; forexample by encouraging andhelping design suitable incentiveschemes.

The full report is available at:http://www.evaluationsonline.org.uk/evaluations/Documents.do?action=download&id=578&ui=basic

Focusing your life solely onmaking a buck shows acertain poverty ofambition. It asks too littleof yourself. Because, it'sonly when you hitch yourwagon to something largerthan yourself that yourealize your true potential.Barack Obama, USPresident



21

Bidding for opportunities is anexpensive and often unrewardingprocess, with low win ratios andhigh cost of bidding being typicalacross most market sectors.

For example, if it costs £20,000per opportunity to bid and yourwin ratio is 1 in 5, then your costof winning one opportunity is£100,000. So, before you bid foran opportunity it is important torecognise the following factors:

1. If the first thing you knowabout an opportunity is whenthe tender is issued, you aremost likely too late because...

2. The majority of tenders areissued with a potential winneralready identified because...

3. Another bidder has beenworking with the buyer tohelp them define the solution,the budget, and create thetender (known as earlypositioning) and...

4. you have been asked to bid tocreate competition and are, atbest, lying second, so…

5. having the best bid team, thebest bid process, and the bestproposal may still not win youthe business!

So what can organisations do toavoid this, maximise their chancesof winning, improve their win ratioand reduce their cost of bidding? Ibelieve that there are ten criticalsuccess factors:

Understand & Influence (earlypositioning)As highlighted above, earlypositioning is critical to winningbids; so, what do you need tofocus on to achieve this? As earlyas possible in the sales cycle, tryto understand and influence theclient’s underlying business needor issue; the ‘real’ requirement; the

people and the politics; theprocurement process; thepotential competition, the risksfor both parties; their budget andyour win price.The key to doingthis successfully is...

RelationshipsObviously, it is important that youget close to the client, especiallythe decision making unit, so thatyou can establish the trust andcredibility needed to understandand influence them towards yourorganisation and your solutionbefore any tenders are eventhought about. Good relationshipswith potential third party vendorsor supply chain partners are alsovital, as they could be the key towinning the bid. If you have doneboth of these activities well youwill be well positioned to...

Qualify & InvestBefore spending time and moneyon a bid that you may not win,consider the following questions.Why are we being asked to bid?(Does the client believe we candeliver or are we just making upthe numbers?) Can we win andwhy? Can we make money? Whydo we win opportunities like this?Why do we lose opportunitieslike this? How much will it cost usto bid? Do we have the time,money and resource to bid, orshould we be investing time andmoney on better opportunities? Ifyou know the answers to all theabove and are happy with them,then you can develop your...

Bid Strategy & SolutionToo many organisations startanswering the questions in atender before developing their bidstrategy and solution. Start withthe win price, which, if you havebeen involved from the beginning,you will have given them! Basedon this win price, you will be ableto develop your organisation’s

offer to meet and exceed theclient’s need or issue, which againis always easier if you have beeninfluencing that understandingfrom day one. Support this offerwith key messages and themesthat run through the proposal,making it read like a joined-updocument, rather than an exercisein cut & paste. Sum all this up in adraft Management Summary, anduse this as a guide to...

Sell your Solution &ValueBuilding on the four previousstages, a compelling, client centricproposal, led by a ‘killer’Management Summary, will grabthe decision maker’s attention,greatly improving your chances ofwinning. Including case studies ofclients with similar requirementsyou have successfully addressedalways helps. Make sure yourproposal addresses the client’sneeds and doesn’t just talk aboutyour organisation; client first,supplier second. Once shortlisted,create a great presentation team,then a great presentation (usingthe Management Summary).Always apply...

Creativity & InnovationIn a ‘me too’ world it is critical todifferentiate, so focusing on theclient’s issues and needs, holdingworkshops to apply creativity andinnovation to your bid strategy,your solution, your proposal andyour presentation, supported by...

Bidding to Win: the TenCritical Success FactorsBy Chris Whyatt

Thisarticle isabout…Improvingsales skillswithout

outside salestraining or

professionalsales

coaching.



22

Planning & ProcessWhen opportunities are won, thedelivery aspects are managedusing structured planning andprocesses (Prince 2 etc) to ensurea successful outcome.The samedegree of planning and processneeds to be applied to a bid. Startwith a clear plan and a ‘living’ bidprocess used by everyone, clearlydefining their roles andresponsibilities, timescales and keymilestones, including regularreviews.All this will save time andmoney, and create a betterworking environment.Also helpfulare...

Tools & InformationClient’s always pose lots ofrepetitive questions, so having theinformation prepared, accessible,and managed under changecontrol ensures that the rightanswers are found quickly, used,and always up to date.This willsave time and money during theearly stages of the bid, allowingmore time for the creative aspectsof the proposal, the activity mostlikely to win you the business.Now you need now are...

Resource & SkillsPeople win bids. People who canlead, people who can work as partof an holistic bid team, peoplewho can write in persuasivebusiness English, people who caninnovate, people who can use MSWord and PowerPoint, peoplewho can check the proposal untilit is perfect, people who can sell,people who can negotiate, andpeople who can present.Withoutall these, bidding can be very timeconsuming, expensive andunrewarding for all concerned.Finally, whatever the outcome...

Review & LearnPerhaps the area I’m mostpassionate about, because ‘If youalways do what you always did,you will always get what youalways got’. Regardless of theresult, you must ask the client andyourselves what you did well andwhat you could have done better.Communicate the output toeveryone involved, and use themto improve the integrity andapproach to future opportunities,applying the lessons learnt todeliver continual improvement.

Using the Get to Great™ BidCapability model, clients havehighlighted Qualify & Invest,Planning & Process and Review &Learn as the lowest scoringaspects of the 10 critical successfactors in their organisations.The first and the last are of courselinked, as the more you learn fromsuccess and failure, the easier itbecomes to identify the ‘real’opportunities, enabling you tofocus on them, and decline therest. Good Planning & Process willensure that you manage the ‘real’opportunities effectively andefficiently, delivering a real returnon investment, improved winratios and reduce the cost ofbidding, which is where this articlestarted out.

Hopefully this article will help youto start winning more bids. If youwant more help, please contactthe author, Chris Whyatt: see co-ordinates below.

© Copyright Chris Whyatt

About the Author:

Chris founded Practical BidSolutions in 1999 to deliverspecialist sales and bidimprovement expertise tomarket-leading organisations. Thecompany boasted a string ofsuccess stories with the likes ofComputacenter, RockwellAutomation, and Forrester. Amajor part of the work was basedon a benchmarking methodologyChris created. The approach isnow known as Get to Great®,and is at the heart of his newcompany which specialises in SalesReadiness and Sales Effectiveness.

Co-ordinates

Mail: Get to Great Limited35 Victoria RoadWargrave, ReadingBerkshire, RG10 8AD, UKTel: +44 (0)20 3239 2943Mobile: +44(0) 777 929 7401Skype: chris.whyatt.snrEmail: [email protected] .Web: http://www.gettogreat.co.uk

Our greatest weakness liesin giving up. The mostcertain way to succeed isalways to try just onemore time.Thomas Alva Edison(February 11, 1847 –October 18, 1931) was anAmerican inventor andbusinessman.

The will to win, the desireto succeed, the urge toreach your full potential...these are the keys thatwill unlock the door topersonal excellence.Confucius (551–479 BCE)was a Chinese teacher,editor, politician, andphilosopher of the Springand Autumn Period ofChinese history

To succeed in life, youneed two things: ignoranceand confidence.Samuel Langhorne Clemens(1835 – 1910), betterknown by his pen nameMark Twain, was anAmerican author andhumourist.



23

Exercises for Experienced andInexperienced Sales PeopleBy Clive Miller

If you watch football trainingsessions or the equivalent in anysport, you will see a lot ofrepetition.The players or athletesinvolved will be practising basicmanoeuvres, over and over.Winning rests on absolutemastery of the basics.

Research gathered by MalcolmGladwell for his book, Outliers,suggests that developing expertise inanything takes about ten thousandhours of doing it. Managers canemploy this well-understoodprinciple to improve sales withoutspending any money.

Having sales people, no matter howexperienced, set aside time topractice the basics increases salesperformance.

If you are in a sales role, how muchtime do you spend eachday/week/month practising thebasics?

You would not be alone if youstruggle to recall any time spentdoing this in the last year. Salestraining courses rarely take time toallow practise through repetition. Ittakes too long and can be perceivedas boring. Reading or listening tobooks about selling, as most authorspoint out, has no value unless theprinciples, ideas, or methods aretried out, practised, and practiced.

Trying new things in the field is risky.The results could be worse thanthey would have been doing thingsthe old way, leading to lost businessor lower sales. If you play golf andhave had professional lesions, youwill know how hard it is to use whatis learned on the practice range toimprove in a real game.

Here are some basic exercises thatwill test even experienced salespeople.Those who improve their

ability to answer these questionsimprove their performance. See tipsfor practising at the end.

Answer the question,“How areyou different from all the othersuppliers who offer similarthings?”This is one of the most difficultquestions to answer in a convincingmanner. Superlatives just don’twork. Sales people who simply say,“We are better than the others”without substantiating the statementwith evidence, simply undermine

their own integrity. The bestanswers string together three factsthat allow people asking thequestion to draw their ownconclusions.

Answer the question,“How dowe know that what you areoffering is the best value?”If a customer asks this question it isbecause they want to avoid the costof evaluating other potential

suppliers. The most commonanswers we hear in sales trainingcourses have two flavours. Oneinvolves acknowledging that thecustomer should check outcompetitors and the other indicates

that good discounts are available!Abetter solution would be to explainwhy the customer would be gettingthe best value available using a stringof three facts.

Respond to the objection,“Theprice is too high”This is a classic objection that ismost often raised early in a salesconversation or at the end of thebuying process. Even experiencedsales people are caught out by

it.The best way of handling it is tohave customers turn around theirown objection.

Give reasons for a customerengaging in a conversationMost sales people quickly learn thekey value or benefit statements thatcustomers respond to however,delivery can always be improved.The most common sin is being toolong winded. Anything that takes

longer than about 15 seconds, riskscausing the customer to tune out.

If you are in sales management, askeach of your sales people to answerthese questions or to respond asthey would in a customer situation.Record their answers on yourphone and discuss ways to improvewhat they say.

Do one exercise at a time. It’simportant to allow the sales persontime to create better responses andto try them out immediately.Theirown ideas will always be easier toadopt than anyone else’s. It’simportant to offer encouragementto improve rather criticism of aninept response.

It’s not much use practising responseto a question or statement justonce. Have each sales person revisiteach exercise at least once a monthuntil it seems the responses can’t beimproved. Then repeat the exercisesagain after three to six months toincorporate new developments.Answers should keep on improvingas they take into account newinnovations and ideas.

As a manager you might beexpected to do the exercisesyourself as a demonstration of whatis good. It is helpful to acknowledgethat your responses are also subjectto improvement because even thebest can be improved throughpractise.

If you are a sales person, recruityour manager or a peer as coachand work through the exercises asprescribed to increase youreffectiveness and confidence.

Thisarticle isabout…Improvingsales skillswithoutspendingmoney.



24

More Jargon Busters Ballot box: Sealed box with a slit in the lid, into which voters place their ballot

papers.

Ballot (for Private Members' Bills): These are drawn on the second Thursdaythat the House sits in each session. The 20 successful members put their Bills downfor discussion on particular days (Fridays).

Ballot paper: Paper containing a list of all candidates standing in a constituency.Voters mark their choice with a cross.

Bar of the House: The Bar of the House is the name given to a white line acrossthe width of the Chamber of the House of Commons and to a rail in the House ofLords, marking their boundaries. MPs are called to the bar of the House of Lords atthe State Opening of Parliament and to hear the Royal Assent to Acts ofParliament. They are not allowed beyond this point when the House is sitting.

Battlebus: A vehicle used by a party to transport its leader or other senior figuresaround the country to rallies or to meet the people.

Below the Gangway: The gangway is a set of stairs which divides the benches oneach side of the House of Commons Chamber. The benches 'below the gangway'are generally where the minority parties sit. By tradition, the seats next to thegangway are reserved for former Prime Ministers.

Best Value: A Government scheme to encourage local authorities to consultmuch more effectively and efficiently about the services they provide or purchase.

Bi-Cameral System: A bi-cameral system is a parliamentary system of twolegislative chambers. The British system is bi-cameral because both the House ofLords and the House of Commons are involved in the process of making new laws.Bi-cameral means literally 'two chamber'.

Bill: A proposal for a new law which is debated by Parliament. A Bill becomes anAct when it has passed through both Houses of Parliament and received RoyalAssent.

Black Rod: The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod is more usually known simplyas Black Rod. He is known to the public for the important role he plays in theceremony of the State Opening of Parliament, when he is sent to the House ofCommons to summon MPs to the House of Lords to hear the Queen's Speech. It istraditional that as he reaches the chamber of the House of Commons, the door isslammed in his face. He then knocks three times on the door with the black rodthat he carries before being admitted. Black Rod is responsible for accommodation,security and services in the House of Lords. He has a chair in the House of Lordsand wears a distinctive black costume. His role is almost equivalent to that of theSerjeant at Arms in the House of Commons.

Boundary Commission: The body which reviews constituencies every 8-12years to make sure they represent current population patterns. Widespreadchanges in Scotland in the wake of the creation of a Scottish Parliament mean theyhave had a reduction in seats.

Budget: The Government's tax-raising and spending plans, outlined once a year,typically in the Spring, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. A pre-Budget oftentakes place in November.

Business Question: The Urgent Question asked each Thursday after OralQuestions during which the Leader of the House announces the main items ofbusiness to be taken on each sitting day for the next week or so.

By-election: An election held between General Elections, usually because thesitting MP has died or resigned. While a vacancy exists, a member of the sameparty in a neighbouring constituency handles constituency matters. When the newMember is elected in the by-election, all outstanding matters are handed back.

Source: Bizezia’s Glossary of Parliamentary Terms is available through Bizezia’s OnlineBusiness Library, the UK’s leading online business library with nearly 700 publications.Every one of these publications can be personalised to your firm.Visit: www.bizezia.com© Copyright 2012, Bizezia Ltd

If the exercises above don’trepresent difficult aspects in yoursales environment, replace themwith those that you or your peoplehave the most trouble with.

Practise is about doing the mundanewhile exercising the imagination. AsEinstein put it, “The true sign ofintelligence is not knowledge butimagination”. Without practise,practice is given over to chance. Ifyou aren’t already practising, you arealmost certainly missing anopportunity to raise your game andenjoy better results.

If you need to increase salesperformance for yourself or a teamand would like to explore the use ofsales training or sales coaching as ameans to achieve your purpose,contact the author: co-ordinates areshown below.

* Since the distinction between theword, ‘practise’ and ‘practice’ maydepend on where you learnt English,in this article I have used the Britishdefinition – i.e. ‘practise’ is a verbmeaning to do something repeatedlywhereas ‘practice’ is a noun thatrefers to the act itself.

© Copyright Clive Miller

About the Author:

Clive Miller started SalesSense in 1996after fifteen years in sales and salesmanagement roles. He soldtechnology and software solutionsfrom IBM, Intel, Sun Microsystems,and Silicon Graphics. In addition towriting most SalesSense material, hedelivers training, fulfils consultingassignments, and provides coachingfor companies and individuals.

From the launch of SalesSense in1996, Clive has directed thecompany’s growth. As a sales trainerand coach, he has helped hundreds ofcompanies and thousands of peopleincrease their sales success.SalesSense delivers incremental salesresults for companies andorganisations who sell to otherbusinesses.

Co-ordinates

Tel: +44 (0)118 933 1357Fax: +44 (0)118 933 3286Mail: 20-22 Richfield Avenue,Reading, Berkshire, RG1 8EQ, UKWeb: www.salessense.co.ukEmail: [email protected]



25

Planning effective strategies forprivately owned businessesWhy some companies do not succeedBy Mike Robson

Many of us own the companies weare directors of. Sometimes, weinherit the business but often wehave launched and developed ourcompanies from an early stage andhave built our businesses aroundour individual skill sets,experience, preferences andpersonalities. That’s fine in theearly stages but it often meansthat vital parts of the business arerun by people who are notspecialists in that area, restrictingthe organisation’s ability tosucceed.

Many companies lack a full set ofBoard and Management levelbusiness skills. They are unable toadequately identify the risks andopportunities facing them and tocreate and implement plans tooperate and develop theircompanies and create wealth fortheir owners.

The attributes of successfulbusinessesIf we want to build real value inour businesses we need to think,plan and act differently, takingtime to step back from the day-to-day running of the business.

Successful companies have longertime horizons, anticipate changeand continually form, assess andimplement plans for the growthand positioning of theirbusinesses. They create effectivesystems and develop effectivestaff. They ensure they haveaccess to a range of specialistskills, either internally orexternally, from marketingthrough operations to finance.And they do this in a costeffective way.

The most successful businesses inthe UK have some, if not all, ofthese characteristics: A clear strategy and vision. Know their market position

or niche. Have an effective sales

machine. Organise their business

around systems, not people. Understand how to recruit,

retain and motivatemanagement and staff.

Plan their finances. ‘Manage’ rather than ‘do’. Have an effective Board

structure. Know when and how to exit

their business. Seek advice.

The Business owner’s dilemmaTen years ago I invested in afledgling UK publishing companyproviding business to businessproducts and services around theEnglish speaking world, mainly inthe USA. At the end of the start-up period it was clear that thecompany lacked direction, waslosing money and was likely tocontinue to do so.

I acquired the publishing companyand invested both time and moneybuilding it up. Although I had beena director of a number ofrelatively large companies I knewthat I lacked a full range ofrelevant skills. My ability to planand implement the developmentof the business was hampered inparticular by my lack of bothindustry knowledge and Marketingand Sales skills. In common withmany businesses of this size I wasunable to lure skilled personnelfrom large companies and I feltthat although the consultancyfirms might provide someinteresting ideas, they would notbe a viable source of assistance inthe long term. Although thecompany developed well and I

achieved a successful trade sale Inow realise that I could have donesignificantly better with externalhelp.

Many readers will identify with theloneliness business owners feeland the difficulty they have inplanning and implementing thedevelopment of their businessesand in sourcing valuable, practicaland impartial assistance. Theremainder of this chapter coversthe contents of strategic plan, theimplementation process, the typesof assistance you can access ateach stage and what you shouldlook for in an advisor.

The Strategic PlanA strategic plan is a set ofobjectives and an action plan toachieve those objectives. Mostbusiness owners will tell you theyhave one, but often it is notformally drawn up or, moreimportantly, adhered to. Toachieve an effective plan you needto have a clear understanding ofthe following: The goals and objectives of

the owners and directors,including financial, retirementand work/life expectations.

The market for your productsor services, where do you fitinto it, how will it change,what are the risks andopportunities?

Your customers, why and forhow long will they need yourproducts and services, whatelse do they need?

Your competitors, theirstrengths and weaknesses

The quality of your people,their ability to develop withthe company, your ability todevelop them and your abilityto attract appropriate newstaff

Your suppliers, are theysecure?


Why somecompanies

do notsucceed.



26

The funding requirements ofthe business and how they canbe best achieved.

Financial forecasts and theimpact of all key variables onthe results.

How you will successfullyimplement the plan.

With this knowledge you canassess the risks and opportunitiesfacing your business, set someinformed objectives and create aplan to achieve them. You need tobe certain that all relevant partiesunderstand and accept both theobjectives and the plan.

If the owners are planning to sellthe business in the next few yearsthe planning process should alsoinclude an assessment of: The available exit route or

routes; flotation, trade sale,MBO etc.

The profile of potentialbuyers.

The likely range of valuationsto be expected.

and: An exit timetable An action plan to achieve

successful sale at an optimumvalue whilst continuing toeffectively operate thecompany and whilstmaintaining staff morale.

For many companies, strategicplanning is a daunting, albeitrewarding, task. There are anumber of organisations providingcost effective and efficientassistance to business owners increating their strategic plans orcritically evaluating them oncethey have been drawn up. Theadvantage of using one of theseorganisations should be: A more structured planning

process and resultant plan. A shorter delivery time. A critical assessment of your

business model. Input from a wider knowledge

base. Greater objectivity. The ability to benchmark your

plan against businesses insimilar markets.

A reduction in “group think”.

ImplementationThere is no point in planningunless all the principal parties

understand, accept and implementthe plan. Often business ownersstart of with good intentions butthen become bogged down in thedetail of the day to day workingweek and the strategic planbecomes valueless. To maintainthe direction of the company theprincipal parties need to meetregularly to: Critically review the business. Assess progress against pre-

determined benchmarks. Actively identify risks and

opportunities. Constantly re-evaluate the

strategic plan. Clearly define actions and

responsibilities.

Businesses often fail to undertakethis process successfully. Thereare a number of organisations thatwill, for a small proportion of thecost of a full time Director, assistbusiness owners with the planimplementation process providingthem with: The discipline of a regular,

objective forward-lookingreview.

The active long-term supportand encouragement of anexperienced businessprofessional.

A trusted and impartialadvisor with a detailedunderstanding of the business.

Increased contacts andknowledge.

Ring any bells? If so, contact MikeRobson – co-ordinates are shownbelow.

© Copyright Mike Robson

About the Author

Mike Robson is an experiencedand entrepreneurial businessmanwith Board level experience asChief Executive or Chief FinancialOfficer in a number of industriesboth in the UK andinternationally. Mike joined AzurePartners 2004 and now enjoysactively assisting a range ofowner-managed businesses todevelop and, where appropriate,exit their businesses.

For seven years Mike has activelyhelped business owners throughthe different development stages(growth, plateau, and exit) and

with people issues includingmanagement structure and thesourcing, hiring, assessing,rewarding and motivation ofsenior staff. He specialises inmerger evaluations, non-financialdue-diligence, setting KPIs, dealingwith banks and auditors, andhelping to run effective boards.With colleagues at Azure Partnershe is involved in developingefficient and effective marketingand sales capabilities andprocesses for clients.

Co-ordinates

Mail: Azure Partners,New Broad Street House,35 New Broad StreetLondon, EC2M 1NH, UKE-mail:[email protected]:www.azurepartners.co.ukTel: +44 (0) 207 100 1233Mobile: +44 (0) 7711 21980

Don't be discouraged by afailure. It can be a positiveexperience. Failure is, in asense, the highway tosuccess, inasmuch asevery discovery of what isfalse leads us to seekearnestly after what istrue, and every freshexperience points outsome form of error whichwe shall afterwardscarefully avoid.John Keats (1795 - 1821),English Romantic poet



27

My Journey in Converting MyPrinted Book to an eBook:Lessons LearnedBy Karen Saunders

Thisarticle isabout…Tips (andtraps) oneBook

publishing..

As an author and independentpublisher I’m always looking forways to leverage my work. Turningmy intellectual property intovarious products is a pretty obvioussolution. The emerging popularityof Kindle, iPads and Nooksconvinced me now was the time toconvert my printed book, Turn EyeAppeal into Buy Appeal into anebook.

I discovered there are severalroutes I could take to sell anddistribute my ebooks, dependingon how much time and effort Iwanted to put into thedistribution process. I initiallylearned that I could use a 3rd partyaggregator to get my books listedon popular ebook sales sites suchas Amazon.com’s Kindledepartment, Apple iBookstoreand Barnes & Noble’s Nook’sdepartment.

All About AggregatorsThird party aggregators (such asSmashwords, BiblioCore, LuLu,Book Baby, LibreDigital, DarkFire,InGrooves, and many more) helpself-publishers convert theirbooks into ebooks and set updistribution with the popularretailers I’ve already mentioned.But the aggregators also take a cut(sometimes a significant cut) ofeach sale. Some aggregators alsouse contracts that are digitalrights management (DRM)-free.DRM protects the copyrights ofelectronic media. DRM as appliedto ebooks is a proprietary fileencryption that helps publisherslimit the illegal sale of copyrightedbooks. This is very important tome, so it was another reason notto use aggregators.

Direct Portals to Retail SitesNext, I discovered there aredirect portals to each of these

retail sites. I set up my ownpublisher’s account with Apple,Amazon, Barnes & Noble andGoogle. This allowed me to keepa bigger portion of my sales byselecting a discount rate of mychoice, (the discount rate is anamount I agree to give to theretailer to sell my book) and keepthe middleman (aggregator) out ofit.

I filled out an application andcontract online with each of theretailers and provided informationon how they could makepayments to my bank account, aswell as metadata (informationabout the book such as copyrightdate, book categories, ISBNnumber, keywords, etc). Then Ihad to convert my book to theproper format they requested,and upload the ebook file andcover image.

Here is a chart on the mostpopular ebook formats:

Many ways to convert a bookinto an ebookMy printed book was originallyformatted in Adobe InDesign, andI also had an identical versionavailable in a PDF file format. (Ican easily output an identicalversion of my printed book in aPDF file through Adobe InDesignor Distiller.) But these sites didn’t

want a PDF file. They wantedMobi or ePub format.

My book was two columns andhad over 200 illustrations andgraphics throughout the interior,so it was a fairly complicatedlayout. I discovered that complexinterior formats don’t easilytranslate into ebook pages.

Although InDesign has a featurethat allows me to convert adocument into epub, and I’ve seenwebsites (including Amazon’s) thatclaim it is easy and inexpensive totranslate a file, they just didn’tresult in a clean format. First ofall, eBook readers are built tosupport one long continuouscolumn, so I had to make somemajor adjustments to my 2-column layout. A proper layoutwas particularly important to mesince my book was about design,layout and marketing! Thewebsites and automatedconversion software do convert

very simple worddocuments with prettygood results though.

So I sought out the expertsin this area; individuals andcompanies who specialize inebook conversion services.Since my book had such acomplex layout, the pricewas quite high. I also got aprice from a companyoverseas. I quickly learnedthat you get what you pay

for. As in any service field, theprice of the service usuallymatches the quality you receive.

Overseas ServiceI paid a very low price for theebook conversion service, but Ihad to spend many hours proofinglayout and formatting errors andchecking all the links. The titles,subtitles, lists, body copy andgraphics were not formatted in a



28

consistent manner or in astandard book format. Indents andjustified formatting were appliedto titles and subtitles when theyshouldn’t have been. Links werenot active or were going to thewrong places, headline text wasclipped off, graphics were missingor in the wrong places, and onand on. Eventually after severalmonths of working with thecontractor on both the mobi andepub versions of my ebooks, thefiles were formatted properly andI was able to upload them to theretail sites.

Some things to watch out for: Make sure you have an active

table of contents with livelinks that go to the correctsections in your book interior

Make sure your epubdocument passes the epubvalidation test (a free test isavailable atwww.threepress.org)

Be sure your ebook has itsown ISBN number (you canbuy a block of 10 ISBNnumbers fromwww.Bowker.com). Amazonwill assign their own uniqueidentifier to your book, butApple requires an ISBNnumber.

Be sure to have an eye-catching cover design with atitle that you can read clearlywhen it is reduced to postagestamp size.

Reformat your front cover to600 pixels wide by 800 pixelstall at 300 DPI so it maximizesthe entire screen on mosteReader devices.

Check your files on all theebook software readers anddevices. If you don’t own aKindle, Nook or iPad, find afriend who does. DownloadAdobe Digital Editions andKindle for Mac/PC. Look atyour book on each one andmake sure everything looksand works properly.

Put your table of contentsfirst, even before yourcopyright page.

Be careful about your decisionon digital rights managementand how you answer thisquestion on contracts.

Do the numbers on how toprice your book according tothe discount rate you pay the

distributor/retailer. Itsometimes works best tolower your price to get ahigher profit margin. Forexample, Amazon and Applewill pay up to 70% royalty ona book if it is priced between$2.99 and $9.99. They onlypay 35% if the book is pricedat $10.00 or more!

New Technology and theLack of Established StandardsAs with any new technology,standards need to be established,and ebooks are no exception.There is a lot of debate amongdevelopers and publishersregarding a number of issuesincluding whether every ebookformat needs a separate ISBNnumber, the standard order ofpages, coding that providesconsistent results on everyversion of each device andsoftware, consistent image sizeand resolution requirements forcover and interior graphics,formatting that resembles books,navigation, whether the devicessupports colour imagery, etc. Thisis where a lot of the labor wasspent; trying to make my booklook the best on every eReaderdevice out there.

I hope this helps you find yourpath from printed book to ebookwith fewer trials and tribulations.

© Copyright, Karen Saunders

About the Author

Karen Saunders is the author of“Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal:How to easily transform yourmarketing pieces into dazzling,persuasive sales tools!” Learn abouther book and get free instant accessto her eCourse: "5 Deadly DesignMistakes that Could Kill a Sale andHow to Avoid Them" and audio class:"Put the Bling Into Your Brand" athttp://www.macgraphics.net or calltoll free (001) 888 796-7300.

Co-ordinates

Mail: MacGraphics Services3454 S. Cimarron Way, Aurora,CO 80014, USAToll-free: (001) 888-796-7300Web:www.macgraphics.net/FreeStuff.phpEmail: [email protected]

I just invent - then waituntil man comes aroundto needing what I'veinvented.R. Buckminster Fuller (895 –1983), American systemstheorist, architect,engineer, author, designer,inventor, and futurist

It has become appallinglyobvious that ourtechnology has exceededour humanity.Albert Einstein (1879 –1955), German-borntheoretical physicist whodeveloped the generaltheory of relativity

Reading maketh a fullman, conference a readyman, and writing an exactman.Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher,statesman, scientist, jurist,and author



29

On 27 September 2012, theInformation Commissioner’sOffice (ICO) published guidelinesto businesses to underline thatcompanies remain responsiblefor how personal data is lookedafter, even if they pass it to cloudnetwork providers. More andmore businesses are looking touse cloud computing, with theeconomies of scale they offergiving access to a range ofcomputer technologies andexpertise that would be difficultto afford in-house.

The Information Commissioner’sOffice (ICO) is the UK’sindependent authority set up touphold information rights in thepublic interest, promotingopenness by public bodies anddata privacy for individuals.

The ICO is concerned that manybusinesses do not realise theyremain responsible for how thedata is looked after, even afterpassing it to the cloud networkprovider.

That’s prompted the ICO toproduce a guide to cloudcomputing, to help businessescomply with the law. The guidegives tips including: Seek assurances on how your

data will be kept safe. Howsecure is the cloud network,and what systems are in placeto stop someone hacking in ordisrupting your access to thedata?

Think about the physicalsecurity of the cloud provider.Your data will be stored on aserver in a data centre, whichneeds to have sufficientsecurity in place.

Have a written contract inplace with the cloud provider.This is a legal requirement,and means the cloud providerwill not be able to change theterms of the service withoutyour agreement.

Put a policy in place to makeclear the expectations youhave of the cloud provider.This is key where services arefunded through advertstargeted at your customers: ifthey’re using personal dataand you haven’t asked yourcustomers’ permission, you’rebreaking data protection law.

Don’t forget that transferringdata internationally brings anumber of obligations – thatincludes using cloud storagebased abroad.

Speaking as the guide waslaunched, author Dr Simon Rice,ICO technology policy advisor,said: “The law on outsourcing data isvery clear. As a business, you areresponsible for keeping your datasafe. You can outsource some of theprocessing of that data, as happenswith cloud computing, but how thatdata is used and protected remainsyour responsibility. It would be naïvefor an organisation to take theattitude that these guidelines are toomuch effort to simply store somedata in a different place. Wherepersonal information is involved, thestakes are high and the ICO hasalready demonstrated it will actfirmly against those who don’t meetdata protection laws”

The ICO recently issued amonetary penalty of £250,000 toScottish Borders Council, after itfailed to properly manage acompany it had employed todigitise pension records. Thecouncil did not have a contractwith the contractor, and hadn’tmade the necessary securitychecks.

Dr Simon added: “Figures showthat consumers are concerned abouthow secure their data is when theyuse cloud storage themselves. Ittakes little imagination to considerthat businesses not reflecting thoseconcerns will quickly find themselveslosing customers’ goodwill.”

A recent online YouGov surveycommissioned by the ICO foundthat 46 per cent of UK adultsonline who use cloud storage areconcerned about the security oftheir information in cloud storage.The survey also found that only39 per cent of adults onlinerealised that social media usedcloud storage to store personaldata, while 46 per cent did notrealise that by hosting theirinformation on cloud servers,their information could be beingstored anywhere in the world.

Further information: View the ICO's guidance on

the use of cloud computing at:http://www.ico.gov.uk/news/latest_news/2012/~/media/documents/library/Data_Protection/Practical_application/cloud_computing_guidance_for_organisations.ashx

Read the ICO’s cloudcomputing advice formembers of the public, at:http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/online/cloud_computing.aspx

Thisarticle isabout…What youneed toconsider

whenembracing

cloudcomputing.

Data responsibilities when

using cloud computing

What is it? It’s completegibberish. It’s insane. Whenis this idiocy going to stop?Larry Ellison, founder of ITgiant Oracle Corp.



30


thethoughtsand ideasof SethGodin.

.

The downward spiral is all toofamiliar. A drinking problemleads to a job lost, which leads tomore drinking. Poor customerservice leads customers tochoose other vendors, which ofcourse leads to less investmentin customer service, whichcontinues the problem.

Your boss has a temper tantrumbecause he's stressed about hisleadership abilities. The tantrumundermines his relationship withhis peers, which of course makeshim more stressed and hebecomes more likely to haveanother tantrum. An employee isdisheartened because of negativefeedback from a boss, which leadsto less effort, which of courseleads to more negative feedback.

Most things that go wrong, gowrong slowly.

The answer isn't to look for theswift and certain solution to thelong-term problem. The solutionis to replace the down cycle withthe up cycle.

The (too common, obvious,simple) plan is to live with thecycle that caused the probleminstead ("When I get stressed, Ifreeze up, so I need to figure outhow to avoid getting stressed").The simple plan puts the onus onthe outside world to stopcontributing the input that alwaysleads to the negative output.That's just not going to work verywell.

The more difficult but moreeffective alternative is to becomeaware of the down cycle. Onceyou find it, understand whattriggers it and then learn to usethat trigger to initiate a differentcycle.

"This is my down cycle. What willit cost me to replace it with adifferent one? Who can help me?What do I need to learn? How do

I change my habits and myinstincts?"

This works for organizations aswell as individuals. The fishrestaurant that as sales go down,borrows money to buy everfresher fish instead of cuttingcorners that will lead nowheregood. Or the ad agency thefollows a client loss not withlayoffs, but with hiring of evenbetter creative staff.

Slowing sales might lead to moreinvestment with customer service,not less. Decreased grades mightlead to more time spent onenthusiastic studying, not less.

This is incredibly difficult. Butidentifying the down cycle andinvesting in replacing it with theup cycle is the one and only beststrategy. The alternative, which isto rationalize and defend the cycleas a law of nature or permanenthabit, is tragic.

Posted by Seth Godin on October09, 2012 | PermalinkSourced from:http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/10/cycle-worse-cycle-better.html

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/head-clickme2.gif

Cycle Worse,Cycle BetterA blog from Seth Godin

Change almost never failsbecause it's too early. It almostalways fails because it's toolate.

Instead of wondering whenyour next vacation is, maybeyou should set up a life youdon't need to escape from.

Perhaps your challenge isn'tfinding a better project or abetter boss. Perhaps you needto get in touch with what itmeans to feel passionate.People with passion look forways to make things happen.

The secret to being wrong isn'tto avoid being wrong! Thesecret is being willing to bewrong. The secret is realizingthat wrong isn't fatal.

I define anxiety asexperiencing failure inadvance.

Discomfort brings engagementand change. Discomfort meansyou're doing something thatothers were unlikely to do,because they're hiding out inthe comfortable zone. Whenyour uncomfortable actionslead to success, theorganization rewards you andbrings you back for more.

People have come to theerroneous conclusion that ifthey’re not willing to startsomething separate, world-changing, and risky, they haveno business starting anything.Somehow, we’ve fooledourselves into believing thatthe project has to have aname, a building, and a stockticker symbol to matter.

Quotes from Seth Godin (Born July1960), US entrepreneur, author andpublic speaker.



31

Sales Lessons from Steve JobsBy Andy Preston


Thelessons we

can alllearn from

the lateSteve Jobs.

.

Friday 5th October 2012 markedone year since the death of SteveJobs, but his legacy as anentrepreneur lives on. In thisarticle, leading Sales Expert AndyPreston explains the sales lessonsthat we as salespeople can learnfrom Steve Jobs and how we canimplement them to benefit bothour own sales, and those of ourteam.

From a sales point of view, I admiredhis ability to release new productsthat people don’t even realise theyneeded until he released them! Atwhich point they became must-buysfor a lot of people – and that’s said bythe owner of an iPod, iPhone,Macbook Pro and iPad 2!

So what sales lessons can we learnfrom him?

Sales Lesson No 1 – Don’t BeAfraid Of Being DifferentSteve Jobs was never afraid to bedifferent and stand out from thecrowd. To pursue things ways ofdoing things that other people thoughtwere stupid. Until he did them andpeople stood back and applauded.

In a sales context, what aren’t youdoing right now because other peoplethink it’s stupid?

Sales Lesson No 2 – Love WhatYou DoOne of Steve’s favourite sayings was“love what you do”. My question toyou is “do you love what you do?”

The answer for most salespeople, andmost people in general, is “yes, whenthings are going well”. I’ve always saidthat in my opinion, sales can be thebest job in the world when things aregoing well…. And the worst job in theworld when things are going badly!

So for those of you that don’tcurrently love what you do, you need

a more compelling reason or outcomefor doing what you do.

Sales Lesson No 3 – Turn YourTV Off!I remember Steve saying: “We thinkyou watch television to switch yourbrain OFF, and work on yourcomputer when you want to turnyour brain ON”.

I’ve always loved that saying.

When I ask most salespeople “howmuch time do you spend on trying toimprove your sales or your salescareer against how much time do youspend watching TV?” guess which oneis normally most popular?

Most salespeople I meet rarely workon their sales career outside of workand even inside of work they rarelywork on improving it, more that theyjust end up doing it.

Sales Lesson No 4 – Create A‘Buying Experience’Steve Jobs and Apple were fantastic atcreating a ‘buying experience’ everytime you bought one of theirproducts. Pretty much anyone who’sbought from Apple will confirm this!

Whether it’s been an iPod, iPhone,iPad, iMac or anything else in theirproduct line, if you’ve bought oneyou’ll know that it’s a bit different tothe usual buying experience forexample.

An Apple store experience is just that– an experience! The majority ofpeople on the shop floor know exactlyhow to answer your query, or findsomeone who does in a minute! Doesthat have any impact on how manypeople buy more products fromApple?

Of course it does!

Sales Lesson No 5 – Don’t FearFailureThe majority of people I speak to, atsome point, have to deal with failure.So therefore most people also have todeal with a fear of failure. Somethingthat happens in advance of an event

that they think will mean failure forthem.

So one of the things that I do when Iwork with an individual or sales teamis to look at what failures they’reafraid of. Number one on this list isusually cold calling, or in some cases,any kind of sales calls at all!

How many of you or your team areputting off calling a prospect thatcould be a really good source ofincome for you, because you feel likeyou’re not ready?

Follow the tips above and watch yoursales soar!

© Copyright, Andy Preston

About the Author

Andy Preston is recognised worldwideas the Leading Authority on ColdCalling and ‘New Business’ SalesTechniques, and is the creator of‘Stand Out Selling’ – a sales methodthat allows you to stand out fromyour competition, win more business,and do so – even when you’re ahigher price!

With a background as a professionalbuyer, a top-selling salesperson andfor the last 7 years a sales motivator,professional speaker and sales trainingexpert, working with Andy Preston isguaranteed to improve your salesresults!

Companies like IBM, Nissan, HSBCand Target 250 turn to Andy whenthey want to improve their salesperformance – will you do the same?

Co-ordinates

Manchester Head Office (&International Enquiries)Andy Preston LtdHouldsworth Business CentreHouldsworth MillHouldsworth StreetStockport, SK5 6DA, UKTel: +44 (0) 161 401 0142Web: http://www.andypreston.comLinkedIn:http://uk.linkedin.com/in/andyprestonTwitter:https://twitter.com/#!/AndyPreston



32

How to Shine in the SpotlightBy Charles Bates

Thisarticle isabout…a message

to allbusinessleaders.

.

This article by high valuecomplex sales veteran, CharlesBates, is aimed at businessleaders. The same essentialtruths about public speakingapply for all sales leaders.

As a Chairman or CEO yourability to communicate effectivelyto the public and your team hasalways been important - but untilrecently a less than inspiringverbal performance at the lecterncould be overcome and forgivenby delivering sparkling results.However, in these challengingeconomic times, the ability tocommunicate effectively has neverbeen more crucial for the seniorleader.

The reality is that you areprobably working harder andmore effectively than ever beforebut this is not showing. At keymoments when you speak beforeyour peers or staff you need tonot only communicate andconnect but also to impress youraudience; because, like it or not,you are being judged!

Many leaders are exceptional atwhat they do and for the majorityof their working lives displayoutstanding skills. Unfortunately,these are usually only seen bytheir close colleagues. The rest ofthe watching world assesses aleader and judges hiscommunication when he isstanding in front of an audience.Delivering a weak, unconvincing,performance can lead to monthsof endeavour, leadership andeffort unravelling in minutes!

With a shortage of positive resultsto bolster your position, thesekey moments are now even moreessential. Therefore, it isimperative that you, as the leader,come across as charismatic,assured, confident, and calm. Yourability to inspire, instil confidence,

motivate and galvanise action isparamount.

Certain people are born with adegree of ‘performance’ skill, butthis is far smaller than peoplethink. Great speakers CAN beand ARE created. The challengewhich most leaders have is thatalthough they may have an MBAand other relevant qualifications,no one has ever advised orcoached them on the keyfundamentals of charismatic andeffective speaking. Often, theirhard work is undermined by aweak and ineffective presentation.

This is not about spin or cleverPR manipulation of your message.This is about you, the leader ofyour organisation and them, youraudience. It’s about your standingup in front of the audience anddelivering with charisma,confidence and conviction - andensuring that all concerned areleft in no doubt that you are theleader.

When you are in thecommunication spotlight, doesyour performance fall short ofyour other abilities? Ask yourselfthese 6 simple questions: Holding the audience 'in the

palm of your hand' is a muchdesired skill, but do you havethe tools, techniques and skillto achieve this?

While you might have a fewpre-speaking butterflies (theseare good) are they out ofcontrol or flying in tightformation

Is your performance scatteredwith the hallmarks of trulygreat communication; the useof silence, great tone of voiceand poise?

When you speak do youinspire the audience, galvaniseaction and ‘stamp’ yourauthority on the presentation?

Do you ooze confidence,charisma, poise and gravitas?

Do you really enjoy theexperience of presenting ordread it?

A survey in America, a few yearsago, discovered that talking inpublic was the number one dreadof most people, ahead of death.Some people would rather diethan speak in public!

As a senior business leader clearlyyou do not fall into that category,but excessive anxiety is morecommon than you may think. Thiscan easily be brought undercontrol by the application of a fewmind management techniques.

Different styles of presentationscan reinforce your message, ornot. The most often used andtheir effects are: Heavily PowerPoint-based

presentation – the speakermay lose audience focus

Memorised Presentation -the speaker’s focus is howthey’re presenting rather thanwhat they’re saying

Bullet Points – gives theimpression of virtually ad-libbing

Autocue - best for longerpresentations where precisionis of the utmost importance

Inspirational andPassionate style - givenfrom the heart with greatsubject knowledge

So, how do you go aboutdelivering a speech orpresentation which truly matchesyour position and stature?

As with most skills, it is notsomething which can be achievedovernight. Having coached seniorleaders for many years, we knowthat even a small amount ofpotent, highly effective,professional assistance improvesperformance immensely.

In the meantime, here are 6 keypoints which will help you toprepare for your nextpresentation: First impressions are vital and

your audience will form astrong impression of youbefore you have spoken yourfirst word. The importance ofnon-verbal communication



33

must never be over looked.You need to pay attention toyour body language as you‘take the stage.’ If you areseen as assured and confidentthe audience will get a positivefirst impression.

Memorise the first 90 secondsof your presentation - you willbe very glad that you did.

Ensure the clarity of yourmessage. You know what youare talking about but will theaudience be able to follow it?Break your presentation intobite size chunks and then linkthem together. Also, watchyour speed of delivery. Toofast a pace will leave theaudience confused andunimpressed.

Many speakers feel the needto fill every moment withwords, ignoring a key rule ofcharismatic speaking - silenceis golden. Using pauses addsstature, poise and gravitas toyour performance.

As a senior leader you arealways busy, but yourmoments in the spotlight arevital, so make sure that youcommit time to practise.Experience shows that 90% ofweak presentations are theresult of poor preparation andlack of practice.

It is important to start welland important to have apowerful close to yourpresentation. A powerfulclose which summarises the 3key messages of yourpresentation is essential.Never close with the dull,‘Ladies and gentlemen thatconcludes my presentation.’The message to the audienceis, ‘Get your coat he’sfinished!’ Instead, trysomething which evokespower and stature, forexample, ‘Ladies andgentlemen, finally, these arethe 3 things to remember...’

Communicating with charisma,poise and confidence has neverbeen more important. Proof thatgreat speaking can make all thedifference was demonstratedwhen a little known constituentMP, David Cameron, elevatedhimself from outsider to winner inthe race for leader of the BritishConservative party.

During the 2005 ConservativeParty conference David Davis andDavid Cameron were competingfor the leader’s job. Each wasgiven the opportunity to addressthe party conference and presenthis vision and credentials. DavidDavis, the hot favourite for thetop position, spoke on the firstday and delivered a competentbut standard speech.

The following day the youngpretender, Cameron, took thestage. His speech wasacknowledged by independentobservers as a tour-de-force, fullof charisma, passion, poise andconfidence. The result was thatCameron won the race and therest is history.

A well-known politicalcommentator said:“Few of the friends who contemplatedDavid Cameron’s leadership bid expectedanything other than a Davis victory. Theirhearts wanted ‘Dave’ to win but theirheads told them that 2005 was reallyabout positioning for another battle infour or five years’ time. There were timeswhen some friends almost threw in thetowel.

Cheerleaders at The Times lost heart inthe middle of September and used aleader column to suggest that it mightsoon be wise to team up with a biggerbeast. Simultaneously some of Cameron’sclosest lieutenants were complainingabout their candidate’s unwillingness totake risks. David Cameron’s leadershiphopes were transformed just days later.Two compelling performances – first athis campaign launch and then the nowfamous Blackpool speech transformed hispublic standing. He was no longer thelittle boat at the mercy of powerfulcurrents and the swell of larger craft; hewas the supertanker candidate on coursefor victory.”

This is clear and compelling proofof what a 20 minute presentationcan achieve when delivered withCharisma and Effectivenesscreating an Outstandingperformance.

CEO speaking can be learned!

© Copyright, Charles Bates

About the Author:

As a computer and technologysales professional, Charles Bates

has worked with a number ofhigh-profile firms, namely theLondon Rubber Company; EMI;Whitbread; Computer SciencesCorporation; The Gartner Group;and BIS. This wealth of experienceputs him in a prime position forguiding others whose careers arebased around the top companiesin the world. Charles’ emphasison the importance of self-beliefand taking control of your life alsoequips him to be an excellentPosition Ignition Career Guide, assymbolised by his favourite quote,Henry Ford’s famous “Whetheryou think you can or you thinkyou can’t, you’re probably right”.

However, Charles is also realisticand will never encourage anyoneto stretch himself or herself morethan they actually have to. Hisphilosophy of ‘Don’t try to do toomany things’ perfectly echoesPosition Ignition’s belief thatsometimes a tiny career shift is allthat is needed in life. Charles’emphasis on the importance ofself-belief gives him the ability toinspire others to achieve greatthings, just as that other go-getting business guru, WarrenBuffet, inspires Charles himself asa Position Ignition Career Guide.

Co-ordinates

Web: www.positionignition.comEmail:[email protected]

There are always threespeeches, for every one youactually gave. The one youpracticed, the one you gave,and the one you wish yougave.Dale Breckenridge Carnegie(1888-1955), American writer,lecturer, and the developer offamous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship,corporate training, publicspeaking, and interpersonalskills.



34

Top Business Commentatorsand Entrepreneurs to follow onTwitter

Rebecca Burn-Callander, writingin Management Today on 25October 2012, listed the topbusiness commentators, economicpundits, financial wizards andentrepreneurs to follow onTwitter.

Business Commentators

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1156716/top-50-business-commentators-follow-twitter/

In no particular order, they are:

Robert Peston, business editor

for the BBC - @peston

The Fleet Street Fox -

@fleetstreetfox

Faisal Islam, Economics Editor at

Channel 4 News - @faisalislam

Ed Conway, economics editor of

Sky News - @edconwaysky

The MT team:

@MatthewGwyther,

@Sparky000,@MichaelNorthcott,

@lizzyandersonuk, @emmadevita,

@JHazlehurst and, last but not

least, @MT_Editorial

Nick Hood, MT blogger and

‘cynical business pundit’ -

@NickHood5

Katie Prescott, BBC business

producer on Radio 4’s Today

programme -@kprescott

Allister Heath, editor of City

A.M. - @AllisterHeath

Chris Giles, economics editor at

the FT - @ChrisGiles

Stephanie Flanders, economics

editor for the BBC -

@BBCStephanie

Stefan Stern, management

writer - @stefanstern

Chris Blackhurst, editor of the

Independent - @c_blackhurst

Lord Young, the PM’s adviser on

enterprise - @TheLordYoung

Sathnam Sanghera, business

journalist - @sathnam

Milo Yiannopoulos – founder of

The Kernel - @nero

Zee, CEO of TheNextWeb -

@zee

Aly Duncan, CBI web editor -

@alyduncan

James Taylor, business writer,

@James_M_T

Saul Klein, entrepreneurial

powerhouse - @cape

Kate Bassett, former editor of

Real Business Magazine -

@KateBassett

Charles Orton-Jones, editor of

LondonLovesBusiness -

@CharlesOJ

Modwenna Rees-Mogg, boss of

Angel News - @modwenna

Philip Beresford, compiler of

the Sunday Times Rich List -

@philipberesford

Fraser Nelson, editor of The

Spectator - @frasernelson

Chuka Umunna, shadow

business secretary -

@chukaumunna

Rhymer Rigby, finance writer -

@rhymerrigby

Richard Young, business

journalist - @richardyoung

Peter Curtis, business journalist

- @peter_e_curtis

Jason Hesse, business journalist

and all-round clever chap -

@jasonhesse

Evan Davis, Radio 4 Today

programme presenter -

@EvanHD

Robert Loch, man about town -

@robertloch

Ian Merricks, managing partner

at White Horse Capital -

@ianmerricks1

Matt Thomas, COO of Smarta,

@smartamatt

Hannah Prevett, business writer

- @hannahprevett

Jos White, angel investor -

@joscwhite

Rajeeb Dey, CEO of enternships

- @rajdey

Pinky Lilani, champion of

women in business - @pinkylilani

Rosamund Urwin, Evening

Standard journalist,

@RosamundUrwin

David Bain, editorial director at

Campden Wealth

@davidbaineditor

Linda Yueh, Economics Editor &

host of Economic Edge for

Bloomberg – @lindayueh

Guy Rigby, accountant and

adviser to the entrepreneurial -

@guyrigby

Laura Kuenssberg, ITV News

business editor - @ITVLauraK

Tim Harford, Undercover

Economist at the FT -

@TimHarford

Heather Stewart, business

editor of The Observer -

@heatherstewart3

Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC

technology correspondent -

@BBCRoryCJ

Matthew d’Ancona, business

journalist - @MatthewdAncona

Anatole Kaletsky, economist

and journalist - @kaletsky

Jonathan Portes, director of

NIESR - @jdportes

Leigh Caldwell, cognitive-

behavioural economist -

@LeighBlue

John Fraher, Bloomberg

managing editor for eurocrisis -

@johnfraher



35

Top Entrepreneurshttp://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1156240/top-50-entrepreneurs-follow-twitter/

Rebecca Burn-Callander has

concentrated mainly on UK

entrepreneurs, with the occasional US

entrepreneur thrown in for good

measure. With this lot, you'll be

informed, entertained and inspired

every time you fire up your Twitter

account.

In no particular order, they are:

Richard Branson, Virgin

entrepreneur - @richardbranson

Michael Acton-Smith, founder

of Mind Candy (Moshi Monsters) -

@acton

Richard Reed, co-founder of

Innocent Drinks -

@richardreedinno

Michelle Mone, founder of

Ultimo Lingerie - @MichelleMone

Paul Lindley, co-founder of Ella’s

Kitchen - @Paul_Lindley

Richard Moross, founder of

Moo.com - @richardmoross

Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of

LastMinute.com and UK Digital

Champion -@MarthaLaneFox

Sahar Hashemi, founder of

Skinny Candy and co-founder of

Coffee Republic - @saharhas

Mary Portas, founder of

Yellowdoor - @MaryPortas

Willy Wynne, founder of Arena

Flowers - @WillWynne

Jacqueline Gold, CEO of Ann

Summers and Knickerbox -

@Jacqueline_Gold

Thea Green, founder of Nails Inc

- @Thea_Green

Lynne Franks, serial

entrepreneur and founder of

B.Hive - @Lynne_Franks

Sam Barnett, founder of Struq -

@BarnettSam

Rowan Gormley, founder of

Naked Wines - @rowbags

Errol Damelin, founder of

Wonga - @ED_Wonga

Will King, founder of King of

Shaves - @KingofShaves

Simon Woodroffe, founder of

YO! Sushi - @Woodroffe_Simon

Adam Baker, founder of Blottr -

@adamblottr

Hilary Devey, founder of Pall-Ex

and star of Dragons’ Den -

@HilaryDevey

Peter Jones, founder of the UK’s

first enterprise academy and star

of Dragons’ Den - @dragonjones

Duane Jackson, founder of

KashFlow - @DuaneJackson

Deborah Meaden, serial

entrepreneur and star of Dragons’

Den - @DeborahMeaden

Ben Way, serial entrepreneur

and star of Secret Millionaire -

@BWay

Mark Pearson, founder of

MyVoucherCodes and star of

Secret Millionaire -

@markpearson

Oli Barrett, the one and only Oli

Barrett - @OliBarrett

Theo Paphitis, serial

entrepreneur and star of Dragons’

Den - @TheoPaphitis

Duncan Bannatyne, serial

entrepeneur and star of Dragons’

Den - @DuncanBannatyne

Shaa Wasmund, founder of

Smarta - @ShaaWasmund

Doug Richard, founder of School

for Startups - @dougrichard

James Cann, founder of

Hamilton Bradshaw and former

star of Dragons’ Den -

@JamesCaan

Alicia Navarro, co-founder of

Skimlinks - @AliciaNavarro

Rupert Murdoch, founder of

News Corp - @RupertMurdoch

Lord Sugar, serial entrepreneur

and star of The Apprentice

@Lord_Sugar

Ed Wray, co-founder of Betfair -

@edwray

David Hathiramani, co-founder

of A Suit That Fits -

@ASuitTFDavid

Alistair Mitchell, co-founder of

Huddle - @almitchell

Kirsty Henshaw, founder of

Kirstys - @Kirsty_Henshaw

Michael Birch, co-founder of

Bebo - @MickBirch

Duncan Cheatle, founder of The

Supper Club - @DuncanCheatle

Michael Hayman, co-founder of

Seven Hills - @MichaelHayman

Jan Reichelt, co-founder of

Mendeley - @janerixo

Lara Morgan, founder of Pacific

Direct - @IAmLaraMorgan

Evan Williams, founder of

Twitter - @ev

Geoff and Jim Riley, founders of

Tutor2U - @tutor2u and

@tutor2u_econ

Damian Kimmelman, founder

of Duedil - @duediler

Matt Robinson, co-founder of

GoCardless - @mattjackrob

Chad Hurley, co-founder of

Youtube - @Chad_Hurley

Emi Gal, founder of Brainient -

@EmiGal

James Dyson, founder of Dyson

- @DysonJames (he hasn’t

tweeted yet but MT has high

hopes)

John Vincent and Henry

Dimbleby, co-founders of Leon -

@JohnV_LEON and

@Henry_Leon

Mike Clare, founder of Dreams -

@MikeGClare

Elizabeth Varley, co- founder of

TechHub - @evarley

Shed Simove, the one and only

Ideas Man - @ShedSimove

Rich Martell, founder of Floxx -

@RichMartell

Brad Burton, founder of

4Networking - @BradBurton

Wendy Tan White, co-founder

of Moonfruit - @wendytanwhite

Alex Tew, serial entrepreneur -

@tewy

Jamie Murray Wells, founder of

Glasset Direct - @glasses_Jamie

Simon Nixon, founder of

moneysupermarket -

@simonnixon

Dwain Reid, serial entrepreneur

and Twitter

supremo -

@DwainReid



36

Important Notice© Copyright 2012, Bizezia Limited, All Rights

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[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 November 2012

On 31 October 2012,Lord Heseltine called on thecoalition government to producea radical growth strategy ifBritain is to win “the relentlesseconomic war”.

He set out a comprehensiveeconomic plan to improve the UK’sability to create wealth. Hisindependent report makes the casefor a major rebalancing ofresponsibilities for economicdevelopment between central andlocal government, and betweengovernment and the private sector.

The Heseltine report: “No stoneunturned in pursuit of growth” isavailable for download at:http://tinyurl.com/cfp93hs. It makes89 recommendations which aim to: inject stability into the economy; create the conditions for

growth; and maximise the performance of

the UK.

At the heart of the Heseltineproposals are measures to unleashthe potential of local economies andleaders and enable every part of theUK economy to raise its game.

In addition Lord Heseltinehas produced: “No stoneunturned: chamber of commerce -international comparisons” which isavailable for download at:http://tinyurl.com/cf56ogv

Lord Heseltine presented his reportto the Chancellor of the Exchequerand the Business Secretary VinceCable. The government will nowconsider the recommendations.

Commenting on Lord Heseltine’sindependent review of UKcompetitiveness, John Longworth,Director General of the BritishChambers of Commerce(BCC), said: “Lord Heseltine’sanalysis of the state of the UK economyis compelling. Businesses will welcomehis call for steady, long-term thinking toimprove the UK’s economic

performance. Yet Heseltine’sprescription for action focuses toomuch on institutions, rather than on thefundamental barriers to businessgrowth. Ministers should think carefullybefore committing to a restructuring ofgovernment, and focus first on the keyconstraints facing the real economy: theavailability of growth finance, practicalhelp for our exporters, our creakingphysical infrastructure, and aneducation and training system thatresponds to business needs.Government can best supportenterprise by collaborating withbusiness to get the basics right.”

John Cridland, CBI Director-General said: “I welcome LordHeseltine’s review. It identifies a widerange of levers capable of promotinggrowth which the CBI has beencalling for, for some time, fromeducation to infrastructure, and fromplanning to access to finance. It is athoughtful contribution to the growthdebate. His key point is that we needmore local action and leadership,which must be right. To successfullyrebalance the economy towardsprivate sector growth, every part ofBritain needs to grow – we mustn’tjust rely on the usual suspects ofLondon and the South-East.”

Simon Walker, DirectorGeneral of the Institute ofDirectors, said: “We welcome theidea of encouraging more devolutionto the local level, and ensuringbusiness has the opportunity tomake heard its priorities on localissues. IoD representatives andmembers are active in a largenumber of Local EnterprisePartnerships around the country, andthey are keen to continue giving theirtime and advice on how to get thesystem working to support growth inthe regions. Business leaders and thevarious business organisations havelong experience of co-operating toencourage a positive businessenvironment in the UK, and we arecommitted to continuing that work.But Lord Heseltine’s proposals onforeign investment into the UK are

more worrying. The idea that weshould be suspicious of people fromaround the world putting the moneyinto our country is misguided. Weshould be looking at ways toencourage and invite investors toback British enterprise andinfrastructure projects, not revertingto government-run public interesttests which make it more difficult forthem to do so.”

In preparing for battle I havealways found that plans areuseless, but planning isindispensable.Dwight D. Eisenhower, USPresident and WW2 General

How Britain canwin “the relentlesseconomic war”


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