A tale from Johnny’s childhood on the farm and what you can learn from ploughing a field… Inspired by driving through the Shropshire countryside at various times of the year (not so much in January to be fair!) and seeing the tractors busy in the fields and at the risk of sounding like an ‘olde tale from a …
Was it a symphony or an ear-jarring cacophony? Well, I hope that went well and you’re all rested and recharged and ready to pick up where you left off last decade… I thought it would be helpful to let you know, before we take this fully public, about a key new programme that’s launching this …
As a business owner, your two most precious resources are time and money. In this blog, I am going to give you an insight into how to generate more money AND free up your time… Do you feel frustrated at the rollercoaster of being so busy that you don’t have time to market yourself, only …
Thank you for taking the time to read this short bulletin. One of the amazing things about the world of small business is the dynamic pace at which it moves. It’s like a speeding train. To help you make sure you stay on top of your business and stay on track to realise your dreams, …
The mistake so many companies make is to fail to put themselves in the shoes of their potential customers. They are so focussed on telling people why they are better than the competition or why their product or service is so good. Until you look at your campaigns from where your prospects are standing, you …
As your company searches for new ways to boost productivity and increase sales, it’s important to be aware how your plans can be thwarted. By now, if you’re following our advice, and begun to take notice of our rallying call to action, your business should be growing nicely… But if you’re not, I thought it …
It’s a corny, familiar question used to describe people’s natural disposition. How you view your surroundings. Your attitude to the challenges and opportunities facing your business. And how you communicate these views to others. These all have a huge effect on how you’re viewed and can also influence how things work out. People often ask …
Learn from the market traders… We were chatting in the office earlier about visiting a local show and how much we alI love watching the sales guys who are selling the vegetable and fruit slicers or those pitching the almost industrial spec food blenders. It isn’t particularly that we have an interest in food prep. …
If you don’t value what you do then your prospects won’t either! Do you ever undervalue what your business does? This is probably because it’s familiar, you believe it’s simple or easy. The reality, more often, is that you’ve acquired the right skills, knowledge and expertise to make it seem simple or easy. This leads to either …
If you want more money from your business, let’s take a look at your operational efficiency – have we lost you already? Stick with us – typically this is an area that provides more opportunity for profit growth than pretty much any new marketing campaign can ever hope to achieve… Especially in a small company …
We did this little exercise with a client some time back. We looked at the 10 initiatives the business had started in the last six months and did a bit of investigative work to find out who had provided the genesis of the idea behind each initiative. The CEO, who was a very entrepreneurial chap, …
How do you get staff to contribute growth ideas? Read More »
One of the questions we frequently get asked is ‘how can I most effectively grow my sales?’ If this is a question that you struggle with, then why not take a few minutes to to consider these 9 steps to help you develop your marketing plan… Many business owners that we have talked to recently …
How to get ahead, hit the ground running in 2020 and take a leaf out of Google’s marketing plan! It’s one of my favourite weekends of the year – sad I know – but, if you’re anything like me, you’ll really love the luxury of that extra hour as the clocks go back. This year …
How are you going to use your extra hour this weekend? Read More »
Tom was 34 when he finally realised that his job working as a production manager at Deadend Ltd wasn’t taking him anywhere. He’d worked his fingers to the bone and seen little of the reward. That said, he’d acquired a great set of skills and knew he was an expert in his field. That was …
Meet Tom – he’s a “Typical Owner Manager” (You probably know him already!) Read More »
Discover the DNA of profitability for your business Are you like most business owners – do you believe you need to take dramatic steps to improve the profitability of your business? You may believe, for example, that if you want to double your profits, you need to double your sales or halve your costs; you may …
With all the political uncertainty around at the moment, it is more important than ever to have a positive attitude towards your business. Remember, if you fail, your business fails! It was a wise person who said, “whether you think you can or think you can not, you are probably right…” With this in mind we’ve …
Be careful what you read and be careful who you listen to! Read More »
Whatever your sport (in fact, even if you aren’t a sports fan, you’ll appreciate the analogy), have you ever stoped to imagine how futile the whole thing would be if, say, a rugby match had no way of scoring points, or nobody timed a marathon and there was no finish line… Sports people and teams …
We all have ambitions for our business – you may be full of good intentions about changes you need to make to realise these dreams but it’s also very possible that you’re feeling that some of those good intentions are slipping as you and your team revert back into old ways and bad habits. To …
Whilst we’re labouring away at the coalface of our businesses it can be easy to ignore many of the wider economic and political factors that are changing around us. The simple fact is that we’re working in a competitive world and our competitors are responding to new social trends and investing in skills and technology …
How to boil a frog – why doing nothing is NOT an option! Read More »
Several years ago, a leading pub group that I worked for commissioned some really good research to look at what encouraged and discouraged customers to or from their premises. They divided their findings under the headings of ‘Quality Enhancers’ and ‘Quality Destroyers’. They identified enhancers such as: the faint aroma of an open coal or …
Sometimes we are so fixated on achieving perfection – on having all our ‘ducks lined up’ – that it stops us from ever getting going. We become stifled by perfection and end up paralysed and unable to get our next great idea off the ground. Whilst it’s nice to get things right first time – …
The majority of small business failures are actually a result of cash flow and not profit problems. There are many examples of small business that sold so much so fast that they could not pay their bills. Primarily because they were not paid quickly enough from their customers but now have to pay more bills …
Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is king Read More »
Like it, love it or loathe it, religion is hugely influential in all our lives and on the society in which we live. Whether your faith is important to you or if you are entirely agnostic, we can all pause to reflect on the nature of the established religious organisations, consider how they exist as …
Is your business as well organised as a Religion? Read More »
As the unsettling and confusing political news continues and some markets begin to stagnate and others become ever more volatile, we need to be careful that the tidal wave of negativity that threatens to drown us all, doesn’t. It’s also important to be mindful that your employees might be getting a bit nervous about the …
In business we’re always looking to win the hearts and minds of prospects to help us sustain growth and realise our dreams, our ambitions. To achieve this, we can’t afford to be shy and we need to be prepared to confidently ‘set our stall out’ to attract new customers. It’s amazing though how often this …
