businessi.info provides a complementary platform to businesslink.gov.uk/southwest to comment and exchange business advice and tips for businesses in the South West of England. Subscribe to Business Link ealerts and newsletters to receive the latest update and post your comments on this space.

Author Archive for Corrina

Top Tips for ‘Sustained Success’

Published by Corrina on 12 August, 2010 in Management & Leadership and Top Tips • 3 Comments
Top Tips for ‘Sustained Success’
Eight key principles to help any business achieve and maintain its long-term objectives.
These tips are based on the ISO 9004:2009 standard, which defines eight quality management principles that can help any business “achieve and maintain its objectives in the long-term”. We have quoted the eight principles and added our own tips alongside. More information on ISO 9004:2009
1. “Customer focus”. Understand customer needs and expectations through research and other customer intelligence. Ensure business and management objectives are aligned with customer needs. Effectively communicate customer needs and business objectives across the organisation. Balance customer needs and the interests of other stakeholders such as owners, employees, wider society.
2. “Leadership”. Establish purpose, direction and vision for the business. Set goals and targets designed to meet the vision. Ensure employees and stakeholders understand their roles in meeting objectives and realising vision. Create an environment which enables people to achieve objectives, providing the required support, resources, training and freedom. Establish trust. Recognise people.
3. “Involvement of people”. Ensure people understand their roles and how they contribute to business success. Evaluate employee performance; identify constraints; work to improve employee competences, knowledge and skills. Encourage participation in seeking opportunities to improve business performance and personal skills. Encourage people to share knowledge, experience, problems and issues.
4. “Process approach”. Systematically define activities/steps required to achieve a particular result. Work to improve resources, methods or materials in order to refine key activities and processes. Set responsibilities for managing processes and measuring effectiveness. Improve how different business functions work together on shared activities. Evaluate risks of activities to all affected parties.
5. “System approach to management”. Create a management system that effectively and efficiently manages processes and activities to meet objectives. Define how activities and processes should work. Evaluate processes and continually work to improve them. Understand interdependencies between processes; harmonise and integrate processes. Ensure roles and responsibilities are clear.
6. “Continual improvement”. Take a consistent approach to innovation and continual performance improvement. Make innovation and continual improvement an objective for all employees, and train people in the methods and tools of continual improvement. Set goals, measure performance, and acknowledge improvements through employee recognition.
7. “Factual approach to decision-making”. Establish a rigorous decision-making process which balances facts, experience and judgement. Ensure processes exist to collect relevant data and past experiences such as feedback or lessons learnt. Make data available to decision-makers. Work on improving analysis methods. Listen to personal judgements but ensure they are balanced with data.
8. “Mutually beneficial supplier relationships”. Create strong long-term supplier relationships which are mutually beneficial and balance short-term gains and long-term considerations. Create and maintain open relationships and clear communication with suppliers. Where appropriate share information, expertise and resources, and establish joint development and improvement initiatives. Encourage innovation and continual improvement and recognise supplier achievements.

Eight key principles to help any business achieve and maintain its long-term objectives.

These tips are based on the ISO 9004:2009 standard, which defines eight quality management principles that can help any business “achieve and maintain its objectives in the long-term”. We have quoted the eight principles and added our own tips alongside. More information on ISO 9004:2009

1. “Customer focus”. Understand customer needs and expectations through research and other customer intelligence. Ensure business and management objectives are aligned with customer needs. Effectively communicate customer needs and business objectives across the organisation. Balance customer needs and the interests of other stakeholders such as owners, employees, wider society.

2. “Leadership”. Establish purpose, direction and vision for the business. Set goals and targets designed to meet the vision. Ensure employees and stakeholders understand their roles in meeting objectives and realising vision. Create an environment which enables people to achieve objectives, providing the required support, resources, training and freedom. Establish trust. Recognise people.

3. “Involvement of people”. Ensure people understand their roles and how they contribute to business success. Evaluate employee performance; identify constraints; work to improve employee competences, knowledge and skills. Encourage participation in seeking opportunities to improve business performance and personal skills. Encourage people to share knowledge, experience, problems and issues.

4. “Process approach”. Systematically define activities/steps required to achieve a particular result. Work to improve resources, methods or materials in order to refine key activities and processes. Set responsibilities for managing processes and measuring effectiveness. Improve how different business functions work together on shared activities. Evaluate risks of activities to all affected parties.

5. “System approach to management”. Create a management system that effectively and efficiently manages processes and activities to meet objectives. Define how activities and processes should work. Evaluate processes and continually work to improve them. Understand interdependencies between processes; harmonise and integrate processes. Ensure roles and responsibilities are clear.

6. “Continual improvement”. Take a consistent approach to innovation and continual performance improvement. Make innovation and continual improvement an objective for all employees, and train people in the methods and tools of continual improvement. Set goals, measure performance, and acknowledge improvements through employee recognition.

7. “Factual approach to decision-making”. Establish a rigorous decision-making process which balances facts, experience and judgement. Ensure processes exist to collect relevant data and past experiences such as feedback or lessons learnt. Make data available to decision-makers. Work on improving analysis methods. Listen to personal judgements but ensure they are balanced with data.

8. “Mutually beneficial supplier relationships”. Create strong long-term supplier relationships which are mutually beneficial and balance short-term gains and long-term considerations. Create and maintain open relationships and clear communication with suppliers. Where appropriate share information, expertise and resources, and establish joint development and improvement initiatives. Encourage innovation and continual improvement and recognise supplier achievements.

Improving business decisions

Published by Corrina on 12 August, 2010 in Management & Leadership and Strategy & Operations • 1 Comment
Improving business decisions
We explore and summarise interesting insights which could help to make better strategic decisions.
Interesting insights from McKinsey and Harvard Business Review
McKinsey & Company share interesting insights on strategic decision-making in interviews with Martin Sorrell, chief executive at advertising firm WPP, Randy Komisar, partner at investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and former Xerox chairman Anne Mulcahy.
Decision-making should be quick, flexible and informal, says Sorrell. “This is not to say the process shouldn’t be rigorous: run the analyses, suck up all the data, and include some formal processes as well”. “The only way to avoid making mistakes is to avoid making decisions”, adds Sorrell; “Instead, learn from mistakes and listen to feedback.”
Komisar suggests creating a balance sheet, “where everybody around the table is asked to list points on both sides”. Rather than giving judgements, contributors first outline the good and the bad points relating to a decision. Once done, participants share their opinions and discuss the decision based on objective insights and personal judgements. “By assembling everyone’s insights rather than their conclusions, the discussion can focus on the biases and assumptions that lead to the opinions.” Komisar adds: “Listen to the little voice… It’s great to see a leader who will echo the little voice in the back of the room that has a different point of view – and thereby change the complexion of the discussion”.
“You need internal critics”, says Mulcahy, “who have the courage to give you that feedback”. Timeliness is also important: “Decisions have shelf lives, so you really need to put tight timeframes on your process.”
In an article for Harvard Business Review, Tom Davenport explains that animation studio Pixar conduct a ‘postmortem’ on major aspects of a project, where team members are asked to present five things they would and would not do again. Postmortems weed out problems, says Davenport, providing crucial feedback which helps to learn from mistakes when making future decisions.
Instinct is important, “but only when four tests are met”, says McKinsey. The familiarity test asks whether we have experience in similar situations, because: “If we have plenty of appropriate memories to scan, our judgment is likely to be sound.” The feedback test questions the availability of reliable feedback in past situations, and whether the right lessons were learnt. The measured-emotions test asks if a decision evokes highly charged emotions which can unbalance judgement. And the independence test asks if we are “likely to be influenced by any inappropriate personal interests or attachments?”. “If a situation fails even one of these four tests, we need to strengthen the decision process”, argues McKinsey.
Turn insights into better decisions
According to these insights, decision-making should be quick, flexible and informal (to avoid missing opportunities), but also rigorous and process-driven. The process should include analysis of relevant data, pros and cons, personal opinions, judgements, instincts, and past experiences such as feedback and lessons learnt. Where no relevant experience exists, or where instincts or judgements are weakened by bias, charged emotions or personal interests, further analysis must be done to strengthen the process and avoid bad decisions. Listening to the ‘little voice’ and ‘internal critics’ could provide the necessary challenge which further tests the quality of decisions.
These insights could be used to create simple decision-making tools, such as Komisar’s balance sheet or McKinsey’s four tests. So why not take a few moments to jot down your own ideas for a quick-but-rigourous decision-making process to suit your business and management team?

We explore and summarise interesting insights which could help to make better strategic decisions.

Interesting insights from McKinsey and Harvard Business Review

McKinsey & Company share interesting insights on strategic decision-making in interviews with Martin Sorrell, chief executive at advertising firm WPP, Randy Komisar, partner at investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and former Xerox chairman Anne Mulcahy.

Decision-making should be quick, flexible and informal, says Sorrell. “This is not to say the process shouldn’t be rigorous: run the analyses, suck up all the data, and include some formal processes as well”. “The only way to avoid making mistakes is to avoid making decisions”, adds Sorrell; “Instead, learn from mistakes and listen to feedback.”

Komisar suggests creating a balance sheet, “where everybody around the table is asked to list points on both sides”. Rather than giving judgements, contributors first outline the good and the bad points relating to a decision. Once done, participants share their opinions and discuss the decision based on objective insights and personal judgements. “By assembling everyone’s insights rather than their conclusions, the discussion can focus on the biases and assumptions that lead to the opinions.” Komisar adds: “Listen to the little voice… It’s great to see a leader who will echo the little voice in the back of the room that has a different point of view – and thereby change the complexion of the discussion”.

“You need internal critics”, says Mulcahy, “who have the courage to give you that feedback”. Timeliness is also important: “Decisions have shelf lives, so you really need to put tight timeframes on your process.”

In an article for Harvard Business Review, Tom Davenport explains that animation studio Pixar conduct a ‘postmortem’ on major aspects of a project, where team members are asked to present five things they would and would not do again. Postmortems weed out problems, says Davenport, providing crucial feedback which helps to learn from mistakes when making future decisions.

Instinct is important, “but only when four tests are met”, says McKinsey. The familiarity test asks whether we have experience in similar situations, because: “If we have plenty of appropriate memories to scan, our judgment is likely to be sound.” The feedback test questions the availability of reliable feedback in past situations, and whether the right lessons were learnt. The measured-emotions test asks if a decision evokes highly charged emotions which can unbalance judgement. And the independence test asks if we are “likely to be influenced by any inappropriate personal interests or attachments?”. “If a situation fails even one of these four tests, we need to strengthen the decision process”, argues McKinsey.

Turn insights into better decisions

According to these insights, decision-making should be quick, flexible and informal (to avoid missing opportunities), but also rigorous and process-driven. The process should include analysis of relevant data, pros and cons, personal opinions, judgements, instincts, and past experiences such as feedback and lessons learnt. Where no relevant experience exists, or where instincts or judgements are weakened by bias, charged emotions or personal interests, further analysis must be done to strengthen the process and avoid bad decisions. Listening to the ‘little voice’ and ‘internal critics’ could provide the necessary challenge which further tests the quality of decisions.

These insights could be used to create simple decision-making tools, such as Komisar’s balance sheet or McKinsey’s four tests. So why not take a few moments to jot down your own ideas for a quick-but-rigourous decision-making process to suit your business and management team?

Connecting offline with online marketing

Published by Corrina on 12 August, 2010 in Sales & Marketing • 0 Comments
Connecting offline with online marketing
Connect offline with online marketing to maintain or create consumer interest and increase sales.
People go online for more information on products or services – even when purchasing offline
An iProspect survey of 2,300 individuals found that 67 per cent were driven to search for more information online following exposure to offline marketing. The top three channels driving users online were television ads, word of mouth, and magazine or newspaper ads. iProspect hypothesise that people go online to ‘seek validation’ of offline marketing messages. And an eMarketer survey found that 63 per cent of respondents go online to research products or services before purchase. These findings suggest that companies without a strong online presence may lose valuable consumer interest. iProspect’s study also suggests that businesses marketing solely online may miss opportunities to create online traffic using offline marketing.
Companies that do not sell online might think that driving people onto the internet will result in losing sales to web retailers – but this may not be the case. Studies from BIGResearch and TMP Marketing both found that over three-quarters of respondents who research products and services online follow up with offline actions including in-store purchase. This ‘research online, buy offline’ behaviour shows that offline businesses can compete with web retailers – if they provide the information consumers are looking for.
What information are your audiences looking for?
Basic product or service detail may exist on your website, but could you expand on this with resources that answer common queries – such as FAQs, environmental credentials, or customer reviews? To support offline marketing, could you create news items or web resources that provide further details on campaigns? Or social networks could provide ways for new and existing customers to discuss products or services, allowing people to both obtain information and become more confident in your credibility.
Make it easier for people to connect with online information
As iProspect’s survey found, offline marketing drives online search. And in a business i article last year, search expert Ed Foster said: “Search is a barometer of other noise you make in the market”, pointing out that offline marketing can increase search activity. Search engine optimisation or search advertising could therefore allow people to more easily connect with your online information.
Simple offline steps could help people to easily find your online presence, such as ensuring your home page and social network links are on general marketing literature, and linking campaigns to specific ‘more info’ web pages. The use of ‘friendly urls’ such as ‘example.com/summerspecial’ could make such links more presentable on printed materials, and more memorable to the consumer.
Create online traffic using offline campaigns
Offline marketing can drive online interest. Businesses engaged solely in online marketing could therefore create new offline campaigns designed to create online traffic. Campaigns could highlight the valuable online information on offer, and perhaps offer incentives to get involved. For example, you could – via direct mail, ads or PR – invite people to your Facebook page which provides information and special offers, or encourage participation in online product or service feedback discussions. Finding ways to encourage customers to share experiences with friends could also spur online interest.
Facilitate ‘research online, buy offline’ behaviour
Providing relevant online information fulfils the research needs of consumers. But, for companies that do not sell online, it’s important to then bring people back into the offline world. For instance, emphasising the benefits of offline purchase, such as try-before-you-buy, and providing call-to-actions, such as callbacks, online appointments, in-store reservations or vouchers, could convert online interest into offline purchase. What steps could you provide to make offline purchase easier and more beneficial?
The value in connecting offline and online
The internet is an important resource for consumers seeking information on products and services. People are often driven online in response to offline marketing, or other influences such as word of mouth. But they may ultimately return offline to purchase. Proactively providing the right information, and helping people to connect with it, could therefore help to both create and maintain interest in your products or services, thereby increasing sales – online or off.

Connect offline with online marketing to maintain or create consumer interest and increase sales.

People go online for more information on products or services – even when purchasing offline

An iProspect survey of 2,300 individuals found that 67 per cent were driven to search for more information online following exposure to offline marketing. The top three channels driving users online were television ads, word of mouth, and magazine or newspaper ads. iProspect hypothesise that people go online to ‘seek validation’ of offline marketing messages. And an eMarketer survey found that 63 per cent of respondents go online to research products or services before purchase. These findings suggest that companies without a strong online presence may lose valuable consumer interest. iProspect’s study also suggests that businesses marketing solely online may miss opportunities to create online traffic using offline marketing.

Companies that do not sell online might think that driving people onto the internet will result in losing sales to web retailers – but this may not be the case. Studies from BIGResearch and TMP Marketing both found that over three-quarters of respondents who research products and services online follow up with offline actions including in-store purchase. This ‘research online, buy offline’ behaviour shows that offline businesses can compete with web retailers – if they provide the information consumers are looking for.

What information are your audiences looking for?

Basic product or service detail may exist on your website, but could you expand on this with resources that answer common queries – such as FAQs, environmental credentials, or customer reviews? To support offline marketing, could you create news items or web resources that provide further details on campaigns? Or social networks could provide ways for new and existing customers to discuss products or services, allowing people to both obtain information and become more confident in your credibility.

Make it easier for people to connect with online information

As iProspect’s survey found, offline marketing drives online search. And in a business i article last year, search expert Ed Foster said: “Search is a barometer of other noise you make in the market”, pointing out that offline marketing can increase search activity. Search engine optimisation or search advertising could therefore allow people to more easily connect with your online information.

Simple offline steps could help people to easily find your online presence, such as ensuring your home page and social network links are on general marketing literature, and linking campaigns to specific ‘more info’ web pages. The use of ‘friendly urls’ such as ‘example.com/summerspecial’ could make such links more presentable on printed materials, and more memorable to the consumer.

Create online traffic using offline campaigns

Offline marketing can drive online interest. Businesses engaged solely in online marketing could therefore create new offline campaigns designed to create online traffic. Campaigns could highlight the valuable online information on offer, and perhaps offer incentives to get involved. For example, you could – via direct mail, ads or PR – invite people to your Facebook page which provides information and special offers, or encourage participation in online product or service feedback discussions. Finding ways to encourage customers to share experiences with friends could also spur online interest.

Facilitate ‘research online, buy offline’ behaviour

Providing relevant online information fulfils the research needs of consumers. But, for companies that do not sell online, it’s important to then bring people back into the offline world. For instance, emphasising the benefits of offline purchase, such as try-before-you-buy, and providing call-to-actions, such as callbacks, online appointments, in-store reservations or vouchers, could convert online interest into offline purchase. What steps could you provide to make offline purchase easier and more beneficial?

The value in connecting offline and online

The internet is an important resource for consumers seeking information on products and services. People are often driven online in response to offline marketing, or other influences such as word of mouth. But they may ultimately return offline to purchase. Proactively providing the right information, and helping people to connect with it, could therefore help to both create and maintain interest in your products or services, thereby increasing sales – online or off.

Guide – Create your marketing strategy

Equality Act 2010 – Did you know?

Published by Corrina on 12 August, 2010 in HR & People Development and Legislation & Regulations • 0 Comments
Equality Act 2010 – Did you know?
Some things that businesses may not know, but should know, about the upcoming Equality Act.
◦ Most provisions of the Equality Act become law on 1 October 2010. The Act consolidates existing equality and discrimination laws and provides new, simpler, stronger and more consistent rules.
◦ The Act protects people from discrimination on the basis of specific ‘protected characteristics’ – sex; sexual orientation; disability; race, ethnic origin, colour and nationality; pregnancy and maternity; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; belief and religion.
◦ People who access your products, services or facilities, and your employees, are protected from direct discrimination on the basis of the above protected characteristics.
◦ Rules, policies or practices which apply to everyone but disadvantage people with a protected characteristic may result in indirect discrimination – unless your actions were ‘reasonable’.
◦ For example: only offering appointments by phone may indirectly discriminate because this may disadvantage deaf people, and it may be hard to show you could not have provided other options.
◦ Protection also applies to people treated unfairly because they are perceived to have a protected characteristic, and people treated unfairly due to associating with someone with a characteristic.
◦ The Act makes it easier for people to show that they have difficultly carrying out day-to-day activities and come under the protection of the act as a disabled person.
◦ Firms must ensure that a customer who is breastfeeding is not treated unfairly by employees; or other customers, if their unfair treatment has been previously brought to your attention.
◦ An employee who has had several linked periods of depression over the last two years, who finds it difficult to carry out day-to-day activities, is defined as disabled for the purpose of the Act.
◦ It is discrimination to treat a disabled employee unfavourably due to factors connected with their disability, such as a tendency to make spelling mistakes resulting from dyslexia.
◦ You may be liable for employee harassment by third parties if you are aware that it has occurred at least twice before and you have not taken steps to prevent it happening again.
◦ You cannot prevent employees from having discussions to determine whether pay differences exist that are related to protected characteristics.
◦ The Act limits circumstances in which you can ask job applicants health-related questions.
Because the Equality Act extends and strengthens protections, you may need to review and amend your business’s equality and discrimination policies and practices.
These are just a selection of the Act’s provisions. Click here for more comprehensive details
Guides: Set up employment policies for your business, Prevent discrimination and value diversity

Some things that businesses may not know, but should know, about the upcoming Equality Act.

  • Most provisions of the Equality Act become law on 1 October 2010. The Act consolidates existing equality and discrimination laws and provides new, simpler, stronger and more consistent rules.
  • The Act protects people from discrimination on the basis of specific ‘protected characteristics’ – sex; sexual orientation; disability; race, ethnic origin, colour and nationality; pregnancy and maternity; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; belief and religion.
  • People who access your products, services or facilities, and your employees, are protected from direct discrimination on the basis of the above protected characteristics.
  • Rules, policies or practices which apply to everyone but disadvantage people with a protected characteristic may result in indirect discrimination – unless your actions were ‘reasonable’.
  • For example: only offering appointments by phone may indirectly discriminate because this may disadvantage deaf people, and it may be hard to show you could not have provided other options.
  • Protection also applies to people treated unfairly because they are perceived to have a protected characteristic, and people treated unfairly due to associating with someone with a characteristic.
  • The Act makes it easier for people to show that they have difficultly carrying out day-to-day activities and come under the protection of the act as a disabled person.
  • Firms must ensure that a customer who is breastfeeding is not treated unfairly by employees; or other customers, if their unfair treatment has been previously brought to your attention.
  • An employee who has had several linked periods of depression over the last two years, who finds it difficult to carry out day-to-day activities, is defined as disabled for the purpose of the Act.
  • It is discrimination to treat a disabled employee unfavourably due to factors connected with their disability, such as a tendency to make spelling mistakes resulting from dyslexia.
  • You may be liable for employee harassment by third parties if you are aware that it has occurred at least twice before and you have not taken steps to prevent it happening again.
  • You cannot prevent employees from having discussions to determine whether pay differences exist that are related to protected characteristics.
  • The Act limits circumstances in which you can ask job applicants health-related questions.

Because the Equality Act extends and strengthens protections, you may need to review and amend your business’s equality and discrimination policies and practices.

These are just a selection of the Act’s provisions.  Click here for more comprehensive details

Relevant guides from the Business Link website:

Set up employment policies for your business

Prevent discrimination and value diversity

Sales tips

Published by Corrina on 10 March, 2010 in Sales & Marketing and Top Tips • 0 Comments Tags: .

Tips to help improve your sales approach, get more and better leads, and increase sales.

Know your customer value proposition

What value – what unique benefits – does your business and its products or services provide? Ensuring salespeople articulate this message clearly can create stronger links with consumers who would most value your offerings – which means more sales. Summarising your value proposition into a concise ‘elevator pitch’ can also help when spreading the message to employees and consumers.

Create a sales document

Put your value proposition into a document alongside key information such as company history, vision, values, what you do and for whom, what makes you unique and better than the competition. Be brief but include anything that adds credibility. Doing so could aid planning, help to define key sales messages, and become the basis of marketing materials such as brochures or flyers to give to potential customers.

Have a plan

What are your sales goals and priorities? Are your sales forecasts realistic? Which consumer groups represent your best targets? What are your key sales messages? What are your sales opportunities or threats? What are your key sales tactics? How could you work to improve your overall sales approach?

Manage leads

Good lead management focusses on both quantity and quality of leads. Do you know which customer groups generate the most leads that end in sales? Or which sales approaches bring the highest value customers? Keep an analytical eye on leads; it helps to know how many leads you need to reach targets, and which sources of leads return the most sales – or the most valuable sales.

Use a system

Online customer relationship management systems can be useful and cost-effective for both individual salespeople and big sales teams. Beyond the basics such as storing contact data and sales interactions, they offer tools for tracking and managing leads throughout the sales process, and analysing sales and customer data over time. Such systems can also be integrated with productivity software such as MS Outlook or Google Apps, or accessed via smartphones. (Examples: Salesforce, Zoho, Dynamics).

Rethink sales approaches

Review how you generate leads and sales and rethink the options. Which approaches deliver the most or least sales? Which approaches are you missing? Example approaches: lead generation via advertising, direct marketing, flyers, email or online marketing, telesales, discount promotions, referral or word-of-mouth schemes with existing customers, exhibitions or networking events, creative selling.

Encourage word-of-mouth

Customers who recommend you to others are invaluable sales drivers because people tend to trust friends or colleagues more than businesses they have never used. It can happen organically by selling quality products or services and treating customers well. Or you can encourage it by asking customers to tell friends, offering incentives to do so, or providing easier ways to share, such as via online social networks. But remember: word-of-mouth belongs to the consumer – encourage but don’t try to control.

Offer free samples

In an economy where consumers are reluctant to open their wallets to new companies, free samples or test drives could represent a strong sales generator. It’s a softer alternative to the hard sell, and it could persuade new customers to switch from competitors. Many products and services can be tried in some way before purchase, so explore if and how it could work for your business.

Listen to customers

Sometimes sales are achieved not through marketing messages and value propositions but through the simple act of listening to customers and linking their individual needs with the value you can offer. Well thought out sales messages are important, but don’t forget the value of listening. See Are you listening?

More information – Identify and sell more to your most valuable customers