So what do we need to focus on as a team?  Clarity in goal setting is vital in order to achieve.  You would never ask a waiter to go and get you some food as you know you need to be more specific yet this is the instructions we give our own minds and colleagues on a regular basis.  More sales for example will rarely achieve more sales, at least not as effectively as we would want.  We need to get specific.

Being specific creates clarity and clarity creates confidence which in turn creates positive motivation.  People who are motivated become creative when encountering barriers along the way.  This stimulation can feed on itself while ever an expectation that ‘it’ can be done is maintained.  This why reaffirming the goal and dealing with obstacles with the team/individuals within the team is one of the key roles of a leader.

Of course the balance between urgent (that which acts on you) and Not Urgent (that which you must act on) activity is the main cause of goal failure.  Taking phone calls and responding to questions are urgent while planning and coaching are not urgent.  That is they can be, and often are, put off. 

This practice is the single biggest cause of crises management.  It is inefficient and unsustainable.

Recognize the basic fact that you always have a choice. Making no choice is actually a choice in and of itself, and it's your choice to allow other people or events decide for you.

Set goals for yourself and note how, by working towards these and achieving these, you are controlling what happens in your life. As you do this, you'll find that your self-confidence quickly builds.

Develop your decision making and problem solving skills so that you can feel more confident and in control of what happens.

With these tools, you'll find that you can understand and navigate through situations that would otherwise damage you.

Pay attention to your self-talk. When you hear yourself saying things like, "I have no choice" or "There's nothing I can do", step back and remind yourself that you do, in fact, have some degree of control. It's your choice whether you exercise it or not.

Use the processes, systems and tools you are learning to help you set, go after and achieve your goals.

Retention Factors

Motivational Fit
Challenge; meaning; autonomy; organizational fit; manager relationship; job clarity

External Rewards
Recognition; advancement; compensation; pay vs contributions; company responsiveness

Cooperation and Trust
Cooperation with co-workers; trust in workplace

Company Direction
Clear vision and strategy; appropriate selection practices

Home Life
Geographic location; work-life balance

Workplace Discord
Internal politics, stress, workplace volatility
?

An overview of strategies that might help

Motivational Fit
Job enrichment; teamwork; autonomy and discretion; consultation programs; company information; clear JDs; management training and development.

External Rewards
Recognition programs; fair pay; career paths; training and development; effective services for employees.

Cooperation and Trust
Teamwork; communication; management and supervisor training and development.

Company Direction
Vision and mission; employee involvement in strategy; communication; effective selection processes -transparent, merit-based, culture-fit sensitive; realistic job previews

Home Life
Work-life balance policies; working time flexibility; telework and homework; travel allowances

Workplace Discord
Effective diversity policies; grievance procedures; opportunities for employee voice; management and supervisor training and development

Other retention tactics
• Internal surveys of reasons for quitting/ staying
• Improved selection practices
• Exit interviews
• Improved communication between management and employees
• Improved training and development opportunities

• Targeted strategies work better than blanket strategies
• Motivational Fit is critical
• Don’t underestimate value of good recruitment and selection… worth the investment
• Support for new hires is critical

How many did you tick?

Under 5: You are regularly in the job market and finding it increasingly difficult to attract staff. It is time to research the individual satisfaction and personalised retention?

Between 5 and 10: The retention practices of your company could be centred on financial reward and Friday drinks. This mass motivation which used to obtain better productivity may well have reached its limits. Time to rethink the strategies.

Between 10 and 15: You know what is at stake with retention and you are committed to answer your employees’ demands in a culture of engagement. Excellence is on its way!

Between 15 and 20: You are an employer of choice and everybody should know it!

What are 3 actions you need to take right now in refining your employee retention strategy?

I have a range of tools and processes aimed directly at improving attraction, retention and productivity in your organisation. Give me a call and receive free advice regarding your people issues and opportunities. Ross - 0409 459736

There are many aspects to business management but focusing on the strategic vision, critical success factors and business goals is imperative to achieving corporate objectives.

Customers
Identity who your customers are, ask them what they want and develop plans to exceed their expectations.  This can be accomplished through gaining customer perspective by using feedback tools such as comment cards, satisfaction surveys or focus groups.  Remember, it’s the customers who pay the bills.

Market Share
Identify your niche and work toward constantly increasing market share.  Expanding the customer base increases revenues and business opportunities.  Track customer trends and develop plans to keep current customers and recruit new customers.

Quality
Take time to look at the quality of products and services provided.  Look at business processes and respond to customer issues.  Work toward creating an environment that embraces continuous improvement and has systems in place to identify problems and explicit problem solving processes.  This can be done by using the seven quality improvement tools.

Manage Resources
Building market share and taking care of customers will help increase revenues.  But increased revenues are only as good as those revenues are managed. 

Have a very specific budgeting process to ensure that revenues are spent only on those things that help achieve corporate objectives.  It is easy to waste budget dollars if there is not accountability for spending or an effective revenue management process.

Employees
Don’t make the mistake of taking for granted those who do the work of the organization.  Spend some time thinking about employees and work toward creating an environment that is conducive to productivity.

Work to create a strong culture of employee engagement. Set clear expectations by developing employee goals, identify employee needs, give them the tools to do their job and get out of the way.  Hold them accountable through a structured performance management process and reward them for doing a good job.

Successful organizations have figured out how to stay focused on the vision and strategic objectives.  They maintain a balanced approach to corporate management by making all aspects of the business of equal importance and priority.  This is what sets successful organizations apart from the rest.

Why not complete our free business audit, it will show you where you are strong and where you might need to focus more attention Click Here

As the economy slows, competition for scarce resources increases and sales are now back on the agenda - the shoe is now firmly on the other foot!

It is worth noting some key points raised by Neil Rackham (of SPIN Selling fame) in his article: "Selling tactics for difficult times"

• Only 50% of sales people have sold in difficult times - if you have a young sales force then this proportion will be much higher.

• In an economic downturn, sales cycles (from start to close) are typically 40% longer

• Many people believe that in tough times, customers buy on price - this is a fallacy as most customers will buy on value, not price

• Research has shown that during difficult times, customers will buy safety i.e.. the offering with the lowest risk. Often the perception is that the lowest risk option is to stay with the "status quo" i.e.. the current product, service and/or provider

• Committees are often involved in making economic decisions in difficult times and group decision making usually favours lower risk

• Buyers also realise that their decisions will come under more scrutiny in tougher economic times.

This means that businesses and sales people will need to adjust their strategies in order to compete effectively and to survive in a depressed economy.

Sales Survivors

Rackham's research indicated that many sales people struggle to adjust to the "new rules" of the downturn (just as many business owners and managers struggle). There is also a group that will adapt and survive (even thrive) in an economic downturn.

In his article, Rackham outlined the key characteristics of "the Strugglers" and "the Survivors" based on research undertaken in previous downturns. This is summarised in the table below.

Interestingly, research has shown that a key factor in the buying decision for customers was the "confidence" of the sales person.

Are your sales people confident when they sell? How can you help them to build confidence in themselves, your pricing and your products and services?  Call me to find out how I can help you achieve this quickly - click here

Improving your sales force

In a second article, Rackham exposes 5 top tips for building a world class sales force:

• Sales Supervisors are the key to success - lift the level of supervision not the level of sales person. You don't need better sales people - you need better sales supervision.

• Fewer accounts = more sales - Research has shown that dramatic improvements in sales can come from reducing the number of opportunities that a salesperson will focus on by up to 30%. It's the quality not quantity approach!

• Create Value - Your sales people must become "value creators" or "problem solvers" rather than "talking brochures".

• Coaching brings results - ensure that your team has support at all levels from manager to supervisor to sales person. Effective coaching can often provide that external sounding board and third party accountability that can help to improve results.

To get started rate yourself on the following audit. Mark the scale with a cross to denote where you are now and a tick to mark where you want to be in six months.

List three action against the largest gaps and get moving.

If you need some free clarification or assistance give me a call - Ross 0409 459736 or Click Here 

Now – Often the now relates directly to the SWOT.  What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are either impacting on progress or at least need to be accounted for. 

This sets the scene for the degree of difficulty being experienced in the process.  I don’t mention SWOT, I simply use the headings as prompts to speak too.

Where – Reiterating the desired outcome is often missed, yet it is the key area for giving others some understanding of the ‘journey’ and its value. 

The Where needs to be quite proactive in expression while also being clear about potential impact.

How – These are the key strategies and associated actions being undertaken and monitored throughout the process.

Those being updated should now have a clear understanding of what is at stake and what can be achieved which should make gaining support much easier. This is where the request for help from others and for resources can be canvassed.

Summary

Managers sometimes update purely around the How.  The problem with this is that the value of effort is not easily appreciated. 

People can also question the ‘Why’ of our activities as they have no real yardstick to measure against.

Only through consistent reiteration of the goal and its impact once achieved, the associated barriers being experienced and the solutions being applied can others get a true understanding of the project overall and its process.

This method can be applied when reporting against overall business or divisional progress as well as individual projects and initiatives. 

Therefore, you may have to follow this process several times during one presentation where multiple projects exist.

The following project sheet template is a handy way to manage initiatives as it directly captures the NOW – WHERE – HOW process.

Click here to download project sheet template .

1. Profile your customers.  Most business can tell you how many products they sold and what the products do.  Very few of them actually know who their customers are. 

2. Segment your customers.  This is a difficult process in most businesses because the information has not been collected.  Consider issues such as customers’ income, location, industry background, sales volume, etc.

3. Identify your “A” Class Clients.  Rank all your customers.  A small percentage of your clients (between 20% and 30%) will be responsible for the majority of your profit.  These customers are usually regular purchasers, with a high value per purchase, and you enjoy dealing with them.

4. Identify the Situation facing them.  In order to understand future market trends, you must understand the changes occurring to the environment of these clients.  What is happening for them?  Are new competitors, new Government legislation, increasing costs, new technology, etc affecting them?  Consider a survey of your customers to capture this information.

5. Identify their Problems.  Talk to your customers and find out about their challenges and problems.  Listen to their concerns.  Try and get them to be specific about the issues they face.

6. Get them to Quantify the Implications.  Discuss with them what would ultimately happen if they do not find a solution to these problems.  Would they face financial difficulties, longer working hours, or greater stress?  Here you are trying to understand what would motivate them to change to you.

7. Create the Need for your Services.  Your customers should now be asking for your help.  You have the opportunity to offer a solution.  They will be more interested in you and your company rather than how much you charge.

8. Outline the Costs and Benefits of your Services.  Completing a Cost Benefit Analysis makes it simple for your customer to make a decision.  The clearer the benefits, the less the issue about price.

9. Offer a Guarantee.  Every business informally provides a guarantee, but very few have defined it, and told their customers!  The clearer you are about your guarantee the easier it is for you to limit your exposure.

10. Ask for the Sale.  This is the step that everyone puts off.  Your customer is expecting you to ask for the sale.  When you don’t ask for it they think that you cannot successfully meet their need.

Practicing, testing and scripting are essential.  These steps provide you with the content of any future advertising and promotion.

Clients have achieved outstanding results using this 10-step process.  We can assist you through each stage and achieve significant success. 

Fill in the following template to create your sales and marketing program.

The study of businesses indicates that rather than simply being a little better than their competitors, the top firms are often three or four times more successful. 

Research into the reasons for success concluded that such levels of superior performance were not an accident.

There are thirteen factors that characterise the highly successful organisation:

1. A strong sense of identity felt throughout the organisation.
2. An openness to change. 
3. Authority diffused broadly throughout the organisation.
4. Ideas evaluated more on their merit than on their origin.
5. A strong sense of support of the employees for the organisation, the organisation for its employees, and of the employees for each other. 
6. Flexible organisation structure.
7. Orientation to achieve, more than to procedures or to ritual.
8. Open communications throughout the organisation: up, down and across.
9. Commonly held understanding of organisation’s objectives and values.
10. Emphasis on a program for the development of people.
11. Meetings devoted more to problem solving rather than win-lose propositions/decisions.
12. Broad content in individual jobs.
13. High performance standards.

On a scale of 1 to 10 rate your business on how good you are NOW in addressing each factor.  Be realistic. Then rate WHERE it should be, and highlight the area with the biggest gap.

Develop strategies and actions to lift your performance in the areas with the biggest gap.

While not all these factors are practical for all organisations at any given time, they are definitely worthwhile objectives to be striving for.  Success is not an accident.

However what could you do in each area to further improve?

In today’s climate we need to be strategic around customer retention and satisfaction.

Take 15 minutes, write down three ideas for improvement and develop some actions to implement.

Here are some areas you could work on. However feel free to change to what is important to your clients.

1. Communication
2. Value for money
3. Presentation
4. ??

Click here to downloan Microsoft Word Template.

What makes this date any different?  It’s just a day!  It has nothing to do with timing. It’s really something deeper–something inside of you that simply holds you back despite your having the desire to be the best you can be.

And that’s the point I really want to drive home as we start this new year.  Desire is simply not enough.  It’s not enough in your personal life, and it sure isn’t enough in your small business.  I’ll admit it’s a starting point, but at the end of the day desire is worthless without clarity about where you want to be, a plan of action and a firm commitment to yourself to follow through.

Here is a short list of seven popular New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business Owners, in no particular order.  If you are already doing some of these religiously, good for you.  If not, ask yourself why, and then make the commitment to take action and follow through! 

1. Make the commitment to learn more this year
Whether you decide to enroll in a small-business class, or simply read a different book each month about business, a successful person, or personal development, you and your business will be the better for it.

2. Make business planning and strategy a priority
Just because your business isn’t a new startup, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t spend some quality time planning and strategising for a successful year.

3. Increase your networking efforts
This is really a no-brainer!  If this is on your list for this year, put the plan together on where, when and how and stick to it.

4. Better manage your work-life balance
The game of small business and entrepreneurship is stressful at times.  Find ways to better manage your work-life balance.  You and your family will thank you for it.

5. Find a way to serve, contribute, and give back
Isn’t this really what it’s all about anyway?

6. Hire a business consultant
Not someone who relies only on rhetoric but one who can help you really plan and implement quality strategy.  Experienced, unbiased, neutral advice from a third-party is really invaluable to you and your small business.

7. Communicate more with your employees:
 Find out the real reasons why they are dissatisfied, and do something about it.  They will work harder for you, and be more dedicated to you and your company over the long term.

 Use the following formula to rate yourself on the factors that are critical in achieving potential.

If you have an unyielding desire to succeed, a crystal clear vision for the future and an exceptional plan of action give yourself 10 of of 10 in each box.  The closer you mark yourself toward 0 the less sure you are about that factor.

Now simply multiply your scores together and divide by 10 to get your change percentage.

If you want this year to be the best ever give us a call and we’ll help you get there.

Call us direct on 1300 933 074 or 0409 459736 to arrange your free review session.

Is your service a key factor in setting you apart from your competitors?
Does it frustrate you that while others claim to give service, you deliver better service, quality and value?

Most businesses perceive their competitive advantage to be their ‘outstanding service’, ‘better quality’, or ‘understanding the customers needs’ however many believe that they are not communicating this service excellence effectively.

They express a strong sense of frustration that if only they could better communicate what they offer, their business would grow in leaps and bounds.

Remarkably, less than 25% have a programme in place to systematically follow up customers and extend further services to ‘nurture’ them into long term loyal clients. Very few ever write to their customers after the sale.

What is most interesting is that most of these businesses are generally successful, growing, and run by very switched on people.

So why do switched on people not do things they clearly know they should? Certainly, there is a time constraint. We are all victims of the ‘trying to do everything at once’ syndrome.

But more so, I strongly sense it is our tendency to invest time and energy in areas we know and understand, steering clear of areas unfamiliar to us or outside our ‘comfort zone’.

And while what you're doing works, there's a temptation not to extend past that, even though there may be vast untapped new business waiting outside the comfort zone.

Comfort zone or not, the facts are irrefutable: A concerted approach to effective marketing (and by that I mean all its facets including advertising, joint venturing, staff training and communication generally) is the most powerful form of leverage available to you.

Literally without spending an extra cent, focussing in this area can revolutionise your business.

For example, think about the way you and your people convert enquiries on the telephone. If your conversion rate is currently 1 in 4, and you were to focus on training that allowed your people to lift conversions to 1 in 2, you've just lifted profits by 100%.

Think about writing to your customers. If you haven't done so, you may literally have millions of dollars in latent business just waiting to be tapped.

So how can we integrate these insights into the power of marketing?

Well, here are 8 ways to package your excellence... and turn all that energy and commitment into sales.

Of course, the temptation will be there to say, ‘I already know all this stuff’ however whether you know it or not is not the point. It's how consistently and effectively you do it that counts.

1. Don't assume your clients recognise or appreciate your excellent service.
You might know how fantastic your service is and how committed to the client you really are but only by constantly reinforcing it (using specifics where ever possible), will the likelihood grow that clients and prospects will fully appreciate it.

If you are fanatical about your quality and service you have a potent marketing tool waiting to be harnessed.

For example how does your letterhead remind or inform people how good your service is. What statement captures the reason they can depend on you?

How does your distribution system advertise the benefits of your company to others? When you send out product does your packing slip say, ‘We are proud that our products are of the very highest standards. If this does not meet or exceed your expectations in every way, simply return it for an immediate replacement or refund. And thank You ...for being an ABC Pty Ltd client’

2. Keep in touch ...more often than your competitors.
This isn't earth shattering stuff either. It certainly isn't the first time you've heard it. Yet in our experience, hardly any of the businesses have a policy of writing to clients after the sale ...or sending some other value adding information on a routine basis.

Now you may tire of reading all those letters and handwritten notes to clients but to your client, it's new. They'll be pleasantly surprised and delighted that you care. When it comes to doing more business or referring others, who will they think of first?

Few business people will ever disagree with the logic behind this ‘keep-in-touch’ approach, yet almost unanimously, they'll rationalise that they are too busy or don't have the facilities to do it.

In fact, no business can afford not to practise these vital steps.

The trick lies in having a system.

It doesn't matter if your system entails scribbling X number of notes every night, or handing over names and addresses to a marketing company together with a stack of your letterheads and a standard letter.

What matters is that consistently following the ‘I keep-in-touch’ programme will guarantee that your great service-and hence your future profits, are being proactively nurtured.

3. Harness your reservoir of good will.
If you're as good as you think, then you'll have a lot of people impressed with your service. You already know ‘word of mouth’ is your most powerful form of advertising. Help them to make you even more successful by helping them talk to others about you.

Do a bit of soul searching. Ask yourself: Do you make it easy for your delighted clients to advocate you? Can you even imagine what it would mean in terms of new (and quality) business if you could grow referrals by say 10%?

There may be literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in good business waiting for you if you develop a packaged system for letting your clients refer you.

Why not get your team together and mind map the ways you could package up the referral process in order to make referrals easier for your clients and alliances. Also think about ways you might measure the effectiveness of your strategies.

Instructions on how to mind map Click Here

4. Make your literature work harder
What do you do with the brochures that cross your desk every month? Mostly you toss in the bin without even a cursory glance, right?

Why do company brochures hit the bin so fast? For one, they are an arms length communication that are impersonal and therefore easy to discard without any sense of guilt.

Secondly, most brochures are a company ego trip. They talk only about the company and not the needs of the the reader or prospect.

The cold truth is, no one gives a damn about the company, only what the company can do for them

Does your brochure commit that sin?

Put it to the test as you would a salesperson, question its presentation, and make sure it justifies its existence.

5. Document & duplicate what works.
There is almost always a better way to convert leads to clients.

It still costs you the same in your selling effort whether the person buys or not. And when you look at the dynamics of lifting conversions by even 15%, it could return you vastly more profit than thousands of dollars supplementing your ad campaign.

Again it’s about developing systems that you can measure and continuously refine. How does your best sales person do it? How can you package up the methods he or she uses and pass them along. Can’t be done? Then how come McDonalds can motivate my 14 year old to consistently produce awesome service all day every day for as little as six bucks an hour? They have a great system(s).

The key here is to not try and improve by 100% in one jump. Remember if each of your sales channels or people improved overall conversions by only 15% your profits are on the rise through better utilisation of your existing resources.

Take some time right now to write down the top five actions needed to start increasing the effectiveness of your sales process.

6. Actively seek out others who'll endorse you to their clients.
This strategy is one of the most powerful yet under-used means of generating profitable new business and a wealth of new clients.

You have a colleague in a like but non-competing business. Your colleague has invested perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in acquiring and building trust with his or her clients. Imagine the potency of that colleague marketing to his or her list with a letter that talks about you.

It talks about how valuable your service has been to them and that of all the people they've come across in your profession, you have consistently shone in every way. Perhaps that in one project alone, you saved them $15,000 because of your in- depth knowledge of your subject. And because they (the person reading the letter) are such a valued client, your colleague has bought them an hour of your consulting time ...or they've sponsored the reader for some sort of sampling of your wares.

Of course, you give the hour's consultation or the sample to your colleague without cost.

It is a good deal. A wonderful opportunity for your colleague to be seen to be doing something valuable for their clients.

And a wonderful opportunity for you too. It doesn't matter that you're giving your time or a sample away. It brings you into contact with a new circle of prospects who'll be pre-disposed to you! List down three alliances who you could network with in this way.

1)________________________________________

2)________________________________________

3)________________________________________

7. Publicity – It’s Free Advertising
You may be amazed at how receptive the media is to your story. If you have been performing well for clients, and your clients love you for it, tell your story to the business magazines and the daily press. Of course, they won't be interested in something that is a straight plug for you. Justify using a theme... Like small business making a success... winning against the odds... helping others to succeed... then that is news.

When you are written up, you'll get a boost to your profile and your credibility and, perhaps some new clients. But the potential doesn't stop there.

Reproduce the article (first obtaining permission and citing the publication) and use it in every way you can... mail it to your clients, to your prospects, along with the testimonials on your testimonial sheet

8. Commit To A Client-Oriented Newsletter.
This is hard. Writing a newsletter on a regular or even occasional basis demands discipline and commitment. Few companies ever sustain that commitment. And of those who do, most make the fatal error of focussing the content on themselves and their achievements, not on the customer's needs. Believe me, a well written client- focussed newsletter to your clients is a wonderful and powerful tool for keeping close to them

Like I said, it's hard. In fact, none of these 8 ideas is particularly easy. The key is to pick one... or a few... and work them hard until you have them ticking over successfully... then start on another. That way your guaranteed to win

What four things would you write about if you had to issue a newsletter at the end of this month?

1)________________________________________

2)________________________________________

3)________________________________________

4)________________________________________

At Partnercorp, we have ready made systems and processes to help you get moving on these important initiatives. Give me a call right now to secure a free marketing review session for your business.

Call Ross on 1300 933 074 or  0409 459 736 or click here

• How to close a sale
• The amazing power of body language
• The 3 secrets to becoming a great salesperson
• How to overcome every objection you'll ever hear
• How to generate Golden leads
• Why product knowledge is useless... unless you know this powerful secret
• Why people really buy
• Why benefits sell and features don't
• Why you shouldn't be a human headline
• When to ask for the order and a whole lot more!

Your Presentor - Tony Moffitt

A professional salesperson for over 25 years, Tony Moffitt has sold "just about everything". Having learned the craft of professional salesmanship in the electrical appliance industry, Tony has since worked extensively in fields as diverse as home improvement, advertising, motor vehicle sales, high-end art sales... to party plan and jewellery.

As well as leading teams of salespeople and telemarketers, Tony has worked as a Sales Manager in many companies. He also often consults to individual businesses, either working with staff sales people, or developing lead generation teams.

Tony has years of experience that can be contributed to helping your business make more money by having sales staff that know how to sell

This course has guaranteed results and you can see a definite improvement in yourself, your profits and the success of your business.

Details 

Date:  Thursday the 25th of November 2010
Time: 9.00p.m. - 5.00p.m.
Cost:  $600 per person

Hurry and book now as seats are limited. Call 1300 933 074 to secure your booking now!

So what are these four processes?

Step 1 – Capture Thoughts
 
Mind mapping begins with a word or image that symbolizes what you want to think about e.g. Sales. This is placed in the middle of the page.

Next individually or within the group brainstorm any elements of the issue that comes to mind. As ideas emerge, write only one or two word descriptions of the ideas on lines branching out from the main focus. Allow the ideas to expand outward into branches and sub-branches.

Think fast and capture that explosion of ideas as rapidly as possible.

Encourage people to build on the ideas of others.

Step 2 – Pareto Analysis
Vilfredo Pareto was an economist who is credited with establishing what is now widely known as the Pareto Analysis or 80/20 rule. When he discovered the principle, it established that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Later, he discovered that the Pareto principle was valid in other parts of his life and business.

Discuss and agree on which 20% of the ideas on the mind map will potentially give us 80% go forward toward resolution of this issue?

Step 3

Now it’s time to think Positive and Negative.  On each of the ideas selected from the mind map ask; what positive forces are we currently using or could use that would drive the issue in a positive direction.

Now list all the factors which are making the issue selected unsuccessful to date.  These are the negative influences on the issue. Now ask; what negative forces are currently in place or could be in place that is stopping us from driving the issue in a positive direction.

Again, the Pareto rule (80/20) can be applied to the lists.  Now list 3 actions against each of the strategies considered most important.

Step 4

Once you have your ideas, strategies and actions you can capture them in a One Page Plan.  Put simply a One Page Plan captures the Now, the Where and then the Strategies and Actions for implementation.  This becomes the control document while implementation occurs.

Problem solving is about collecting thoughts around the issue, prioritising which strategies to go after and then capturing the actions, ready for implementation.

The companies I work with can often take a major issue and have a solid plan of attack in action in under an hour.

Call us on 1300 933 074 if you would like to see how easy it is to implement these four processes in your business.

STEP 4--DEVELOP SKILLS AND POTENTIAL

For most people, career opportunities are just as important as the money they make.  In a recent study more than 40 percent of the respondents said they would consider leaving their present employer for another job with the same benefits if that job provided better career development and greater challenges.

Skilled people will not remain in a job if they see no future in their position. To eliminate the feeling of being in a dead-end job, every position should have an individual development plan. (Partnercorp actually has a people development intranet product available to clients and their employees – contact us for details)

STEP 5--EVALUATE AND MEASURE

Continuous evaluation and never-ending improvement is the final step of the PRIDE system. The primary purpose of evaluation is to measure progress and determine what satisfies and de-satisfies your workforce.
The evaluation process includes the measurement of attitudes, morale, turnover, and the engagement level of the workforce. Here is a checklist of items that should be included in your evaluation and measurement process.

• Conduct an employee satisfaction survey at least once a year.
• Initiate interviews and surveys concerning the real reasons people come to and leave your organization.
• Improve your hiring process to create a better match between the individual's talents and job requirements.
• Provide flexible work arrangements for working parents and older workers.
• Hold managers responsible for retention in their departments.
• Start measuring the cost of turnover.
• Focus on the key jobs that have the greatest impact on profitability and productivity.
• Examine those departments that have the highest turnover rates.
• Design an effective employee orientation program

Our Business Consultants can show you how easy it is to drive productivity in your business. Call us on 1300 933 074 to discuss your options.  

It is amazing how much time, effort and energy business owners will put into trying to breathe life into ‘dead horses’ instead of committing their valuable resources to more productive pursuits. Most would be able to reflect on specific things that they have poured considerable time and money into, only to achieve poor results. For example:-

• Buying a stronger whip
• Doing nothing: ‘This is the way we have always ridden dead horses’
• Visiting other countries to see how they ride dead horses
• Performing a productivity study to see if lighter riders improve the dead horse’s performance
• Modifying existing standards to include dead horses
• Harnessing several dead horses together in an attempt to increase their speed
• Re-classifying the dead horse as ‘living-impaired’
• Rewrite the expected performance requirements for all horses

While there is no doubt that running a business is about taking risks, there needs to be an appreciation that sometimes the only means of achieving the desired results is to adopt new strategies.

In a way, persevering with poor strategy is like putting up with a car engine that is steadily going out of tune. It’s not until you have it serviced that you truly understand how bad things had been. Perhaps if cars engines or business strategy were like horses the path to non performance would be a lot faster and we would be more ready to make the required changes.

Try this quick quiz based on the ten Ps of business:

Processes – are your internal and external processes so non-existent, inefficient or restrictive that you make it difficult for your staff to provide effective internal and external customer service?

Products – are you relying on under-performing products or services that do not react favourably to advertising and promotions effort and may therefore have come to the end of their natural life cycle?

Prices – are you relying on pricing and discounting alone as your main point of competitiveness and differentiation, rather than building value for the customer by other means?

Policies – are your staff disempowered because your internal policies do not allow the authority and responsibility to resolve customer issues or complaints immediately?

Personnel – do you have under-performing staff who just don’t ‘get it’ and therefore cause you on-going frustration because you don’t know how to give them the meaning they require?

Plans – do you develop business plans without spending time to develop strategies specifically related to on-going innovation?

Promotions – do you constantly restrict your marketing effort to advertising and promotions without having a measurable return for your investment?

Positioning – have market circumstances and / or your service offering changed over time to render your current positioning strategy (how you want to be perceived by your customers) obsolete?

Priorities – Are there issues having a negative impact on your business but you have so much on your plate that you don’t have time to address them?

Potential – Can you see the potential for improvement but you are too busy working in the business to take time out to work on the business?

If the answer is yes to one or more of these questions then you may have a dead horse on your hands. If you have also been using any of the business equivalents of the ineffective corrective strategies listed above, then you may well be in need of a re-think as to your means of achieving future success.

Now is a good time to recognise your dead horses and develop strategies for dismounting and remounting strategies of energy and vigour.

Try our free business diagnostic to discover your ‘dead horses’

• There is no such thing as a casual conversation in the sense that everything you say will be further considered, interpreted and shared.
  
  Think about the impact of what you say on others, even those who hear it second hand. Think when you comment on any member of the team to another member, and only make positive comments or none at all.
• Meet the reasonable expectations of team members on how you should behave toward them.  Use less talk about yourself and more focus on their needs in achieving better outcomes.
• Make sure that your expectations around quality and timeliness are routinely reiterated with the group.
• Generally the positive expectations about your behaviour will include fairness, honesty, consistency and respect for the team members.
•  Other expectations should be openness and clear communication highlighted by good listening techniques.
• Don't ignore things that you know everyone is whispering about in the corridors.
• Inform team members of any decision or event that will affect them as a team or individually as urgently and openly as possible.
• Be prepared to say sorry
• Do not have favourites.
• Deal with problems, misunderstandings and issues as quickly as possible

How much do your people trust you?

We can assist you in improving productivity in your organisation. Contact Us.

Health covers a huge range of areas and as a management consultant I deal in health in an even broader sense of the word.  The health of a business is my perspective. 

The health of a business is often measured by the profits it makes, it’s market share and its growth.

These days though businesses are beginning to look at a wider set of metrics.  These measures don’t only look at the health of the business itself but also at its place in the community, the connectedness of its people and its broader purpose with regard to its widening range of stakeholders.

This is the big shift in thinking within business in the 21st century.  It began quite a number of years ago when greed brought many businesses unstuck in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s.  The ‘greed is good’ catch cry just wasn’t sustainable.

Good businesses or perhaps I should say healthy businesses are now realising they need to take a more sophisticated approach if they are to enjoy real sustainability. 

They need to recognise and satisfy a greater set of needs both internally and externally.

They now have a wider set of metrics that show how balanced they are as an organisation.  We all know that balance is the key to good health and measuring what drives a business to success rather than only measuring the outcomes is fast becoming the norm. So what are these extra measures or needs that must be catered to? Some include (in no particular order):-

• Significance – sincerely recognising the efforts of others.  This includes staff, suppliers and those who help keep the community (the market) strong.
• Contribution – adding value to others because you can, not just to make a profit.  Being a proactive corporate citizen.
• Growth and variety – The industrial age is finished, we can no longer get away with treating our people as simply part of the machinery of business.  We must provide stimulating work and better career paths.
• Connection – making sure everyone feels part of the  vision and purpose and feel valued for their contributions.  Quality communication is a key part of this factor.
• Certainty – ensuring that we are prudent in the way we administer our organisation in order to stay fiscally strong.  This breeds credibility within our team and the market.

Although some of these factors may appear to be soft and hard to measure, they are now increasingly more common within successful organisations.  Further, these are increasingly important considerations by the broader market in terms of business value.
 
After all it makes good business sense.  Those companies who had customer, supplier, staff and shareholder loyalty during the scare of the so called GFC are in much better shape to capitalise on the new opportunities now presenting themselves than those who failed to build trust and loyalty when they had the chance.

I spend a lot of time with clients help them identify their health right now.  This means where they are well and where there are warning signs of potential trouble.  From there building a program for ensuring they stay well is easy.  These are the businesses that will be around for the long term. 

Of course most businesses don’t follow such advice.  Businesses, like so many individuals, only seek diagnoses after the symptoms become obvious and sometimes that is simply too late.  Which type of business is yours?

Complete our business diagnostic report to recieve a free report on how healthy your business is. Click here to proceed.  

Several of my clients recently have struggled with a modern dilemma I call ‘21^st Century Existentialism’ or ‘I can’t be bothered syndrome’.  What is it, where does it come from, how do we fix it?

The “I can’t be bothered syndrome” is found in many people in many jobs.  It tends to have symptoms similar in appearance to a mild depression.  You will notice it in people who:-

• Seem bored by the job (or parts of it)
• Tend to cruise through the day
• Think ‘Near enough is good enough’
• Under-achievers.  They have talent, they are good people but they just seem to not step up create the real success and leadership they are capable of.

The old timers would say it is because “they have had it too easy”.  That everything is just presented to them, they are too comfortable.  Well perhaps for some, but in my experience it goes a little deeper than that.

I wouldn’t call it depression, which is a serious and under diagnosed illness, but it is something akin to the existentialist dilemma which in one sense asks; why should I strive to achieve anything when nothing really matters anyway?  I am never going to achieve greatness so why should I strive for a slightly higher level of mediocrity?

I know this feeling well, for I have been striving to overcome it for the past 15 years or so.

So what can you do to create motivation and enthusiasm in these circumstances?

1.    Think and act local

If they don’t by into the big picture, create a series of smaller ones with rewards along the way.  People love the feeling of achievement.  Achievement is contagious and addictive.  Create incremental, line of sight, goals that tend toward the larger objective.

2.    Make it a sport/challenge

We will spend hours trying to improve our golf game or a score in solitaire: genuinely pointless activities.  I remember working at Sizzler Restaurants during Uni – one of the measures was a simple daily productivity measure (‘customers per labour hour’ for those who are interested).  We would get enormous personal satisfaction and motivation from incremental improvements in our productivity.   So keep it simple, make the rules clear and keep the score. 

3.    Train in personal leadership

This, for me, is the big one.  Get some help from a good quality leadership development process.

At Partnercorp our leadership programs, for example, focus on helping people identify what drives them? What gets them motivated?  How to implement simple strategies to help them break out of the cycle they are in.

Leadership is about more than the ability to manage others.  Really it is about the ability to manage the self.  By training people in leadership you can drastically improve their performance and, as importantly, their general happiness and wellbeing.

Furthermore, depending on your circumstances, there are government incentives that are easily available that can make the whole process cost neutral.   Win: Win: Win.

Help your people build your business with enthusiasm.

The company manufactures, distributes and installs a patented pre stressed concrete flooring system for use in residential and commercial construction.

With a turnover in excess of $20 mil. per annum the company is justifiably proud of its success over its short ten year life span.

Convincing the market that this was a quicker and cheaper option when compared to conventional methods was our first hurdle says Ultrafloor General Manager Alan Morrison.

With our market share established we are now at a point in our growth where we need to become more focused in finding ways to improve efficiency, reduce costs an improve quality – all without constraining capacity says Alan.

It is perhaps counter intuitive to think all these things can occur simultaneously however through our focus on these goals and our work with Partnercorp we are beginning to show such outcomes can be achieved, he says

The Partnercorp manager for the Ultrafloor project, Ross Holding, maintains that the secret to improving a company like Ultrafloor, that is already a top performer, lies in developing tighter measures.

Step one in the process was identifying bottlenecks in the system says Ross.

To do this we convened a project team and within only a few hours we were able to identify a number of impediments within the supply chain. Some behind the scenes research into existing data helped gauge the severity of these impediments in the system.

Once that was done the project team, predominantly made up of plant workers and foreman, started identifying measures that would indicate the rate of improvement once changes were made.

Step three was about developing strategies that would begin to resolve, or at least significantly improve, outcomes for the division in terms of efficiency, costs and quality. Time was spent costing the strategies and developing timelines for implementation.

This Now – Where – How approach works well as it is not only simple but it also affords ‘buy in’ from those people who ultimately have to make the strategies identified actually happen says Ross.

The other important factors for me using this process, says Alan, is the exposure my staff get to the tools and processes for team management and problem solving and the eight week project team cycle.

The eight week cycle ensures the Now-Where-How process is completed in that time frame. This allows easier forecasting of human resources to be committed to a project while also knowing strategies will be on the table and impacting within a set period.

Ultrafloor continues to blaze a trail in business growth, efficiency and quality making it a true leading business in our region and beyond

However they also recognised that the practice is a business and as such needed to become more proactive in determining and delivering on its long term goals.

“I am particularly pleased with the implementation of processes designed to more fully capitalise on our existing strengths such as our personalised customer service” says Practice Manager John Anthony.

As part of this strategy the firm has introduced systems for marketing, internal data collection and HR.

With a year of implementation the practice is now beginning to move into stage two of the business improvement process.

Having now formalised their business structures Braye Cragg will now proceed into the future with confidence while maintaining its position as one of the Regions leading law firms.