Business | Teik Oh

How To Build Innovation Into Your Business

Feb 23 2015

I have facilitated many strategic and business plans, and read many more, where either embedded in vision and mission statements or spelt out in goals and objectives, is the desire to “be an innovative company”.

Why? What does this mean? Why is innovation important to your business?

To many businesses, when they say they are “innovative” it just means they are flexible and helpful in their service. You want a cashflow projection when you get your tax done? Sure we can do that. So you want a flexible payment plan after we provide you with our legal services? No problem we can tailor one for you. You want a house built off plan but you need a wall repositioned? No problem.

Well, that’s not innovation, that’s just giving good service!

However to some businesses, innovation is critical to the business’ development and growth – innovation that keeps it one step ahead of the competition; innovation that creates a point of difference; innovation that ensures the business and its staff keep developing and growing. In such businesses you need to build innovation into your business model.

To start with it is important to be clear why innovation is necessary in your business and what you mean by innovation. Your staff need to be clear whether they are required to come up with the cure for cancer or whether it is about small but significant change, say to customer service systems. It is also important to realise that innovation means change, particularly if innovation is to be a constant. Are your staff and systems ready to cope with that? Stress is not conducive to innovation so a madly busy office will not be a hot bed for innovation.

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Know your REAL Product

In order to market your product or service effectively, you need to understand what is your real product.

Your product or service is not a list of features. I have heard so often people describing their product or service to me as a whole bunch of features:-

“It’s made of the hardiest materials”

“The design of the micro-circuits came from Germany”

“Our accountants prepare your tax return using their skill”

“The contracts our lawyers draw up include all the legal requirements”.

Features don’t sell products. Customers don’t look for features, they look for the benefits your product provides them and that meets their needs. No one needs “hardy materials” or small German circuits or a skillfully prepared tax return, or even a contract that contains everything it should. People buy something that “lasts forever”, a device that’s small, a tax refund, legal peace of mind.

This video below provides the how and why of getting to know your real product.

Feb 20 2015

Does my business need a Board of Directors?

Feb 16 2015

Larger companies have Boards of Directors to provide governance over the company. The question is, does your small or micro-business need a Board?

Boards of Directors have different roles from company management. Directors provide a layer of governance while management provide the leadership over the operations of the company. Directors provide strategic oversight not operational management. Directors set the company’s strategic goals, vision and direction, its limitations of purpose, and the accountability frameworks, and assess management’s performance in following strategy and accountability. Management on the other hand oversee the day to day operations and allocates resources in the pursuit of strategy.

Clearly larger corporations need this distinct role, especially if they report to shareholders who do not have a working knowledge of the day to day operations of the company. In this way Boards provide transparency for stakeholders.

On the other hand, in a small business that is owner-operated, the manager is usually the owner, and they may also be nominally “on the Board” if the small business is incorporated. Other micro-businesses may not even be incorporated and may only have family members as employees. Do these businesses need a Board? Read More

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A Day-to-day HR Issue

Feb 13 2015

Here’s an every day HR issue that whether we are business owners, managers, colleagues of another team-member, or just simply friends with another worker, will come across.

You come into work one morning and you inter-act with another team member on a job-related task. They are usually careful and attentive at work. They may or may not be a “leading light” in the workplace but they are certainly dependable and will complete their tasks while mindful of deadlines and outcomes.

Today however they seem to be “off their game”.

You ask if anything is wrong. They tell you that they had an argument with another team member about a personal issue, and the incident is affecting him/her. In fact he/she feels that it is so serious it is affecting his/her work.

What should you do? The normal efficiency of the team is obviously at risk. Do you see it as a personal matter and leave it alone? Do you advise the person you are with to sort it out with the other? Do you go to see the other person and see what you can do? Do you bring both together and mediate? Do you go up the ladder and tell the team leader there is an issue? Read More

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Does My Small Business Need a Marketing Plan?

Feb 09 2015

When I talk to small and micro-business owners, I always ask them if they have a marketing plan. Their answer is invariably “no”.

So the next question, in exploration of that, is usually from them: “Why do I need a marketing plan? What I need to do is in my head, and besides, I’m stretched enough as it is running the business”.

I have to point out to them that’s really three questions and I deal with them one at a time. The first question is, as a small business, do I really need a marketing plan?

Of course you do. It need not be a large document, and in a small business you may not need to detail every item in a traditional marketing plan, but you do need a marketing plan, it should be written, and it should deal with the key concepts of marketing.

You need a marketing plan because running a for-profit business without a marketing plan is simply opening your doors and hoping for the best. Finding customers, increasing sales, meeting break-even and growing profits cannot be done while simply hoping for the best. Even if you had, in your head, a sure-fire way to find new customers, or sell more to existing customers, writing it down and sharing it with your team is the best way to relieve the lonely stress of doing it by yourself – they can help achieve those sales targets with you if they know what your sure-fire procedure was.

If you were taking your family on holiday, would you simply buy tickets to where you were going and just arrive? No, you would have some sort of plan that you share with them and some key bookings. So why would you not have a plan when your business’ performance and its livelihood is at stake? Without a marketing plan, you do not know who are your optimum market, the best way of getting to them and appealing to them, the resources you will need to service them, and what you need them to buy and when. Read More

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Increase your sales through a highly focused marketing plan!

SMART Marketing: In this book, the owners of a small business are led through the SMART Marketing 7 Step Process to produce a marketing plan targeted at their most desirable customers. Any business can use these principles and in 4 to 6 weeks implement a plan to get them through the door! Find out how...

The SMART Marketing Workbook: Companion to “SMART Marketing”, this workbook sets out the SMART Marketing process in 7 workshops for you and your staff to complete questionnaires and templates that at the end, form the marketing plan you need to sell your REAL product to your REAL customer! View now...

Category - Business

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How To Build Innovation Into Your Business

Know your REAL Product

Does my business need a Board of Directors?

A Day-to-day HR Issue

Does My Small Business Need a Marketing Plan?