Simple but effective Business Development

When businesses are formed, they are based around an initial idea and there is a lot of focus and drive around this idea. Lots of businesses are successful in this initial period (I call this Phase 1) as they have drive and direction. They soon reach a plateau and are faced with the challenge; how do we now grow the business? The conversion of this idea into a sustainable commercial enterprise is what I refer to as Phase 2 in their lives

Growth can only be in a few simple ways, most commonly you will do some form of Diversification or Development. Let’s get the definition’s agreed for this discussion, before we get into the debate.

I define Business Development as

Developing your existing customers, markets and relationships to increase/improve your current market position.

I define Business Diversification as

Looking to enter into new markets, industries or relationships to increase/improve your current market position. I include here a second definition; Diversification also includes the capability to Innovate or decide on new ways of doing things.

The next challenge or Phase 2 that you will need to overcome is how to take the business further forward. At this stage, unless you have a range of good ideas in the cupboard you will often be faced with the question of whether to Develop your existing business or Diversify slightly.

, as this should be easy enough to understand. Here you can look to your existing customer base or product base and see how you can increase your revenues from there. This can happen in different ways;

• You can look to sell more of the same product to new customers
• You can look to sell the same product to more people

For instance if you have a Coffee Shop, with regular customer’s who buy Coffee and Cakes, you can consider also starting up a line of sandwiches maybe or a delivery service … either would a great way of developing your existing business. Many people are comfortable with this approach and so it makes a lot of sense to them. There is a danger with only Development though, in that you are working with the same product, or same technology and the external environment may have moved on.

I remember back to the time in the late-1990’s when I had a PDA, a mobile phone and a camera. My Palm PDA was great for getting emails, but very clunky as a phone. PDA companies continued to develop their products, whereas Phone companies innovated and diversified. They saw that they could bring the PDA functionality into their phones and so invented the Smart Phone. Companies like Palm were probably really happy that they were able to grow revenues by Business Development, but not realising the massive change in the market that was coming up.

The other growth approach is to Diversify, look to something different or new. Lego is a great example of someone who diversified when at a low point in their history with fantastic results by generating new revenues (through Lego Films) as well as increasing the sales of their toys by making Movie Character toys. I am pretty positive that had lego not done that, they would have disappeared from the shelves of toy shops. If you look at Apple, the would appear to be perpetual Innovators, they have on-going programmes of development for the years ahead. This is not so the case, Apple have a good approach to Diversification and tend to work in related or complementary products to where they currently have skills, experience and success.

The challenge with Diversification, you can get into a trap of too much change. Constantly re-inventing yourself can lead to customers being confused of your identify. As an aside, I am a firm believer that this should not be the job of your innovation or product development department, it should be part of your company culture and so people should look to innovate as much as possible.

So what’s the best way to grow? should we do Diversify or Develop? I would say the right thing to do for every company is a mixture of both, you should be looking to Develop your existing business at the same time as Diversifying where viable. Now it could be that you run different campaigns, but you should not be looking at only 1 of these strategies, as you struggle.

Retailers Marks & Spencer’s have famously fallen into the trap of just focussing on Developing on their success and have fallen by the wayside this millennium. In stark contrast, the Retailer Next is a great example of someone who has grown its business by a combination of Development and Diversification. Hepworth & Sons, Gentlemen’s Tailors, as they were originally known were formed in 1864. In 1981, they bought some retail stores and launched the Next Womenswear brand, followed by Next Menswear in 1984. 1985 saw Next Interiors and in 1987 they launched Next for Kids.

They have continued to grow by adding other Product Lines strategically, but in each instance they have built on things their current Customer bases would look to buy. They have both implemented both Development and Diversification strategies and have probably taken the space that BHS and M&S used to hold. Not every company can enjoy the success that Next has had, so I would again advise to have both approaches on your agenda but maybe run specific campaigns for some Development and some Diversification.

If you are in Phase 2 of your business and want to go to the next level, remember to pick growth strategies that cover both Development and Diversification campaigns; it’s the best way to ensure long term growth and success. 

Finally the right time to be thinking about this is when you are strong, you should not wait till your sales or products are peaking or on the decline. As you are growing, whilst you are hot, your customers will look to you to see what’s next. The challenge that CEO’s have is to understand their own the product lifecycle curve and also understand where the future state of the art of going.

For more information on this and related topics please go to;

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Customer facing Moments of Truth

Do you remember the last time you walked into a store and had to go and find someone to help you, rather than it being readily available? Did you notice the sales assistants, hiding away from your gaze, maybe on their phones somewhere out of sight? Worst still, maybe laughing and joking about something else instead of being interested in assisting you … as their job descriptions suggested.

This weekend, I went into the local prominent supermarket and was looking for fresh lemon’s but there were none on the veg counter. From the other side of aisle I could hear the staff talking about how they hated working on a sunday morning, how they were just waiting for 4pm so they could go home. I was almost in 2 minds as to whether I should ask for some assistance, I didn’t want to be a burden !

It got me thinking; as a business owner or manager, you can dictate certain things, like the decor, the product range and the marketing messages, but you cannot control every aspect of the customer journey. Eventually, it will come down to these moments of truth, when your employees will be facing up to customers. At those times, are your team going to give the service that you want them to give? You can have the most innovative strategy and effective marketing campaign to get someone's attention. It is these moments of truth, where customers are actually won or lost. It is something we pay a lot of attention to, with our clients, when we walk the Customer Journey for them and identify the strengths and weaknesses.

This concept is very relevant in the hospitality industry. When guests arrive, greeters should attend to them quickly, they should not have to wait around to be acknowledged, I have seen people leave when they have been standing too long. Its not an issue for diner's to wait, as long as they know what is happening. If they are just ignored, then thats a different matter. The thing to remember is that your guests are usually there to celebrate their own occasion, so allow them to do that. They don't need to overhear the staff talking about their Thursday night's or a funny YouTube video. Similarly, they shouldn't have to fight for the attention of a waiter to order their food, order another drink or maybe ask for some missing cutlery so they can actually eat. Those 30 second delays can often spoil an experience, especially when everyone else is eating and you are missing a fork!

All these things happen because of the DNA of the organisation. Do you simply talk about Customer Service, or do you actually live and breathe it? Being good at customer service stems from the seeds of being good with people and wanting to please people. You are there to serve your customers, it should be the minimum requirement of being in business. If you as an organisation are not focused on what is happening around you, then you are probably falling short of delivering good customer service

So the next time when you are at work, consider; do you pay complete attention to your business and your staff, or do you have one eye on the football scores from last night, or your Facebook alerts that come up every few minutes? Do you also attend to these things, in front of your staff, so saying its okay for your staff to do the same? Or do you completely focus on your customers to ensure that they are given your full attention, to show you appreciate their custom.

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There are many more useful lessons to be learned from our Business Insights page on our website and our YouTube channel which you can access from the links below;

http://www.naconsulting.co.uk/business-insight/

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Todays Customer demands a better Experience

One of the challenges that every business is having to face up to is how they provide a digital experience for their customers. With the massive evolutions in technology, customer demands have changed massively in recent times. As a result of technological advancements, particularly with mobile devices, we are now able to access large amounts of information immediately. This is not something new to us, but are we grasping what this means to us?

It is now much easier for a customer to switch retailers without a lot of effort, so what are you doing to make sure that you remain the first name customers think of when they are in the market? Many businesses are spending money developing flashy websites and facebook pages, but are they really getting the right messages out to the right people? This remains the challenge for every business, speaking to the right people in a language that makes sense. Don’t think volume marketing, focus on the quality of your marketing.

Whether you are online or instore, the differentiator can be what experience you are giving your customers. Not only do they want a good product, good price and a great service, but they want an experience that is Fast, Friendly and Fun. Invest in this aspect of your business, don’t focus on price, anyone can be cheaper. Focus on quality of service, because customers never forget when they have been treated very well. Make the customer experience better than what the customer expects; make it desireable.

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If you have a query about anything you have read here, feel free to email your query to Info@NAConsulting.co.uk.

TAGS:

 Business, business development, Business Strategy, Customer, Customer Experience, Customer First, Customer first culture, Customer Journey, customer retention, WOW moments

3 Key relationships that every business needs to get right.

Successful businesses are built around good relationships and it is important to understand how these fit into your business operations. Here we share our thoughts on the Key Relationships that you need to develop and share thoughts on how you can do this.

For most Retail Value Chains we will have the Purchasing function as the start of a process and this is the first relationship you should be managing. With the advancements in technology, we can source the product globally and as such there are a lot of available options. So what can you do here to make this work better?

• You are both in business, so there needs to be some profit for both of you, there is no value in you grinding your supplier into the ground all the time. Negotiate prices and terms, where you benefit but you also know they will make profit as well. The risk is, if they are not making profit, they may start cutting corners at their end and so you end up with a lesser quality product.
• Secondly, what communication do you maintain with them? If you can help them understand your long term needs and provide some commitment, then they can probably go out and get you better deals. Your Suppliers need to make decisions themselves on what to source / manufacture and so consider how you can reduce their risk by giving them a demand forecast, or giving honest feedback of your experience and intentions.
• Thirdly, good relationships blossom when you share values and beliefs. Work with people who you get along with.

The next relationship you need to pay attention to is with your employees. Most organisations need people and creating a good working environment is very hard for most employers. Its not just about rewarding your employees with more cash, nowadays employees want job security, a happier work environment, more holistic benefits than pay rewards. We are talking here about the Culture of your organisation. When you recruit someone you will ask them about their Values and Beliefs and you would have probably talked a little, then asked a question and then listened to what they had to say;

Why would you stop doing that once you become their boss?

Lots of employees feel no relationship with their bosses as they have no opportunity to share anything personal or business related. You need to build trust and allow your employees to feel a shared vision and goal for the organisation. You want to give them the feeling of confidence and safety as this will encourage them to explore and do more for you. Richard Branson has the right idea here, he says;

“If you take care of your Employees, they will take care of your Clients”.

Customers are the lifeblood of every company, without customers you will definitely go out of business. Why then are Customers not the focus of everything you do?

Whatever you stand for, be it Quality or Service, you should be clear on what Outcome you deliver to your customers. The customer is really interested in the outcome because that’s what they are going to get. You should look to cement this relationship by actually doing what you promise to do, so meet the expectations you set with your branding and your sales pitch. Its always surprising why in this relationship there is not more honesty; its worrying when there is more interest in the single transaction, rather than the Lifetime Value of that customer.

Consider, do you really want this £100 profit, or do you want a regular flow of £75 profit transactions? The sales process can be broken down into 40% “Selling You”, then 40% selling the product and the final 20% is your ability to close the sale. Once you win the trust of your customer, the next time you have already dealt with the first 40% and you only need to focus on the latter 60% of the process. If you also consider the fact that you now probably don’t have to spend as much marketing budget by retaining your customer, the ROI is even bigger

As a Business Owner, Manager or Entrepreneur consider how you currently manage these relationships and ask yourself. Is there something different you should be doing in your approach? Let us know if you want to discuss any aspect of this or previous newsletters and we will be happy to share our thoughts with you.

For more Business Insights visit www.NAConsulting.co.uk 

TAGS:

 business relationships, Business Strategy, Culture, Customer, customers, employees, ethics, relationships, retail, retail value chain, suppliers

5 STEPS TO STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR YOUR ORGANISATION

In this guide we share a summary of the approach we use with many of our clients to strategically plan the year ahead, be it January – December, or April – March. Our Strategic Planning tools are usually run for individuals organisations, but we do run group workshops periodically.

If you find it useful, please feel free to email us your comments Info@NAConsultingco.uk or follow NAC on any of its Social Media platforms.

Why put together a Business Plan?

Your business plan is not just for the bank manager or an investor. It should be the guidebook that keeps your business operations on track, working towards the defined goals and objectives that the Board of Directors have signed up to. Without a Business Plan, it’s very easy for people to become ineffective. Now we are not saying that the Business Plan can only be updated annually, it can evolve during the year, but it should be a deliberate decision to change direction.

Also note, we are not saying what format the business plan should be in, it can be a 1 Page document or more detailed, it all depends on how deeply you want to plan and control.

So where are you right now?

Maybe you are stepping way back and spending a lot of time planning, you could be accused of becoming a Dreamer. Too much planning and no action is not good.

Maybe you are full of energy and keen to do a lot of action with any thought, this can lead to Busy Fool syndrome. Too much action and no planning is not good either.

If you are doing neither, you could be a Lost Sheep, looking for some direction … .. well any direction to get at least get going.

Having a mixture of Action and Planning is the best way to optimise your resources to ensure you are moving in the right direction, this is how to become a High Achiever. Make sure you take time to do some planning and ensure that the Planning puts into place a series of targets and milestones for each quarter of the year, as then you have targets that you have to try and reach every 90 days.

So all you High Achievers our there, here are the 5 steps you need to follow in order to put your plan together.

Step 1: Confirm your purpose and objectives for 2017

It can sometimes be more difficult than you think to put in place Objectives for the year ahead. I always start with some simple measures and go from there.

Here are a few examples of Objectives you may want to consider.

• Number of Customers
• Turnover
• Number of products / markets
• Customer Satisfaction rating
• Average profit margin
• Conversion ratio
• Product returns

For each Objective, make it very clear and specific, so rather than say “lower product returns”, include a metric like “keep product returns to below 2%” and this way you have a more specific target to aim for. Don’t just focus on Sales/Growth items, also consider operational targets around your business operations and your staff.

Step 2: Profile your target customer

Be clear on who you focussing your attention on. There are 65million people in the UK and 5 million registered companies, surely you cannot be targeting everyone?

Think clearly about who your ideal customer is, if you are in B2B, maybe the size of the organisation and the industry they operate in. In B2C, think about age, preferences, likes and dislikes of the person you are going to target. By doing this, you are not only getting clarity on who you want to reach, but you should also be listing down those who are not in your target and so you do not have to spend any marketing budget on them.

Step 3: Decide how you are going to operate

So now we know what we want to achieve and who we are going to focus on, lets now decide on how we are going to operate. Will we continue following the processes and procedures as 2016. Do we need to change any of our approaches, tools or tactics. Maybe we need to reconsider our partners, suppliers or collaborators and bring in new people to work with us?

As an example, for marketing, are we going to follow the same approach, or will be need a new plan to reach our target customer in 2017? Will we be doing more of some activities and less of others?

Step 4: Confirm the resources/assets you need to have in place to achieve these targets

Step 4 is possibly the easiest of the 5 steps, all you need to do is think about what you need to achieve the things you have decided in Steps 1,2,3. Think about whether you need any special equipment, relationship, asset or other resource. This list is important, because if you want to achieve your objectives, you need to be clear right now, what things you will need. From that list be clear, what do you currently have and what you will need to get hold of.

Step 5: Confirm a list of milestones that will take you to your targets.

The final step in the process is make a sequential list, in a timeline of what milestones you need to hit in order to get there. For this step, it’s a good idea to draw up your milestones on a A4 paper, landscape style. Fold the paper into 4 sections, representing each quarter of the year.

Now draw a circle to represent each milestone date you want to work towards. Having identified the milestones and the dates, work backwards, what do you need to do, in order to reach this milestone. Suddenly you have created a plan for yourself.

Hopefully you have found this guide helpful, don’t forget to let us have your comments and feedback back, by emailing info@NAConsulting.co.uk

Remember to follow NAC;

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TAGS:

 Business Plan, Business Strategy, Strategic thinking, Strategy Planning

3 KEY RELATIONSHIPS EVERY BUSINESS NEEDS TO GET RIGHT

Successful businesses are built around good relationships and it is important to understand how these fit into your business operations. Here we share our thoughts on the Key Relationships that you need to develop and share thoughts on how you can do this.

For most Retail Value Chains we will have the Purchasing function as the start of a process and this is the first relationship you should be managing. With the advancements in technology, we can source the product globally and as such there are a lot of available options. So what can you do here to make this work better?

• You are both in business, so there needs to be some profit for both of you, there is no value in you grinding your supplier into the ground all the time. Negotiate prices and terms, where you benefit but you also know they will make profit as well. The risk is, if they are not making profit, they may start cutting corners at their end and so you end up with a lesser quality product.
• Secondly, what communication do you maintain with them? If you can help them understand your long term needs and provide some commitment, then they can probably go out and get you better deals. Your Suppliers need to make decisions themselves on what to source / manufacture and so consider how you can reduce their risk by giving them a demand forecast, or giving honest feedback of your experience and intentions.
• Thirdly, good relationships blossom when you share values and beliefs. Work with people who you get along with.

The next relationship you need to pay attention to is with your employees. Most organisations need people and creating a good working environment is very hard for most employers. Its not just about rewarding your employees with more cash, nowadays employees want job security, a happier work environment, more holistic benefits than pay rewards. We are talking here about the Culture of your organisation. When you recruit someone you will ask them about their Values and Beliefs and you would have probably talked a little, then asked a question and then listened to what they had to say;

Why would you stop doing that once you become their boss?

Lots of employees feel no relationship with their bosses as they have no opportunity to share anything personal or business related. You need to build trust and allow your employees to feel a shared vision and goal for the organisation. You want to give them the feeling of confidence and safety as this will encourage them to explore and do more for you. Richard Branson has the right idea here, he says;

“If you take care of your Employees, they will take care of your Clients”.

Customers are the lifeblood of every company, without customers you will definitely go out of business. Why then are Customers not the focus of everything you do?

Whatever you stand for, be it Quality or Service, you should be clear on what Outcome you deliver to your customers. The customer is really interested in the outcome because that’s what they are going to get. You should look to cement this relationship by actually doing what you promise to do, so meet the expectations you set with your branding and your sales pitch. Its always surprising why in this relationship there is not more honesty; its worrying when there is more interest in the single transaction, rather than the Lifetime Value of that customer.

Consider, do you really want this £100 profit, or do you want a regular flow of £75 profit transactions? The sales process can be broken down into 40% “Selling You”, then 40% selling the product and the final 20% is your ability to close the sale. Once you win the trust of your customer, the next time you have already dealt with the first 40% and you only need to focus on the latter 60% of the process. If you also consider the fact that you now probably don’t have to spend as much marketing budget by retaining your customer, the ROI is even bigger

As a Business Owner, Manager or Entrepreneur consider how you currently manage these relationships and ask yourself. Is there something different you should be doing in your approach? Let us know if you want to discuss any aspect of this or previous newsletters and we will be happy to share our thoughts with you.

 www.NAConsulting.co.uk 

TAGS:

 business relationships, Business Strategy, Culture, Customer, customers, employees, ethics, relationships, retail, retail value chain, suppliers

HOW CHANGING CUSTOMER DEMANDS ARE TRANSFORMING THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY

WITH HIGH LEVELS OF COMPETITION AND THE EXPLOSION OF DEMAND FOR PREPARED FOOD, INNOVATIVE THINKING AS WELL AS TECHNOLOGY ARE KEY FOR ENABLING BRANDS AND INDEPENDENTS TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD.

Over the last decade there has been an unprecedented growth in the entire foodservice industry, we have seen a consistent growth in the number of people eating out every year. Changing mindsets, habits and of course an increase in disposable income have created an opportunity for the development of many exciting and attractive restaurant concepts with the aim to engage potential clients. In response, the global marketplace has responded to this new opportunity with many new brands being born. Existing brands have evolved and refurbishing, some undertaking international expansion to flood other markets.

In the UK alone, around 60% of the market is comprised of small restaurant and Gastro pubs. In parts of continental Europe such as Turkey and Greece, that percentage is even higher creating greater competition and the need for engagement and the differentiation. We have a wide range of styles, From the quick service restaurants (QSR) and street food (SF) style eateries, to more refined dining experiences. There is a lot of consistency in the approaches taken by the industry leaders.

Compete by Digitising

In order for restaurants to compete in such a booming space as well as remain relevant and appealing to the next generation of younger “tech savvy diners”, restaurants are embarking widespread refurbishment of the outlets, including overhauling the interaction presentation process. These diners want a more digitally autonomous, interactive entertaining and self-determined dining experience. For restaurants there is need and opportunity to use display projection technologies to improve visual communications and create more dynamic and adaptive customer information service points.

Take into consideration the world’s largest QSR brands; they have undertaken a broad update of decor and soft furnishings in the last decade and am now rolling out a variety of digital display technologies to update the one remaining legacy customer experience – point of sale. It is an important time to undertake this update, consider widespread change not just to the décor and clientele but also to menu options.

There are various points both inside and outside restaurants where these transformations are taking place.

Coping with time sensitive menus

Focusing on quick service restaurants, the challenge of presenting different managed to customers at different points of the day breakfast lunch and dinner or late-night has traditionally involved rotating printing display boards or swapping out posters menu cards. This is a time-consuming process involving paper and poster stock that deteriorates over time, not to mention the mistakes which are expensive and time-consuming to correct. The introduction of 1080p and 4K Ultra high-definition display technologies combined with low cost and low profile computers and video display devices have replaced the revolving above counter displays and wall mounted menus. The evolution of almost bezel-less 40inch+ high resolution display units means that the same high quality of image and clarity of text offered by printed poster can now be achieved on a digital display.

The removal of rotating displays and poster boards also eliminates potential hygiene risks as well as health and safety flashpoints from the restaurant, with rotating displays presenting as a bacterial transfer point if not meticulously cleaned and maintained. On a more practical level, the high position of rotating displays above customers often requires the use of the step ladder for the tool to enable reach creating heightened safety risks, digital displays however require no physical contact update immediately remove all these factors from operational risk assessments. At the same time printing and transporting costs of the stock paper posters and menus are also eliminated contributing to improve return on investment (ROI).

Self-service by touch

Alongside modernising and digitising customer information displays, large format, high resolution displays also present another major advantage to restaurants, this is self-service QSR’s already tap into the self-service space by dispensing with the tablet service in most instances. However, using large touch-driven displays it is now possible to create a customer friendly, interactive and data rich self-ordering process. This process not only allows for an overall reduction in sales staff costs, but also allows for the redeployment of staff from the cash register to the food preparation and counter fulfilment tasks.

As the number of guests increase, do not forget the importance of Customer Service. Think about how to improve the connectivity between your customer, the extensive menu, the time waiting for the food to arrive and reduce communication mistakes during the order process. Touchscreen’s can not only provide a visual and interactive ordering experience: they also facilitate automated and smart upside in terms of cross selling and up selling. Ordering systems could respond intelligently and maybe suggest frequent or additional purchases, or include a customers purchase history into conjunction any loyalty card scheme you may operate. Knowing the customer is nothing new but in a digital POS environment there is more scope to further develop the average customer relationship and build a more detailed digital profile, as well as gaining broader analytics for the business around 12 times, most of the items, abandon baskets etc.

Spot promotions

Digital displays can enable  customers to cycle through the different menu options based on the time of day. For example, background colour changes, brightness and contrast settings to suit a particular locations to call a natural lighting, addition of local specials, localised pricing to respond to local competition, special events and other spot promotions. There is also potential to re-purpose or multipurpose digital displays, with some screens be used for promotional the poster displays during the day because later on be used to show music videos or sporting events in the evening to entertain a different style customer.  The entertainment potential of modern-day displays and projection technology cannot be underestimated, re-purpose displays at different times for entertainment purposes can help create a different ambiance, such as children’s programming, music videos, sports, news and targeted advertising and restaurant specific television programming. This may also attract different clientele as your restaurant moves from breakfast to lunch and dinner services. Since display and motion sensitive units also allow other family friendly entertainment options including gaming or verification of ordering as well as enabling art installations.

Customer Engagement

The use of advance and announced the technology is helping operators create more flexible and customer centric learning environments, with customers looking for a new and more exciting dining experience. Embracing what digital offers real-time foodservice sector restaurants have the opportunity to present diners with a more vibrant and interactive ordering process as well as adding to the décor and ambience of the venue. All these things only work when you are speaking in a manner that your customers understand and can align with. Consider telling your guests about the story of your brand, allow them to embrace the story and relate to the roots and values in it. Share even the organic details of the produce you are using as ingredients. Let them become part of your story and you will find them become much more than just customers, they will become your biggest advocates and ambassadors.

TAGS:

 business development, business diversification, business growth, Business Strategy, Customer, Customer Experience, Customer Journey, restaurant, Strategic thinking

3 REASONS WHY YOU ARE NOT CONVERTING AS MANY DEALS AS YOU WOULD LIKE TO

Many people start a business and expect Customers to just turn up. Unless you have paid a lot of (effective) marketing or have paid a premium for a site where there is significant footfall, sometimes the money just does not come in. Here are 3 of the more common reasons why you may not be selling or converting as much as you would like to.

3) Build trust

You have not yet built up enough trust with potential customers, so they are not yet willing to buy – instead you have tried to make them an offer to buy your products or services. For higher prices items, customers need to be sure of who you are and what proofs exist about your organisation.

Consider; more testimonials, reviews, demonstrations, promo videos or some other way of the customer being able to be assured of you credibility before they buy. Understand that you need to be first known and secondly trusted by a potential customer, before they maybe willing to buy from you. Have you spent enough time, building a brand in areas that they tend to hangout?

2) I have no idea what you actually sell?

People need to understand what you actually sell and they need to be sure what they are going to get from your. Often the pitch is not clear enough, or specific enough “I am a mindset coach” or “we are a carpet warehouse” (and yet when I go inside, there are beds, blinds and furniture in store). Be clear on who you are, this may mean you need to be more specific. You may worry that you will lose out on some customers by being more specific, but in fact, you will become known for being the “go-to” business in that sector if you do this right.

Consider; Do you explain clearly your expertise, or niche? can you show, clearly the results or after effects of buying your products or service. Would it be better to not tell people about your label, but instead to talk about what effect you have on your customers?

1) You are not speaking to the right audience

The most common mistake is that you are not speaking to, or advertising your services to the right kind of audience. You have a Sales Mastermind course and you are pitching it to a Launderette. You make the best hovercrafts in the world and you trying to sell it to people who live 200 miles away from the sea.

Consider; creating that clear customer profile, then focussing your marketing spend on just advertising your business to them. Be brave enough to realise that you don’t need to target the 5 million businesses in the UK, but instead, you need to focus on those businesses who have a Sales Director (so are big enough to afford your services). If you have £3,000 advertising budget, instead of spreading it to be visible to 5 million business, invest it clearly on those 50 businesses who are in the travel industry and operate near the sea.

NA Consulting work with businesses who want to increase their turnover by increasing their sales conversion rates as well as retaining the customers they already have on their books.

For information about our Products and Services, visit www.NAConsulting.co.uk

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