Thoughts about Networking

It isn't just what you know, and it isn't just who you know.

It's actually who you know, who knows you,

and what you do for a living.

~ Bob Burg

Since I started my business a few years ago, I knew that it was necessary for me to 'get out there' and network in order to get known and to build relationships. Because, like it or not, people buy from people they like, know and trust, it is very unlikely that they buy from strangers - you don't do you, so why should anybody else?

I tried a few network groups, I found some to be too formal for me, others were all female groups and I found that I didn't like that. Then I tried
4 Networking and I really enjoyed it. The breakfast meetings are really well structured but remain very friendly and there at 290 groups all around the country, so once you are a member, wherever you are based or doing business, you can pop into a local group and you are made very welcome.

At each meeting you give a 40 second pitch about your business, you have 3 ten minute 1-2-1 appointments with people of your choosing to learn more about them and their business, and there is a 10 minute 4 Sight presentation, which is an opportunity to learn something new, it is not a sales pitch.

According to the 4 Networking blurb it:

• provides personal and business support
• somewhere to give and receive advice
• a place to find good quality, reliable suppliers
• allows you to develop valuable collaborations and alliances
• a balance of 50% business, 50% social ... and it works!
• ideal for gaining introductions to new business.

It also has a brilliant on-line Forum, which Google just loves.

4 Networking is my group of choice, I enjoy the meetings, I have gained a number of new clients and great opportunities, plus I have met useful suppliers and also made some good friends.

So if you want to get out and about in order to grow your business I recommend
4 Networking and if you want to have somebody alongside you as your business grows and thrives then get in touch with me at www.nichollconsultancy.co.uk for a chat.

I would also love to hear about your experience of networking - just leave me a comment.

Until next time - great networking!

Sharon

Handling Customer Complaints

"You can handle anything if you think you can.

Just keep your cool and your sense of humour."

Smiley Blanton

Twelve golden rules:

· Treat all complaints seriously, don’t take the complaint or criticism personally;

· make your first response positive;

· don’t rush onto the defensive;

· try to resolve the complaint as your first objective;

· avoid using jargon that the customer might not understand;

· if there has been a mistake – acknowledge it and apologise;

· be prepared to take responsibility for other people’s mistakes;

· take the initiative with suggestions to put things right and offer choices;

· try to make amends – however don’t make promises you can’t keep;

· if the customer is wrong, don’t embarrass them if you need to point it out;

· be tactful and learn from mistakes;

· watch your body language; say you’re sorry with your actions as well as your words.

If you find dealing with complaints from customers difficult or would like to become more assertive, then do get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy.

Until next time - stay calm!

What image are you projecting?

People make their judgements of us

based on their perceptions of our character,

and those perceptions
come from the image we project.

(from Shaun Belding's book Win at Work)

Why is it that some people seem to get ahead faster than others?

How do individuals develop that positive reputation as the 'go-to' people in the workplace?

What gives some people, the edge in promotion opportunities?

The chances are,
it is because they have marketed themselves that way.

Think about your own personal image, maybe others are misinterpreting your actions?

• 
  
  Perhaps perceiving your thoughtful silence as disinterest?


• 
  
  Or seeing your well-intended 'devil's advocate' approach to being objective as 'not being a team player'?


• 
  
  Or your humerous approach to issues as somebody who doesn't take things seriously enough?

There are three basic steps to marketing yourself effectively:

1. Position yourself - are you the 'economy' brand or the Finest, how do you want to be perceived?



2. Live your brand, by reflecting this quality in absolutely everything you do - never be off-duty or caught off-guard.



3. Be consistent - avoid the temptation to project a different image depending on who you are with.

Whatever you are doing, how others perceive you, is totally within your control. If you feel that you need help with projecting your desired image. Then please contact me at Nicholl Consultancy I look forward to working with you.

Until next time, watch the image that you are projecting!

What are you focusing on?

Ask yourself where your focus is. Are you focusing on your fear and what can go wrong or are you focusing on the end result that you want to create?

Focus on your potential instead of your limitations.

– Alan Loy McGinnis

F = FOCUS

• Keep in mind that when you focus on the end result, your fear usually takes a back seat.

E = ENERGY

• Check your energy levels - are they low and negative?


• If they are, you are focused on your fears and you are making them a reality.


• Ask yourself what is positive about the result you want to create, really explore the benefits of achieving your goals and get excited about them, this will activiate your positive energy and then let this positive energy pull you forward.

A = ACTION

• The one thing that kills fear dead in its tracks, is action


• Never mistake motion for action


• Often our fears are huge in our mind, but small in reality


• Adjust your focus, tap into your high, positive energy and then build instant momentum by taking action - immediately!

R = RESULTS

• Once you have taken action, you will create results by default


• Once you have created a result, no matter how small it is, ask yourself if you are moving closer to your goal or further away?


• Then make the necessary changes and take further action


• By building on small wins, your momentum will increase and you will breeze through your fears without any problems.

If you feel you need help with your focus, then please just get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy and I will help you to get started.

Until next time - keep the end in mind.

How to create more time in your day

Question: I have loads of plans for my business, but I never seem to have any time available to complete them. How would I go about getting more time in my business?

If you want to make good use of your time,

you’ve got to know what’s most important

and then give it all you’ve got.

Lee Iacocca

Answer: Great question! Excellent time management is something that is absolutely critical for everybody, but particularly if you run your own business. A good place to start with your time management is by being really clear on how you are spending your time. Carefully monitor exactly how you spend your time over the period of a week. Prepare a page for each day of the week, with 30 minute time slots on it, and then fill in your tasks as you go, we all under-estimate how long things will take us, which results in other things, which may be really important, not being done at all. You may be quite shocked at how much time you lose by answering non-urgent e-mails or allowing phone calls to go on for longer than necessary – it all mounts up. By doing this, you will notice, which things you spend too long over and also what you are doing which can either be delegated or are not required to be done at all.

Once you fully understand how you are spending your time, you need to ask yourself the following questions for each of those tasks:

1. What would be the impact on clients if the task isn’t completed today?
2. What would be the financial impact on the company if the task isn’t completed today?
3. Where there are deadlines, which ones can be put back until another day?
4. What are the causes and effects of completing (or not completed) a specific task day?

By answering those questions honestly, you can then further separate out the tasks which must be completed immediately, and if you have a number of those tasks, how do you prioritise them?
Well, I give each task a letter, for example:

A = Top priority jobs – those which must be completed today
B = Jobs that should be completed today
C = Jobs that you’d prefer to complete today but can be put off until tomorrow
D = Jobs where the deadline is some way off and you can complete later.

There are aspects of all jobs which we prefer to others that we need to accomplish. Then we procrastinate over the things we dislike doing the most by putting it off, although the thought of having to do it often hangs over us. Endeavour to get the things you dislike doing completed as early in the day as you can, this will give you a great sense of satisfaction and will allow you to continue through the day ‘on a high’.

By using the above techniques you should easily be able to save yourself at least 30 minutes per day, which adds up to 2.5 hours per week, more than enough time to get going on the plans you have for your business.

If you feel that it would be easier for you to get control of your time management if you were working with somebody then please just get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy and I would love to get you started.

Finally, have a fabulous Christmas and a successful 2011 - bye for now!

How to get organised

This is another question some of my clients have asked that I thought I would share:

Question: I’m struggling to get organised I know that being organised will help me develop my business, but I’m not sure where to start. Please help!

Organising is what you do before you do something,
so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up
- A A Milne

Answer: I can relate very closely to this question, because unless my office is well organised I cannot be productive. In fact, I will find all sorts of excuses to avoid going into it – which is not helpful when you are self-employed!

The best thing to do is to set some time aside and commit to getting started. The longer you put it off, the more disorganised you get. Even if you can only spare an hour a day, then by the end of the week, you will be 5 hours more organised!

Start on one side of your office and decide how far you are going to move around the room before the time you have set aside runs out, then start sorting, have the shredder ready for anything that is no longer required and lots of bin bags. I am a great believer in ‘divide and conquer’ and what I mean by that is separate things into organised groups not one big heap!

Sort your paperwork into categories eg: Useful articles, marketing information, invoices, outgoing expenditure receipts, clients/customers etc. and remember your office will look worse before it starts to look better!

Once you have cleared out the space that you have allocated for that day, then start to re-examine the piles of paperwork and see if there is any duplication and be ruthless, then do some more shredding – I like that bit!

I find box files really useful, you can label them clearly and they look nice on shelves or in bookcases and the information in them is easy to access. So make sure when you start your organising that you have lots of box files to hand.

Now put the paperwork that you have sorted into appropriate groupings, into the relevant box files and put them away on shelves, I like to put them away alphabetically, so you know that your Accounts files will be stored before your client/customer information.

Keep repeating this exercise until you have worked your way around your office. By doing it in a methodical way, you will easily be able to see your progress. Also you will have examined every piece of paper in your office and will be reassured that there is nothing overlooked that might have the ability to come back and bite you because you have forgotten about it!

Another useful habit to get into, is to allocate the last 15 minutes of your working day, into putting everything away that you have used – this is called the “clear desk policy’ and then make a ‘To Do’ list for the next day. That way your office will always be tidy to return to and you won’t have to avoid it because it is messy.

Remember the 7 Step methodologies for organisation:

1. Sorting – eliminate all unnecessary paperwork.

2. Straightening or setting in order – There should be a place for everything and everything should be in its place.

3. Sweeping or Shining – Keep the workplace tidy and organised.

4. Standardising – work practices should be consistent and standardised.

5. Sustaining the discipline – maintain and review standards regularly

6. Safety – make sure your workplace is a safe place to be.

7. Security – protect yourself both electronically and personally against risks to your key business categories.

If the thought of getting started is too hard for you, then contact me at www.nichollconsultancy.co.uk and I will make it easier.

Until next time - get shredding!

How to stay motivated when working on a Project

I was recently asked this question by a client and thought if they were struggling with it, then maybe it would make a good blog article, let me know if you find it helpful.

Question: I always seem to start on a project but then when it gets hard, I don’t have the motivation to complete it. How can I keep motivated on completing my projects?

Great things are not done by impulse,

but by a series of small things brought together

- Vincent Van Gogh

Suggestion: If the project is exciting and it stimulates you, then yes, it is easy to get started. However, once you hit the first problem, it all gets a bit daunting and not so exciting and it is easy to find lots of reasons (excuses!) to put off going back to it, because you feel that you need a huge chunk of free time to focus on the problem properly and you never seem to have that amount of free time.

The key here is to break your project down into much smaller steps that will gently lead you onto the next step and if you hit a problem, then break that down into small chunks, make that difficult phone call or do that piece of research, and also don’t forget to reward yourself each time you have moved your project further forward. Even something quite small, like a nice cappuccino coffee can be just the incentive we need to crack on for another twenty minutes, that could take you past the problem that was stopping you and move you towards the next step.

In the past when I have been struggling to complete something, I have chunked it down quite significantly and challenged myself to spend at least one hour per day on it (or however long you can allocate to it) and not allow myself any excuses and by doing that and getting started, I often find that I get engrossed in what I am achieving and carry on for longer. That way you complete your project much faster and stay motivated because you can see results, and the cappuccino coffee maker gets well used!

If you are struggling with something and would find it helpful to be challenged by somebody who has your success at the very core of their business then please get in touch with me at Nicholl Consultancy

Until next time -have a successful week!