Industry Standards and keeping up with change!!

Donna Cox

 

Written by Donna Moulds, Mantra Training & Development Pty Ltd 

In the training market, training packages are continuously being changed, updated and endorsed. This is related to many factors including continues improvement and also what the industry is saying about the needs of the marketplace and delivery of quality programs. One of the recent changes is the Training & Assessment field is the new cert IV.

We need to be able to assess the change and decide how we feel about it and the set an action plan to make this a positive experience.

Do I have all thew facts to make an informed decision?

Who will be effected b the changes?
What does this change mean for me, business?
Why are these changes necessary?
How will this benefit the industry, the people?
When does this need to be implemented?

New …….Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAE40110)

The new Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAE40110) replaces the superseded Certificate IV qualification (TAA40104) and will become the new ‘entry level qualification required for trainers and assessors of training package qualification as determined by the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF2010).

Program participants will develop skills and knowledge in exceptional training practices, assessment and developing and delivering effective and engaging training programs every time.
Participants achieving this qualification will develop skills and knowledge in:

 The role of training in organisations and the Skills Framework that supports and governs
 The principles of competency based training and assessment
 The training cycle including identifying training needs and promoting training
 Identifying a range of training delivery methods & resources
 Creative and innovative learning strategies and resources
 Planning, designing and delivering effective training sessions incorporating
 Communication skills
 Empower, engage and motivate learners
 Adult learning principles
 The learning environment and how to enhance opportunities for learner’s engagement
 Evaluating the effectiveness of training and making recommendations and implementing continuous improvement practices
 Planning, conducting and reviewing workplace assessments in accordance with the principles of assessment

As times goes on we will experience subtle changes that this qualification will bring and also see evidence of the training industry level of trainers and programs increase to a better standard. In our organisation we have experienced three of our training packages change and also the AQTF2010 being endorsed. This has an impact on our organisation in respect to costs time and professional development.

Here are some easy steps to manage changes in business:
Regular team communication
Prioritising changes
Managing the requirements and allocating teams and timelines
Continuous improvement strategies and documenting progress

Till next time keep productive and embrace change as something that is inevitable.

The business of waiting

As I write, we’re waiting to find out who will form government in Australia and all we can do is wait anxiously, or irritably for the result.
How does waiting affect our customers?
If you thought “They don’t like it”, you’re right. Here are some tips:

Occupied time is shorter
William James observed: “Boredom results from being attentive to the passage of time itself.” If you have a restaurant, giving customers menus while they wait shortens the perceived waiting time. It also shortens service time, with customers ready to order as soon as they’re seated. It also says: ‘service has started: we know you’re here’. Anxiety levels are higher while waiting to be served than while being served.
Telephone waits are more difficult. ‘Muzak’ increases anxiety. In part, this is because the activity is unrelated to the need. The activity should offer a benefit and be related in some way to the reason for waiting. If you have customers waiting, your recorded message should relate to your service or be genuinely interesting to the customer.
Yet music can be good. A serious bit of research into anxiety and waiting found that anxiety while waiting for surgery can be significantly reduced when patients listen to their own choice of music. This also improved post-operative recovery .

Anxiety makes waits longer
Erma Bombeck’s Law:
“The other line always moves faster”
Trying to decide whether to move to the other line makes you more anxious and the wait seems longer.

Uncertain waits are longer
The biggest source of anxiety is not knowing how long a wait will be. The pilot who repeatedly announces “only a few more minutes” insults us when the wait goes on and on. Not only are we forced to wait, we’re not being dealt with honestly. Unexplained waits add even more tension.
Then there’s “appointment syndrome.” Clients arriving early for an appointment sit contentedly until the scheduled time, but when it passes, they grow increasingly annoyed. An appointment time is a service expectation.

Unfair waits are longer
Sasser, Olsen, and Wycoff (1979) note that one of the most frequent irritants mentioned by restaurant customers is priority seating for those who arrived later. “The feeling that somebody has successfully ‘cut in front’ of you causes even the most patient customer to become furious.” (1979, 89)

The more valuable the service, the longer we will wait
We accept a longer waiting time for haute cuisine than fast food. In universities, if the teacher is delayed, “You wait ten minutes for an assistant professor, fifteen for an associate professor, and twenty for a full professor.”
Also, waiting to leave when there is no more value to be received is aggravating. Waits at hotel checkouts feel longer than check-in waits.

Solo waits feel longer than group waits
It’s remarkable to observe waiting lines where individuals wait next to each other without interacting until a delay is announced. Then they turn to each other to express exasperation, wonder collectively what is happening, and console each other.
Sometimes a sense of community develops and the line turns into an encounter in its own right; the waiting is part of the fun and part of the service. Whatever you can do to promote the sense of group waiting will tend to increase the tolerance.

Conclusion
You can have a significant impact on your customers’ satisfaction with waiting by thinking about these psychological factors and creating imaginative solutions.
Adapted from Maister, D The Psychology of Waiting Lines http://davidmaister.com/articles/5/52/ 1985 and
Arslan S, et al, Effect of music on preoperative anxiety in men undergoing urogenital surgery oral paper at the Turkish Surgical and Operating Room Nursing Congress: With International Participation, 4 8 September 2007, Gaziantep, Turkey.

No Money for Marketing – What’s Your Excuse?

By Jean McIntyre

Marketing Angels

Jean McIntyre

If you’ve got bright goals for where you want to take your business then marketing is the tool to get you there – but many businesses just won’t make that investment.  Jean Mc talks about the 5 worst excuses businesses give for not investing in marketing.

I’ve done it myself.  I’m in the shopping centre and walk past my dentist or my car mechanic – even the lady from Weight Watchers many years ago – walk over the other side and bow my head in guilt and shame because I know I haven’t come up to what I know they expect of me.

I get the same from business people who have talked to me about marketing.  They avoid me because they don’t want me to know that they haven’t done what they need to do to move their business forward.

I’m sure my dentist would say “Well it’s your teeth”, the mechanic “It’s your expensive car”.  I say to business people “it’s our business you are hurting by not marketing”.

When people give me excuses it’s usually one of 5 reasons:

1. Marketing is just another cost among many I’d rather not pay

This way of thinking is what separates out entrepreneurs from people who’ve just bought themselves a job.

An entrepreneur is someone who is clear about what they want their business to achieve.  They have faith in their product and their own ability to achieve their goals.  They have planned the path they need to take to build their business and KNOW that if they invest what’s required  that they’ll reap the rewards.

Entrepreneurs invest in legal and accounting advice.  They will register to protect their intellectual property.  They’ll spend the money to make sure they have their staffing right.  They often have business coaches under contract and any other experts they think can help them to achieve their goals.

Most importantly entrepreneurs understand that they need marketing to raise awareness of their brand in their chosen markets, to generate new customers and to strengthen relationships with existing customers.

2.  I don’t need marketing – word of mouth works for me

This excuse shows a lack of understanding of how marketing works.  For a start – word of mouth only works with an established business with a good reputation and excellent brand awareness.

Growing through word of mouth is a very slow process.  It relies on excellent products (goods and services) and fantastic customer relations.

To make word of mouth work you first need to understand your market, develop products that meet their needs, create language and messages that connect with them and develop lots of brand advocates to help you pass those messages on.

You need to make sure you take charge and that when people are passing on good word about your business they are saying what you want them to say to the people you want them to say it to.

That requires a good marketing strategy.

3. Things are tough right now – I need to prioritise

It’s when things are tough that businesses need marketing more than ever.

Things are tough for your competitors as well .  You need to make sure you continue to promote your business and maintain customer relationships so you are top of their minds and they are likely to choose you over your competitors.

Yes there are lots of things about marketing that are costly (such as advertising)  but there are many things that a marketer can help you plan for that cost very little or nothing to implement.  You can explore online strategies, product development or re-packaging and pricing, new distribution methods, reward programs, public relations and many other strategies that cost very little but can make a big impact in tough times.

4. Marketing is easy – I can do it myself

It’s true.  Marketing isn’t rocket science but it takes a lot of time and energy to do well.

If you don’t currently have the capacity to generate revenue with your time then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t spend it doing your own marketing.

If that’s not the case then you need to weigh up whether spending 12 hours of your time doing what a marketer could achieve in 4 hours is the best use of your resources.

There is however some added value that a marketer can bring that you may not have in your own kitbag:

What a marketer brings:

• Up to date knowledge of the latest tactics that have worked for other firms
• A good list of suppliers and introductions to strategic alliances that can best deliver on your requirements
• Current knowledge of market trends
• Useful online and other tools for more efficient marketing
• Good writing and language skills
• Sounding board – offering an external, independent, objective opinion – someone who won’t get caught up in the “politics” of the business
• Research – customers will tell an outsider things they wouldn’t tell you
• A structured approach – to help you download all that fabulous info and ideas in your head and channel them into a realistic plan.
• Greater awareness of the real cost of marketing implementation
• Realistic priority setting – i.e. not what you like to do best, but what is most important to achieving results
• Flexibility – someone you can call on as and when you need to

5. My business is doing well – I don’t need marketing

This goes along with point 3.

I can’t count the number of times recently that people have said “I wish I’d put resources into marketing when things were good to carry me through the tough times”.

The most important thing you can do for your business is to do a marketing plan and then use that plan to set a marketing budget.  Once you know what you need to spend on marketing to achieve your goals – you can put that aside so that you are able to keep your marketing activity going through all eventualities.

It’s about making hay while the sun shines.  When things are good – invest in building brand awarness and growing your customer base – that gives you something to draw on when times get tough.

So What’s Your Excuse

If you have a business that’s more than just a job – that you want to grow and thrive and perhaps sell for a profit – you need to ask yourself the question “Am I putting enough resources into marketing to achieve my goals?”

If your answer is NO then you need to put time in your diary to contact your marketer and get cracking!

I’d be interested to hear your stories about how investing in marketing has paid off for you.

Jean Mc

PS:  I’ll be at the National Tally Room on Saturday – celebrating I hope!

Why Are You Doing What You Are Doing

Trevor Bransdon

And what does it mean in the context of achieving your goals?

How much money do you want to earn?

How much money do you need to earn?

What is your ideal lifestyle and what will this cost to fund each year?

When do you want to retire?

Do you only want to work part time from a certain age?

What income do you require in retirement?

What will your super balance be at age 60?

Will your super funds be sufficient to fund your lifestyle in retirement?

If you want to retire before age 60 how will you fund your living expenses until age 60?

What is your business succession plan?

How will you maximise the value of your business if you decide to sell it?

How will your business help you achieve your lifestyle or retirement goals?

What is your plan and what are your goals to get there?

How many of us can answer these questions? How many of us have even thought of these questions? Most of the people that come to see us can’t or haven’t.

I heard a fantastic quote once, “Only 3% of the population write down their goals, of these 95% achieve them”. If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there? No matter what you are working towards, you need a road map, you need a plan.

I think most of us would sleep much better at night if we knew that we had a plan in place that took us to where we want to go. I think we would sleep even more securely if we regularly reviewed this plan and knew that we were tracking towards our goals.

As a small business owner it is very easy to get caught up in the daily running of the business, and not take the time to look at your future, and then missing the opportunity to shape your business to best suit your goals. We often see clients who are small business owners. They are working extremely hard and spending their earnings very conservatively, not treating themselves to any rewards for their hard work, thinking that is what they need to do because it is what they have always done. Most of us start our own business so that we can have some flexibility not often available in employed positions. Flexibility to directly benefit from our efforts, skills, knowledge and experience; flexibility to shape our working hours; flexibility to be the boss.

Working 75 hours a week and spending very conservatively does not provide or indicate flexibility.

It is a fantastic privilege to sit down with a client and demonstrate to a client that they don’t have to work 75 hour weeks, and that they can take an annual holiday, and they will still achieve their lifestyle goals. We are a long time working and it will often be for the greater majority of most of our lives, and it will be at the age when we have the health, mobility and maturity to enjoy so many great experiences. It is important that we enjoy this period and don’t look up from our business and realise that this time has passed us by.

Why are you doing what you are doing, and what does it mean in the context of achieving your lifestyle goals?

Now might be a great time to contact your financial adviser so they can assist you in creating a game plan to best help you achieve your lifestyle goals.

General Advice Warning

The advice contained above does not take into account any persons particular objectives, needs or financial situation.  Before making a decision regarding the acquisition or disposal of a Financial Product persons should assess whether the advice is appropriate to their objectives, needs or financial situation.  Persons may wish to make this assessment themselves or seek the help of an adviser.  No responsibility is taken for persons acting on the information provided.  Persons doing so, do so at their own risk. Before acquiring a financial product a person should obtain a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) relating to that product and consider the contents of the PDS before making a decision about whether to acquire the product.

Trevor Bransdon is an Authorised Representative of Godfrey Pembroke Limited ABN 23 002 336 254, an Australian Financial Services Licensee and member of the National Group of companies.  From time to time members of the National group of companies, associated employees or agents may have an interest in or receive pecuniary and non pecuniary benefits from the financial products and services mentioned herein.

How do you predict Sales Revenues?

Predicting sales revenues, and therefore the future revenues of your organisation, is vitally important.  It will enable you to predict when to fund new projects or expansions, or even when to cut back. The $64,000 question is how do you do it and how do you do it with enough accuracy that will actually reflect reality?

There is no ‘magic bullet’ or crystal ball process that will provide 100% accuracy on future sales revenue, but I can provide you with some tips on how to get as close as you can.

Using probability

To determine an approximate future revenue figure, take the estimated sales value, and multiply it by your probability figure (expressed in terms of a percentage). This final figure will then give you a reasonable estimate of how much revenue you can expect.

Always be conservative

If your sales wins are measured in months, add another month to the estimate. Take your estimated probability down by 10% from your final estimate, and always review your revenues.  Always ask yourself whether the figure is right. For example, if you are predicting a 50% chance of winning, ask yourself, do I really have a 1 in 2 chance of winning this deal?

Don’t include gut feel! Gut feel gets in the way of any accuracy in predicting sales revenues!

Start at a low probability.  For example, your estimated sale price may be $20,000 but you don’t know much about the opportunity, give this a priority of 5% (i.e. one chance in 20 of the revenues actually coming through your door). The actual revenue at this stage would equate to 5% * $20,000 = $1000 expected revenue in [insert month or week here].

Strive to know everything

Make sure that you have recorded everything there is to know about the opportunity, especially how much revenue you estimate it will sell for, and when you will actually sell it.  The more you know, the higher the probability of you winning the deal (once you know everything, you probably will have won the deal!).

By everything, I mean everything (and in many cases, we don’t get to know everything). As a general rule, add 5% for everything you know, but take off 5% for things you don’t know.

Things you should know include:

• Are there other decision makers involved?
• What is their role within this particular deal (not their title), (+ 5% for each decision maker)?
• How many of your ‘widgets’ do they want?
• What are they really after (eg Are  they $ conscious)?
• What are you actually selling them (i.e. you are selling them the outcome – so you don’t actually sell a drill, you are selling the hole!)?
• What are their personal interests?
• Will you need to get out on the golf course with them to win the deal (this has been done!)?
• Will your competitors also get out on the golf course to win the deal (-5%)?

Dealing with competition and other barriers

Any information that you know that your competitors don’t will also help you increase the probability of winning (+10%).

Barriers to winning are not just in external competitors, but can also be internal to an organisation or relationship. It is your job to find out these issues, and add them to the mix, and determine whether you can do anything to fix the problem (+5% for each issue solved).

Where did the deal come from?

Was it from a public advertisement of some sort (such as a government tender)? In that case, give yourself a lower chance of winning (30% maximum).

Do you know the people involved? Did they come to you and ask you for your product or service? In that case, I would give you a higher probability of winning the business, but be careful; they may have asked others as well!

Was the work referred to you? If so, I would give you a higher chance of winning the business, as your prospect has proof of your quality from a trusted source, namely their friend or colleague (+10%).

How long before the win?

If it is close (i.e. a few days to a few weeks), then give yourself a few more percentage points that if it will close in 6 months or a year, as time can change a whole lot of factors (-5% for each month out).

Is your price cheap or expensive for your market?

If cheap, it can increase the probability of winning, as not as many decision makers have to be involved in the decision. The more expensive it is, the more decisions have to be made, and the less likely it will be that you win. Be careful with this one, as cheapening the product may also cheapen your brand!

This isn’t the end!

This is a general guide to predicting future revenues for your business, and of course there are many ways that this can be refined. I am always happy to discuss this, and how it can better suit your business. Feel free to comment, or contact me for a cuppa at www.salesinnovation.com.au.

Is it marketing, or advertising, or branding, or design?

Brian Miller, Creative Director, Luxgraphicus Design Agency

Recently in discussions with business colleagues and clients, an issue of semantics and definition has arisen.

Those involved may not have realised they were entering into such murky waters. The concepts may well be crystal clear in their own minds, but the fact that all were obviously thinking of similar things and calling them different names, or thinking of different things and calling them the same name, raises the issue of definition.

Most business people know the value and importance of marketing. There will, however, be heated discussions as to the value of advertising and branding. And thrown in amongst it all will be talk of design.

When I talk of branding, I’m usually referring to the visual form of the branding – I’m a graphic designer so that’s what I know. But I’m not talking about branding as a strategy or component of a broader strategy.

In marketing terms there are normally three avenues of approach. Advertising, Referrals and Public Relations. Each has it’s own sub categories and associated tactics. A branding strategy will generally sit above all three and create the character and feeling for the different approaches.

So where does design fit in?

Lets start with what it isn’t. It isn’t another sub-category of marketing. It isn’t a sub-category of advertising. It isn’t even a sub-category of branding.

Design is the component that gives a physical form to all the ideas.

All the ideas that are marketing, advertising, public relations, and branding. Design even gives form to referral marketing, where it is required to be more than just spoken words.

Wherever a marketing strategy is meeting with its final audience, design has to give it a form. That may be a press ad, poster or direct mail piece in an advertising campaign. It may be logos and iconic imagery in a branding campaign. It may be this identity applied to written materials or trade show appearances in PR activities. Marketing support from printed collateral or websites need a physical, or electronic form to be available to their audience. All these are created by the designer.

Chronologically, design fits in after the marketing ideas and strategy have been formulated and prescribed. Your designer may help and advise on these matters sometimes, adding subtleties and refinement to the strategy, but their role is not the creation of the ideas initially. This is the role of the business owner and their marketing experts, whether in house or outsourced consultants.

Design is a separate and essential component of the overall business strategy. Not done instead of advertising or branding, and not excluded because referrals or PR have taken its place. Design is crucial for all, or any, of these components to work effectively.

Clearly, design needs these ideas in order to give them a form, and would just be pretty pictures without them. But without design, these ideas will remain just that. Wonderful ideas in the minds of their creators, with no audience to benefit from them, or to ultimately buy from your business.

Want to give some form to your great marketing ideas?

Think design.

Brian.

How much money does your business have to make?

How much money does your business have to bring in to make you happy? It mightn’t be as big an ask as you think. 

I had the pleasure of talking with Professor Bob Cummins from Deakin University in Melbourne recently, and he gave me a fascinating insight into how much money it takes to be happy in Australia.  Professor Bob is best known for surveying Australians about their happiness.  He does it twice a year with about 80 000 people and the results are surprising:  Money can buy happiness. 

Money gives us two kinds of help:  There’s the temporary lift in happiness you get with, say, putting on a newly purchased pair of shoes for the first time, and there’s the protection money can buy you.

The first kind of happiness dissipates quickly – the second time you pull on those shoes, it’s not quite as good as the first time. 

The second kind of help is what money can do for you:  you can afford dental care, you can go to the doctor, you have somewhere to live with good heating, and can afford to woo a mate.  All those things help your resilience against misfortune. 

So how much money do you need to be happy? 

Professor Bob puts it like this: “We need to earn enough household income to maintain our wellbeing in the normal range”.  What does that mean?  The normal range is between 73 and 76 percentage points.  That’s where most Australians who aren’t depressed or badly affected by life events are most of the time.

 But how much money?  Here’s the picture  (right mouse click and open it in a new window if it’s too small):

Money and happiness

The yellow bar is happiness (subjective wellbeing). As you can see household income of $31 000 to $60 000 gets you into the middle of the range, and increases in income lift you up the scale.  Now the really interesting news:  at $150 000 per annum, you’ve reached maximum happiness! 

If you thought “That’s good news”, maybe you’re doing OK. 

If you thought “That’s not right”, it might be useful to think again about your goals and the reasons for them.  Not that they’re necessarily wrong, they just mightn’t be about happiness.

Public Speaking – What Exactly are you Marketing?

By Jean McIntyre

(Marketing Angels) 

Whether you are a business owner, a politician, a community leader or just giving a speech at a birthday party – you need to pay attention to how you present to make sure you give the right messages about your personal brand.

We’ve seen Brian Miller talk in previous posts about how important it is that you present the right visual image and that this needs to be consistent in all forums where you present your business.  The same goes for your personal brand – it’s vital that when people see you speak it is consistent with all your other branding.

I’ve been to lots of events lately (who’d have thought there would be so many in the dead of Canberra winter).  I’ve been consistently disappointed with the quality of the speakers I’ve seen and when they don’t speak well – I start to wonder about their ability in other areas.

Politicians Failing to Impress

I have to say that some of the worst offenders are ACT politicians.

I won’t name names but I’ve been to a few events where one of two things happen.  Our local politicians stand up and say whatever pops into their heads or they read a prepared speech in a deadpan voice and bore everyone witless.

What a lost opportunity!

I know that politicians are called on to preside at many events in the community but that’s no excuse for not trying to give the best speech they can at every turn.  Our Federal leaders do it really well (generally) and there’s no excuse for the local politicians not to be just as good.  They should be inspiring, intelligent and interesting.

I know, I’m picking on the politicians because they are an easy target.  The same can usually be said for business people I see.

How To Present Right

Here are the 6 things you need to do to ensure that the next time you are asked to speak you give a great impression to your audience and for your brand:

1. Preparation – too many times I see business people asked to sit on a panel or stand up at a networking event and they just haven’t thought about what they want to say – they usually end up saying little of value.

   You should take a few minutes before an event to think about the audience, what things do you think they are interested in that you can talk confidently about and what sorts of questions might they ask.

   Write a few notes (or prepare a speech) to give you some prompts.  Having a 60 second ‘lift speech’ that you’ve prepared and practiced can help you when someone asks you to stand up and talk about what you do without notice. 

   Above all PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE! to make sure it’s right

2. Time it right – this goes to point 1. Ettiquette is just as important in business as in the social sphere.

   Some business people will just stand up and talk until they can’t think of anything else to say or someone shuts them up.  Most people have some tolerance but it evaporates pretty quickly .

   You should get clear instructions on how much time you are expected to speak and PRACTICE.  Buy a little timer and time yourself.

   Make sure you allow time for people to ask you questions – it’s always good to give the audience a chance to speak (and a break from your voice).  It’s also an opportunity to reinforce your key messages in a meaninful and practical way.

3. Have Faith in Yourself - This seems odd but so many business people will get up in front of an audience and behave as if they don’t deserve to be there. 

   If someone has asked you to speak – you belong up there.Think to yourself “I’m an expert and people will want to hear from me”.  A little secret – there’s nothing wrong with being nervous and people rarely see your nervousness when you speak confidently.

4. Be Interesting – A lot of business people give the impression that they think no-one will be interested in them.

   Even if you are delivering a prepared speech – it is important to look around the room as you speak and where possible make eye contact with people.

   Practice using varing vocal tones and facial expressions – humans respond to visual and aural variation.

   Think of your presentation as having a chat with the audience.  Tell them your stories (but don’t make them too long).

   It’s OK to ask them questions and to have a joke with them.  It’s about being human – and people like that.

5. Use good visual aids – Powerpoint can be a great tool but if all you are going to do is present slides filled with boring text – you might as well not bother.

   We’ve all done it (shown boring slides) but it’s amazing what just adding humour, a nice picture or colour to your slides can do to lift the audience.

   Think about preparing a little video to show to break things up a bit.  Handouts are useful as well.

6. Change is good – Perhaps in other cities you can get away with preparing one presentation and delivering it a hundred times over – not in Canberra!

   It’s very likely that many of the same people will be at your presentations in different arenas.  If you use the same speech or talk – put in some new examples or stories to contextualise it so they get something different each time.

Public Speaking is a great marketing tool

Public speaking is a a great marketing tool to get your messages out to a target audience.  The more you do it the better you’ll get at it – if you take a learning approach and improve each time you speak.

Make sure that the person the audience sees delivers the best possible image for your business brand and a great first impression.

I’d be interested to hear about your public speaking adventures and any tips YOU have for making great presentations. Make a comment below.

Jean Mc

PS:  If you’d like to find out more about how to include public presentation in your marketing plan – register for a Marketing Angels DIY Marketing Plan workshop.

Protecting You and Your Business

What would happen to you and your family if you could no longer run your business as a result of illness, injury or death? Could it continue, would income remain the same? Could you pay your bills, would you have to sell your home, would you have to move in with family or friends?

Business owners invest a lot of time and money into establishing, growing and maintaining their business. Unfortunately a lot of business owners do not invest enough into protecting their business against illness, injury or death to key persons.

For a lot of small to medium businesses the owners are key people in the business, without them the business would struggle to survive.

Think about this, most of us would not consider driving our car without it being insured, nor would we consider owning our home without having it insured. But, a number of us go to work every day without properly insuring our greatest asset – our ability to generate income.

The table below demonstrates the income one can expect to earn up until age 65, and in turn further reinforces how important it is to protect your greatest asset:

Current income (pa)	Age now
	25	35	45	55
$40,000	$3,020,000	$1,900,000	$1,070,000	$460,000
$60,000	$4,520,000	$2,850,000	$1,610,000	$690,000
$80,000	$6,030,000	$3,810,000	$2,150,000	$920,000
$100,000	$7,540,000	$4,760,000	$2,690,000	$1,150,000

* These amounts assume a 3% increase per annum and no work breaks outside of normal leave until age 65.

Take someone who is 45 years old earning $100,000/annum. If they could not work after age 45 they would miss out on $2.69 million in income. What would that mean to you and your family’s circumstances?

Now might be a good time to investigate you and your family’s need for appropriate insurance to protect your business, and in turn protect you and your family. This could include:

• Income Protection’
• Key Person Insurance
• Total and Permanent Disability Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Other insurances appropriate for your business and circumstances

 Have you thought about the need for a Buy / Sell agreement in your business?

If you are a part owner of a business a Buy / Sell agreement is a must for you!

Consider this scenario – Clare and Rachel are equal shareholders in ‘CR’s Business Advisory Services’. Unfortunately Clare is involved in a terrible accident and is killed. Clare’s shareholding reverts to her husband Bob, who is a builder with no expertise in Business Advisory. Bob, being a little bit of a chauvinist and someone who ‘knows best’, decides that Rachel cannot run the business on her own, and insists on taking an active role in the business. As Bob is now an equal shareholder he has equal say in the business and there is nothing Rachel can do.

This scenario may seem like an exaggeration but these sorts of scenarios do happen. What would happen to your business if a shareholder in your business died? Could the beneficiaries of their estate take an active role in the business, and if so, would you want that? The beneficiaries would almost certainly be entitled to their share of the profits, even if they do not work in the business. How would you feel if you were working hard in the absence of your business partner, only to see half the profits go to the beneficiaries of your partner’s estate?

These scenarios can be avoided by creating Buy / Sell agreements, and using insurance policies to fund these. If Clare and Rachel had a Buy / Sell agreement in place, the agreement could have included life insurance policies that provided funds for Rachel to pay Clare’s estate for Clare’s share in the business. This way Rachel can continue operating the business without interference from Clare’s estate, and Clare’s estate receives fair value for the capital value of Clare’s share in the business.

‘But what about the cost?’, I hear most of you ask. There are a number of possible cost effective solutions, including consideration of using super funds to purchase insurance. To provide sufficient cover for you and your family premiums will normally be between 1-3% of your annual income. We put 9% of our annual income away each year to fund our retirement, putting 1-3% of our annual income towards protecting you and your family until retirement is a good investment.

Now might be a great time to contact your financial adviser so they can best assist you in protecting your greatest asset, and in turn, protect you and your family.

General Advice Warning

The advice contained above does not take into account any persons particular objectives, needs or financial situation.  Before making a decision regarding the acquisition or disposal of a Financial Product persons should assess whether the advice is appropriate to their objectives, needs or financial situation.  Persons may wish to make this assessment themselves or seek the help of an adviser.  No responsibility is taken for persons acting on the information provided.  Persons doing so, do so at their own risk. Before acquiring a financial product a person should obtain a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) relating to that product and consider the contents of the PDS before making a decision about whether to acquire the product.

Trevor Bransdon is an Authorised Representative of Godfrey Pembroke Limited ABN 23 002 336 254, an Australian Financial Services Licensee and member of the National Group of companies.  From time to time members of the National group of companies, associated employees or agents may have an interest in or receive pecuniary and non pecuniary benefits from the financial products and services mentioned herein.

The Magic Pill for Sales Success

By Craig Munns – Sales Innovation

What are your plans for your business? Is it to grow to a multinational, grow it to sell it off, or keep it small as more of a lifestyle choice? Your longer term goals for your business are important as they will determine the amount of planning and investment you need to make in the growth of your business.

Planning should be in all aspects of your business, but in my experience over many years of providing sales services (to all levels and types of industry) is that all sizes of organisation do not plan the sales side of their business.

Many, if not most businesses expect that sales will just ‘happen’. The best outcome of a ‘build it and they will come’ strategy (which is not a strategy), is minimal growth. Not having a strategy may be fine for a sole trading business owner that has made a lifestyle choice, and just depends on client referrals and their networking to make needs meet, but these alone will not grow a business significantly.

Invest in a proper strategy

A proper sales and marketing strategy is essential to the growth of your business, in fact I suggest that it is the most essential strategy your business can undertake. If you don’t have significant sales coming in, then your business will not grow!

Is there a magic formula? Is there a bottle of magic sales dust that you can sprinkle over the market to make it come to life? Obviously not. It comes down to good old fashioned process. A proper sales and marketing process is the key to your success!

What are the steps?

1. Never assume that your product or service is what the market wants. Sure, you may have made a few sales here and there, but this is no guarantee that the rest of the market is itching to buy.
2. Even if you are sure that your product or service is the right kind, never assume that they will buy it, or that they will buy when you want them to (there are many factors to a buying decision).
3. Undertake a market survey with a sample large enough to reflect your target market. Get your friendly marketing consultant to help you to develop the survey with relevant questions. Developing a proper survey is an art, and not to be undertaken lightly, so employ a professional to help you develop, deliver, and decipher the results.
4. From this, develop a market plan. This will include the results of the survey as well as your plans for your business (from your business plan), your goals for the business, and the market you want to work in.
5. From these results, you will be able to determine the types of approaches you will make to the market such as direct selling, mass advertising, seminars, search engine visibility, etc, or a combination of a few approaches (this the most likely outcome).
6. Next comes the development of the sales  plan. My expertise is in direct sales and tele-sales, so I’ll speak from this aspect.

Sales work best when they are supported by a number of different market approaches. In direct sales, it helps to pre-qualify the market (i.e. make the market aware of your brand and its benefits). This can be mass advertising (web or other mass media), seminars, telemarketing, or most likely  a combination of these. Develop a plan to approach the market from your chosen aspects.

Track Everything

Develop a way to track your leads (i.e. people who express interest), opportunities (i.e. people who express interest in actually buying), and actual sales (called closing deals). This is called a pipeline. I suggest that it be kept in something tangible, like a spreadsheet, Outlook, or ideally, CRM software (which is specifically designed to track sales).

Record your efforts in your pipeline. This makes sure that nothing falls through the cracks, and you can also benchmark your efforts.

Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up!

If people make enquiries, call them back! Have patience and tenacity!

Don’t give up on the first call! You may have to call people several times before you are able to get any sort of commitment! Don’t give up if tangible sales haven’t started in 3 months. It may take up to 2 years, especially if your product or service is a new concept.

Get Professional Help

Employ a professional salesperson or sales organisation to increase your sales. Like all professions, sales requires skill and knowledge, so if you are growing your business, get the right people in to grow with you!

These tips will not ensure your success (the market will always have the final say), but following these processes will give you the best possible opportunity.

Regards,

Craig Munns

About Craig Munns:

Craig has run a sales consulting business, Sales Innovation, for the last 9 years. His business currently employs staff across three centres, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Previous to that, he worked as a sales professional and Branch Manager for a number of organisations, local, national, and multinational. Craig likes to help people to develop their businesses, and is happy to tell all for a cup of coffee. Craig is married with two fur-kids. In his spare time, he sings, sails, and plays flute (not all at once, but two out of three is possible).