The latest google algorythmn change might affect internet marketeers and eBusiness strategy. Why?
Unless consumers click disable, then the DEFAULT SETTINGS for (YOUR CLIENTS, AND YOUR) ……GOOGLE Web History will be Enable customisations based on search activity.
What is the significance of this seemingly minor setting?
It will distort what the consumers see on their screens.
If the WEB HISTORY customisation is NOT disabled the reSults to their screen of a Google search will include the most visited websites of that search (TERM). Spend a moment to think about this.
In theory the first time the consumer searches they will get normal results. After that they will start to see most prominently the results that they have previously viewed most.
This may not be the best example, but this type of insight is another example why UK SMEs need to make sure they have use of the services of a Internet Marketing Business Consultant to get access to expert SEO advice. This is particularly important when SMEs are planning to invest in renewing their websites, as they need to be made SEO friendly (whatever one might read in the National press, written by journalists who do not make their living by selling online).
Of course, SMEs need business advice and assistance for planning their internet strategy. The best person to consult is an e-business consultant.
Without a Search Engine Specialist (SEO) most SMEs will be lost when it comes to making a profit from their online investment. The startling statistic is that over 90% of SMEs do NOT succeed in making a return on their investment (ROI) with their websites.
The question is….which statistic do you and your business want to be included in – the few that succeed online I suspect? If so, use the internet to start your research. Services like Business Support Finder. Last piece of advice is, whichever business consultant you use make sure that they have professional indemnity insurance cover.
The free resource programme from Google allows you to chart the rise ir fall of a search term from anything from a month to 5 years. First you enter a keyword or search term you would use for your business, in this instance “composite door” and the results show a huge rise in search volume over the last 5 years, representing the growth in popularity in this time. It also sows that compared to the UK, the USA only searches for composite door to a 8 to 100 ratio, proving that the UK is delievering the growth in tthis ype of business. This is all great stuff until you start researching customer behavior on the internet. a representive from MSN a few years ago claimed that up to 50% of search terms were new or very rearly used and that as time goes on. more and more of us use longer search terms (long tail).
So what has this got to do with Google insights? Well loads really, because when you use the tool for the search term “car parts” you see a drop over the last 5 years in volume of searches suggesting a decline in the industry. But being based in the car part industry we just know this is not true, so even though the Insights info suggests a drop, the market has increased.
What has really happened is that searchers are using more detailed search terms rather than generic terms like “car parts” and so insights only really measures search term usage, not growth in business.
With the composite doors market being so new, long tail searches are just now being used that much yet, but of course as awareness of the product increases, so will the varuation of search terms. So is Google insights flawes? The answer is no, if you know how to understand and use the information delivered.
Sir Gerry Robinson has been described as one of the best businessmen in the UK, and whose career is depicted in wikipedia. He is credited in turning round Coca-Cola’s UK fortunes (£7m loss into £17m profit within 24 months); leading the then biggest management buyout of Compass from Grand Metropolitan (1987) and turning round Granada’s losses in 12 months to profits of 10% more than anticpated best expectations.
In December 2009 Gerry Robinson did a couple of BBC TV documentaries on Dementia and Care Homes in the UK, highlighting the successful strategies and those which need attention. Robinson sees change in the care of dementia in the care industry to be a very slow process. It was a joint venture with The Open University, which has produced a booklet on Dementia Care.
Robinson reflects that as an entrepreneur, if one’s homes are full, meeting all the regulations, and are economically viable then why would you want to change it? Yet he sees the standards could easily be raised.
He identifies an excellent example of how best practice in Merevale Homes, adided by leading Dementia Specialist Consultancy ‘Dementia Care Matters‘, and also shows how quickly the environment can be changed forn the better in the example of Thornfield care home, which was transformed in just 4 months.
As an observer the issues for me are the dangers of working as a professional, i.e. a care industry business adviser. Working in these difficult conditions, under constant scrutiny from outside authorities and relatives highlights the risk of litigation, and just how vital is and just how enormously valuable is Business Adviser Professional Indemnity Insurance is for a consultant working in the Care Indsutry.
After having wasted several hours, and several attemptes over several days, I have given up with LOG ME IN.
Small businesses don’t have the time to waste. Several frustrating hours on a couple occasions, and a cul-de-sac conclusion makes me believe that this is a corporate strategy on behalf of LogMeIn (based in the US). LogMEIn seems uncessarility complicated, has restrictive timelimits etc. It pertains to offer a Free service but I have a distinct feel that it is merely a cheap trick and sales gimmick to entice the hapless consumer to pay £60 a year for a service that is free with other free Log Me In software reputable services such as TeamViewer. If this is for personal use it is free.
Business Consultants could use this software to log in to their pcs at home to access sensitive data and to reduce the requirement to carry expensive it equipment with them out of their office and away from home.
On January 1st the VAT rate will go back to its normal 17.5% against 15% over the last year, for most businesses they believe it made no difference at all, 2.5% reduction on a price just isn’t that attractive in a world where 50% off is more the norm. There is an arguement that international contracts have been made in areas wher 2.5% could mean a few million here and there, but most small businesses have not benefitted from the reduction.
An area that may have gained is the new car market. Take away a few grand for the scrappage scheme then another 2.5% on the balance can make the difference between affordable and too expensive. But on new years day, we all be faced with an increase or will we?
Looking through many shopping sites for Chistmas I noticed all prices still ending in 99p. Considering most prices tended to end with the 99p anyway before the VAT reduction, I find it hard to see when we actually got the extra 2.5% back for anything. The reality is more like businesses just charged the same and gained a bit more into the bargain. So it is very likley that the consumer will not lose out for the VAT increase but business mat suffer.
Even business services are unlikely to be affected returning to the motor trade take business car lease as an example. Business car lease may cost more as a monthly payment, but as VAT is refundable and business lease falls into that bracket depending on CO2 emmissions, the executive owner will be no worse off. In fact it is hard to understand if the benefits of the lower VAT rate actually covers the costs of outting this into practice. Take accountants, or pricing within the retail sectop, it cost money to report takings and purchases in a different tax code.
So on January 1st will we see prices rise? I think there is a good chance we will, including those who did not reduce prices when it was reduced. More money to the accountants.
Recently many ‘names’ in business (Robert Craven, Ken McCarthy and many many more) have declared in favour (UK Spelling) of Twitter as a business medium for ‘spreading the message’ (their business).
I have been a raving fan of Twitter from the start. Heralded as a milestone in internet history and search engine optimisation, Twitter could best be described as one of the initiators of micro-blogging. Registering as a business on Twitter is easy, such as example BusinessFinder on Twitter.
Twitter can be an excellent medium for businesses, as any good marketing consultant should verify, to keep in contact with its customers, prospective customers and indeed any customer segment it chooses, and as many as it chooses since there are few restrictions to membership.
One of the key questions to me is the value in terms of search engine optimisation and the quality of internet links is a micro-blog post on Twitter. Is it only the main link that has value or is does the link in each post also have a value?
Thanks to Jasmine Birtles of MoneyMagpie in her article ‘The misery of Abbey Business‘I don’t feel so alone in my desperation and frustration of Abbey Business Banking. I ma grateful to her for sharing her personal experience. I too have had problems in accessing my money deposited with Abbey Business in the UK. Abbey is part of the Santander banking group allegedly one of the Top 10 global banking institutions.
I have been obliged to ring them 6 times today (no regard for the customer’s valuable time) and I have been obliged to repreat a lengthy series of security questions (no regard for the customer’s level of acceptance, tolerance and frustration levels).
Previously I was offered a telephone reply by an Abbey supervisor or departmental manager. No telephone contact with me was made. To add to my injuries an unprofessional member the Abbey Business fraud department, who declined to offer her name (which I suppose is understandable – why publicise that you are a bad employee) and made the decision by herself to terminate the call despite.
Finally today I’ve been told that the Abbey Business ecommerce team have identified the problem (this is after other members of the Abbey Business team had previously identified the problem and failed to resolve the issue affecting my business account), and I’ve been told it will take the system 24 hours to update.
All in all I have had very little access to my business accounts in three weeks.
It is a good job I have been able to survive in the meantime, because 98% of all businesses would not have been able to trade through such poor level of business banking service. I would be most interested in the comments of a Professional business adviser in business banking, and his suggestions?
In conclusion, without prejudice, here is a summary of the Abbey Business bank customer experience I have witnessed. I am unable to say whether other Abbey Bank customers would experience the same below par levels of customer service or what impact that it might have on their business performance. How many businesses would be willing to chance it?
1. After I reported my involvement is a fraud phishing scam, Abby responded quickly to stop any transactions out of the account. They were unable to set account quickly to keep me going, but offered to transfer monies to a new account to keep me in business. Fortunately I had just opened another business bank account with another bank. Yet the monies transferred by the Abbey representative never arrived in the new account, and were returned or transferred to my new Abbey current account 5 days later with no explanation ever given.
2. I was told I had failed a security check (quite hard since it was me, and I do not believe I had behaved differently from any other occasion.) I was threatened with my account being put on hold.
3. I rang to make a complaint. I was promised a telephone response by a Manager, which I never received.
4. I rang today 6 times to get access to moving monies. I was passed from Abbey Business Banking to ecommerce department and back again. The Abbey Ecommerce member of staff did not advise me why he asked me to return to the main department, nor did he speak to a member of staff to instruct them what to do. As a result I was left “hanging in abeyance”. Eventually a helpful member Greg, told me that he had contacted ecommerce again and they have identified the problem and it should be resolved within 24 hours.
What impression can I have with the low level of customer service I have received?
I am sure someone senior on the Santander banking group would be scandalised to learn of my Abbey Business customer experience.
As a business analyst, and business consultant involved in best practice would do as well, I could implement several quality control measure to transform the customer experience and at the same time vastly reduce time wasted, simultaneously massively increase individual productivity, and undoubtedly staff morale as well.
Anthony Tjan in his Harvard Business Publishing article (28 Oct 09) entitled ‘Upstarts and Titans’ highlights 5 key facts that he has observed on the Net in the world wide web world:
- Explosion of websites – (2009 200m) 40,000 times increase since 1994 (spanning 15 years).
- 2009 1m blogs daily (the term blog first used by Evan Williams founder of blogger.com)
- Twitter - launched 2006 – in 2009 has over 5b ‘tweets’ – blogs of 140 charatcers of less.
- Google 2b global internet searches per day, and Facebook 700,000 new members daily.
- Internet-unique industry-high rate churn of Top 10 players.
What does this say about the importance of business internet marketing? Fundamental to your business strategy? Do you need help from a business strategist or from a internet marketing consultant? What does it say if your business is not leading from the front, and where does a business owners or senior manager go to get good business advice?
In my humble opinion In the UK there is a shortage of business gurus.
Names like Robert Craven nicknamed by the Sunday Times as the ‘entreprenueur guru’ spring to mind, but there are not many.
In the US it is a different story. Whatever one may personally think of Anthony Robbins, one cannot ignore the significant contribution he has made to the field of personal development, which he suggests is ‘the source of all one’s business’ and therefore his contribution to business performance.
His message is that there are 5 things to help (managers) face adversity and crisis.
- Be decisive. (whatever happens, make a decision, learn from it).
- Get resourceful (get help from a mentor, business adviser, colleague)
- Get a vision (of how change will happen. If you can’t think of a positive one, think of the most negative one, and then do the opposite)
- Get a proven plan (ideally, model on somebody who’s been through the same and who’s succeeded. Athony Robbins says “success leaves clues”).
- Take massive action. (5 frogs sitting on a log floating in a lake. One decides to go for a swim. How many are left? Answer: the same number since the frog who made the decision has only made up his mind, he hasn’t taken action yet. So this step is equally crucial).
So as a manager we need to think deeply with our minds (using Stephen Covey’s terminology) how best we can respond to the current situation, bearing in mind the current economic climate, and the current activitiy of our competitors. In my mind, as Robert Craven always reminds the UK SME business community, we don’t get far trying to go it alone. I have learned this from personal experience. For outstanding results we need outstanding business improvement, and that is likely to come from seeking external business advice and assistance. Do you agree?
At the North East Business Road Show organised by Network North, Peter Roper of Positive Ground encourages all business owners to be natural presenters.
We buy people. We buy relationships.
So why do 80% of all presentations fails? Roper bases his claims on survey results of 350,000 businesses.
- WHY ARE YOU PRESENTING? I am here to serve….
- THE POINT – YOUR MESSAGE
- CLOSE (the closing 5 mins)
- OPEN (the opening 5 minutes)
- BODY (the rest of the talk….flexible…the proof of what you are talking about)
Roper sugests we all ask oursleves the following question:
How do you know you’re good enough? (presenting your business).
Often there are considerable marketing questions that need answering prior to designing a good presentation, but where does one find a top business marketing consultant? Roper offers consultancy to address any issues you might have. If you want to get a choice of solutions then using an onlione service such as Business Support Finder will probably help you to consider alternative business professionals.
At the Business Road Show North East (UK) Giles Johnson of SmartSpeed revealed how the wisdom of 10-year olds can help us manage our businesses better.
- Work ON your business, don’t fixate with the competition.
- Focus on YOUR priorities and make sure tasks happen.
- Be clear about the requirements of your clients and the value you bring to them.
- When facing an issue, keep asking questions until you get to a real cause, not a symptom.
- When projects/improvements stall, use the tiniest step possible to ignite activity.
- If a change doesn’t work properly first time, tweak it and try again.
- Use routines to help make sure that the day-to-day stuff is manageable and gets done.
In conclusion, Giles summarises the 5 key things to look out for in organisations when addressing (poor) business performance:
- PROCESS
- VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER
- MEASURES
- LINKAGES
- ISSUES
The best method to help business owners consider how best to make improvements, and ideally to install a continuous and never-ending improvement programme is to employ professional business advisers. Where can business owners access the right business consultant at the right price? An online business support search using Google UK may bring you to a service such as Business Support Finder
Speaking at the Business Road Show North East (UK) Richard McCann gave a rousing speech encouraging ALL entrepreneurs to find the opportunity in adversity.
Richard McCann told his audience of business owners how he turned it round.
(He) knows a thing or two about adversity. Brought up in poverty, on the ‘At Risk’ register, lived in foster homes. Eventually brought up by his estranged step-father, often violent and drunk towards him. As a result Richard had little confidence or self esteem, left school with no qualifications. He was kicked out of the army after a nervous breakdown, turned to drugs and ended up in prison – his rock bottom. – and found the gut wrenching determination to turn his life around.
- ATTITUDE - ”I Can” approach to life.
- FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE – it makes it easier to deal with challenges.
- BE COURAGEOUS – life begins at the end of one’s comfort zone.
- NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP – nothing worth having is going to be given on a plate.
Richard suggests that when Life offers us a ‘window of opportunity’ to climb through it. Many people let other people take the risk. It requires a leap of faith.
We’ve all got more potential to do more than we are currently. Richard also encouarges us to “Do things that make you feel uncomfortable, because they make you grow.”
As a business owner, as Robert Craven the Entrepreneur guru often reminds us, we cannot do things on our own, we need to ask for help from business consultants, and Richard McCann says to ask for help is actually a sign of strength, not weakness. I think they’re right, don’t you?
In my opinion, Robert Craven is one the UK’s leading authorities on UK Small and medium Sized enterprises. He runs The Director’s Centre which offers “been there, and done it” support for medium sized business that have hit a ‘glass ceiling’ and have run out of ideas, steam, or the will to carry on.
What I like about Craven’s style is it is simple, clear, direct and works – I find his style refreshing and quite rare. He has just launched a business club for small enterprises who perceive that they can’t afford business advice and assistance. Since ALL consultancy operates on a ‘results basis’, whether charged as such, means that small business owners lack the faith or insight as to the business opportunities in their niche sector or marketplace. The business club benefits (newsletters, videos, downloads etc) act as ‘education’ helping to bring the business owner to the point of clarity and purpose when they can see the opportunities and can sense a rising confidence to go after them. Craven emphasises that ‘you can’t do it one your own’, which is absoutely true.
Finally, I come to the aspect of what I would do if I were Robert Craven. What could Craven do, occupying as he does the position of a leader in his marketplace (Consultancy). Anyone involved in assisting SMEs wishes to help raise the standards and expertise of small business management. As a market leader in UK Business advice and assistance Craven also needs to protect himself from business consultants trying to use or cheapen his business material. So what’s my suggestion? It is simple. Robert Craven (RC) already does a fantastic business presentation for UK SMEs in his business series: “Lets talk, More profit”. Market himself/rebrand himself as a business guru ‘celebrity’, increasing his ‘reach’. He is already known as an author but he would benefit from raising of his profile. Creating a top quality DVDs of his material (e.g. More profit and Bright marketing) and, with the help of the best PR in the business, he can try to -reposition himself as the celebrity business guru, such as the like of Alan Sugar. Does this need TV to achieve it? I suspect it does, but that is where professionals come in. The point is to rebrand Craven as a celebrity (i) is achieveable and (ii) which bring him all the rewards he deserves (increased prominence, respect for his materials, financial return etc).
It may be that business car lease offers cheaper monthly payments than buying but in the long run, you know you will pay more money on a vehicle that is depreciating than buying it outright. So why do business owners opt for business car lease rather than saving a few pennies or dollars and buy outright?
One reason might be cash flow. Keeping money in the business rather than taking it put to buy a car can mean the difference between survival and death. Another reason is clearly image; turning up to a client in a new executive car can generate business beyond the extra cost of the car. A further consideration in leasing new rather than buying used is the great fuel economy new vehicle s are delivering recently. In fact some are so good, you wonder how car manufacturers have been able to achieve this in such a short time, or maybe that always could have done this, but chose not to because the market did not demand it at that time.
The final consideration of leaving money in a business is deciding what you can do from a commercial point of view with that money. If there is a business argument that you can take £20k and make it into £40k in 3 years, there is a fundamental no brainer, why save a few grand on car lease when you can make £20k keeping the money in the business.
So when considering business car lease it makes sense to calculate the real cost of the car and what you can do with that money if you chose to lease. If you loads of money on the bank, then it will be cheaper to buy, if you need that money to grow the business then business car lease could be right for you.
You can’t have missed the abundance of television adverts, telling us how easy it can be to be a driving instructor, how much we can earn, work our own hours and have a fully maintained car, for those who have never worked for themselves in the past, these adverts can appear to be the dream business to give the standard of living they long for.
But like all businesses serious though should be made before entering into businesses and certainly some research should be done before handing over any money to a driving instructor school and certainly before leaving any secure job.
The first thing you should do, is research who is offering driving lessons on your area and ask yourself, is there enough space for you to enter this arena? Driving lessons is a very local thing, students do not want to lose time during their lesson waiting for an instructor to turn up and the driving instructor does not want to travel far, to pick up a student.
You can get a feel to how busy or popular the competition will be by their prices and word of mouth from neighbours and friends who maybe have used the service. If the school is advertising lessons for £10 an hour, there is a hint that business is not brisk. However is they are selling lessons at over £20 an hour this should suggest they are not in any price war.
Of course where you live should also be a bearing. Living in a small village may not supply you with enough customers for your business, however being in a slightly larger village where you are the only instructor could mean your business becomes a god mine. no one outside the village would want to travel to your patch.
Maintained car means the word leased and of course you are paying for this, so do not get carried away with the TV adverts as if the car comes free. whatever you pay for the leased car, is what you are not earning as wages, so take this into account.
Working your own hours is against your earnings. You cant work less hours and still earn high amounts of money, so really you have a choice, work the hours your clients want, or earn less money, it is up to you.
If the current opposition party wins the right to govern the UK at the next election, they will have an almost impossible challenge. The present incumbents (presently on the Government benches of the house), will ‘hound’ every move by any Minister who advocates spending cuts. Obviously, the very best solution is not to spend it in the first place. The rising debit of the UK is unsustainable, despite the UK retaining its TRIPLE A status. Making cuts in the here and now for monies (mis)spent in the past may turn out to be political suicide, but was it financial prudence by Alistair Darling? Gordon Brown made a courageous move and motivated US, Asian and European finance ministers to agree to certain measure to help the macro economy of a global scale. He did this against a background of the experience of the Great Depression of 1929 (which almost certainly paved the way for WW2). The great debate is were the measures taken the right ones. Evidence seems to suggest that the recession is shorter than it could have been, with the highly respected CBI forecasting recovery turnaround in 2010. It could have been much worse. In the US the sub-prime market was a scandal. Many consumers of sub prime mortgages were in no position to afford the US$600,000 homes they were being sold. Millions are now destitute, through criminal behaviour of US financial institutions. I do not believe the situation was so irresponsible here in the UK, but the impact to the UK economy, and to finance in particular was devastating. My own (inadequately informed) opinion is that Mr Brown and world leaders acted swiftly avert a global catastrophe, but as Mr Alan Greenspan alluded to recently in his interview as part of BBC2′s Love of Money season – “it will happen again – ITS HUMAN NATURE”.
Alan Greenspan – BBC\’s Love of Money season
Have we learned the lessons of too much dependence on the US for growth? Have we learned what was flawed in our human nature – insufficient governance?
Business is tougher than usual within the current climate with many that would rely on passing trade now needing to take their business to the world. This has meant that many marketing companies are busier than ever hopefully assisting getting the business message out.
Top gear the popular car TV programme did a feature albeit a tongue in cheek one, as a challenge to market the new VW Scirocco Diesel . The advice was to find a truth within the car and use that truth as a basis of a TV advert (something that can be used in all business marketing). The problem was when they came to test the car; their perception was that a car this beautiful should not have the slower Diesel engine in, but the faster petrol one. More advice came, do not focus on the car with a diesel engine, but focus on the diesel engine in a beautiful car. What followed was a catalogue of funny videos that we all know will never be used for real. But from a VW perspective they got a good 10 minutes of prime world TV. What was also understood, that even simple messages can be difficult to deliver.
Here are some more marketing challenges
Business Support
Most businesses leave it too late to ask for business support and have no idea where to go for the right help. One problem is that to be seen as a reputable business adviser or consultant you need a superb CV and qualifications to match. But if there is anything a small business owner does not like, is guys in suits with a fancy CV and loads of qualifications. It is a catch 22 situation. It is no wonder most business support comes from referrals. How to market this and to get business owners first to find you and then decide you are good for their business is an art. A solution is probably not from business advisers, but from business owners currently running their own business. Would they not be the best advisers, for those who are struggling? Something to think about.
This weekend (jULY 2009) saw a huge demonstration through the streets of Redcar, campaigning against the planned loss of 2000 jobs at Corus steelworks nearby. It seems that a 10 year contract had been cancelled and Corus can no longer guarantee the work. In one way it is a sign of the times and in another something that tends to happen in the North East, recession or not.
Great Britain became what it was through the assistance of the large industries and manufacturing organisations, but towards the end of the 20th century, it seems that industries like steel works are destined for eastern, cheap labour based countries. In terms of generating new business you have to ask if there is a place in the modern UK business world for large industries anymore and have we put too many rules in place to make anything built on this land competitive compared to other countries.
There is a mixed view; certainly school leavers are not asking their careers advisers, “how do I get into industry”? But a more mature wiser population will argue that Britain needs heavy industry and that once it’s gone, it will not return. Unlike other countries throughout the world the government does not like to keep business alive. If it fails it fails, even if it is something as important as the motor industry, where we have sufficient car plants, just very few which are British owned. We are good enough to make the cars, just not clever enough to run them to a profit.
So it is unlikely that the Government will intervene and put money into Corus to keep it alive, within an area that has one of the worst start up business figures throughout the UK. There is only one answer and that is orders. Without customers, there is no work and no jobs. It will be hard for anyone else to believe sufficient work is being put in to source new work, or that Corus will diversify into other sectors. It must be a very worrying time, even tough there is a hint the recession is on the up and up.
Corus would do well to bring in external business consultants and experts in steel industry. A first class engineering consultant could carry out a business review, covering the business model, business strategy, production, sales and marketing plan, and performance improvement options for management. I know Global pressures can often make a locally viable proposition, unsustainable (e.g. the impact on demand by competition of cheap imports in the domestic or export markets).
Are your customers behaving themselves these days?
Have you noticed any new behaviour from some clients acting bizarrely? If so, it could be the ‘downturn factor’ affecting people in ways we all seem to ignore.
Robert Craven, a business expert (‘guru’ sounds better), has a good has made some useful suggestions for braving the recession, such as his recent webinar, entitled “The seven reasons why we get stuck in a recession and what to do about it”.
However has the recession blues made us forget what Robert Craven suggests “we always seem to forget about”?.
He says that customers leave us i.e. the ‘customer attrition rate’ but it is the statistics that are shocking.
If
5% of customers leave us because they die,
A further 5% of customers leave us because they ‘die gracefully’ (they move on, the business closes down, they go into partnerships, etc).
Another 5% of customers leave us because of our bad service.
65% of customers leave us because they feel that we don’t care, and move on to someone who does.
Craven shakes us to our senses. Have we done a customer survey recently? No, why? Don’t want to upset them, or frightened you might irritate them? Well, how do you know what your customers think?
Some may be thinking of moving on.
Craven’s warning to business is as vital IN the recession as at any other point in the business / macro economy cycle. MAKE SURE YOU STAY CLOSE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.
One way we have done this at CarSpareFinder where our clients are established vehicle dismantlers is by introducing innovative new added-value features. Having something else to offer them does keep those communication channels open. Managing customer relationships (business to business) needs investment, but the investment almost always pays off, and handsomely.
Staying on top of your business is easier with a Management business coach. It helps you as a business manager differentiate between working in the business, and working on the business. It brings ‘power to your elbow’ to help manage and improve business performance.
Is it a question of starting with your customers? No, but you could start with it as your first question.
Julian Rowe. Business Correspondent, 13th Man in Business.
Julian Rowe, Business Correspondent, Business Service Finder, reflects upon analysis by economist, Dan Ariely, in his interview with the BBC World Service concerning Predictable irrationality (regarding money).
Regarding money, Ariely suggests we make repeatable, predictable mistakes – the recording of his interview is still available on the BBC World Service website.
Ariely is a behavioural analyst, concerning himself with ‘Behavioural economics’ i.e. Human irrationality and money. Ariely quotes Greenspan, in front of Congress, who is alleged to have said, “Oops I made a mistake”. Ariely points out that this shows ‘irrationality’ is not just confined to the lower eschelons of society i.e. we at the bottom of the heap.
The main reason for the mistakes we all make with money, Ariely argues, is because it is actually a very hard subject to master. Everytime one spends something, e.g. a cup of coffee, one should really ask oneself “what I am giving up in the future” in order to enjoy this cup of coffee now? What will I not be able to do in the future? In reality, as Ariely points out, it is this concept, or thought, that is actually very complex. For example, if I buy this now I may not be able to go to a movie in ten years or buy this book in fifteen years time is a very challenging decision. Because of this challenge, we often resort to “simplified juristics” (i.e. reasoning) or simple ‘rules of thumb’.
One of these (rules of thumb) is ‘relative comparison’ – i.e. how much does this cost compared to something else. The fact that something is on discount today as opposed to yesterday, why is it such a big deal, Ariely asks? It is because we don’t know how much something is worth, so we compare it to what it used to cost. In the same way we compare our salary to other peoples’ because we have very little way to evaluate it.
What can we do or how should we learn to stop getting ourselves into this kind of (financial) mess?
In the current downturn, many people are trying to cut back on expenses, realising that the financial future may not be quite so bright as it was. The big question is “How does one cut down”?
People always look at ‘discrepancy spending’ i.e. not buying a coffee or a sandwich – the expenses they can physically see coming out of their wallet or purses. However Ariely argues that most people do not pay attention to the expenditure – things directly deducted from our bank accounts or credit card i.e. whatever is on one’s automatic payment schedule. So we sometimes cut the wrong things, i.e. the things that have a direct impact on our pleasure, and not much on expenditure and ignoring things hidden which might greatly reduce expenditure yet hardly impact on our pleasure.
Ariely states that regardless of most people’s financial astuteness the odds are that people will make the wrong cuts. One reason for this is that often we are very bad at predicting what our life might look like in the future – The change in circumstances. When we look to the future we think it will be terrible. It turns out to be so in the short term but then it is quite manageable.
For business owners financial decisions are better made with a business finance consultant specialist, and a good online resource in the UK is Business Support Finder.
All specialists are accredited, offering current liability cover which in this case would be Professional Indemnity Insurance for financial specilaists.
Research by Lloyds TSB Commercial, reported by The Business Desk.com in April 2009, reveals that more than a third (35%) of UK SMEs are asking for further guidance to combat trading problems.
Solution?
Deploy the army of independent professional business advisers to engage with SMEs.
Manufacturing is better served in the UK region of Yorkshire via the MAS scheme (Manufacturing Advisory Service) – independent advisers with manufacturing expertise are paid to carry out initial diagnostic overview. The scheme works well, but could work better. Up till now the other sectors in the region have struggled in comparison, in the light of this unfair treatment. The service delivery offered by Business Link is improving, but until the funding and support matches or mirrors the MAS scheme then I do not foresee a great improvement in productivity and profitability – which is clearly what SMEs, the UK Government and the UK Economy needs. (Please don’t tell me it is happening already, unless it’s new this week).
In conclusion.
Support needs to be pro-active i.e. go to SMEs rather than wait for them to come to the support.
Business Link and the Regional Development Agencies do maintain a service register of consultants. This is a help, but SMEs need more. This is one reason why Business Service Finder is being launched – a free online resource to help SMEs quickly, cheaply and effectively find the support that will make a difference to their business performance.
All professionals using the service have professional indemnity cover in addition to their professional credentials.
Unless you have been living on mars the last 18 moths or so you may have noticed that there is a recession on. The media is full of closures and redundancies, keen to sell newspapers of gain viewers. Where is much of this is true what is not been so apparent is that not all businesses are failing to the recession.
Take marketing for instance, with customers choosing more carefully what they buy and not automatically coming through business doors, many businesses have decided it is time to market heir wares to attract new customers. Many advertising companies now have more clients on their books than ever. None more so that those who specialise in internet marketing.
Even during tough cost cutting times there still has been an exception with the top USA retailers that is to increase spend on internet marketing. With high street sales just about breaking even this Christmas even with huge discounts, sales on through the internet once again increased. Cost cutting consumers are using the internet more than ever to ensure they really are getting the best price on their chosen products and services and the large retailers have noticed this and responded.
Of course this applies to all businesses large and small and so the demand for SEO Companies and internet marketing suppliers is higher than ever. Unfortunately the quantity of those who know what they are doing ahs not risen. Many internet marketing companies have been formed only to let their consumers down and give a bad name to the industry.
So whenever choosing an internet marketing company, make sure you ask for evidence of what they have achieved for other customers. As well as this, focus on those who work in your industry sector as they are more likely to have contacts and access to other websites. You should not underestimate the work involved in getting visitors to your website, employing someone on £50 a month will not deliver you value for money. It may seem cheap, but ion fact you are probably throwing away £50.
Set out a budget and get your internet marketing company to estimate a rise in quality traffic to help you calculate extra profits. Remember quantity of visitors means nothing is they are not looking for you products. So it is better to have smaller quality traffic than large qualities of window shoppers.
It is very easy in these pushed times to save a bit of money here and there, but it is important to make sure that those few pounds saved does not end up costing you more in the long run. An example of this is keeping those fleet vehicles on the road or even those commercial vans used for delivering goods. It is important to calculate how much it cost your business if for example a delivery vehicle were to breakdown 50 miles from it base. There are 2 costs to consider, first the costs of the recovery of the vehicle and the subsequent repair of the vehicle in labour. The second cost of course is the cost to the business. What would happen if on that day, 10 customers did not get their promised goods? How could we get those goods and the next days goods out with fewer vans the next day? Would you need to refund any of these products, what would happen if this occurred on a Friday and you needed to bring in staff on overtime over the weekend to fulfil orders?
This is just one example of how a business could lose out big time if they do not have insurance to take care of their stricken vehicles. Of course we are referring to good old fashioned breakdown cover here when we say insurance. Just as many of the National breakdown cover operators offer an emergency service to domestic cars, they also have special fleet and commercial services for businesses that need to stay on the road.
A typical suppler of business services is the AA. We know the AA as the largest breakdown cover provider in the UK but as well as delivering roadside assistance to motorists over the UK, they also attend business vehicles providing they have taken out a business or fleet vehicle policy.
This post is not a sales message, but it is an argument that you should at least consider the risks and balance out costs versus risk. The bottom line is when everything is ok, it is a saving, but should a spell of bad weather come along like recently, who knows what the value to you is.
Richard Branson (RB) gives us a clear message as entrepreneurs i.e.
Entrepreneurs CAN make a difference, and scale doesn’t matter (see RB video below).
Think realistically and creatively. The entrepreneurial spirit can truly make a difference. Branson has launched ‘Virgin Unite’ to underpin this, and he says “working together we can change the world.”
However, all entrepreneurs need business support. A good way for entrepreneurs, owner managers or small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) senior managers is to employ the services of a business consultant mentor.
There are a number of options. The Department for Business Enterprise and Reform (BERR) is trying to simplfy its business support schemes from 3000 to a mere 100. This is a good initiative, but using a business support professional, usuing a free online resouce like Business Service Finder is still likely to save time, and money, and deliver better financial performance & improved productivity.
The motoring scene is changing as much for businesses than for the general motorists with new road tax changes to be applied in April, the recent scare in fuel rises than have now declined back to normal, plus the resalable value of any vehicle bought has new criteria to consider.
The car market is at its lowest peak for decades with new car sales nearly 50% in January; however this is challenged by the steady demand of used small economical cars, which have a history of lower deprecation. The message seems to be that the modern family still needs a car, but is prepared to live with a smaller cheaper version, that will hold its value. As most new cars depreciate the minute you drive it from the forecourt, most savvy buyers are opting for nearly new instead.
This has a knock on affect within the business sector. As the company cars that businesses may have bought before, may now have a far higher depreciation value, add this to the higher road tax premiums and the volatility of the fuel market, it is not surprising that business are reviewing their vehicle budgets and processes and asking is their a better way during this credit crisis. Poor cash flow and a lack of confidence of being paid from customers also means businesses want to keep that money in the bank.
The response has been an increase in business car lease quotes. Although many businesses have gone down the business lease option for a while now, many others have refrained, assuming that it would be cheaper to buy themselves and maintain themselves. But now, with a need to keep cash in the bank to cover unforeseen circumstances, many companies are looking to calculate monthly payments, rather than a buying outright.
The added benefit is the new eco friendly vehicles that are appearing on car lease companies lists. One example is the Blue Motion range from Volkswagen, which is completely design to reduce Co2 emissions and give excellent fuel economy. The savings can add up to thousands a pounds per year when calculated and in some circumstances the savings could match the cost to the car lease contract.
The short term benefit for those who currently own their vehicles is that and money raised from selling their existing vehicles, goes straight to the bottom line.