Using social media as a business tool represents a huge opportunity. Because many have not yet adopted social media, those who have will have a significant advantage.
In fact, those who fail to start developing a social media presence will be disadvantaged in the long run. Don’t defer any longer: get professional advice on how to build a presence on the platforms that are going to be appropriate for your business, and start spreading your message. If you’re going to put your head in the sand, you’re going to become obsolete.
Some 66 per cent of the world’s consumers switched brands of businesses in 2013 due to poor customer service, according to trendwatching.com. Worse, 82 per cent of switches said the brand could have done something to stop them. Clearly, businesses are falling short on customer service.
What are the biggest errors?
Businesses that do not treat customers as individuals. Harvard’s Doc Searls says we are now in the Experience or Intention Economy. We need to develop experiences for both the person and the business. Better still, why not have the customer co-create the experience they want, in partnership with the employee? Customers will typically pay between 10 and 20 per cent more for experiences they have been involved in designing. Organisations with mature customer experience strategies will usually have revenue performance more than 20 per cent higher than organisations that do not. Even the language around customer service needs to evolve. It’s about customers having awesome experiences, not just service with a brand.
Too many businesses simply forget about their customers and what they want. And yet in an ever-competitive world, service and experience are often your points of difference. Despite advancements in technology over the last decade, the phrases “we don’t split bills”, “online purchases can’t be returned in-store” and “call centre hours are nine to five, Monday to Friday” are still too common.
As consumer confidence remains cautious and consumers are spoilt for choice, businesses face increasing competition for their share of the Australian wallet. Never before has investment in customer service excellence been so important. But how many businesses realise it?
Two of the biggest mistakes some businesses make are not listening to customers, and not being there when their customers need them most. It’s essential to provide a unique customer experience by anticipating customer’s needs and expectations and exceeding them, every time. It makes sense for us to select highly engaged and customer-focused employees and invest in their training and development. In our business camps we instil that every opportunity is a chance to build loyalty and advocacy.
In the latest American Express Customer Service barometer, it’s clear that Australians have high expectations of customer service and are prepared to put their wallets where their mouth is. They are happy to reward companies with good service standards.
The majority of Australians (72 per cent) will spend an average of 12 per cent more when they get good service. We see this with many of our customers; they vote with their wallets after they receive great service.
Globally, American Express Card Members who are highly satisfied with their service interactions spend 16 per cent more on their cards.
It simply makes good business sense to consistently invest in customer service, and make it priority.
In short- put the customer at the centre of your business. This means designing products and services with your customer in mind. We know 90 per cent of Australian smartphone users access the internet via their device daily, so why build a website that doesn’t work on a mobile?
It’s not enough to think purely about customers as external consumers that use your services. It is equally important to think about your staff and employees.
Are your people equipped to be able to provide exceptional service? Do they have access to the same service that your customers have? Can they relate to what your customers are experiencing? And, if so, are they empowered to make decisions that make the difference between a wonderful experience and a terrible one?
Identifying mistakes in customer service is the easy part – the challenge is putting your customer at the heart of everything you do and giving them an experience that surprises, delights and leaves them wanting more.
WHAT DOES ‘RELEVANCE’ MEAN?
It doesn’t matter what business you are in it is truly about being relevant. You could be in the accounting industry, a hotelier, a butcher, a property developer, a retail outlet, a motelier, an architect, a doctor, a builder, a fast food outlet…… You get what I mean. You can be in any industry in any location. It doesn’t matter. In other words the world is moving so fast today and we have such little spare time so it is getting harder to capture people.
The world used to be a much simpler place. You just had to be in business or have a shop front and as they say you were in business. People had far fewer choices than they have today. If a business had a good story, product, or service, that was typically enough to earn a sale.
No one would describe the world as simple today. It’s complex and getting more complex each day. Businesses face a new and difficult challenge. Consumers have an expanding universe of options and new ways to select them. There are zettabyes of information at their fingertips, and networks upon networks to discover their friends’ preferences and experiences with the things they are considering. Remember as well we now also have less spare time.
The increasing speed at which we all operate in today’s new world explains why such an old concept—relevance—is suddenly so important.
It is certainly true that what you are offering must solve a customer need and do it well. But increasingly, that is not enough. Customers are becoming progressively fickle, as well as spoiled. They expect superior outcomes from you. That is the price of entry, and unfortunately not something that will guarantee a long-term relationship. A slip, an encounter with someone who does what you do slightly better, has better customer service, a feeling that you don’t care (called perceived indifference) when actually you do care or even a lower price, and your consumer’s relationship with you could be over.
And that is where the emotional part of relevance comes in. If your product, service, or idea resonates with a customer, if it means something to them then the relationship will be deeper, longer lasting, and more profitable.
Remember, the question at the start. What does relevance mean? In simple terms, relevance is that which provides meaning in our lives. Relevance is the full experience of a product, brand, or cause that we can relate to; it’s an experience that not only changes minds, but, importantly, changes behaviour—and sustains that change.
So how can we be relevant to ensure we capture people’s attention, their imagination and in turn their trust and confidence?
FIVE STRATEGIES FOR RELEVANCE
How do you become relevant? There are five different ways, and you need to employ all of them:
1. Segment Your Marketing
You cannot be all things to all people. But you can be relevant to all people based on some aspect of your offering. You can find out which aspect will resonate by dividing your marketing by very specific categories—age, income, gender, education, geography, life experience, interests, politics, whatever. Then determine how you can make what you have relevant to people in each of those categories. This is a very targeted approach and will help ensure that your customers actually get what they want and in turn you will get what you want.
2. Understand Intangible Drivers
There are four components that will affect consumers’ responses to your offering, though often on a level they can’t articulate: thinking, sensory appeal, community, and values. Understand and take advantage of these drivers.
3. Consider the Three Cs
Relevance depends on three circumstances—content, context, and contact. The content of communications is the primary vehicle for delivering relevance to an audience. Context, by which we mean time and space, is another factor. Contact is the third factor; relevance depends on the communication’s source, as well as the medium itself.
4. Ensure your Customer Service Leaves Them Wanting More
You must do all you can to really leave a positive impression with your customers. Make sure you find out what they want, when they want it, how they want it and what they thought of how you delivered all of that. 80% of businesses believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8% of their customers agree.
So we must engrain this into our business that most importantly people do not buy a product or a service!! We sell an outcome, a result, a benefit or lifestyle!! We actually sell or provide an EXPERIENCE. I reiterate: Stop selling a product or service and start ‘solution’ selling. When it comes to EXPERIENCE people look at and consider “Are their processes intuitive, user friendly and efficient”?
5. Ensure you are Tech Savvy
The Times they are a-changin’ – Bob Dylan said many years ago.
What are you doing about the technology changes? In regards to TECHNOLOGY people relate it to their lack of time. So the more we can do to allow them to gain time (a precious commodity) the better they look at us and the relationship – “Do they use technology to make it easier and faster for me to deal with them?” What are you doing about using the myriad of mediums to communicate and contact people via website, social media, applications, google adwords, search engine optimisation, multimedia, big data and 3D printing (this is the next revolution)? It is now the age of prediction. What are you doing to predict what will impact your business and what people will want and how you can give it to them?
Some scary facts:
- 90% of the total data in the world was created in the last 2 years
- Every minute – 204 million emails, 2 million google searches, 48 hours of YouTube video is watched, 700,00 items shared on Facebook
- In 2012, 2.8 Zettabytes was created which is 2.8 trillion GBs
- In 2020 predicted to be 40 Zettabyes created (40 trillion GBs)
- A gigabyte is a lot of data!
WHY IS RELEVANCE IMPORTANT?
Relevance focuses on results. Relevance is about the ultimate goal—triggering the desired behavior.
People have so many choices about where to spend their money and place their loyalty. If you aren’t relevant, they will go somewhere else. We must therefore be relevant to survive and thrive in the World today.
Our business camp is all about making you even more relevant than you are today. Join us at the next Global Business Camp on the Gold Coast from the 14th to the 16th of March 2016. You will hear from speakers that will move you and your businesses towards being more relevant in these fast moving times. You will also work ON your business and not in your business to create the future you want.
You read the heading and the question is what does that mean?
What I am talking about first of all is online shopping in Australia. It has actually been predicted to grow at twice the speed of traditional retail in the next 4 years and is forecast to be worth $21.7 billion by 2015.
Smartphones and tablet devices are behind the growth.
The popularity of online shopping is showing retailers as well as all of us in whatever industry we are in that we must embrace the fundamental shift in underlying business models caused by the digital revolution.
If we delve deeper we see facebook now has 600 million active users. A mere twinkle in the eye just 3 years ago, social media is now a potent part of business today and part of the marketing mix for many companies. How many of us are embracing and are actively engaged in this medium?
Some trends:
Nespresso boutique – with 215 boutiques open around the world, Nespresso is combining an art gallery concept with an intimate coffee experience. Visit www.nespresso.com.
Supermarket – this innovative concept store in Belgrade, Serbia, merges a restaurant, wine and chocolate bar, salon, spa, florist and gallery with fashion, design, music and publishing retail experience. Visit www.supermarket.rs.
National Geographic – the brand’s flagship store in London is set over 3 floors and boasts an exhibition area, a photography studio, a Spanish cafe and an auditorium for public events. Visit www.nglondonstore.co.uk.
Adidas Runbase – Tokyo’s jogging community is patronising an Adidas concept store that combines its retail range with 16 showers and 248 lockers. The store also offers custom shoe fittings. Visit www.adirepublic.jp/runbase.
Dr Paddi Lund – Real coffee, dental buns and fine china are all part of Paddi’s customer experience!. The Crazy Australian Dentist! Crazy? Because in order to improve his sales he actually:
• Pulled down all his signs and locked his front door,
• Took his name out of the phone book,
• “Fired” more than half his customers,
• Sawed up his reception desk and installed a Cappuccino Machine instead!
• Now bakes fresh dental buns for clients, and
• Serves 30+ varieties of tea in fine bone china.
Yet now with his successful sales techniques –
• Only accepts new clients by referral
• Works 23hrs/wk & earns 2.5 times the income,
• Loves going to work & is really happy!
So as you can see no matter what business you are in you need to innovate.
Awesome article in a New York Paper on a sandwich business that does things differently and has fantastic results from – low team turnover, high team morale, extensive team training, bonuses, prizes and staff parties and rewards go to the whole team and not individuals.
British sandwich chain keeps lines short and employees energised
Something weird is happening inside a Pret A Manger sandwich shop on Broadway in New York.
It is not all those unfamiliar British sandwiches, thin and understated, with ingredients like free-range egg mayonnaise and avocado-and-pine-nut filling.
No, it is the employees. The cashier is asking New Yorkers how they are doing -and genuinely seems to want an answer. The guy who is throwing out the garbage offers customers cups of water.
The manager swings by to commiserate about the sweltering weather.
This is fast food? In New York?
Pret A Manger, the British chain, has gained a foothold in New York’s McWorld of burgers and fries, where you can fun-size this, combo that and, face it, sort of expect sullen service.
Next to, say, McDonald’s, Pret A Manger amounts to a fleck of relish, if that. Last year, Pret posted sales of £327.5 million, or about $534 million. The take at McDonald’s: $24 billion. But Pret A Manger -the name means “ready to eat” in French -is slowly expanding in New York and other cities with its own brand of grab-and-go food and, more significant, a fresh approach to fast-food service.
What makes Pret A Manger a compelling business case study is its approach to customer service and to training and motivating its staff. Yes, Pret happens to make sandwiches -but the lessons are worth knowing, whatever your line of work.
Many businesses have trouble getting longtime employees to work well and, in particular, to work well together.
But Pret has managed to build productive, friendly crews with relatively lowpaid, transient employees. And its workers seem pretty happy about it. Its annual work force turnover rate is about 60 percent -low for the fast-food industry, where the rate is normally 300 to 400 percent.
At the request of The New York Times, whose global edition is the International Herald Tribune, Francis J.
Flynn, a professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in California, reviewed some of the management practices of Pret A Manger. He liked what he saw.
“A lot of people think about these jobs as almost hopeless, when it comes to motivating the employees who work there, and it’s kind of sad, and I also think it’s incorrect,” Mr. Flynn said. “My sense is, there’s a really holistic approach, a comprehensive approach, to development.” Pret is succeeding with just such an out-of-the-box approach. So far this year, sales in its 34 U.S. stores -in New York, Chicago and Washington -have increased 40 percent from level in the same period last year. The company’s total profits, with its approximately 225 British shops contributing the most by far, rose about 37 percent, to £46 million, in 2010. Pret, which also has 11 stores in Hong Kong, plans to expand further in the United States and in Paris, where it plans to open two shops this year.
It all began in 1986, when Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham, who had been college friends in London, felt that they could not find a decent sandwich.
Many other Britons apparently felt the same way. By 2001, Pret A Manger had 100 stores in Britain and was moving into the United States. Mr. Metcalfe and Mr. Beecham sold a third of the business to, of all companies, McDonald’s, for an estimated £26 million.
After the McDonald’s investment, the founders “got pushed like mad” to expand, said Clive Schlee, who was appointed chief executive in 2003. (The founders, still investors in the company, have other hospitality businesses.) Pret added more stores in the United States without figuring out some basics -the fact that some Americans are not fond of mayonnaise, for example, and that they tend to drink more drip coffee than espresso or lattes. Overextended, Pret lost sales and closed stores.
“We burnt ourselves quite badly,” Mr. Schlee said.
In 2008, McDonald’s sold its stake, and a private investment firm, Bridgepoint Capital, bought a majority of Pret for about £345 million. Bridgepoint still controls the company.
These days, Pret seems to have its operation down pat. At 9:30 in the morning at a Pret near Victoria Station in London, there is no customer line. There rarely is.
“A very important part of Pret is, you see four, five, six to nine people on till,” Mr. Schlee says, using the Britishism for cash register. “Pret A Manger does mean ready to eat -kapow! – not ready to wait.” How does any company encourage teamwork? At Pret A Manger, executives said, the answer is to hire, pay and promote based on -believe it or not -qualities like cheerfulness.
There is a certain “Survivor” element to all of this. New hires are sent to a Pret A Manger shop for a six-hour day, and then the employees there vote whether to keep them or not. Ninety percent of prospects get a thumbs-up.
Those who are voted out are sent home with £35, no hard feelings.
The crucial factor is gaining support from existing employees. Those workers have skin in the game: Bonuses are awarded on the basis of performance by an entire team, not individuals. Pret workers know that a bad hire could cost them money.
Pret also sends “mystery shoppers,” people who anonymously visit and grade the stores, to every shop each week. Those shoppers give employee specific critiques (“Bill didn’t smile at the till,” for instance). If a mystery shopper scores a shop as “outstanding” -86 percent of stores usually qualify -all of the employees get a £1-per-hour bonus, based on a week’s pay, so full timers get about $73. “There’s a lot of peer pressure,” said Andrea Wareham, the human resources director at Pret.
Pret reinforces the teamwork concept in other ways. When employees are promoted or pass training milestones, they receive at least £50 in vouchers, a payment that Pret calls a “shooting star.” But, instead of keeping the bonus, the employees must give the money to colleagues, people who have helped them along the way.
There are other rewards. Every quarter, the top 10 percent of stores, as ranked by mystery-shopper scores, receive about £30 per employee for a party. The top executives at Pret get 60 “Wow” cards, with scratch-off rewards like £10 or an iPod, to hand out each year to employees who strike them as particularly good. Pret has all-staff parties twice a year, and managers get a monthly budget of £100 or so to spend on drinks or outings for their workers.
Pret also has highly detailed training programs and materials. “If people know what they’re there to do, and how to do it, there’s no confusion,” Ms. Wareham said.
Every new employee gets a thick binder of instructions. It states, for example, that employees should be “bustling around and being active” on the floor, not “standing around looking bored.” It encourages them to hand out free coffee or cakes occasionally to regulars, and not “hide your true character” with customers.
By their third month, employees have to pass a written quiz with questions like “What is the maximum time a customer should wait in line?” and show that they are proficient in dozens of practical criteria. Then they become “Team Member Stars,” or T.M.S.’s, and can move up to food preparation positions like “hot chef,” which oversees soups, pastries and other hot foods, en route to more senior shop-management positions.
It takes about three months to become a hot chef. It might seem that the training would cover procedures like making soup or baking croissants. But Pret has standardized so much -soups, for example, are sent to the shops premade and in plastic bags, and ovens are preprogrammed for each baked item -that the training is largely about food safety and disposal.
Mr. Flynn, the Stanford professor, said that emphasizing small advancements made sense.
“That’s actually a very reasonable way to approach motivation,” he said.
“Having them make continual progress provides them with feedback that they are doing what they need to be doing.” The streets were still wet from an early-morning cleaning on Eastcastle Street, not far from Paddington Station.
It was not yet 6:45, but Petronela Roman, with a big brunette topknot and cat-eye eyeliner, was making coffee for co-workers at a Pret store. Upstairs, employees put on white coats with red Pret logos.
At 7 o’clock, as the store manager, Lenka Karlovic, wrapped up the morning meeting and employees were still downing their coffee, the first customer walked in. Flicking crumbs from her fingers, a worker rushed over with a “Hello.” The scream of the latte machine followed, and it was off to the races.
It was giddy in the kitchen at the back of the shop. It smelled of chutney and mayonnaise, and Lukasz Gorczynski, who was training to become a kitchen supervisor, had his iPod blaring. Eight or so workers were running into the giant refrigerator, placing tomatoes on sandwiches, scooping mayonnaise from buckets and slicing through sandwiches with an electric-powered knife.
“Lemon juice, guys!” someone shouted.
“Open bread, guys!” said another.
Mr. Gorczynski and Ms. Karlovic had determined what must be ready when, based on average sales and the weather. The clock was running: Mr. Gorczynski’s task list included making six bowls of granola within 1 minute and 17 seconds; 24 edamame packs within 6 minutes and 2 seconds; 20 containers of honey-granola within 6 minutes and 17 seconds. Berry bowls, muesli bowls, porridge toppings -the list went on.
The food was taken to the shop floor as soon as it was finished, and hundreds of sandwiches, salads and other items had to be in the cases by 10:30 a.m.
“These are theoretical times,” Mr. Gorczynski said. But “if we’re late in the morning, then we’re late later on.” Ms. Roman was training to be a hot chef, and, after eight months at Pret, a promotion would mean a raise to £7.90 an hour from £7.30.
She had been training with Ms. Karlovic, filling out workbooks and taking quizzes. After lunch, it was time for Ms. Roman’s final test: With Ms. Karlovic watching, she had to train someone else.
She called over Aurora Amador.
Ms. Roman stuck to the manual. She introduced herself, even though the two had just been eating lunch together, and they began to review baking as though it were a catechism class.
“You have to use the gloves,” Ms. Roman said.
Ms. Amador nodded solemnly: “I will.” Ms. Karlovic marked her notebook as Ms. Roman progressed, then called the kitchen workers to gather as Ms. Roman waited nervously by the stove.
“Guys, it’s about Petronela, O.K.?
She’s a new hot-food chef,” Ms. Karlovic said. “And, guys, she’s getting a £50 shooting star, so be nice to her.” The employees started clapping and shouting, and some customers did, too.
Then the assistant manager shooed everyone away -“Go back to the kitchen! Get on, get on!” Standing next to the case of croissants, Ms. Roman had tears in her eyes.
Now that is truly awesome. The key to believe and understand is that can and should apply to any business no matter the industry. Businesses that succeed moving forward will be the ones that do things like the story above. It is truly up to us to ensure that we take care of our team and in turn our clients, customers or patients.
Goals are so important in life and in business. For without goals what are you actually striving to achieve.
I often get asked:
1. What are the keys to achieving goals and
2. If I say I am going to do something and I don’t how much of an impact could that have?
First of all let’s look at the keys to achieving goals.
I have found that persistence is even more important even than talent as the most valued trait when it comes to creating and shaping peoples quality of life. Most people give up just feet from their goal.
I believe that life is testing all of us for our level of commitment and life’s greatest rewards are there for those that demonstrate an ability to not stop and keep their commitment to act until they actually do achieve. But your efforts must be constant and consistent.
As simple as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those that make it and those who do not make it. Or in other words those that live their dreams and those that do not live their dreams or live in regret. The key is that we are in control and we have the power to determine our outcomes.
Far too many times people do not even begin chasing their goal or goals out of fear that they will fail. The scary thing is that if they actually fear that they will fail, invariably they will, as that is what happens. We actually end up making the things we think about bigger. So if we think about success and positive thoughts those things happen. If we think about and dwell on all the things that could and may go wrong they do. So it is very important that we focus on positive outcomes.
Or even worse than that is when they actually do start chasing their goal and then they give up too soon. They could even have been on target to achieve what they wanted but they fail to maintain the patience required of the artisan or stone mason. Some times people do not receive immediate feedback and that also causes them to stop.
But there is one skill that all of the champions have – people that have achieved their highest desires –it is an unbeleivable level of PERSISTENCE.
You must be persistent and keep trying and you will succeed.
A quote on Persistence by President Calvin Coolidge:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent”
In other words what you care about.
So persistence is key with anything you may be attempting to achieve in life. You just have to keep going when times are good and when times are bad.
Taking it a step further goals must:
1. Be written down or documented. That way you have them out of your thoughts and documented on paper.
2. Have a timeline as to when you want to complete them by. That way you have a target to aim for and can measure yourself against.
3. Put your goals somewhere that you can see them. If you cannot see them they are invisible and you forget about them. As they say out of sight out of mind. So it is very important that they are where you can see them.
4. Revisit your list of goals regularly to keep yourself motivated.
5. Share your goals with someone else (a mentor). That way they can help make you accountable.
6. Pick a goal that is very important to you that you can complete within a short space of time and tackle that one first. That way you are off and running.
7. Enjoy the journey. Remember it is a journey and things take time to develop and evolve. So make sure you have fun and enjoy the journey.
To find out more about the above and how we can help you achieve your personal, investment and business goals please speak to us. We specialise in goal setting , mentoring and coaching. Also, our very powerful 3 day business camp is another very leveraged way to begin achieving your goals.
To find out about our next event which is being held at the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast on March 26 – 28 in 2012 please visit our website at www.globalbusinesscamps.com.au.
Now, how much of an impact is saying you are going to do something and actually not doing it?
That is an awesome question.
Before I answer that, you should consider how this would impact you.
You have a friend or an associate that says “I am in, count me in, you can rely on me”. They let you proceed on that basis and then after some time after you have organised to do what you said you would do they say “I have been thinking about this and I am not able to come or be involved or to commit”.
How would you feel?
I know I would be very upset and dissapointed.
They have given you their word and you have proceeded on that basis and now they are saying “well it is not my problem, it is not that good for me or I have not had the time to commit”.
People that do things like that have poor character and if they are in business that then flows through to their business. That is just poor form and poor business. They cannot be trusted and potentially you should not be doing business with them.
There are so many people and businesses out there that work that way and that is truly poor. Look out for them and avoid them. Now you may get caught. But as long as it is only once then you can move on and learn never to deal with or trust those people and businesses anymore.
Life has many ups and downs and we just need to learn from them. Like I always say that we are on one big journey and we need to learn, develop, have fun and keep pushing forward. We must however do this with consistency and with ethics.
Complaints happen. That is part of life and part of business. But deal with them well and you can turn an unhappy customer into a fan even a raving fan.
What is critical for every business is happy customers. The question is how do smart businesses deal with complaints and keep customers happy and satisfied?
First thing you must do is have a way (a system) where people can make their complaint easily and have it resolved promptly. You could call this system “our customer feedback channel” or “giving our valued customers what they want”. Another simple system is to follow people up after they have dealt with you and your business to find out what they thought about how we did. This is something that can also be done at regular intervals. You can ask them “how was your experience in dealing with us”?
The key to remember:
When it comes to problems or defects, the customer will remember the satisfying outcome, not the original error. Studies conducted by the Marriott on guest return rates found the following astonishing results:
- If there was no problem with their stay, the return rate was 89%.
- If there was a problem and it was not corrected the return rate dropped to 69%.
- However, this is where it gets really interesting. If there was a problem and it was solved to the guests satisfaction the return rate jumped to 94%.
So the moral of the story is constantly speak to your customer, patients, clients and find out how you are doing as a business. Find out are you serving their needs, are you adding value to them. Are they having a positive experience when they are coming to deal with you.
As you can see from the Marriott example if there are issues and problems and they are rectified then the relationship actually can get stronger. That does not mean that we should go out of our way to create problems so we can fix them. It means that when they do crop up do not blame the customer, fix them and the relationship will be stronger than before.
This stuff is very important for the relationship. Relationships as we all know are based on trust. The more people know they can trust us to do the right thing the more they will want to work with us. They will also refer friends, relatives and associates. If you ignore the problem it will not go away, it will just get worse. Customers will lose trust and our business will suffer.
I have seen many instances out there were that happens and the owners of the business do not look at themselves and their systems (or lack of them). They just blame the economy or the economic conditions. The funny thing is that the economy is only about 12.4% of the reasons why businesses fail. The other 87.6% of why businesses fail is due to the people in the business. They are not looking after the customer, not managing cash flow, not training and keeping their team focused and motivated.
MasterChef Australia judge, celebrity chef, restauranter – George Colambaris says: “People come to his restaurants to put joy in their lives, so if they’re not happy he wants to know about it”. We should all operate with this philosophy and then we can reduce or eliminate one of the areas (customer happiness) that can lead to business failure.
I believe that if you follow a set process the chances of success are greater. I have some rules to success and since I started following them good things have happened.
My 11 Key Rules to Success™ are 11 key traits which if implemented consistently they will have a profound effect on your life, both business and personal.
Rule 1 – Persistence
You must never give in and always keep trying. In predicting success, enthusiasm and passion count much more than an extra piece of ability. There are so many people out there with so much ability but they waste it. How many people do we know that are talented but did not achieve their potential?
Rule 2 – Set a Personal Plan
Set goals, targets dreams and aspirations and document them. Ensure you can measure your progress. Measuring progress in anything is critical.
Grab a piece of paper and jot down answers to these 3 questions and once completed put the paper somewhere that you can see it. This will then act as a guide towards your goals.
- What are the greatest goals that you want to achieve?
- What are the things you need to do this year in order to reach your life goals?
- What do you need to focus on today to achieve your life goals?
It is very simple, the key to making the system work is discipline.
Rule 3 – Enjoy Life
Commit to a work life balance and take the time to enjoy what you like doing the most. Make sure that you have fun both at work and in your private life. People that have fun are more successful. You should also take holidays and you will be be amazed at how much you will learn on holidays as well.
Rule 4 – Learning
Constant improvement is very important. Life is one big journey and we should attempt to grow and develop at all times. One of the best ways to learn is to learn from people’s experiences and to work as a team in sharing ideas. You should ask us about forming High Performance Mastermind Groups. That is a system where as a group we can meet monthly and just brainstorm ideas, raise issues you are facing, wins and losses etc and we can as a group assist each other to move our businesses and lives forward. Per statistics we retain 95% of what we share, so that type of forum is truly powerful.
Rule 5 – Change is the Only Constant
We must understand that change is always occurring and we should embrace it. If we learn to change we will have much better results in everything that we do.
The key is not to resist change and to move outside our comfort zones.
Rule 6 – Exercise your Mind and your Body
It has been proven that daily exercise of your mind and your body can have dramatic results. So we should always try to be active. Read books, be receptive to ideas and thoughts, exercise your body.
Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.
Rule 7 – Always have an Open Mind
You should look at various options and avenues for answers and you must think laterally to achieve things. You should always challenge yourself to do better and do not accept the status quo. Just because something has been done a certain way for 20 years does not mean it is still the best way.
We must understand that wanting a different outcome will not occur unless you do things differently.
Rule 8 – Take Advice
Always take advice from people that you can learn from, as they say birds of a feather flock together. No one individual has all of the answers and all successful people have had a group of people around them. That is why in rule 4 I have mentioned the high performance mastermind group. That is a great way to have people around you that have plenty of experience in business and we can all learn from each other.
Rule 9 – Picture Success
It is really important that you formulate and stamp indelibly in your mind a mental picture of yourself succeeding and you must hold this picture tenaciously. Many people have quit just before they were about to succeed. So never quit and always push forward your mind will seek to develop the picture that you have created. As Napoleon Hill said:
“Success comes to those who become SUCCEESS CONSCIOUS
and
Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become
FAILURE CONSCIOUS”
Rule 10 – Work Hard and Respect Others
You reap what you sow. The important thing is that you keep focussed no matter how good things are going. There are peaks (good times) and valleys (bad times) in life and if we keep focussed we will maintain the peaks longer and get out of the valleys quicker.
Some tips:
- If you like others they will like you,
- If you treat others with respect they will treat you with respect,
- If you speak sincerely and have empathy for others so will they with you,
- If you work hard you will succeed and progress.
With hard work momentum will come. It is all about momentum and the benefits that come from that once you have things moving forward. As Gary Player says: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
Rule 11 – Help others do the above as well
If you help others they will inturn help you achieve your outcomes. A very wise man once said:
What your Thoughts they become your Words, watch your Words they become your Actions, watch your Actions they become your Habits and watch your Habits they become your Destiny.
It is all about habits becoming destiny. It is up to all of us to make 2012 /2013 and the years ahead what we want them to be. So if you like you can follow the 11 Key Rules to Your Success™, they do work. Also, please do not hesitate to contact us should you want help with any of the above. To find out more about what we do please visit www.globalbusinesscamps.com.au.
Following on from the last blog following is part 2. Why do so many businesses fail and what can be done about it is importnat for anyone in business.
Moving right along.
12.3% fail due to poor books and records
We must ensure that we keep detailed financial figures because what you can measure you can manage. You must think of it like driving a car without the fuel gauge – you are never quite sure if you will have enough fuel to make it. The same applies to business, without checking and measuring you are never sure of the funds available or who or what you owe. It is critical that you know where you stand in terms of dollars at all times.
There are 3 key ratios to analyse and monitor your cash flow:
- Days receivable – how long is it taking you to collect the money you are owed once you have invoiced your time or for your goods?
- Days payable – how long is it taking you to pay your suppliers?
- Days inventory or days work in progress – how many days is it taking you to convert your stock or your time into invoices?
The management of these key ratios can be controlled and maintained by focusing on them. As they say what you focus on expands. So by focusing on them they will improve.
As Jack Welch, Ex-CEO of GE said:
“the 3 most important things to measure in a business are
customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and cash flow”.
10.7% fail due to sales and marketing problems
Many people find this area challenging. You must remember and make it a priority to understand that you are in business to market whatever products and services you have to offer. It is great to be the best at your product or service but it is even more important to be great at marketing and selling what you have to offer. Without the right skills in marketing and selling you could have the best products and services in the world and suffer in business because you are not able to get the message out to the world.
You need to be focusing on the 5 key business building strategies™ as that is the most cost effective business building strategy. This is really important because 15 years ago you had to advertise 4 times before someone asked you for more information. Now you have to advertise 16 times. That is a massive difference and that is why we need to be smarter in building our business.
The other thing is that the best form of marketing now is direct mail to your existing customers. How many of you are consistently going back to your customers and asking them:
- What else you could be doing for them?
- How else could you add more value?
- What did they think of your service?
- Would they recommend a friend?
- What do they like most about your business and what do they like least about your business?
This is all part of the 5 key business building strategies.
The 5 key business building strategies™ are:
- Get more customers and keep existing customers (of the type you want)
- Get them to come back more often
- Increase the average value of each sale
- Improve the effectiveness of each process in the business
- Build a committed team
What you will find is that if you can ensure that 4 and 5 are in place then 1, 2 and 3 will happen consistently. Businesses that have 4 and 5 in place work better, have more engaged team, happier customers and are worth more on a sale.
Critical to know and understand:
- Businesses with a high customer service rating have 11 times higher net profit return on sales than those with a low customer service rating
- These businesses charge 10% more for their products
- They grow twice as fast
9% fail due to staffing problems
You must have the right team on the bus and in the right seats. If you have that you will have a stronger business than if you do not have that. Most people are looking for more than just a job. They are looking for career progression, growth, delegation, work life balance etc and not just money. You must involve your team in decisions and what you will find is that they will get more engaged and your business will improve. Steve Wynn (Wynn Casinos) gets his people from all levels to tell him what they should be doing and what they should be offering their customers.
You must constantly assist your team to grow by constant education and you should make sure that you communicate at all times with them. If they know what is going on, why it is going on and what it means to everyone they will have more buy in.
According to the Gallup Research, the top 3 reasons people gave for leaving their jobs were:
- Lack of faith in the leadership or vision of the company.
- Concern at how management treats people.
- Lack of management support for performance reviews and employee development.
Is it a coincidence that some of the coolest places to work for are the most successful? I believe it is not a coincidence. Make some time to read up on a few of these businesses they are truly extraordinary and in return they are more profitable than others in their industry.
Stew Leonards Dairy – http://www.stewleonards.com/careers_new/culture.cfm
Google Australia – http://www.google.com.au/about/jobs/locations/sydney/
Pikes Place Fish Market – http://www.pikeplacefish.com/
Zappos – http://www.zappos.com/
Beechworth Bakery – http://www.beechworthbakery.com.au/
We all have an opportunity to make our workplace the best it can be. What you will then get is the best people wanting to work for you. Then the outcome is that your customers will get the best experience and they will refer friends and keep coming back themselves.
8.9% fail due to failure to use external advice and personal issues
Getting independent advice is an investment and not a cost. Developing professional relationships with people who understand your business can save you money and heartache later.
Having a mentor or mentors and forming a board are also very important. Breakthrough companies have mentors for their key people and board of directors. By doing this it ensures that everyone is driving in the right direction and focus is on the things that matter.
The importance of a board:
- You have a group of people that you can sound your thoughts and ideas out on.
- Brings extra experience into your business. All the businesses that make it have teams that work together and do not just rely on individuals. This is very important for family owned businesses.
- Creates a higher level of accountability. Being accountable makes people focused on achieving what they say they are going to do.
- Structured process for strategies and ideas to be discussed. Structure is everything in business, life and sport. If we lose our structure then we could be doing the wrong things and thinking we are doing the right things.
- Family businesses at times need independent people on the board. This avoids thinking with the heart and also enhances communication.
Then there are the personal factors including divorce and illness that can dramatically affect a business.
In Closing
So as you can see from all of the above there are many reasons why businesses fail. The key to understand is that only 12.4% of why businesses fail is from factors that are outside our control. 87.6% or everything else is within our control. Even the things outside our control can be impacted by how well we plan, organise ourselves and act. By planning you are thinking about things and delving into potential issues. Therefore by planning it means that we are creating a business that welcomes change, rather than resisting it. By that I mean that:
- You become better at listening to the environment and picking up it’s change signals early.
- You can test what the market will respond to.
- You constantly ask “is there a better way to do what you do?”
So it is important to control what we can control to keep our business moving in the right direction. I truly believe that “we create the exact level of our success and happiness”.
How do you control what you can control? You focus on the 6 Secrets™ to any business.
To find out more please visit www.globalbusinesscamps.com.au, or e-mail john@globalbusinesscamps.com.au or call me on 1300 883 089.
No matter the industry, businesses fail due to a number of reasons. What are those reasons?
The other really interesting thing is that you can do something about it in most cases. What do I mean when I say that?
I will actually take it further and say that 87.6% of why businesses fail is within our (or the business owners) control. Wow that is huge.
Let’s have a look at what these things are –
32.1% fail due to poor financial management of financial activities
This includes lack of funding in the business to ensure you can meet your obligations. People in business do not keep a track on their debtors, creditors and stock control. Also, for financial services businesses the other added matter that most people do not keep a track of is their work in progress (WIP) or their time.
In regards to debtors it always takes longer to convert sales into cash than we initially think. So we must be organised. People think that all I have to do is increase my sales and everything will be ok. That is not necessarily the case as from what we have seen if debtors are not being collected quickly enough increasing sales just adds to the problem. The key is to have a process that you follow and you must be vigilant and follow debtors up.
In terms of stock and stock control it is really important not to hold more stock than is required as that means you have the risk of obsolesence, damage, theft and cash just sitting there.
In terms of WIP or time we ourselves are the biggest de-valuers of our time. We look at the work we have done and then start talking ourselves down. We have the biggest issue with price than our customers, clients and patients do. So the key is to have confidence in what we do as I am sure we all provide awesome service to our customers. We create value for the people that deal with us and therefore we should be fairly rewarded.
Most people also prefer to do the work that the business does rather than do the paperwork. People find doing the paperwork as boring. What we must understand that the paperwork is very important and it is critical that you are on top of that part of your business.
Many businesses also lack reporting systems and proper controls. Which then leads to an inability to manage cash flow and profit. Regarding the reporting systems and controls a basic example is that of debtors. You must be clear in your terms, pay attention to debtors and ensure all of your paperwork is correct.
I have seen many businesses whether it is here in Australia or overseas in New Zealand, USA, Canada and the UK pay little attention to their reporting systems. As a past friend of mine used to say:
“Which manager runs a business without looking at the numbers? Their important”.
Another interesting way of looking at it is driving your car without having a fuel gauge. You do not know whether you will ever run out of petrol. So we must be organized.
14.6% fail due to lack of management competence or experience
Might be the world’s best at their chosen occupation but that does not guarantee you’ll be a great manager. Lack of experience brings mistakes which in turn can create major problems. This on the positive side is a massive opportunity to learn as well. An opportunity exists to attend seminars and training sessions whenever possible. Continued education is one of the most important things you can do for you, your team and in turn for your business. The funny thing as well is that when you are continually educating yourselves then your customers will win as well.
It is important that you recognise your strengths and weaknesses. Being a guru at your service or your product does not make you good at running a business. You need to understand the market dynamics in regards to customers, competitors, suppliers, team, regulators etc and see how they will affect your business.
80% of the success of a business is the psychology of the leader. As leaders we must drive the business forward, train our team and ensure we add more value than anyone else.
The leader needs to be focused, be positive, they must delegate and ensure that they take action. You must increase your energy and you must act on opportunities.
12.4% fail due to inflation and economic conditions
Currency movements, interest rates and other financial mechanisms can cause a business to fail. Trading conditions can also be affected by local, national and regional events and then there are natural disasters. These things are all outside your control but can dramatically affect your business. If you are planning and thinking about your business that would help you be more aware of these things occurring around you.
The power to anticipate comes when you work ON and not in your business. You can limit the effects of the things outside your control by planning and anticipating.
One of the best ways to plan and implement is by working on and focusing on the 6 Secrets™ to any Business. The 6 Secrets™ to any Business do not only help in this area they help in all of the failure points that we are discussing in this paper. What are they you may be asking:
- Begin with the end in mind
- Planning for success
- Growing your business
- Managing your business
- Valuing your business
- Freedom
By focusing on the 6 Secrets™ you make your yourself, your team and your business more in tune with what is going on out in the market place and what could affect your business.
Please refer to part 2 of why do businesses fail and what to do about it.
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