Author: etcwebsite

“Which road should I take?” asked Alice.
“Where do you want to go?” answered the Cheshire Cat.
“I don’t know,” said Alice
“In that case,” said the Cheshire Cat, “it doesn’t matter which road you take.”

Like with any business owner it is not unusual for people to put their heart and soul into their business, it’s their ‘baby’ at the end of the day and so we feel, as business owners, that it is in our best interest to make it succeed but to also gain from what we put in…and quite rightly after all that hard work! Therefore is it not also in our best interest to make the company successful by setting ourselves goals that come from a personal place?

When most people think of goals they think of very broad goals like “I want to be able to take a back seat in my company, have someone else do the hard work and reap all the benefits.” I think we would all love this, however as briefly mentioned in my other blog: Targets & Goals- Can you Spot the Difference, it is imperative that the goal be more focussed and for it to come from a personal place. For example would you like to save for a high quality care home for your parents or that extravagant white wedding your partner craves? These goals are more realistic, focussed and attainable now you are at the core and they have a personal meaning, rather than I want ot sit back but make lots of money.

Therefore having a personal goal works better than putting a business one in place. By setting the goal of a white wedding you can then work out what you need i.e. cake, dress, car etc. and you can utilise your business to obtain these wants. For example if you know the venue your wife wants costs £7,000 you can make sure you have enough clients coming in to cover this cost.

Like it or not, in this world we need to set ourselves goals in order to achieve anything. They can take weeks, months or ever years to accomplish depending on the size of your goal. Don’t be put off though, the rewards are worth it in the end and if you follow your goals and targets through you should not only have achieved your goals but also have a successful business to show. More often than not these goals come from, what some may consider as, selfish sources however, this may actually be a necessary birthplace for them to grow from.

• So when setting your goal you need to:
• Make sure you get to the core of what your goal is.
• Make sure it’s a personal goal that can be facilitated by your business.
• Make your goal clear and concise and set targets alongside
  (read Targets & Goals- Can you Spot the Difference for tips!)

Remember if you feel you need more advice on how to set goals or how to go about achieving them, contact Doug D’Aubrey on 07946 730475 or doug@exec-tc.com.

As we have seen, poor cash flow management is possibly one of the biggest financial downfalls on the road to survival for any business, new or old, large or small. Cash flow management is a crucial element in the business planning stages and throughout the life of any business.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues that a business stumbles upon and which can cause devastating cash flow problems is the area of VAT and other large government tax bills.

Every quarter a chunk of money has to be found to pay your VAT bill. And every 12 – 18 months, money has to be found to pay for corporation tax. VAT and other taxes belong to the government, but what most of us do is to collect it in with customer payments, put it into our own bank accounts, and then spend it!

As part of a good cash flow management plan we need to account for these monies in advance. A sound idea is to set up a separate bank account for these taxes. At the end of each month, if that’s when you do your accounts, calculate the monies due for VAT and transfer them directly into this separate bank account. If you do your accounts weekly, then do this weekly. Leave this money there.

Interest rates nowadays are pretty low everywhere, but find an account with the highest rate possible and put the money in here. It’s the government’s money – not yours – but in this way, at least the government’s money will be working for you. After three months you will have accrued three month’s interest and made money out of the government!

At the end of the fourth month when you pay your VAT bill, you will have the cash ready to pay. You will have a sum of interest, and NO CASH FLOW PROBLEM!

You have to be pretty disciplined to work this, but once the habit is in place, it will reap the rewards. Of course, this system can be used for your other tax responsibilities as well, making you money all round!

Finance is at the heart of any business and is the one main factor that signifies success or failure. Poor cash flow management is possibly one of the biggest financial downfalls on the road to survival for any business, new or old, large or small. Cash flow management is a crucial element in the business planning stages and throughout the life of any business.

A successful and well thought out cash flow management plan allows your business to do the things you’ve planned to do; it enables you to successfully manage the flow of finance into and out of the company to ensure it stays healthy, to meet all your business obligations and to provide you with a return appropriate to your effort and investment.

Sadly though, it is common for a business to be profitable on paper, but have no ready cash to pay its day to day bills. Why? Because profit is a calculated figure. It is the calculated difference between the cost of producing and selling a product or service and the income received from that sale. It does not necessarily follow that the income is received as soon as the product or service is delivered to the customer. Before payments are received and the profit is made, other bills for future production may arrive. music cloud Other obligations can also soak up the funds available – such as bank loans and fixed costs – all of this resulting in a possible devastating short fall.

There are two common causes of cash flow management problems. Look after these and they will go a long way to ensuring your success.

One – get your invoices out promptly and regularly, and get them paid!
Have a robust system in place which ensures that your customers know when, how much and how to pay. Be sure of this, follow up monies owed, and the cash will be in your bank instead of theirs.

Two – have a cash flow system in place.
Know exactly when you have to pay out for materials and pay for production. Likewise, know precisely when you expect to receive payments from your customers. This allows you to calculate how much ‘working capital’ needs to be available to pay for things when they are needed.

For any small business it is generally more effective to manage finances on a daily basis with a cash flow sheet rather than a profit-and-loss statement. This will help keep finances under control and in your favour, as well as helping to make informed decisions about future spending.

Managing cash flow successfully is essential to generating the kind of lifestyle you aspire to!

The subject of customer service is a huge topic to cover. The most important question to consider in such a short space as this is: – Do your customers have the best possible experience when dealing with your company?

Customer service is not something that you just turn on and off. It is the continual result of the philosophy and attitude of the company and its entire staff.  It comes from the top down.  The key managers need to be continually and totally customer focused and this needs to permeate down through all levels of the staff structure.

Specific meetings need to be held within management to establish whether or not the customers are getting the best possible service. Ideas generated from these meetings should then be filtered down through all levels and training should be put in place to ensure that each member of staff knows how to give the customer the best possible service related to their specific role within the company.

All staff, at whatever level, and whether normally in direct contact with your customers or not, should possess the same attitude towards customer service. This is particularly important with those staff who are generally not used to dealing with customers. At the end of the day, the customer is King, or Queen, and all staff should have the attitude that their own regular daily activity is second to the needs of the customer. In other words, the customer is not a nuisance!

Good customer service means different things to different people.  The key, however, is attention to detail. Be careful not to overlook the smallest of details. Spell names correctly, write addresses accurately – even if your correspondence is being sent via email as opposed to the Royal mail. Customers won’t notice if you get it all right, but they sure will notice if you make the smallest of errors!

On your business premises – how are your customers being greeted?  Again, attention to detail is the key. How are your members of staff greeting your customers? Does the staff appearance reflect how you would like your customers to view your business? If your factory area is, by its nature, dirty, how clean is the reception area for visitors? Make sure there is a clean and welcoming area for guests. Keep your dirty staff out!

Keep a focus on the small things. They are just as important, if not more, than the large things.

A good exercise might be to ask yourself – how would I like to be treated if I were a customer visiting my business? Take a drive and park a short distance from your business, and then walk back to it. How does it appear on approach? How easy is access? Who greets you, and how? Are we simple to use? What is your overall impression, and what improvements could be made?

And why not ask your customers? After all, they hold the key to your success.

Find out exactly how people feel when dealing with you as a company. What is their customer experience? Use this information because, at every point, you need to be providing excellent customer service.

As we have mentioned, the subject of customer service is a huge topic to cover. We all know that word of mouth, whether a good word or a bad word, can have a profound effect on the reputation of your business. So how about giving your customers the ‘WOW!’ factor as part of their customer experience?

Customers nowadays expect to receive good service. They won’t talk about this. But you can guarantee that they will talk if they get bad service! If at all possible, create a Wow! experience that your customers will not forget. ip information Be creative and give them a special experience that they will want to talk about over and over because they were so impressed by your service.

Here is a short story related by a client recently, by way of example:

She pulled up in her car at the Ritz Hotel. The valet approached, greeted her, asked her name, and then took possession of her keys in order to park her car.

Moments later, the client walked up to the reception desk where she was greeted by the receptionist by name.  In that short space of time, the valet had relayed the clients name to the receptionist. The fact that the receptionist new her name when she approached the desk was definitely an unexpected pleasure. The client went on to repeat this story on numerous occasions.

To her, this represented the WoW! factor.

So, go ahead and use your imagination to create this WoW! factor experience for your customers.

As an example, a property firm owner could WoW! new home owners by leaving a card and some flowers to welcome them into their new home? A car valeting firm could leave a free air freshener in a car after a full valet. A suit hire firm could leave a card in the inside pocket of the suit hired offering a free tie on the next suit hire.

However you choose to WoW! your customers, you can guarantee that the word will certainly get around.

Are you getting results from your social media activities that forward your business, your sales, and ultimately, your profits? Or are you merely wasting your time?

Social media, by way of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, etc., can be very time consuming. And, as a business owner, your time is at a premium. At the same time, social media has the potential of being very rewarding if dealt with wisely. But how are you spending your energies? And do you have a social media strategy? Lots of business owners spend many valuable hours on social media but don’t necessarily get results. You have to change your outlook.

Get yourself a presence

Through your normal networking channels – networking groups, trade shows, day to day contact with customers and other business owners, anyone you meet! – connect with them via social media and ‘get yourself a presence’.

Fill the auditorium first. If a theatre seats 5000 and only 5 seats are full, then your audience is only 5. Your performance is only hitting 5 people. So fill your theatre!

Build your followers

Talk to people. Link in with everyone at every opportunity. A lot of people have a Twitter account but don’t utilise it – find those that do and hone in on them. Create an interest and express an interest. People love to be noticed. Give encouragement via #following opportunities. Folks tend to follow those who are giving them praise and paying them attention (genuine praise of course).

Get real

Once you’ve initiated social media conversations, try to establish ‘real’ conversations. You’ve got to get creating appointments. The only way to do this is to talk to people. Use the phone, or Skype, or arrange to meet for a coffee and an informal chat. Find ways to talk to and meet the network that you have created.

And then – look at how you can work with these people. They might become a great source of leads, or indeed, they might even buy!

It’s a win, win if you do it right!

As a small to medium sized enterprise, have you thought much about supporting a charity and how it can help your business? And if so, what is your strategy? Do you have one?

Firstly, it makes more sense to build a relationship with a particular cause rather than making ad hoc donations. Choosing a local cause is a good place to start. And a charity or organisation that relates in some way to your area of business, or to your personal interests, also makes sense. If you work in the area of art prints, for example, you may wish to lend your support to local artists.

Local fund raising events can provide excellent business networking opportunities. Maybe investing in a whole table at a fund raising dinner and inviting customers and people you’d like to do business with to be part of your table. If they are unable to attend, at the least you have started communications.

It’s not only through donating money that you can offer support. Your business expertise can be of valuable support. For example, schools will often invite local business owners to come and speak to the children, offering an insight into various career opportunities. This could be developed into mentoring programs or school visit taster days to your business premises.

Have you thought of involving your employees in ways which support local charitable organisations? Serving food at the local homeless hostel or offering support to special needs schools are ways in which local businesses can support their local good causes. The added benefit is the building of team morale among your employees, as well as allowing them to feel that they are working for a worthwhile company.

Maybe you could offer support to members of staff who do voluntary work for local charities. For instance, they could use the office printer for small projects, or make use of one of the office meeting rooms for a meeting or event. email secure server Perhaps you could give one day off a year so that they can attend and support a charity event. Think carefully about the time and resources that you can afford as a small company. You can still make a huge difference in small ways.

It is important to find ways in which to let people know what you are doing to help your community, but to do this in a way that doesn’t come across as boastful. Make use of your social media channels, your website and your local media to make people aware, and promote your choice of charity or organisation through these channels as well. Track what you do, let people know what you do, and encourage them to help support your cause.

It makes sense to support your local charity, even if you are a small business. As well as making you feel good, it raises your visibility and enhances your reputation. So plan your strategy and lend support.

If ‘sales’ is one of those areas that you feel uncomfortable with and just don’t like to do, then it is highly probable that you aren’t allocating any time to it.

As small business owners, you will have many responsibilities and often not the extra staff to delegate those jobs to. So you become the accountant, the admin staff, the service provider, and the expert on legal matters, marketing and sales- amongst other responsibilities. Sales will often get pushed back and neglected in favour of other more enjoyable areas of your business.

It is important, therefore, that you allocate time in your diary each week for your sales activities. It need only be a short amount of time, but by allocating that time you will ensure that something gets done.

The sales activity starts with your prospects. There is no point in generating prospects through your marketing activities if you then neglect to follow those leads up. By allocating the time to your sales process you will increase your sales, thereby increasing business and profits.

It is vital that you get your sales process in place so that you then maximise the time allocated to it. It needs to be the most effective that it can be in the short time allocated.

Plan out your sales process and have a definite strategy in place. From your list of prospects, allocate time to making contact, introducing yourself, sending out information about your business, making an appointment, attending the appointment, doing your research, writing a proposal, and so on. Set aside an amount of time for each part of the process, log your activities, and see them through to the close of the sale.

Finally, even if you don’t consider yourself a ‘salesman’, you are. Your role is to identify and meet a need. By asking the right questions and listening, you will ensure that your prospect is genuine and save yourself a lot of wasted time.

 

A client recently complained to me that networking was proving to be a waste of time. They had tried a few different approaches – speed networking events, trade shows and group meetings, but they just weren’t seeing any results for all their efforts.

I explained to them that there are three critical things that you need to take on board when you plan your networking strategy:

1)      Networking is not just attending events.

You won’t enjoy many benefits from your networking if you only interact with people hoping to sell your product or service to them. You need to approach networking events with the intention of making contacts who are interested in reciprocally supporting one another to find new clients. Collect business cards and follow up your initial contact at the networking event with connections through social media, or fire off an e-mail to say that you were glad to meet and look forward to networking with them in the future.

2)      Expect to help others before expecting them to help you.

You need to expect to actively look for useful leads and contacts to pass on to your network before you should expect them to start passing referrals to you. It might take a little while for results to come through, but in the end, with networking, you get out what you put in.

3)      Network with the right people.

Think about who else your customers might buy from and what else they might buy. For example, if you sell wedding dresses, your customers are also likely to be shopping for a photographer and jewellery. If your customer is getting a new website designed, then they might also be looking for a copywriter. Seek out people from whom your customers might also purchase without any conflict of interests on either side. Attend the events that they attend, make contacts, build relationships; new prospects and warm referrals will soon be coming your way.

Whether your marketing material is an advert in a magazine, a website or a triple-fold flyer, there are some basic principles that remain true about your marketing content, whatever format you use. Here are my top tips

1)      First and foremost, make sure you’ve told people what you’re selling, what they can expect if they buy from you, and how you’ll solve their problems or fulfil their desires. This should make up ¾ of your content. If this interests them, they will read on. This should be more prominent even than your company name – if someone is interested in what you can offer, they’ll look closer to find out who you are.

2)      Marketing is not about you or your business – it’s about what you offer. Don’t make the first thing you tell people how many years you’ve been trading or how great your work is. After all, when you go to see a doctor, do you ask them what grade they got in their finals or who they’ve successfully cured in the past? Or is the only thought in your head about what they’re going to do to make you better? Only do the ‘about us’ bit once you’ve already got their attention.

3)      Include a call to action – tell people what you want them to do, ‘call me’, ‘e-mail to book an appointment’, and so on.

4)      And critically… make it easy for them to contact you! All your contact details need to stand out, be clearly visible and easy to find. No difficult-to-make-out fonts, no small type, and all the details: phone number, e-mail, address if appropriate. Don’t assume that all potential customers will be happy to e-mail you  or fill out a contact form – some may still prefer to speak to you