Business Coaching

Better Business Focus May 2008

If you are a regular visitor who has never taken the option to sign up for my newsletter, I thought that I would give you the chance to experience it for yourself.

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Welcome to the May 2008 Better Business Focus newsletter and this month it is a real cracker:

Today I am bringing you:

1. Better Business Focus May 2008
2. News of a couple of freebies for Internet marketing
3. A Business development questionnaire

May 2008 Better Business Focus

It includes:

1. Harnessing the talent of your maverick - an employee who thinks and acts in different ways
    
2. If you don't ask you don't get - tips on closing sales
    
3. How to train cats and salespeople - not an obvious connection but both are often independent, demanding and virtually impossible to train.
    
4. 5 ways to keep your customers coming back for more
    
5. Eight ways to drive employee passion by one of my favourite business authors, Kenneth Blanchard
    
6. Getting a competitive edge with PR techniques
    
7. And much more

Download Better Business Focus May 2008

Online Business Success blog post and the Business Development Questionnaire was the item included in the Business Heath Check posting.

The Internet marketing freebies referred to the items in the

If you would like the newsletter delivered to you by email, just sign up.

To Your Success

Paul Simister

Your Profit Coach, business coaching for the customer focused entrepreneur

© Planning & Control Solutions Ltd 2007-2008 All Rights Reserved

Warning - Credit Card Scam

I usually restrict my Better Business Focus business advice newsletter to my subscribers but there is news of a nasty but very convincing credit card scam that would be so easy to fall for.

If you don't read any of the rest of the Better Business Focus report, I urge you to download it and turn to page 19.

I would hate to learn that you have lost money from this or that anyone else you know well had also suffered.

I know that there are a lot of these scams but often they are easy to pick up.

Just before Christmas, I had a call from someone claiming to be from the fraud prevention department of my bank and they asked for some security information. That immediately alerted me and I got difficult.

I rang my bank and they didn't know anything about it although it turned out that the alert was genuine. My account was frozen, as I found out the next time I tried to spend on the card.

This scam is much subtler than that as the person at the other end sounds very official and knows plenty of information. At a time when too much confidential information has been lost, it is better to be prepared.

Please download and read page 19 of Better Business Focus - forewarned is forearmed.

By all means forward the copy of Better Business Focus on to anyone else that you want to warn.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

How To Build A Superior Service Culture

The Better Business Focus newsletter in December 2007 brings you another great article from Ron Kaufman, best selling author of "UP Your Service!".

This time it's Ron's "Top Ten Tips To Build A Superior Service Culture" so I'll just give you a flavour of the tips.

1. Create a unique service philosophy
   Make sure that you define exactly what great service means to your customers and clients.
    
2. Constantly explain and promote your service philosophy.
   The more often you promise, the more commitment your team to providing great service and the more it distinguishes your business from your competitors.
      
3. Hire people who will commit to your service philosophy.
   I love it when I find people who care about their jobs and about the service and results that the customer receives.
      
4. Orient your new team members to your service philosophy.
   People need to start well if you are going to maintain your customers trust and the faith of your other employees.
      
5. Continuously train and re-train your team
   You know it but do you do it?
      
6. Recognise and reward great service
   If your staff don't think you notice when they go above and beyond the call of duty, then they will think that you don't care. In fact I have just remembered someone had a recognition system called the ABCD awards for above and beyond the call of duty! Shame I can't remember who.
      
7. Bring the voice of your customer into the business.
   Make sure that everyone understands what it is that customers want and don't want. Let people hear the nice things that customers say and the complaints (although you should disguise any guilty parties in public).
      
8. Create and sustain a service improvement program
   You may think that suggestion schemes won't work but they will if you are committed to making it work.
      
9. Walk the talk
   There is no finer example to set than the boss who is obsessed with delivering superb customer service but at the same time, there is nothing more damaging than a leader who sets a bad example. Don't let short term profit motives interfere with the long term development of the customer relationship.
      
10. Create rituals to reinforce your your service culture.
    What regular events can you hold to remind your staff and celebrate success?

So there we are. Another great article from Ron Kaufman following on from two earlier postings:

Service Recovery: Making Things Right After They Have Gone Wrong

Teamwork for Customer Service

In fact I am so impressed that I am going to buy his book. It's got some great reviews from Amazon UK and USA.

For more information about Ron Kaufman and his great tips on customer service I recommend that you take look at www.RonKaufman.com although you can be sure that I will be featuring more of Ron's advice on this critical area.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Top Tips For Building Your Business

I have been receiving lots of kind comments about the newsletter I sent out last week so I thought that I'd reproduced it on the blog as it represents as a summary of some of the best of the recent postings.

If you like it and would like future newsletters delivered straight to your inbox, then please sign up to the newsletter.

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The Partners for Profit newsletter is designed to help you build a bigger, better business with more profit.

This week I have loaded it with content from the business growth superstars so please forward it to anyone you believe would benefit.

• Better Business Focus - December 2006 [remember my subscription gives me limited access to back copies so each month you get the latest edition plus one from 11 months ago]
     
• Top articles from The Business Coaching Blog including the latest from the business development superstars.

Better Business Focus

This back copy from December 2006 was only available for download until 30 November 2006.

This is what you missed:

• Using postcard marketing (an idea I really like),
• How to maximise your Christmas promotions,
• Using the media (newspapers, radio, TV) to promote your business
• Using your team to cross-sell (an essential skill)
• 4 ways to give feedback
• 10 marketing tips for entrepreneurs
• Email marketing advice
• And even more...

To make sure you don't miss out again, sign up to my newsletter

Updates from The Business Coaching Blog

Michael Gerber (E Myth) latest thinking on entrepreneurship

Ten Hours of free copywriting advice audios

The Eight Pillars Of Business Prosperity

Two Chet Holmes videos on YouTube

Free recording of a Jay Abraham conference call on copywriting

Free chapter 1 of Jay Abraham's great book "Getting Everything You Can..." (I recommended it a month ago)

Internet Guru Rich Schefren Free Business Building Video (96 minutes - I'm on his premium coaching course).

My review of Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (a book everyone who is interested in making money should read).

Recording of David Lakhani's interview with Chet Holmes 

Difficult Decisions Made Easier: Zero Based Thinking

What's In Your Shopping Cart? An article from guest blogger Cara Lumen and great reading for anyone thinking about having an e-commerce website.

Peter Thomson's Shocking Report - The 7 Big Mistakes

Jay Abraham 100 Greatest Headlines Ever Written

Summary & A Favour Please

I hope that you agree that I have excelled myself in this newsletter. In fact you may be feeling overwhelmed with all this information to help you to build a bigger, better business with more profit.

I ask you to do two things

1. So that you can find this great business building information, set up a special folder in your email system and have my emails automatically transferred there. This is much too good to be lost in the general spam.
      
2. Please forward the email on to other people who would benefit from it and ask them to sign up to my newsletter.

All feedback is gratefully received.

I know that this has been a long email but I'm finding some great information that I want to share so in particular I'd like to hear whether you would like the newsletter weekly or fortnightly although I will also bring you time sensitive information when necessary..

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Teamwork For Customer Service

Ron Kaufman, author of the best selling "UP Your Service!" books has written another excellent little article in the November 2007 issue of Better Business Focus available as part of my newsletter subscription.

In "Are You Pulling In The Same Direction?", Ron Kaufman shows that in too many businesses, the sales prevention and customer bad-will departments are as active as the sales and marketing efforts hoping to persuade more people to buy more.

This creates a one step forward, one step backwards dance that drives customers crazy and ultimately away from the business.

Ron tells a story of one of his students, a stolen computer and a computer company more focused on the profit of a single transaction than the much bigger profit potential from a long term relationship.

The article provides a simple lesson.

Every customer contact represents a moment of truth that can meet or beat customer expectations but can also lead to frustration, irritation and anger for the customer.

Have you stood in your customers' shoes?

Have you tried being a customer of your business?

Have you analysed the moments of truth and set standards for what is required?

I haven't read any of Ron's books yet but I am impressed with these short articles so I'll keep my eyes open.

For more information about Ron Kaufman and his great tips on customer service I recommend that you take look at www.RonKaufman.com although you can be sure that I will be featuring more of Ron's advice on this critical area.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Motivating Customers To Buy

How do you motivate a prospective customer to buy?

It's a big question and I have been disappointed in how little academic research there has been done to look at what motivates someone to buy something.

Allan Mackintosh of performance coaching firm TeamBuilders International has written an article that is included in the November 2007 issue of Better Business Focus that looks at this very issue.

The article is called "A Gem Of An Idea" and he explains his Diamond Motivation model.

Very briefly Allan has identified four factors that help to explain whether prospective customers are motivated to buy:

1. Clarity and Understanding
   There needs to be a clear contract between sales representative and buyer about what they both want from the relationship.
   
   You can see this approach in the Sandler Sales up-front sales contract and Jay Abraham emphasises the importance of explaining why you are making a particular offer. If the buyer understands your motives because you are open and honest about what you want, they are more likely to trust you.
      
2. Expressing Opinions, Hopes, Fears, Ideas and Concerns
   We all have a desire to express our thoughts and feelings and to believe that the other person is really listening to what we have to say.
   
   This is a return to the issue of the sales person asking good questions.
      
3. Having A Choice In Decisions
   This side of the diamond emphasises the need for the buyer to still feel in control of their buying process and one way to do that is to give the buyer a limited range of choices.
   
   During your sales questions you will have investigated the problem, the implications and the pain of the status quo. You are now ready to propose a solution but can you do it in a way that still gives the buyer choice? Do you offer bronze, silver, gold service levels? The basic need is met by every level but the buyer feels involved in the decision and takes ownership.
      
4. Feeling Valued And Recognised
   You know your customer is important but do you make them feel important to you? Make sure that you listen carefully to what they say (no matter how many times you may have heard a similar story) and thank them.

This is a very interesting article and Allan also touches on the motivation of the sales person. You can find the article in the November 2007 issue of Better Business Focus.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Are you making these 11 Common Sales & Selling Mistakes?

Do You Sabotage Your Own Success?

Have you every wondered whether you are your own worst enemy?

Have you considered that you may be sabotaging your own success?

In an excellent article in the November 2007 issue of Better Business Focus, Karen Skehel (holistic executive coach) explains "How Not To Sabotage Your Own Success."

Karen tells us that we each have two sides - the positive, successful, productive side that achieves great things but also a side that tends to pull us back and stop us achieving our true potential.

This dis-empowering side of the human psyche has been named the saboteur and everyone has one but some people are able to control it much better than others.

It seems that the purpose of the saboteur is to resist change, to stay with the familiar.

Imagine your mind working as a thermostat. At certain temperatures the positive side may be in control and you make progress and the temperature starts to warm up. You will reach a comfort level and then your saboteur wakes up, thinks "I like it like this" and starts to hold you back.

I've seen people act like this with money and it can be especially true of commission based sales people.

People have a self image of how much they are worth in terms of income and/or wealth.

Suppose your mental picture of yourself had you earning £40,000 per year. If you only earn £25,000 at the moment then you are motivated and hungry. You will do whatever it takes to earn money (subject to your own values). You are earning below your value and are in pain.

But then suppose you manage to boost your income to £50,000 and still keep your self image at £40,000. Now you are doing better than you think you deserve. There is no pressure to do more and your saboteur comes into full force.

I've seen this phenomenon happen with small business owners. Their business may be capable of earning much higher profits but because they are in this comfort zone, they don't take the actions necessary.

Sadly I've even seen small business owners to shift their mental images down with each, slightly lower result. They may start off earning £50,000 but then there are a few problems and they only earn £45,000. Their expectations are lowered and they start thinking that £45k is OK for the next year. When they only make £42k, their expectations are lowered again......

Back in the article, Karen Skehel explains that there are different ways to sabotage yourself. One classic way is putting off until tomorrow what needs to be done today. "You don't feel like doing it, well one extra day won't hurt will it?" It is just so easy to procrastinate.

Another is not being able to say No. If you say yes to every idea that comes your way, you will soon be so busy that you start many things but don't finish any of them.

To find out how to avoid sabotaging yourself, read Karen's article in the November edition of Better Business Focus by signing up to my newsletter.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Better Business Focus - November 2007

Subscribers to my Partners For Profit newsletter will receive the November 2007 edition of the Better Business Focus magazine.

Once again this contains articles to help you to build a bigger, better business with more profit.

This issue contains the following articles:

1. Allan Mackintosh of Teambuilders International Ltd explains his Diamond Motivation theory and how it can be used in the sales process to motivate customers to buy.
      
2. Ron Kaufman, author of the best selling "Up Your Service" books asks whether all your team are pulling in the same direction to support the customer.
      
3. Nick Hallwood of SHL looks at psychometric profiles for top sales people.
      
4. John Stanley tells us that size does matter after all.... but he's talking about basket spend (or for people outside the retail industry - the average transaction size).
      
5. John Niland asks "Can Business Life Ever Be Stress Free?"
      
6. John Boe looks at how adversity affects people's motivation - some people become stronger and more determined while some people give up.
      
7. Karen Skehel looks at the two sides of ourselves. One side is happy, successful and productive but the other side sabotages our success unless we recognise the issues and take firm control.

Sign up to the newsletter here so that you don't miss out on the next issue and as a bonus you get the last two editions and two free reports

• "How To Win Profitable Customers Away From Competitors" and
• "Marketing for Small Businesses".

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To Your Success
Your Profit Coach,

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

You Have To Treat Your Staff Well To Keep Them

If you have problems with staff retention and you lose staff you don't want to lose then you need to read this blog.

In my Partners For Profit newsletter for this week I will be sending out limited time access to a back copy of Better Business Focus from November 2006.

This includes a great article by Ken Blanchard (yes, the Ken Blanchard of One Minute Manager fame) about how to retain your staff called "The Talent Contest".

In a survey that Ken's company did, it was discovered that 50% or more of an individual's job satisfaction depends on the relationship they have with their immediate manager.

Think of the implications.

Bad managers drive away good people.

It is an expensive business recruiting, inducting and training new employees so you could save some money if you can identify those managers who seem to lose their staff quickly. Just give them some training on what their team want from the boss.

The article goes on to outline 10 staff/team retention strategies:

1. Show an interest in your team and make sure that you show that you value them.
    
2. Make sure that their work is meaningful - does your team know and understand the difference your business can make to people's lives and the consequences of good and bad service?
      
3. Ask people to stay. Make people feel wanted.
    
4. Help your team members to develop their skills.
    
5. Meet with each employee individually and do it regularly. Listen to what they have to say.
    
6. Make it clear that retention is everybody's responsibility. If there is a genuine problem then make sure that managers are told about it and given the chance to solve it.
    
7. Help people to develop their careers. It may mean that they move along but, if they feel that you are supporting them in their goals, they may stay around longer and do better work while there.
    
8. Tell people what great performance looks like.
    
9. Manage change well with clear communications and as much involvement as possible.
    
10. Walk the talk. Nothing loses the respect of staff faster than saying one thing but doing another.

This is an excellent article by Ken Blanchard (who I rate very highly) but it will only be available to my newsletter readers until 31 October 2007. Sign up now.

I highly recommend these books by Ken Blanchard on staff management and team building and full reviews will appear over the next few months. Just follow the links through to Amazon and if you haven't read any of them, then start with "The One Minute Manager"..

The One Minute Manager  UK USA (an absolute classic - simple but effective - see my 5 star review)

Putting the One Minute Manager To Work UK USA

Leadership and the One Minute Manager UK USA

The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey UK USA (a great book if your staff keep passing problems to you)

The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams UK USA

Are you a fan of Ken Blanchard's work? Are you a One Minute Manager? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Avoiding Commodity Products By Creating Customer Loyalty

In the October 2007 edition of Better Business Focus, Steve Rowe explains how to fight back against the market pressures to commoditise your products and services.

He tells us that there are two types of customers:

• Type 1 who will only buy on price
     
• Type 2 who place a premium on the extra value you provide and are prepared to pay extra.

A point that Steve doesn't make but in my experience is true is that type 2 value buyers pretend to be type 1 price buyers.

Why do they do that? Because they want your products at your commodity competitor's prices so negotiations become a game of bluff.

Steve advises you to focus on the value of the relationship:

• the value you deliver in terms of cost reductions or extra revenue
     
• the service levels experienced during the relationship
     
• the cost (and risk) of changing suppliers.

The next step is to identify extra ways that you can help your supplier, perhaps by making referrals or helping to promote their business through yours.

Finally look at how you can help them strengthen their own competitive strategy by involving them in your innovation ideas or help them learn about their competitors.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Are you making these 11 Common Sales & Selling Mistakes?