• Why don’t we sell our service or product quality?
• What are you competing on?
• What is your differentiation in the marketplace?
• Why are your clients dealing with you?

Society has been conditioned to barter or ask for a discount.  Why bow to the pressure of discounting.  Look for alternatives to sell your differentiation or Unique Selling Proposition (USP).   Are you able to offer better quality and service; add options of extended warranties, payment plans or upgrade bonuses?

Explore and extend your unique product or service experience by marketing that which is your advantage.  (Exploit it)

By having a marketing communication plan, you will have already looked at the positioning of your product/service and its rightful place in the marketplace.  A pricing strategy is critical for long term business viability and the covering of business overheads in addition to cost of goods (COG).

Sit back and reflect as to why you are really discounting.

Don’t get me wrong, certain times call for a form of discounting. Bundle services with an applicable saving; pass on freight savings due to volume discount you receive on larger deliveries.  All great selling points are where your service now takes the focus off the price.  The customer is getting quality service as well as a competitive price.

Don’t sell yourself short and compete purely on price.

John Burkhardt – Gold Coast Business Coach

Apart from the initial limbic response of their brain to weigh up their environment and consider the immediate response of stay or fight/flight, there is a considerable portion of their communication style which may not connect to the way you are communicating your message or ideas?

I hear you saying, “what are you talking about” – EXACTLY.

As I may waffle on and include the details and facts of this, are you:

Just get on with it… give me the facts and move on OR

Yeah I hear you, but can’t we slow down a bit and get to know each other OR

Yep, Yep; Ok just shorten it and lets go for a drink so I can tell you a bit more about me OR

Yes, I understand that, maybe a question or two on the limbic system………….

Does one of these messages resonate with you?

This is effective communication, all I need to know is how I communicate best and then how you communicate best and adapt my style to match or at least get closer to the way you are communicating.

• Are you missing this with your niche target market and those ideal clients?
• Are you talking to them in your communication style and not theirs?
• Is the language structured to suit them and what they would prefer?

Communication (or lack of it) is the basis of all relationships and happens nearly as quickly as the Trust component.

To learn more about your Communication style, visit FACE-Matrix and do a quick, fun and easy to understand profile.

Have fun with it, share it with your friends and if you want to know more, then the best buy is the FACE, The Global Language e-book

Learn to love it and embrace it.

Let me know your results and what you think.

John Burkhardt - Amplio Business Solutions

The group is run by experienced business people with coaching qualifications.  It is only $10 per night (first time free) and covers business mindset and a great broad coverage on all aspects of business based on the e-Myth (Michael Gerber) models complimented by real life scenarios and coaching models.

If you wish to be on the meeting list for updates email David Beard here.  We can also forward on information about MasterMind Groups in Brisbane.

In the current monetary climate there is more and more focus on making sure you know what your money is up to.  With a slower economy (apparently) there is now the focus on even more control on your expenses and how to (market) maximize your income?  This is a great time to become more financially literate.

Do you know how to effectively read your Profit & Loss Statement and challenge some of the items on it?  Do you do this regularly (a minimum of once per month if not weekly)?

Is your Balance Sheet up to date or is it an item that the Accountant does up and it remains in your tax return for them next year?  Do you know what it is for?

Financial literacy is also about knowing how your business structure works and ensuring it matches your long term business and personal goals without you getting caught in capital gains tax or stamp duty penalties.  If you don’t know what structure you have and how to benefit from it, now is the time to talk to you financial advisor to learn!

Do you know what your competitors pricing is for the products you stock or service you offer?  Are you positioned to take advantage of their challenges?  Is your mark-up rate standardised and can be implemented quickly to ensure that you don’t eat into your gross profit?

Financial control is about 1/7^th of the business functions performed and should be treated accordingly.  Be informed; be ruthless in your decisions.

With our business connections we come into a many and varied group of people and their business’s.  If you are after a referral to a business, it is more than likely we know someone who can help you or put you onto someone who can.

Some other professionals we can recommend include:

Accounting and Tax Agents
Business Consultants
Car Sales
Child Sponsorship or Mission work needs
Christian Businesses
Communication Consultants
Computer Technicians
Cosmetic Procedures
Credit Control Services
Debt Reduction Services
Drafting Services
Electricians
Financial Planning
General Insurance Brokers
Hairdressers
Health Food Shops
Investment Property Services
Marketing and Branding Firms
Mortgage Brokers
Musicians
Natural Food Stores
Painters
Psychology
Roster Software for Business
Second Hand Book Distributors
Timber Merchants
Website Developer
and many more!

There is scope for coaching particularly in setting up the business goals, direction, vision etc and about looking at the mindset of the owner, customers and staff, challenging and stretching that thinking and the thought processes involved.  In this area we sometimes touch on consulting items and vice versa.

Consulting supports the business owner by providing a structured framework to grow their business.  The focus is to work ‘on your business’ rather than working ‘in your business’.  Like Business Coaching, the initial phase includes analysing your personal and business goals, but the difference is from a strategic and operational viewpoint.  Our recommended Consultants will work with the business owner to create a practical strategic business plan and through on-going performance management, will be there to ensure successful implementation, no matter how long it takes

Should you wish to contract a consultant, we have great relationships with top quality consultants who work from the ground up.  We compliment them with engaging the owner, management and staff in regards to the mindset and thinking.

We are proud to recommend consulting with:

Susan Draper – Full consulting service (Susan’s profile is available here)

I have numerous requests for marketing advice and as such have the following critical steps prior to you getting to marketing and sales:

1. Know what your Goal is and where you are heading first. Plan with the end (or exit) in mind
2. Know your Product or Service
3. Know your Pricing structure
4. Know what place to find your client – the product market
5. Know everything about your client  – their habits, challenges and where they get information
6. Know your clients distribution channel – where to connect with them
7. Know the benefits to your client of solving their challenges
8. Know how to structure a compelling message – Headline, sub-headline, challenges, solutions, call to action etc.
9. Develop and implement a promotional strategy

Missing any of these steps will lead to a lot of wasted time, energy and money.  This is quite a short list of the steps to developing effective relationship building via marketing.

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

At times you ponder the differences in getting the cheaper less known or the dearer established brand.  Personally, I like quality and timeless performance.  I’d rather spend the extra on a quality product or service that I know (or imagine) will go the distance rather than a cheap alternative.  For tools this sometimes I buy something I may only use rarely.  But when I do its a great feeling.

How does this relate to business?

Why should people pay extra for your service or product?  Is it the extra mile your staff goes to, the constant communication of things relevant to them, the experience of quality time and time again or another factor?

Does all of this stuff matter?  Yes it does! Why do customers leave a business – because they thought the business didn’t care!

There are basic qualities that shine through to your customers:

You care - why else would you communicate with them and invite them back into your business!

You admire confidence in their ability to transact with you.  They are confident that you have the product or service for their needs.

You offer stability and through that continuity in dealing with you.  (It’s very important to be seen to be stable and longterm)

You offer them a quality character and business behind your product or service.  They value the fact that you value your business and them as customers.

Be careful about discounting or free services/products.  The taste of poor quality disappears quickly after the cheap product or service fails.

Position yourself, your product or service and then let people know about it!

Position yourself to be the business that everyone comes to when they are looking for your service or product.

Start with the end in mind.

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

One of the most satisfying processes we come across as coaches is the ability to move the coachees thinking to the point that they illuminate with the answer to their own thinking.

So often, it is that you already know the answer but have not had the time or energy or ability to un-clutter enough to see what is actually going on and more importantly what is the learning about what you are doing and the implications of:

1. Doing it the same way

2. Doing it a better way

Once you start to explore this thinking (as apposed to the problem, details or drama) then you are able to reflect enough on the process to realise where simple improvements or alterations can have tremendous impact.

As we move coachees through this journey, the benefits of thinking for them become more obvious.  It is a great experience to empower someone to think about something, identify their feeling and emotion with the item, learn from it and think through the implications of doing or not doing it.

A recent example was of a coachee who identified a needed to increase their sales.  This was multi layered but through insights, the client was able to identify that half of their stock sold in a certain time period when they had the stock loaded to a website.  The insight was to load up more stock after identifying which were the more popular stock items.

You guessed it, sales started to increase immediately by adding popular items and more of them to the website.  The turnover has taken off.

I trust that this gives you some insight in the benefits of having a coach (or mentor etc) beside you.

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

All too often we as coaches are posed with a blank expression or the question of what does a coach do?

As a professional business coach, we use this expression to ensure that you can hear that we are:

1. Professional i.e. abide by a professional code of ethics and standard of conduct along with applying professional development through ongoing education.

2. Business.  We are in the business of business.  We specialize in coaching business’s and helping them achieve their potential through business development.

3. We are Coach’s.  As a coach we cover a range of skills which assist in maximizing your potential.

They include:

Goal setting – Application of Strategies and relevant action steps to achieve these goals.

A professional coach is the combination of four areas including: Mentoring, Management, Personal Training and Sports Coaching.

Coaching is a synthesis of elements from:

• Mentor

–        To really believe in you

–        To help you set big goals for yourself through vision

• Manager

–        To help you set strategies to work

–        To assist in setting deadlines

–        To keep you accountable

• Personal Trainer

–        To help you work out how to attack the big goals

–        To maintain momentum

• Sports Coach

–        To see things to improve your game that you can’t see

–        To challenge your perspective or thinking

–        To provide objective perspective for altering performance

We as coach’s are often covering a broad range of abilities, however we choose to specialize in one area.  For me this is Business Coaching and soon Executive Coaching as well.

These are the realization of the goals and relevant strategies and actions for myself as well.

Even as coach’s we need coaching to achieve our maximum potential.

Remember, If it’s going to be, it’s up to me!  But why not get some positive assistance on the way?

John Burkhardt - Amplio Business Solutions

I will break this down into a few posts, mainly because there is a lot of material to cover.

Firstly, not all of us have the luxury of naming our own business, as we may have inherited a business and its name or purchased an existing business or franchise.

All of this means that there may be certain legal restrictions on the name you are using and if and when you can change it (if you wish to).  This should all be covered in the purchase document including any time restrictions and the confirmation of the ability to transfer trading names across to your entity.  If in doubt check with your lawyer and make sure you have got full access to the business name, registered business name, any trademarks and Intellectual Property rights that go along with the business.

With respect to a family business, you may not be in any rush to update the name.  They work best in smaller communities and often have the reputation of being the place to go for “whatever it is you sell”.  To change a name in this circumstance without any major reasons why could lead to your business suicide.  By all means take the existing name and modernize the look of it, repaint the business, clean up the store etc, but the namesake will be one of the last remaining Goodwill factors in a business sale (down the track).

There are also considerations to be taken into account with the legacy of family and also with the business structure before changing anything.  You will do best by sitting down with your Accounting and Legal advisers prior to any changes and thinking through the consequences of any changes.  Capital gains tax, exposure to litigation etc should all be considered.

More tommorrow. John Burkhardt - Amplio Business Solutions

Outsourcing is sometimes overlooked whilst people are planning within their business and its requirements for Human Resources (or services and products).  I have listed some benefits and challenges with outsourcing for you to consider:

Benefits

Contract rate: No overheads with regards to tax, GST, superannuation, workcover, insurance, office space, tools or equipment

Specialized expertise: You gain access to specialized expertise, machinery, tools and equipment which you may not be able to otherwise afford, investigate, operate or source by yourself.

Timely: It can be managed to fit in with your product or service delivery.  It may work much faster than if you had to arrange and source the item or service yourself.

Challenges

Contract rate: With no previous experience here you will need to do a lot of R&D into what you get for your money and how to operate and control it.  Allow yourself plenty  of time to work on researching the original contacts.

Specialized expertise: You will need to gain some knowledge of the area yourself so that you can see how good the expertise is that you are contacting in.  All too often we see where outsourcing leads to poor quality, poor standards  due to insufficient boundaries or briefs.

Timely: Be careful with time restrictions.  Know what time frames and share expectations with the outsourced company.  It will go a long way for both of your businesses if you can coordinate what time frames with realistic outputs.
The best advice is to research the area you which to outsource, do a full brief (being very clear), call for tenders and manage the project.

More to come.

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

Well, all of us will at some stage.  It is a human condition to learn from our mistakes, to meet new challenges and basically to ignore what others have done before us because “we can do it better”.

Some of the most common mistakes I see regularly about organizational planning are:

Thinking that each box on the organisational chart represents a person; it actually represents a group of tasks, commonly referred to as a position description.  This represents the tasks, not the person.  So get rid of their name off the chart until the very end (in another version)

Thinking that each box represents a full time positions; it actually represents the group of tasks, but more importantly until you time it out, it represents an amount of time taken in your business to achieve that group of tasks.  For some businesses, this may only be for a few hours a day or month to achieve those tasks.

Thinking that each box needs to be done in-house; a lot of tasks can be outsourced to do the few hours required.  With the world of IT moving at great speeds you can outsource to other countries with the skills set required and on a contract basis.  No workcover, no taxes etc.

These are some of the most common mistakes.  By getting a grip on the structure you have on your chart and how you can fill these boxes with yourself, staff, contractors or outsourced staff; you can really start to move forward with business development.

Good luck with your business planning.

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

Part of the reality of dealing with any business is that a lot of times, you come across a gatekeeper.  Someone whose role or assumed role is to control access to the decision maker.  Unfortunately these relationships need to be handled with kid gloves.

Ever tried to contact someone in an organisation and been stonewalled at the reception level or personal assistant level trying to get to the decision maker.

The first part of the process is to start to build your trust and relationship with the gatekeeper.  Irrespective of how much power this person wields, they can make life really difficult for you even if you get to the decision maker.  Lost or late messages, misplaced invitations, emotional blackmail to the decision maker and the list goes on.

The building of trust with this person will allow you to gain uninterrupted access to the decision maker in the future and will also be with their blessing, so any decisions coming back the other way will usually be gratefully actioned within a realistic time frame.

This relationship building however may take some time.  You may even wish to back off and spend some energy elsewhere before tackling it again.  It is amazing how backing off on a prospect can sometimes tip the process in your favor.

The key to building a relationship with a gatekeeper is to take a genuine interest in them, their work, their hobbies, bring them coffee and genuinely respect their time.  The most common wall will be “I’m too busy” or a similar response.   Be patient, make sure to leave a favorable impression each time and tell them when you will be next calling or visiting, put it in your diary in front of them and move on.

At the end of the day, don’t let them upset you.  They are just doing their job (perceived or not).

Sometimes you just have to be creative to get to the decision maker!

An alternative look at this is:

Not dealing with gatekeepers or someone else who is too stupid to engage professionally.  Why butt your head against the wall? Move on!

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

It is easy to get lost in the product, position, your USP, demographics and much more!

The short answer is about building mutually beneficial relationships for the long term.  Getting a win/win result for both your and your product and for the people using your service or product.

By using a marketing funnel approach you identify your product, your USP, the benefits to your customer and reduce the amount of wasted marketing and advertising just by ensuring that your product or service is targeted as much as possible to your end user.  However, marketing is a process of building trust with your future customer and once they have used your product to get them to come back for more of your great product (or service) and to refer you to others.  (We all know that referrals are the best way to expand your business, but how often do we ask for them?)

The more experienced the end user, the less time they have for extra graphics, extra text and essentially things that waste their time.  Get back to basics:

Get a headline relevant to the customer and their challenge

Tell them what you have simply and concisely

Explain the benefit to them of using this product or service (to meet their challenge)

Let them know of any time restraint or delay (i.e. price only for x days etc)

Call them to action. Give them the how to contact you.  (By email, phone, calling into the store etc and the link or number to do it on)

Save yourself time and money in being clear and concise.  The aim is to get them to contact you to move to the next step.  Don’t try selling them the product then and there, arrange an appointment and move onto the next step.

Some of my best clients are those that took several steps to secure.  Guess what? They were checking me out, my ethics, integrity and building up their trust level of me until it reached a point where they were able to deal with me.  For some people this takes one interaction, for others it can be quite a few.

Just because you want them all to buy the same product or service, doesn’t mean they will all do it in the same way.

More in later blogs to come!

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions