Mike O'Hagan's Business Tips

The Role of the Leader

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:30:00 +1000

Obama won because of the "machine/people" he assembled. He will not be a great president IF he alone makes the decisions. He will be great if he develops an outstanding team who each have the expertise to make the decisions. The key to his job is to source the right people, and get the best from those people. That's the role of the supreme leader.

By the way if you say Obama won because he looked good - I will say that there were people behind him who created the way he looked. He sourced those people.

So are YOU making all the decisions or are you assembling a team?

So Called Crisis

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:00:00 +1000

A friend recently shared with me that given the current so called crisis she is "Going into a holding pattern to ride out the storm." This is akin to sticking your head in the sand (probably up there with kissing "it" good-bye!). This is NOT the time to be complacent. NOW is the time to attack. Attack your market to get more, and attack your expenses to improve efficiencies.

If there's one thing I do know - this situation is creating opportunities. Those who spend their time going on about the "bad things" become too "clouded" to see those opportunities.

Measure and Focus

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:00:00 +1000

From the very first day I started business, 30 odd years ago, every week we have added to an excel spread sheet of weekly turnover and the number of hours we charge. This automatically produces a graph. The graph has 52 weeks across the bottom with a separate coloured line for each year.

At a glance you can see how we are trading compared to the same week last year. It also tells us our trends at various times of the year.

This graph is shared with all our employees. We are all focussed on "the gap", in other words the improvement on last year. This focus is a significant factor driving the growth in our business. The mood of the whole place can swing up and down with the line.

By focusing on a couple of simple Key Performance Indicators you can enthuse your employees. Getting your people rowing in one direction is vital.

Develop a "friends" of your Business Marketing System

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:00:00 +1000

Another critical, key factor to maximise the number of customers calling your business, pleading with you to service their needs and no one else is to develop a "friends" of your business marketing system.

The objective is to build, and maintain a large pool of "friends" who refer potential, buy ready customers to you. You need to systemise this, and repeatedly review its effectiveness i.e. Return on dollars spent.

The "friends" of your business are those people in businesses, who are REPEATEDLY near YOUR customers, just before they need your products or service.

Sit down and "whiteboard" the typical process your customers commonly follow in the lead up to purchasing your product or service. Who do they commonly go near?

When you have determined this you then need to stamp your brand and services in the minds of these people. This is commonly achieved through gifts, networking, and branding at industry functions.

Australians will happily refer others to services they have heard of, and in particular heard GOOD things of. They rarely need incentives; in fact many are put-off by businesses that pay money to referrers. I've made a lot of money out of sending a simple "thank you" bunch of roses and this has always leads to more customers.

ON THE ECONOMY ... I don't doubt that tight times are on the way. It's YOUR CHOICE to see the downside or upside. Trim up on all your excess expenses. Look at every cost carefully and if it does not add to your profit - kill it. Reduce your over draft/borrowings. Be ready to grab the GREAT opportunities that these times ALWAYS generate.

Deliver Service in an Outstanding "wow" Way

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:00:00 +1000

Another critical, key factor to maximise the number of customers calling your business, pleading with you to service their needs and no one else, is to deliver that service in an outstanding "wow" way.

We all have preconceived expectations. It is only when these expectations are exceeded that we go "wow". If we think it's great we happily tell all and sundry.

I noticed very early in my business career, that some salespeople (and advertisements) try to sell by "impressing", by promising all sorts of things. This builds up customer expectation. If your service does not meet these expectations then the disappointment will stop any referral of your services. In fact, when you deliver more than expected, the customer becomes a raving fan, someone who runs around selling your services for you.

The key to this is to under promise and over deliver.

Another influencing factor is the combination of the perception of your "brand" and your price. For example if you were to pay $300 and have a night in the Hilton Hotel you instantly develop an expectation of what you will receive. If you were to pay $70 and spend a night at the Goondiwindi Motel your expectation will be entirely different. These expectations are based entirely on YOUR PERCEPTION from the "name and the price". Your customers are looking at your business the same way.

What expectation do you build up before your customer buys?

Have a Service that Suits the Need

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:00:00 +1000

A critical, key factor to maximise the number of customers calling your business, pleading with you to service their needs and no one else, is to have a service that suits their needs.

Business owners with many years experience in their field will often start a business with a focus on their service or product. They know "how to do it" so they develop a business around what they know. The result, they often do it the way it has always been done. This leads to "the same as all the others" syndrome. Customers end up with the price as a differentiation.

To truly stand out, you need to be DIFFERENT.

I've started two successful businesses in my life. Both started after observing a gap in the market. An area I thought was being underserviced and that I could do better. NOT WHAT I KNEW HOW TO DO. No industry knowledge was an incredible advantage. Without preconceived ideas and by focusing on our customers - who are they, what are their frustrations, needs and desires - we were able to develop solutions that better suited their needs.

A different solution that is better makes it easier for customers to choose.

BE DIFFERENT
BE BETTER
EVER IMPROVE

Business Names Are Important

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:00:00 +1000

The critical key factor to maximise the number of customers that call your business and no one else, pleading with you to service their needs, is YOUR BUSINESS NAME.

1. First rule (by far the most important) - it must be memorable. They cannot tell others about it if they cannot remember your business name.

2. It should say - what you do. This shortens any selling message and often helps attract their attention.

3. It also helps if it "says" why they should use you (the benefit).

4. Another consideration is the "perception" of business size/type. Think about a home service business. They will often do better if they "look" like a franchise, because the market currently sees franchised businesses as "safer".

5. The internet is now very important and having an "internet version" of your name in at least .com.au if not also .com is essential.

6. It's also fairly important that the internet version - is your "full name" as well as short (in overall length) and easy to spell.

7. Test, test, test - Show your business name to strangers (preferably your target market) and ask what your business does, what their impressions are? What questions do they have?

Do not fall for having a business name that only you like. It's your potential customers that need to recognise and like your business name.

Focus on the 90 Percent

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:00:00 +1000

An interesting fact I discovered very early in my business life is when people want to purchase a service 90 percent of them initially ask around only 10 percent go straight to advertising.

The key to marketing a service is to focus on the 90 percent. To do this I believe you need to address four key points:

Have a memorable name.
Have a service that meets the need.
Deliver that service in an outstanding "wow" way.
Develop a "friends" of your business marketing system.

Word of mouth is ESSENTIAL. Businesses that get these four factors right, typically have 75 percent of their callers either using them again or customers refer the service to others. YES 75 percent of their customers don't call anyone else. They simply call and plead with them to service their need.

Effective Websites

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:00:00 +1000

There are endless ways of maximising the effectiveness of your website. I believe quick, fast and to the point are critical. If you can get your products, the price, and order now button on the front page you are definitely one step closer to success on the web.

Scared of publishing your prices? Is it because the "opposition" might find out? If you know their prices, I have news for you - they know yours. Communicating to customers should override any concerns about other businesses prying.

I know many of you have heard my photo to painting story. I know many of you have products and services that cannot be sold on the web. However, I'm observing MOST of you have "parts" of your business that if promoted on their own may be sold in their own right, even with the use of a different business or web name. Think about it. What spin-off products and services do you have?

Outsourcing
If you are struggling with the importance of the "odesk" and outsourcing then go to http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/266/ and watch the video. Keep in mind this is 3 to 4 years old and odesk is just another outlet allowing small business to outsource in minutes.

WHAT are you selling and to WHO?

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:00:00 +1000

Without-a-doubt finding someone who will actually buy from your business is VERY important. It is far more important than all that money counting, like accounting, book-keeping and reporting.

Marketing is all about knowing WHAT you are selling and WHO you are selling it too. It is important you get the "what" down to one or two simple sentences. "Who" is just as important as most advertising today is about low wastage so "pin-point targeting" is critical.

I attend a number of business meetings where business people introduce their businesses. At three such meetings last week in Sydney less than one third of these introductions managed to convey to me ? WHAT THEY DO! The rest said their piece and sat down with me having no idea what they actually do or sell.

Forget all the flowery stuff ? just say what you do, for who you do it, and keep it simple.

I was once guilty of this ? it took me years to learn that my company MiniMovers does "short distance, direct door to door, residential moves". I use to go on about how we save people's backs and left everyone confused about what it is we do. Are you guilty of this?

Business Ideas
On another subject - a web site for good ideas www.springwise.com

New Website
My new website was launched last Friday.

We'd love to receive comments and feedback about the website and are giving away a fine bottle of Moet to the person with the most helpful feedback!

Get your comments in before September 19th, 2008.

Wishing you success, see you next month!

Employing Experienced People?

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:00:00 +1000

When I started in business, I like most people focussed on hiring "experienced" people. They always "looked" great at the interview. Their knowledge of my industry "connected" with me. I always "felt better" when they accepted "my job offer" - HOWEVER in almost every case, 3-6 months after starting, the reason(s) WHY someone is no longer with their previous employer became very apparent.

I was hiring "leftovers" from other businesses!

Then I noticed how the largest Restaurant chain on the world - MacDonald's, does not employ cooks or chiefs. In fact, they don't employ anyone who has been trained in "hospitality".

They hire completely unexperienced people - our kids who we can't even get to tidy their bedrooms at home. They then teach them "their way".

They have broken their processes down into individual tasks/components (cooking French fries, working the drive-thru, etc.). They then use the people who have mastered these tasks to teach the new people.

The trick is to ensure the new people are both taught everything and they understand it. To ensure this, they simply use a check list for each task. The "trainer" (the person who has mastered the task) uses the check list to ensure they have explained everything. THEN another experienced person checks the new person UNDERSTANDS what was taught. Task by task, checklist by checklist, new people work their way around all the processes, until they end up "in charge" because they have learnt all the processes.

By focusing on employing only "unexperienced people" they are tapping into a large pool of potential workers. A pool consisting of many people who "want" and "appreciate" a job.

So to feed your need for great people in your business, your strategy shouldn't be "find them", it should be to wherever you can - "create them".

Wishing you success, see you next month!

Income

Wed, 03 Jun 2008 09:00:00 +1000

As a business owner, or someone planning to own a business, are you focused on developing a high, steady, regular, secure income? Do you want the financial freedom to be your own boss, and choose how to spend your valuable time?

If not ... WHY NOT?

As you may already know, here in Australia it isn't very difficult to live on welfare. But is that enough for you? Does that fulfill your dreams and goals? Is that the lifestyle you choose for yourself and your family?

If it is, then you can stop reading now, because I'm not going to discuss how to become "financially stagnant" by living on welfare. No, I'm going to discuss ways to achieve your ultimate business goals ... and Success!

Business owners have two very clear, basic goals such as building income, and freeing up time (which means making more money in less time).

Through years of trial and error, here are the two best tactics I've found for achieving those goals:

Systemize. This means that I create a system that others can be trained on and follow without me sitting there supervising!
Duplicate. Once you have a good system in place, and its working efficiently, duplicate the same thing over and over ... and grow your business!

To be honest, I believe that this talk of "building assets" or "accruing wealth" is crap. That's right, I said it! These are just fancy ways of saying "My business needs more income."

It's simple, really. Business owners want more income right now. If they didn't, then why would they own a business? So they can take their time earning money? I don't think so.

And the way I see it, you are either "growing yourself out of a job," or you own a job. I've seen research suggesting that only around 6% of Australian businesses behave as if they want to grow.

Apparently, the rest of us are okay with "owning a job".

Which category do you fall into?

Experimentation is the Key

Wed, 07 May 2008 09:00:00 +1000

When an idea is conceived it is generally not perfect. Experimentation is the way to grow and stay on the leading edge. I rarely go full pelt at something without first testing the idea in an affordable way, measuring its effectiveness, before I either do it all or dump/ change the idea.

In practical terms, if I'm setting up a direct mail campaign, I'd initially get different providers to develop say 10 different letters, and then send a limited number of each to test which is more effective.

It amuses me when I see someone develop an idea and go straight at it, investing lots, to ultimately have it all fail, with heart ache. I rarely do anything without first of all - testing it.

The safe way to grow is : conceive ideas (many at a time), test in an affordable way, measure the results, then duplicate or dump/change.

Employing People to do Odd Jobs

Tue, 06 May 2008 09:00:00 +1000

www.odesk.com is a brilliant site if you want to employ skilled people, usually at remarkable rates, to do almost any IT task, writing/administration, research etc.

I've used it with great results. In hindsight you know more about the skills and capabilities for your Odesk worker, than those you hire in Australia. It's especially interesting to go through the job requests/descriptions posted and note the types of tasks people are using this site for.

Depending on your services/skills, you could also use this site to sell your services.

When your competitors prices start to come down due to lower wages of overseas workers, you will have no choice but to compete using these workers, so why not get the jump on them.