Apr 11, 2014 | Change, Collaboration, Innovation, Small business
courtesy respectserendipity.com
At first sight, “Organised” and “Serendipity” are at opposite ends of the scale, almost mutually exclusive.
Serendipity occurs by chance, when the stars align, the unexpected happens and not by any organised process, or so we are led to believe. Organisation by contrast removes by its nature the chance occurrences, random relationships, and inconsistency that make serendipity possible.
As collaboration increases and we recognise and seek to harness the intellectual capital of individuals by what is often called loose/tight management, the opportunity for serendipity increases, simply because the processes that run our lives are looser, more inclusive rather than exclusive. The use of technology to facilitate collaboration and recording process has increased the opportunity for those serendipitous moments and insights that just used to occur at the water cooler, and in the lunch room.
It follow then that setting out to organise in such a way that the chances of serendipity are enhanced is both logical and indeed, is a competitive necessity. It is after all where the insights that lead to innovation and its rewards are born.
Are you organised for it?
Apr 7, 2014 | Personal Rant, Small business
The joint is in a mess.
Every time you look at the news, there is another “revelation” of dodgy morality, insider dealings, political duck-shoving and just plain corruption.
Greed has become the magnet in our moral compass, and to compete, we are all tempted to cut a corner here, increase a claim there, and in the process join the race to the bottom.
Engaging in a number of forums of SME’s over the last few weeks, it has become evident to me that the cynicism of small business owners is at an all time high, and their contempt for those who pull the levers of power never higher.
Small business (1-19 employees) is the neglected powerhouse of the economy, generating 47% of jobs, and 36% of industry value add, and are heavily concentrated in the service industries where the growth is occurring. This is just another way of saying important.
These people, who together probably lift the average hours worked in the economy 25%, and who are way more productive than most, are becoming wary of trusting our institutions, are minimising the people they employ, and the degree to which they engage. Over time their confidence is being eroded, their trust being withheld.
The long term impact is that investment, innovation, and ultimately our economic well-being is compromised.
As far as I am concerned, those convicted of offenses should be thrown into the slammer, and their assets taken, but they are the sideshow to the slow erosion in the character of our economic fabric. They just provide the evidence that all the bad stuff that the owners of SME’s believe every time they set out to engage with a local council to get a DA, have to fill in another senseless form, or suffer the invasion of someone checking that they are doing the “right thing” is really happening. They wonder at the volume of corruption and hubris that is remaining hidden, when they are getting their regular dose of Obeid and Thompson et al from both sides of politics on public display.
The public display of corruption is just a sideshow, the small fraction of the smelly deals that get done that becomes public, but just imagine how productive we would be if the stench of this sideshow was removed, and confidence and trust rebuilt.
Mar 25, 2014 | Customers, Leadership, Sales, Small business
Many years ago, pre-digital, I gave time to a sales rep who rang up and promised to bring in some samples of brand new products from Europe that had changed the dynamics of the market segments they were in. I presumed that all contained the stuff he sold, but the pitch was persuasive.
The upshot was that he brought in some examples that were at best mundane, that I had seen before, were not innovative in any way, and that I was not interested in hearing about. Then I had to be rude to get rid of him and his lying pitch, but was further subjected to a stream calls, letters, offers, and promises from him and his superiors that “spoke ” to me as if I was a red hot prospect, desperate to throw myself at their shitty product.
He wasted my time, misled me, and then continued to irritate by trying to waste more of my time and presumed a relationship that did not exist, and that I would not have, and I have never forgotten the lesson.
Don’t waste peoples time!
The older I get, the more intolerant I seem to get when someone consumes that most valuable of all our resources, time, and I was pretty “bolshie” 25 years ago when this happened.
Whilst today everything moves so much faster than before, our time is if anything more valuable, but the presumption of those who want our attention seems to be that we all have plenty to share and usually waste.
One of the most effective sales people I have ever seen made appointments for 10 minutes each. He promised not to take more than the 10, and to deliver something of value while he was there, and he always did. No coffee, no chat about last nights football, straight to the point in 10 minutes or less, and any more time spent was entirely at the discretion of the appointee, he was always ready to leave, having delivered his pitch.
He valued peoples time and attention, so he got more of it.
Are you asking your people to waste not just their time, but that of those with whom they are paid to interact?
Mar 20, 2014 | Governance, Management, Small business
Cash flow is the lifeblood of every business, from the one person micro business working out of their garage, to the largest multinational. To call it “Lifeblood” sounds like a cliché, but the thing about clichés is that generally they are true.
Working as I do with small businesses, cash is a priority, and whilst I concentrate on the strategies and marketing planning and implementation, there is no point going there unless the cash flow is robust, or in the case of start-ups, has been sufficiently considered to offer confidence.
Unfortunately, the owner/managers of most SME’s are lousy at cash flow management.
Amongst the first questions I ask after engagement, and quite often before , are:
- How do you manage your cash flow? and,
- Can I see your debtors reports?
In response to the first, I am looking for:
- The management routines, preferably daily, but at least weekly review of cash and its management, with forecasts, action points and outcomes recorded.
- A calendar that identifies the timing of expenses and expected revenue. I also want to be assured that the calendar is a part of the review process, not something wheeled out once a year during the budgeting process.
- A rigorous process of following up debtors. You do not have to be aggressive, rude, or inconsiderate of the debtors position, but it needs to be regular, informed, and be a key part of the CEO’s management agenda. It should include escalation points that reflect trading terms, after which increased pressure is applied to debtors. This may vary with the customer, for example chain supermarkets routinely do not pay inside 60 days, but generally, once a debt goes beyond about 75 days, experience tells me that they become very hard to collect without cost and significant effort.
- Clear, simple, and up to date Trading Terms that are articulated and applied consistently.
- Immediate and clear follow up processes to manage customer discounts and claims, particularly where cooperative promotional activity is present or where there is an imbalance of relationship power, as there is with chain supermarkets.
In response to the second, I like to see the debtors report, clearly broken into appropriate categories, logically, 30, 60, and 90 days, pulled off the top of the desk, or out of the “favourites” list indicating that they are a document in constant use, updated and maintained.
Cash is too important to the left to the accountants to manage alone, it needs to be a key priority for the boss, that way, everyone else knows it is important.
Mar 19, 2014 | Marketing, Small business, Social Media
Who in business does not carry a business card of some sort, from the standard 9 X 5 bit of cardboard to the “it” thing of a USB with a resume, and published material as well as contact details on it?
It used to be that having a business card was just a cost of being in business, just like an office, some furniture, a phone line, the sign over the door, and so on.
There is a new one, the cost of an online presence.
Like all things, some do it better than others, make it really work for them, but if you want to be in business in the 21st century, you have the entry cost of a digital presence just to keep the doors open.
At the basic level, an online presence, a website, twitter account, facebook page is a it like the old business card, it is the first reference point people have for you, but they are not much more, and can be counterproductive if not done with a reasonable level of professionalism.
Two thirds of Australian SME’s that do have a “presence” take a DIY route, using family, friends, or the office intern to create and manage their digital presence, with the attendant problems, but almost half still do not have any presence at all. None! Nada! How can that be in 2014?
There are increasingly widely available the tools to make it relatively cheap and easy for SME’s to have a web presence, the starting point of successful marketing. Services like those provided by my old” tech-head” mates at Imagehaven, who as a part of their service menu, offer a great entry level service backed up by deep technical knowledge.
Would you go to a network meeting without a business card?
Mar 5, 2014 | Marketing, Small business, Social Media
Recently I have been talking to SME’s about their engagement with digital tools, and getting some pretty disturbing responses.
Many when asked will say they are engaged, because their phone is connected to google maps so they can find their way home at 3am. Not setting out to mislead me asking the question, it is just that they do not know what they do not know.
Several pieces of research around suggest that around 40% of Australian SME’s do not have a website, and a large proportion of those who do are not using them as much beyond an electronic brochure. The “last updated” box is the giveaway, even if from the content it is obvious.
At the other end of the scale, there are a few who have just so much data and options at their disposal, and often so much conflicting advice coming in, that they are paralysed with indecision.
Somewhere along the line I recall a comment, probably by Avinash Kaushik where he said something like “given me an extra hundred dollars to spend any way I like on data, and I would choose to spend $10 on the data, the other $90 on people who could understand and use it”.
Sorting the quality insights and ideas from the tsunami of stuff coming at us is the marketing challenge of the century. Automating it is only half the task, the GIGO effect takes over very quickly, you have to really understand it.
For the beginners at this stuff I advise just two measures:
- Bounce rate,
- Conversion rate.
All the other metrics that you can develop and that are now freely available can be hugely valuable, but knowing these two is a bit like knowing where the brakes and accelerator are in your car, essential for productive progress.
Quality of visitors beats quantity every time, and these two measures together give you that insight.
