03.02.2010 16:05:53

daveburgess

	One thing is for sure, “you will not succeed without one”.  How many times do you want to talk about strategy and you quickly hit a proverbial “brick wall”. Sometimes I get the impression that business strategy is overcomplicated and has a language that most business owners do not understand.  I own up, I am guilty of the language trap and have seen my clients eyes glaze over in a haze of mis-communication.
The Macquarie Dictionary is no help either – “skilful management in getting the better of an adversary or attaining an end”.  So we need some skills, some management and an end point, call this a goal.  This is a start.
As a result, the confusion over Business Strategy leads many business owners will do one of the following: Ignore strategy and hope it goes away Hire consultants to develop a strategy for them and then leave the business implement what they were going to do in any case. OR Integrate strategic processes into their business and as a result end up with an “evergreen” strategic direction. Let me explain the third option in more detail as it is the way to go for business strategy.Strategic Processes are actions and should be thought of in the same manner as, say, the Operational Processes used to build a product, sell a service or design some software.  There are required steps that need to be done to get something done well.  So the following outlines the three stages of strategic planning.
Stage One – Our Current Situation Define what the business does – this appears simple but putting this in words and writing it down will provide the clear statement required to move forward. “We provide a short lead time printing service to metropolitan based advertising agencies” Define Targets – the business owner must state what the targets are going to be for the foreseeable future.  “We will double the number of clients over the next twelve months and achieve sales of $2.5 million per year.” Define what is influencing the business – what is happening in our market, our competitors, our suppliers which will influence our business and our targets. This is where you need to get very good information on what is going on around you.  You sales people will have good information, industry associations will have reports and newspapers/journals will be another source of information. Summarise this down to around five critical “things” that you will need to consider. Define what needs to happen within your business in order to achieve the target.  This could be production related; numbers of staff; skill development; bonus and pay rates for staff; etc, the list goes on.  Make sure that you test each of this as being critical to achieving the target, if they are not, get rid of them. The output of Stage One will be a statement of what the business does, what the target is and a list of those critical “things” which will impact (both positive and negative) on achieving the target. Test and question what has been done to this stage; are your assumptions back up with facts and data; does anything sound too farfetched or unrealistic.  It is never too late get the strategy right.
Stage Two – Plan to Implement I will simply say here, you need to involve all your people and suppliers/customers to implement your strategy. Detail out your actions using the simple steps to project management.  Get the actions and outcomes owned by individuals in your team. You can get basic planning tools from the internet to assist with this step. Stage Three – Keep in Touch with Progress This is a vital step in your business strategy process.  This is where it can all fall down. As the business owner it is up to you to monitor progress, measure results and drive the fine tuning of the implementation while continuing to communicate the goals you want to achieve.  Also, this step is essential to react to dramatic changes in costs, orders or anything else which comes along to challenge your business. Remember to always refer back to the work done in Stage One and use this as a foundation for you actions and decisions.
Review the information in Stage One each year as a regular part of your business diary.  This will ensure your Strategy is EVERGREEN and a part of your business activities at all time. Finally, never ever get a consultant to “do your strategy for you”; it will not work and it will be a waste of money.  Use your consultant as the facilitator, not the decision make, let them keep you and your team disciplined and on track.

31.01.2010 13:50:02

daveboulter

Does this sound familiar? You have started your business and have a number of staff. Everyday is busy but there is that nagging fear of "what will happen if I am not around today?"

You are not alone. At InFormGroup we talk to businesses in the same situation regularly. Two things come up in discussions. It is difficult to get staff that you can rely on and secondly a lot of what is done each day is learned process and there is a lack of documentation to help staff through situations that may arise in the day. The first topic is for another day, but lest look at the latter.

"I just do not have time to document what we do". As a business owner myself, I would agree. But somewhere along the way a time comes when it is important to document things. If that time comes and you dont have the capacity to do the documenting, what would happen?

The usual example is" What would you do if you were hit by a Bus?" Well most likely I would be dead and so I dont really care ! But lets assume you survive but you are in intensive care in Hospital. How will your business run? Usually a family member steps in and helps. But how does that person know what has to be done?

If the staff have been with you for a long time, you may get by. What if the staff are relatively new?

A simple answer is an Operating Manual and it does not have to be Biblical in size to be of value. Here are some things to start you off:

* List your suppliers, contact names and what you normally order and when
* List your most valuable customers. They can be contacted by the family member and usually will be very helpful to that member in making sure the products and services outstanding is understood so they can be delivered.
* make sure all of you staff details and contact numbers are available so your stand in can find the person they need quickly.
* Make sure another family member can access and authorise Bank Transactions. You need to pay staff and your bills.
* Write down common tasks that are done each day: before business starts and after close of business

Apart from the above an Operating Manual for your business would outline different business activities that are done each day. Things like: Quoting, scheduling of jobs, invoicing, collections, newsletters you produce, handling incoming stock, delivering orders..... the list goes on and is specific to your business.

The main thing is to do something and do it today. Who knows when the Bus could hit!

21.09.2009 03:38:14

ericdediesbach

 

Money has a time value: $1 today is worth $1.

However, $1 last year was worth more than $1 today; and $1 one year or more from today is worth less than $1 today.

 

 

The general formula to calculate today's value of a sum of money (or cash flow) that will be received in the future is:

Present value = Future value / (1 + Interest Rate) ^Time

 

The above formula would help you to calculate that $100,000 to be received in Year 3, with a cost of money (interest rate) of 8%, represent a value of $79,400 today.

The same goes with $100,000 to be received in Year 6 with a cost of borrowing of 10%: They have a present value of $56,400 only.

 

 

 

If the above formula is too complicated, you may prefer to use pre-calculated factors/rates, such as in this table, available by clicking here (The table if free, so price = zero).

 

Using the table, the formula becomes:  Present Value = Future Value x Discount Factor

 

All you need to know in order to use the table (click here) is:

· In how many years this future cash flow/amount of money will be received.

· The interest rate or the cost of borrowing funds. Happy calculation!

 

In doubt, shoot me an email at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Have a great week! 

 

 

Eric de Diesbach

 

02.09.2009 22:54:47

ericdediesbach

Sooner or later, most businesses will use discounts in order to boost the sales or get rid of some old stock. But giving a discount to customers reduces the dollar value of gross margin and that decrease can be quite significant.

If you wish to maintain the exact same $ value of gross margin (even without talking of an increase in $ margin), do you know how much additional sales you need?

The formula is:

Increase in Sales required = (Gross Margin % / (Gross Margin % - Discount %)) - 1

In other words:

· If you have a 40% Gross Margin and give a 15% Discount, you will need a 60% increase in Sales in order to achieve the same level of $ Gross Margin.

· If you have an 80% Gross Margin and give a 40% Discount, you will need a 100% increase in Sales to achieve the same level of $ Gross Margin.

Sounds difficult?

Well, if it does, just click here and you will go straight to the Products section of our website where you can find an eSheet called “What Sales do you need to maintain your Profits?” It contains a table with the calculations already done for discounts from 5% to 50%.

Have a great week!

 

Eric de Diesbach

01.09.2009 12:04:53

waynem

Yesterday I attended the launch of the NSW Government's Small Business September. This is the 10th year of the event that highlights the important role small business plays in not only the NSW economy, but nationally.
This year's theme is "get new business ideas and soar" and to help businesses do this, NSW Small Business Minister, Steve Whan, announced the launch of a new website designed to help small business owners and managers. Take a look at www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au. This is an excellent site, but it started me thinking about just how much useful information is available to business managers these days - but how much is used and how do you find it. This website provides useful hints and tips for business owners through our blog, articles and e.sheets.  I am also personally involved with my local business community through BlueMountainsAustralia.com which provide a wealth of information that can help you with your business.
What sites do you find useful? Let us know and we'll add them to our list so others can benefit as well.
Wayne Moloney

25.08.2009 18:16:25

daveboulter

Small Business Week starts in early September and I have been asked to speak to a group of business owners at breakfast. Luckily, mornings are my best time so the 7:00am start is okay.

At this meeting I am going to explore what it takes to run a balanced business. What do I mean by that?

The simplest way to think about it is to picture a diamond like below. In each corner we have Customers, Finance, Employees and Operations. Now imagine that the line joining the corners is elastic. If you spend a lot of your time concentrating on the financials of your business you could see that the "elastic" is stretched further in that direction. That puts pressure on the other parts of your business.

Practically speaking, you could have the best Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet by cutting back on staff levels, training for staff, capital expenditure on business systems and process design. But, is it possible that maybe your customers could suffer with Service and your staff may look for other opportunities and in the long run you are less efficient because your processes and systems let you down? When you look at the P&L in 6 months time, it may not be so good.

Conversely, you could focus a lot of energy on staff. They could be the best rewarded people and be really well trained. But, they may not be customer focused and may be less effective because your systems and processes dont allow them to succeed.

I think you get the idea. Obviously we have limited time and money and as such focus on a particular aspect of the business moves things along. But, long term focus should be in a balanced way.

 

19.08.2009 21:38:17

ericdediesbach

 

Everyone facing an investment decision, such as purchasing equipment, installing a new production line, building a factory or acquiring a business has to answer the following questions:- How long before the investment is amortised?- Which of these investments is better for me and /or the company?

The Payback Period answers these questions: It gives the length of time (Weeks, months or years) before an investment reaches breakeven and begins to return a profit.

 

The shorter the payback period, the better off a company is; the longer the payback period, the longer funds are locked up and the riskier the project probably is. This calculation must take into account Incomes, Expenses, Depreciation, Tax and the time cost of money.

The Payback period is the sum of the Cash In after Tax divided by the sum of the Cash out.

Payback Period = (Last year that will show a negative cash flow) + (Absolute Net cash Flow for that year / Total cash flow in the following year)

One limitation to the standard payback analysis is that it does not consider the time value of money: One $ today is worth more than one $ tomorrow (Or the other way around: One $ tomorrow is worth less than one $ today). The only way to remove the above limitation is by calculating the Discounted Payback Period. It is the same calculation, but taking into consideration the time value of one dollar.

As a conclusion, two very important calculations to do when you are facing an investment decision are the Payback Period and the Discounted Payback Period.

You know mathematics never lie...

 

Sounds complicated?

 

Well, if it does, do not hesitate to look into our Products section, in the category Business E-Books: You will find a very useful Excel template called “Payback Analysis”, where I have programmed all the necessary calculations.

 

Have a great week!

Eric de Diesbach

18.08.2009 21:16:22

waynem

My colleague David Burgess recently wrote on Optimal Organisation and made the comment -  The argument that organisational structures can form “silos” which leads to dysfunctional outcomes simply highlights that the procedures are not developed to link the organisational structures to provide the desired outcome.

Now didn't that strike a chord with me.  I had a client who wanted help defining his business strategy and putting this into a business plan that could guide his management team. I started by chatting with his managers and quickly realised that none of them had the same understanding of the businesses direction, or their role in it as the CEO. This surprised the CEO as he had lunch with members of his management team every day, generally meeting each of them in this way over a fortnight.
Of most concern was the fact that some of the management team believed one of them was a "protected species" - roles had been created for him to move him out of areas where he had not succeeded. Worse, this particular manager would redefine his role to suit what he was comfortable with, rather than what was required by the business.

Now we can all see that this was something that should have been addressed by the CEO, but it wasn't.

This took the planning project off on a tangent as it was obvious we needed to define the critical functions and related roles within the organisation so we would have a management team able to implement the plan. A functional organisation structure was needed.

Functional Organisation is arguably the most effective form of organisation, because it is designed around functions, rather than people. Each function has its own responsibilities, separate and distinct from any other. The functions don't overlap, and the scope never changes to fit an individual. Individuals are chosen to fill functions based on their ability, knowledge, training and experience.

Once we established a functional management structure team spirit improved because each department became a team with all personnel within the department reporting to a single person who has complete responsibility for the performance, training, guidance and direction of the department, and who also has the authority to make the department fully effective in accomplishing its goals. While each department must communicate, cooperate and coordinate with all other functions in the company to achieve the company’s overall goals, each individual now reports to only one person, and all directives, orders, requests etc., will be funneled through that person.

Like so many things in business it sounds so simple, but you may be surprised how often it is not the case.

11.08.2009 12:20:14

waynem

After 30 plus years in sales management and training, I am constantly surprised at the way so-called "experienced" sales people don't know when to walk away. To quote Johnny Cash, "you've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em".
Wasting time of a "prospect" that isn't going to buy from you means less time working on real opportunities. I always use 4 simple questions to decide where to put my valuable time:
1. Is there a REAL opportunity? Do you understand the prospects need or desire? Do they have the budget? Do they have a compelling reason to make a decision?
2. Can you compete? Can you satisfy their desire/need? Do you have an existing relationship (compared to you competitors)?
3. Can you win? Are you seen as a serious contender? Do you have inside support and market credibility? Do you understand the decision making process?
4. Is it worth winning? If you win, is the deal going to be profitable? Is there longer term strategic value in winning the deal?
Answering "no" to any of these questions should set off an alarm. Dig deeper to decide whether this is an opportunity worth you valuable time, effort and resources. And don't think this only applies to B2B sales, quick qualifying in B2C sales can also mean more revenue and better profits.
Next time you are putting a proposal together for a prospect, ask yourself these questions - then decide how much time and effort it warrants.

06.08.2009 18:25:24

waynem

While assisting a client redefine his organisation structure, I got to thinking “what makes a great team?” I have a passion for sport and have been fortunate to coach both individual and team sports from juniors to seniors, and from local club level to international. I have always believed that a great team, whether in sport or business, is characterised by 3 consistent traits.

1. Leadership The first trait of a great team is strong leadership – the coach and the captain. A good leader will get the most from his or her team by making sure that each team member clearly understands their role and how that role contributes towards the success of the business. A good leader takes ownership of the success of the team by “leading” not just directing.

2. Vision The second trait of a great team is vision – the game plan. A clearly defined vision allows a team to pursue greatness because it gives everyone a common goal. When team members know the “rules of the game” they are free to be as creative as possible within those boundaries. All of your team members should know your company’s vision and more importantly, believe in it. But don’t stop with your employees; tell your customers and vendors as well. It will give them confidence to know that your company will be around for a long time.

3. Communication And finally, a great team communicates well – every player knows there role within the game plan and what is expected of them. Great teams communicate; up, down, sideways, it doesn’t matter. A great team knows that each person has a responsibility to communicate with every other team member about anything that affects the success of the business. Of all the corporate roles I’ve had, the most enjoyable were also the one’s where the company, and I, were most successful. Not surprisingly these were the companies where everyone knew where they were going, what the individuals’ role was and we were empowered to make it happen – and the management team bought into the vision. Your team can make or break your business. So develop a strong vision, foster communication within your team and most importantly; lead them.

04.08.2009 18:23:51

waynem

The sky is falling....well a year or so back we might have thought this was happening if we had listened to the media and followed the leads of overseas.   I was fascinated to see a headline in one of Sydney’s newspapers this week.  “IT’S OVER” blared the banner.  The story went on to explain how with the stock market demonstrating “mini-bull” tendencies (is that a calf market?) and the RBA stating that interest rates had hit their bottom, the worst of the recession was over.

 

But just how bad was this recession?  If you were in the US, Japan or Europe, you could be excused for really thinking this was the worst economic environment we had seen for a generation.  But for Australia?

 I have been really encouraged to see how many of my clients have listened to the “advise” of President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.  Earlier this year he was quoted as saying “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. What I mean by that is that it`s an opportunity to do things you could not do before." Well I have not only seen business owners and manager take the opportunity to do things they could not do before, but also grab the opportunity to do things like they should have been done before. My more entrepreneurial clients have grabbed opportunities that were previously unavailable and grow their revenues, profitability and client bases through improved efficiencies, more intensive and targeted marketing, and acquiring less-optimistic competitors.  For others, the concerns created by the “doom-sayers” made them look carefully at their business operations.  In many cases they were surprised to discover just how far their business practices had “slipped” during the good times.  Now here was the opportunity to get things back on track - get the sales people reportable again, maintain the policies and procedures that had been developed, revisit customer services procedures, reviewed their marketing and make sure cash management is treated with the level of importance it deserves. For those that have refused to listen to Chicken Little have weathered this storm well and are looking at Blue Skies - not worrying about it falling.

02.08.2009 13:54:11

daveboulter

There is a lot written about Twitter and I have to admit I still cannot really see how it brings real results. Another new media medium is Facebook Fan Pages. This is more akin to the classic web page but is on a "directory" that has a huge audience. To understand more have a look at the information on the Facebook website.

To get started follow the instructions to setup the page. Then you have a number of options to advertise your business. Firstly you become a fan of the Fan Page. This advertises the page to your connections on Facebook.

Another method is to purchase advertising on Facebook itself. These are the ads you see on the right hand side of a Facebook page.  The targeting here is very good. You have the ability to specifiy age, sex, location as well as many other snippets of information. This information is gathered at time of registration by Facebook users.

01.08.2009 23:41:54

daveburgess

New Strategies will drive your Organisation

Two myths are associated with Organisational Structures.  The first is that organisational structures enable work to be carried out and achieved in an organisation.  The second is that barriers are formed in organisations by the organisational structures.

Why are these commonly held beliefs wrong?

Firstly, work in organisations is achieved through the business processes and procedures not the organisational structure.  These are both formal procedures and informal procedures.

Formal procedures are typically documented and are a part of an induction or training program or built into the logic of a computer program.  The handling of customer complaints, order entry, warehouse stocktaking are usually formal procedures in many organisations.  They have step by step activities, authorisations and approvals.

Informal procedures are essential for organisations to function as they cater for the non-standard demands that fall upon the organisation.  These can be associated with a customer’s special requirement, new product development but are typically associated with solving problems and issues with the organisations.  Informal procedures rely upon networks which are not defined between divisions and departments; they rely upon personal relationships that have been developed over time and through necessity to achieve the organisations goals.

Secondly, barriers in organisations are more likely to be the result of poor design of formal processes and procedures in organisations.  Examples of this could simply be the production department not having the correct authorisations to view customer complaints in the CRM system.  The argument that organisational structures can form “silos” which leads to dysfunctional outcomes simply highlights that the procedures are not developed to link the organisational structures to provide the desired outcome.   Other barriers in the organisation can be driven from weak strategies, poor application of technology, confusing policies, poor skills or incentive schemes which reward the wrong performance.

So what is the purpose of the organisational structure?

An organisation’s structure enables people to be grouped into entities which have a shared missions and common management as well as providing a reporting structure.  These can be grouped by function, geography, market, process line or product line.  The emergence of global organisations has lead to a trend in product based organisational structure as country boundaries are no longer as important as they were thirty years and more ago.  In addition, organisations are increasing their focus upon their customers’ needs and as a result are forming division which will serve the different customer needs.  Banks are structuring their organisation on retail, small business and corporate customer segments.

So what are the drivers of the Optimal Organisation?

The Leaders of organisations have the primary responsibility to interpret the external environment, such as government policy, economic trends, community expectations, shareholders expectations and markets/customers and formulate strategies that will drive their organisation forward.  The Optimum Organisation design starts at this strategic level.  The Optimal Organisation is the “vehicle” through which the strategy is delivered to the organisation and to the shareholders by way of dividends and growth.

As mentioned at the outset, the business processes and procedures of an organisation will deliver the outcomes of the organisation.  Therefore the Optimal Organisation must meld strategy and organisational processes in such a way as to maximise the efficient delivery of the strategy.  In order to achieve this efficiency, the Optimal Organisation should be designed upon the following elements:

v Clarity in those business processes which are critical to the success of the strategy

v The human capabilities and skills required

v Information and Knowledge management

v Goals and measures which will drive the step by step progress towards achieving the strategy

v The necessary culture required by the organisation to succeed.

The Optimal Organisation is totally focussed and driven by the strategic direction of the business.  Alignment at all levels of the organisations as to the strategic goals is essential to ensure that dysfunctional distractions do not emerge over time, resulting in resources being focussed on non-strategic issues.

The Optimal Organisation must be a key consideration in the annual review of strategic direction. Most organisation neglect the organisational structure during strategic reviews.  The result being, they have an “evergreen” strategy but the organisation is in capable of responding the meet the new business challenges.  This outcome result in expectations not being met, internal frustration and over time highly dissatisfied customer, shareholders and employees.

Finally, there is no prescriptive optimal organisation, no “flavour of the month organisational fad” but rather a design that effectively and efficiently ensures that a direct and tangible links are achieved between strategy, business processes and the people within the organisation.

 

28.07.2009 19:05:22

waynem

With the internet and email taking the headlines in marketing these days, many people simply dismiss conventional direct mail as a thing of the past. But is it really?
Email is no doubt a great way to communicate with clients, staff, friends and other business associates, but is it as powerful as conventional direct mail when prospecting for new business?
Many of you reading this will be aware of my regular newsletter which is distributed to a list of persons and businesses who have opted in to receiving it, and every month have the opportunity of opting out. I know from the statistics provided by my e.marketing service provider that is is well received and well read. But what if this was unsolicited email - SPAM? I don't know the exact figures, but I expect 99% of unsolicited email simply ends up being deleted unread.

That's where conventional direct mail has the edge. And combine it with the humble telephone and you can have a powerful marketing tool.

The two biggest mistakes people make when planning a direct marketing campaign are:
- They don't make it interesting, and
- They fail to follow up, or make it easy for the mail recipient to do business with them.
Here are some ideas to improve your direct mail and generate new business:
1. Use the telephone - If you are very targeted in your marketing and do not have large numbers that will be contacted, use the phone to make initial contact and invite people to receive your mail piece. You can also then follow up with a phone call to set an appointment.
2. Make an interesting offer - Unlike people shopping in a store, when someone gets your direct mail piece they aren’t looking to buy something. You have to capture their attention and get them interested in whatever it is you’re selling.
The usual offer is something like ‘10% off’ or ‘7-day sale’. Not that the offer itself is necessarily a bad one, but we’ve seen it all before. Try to make your offer really interesting by coming up with something new.
If you’re marketing an Italian car you could package a test drive with a free DVD of ‘The Godfather’. Or perhaps you could offer the chance to win a trip to Italy and use the headline: “Test drive your new Alfa Romeo in Tuscany”.
The main point here is to be imaginative. Try to come up with an offer that’s something new and don’t just do what everybody else is doing.
3. Have more than one benefit - We talk about ‘the offer’ but it doesn’t have to provide just one benefit. The offer you make can be a package of benefits, and the top two or three should be pointed out to the reader as excitingly as possible.
Always think of it from your reader’s point of view. What do they really want from a product like yours? A home security system serves as a deterrent to burglars, naturally, but also delivers peace of mind and can possibly lower the cost of home insurance premiums.
4. Look different - Direct mail doesn’t always have to be something printed and stuffed inside an envelope, although that description probably fits over 90% of all direct marketing pieces.
People are curious. If they receive something that looks a bit unusual they’re much more likely to take a look inside to find out what’s there. Check with your local postal authorities to see what they’ll allow but mailing pieces using CDs or something that rattles can attract attention as well as carry your message.
5. Have a handwritten address - Keep track of your own mail over a week and see how little of it has been personally addressed. Most of it’s neatly laser printed and looks like it’s come straight from a computer, which it probably has.
It will cost more to have your DM pieces addressed by hand but it’s another way to have something stand out from everything else in the mailbox. If you’re sending out tens of thousands of pieces it’s probably too costly, but well worth considering if the number of pieces you’re mailing is a thousand or less.
6. Keep it brief and brisk - Direct mail has to be written in an exciting and stimulating manner. Droning on and on about something is a quick way to lose the reader’s interest. Tell your story in as few words as possible, touching on only those points that are necessary – the offer, why the reader should accept it, what they can get out of it, and what they have to do to get it.
Make it as easy as possible for the reader to respond. Offer multiple choices such as by mail, by phone, by email or by visiting your website. Highlight the ‘now’ element by giving them a deadline that’s not far away; most direct mail pieces aren’t kept more than a day or two anyway.
7. Who’s the recipient? - People always respond better to direct mail that’s addressed personally to them. As a DM expert once commented: “Recipient doesn’t live here; I do!” and he’s right. Unless you’re extremely lucky, any direct mail you send out that’s not personally addressed will be viewed like spam in an email inbox. It will be unwanted, not requested and therefore suspect.
A personalized address list is more expensive than simply sending material addressed to ‘the recipient’ or ‘the householder’, and it will be worth every cent it costs. There are good quality lists available. If you don;t have your own list, invest in one that allows personalised addressing.
8. Plan your communications - establish a communications calendar to ensure you are not repeating offers and maintain any promised contact.
9. Make you communication valuable - Now it's not possible for every piece of direct communication to provide information every recipient wants, but if you can provide information that is of interest to your target audience, they will start to look forward to your communication piece.
10. Use it to drive traffic to your website - using your direct mail piece to encourage people to visit your website helps build your rankings and gets people looking at other offers you may have.

Direct mail gives you so many opportunities to get people interested – even excited, about what you’re offering them. Take advantage of all these opportunities and watch your response rates climb.

Wayne Moloney

26.07.2009 21:12:38

daveboulter

 

Finding photos for brochures or websites or even blogs can be time consuming. Filckr has a section devoted to photos that can be reused as long as you attribute the photo to the author. You even get a useful little URL link included so you can past that under the photo. To find this look in Flickr for Creative Commons. In fact Creative Commons is a movement that helps people to get recognition for the work they do. In Flickr I did a search for business and found thousands of interesting images.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajawin/ / CC BY 2.0

 

23.07.2009 00:13:04

daveburgess

A number of Victorian companies reported today that "they are on track to reducing their carbon footprint by 30% throught the efficent use of energy." This report is fantastic news and music to my ears. The company spokesman described their actions as a "win-win" - they reduce emissions and save money at the same time. Simple and effective. So how does Lean Manufacturing principles and your Carbon Footprint relate to each other? Lean Manufacturing principles are all about eliminating WASTE in your business. Waste whether it is transport from one factory to another, inventory of finished goods, product rejects, electric lights being left on or simply duplication of electonic copies with paper copies. All waste consumes energy, energy has a CO2 equivalent rating and contributes to your carbon footprint. Those companies in Victoria are applying LEAN THINKING to there business. They are analysing where they can be more efficent and use less for the same level of production. A great example of Lean Manufacturing and energy consumption is how a Potato Crisp manufacturer in the UK reduced their consumption of gas significantly. Their main supplier, Potatos Farmers, were payed on the weight of their spuds so to ensure that the best price was achieved the farmer kept his produce hydrated during transport to the Crisp factory. The crisp makers in turn had to use more gas to drive the moisture off the sliced spuds, thus using more energy. Using Lean Mnufacturing methods the crisp maker identified this grower practice as a non-value add activity resulting in a significant waste of gas. Solution? Change the purchase contracts to be based on weight and moisture content - result - the growers use less water, the crisp manufacturer uses less gas and less energy is consumed. Winners all round. Lean Manufacturing eliminates waste, focussed on the what the customer is prepared to pay for and the end result is less energy use. This is good business practice that should be simply the way we do business.

21.07.2009 19:01:56

waynem

Recently I was engaged by a Philippine based software development company, ToolTwist, to help them define a marketing strategy for a new website management application they had developed.
Their product is a software tool used by corporations to create sophisticated websites with Amazon-like functionality. While their product is truly exceptional in many ways, and has a strong customer following, they were trying to work out how to get more bang for their marketing buck.
The first step for the guys at ToolTwist was to clearly understand their potential market. You see, the solution this great application provided was not easily fitted into any specific vertical market, and looking at it horizontally made defining and targeting the best opportunities extremely difficult. Various other products, with larger marketing budgets, claim to provide similar benefits, so carving out a niche market is essential for Tooltwist.

Over a few days we "workshopped" ideas. We looked at why they had their initial success, what was it that the client REALLY bought, who made the decision and why. Ultimately it was determined that of the many benefits of their product, the one that was truly unique was not related to the technology, but to how it provided a better working environment between the marketing and IT staff AND delivered more potential sales to their customers.
The service provided a great solution to enable organisations to coordinate marketing and technical departments, forming a combined team to create and manage websites. Such an overlap in responsibility is traditionally a weak link in most organizations, but Tooltwist's unique approach allows technical teams to concentrate on technical tasks, while marketing people have the freedom to create thousands of web pages, without any technical expertise. Put simply, website design is now in the hands of the people with the best understanding of what customers want.
So for ToolTwist, their primary competitive advantage was not just the ability to dramatically improve the efficiency with which their clients can make changes to their websites, but how the product can link responsibility and authority across departments and provide the right tools to the right people. This has proven a real winner when presenting the product to executive management of their now identified target market.
So, when looking for your competitive advantage, go beyond the obvious - it may not always be where you think it is.

Wayne Moloney

business advice | marketing | differentiators | ToolTwist

20.07.2009 20:52:29

daveboulter

Here is a list of what is around the web for our favourite time of the year:

Advanced Guide to capital gains tax concessions for small business 2008-09
This guide explains the capital gains tax (CGT) concessions available for small business

Changes to super for individuals
Provides an overview of changes made to super co-contributions, concessional contributions caps and income tests as a result of the 2009 Federal Budget

Individual PAYG payment summary schedule 2008-09
Information on the PAYG schedules for filling in tax returns

Reporting requirements - changes for the 2009/10 income year
These changes are for the reporting of payments made in the 2009-10 income year. They include:

• the reporting of reportable employer superannuation contributions
• the inclusion of the pension or annuity indicator box
• the inclusion of the lump sum payment A ‘type’ box
• the reporting of exempt foreign employment income
• the removal of the ‘other income’ label.

What is new in e-tax 2009?
Changes to pre-filling in 2009 include:

• an enhanced Alerts service. This year, in addition to notifying you when additional information is available, if you register to receive your alert by email, you will also be advised of the type of data
• private health insurance rebate details 
• rental property address details from 2007-08 rental property schedules 
• pay as you go (PAYG) income tax instalment amounts 
• reminders of letters that we have sent to you throughout the year in relation to: 
• your work related expenses, and 
• the need to lodge a schedule of work related expenses (SWE). 
• family tax benefit (FTB) claim status information has been removed because FTB claims are no longer administrated by the Tax Office.

05.07.2009 17:56:15

daveboulter

Here is a list of some of the Software as a Service Financial Systems available on the web today. Like all applications, these have their strengths, focus and weaknesses. Also, there are quite a view Invoicing systems available today. The main issue is how do you get that data easily into your financial system. Some do all aspects, like Saasu:

Saasu -  This is probably the closest you will get to an online system of the same calibre as MYOB and Quickbooks. It does all of the regular accounting modules you would expect. It allows private branding of your systems as well as invoices,statement and the like. Can be free if you do less than 15 transactions per month.

Invoiceplace -  As the name suggest it does invoicing. The twist on this one is that there is an inventory management module. It is pretty limited in that aspect. Payments can be received by PayPal and other payment gateways are coming. The invoicing module allows resending of invoices and statements.

Winkbill -  good customisation allowed for templates. Reminders, Invoices, Statements with a Dashboard to give you an overview. Payment gateways are a bit limited.

FreshBooks -  the usual plus a Contractor module aimed at making it easier to work with contractors. They can do timesheets and these can be turned into expenses. If you have a lot of contractors, it is worth a look.

Cashboard -  Invoicing, time tracking, projects and estimates are the focus for this site.

As you can see there are plenty of companies doing this today. The main features to look for are:

• GST and understanding of ATO rules
• different currencies (most sites are US based)
• ability to download transactions or an API into you main financial system

What would I choose? For my money Saasu covers the bases and has the best upto date modules for ATO compliance.

29.06.2009 14:34:01

daveboulter

It is that time of the year again. We are all madly working to close the FY books, bring in outstanding creditors and pay debts in advance for next year. These things are all good and keep our financial team happy as well as help business health.

But what are you going to do next? We all know things are not going to stop, so operations is going to be top of mind. Apart from that, what about your Business Plan?

Hopefully your Business Plan is not sitting in a draw somewhere, is it? Even if it is get it out and dust it off. Look through the plan and have a look at what is relevant today. Most likely things have changed somewhat. Priorities, Goals and Objectives change over time. Maybe things have changed so much that a complete review of the Business Plan is needed.

Here is a quick and easy way to overcome the Business Plan problem. Even if you do not have a business plan doing this is a great start. Have a think about the next year for your business and write down the following headings:

• Business Focus/Scope

• Revenue/Income

• Costs/Expenses

• Resources

• Facilities

• Goals

Business Focus/Scope: This is the business activities you are going to focus on for the next year. It may be establishing a new line of products or another outlet. It may be focusing on an aspect of your business that you want to improve. Put down at least three bullet points but no more than five.

Revenue/Income: This is your expected Revenue for the year. You should also put this down as a monthly or quarterly guide. Also think about the “mix” of the revenue if you have multiple income streams.

Costs/Expenses: Same as you did with revenue. Highlight costs associated to Mix so you can check those.

Resources: Bullet point your staff numbers and functions. You may have 30 staff made up of 2 Shift Leaders, 3 Apprentices and 25 Tradesman. What other resources will you need? Salespeople, administration, bookkeeping. Bullet point these.

Facilities: list the facilities you will need for the year ahead

Goals: These should be your Goals for the year. Be careful to make sure they are SMART. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Driven

Now do yourself a favour and think of the year PAST this one. In other words, what would these headings and bullet points look like in another years time?

 

This Business Plan should fit on one page. So on doublesided printing you have this years and next years plan. If you laminate this and keep it in your work folder, diary and even post it on your wall, you have a handy reminder of what you are trying to do that year.

 

You might even refer back to your Business Plan or create a new one. If you need help in creating a plan please contact us at InFormGroup.

 

 

Business Planning