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Archive - 2018

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1
Business Systems For Success
2
Are You Trying To Reach Too Many Customers?
3
5 Ways To Use Your “Why” To Empower Your People
4
What Is A Business Plan And Why You Need One
5
5 Ways To Empower Your Team

Business Systems For Success

Every business, no matter how small, can only improve with the addition of clear, documented systems.

You may already have some systems in your business – perhaps how to file documents, or what paperwork to fill in, or how to use the computer system. Yet most small businesses grow their systems informally as they themselves grow and unfortunately many such systems are verbally passed on, remain in the mind of the founder, or variations are made by people as time passes.

What this or even worse, no systems end up as is a mess.

Whether you have or don’t have systems does this sound familiar?

  • Someone leaves and you have to spend a lot of time training a replacement
  • Employees do their jobs, but there’s always a holdup somewhere that has to wait for you to tell them what to do
  • Outcomes of work processes are unpredictable or inconsistent, depending on who is working on it
  • You can’t really leave your business for a vacation without being tied to email

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Are You Trying To Reach Too Many Customers?

There is a very important marketing principle – “Sell to everyone and you sell to no-one.”

What this means is that if you try to appeal too broadly to all types of customers, the customers who you really want, those who actually need your specific product, get lost in the noise.

Imagine if you are in the market for a product, let’s say you are a lawyer trying to find a software app to organise who works on what cases. If I wrote you a marketing email that said I had a project management app, would you be interested? What if I wrote to you and said that I had an app specially designed for lawyers and it matched the milestones for each case to specific lawyers? Which of those two letters would you follow up first?

What this marketing principle means is that you must get to know your exact target market, and your marketing tools, from website to language to logo must be measured by that specific target market. Will the corporate colours appeal to the target market? Is your messaging specific to their needs and problems?

But sometimes that market is so crowded that it is difficult to define your differentiation. The legal space is like this. So might the accounting industry or even car repair workshops. How do you drill down so that you suit a specific target market when everyone else is gunning for that market? Read More

5 Ways To Use Your “Why” To Empower Your People

No matter what kind of business you are in, you are already in the People Business.

In today’s world, businesses can no longer afford to see staff as “assets” or “resources.” Even the language of business is shifting so that employees and teams are seen first as individuals and people, rather than simply resources to be mobilised. Research has shown time and time again that happier employees translate their experience to gain happier customers, and happier customers mean more sales.

Research has also shown that one of the major reasons that employees perform better, is if they are united by a common purpose. That, not only do they know what they are selling – everyone knows that – they really know why they are selling what they are selling. This is the purpose of your business – the “why” of your very existence.

So, assuming you have worked on your business vision and purpose – your “why” – and been able to translate this for your people, how do you make your small business a truly purpose-led people-business?

Read More

What Is A Business Plan And Why You Need One

Are you in business? Are you starting a business? Are you expanding your business? Are you adding new products?

You need a business plan.

A business plan is not some dreamy, creative exercise about what you might want in a dream. An effective business plan is based on facts – facts as they exist right now, facts about what can happen, and facts based on different sets of assumptions about the future. A business p[lan starts with the future, defining exactly where you want to be – a vision, but one that is tested and quantified and not left in some dreamy state. Read More

5 Ways To Empower Your Team

As we build our businesses, we will need to build teams.

Teamwork makes processes more efficient and the supportive behaviours in teams can also provide the platform on which businesses expand.

But teams aren’t just about friends. In fact, some strong teams are made up of people who don’t necessarily engage socially. Teams don’t just work well together, good teams work well because they know when to do things, and what are the right things to do in the circumstances.

So, how do you create this team system in your small business? Read More

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