Nicholas Bate

WOM accelerators

Undoubtedly, the best way to boost business is through great word-of mouth. This will happen naturally over time if your product and/or service is good. Can you accelerate the process?

Yes:
ask people to do more word-of-mouth ('please tell your friends').
ask people for real references from real people. Publish these references.
remind people who you would like them to tell (the IT director? their girlfriend?).
make it easy for them: give them a simple story ('it really is the best pizza-dedicated Italian restaurant in California').
go-back to the originators of word-of-mouth and thank them.

Back to Business...

Here in the UK, the 'Back to School' signs in shops have been up for weeks; various retailers waste no time in convincing you NOW is the time to get a new protracter, football socks and a new school tie. Of course, those of us in business can't relax either as the new term looms:

Back to Business

Top Technology
Are you doing all you can in this area to make your life as easy as possible? And do remember easy and ready access to e-mail does not necessarily make life easier. Perhaps be radical and ditch some technology? Finally technology is generally relatively so cheap that if your employer won't pay: get it yourself. If it helps work/life balance it's worth it many, many times over.

Looking Good?
Maybe it's time for a new suit? A proper overcoat? Unfortunately many do judge by appearances. Dress as you wish to be perceived. I know you can get away with jeans.......Take a fresh look at your appearance for the new term.

What's on the syllabus?
The great thing about being in business as opposed to school or college is that you don't have to work their tedious syllabus: you can make up your own. You do have one don't you? Otherwise it's a little tricky to pass the exam....

Sorry to mention it....but there is an exam to be passed.
Is every one clear what it is? What's needed for a pass? A distinction? Cool.

Welcome to the new term. (You may like this: How to be Topp)

We are all in the coffee business

Some businesses are

Espresso businesses
Lean, mean and to the point. They are rapid to cause effect. They are no-nonsense businesses. They are not necessarily cheap when considered in terms of hit/time, but they are good value and they don’t waste your time.

You may well want to be an espresso business. But you will need to be good. You can’t hide a bad espresso. Is the crema authentic? Has the cup been pre-warmed? Attention to detail is critical. Especially as espresso drinkers know what they want.

Latte businesses
Of course you could be a latté business. Not quite so powerful in one go as an espresso business, but the effect is there and it’s a little gentler on the stomach. It’s good value. And most people trust a latte; they’ve had one before and they will have one again. Unlike an espresso, it’s more difficult to make a bad latte.

Cappuchino businesses
This business certainly looks good: flowers in reception area and expensive furniture. First taste is great. Afterwards though you are sometime unsure as to whether you made the right choice: it all went so quickly. But funnily enough people will want you again, because of that very effect

Mocha businesses
Only trouble is do your customers know what they really want? Will they be loyal? And do you know what you are trying to provide? You’ll probably always be a smaller share of the market. But that’s OK because your margin is surprisingly high if you get it right.

Frappuchino businesses
You are cool, there is no doubt about that. Flexible. An amazing array of flavours. But a little seasonal and sometime slow to deliver. And quality control can go wrong. It’s a high risk business you have decide to run, but when you are on a roll, the margin is delirious.

It’s best to know what business you are in. It’s no longer coffee; black or white, sugar or not (except, that is, in one or two Northern England seaside towns, and don’t we love Scarborough?).

Know your market segment. Love your market segment.

Time for a coffee?

Beyond the carrot and the stick: the torch

Leadership is more than the carrot. There's rarely a carrot big enough to get the best behaviour out of people. And if there is, those amazing bonuses soon wear off. And the stick? Well, nobody seriously thinks frightened, anxious people give of their best.

No, great leadership is much more about clear direction, hope. It's about clarity of purpose. It's about answering the question: "Where on Earth are we heading?".

Great leadership is about carrying the torch.

Who's carrying the torch in your organisation? And what's it revealing?

Me Inc.

"We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today is to be head marketeer for the brand called you"

Tom Peters

Blogging

I get a lot of questions about the business of blogging. A good summary of best-case thinking on what it is, why you should do it...comes from Kathy Sierra. She has a fantastic blog which should be standard reading if you are serious about the subject and she has a nice down-loadable pdf on the 7 virtues of blogging.

Read and digest!

Small is Beautiful

Small is the New Big. Clients increasingly want immediacy, a feeling of being important...which is why many of them prefer to deal with smaller organisations. So whatever your size of orgainsation, think small. Get close. Make it easy for the client. Give them confidence.

Magic Bullet is a new organisation with this kind of enlightened thinking. We're using them for some important work with a key client. Magic Bullet understands Small is the New Big. They have a simple message: in the field of video, they'll offer outstanding creativity plus bottom-line project management. Check them out!

The Weekly Tutorial: the telephone cold call

Tutorial day 4 of 4: do the necessary follow-up actions e.g. writing a confirmatory e-mail. And ask yourself: what could I do better next time? Remember:
• Plan it. Do it. Review it.
• Politeness + Persistence.
• Expect resistance: anticipate and plan for it.
• Your goal is the meeting.

For a structured approach on the consultative selling process, contact Nicholas Bate on [email protected] for details of his new sales book: RainMaker.
Check in for forthcoming tutorials:
Each week, Monday to Thursday at 0800. Coming up in October:

w/c 2 October: Presenting Unplugged. How to present without PowerPoint.
w/c 9 October: Study Skills revised for your MBA. How to take great notes and learn and remember more.
w/c 16 October: How to get the job/career you want. How to approach/search proactively.
w/c 23 October: Start-up! How to start a small, premium consultancy.
w/c 30 October: Brain Development. How to think smarter and more creatively.

The Weekly Tutorial: the telephone cold call

Tutorial day 3 of 4: Making the call:
1. Introduce yourself: name + company. Do this at a steady pace: do not rush which reveals anxiety and low confidence.
2. Move quickly to ask an open exploratory question linked specifically to their business. Open is encouraging them to talk. Question is getting them talking. Exploratory is adult to adult. Thus…and I was wondering how you are addressing that issue?
3. Shut up and handle the resistance. Expect it, and deal with it professionally. Thus when they say ‘I simply don’t have time’, you say ‘I wouldn’t necessarily have expected you to do so now, that’s’ why I would like to set up a meeting…’
4. Close on the meeting: time and date.

Weekly Tutorial: the telephone cold call

Tutorial day 2 of 4. Plan the call. What will you say? How are they likely to respond? What is your value proposition? Why should they be willing to listen to you? What resistance are they likely to present? As you plan, remember your focus is to get a meeting. That is what you are selling. Thus you will NOT say, I want to come and talk to you about our company’s new cost reduction processes, but you might say, I noticed in the FT that you are currently going through a re-organisation in order to lower your cost base. I’d love to come and talk about how we might be able to contribute to that by showing some case studies.