1+1+1+1+… = the winning edge

I recently attended a business breakfast where the guest speaker spoke of his experience on the winning bid team for the London Olympic Games in 2012, giving an in-depth account about the bidding process. It is a tough, exhaustive and competitive. The process is conducted in a series of rounds, in which bidding cities are successively eliminated until a winner is determined.

There was only one winner, that which will be recorded in the history books. Interestingly, London did not win every round, yet was the winner of the round that counted – that of the last 2 cities.

One of the key points of presentation stuck is my mind: the importance of the “1%’s”. Those small extra details that pushed the London bid sightly in front of the other. In their case, it was a visual presentation that was just a little better, research into the judges slightly better, planning just a little better, strategy just a little better. All of these incremental wins added up to being in front at the finishing line.

This lesson is essential to becoming a great business: it is the attention to detail to every factor that can makes your business win against your competitors. Smaller businesses can have a great impact by adding up all the 1%’s. A highly professional profile and an impression of capability is quite achievable.

Simple things that make a difference and add up to a bigger total than your competitors. The question to ask is: do your “1%’s” push you in front or hold you back?

Typical 1%’s that make the difference to small businesses:

·               a well designed logo that is relevant to your industry and business

·               a killer tagline

·               a functional, attractive and highly professional website

·               consistency in branding, uniforms, vehicles, business cards, invoices, etc.

·               sales presentations that pack a punch

·               staff that live the values of your business

·               customer service that goes above and beyond

·               making your clients feel that they are important

·               pre-empting clients’ needs

·               gifts, follow-ups, thank-you’s, etc – especially when unexpected

·               fast turnaround and response times

·               small but considerate gestures that make your staff feel appreciated

·               new and innovative product or service design

Honing in on you 1%’s could be an interesting exercise in your business development. Why not brainstorm with your team what they are? And don’t forget to ask your customers what they love about your business (or would love you to do). You don’t need to re-invent the wheel either. Adopt some of those things that you love in your favourite businesses. I

Implementing change in small business is a process that takes consistent gradual application. Build systems, processes and measures in your business as you go, to ensure that the standards are maintained. Create a plan to roll out your changes out to include processes, training and measurements. Don’t try to do them all at once!

Dr Warren Harmer, Director, Crecer

How deep is your (business) love?

The importance of business relationships cannot be underestimated. Especially for small business, the closeness that you develop with clients, associates and even suppliers builds strong trust that can sustain your business. It also gives you an emotional bank balance that you may need to dip into on occasion; which can come in very handy, even with suppliers.

From a marketing perspective, strategic relationships have incredible value to small business and for many businesses are the predominant source of new business. Word of mouth is definitely king.

For such valuable assets of your business, relationships are often not given the same time, planning, structure, discipline or budget that other types of marketing are given. Yet if you look at the return on investment, the numbers may tell you where your resources should go.

Think of your business relationships as you would a romance. In order for them to reach any kind of potential, it takes time and effort. They need to be nurtured and nourished and given time to grow. If you think of your business relationships as business romances it may help. Here are the stages:

Courting. You have just met, feel that there may be potential and are interested in what the other has to offer. You will probably meet for coffee or lunch, hear about their business and get some idea of what the other is about.

Usually the relationship ends here. Most of the time there is an expectation that one meeting is enough to generate new business. The reality is that in such a short time you will only get a general outline of the other person’s real values and performance with clients. Your date, when you don’t call back, will forget about you.

For those referrals that may arise, the relationship can be easily broken. One snippet of negative feedback is likely to result in you being dumped.

Newlyweds. The newness is subsiding and reliability is developing. As the relationship develops you have enough confidence to work alongside your new partner. By now you have made the effort to meet a few times, may have a number of clients in common and are getting a good understanding of how the other operates. Your confidence is increasing and you know exactly which clients of yours that the other is suitable for: price, service delivery and cultural fit.

You are likely to recommend client to your partner as the opportunity arises but may not actively seek them.

Your interaction is at least semi-regular and your are probably starting to become friends as well as associates. Problems can be dealt with, but extra effort needs to be made.

Old married couple: You have worked together for an extended period, have many common clients and know each other’s businesses intimately. Most likely you will be singing praises and actively seeking clients for each other.

There is a deep cultural alignment. You have frequent contact.

When problems do arise you will be able to have open, frank discussions about the inner workings of each other’s business. You may even find yourself defending the other business to a mutual client.

Moving through the stages.

Without doubt your business gains the most benefit being and Old Married Couple. Getting there takes time and discipline, particularly in the early stages. Once you are courting, use reminders and tasks to keep the contact regular. Send articles if you find something of interest to them. Send gifts, cards and birthday wishes.

Most importantly – treat their clients like a precious gift. If things go wrong, their name and reputation can be damaged, sometimes badly. You must go above and beyond for their clients.

Dr Warren Harmer, Director, Crecer

And the winner is... lost opportunity

Recently I had the privilege of being invited to the finals of the Telstra Business Awards with a client that nominated for an award. Such an inspiration to be in a room so full of entrepreneurial spirit.

So many businesses present were not household names. Many of them offered services that I was not even unaware of, yet are businesses that have many thousands of clients. Businesses that help so many others and are very active in their contribution to the development of our communities and society.

Awards such as these present an amazing opportunity to build a brand and reputation of a business, as well as a offer springboard for promotion.

As the night rolled on, presenters came and went. Dignitaries and officials made speeches. Award recipients made speeches. Each of the businesses were profiled. With the passing of each I became more and more aware of how uninspired each of the presentations were. Thankfully the MC held it together.

Many of the business profiles sounded the same, officials and sponsors all made the same stiff comments about “the value of small business”, including some tired statistics that we have all heard over and over. All eyes on the table were rolling as the small business minister droned on ..and on.. and on. People were tuning out and having their own conversations. The acceptance speeches, except for one, were stiff, repetitive and mostly boring.

For a room full of enthusiastic entrepreneurs who had mostly started their businesses on a shoestring in their garages or bedrooms, how many times do we need to hear about ‘the difficulty of the journey’? Assumed. What we were all craving for was that snippet of wisdom that made that business the winner; a funny story about the worst customer ever; some insight into what makes their business (in particular) amazing. In other words “how did you get there and I didn’t?”

How is it that such an interesting topic, in an exciting environment, can be presented with so little pizzazz?

My personal opinion is that the presenters prepared the content only thinking about what they want to say, not what the audience might want to hear. This is a common mistake that small business owners make, where they agonise over the content of communications, yet forget to consider what the readers care about.

Communications don’t end with the audience, they start with the audience. It actually doesn’t matter so much what you think of the content. It matters what your audience thinks.

Understanding the audience’s perspective is crucial to creating communications that make an impact. In all forms of communications. Just to fumble through with the excuse of ‘I was nervous’ is not good enough and squanders invaluable opportunity.

If your big chance comes along, what will you say? Will you inspire, motivate and captivate? Or nervously drone on with everyone losing interest?

Here are a few tips for a great presentation:

· Before you put pen to paper, spend some time profiling the audience. This is not as hard as you may think. A few conversations with them can give amazing insights.

· Spend some time thinking about what you want to achieve from your presentation. Do you want to inspire, inform, amuse or entertain?

· Make it about your audience not about you. When you are weaving your story, make sure that the audience can reflect upon it from their own perspective. If you just blab on about yourself or make references to people who they don’t know (or know their role) they will quickly tune out.

· We all love stories. Build them in.

· Don’t forget to inject some humour. We all have funny things that have happened.

· The element of surprise is a great way to engage and get people’s attention

· Decide what is the best way to communicate your message. Pictures, facts, stories, statistics, sounds.

· Practice it in front of someone who is similar to those who will be in the audience. Sometimes this is hard as you feel self-conscious, but it is very powerful and is one of the most useful things you can do.

· Review and refine. Review and refine. Practice. Did I say practice? Do it again.

Dr Warren Harmer, Director, Crecer

Small businesses beware.. spruikers are lurking

It can happen when you leave a breakfast or seminar, read an article or are approached by a hotshot salesman - the discovery of “the one” solution that is going to lead you to your business success. My advice? Take a deep breath, then put that idea into your business strategy, where it can be implemented in the context of your whole business.

The damage inflicted on small businesses by snake-oil salesmen in advertising, media, search-engine optimisers, cookie-cutter consultants and other peddlers of anything that promises “instant success” can be serious, if not life-threatening. These products and services all have their place in a well thought out business strategy, but just focussing on one element presents dangers for small business.

One of the common actions is to take an expensive bet on marketing initiatives that will “turn the business around”. If you can’t afford to lose it, you can’t afford to spend it!

Many specialist consultants will have you believe that they have ‘the answer’ to your business success. Small businesses need great generalists that are very well connected.

In larger businesses, there are whole departments to manage supply, production, finance and HR – can be managed with the expertise already in place. Budgets are also bigger and finance easier to get. The cogs in the small business machine are heavily interdependent. If there are no plans in place to manage growth of all parts of the business, problems can arise. For example, if your marketing campaign suddenly boosts sales, can procurement, HR, production and distribution still cope? Will you have enough capital to fund that growth? How will cash flow hold up? Will you be able to find staff? Is your OH&S up to scratch? How well developed are our systems and procedures?

Not to mention, the business owner will generally have to manage it all.

Growth in a small business is fantastic. It is very rewarding and can give the owner more profits. Keep your eyes open through regular planning and review so you can make a rational assessment of those sharp salespeople that circulate amongst us.

Dr Warren Harmer, Director, Crecer

Selling to government

There may be opportunities to sell to government that you are not aware of. To understand the rules, opportunities and processes of selling to government, a very useful guide is available at www.finance.gov.au/publications/selling-to-the-australian-government/index.html

Whilst a number of contracts are offered for Tender (for Commonwealth contracts over $80,000). Those of a lesser value may be offered under a selective tendering process. For such contracts you may be able to promote your business directly to the procurement division within each of the government agencies and gain access to these tenders.

A list of agencies may be found at www.directory.gov.au

Dr Warren Harmer, Director, Crecer

"Under New Management"

"Under New Management".
Why would a business put this sign on their window?
If there is a loyal client base and an established brand, this message will only serve to create uncertainty and deter those clients from entering.
If there isn't, why bother keeping the same business name?

Dr Warren Harmer, Director, Crecer

What is a 'small business' anyway?

There is much discussion about 'small business' in the media. Governments create policy for small business based on definitions that can vary wildly, depending on their objectives. Such definitions can have major impacts on those businesses.



So what is a the most useful definition of a small business?



Revenue and numbers of staff are commonly used. Whilst these are useful indicators, they can also vary significantly, leaving a large grey area between 'small' and 'medium' businesses.



As a business consultant that specialises in small business, the definition that I work by is:

The owner of the small business has an active responsibility for the management of core business functions. There is very limited (often no) employment of specialised skills to manage such functions as marketing, financial management, HR, sales or business planning / strategy.



What are your opinions or definitions?

Dr Warren Harmer, Director, Crecer