How can you increase your sales?

How can you sell more of your products and services? How can you increase your sales? Your business sales may have levelled off, your turnover may be growing more slowly than you would like or you may have experienced a dip in sales. Whichever category you are in, what can you do to increase your sales?

Identify who your ideal customer is. Who is your ideal customer? What are their characteristics? How do they prefer to buy? The more you understand about your ideal client (whether businesses or individuals), the easier it is to target and market to them and get more sales.

Sell more to your existing customers. What products and services are your existing customers buying from you? Are you in regular contact with your existing customers? Your existing customers may buy more from you of what they currently buy or may buy some of your other products and services if you tell them about them. Regular communication with your clients will encourage them to buy more from you.

Understand your customers' requirements. What do your customers want from your business? Are their requirements changing? Understanding your customers' requirements and making sure you keep up with their changing needs will help you to increase sales as you will know what they want and are better placed to meet their needs.

Improve customer service. What do your customers think about your service? Are you losing or upsetting customers due to poor customer service? Improving customer service will help with client retention and thereby sales.

Identify your warmest prospects and market to them. Who are your warmest prospects? Who is most likely to buy from you? Marketing can be very costly so targeting your resources to the warmest prospects is the most cost effective way to generate sales. Your warmest prospects are likely to be your existing customers, potential customers who your existing customers can recommend you to, enquirers to your business who have not purchased yet and other contacts of your business.

Manage your enquirers to maximise the chance of them buying. How do you manage and follow up enquirers? How do you encourage enquirers to buy from you? Marketing experts say that it takes an average of 7 contacts with each enquirer before they become a customer. You can increase your sales by good prompt follow up and keeping in regular touch with your enquirers and not giving up if they don't buy after the first contact with your company.

Reduce the number of different products and services you offer. Do you have too many products and services? Would you increase sales by specialising more? By focusing on your best selling products and services and being a specialist in those you may find that you can sell more overall.

Increase your prices. Are you selling your products and services too cheaply? Are your prices in line with the value that you are offering to your customers? You may be undercharging your customers and be able to increase your prices for new customers or all your customers. This way your sales may increase even without increasing volumes.

Increase your capacity. Are you struggling to increase your sales because of capacity issues in your business? Are you turning customers away? To enable your sales to increase you may need to increase your internal resources (e.g. take on more staff, upgrade your IT systems) or become more efficient and productive.

Expand your market. What area do you currently operate in? What products and services do you sell? What types of customers do you service? To increase sales you may want to look at expanding your market (e.g. selling over the Internet, selling in a different location, selling to a different type of customer, increasing your products and services).

Do something different to your competitors. What do you do differently to your competitors? Why should customers buy from you? How can you stand out from your competitors and be the company that customers flock to? Think about the companies you buy from and what attracts you to them to get ideas. If you can stand out from the crowd this may result in increased sales.

Be where your customers are. How do your potential customers find out about you? Where do you need to be for them to notice you? Think about where your potential customers are and how you can make contact with them (e.g. if they are all iphone users do you need to have an iphone app?). If you can be where they are you have more opportunity to get them to buy from you.

Get testimonials from satisfied clients and show them to prospective customers. What feedback do you have from your customers? Do you ask them for testimonials? We are more likely to buy from a company if we can see what their customers say about them so use customer testimonials in your marketing.

Focus on sales. What are you doing to increase sales? Are you reviewing your sales strategy on a regular basis? By focusing on sales and what you can do to increase them you are more likely to see an increase. You may find that you have to try different strategies before your sales start to increase, so keeping focused and being flexible will give you the best chance of success.

There are many more ways to increase your sales but hopefully this article has given you plenty of ideas to think about in relation to your business.

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the November 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

What Do Your Customers Think About Your Business?

Do you know what your customers think about your business? What is their view of the service they receive? Are you listening to your customers? Are you putting your customers first? Have you looked at your business from your customers' perspective? It is very easy to get caught up in the day to day of running your business and not put your customers first. However if you do this you are likely to find that your business starts to struggle and your customers go elsewhere. So what can you do to improve the service you provide?

Understand your customers' requirements of your business. Your customers won't necessarily tell you their requirements; you will need to ask them. You may do this via a questionnaire, focus groups or speaking to them individually.

Be a customer of your competitors. Try out the service of your competitors and understand whether you need to improve the service of your business as a result.

Ask your customers what they think of your service. How often do you ask your customers for feedback on your service? You can do this in many ways e.g. a short survey, a phone call or even a chat after they have made a purchase.

Exceed expectations. When our expectations are exceeded we are very happy. How can you engender this feeling with your customers? What is the difference about your service that will make the difference to them?

Look after your customers. How do you want to be treated when you are buying something? Look after your customers in the way you want to be looked after. Set customer service standards so your customers are always well looked after by your business.

Always do as you say you are going to do. One of the most annoying things for any customer is when something is promised and then it doesn't happen e.g. you promise to call the customer before 2pm and you forget. Always do what you say you are going to do.

Communicate regularly. Keep in touch with your customers throughout the buying process and afterwards. Encourage your customers to repeat purchase. A happy customer will want to buy from you again. Send them information on new products and services and ask their opinion.

Make them feel special. Make your customers feel special by treating them as individuals. Even if you are dealing with large companies make the person who is buying from you feel important. Personalise your relationship with your customers.

Listen to your customers. How often do you really listen to what your customers are saying to you? It is key to listen to not just what they are saying but also to understand the underlying meaning of what they are saying. What are they really saying about your business?

Make the customer experience as simple and straightforward as possible. It is very frustrating when what should be a simple process is made unnecessarily complicated. Put yourself in your customers' shoes and understand what they are experiencing. What can you simplify?

Don't get defensive or make excuses. If a customer isn't happy or raises an issue with you, stay calm and don't get defensive or make excuses. You may think they are incorrect but apologise, investigate what they are saying and provide a resolution for them.

Resolve complaints quickly, efficiently and effectively. If you receive a complaint about a product or service, resolve it quickly, efficiently and effectively and to the customer's satisfaction. An unhappy customer is very bad for your business as they will tell everyone else about their experience.

Look for underlying issues, problems and trends. Always look wider than individual complaints and issues. Not every customer will provide feedback; some will just not use your business again. Look for the underlying reason and look for trends. If you solve the underlying issues your overall customer service will improve.

Say 'thank you'. We all liked to be thanked, so thank your customers for their business.

What will you now be doing differently with your customers as a result of reading this article?

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the October 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

Don't Try And Control The Uncontrollable!

How much time do you spend worrying or getting stressed about things that you have little or no control over? By doing this you can end up feeling very uncertain, overwhelmed, stressed and powerless. However it is very easy to think like this and get in a state. It can also stop you focusing on the areas that you can influence and control. So what can you do about it? Here are some tips to help you:

Understand what is within and outside of your control. By identifying what is within and outside your control you can start to move forward more positively e.g. you can control how often your business contacts your existing customers but you cannot control what the media say about consumer confidence.

Accept that you cannot control the uncontrollable. By accepting the things that you have little or no control over you will be surprised at how quickly you start to feel more in control. You can choose how you think about these things and if you spend less time worrying about them you have more time to focus on the areas you can control.

Change your reaction to things that you have little or no control over. Now you understand the things that you cannot control you can change your reaction to them e.g. you cannot control another person's behaviour, but you can choose to change how you react to them.

Focus on the areas that are within your control. Once you have identified the areas that are within and outside your control, focus on those areas that you have control over.

Set goals for the areas within your control. Decide on what you want to achieve in the areas that are within your control, whether this be in your personal or business life. By understanding what you want to achieve you are more likely to get there and not get distracted.

Plan the action you are going to take. Make a plan of how you are going to achieve your goals. A plan will give a focus to your activity, as well as helping you to understand the different things you need to do.

Take action on the things you can control. By taking action on the things you can control you will start to feel much more in control and you will start making progress. You will also find you have more time for these areas as you will not be worrying about all those areas you cannot do anything about.

Share with others. Often it is difficult to see for yourself that you are getting worried about something that is outside your control. Therefore when you feel anxious, overwhelmed or stressed it may help to talk to someone else about it. Try talking to someone who is impartial and not involved in your day to day personal or business life as they will give a fresh perspective and help you see the wood from the trees.

Remember that you have a choice. Don't forget that you have a choice about how you think and feel about things, as well as how you react to them.
If you are trying to control the uncontrollable hopefully this article will have given you some ideas as to how to move forward.

Other articles: You will find lots of other articles on our website including:
Can stress be good for you?
Stress management tips
How to deal with a stressful situation?

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the September 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

How Can You Grow Your Business?

Are you looking to grow your business? Have you been trying to grow your business but are finding it difficult to achieve the growth you want? When business owners think about growing their business they tend to focus on increasing sales of existing products and services. However this is not the only way to achieve business growth. Here are some different ways to achieve business growth which you may want to consider:

Increase sales of current products and services. You may be able to achieve the growth you want by selling more of what you currently sell. This may be through encouraging your customers to repeat purchase, gaining new customers similar to your current customers or targeting new types of customers. Sales and marketing activity, promotions, price changes and better deals with suppliers may also stimulate demand.

Focus on a niche. Narrowing down the products or services you offer may be a better route to growth for you. By focusing in on a niche you may find that your business will grow more quickly as all your efforts will be targeted on a smaller range of products or services.

Develop or introduce new products and services. You may want to consider introducing new products or services. These may be similar lines to what you offer now or something completely different. They may be what your competitors offer or you may want to develop your own unique products and services through innovation.

Introduce new sales channels or markets. Another possibility for growth is to sell through new sales channels. This may be by using agents or associates or maybe selling through your website. You may also want to look for other types of customers such as selling to the public sector or selling overseas.

Open in a different location. You may be able to expand your business by opening up in a different location. This may give you access to a new market place and enable you to replicate your business quickly somewhere else.

Enter into a joint venture or partnership with another business. You may find that by entering into a joint venture or partnership with another company that you can grow your business. This may be with a company that sells similar, complimentary or quite different products or services to you.

Merge with or buy another business. You may want to increase your business incrementally by purchasing another business or merging with another company. This may require a bigger investment than some of the other routes to growth but it may get you the growth you want much more quickly.

Franchise your business. You may feel that your business can be grown through franchising. Your business may be such that you can sell franchises to other business owners who will the run the businesses and pay you a franchise fee.

Invest in your business or take on outside investment. You may be struggling to grow your business due to a lack of investment in the business. You may find that you can enable growth by investing in the business or getting others to invest in your business. Such investment may be used to take on additional resources such as staff, equipment or technology that will then enable you to take on more business. Outside investors may provide their expertise as well which may help you achieve the growth you are looking for.

Improve business productivity and efficiency. Growth can also be enabled through increasing business productivity and efficiency. This may help you to get more sales through your existing infrastructure and cost base.

Enhance customer service. Could you improve the level of customer service you provide? Better customer service may result in an increase in repeat business and more referrals of new customers by existing customers.

Get help and support. You may need outside help to grow your business. This help and support will be personal to you but may include consultancy, sales and marketing expertise, business mentoring and coaching, financial analysis or help from another business owner.

If you are looking to grow your business hopefully this article will have given you some ideas of the different options available

Other articles: You will find lots of other business articles on our website including:
What is your longer term business strategy?
How to beat the recession?
What can your business learn from the recession?
How to work 'on', not just 'in', your business?


If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the July 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

Who Is Managing Your Time?

Are you managing your own time or is it managing you? We now live in a world which demands instant communication 24 hours a day and seven days a week. New technology and social media enable us to be in touch with each other whenever we want to and allow us to be updated on information and news instantaneously. You are expected to be available at any time of the day and respond immediately. The consequence is that you have many more demands on your time and it is much more challenging to manage your own time and have time to focus on the most important things for you. You may find that you feel out of control, distracted, stressed and that you are drawn into multi-tasking, not able to give anything or anyone your full attention.

So how can you manage your own time and be in control in the world today? Here are some ideas that you may want to try:

How are you spending your time? Have a look at a typical day and ascertain how you are spending your time and what you achieved. Are you looking at Twitter all day and getting distracted by what you are seeing? Are you looking at your texts and emails as soon as they arrive and trying to deal with them? Are you checking your mobile in meetings? Do you keep having a look at Facebook to keep track of your friends? Are you giving people and priorities your 100% attention or are you trying to do other things as well? What did you want to do in the day that never got done?

How urgent and important was the communication you received? Go through the communication you received in the day and understand how much of it required an immediate response and how important it was. You may have dealt with something straight away but it may not have been urgent or important and it distracted you from a much more important task. Did you need to look at Twitter when you did? Did you need to answer those emails and texts straightaway? Did you need to keep checking the news headlines on the internet or TV?

Take control. You will feel much better, be more productive and achieve much more if you are in the driving seat and in control. You can decide what you do and when, you don't need to let social media, technology, news and other communication take control of you. If you are not in control and feel you have no choice you will feel stressed, angry, frustrated and probably helpless. You will also find that you are not achieving your business and personal goals.

What are your business and personal objectives and priorities? Be clear about what you want to achieve in your business and your personal life. Prioritise these and plan what you need to do and when. From this you can plan what you are going to do each day.

Plan each day based on your business and personal objectives and priorities. To be in control you need to decide what you are going to do each day and align this plan with your business and personal objectives and priorities. Be realistic about what you can achieve in a day and allow time for the things that need doing each day.

Identify the best way to manage communication, social media and technology. Allocate time in your day to answer your emails, texts and phone calls and to access social media. You may find that you want to allow several slots in the day when you are easily distracted to do this e.g. first thing in the morning, after lunch and the last hour of the day. At other times in the day focus on your planned activity and don't get distracted. Consider having someone to look after all this for you and just pass the urgent and important matters to you to deal with.

Set your own boundaries. It is your business and your life so set your own boundaries and priorities. Communication, information, news and social media all have a place in your business and personal life but it is down to you to decide how to use it and how it best fits for you e.g. just because social media is available it doesn't mean you have to be accessing it all the time. What is important for your business and you? Consider the impact on your business as a whole as well. Do you need policies in place for your employees too?

Align your activities with your body clock. If you can align what you do each day with your body clock you will be more effective. If your best time for strategic thinking is in the morning then plan it in then. If your concentration levels are lower in the afternoon, maybe use that for meetings, phone calls and emails. Also consider the week and month as a whole as to which are the best days or weeks for different activities. You will find that by making simple adjustments to when you do things it will pay dividends to your time management and how you feel.

Turn communication and technology off. Do you need to be accessing the news every minute of the day? Do you need to have your mobile switched on by your bed at night? Do you need to check your work emails when you are at home? Do you need to check Facebook constantly? You may find it hard at first to turn communication and technology off because you are so used to it being there 24 hours a day seven days a week. However turning it off will give you more choice and control as to what you do with your time.

Give everything your full attention. How often do you give one task or person your full attention? You have all seen people checking their mobile or laptop during meetings, answering their phone when they are supposed to be talking to you, texting in restaurants when socialising and probably many other examples. Try giving everything you do your 100% attention and see what the results are? You will probably find that you are more satisfied, calmer, more productive and more likely to achieve your business and personal objectives.

Hopefully the above ideas will help you to take back control and manage your own time.

Other relevant articles: You will find lots of other articles on our website including some which are relevant to managing your time such as:
Time Is Money
Time Management - A Different Perspective
Are You Procrastinating?
Keeping Focused

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the June 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

Are You Prepared For The Unexpected To Happen?

As a business owner you are probably so focused on running your business day to day that you don't have time to think about potential disruptions to your business. However what would you do if the unexpected happened? The unexpected could be anything from a wide range of possibilities including your website may get hacked into, your premises may be flooded, a key member of staff may need to take time off at short notice, your equipment may break down, your broadband connection may have a fault, your computer system may fail or a key supplier may go into administration. If you are not prepared the unexpected could have disastrous consequences for your business. So what can you do now that will help you if the unexpected does happen?

Here are some tips that you may want to consider so that you are ready for the unexpected:

Identify the potential crises that may arise. What could happen that would disrupt your business? We have given some examples above but there are many more. To help with this consider your key business functions, the business assets and equipment, your supply chain, what your business is dependent on to service its customers, your location, your staff, things that have happened to other businesses and anything else that could prevent your business running smoothly. Understanding what could happen is the first step to planning what to do.

Understand how these may impact your business. What impact would each of these crises have on your business? Take each crisis in turn and understand the implications e.g. what would happen to your business if your computer systems were down for a week. By going through each potential issue you will understand their potential impact on your business.

Assess the likelihood of each arising. Consider the likelihood of each of the different crises arising. This will enable you to gain perspective on the likely risks and to take decisions on what actions and steps you want to take now and what you are comfortable to leave and deal with if they happen.

Take steps now to minimise the risk. What can you do now to minimise the risk of the unexpected happening? Think about the steps you can take now that may prevent a problem later. These may include better health and safety procedures, alarm systems on your premises, virus protection on your computer systems, supplier financial checks, staff training, password and computer security procedures and regular maintenance of equipment.

Take action now that may help if the unexpected happens. What can you do now that may help your business if you have a problem? Think about the actions you can take now that may help you if the unexpected happens. These may include off site backups for computer systems, databases and websites, testing recovering your systems from these backups, insurance for the key business risk areas including business interruption, staff training, keeping contact databases up to date, alternative premises to use in an emergency, securing additional suppliers, alternative processes to follow and developing a contingency plan.

Develop a contingency plan. If the unexpected happened tomorrow what would you do? It is better to have a plan already in place than to think about it after a problem occurs. Prepare a contingency plan that details how you would handle a crisis in your business. This does not have to be an exhaustive document but relevant to your business. It may include who would be responsible for decision making and the different tasks in a crisis, a list of all key contacts and their contact details, the process you will follow in any crisis and what you will get up and running first in the business. Distribute your plan to all the people who need access to it and keep it up to date.

Responsibilities need to be clear. One of the most important parts of handling a crisis is people understanding their responsibilities, therefore it is critical to plan this in advance and include in your contingency plan. It may be that the business owner takes charge, the sales and marketing manager looks after customer contact, the public relations consultant deals with the media etc. However what if any of these people is away who will take their place?

Communication is key. In any crisis it is critical that the relevant people are informed quickly and accurately of the situation. Do you have up to date contact details for all your key contacts? These may include staff, shareholders, suppliers, service providers, insurers, customers, consultants, emergency services and anyone else you may need to contact if your business is interrupted. You may also have an order of priority as to who is contacted first. These contact lists would be part of your plan as scrambling around for this information after something has happened will delay your handling of the situation. Also your existing communication systems may not work so consider how you will communicate in a crisis?

Ask experts for help. The above may seem quite onerous but it will depend on the size of your business and the critical risk areas. You may feel that you need help with some areas of the above. There are experts in the area of contingency planning that can help you but you can also consult other experts e.g. insurers, IT suppliers, website hosts, service providers.

Test your plan. It is a good idea to test your plan, as finding out it doesn't work before the unexpected happens is much better than realising it doesn't work after the event.

It is your business and you will need to assess what you need to do as regards contingency planning, but hopefully the above has got you thinking about different things that you may want to consider.

Other relevant articles: You will find lots of other articles on our website including some which are relevant to dealing with the unexpected such as:
Managing Change
What Can You Do If Your Business Loses A Big Customer?
Keeping Things In Perspective
How To Deal With A Stressful Situation?

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the May 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

Confused About Your Priorities - What Can You Do?

One of the common challenges for many business owners is how to prioritise their workload and how to decide what to do next. It is easy when you are running a business to get overwhelmed by everything that you have to do and confused about your priorities. You may also get sidetracked on unimportant tasks rather than the more important ones and the longer term development of your business. So what can you do to help in this area?

Here are some tips on prioritisation that you may want to consider for your own workload and your business as a whole:

Where do you want the business to be? Are you clear about where you want your business to be in the short, medium and longer term? Whatever your objectives are, having clear business goals will enable you to have a focus for all your business activity. It will also enable you to understand the key areas to concentrate on in your business.

What do you need to do to achieve your business objectives? Once you are clear about your business goals, the next step is to identify what you need to do to achieve these objectives. This will help you to ensure that you have not missed anything off your list of priorities.

What else needs doing? Review your list and see if there are other things that need to be added to your list. There may be other steps you need to take to enable you to move the business to where you want it to be or ongoing tasks that need completing as part of running your business.

When do the above need doing by? Once you understand what needs doing think about when each task needs completing by. For larger more complex projects you will need to break down the project into smaller more manageable tasks with individual deadlines.

What can you drop off the list? This is an area that everyone struggles with. You all have your list of things that you like doing but they may not be adding value or taking the business to where you want it to be. Be ruthless and drop off all these items so that you can focus 100% on achieving the business objectives.

Can any of the tasks be delegated or outsourced? Another challenge for business owners is hanging onto tasks that someone else could do for them and often can do in a lot less time. Consider what you can delegate or outsource and move forward with this. You may think that you cannot afford to employ someone or use an outside company to do some of your work, but sometimes you need to take this step to release the potential of your business.

If you could only do one thing, what would it be? To get to the most important item on your list ask yourself if you could do only one thing what would it be, and work through your list in this way to get things prioritised. Another way of prioritising is to imagine you are on a hot air balloon and you need to remove some of the weight (your tasks). Start to remove the tasks in order of least importance, so you are left with the most important one, as well as an order for the rest.

Which task do you need to do first to achieve your business objectives? You can think about your list in a different way based on your business objectives. Which task do you need to do first to achieve your business objectives? You can then work through the list in this way establishing a list of priorities.

Be flexible and allow for interruptions and the unexpected. Things don't always go according to a plan and we all have interruptions to our day and things happening that we are not expecting. Allow time for these in your schedule and be flexible.

Re-prioritise every time you need to add something to your list or things change. A key part of prioritisation is re-prioritising when something new comes up or things change. If you stick rigidly to you original priorities you may come unstuck, so it is important to keep reviewing and updating your list.

Still confused, then maybe you need some help. If you are still confused and need some help with prioritisation, then consider working with a business mentor who can help you in this area.

Hopefully the above ideas will help you with the prioritisation of things within your business and for you personally.

Other articles: You may want to read other related articles on our website such as Time is Money, Time Management - A Different Perspective, How To Work 'On', Not Just 'In', Your Business? and Are You Procrastinating?

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the April 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

Do You Have Credit Control Or Cash Flow Problems?

Do you have cash flow problems in your business? Is your bank balance lower than it could be or are you at your overdraft limit? Do you agree your payment terms with your customers up front? Do you issue your invoices as soon as the product or service has been delivered? Are you chasing your outstanding invoices or are you just waiting for your customers to pay? Credit control is key to business success but are you giving it the priority it deserves in your business?

Here are some tips on credit control to help you improve your business cash flow:

Make credit control a priority. Many businesses do not prioritise credit control and only realise its importance when it because a crisis. It is so easy to be focused on delivering products and services as this is usually the area of expertise of the business owner, however unless the money for these products and services is collected on a timely basis you will soon find yourself with cash flow problems. This can end up being very costly in terms of overdraft charges and write offs, as well as even leading to business failure.

Have a process and follow it. What is your credit control process? Many business owners cannot answer this question, can you? Having a set process which your business follows including contracting payment terms, timely and accurate invoicing, chasing invoices, escalation procedures and what you do if a customer does not pay will enable you to improve your cash flow.

Which customers do you offer credit to and what are your payment terms? You need to decide which customers you will offer credit to and if you are going to offer credit when do you want to be paid. You may want to review your current terms to see if they are appropriate for your business (e.g. you may offer 30 days credit but could bring this down to 14 days) and consider deposits and staged payments. You may want to credit check the financial position of clients you are planning on working with, especially where they will represent a large percentage of your turnover.

Be clear about your payment terms. Do you discuss your payment terms when contracting with a customer and do you have your terms in your contracts and agreements and on your invoices? If you are not up front and clear about your payment terms with your customers it will be much more difficult to collect payment within your terms.

Consider offering different payment methods. The more options your customers have for payment, the more chance they will pay you. These may include direct payment into your bank account, direct debit, credit card, Paypal, cheque or cash.

Be timely and accurate. A lot of unpaid monies arise from delays in issuing invoices and errors in invoices. Consider when you are going to issue invoices (e.g. rather than issuing them all at the end of the month why not issue them as soon as the product or service is delivered) and always check that your invoices have been received. Also think about how you are going to ensure their accuracy.

Customer service problems. Another reason for unpaid invoices is poor customer service. Where you have fallen short of your normal service standards discuss this with the customer and get to a resolution. If you ignore it you will end up with a disputed invoice at a later date.

Don't be too nice! You may not like asking for payment, but remember you have provided a product or service and the customer has agreed to pay you for this. The customer has an obligation to pay you within the agreed payment terms. Ensuring you get paid may require you to not only ask for money but also to be firm with your clients. You may have to consider stopping working with a client if they are slow paying or do not pay at all. If you are too nice about it your business will be the loser.

Get help. Where you don't have the time or the expertise to manage your credit control in house, you may want to seek outside help. There are lots of people who can help you with this including credit controllers and accountants. You may also want to use a credit collection agency for old outstanding invoices and may want to consider specialist financing help such as invoice finance.

Hopefully these tips have got you thinking about the credit control in your business and given you some ideas to improve your business cash flow position.

Other articles: All our newsletter articles can now been found on our website at http://makinithappen.co.uk/Articles.html. Why not take a look and see if there are any articles you have missed or can help you with your current challenges?

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the February 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

What's Stopping You?

The beginning of the year is a time to look ahead at what you want to achieve for your business over the next year. You have probably already done this. However actually achieving your objectives is much more challenging that deciding what you want to achieve. So if you are struggling to move forward with what you want to, it may be worth considering what is stopping you? This will help you to understand where you need to focus your attention first.

Here are some ideas as to what may be stopping you moving forward with your business goals:

Don't know where to start. This can hold you back because if you don't know where to start you will never get started. If you don't know where to start, you probably need to get some help from someone who is experienced in what you want to do e.g. If you want to increase your sales, you may want to talk to a sales and marketing expert.

Can't decide what to do. You may be generally indecisive or just can't decide about this change. If you can't decide what to do, you may want to look at the different options and weigh up the alternatives. If this doesn't help you may want to get support from someone with the business experience to help you e.g. a business mentor or consultant.

Something else needs doing first. If something else needs doing first then consider if it does need doing first or are you just using it as an excuse? If it does need doing then get it completed so you can move forward with your goals.

Don't have time. If you don't have time in your business then you need to look at how you are going to generate time. You may be wasting time on things that don't really need doing, there may be a need for more delegation or outsourcing, it may be a time management issue, people may be doing the wrong jobs or need training or you may need additional staff.

It seems too big. If what you want to do seems too big then consider breaking it down into smaller more manageable tasks and milestones. If it is a complex project you may need some help on project planning.

Don't know how. If you don't know how to do something this may be an indication that you need some training in your business or you may need to seek some help from someone with more expertise or outsource the work.

Procrastinating. If you find that you are doing anything else but what you want to do then you are probably procrastinating. To move on you need to tackle the procrastination by focusing on the end goal and why you want it, looking at your motivation, trying some easier tasks first to get into it and maybe introducing rewards for achievement.

Worried about your ability to achieve. Often you don't get going on something because you are worried about your ability to deliver and achieve it. If you worry about it you will never start and if you don't start you won't achieve your goals. Start with some small changes first and see the impact and then move onto the larger ones. However you may be worrying because the goal is too risky for your business, if this is the case, then you may want to change or downsize your goal.

Don't have the resources. You may have something you really want to achieve but if you don't have enough resources or the right resources in your business you will not achieve it. You may want to review the resources you have against what you need and address the gaps before starting.

It is the wrong goal! If you are very anxious or keep putting off what you want to achieve then have a good think about whether what you want is right for your business and what you really want. You may find that you have the wrong goal! There is nothing wrong with this and it is better to realise this early and change course.

As you can see from the above there are many reasons that could be stopping you moving forward towards your goals. Don't just motor on regardless as you will find you will not achieve what you want to. If you can understand what is stopping you and address this first, you will have much more chance of getting your business to where you want it to be.

NOTE: All our newsletter articles can now been found on our website at http://makinithappen.co.uk/Articles.html. You will find articles on some of the topics mentioned above e.g.
Are you procrastinating?,
Time is money
Time management - a different perspective
Managing change
What is your longer term business strategy?

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the January 2011 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

Are Any Of Your Customers Unprofitable?

It is very difficult to turn down potential customers or stop working with existing customers. However sometimes you may find that some of your customers are costing more to your business than they are generating and they may also be diverting your attention from more profitable clients. You may not have looked at your customers in this way before but you may have noticed signs from your customers and potential customers that all is not well.

So what are the warning signs that you need to look out for and that may indicate that you don't want to work with a particular customer any longer or not take similar customers on in future?

Want everything done very cheaply. Often the customers who want the lowest price, become the biggest problem further down the line. Watch out for customers who try to negotiate your prices down dramatically.

Complain constantly and are never satisfied. Customers who complain constantly and are never satisfied can be a real problem for the business. They will take up a lot of time and become very costly.

Contact you at all hours. Customers who contact you at all hours can be extremely disruptive to your business. They will email or phone you at any time of day or night with their demands.

You feel a sense of dread at the mention of their name. This is a very obvious way to notice potentially unprofitable customers as they are impacting how you feel and you don't want to deal with them.

Set impossible deadlines. Unprofitable customers are often those who set impossible deadlines and want everything done immediately. This is not only disruptive but may cause you to delay work for other clients.

Pay late or not at all. Where a client does not pay your invoices within the payment terms or doesn't pay without lots of chasing, they are probably unprofitable to you as you will be spending lots of time chasing their payments.

Try to get you to do extra work for the original price. Customers who try and say that they thought extras were included or expect you to do more than was agreed for the original price may become unprofitable as you will be spending much longer than you are charging for.

Don't take your advice or listen to you. Customers who are paying for your help but are not taking your advice or listening to you can take up a lot more of your time than planned. They may also end up trying to pass responsibility back to you for problems they have created.

Take up a disproportionate amount of time. Unprofitable customers often take up a disproportionate amount of your time to what they are paying you for. They may be contacting you a lot, asking you to do lots of extras, changing their mind a lot, not meeting deadlines and not doing as you ask, which can all result in extra work.

So if you notice any of the above warning signs you may want to consider whether or not you want to continue working with a particular customer. Don't make a hasty decision. Understand what is actually happening and if you feel that your business will be better off without them, maybe it is time to stop working with them. This can actually be very liberating and result in you being much better placed to service your other customers and to take on new clients.

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the November 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

How To Work 'On', Not Just 'In', Your Business?

It is very difficult as a business owner to fulfil all your roles in the business. You may find that you are always working on the day to day of the business and you have very little time to step back and consider the future. However if you want your business to grow and prosper you need to work 'on' your business, as well as 'in' your business, including working on business goals, strategy, business development, planning, sales and marketing, managing the business and the financial side. This is one of the most challenging areas for business owners to resolve.

So if you are caught up in the day to day, what can you do about it? Here are some ideas to help you:

Decide on where you want your business to be in the short and longer term. Where do you want your business to be in the next month, 3 months, 6 months, year and longer term? Identifying where you want to be will give you a clear vision for moving forward and understanding what you need to change.

Understand what you need to do to achieve your business goals. To achieve what you want to, what do you need to do differently in the business? You may need to spend more time marketing the business or look at your pricing structure to increase your profitability. Understanding the next steps will help you look at where you need to focus your time.

Identify what you are spending your time doing each day. What do you spend your time doing each day? You may be working very long hours, but where is your time going? It is critical to moving forward to understand what you are currently doing.

Look at delegating some of your tasks or outsourcing them. What things are you currently doing that could be delegated or outsourced? These may be tasks that you don't want to do anymore or ones that are not in your area of expertise that someone else could do better.

Review the staffing of your business. What changes do you need to make in the staffing of your business? Maybe you need additional staff or a staff member to work additional hours or at a different time of day.

Focus on productivity and improving efficiency. What improvements can you make to the productivity and efficiency of you, your team and your systems and processes? Businesses often find that they can save time by making changes to their systems and processes and who does what.

Reduce your agenda to the key things for achieving your business goals. What are you doing that doesn't need doing or that is not taking you towards where you want your business to be? It is very easy to procrastinate, get distracted and to do things just because they have always been done. Keeping focused on your business goals will help you to change your current focus.

Set aside regular time each week to step back from the day to day. When are you going to step back from the day to day and focus on the future of your business? Setting aside regular time to step back from the day to day will pay dividends for your business.

Understand the implications of whatever actions you decide to take. What are the implications of the actions you have decided to take? It is important to fully understand the financial and other implications of you stepping back from the day to day, both positive and negative e.g. employing an additional member of staff may cost more in the short term but may enable your business to grow significantly more in the longer term.

Consider getting some outside help. What help do you need in working 'on', not just 'in' your business? You may want to consider using a business mentor to support you in stepping back or you may want to use an expert in a particular area e.g. marketing to advise you on the best way forward.

I hope the above have given you some ideas as to how you may be able to change your role and to enable you to spend more time working 'on', not just 'in' your business.

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the October 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

What Is The One Change That Will Make The Most Difference To Your Business?

In September many business owners review their businesses with fresh eyes and consider whether any changes are required. This is usually as a result of taking a break during the summer and having time to think about what is actually happening in your business. Also often you try to make too many changes without succeeding with any, when actually changing one thing well can have a much bigger impact. So I thought this month that a good area to consider would be what is the one change that will make the most difference to your business and how can you identify it?

Here are some questions to get you thinking about the change you may want to make:

What are you worrying about? If you think about what you are worrying about this is likely to be areas that may need changing e.g. you may be worrying about your sales, your relationship with a key supplier or your cash flow position.

What is stopping you moving forward? There may be things in your business that you feel if they were fixed will make a huge difference e.g. process inefficiencies, a particular report that you cannot get from your computer system or not enough staff.

If you could change one thing right now, what would it be? Answering this question straight away should give you the key change as it is likely to be your biggest frustration e.g. start selling online, increase prices or add a new service.

What are your customers talking to you about? Customer feedback is always a good indicator of what is happening in your business so what are your customers telling you e.g. poor quality products, slow deliveries or services that they would like you to offer.

What are other businesses doing that you are not? Being alert to the competition, as well as seeing what other businesses are doing and what is happening in the market place can alert you to changes you need to make e.g. special offers, using new marketing tactics or introducing new more efficient systems.

If everything was how you want it to be, what would be different to now? Thinking about this will give you ideas as to what is not happening now that you want to be e.g. bigger offices, expanding your sales area or getting rid of unprofitable customers.

What could you do to stand out from the competition? Identifying your point of difference or unique selling point can help you to market your business better and to get noticed e.g. you may have a product that no one else offers, have specialist knowledge or can deliver goods quicker.

What are your staff telling you needs changing? Listening to your staff and understanding their frustrations can tell you where changes need to be made e.g. it takes too long to process an order, they don't know how to do something or they are getting lots of returns of a particular product line.

What areas of your business do you feel less comfortable with and why? Understanding which areas of the business you are less comfortable with may highlight parts of your business that you are neglecting and need help with e.g. you may not like presenting to clients, may feel you do not understand marketing or you are struggling with the financial side.

What are you not doing that you feel you should be doing? Often we keep doing what we have always done but there may be things that we are not doing that could make all the difference e.g. you may be marketing to potential new clients but not marketing to your existing and previous customers, you may be issuing invoices but not chasing outstanding invoices or you may be doing things that you don't need to do but not answering important emails and phone calls.

I hope these questions have got you thinking and that you can now make that one change that will make all the difference. When you have made that change, you can then repeat the exercise again to identify the next key change

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the September 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

What Can You Do If Your Business Loses A Big Customer?

Your business may be going along quite happily and then you lose a big customer. This may be as a result of something within your business (e.g. poor customer service) or it may be due to something completely outside of your control (e.g. government cut backs). Whatever the reason, if this happens to your business what can you do?

Here are some suggestions as to what you might want to do if you lose a big customer:

Stay calm. Losing a big customer is likely to significantly impact your business, so it will be easy to panic and get very stressed. Try and stay calm so that you can plan what you need to do next and start to take action to secure new customers.

Reassess your business plan and strategy. Think about what you want to achieve for your business in the short, medium and long term. This may have changed as a result of what has happened and you may need to carefully consider what you now want to achieve.

What can you learn from this experience? Reflect on what has happened and why it has happened. Consider the learning for your business. Maybe you have taken your eye off the business, you have become too dependent on a small number of customers and need to diversify or you haven't been marketing your business regularly to generate new customers.

How have you got customers in the past? Consider how you have marketed your business in the past and where your customers have come from (maybe from your website, referrals, press releases etc.). This will give you an idea as to what marketing you now need to do to replace the business you have lost.

Who are your warmest contacts? Think about all your business contacts and who you can contact to generate new business. Start with your warmest contacts, who will probably be your existing customers, your recent enquirers, clients who may not have used you for a while but who were happy with your business and other business contacts who you have been in touch with recently.

Who else can you contact? What does your business specialise in? What type of companies have you worked with in the past? Identify similar companies that you can approach for business.

Be creative. You need to generate ideas as to what you can do. Spend some time brainstorming either on your own, with your team or with some outside help. Ask your contacts for ideas as to what to do.

Make a plan. Decide on what you now need to do to secure new business and plan out what you are going to do. You may also need to review your cost structure to ensure that it is appropriate for where your business now is.

Start marketing your business or increase your marketing. Now you have identified your warmest contacts, the type of marketing that works for your business and planned out what you need to do, start to market your business or to increase your marketing activity.

Ask for referrals. You often forget to ask your satisfied customers for referrals, but people are usually only too happy to recommend your business to other businesses if they are happy with the service.

Focus on customer service. When you lose a big customer it is easy to get stressed and diverted away from your other customers. Don't forgot your existing customers, make sure you provide a high level of service to them.

Be efficient in your follow up of enquiries. If you are trying to generate new business you will need to stand out from the competition. Ensure you follow up all enquiries promptly and efficiently.

Take action. If you don't do anything your business will be in a serious situation so it is important to take action. Also taking action will help you to calm down.

Be positive. Remind yourself of the strengths of you and your business. Think about your past successes. You have generated new customers before so there is no reason you cannot do it again.

Ask for help. It is at times like these when you have a major change to your business that you may need to use some outside help. Think about who may be able to assist you and approach them for help.

Being faced with losing a big customer is very daunting and potentially very disruptive for your business. However, hopefully if you are ever faced with this situation these tips will help you ride the storm and come out the other side with your business in much better shape.

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the July 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

How To Deal With A Stressful Situation?

When you are faced with a stressful situation whether in your business or in your personal life it is very easy to worry, be fearful, get stressed and panic. Some stress is good for you but too much can result in you being unable to think straight, inaction and poor performance. Any of you who have watched the first two of England's football matches in the 2010 World Cup will recognise what we are talking about here!

We have therefore put together some ideas and tips to help you when you are faced with a stressful situation.

Be well prepared. In your business it is a good idea to have a contingency plan for unexpected events (e.g. not being able to use your offices, a computer crash etc.), to have procedures for different eventualities (e.g. a key member of staff is absent from work) and to ensure your staff are well trained to handle stressful situations. In your personal life you can also think about how you will handle stressful and difficult situations and be prepared for such events.

Look after yourself. If you are in good mental and physical shape you will be more able to handle a stressful situation, so it is important to look after yourself on an on going basis, including achieving a good work/life balance, building in relaxation, having fun, eating healthily, exercising and not getting yourself too tired.

Calm yourself down. When you first hear about a stressful event or situation it is easy to panic and get very stressed. Calm yourself down by slowing down your breathing and thinking about how you have overcome similar situations in the past. It may help to move into a different space (e.g. outside the office, away from other people etc.) so you can think things through.

Think positively. When you think positively you will feel in control and confident. Visualise a positive outcome to the stressful situation and focus on past successes and hurdles that you have overcome.

Put things in perspective. When faced with a stressful situation other people may panic and you may be given inaccurate information or the severity of the situation may be exaggerated. Therefore, find out as much information as possible about the situation so you can understand what is actually happening. Also put the situation into context against your business or your life as a whole.

Trust your knowledge, experience and intuition. When dealing with a stressful situation you can panic and forget to utilise all the knowledge and experience you already have. Remind yourself of the resources you have and trust your knowledge, experience and intuition to help you handle the stressful situation.

Make a plan. It is easy to rush straight into taking action but it is critical to first of all make a plan of what you need to do. This will not only help you to ensure that you have covered all angles but will also give you something to refer to as you go along.

Be decisive. People can get very indecisive when faced with these types of situations, which will be very unhelpful. It is therefore critical to be decisive and take decisions in a considered but timely fashion.

Take action. Taking action in itself will calm you and other people down. So once you have your plan, start to take action to resolve the situation.

Write things down. When things are stressful it is inadvisable to have lots of information in people's heads. Write down the plan and ask everyone to write down what they have done. This will help to manage the situation, help people feel in control and will also help after the event to understand what was done.

Ask for help. Faced with a stressful situation you may try to handle it on your own, however, you may want to get some help or someone to talk to. This will provide not only practical assistance but also reassurance.

We hope that the above ideas and tips will help you to handle stressful situations better in the future and to put in a better performance than the England football team have so far in the World Cup!

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the June 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

How To Find And Select A Business Mentor?

In our January 2010 newsletter we included an article on how a business mentor can help you and your business. Another common dilemma for business owners is once you have decided that you would like the support of a business mentor, how do you find one and how do you decide which one is right for you?

So this month we have put together some questions and tips to help you in finding a business mentor and in deciding which one is right for you. These may also be useful if you are looking for a business coach.

What support do you want? Before looking for a business mentor it is a good idea to understand what support you need and in what areas, whether this be general business mentoring for all areas of your business, specific support (e.g. sales and marketing, growing your business etc.), personal support (e.g. stress management, work/life balance etc.) or maybe a mixture of these. If you are not sure what support you want, it will be helpful if you can describe how you feel (e.g. overwhelmed, not strategic enough etc.).

Do you want face to face, telephone or internet support? You can have business mentoring face to face, over the phone, via Skype, via email and even online, so think about your preferred option so that you can find a mentor who can meet your requirements.

Ask your contacts for recommendations. A good starting point for finding a business mentor will be to ask your contacts (business and/or personal) if they can recommend one. They may have used a mentor or know of someone they are happy to recommend to you.

Search on the internet. Try searching on Google and have a look on internet based business directories. Make sure your search is specific and includes your requirements.

Look at the websites of the business mentors. Find out more about the mentors recommended to you and about those you found on the internet by looking at their websites. This will enable you to narrow down your search as you will be able to get a feel as to whether they are right for you from their websites.

Contact a selection of business mentors. Telephone or email the mentors who look right for you and arrange to speak to them to find out more about them and whether they can meet your requirements. The questions below will help you narrow down your search.

Can you relate to and see yourself working with the business mentor? The key to getting the most from the business mentoring is the relationship between you and your business mentor. Spend time talking to them to see whether you get on with them, want to work with them and whether they are right for you.

What business mentoring qualifications, knowledge and experience do they have? Ask them about the business mentoring training they have completed and about their knowledge and experience of business mentoring.

What business knowledge and experience do they have? Ask about their business knowledge and experience, their career to date, who they have worked for, at what level and in what positions. If you want general business support you will want someone with general management experience or who has run their own business rather than a specialist.

How long have they been working as a business mentor? Understand from them how long they have been working as a business mentor and make sure you feel comfortable with this.

What type of clients do they work with and what do they help them with? Ask about the type of clients they have worked with (e.g. the size of the businesses, the business sectors they operate in, the number of staff they employ etc.) and the type of things they have helped them with.

Do they have client testimonials and can you speak to their existing/previous clients? It may help you to decide on a business mentor if you can see some of their client testimonials or talk to their clients.

How do they work with their clients? Ask about how they work with clients and how they will work with you (e.g. how long are the mentoring sessions, how often do they take place, what is your commitment in terms of number of sessions, what is the cost, do they offer a free session so that you can try out their services, do they have a contract that covers their services etc.).

Do you feel that they are right for you and your business? From the above you should be able to decide which mentor is right for you and your business. However, you may want to ask to try them out first with a mentoring session so you can make sure.

Hopefully the above will help you with your search and selection if you decide that you want to work with a business mentor.

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the May 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

Will Your Business Survive Without You?

The recent disruption to flights caused by the volcanic ash made me wonder what would happen to my business in my absence. Many businesses are dependent on a small number of key personnel and many business owners and senior managers do not like taking any time off from their business. So what would happen to your business if you were unable to work or keep in touch for whatever reason?

I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some steps that you could take to minimise the impact of your absence from the company in future and which would enable you to take a break from the business.

Build a strong team. It is critical to have a strong team working in your business and to invest in their training and development. Alongside this you need to have good suppliers that you can rely on, whether this be your accountant, bank, solicitor or suppliers of your products and services.

Share your knowledge and experience. Some people are protective of their own knowledge and experience and do not share this with other members of staff. This will lead to problems if these people are absent. Sharing your knowledge and experience will help to develop others and enable them to take on your responsibilities if you are not there.

Have regular team meetings. Regular team meetings will enable everyone in the team to be aware of what is happening in the business, such that work will be able to be completed in the absence of any team member.

Make communication a high priority. In any business communication is critical to its success. This communication may take many forms, including newsletters, regular chats, meetings and updates, communication of the business strategy, plans and targets, as well as operational updates.

Involve your team in decision making. Don't take all the decisions yourself as this will result in the business being totally dependent on you. Involve your team in decision making and delegate decision making to them.

Outsource. Some of the above may not be relevant if your business is just you. However there are still things that you can do. You can outsource many processes, especially the regular ones, such as answering phone calls, arranging meetings, order taking, fulfilment, book-keeping etc. This will all reduce the dependency of the business on just you and outsourcing can also help bigger businesses minimise costs and avoid business interruption.

Delegate. Are there things that only you know how to do? This is a very risky strategy as who will do them when you are not at work. Therefore, delegate tasks to others and ensure that someone else knows how to do what you do.

Use associates. Another idea for those of you who run businesses on your own is to link up with other people in the same field as you who can service your clients in your absence. I have seen this work very well where the associates are carefully selected, share the same values as you and where they understand your customers and are trained in your processes and procedures.

Document processes and procedures. Are your processes and procedures documented? If not you may want to consider documenting them. This will help understand what needs doing if you or a key member of staff is absent.

Automate where possible. The more manual processes that you have the harder it is for people to understand what needs doing in your absence. If processes are automated and the data is available across the business, then it is easier for others to cover for you.

Let people know where you keep things. A good filing system will be very useful if someone is taking over your work, whereas lots of messy piles of paper on your desk will not.

Take out insurance. There are different types of insurance policy that can help your business in these circumstances, such as key man insurance for you and your key members of staff and business interruption insurance may also be worth considering.

After reading this, you may want to consider the different ideas, review your business risk areas and understand what action you need to take to enable you to be able to take a break from your business, to enable you to be less dependent on key staff members and to put your business in a position that it will survive without you.

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the April 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

Time Management - A Different Perspective

You may struggle with managing your time efficiently and effectively or maybe one of your team finds time management a challenge. There are plenty of time management courses and time management tips around, but it is first of all critical that you understand what the root cause of the time management problem is. This will enable you to understand what action you need to take. You may find that a time management course is not the answer and that it is something much more fundamental in your business that needs addressing.

To highlight this I have given you some examples below of business issues that can mask themselves as time management problems:

The wrong person doing the wrong job or process. Are your staff in the right roles and are they doing the right jobs? A person may appear to have problems managing their time, but they may be in a role or doing a job that they are not suitable for.

Under resourcing. Is your business under resourced in terms of staff or any other resource? If it is, this could be creating too much pressure for each individual person such that they appear to have time management issues. Equally the resourcing issue may be that their equipment is inefficient e.g. they are working on an old slow PC that needs upgrading.

Inefficient processes and procedures. Are your business processes and procedures efficient and effective? Inefficient processes and procedures can mask themselves as time management issues.

Delegation issues. Do you have poor delegation skills or you may not want to delegate because you are a perfectionist or feel that you will lose control? Any of these will impact your ability to manage your time effectively.

Too many meetings. How many meetings do you have in your business and are they all effective? A lot of time can be wasted in unnecessary or badly managed meetings. Maybe you need to look at the meetings in your business rather than time management.

Lack of training. Do you and your staff need any training to do your roles better? What you thought was a time management issue may be a training need.

Inappropriate environment. Is the working environment appropriate for the work that is being done in your business? If people are uncomfortable, too close to each other or the layout encourages interruptions you may want to look here for improvements.

Poorly defined roles and responsibilities. Are you and your staff clear about your roles and responsibilities? If people are unclear this can cause duplication, inefficiencies and show up as time management issues.

No clear plan or strategy. Do you have a clear plan and strategy for your business? If you are working without clear direction you will find that you and your staff will be struggling to know what to do next and what the key priorities are.

Not reacting to changing customer needs. Is your business listening to its customers and being responsive to their changing needs and preferences? If you are struggling to adapt to your customers you may find that this shows up as time management problems.

This is just a small sample of business issues that can mask themselves behind what appear to be time management problems. I am sure that you can think of many more. It does highlight that the presenting issue is not necessarily the area that actually needs addressing in your business. You may find that it is something completely different!

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the March 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

What Can Your Business Learn From The Recession?

In November 2008 I wrote an article - How to beat the recession?, so I thought it would be interesting to now look back over the last year or so of the economic downturn and consider what we can learn from this period for our businesses.

We have been through a very difficult time and some companies have not survived. However, what are you now doing differently as a result of this challenging period or what are you considering changing in your business going forward? I have summarised below some key areas that you may want to do differently or consider in your business.

Be aware of the wider business environment. It is no longer advisable to just focus on your market place and customers, the economic downturn has shown that events in other parts of the economy and even other parts of the world can have a big impact on the performance of your business. It is therefore important to monitor and be aware of what is happening in the wider business environment and the world in general.

Understand your market place. Do you know what is happening in the market place your business operates in? What are the key trends and changes? What are your competitors doing? Understanding the market place your business operates in will enable you to stay ahead of the competition.

Understand what your customers want. What do your customers want? How have their requirements changed? The downturn has shown how quickly customer preferences and needs can change. Asking your customers for feedback, monitoring what they are doing, listening to them and understanding what potential customers are looking for will help your business thrive.

Review and develop your product and service range. There have been many changes as a result of the economic downturn in terms of customer, market and overall trends. Is your range of products and services still right? Do you need to introduce new products and services? Build a regular review of your products and services into your calendar.

Maximise productivity and efficiency. Is your business efficient and effective? Are you maximising productivity? Could you improve your processes and procedures? The recession has highlighted that to make your business resilient to change it needs to be as efficient and effective as possible.

Be adaptable and flexible. The recession has shown us that changes can happen very quickly, in fact even over night. Businesses today need to be adaptable and flexible. How quickly can your company change? How flexible are your processes and procedures? How adaptable are you and your staff?

Know what is happening in all areas of your business. Do you know what is happening throughout your business? What is your current financial position? What are your forward sales? Where are you with that key order? What is bothering your staff? Knowing what is happening in all areas of your business will enable you to react quickly, make better decisions and achieve your business goals.

Take risks in proportion to your business. Taking risks is part of running a business but the recession has highlighted the importance of taking risks in proportion to your business. Maybe you are considering a marketing campaign. Can you absorb the cost of the campaign even if it does not work? Consider each risk carefully and make sure that your business can cope with it not working in the way you expect.

Build good relationships with all your key stakeholders. The foundation of your business is your relationships with your key stakeholders i.e. your staff, customers, suppliers, investors etc. The recession will have highlighted any areas of concern. How are these relationships in your company? Do you need to change any of your key stakeholders as they are no longer appropriate for your business today? What improvements need to be made?

Don't be dependent on one or two large customers. Is your business dependent on one or two key customers? If it is you may be very exposed if one of them decides not to work with you any more. This has happened to companies in the economic downturn with huge consequences. Look to diversify your customer base and not to be reliant on a small number of customers.

Have agreements in place for all your business relationships. During the recession a lot of business relationships were put under pressure due to the difficult circumstances. Where agreements are in place you have some protection if things go wrong. Otherwise it will be very challenging to get things resolved. Review your relationships and look for areas where you need to introduce or improve your agreements. This may be anything from staff contracts to joint venture agreements.

Actively manage your cash flow. During the recession some businesses were exposed due to debts not being paid either on a timely basis or at all. Do you have payment terms in your customer contracts? Do you have a process for collecting your debts on time? Are you actively chasing outstanding payments? Focus on actively managing your cash flow.

Don't over stretch your business. Some companies were caught out in the economic downturn because they had over stretched. They may have been exposed to too much debt because of high borrowings, their cost base may have been too high to cope with a downturn or they may not have had surplus funds to help them get through a difficult period. What is the position of your business? Do you need to change anything? Be careful not to over stretch your business or if it is over stretched look for ways to improve the position.

What lessons have you learnt over the last 18 months and what are you doing or going to do differently? I will be interested to hear your experiences.

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the February 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.

How Can A Business Mentor Help You And Your Business?

If you are thinking about whether a business mentor could help you and your business, if business mentoring has been recommended to you but you are not sure how it will benefit you or if you are looking for general business and personal support and don't know where to find it, then this article may be of interest to you.

Business mentors work with you in a totally supportive way. They focus on your agenda, discuss your business with you, ask you questions to widen your understanding, listen to you, provide feedback to you, bring a different perspective, help you sort out the many and complex issues of running a business, share their knowledge and experience with you and support, motivate and inspire you.

There are many benefits of having a business mentor both for your business and for you personally. Everyone gets something different from having a business mentor, so I have summarised below some of the many benefits so that you can see the ones that may be relevant to you.

A confidential sounding board. It can be very lonely running your own business or working at a senior level, as you have very few people who you can turn to for general business and personal support. A business mentor will be your confidential sounding board, focusing totally on you, listening to you, discussing your business with you, sharing the successes and challenges with you and supporting you in achieving what you want to achieve.

Enable you to work 'on', not just 'in', your business. A business mentor will help you to step back from the day to day of running your business and take the time to look at your business overall and from a wider and different perspective. This will help you to consider your business strategy and how you want to move your business forward.

Maximise business and personal performance. Working with a business mentor will help you to maximise the performance of your business and your own personal performance in the business. A business mentor will help you to improve your business results, improve your efficiency and maximise your potential.

To bounce ideas off and to help you work out creative and innovative solutions. You may have lots of ideas about your business but you want to discuss these with someone with good business knowledge and experience. You may have a business challenge that you want to work out the best way of moving forward with. A business mentor will support you in looking at the different options and ideas, share their own ideas with you and help you in deciding what to do.

Become more focused and productive. Seeing a business mentor on a regular basis will help you focus on the most important issues and become more focused and productive, through regular reviews of what you want to achieve, where you are and agreeing the next steps and key priorities going forward.

Provide support and motivation. In the stressful and challenging times, when your business is going through major change and at many other times it can be very difficult to keep on top of the business and not to get stressed and de-motivated. A business mentor will provide the reassurance, support and motivation that you need.

Challenge you and expand your beliefs of what is possible. A business mentor will ask you lots of questions and challenge you. This will help you think more widely about your business, look at things from a different perspective and expand your beliefs of what is possible.

Increase your business knowledge and experience. Business mentors work with all sorts of different businesses on a wide range of issues and have accumulated lots of business knowledge and experience themselves. A business mentor will share this knowledge and experience with you, which will widen your own business knowledge and experience.

Support you to achieve your objectives. It is your business and you decide what you want to achieve and how you are going to get there. A business mentor will support you to identify what you want to achieve, in planning what you need to do, in achieving your goals and in making things happen in your business.

Understand yourself better and improve your relationships with others. Having a business mentor will increase your self awareness, your confidence and your self esteem and will also help you to improve your relationships with others.

Support you with a wide range of business challenges. A business mentor will support you with all areas of your business. These may include profitability, sales and marketing, operations, finance, strategy, planning, productivity, staffing, time management, handling stress better, management, leadership, decision making, communication, relationships, handling change positively, business growth, achieving work/life balance, establishing priorities, starting a new business, restructuring, implementing major changes and many other business challenges.

I hope this article has given you a flavour of business mentoring and its benefits. As a business mentor myself you may think I will be rather biased. Therefore it may help you to see what some of our clients say about the benefits they have received from having a business mentor, so please take a look at the client testimonials on our website.

If you would like further information or to use any of our services please refer to the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring & Stress Management website at http://makinithappen.co.uk or contact Liz Makin at Liz@makinithappen.co.uk.

This article first appeared in the January 2010 edition of the Makin It Happen – Coaching, Mentoring and Stress Management newsletter. Please click here to Sign up for our email newsletter.