Business Archives - Page 3 of 9

READING TIME: 5 minutes

Discipline is not always a strong suit when it comes to describing many entrepreneurs, it just goes against their rebel nature. One of the main reasons they went out on their own is because they figured they could do a better job, make more money and have a better life, but to do it their way.

For many, their jack of all trade, get it done, whatever it takes the attitude, helped them launch their business, but this, not an enduring strategy if one wants to create a sustainable business. On second thought, it can be, if you enjoy long days, doing everything yourself and running around like your hair is on fire. Chances are though, this helter-skelter approach to running a business won’t get you to where you want because that requires discipline.

We can do whatever we want,
regardless if it’s productive or not.

Discipline is one of the most difficult habits for entrepreneurs to form. On any given day, distractions abound for these individuals. When coupled with not having a boss looking over your shoulder, it’s akin to leaving a child alone in a candy shop. We can do whatever we want, regardless if it’s productive or not.

This is why discipline is so hard. It’s almost like anti-freedom. It means you must do certain things, at certain times and these tasks become your new boss. However, over time, with enough practice this boss becomes your partner that shoulders much of the load. But first, you must embrace discipline, if you want to achieve freedom.

“I’ve got so much to do,
I don’t even know where to start?”

Embracing discipline means, identifying what’s truly important on a daily basis. In general terms, what’s truly important can be summed up as follows- “Any task that can move the business forward, by eliminating restrictions or generating revenue.” These important items can cover multiple areas of the business that range from preparing estimates to dealing with customer problems or handling those niggling HR issues. You need to make them your daily priority even though they may be unpleasant. By not addressing these, less than fun priorities, they start to pile up and eventually generate so much stress that it can become paralyzing. Just think how many times you have said, “I’ve got so much to do, I don’t even know where to start?”

A daily dose of discipline,
in exchange for tremendous freedom,
is a fair trade.

For many, it’s because we let other more interesting things distract us. Notice I said more interesting and not productive. These more interesting distractions often taking us down endless rabbit holes, that although keep us entertained, do little to move the business forward. Yes, discipline means doing things even when we don’t want to.

The Cambridge dictionary defines disciple as “the ability to control yourself or other people, even in difficult situations”. This sounds simple enough, but it’s easier said than done. For most of us though, we have to dig really deep to stay on task every single day. I know I have to. But to be honest, a daily dose of discipline, in exchange for tremendous freedom, is a fair trade.

Being individuals, it’s hard to prescribe a single solution that works for all, but here are 5 steps you can take to help you get those really important things done everyday that could help you to get that elusive freedom we all seek.

The 5 Steps

Make a list of every single outstanding issue you need to deal with.
Rank them by the most urgent to least urgent. Urgent should be those items that directly affect the business, good or bad. These are usually the things that keep you up at night.
Circle the top 3 items and action them. This sounds simple enough, but this can be especially difficult when these items make you uncomfortable or where your natural instinct is to keep ignoring the issue. Layer on all other day to day distractions and your day will be full.
Repeat this every day adding in new items, deleting completed ones and dealing with the top 3 and you’ll soon find yourself sleeping a little better and feeling more in control of your world.
Lastly and probably most important, is to find that time of day when you’re most productive and creative. For me, it’s first thing in the morning, for others it’s late at night. Once you identify your most productive time, embrace and protect it. Use this time to complete those items that require deeper concentration. To be sure, some items just can’t be completed in the wee hours of the morning, like disciplining a staff member, as it’s usually frown upon to contact them a 5am. However, prepping for that meeting is something that can be done before the sun is up.

Identifying priorities in a business can be challenging, because when we’re overwhelmed, everything appears to be a priority. But getting things under control will require discipline. So, try the above 5 steps for the next month, because they say it takes 30 days to create a habit and this is one good habit to have.

So, if you’re tired of always being stressed out and not having time for yourself, maybe it’s time to apply a little discipline to your daily routine. Because discipline equals freedom.

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Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #65- Decision Making-Engage Your Employees

Tagged as: answers, Canada, cynical, decisions, democracies, engaged staff, entrepreneur, moments, old habits, owners, questions, small business expert, teaching

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Why is it that so many owners think they and they alone have all the answers, to every problem in their business?

When you consider that most owners started their companies as the only employee, it’s easy to understand how this attitude got started but why it continues is the question? Granted, there will always be those technical, legal or safety issues that require the owners input, but what about those day-to-day operational, sales and marketing challenges that arise?

Businesses are not democracies

Contrary to all the discussions about managing in the new millennium, businesses are not democracies and the final decision still rests with the owner. However, there are plenty of opportunities to engage employees in the problem solving process.

Owners who think that the only opinion that counts is theirs, are doing their employees a great injustice. What they fail to realize is that they are hurting themselves even more by being the choke point for every decision within their company. The risk of operational paralysis increases exponentially.

It’s interesting to note that this frustration of having to make every decision, usually manifests itself in longer tenured entrepreneurs. It is my opinion, that the compounding effect of always being called upon to make every decision, has just depleted their patience. Their younger self, would have relished in the control and prided themselves in being the go to person for everything. That’s one of the reasons they went into business in the first place, to be in control of their destiny. It got their blood pumping.

But as a company grows and time goes by, there are many more decisions to be made. Finding the time to deal with everything then becomes a herculean task and develops into a source of anxiety and stress. The thing is, it’s a situation of their own doing and can be easily rectified, given enough time.

“Isn’t that one of the reasons

we went into business?”

Like everything in business, adopting a new approach and moving away from old habits can be daunting. But learning to engage your employees in the decision making process can bring with it tremendous freedom, and isn’t that another reason we went into business?

But before we go any farther, we must first understand that there are limits to engaging employees. If you’ve never asked for their input before, you need to contain it to their areas of responsibility and not strategic issues facing the company. My rationale is quite simple. First, by keeping them focused within their operational area, they suddenly don’t become distracted into what could be someone else’s area of responsibility. Let’s face it, everyone has opinions about other areas of the company. Keeping their input to their operational area, forces them to look inward at a deeper level.

Secondly, when you stop and think about it. Who better to help than the people doing the job in the first place? There are countless stories of large corporations ignoring input from the front line employees only to have near death experiences. What they finally realized is that they could have avoided the problem in the first place, had they just asked these same people. The same hold true for many small enterprises.

So, if you find yourself in the situation of having to make every decision and want to affect change, it needs to start with you. As challenging as this may be, you must first transform your approach and embrace the change. So, the next time one of your employees brings you a problem, instead of blurting out the solution try asking these simple primer questions:

1. What do you think we should do?
2. Why do you think that?
3. If we do that, what are the downsides?
4. Do you have another solution?
5. What are the downsides to this solution?
6. Which solution do you prefer?

Don’t give them answers

Because of your experience, there may be additional solutions that they haven’t thought about. This now becomes another teaching moment. Through this teaching opportunity, try to help them uncover those additional solutions by asking even more simple thought provoking questions. If they are unable to uncover additional solutions, don’t just give them the answer, but make sure you explain why. By explaining, you broaden their perspective and help them to understand your thinking about the business.

To make this an effective exercise, they need to know that you’ve got their back and that any of the solution you both agree to initiate could fail and that it’ll never be held against them.

This is one of those evolutionary processes that can take time to fully realize its potential. Consider it an investment that will have tremendous payoff in the future.

Taking the time to engage your employees in the decision making process, may just turn you from being a cynical employer, who can’t get employees to make decisions, to one whereby your staff is fully engaged.

When this all comes together, it’ll free you to focus on those higher value activities that should be your priority. But remember, it all starts with you!

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #63 – Don’t worry about the competition

Tagged as: competition, competitors, customer service, employees, performance standards, small business, small business expert, Small Business Minute

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Read Time: 5 mins

Don’t worry about your competition. Pretty unusual advice to receive for any business owner. To be sure, we need to know some things about our competitors like:

• Who they are
• What products they sell
• Their pricing strategy i.e. cheap or expensive
• Their reputation i.e. after sales service, timeliness, etc.

But this just makes good business sense. Far too often I find small business owners who obsess about every move their competitors make. This obsession often leads to distraction and paralysis as they are not sure whether to match a competitor’s activity or ignore it.

In industries where there is lots of competition, you run the risks of getting serious whiplash as you try to keep an eye on what they are all doing. Let’s be clear, some of your competitor’s activities will prove to be successful. When that happens, that’s your queue to borrow their strategy, provided you have the skills to make it happen, but not before.

Play your own game

Nine times out of ten though, my advice is to completely ignore what the competition is doing and to focus squarely on your own business. In other words, play your own game. What does play your game mean? Well, most us like to think we provide the best service possible to each and everyone of our clients. But do we really? Or, do we simply accept ”good enough” as our performance standard and only do our best once a customer complains?

Think about this for a second. If you were to outline what you consider to be the gold standard of service delivery in your industry, how do you stack up against those benchmarks? Now be honest. Chances are, we probably miss the mark on many and you know what? So do most of your competitors!

Performance standards

Although we talk a good game, do we really do what we say we’re going to do? Do we start when we say we’re going to start? Do we finish when we say we’re going to finish? Do we keep the customer informed throughout the assignment like we said we would? Probably not and why? Because most of us have never set performance standards.

Having performance standards is even more important as we add employees to the organization. As our company grows, we tend to get farther and farther away from the actual work. Where once you were directly involved, you could take corrective action and catch any oversights. Now, you’re relying on others to deliver the end results and you assume they know what your expectations are.

Everybody has their own standards

Statements like “we provide the best customer service” or “we are dependable” are hollow throwaway statements when they’re not backed up by any performance standards. We wrongly assume that our employees know what those words mean but unfortunately, they don’t because everyone has their own definitions and standards. The only way to get everybody on the same page, is by having a clear set of documented standards that outline expectations that are monitored and reviewed regularly.

So, what are some benchmarks or standards that we can put into place to ensure we are doing our best work? Here is a list to get you started and add to once you’re comfortable with the concept

Return phone calls and emails promptly – I had a policy that we returned all client telephone calls immediately or worse case before the day was done. Even, if we couldn’t answer their question immediately, we’d let them know we were on it and when we’d have the answer. Then get back to them when promised. In a subtle way showed them they were important.
Advise clients beforehand of any potential problems that may arise. For clients of my company, if we saw any stumbling blocks to success, we would advise them before beginning the assignment. In these situations, we would try to get them to tweak the parameters. If that was impossible, we typically advised them not to proceed. Why did we take that stand? It’s simple, we knew what it took to execute a successful program and we wanted to avoid marginal programs. It wasn’t worth the grief of explaining after the fact why things didn’t go as they expected. It was a powerful credibility builder when we told clients we didn’t want to spend their money.
Start when you say you will. Granted, things happen that can blow up your scheduling, but more often than not, you probably didn’t leave enough of a buffer between projects for the unexpected. If things go smoothly, then getting permission to start early is a lot more enjoyable than the alternative. If you absolutely must delay the start, give them lots of notice, so they can adjust accordingly.
Advise client immediately, when you encounter unforeseen problems and allow them to make a decision, instead of surprising them at the end with an larger than expected bill. That never goes over well

Too often, we get so enamoured chasing new customers or chasing the competition, that we forget to keep our promises to those customers who entrusted us in the first placed. By establishing company wide performance standards, you will deliver consistent results that make for loyal and profitable customers. I’ll promise you the competition won’t figure out what you’re doing.

Got some other ideas, let me know in the comments below

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Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Successful entrepreneurs share many things in common. Hard work, focus, belief in themselves, hungry for knowledge and so on. One trait that doesn’t get much mention is the ability to accept and overcome failure. As entrepreneurs, failure can be a daily occurrence, but the worse is when a business fails.

To be sure there is a lot of noise made on social media and from the start-up world about “fail fast”. It is often heralded as a badge of honour and a goal in and of itself. The premise being that the sooner I fail, the sooner I’ll become a success. Failure is no guarantee of success. Success requires several skills and a lot of luck. Failure is no fun and it can be incredibly painful.

The real meaning of “Fail Fast”

The real meaning of “fail fast” is to instill the notion that if, the business is not performing no matter what you do and has limited chance of becoming profitable, then don’t wait a second longer and shut it down.

Unfortunately, most individuals hang on far too long, hoping and praying that their situation will improve. They fail to look at the cold hard facts and let their emotions make decisions. They continue to drain their resources long past the point they should, only to end up worse off. Had they listened to that little voice in their head that was telling them it was time to shut it down, they would have been better off. In many cases, they’ve let their pride and ego get in the way of making the right decision.

The dangerous duo

Pride and ego can be a dangerous duo when it comes to making business decisions. Far to often, we have trouble believing we were wrong. Worse still, is the fact that we refuse to accept reality because we’re afraid of what people will think of us. Guess what? Most people don’t care. Once they find out, they’ll ask what happened, console you and then move on. End of story.

Failing, whether fast or otherwise doesn’t mean the end of your entrepreneurial aspirations. Much like learning to ride a bicycle, few of us ever did so without falling down a few times. After a few tears, we got back on and tried again until we got the hang of it.

Business is no different, except instead of a scraped knee, business failure hurts your bank account and can shatter your self-confidence. Money can be replaced but self confidence can be a lot harder to restore.

Understand what went wrong

The best way of overcoming a business failure, is to take the time to understand what went wrong. Every business has many moving parts and therefore taking the time to assess the good, the bad and the ugly of the failure, usually brings to light the deficiencies- yours and the business.

The following is 10 of the most important questions to help you understand what went wrong:

1. Was the business properly capitalized?
2. Were expenses, unreasonable, in hindsight?
3. Was there sufficient market research undertaken before launching?
4. Was your target market clearly identified?
5. Did you have any industry knowledge, prior to launching?
6. Were you passionate about your work/product/solution or just passionate about the possible financial reward?
7. Did anyone, other than yourself, care about your product or service?
8. Did market forces change after you launched? If so, what signal did you miss/ignore?
9. Did you have the necessary skill set?
10. Knowing what you now know, would you have started this business in the first place?

By honestly answering these questions, you’ll hopefully understand what the heck happened to your dream. Being stewards of our destiny, we must accept most of the blame. Failure should be a humbling experience that opens us up to learning from our mistakes. Arrogance, although a self protection mechanism, serves no role in this undertaking because it clouds your perception and risks having history repeat itself.

Raise your game

This introspective look at why a business failed, goes a long way to restoring our self-confidence, it raises our game. Because if we ever hope to be successful, we must first believe in ourselves and put our failures behind us.

It’s not how many times we fall down that matters, but how many times we get up and do it better that counts.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #61 Training Your Team

Tagged as: customer service, knowledge, sales, small business, small business expert, Small Business Minute

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Reading Time: 5 mins

We all have our own definitions of training for our team, but in all honesty, most of it sucks. Sure, for customer facing team members, we do the mandatory, how to acknowledge a customer stuff, with all the expected please and thank you’s.

It also goes without saying that we spend time teaching them “the system”, whether that be a retail POS or other software necessary to capture and order or process payment. Add to that the mandatory workplace safety and theft prevention training, we usually feel pretty good about our efforts.

This whole area of training, has been a sore point for me for quite some time and two situations minutes apart has made me want to revisit this topic. The extreme difference in the size of these two retailers served to reinforce how deficient product knowledge training is compared to the above mentioned items. One is a local franchise retailer whereas the other is part of a global department store chain.

Let’s begin with the local retailer. This is a specialty store whose main business is selling coffee pods and teas. Judging by the inventory, it would appear that the majority of their sales are Keurig pods. As we were looking for a specific brand of coffee we found on a recent trip, I used the opportunity to ask a couple questions regarding the availability, compatibility and difference between the original Keurig machine and the 2.0 machine. Theses are machines that they sell along with the coffee.

One in three

After and few hums and haws, the answer I received, and I paraphrase, was “I think so”. What made this so noteworthy was that another gentleman was in the store ahead of us and was asking some, what I thought, basic questions and the clerk was only able to answer one of his three questions.

Seriously, this is a specialty store and people were asking about the products in the store. Aside from basic pricing information and availability of some products, the individual had limited knowledge. As a specialty store, the staff should well versed on all products in the store. Why should a customer even bother to make a special trip to this store, when many of the brands they offer are available at the local grocery store?

The thing is, people usually frequent smaller stores in anticipation of receiving something, whether that be service or knowledge, not available at mass merchants and most will pay a small premium for it.

The sad part is, this is a store that I had been meaning to visit more than once and frankly I had expected more. Future trips, if any, will be very infrequent. What a missed opportunity.

Within 30 minutes of the previous experience, I headed to a major department store in search of some new luggage. My current bags had been run over once too often by airport baggage handling equipment and in dire need of replacement.

After spending 20 minutes in the department checking out their offerings a staff member finally showed up. With such a wide assortment of brands available, it’s difficult to determine which ones are quality versus value.

Looking for answers

As my interest was in purchasing a quality product that would last, I proceeded to ask the clerk which were the best brands for durability. She responded by saying Samsonite and Travelpro. So I asked why Travelpro? The answer I got was that they invented the roller wheels and that an airline pilot came up with the idea. It’s one of those replies that leaves you thinking, so?

My next question, was what makes them, Samsonite and Travelpro so good? Is the construction better? To which the respondent said they have a better warranty and yes, they’re better made. Again, it left me wondering how are they better made?

What I had expected was a little more in-depth answer along the lines of, they use a higher quality of materials or maybe they have greater structural support. This would have been an ideal time to show me the difference by opening comparable size items and point out the differences. But no, I was told that if I had any more questions that she would be right back!?

Clearly, this person had no idea what the product differentiators were and no doubt only sells based on price, or worse what the customer brought to the counter to purchase. The point is, I was fully prepared to purchase had I received the information I needed, but unfortunately, they were ill prepared.

Training should be mandatory and ongoing

Acquiring product knowledge is not difficult. The internet is a treasure trove of information on individual products and services. Better still, reach out to your suppliers and find out what they can do to help. Lunch and learn by manufacturer reps is just one way to get free training. Maybe the manufacturer has in-house data that they can share?

The point of all this is to say, that product knowledge training should carry, at minimum, equal weighting as processes. Taking the time to prioritize product knowledge and encouraging employees to do so on their own, will positively impact sales. The reality is that there are just too many alternatives in our hyper competitive environment, not to do so.

Yes, there has always been and always will be “tire kickers” who research products everywhere they can and then buy online or from a lower priced competitor. But that’s nothing new.

To counter that point, people are also very busy. Many just want to be served in a professional manner, by knowledgeable individuals. They are more than willing to buy from a company that will provide them the help and information they need to make an informed decision.

Training can be formal or informal, but it should be a priority, made mandatory and of course ongoing. Part of that training is to instill with the individual the desire to learn and explain the benefits of expanded knowledge, not just for the company but for the individual as well. People need to understand “what’s in it for them” and once they do, they’ll become self-motivated and everybody wins.

It’s no wonder the Amazon’s of the world are shipping more and more product everyday. Businesses of all sizes must realize that training is paramount, if they’re going to survive in this new age.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #60 Be Visible for More Sales

Tagged as: artificial reality, call display, communication, dividends, Email, marketing, recognition, sales, small business expert, Small Business Minute, virtual realitystickiness, voicemail

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Be visible is really nothing more than the opportunity to get in front of the customer in some meaningful way. Unfortunately, it is proving far more difficult to do so. B to C or B to B businesses are equally challenged in getting through to their customers, because there are just many more roadblocks.

In the time before voicemail, a phone call to a customer’s home resulted in one of three outcomes; no answer, a busy signal or someone actually answered, pretty predictable outcomes. Along comes voicemail and call display, so now people could just ignore the call. Voicemail was supposed to be a tool to communicate information in one’s absence, however it morphed into a call screening tool when call display arrived on the scene.

The voicemail call display duo

Calls to a business customer pretty much followed the same path, however businesses usually had an additional layer of screening in place, namely the receptionist. As telephony automation increased, direct dial to customers was initially more productive, however with the advent of the voicemail call display duo, making contact quickly became more difficult.

Email on the other hand,quickly replaced the telephone as a primary communication device between business and customer. And why not? It was an easy way to send your thoughts or proposals to a client at any time of the day and unlike voicemail, you retained a written copy. Although this did create a challenge for some individuals to up their writing skills as, until this point, even the smallest companies had admin personnel who edited and finalized the final correspondence.

A response was expected

The initial upside to email was that it was a novelty and individuals promptly responded to any item that hit their inboxes. Maybe it was the novelty of this wonderful, empowering communication tool, but times have changed. Once upon a time, proper etiquette wouldn’t allow you to ignore personally addressed correspondence, but today it’s common practice. No, it didn’t matter, if the former was hand written and sent via a postal service and the latter sent digitally. In both cases someone took the time to compose the communication and therefore a response was expected

The problem today is mostly driven by the bombardment of unnecessary CYA’s or cover your ass, cc’s, bcc’s emails and let’s not forget the biggest culprit of them all, spam! It’s overloading peoples inboxes.

Average office worker receives 121 emails per day

It’s no wonder, when it is estimated that the average office worker receives 121 emails per day and sends out 40 per day. At that rate, they would easily fall a month behind within 10 days if they had to reply to every one they received.

With every technological advancement, we drift farther and farther apart from our customers. Social media and SMS are all being layered on and hyped as customer connectors, but they’re not. Just imagine what will happen when AI (Artificial Intelligence) goes mainstream? We’ll never have to talk, correspond or meet again. It’ll all be done for us. I am hopeful that the combination of Alternative and Virtual Reality might right the ship, but I won’t hold my breath.

Maybe I’m old school, but I’ve always pushed for a face to face meetings. No matter how far I had to travel or how inconvenient it was, getting in front of new or existing clients was a major sales and marketing tactic for me. Nothing beats face to face customer interaction. It allows you to see the customers reaction to your comments, thoughts or proposal. It gives you the opportunity to be in the moment to correct any misunderstandings or expand on key points. You can’t do that effectively via email.

Stickiness

The other added benefit of to be visible, was stickiness. It’s a term I have used for years in support of my need to get in front of clients. This approach is directly responsible for more than a few million dollars of revenue that I generated.

In a nutshell, stickiness is the art of being visible within client’s businesses. I’m not suggesting setting up a desk in your clients premises, although not a bad idea if the client is big enough! Being visible within a client requires effort and patience. Effort, because with all the built in screens I mentioned earlier, it’s a challenge to get a client to respond to your requests. Patience, because with everyone running flat out, meetings are now scheduled weeks in advance and not days.

The payoff though, is the more frequent you are in a clients place of business, the more people will come to recognize you. The more they see you, the greater the odds that you’ll have the opportunity to talk with them. Of course, the more you talk with them, the more you have a chance to let them know what you do.

Opportunities to be visible

A typical scenario, for me was to arrange a meeting with a client and as time went on, I got to know or at least recognize other people in the business. As we made our way to the meeting room or the person’s office, I’d make a point of saying hi to anyone I knew. It was more of an opportunity for me to let them know I was in the building.

Over time this little acknowledgement led to someone telling me to stop by when my meeting was over as they either had a question or wanted to talk with me about something and that something was usually a potential opportunity. My estimate is that this happened 50% of the time. Again, the size of your clients will impact these numbers but don’t underestimate the potential of even in the smallest of companies.

Another opportunity to be visible is upon completion of a project. Make an appointment with the customer to review the engagement. Too often, I see owners just send off the summary report and an invoice and that’s the end of it. What a missed opportunity! This is exactly when you need to be visible. Generally speaking, the client is happy with the results and are open to other suggestions you may have.

On those occasions when it’s just physically impossible to be visible on a client’s premises, there are other ways to stay front and center. For instance, the client has asked for a quote. Far too many owners email the quote and hope for the best. Instead, once the email has been sent, call them to let them know you sent it, especially with the number of emails that end up in the junk folder. Alternatively, finish your cover email with a statement, such as “I’ll call you tomorrow to discuss”. Then make sure you call.

Looking for ways to be visible to your customers pays greater dividends to the small business owner than most of their social media activity.

You may also enjoy The Fear Of Decisions

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Read Time: 3:58 minutes

I often get approached by entrepreneurs who are facing significant challenges in their businesses. By significant I mean – They’ve dug themselves into a hole so deep that they’re going to go out of business if something doesn’t change! So, my first piece of advice courtesy of Will Rogers , the American humourist is, “When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging!

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been the person called upon to help fix a situation. For the less urgent ones, I’m more of a troubleshooter, as I usually had some time to assess the problem or problems and then sketch out a game plan.

On the other hand, when I’m approached by an owner with an urgent challenge, I usually take on the role of a firefighter. This is because the situation is critical and there is no time for naval gazing and strategizing. It’s a time for action. It’s more akin to a scorched earth approach, whereby nothing is sacred.

Got the t-shirt

It has been my experience, that in these situations to do anything less is not an option and speed is of the essence. These situations are usually long in the making but typically ignored until they become a full blown crisis. To an outside observer, you would wonder how it could have gotten so bad? But until you are in the thick of it, you’ll never really understand how these things happen. Been there, done that and I’ve got the t-shirt!

Of course, we’ve all read those inspirational books or articles that tell you to stick to it and persevere no matter how hard it is. Or, that suffering is the price you pay to be an entrepreneur. So, I want to tell you that there’s a limit to how much misery, you must put up with.

Unfortunately, when many of us are faced with business destroying crises, we tend to develop a bit of tunnel vision that limits our ability to see all the options available. Couple that with our desire to succeed, plus a little pride and ego, we don’t even consider any of the negative options that can effectively gut your company and your dream.

Strangely enough, when talking with these clients many already know what they “should” do. They just can’t bring themselves to do it, preferring to carry on hoping and praying that the situation will improve. Regrettably, it rarely does.

5 Survival Tips

If survival is your goal, then you must make the hard calls. The first of which is to reduce all your expenses, regardless of how uncomfortable you are. We’re talking survival here. The following list can get you thinking of some of the drastic measures you must take:

1. Move your business. Relocate to your residence or some other free or less expensive space.

2. Cut staff. Payroll is usually the largest expense a company has. Not a fun exercise but a necessary one.

3. Cut all non-core expenses. I mean everything. Nothing is sacred. Cell phone, copiers, coffee service, cleaning services. No more client lunches. Absolutely everything gets scrutinized.

4. Dump unprofitable clients. If you don’t know who they are, figure it out immediately. Deal only with those clients that are profitable now and pay promptly.

5. Streamline your product or service offerings to those items that are profitable. With reduced staffing, you probably won’t be able to support more than a couple of core services. So, do the stuff that makes you money.

Yes, I can state categorically, this is an painful and humbling process. But if you think the business and your sanity is worth saving then you have absolutely no choice. Once completed though, it’ll feel like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

Quit Digging

Many who have gone through this and survived have felt rejuvenated. It’s like they’re in start-up mode all over again and what they discover is that this is their happy place.

So, if you ever find yourself in a hole, quit digging!

You may also enjoy The Fear Of Decisions

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #58 You Might Want to Check

Tagged as: Canada, entrepreneur, Facebook, Google, image, linkedIn, productivity, small business expert, Small Business Minute, social media, voicemail auto responder, website, yellow pages

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We all spend time, money and other resources making sure we put forth the right professional imagine. Many people limit their definition of image to how we look, dress and speak and for the most part that would have been acceptable once upon a time. But not anymore.

In our connected digital world, the tools we use to do business number in the many. What was once a Yellow Pages ad has been replaced by a website and a variety of social media business pages. Where a human being answered the phone, auto attendants and voicemail now do the job. All in all, these are wonderful tools that have increased awareness and productivity and reduced operating costs in the average business.

We need to check

Unfortunately, because they do their jobs so efficiently and require little maintenance we often forget to check in on them to see how they’re doing. Because of this neglect, these tools may not be projecting your company, staff or yourself in the best light.

How often have you called someone and got their voicemail that states that they are away from the office between two specific dates? A common experience that we’ve all come across. Sadly, though the dates of their absence are months old. Similarly, you receive an email out of office notice, generated by an auto responder, that is weeks old! Lastly, you go to a website that clearly has not been updated in years. What message do these oversights send to their customers or business partners? That details aren’t important?

We already know

Why does this happen? There’s a pretty simple explanation. We don’t phone or email ourselves. Nor do we ever go to our own website. Why would we? We already know what we do. We already know which products or service we sell. We know where we are located and our phone number. So, we have no reason to check any of these things. But that’s exactly why they need to be checked regularly, because no one is.

So, here’s 7 things that need to be checked regularly:

Call your office main line and listen to the message. Does the message project the company imagine? Remember it was probably recorded a long time ago and possibly by an employee that is no longer there. This is one of your first point of contact with potential customers. Does it convey a welcoming and professional tone? If you cringe a little or think it can be better, then fix it now.
Next call each person’s extension. What does their personal message sound like? Is it clear? Is it what you’d like your customers to hear? Remember not everyone is comfortable recording a voicemail message. If it’s not to your liking, help them change it by writing a script for them and getting them to relax and smile while recording it.
Call everyone’s cell phone and listen to their messages. If you’re paying for the phones and include these numbers on business cards, then you have a right to check and enhance.
Send everyone in your company an email, including yourself. Don’t forget to include your company’s generic address such as info@ and sales@. Do you get an auto-attendant response? If not should you? If so, is it valid? Is it current?
Visit your website. First check to see if the contact information is current and accurate. Then move on to content. Is the information still current? Does it look cluttered? A very high percentage of prospective customers, will check your website prior to initiating contact so it behooves you to make sure the information isn’t dated. Does the site have to be an award winner? No, but it must at least contain current information.
Have you got a Google Business page? Is the information valid or current? Have you moved locations? Is your business hours and contact information accurate?
Are your social media pages such as Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and so on contain the right data? Also consider that if you haven’t posted anything in months on these pages you may want to reengage or otherwise suspend them. Customers want to see timely information on these sites. That’s why they’re called Social Media not Static Media.

So, take a moment right now and put your customer hat on check your own voicemails, emails and the website. Do they sound, look and feel right? If not, fix it now because it’s probably costing you money.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #57 Recognition

Tagged as: appreciation, employee, entrepreneur, job satisfaction, leadership, motivation, professional speaker, small business expert, Small Business Minute, staff, success, trickle down

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Recognition is the easiest and most effective way to motivate employees, yet remarkably, one of the least used.¬ Entrepreneurs spend endless hours trying to figure out how to motivate their teams, yet ignore this basic human need.

A little research will show that there are an untold number of studies that rank recognition, or appreciation for their work, in the top 10 qualities that lead to job satisfaction, often placing it as the number one item.

The funny thing is, this is not revolutionary. I remember being a young manager in the pre-digital age and regularly coming across articles stating the exact same thing. A different time, a different generation, yet the very same piece of advice for managers. Tom Peters, in his seminal book, In Search of Excellence, stated that “we need to catch people doing something right”!

What about all the good?

All too often we’re quick to notice when something goes awry, we lose no time in bringing the misstep to the guilty party’s attention. Yet, how often have we ignored the many good things that same individual does? Is it because we take the position that it’s their job to do it right and that’s what I’m paying them for?

Catching people doing something right requires very little effort and only entails you to be on the lookout for those moments. Recognition of a job well done can have a significant impact on morale, on profitability as well as innovation.

Build confidence

Think about it for second. You catch someone doing something really well or took the initiative to try something new. At this point you thank them and let them know you’re pleased. So, what do think happens next? Well, it’s been my experience that a smile usually breaks across the individual face. Even the most grizzled employee will probably soften for a moment. That small action on your part signals that what they do, matters. It builds their confidence, all because someone noticed.

Let’s face it, we all like to be recognized. We all enjoy the occasional pat on the back. Don’t you beam just a little when a customer says, you did a great job? Well your employees are no different. Seriously, how much effort does it take to acknowledge a job well done? Very little!

Just a little effort

If you train yourself to be on the outlook, you’ll find plenty of moments to praise. Just be sure to be sincere. The following are just a couple of examples to prime your thinking

You overhear an employee on the phone with a customer and you’re impressed at how they handled the situation. So as soon as the call is completed, let them know that you were impressed and thank them for caring. You can’t wait until later. It must be done immediately after the call is completed to maximize it’s impact.

You task someone to query your customer database for a list of customers that either bought a specific product or service. Not only does the individual provide you what you asked for, but took it a step farther and provided a list of potential targets of that service or product.

Another employee, shares with you something a co-worker did to go the extra mile or how they helped another employee. You first thank the employee for bringing to your attention and then immediately let the other employee know that you appreciate what they did. That’s a double in my books.

It really does matter

These types of situations happen everyday in thousand of business, without the owners ever acknowledging the individuals for going the extra distance. Too be fair, many entrepreneurs do recognize the effort, but fail to let the employee know because they get busy and forget or they don’t think it matters. Let me be very clear on this point, it does matter!

By regularly acknowledging peoples good work, you set the stage for people to give a little more or try a little harder. By letting them know their efforts are appreciated, they will go the extra mile and the impact will have a trickle down effect throughout the organization that will be noticeable.

The beauty of catching people doing good is that it doesn’t cost anything. The reward is the recognition and knowing they are appreciated. So, I challenge you to spend the next week catching people doing good, and see if there is even the slightest change in morale. What have you got to lose?

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

SBM #56 Delegate not Abdicate

Tagged as: abdicate, delegate, enthusiasm, entrepreneur, information, outsource, oversight

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Every business has lots of moving parts. By default, an owner must have a wide ranging skill set if they hope to achieve any success with their enterprise. Those skills include, but not limited to, sales, marketing, human resources, bookkeeping, production and administration.

Of course, at the onset, we as owners tend to do all these activities. But as your company evolves, and demands on your time increase, you need to seriously consider getting out from under all of those responsibilities. Doing so, would free you up to focus on what you do best as an individual and allow the company to grow.

Fortunately, for many of these areas mentioned, you have choices on how to free yourself from these tasks. You can either hire someone or, outsource those activities to a freelancer. Either way, the end result would be to unburden yourself.

What to give up

What to give up or delegate varies with each entrepreneur. But be aware, there is a fine line between delegate and abdicate. Let’s face it, your enthusiasm for the various roles in your company range from, enjoyment to sheer torture.

What I have found is that we tend to keep doing the things that we’re comfortable with, regardless if it’s a good use of our time, and eschew those things that we don’t like, or have little knowledge.

One of the very first areas that entrepreneurs can’t wait to get rid of is bookkeeping. Heck, some don’t ever do it. They just outsource it right from the beginning and are glad to be rid of the responsibility. Too be fair, it can be a little tedious and many of us just don’t have the patience for administration.

Ignoring powerful information

This is also a great example where delegation turns into abdication. When questioned, most owners simply answer that they don’t understand it, or it’s too complicated. Although it is primarily a record keeping function, what I find absolutely amazing is how little attention some owners pay to this area. For many, they are quite content to run their businesses blissfully ignorant of the powerful information contained within the available reports.

Far too often it takes a crisis to get the entrepreneur to take notice and by that time it may be too late to save the company. These crisis usually take the form of missed government remittances, seriously overdue account payables or worse, a nasty case of fraud. But more often than not, it’s simply a matter of inattention that’s built up over an extended period of time.

Maintain oversight

Delegating doesn’t mean never having to deal with it again. It simply means letting someone else take care of the day-to-day activities. For instance, if you used to spend eight hours a week on something, you can now reduce your time to an hour a week simply reviewing the other person’s activity. You still must maintain oversight and ultimately remain accountable for the results.

All areas of a business can be delegated but successful entrepreneurs stay sufficiently engaged to know exactly what’s going and avoid surprises

Delegating is mandatory if you want to grow your enterprise. It frees you to rise above and plan for the future. Just remember though, delegate not abdicate.

You may also enjoy Delegating is easier than you think

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

ORDER HERE

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Category: Business

SBM #68 Discipline Equals Freedom

We can do whatever we want,
regardless if it’s productive or not.

“I’ve got so much to do,
I don’t even know where to start?”

A daily dose of discipline,
in exchange for tremendous freedom,
is a fair trade.

The 5 Steps

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #65- Decision Making-Engage Your Employees

“Isn’t that one of the reasons

we went into business?”

Don’t give them answers

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #63 – Don’t worry about the competition

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #61 Training Your Team

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #60 Be Visible for More Sales

The voicemail call display duo

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #59 Quit Digging!

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

We need to check

We already know

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #57 Recognition

What about all the good?

Build confidence

Just a little effort

It really does matter

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

SBM #56 Delegate not Abdicate

What to give up

Ignoring powerful information

Maintain oversight

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Search

Recent Posts

Categories

Category: Business

We can do whatever we want,regardless if it’s productive or not.

“I’ve got so much to do,I don’t even know where to start?”

A daily dose of discipline, in exchange for tremendous freedom, is a fair trade.

The 5 Steps

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

“Isn’t that one of the reasons

we went into business?”

Don’t give them answers

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

The voicemail call display duo

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

We need to check

We already know

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

What about all the good?

Build confidence

Just a little effort

It really does matter

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

What to give up

Ignoring powerful information

Maintain oversight

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

Search

Recent Posts

Categories

We can do whatever we want,
regardless if it’s productive or not.

“I’ve got so much to do,
I don’t even know where to start?”

A daily dose of discipline,
in exchange for tremendous freedom,
is a fair trade.