How to be aware of and avoid telemarketing calls

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Beware. A viral email (see below) is currently in circulation which contains incorrect information.

‘This is for Australian phone numbers.

REMEMBER: mobile phone numbers go public next month.

REMINDER…all mobile phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.

You will be charged for these calls.

Below is a link where you can enter your phone numbers online to put an end to telemarketing calls. Don’t just delete those calls otherwise you will find that you have been signed up for all sorts of extra services that you didn’t want or know about. Like special chimes, music etc.’

Here is what you can do in spite of this to avoid telemarketing calls

The ‘do not call’ register can list your home, personal mobile or fax number to reduce telemarketing.

There is no specified time or date for mobile phones to be ‘released’ to telemarketers, but if it is of concern that you are contacted then it is a good idea to register at https://www.donotcall.gov.au/index.cfm.

Once you are registered and on the list – telemarketers and fax marketers must not contact you.

However charities, research companies, political parties and educational institutions still can.

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May Tip – Customer Service

If you were a client would you be happy with the customer service your business provides?  Do you operate on time and do what you say you will?

Do you give an opportunity for clients to provide feedback?

Take a look at what you offer and spend this month improving it.

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April Tip – Spotlight on Systems

Does your office support you?

Do your systems work?  Give them an overview this month and get them Sorted.

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March Tip – Dabble in your database

Update your database with contact details received over the festive season – returned cards, rejected email addresses.  Do it Now whilst it is still fresh.

Make sure you do it and back it up both on and off site.  Have you followed up all the leads generated last month?

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January Tip – Failure to plan is planning to fail

The month to get your Business Plan, Budgets and Marketing Plan Sorted.

Review and update.  Have fun setting new goals and challenges for the next 6 to 12 months and look at your long term goals.

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Succession Planning

Definition of Succession = A number of similar events or people that happen, exist, etc. after each other

The key word in the above definition is ‘similar’.  Small businesses are typically built around the creator or business owner.  They do what they do and hopefully they do it well.

The key question for a business owner to ask themselves is ‘what do I want from my business?’  If the answer includes lifestyle and growth then I believe it is vital to have a succession plan.

I visited my fantastic butcher, as I do every week, and asked him how his summer break was.  He took the public holidays off and told me that he can’t go on holiday as there is no one to run the business when he is away.

Does your future as a business owner look like this?  It might work for some people but I am assuming that for most it wouldn’t.

So how do you plan for taking time off?  With my passion for being organised it is easy to guess my answer!

The first step is to make sure that your business is financially viable.  I have been working with clients and their accountants recently to put together simple but effective budgets. This makes sure that your business can actually afford to support your chosen lifestyle.  In your budget you need to include provision to pay someone whilst you are away PLUS have enough to pay for the trip (and treats!) and your normal overheads.

When you are confident that financially you can leave the business the second step is to make sure it can run without you.  Putting simple but effective systems in place and recruiting the right people to operate them will lead to FREEDOM!

To do this I recommend you take a step back from the day to day running of the business and understand the roles and responsibilities required to successfully run it.  Review what works and what doesn’t work.  Look at the business in terms of roles and not people.  Put it to the test – take a day off and see what happens.  You might be pleasantly surprised to find that your business actually runs better with you out of the way!!

This is the process that I love supporting clients through so they can live their dream lifestyle, spend more time with family, friends or just on themselves!

Top Tip - What could you be doing NOW if your business was running without you? Failing to plan is planning to fail!

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February Tip – Are you ‘Out There’ in your target market?

Get your marketing Sorted this month.

Create opportunities, follow up leads, build relationships, renew your marketing tools/material, update your website.  Take a look at your business from an outside perspective and give it an overhaul.

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Malcolm Gladwell on the Secret to Greatness

An interesting article by Malcolm Gladwell – author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers which I have read.  I find his approach to looking at trends and why people do things very refreshing.  This is the transcript from a video – you can click the video link or read below…..enjoy.

It’s an idea that says that when you put forth effort, you get reward. When

you throw your heart and mind and soul into something, you get something

back. Now, in my book I call the notion, that belief, that effort brings

rewarding meaningful work. And when you look at the lives of people who are

really successful, what you see over and over again is this idea of

meaningful work is imbedded in their consciousness. You know, I tell the

story of the book of the Beatles. Everybody knows about the Beatles. They

came here in 1964 and the British Invasion. The most interesting thing about

the Beatles is what happened to them before they came to America. In 1960,

1959 when they were just kids, they went — they were invited to go to

Hamburg, in Germany, to be the house band at a strip club. And they went

there, and they stayed there for months on end. And seven days a week, they

played eight-hour sets night after night in this strip club, right? And over

the course of that extraordinary crucible, that experience of playing, they

taught themselves how to be a great band, right? In fact, we know — we

think now, that by the time the Beatles came to America, they had played

together as a live band 1200 times. We could go to all of the clubs on

Friday night in San Francisco where all the promising, young bands are

playing, and I submit to you, you would not find a single band that has

played together 1200 times, right? It just doesn’t happen. So what made the

Beatles special? What made them special is that they were willing to play

together 1200 times, willing to play eight-hour sets, seven nights a week,

for months at a stretch. And why were they willing? Because they believed in

the notion of meaningful work. They had an opportunity to throw their heart

and mind into something and get some back. And that made all the difference

in the world. You know, I also — I interviewed Bill Gates for my book, and

I was — because I was really curious about what happened to him as a kid

because, you know, he has — as any of you will know — he has this

extraordinary experience as a 13-year old. In 1969, he goes to his school in

eighth grade, and they have a Teletype machine hooked into a mainframe,

which allows him to do real-time programming at the age of 13 in 1969. Those

of you who know your computer history will know that nobody was doing

real-time programming in 1969, let alone 13-year olds, right? If you had

access to a computer at all, you were using those — remember those clumsy

old computer cards, which meant you could do one run every, you know,

whatever it was, three days. He was doing the real thing from the age of 13

on. And how did he respond to that opportunity? He threw his heart and mind

into it. He never left that room, right? He ran up computer bills like you

would not believe because remember computer time was incredibly expensive

then. He told me a story that he — when he was in 11th grade, Paul Allen,

who was his classmate, right, found out that there was a mainframe in the

health center at the University of Washington that was free, wasn’t being

used between 2 AM and 6 AM on weekday mornings. And so he would go to bed

at, like, 10:00. Pretend to his parents was getting an early night. And set

his alarm clock for 1:30. Sneak out, you know, sneak out the window. Walk

two miles to the University of Washington in pitch black, and program from

two until six, right? In fact, he told me one of the reasons he gives so

much to the University of Washington now is he feels guilty about stealing

so much computer time from them. The other hilarious thing is his mother,

years later, said, you know, when she heard that story for the first time,

she was like, “You know, we always wondered why it was so hard to get him

out of bed in the morning.” Now, why does he do that? Why does he go to some

extraordinary — those extraordinary lengths? Because he has the right

attitude, right? He was able to capitalize on his ability, not because he’s

some genius, or — you know, I think he’s really, really smart. Is he

Einstein? I don’t know. That’s not what sets him apart. What sets him apart

is that he had a belief in meaningful work. He was willing to throw his

heart and mind into something because he knew he’d get something back. And

that attitude is what allowed him to develop his abilities in the way that

he did.

Here is the link to the video of the article – bnet also has some great articles for small business owners. http://www.bnet.com/videos/malcolm-gladwell-meaningful-work-through-passion-not-genius/246904

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Valuing Time

I have spent a wonderful weekend being inspired to consider how my choices influence the world I live in.  For years my training has focussed on the ability to make choices that support the best use of time so it felt natural to replace ‘time’ with ‘nature”.

I invite you to consider these questions.

What do you value in life – friends, family, good food, fun, sport, being healthy.  Do the choices you make in your life now put these things first?

Do you think being healthy is important?  How do you treat your body, do you eat fresh fruit and vegetables and other recommended healthy foods?  How often do you work out? Are you as fit as you would like to be?

How about at work.  Do you put your values first?  Do you encourage healthy practices for you and your team?  Are there chocolates or fruit for your staff, water or soft drinks.  Is using public transport or car pooling encouraged?

We all know that time is precious and this is often used as an excuse to not take action in areas of our lives – ‘I am too busy to walk to work, ride my bike, take the bus, spend quality time with my family’.

My role with some of my current clients is on clarifying what they value and supporting them to organise themselves and their businesses to make sure it remains firmly in view.  From goal setting to budgets and operational systems they should all work to support each other to achieve the same direction.

Now is a great time to take stock of you, your business and your life.  Set some SMART goals, confirm where you are heading, make sure your values are the key drivers and I strongly suggest you include considering your impact on the environment.

Take action now before medical advice, loss of a family member or failure of your business forces you to change your choices.

Top Tip = Take action now to make sure you put your values first – don’t wait for a crisis to motivate you.

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Being Profitable

An organised business is more productive and therefore more profitable than one that operates in chaos.

Simple but effective reporting systems identify changes in productivity and profitability levels.  A global report recently exposed that Australian businesses are 50% behind the productivity of their international counterparts.  Regular and accurate reporting keeps a business owner or manager informed.  How long do you think it takes the owner of a McDonald’s restaurant to know that their sales have dropped off or a member of their team is not ‘up selling’ effectively?

Have a look at your business – how long would it take you to be informed of changes in productivity and profitability.  If you are a sole trader it can be easy to monitor your productivity as there is only one of you – at a glance you can see if the diary is full or check on the shop takings.  How about profitability though?  Of the jobs that you carried out this week how much profit did you make on each one?  When you consider the time that you spend lining up appointments, invoicing clients, processing paperwork etc your hourly rate and profit shrinks!

The most profitable of my clients receive reports on their business performance at least on a monthly basis.  This provides them with the tools to manage external and internal influences and their impact on profit and productivity.

Consider what information you need to manage your productivity and profitability.  Each business is different and that is why customised systems are most beneficial.

Once you are aware of the profitability and productivity of your business have a look at how you can increase both.   Wastage and mistakes can be minimised through training and providing staff with clear ‘How To’ manuals.  When you know how to deliver your product/service profitably provide your team with the tools to do it again and again and watch the profits roll in!

Clear areas of responsibility, job descriptions, targets and key performance indicators all lead to creating a business that is structured to make profit.  Many small to medium businesses grow without putting this framework in place – hence the large failure statistics.

I invite you to spend the next 2 weeks looking at your profit and productivity.  How do you track and report and how can you increase both?

Keep it simple and remember my motto “Organise Don’t Agonise”!!

Tip

Is profit just money? What else can your business create?  Lifestyles for you and your team, supporting charity etc. Build these areas and your profit will grow too.

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