Category: Blog

‘Business plans don’t work’ is the common misconception of many business owners.

It’s a statement that as a business consultant, I’m often faced with. When discussing whether a business needs support, ‘business plans don’t work’ is a frequent objection. However when we explore why, this misconception has often been brought about by one of two things:

1. Plan created to secure funding

In many cases, business plans are created in order to secure funding from a bank. The plans contain whatever is needed to get the cash across the line and often bare little resemblance to the actual business. With funding in place, the business plan has done its job and is filed away. It’s little surprise in that case, if the business doesn’t grow as a result.

2. Lack of action plan

In some instances, business plans are created with a genuine desire for business growth. Unfortunately, the reality is often just an idealised view of the perfect business. It doesn’t factor in actual resource and business structure. Critically, what many business plans lack is an action plan. Without which, it’s unlikely to succeed.

So when I hear the statement ‘business plans don’t work’, my first question is always ‘did you follow an action plan?’. The old adage is true:

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

What your business plan should include

Putting together a business plan shouldn’t be difficult. Simply follow this step by step approach:

Goals

What are your personal goals? Therefore what does the business need to achieve to deliver on these goals? Rome wasn’t built in a day, so break targets down into manageable chunks.

Objectives

Set objectives for the business and remember to ensure they are SMART ie:
Specific
Measurable
Actionable
Relevant
Time-bound

Strategy

Broadly, how do you plan to achieve the objectives you’ve defined? For example, if one objective is to increase sales, the strategy might be to start selling in new markets (perhaps online or overseas).

Action plan

With strategies outlined, you’ll need that critical action plan. Decide and document a list of specific actions.

Looking back at the example above, let’s say one strategy is to start selling online. Actions for this may include things like:
Build e-commerce website
Research shipping fees
Review pricing
Review packaging options

With a list in place, add to it who will do what and by when. Day to day service delivery can often get in the way of delivering on an action plan, so be realistic when deciding on deadlines.

Monitor

OK so your action plan is key, but only so long as you do action it! It sounds logical but you’d be surprised how many action plans are written but not followed. There are so many distractions as a business owner and I understand how easy it is to lose sight.

So, how to ensure this doesn’t happen? Put in a mechanism to establish some accountability. This might be via a regular management team meeting, or if you’re a smaller business it could be a regular meeting with your business coach. Get the time allocated in your diary each month to check everything is on track.

When you follow these steps and implement your action plan, you might just end up where you want to be! It’s just like getting in the car. Without knowing the destination, or without a pre-planned route you’re less likely to have a smooth trip, arrive on time or even get where you want to go at all.

To find out when you should be completing your annual planning, read on to my next blog here.

As ever, if you need any help building and implementing your action plan, why not contact me for a free new business review? I’ll spend two hours with you giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Doug D’Aubrey.

As a rule of thumb, business plans should be compiled in the quarter before they’re needed.

In my last blog, I explained why you DO need a business plan (you can refer back to it here). Now you’re convinced, the next question is when to start? In fact, business planning should be an ongoing affair to sustain a healthy growth.

Implemented at the start of the business year, the plan should be continually monitored, adjusted and finally reviewed at year end (by which time, the following year’s plan should be ready to go). Large businesses have regular management meetings, small businesses should be doing the same. It’s the only way to stay on track.

Planning ahead

To effectively plan for the coming year, you should be working on your plan 3 months ahead of when it’s needed. So for those businesses that run on a calendar year of January to December, that’s now.

For businesses running on April to March, January is the time to get plans together.

Getting support

While compiling a business plan doesn’t need to be daunting, it’s wise to gather some support. Sole traders can enlist some trusted friends or associates to help brain storm the coming year. Or of course, if you have a mentor, get them involved!

My previous blog details the stages you need to execute in order to finalise your plan.

Marketing calendar

In addition to your overall annual budget/plan it’s prudent to include a marketing calendar, detailing all the events that impact on the business throughout the year. This will aid planning for those crucial times when peak sales will be reached.

Wholesalers supplying retailers will need to have their Christmas offerings sewn up by June at the latest, ready for sales to commence in September. The hospitality industry will similarly need their Christmas plans in place by September and so planning for this should start at least three months ahead of this.

Find out more about how the marketing calendar works in my recent blog here.

Planning for the quiet times

Don’t forget to plan for the slower months too. If the new year presents a period of quiet then have your marketing activity in place ahead of this to drive revenue and avoid a drastic dip. My blog, Diversification: 3 ideas to increase sales can help with this.

If you’d like help to implement any of my advice, why not contact me to arrange a Free Business Review? This is a genuinely free 2 hour session whereby I’ll come into the business and spend two hours giving you advice to make positive changes. Click here to arrange yours now.

Effective selling comes when belief in your product or service is combined with an understanding of your prospects’ needs.

In my previous blog, Effective selling: know you product, I explained how a belief in what you’re selling increases sales. I also explained how to provide your salesforce with that belief. The perfect alchemy however is to use that belief to answer a problem for your prospect.

Understand customer need

No-one wants to be sold at. How many times have you been at the end of a phone call thinking, “you don’t even know me, or what I need”? A salesperson’s belief can be a turn off in that situation, they’ve found out nothing about you!

Before you can begin to sell, you need to understand the customer and what they need, only then can you offer your product or service as the solution.

Ask open questions

Asking open questions will assist your fact-finding. Let’s say you’re selling water coolers. What questions might be asked on a sales call? I found myself on a such a call recently, the seller simply asked “would you like a free trial of one of our water coolers?”. Firstly, this is a closed question, where there could only be a yes/no answer. The problem with closed questions? The prospect can say no!

Had the seller built up some rapport and found out more about my needs, the outcome could have been very different. Asking open questions would have facilitated this. For example, the caller could have asked things such as:

• How are you enjoying the hot weather?
• How are you coping with the heat at work?
• What are facilities like for making drinks?
• What’s the water like where you are?

Establish pain points

Asking these questions may have uncovered some pain points for the prospect, allowing the salesperson to present their water-cooler as a solution.

For example, through open questioning, the seller could have found out information such as the tap water is unpleasant, the kitchen is on another floor, there’s no air con and so on.

The seller could then have empathised and introduced the water-cooler as a solution. For example “I hate it when tap water has a funny taste to it too. Our water coolers are filled with natural spring water which is much nicer to drink than tap water. I can send one out on a free trial so you can try it out for yourself, can I confirm where to send it to?”

This is a very simple example, but demonstrates how much easier it is to have a conversation when you understand a customer’s need. When you do this, a sale becomes much more likely.

Examples of other open questions

Make a list of the type of things you could ask to uncover your prospects’ problems, to which you could offer a solution. Remember, open questions only! Here are some general examples to get you going:

• What’s your experience of…?
• Tell me about your business?
• How do you find the service offered by your existing supplier?

So, be passionate and believe in your product, but be sure to listen first! Uncover a need to which you can sell a solution.

As ever, if you need any help going through these processes, why not contact me for a free new business review? I’ll spend two hours with you giving you professional coaching on starting a business. I’ll leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Doug D’Aubrey.

While there are many aspects to effective selling, a fundamental belief in your product or service has to be paramount.

The most successful salespeople genuinely believe in the benefit their product or service provides, and it shows. I’m sure you, like me, have experienced a lacklustre sales experience. When a salesperson has no belief in what they’re selling, it instils no confidence in you as the buyer and switches you off. However when there is belief, that passion is infectious.

OK, how to get that belief? If you’re a small business owner then I’ve no doubt you’ll have it in abundance. But what about if you rely on others to do the selling, do they share your passion?

Know the product

It stands to reason that the first step has got to be to understand the all the features and benefits of the product or service. Give the seller access to all relevant literature to give them this knowledge, talk to them about it and answer any questions.

Experience the product

The greatest way to get that belief though is to experience it, so facilitate this wherever possible. The proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes. With first-hand experience will come an inherent knowledge and passion that will expedite a sales increase.

Likewise, why not let your prospects try the product or service too? This can be achieved through physical samples when selling a product. For services, case studies and reviews will help give confidence.

Knowing and experiencing the product is only half the story though. Read on to my next blog, Effective selling: understanding customer need, to uncover how understanding a client’s need is as crucial to effective selling.

As ever, if you need any help going through these processes, why not contact me for a free new business review? I’ll spend two hours with you giving you professional coaching on starting a business. I’ll leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Doug D’Aubrey.

There are many reasons for starting a business, for example to make a profit from a much loved hobby. Or perhaps you’re a tradesperson gone self-employed.

I come across the latter frequently in my role as a business coach. Often, tradespeople find themselves doing ‘foreigners’ in addition to their job. In some cases, the number of these jobs increases to the point that a business is created. However when starting a business, there are a few key tasks to complete to give it the best chance of success:

1. A business plan

In my previous post, (Starting a business from a hobby) I share the elements needed to create a simple business plan. Covering everything from goal setting to pricing, this is a great place to start and will ensure you have the key components in your business plan. Read it here.

2. Decide on a business structure

When starting a business, you’ll need to decide on its structure, either as a sole-trader or as a limited company. There are pros and cons for each and I’d advise getting expert advice from an accountant to decide what’s right for you. If setting up as a sole-trader, you’ll need to register for self-assessment with HMRC. To become a limited company, you’ll need to register with Companies House, find more information here.

3. Set up a bank account

As a sole-trader, a business account isn’t essential, however I’d recommend having a separate account to easily keep a track of income and expenses for the business. While you’re at it, decide upon a process for recording what you spend and what you earn. A simple spreadsheet can do the trick.

If you’re a limited company, you’ll absolutely need a business bank account and it’s worth shopping around for the best new deals. Moneysupermarket offer a good comparison for startup banking.

4. Get insured

Investigate what insurance you’ll need to protect yourself and your customers. As standard, you’ll need public liability and professional indemnity, but also consider whether you need to insure any tools or machinery. Again, shop around for a deal that suits your circumstances.

5. Qualifications

When starting a business of your own, you’ll naturally come up against competition and many consumers will likely obtain a few quotes. Is your training up to date? Be sure not to lose out due to out of date qualifications.

6. Equipment

Similarly, if you were previously employed your tools may not be your own. While you may need to invest in your own, getting the right tools for the job will also help in winning work and doing a good job. Get this sorted as soon as you can.

7. Winning work

With a business plan, marketing strategy and structure all in place you’re now ready to start winning work. Many new business owners aren’t natural salespeople and while it takes time to hone this skill, there are some simple guidelines that will help when quoting for work:
– don’t be late, sounds obvious but first impressions count
– be well presented; work clothes are fine but take care not to leave dirty footprints on the carpet. Use common sense
– send a written quote, to show you’ve considered the job thoroughly
– ask for the work! Simply follow up with a phone call to see if they’d like to go ahead, if you don’t you could miss out

As ever, if you need any help going through these processes, why not contact me for a free new business review? I’ll spend two hours with you giving you professional coaching on starting a business. I’ll leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Doug D’Aubrey.

Starting a business from a hobby is a dream for many. Done well, it can turn passion into profit.

Over the years I’ve worked with lots of businesses that have been borne from a hobby. A common example of this is a photographer. With digital cameras making photography more accessible, (and any other hobby turning into a business) thoughts turn towards whether a career can be made. While this is absolutely possible in many cases, there are some golden rules to follow:

1. Set goals

Firstly, what do you want to achieve from starting a business? Is it extra income to pay for family extras like holidays or a new car? Perhaps it’s a retirement plan? Or maybe you want to replace your full time job with the hobby business. Whatever it is, spend time thinking about your goals. Once you know what they are, you can plan to achieve them.

2. Business strategy

OK, how will you ensure your business reaches your goals? One of the early things to decide is how to make money from the skills you’ve learned. The obvious choice is to start selling your services or products, whether that’s photography, cakes, or other crafts/professions. I would urge you to research the market, is there room for another one of you?

If there is already a huge choice of other businesses doing what you do, don’t worry! As with any successful business, you’ll need to define your USP (unique selling point). Be sure to communicate it in order to stand out from the competition.

Alternatively, you could consider teaching others your skill! Once again, research will help establish the viability of this as a business strategy.

3. Pricing

I can’t stress enough how important pricing is as part of your business plan. The tendency with hobby businesses, is for products and services to undersold. Why? When starting a business from a hobby, the business owner doesn’t always value themselves and their skills highly enough. Or, while still holding a ‘day job’, income isn’t the driver and prices are cheap.

Again, when setting your price, research is vital. What are your competitors charging? How successful do they appear to be? Where do you fit with your offering? Be careful to set your price at what you are worth! Once you’ve made your first sale, your confidence will build.

4. Marketing strategy

The final piece of the puzzle is to plan how you’ll get your products and services in front of your audience.

Firstly, work out who your audience is. Are you selling to businesses or consumers? Are they predominantly male or female? Are they affluent or hard up? How old are they? What are their likes and dislikes? Answering these questions will help build a profile of your typical client and with that, you can decide where and how to advertise.

For example, a photographers typical client may be young, engaged women. A great way to get get in front of potential customers would be to attend wedding fairs. Another is to create alliances with other wedding professionals. By doing so, you can recommend one another. Networking is a great way to do this.

Think about where your clients spend time or what publications they may read. Knowing this will direct where to exhibit or advertise.

5. The business plan

Now you’re well on your way. With these four steps in place, you have a simple business plan and can move your hobby business into a viable business.

Read onto my next blog: Starting a business checklist, for advice on the remaining must-do tasks to get your business set up and registered correctly.

As ever, if you need any help going through these processes, why not contact me for a free new business review? I’ll spend two hours with you giving you professional coaching on starting a business. I’ll leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

When growing a successful business, there will be times when you’ll need to take on additional help.

Employing vs subcontracting

If you’re unsure whether permanent employment is the best route for your small business, read my previous blog: Business advice: employment vs subcontracting.

If your business review is complete and the decision made that permanent employment is the most cost-efficient option for your business, what’s next?

Employing the right person

Recruitment agencies can be a lifeline for busy business owners. They can’t do all the work though, you’ll need to follow these five steps to ensure they’re employing the right person for you.

Step 1: develop your organisational structure

Having an organisational structure or chart not only visually maps the employees in the business, it also helps to identify the roles of those staff. With this in place, it’s much easier to spot gaps or shortages and will help direct your decision on creating new positions.

Step 2: understanding duties and responsibilities

Having completed your org structure, you’ll hopefully avoid the temptation to simply employ an assistant. Think about which tasks you need to be completed by the new member of staff and detail them all individually.

Step 3: establish a person specification

What type of person will be able to fulfil the tasks identified in step 2? Think about and decide on what skills you’re asking for, do they need certain experience or qualifications? What about personality? For more advice on this, my blog ‘Why recruiting the right personality mix is crucial in business‘ will help.

Step 4: creating the job description

Now, you are ready to create your job description. This should comprise the following information:
– Header: job title, remuneration, reporting line, hours and place of work
– Summary of job: from your roles and responsibilities, summarise here the main objective and key tasks involved with the position
– Duties and responsibilities: detail the list you’ve made, ideally in order of their importance
– Person spec: again you can add your pre-made list here, priority order is best

Step 5: the job advert

Job done? Not quite! The final piece of the puzzle is the job advert. A great ad will comprise the following components:
– Title: include the job title together with one or two elements of the post that will make it attractive to applicants
– Company info: who will the successful applicant work for? Great things to include here are how long you’ve been in business, examples of clients you work with, how happy your staff are etc.
– Position info: as well as the key objectives of the role, enhance the post’s charm with information on things such as pay, benefits and opportunities for development
– Application process: give applicants an idea on how long the recruitment process will take and what the steps are

Whether you’re using an agency or undertaking the recruitment yourself, you’re now ready to post your job. With all your groundwork done, you’re in the best place for employing the right person! Do ensure you take professional HR advice to help you through this process, and once on board, look after your staff to ensure their productivity!

If you need help managing workload or deciding whether to employ or subcontract, contact me for a Free Business Review. This is a genuinely free 2 hour session whereby I’ll come in and spend two hours giving you business advice for immediate implementation. Click here to arrange yours now.

When growing a successful business, the subject of taking on extra help is common. There are some rules of thumb to decide which is the right method.

Subcontracting in the early stages of growth

When a business starts to grow, there’s often a period whereby there’s too much work for the existing staff to handle. The amount or instability of this work may mean that permanently employing a new team member just isn’t viable. In this instance, subcontracting is the way to go.

Freelancers

If service delivery is where you need help, a freelancer can mop up your overspill work. For example, design agencies often use freelancers to cover when there is a sudden increase in workload or for holiday cover.

Subcontracting an activity

If it’s admin that’s causing your headaches, then subcontracting an activity could give you the space you need. Bookkeepers and call answering services are great examples of subcontracted business support. How many of us procrastinate on our bookkeeping because it’s less important than delivering our service?

Spot the signs when subcontracting has outgrown you

Of course, while subcontracting is a great quick fix, it can also be expensive. There will be a point at which the cost to your business is more than the equivalent daily rate to employ someone.

There are other issues to be careful of too. Regular subcontracting of the same person can be seen as an employee in disguise. If you find your business in this position, you will need to seek advice from an HR expert to ensure you act within employment law.

Using a variety of people isn’t necessarily the answer either, they will take more time getting to know your business and processes and you won’t build up in-house skills.

Finally, you may find your existing employees become disgruntled at being paid less than subcontractors.

Employment, where’s the tipping point?

So, when is it time to employ? You’ll know this through regular monitoring of your subcontractor usage. Evaluate your spend versus the cost to employ and understand where the tipping point is. A client of mine recently calculated that by employing someone, they could be making 50% extra profit per job because of the reduction in hourly rate.

Making employment work

There are plenty of horror stories about employing staff and I’ve lost count of the number of people that say it should be avoided! However, this is a complete myth. As long as the correct process is followed and employees are looked after, you’ll be inside the law, have a productive workforce and profitable business.

When you’re ready to employ, get expert advice from an HR consultant who will help you through this process.

If you need help managing workload or deciding whether to employ or subcontract, contact me for a Free Business Review. This is a genuinely free 2 hour session whereby I’ll come in and spend two hours giving you business advice for immediate implementation. Click here to arrange yours now.

In my previous blog, I talked about network marketing and how the power is in the network of people around you. However you don’t need to be in a network marketing business to apply the principles. I’m talking here about strategic alliances, a model similar to affiliate marketing.

What is affiliate marketing?

In effect, affiliate marketing is an arrangement whereby external companies or individuals (affiliates) promote your products and services to their clients. Usually, this would be in exchange for a commission. However with a strategic alliance, commission isn’t necessary.

Who should I choose to create strategic alliances with?

Rather than a typical affiliate model, a savvy alternative is to create strategic alliances. To do this, the first step is to brainstorm other companies that have a similar client base to you. I don’t mean competitors, but companies whose products or services perhaps complement your own.

Let’s look at an example: a high end tailor will likely have a similar customer profile to a expensive car retailer. Similarly, a builder and a plumber will have very similar client bases, as could a wedding photographer and a florist.

Having very different products but similar clients could make these businesses perfect strategic partners. Networking groups such as BNI, Sterling and BoB operate in much the same way, encouraging you to work closely with other companies to help each other create new contacts and clients.

How does it work?

Very simply, you promote each others’ products and services to your own respective clients, creating warm leads. The more people you can get in your network, the more relationships can be made. For a small business, and if done well, this is a great alternative to a sales team. Some network groups would refer to this a power team.

With these tips you can create your own power team. 5 or 6 key people working together will create a regular flow of business between one another. In addition, recommending trusted suppliers to your own clients will add more value to the service already provided and raise your credibility. Win, win!

As ever, if you’d like help to implement any of my advice, why not contact me to arrange a Free Business Review? This is a genuinely free 2 hour session whereby I’ll come into the business and spend two hours giving you advice to make positive changes. Click here to arrange yours now.

I’ve had many requests recently to talk about Network Marketing; in this month’s blog I’m sharing 4 tips to grow your team and increase income.

What is Network Marketing?

Network marketing definition: Direct selling method in which independent agents serve as distributors of goods and services, and are encouraged to build and manage their own sales team by recruiting and training other independent agents.

The primary function of network marketing

A common mistake of network marketing agents (such as Forever Living agents or Utility Warehouse distributors) is to focus on sales of the product or service. In fact, the primary focus (in order to maximise income potential) should be to create your own network of salespeople. These ‘downliners’ are members recruited by you who will go on to generate income for you.

Motivating your downline

It’s not over once you’ve started to create your network, or downline. Having put the team together, they must be motivated to sell. Remember, their productivity has a direct relationship with your earning. Here are some tips to create a motivated salesforce:

1. Set goals

Goal setting with your members is two-fold. Sharing your own goals is a great motivator, you’ll be surprised how much buy in you’ll get from your team when they know what they’re working towards.

Don’t limit this to your goals though, establish with each individual why they’ve joined the team and what they want to get out of it. With that in mind, you can help them work towards their own goals and if they experience any downturn in activity, use their goals as a reminder.

2. Monthly meetings

Set up a regular monthly meeting, maybe in the pub! This frequent get-together will keep up momentum and gives the opportunity for you to be supportive, and for the team to support each other. Share best practice, give updates on performance against goals or targets and recognise successes. Why not try initiating team games or challenges with a prize for the winner? Prizes such as an afternoon tea for two or a deal on a night/weekend away can be inexpensive, but have a high perceived value to the recipient.

3. Whatsapp

A Whatsapp group is valuable way to keep in touch with one-another outside of the meetings. You most likely have these groups already in your personal life and they work just as well in your business. Post regularly into the group and encourage your downliners to post too. This will create an atmosphere of productivity and accelerate relationship building.

4. Develop key members

Keeping in regular contact with your team has the added benefit of spotting those individuals that have the capability to create their own team. Supporting and mentoring these key players to build their own downline will further enhance your network. Encourage them to use your techniques to repeat the process, creating an ongoing cycle.

Remember though, that everyone has their own style. Get to know people to ensure your support is tailored appropriately. You’ll then become someone they feel they can turn to. With a motivated, supported team, growing your network will be that much easier.

As ever, if you’d like help to implement any of my advice, why not contact me to arrange a Free Business Review? This is a genuinely free 2 hour session whereby I’ll come into the business and spend two hours giving you advice to make positive changes. Click here to arrange yours now.