CProject

A Tale of Self Sabotage, Technical Glitches and a Fantastic Comeback!

vanessa@cproject.co.uk (Nigel Botterill) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:43:59 GMT

On Saturday night Facebook was awash with comments about the X Factor's embarrassing technical problems (apparently there was a power cut at the BT Tower in London) which meant the show ran later than scheduled.

Millions of viewers had tuned in ready for another instalment of the live shows only to be greeted by clips from the auditions! Outraged and confused they immediately took to the social media platforms to discuss the possibilities of what might be happening backstage but these were managed efficiently by representatives who were monitoring the social media airwaves. There were even rumours that bad boy

Frankie Cocozza had taken the producers hostage at one point!

Once the show went live, Dermot made their apologies and everything went off without a hitch. It just goes to show though, that absolutely EVERYONE experiences times when things don't go quite to plan!

Over the last week, there have been all sorts of X Factor dramas unfolding which has kept the show on everyone's lips. The biggest story of course has been Frankie Cocozza. Isn't it amazing how some people, no matter how incredible the opportunities that they are presented with - will STILL completely sabotage themselves? In Cocozza's case it was his cocaine habit that left him in disgrace and with no other option but to leave the biggest opportunity of his life.

Bonkers.

And then there was the comeback. Let's face it, everybody loves a comeback don't they?

Singing a very aptly titled song, considering the technical difficulties at the start of the show (Queens "The Show Must Go On"), Amelia Lily who had been voted off the very first live show before being the overwhelming favourite winning 48% of the public vote last night to replace Cocozza) completely wowed the audience and closed the show on a high.

What a rollercoaster ride X Factor is. Just like business!

Ask yourself this question - when faced with an unexpected challenge in your business do you have a back up plan (like X Factor's recorded clips) that you can pull out at the last minute? Does your business tell a story that engages your audience the way the X Factor engages it's audience? Are you sabotaging fantastic opportunities to grow like Frankie Cocozza? Or, against all odds are you making it your business to wow everyone around you when most had ruled you out of the running like Amelia Lily?

Worth giving a little thought to perhaps?

Do you have a pricing strategy that supports your business growth?

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham-Day) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:15:27 GMT

Many business owners are fearful of raising their prices or offering premium products to their customers.

But consider this ...you are almost certainly selling everything for less than you need to.

And you are selling less of it than you would at a higher price.

After all - if you live by price, you die by price. All other things being equal, the only way customers can compare your product or service is on price. You have effectively commoditised your business and slashed you margins in an attempt to buy sales.

However, if you've done your homework and have got your positioning right, you are working with a high-value database where you can target specific groups of customers and you have a strong communications strategy reminding them of how great you are and why they should buy from you, it becomes much easier to charge higher prices AND increase your sales volume.

Do you have a a premium priced product?

Are you up selling to your customers?

Fact - 20% of your customers will pay for a premium product - but only if you make it available to them.

Do you have any kind of premium product for your customers? For example, in the Entrepreneur’s Circle, we offer a 100 club option. Members pay more to get additional benefits, more one to one time with Nigel Botterill, additional time at meetings, front row seats, more online access and so forth.

Universal studios is another great example of premium pricing - $120 dollars for a standard one day pass, versus $210 for a VIP express ticket - and they sell out 1000 tickets every day - 365 days a year. That's over $32 million in revenue a year with minimum outcosts - and the fact is that the park was open for 10 years before they introduced it!

As a great example of upselling - by offering additional products ... I don't know if anyone has been to the Empire State Building - but it's possible to buy ...

$21 - lift and viewing platform
$8 for a 'handsome' fold out map showing all the sites
$8 for the audio version
$34 for all three
$15 extra to go right to the top
$20 each for 'skip the queue' express pass or a photo

A total now $89 rather than $21 - and a LOT of people are happy to buy it!

Every business needs a premium price option. And every business needs a strategy to up-sell. Does yours?

Is your database strategy supporting your sales process?

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham-Day) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:12:22 GMT

Fact 1: It's much easier - and cheaper - to make sales to someone who has already bought from you and experienced what you do, than it is to find a brand new customer.

Fact 2: Most business owners know this ... but completely ignore it.

Fact 3: Most businesses spend most of their marketing budget trying to get brand new customers.

Building and refining your database is critical if you are to be effective at reselling to your existing customers. Apart from the obvious, fields that you need to include are:

First and second names separately - personalisation in letters, emails or print is powerful and you'll tie both hands behind your back if you record the name in one solo field.
Mobile number - SMS marketing is also very powerful used sparingly. Think of a restaurant wanting to fill tables on a mid-week night, a shop promoting a sale starting today. B2B promotions that are for one day only, and so forth.
Purchase history - it makes is SO much easier to target likely future purchases if you know what they have bought previously.
Communications history - there are so many 'CRM' systems around these days this aspect is easy to manage, although you do need to put in the effort to set it up optimally for your purposes. Time, not money.

And finally, specifics relevant to your business ...

shoe size, if you are a shoe seller / maker
kids names, if you run parties, sell toys or kids clothes
anniversary and birthday dates - if you are a restaurant, hairdresser or florist
system type and spec, if you are a computer support business

The more tailored, relevant and 'niche', you make your communications, the better they will work for you. People often get bogged down with 'frequency' as being the big issue in regular marketing programmes when, in truth, recipients won’t worry about frequency if the content is useful and relevant. And your database will help you achieve that.

Fact 4: Communicating regularly - and frequently - with your existing customers and prospects will be the easiest and cheapest way for most established businesses to double their sales.

Fact 5: Using multiple media - well! - will have a dramatic impact on your response.

Fact 6: The More you communicate, the more you will sell.

Use a combination of:

Email - it may be cheap, but don't overdo it
Post (good opportunities here now less people use it)
Telephone (HUGELY under-used)
SMS
Social Media
and, of course, Face to Face (time consuming but very effective).

Have you got your business positioning right?

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham-Day) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:09:28 GMT

Can you honestly answer the question 'how do your customers and potential customers perceive your business?'

In reality most business owners cannot - they make assumptions based on their own beliefs and don't take the time to do the research necessary to make an honest assessment of where they sit in the local marketplace.

Questions like, what does your business stand for? What are you best known for? Where do people think you sit in the competitive landscape? Are you thought of as different to your competition and, if so, for what?

Yes, it takes time to gather this information - don't rush the process and gain only a superficial analysis - but in costs very little, just your time. But you will be SO much richer as a result and it will help you transform your revenues and profits.

You need go no further than the typical high street to see the impact of clear positioning, supported by marketing that continually reinforces the central message. Jamie's Restaurants, GAP, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer and many more.

Do not be fooled. Clever positioning is NOT the preserve of the bigger businesses. You can - and should - do it too.

Titles and names matter

My old friend Nigel Botterill often quotes 'bananarama syndrome' - in other words, it ain't what you do - it's the way that you do it!

Why is it that, in a Mother's Day promotion, 'The Ultimate Mother's Day Gift: the Family Portrait' outsold 'Family Portrait Mother's Day Gift' by THREE times in a split test in an email campaign?

To say 'I tried emailing, but it didn't work' doesn't cut it. It's all in the execution and split testing is an easy way for you to learn what works better in your business. Over time you'll build up valuable information about how to position your offering in your advertising and promotions for maximum benefit.

Remember, you need to do the hard work upfront, to make the selling easy.

If You Want To Earn More, Learn More

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham-Day) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:02:57 GMT

Nigel Botterill shares his thoughts on how to earn more by learning more....

'I read an interesting blog post on Brian Tracy's website over the weekend and I thought I'd share my thoughts on a few of the points it raises.

The article talks about the fact that you can't get better results by working harder to apply what you currently know. If you want to earn more in the future, you need to learn and apply new methods and techniques consistently.

I really resonate with this message - I am a firm believer that committing to your ongoing learning and development is an essential part of becoming super successful.

Tracy likens it to

an ongoing mental fitness program for sales champions, where you prepare and keep yourself in shape for intense competition'

and I think this description is bang on.

The first thing Tracy talks about in his article is that 'Leaders are Readers' and I couldn't agree more. I read A L-O-T of books and apart from the fact that I enjoy reading, I also make sure I've always got a book or two on the go because I know it's one of the most effective ways to make sure I stay ahead of the curve! I've usually got a book in the car and one by my bed and I'll pick them up whenever I have a few spare moments! You don't have to set aside hours or days at a time to read but it's important that you DO make the time somewhere.

Have you read the books on the Entrepreneurs Circle reading list yet? What about the 'Book of the Month' featured in the Circular? Do you read those? If not, you're missing a trick!

Tracy also talks about surrounding yourself with the right people - learning from people who have been there and done it, attending seminars and courses to expand your knowledge.

Many of the most successful business owners I know will fly hundreds and even thousands of miles to attend business conferences regularly to learn from people who have achieved whatever they aspire to achieve. I do it myself and I can tell you from experience that the difference it makes in my business each time is phenomenal! There will always be a few nuggets I can take away to implement in my business straight away.

The good news is that everything I learn at the conferences I attend is passed on to you and all the best business books I come across are recommended to you ... but at the end of the day, YOU are the only one that can commit to using this information to your advantage and implementing what you learn as a result!

I'm 100% committed to my own continued learning and making sure you have everything you need to build a super successful business - the question is, are you committed to using all of it?

Nigel'

If You Want To Earn More, Learn More

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:52:09 GMT

Nigel Bottergill shares a few thoughts with us on how to earn more....

'I read an interesting blog post on Brian Tracy's website over the weekend and I thought I'd share my thoughts on a few of the points it raises.

The article talks about the fact that you can't get better results by working harder to apply what you currently know. If you want to earn more in the future, you need to learn and apply new methods and techniques consistently.

I really resonate with this message - I am a firm believer that committing to your ongoing learning and development is an essential part of becoming super successful.

Tracy likens it to 'an ongoing mental fitness program for sales champions, where you prepare and keep yourself in shape for intense competition' and I think this description is bang on.

The first thing Tracy talks about in his article is that 'Leaders are Readers' and I couldn't agree more. I read A L-O-T of books and apart from the fact that I enjoy reading, I also make sure I've always got a book or two on the go because I know it's one of the most effective ways to make sure I stay ahead of the curve! I've usually got a book in the car and one by my bed and I'll pick them up whenever I have a few spare moments! You don't have to set aside hours or days at a time to read but it's important that you DO make the time somewhere.

Have you read the books on the Entrepreneurs Circle reading list yet? What about the 'Book of the Month' featured in the Circular? Do you read those? If not, you're missing a trick!

Tracy also talks about surrounding yourself with the right people - learning from people who have been there and done it, attending seminars and courses to expand your knowledge.

I'm 100% committed to my own continued learning and making sure you have everything you need to build a super successful business - the question is, are you committed to using all of it?

Nigel'

Sort your email...sort your life!

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham-Day) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In talking to many business owners on this topic and it has become clear to me that far and away the BIGGEST enemy of all in terms of time management is email. It is ubiquitous and pervasive. It's available 24/7 on smart phones and iPads, on lap tops and desktops. It seems to demand instant attention and has the power to throw all your best-laid plans out of the window.

If you can crack this problem, you'll suddenly get your life back I can promise you.

There are all manner of possible solutions - why not try at least one or two and see what happens ...

Only view emails 3 times a day
Turn off the 'blip' that announces the arrival of a new mail
Set up inbox files so you can categorise the mails into manageable priorities
Switch off email linked to your smart phone - for a day, a week, or forever!
Get your PA or VA to open mail for you
Plan to maintain an empty inbox - prioritise email as you would post - delete it, file it or action it
Don't automatically do it 'now' - right click in Outlook and 'drag' the email to the task bar and allocate it to a better day for you to respond and then file the original. Keep the inbox empty.
Consider the idea that there is no such thing as an urgent email - if it was urgent, they'd phone!

Good luck. You are not alone.

Planning for business success - the time managers most powerful accomplice

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham-Day) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I make no apologies for banging on about how you should use your time wisely. If you are a business owner you must surely realise that time is potentially your biggest enemy - but also your most powerful ally if used well.

But there is the crux of it all. If used well. It so often is not with people blindly throwing their time at all and sundry with no apparent plan or ability to differentiate between what's useful and what's not. The classic case of confusing 'activity' with 'productivity' - or 'busy fool' syndrome.

Some simple tips will make planning how you use your time so much simpler and effective ...

Always plan tomorrow at the end of each day. This not only means that you can crack right on in the morning, but it also allows the brain to 'solve' problems unconsciously overnight - you don't have to think actively, stuff just seems to fall into place more easily the next day.
Use a white board or similar to write your A list. The BIG goals - 7 to 9 key targets that you are heading for in the weeks and months to come and that have the potential to impact your revenue streams / business growth. E.g. Launch new website on 30th September. Plan big customer event for mid October. And so on. No detail - just the headlines and a time target that will keep you on track.These should form the basis of your daily '90' minutes working ON your business.
Your B list is the essential tasks that you need to do every day in order to function in your business. Customer commitments and so forth. In themselves not As, but without them your business wouldn't succeed.
And then comes the C list. The non essentials. You won't ever get them all done so probably best to stop trying. Mostly they are non important or can certainly wait until an 'admin' day. File them away out of your inbox in an 'admin' file so they don't nag at you.

If you focus the vast majority of your time on the As and Bs you won't go far wrong. Get bogged down in the Cs and you are doomed never to succeed, however busy you seem to be.

Are you unconsciously wasting your time and money?

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham-Day) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In my series about how your time is one of your most critical business growth tools, I'd like to consider the degree to which business owners unconsciously and willingly throw their time down the drain on a daily basis.

Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, Duncan Bannatyne and Nigel Botterill. All successful business people and all, you may be amazed to discover, restricted by the same number of hours and minutes in a day as you. The difference is in what they do with that time - and wasting it is likely to feature high on their 'criminal activity' list.

Most of us don't consciously waste our time - we don't sit there thinking 'oh, I can't be bothered, pass the crossword', but in our unconscious behaviours we achieve exactly that. Little things that happen day in day out and which conspire to eat away at our time like a hungry and persistent caterpillar.

For example ...

Do you start your day by opening your emails, and letting others dictate your agenda of the day? How frequently have you heard yourself say 'I don't know where the time has gone', or 'I don't seem to have a achieved anything on my list today'.
Do you do your own book keeping? Are you qualified to do this? Is this genuinely the best use of your time? At £15 to £20 an hour, is this not something you could delegate?
Are you answering your own phone? Not only does this have a time impact generally, but again it could hijack your agenda when a needy customer calls and hey presto, your plan for the day sails out of the window. A Virtual assistant - or VA - is a low cost and highly effective resource that can give a great impression to your callers and will keep you focused on the job in hand.

Is your 80/20 balance working?

We've all heard of the 80/20 rule and how the 20% - of anything - is the part that counts the most. Given a normal 7.5 hour working day, 20% of this is 90 minutes.

Your brain can operate at high performance for 90 minutes at a time - preferably uninterrupted so the brain can stay focused - and you can achieve SO much in that relatively short space of time. If, by better time management behaviours, you could salvage 90 minutes a day to work ON your business, just imagine the heights you could achieve.

So ask yourself...

Are you spending your time on the 20% 'critical' activities for your business?
What are the 80% of activities in your business that you could delegate?

Ultimately it is with your CONSCIOUS behaviours that you will grow your business. So please be conscious about how you spend your time and become the master of your destiny rather than the victim of your poor management.

Accountability and time integrity: the two most effective tools you need to grow your business...

vanessa2@cproject.co.uk (Vanessa Lanham-Day) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The best thing about running your own business is that there is no one to tell you what to do.

BUT ... the worst thing about running your own business is that there is no one to tell you what to do!

Never were truer words spoken to me and my huge thanks to my dear friend Keith Thomas who enlightened me back in 1988 when I was struggling in the 'early days'. It's intensely empowering when you finally understand that the only accountability that you have as your own boss ... is to YOU!

Or, in other words, you really need to WANT this if you are going to succeed because - I've got news for you here - no other b***er gives a damn but you.

In order to achieve your goals you need to turn vague ideas and notions into 'targets'. Something tangible you can aim for. Most of us are pretty familiar with the 'I'm gonna build a £1million business' kind of a target but we are generally less comfortable with the 'by when' factor. The TIME target in other words.

Committing to time targets is critical; a vision without a deadline is simply a dream but add in a deadline and suddenly you have a tangible goal.

But, of course, an equally critical factor is keeping to your commitments. I'm guessing that when you say to a client or customer that you will do X by Y that you are pretty committed to doing it. But do you show as much integrity to your commitments to YOU?

My experience of business owners is that, in the commitment hierarchy, they slot themselves somewhere between 'bottom of the heap' and 'seriously not important' on the 'to do' list. Now, I'm not telling you that your priorities are wrong - that really is a matter for you to decide - but I am telling you that seriously successful people have a habit of placing their own needs pretty high on the priority list. Growing their business is paramount and is deserving of their time and energy.

So, as in all things, the choice is yours. But if you do want to grow your business you need to make yourself accountable - clear goals with time and financial targets - with absolute time integrity. So that when you say you'll have the new website written by Y date, you mean it - black and white, absolute, no grey areas.

After all no other b***er is going to do it for you.