let's talk business
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Information from a range of experts for SME's and entrepreneurs to grow their business.TRANSCRIPT
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 1
Small Business Bankruptcy to Hit Record Levels Australia’s small businesses are
feeling the summer heat, with
insolvencies at record levels
according to one financial
consultant.
Greg Charlwood, Asia-Pacific Chief
Executive of cashflow finance
provider Bibby Financial Services,
says businesses are taking longer to
pay their bills, pushing up
bankruptcy rates.
Dunn & Bradstreet’s quarterly trade
payments analysis, released earlier
last month, shows businesses
averaged 56.5 days to settle
accounts in the December quarter,
making invoice payments the
slowest they have been since 2001.
Big business is often the worst
offender, taking more than 60 days
to pay bills.
“Deteriorating payment terms puts
the cashflow under greater strain for
smaller businesses – they still have
to pay their staff on time, and with
the economy slowing and retail
spending drying up, cash flow
pressures for many are at breaking
point,” Charlwood says.
Small business has been under other
pressures for the past 18 months,
with the global credit crisis
Let’s Talk Business MARKETING MEANS BUSINESS - Solutions for Small Business
Issue 03 April 2013
prompting local banks to reduce
credit availability from early last
year, he adds.
“The combination of a longer wait for
payment, less availability of credit,
and a slowing economy puts cashflow
under enormous pressure. We predict
it will lead to record levels of
insolvency among small businesses
this year,” he says.
Reports that the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) is expecting
Australia’s economic growth will
slide to almost zero this year add to
the gloomy outlook for small
business, which is the largest single
employer group in Australia
responsible for 3.6 million jobs.
According to Dun and Bradstreet in
their latest Business Failures and Start
-ups Analysis (full report at bottom of
post), the number of small businesses
that went bankrupt over the last 12
months has jumped by 48%, although
the December quarter of last year did
improve slightly from the September
quarter.
However, the main trend in the last 3
years has been a 30% growth in
business failures, more from Dun &
Bradstreet CEO, Christine Christian:
“One of the most startling findings
within the report is that during the
There is an increasing risk that the global economic slowdown will intensify the upward trend in insolvencies.
Despite recent rate cuts, there is a palpable lack of confidence in the current operating environment. This is obviously one of the side effects of long standing global uncertainty and can often be enough to deter businesses from entering the market, irrespective of actual conditions.
Outside the mining sector, sentiment is generally still poor and the strong Australian dollar is straining profits. This could lead to an increase in business failures in
December quarter, Start-ups during
the December quarter in the
manufacturing, service and finance
sectors fell by nearly 100 per cent.”
Between January and November
2012, 9,178 companies went into
insolvency administration - up 22 per
cent over the average of the previous
year and 10 per cent compared with
the year before, Australian Securities
and Investment Commission data
reveals.
Most were small businesses feeling
the pinch as consumers reined in
spending and the Australian Taxation
Office (ATO) started to call in breaks
handed out in the global financial
crisis, Dissolve company liquidator
Cliff Sanderson said.
"The driver of a lot of the small
liquidations is the Australian Taxation
Office and I think this is going to
continue in 2012," Mr Sanderson, the
report's author, explained.
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 2
Attracting Your
Competitors' Clients
Looking for new customers? It pays to
consider who's already using your
competitors' services or products. If
you're wondering why those customers
should do business with you, well,
that's exactly the question you'll have to
answer if you expect them to make a
change and come over to you. So
before you attempt to entice a customer
away from a competitor, you must ask
yourself these questions:
What can I offer that's different
from my competitor?
How can I bring more to my
customer's business?
How can my product or service add
more value to the potential
customer's business?
Once you've answered all these
questions, there's one thing left to
ponder: What is the competition doing
that you can do better, and what isn't
the competition doing that you can
offer the customer?
Suppose your prospective customer has
been buying from Ace Widgets for a
long time. It's likely Ace is taking that
business for granted or even becoming
complacent about the service they
provide.
That's a perfect opportunity for you to
offer your new prospect a "teaser," such
as a week-long free trial (or 30 days, or
a discounted price, or whatever makes
sense for your business) so he or she
can see that the kind of value you offer
makes your company much better than
the competition. Then you can say, "If
we don't prove ourselves, stay with
your present vendor.
I promise you, once you try our
product, you'll understand why
changing suppliers is good for your
business."
Great Customer Service Helps
in Tough Times
Little things make a big difference
when it comes to hanging on to
customers.
In these unsettling times, great
customer service can mean the
difference between making a profit or
barely keeping the lights on. Big
companies spend big dollars to
maintain customer loyalty, but smaller
companies often focus on the
transactions and forget to build the
relationship.
Although business owners and their
staff are focused on serving your
customers, there are really many things
that you might consider improving. For
example, many businesses don’t think
of cross-selling to their customers or
thanking them for their business or
asking for referrals."
Cross-selling literally means adding
value to the sale by selling an
additional and/or complimentary
product..
And, how long does it take you to thank
a customer for giving you their
business?
And if you don’t ask a satisfied
customer for referrals, you are missing
out on one of the greatest business
builders of all time.
Injecting Your Sales Efforts With
Passion and Drive
Enthusiasm. What is it, and how do we
get it? It comes from the Greek word
"enthios," which means "the god
within." Isn't that an apt description?
Think back to the times you've been
enthusiastic about something.
Think of how enthusiasm has provided
you with the energy you need to
keep going and the will to take
whatever action is necessary.
What does enthusiasm have to do
with sales? Everything. It is the
outward manifestation of our
inner passion.
Enthusiasm often carries us far
beyond any skill or talent we may
have.
Take two people who are vying
for a job. One has enthusiasm and
energy, but not much experience.
The other one has experience and
is-at least on paper-smarter, but
lacks energy.
Who would I hire? The person
who demonstrates enthusiasm.
There are many experienced
salespeople. Give me someone
with passion or drive; they'll go
much further than anybody else.
Marketing - is there a Better Way?
Tips To Help You Build Your Business - from Dennis Chiron
TIP OF THE WEEK
The golden rule for every
business man is this:
“Put yourself in your
customer’s place.”
Orison Swett Marden
Dennis Chiron
MarketingMeans Business
0451 184 599
Skype: dennis.chiron2
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 3
Glow-in-the-Dark
Japanese
Sushi a Big Hit
TOKYO, Japan. The
contamination of food from radiation
leaked by Japan’s failing nuclear
reactors has a surprising bright spot:
sales of glow-in-the dark sushi are
skyrocketing.
“Call it food or call it a fad,” said Tanaki
Toro, a famed Sushi chef in Tokyo, “but
I call it spectacular.
“You eat the sushi and then go clubbing,
and you glow in the dark too. It’s so
much fun!”
One young clubber, who said her
nickname was Hiroshima Hana, said she
now attracts much more attention from
young men. “They all want to dance
with me.”
Local Man Receives
Computer-Generated
Birthday Wishes
A local man was pleased to receive
computer-generated birthday greetings
for his birthday yesterday from various
websites, some of which he has visited
in the past, and others he is sure he has
never visited.
"I didn't get any birthday greetings from
real people," he said, "so it cheered me
up to receive computer-generated ones."
"I don't know how the computers know
my birthday," he said. "That's a
complete mystery. But it is nice that they
know and that they remembered.
Toyota's Problems
Caused by Trying to
Copy Ford
Japanese automaker,
Toyota, has filed a lawsuit against the
Ford Motor Company for inducing it to
increase the acceleration of its vehicles,
leading to a massive recalls of its
automobiles.
Toyota spokesperson, Homuchi
Yumaki, said that Ford had maliciously
planned for years to cause their
company damage because of an
overachieving accelerator pedal.
Yumaki said, "We believe that Ford let
us purposely let us steal ....er ... discover
such a great accelerator, knowing full
well the potential for our cars to lose
control."
Solar Industry Calls
for More Sustainable
Handouts
With the government’s
quota for renewable energy production
filled, the solar panel industry is
warning of a collapse in demand for
new installations. This could make solar
panel production the least sustainable
industry in Australia.
West Coast Solar’s Jay Funnell told The
Sydney Morning Herald that ‘‘If the
industry cannot effectively promote and
sell their products at a reasonable price,
the industry will be decimated”—which
shows the kind of insight into market
forces that kept shrewder business
people away from solar panels in the
first place.
Keating: The Worst
Kind of Pedestrian is
the One Who Rides a
Bike
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has
described leisure bike-riders as “sandal-
wearing, muesli-chewing, bike-riding
pedestrians.”
Like all great put-downs, Mr
Keating’s latest leaves the target
unsure how to respond. However, a
spokesperson for the Bike Riders
Association of NSW said the
Keating wouldn’t know: “He has
never stepped out of his BMW to try
and ride a bike”
EASY PICKIN’S
Woman in Ningi Qld.
recently had new
security screens fitted
on all her windows by a local firm.
When completed, the screen fitter
took the lady on a tour of the house,
and she meticulously locked all the
screens in place. The screen fitter
came back early the next morning
for a final check, to find the lady had
gone to bed and had left the front
door wide open all night.
Now it’s
Starbucks Store
Inside Starbucks
Store
LONDON As if
things weren't getting bad enough
already with a Starbucks store every
100 yards on every High Street in
Britain, the non-tax paying coffee
pedlars are now planning more
stores within stores.
"The new stores will have Starbucks
Extra stores within the Starbucks
store. Of course none of these
establishments will pay any UK
corporation taxation but that's
neither here nor there," CEO
Johnsons Milkpaddle, said.
The new Starbucks stores will create
more poorly paid low wage jobs in
the UK to sell the overpriced syrup
drinks.
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 4
Why Do Businesses Fail? Many attempts have been made to
define what makes businesses
successful, and unfortunately no one
has found the secret formula to
guarantee success.
Certainly there are some common traits
amongst high performing businesses
such as passion, vision, unique
marketing position. However, the jury
is still out about what exactly will
ensure market domination and long
term success.
Luckily there has also been a lot of
research done on why businesses fail,
and here there does seem to be a far
more quantifiable theme.
International research indicates that
approximately 60% of all new
businesses will disappear within the
first three years, and 90% in the first
ten.
They don’t all went broke as many
business owners will have simply have
given up and gone back to working for
someone else.
Others will have been taken over by
their competitors or moved into other
markets, but the cold, hard statistics are
still sobering for anyone considering
venturing into the world of business
ownership.
The same research found that 90% of
business failure can be attributed to
faulty management – more particularly,
poor financial management.
If we can avoid these seven deadly sins,
we may not entirely avoid the risk of
failure, but at least we can maximize
our chances of success.
Failure to plan properly before start
up. Known as errors of omission it
involves getting your structure right,
having access to adequate capital,
knowing your market, and
determining your human and physical
resource requirements.
All of the things that a good Business
Plan will tell you. The good thing
about not planning however is that
failure comes as a complete surprise,
and isn’t preceded by a period of
worry and depression.
Failure to monitor financial position. Developing a profit plan and cash
flow budget, then monitoring
performance to determine variance is
critical.
Looking at the right ratios and
benchmarking to determine stability
and efficiency against industry figures
and your own targets.
Remember if you’re not doing so well
and the rest of your industry is,
chances are it’s your fault.
Failure to understand the
relationship between price, volume
and costs. Understanding how each
of your expense categories vary with
sales so you can accurately determine
your breakeven sales point. As a
general rule discounting is bad!
Failure to manage cash flow. The
old accounting adage says that profit
is a matter of opinion, but cash is fact.
If you can’t manage your cash flow to
maintain liquidity, it doesn’t matter
how profitable you are, you will be
shut down.
Failure to manage growth. Growth is good provided it is
managed. Most businesses that go
broke are highly profitable. They
simply grow too fast and run out of
cash to fund the uncontrolled
expansion.
Failure to borrow properly. Even
bankers will agree that the worst
product they sell is an overdraft,
yet many business owners put their
cash reserves at risk by using
overdrafts to make major capital
purchases. The golden rule of
borrowing is to match the term of
the loan with the life of the asset.
Failure to plan for transition. In
the end there are usually only three
ways to get out of your business
when you’re done with it. Sell it,
shut it down or give it away
(usually to your kids).
With the emerging demographic
bubble most owners seeing their
business as a major component of
their retirement income, planning
your exit strategy early will
become crucial. Potential
investors will target well managed,
systemized businesses that do not
rely on the current owner for their
continued success.
There is no magic formula for
success and avoiding the above
will not necessarily guarantee you
achieve it, but it at least gives you
the best chance of realising your
personal and business goals in the
ever-changing world of business.
Geoff Butler FAIM AP, MAITD MACE
Principal/Business Improvement &
Implementation Specialist
Business Optimizers
Mobile: 0414 943072
Fax: 3036 6131
Email: [email protected]
Skype: business.optimizers1
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 5
Faith It Till You Make It! Faith it till you make it.
I have tried both ‘fake it till you make
it’ and ‘faith it till you make it‘ and I
can’t impress upon you enough that the
latter gets you by far the best results.
The difference is almost magical.
Why, when we decide on something,
does it materialise, and sometimes all
we have done is talked about it? Other
times of course, it can seem a never-
ending battle barely worth the effort but
we still get there in the end.
The blunt facts are that business people
don’t have every skill necessary to do
everything that needs to be done every
time.
So how do we bridge the gap?
You already know!
Faith means “confidence or trust in a
person or thing” in this case, the thing
is “you”. It is also defined as a belief
that is not based on proof or factual
evidence.
You already have an invaluable ability
that is indispensable in business. You
have that ability to bridge the gap
between what you have and what you
need.
These are the questions I ask of myself
when I need to resort to my ‘faith it till
you make it’ mode.
1. What is the pay-off? Is the return
on investment going to be greater
than the energy and focus and
monetary investment required?
2. Has anyone else ever done it?
3. Am I passionate or committed
enough to follow through and
circumvent any obstacles?
4. Are there any insurmountable
barriers to entry?
There is no evidence or proof that you
will succeed but somehow, you do. It
has likely happened to you before and
you should draw on that experience to
help you have faith in you.
It’s not magic! In business, if we did
not have faith in our own abilities, we
would never try anything beyond our
comfort zone.
So, if you get good answers when you
question yourself, give it your best, use
the faith you have in your own ability
to fuel the fire. You can’t fake that!
Send Hate Mail to:
M: 0405 318 449
Faith it Till You Make It
Faith it Till You Make It in 2013
Published on January 10, 2013 by
Steve Sisgold in “Life in a Body”
Many years ago I heard the phrase
"Fake it till you make it" and was
always intrigued by it. It's the kind
of phrase that can be interpreted
and analyzed in many ways.
Although I get the power of
speaking as if you already have
what you want in your life I, like
many others, have had problems
with the word fake, which is
defined as an imposter or sham.
I know the person who said it had
the intention to motivate people to
act as if they already had achieved
the goals they desire, as a method
to enroll others to believe in them
or their service, but nowadays,
with all of the deceit and exposes
in the daily news, any form of
"spin" doesn't feel good.
Faith is defined as having confidence or trust in something or someone. When you "faith it till you make it", then you don't need to be an imposter. You instead have faith in who you are, and what you offer, and that energy exudes and broadcasts so clearly that you magnetize what you want naturally. Take a few moments to focus on
something you want to create in
your life.
First, are you telling others or is it
just an inner desire?
Next, do you talk about it in a
positive assured manner or a
defeated or negative way?
How much faith do you have in
creating your desires?
If you're not faith-ing it till you
make it, what action can you take
or support do you need to get your
confidence and belief quotient up?
Peter Athey
Specialized Management Services
0405 318 449
www.specializedmanagement.com.au
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 6
If you don’t tune-up your car and
get it regularly serviced, it will lose
performance, become dangerous to
operate or even stop working
altogether, right? So why don’t
people take their businesses for
tune-ups? Here are the top 3
reasons we regularly see…
1. They don’t know their
business is performing badly
or even that it’s actually
broken.
2. If they do know there’s
something wrong, they try to
‘save money’ and fix it
themselves.
3. They don’t know who to take
their business to for a check-up
or even worse, they go to
someone they think knows
what to do but they actually
don’t!
One of the biggest lessons to learn
about business is the science of
how to see exactly how it is
performing. Not just the big
picture, but all the smaller
operations that contribute to the
total results.
Successful business operators are
good at identifying and measuring
exactly what should be happening
and what is or is not happening in
a business. The challenge with
most businesses is the indicators
aren’t easy to see.
Have you ever stumbled across a
business owner that just seems to have
the Midas touch when it comes to
business success? What is it that these
rare, relaxed and often life balanced
people know that many other business
owners seem to be missing? Do they
use a business consultant or business
coach? The answer is … they have a
process that gets the results that we all
intended on getting when we started
our business.
Building a profitable business is a skill
that can be applied to any product or
service, once you understand the
process that leads to making more
profit.
When someone shares with you what
steps to take you’re on your way to
getting better results. A good business
consultant or business coach will ask
for information to work out how much
profit your business is making because
this is the outcome of all the business
activities.
With training, understanding and some
tools (often as simple as a
spreadsheet), you can start tweaking
functions of your business and clearly
see the results on your bottom line and
most importantly, in your bank
account!
The amount of profit in your business
is directly linked to you taking the
right steps in the right direction. But
what are the right steps? What is the
‘right’ direction? Some businesses
just go around in circles! Without a
clear road map it’s easy to get caught
up and not realise what you’re doing.
WHAT ARE THE PROFIT
MECHANICS OF YOUR
BUSINESS?
There are 3 components of business
that form the base to its profitability.
Understanding how to generate
quality income, manage databases
and have systems in place to
consistently attract the best customers
for the business. Successful business
operators monitor and nurture the
drivers of these areas constantly.
Some activities are neglected or
considered ‘not as important’ as other
activities and this often has a
compounding effect on the
profitability of the business. The key
is to learn how to measure and
identify how each area is performing
and to have the results fed back to the
manager with facts, not opinions.
Learn the mantra … “What you
measure we manage and what you
manage improves”.
If you would like to experience a
complimentary review of your
business that takes less than an
hour, call Profit Mechanics on 1800
838 767 and we’ll rush an easy to
understand Business Diagnostic
Tool to you!
Dan Buzer
Dan Buzer
Profit Mechanics
0414 567 188
www.profitmechanics.net/
“ … Why Would You Take Your Car For A Regular Tune-up & Service, But Not Your Business? …”
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 7
We all have a place where we conduct
our work from, be it in our own office
or at a work place.
We all know how frustrating it can be
when we sit down and find that our
work station is uncomfortable and after
a while our neck or shoulders start to
ache, did you know that there is a way
of setting up your work station to
reduce these problems.
Workstation Is your screen at a comfortable
reading distance?
The screen is place at about an
arm’s length from the operator.
The screen should be placed
directly in front of you.
The top of screen should be at or
just below your eye level
Are the characters in the display
readable, clear and image stable?
Can the position and contrast of the
screen be by user if required?
Are you affected by glare on the
screen? (use an anti-glare screen)
Is your keyboard in a comfortable
working position?
Desk and Chairs:
Can you easily adjust your chair
from seated position and have five
star base?
Does your chair run freely?
Can you get close without
obstruction to your workstation?
(Leg room).
Can you adjust the height of your
chair so your thighs should be
parallel to the floor with feet
resting on the floor?
Is your back rest angle right for
you?
Are your forearms parallel with the
floor or slightly angled downward?
Do you’ve a document holder to
prevent continuous turning of your
neck?
Is your desk area cluttered?
Does your work station have sharp
edges or are they rounded edges?
Headsets
Do you use headsets instead of
holding your phone between
head and shoulders?
Are they lightweight and
comfortable with volume
controls?
There are many common solutions
for controlling hazards and risks in
the workplace, which can be
readily implemented.
But it is not enough to simply
eliminate the obvious risks – by
law employers are responsible for
controlling all potential safety
hazards in their workplace. Where
solutions are not obvious,
employers should use a process to
help them determine the most
effective control measures.
Consultation is the first step in
developing your risk controls.
Talking to your workers about
safety is a legal requirement. But it
is also smart management.
Your workers can make a
significant contribution to
improving workplace health and
safety. Regular, proactive
consultation can help identify
issues in the workplace and build a
strong commitment to health and
safety.
You can get information about
your OH&S obligations and
other valuable OH&S resources
both in hard copy and online
from their websites.
http://www.deir.qld.gov.au
Always seek independent legal
advice on what is applicable to
your situation.
Ron Court
OH&S Advisor
0419679619
Ron Court AMC Dip (Funerals) MQJA JP (Qual)
OH&S Advisor
0419679619
WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY
Making Your Workplace Safer
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 8
CRA, CRAA, Credit File, Veda File etc
are all the same. They are a record of
your credit history.
There are similar files for bad tenants
and some professions which are
designed to identify and foil people
who repeatedly do the wrong thing.
Initially it worked as a good thing to
hold people accountable but it has
steadily metamorphosed to being like a
big stick that financiers can use as
duress in unfair situations.
For example, many of know of
someone who has had a telco register a
negative entry on their credit history
unnecessarily and the heartache it
causes.
The net effect is that a creditor can
demand that you pay a bill otherwise
they will register an entry that will be
on your credit file for the next five
years. Further, only they can request its
removal.
This can be extremely unfair especially
when it comes to a mistake or ‘bill
shock’ for costs that you were not
aware of such as overseas roaming or
hidden costs in your contract.
Credit history files are essentially
negative in nature meaning that if you
apply for a loan, an entry is made – it
doesn’t register whether you decided to
take the credit or not, were knocked
back or whether you were just
researching and comparing online.
The perspective of a credit assessor in
a loan processing centre is : If you
took the loan or contract, it is
subtracted from your total ability to
repay; OR if you didn’t take the loan
then there is something wrong !
TIP: EVERYTIME you apply for
ANY kind of credit contract, an entry
is AUTOMATICALLY placed on
your credit file BEFORE they even
begin to process the loan !
This applies to mobile phones, land
lines, store cards like Coles Woolies,
Myer or David Jones cards, buy now
with ‘X’ number of days interest free
loans, pay day loans, short term
loans, credit cards, personal loans,
home loans EVERYTHING !
So, for example, you could be
researching a better credit card deal
online and to get an answer you may
be required to enter your details and
click on “Submit” or “Apply”.
When you do, BINGO, a credit entry
is automatically placed on your file.
Do this with half a dozen cards and
you have half a dozen entries which
the credit assessor will view
negatively.
It can apply to home loans too. You
might search on line, you might walk
into several branches or you might
have an inexperienced mortgage
broker put you up to several lenders
and again, you have several entries on
Paul GILLMORE DFS
Founder and Director
Southern Cross Financial Services
07 5429 5561
0402 685 032
The Secret Life of your Credit History
your file.
How do you stop this? By simply
being aware that this occurs and
never applying for any credit
contract unless you are sure that
you wish to proceed.
If you are being pushed to apply or
submit just to get an answer then
an alarm should be screaming in
your ears!
If you cannot gain enough
information to make a fully
informed decision before you apply
for the credit contract then there is
something wrong and please back
off.
Your mortgage broker or bank
should be able to tell you if you fit
the lenders criteria before you
commit.
If she can’t tell you then she
doesn’t know enough and you
should find a better bank or
broker.
Your credit history is extremely
important to you and you should
manage it well so as not to
disadvantage yourself in the future.
After all, you usually only find out
that there is a problem AFTER you
decide to buy your home, car or
apply for any credit contract.
I recommend that you obtain a
copy of your credit file and check
to ensure that it is in order.
If not, you can approach companies
who placed entries and negotiate a
resolution BEFORE you want to
buy your next home or car.
It’s cheap and it can save you a
world of pain and embarrassment.
Southern Cross can help you or you
can do it yourself but do yourself a
favour and uncover the Secret Life
of your Credit History File.
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 9
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
What if there were a way to build
your business, year in and year out,
regardless of fluctuations in the
economy or the activities of your
competition?
Well, there is. It's called word-of-
mouth. Word-of-mouth marketing
truly is the world's best-known
marketing secret. You're probably
wondering how anything can be
both the "best-known" and "a
secret" at the same time. Easy.
Practically every business person
knows how important word-of-
mouth marketing is. Yet many
people don’t truly understand how
to build their business through word
-of-mouth.
Some people think that word-of-
mouth is a little like the weather:
fairly important, but not much they
can do about it. Many others think
that it's just about good customer
service, but it's not. Don't get me
wrong--good customer service is
critical for the success of any
business, but if you expect happy
customers to talk about you a lot--
think again.
For the past two decades, I've talked
to thousands of business owners
about word-of-mouth marketing and
customer service. I've described
how the "average unhappy client"
can talk to dozens of people about
their bad experience.
I've then asked them if their
"average happy client" truly talks to
as many people as a potential
unhappy client.
In two decades, no one has ever said
yes to that question!
Unfortunately, people are more
likely to talk about your business
when they are unhappy than when
they are happy or satisfied.
Therefore, good customer service
generally reduces "negative" word
-of-mouth.
However, the good news is, there
are many things entrepreneurs and
business professionals can do to
positively impact their business
through word-of-mouth.
Sharpen Your
Communication Skills
The best communication happens
when each person understands the
others' perceptions and biases. An
effective way to get inside another
person's head is through the use of
NLP – Neuro-Linguistic
Programming. NLP, in essence,
means that you gain the ability to
relate to a person, through empathy
and mutual understanding, and
communicate at their level. …. In
other words, you “Connect” with
them.
By “connecting” with another person,
you have the key to any successful
relationship; and the key to
developing any successful
relationship is Communication.
Communication is an exchange – a
simple but vital concept. Sometime
we approach interchanges without
considering how the other party will
react. Cultivating an awareness of
how another person is likely to react
to your communication is key to
effective communication.
With NLP, a good salesperson
matches the customer’s posture,
body language, and mood.
The technique works because
relating to another person at their
level helps to develop a strong
relationship, and establish trust and
rapport.
Five Rules for Online Retailing
To really make e-tailing a source of
profit and growing market share,
businesses need to think through
every step of the equation, from
what they should sell to how they
can maintain customer relationships.
To learn what it takes to be a
successful e-tailer, follow these five
rules that have been proven to be
effective:
1. You don't have to put the whole store online.
2. Turn your inventory as quickly as possible.
3. Customers like to see what they're buying.
4. Keep shipping costs to a minimum, and don't overcharge your customers with excessive delivery costs.
5. Use the Internet to get to know your customers and their demographics better than ever before.
Cheers!
Dennis Chiron
Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 10
Smartphone ownership is Australia
is soaring and mobile traffic is
exploding at the seams. Mobile
traffic makes up at least 20 per cent
of web traffic, and that number is
expected to rise.
You probably already have a
website, but is it mobile friendly? In
today’s business market having a
mobile-friendly website is not
extravagance; it’s a necessity in
order to be competitive and
relevant. Most new business website
developments include a mobile
friendly design (called responsive
design) instead of it being an add-on
after thought. This gives you the
edge in the marketplace by making
your website easily available to the
masses that now browse the internet
on their iPhones and iPads.
A mobile-friendly website is a
website that is compatible with any
device, be it smartphone, laptop,
netbook or computer, at any screen
resolution. Unlike print media the
view port dimensions of your
website change with each of these
devices. If it can't fit in it creates
scroll bars (which people hate) and
sizes itself down so that the text
can't be read then users have to use
finger gestures to enlarge the print.
Most will walk away at that stage,
looking for a site that is more user-
friendly.
Chances are, your website can be
pulled up on a smartphone, but it
probably won’t look very good. In
fact, if you have anything fancy
such as Flash, it won’t work. Since
people are using their smartphones
over their laptops in many cases,
you can’t rely on a traditional
website to represent your business.
ACMA media release 5/2013 – 1 February
Smartphones use doubles in 2012
Almost half of Australia’s adult population now own a smartphone. Take-up soared by 104 per cent to 8.67 million units over the 12 months to May 2012, according to research released today by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Smartphones and tablets: Take-up and use in Australia also found that 9.2 million Australians went online via their mobile phone and 4.4 million accessed the internet using a tablet in the six months to May 2012. The number of mobile internet subscribers increased by 22 per cent to 22.1 million subscribers at June 2012.
Compared to other mobile phone
users, smartphone users were:
nine times more likely to go online via their handsets
four times more likely to purchase goods online
three times more likely to stream or download audio or video content
three times more likely to pay bills online
twice as likely to access social networking sites.
This is driving broader innovations
and emerging services, such as
mobile payments—for example the
report finds that ‘Digital wallet’
products are an increasingly
popular method to pay for goods
and services on the go.
The report notes that continued
rollout of mobile network
upgrades, growth in 4G coverage
and the increased use of WiFi
hotspots are key drivers for the
increase in smartphone ownership.
In the June 2012 quarter, over two
million Australians used a WiFi
hotspot, 32 per cent up on the
previous year.
Why You Need a MOBILE Website
Miriam Battersby, dip MultiMedia,
International Webmaster
Certification.
MIMBEE MULTIMEDIA (est 2002)
Online Business Website
Consultants
Woorim , Bribie island
ph 34101071
If your website doesn’t work on a
smartphone, all it takes is five
seconds for your potential
customer to move ahead to a
competitor that has a mobile-
friendly site.
There are some other factors to
take into consideration as well.
For example, users want a
simplified experience when
searching for on-the-go
information. Gone are the days
when people sit in front of their
computers, carefully peeling back
the layers of a multi-faceted
website. Users want information
fast, with quick loading times and
simple interfaces. This is why they
turn to their smartphones for
information, and why you must
have a solid mobile site.
Marketing Means Business 0451 184 599 Email: [email protected] Web: www.marketingmeansbusiness.net.au 11
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