Step by step guide to business strategy for small businesses

Start, STOP, Continue.... Writing for your business

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 16:41:06 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Ian Claughton, founder of Silverdale Professional Proofreading Services.

Ian, as a professional proofreader, when it comes to writing for our businesses what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

Can I make it clear from the outset that I don’t intend to tell you how to write a report, article or novel; or how to design a website. However, whilst English is a fantastic language, it contains a lot of quirks that can catch a writer unawares! so I thought it would be useful to provide a few tips on grammar, word usage and spelling before you put pen to paper or hit the keyboard.

So, in no particular order, here are some common pitfalls to bear in mind:

UK/US spelling: Some words are spelled (or spelt) differently, such as analyse/analyze, colour/color and fibre/fiber. Depending on your audience, it’s probably a good idea to set up the relevant language in your Word settings.

Dates: If you write out the date in full, you don’t need to put st, nd, rd or th after the number for example Monday, 4 October 2021.

Apostrophes: Should only appear for two reasons – contraction and ownership: He’s a dentist, who’s that?, it wasn’t me. Bird’s wings, Simon’s car etc. One exception to the rule is it’s/its – we only use the apostrophe for the contraction of ‘it is’ (it’s mine) and not something owned by it (its feathers).

Adjectives: There is a specific order of adjectives we should use before a noun: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose. Whilst native English speakers do this without realising it, it can catch out those for whom English is a second language. ‘Leather scruffy football black boots’ – it just doesn’t sound right!

Quotation Marks: The accepted form these days in British practice is single quotation marks, with double quotation marks when quoting within a quote (if you see what I mean). Here’s an example: I saw Mrs. Smith today. She said, ‘It looks like it will rain today, but if you tell my husband I said that, he’ll reply “What a load of rubbish!”’

Abbreviations : Abbreviations can be tricky, the correct way to write these common abbreviations is: i.e., etc., e.g.

May/Might: We use ‘may’ when something is more likely to happen and ‘might’ when something is less likely to happen, or in a hypothetical situation.

Worse/Worst: Worse describes something that is of a lower quality than something else, when two things are compared; Worst describes something that is of the lowest quality in a group of three or more things.

Practise/Practice : Practise is a verb, practice is a noun. So, Susan can practise shooting at netball practice.

I could go on, but I don’t want to bore you!

On the flip side, what should we STOP doing?

As a general observation, I would say that the use of company-specific jargon is sometimes confusing, but if the people who are looking at your website or reading your report are up to speed on what you are putting across, that’s fine; it’s a judgement call.

Also, try to avoid inconsistency . Spell things the same the whole way through; use a consistent style for things such as phone numbers, staff members’ qualifications, time format, headings and bullet points.

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

Be more adventurous! Most of us use the same words all the time, but there are plenty of alternatives. Use the Thesaurus function on Word (or treat yourself to a Thesaurus) to offer interesting alternatives and use them to freshen up your writing.

Finally, check and double-check what you have written before sending or publication. Once it’s out there, it’s too late to correct any mistakes!

Of course, what you could do is employ a Proofreader. Our job is to be a fresh pair of eyes and to identify any errors before bringing them to your attention. Unprofessional presentation could leave potential customers thinking your company could be unprofessional so they scroll on to another company in their search engine. A website is your shop window, make it as brilliant as possible!

I hope this helps, and thank you Janet for inviting me to contribute.

Thank you, Ian, some great tips.

If you would like to find out more about Ian and his work, please take a look at www.silverdaleproofreading.co.u k, drop him an email at info@silverdaleproofreading.co. , call 07879 462659 or you can find him on LinkedIn.

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How to set goals and make them happen

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:26:24 GMT

For effective goals go beyond specific and measurable; make them challenging to drive higher performance.

‘Our company goal for 2022 is to accomplish the goals of 2021, which we should have done in 2020 because we committed to them in 2019 and planned them already during 2018.’

Did this make you smile?

I certainly did when I read this, as often the response from small business owners to the question about setting goals is ‘what’s the point, everything changes, so why bother’

How to set goals - the theory

Of all the theories of management (and let’s face it there are many) Goal Setting theory is the most universally adopted by organisations of all sizes. The CIPD reported ‘(Goal setting) theory is confirmed by hundreds of high quality empirical studies and can therefore be regarded as one of the most ‘evidence-based’ interventions in organisation and people management ( https://buff.ly/2F7KIle ) and for good reason.

Goal Setting theory, formally published by Locke & Latham in their 1990 book ‘A theory of goal setting & task performance ‘states that

‘goal setting is fundamentally linked to task performance. Setting specific and challenging goals, along with appropriate feedback, contribute to higher and better task performance.

That’s right

Goal setting = higher performance

Whilst most people are familiar SMART goals – that is only part of the theory, there are 5 C’s that all contribute to effective goal setting.

The 5C's of effective goal setting

1. Clarity – Making SMART goals provides clarity of what is expected; by when, by who and with a clear understanding of what success will look like.

e.g. ‘Increase sales’ becomes ‘Increase total sales value by 20% (2020 £xxk) by December 2021’

2. Challenge – create goals that inspire and motivate – this is very personal, only you can judge where to set a goal which gets you to jump out of bed in the morning but doesn’t prevent you sleeping at night.

e.g. Create 1 blog per month or create 1 blog per week

The key is to challenge yourself so that meeting or exceeding the goal will bring a real sense of achievement.

3. Complexity – this is linked to challenge, recognise that you need to balance the complexity or difficulty of the goal, setting unrealistic goals will have a demotivating effect. For more complex goals it is useful to break it down into 3-4 smaller sub goals.

4. Checks – build in checks & reviews, particularly for long term goals, if its going to take two years then how will things look at 6 months in. Importantly, if you find things have changed, either within your organisation or externally in the market place these interim checks help you to amend and adjust the goals if necessary but remain focused on achievement.

5. And finally, Commitment – if you worked in an organisation your manager would be holding you accountable to your goals, however as a business owner or Solopreneur you are the boss so without that discipline how do you commit to your goals?

Research shows that the simple act of writing a goal down increases commitment to achieving it. In addition, sharing your goals with others, especially if they are someone who you respect in a professional capacity, will keep you on track. This is often seen as the most valuable part of having a business coach.

How about visualisation? close your eyes and imagine how you will feel when you have achieved that goal, the thrill of success or the pride of achievement. For me, I write out my goals and have them on my desk, seeing them every day is enough to keep me focused and I schedule review meetings with myself, booking out time in my diary to review goal and plan on a quarterly basis.

So how about you? Put some time aside to review and set new goals - just think by applying these simple steps you are already giving yourself a head start to achieving them.

But don't stop there

Build systems to support your goals

Whilst setting SMART goals gives you a specific direction to travel, when it comes to helping us achieve those goals its only half the story.

In his bestselling book, Atomic Habits James Clear shared his own experience that success has less to do with the goal and more to do with our day to day systems, that work towards achieving that goal. He sums this saying ' we don't rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems '.

Consider the goal to run a marathon in 2022 - whilst the goal is specific and measurable it doesn't help you to achieve it - however the system of running 3 days per week, starting at 5k and increasing the distance by 5k per month would have you running marathon distance in 8 months. ( OK, this may not be the best marathon training plan but you get the idea)

So, for every goal you set look at the underlying systems that will help you achieve it. If the goal is to increase sales revenue by 20% what are the daily systems for marketing, networking and referrals that will lead to new sales opportunities.

If you found this article useful you should have a look at - Time to Review - https://www.thepositivepen.co.uk/am-i-still-learning

Janet Doran is Business Coach based in North Yorkshire, UK. She works with freelancers, sole traders and small business owners helping them to answer questions such as ‘how can we stand out from our competitors, attract customers and win new business?’. Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or follow her on twitter https://twitter.com/thepositivepen

Start, STOP, Continue.... Hashtags

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 13:40:26 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Rachel Moore from Harrogate, a social media training, management & marketing specialist.

Since 2013 Rachel has helped over 6500 businesses, large and small, across the UK to demystify and master social media. Rachel has a background in advertising, marketing and sales yet in 2008 when she took her first business online she knew nothing about the emerging world of online marketing. Determined to succeed, she spent many months learning how to master social media and now shares that knowledge through training, coaching and public speaking.

Rachel, when it comes to hashtags what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

"Hashtags are a popular subject that I get asked about a lot! but before I dive in let me explain what a hashtag is and how they work. A hashtag is simply a keyword that relates to the content you are writing about in your post. It can also refer to your brand, location, audience, community or industry as I explain later in this article.

What are hashtags and how do they work

"Once the keyword is preceded with the # symbol it becomes a hyperlink (i.e. it’s clickable). Hashtags have no spaces or punctuation and can be either all lower case or have initial capitalisation.

When you click on the hashtag it links you through to a separate page where you will be able to view all the posts that have been written which have used the same hashtag. The same way folders work in a filing system, they keep everything that’s related together. This makes it really easy for platform users to find the content they want by simply searching a specific hashtag.

An example of this might be if you wanted to know what was being posted on social media about energy prices. All you would do is type in #energyprices into the search bar of any social media platform. All the posts that have been written about energy prices that include the #energyprices will show up on that page.

So hashtags are 1) a way for platform users to cut through the noise and go directly to the content they want to see by simply searching a specific hashtag and 2) if you use multiple hashtags on your posts then your post won’t just appear on your business page or profile wall, it will also appear on the pages of each respective hashtag providing your post with additional ways of being seen and potentially by new audiences."

Thanks for that Rachel, so what is the one thing we should be doing with hashtags to make them work for our business?

" Research hashtags before you use them . It’s really important to do this and it’s a very under-used strategy. As a business you want your posts to be seen by the right audience – your potential customers or clients. If you use the wrong hashtag then you could potentially be wasting your time.

Let me give you an example – When I first set up my business I wanted to use the hashtag #RMSM (Rachel Moore Social Media) as my business brand hashtag. I did the research only to find that on Facebook #RMSM is used by Real Madrid Supporters Myanmar. That thread is all about football. Who is going to want to see my social media posts in there – nobody!

Another example might be #sick – now to me sick means being ill or not feeling very well but to the youngsters, sick means something is really good, cool or impressive. If I was feeling ill would I want my posts next to a post raving about something really cool! Now can you see why researching the hashtags is so important? Make sure you think about the audience that you want to see your hashtags. Use the hashtags that they will be looking at."

On the flip side, what should we STOP doing?

" Stop auto posting from Instagram to Facebook without editing the hashtags. Not only does it look terrible, it shouts out lazy auto posting as well as, I don’t know what I’m doing! You’re speaking Instagram on Facebook, that’s like speaking French to a German! Plus if you use too many hashtags on Facebook and LinkedIn the algorithm may well flag up your post as spam and reduce the amount of people it shows it to."

Take time to learn the requirements of each platform and give the algorithm what it wants

"Instagram encourages you to use plenty of hashtags but LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter recommend just 2 a maximum of 3. These platforms work, and use hashtags in a different way to Instagram."

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

Make your use of hashtags more effective through research and planning. When I do hashtag research for clients I create an excel sheet or a word document with a table and add 8 columns – see example below.

"Column A is for the hashtag keyword itself
Column B is for the amount of posts relative to that hashtag on Instagram
Column C is for relevance - is the hashtags relevant to my audience?
Column D is for the amount of Facebook posts associated with that hashtag
Column E is for relevance – are the posts in that thread relevant to my business? Is it the right audience viewing those posts?
Column F is for the amount of LinkedIn people following the hashtag
Column G is for relevance – again are the posts in that thread relevant to my business? Is it the right audience viewing those posts?
Column H is for relevance of the posts on Twitter

I usually start with Instagram so columns 1, 2 and 3 relate to Instagram. I then start adding in the hashtags one by one to the document. Then I search the chosen hashtags, one by one, to see how many posts come up. I add the number of posts into column 2 and then look at the other posts in the thread and see if they are relevant and put a Y (yes) or N (no) in column 3.

Once you have done your keyword research you can then start looking at how popular the hashtags are. Some will have just a few hundred posts and some will have millions. Try to avoid overly popular hashtags as your post will very quickly get buried in amongst them and won’t be visible for very long. Aim for hashtags with 10,000 to 250,000 posts rather than ones that have millions. If you feel you need to include an industry specific one and it’s very popular then do if you feel it’s necessary. I sometimes add in #socialmedia.

It may take you a few hours initially to do the research but once it’s done you can refer to it over and over again and you now know that your hashtags are the right ones, maybe adding in the additional researched hashtag as you come across them.

You will also want to check the analytics to see which hashtags are performing the best. There are basic analytics on Instagram through view insights as shown below but if you use a tool like www.later.com to do your scheduling then the paid version offers a far more in- depth analysis of hashtags."

Hashtag categories - How to find the right hashtags

"There are 6 different hashtag types: Audience, Industry, Community, Content, Location, Branded. Think about your business across these different categories can produce a good range of hashtags to research.

Audience
These relate directly to your audience or what your audience might be searching for. For example in my industry it might be: #socialmediatraining #smallbusinessowner #socialmediatips

Industry

These relate directly to your specific industry. My industry example might be: #socialmedia #digitalmarketing #socialmediamarketing

Community

Might refer to communities that have been formed to help each other: #smallbusinessowners #entrepreneursofinstagram

#independentbusinessowners

Content

Relates directly to the specific type of content you are sharing: #howtousehashtags #hashtags #hashtagtips

Location

Relates to where you are located or where you might work: #socialmediauk #harrogatebusiness #harrogate

Branded

Branded hashtags relate directly to your company or company name. #rachelmooresocialmedia #GetMOORESocial

Use a combination of them all. Divide them into groups relevant to specific products or services you have and then keep them in the notes section of your phone so you can copy and paste them into your posts rather than having to type each one out each time.

Make sure you vary them, don’t keep using the same ones on every post and whilst you’re doing your hashtag research make sure you research the latest banned hashtags and make sure you don’t use them.

So there you have it, a whistle stop tour of hashtags, I hope it’s been helpful and if you need any further assistance with your social media then please don’t hesitate to contact me."

Thank you, Rachel, some great advice and practical tips.

If you would like to find out more about Rachel and her work, please take a look at www.rachelmooresocialmedia.com or call her on 07904 007 660 for a free 15 minute discovery call.

Rachel runs live in the room workshops and online challenges as well as offering affordable private, bespoke 1-2-1 social media training on Facebook, Facebook advertising, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, social media strategy, content creation and Mailchimp.

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When is the best time to.....?

183:717802773 (Janet Doran) — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 16:04:54 GMT

When is the best time to make a sales call, hold a meeting or even take a day off? Intrigued, I set out to find the best advice online - here's what I found

When is the best time to make a sales call?

According to HubSpot (and common sense) there is no one magical time to make those sales calls, it will be dependant upon the client, the type of sale and the relationship however they have carried out some research to recommend times you are more likely to catch your prospect at their desk and importantly when they may be more receptive to taking your call.

They suggest that the best time for cold calling is between 16.00 – 17.00 – the logic being that most people are wrapping up their day and are more open to disruptions than at other times of day. They're also more likely to be at their desks.

HubSpot also cite research that indicates the best days of the week are Wednesday and Thursday (best = greatest chance of having a conversation on first attempt) and that the second-best time is 11.00 – 12.00 , based on a similar principle to the end of the day, people are starting to wind down before lunch.

When is the best time to send emails?

Understandably there are lots of answers online for this one, basically ‘it depends’ however CoSchedule's article is based on 14 studies into email effectiveness ( including studies from Mailchimp, Experiens and HubSpot) and their findings are pretty straightforward – the best time (statistically) is Tuesday at 10.00 .

When is the best time to post on LinkedIn?

With far too many guides, blogs, and infographics to reference here the consensus appears to be that LinkedIn is busiest between 10.00 – 14.00 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday . With the highest level of engagement ( clicks & Shares) on Tuesday 10.00 – 11.00.

However one interesting article noted that, when you are looking to grow your network, the best time to send connection requests is Friday morning as people are more likely to be in a positive, and hence more receptive, mood.

When is the best time to hold a meeting?

Findings show that the highest level of meeting acceptance is for Tuesday at 15.00.

During the late afternoon employees have recovered from the after-lunch slump and probably have the same amount of high energy from before lunch.

Starting at 3 p.m., people have had time to reflect and prepare anything for the meeting and won’t be as affected by late arrivals than a 9.00 start. Pus, at 15.00 with most of the day gone attendees will want to handle business efficiently so they can go home in good time.

When is the best time to plan your day?

Tony Robbins offers some practical advice on this, “Human beings have limited willpower” he writes. “When you attempt to plan your day in the morning, you deplete your supply of willpower first thing. Why do that to yourself, when you can just as easily plan your day out the night before ?”

Planning out the next day as your last task is effectively giving yourself a ‘heads up’ on what tomorrow will look like, so that you’re more mentally prepared – no need to waste time and energy trying to get focused when your day’s plan is ready and waiting.

One point I would add is to plan out Monday as the last task on a Friday evening not on a Sunday evening – having a clear plan by the end of Friday avoids you starting to think about work on a Sunday evening, as the other danger for a Sunday evening is that planning can easily turn into working.

When is the best time to set new goals?

Looking at the weekly schedule above Monday is looking pretty quiet – not the best time to try and engage with others as everyone settle into a new week – so if the phone and emails are quieter plus less meetings planned then Monday morning is a great time to set new goals for the week.

Rhett Power, writing for Inc. recommends setting new goals should be part of your Monday morning routine, reflecting on the success of last week’s goal and any areas that need improving before setting out clear goals for the week ahead.

When is the best time to take a day off?

This one may surprise you, as like me you probably book a Monday or Friday for an odd day’s holiday to extend the weekend – however an article in Inc. put up a pretty good case to avoid those days as they can end up causing you more stress.

If you plan a Friday off, you may feel stressed about finishing up your week and getting everything done a day early. If you are taking Monday off, you may feel anxious about what you are missing and what you will be facing come Tuesday morning. So what do they suggest?

Choose Wednesday instead.

Taking a day off on Wednesday means you only have two working days each side from one weekend to the next which can make you more focussed and productive. Plus if you are planning to go shopping or eat, as most people are at work, you get to avoid the crowds.

Of course, many different factors apply to each individual business, so the overall advice is trial and error to see what works for you, but I hope this article offers a good place to start.

Janet Doran , works as a Strategic Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

I post daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

One of the key benefits business owners get from working with a coach is that ‘protected’ time to work on the business instead of it in. If you are thinking about working with a business coach please get in touch.

Start, STOP, Continue.... Wow with web content

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 13:02:54 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Helen Reynolds from York, a freelance website copywriter and founder of Ink Gardener Copywriting.

A self-confessed history geek, she helps profits bloom by writing fresh Google-friendly content for UK heritage, hospitality and small businesses. Helen has worked on the web since 1997 for organisations such as First Choice Holidays, the Lake District National Park, Durham Cathedral and Hadrian’s Wall Country.

We first met at Business Ladies Around Harrogate networking group and often exchange comments on Twitter.

Helen, when it comes to our web content what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

"Update it. Often it's the last thing on our To Do list. But Googling you is one of the first things a prospective customer does. Websites are as much a part of your ‘digital footprint’ as social media."

Updating words won't break the design

"Many of us aren't techies. So we might be nervous that we could 'break' the swishy design of our websites. But your website should be set up so that you can’t break the design or layout when you're updating the words within it.

Think of it like putting a new photo in a frame. You don’t pry it open with a screwdriver and re-glue it. You just update what’s inside. The same happens when you use a content management system such as WordPress."

Copy and paste is your friend

"If you're worried about typos, cut and paste the text into a Word document and run spellcheck first. But websites are so much easier to correct than a printed brochure. Plus if you update your website more often, Google notices that you're 'playing the game' and will reward you with higher rankings. So it’s a win-win!"

On the flip side, what should we STOP doing?

"Treating the website like it's for us. But we're already the experts. There are two audiences you need to be pitching to: future customers and search engine robots.

Too many business websites read more like a CV than an enticing online 'shop window'. About pages are often the second most popular page on a website. So it's important to make sure every page earns its keep with a subtle sales message."

It's not an online library

"Does your website feature every blog you've ever written? Case studies for services you no longer offer? Out of stock products? Search engine robots only have a limited time to spend indexing your website. So make sure they can get to the good stuff without being bogged down.

If you delete pages, just remember to set up redirects from the now defunct page name to somewhere more relevant. That way, someone following a link will land somewhere more helpful than Page Not Found. Just Google '301 redirects' to find out more."

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

"Sharing our testimonials and reviews online. If we don't blow our own trumpet, who will?"

The TripAdvisor Effect

"If I write 'I'm great at Search Engine Optimisation' you'll probably think "well you would say that, wouldn't you?" However if you read the review "Helen is great at SEO" – Jasmine Bloggs, you'll trust Jasmine's opinion. Even though you've never met her either. It's why we check out TripAdvisor before booking that hotel.

At the end of the day, people want to know you'll do what you say you will and you won't run off with their money. A review does this for you without sounding like you're bragging."

Reduce, re-use, recycle

"Reviews can come from anywhere. Maybe your LinkedIn profile has some wonderful testimonials? Or there's a review on Google My Business? Did someone say something complimentary on Twitter? For a funeral director client, I took extracts from thank you cards they'd received, using initials to preserve anonymity.

However Google hates rambling sentences. It won't distinguish between what you've written and a quote from a customer. So prune if you need to!"

Thank you, Helen, some great advice.

If you would like to find out more about Helen and her work, please take a look at https://www.inkgardener.co.uk or follow her on Twitter @inkgardener. As well as SEO web content and navigation packages, she offers social media post batches and Website MOTs from £147.

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Start, STOP, Continue.... Prospecting

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 15:34:30 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Sally, from Fun Training For Results, based in Harrogate.

With a successful career in sales, after attending yet another boring sales course, that didn’t work, Sally was inspired to establish Fun Training for Results, specialising in sales and customer service training.

Sally ’s training is unique, engaging, fun and different. No clock watching, no copious note taking or PowerPoint overload. Training with Sally is about doing things and having fun, so you remember, and you use what you have learned. It’s the results that matter!

Sally, when it comes to prospecting what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

Booking time in your diary to do it. Most people avoid and make every excuse not to, fear of being told no, blaming not enough data, the economy or even the weather.

The reality is that, even in a recession, there are always people looking to buy and if you aren’t active then your competition will be!

To really have any impact I recommend a minimum of 3 hours per week ; this should include one networking meeting, time on LinkedIn and 1-2-1 follow up meetings.

Prospecting is about building awareness and relationship building. Putting yourself on the radar of potential customers as and when they have a need for your products or services.

Write down your prospecting plan and commit to doing it. Make it a priority to avoid it getting bumped off your list when business is busy.

On the flip side, what should we STOP doing?

100% it is not about selling , it’s about developing a relationship over time. - think of it a bit like dating.

Understand that prospecting is hard work and requires a tenacious mixed approach. Combining LinkedIn, calling, email, text or going to virtual webinars or networking, arrange a walking meeting. Combined with strategy all can create new opportunity.

Be careful though, know who your ideal client is and target them . Little point spending hours with dog groomers, unless that is you are targeting dog groomers!

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

If you are doing what you did pre-Covid – you are kidding yourself!

In this new virtual world opportunities are more accessible than ever. Get online to find out where your target audience are hanging out, from webinars to networking meetings – if you are looking to meet more architects then search for networking meeting for architects. A great example is a supplier of hair extensions searched for networking events for hair salons and found a nationwide group they could attend and made lots of new contacts all in one place.

If you are looking to work with larger organisations, look out for ‘Meet the buyer’ events in your sector. Once registered you can often make 1-2-1 appointments with your target buyers.

Consistency is key! If you take your foot off the gas when business is busy, 90 days down the line you could find your pipeline of enquiries has dried up.

Time block each day to prospect and then do it!

Thank you, Sally, some great advice.

If you would like to find out more about Sally and her work, visit www.funtrainingforresults.co m o r email sally@funtrainingforresults.com

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A simple 3 step plan to be more positive

183:717802773 (Janet Doran) — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 14:47:56 GMT

We can't always be happy but we can always be positive, believing that even in the toughest times better things are coming. Here is a simple 3 step plan to boost your positivity.

What is positivity?

Positivity is often seen in the same way as creativity, that we each have a fixed amount so we either are a positive person or we aren't. Yet the good news is that, just like creativity this isn't true, in fact, as Maya Angelou said “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”. the same applies to positivity.

If you look up the definition of positivity in the dictionary “The practice of being or tendency to be positive or optimistic in attitude.” When we think of positivity as a practice , a habit then it's something that is in our control.

So, how can we be more positive? How positive we feel is made up of a number of aspects in our outlook and our attitude. So, our 3 step plan start with reflection - where are you now? Step 2 looks at ways to boost your positivity exactly where you need it and Step 3 is making a commitment to do things differently - Let's get started!

Step One: Where are you now?

Take at look at the image above - using this as a guide - rate how positive you are feeling right now? 10 - highly positive and 1 - not positive at all. This is your baseline - we will come back to this at the end.

Researching many different sources on positivity has identified 8 key traits/habits which impact on our overall feeling. Using the table below, consider each trait ask yourself ' does this sound like me ? Don't dwell to long on each points, go with your gut reaction, place a X next to each point in either the 'sounds like' or 'doesn't sound like' box.

This simple exercise will highlight the areas you are currently supporting how positive you feel, and shows those areas where you can do more. So, how can we boost these specific areas?

Step Two: How to do things differently

Using the table below as a foundation, consider different things you could do to build up these areas. But, don't stop there, talk to others. Talking about this with different people is a great way to come up with new approaches. If you are struggling with a 'can do attitude' who do you know that exemplifies this? Why not grab a virtual coffee and pick their brains?

Click here for the above links how to come up with new idea s What can I learn from th s? collaboration how to bring your best self to any situation

If you haven't come across the 7 questions to SUMO by Paul McGee, then let me introduce you now. I attended one of Paul's courses over 10 years ago but these questions, and the resulting change in attitude that they drive, have stayed with me and have made a big difference. Paul created the 7 questions to offer us a way to understand and process any challenges that we face. These questions help to keep things in perspective, stay focussed and to keep learning - key aspects of positivity. Here are the questions -

Step 3: Commit to making changes

As the saying goes ' if you want things to be different, you have to do different things ' a great way to look at this is to consider what new things can you start doing, what unhelpful things will you stop doing and what great stuff can you do more of? Pick just one or two things and commit to them for at least 4 weeks.

So, now you have a plan, stick with this for at least 4 weeks - then go back to that scale at the beginning - what is your score now? are you feeling more positive? then keep on experimenting! it's an ongoing process after all.

Remember, things will come along that will mean you can't be happy all the time, but improving your positivity will help you to see that even on the tough days there are better ones coming.

Let me know how you get on and please share your own positive tips in the comments.

Janet Doran , works as a Strategic Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

I post daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

Start, STOP, Continue.... LinkedIn

Wed, 05 May 2021 14:18:32 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Nigel Cliffe, from Value Exchange Ltd.

Nigel is an experienced multi-channel marketer with over thirty years’ experience in combining the best of marketing with the best of technology to drive improved personal brand and business performance.

As a result of using LinkedIn successfully since 2010 to build engagement and generate new business for many clients, Nigel formed Value Exchange Ltd, a business specifically to train others how to repeat the same success.

He is a regular trainer, entertaining speaker and engaging presenter on the subject of LinkedIn.

A start-up specialist himself, Nigel has worked with a wide variety of clients, from one-man businesses through to FTSE 100 companies, universities, charities and the UK central government.

You can get to know a lot more about Nigel from his activity on LinkedIn, of course!

Nigel, when it comes to making the most of LinkedIn what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

Engaging with others! It’s as simple as that! By a very large majority, most people do not engage on LinkedIn. Many act in a way I’d call a Lurker! They might consume content, but they rarely ‘do’ anything.

This is such a loss to them as they are pretty much ‘dead’ to the algorithms. It’s when we engage that the magic happens. You may have the best LinkedIn profile in the world, but it will mean nothing if you don’t engage.

When we interact on other people’s content, we build our tribe on LinkedIn. If we help people, they in turn will wish to help us.

Look out for opportunities to add value to existing conversations. Use hashtags to search for content relating to your area of expertise. Spend a few more seconds to add something other than “great post”. You will stand out a mile when you do!

I spend at least 75% of my time on LinkedIn engaging with content, that of others and of my own.

On the flip side, what should we STOP doing?

Selling! No one appreciates being ‘sold to’ on LinkedIn. You know the routine, you get a spammy connection request and the next thing, Bam! – an attempt to sell you something you don’t want, or more importantly, you don’t want now!

LinkedIn is a place to build trust in your personal brand, one step at a time. You do this by sharing knowledge and investing in the community of LinkedIn. When someone wants what you have to offer, they will come to you! No amount of an attempt to ‘sell’ on LinkedIn works. Avoid the desire to try to close the deal on LinkedIn. That will always take place somewhere else – via am email, a Zoom chat, or when we can meet again, a real coffee!

Use LinkedIn to build trust in your personal brand and you will create an inbound pipeline of opportunities for the future.

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

Publishing our own content! How do I know what you have to offer if you are not sharing what you know?

One of the most valuable features of LinkedIn is to share in a valuable and interesting way what we have learned on life’s journey. How are people expected to know what you do if you are not telling them?!

When we post content of value, relevance and interest it WILL get comments and interaction. This leads to opportunities that help us win new business in the future.

I recommend posting twice a week . This is enough to make sure you remain ‘present’ on LinkedIn. Make sure your content adds value to the reader and is relevant to the audience you are trying to attract.

Also, when you have posted something of interest that has sparked conversations, make sure you interact with every single comment, even if only to say thanks for commenting! This shows you are an appreciative human being and leads to conversations that take place off LinkedIn. I often say, “Get the relationship OFF LinkedIn at the earliest opportunity!” That way it will take on a whole new dimension and may lead to becoming your next most valued client!

At the end of the day, we are all simply human beings sharing our life’s experiences. I urge people to dig a bit deeper into their use of LinkedIn. I haven’t come across many people who regret it!

Thanks for asking me to contribute Janet!

Thank you, Nigel, some great advice.

If you would like to find out more about Nigel and his work, why not connect with him via his profile on LinkedIn or visit his super-rich website where there are lots of videos and blogs that explain many features and benefits of LinkedIn.

LI: linkedin.com/in/nigeljcliffe

W: https://www.linkedintraining.co.uk/

E: nigel@valueexchange.co.uk

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Start, STOP, Continue.... Customer Experience

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 14:27:11 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Nigel Greenwood from Simply Customer.

Nigel has 20 years experience in mapping customer journeys to deliver improved sales, customer retention and customer satisfaction.

Working with B2B and B2C clients, he has helped SMEs:

Improve lead to sale conversion by up to 100%
Improve customer retention by up to 80% for a B2B mobile/broadband broker.
Increase cross sales by 90% for a CRM provider.

Nigel has run customer experience and journey mapping workshops in the UK and abroad, with 3 books on customer experience published.

Nigel, when it comes to creating an amazing customer experience what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

Actually, in this case we need to deal with a STOP first, You need to stop looking at your business through your own eyes. Let me explain why

As an example, look at your homepage on the website.

Are the words all about you, your company and what you do? Why would a potential customer be interested in that?

Prospective customers want to immediately see that they are in the right place to get help with whatever it is they want to do, so you need to make it obvious to them.

Stop looking at your processes from a business efficiency point of view and look at them to make sure they do what the customer wants!

On the flip side, what should we START doing?

Start asking your customers for feedback. This isn’t about looking for a 5 star review, it’s about learning from them and starting to improve and grow your business.

Ask customers these 4 questions every 6 months (don’t forget to ask prospective customers for feedback if they decide not to do business with you as well!).

1. What do we do well (so you can do more of it!)

2. What could we do better?

3. What else could we do to help you?

4. Would you be happy to recommend us?

Use their answers to make changes to your business. Don’t forget to tell customers about the changes you have made due to their feedback – that shows you are listening to them.

O nly 5% of UK businesses do this so it’s a simple way to get ahead of your competitors!

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

The most valuable thing to continue doing is to change. Many businesses find it hard, but making small, simple changes to your business regularly is the best way to continue to grow.

Carve out time in your diary each month to look critically at parts of your business and ask yourself “how could this be better?”

It might be something simple such as adding your phone number to your homepage so customers find it easier to contact you, or scheduling in a quarterly call to existing customers to see how they are.

It could be something more complex such as changing the structure of your proposals to see if it improves your conversion rate. Either way, get the habit of making one change a month and monitoring the results. You will be surprised at the results!

Thank you, Nigel, some great advice.

If you would like to find out more about Nigel and his work you can contact him at nigel@simplycustomer.co.uk.

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12 ways to put your company values to work in your business

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 19:07:25 GMT

Attracting new customers, potential new employees and increasing employee engagement; how to embed your values to have a real impact on your business.

If you are reading this then you recognise that your company values have the potential to make a significant difference to your business enabling you to:

�� Stand out from your competitors

�� Attract the best talent

�� Increase employee engagement

�� Increase customer loyalty

�� Increase referrals

If you have already read How to create company values that matter you will understand that generic values such as Honesty, expertise and Respect just don't cut it. That article offers a process, Involving your team in drawing out meaningful values that represent something important to them and your customers – however once you have created them the question is what do you do with them?

Your values can be used in three key areas - Attracting customers, Attracting potential new employees and Increasing employee engagement, this article looks at each area in detail showing you where to embed your values to have a real impact on your business.

Attracting customers

Using your values in your marketing enables you to make a connection with potential customers, people who think the same way and believe in the same things as you do. It’s not about selling what you do but the particular way you go about doing it. The opportunity to stand out from your competitors is clear.

1. Social Media

Creating posts that relate to your values is showing your audience the personality behind your business. Referencing your values in what you do with the underlying why you do it that way. Images and social cue cards are useful but why not create and share a video about where your values come from, why they are important to you and the impact they have on your customers.

2. Website & Brochures

The more regulated your industry or standardised your products and services, leading with your values on your website and brochures will make your business stand out from providers. Giving your website or graphic designer your values to work from will give them a more in depth picture of your organisation and how you stand out from other providers.

Ensure that you translate your values into what it means for the customer's experience and/ or the social or environmental benefits to the wider community.

3. Tenders & Proposals

Whilst the opportunity to stand out in a tender process may appear limited, accreditations and awards ( see point 5 below) are ways to demonstrate your credibility.

Do your values deliver social & environmental benefits? Government and local authority tenders have a statutory requirement to include Societal Value as measure within all tenders over the value of £180k, accounting for 10% of the assessment criteria. The most recent changes published in January 2021 assess each submission for the following

Supporting COVID-19 recovery; how you help local communities manage and recover from the impact of COVID
Tackling economic inequality , are you creating new businesses, new jobs and skills?
Fighting climate change and reducing waste
Driving equal opportunity , including reducing the disability employment gap and tackling workforce inequality
Wellbeing including Increasing mental and physical health & wellbeing of employees, customers and suppliers and improving community integration.

You can read more about this here

When writing proposals, reflect on how well you know the client organisation, do your research! What is important to them? Do they have published values which align with yours. Remember to translate your values into the customers experience - what's it in for them?

4. Customer Satisfaction surveys

Do your values actually make a difference to customers? Be specific in the questions you ask, if one of your values is to WOW customers, ask them if they were WOWed! Customer feedback needs to be specific in order to allow you to measure your performance and look at areas to improve but is also a useful marketing tool – " 98% of our customers said they were WOWed by our service"

5. Awards

Values are about making a stand on something you believe in, the guiding principles of how you run your business. Living by those values can be worthy of external recognition through awards. If one of your values is to be continually innovating than entering innovation awards demonstrates your commitment to deliver on that. Awards increase your credibility with prospective customers and potential employees plus they allow you to benchmark your business against others and identify ways to get better.

The bonus is that you don't even have to win to see most of the benefits - 'shortlisted' or 'semi finalist' are still worthy of promotion and inclusion in your marketing.

Attracting potential new employees

6. People Specifications & Job advertisements

When creating a person specification for a role considering your values will help to create a richer picture of the personality/character of person you are looking for, who will be a good fit in your team. Promoting your values in job adverts enables you to find the best talent, attracted by the reflected principles, attitude and personality of the business.

7. The interview process

For each value that is relevant to the role create some specific questions to test for alignment with the candidates own values. The chances of a new employee fitting in and feeling they belong is driven by establishing they shared values, recruitment is an expensive and lengthy process - you don't want them to leave in the first few weeks because they discover it's not the place for them.

Don’t just share your values, ask candidates what each value means to them & to give examples of how they demonstrate them.

You may be faced with two equally qualified candidates but their degree of alignment and commitment with your values can determine who is the better fit for your business.

8. Onboarding & Training

When new members of staff join it's not just about showing them what needs to be done but how things are done around here.

Values are part of your organisations culture, they help to ‘glue’ the team together. Sharing how your values are lived day to day in the business should help them to integrate into the team and feel a sense of belonging faster.

In the same way you would provide training to develop knowledge and skills, consider what training you could provide to develop behaviours that deliver on your values. Whilst there is unlikely to be a training course, work shadowing colleagues or coaching can be used to develop their understanding and commitment.

Increasing employee engagement

9, Reward & Recognition

If you have the right values then delivering on them will make a difference to your customers and therefore to your bottom line, so find ways to recognise great work to keep employees motivated to deliver.

One effective method is Peer to Peer recognition; asking your teams to look out for examples of delivering on your values amongst their peers and nominate them for a monthly award. Remember that the recognition ( telling them and others of the great work) is equally as important as the reward (getting something of value in return).

Recognition can be become a regular part of team meetings and rewards don’t always have to about money, how about use of the best parking space or a Feelgood Friday with an early finish!

Consider rewarding employees with opportunities for development, after all if they are already performing well keep up the momentum. Think about what would be relevant and useful to their development; attending a customer visit, representing your business at a networking event or experiencing your products/services.

10. Performance Management

The ongoing process of agreeing objectives and reviewing performance is the place to turn your value statements into expected behaviours and standards of performance.

Start by communicating the values and why they are important to the business and your customers.

Consider each individual to determine which behaviours/standards are relevant to their role.

Set appropriate objectives or standards that drive the desired behaviour – remember the adage what gets measured gets done . Be clear on what ‘good’ looks like.

It’s important to recognise that if you have created some Aspirational Values (things that are not currently in the business) you need to be clear on what this looks like in order to begin the process of aligning behaviour with these new values.

11. Disciplinary Process

If you are creating standards of behaviour it's important to think about how these will be monitored and how you will deal with those who fall outside of that standard.

Maintaining standards is vital to good team morale, ensuring that everyone is doing their bit and all being held to the same standard avoids potential conflict and diversion within your team. After all you will get the behaviour you are prepared to accept.

12. Employee surveys

Engaged employee's deliver higher productivity, greater customer service and high levels of discretionary effort. Happy employees = happy customers.

But how do you know if they are happy unless you ask. Relating your employee survey questions to your values is a way to dig deeper than the pay and rations discussion. It can also highlight if you as the leader are living your values or whether there is room for improvement.

So, there you have 12 ways to embed your values into your business, utilising some or all of these will start to deliver real benefits to your business.

If you would like to work on your company values, creating, updating and implementing then please get in touch to see how I can help you to make them meaningful and bring them to life.

Janet Doran , works as a Strategic Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

I post daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

Start, STOP, Continue.... Building Confidence

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 09:25:52 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Jules Wyman, a leading confidence coach based in York.

Jules works with CEO’s to students to help them understand and connect with genuine confidence, so they no longer feel the need to pretend or act as if they have confidence.

Jules, when it comes to building our confidence what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

Trusting in yourself . A major breakthrough on my confidence journey was learning the root derivation of confidence. It is used in so many different contexts, so understanding its roots created a different perception.

Confidence comes from the Latin con fidere meaning with trust. So, whether we are talking about confidence in a product or service or ourselves, what we are really wanting is trust. To trust that it will deliver or that we will.

The challenge with that is perfection, as we want to trust ourselves to get it right or perfect first time and every time. When actually “confidence isn’t about always getting it right, it’s about not fearing to be wrong” (Pete McIntrye).

On the flip side, what should we STOP doing?

Doubting yourself! Simple statement to make and yet it’s a habit that many of us have.

Doubting, questioning, overthinking etc. are all going to impact your experience of confidence. But how to stop doubting?

Awareness is key. Notice where and how (not why) you doubt yourself. Doubt being an antonym of trust. Notice how you are doing it. Listen to the thinking that creates the feelings of doubt and whatever stresses that brings. Then ask yourself ‘how could I trust myself even more right now?’

Even if you do not know the answer or have a solution, ask the question, and let it percolate. Answers do appear when great questions are asked.

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

Collate your achievements . Take the time to go back through your whole life and list all the qualifications you have, from Cycling Proficiency to PhD’s and everything in between. Then add all the CPD you have done, all the courses and conferences you have attended and books you have read that relate to your personal and professional development. Finally add three achievements from the last 12 months.

When I work with clients on these lists, they all begin to see just how much they do know, what they can do and are capable of. This is a ‘trust list’ if you will. Keep adding to it each month. All your wins, achievements, and qualifications. This is just for you. It is a great resource to read when doubts are centre stage. Or when you are applying for a job. You are not putting pressure in yourself to remember AND you can see with ease what you already have and do know.

Unfortunately, the thinking mind all too easily moves onto the next thing forgetting that we won a big contract, dealt with a conflict at work or adapted to working at home. The list helps us see the changes and achievements we have made so that we can trust ourselves even more and this experience even more confidence!

Thank you, Jules, some great advice.

If you would like to find out more about Jules and her work, visit her website at www.juleswyman.com or you can email her direct jules@juleswyman.com

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19 ways to grow your small business

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 08:13:44 GMT

Using Ansoff's matrix we uncover 4 strategies & 19 opportunities that you can use to grow your business

Businesses are unique, complex, messy organisms with many internal and external factors affecting every aspect therefore when it comes to growth we may feel uncertain about where to look for opportunities.

This is where using a model is very useful - Models are by definition clear & simple. The role of a model is to represent things in a simple way, to lay out the possible. As Seth Godin says ‘ the map is not the territory’ – a model can’t represents the exact environment for any business - but it can definitely show the way.

When looking for ways to grow your business the model to use is Ansoff's matrix. Created in 1960 by Igor Ansoff the product market growth matrix sets out 4 generic strategies for growth.

Let's look at these four strategies and what they can mean in practice for a small business

Ansoff's Matrix

Market Penetrations Strategy

In this strategy the market served and the products/services offered stay the same, the approach is to grow your market share

Opportunities here include:

Increase usage by existing customers – How could they use more or purchase more frequently?
Increased marketing efforts this can be online via social media, PPC, google ads and offline via networking.
Offer discounts, bonus, special offers i.e BOGOF
Free trials, allowing potential customers to try before they buy is a very successful way to build trust and confidence about making the right purchase.
Customer referral schemes – creating incentives for existing customers to refer new customers
Identify a sub niche in your current market and focus marketing efforts on them.

Risk: This is the lowest risk strategy, as the knowledge of the markets and products is high however the return may be modest compared to other options.

Cost: Relatively low cost, investments in marketing and sale incentives

Market Development Strategy

This strategy requires you to find or create new markets for your existing products/services or expand into new geographical areas.

Opportunities here include:

New uses for your products. Customer surveys or follow up calls are a great way to find out how customers are actually using your products – you may be surprised by what they say which could spark new marketing ideas.

Overseas markets that have similar market needs. The DTI may be able to support with international development. As a Marketing manager in a small flag manufacturing business we took advantage of a DTI funded mission to Oman, offering hand made applique flags, the quality of workmanship and materials, plus our long heritage of providing Royal Standards in the UK made the products very appealing to the middle eastern market. In response to the COVID crisis the DTI have launched a series of initiatives aimed at supporting consumer and retail businesses in entering international markets Consumer & Retail Opportunities (great.gov.uk)

Collaboration with other businesses offers a significant opportunity here, who do you know who has access to other markets for your products, allowing other small businesses to offer to promote your products into a new market for you, but existing customers for them is a valuable route to new markets. Collaborations can range from introduction only through to distribution.

Explore your network to find who you already know or identify some business types that could be open to collaborate and open up the conversation.

Find out more about how to make collaboration work for you in this article Collaboration: The secret weapon for small business growth

New demographic – if your current demographic is professional women, age 35 – 45, single with school age children what other demographics may present a good market for your products, flex the age; empty nesters, retiree, gender etc. Why not check out who your competitors are targeting, how can you improve on their offer?

Take your business online – if you are not online already with your products/ services – why not? The use of online purchasing has grown by 19% globally this year alone.

Risk: Low to Moderate risk assuming you have a good understanding of your product/service benefits the risks are in finding and engaging new markets. You also need to consider if you have the resources to expand without diluting your current business. Geographical expansion will most likely expose you to new competitors and international markets may have some social & cultural differences to consider. Selling products internationally

Cost: market research, marketing, translation (international expansion), regulatory compliance

Product Development

Using the base of your existing products to develop new products/services to sell into your current market.

Opportunities here include:

There are two options here to expand your product/service range - Make or Buy.

Make – this involves new product development. Coming up with new ideas can be daunting however the majority of new ideas are simply variations on what already exists, i.e. combining two products into one, modifying or adapting. I cover a clever technique for coming up with new ideas in my article How to come up with new ideas - a simple way to boost creativity (thepositivepen.co.uk)

Buy – what products could you buy in to complement your current range. Thinking again of collaboration, what else would customers look to you to supply? Review the enquiries you have received over the past 6-12months what were those potential customers looking for that you didn’t or couldn’t supply – are there new areas to explore?

Low entry point products – Whilst an artist’s original painting may cost thousands and only be available once, the options of limited-edition prints, different sized prints, calendars, cards, mugs and postcards means that there is a price point suitable for anyone. If your main product is high value, high commitment what lower value product/service can you create that allows people to access what your do.

Risk: Moderate – product development resources and time to make new products, the potential to dilute your brand if new products aren’t

Cost – Potentially significant costs involved in development as well as manufacturing and increasing levels of stock.

Whilst the risk levels of Product Development and Market Development strategies are higher than in Market Penetration they do offer greater opportunity for return over the longer term. Market penetration can trigger your competitors to respond with similar activity with a risk that it becomes a race to the bottom on price.

Diversification

This strategy is based on offering new products into new markets, this is the most challenging strategy as you have the lowest levels of existing knowledge and experience in either products or market compared to the other strategies. However this strategy offer the greatest opportunity to expand your business’s reach and appeal, creating substantial new routes to sales and increased profit.

Opportunities here include:

Backward Diversification – Involves offering related products from the preceding stage of your current offer, i.e. mortgage advisers starting to offer estate agency services.

Forward Diversification – Involves offering related products or services that relate to a later stage than your current offer i.e. a garden designer offering landscaping or garden maintenance services.

As the products/services are related to the current business you benefit from some existing market knowledge,

Full Diversification – involves offering a totally new product or service to an unknown market. It will also take considerable time to accomplish.

Merging or acquiring another company is the most common route for diversification for larger businesses enabling the addition of products/services plus trained and experienced staff. However managing a successful merger requires significant management skill to successfully integrate two different cultures.

For micro businesses opportunities here include

Distribution or licensing agreements for new products/services
Forming alliances to work together yet remaining as separate businesses i.e the garden designer and landscaper making a combined offer.

Risk – Highest level of risk as it can be similar to going back to the start with a new business yet can bring the highest rewards in growth.

Costs: significant, potential long term investment such as new staff, equipment or training/development of existing staff.

Moving Forward

Whilst every business is unique, these four options for growth remain consistent. The matrix offers a simple model to allow you to discuss different options as a team, considering risk however it is important to remember the model is only directional, and offers no insight into specific market conditions or competitive landscape. The choice and successful execution is down to you.

Janet Doran , works as a Strategic Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

I post daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

Start, STOP, Continue.... Dealing with Stress

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 07:48:11 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Jane Keogh, a positive mindset & success coach.

Working as a 1-2-1 coach Jane helps people lead happier and more fulfilling lives. Jane also works with organisations to support & develop their people through workshops and as a speaker.

Jane, when it comes to dealing with stress what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

Developing a healthy mindset is my number one tip for dealing with stress. There is a lot of pressure to be positive but it is an unrealistic goal to expect to be positive 100% of the time. We are human beings with a vast array of emotions and feelings.

Here are two tips on how to build a healthy mindset:

1) Awareness helps us recognise the quality of our thoughts, whether good and or bad. If you feel negative, remember to acknowledge the feeling. It’s not permanent. It’s only a feeling. You are not your thoughts, and your thoughts are not always the reality.

Meditation and journaling are great tools for improving your awareness.

2) Growth - Develop a growth mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe that you’re born the way you are and things can’t really change. They also believe that there are no better options.

Those with a growth mindset believe that things can always be learnt. They believe that anything can be achieved if you put in the time and effort.

When you have a growth mindset, you ask yourself how you can move on from negative experiences. Rather than trying to force it into a positive experience, you ask, “How can I grow from this?” or “What is this teaching me right now?”

We’re all human, and we all experience dark, deep, and intense thoughts. Don’t be afraid to dig into them and see what you can learn from them.

On the flip side, what should we STOP doing?

We need to stop avoiding or burying our feeling with distractions. When we are stressed and feeling uncomfortable we tend to want to distract ourselves from the underlying feelings and emotions. We might get into unhelpful habits like drinking or excessive behaviours like intense exercise.

Drinking is fine in moderation but when we try to block things out we are merely avoiding them and they will continue to niggle until you do address them. With alcohol we initially feel better (more relaxed) but by the time we get through a few glasses it can intensify the feelings/emotions and because the alcohol has numbed us we are unable to process hence why some people get very tearful or angry and worse case scenario, violent.

Whilst exercise is great and stimulates endorphins, it is often used as an avoidance tactic so it’s still important to acknowledge and deal with the triggers.

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

Healthy, balanced diet with plenty of water, walking in nature, social connection (in particular in current circumstances), asking for help but if there was one thing I would say can have a huge impact is meditation.

Now meditation can bring up resistance in some people but there are many forms that may be overlooked, such as

Walking in a forest, standing with eyes closed and just connecting - the silence is magnificent in the woods.
Fire gazing - from a wood burning stove through to watching a candle flame flicker
Watching moving water such as a river or the ocean
Sitting in silence
Yoga and in particular yoga breathe

For those who may struggle to focus or sustain mediation I would suggest a guided meditation. Guided meditation is simply "meditation with the help of a guide", this can either be in person or via a recording. It’s one of the easiest ways to enter into a state of deep relaxation and inner stillness.

Click here to access Jane’s Gratitude Meditation. This is a visual guided meditation to practice gratitude. Research shows that having a regular gratitude practice increases immunity, improves mood and reduces blood pressure. This audio meditation is accompanied by a stunning slideshow of images to help promote gratitude in these crazy times.

Thank you, Jane, some great advice.

If you would like to find out more about Jane and her work, visit her website at Jane Keogh or Email: jane@janekeogh.co.u k call 07813 847205

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How to escape the Urgency Trap

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 07:57:05 GMT

Struggling to find time to work on your business? Here's why and how to beat it.

Small business owners are always busy, our days already full, and with over 30%* clocking up over 60 hours per week, that includes our evenings and weekends too. The priority of our To Do list is dominated by deadlines; what is URGENT.

So what does that mean for the tasks that have no fixed deadline those ‘working on the business’ development and improvement activities such as

Creating a strategy
Writing a 90-day action plan
Planning your social media calendar
Developing new products/services
Re writing your website
Setting up Quickbooks or Xero.

These tasks are important for longer term efficiency and growth. We acknowledge they are important yet time and again they end up getting pushed to the bottom of the list.

So why do we end up never getting around to them?

We are driven by Urgency

Anyone who has looked into Time Management techniques will be familiar with the Eisenhower Grid, made popular by Stephen Covey – the simple 2 x 2 matrix to determine the priority of tasks by the relative Urgency & Importance.

Following the guidance, the theory clearly establishes that Important is a higher priority than Non-urgent, yet research findings show a very different picture.

In her article Why we prioritise urgency over importance Bri Williams (The Behaviour Explainer) shares that research conducted into how we prioritise tasks found that we are driven by a sense of urgency, to the extent that we are more likely to prioritise unimportant tasks (i.e. those with a low payoff) when there is a sense of urgency.

Crucially, for small business owners, the researchers also identified that people who perceive themselves as being busy are more susceptible to this often ‘mere urgency’ effect because time is on their mind.

Bri Williams offers this explanation as to why, saying “Rationally, and theoretically, importance should trump urgency. But in reality, we often get distracted by the urgent and procrastinate over the important”

Procrastination is key here. After all, if it’s not urgent than what will motivate us to get these things done? We need to change our mindset on the measure of success.

If we take urgency out of the equation, we can decide what to prioritise based what is the most productive thing I can do. Using Impact vs difficulty does just that.

Change the focus to Productivity

The Impact Difficulty matrix is another 2 x 2 matrix that helps to prioritise tasks by assessing its relative Impact on the business vs the Difficulty, or how much effort it requires to get it done.

Firstly list out all those ‘working on the business/ business improvement’ tasks that you keep postponing or simply never get around to.

Secondly , score them 1 – 10 firstly on the Impact they will have on the business when you have achieved them. I find it useful to make some notes on why I am giving that score, ensuring you think through the expected difference this will make to the business.

Finally score them 1 -10 on the Difficulty in achieving them, consider if you have all the information/resources available, if you will need input from others and the time involved.

Once you have the two scores you can plot them on a 2 x 2 matrix.

Now what you have is a priority list that is driven, not by urgency but by productivity.

Quick Wins vs Fill Ins

With the low difficulty tasks divided by impact this offer a no brainer list of quick wins to do first. Separate out the less productive, fill in tasks for those short time window opportunities and, for the truly low impact perhaps even take them off the list all together.

Strategic Projects vs Thankless tasks

Dividing those difficult tasks enables you to highlight the truly strategic projects, with a clear understanding of the positive impact on the business it's time to plan how to deliver on these. This leaves the Thankless tasks, frankly a hard slog for little reward, well no one has time for that.

At the end of the day you still have to make things happen, but focussing on the must productive tasks will help to get over procrastination. It’s not the lack of focus that prevents us moving forward but a lack of clarity.

(* various Gallup polls on how many hours small business owners work)

Janet Doran , works as a Strategic Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

I post daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

Start, STOP, Continue.... Networking

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:16:49 GMT

Start, STOP Continue… is a series of guest blogs written by Yorkshire based experts sharing 3 key tips on what to Start, Stop & Continue to develop in this area.

Sharing their expertise in this issue is Ian Earl, Co-founder of In Business.

With over 15 years of networking experience, including 3 years as President of Morley Chamber of Trade & Commerce, Ian founded his own members-based networking group, In Business. In Business was borne out of a desire to move away from just a referral organisation and create a business community of people supporting each other and working together to grow their business.

Ian has also written the eBook ‘52 tips for better networking’ and provides regular Networking Know How webinars.

Ian, when it comes to Networking what is the one thing we should start doing right now?

Networking is simply all about having a conversation and to be able to hold a good (and memorable), conversation, one of the first things you should start doing is LISTEN!

Before you go into any conversation, think about how you might add value to it. Ask open ended questions, who, how, why, what, where and when etc. Be focussed, curious and genuinely interested. Listen rather than trying to think about your next response and make the person you are speaking to feel important.

One of my favourite sayings is ‘’To be interesting, you have to be interested.’’ The amazing thing about showing genuine interest in someone, is that it has the effect of making you seem a much more interesting and memorable person.

On the flip side, what should we STOP doing?

When starting a conversation, business or social for that matter, STOP using the same old boring questions like ‘’What do you do?’’ or ‘’Where are you from?’’.

If you want to be remembered try to create interesting and thought-provoking interactions, by asking questions that lead to more interesting conversations. Such as (I use this one when I’m out face to face networking – good old days!) ‘’ I’m trying to make myself meet new people here instead of just talking to the usual folk.. Do you mind me saying hello and introducing myself? Or if you’re on Zoom: ‘’Tell me about your business and what made you decide to become a_________. I love hearing people’s “why they started stories”.

Finally, what’s a valuable activity that we should continue doing or do more of?

The secret to networking is FOLLOWING UP! There is no point networking if you’re not prepared to follow up. I remember when I first started this was my biggest failing. I’d collect lots of cards then never really have a system of following up! I made so many excuses to myself you wouldn’t believe it. Then I realised I could take all the pressure off myself by just arranging to meet for a coffee! This is where the gold is, it’s the follow up conversations. This applies even when attending Zoom meetings. In fact it’s easier, you’re not travelling or paying for coffees. Just arrange a 121 on zoom with people. So make sure you follow up.

Thank you, Ian, some great advice.

If you would like to find out more about Ian and In Business, plus grab your own FREE copy of ‘52 tips for better networking’ visit https://www.weareinbusiness.co.uk

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7 things to do in your small business before 2021

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 11:35:31 GMT

With so much out of our control here are 7 valuable things you can do to get your business year off to a great start.

There is no doubt that the current situation is out of our control, factors that affect our businesses will continue to change, and yet businesses need to survive and decisions have to be made. S o, let's focus on the things we can control and whenever you get some quiet time either over the next couple of days, or in that between Christmas/New Year lull, here are my key things to get your small business ‘New Year’ ready.

1. No surprises here, up first - Review

How has the past year been? Financial performance has rightly dominated our thoughts this year with many businesses struggling just to survive the coming months, however to sustain your business, and yourself, over the long term it’s also important to take a 'balanced scorecard' approach. Reviewing your business in these four key areas.

Finance – Chances are that your 2020 budget was thrown out of the window, however it is useful to understand the actual performance compared to your original or revised budget, split down by product/service, by month, by employee - whatever data allows you to understand the impact of varying factors on the business financial performance overall. How were costs compared to budget, showing the overall impact on overall profitability but also the profit by product/service.

Learning & growth – Change has been almost constant, with businesses of all sizes adapting faster than ever before. How has your business moved forwards developing or acquiring new products or services? Are you harnessing the opportunities in new technology, from your business processes, sales & marketing to your product/service offers?

Customer perspective – Are you still meeting your customer needs? Are they happy? Are they loyal and, importantly do they refer others to you? Do you understand how their wants & needs may evolve next year?

Personal well-being – How are you, I mean really? The highs and lows of running a business have been tested to the maximum this year and this can take a personal toll on our own well-being and that of our employees. Changes to working patterns, times places and teams should be considered in regard to long term well-being

As Tony Hsieh (Zappos) says “you can’t deliver good service from unhappy employees .” – and that includes you.

For anyone familiar with Kaplan & Norton's scorecard model, forgive my replacing Internal processes with the personal well-being, as the business owner without some focus on taking care of yourself the business may become unsustainable.

As Jane Keogh (Positive mind & Success coach) would say 'you have to have your own oxygen mask in place before you can help anybody else'. You can read more here from Jane in her blog - Acknowledging your journey www.janekeogh.co.uk/blog/54-acknowledge-the-journey-2

2. Get planning

With things changing so rapidly it can be tempting to not plan, after all what is the point. Yet a plan is necessary to avoid stagnation, cruising along until things improve - think back to last march, did we ever believe that we would still be in lockdowns by now! - we can't wait.

You will need to make some assumptions, based on your performance of 2020 in the different stages of lockdown, what do you predict for the next 30, 60 or 90 days - what level of business would you achieve on that basis.

Consider different scenarios - what differing plans could be put in place to respond.

Based on your review and predictions, set goals in these four ‘scorecard’ areas. Then scope out the work to be done or changes to be made, including who is going to do it and when.

Share your future plans with your accountant, from changes to staff numbers or moving premises make use of their expertise on the best way to set up your finances and structure your business assets.

It's important to be realistic however there is no reason not to be ambitious.

Get out that 2021 diary and schedule regular time slots to work on your business; monitoring progress and adjusting the plan.

3. Review your prices

OK I know this is a painful one and most business owners worry that increasing prices could make customers leave. Yet, the purpose of a business to make a profit and if prices don’t go up, at least in line with inflation, you will be, in effect making less than last year.

Key things to consider here are:

Will your own costs increase (check any supply contracts, particularly in light of any BREXIT impact) and if so by how much?

When was the last time you increased your prices? What was the justification?

What changes have you implemented within the business in the past year that has added to/improved the customer experience or service provided?

If you are going to increase your prices then be organised. Consider the best way to communicate to all customers explaining what the increase will be, why prices are going up and when this will take effect.

Customers hate stealth increases .

Be upfront and open, if your customers value your product/service then a reasonable increase should not damage that relationship.

You can find more detailed advice here on How to raise & lower your prices from Entreprenuer.com

4. Create a customer referral programme

You work hard to provide amazing products and services to your customers and you trust that, in turn they will refer you to others if the opportunity should arise. Yet, as @ mlaplantedube points out " Referrals only happen out of the good of a customer's heart some of the time -- for the rest of it, giving customers a reason to refer will work wonders ".

Creating a referral scheme gives your customers both the incentive and, importantly a simple and effective way to refer you to others.

A customer referral is hugely valuable, not only low cost in terms of marketing and sales but there is a significantly higher chance of conversion to sale.

A referral scheme can also offer a great opportunity for customer retention if you include a incentive (discount, credit, bonus) to your existing customer it can encourage future sales.

You could also offer the scheme to customers who have worked with you in the past, providing a valuable opportunity to get back in touch that may rekindle your business relationship.

Before you embark on a referral scheme you need to be clear about your goals and establish a process for promoting,capturing and tracking any referrals, to ensure it really has a positive impact on your business.

You can find a step by step guide to setting up your own referral scheme here blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-referral-program

5. Polish the shop window - your website

Unless you have a retail premises, your website is basically your shop window. Often it's the first impression that potential customers get of your business - Is it still up to date and looking active? Whilst you may not need a major overhaul, perhaps it’s time for a refresh. Simple updates can include

Changing photographs and/or adding video

Adding recent testimonials

Updating the news sections

Creating some new content for your blog to release over the next couple of months.

Author and Copy writer Lisa Slater (Make your copy count) offers some great practical tips to help you review your website content here in her blog http://www.makeyourcopycount.com/update-your-website-copy/

6. Show your customers some love - it's not about the money

This doesn’t have to be a big gesture but make it personal. A hand-written card, noting something you have achieved together this year, or that you are looking forward to next year, can make all the difference.

If you are giving gifts, don’t simply order 20 bottles of wine, even for the one you know doesn’t drink. It is far more valuable to give something relative to your relationship or that offers an opportunity to enhance it. (Think local products or even a book)

7. Say 'Thank You' to your supporters & cheerleaders

You know who they are from suppliers to collaborators, mentors, friends and family – the ones who kept you going in the toughest of times. Now is the season to show them how important they are and to keep them in your corner for the year ahead.

Then close your laptop, mute your social media and, to quote Mark from Love Actually ‘Enough, enough now’ (sorry but it is Christmas) – take some time off.

Janet Doran , works as a Strategic Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

I post daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

How to bring your best self to any situation (and it's easier than you think)

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 12:11:19 GMT

I had a 'lightbulb' moment recently thanks to Michael Bungay Stanier, mbs.works

I discovered that however much you plan and prepare for that important presentation or meeting, the biggest factor in a successful outcome is YOU.

How you feel, your mood, your mindset.

If that is true, what can we do to bring our best self to any situation?

You can find out what I learnt, and the secret of Michael's THIS not THAT list in this 4 minute video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZA8UvrRjIw

Janet Doran , is a member of the Association of Business Mentors and works as a Business Coach/Mentor supporting small business owners in creative and professional service industries to build and grow their business. To explore us working together on your business please get in touch janet@thepositivepenco.uk

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

Posting daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

You can receive my latest blogs straight to your inbox - https://mailchi.mp/42900b830222/thepositivepen

'I don't have time' is a lie - and I can prove it!

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 05:41:25 GMT

Time management is the fine art of not doing useless things.

At some time or other we have all said it – “sorry, I just don’t have time for that”. Well this is a lie, to others and even to ourselves. Harsh? perhaps but true non the less and I can prove it.

Imagine you’re lying in bed on Sunday evening thinking about everything coming up in the week ahead – it’s fully booked, simply no time to fit in anything else.

Yet when you get up on Monday morning, the car is dead or your cat is poorly perhaps the central heating boiler has packed up.

So, what do you do?

You start making phone calls of course; arrange appointments, make time to drop off the cat or stay in for an engineer.

You don’t say, sorry this week is so busy I can’t get it sorted until next week. True?

So, where does this ‘extra’ time come from. The truth is not lack of time but lack of priority.

When we say ‘I don’t have time’ what we are really saying is ‘this is not a priority for me right now’.

Yet, I don’t believe we are always doing this consciously, particularly when it comes to our business. Think about the things you wish you had more time for, perhaps attending networking meetings, writing a blog, developing a new offer or researching potential customers. At some point you believed these things to be important, in fact not doing them makes you feel frustrated and stuck. So how can we get them done?

What will have the biggest impact on my business?

Firstly, we need to check if the things we don’t have time for are really important? If it’s something that you feel you should be doing but in reality isn’t that important, it's time to make a decision and say - I'm not doing. I always ask myself ‘what would be the impact of doing that on my business?’ – no/low impact then don’t do it. The reverse question is also useful to recognise priorities - 'If i don't do this, what impact will it have on my business?'

Of course, delegating/outsourcing is a great option – my maxim here is ‘ only do what only you can do’ .

How much time do you need?

A task will fill the time you have; be realistic, how long do you need to get the task done? Try not to round things into hour sized slots, think in 15 - 30 minutes blocks instead. In 30 minutes of focused work you can achieve a lot.

When does it need to be done? The danger of a simple to do list is that it doesn't include deadlines. Be clear on when tasks need to be done allows you to look at your time not just today or this week but over a month or longer.

What's got to give?

Where are you spending your time now?

When we think about time, often we focus on the big chunks, 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours at work, yet it not the big things that are time stealers it’s the 20 minutes of social scrolling, the hours in front of the TV. These unconscious, unplanned slithers of time that we simply fill up as we go along.

Be conscious of those little pockets of time, is the 30 minutes scrolling actually an hour? How about instead of TV one night a week using the two hours to tackle that task?

Schedule it.

Just like making an appointment with someone else, make an appointment with yourself to get that task done – schedule it in, fix the date, time and duration. Even if a task will take a number of small blocks if you schedule it in it will happen.

The bottom line is that time is ours to do with as we wish, good time management is the fine art of not doing useless things.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

Posting daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

You can receive my latest blogs straight to your inbox - https://mailchi.mp/42900b830222/thepositivepen

What is your Minimum Viable Audience?

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 14:10:07 GMT

When it comes to marketing your business bigger isn’t better – it’s time to think small

In 2017 Seth Godin first coined the term Minimum Viable Audience; as any marketeer will tell you, you can’t sell to everyone you have to define a target audience, yet Seth Godin takes this advice even further posing the question what is the smallest audience you need to achieve your goals?

Consider this -

You invite 4 people to your house for dinner, you want them to have a great time so you go out of your way to find out what they really like, what they don’t like to eat, even the background music and you can create something really special.

Now imagine you are inviting 400 people over, there is no way you can create something that they all love, so you would probably play it safe; chicken maybe and a simple dessert, no one will be wowed but at least they won’t hate it right?

When you create a product for someone you can create something special, when you create something for the masses the best you can hope for is average and we know how much more work and money it takes to market ‘average’ products

What is the smallest number of people you need to delight to achieve your goals?

Looking at your current target audience could you create something really special for just 10% of the audience you described?

Starting with a deliberately small audience means that you need to understand their needs more intimately, to create an offer which meets those needs on a number of different levels, not just the functional ‘jobs to be done’ but addresses the deeper emotional and aspirational needs.

Consider these emotional needs, identified by Bain & Co. How do your customers want to feel (or avoid feeling) because of your product/service?

You can access a toolkit here which takes you step by step through understanding elements of customer value for both B2B and B2C customers, based on the Bain & Co. research

I leave the final words to the author of this concept Seth Godin

“When you have your eyes firmly focused on the minimum viable audience, your quality, your story and your impact will all get better.

And then, ironically enough, the word will spread.”

Defining your own MVA is a key part of your business strategy, if you would like to work on this for your business please get in touch to find out how I can help.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

Posting daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

You can receive my latest blogs straight to your inbox - https://mailchi.mp/42900b830222/thepositivepen

How to get your mojo back

Sun, 12 Jul 2020 16:38:39 GMT

Everyone has off days, even in the best of times and often taking a break, fresh air or change of scenery is enough to restart the next morning back on form. Yet what happens when the occasional off day becomes most days?

When just the thought of working on your business causes your heart to sink simply taking the afternoon off isn’t going to change things. The worst thing to do is say ‘it’s just a phase’ and wait for things to improve they might but when? The only sure way out of this is to take action.

If this sounds like you here are 7 things you can do to shake it up.

Get out more

For most business owners the opportunity to talk about their business, share their expertise or experiences and interact with potential customers, partners and suppliers is hugely positive and motivating – so this first tip is a simple case of doing – whether you normally network once a month or once a week, do more – new people, new experiences, new environments is the quickest way to get that boost.

With the recent explosion in online networking, removing the barriers of travel time and distance, there is no reason why you couldn’t network every day of the week.

It's important to not think of this time as ‘selling’ – selling for most people creates a sense of expectation and pressure – frankly taking the fun out of the whole experience

How about a setting yourself a 5% challenge? Spend 5% of your time each week meeting new people, that’s 2 hours out of a 40-hour week. Do that for the next month or two and see what happens!

Get stuck in

If you have a team of people working in your business you may have become detached from the day to day, focusing on leading and managing others. Taking some time out to go back to the front line is a great way to reinvigorate yourself.

Working on projects, getting out to see customers, spending time among your team can reconnect you with the great products/services you provide to customers.

Stop doing the things you hate

Think about how you are currently spending your working day, really – hour by hour, it may come as a surprise how much time you are doing on the things you hate. Delegating (or outsourcing) is not only great for productivity it enables you to cut out tasks which you really don't want to do, so why not leave it to the experts.

If those draining tasks aren’t obvious filling in a time log for a week or two will give you a detailed picture of how you actually spend your day. Keeping a time log may seem like lots of work, particularly if you are recording your activity in 15 min slots, yet the greater the level of detail you capture will enable you to see where your time and energy drains are.

Set BIGGER goals

Sounds strange right! Yet it may be that having achieved goals in your business you simply aren’t interested in just doing a bit more - what would happen if you set a goal for 10X more? Chances are you would need to implement significant changes in your business to achieve this – new products, channels, markets – one thing is certain this approach would drive you way out of your comfort zone and could be just the kick you need to get you fired up!

If your BIG goal doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable, then you are not thinking BIG enough.

Get a life (outside your business)

If you can’t put your finger on anything inside your business perhaps it’s just how you are feeling in general. Perhaps its time to challenge yourself by learning something new – a different language, playing the guitar, take up golf lessons.

Challenging your physical or creative side can really lift your mood and setting a new type of goal can boost motivation in everything you do, including your work.

Get a Mentor

You could implement any or all of the above by yourself, but will you? Honestly?

If your motivation is low perhaps you need someone else as both as a sounding board and accountability partner to help you to face the issue, make a plan and ensure you see it through.

Mentors can be through a formal or informal arrangement, informal mentoring relationships can be great to provide support however if you are looking for someone to help with a completely objective and structured approach a professional mentor is a worthwhile investment.

The Association of Business Mentors (ABM) is the professional association working to improve and professionalise business mentoring across the UK. Members are all business owners who have probably been in your shoes and can offer support and guidance to drive your business forward.

You can search the register of members here https://www.associationofbusinessmentors.org/pages/2-find-a-mentor

Finally, get back to 'why'

Rather than action, this one is about reflection. Getting back to the purpose of your business.

When Simon Sinek gave his TEDx talk in 2009 ‘How great leaders inspire action’ he introduced the golden circle, demonstrating that we often spend our time and energy focusing on WHAT we do and HOW we do it and very little time connecting with WHY we do it. If you haven’t seen that TEDtalk (or seen it lately) it is worth watching it again https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?

Instead of applying it to leading/engaging others, use it to inspire yourself.

The word inspire comes from the Latin, meaning “to breathe life into.” so when you are working toward things that inspire you, it literally makes you feel more alive.

If you have strayed from your WHY or you had never considered it for your business perhaps it’s time to work on this as a foundation to rebuild your motivation.

Whatever you decide to do, don't delay - taking action is the quickest way to get your mojo back.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

Posting daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen

Leading through change: How to beat the odds

Sun, 24 May 2020 15:59:50 GMT

Just like a cyclone, COVID-19 has thrown everything up in the air, moving forward many business owners are faced with leading their businesses through major changes to survive.

The only person who welcomes change is a wet baby

It is true right?

However sometimes, like now, big and complex changes may be required, and in very short timescales. Implementing a successful change is one of the hardest parts of leadership, with 88%* of change programmes failing to deliver expected results.

So, what are the key elements of successful change?

Reflecting on my academic work in Change Management and my own experience of leading change (some well, others not so well) Here are my top 3 insights to beating the odds.

Systems and processes change, people transition

There are 3 components that impact and are impacted by major change

Systems
Processes
People

Leaders often focus on the getting the systems and the processes in place – re writing documents, upgrading equipment and minimum time on the people. Yet when we look into the reasons that changes fail; it’s poor communication, lack of leadership and purpose – the human aspects that rank the highest.

The fact is people don’t change, they have to transition from the old way of doing things to the new and whilst you can change a process in one simple hit, you can only transition people one at a time. Each member of your team will react to and manage change differently. What are the impacts on them and their role day to day?

Key to successful change is to focus on supporting the people; individual by individual will determine whether, over time your change is successful or not.

“The hand that clings to an old friend cannot embrace a new one”

James Clear tweeted that comment recently and it sums up perfectly the first part of any change. Letting go of the old, the comfortable, that well-trodden path. A simple model of change (Lewin, 1951) helps us to understand change in 3 distinct stages: Unfreezing, Change and Refreezing.

In reality, the middle bit, the change is simplest part. The first challenge is to unfreeze , ensuring that people are ready for the change. The 3 key aspects here are

To listen & involve – the biggest misconception of leadership is that you need to have all the answers, yet both from a practical and motivational point of view allowing your team to come up with ideas and make suggestions, asking their opinion and seeking feedback is the best way of getting them on board with what needs to happen.

Motivate – explaining what they need to do is important but getting them emotionally committed to achieving it makes the biggest difference. You need to paint a clear vision of the future, what will success look and feel like and most importantly how will it impact them.

Build a path – be clear on what they are expected to do and how; work hard to move or minimise the obstacles in the way.

A perfect metaphor for this was created by psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, it is explained and adapted for change in this 2 min video - the Elephant the rider and the path https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9KP8uiGZTs

Keep the boulder rolling - make changes stick

Imagine you and your team have to push a giant boulder, at the start to get it moving there is a lot of action and effort, communication, it’s all hands on the boulder pushing together, when it gets rolling momentum starts to take effect, the effort required becomes well understood: push, repeat. The communication becomes less and those not directly involved in pushing move on to other things. One day the team member pushing wonders “why exactly am I still pushing this boulder?” and they begin to slow down, momentum is lost, they can’t push it on their own after all and they can’t remember why it was so important to move it anyway - the boulder stops. (In the worse case the boulder may even roll back to where it started from)

Ok so perhaps a long-winded metaphor but you get the idea – making changes stick over time is vital, refreezing the business into a new way of working.

Building it into everyday practice, ensuring that the changes are considered in employee performance measures and regularly reviewed with other business goals.

Ensuring, where appropriate that ongoing training and support are provided

Creating quick wins (the first week or month) and celebrating success are ways to ensure that everyone continues to view the change as important.

Keep that boulder rolling.

The pace of change isn’t going to slow down anytime soon

So, COVID 19 has meant that we have all been faced with significant changes in a very short space of time, yet looking ahead the drivers of change; rapidly evolving technology, challenging economy, political changes and social trends means that the pace of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. We need to get used to it and to get better at making it happen .

If you would like some help to deliver the changes needed in your business, then please get in touch to find out how I can help.

Janet Doran , works as a Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets. To explore use working together on your business please get in touch janet@thepositivepenco.uk

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051

Posting daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen