Presented by successful and experienced business owners and industry experts, this program will benefit intuitive business owners and managers who are looking to ride the wave and grow their businesses in 2012.

Presenters include Rabi Gunaratnam (Business Owner and Mentor), Darryn Thomas (Business owner and Marketing Expert), Keith Keller (Twitter 4 Business Expert) and a Business Funding Expert (TBA).

As a result of this dynamic and hands-on program, you will have:

Wednesday 21 March 2012, 9.00am to 1.30 pm: Half-day Program - $198 (incl. GST):

Discover the strategies for growth and how much the business can grow (in revenue dollars), identify obstacles to growth and set achievable targets, goals and actions, learn what type of Marketing (including on-line marketing & social media) is best for your business and Optimise your Sales Process to kick start growth in 2012

Thursday 22 March 2012 from 9.00am to 11.00am: Two-hour Session – $99 (Incl. GST)

Learn strategies to turn Your Staff into High Performers and learn how to systemize & streamline your Business Processes to increase productivity

Thursday 22 March 2012 from 2.00pm to 4.00pm: Two-hour Session - $99 (Incl. GST)

Learn Cash Flow Strategies that will assist growth and methods of Funding Growth

Friday 23^rd March 2012 from 9.00am to 11.00am: Two-hour Session - $99 (Incl. GST)

Understand the factors that influence, assist or hinder growth; How to find the hours in the day to work on the business and yet have time to spare and How to create a simple & effective Business Plan for growth

**Refreshments, Notes, Templates and Worksheets will be provided.

Early Bird 15% discount if you register and pay before 2 March 2012

Make sure you register early as places are limited and courses are expected to fill fast!

Workshop Registration Form

For enquiries and registration please contact BizPower on:

Email rabi@bizpower.biz or Fax to (03) 9545 1344

Further enquiries Phone 9545 1455

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DETAILS:

Dates:

Wednesday 21 March at 9am to 1.30 pm (Light lunch served)

Thursday 22 March at 9am – 11am

Friday 23 March at 9am – 11am

Venue: Monash Enterprise Centre – 5a Hartnett Close, Mulgrave

Cost:               Complete program (incl. one Half-day and three Two-hour sessions) for $396 (incl. GST)

Half day program $198 (incl. GST) and two-hour sessions $99 (incl. GST)

Early Bird 15% discount if you register and pay before 2 March 2012.

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Registration Fee:      Complete program for $396 (incl. GST)

Half day program $198 (incl. GST)

Two-hour sessions $99 (incl. GST) each

Payment Method:

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□   Cheque: Payable to “Biz Power” mail to 22 Elmstead Drive, Wheelers Hill Vic 3150

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Registration is only confirmed with full payment. No refunds for no shows.

Whatever the reason may be, what guarantee do you have that you will achieve what you want? Is it worth the time just working your heart out and realising it too late? Judging by the number of new businesses starting and a comparable number closing down every year, the chances of your achieving what you wanted in the first place are very low. Isn’t it better to seek a guaranteed outcome now?

I guarantee that you will achieve your outcome or in the worst case know immediately whether it is worth pursuing your dream. You see, through using my coaching methodology you have the opportunity to test out every idea and come up with a foolproof way of reaching what you set out to do.

What I have observed is that without help people who start a business to gain independence end up as slaves working 12 or more hours a day to just keep the business running. People who started a business to make money are making less money than their lowest paid employee.

One reason for not hiring a business coach is for fear that it is a cost burden that you do not need. That is false economy. Coaching will pay for itself from your increased profits. The real payback you get out from my coaching are – business growth, increased staff productivity, increased profit, work less, gain your independence and have a nest egg by the time you are ready to enjoy a lifetime of leasure.

So why wait? Contact me immediately to set up a time for a FREE consultation and assessment.

My clients are the proof of your success.

Do not put it off! Act now.

This article continues the theme on how to make your workplace a productive workplace. Employees are the key to the success of any organisation. If you have good employees, you can delegate without a worry and let the business run even when you are not around. Thus, you can spend time working on the business to develop it, to strengthen it, to recession proof it and to make it grow so that it provides you with both peace of mind and a good life.

Hiring good employees is not easy. Like all good things, it requires work. Here are some tips on hiring:

• Clearly define the role, expectations and type of person needed
• Widely advertise the position
• Indicate clearly who should apply and have a process for filtering candidates
• Interview with ears and eyes open – catch those signs of match/mismatch early
• Asses the results of psychometric tests. Realistically assess the positives.
• Interview again if the psychometric test results raise any doubts
• Hire only if you believe the candidate is suitable in every way. It is better not to hire than to hire a person who does not quite fit the role.
• Provide a thorough orientation to the new employee and train where necessary
• Place the staff member on a three month probation with clear performance expectations
• At the end of three months confirm employment only if entirely satisfied that the person has met these expectations.

If you have followed these suggestions carefully you would have overcome the first hurdle. Now we need to find ways to retain good staff. Please read on.

How To Retain Good Staff

Retaining good employees is not as hard as it looks. Research shows that dissatisfaction with wages is not the primary reason why people leave.

“Over 70% of people leave their jobs because of the way they are led.” Norman Drummond, Motivational Speaker

Some of our clients have used a questionnaire which is part of a Special Action Report titled “Do You Know What Motivates Your Staff” and were quite surprised by the results. Here are the top four reasons given by staff for leaving:

• Not being treated with dignity and respect
• Not allowed to make an impact on the organisation by being invited to participate or by not valuing their suggestions
• Not being listened to when there are grievances, complaints, suggestions, etc.
• Not being given more responsibility (and thus recognition)

It pays to work on the above. Also, be an example to your staff by

• taking responsibility for your own actions as a boss
• being fair
• being committed to the rules & values of the workplace and observing them yourself
• giving your people the freedom to speak up
• giving full attention to your employees and their suggestions
• being an equal with them whilst maintaining their respect as the boss
• clearly communicating the plans & goals of the business
• creating a climate of trust so that people stop questioning motives and work together
• allowing your people to make mistakes
• rewarding employees who ‘think outside the box’
• rewarding staff through profit share or other incentives
• focusing on building self-esteem (once a person has a positive self image productivity and performance improves),
• giving your people plenty of praise
• helping your people to enjoy and to look forward to coming to work
• helping people to have fun at work
• punishing where needed but in a fair manner having looked at all sides
• investing in training your people,
• setting critical organisational goals and letting your teams create their own goals to achieve these (people support best what they help create),
• breaking down turfs and internal boundaries (or silos).

Follow these and there is a greater chance to increase retention.

Now, there are other reasons too for low productivity. In our next issue, we will be discussing Systems and Processes. Staff are blamed when poor systems cause failure. When systems and processes are not well understood productivity is affected. We will discuss these in detail in the next post.

Personal Productivity

Procrastinating, being disorganised, employing poor systems, not keeping their commitments, working long hours to compensate for poor productivity etc. are common among business owners and managers. It feels good to be busy but this is a deception. It feels a lot better to have time on our hands to attend to things that we ought to. We hope that the following tips are of help to you

How to Plan To Get Things Done

Wouldn’t it be great to have everything done at the end of the day? Here are some things you can do to make things easy for you:

1. Identify your business and personal goals.
2. List all the things you need to do and the appointments that you have on a ‘master’ list. Prioritise these in the way they relate to your goals. Three groups are recommended – High (H), Medium (M) or Low priority (L). Keep updating this ‘master’ list. Try and eliminate the low priority items. Steven Covey suggests that we do a quadrant analysis to find out what is Low Priority-Low Urgency, Low Priority-High Urgency, High Priority-Low Urgency and High Priority-High Urgency. What is most important to focus on today is the stuff in the 4^th Quadrant. How does one decide on where each item falls or what is L, M or H? This is where the goals come in. Any activity which is not related to your goals is of a lower priority (L or M) to those related to your goals (H).
3. Have a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual plan for events, meetings, holidays, special marketing activity, etc.
4. Plan your day, everyday. Do only the things that have an ‘H’. If you have time left do the ‘M’s’.
5. Load share or delegate as much as you can, especially the ‘M’s’. Dump the ‘L’s’.
6. Evaluate your day and apply the learning tomorrow.
7. Learn how to overcome procrastination.

Planning and organising are relatively simple. Doing requires discipline. Yes, that’s the word – DISCIPLINE (ouch!).

How to Eliminate Desk Clutter

Are you a person whose desk is neat and tidy most of the time? Good on you! The time spent looking for things on a messy desk can be better used on urgent & important stuff.

How does one maintain a clean desk?

It can be quite easily done if we can spend a little time planning out a good filing and information retrieval system.  When we do not have a system of filing and putting away things, desks get messy.

Handle every thing only once. If possible respond immediately to mail or file it. You can have folders such as “Urgent & Important”, “Urgent & Unimportant”, “Not Urgent but Important” and “Not Urgent Nor Important (this is usually the round file)”. File all completed correspondence. Have a place to put your ‘To Be Paid’ bills in chronological order. You can purchase document/bill holders, pen holders and organisers at any office supplies store.

A neat desk does indicate an organised person.

How To Minimise Interruptions

Software designers have made sure that every email arrival gets our attention. Every time an email comes in you are interrupted and your thoughts go something like “another @$#* email!” This is an interruption we can do without.

If you are using Outlook or another email program there will be a way to turn these alerts off. If you don’t know, ask the person who sold you the software.

Allocate a time to read and respond to emails. In other words, plan to get to your emails and don’t let the emails get to you.

Put your emails in folders (electronic) just like the paper stuff. Some recommend that you have your inbox almost empty all the time. Although I do not follow this practice, I believe it is a good practice.

Identify the common sources of interruptions and have an action plan to deal with these.

How To Leave Work and Go Home Empty

Do you leave work at work or do you take it home with you. Often this is because of a lack of systems. If you diarise everything and evaluate the day and schedule all the things that have to be done as described above, your mind will be at rest when you leave work to relax with family and friends.

You may think that stewing over work problems on your own time demonstrates your commitment to the job – sorry, it just means that you are disorganised. If your boss thinks you are great for doing this, he needs brain surgery! Taking work home can actually affect your workplace performance.

An inability to leave work behind can cause trouble sleeping, generate stress and resentment, and damage relationships – all of which put your productivity at risk.

If you are experiencing difficulty in any of the above mentioned areas, schedule into your Daily Plan to set up a meeting with us. Get organised and regain your freedom.

Productivity in the workplace is governed by several factors. In order to have a productive workplace we will need to hire and retain the right staff, have easy to use systems and processes; provide on-going training and effective leadership and management. We will also need to ensure that the right tools and equipment are available to staff.

How can we know our current level of productivity? You may be already in a good position. One way of knowing this is to benchmark against similar businesses. Then again your business might be the best of a bad lot. You could carry out time & motion studies, establish standard times for performing tasks and introduce performance targets. Whilst these are sound ways of ensuring maximum productivity, the cost involved in setting targets may not always be justifiable.

We believe one of the best ways to do this is to involve staff in working at improvements together. Those who carry out the tasks are best equipped to provide the best suggestions for improvement. You may identify key individuals, form ‘focus groups’ and facilitate these groups to come up with improvements.

You will first need to identify the business unit or area that you wish to focus on. Then select those who could best contribute to improvements. Obviously, people who are currently doing the work are the best. From this group of people you will need to select suitable candidates for inclusion in the focus group. These candidates must demonstrate a high level of competence, commitment and be able to communicate well. Focus Groups will need sound leadership too. So it is important to select a good leader.

Start by giving the group an outline of what you would like to achieve. For example, you might say “we want to reduce the waste in this unit by 30% over the next six months” You will need to provide some guidelines such as how much time during working hours are they allowed to spend on this, how much money they are allowed to spend, a list of experts they may consult, allocate resources such as a computer, use of a meeting room, secretarial support if necessary, etc.. and explain to them the level of authority they have to make decisions. You will also ask them to provide you with regular progress reports.

Give this a go and see what the focus group comes up with. They will surprise you.

There are three elements that impact on business success – Strategic Intent, Culture/Behaviour and Business Processes/Systems. These in turn have a total of 19 powerful KPI drivers. Understanding how the business is faring in these areas is the place to start.

19 Drivers of Performance

Our unique tool will identify within seconds the issues of management and employees in these 19 areas and provide a plan of action to work on the areas of highest importance to improve ROI.

Companies such as Seven-Eleven, Shell, P&O, Honeywell, Toyota, seek, etc. continue to use our tool to help maintain leadership.

√ Your business too can benefit from this.

Please give us a call on (03) 9545 1455 to make and appointment for a one hour meet & chat. We will answer all your questions regarding how this invaluable tool may be used for your business success.

Staff performance is a major issue in most organisations. Books and articles have been written on the importance of having good staff in order to have a successful organisation[1]. There is a strong correlation between staff performance and organisational effectiveness[2].

At one end of the spectrum there are the exceptional employees who set a high standard of performance and at the other end there are those who are disgruntled, lack motivation, make too many mistakes and are a drain on the organisation.

At a time of an ageing population, severe skills shortage and rising employment costs, a better solution would be to retain those you already have and to help them lift their performance. Can we realistically lift mediocre or poor performance? We believe you can.

Staff performance is dependant on many factors besides the individual’s natural capabilities. Studies and experience has shown that a number of factors affect performance[3]. Lack of empowerment and training, lack of understanding of the organisation’s values and behaviours, strategy, business plans & objectives and processes & procedures, ineffective communication and several other key factors affect performance.

As busy managers there is little or no time to investigate the root causes for poor performance. There is also the problem of knowing what tools to use to understand the root causes. All this seems too hard. The easier solution then appears to either put up or fire and hire. Both options could be extremely costly[4] to the organisation and to the individual.

An effective and proven solution is to conduct Employee Opinion Surveys and use the results to drive improvements. This survey could be carried out in a number of areas that affect staff and business performance. For example, we may find out the employee’s opinion or perception of the organisation’s sense of purpose, confidence about the future and its ability to remain viable. The results may show that the Sales & Marketing Team are optimistic, the Administration Team a little less optimistic and the Production Team is quite pessimistic. Or it may show that Management is pessimistic and the rest of the employees are optimistic. Having this vital information will help us probe further and come up with actions to rectify the issues that cause these differences in opinion. With our Software, we can analyse opinions and perceptions in 19 key areas with an on-line survey that takes less than 20 minutes per employee. On completing the survey the software makes the results and reports available within seconds. Action can then be taken quickly and effectively. The software captures all the To-do’s, who is responsible and the due dates. It will also track and report to the CEO and key Managers, the progress being made to date.  How good is that?

If you are interested in improving staff and thus business performance, please give us a call on (03) 9545 1455 for an obligation free assessment and report.

No one can buy from you if they do not know of you, your company, products or services. Cold calling is an effective method of advertising.

Cold calling does work….when you do it right.

Cold Calling can be done on the phone or in person. Depending on your product, cold calling in person could prove to be more effective than cold phone calls.

Here are 7 Tips that will guarantee your cold calling success.

Cold Calling Tip # 1 – Set a realistic target for the number of cold calls per week

I am yet to meet someone who gets out of bed each day with a zest for Cold Calling. Call reluctance is common. So setting a target and measuring performance is very important.

The experience of most people is that working towards a target number of cold calls per week is better than setting aside a regular chunk of time everyday. If you miss you daily target on any day you can always catch up during the week by making extra calls.

Cold Calling Tip # 2 – Target YOUR market

Start by creating a profile of your ideal customer. Now determine in which geographical area they are mostly located. The more targeted your cold calling, the more successful you will be and get the best return on your investment of time.

If you are calling in person, plan your rout to minimise travelling time.

Cold Calling Tip # 3 – Make your Cold Calls a regular part of your week and look out for more opportunities to Cold Call

What gets planned gets done! Schedule time daily to do cold calling. Be watching for extra opportunities to cold call. E.g. If you are out getting your car fixed and the garage is located in your target market, plan a few cold calls while you wait.

Cold Calling Tip # 4 – Know why customers buy from you

Have you heard of WIIFM? Yes, it is ‘What is in it for me?’ Ask yourself “what value/benefit am I offering?” If your offer answers the customer’s WIIFM question you will get his attention and be able to have a good conversation that ultimately leads to a sale.

Cold Calling Tip # 5 – Always ask to see the Decision Maker

Getting past the receptionist is not easy. However, you can make it easier by being polite and by making the receptionist feel ‘in control’. Be humble and ask the receptionist for help. You might say something like “I would really appreciate it if you could help me. I need to get to the right person to leave my card and the brochure. Can you help me get to that person?” or you might say “I need your help in getting this card and brochure to the right person. Would you help me do that?” Most people like to help and feel awkward to refuse someone who is asking for help.

Remember, a junior employee is not the best person as a prospect. You need to get to the decision maker.  If you spend your time following up an employee and at the end of several follow-ups he says that he needs to consult the boss, you have just wasted a lot of time. Worse if he says “My boss said we do not need it” and you do not know for sure if your offer had been presented well by the employee.

Cold Calling Tip # 6 – Prepare and be thorough with a script for cold calling

The script must include how you ask for the decision maker, how to get past the receptionist, how you greet the person, how you put across your value/benefit you are offering and how it leads to your goal. If your goal is to leave a brochure for later follow-up or leave a sample for evaluation or get an appointment for a presentation or to close the sale, say enough to accomplish that goal and save everything else for a later conversation.

Watch for buying signals and close the sale where possible.

Cold Calling Tip # 7 – Believe you are there to help your prospect

Before you set off, remind yourself that you are there to help your prospect. Offering help is easier than selling isn’t it? Your prospect has never seen you in his life and is more likely to look favourably at receiving help rather than at buying something.

Remember, the first sale you make is that of yourself. So make sure that you are dressed professionally, carry your notes in a folder or brief case and look and sound professional in every way.

If you do it right, your cold calls will yield buckets full of prospects to work with and keep your name out there in your target market.

It is only in the past nine years that I have had formal Sales Training both for my benefit and for the purpose of teaching my clients. Looking back on my sales success over 25 years ago, I put it down to four things:

1. Confidence – in self, in the selling script and in the product

2. Honesty

3. Passion

4. A firm belief that I was there to help the prospect/customer.

This illustrates that most individuals can sell given a little help with the finer points. Here are seven points to help you become a more effective salesperson.

1. Presentation: Present yourself professionally. Be dressed well, clean and neat. Present your quotes in a professional format. Check your quotes for errors in pricing, description, spelling, etc. before sending them out. Your prospect will unconsciously form opinions about the product or service based on this. Keep your presentation simple and understandable. Avoid using jargon.

2. Correct Audience: Present to the right people. Always seek out the decision maker and ensure that the chief decision maker and all those who contribute to the decision are present.

3. Present the ‘benefits’: Features are impressive but if the prospect cannot connect the features to benefits for him you are unlikely to get the prospect interested. Ask yourself questions such as “What will our recommendation improve?” “What cost savings will it give?” “What alternatives can we offer that will improve their system?” Make absolutely certain that you are making the best recommendation for their system and that the customer understands it.

4. Use Objections to Close Sales: Learn to handle objections & excuses. Objections are often buying signals. Objections are another way of expressing doubts about the product or of expressing the fear of making the purchase decision. Ask questions to get at the real reason for the objection. Respond to a question with a question to clarify.

5. Don’t Discount: Price it correctly and be fair. Don’t discount hoping to get the order. Rather show the prospect the value in your product or service.

6. Ask for the order: That is what you are there for. However, to ensure that you have met the expressed or unexpressed need of the customer, a question such as “Have we adequately covered your system needs and addressed all the ways in which your system will improve once our recommendation is implemented?” Get a ‘yes’ and then ask for the order.

7. Assure the customer after the sale: Make the prospect feel that he has made a good decision

The following are two of the biggest buying influencers:

a) Get the prospect to like and accept you. The first sale you make is often of yourself.

b) Help the prospect get over the fear of making the decision to purchase.

You can learn a lot about selling and the buying influencers by reflecting on your own recent buying experiences. Think about the reasons you had for rejecting the sale, the emotions that you went through and what finally got you over the line. Reflect on your after sales emotions and fears. How were these overcome? How could the salesperson have helped you in this respect?

This is the final step in the 5-step process of selling. The sale does not end with the sale – the next step is equally important. 

Depending on the size and nature of the purchase there are things such as ‘buyer’s remorse’ and ‘cooling off periods’ that can derail your hard efforts. This again comes back to how the sale was done in the first place. If the customer had all his questions answered, the desire that the salesperson was effective in creating had been satisfied and the customer went away saying “I made a good decision”, these two factors will not be an issue.

Follow-up and service after the sale should be one of the most important activities of any business.

Now is the time to build that relationship with the customer so that there is loyalty to the product or service. A customer is infinitely of more worth to the business than a prospect. You don’t have to spend time prospecting, qualifying and conducting other pre-sales activities for that particular customer again.

There is no better advertisement than a satisfied customer: a satisfied customer will keep coming back to the business and referring others. When it is a service that has been purchased, providing outstanding customer service will ensure that the customer is constantly reminded and is kept happy. What can we do if they purchased a product that does not require on-going support?

Good salespeople stay in touch with the customer. If you have a good CRM (Client Relationship Management) system you can set some flags to contact the customer regularly to see how they are going with the product, answer questions and offer other products that could enhance their experience of the product. A satisfied customer will refer other prospects to you.

Let’s do some numbers to illustrate the effect of this. If all your prospecting generates 100 inquiries every year and your conversion rate is 20%, you will get 20 customers in the 1^st year. If did not do any follow-up, you will have only another 20 customers.

If your follow-up was good and it resulted in 0.5 referrals per customer on average, in the first year you will have 20 customers from your promotional activities and 10 referred prospects. Referred prospects convert at much higher rates to customers (say 50%), making a total of 25 customers (25% more through good follow-up). In the second year you will have 6 + 20 + 5 = 31 customers not counting any repeat business. Did you workout the math?  If you had difficulty please ask me.

What do you think you will have in the 3^rd and 4^th years?

However you workout the math, good follow-up and service after the sale will:

• Keep the customer reminded of the purchase
• Build goodwill
• Provide opportunities to ask questions and enjoy the product
• Establish and maintain your good reputation,
• Generate repeat and referred business.

And your business has the potential to keep growing at a rapid rate. Your database of customers will keep growing at a phenomenal rate.

BizPower has been helping clients with simple systems to put in place that keeps them growing at a phenomenal rate with only a little extra effort.