PBL Articles

Marketing is not a luxury, but rather an essential. The best part is that this can be 100%.free! But first things first, you need to ask a few questions before taking advantage of the free stuff.

Know what makes you different

What makes your product or service different from that of your competition? Research your competition. What are they doing? Where are they? Are they missing an opportunity? Does your product or service stand-out in comparison? What benefits would your potential customers have buying from you rather than from your competition?

Know your customer

What are your target customer’s expectations? What are their buying cycles? What benefits are they interested in? How do they define value? What influences their purchasing decisions? What price are they willing to pay? Why would they buy from you rather than from your competition?

Get Word of Mouth Referrals

Word-of-mouth referrals are, by far, the best method of getting new customers, not least of all because they are free. They are also about trust. As consumers, we are bombarded daily with messages about why we should buy product ‘X or Y’ to a point where it is difficult to differentiate.

Offer Incentives

You can also give your existing customers an incentive to refer you. The more personal, the better. I suggest building a relationship with your customers and then just simply ask them who they think may also benefit from your product or service. It is amazing how people will help out when simply asked. If you do get a referral, a thank you call can do wonders as can an unexpected discount, or freebie, the next time that client deals with you.

Giveaways

Event organisers are always on the lookout for great giveaways that fit with their event. Consider donating your product or service to an event if the audience fits with your customer base.

Prepared by Leon Honour, Director of Pittwater Business Limited and joint owner of Limelite Studio in Collaroy. Limelite Studio is a national award winning portrait studio specialising in capturing your story through photographic artworks. For more information please visit www.limelitstudio.com.au

---

During this era of the information revolution, we should all expect to receive timely and accurate data to make decisions. Investment decisions, financial decisions, retirement decisions, career decisions...

The information we receive appears to be endless. Annual reports can be hundreds of pages long. Continuous disclosure rules require ongoing reporting by listed companies. New financial reporting and disclosure standards are added by company regulators every year.

And yet investors are still not receiving all the financial information they need to make their strategic decisions. For example, companies are still not sure how to measure the value of the loans (and related financial instruments) involved in the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

With all this uncertainty, banks around the world are refusing to lend to each other. Many companies are finding it hard to obtain debt finance. Householders and businesses are finding it more expensive to borrow money.

Trust in the financial system (particularly in the USA) has been eroded.

In periods of uncertainty, where there is a lack of clear, timely, transparent and reliable financial information, the economy suffers.

The same may be said for a business. Without clear, timely and reliable financial information, a business will suffer.

Suppliers restrict credit or refuse to do business with you; banks impose higher interest rates, and reduce or remove their lending facilities; employees seek more secure employment; taxation authorities and corporate regulators take more notice; poor strategic decisions are made; investors become nervous. And business owners and managers lose sleep!

So, when considering the global financial situation, the lessons for your own business are clear. If your business can produce timely, accurate and relevant financial information it will engender trust, it can differentiate you from your competitors... and it will certainly give you the edge when times are tough.

Andrew Blunden CA is a Director of Pittwater Business Limited and is Managing Director of Part Time Professionals (www.ptprofessionals.com.au) which represents over 190 Financial Controllers and CFO’s throughout Australia.

---

The papers are full of it - the news bombards us with yet another multinational corporation losing half its stock market value, confidence is down, the housing market is stalled and there is a global credit crunch hurting everything.

But is it all doom and gloom and should we all throw our hands in the air and hit the beach (we might as well go broke there, right?)? Or is there more noise than there should be and is there something we can do to protect ourselves and even prosper while all the sheep run around with their heads cut off panicking and mixing their metaphors?

The companies failing seem to be the ones who allowed greed and hubris to guide their business strategies – and had high risk practices. Retail confidence is down but isn’t that why we have had interest rate rises – to slow down our screaming economy? The housing market is stalled but, again, much of the damage is in those outer suburbs where people have been enticed to overstretch themselves with cheap and large mortgages – risky practice, greed and interest rate rises again.

So, is it as bad as the media suggest? I don’t know, I’m a business coach not an economist but I don’t think we should be panicking.

Whether we are in a crisis situation or not and whether or not the economy is being slowed down on purpose by our vigilant central bank, it is clear that we are not in a booming economy at the moment. For those of us in small business, it is a good time to think about what we’re doing.

So what should we be doing?

I’m running out of space, so here’s a short list:

Keep marketing for goodness sake – if you lose customers and don’t keep marketing, the downward spiral is fast and nasty – keep the pressure on your marketing and your selling

Pay attention to collecting your money – don’t leave it to chance, like most of us do – call when invoices are due and ask, directly, for payment. Or demand cash with order!

See if you can lift your prices a little without losing business (it is not true that all your customers make their buying decisions on price alone!)

Have a go at your suppliers and see if you can squeeze them a little – for better prices or better credit terms, delivery terms or another non-price benefit.

Focus on your loyal customers and find ways to keep them loyal (by giving them something excellent but that doesn’t cost you the earth)

It’s a short list, sorry. If you want more help you know where to find us! (www.sfbc.com.au)

As the man says: "stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time" William Bernbach, Advertising guru who is in the American Advertisers Hall of Fame

By Jon Dale, Small Fish Business Coaching
www.sfbc.com.au

---

Authors: Gail Fitzpatrick – Director Pittwater Business Ltd and manager at Bendigo Bank Belrose.

Many businesses are feeling the pinch in today’s economic climate and one area that can be affected is cash flow. The early warning signs of potential cash flow problems vary markedly across different industries as do the solutions. Despite having a great product or service and being profitable, if you’re not being paid you’re out of business!

One of the first indicators that a business may have a cash flow problem is that the overdraft is not fully fluctuating.  That is that it does not return to a zero balance over a period of time.

Ramifications of poor cash flow management can include:

Time management: the distraction of dealing with creditors’ calls, negotiating instalment plans and managing the shuffle of funds.

Reputation: the bush telegraph is a very efficient system which will damage your good reputation.

Loss of advantageous terms: suppliers will be reluctant to persist with a slow payer and will reduce the payment terms offered to you.

Penalties and Interest: late payments of taxes and bank fees and charges can be severe especially for cash strapped businesses.

Exposure of Personal Assets: Suppliers with guarantees and the ATO can pursue you personally in the event that your company is unable to meet its commitments.

Stress: not only on the business owner but your friends, family and loved ones can suffer.

If you are uncomfortable with your current cash flow situation then it is important that you take steps to improve your position.  Talk to your Business Banking Manager and discuss your cash flow sensitivity and how you can avoid a potentially disastrous situation for your business.

---

Results in Business Institute (RIBI) recently conducted a survey of more than 300 businesses across Australia and NZ with the aim of building an understanding of how business owners are finding it in this time of full employment and a strong economy.

The survey was specific in its (6) questions – asking business owners their three top issues and asking them whether they were getting an adequate return on their business, whether they were paying a staff member more than they earned themselves and whether they were tertiary qualified or had spent money on their business skills since school.

The survey highlighted how tough some small business owners are doing it and how many of us are paying a high price for our independence.

More than 60% were paying a staff member more than they were paying themselves and more than 60% felt their salary did not justify the time and effort they put into running their business. This was despite more than half being tertiary qualified and more than half having spent money on self improvement or business training.

The three top issues for business owners were:

• Finding, motivating and retaining staff

• Cash flow

• Marketing / finding clients

Ross Hancock, the CEO of RIBI was quoted in the press as being shocked but not surprised at the results of the survey - "many business owners are not really reaping the fruits of their labours when they have to factor in the high costs of just being in business"
If this sounds like you - you are not alone! That's not much consolation, I know but it perhaps tells you that you are not necessarily completely incapable - it really is difficult.
I’ve resisted the temptation here to tell you exactly how business coaching will help you but I will suggest some things you can do if any or all of these apply to you.

• Go and get a job!

Ok, I’m kidding but at some point it is worth considering whether running a business of your own, with the independence and self-reliance that we like but with the extra stress and without the stable income is the right choice to make. It is sometime necessary not to hold on to something if it is irretrievable and we should be mature enough to face these questions.

• Step back from all the day-to-day issues and have a look at your business.

Ask yourself whether your business is heading in the right direction and whether you should be doing anything differently to help it head in the right direction
You’d be surprised how little of this you have done in recent times, especially if you’ve been busy trying to keep your head above water – without drowning under the sea of urgent tasks (maybe you’ve neglected some of the less urgent but more important tasks.
So give yourself some time to assess the situation.

• Make a plan (and write it down) to change your business.

After your stepping back and assessing, don’t waste it – plan to how you are going to change it and write your plans down. Once written, they are harder to ignore and much more real.

•  Then you have to act.

Sorry, but that’s the only way you’ll get change – to actually do something.
It’s a fairly basic process – I’m sure you’re not sitting there nodding and saying “Wow, this bloke has some amazing insights”. But it is necessary if you are to change your business.
You can do this yourself. If you take the steps above and you have the discipline to stay focused on it, it can be done. Of course, you can seek outside help to guide you, to push you and to hold you accountable.
That’s the job of a business coach. Watch for the special offer for PBL members, from Small Fish or contact Jon and ask him what it is. 9940 0346 or jon.dale@sfbc.com.au This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Small Fish Business Coaching is a member of the Results in Business Institute (RIBI) - a network of independent business coaches and consultants in Australia and New Zealand. RIBI’ mission is to support business coaches, like Small Fish, to provide coaching and consulting services to the small business community in Australia and New Zealand.  To this end, RIBI sources the systems, manuals and training courses that I use to structure and guide my coaching programs and which, of course, I provide to my clients from time to time.

---