Small Business | Teik Oh

How To Keep Innovating

Dec 20 2016

“We need to innovate to thrive.”

“Business has to be agile these days.”

“The cheese has moved.”

“Every market sector will face disruption.”

We’ve all heard these phrases haven’t we? “Innovate” and “agile” and “disruption”, what do these trendy words mean?

Well, believe it or not, there’s nothing new under the sun. All these trendy sayings mean something that businesses have had to do for centuries – we all need to move with the times. If you settle, you go the way of Kodak and Blackberry, and in the sense of industries, you face the challenges of the taxi industry in the face of Uber or of the hotel industry when Air BnB is out there.

So you have to innovate. You have to be aware of what is happening around you, to your business, to your customers, to your industry, to your market, and find new ways of doing things or new ways to serve. Yet business success is a game of inches, not Eureka moments.

If you expect miracles, you set up your mindset for the BIG new thing to invent. This makes people feel nervous because they will find it hard to innovate at such a big leap. So they react by working on what they know, and innovation? Nothing.

You need to shift mindsets – yours and those of your team. Believe that innovation is possible but you do it through small improvements. If people are allowed to change their world with small improvements, then they are not afraid to fail because if they do fail, it’s small. When a good attempt has not succeeded, don’t label it a failure – accept that an experiment has given you a result and ask “what did we learn to do/not to do?”

And remember to measure. Take simple measurements like time saved, or cost saved – feel the progress and celebrate, then look for more.

Finally if you are reading this on one of my social media channels, you might be missing a lot of great ideas and tools and resources to help you grow your business, create effective strategy and show leadership. Why don’t you go to my website at teikoh.com and sign up to get these free ideas sent directly to your inbox (not forgetting to mark the email from teikoh.com as safe so that it doesn’t go straight to your spam folder.

See you next week!

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Build Value In Your Business By Going Away For Three Months!

Dec 13 2016

Has the title of this week’s article got your attention?

Like many entrepreneurs and small business owners you are probably struggling with your work-life balance, right? You are working long hours, sometimes weekends, when you go on vacation you can’t help feeling the guilt, your phone or tablet is always on and always calling for your attention even at all hours of the night. Yet the reason you started your own business, apart from the passionate belief in what you are doing is…getting time to do what you want.

Just stop for 10 minutes (yes, you can!). Ask yourself why you aren’t able to find that “life” part of the balance. Do these reasons sound familiar?

I need to really pour myself into this to make enough money at the moment
I’m really busy because I can’t afford someone else to do some of the work
It’s all in my head so I can’t let go
I haven’t broken through financially yet
I’m ultimately responsible
As I expand there’s even more work to do
Only I can do it
There’s just so much to do
The work comes with success

Think about those reasons just for a minute. They all come down to the fact that there seems to be a lot to do and you are the only one available or capable of doing it. Read More

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Before You Sell, Start With Why

Dec 06 2016

Tell me, when you started your business, was it just to sell things?

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. I think you started your business because you had a passion. You wanted to build a better life. You believed you had a solution to a common problem. You were passionate about your ability or believed you could use your experience to help people. I’m pretty sure you didn’t start a business just because you wanted to sell something!

So why, when we talk to potential customers do we start with a “sell”? Why don’t we start with why we are doing what we are doing?

Believe me, people are attracted to a business with a purpose. People are attracted to your product or service because they believe in you. People trust you because they are attracted to the passion you show in what you believe. Customers don’t buy from you because they like the features and benefits of your product – they buy because of the passion for the solution that you see in the benefits that you offer.

Remember, if you really want to attract customers to your business, don’t start with a sales spin, start with why – why you are in your business, why you started your business.

You’re not a personal trainer because you want to sell personal training sessions. You are a personal trainer because you believe in a world where people are fit and healthy and having fun, and that you can give people that lifestyle in an effective and fun way.

You’re not a mechanic because you want to sell someone an oil change. You are a mechanic because you have a skill in making machines just hum and your passion is to make things right.

So tell your customers that. Believe me, you’ll get more customers than just telling them about an oil change.

If you want to get more free tips and tools to grow your business, go to my website teikoh.com and register your email address so that Ican deliver these weekly ideas directly to you.

And if you want to know more about attracting customers who really want what you offer, you need a targeted Marketing Plan. I have an online training and workshop that will take you through 7 simple steps and create your scheduled, focused, practical marketing plan to target and attract your ideal customers – click here to learn more.

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Plan With An Eye To The Outside

Nov 29 2016

When you wrote your last business plan, did you go on a “retreat”?

That’s what most people do – they clear out some time and take their team out of the workplace so they won’t be disturbed, and they spend a couple of days discussing what’s going on in the business and how to improve it and set goals and strategies.

But here’s what’s wrong with this approach – more often than not you discuss and find solutions for problems and opportunities from inside your business, and forget that it’s external stimuli that will have serious and unpredictable effects.

So you go along and implement your plan only to have, one day —– WHAM! A big problem from outside hits you where you weren’t expecting.

Watch this week as I discuss how to plan with an eye to external factors.

Let’s summarise – use PESTLE to analyse and think about the external factors that could have an impact on your plans:

P for Political, being any political changes in your region that could have an impact;

E for Economic, requiring you to look at the local, national and global economy;

S for Social, asking what social trends are happening right now that could affect your business;

T for Technological – what is happening in and outside your industry that is affected by tech changes, social media and so on;

L for Legal, looking for potential changes to the law that could impact your industry;

E for Environmental, including the environment as well as surrounding factors – can any development here affect you?

If you want more of these free tips, tools and resources to help you grow your business, click here and sign up to get them sent directly to your inbox every week.

And while you’re there, go to teikoh.com and see what other great ideas you’ve missed.

Comment 13

Meeting Customer Expectations

Nov 22 2016

Let me know if this scenario is familiar to you.

You go out for a romantic dinner out with your partner or spouse. You’ve chosen a high-end French restaurant because of it’s reputation for good food, and frankly, the advertising you’ve seen about the food and the overall experience. While you haven’t really specified it, inside, you know that what a romantic meal out means romantic decor with low lights, comfortable seating and some privacy in the way it’s laid out, welcoming service when you enter and attentive service without being too pushy through the meal. Oh and, the meal should be good, or at least worth the price.

Recognise the scenario? Tell the truth, while the quality of the food is important to you, it’s not as high on the list of your needs as all the other factors surrounding the evening.

So have you ever entered into that scenario and found that when you walked in…..

you were ignored for what felt like a crazy 10 minutes spent fidgeting near the door
the lights were so darn dim that you couldn’t see in front of your face
the seats (when you eventually sat down) were modern hard plastic and after half an hour you just wanted to finish and get out because of your sore bum
and the wait staff were all over you or forgetting about you.

The food was GREAT but…..the rest of the experience killed the evening.

Does that sound familiar?

Marketing is all about emotions and expectations. Despite having a GREAT product, you still need to meet all the customer’s expectations caused by your marketing.

This week I am going through what it takes to meet your customers’ expectations.

So, think about that. You need to set up your business to meet all of your customers’ needs:-

It’s not just about a great product
How do you provide that product to them?
What about after-sales service, is it what they want?
Is the price what they expect?
What about the way you package the sale, either of a tangible product, or of an online product, or even of a service – what comes with it, all wrapped up?
Have you trained your staff to give the perfect experience?
What about your internal systems and procedures, do they support giving your customer what they want?

In my SMART Marketing program, step 3 is all about setting up your business to match customer expectations. If you don’t do that then all the benefits of your product will not be appreciated. Click here to check out my SMART Marketing online training and workshop to guide you through the creation of your targeted marketing plan, and collect three free gifts along the way!

Get over to my website now at teikoh.com and register your name and email to get more free tips, tools and resources to create winning strategy, show innovative leadership, and grow the business of your dreams!

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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 - Small Business

Get FREE weekly ideas to grow your business

How To Keep Innovating

Build Value In Your Business By Going Away For Three Months!

Before You Sell, Start With Why

Plan With An Eye To The Outside

Meeting Customer Expectations