In a high-performance organisation you devote 20% to 100% of your time purely on strategic work. We tell our clients in one of our initial conversations with them that the most important change they can make is to find 3 to 5 hours a week to work on the business, not just in it. Most owners complain that they don’t have the time for this. With some simple pointers we often show them that this is possible.  Clients who do this nearly always exceed their expectations. Others achieve some success, but fail to become all they can be.

An important aspect of establishing a high-performance environment is to hold monthly business development meetings. We suggest a monthly meeting held at the same time and place. This should become routine. Further, we suggest that each person at the meeting spend around 5 minutes answering these questions before getting to the rest of the points on the agenda.

1. What’s the best change or improvement in the way business is done that you have noticed this past month?

2. What issue/idea of yours does not yet appear on the master plan?

3. What issue/idea on the master plan do you consider our top priority?

4. What action plan will you pledge to write during the next 30 days?

Once this meeting has become a permanent part of your business culture, indeed a ritual, you can go on vacation. When you come back there will be no unresolved issues on your desk, only implemented action plans. Repeated and consistent self improvement has been the trademark of successful companies, enterprises, governments, and religions since the beginning of civilisation. If you don’t change the way you do and think about things, and improve these then you will fail or become obsolete.

Very often, when success in less than optimal, it can be traced to the client not setting time aside, religiously, to do strategic work. Some clients fail to meet regularly with their managers, and/or the managers fail to meet regularly with their employees. While some people refer to meetings as a waste of time, leadership means meetings. Your job as the owner is to listen (not to dictate or to dominate), to support, to inspire, and to provide your employees with all they need to get their well-documented and well-defined tasks accomplished.

From our perspective, monthly business development meetings call for everyone to write an action plan per month, forever. In time you will have so many ideas documented that it becomes an exercise in improving existing action plans. For example an action plan may create a standard for meetings, such as a published agenda, no more than four items on the agenda, and no more than 15 minutes for each item. Notice that the four questions appearing above find their way into this action plan. Notice that question no. 1: “What’s the best change or improvement you have noticed this past month?” sets up a positive tone for these meetings.

Over time, monthly business development meetings invariably result in every employee coming to realise that each of us has issues, we can’t expect others to solve all our problems for us, we need to prioritise, and take accountability for some of our own issues; to contribute, or to be silent.

Establishing a high-performance organisation not only requires that you continue on a learning path, but also that you enable those around you to grow. We advocate four steps on the journey toward creating this organisation: 1) Integrate the Vision, 2) Build the Structure, 3) Train and Provide the Tools, and 4) Quantify and Evaluate. Most of all, high-performance organisations create a game worth playing. They engage people fully and create an environment where they can use all of their skills and abilities to reach higher levels of personal and professional competence with each new challenge. So while it’s fun to win, the truth about great games is that most people just want to keep playing. Building a high-performance organisation is the best thing you can do to keep everyone in your game.

If you would like to learn more about these aspects of business growth then please contact us.

But “Tibor” I hear you say ” how can I be more effective in my marketing if I have so much work to get through?”

Well it is all about setting up a system or systems of finding the right customers you wish to serve and then setting out to get them. This is done by way of your marketing plan and – system so that you have some involvement but not overwhelmingly so.

It is generally assumed by the public that professional services firms deliver a quality job so how do you make it easier for them to decide to choose you?

Here are some common errors that professional services businesses make:

1. Unrealistic expectations for the marketing tactic used and results obtained.

2. Spending money on campaigns that are “vanity exercises” or don’t produce ROI.

3. Relying on one tactic only, e.g. local paper advertising.

4. Lack of decision making to implement marketing tactics.

5. Poor implementation, e.g. weak copy

6. Not sustaining a marketing effort over the longer period.

7. Not communicating value in their marketing pieces.

8. Not nurturing leads or dropping them.

9. Poor planning for lead generation.

10. No or poor marketing integration tactics.

These errors can often be overcome with a proper plan and implementation process. This process, if implemented well, will ensure that you will always have clients and more importantly, the clients that you want.

For more on professional services firms growth, please call or e-mail Tibor Mackor. if you would like a free copy of our 101 Marketing Tips and Tactics for small businesses then please send us an e-mail at tibor@bbstrategies.co.nz.

1. Integrity
2. Generosity
3. Friendliness
4. Gratitude
5. Attitude
6. Perseverance
7. Passion
8. Motivation
9. Dedication
10. Excellence
11. Optimism

The most important of these is Integrity. It tells the person that either works for a leader or is a customer of the leader that they can trust this person. The perception will lead people to believe that the leader has their best interests at heart. If a leader wants people to follow them it is vital that they look after the interests of their followers first and then themselves. The pay-off comes when these people feel that they are always given the best value. The question one must ask yourself if you want to be a leader is, “where are the cracks in my integrity” and work on ways to resolve them.

The second most important of the above is attitude. Here optimism is a vital component. We cannot change many of the things in the world and in our outside life. One thing we can change however is our attitude. One question you can ask yourself is where you followers perceive you as an optimistic person? Most people will follow someone that is always optimistic about future events. We all have to remain realists, but someone who always sees the glass as half-full will be more likely to have many more followers that those that see the glass as half-empty. It is therefore important as a leader to remember that people are likely to follow leaders with a good attitude to any given situation.

A business owner is a leader. Have you checked your attitude recently? Do people follow you because of the inspirational things you say or do or do they follow because they have no other options at the moment and will if it arises?

1. An entrepreneur is an inventor. Not all inventors are entrepreneurs though. What do I mean exactly?, well entrepreneurs look at the world with open eyes and and asks “what’s missing?”. Once identified the entrepreneur thinks about how to fix this gap. What an Entrepreneur does next is to create a new business instead of new products.

2. Entrepreneurs do not buy business opportunities, they create them. Sorry guys, this includes franchises. You may be successful in a franchise, but your creative juices are stifled by the rules of the franchise. For the true entrepreneur who is creative he/she will be doomed to disappointment as the entrepreneurial passion is doused by the rigours of the franchisor. Franchises can become successful jobs for those that buy them.

3.Invention is contagious. People love the feel good factors involved when other people experience their invention (business). The more significant the invention the more likely it is to succeed.

4. An entrepreneur measures the success of the business by its growth. The faster it grows, the better the invention. It shows that people love to interact with this business. Those that do not experience this growth should not continue as less and less people will want to interact with it and will ultimately lead to financial ruin.

5. Everyone can become an entrepreneur. Everyone can create and develop an new invention if they follow their passion. In order to achieve this an entrepreneur needs to develop patience while developing the skill to drive the invention forward. This calls for the practice of developing new business ideas before actually implementing them. Entrepreneurs are made, not born.

From the above it is clear that many business owners are not entrepreneurs. Many business owners actually own a job that pays for their current lifestyle. It is important to realise that entrepreneurs create businesses for their clients and staff. They create a culture that everyone wants to be part of and are excited by it every day. When this happens the entrepreneur can stand aside and let his business boom with him/her only steering the business in the right direction.

The key to success is to answer all of the questions in enough depth that if a friend asked you to invest in this business, you’d say yes. Most importantly, make sure you record your business plan somehow…whether you write it by hand, type it into your computer, or put it on sticky notes on your wall. Keep it some place handy where you can refer to it when you are making important business decisions. And, make sure you review it monthly–or, even better, weekly–and update it at least annually.

1. Your Dreams: What do you want your business to provide for you? (think time, money, freedom, who you work with) Be specific–how much money, how many hours, when do you want to “retire”.
2. Customers: Who are your customers and what do they want/need?
3. Your Products and Services: What products/services will you provide to meet customer’s needs?
4. Markets: Where are your customers and what do you know about them as a group? “Where” might be geographic, it might be what kind of places they hang out, or where they go to find products or services like yours. What is their age, income, gender, hobbies, family structure, etc?
5. Your Style: How will you reach customers and what will you say? Your method of reaching customers needs to match with where your customers are–and with a message that they can relate to.
6. Competitors: Where else are your customers likely to get this need met? Find out all you can about how your competitors price, market, and provide service.
7. Your Uniqueness: How will your product/service meet customer’s needs differently than your competitors? Consider how your personal uniqueness impacts that.
8. Your Abilities: Of the skills necessary to run your business, what do you do well, and what do you need help with?
9. External Resources: What people/technology/services will support you in the skills you need help with?
10. Fulfilling your Dreams: How will your business provide the kind of working environment you desire, both in how much time you spend, how you perform your work, and how much money you make? Here’s where the rubber meets the road–make sure you can show how you will sell X amount of product or service at Y price, cover your expenses, and reach the goals you set in 1. Above.

Once you can answer all these questions, have it reviewed by some trusted, experienced professionals who will give you objective feedback. Consider a business coach, as one such resource

1. All businesses need a vision. This is vitally important because who will follow you if you cannot clearly tell your employees, financiers and significant others where the business is headed?

2. All visions are both personal and impersonal. These visions are both of the owner and the business itself. If these are not aligned and in harmony with each other there will be problems for one or the other down the road.

3. Every business is an organisation. An organisation means that you have interactions with people both outside the business (customers and suppliers) as well as within the business (staff and contractors). It is important to remember that it takes organisation to make sure that you get the best from all people involved.

4. Every organisation is an organisation of systems. In order to create a synergy between all the aspects of business there should be systems in place that makes it easier for your people to deal with the day to day issues and interaction with customers and suppliers.

5. There is a commitment to the customer. Customer service is not necessarily the most important part but making sure that you keep you word on what you would do in the time frame agreed will keep that customer coming back for more. Keeping your word becomes your brand. If your systems are not set up to ensure that you keep your word then what are you going to do about it?

6. Become a master of the money. Everyone in your business must understand the dynamics that money has on the business. How do sales or lack of it impact on the business?, how efficiently are we making these sales?, what are the implications of spending too much on items that don’t produce those sales? If money is not measured regularly then your business will be facing a crisis over the short to medium term.

7. Your people are not your business. Conversely this is true too. The business has its own reality. It has to have a philosophy whereby its people can get what they want and provide the services that the business needs from them, which is to keep the promise to its customers every single time. The people need to understand this rule and be measured against standards and expectations set.

8. Your business is an idea. It is either a good idea or a bad one. If the latter then you need to get out as soon as possible as there is no point in continuing. This will gradually wear you down and put a strain on your relationships both in and out of business.

9. No-one knows your business like you do. If you can find people who do then you are in the wrong business! You need to inspire, train and coach your people so that they want to know what you know about your business. When your people know as much about your business then only will they be able to improve your business. Until that time they are a negative influence on your business.

10. A business must mean something if it is to make a difference in the world it serves. A business means something when the results it produces makes a difference to the lives of its customers and its people. Therefore businesses are set up so that the results help people achieve their goals and in doing so the business will realise its goals.

These vital sapects of any business will ensure that a business will continue in the long run.

Mistake 1 – Focusing on only one or two profit strategies

If you only have sales and profit coming into your business from one source—say advertising for example—you’re leaving thousands of dollars on the table.

Mistake 2 – Not understanding how and why people buy

You’ve got to understand why someone would choose you over your competitors so you can get their repeat business. And you need to know how they buy and when they buy. This is about research. Once you know what they want or need you can give it to them, not the opposite.

Mistake 3 — Not thinking outside the square

Do you want to be like everyone else or do you want to be extraordinary? If you do, you better show people how you’re unique and fresh. Otherwise you won’t stand out in the over crowded, too-much-information marketplace.

Mistake 4 — Not developing and using a proven system for your marketing

You can throw money and time away on “shot in the dark marketing”, where you just try this and try that with no idea if it will work, or you can implement a proven system that will work time after time and give you a return on investment for every marketing dollar you spend. You  need to spend your marketing dollars narrowly focusing on reaching your target market in as many ways as possible, and you need to measure the results and regularly eliminate what doesn’t work.

Mistake 5 — Not following a long-term business building strategy

• What do you want your business to look like 2 years from now? Go ahead and picture it.
• How many paying clients would you like to have?
• How many hours would you be working?
• How much money would you like to be making?
• How much help (outsourced or employees) would you have?
• How much free time would you like to have?

Once you have this wonderful picture in your head, it’s time to build a strategy to get there as quickly as possible. Otherwise you’ll end up like many self employed people—pretty much in the same place 2 years from now that you are today—usually selling time for money with no passive income stream.

If you’re making any of these mistakes, don’t feel bad. There are many others in the same boat. But now you have the knowledge to avoid them in the future and really move your business in the right direction.

For more information on how to create and implement these strategies then please call Tibor.

However, the savvy entrepreneur knows there’s still plenty of business growth opportunities and cash floating around; you just have to toss out your net and catch some of it for yourself!

Following are 7 simple business growth strategies you can focus on to build your and income and business in 2009:

1) Focus

As entrepreneurs, we’re creative, and we always have many ideas floating around our heads.  The problem is we may tend to become unfocused relatively easily.

Make sure you focus on ‘top priority’ activities every single day that will increase and generate income.  Follow the 80/20 rule and spend at least 80% of your time working on income-generating activities.

Use the other 20% of the time doing less important tasks when your creative energy naturally wanes during the day.

Quick Tip: Everyday write down three activities you will focus on to increase your income each day.  Spend 80% of your work time doing these tasks. Employ a business coach so that he can keep you focused on what is important to achieve in business.

2) Improve your website

Your website is your business’ entryway to the world.  People visit your website because they are seeking a solution to a problem they are having.  Your website needs to provide valuable information and resources to visitors to help them solve their problems, and not just be a pretty online brochure.

Your website needs:

1.      Attention-getting headline that grabs visitors

2.      A few paragraphs about how you can help them

3.      Leads them to the steps you want them to take

4.      Great photo of you (establishes a personal connection)

5.      Opt-in box in upper right-hand corner

Quick Tip: Think about what is your ‘Most Wanted Response’ from a visitor to your website.  Is your website clear in directing a person to take this desired action?

3) Expand your online marketing

There are many FREE ways you can do online marketing and drive visitors to your website.  Using a multi-faceted strategy to get them there is best.  Ways to do this are:

* Publish and distribute articles online

* Set up pages on Facebook, Twitter, My Space,

* Submitting online press releases

* Blogging

* Make a video and post it on YouTube and on your site

Quick Tip: Pick three activities you want to use to drive traffic to your website.  Do these activities every week.

4) Build an online subscriber list

Have a sign up form on your website and send regular e-newsletters to your subscribers with valuable information.  When you’re networking or speaking to a group, ask everyone to sign up for your list, as well.  This gives you an opportunity to market to them and build a value-added relationship that establish trust and increase your sales.

5) Do smart networking

Many people network all wrong and waste a lot of valuable time.  Network where you know your target client is already hanging out.  You can also meet others who already have a relationship with your target client.

Quick Tip: Build a business referral partner list.  Identify 10 occupational categories of people who are already doing business with your target client.

Identify 10 people you know or want to get to know in these 10 occupational categories (this equals 100 referral partners!).  Develop relationships and keep in touch, and watch referrals begin to flood to your door!

6) Build relationships through giveaways

To entice someone to sign up for your list, as well as give them a taste of your services, create a FREE giveaway item you can give to them.  The key with a giveaway is it has to be very valuable to the person receiving it, and has to help them solve a problem they may be experiencing.

This item can be a FREE special report, e-book, teleseminar, CD, simple workbook, case study, checklist, and video.

Quick Tip: Make a list of 3 free giveaways you can offer people to entice them to get on your list of warm prospects.  Look at the intellectual property or products you already have.  Can you condense some of it into free content for your giveaway?

7) Hire an Administrative Person

The administrative details that need taking care of in your business will eat up your income-generating opportunities and profits.

Quick Tip: Identify those routine administrative tasks that someone else can do.  Outsource them!

These 7 simple tips will help you build and increase the income in your business.  Be diligent about applying them, as well as tracking and testing your results.  Modify your activities, as you need to keep the momentum going and your income growing!

For more help on these and other business challenges please give Tibor a call.

Take the three primary financial components of your business:

• Sales
• Cost of Goods
• Overheads

Increase Sales by 5%

You may ask “How do I do that?”

There are three main methods of increasing sales:

• Increase  your customer base
• Increase the amount they spend
• Increase the times they return

If you could increase each one of the sales areas by only 10% over the next 12 months, you would increase sales by a strong 33%.  For example, if a customer came in to your store 10 times per year, and you or your sales team could encourage them to visit one more time in that year, there is a 10% increase. If they buy a $10 item and you up sell, cross sell or add on sell a $1 item to them that is another 10% increase. So achieving a 5% increase in sales is not that difficult. Increasing prices is normally a method  simply to keep up or ahead of inflation.

Reduce Cost of Goods by 5 %

You say “No way, that is too hard”.

How well have you negotiated your current purchase price of your products? What package deals have you arranged? What payment system have you organised to reduce costs? Have you joined or established a local buying group to increase your buying power? There are many more ways of making small changes to save the costs

Reduce Overheads by 5%

Too difficult?

When was the last time you as a business owner sat down and seriously pulled your overhead costs, contracts and agreements apart and searched or negotiated for alternatives, explored all options, and attempted to save in these areas of the business?

The key message to business is that there is a large amount of hidden profit within your organisation.  Explore these three areas and improve them by 5% and you will gain an increase in profit by over 60%.

As a business owner it is well worth taking one day out of your busy schedule to work on your business and not in it.

If you want to change your business and future around then call Tibor.

If your products, programs, and/or services are not selling as well as you thought they would it could be there’s a mismatch between what your market wants and what you’re providing them with.  In other words, are you providing the solutions based on what YOU think the problems are rather than what your target market wants?  And how do you find out?

The answer is simple… market research!

When you think ‘market research’ it conjures up all sorts of images of telephone surveys, sending out questionnaires, and standing in the street accosting people to ask them questions (yes – I used to do this type of market research too ), and as a business owner it is crucial that you do your own ‘market research’ to find out what makes your target market tick, what keeps them awake at night, and what they’re really struggling with.

This process needs to be done on a continual basis – never stop asking your target market what they want – so that you can constantly provide the solutions to their problems.

Today, I’d like to share with you three simple strategies for conducting your own market research (that doesn’t involve standing around in the street!), and how you can put these strategies onto autopilot so that you’re constantly gathering information from your market.  All of these have worked very well over the past few years!

1. Ask via your sign-up page.  When someone signs up to your list, don’t just get their name and email address, ask them what their biggest challenge is too.  A specific question that asks:  What is YOUR biggest business headache?  Feel free to adapt this question for your own needs, i.e. what is your biggest [fill in the blank] when it comes to [fill in the blank].
2. Follow-up with an auto responder.  Once someone has signed up to your list, create an auto responder that goes out a few days later and asks the same question again.  Very often people may not have answered the question when they signed up to your list, and sending them an email a few days later will elicit a reply from them.
3. Create an annual or semi annual survey.  At least once a year it’s a good idea to survey your readers and ask them several more in-depth questions.  You’ll want to find out what their biggest problems are, what it is they want to learn more about, plus how they want to learn, or how they want their problem solved.  For example, you might find your readers prefer home study courses to teleclasses, or would like more interactive programs from you.  Putting together a survey is really simple, especially if you use a service such as Survey Monkey.  They do the analysis for you, so you get really valuable data.

However, for the data you get through steps 1 and 2 above, analysis isn’t as automatic.  Simply gather together all of your data and go through it periodically (at least twice a year) to see what your reader’s problems are.  You don’t even need to be a statistician to figure it all out.  Just print off all the responses and read through them, noting any common themes as you go along.

By combining all of this data, and implementing your market research strategy so that it runs on autopilot, you can then use this information to put your products and services together so that you’re providing solutions to your target market’s problems in the way that they want and need.

Remember, you are providing your market with what they want and need, not what you think they want and need.