Buff Up Your Business

The final strategy in the "Buff Up Your Business" series is:

Strategy 7 - Upgrade Who You Are

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.

~ unknown Author

The better you are personally, the better your business will become.

Just what are the key things you should do, to ensure business success?

• Set strong boundaries
• Raise your standards
• Improve your communication skills
• Improve your management skills
• Build your professional network
  
  Anybody who thinks they are already doing all of these things perfectly are kidding themselves, there is always room for improvement and in my experience, it is always more effective when two people are working together on these things. Why not contact me at Nicholl Consultancy and we can get started. Alternatively, if you are already brilliant at these things and don't need any help - then let me know your secret! I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Until next time, have a fantastic week.

Buff Up Your Business

The next strategy in the "Buff Up your Business" series is:

Strategy 6 - Expect and Require a Lot from Everyone

"Nobody rises to low expectations."

~ Calvin Lloyd

This includes: Vendors, staff, your management team, customers and yourself.

What should you expect?

• On time performance
• No problems
• Value for money
• Quick payment
• Accuracy
• Great attitude
• Maximum performance
• Professionalism
• Consistency

If you are not getting these things regularly, then questions need to be ask, how are these issues holding my business back?

If you would find it easier to explore these questions with somebody who is not closely linked with your business then please get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy.

Until next time - Have a successful week.

Buff Up Your Business

The next strategy in the "Buff Up Your Business" series is:

Strategy 5 - Invest in your Business

I have a problem with too much money.

I can't reinvest it fast enough, and because I reinvest it,

more money comes in.

Yes, the rich do get richer

Robert Kiyosaki

Research shows that you should invest between 2% and 10% of your sales to stay ahead of the competition.

But, what should you spend it on?

1. Research and Development - It is important to firmly focus on your customer or client, what do they need from you? What keeps them awake at night? That is what you need to be developing and ready to supply to them, just because your product or service suited them last year, it may not suit them this year or next year, find out where they are heading and be ready for them.

2. Marketing - I suspect that many of us are guilty of only focusing on marketing when we see that our diaries have gaps in them or when our order book is looking empty. That is the wrong time to start marketing. Why? Because it takes time for people to get to know you and want to buy from you. Marketing needs to be a continuous process, you should keep your company in the forefront of people's minds, so when they are ready to buy, you will be their first option. This is best done by drip-feeding rather than by flooding. Don't like marketing? Just contact me at Nicholl Consultancy and I can recommend a brilliant company.

3. Sales - Make sure you follow-up on any enquiries you may have had in the past, you probably are reluctant to contact people that showed an interest once but who didn't go on to buy from you. However, all that means is that they didn't need you at the time and if you ignore them in the future, when they are ready to buy, they won't come back to you, they will buy from somebody else, why? Because you didn't keep up the relationship and they may well have forgotten about you - just gently keep in touch by giving them information about new things you are offering, or promotions you are running, or passing on websites that you think they may find helpful, don't keep trying to sell to them, but become a helpful adviser, then they will want to turn to you when they are ready to buy.

4. Staff Training - Your staff are the life blood of your company, ensure that they know that you recognise that. Investing and updating the skills of your staff brings a two-fold benefit, they feel valued and your business gains an advantage. Are they communicating in the most effective way possible? Are their time-management skills really sharp? Do they know how to priorities efficiently? What about when dealing face to face or on the phone with your customers or clients, do they come over as professional and assertive or are they a bit aggressive or subsmissive? Is that the impression you want potential prospects to have of your company? Does your company have a directive style of management or are your staff encouraged to take responsibility for their own outputs? All these things can be easily addressed through the right training and workshops. The right training, with the right provider is always money well spent. Take a look at my workshop page at Nicholl Consultancy.

5. Technology - We don't keep up with technology are our peril. How much time do you waste by not automating as much of your business as possible? Do you have to respond to each e-mail separately and then write separate e-mails encouraging people deeper into your marketing funnel? This all takes up your valuable time and can easily be automated by auto-responders - just google it for lots of options. Make sure you have processes in place that can evaluate everything that you spend money on eg: how many people your website? Have you a means of capturing their information when they visit, if you don't, how can you build up your database in order to market more effectively? There are lots of ways that technology can help your business and save you time. Put times aside regularly in your diary to get clear on the things that are most time consuming for your company and then explore the technology that can help with it.

We can work on this together, why not get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy

Until next time -have a successful week

Buff up your Business

The next strategy in the "Buff Up Your Business" series is:

Strategy 4 - Get all the Information you need to Run your Business Successfully.

"When you can measure what you are speaking about,

and express it in numbers,

you know something about it;

but when you cannot measure it,

when you cannot express it in numbers,

your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind."

Lord Kelvin 1883

From a Financial perspective you should have regular reports on:

• Your sales;
• cost of sales;
• general and admin expenses;
• operating and net profits;
• accounts receiveable and accounts payable

You should be able to see at a glance what your sales are for the current month compared to last year. Do you need to do something extra right now, or are you matching or exceeding the figures?

Have you researched all avenues to ensure your admin expenses are being kept down?

On the operational side you need reports on:

• Production rates;
• customer count;
• staff count/turnover
• customer satisfaction ratings;
• employee satisfaction ratings;
• project status.

Do you know what your employee satisfaction ratings are?
Do you ever do a staff satisfaction survey?
Or have discussions about how things could be improved?
Do you ask for their ideas?
Remember happy staff are productive staff!

If you find the thought of all this a bit daunting and feel that it would be easier to plan it out with somebody then I would love to hear from you. Get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy.

Until next time, have a productive week.

Buff Up Your Business

Strategy 3 of the Buff Up Your Business Series is:

Spend 10% of your time with your Top 10 Customers

To my Customer.

I may not have the answer, but I’ll find it.

I may not have the time, but I’ll make it.

UNKNOWN

Why is it so important to spend 10% of your time with your Top 10 customers?

• Because 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers;
• they make your company possible;
• they have all the answers;
• they will help you grow and run your business.

You need to find out from them why they like doing business with you, as well as finding out what more you could do for them - go the extra mile.

Also find out where they see their business in the next year or so and adapt what you currently provide them with, to ensure you would be their preferred supplier when their business gets to the next level.

How can you do all this?

Well, what about putting together your own survey? You can do this very easily and at no cost - how amazing is that? Just go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/ and get started. I am not linked to this site in any way, I have just used it to great effect in the past.

Then, once you have the information you need to decide which direction you need to take your business don't struggle on your own, why not get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy and we can work on your strategy together.

Until next time, have an amazing week.

Buff Up Your Business

Strategy 2 of the "Buff Up Your Business Series" is:

Substantially Increase your Net Profit

Business is not financial science,
it's about trading.. buying and selling.
It's about creating a product or service so good
that people will pay for it.
Anita Roddick

1. Make profitability your focus - don't sell your skills or products too cheaply, many of us are guilty of that, remember it is not what we think it is worth, it is more about the benefits or profits the client will achieve as a result of it.

2. Develop timely and accurate financial statements - set yourself financial milestones along the way, by doing this you will quickly know when you have fallen behind on your forecasts and when it is time to put in more effort to make up the shortfall, much easier to do this as it arises rather than trying to make up for lost ground towards the end of your financial year.

3. Have a plan for what you are going to do with your profits - how exciting! Knowing know how you are going to reward yourself once you have achieved your financial forecast, really helps you to realise that all the hard work will be worth it and will keep you on track. What about putting a picture of that wonderful holiday destination or the new car you will buy, in a place where you will see it regularly, that will spur you on!

4. Watch Expenses like a Hawk - Each time you commit yourself to a financial outlay, reassure yourself that it is the 'best value for money' you can get, notice I say 'best value for money' and not 'cheapest' remember cheapest is not always best. Always try to negotiate for the best price or persuade the company to 'add something extra' if you buy from them rather than their competitors.

5. Increase employee retention and productivity - it costs about 7 times more to recruit and train a new member of staff than to keep your current staff happy and on side. Speak to your staff regularly and find out from them, what you can do to make their working life more satisfying, they may surprise you, by asking for more responsibility - great - that way you can free up more of your time by delegating more effectively, or it could be something as simple as you providing cakes on a Friday!

6. Systematise Everything - Anything you can do to make things run without your intervention is well worth the initial effort in setting it up. Things like autoresponders to enquiries on your website, website that automatically create a database of people donwloading things from your site, to a messaging company that takes all your call for (say) one afternoon a week which would allow you some quality uninterrupted time to focus on your business strategy, telemarketers who can contact your current clients/customers on a regular basis to find out what you are doing well and what can be improved to ensure they stay with you. Anything that frees up your time, is well worth systematising.

7. Be a Leader in your Field - Be proactive - keep asking your clients/customers what is it that you could provide them with that would help their business most in the future, keep an eye on the news and newspapers to see what is currently causing people problems and see if you can provide something that would help them. Keep observing trends and think about how you could 'ease the pain'.

If you would like to have somebody work alongside you as you are putting these strategies into place, then please just contact me at Nicholl Consultancy, I would love to be part of your success!

Until next time, when we will be looking at Strategy 3 of "Buffing up your Business"

Take care and have a great week.

7 Strategies to "Buff Up Your Business"

To be successful,

you have to have your heart in your business

and your business in your heart.

Thomas Watson Sr.

Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at seven different strategies that will make a difference to your business, provided you put them into practice. Because that is the key to everything - actually taking action.

Strategy 1 - Know why your company is in business

It is imperative to know:

• Your company vision and mission
• What kind of business you own and run
• How you want your customers and staff to perceive you?
• What makes it all worthwhile?
• What the company's values and goals are.

Your vision takes into account the current status of your business and serves to point the direction in which you want to go.

For example: you may acknowledge that your business already meets industry standards in customer support but your vision might be that you will exceed industry standards and move customer care to a higher level within a given time period.

Your mission is more concerned with the overall aim of the business - a reason for being. For example: to deliver a product or service which surpasses your competitors offerings.

Your values are things like integrity, professionalism, delivering results, respect etc. and of course your goals are the targets you set for yourself and the business in order to make your vision become a reality.

If you find it difficult to find answers to the five bullet points above, then you probably need to explore them with a business coach, somebody who is not closely involved with your business, so they are unbiased and can assist you to look at things in a different way.

Why not take advantage of my offer of a free 45 minute coaching session to explore your business in more depth. Just contact me at Nicholl Consultancy and we can make a start.

Until next time when we will look at Strategy 2 - "How to substantially increase your net profit"

I wish you a productive and exciting week

Regards Sharon