Recipe for success in 2015

2015 is upon us, so you are probably thinking about what to do to make your business more successful in 2015. If you liken your business to a great meal, you will need to get all the right ingredients together and then mix together using an effective recipe. For a well risen business, you’ll need: Your own unique recipe ingredients in a small plan Large spoon fulls of talented people 1 leader, zested A small quantity of well ground new ideas Small number of processes, well trimmed Plain or self raising finance (as needed) Well seasoned managers Customers to taste Business recipe method: Prepare your plan, checking that sufficient unique ingredients are identified and available Mix together spoonfulls of people and well ground ideas, adding a spoonful at a time until well mixed Chop your processes until small. Select only those that are fresh and fold carefully into the people mixture. Make sure your leader is well zested, and add to the mixture. Watch out for curdling – where the people and leader mixtures...
Read More

Small business marketing strategy

Here's a short story about small business marketing strategy... David (not his real name) was a client of mine, a few years ago. He was a left brain thinker. An engineer by training, he liked a structured approach, logical steps and processes. He worked endlessly on his marketing plan and talked about the detailed elements of his website and promotional mix. He was never in a rush and preferred to think everything through carefully. Stephanie (not her real name) was another client. She was chaotic to work with, never wrote anything down and was always moving onto the next great thing in marketing. She didn't like plans and used to say to me: "What's the point of plans? They never work out anyway and they take so much time. Let's get out there and DO SOMETHING!" Stephanie liked to talk about the 'big picture'. She felt that the greater the number of playing cards you throw up in the air, the greater...
Read More