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Stop them stealing your customers – a 2-in-1 strategy

May 21, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

In tough or uncertain times, like now, then its quite normal for businesses to get predatory on their competitors. They do this by attempting to lure the competitors’ customers says Malcolm Gallagher of Bizvision.co.uk

The key question is what are you doing to keep your competitors out of your best customers?

And a second question could be what are you doing to attract the customer of your competitors?

Coming up is a 2 in 1 strategy you can use to answer both questions

First, let’s address keeping your customers out of the hands of your competitors.

Sometimes the loss of a customer comes with a great shock. You may have a great and long track record with them, you may excellent customer service ratings from them, and you may have felt secure in your relationship.

And then suddenly they sign with a competitor. Worse still it may be a competitor you have not seen before or one who cannot offer the depth of service and expertise that you do. You’ve been blind-sided.

However, you shouldn’t be surprised that it happens!!

Long term relationships usually breed some form complacency. Too much familiarity for example, or not spending enough time connecting across your customer and its people is another.

That’s your “failure” reasons but you also need to consider the cunning or strategic approach by competitors.

One of the ways I coach people to steal customers from competitors is to develop an outflanking strategy.

Often you CANNOT steal a competitor’s customer in straightforward like-for-like situation. So you need to become a game changer.

For example, you may like to help your target prospect evaluate how they buy your type of goods or services. You can do this effectively, informatively and persuasively with white papers or articles or videos or blog until you can get to make a meeting and presentation. Of course, you always insert into such material the criteria that play to your strength!

Aim to change the focus of your discussion away from what has been the traditional approach to their buying whatever it is you make or offer. Look carefully at the validity from a buyer’s perspective of your Value Proposition ( you do know it don’t you?), how they “see” your offer and its ROI for them.

Now you need to do something that most businesses will not. Most will run away from doing this which is great for you provided you are not a runner also!

The best way to stop your competitors being stolen is to think NEGATIVELY. Yes, I did say think negatively, half-empty, gloom-mongering whatever you want to call it!

It’s about deep diving into what could go wrong.

I coach people to first assume the role of their competitors and then to plan an attack on their own customer base!

It’s not easy to do this as you are likely to get all defensive but surely it’s better than losing customers?

Do an honest SWOT analysis. You know Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT is an oldie but goldie tool. Remember you are deep diving into negativity so truly critique yourselves against your competitors.

Oh, by the way, you do know your competitors don’t you and you do know their strengths and weaknesses? If not you better get started. Build a “Comp Set” of your top 5 competitors along with an analysis matrix. (mail me if you want a simple spreadsheet one )

Now get yourself and your team into a “blue sky” session to think about how, as one of your competitors, you’d steal one or more of your customers away. Here are some prompts for your thinking session:

What could your competitor say that may cause concern or doubt about your company?
How could your competitor show or highlight your weaknesses?
How could you be different or game-change so you wouldn’t have to compete head on?
What could your competitors do to sneak in so you don’t spot them?
Who else at your customer might get involved in the decision to select your competitor?

It can be a really enjoyable exercise if you get your team really involved. Over the years I’ve facilitated many a session for clients and I’m now not surprised what arises! Your people will love the opportunity to have their say. But don’t do it, or lead it yourself if you are not prepared to have an open session, to genuinely deep-dive and to fully explore your dangers.

Once you are clear about your, let’s call them vulnerabilities, it’s time to develop strategies and action plans to do something about them. Over to you!

Now for part 2 of this 2 in 1 strategic approach.

So far I have helped you prevent the loss of customers. Now you can “reverse engineer” my approach to create a strategy of stealing your competitors’ customers. Think about it!

Remember in tough and uncertain times your competitors will want to steal your customers. Don’t be soft. Toughen up and don’t let them. Go for theirs!

Start connecting to deliver results

April 18, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

Connecting better than Networking, says Malcolm Gallagher

Do you want bigger and better customers? Do you want to get into bigger companies? Is your networking NOT working? Connecting can be your answer. It’s much more effective than plain old networking! Start connecting to deliver results. Here’s how!

This is one of my short, incisive SpotLearn from BizVision tips.

Use the format in the image below (right click to copy the image and make into your own template) then you can commence connecting to get to where you want to go. (There are two goals here, A&B).

Start with your 3 years ahead vision and then work backward listing the who and what you need to connect for you to reach your goals.

Or you can vary it by reducing the time.

The KEY is to picture the goal, the business person you want to connect with and work backward from there.

Banish Gloom with my No Problems Only Opportunities mantra

March 30, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

Hello from the BizVision Sales Shed. I’m Malcolm Gallagher and I’m feeling positive and optimistic.

I’ve been taking my Brexit Gloom Buster Tablets twice daily and they are working! For example, this last week I developed thrive strategies for 5 businesses I met, mostly in food and drink, developed a win contracts strategy for another, come out with an exciting new brand initiative for us and have initiated a programme for SMEs to access the African market. All in a week……!

I’ve managed to do that, and motivate the businesses involved because I have long been practising what I call “beyond half-full”. I have a mantra of No Problems Only Opportunities and I’ve bored people for years with it!

But it’s true and works!

For instance, research just published by Aberdeen and PJA Marketing clearly shows that buyers actually reach out to vendors or suppliers at the beginning of the buying process.

What’s more, buyers are especially willing to speak to suppliers early in the buying process IF the supplier can actually help them make a buying decision.

Far too many businesses have salespeople who are not making the prospect contact and are coming up with the weak excuse nobody is buying because of “Brexit”. Now, I can understand that excuse existing when you are besieged daily with Brexit gloom. But somewhere the sky is blue. And that’s where I prefer to fly. How about you?

A great answer to finding the blue sky is in my recent interview with Charlotte Foster (see it in Sales Shed TV ) in which she talks about the real need to communicate even more in these challenging or uncertain times. Keep existing and potential customers updated with positive news and great ideas.

One other thing that I’d add is the need to firm up on the communication of your difference from your competitors. Don’t let yourself, or your team, fall into the “similar” trap. As Dr. Jonas Ridderstråle in Funky Business said too many similar businesses, offering similar things, to similar people… you get the idea. Maximise your difference.

With the businesses I work with, I usually go straight in on this at the beginning and ask where they are different. It usually needs a lot of probing to get the answer. Most are too busy getting on with the business that they have forgotten their differentiation which usually means they are missing opportunities.

This last week I also did something I hate doing and have avoided for the past number of years by hiding behind the web and email. I actually went cold calling and I got two new customers! It was hard to do at first, (it’s years since I did it) but then I felt elated after the first call said yes to my proposal. That made me confident for the second one which also proved to be successful. High fives all round!

And, on top of that, I succeeded in getting two other clients, with whom we had been communicating by email but were wavering, fully on board through a face to face visit.

Watch out world next week – I’m planning more personal visits!

What about you- are you still hiding behind the web or are you getting out?

I had to laugh at one web company who were trying to prospect, or sell to me, the other day. They invited me to travel to their place for a coffee and a chat!

It doesn’t work that way does it?!

So many businesses have been seduced by IT slick-talk into thinking that the web can do it all for them. That’s not true and I’ve been walking the walk myself to prove it. The old adage that people buy from people they know like and trust is so important at this time. It’s not just important for surviving but, I believe, vital for thriving.

Don’t get me wrong the web has an important to play in lead generation, customer confidence and service but don’t let your salespeople , or even yourself if you are the salesperson, believe that nobody is buying because of Brexit.

I’m quite excited about the African trading initiative, the new channels for my distillery client, the development with another client of their new home delivered freshly prepared food pack, the new heritage range with my Ceramic artist client around Mayflower 400 which is about the fact that in 2020 it’s 400 years since the Mayflower – think of the American market opportunities around that! Oh, and have I told you about the many Indian companies talking to us about accessing the UK market…. See there are no problems only opportunities. I’ll repeat don’t let your sales team, marketing people or anyone else tell you that “nobody is buying because of Brexit”. There’s a big world out there beyond Brexit and the EU. Tell yourself you are going truffle hunting to sniff out opportunity or reach for the blue sky (select your own analogy!).

3 steps to great decision making

June 21, 2018 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

You want to make the right quality and timely decisions. You can’t afford to wait and see. So your decisions need to have velocity alongside quality.

I was intrigued to read recently that the Consultants, McKinsey, said that businesses who make decisions well use 3 ingredients. How are you performing in all of the following 3?

McKinsey found first of all that winners use SPEED as part of their process. Those winners will often make a decision with just 80% of the necessary information rather than waiting for it all and possibly lose out to a competitor.

Its sensible here, as the business leader, to identify what decisions ONLY YOU can make and delegate the rest. Make sure your decision process allows you to move good ideas forward quickly.

The second ingredient of decision winners, says McKinsey, is that they favour interaction amongst themselves over the process of deep analysis. Good interaction sparks off great ideas and it also has the extra benefit of heading off biases with the result that everyone is in tune together.

And the third ingredient is to what they call “Choreograph the decision process”. Hey, if you have been to a stage show or even watched Strictly Come Dancing you know how effective and impressive good choreography can be. Without choreography, your decision making could become turgid with countless reviews and approvals. Craft it so the decision process is made in one place.

So that’s a brief look at a key soft skill of decision making. Sharpen your process now and you’ll be more fit to compete for any business opportunity. Are you using all 3 steps?

Ready for business growth? 6 key questions

June 20, 2018 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

Ask yourself these 6 key questions to see if your timing is right for growth

says, Malcolm Gallagher of BizVision,

A key question at the moment should be “Is your business ready to grow”? Irrespective of what is happening in the bigger “Brexit” picture at the moment. In growth, timing is crucial.

You need to decide if your business is in what I call a sensible position to journey on a growth strategy. To help you make this decision, coming up are just 6 deep dive questions to ask yourself.

How is your business performing against your budget in sales, and costs? I hope you are using some key ratios here. If not then email me mg@bizvision.co.uk and I’ll send you the top 3 ratios for small businesses
Thinking of your available resources, how is your business using those resources to generate profit? Or is it not? Sometimes resources such as assets are bought and they lie unused or underutilised. Also, have you sold off old equipment (say on eBay)) – a few pounds is better than nothing
Is your market sector expanding or contracting? Or where is it changing? We have seen horror stories about retailers recently and problems about construction businesses. But these changes usually mean there is opportunity elsewhere. Are you missing it? Is your radar working to seek out opportunities?
How are your competitors behaving? Rationally or not? What are they saying publicly? If you don’t know, you need to start what I call a Comp Set. Take your top 5 competitors and monitor them, benchmark your elf against them, keep a watch for news on their website with RSS feeds or use services such as Mention.com or Talkwalker.com to get a hold of what they are both saying and doing.
Ask yourself the truthful question of how much cash have you got that is readily available to fund growth. Likely it is not enough so you need to go searching for funding. Do it soon not last minute.
How well do you use your working capital? Funders will want to know but you should know this NOW not when you want more money.

Okay, there’s your six key questions to get you truly ready for growth. Armed with the answers you can make your growth decision. Which are the most relevant to you? Have I missed any key ones?

Do you have these 4 core attributes to be a great supplier?

September 5, 2016 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

How do you score on the supplier four?

Over the last few years we’ve had some frenetic activity at The Preferred Supplier with our programmes and presentations, filming of buyers and coaching on tendering. But one thing has arisen a number of times.

I’ve been by asked many what I think are the essential attributes of a great supplier. I’m not talking skills, resources or facilities here but instead the spine or the core that gives form to the selected or differentiated supplier.

My suggestion to you is that the difference lies in the four core areas of CRIC – Committed, Resilient, Innovative and Compliant.

Here’s a brief overview of each of the 4 parts of CRIC. Read through and think how they apply to you and how you score with each of the four.

Committed is about a commitment to continuous improvement and the ability to be evidential about that improvement. Now, wrapped up in this is commitment to quality, commitment to consistency and commitment to customer service. It’s also about “keeping your promise to your customer” such as commitment to delivery on time. Far too many suppliers reckon they are committed to say quality because they have ISO qualification but forget that it is daily living that commitment that sets the excellent apart from the average. You can measure yourself and be evidential in your commitment by asking us about The Preferred Supplier balanced scorecard.

Resilience was something addressed by Nick Edgar, of IP Group who are fund managers, when speaking at our The Preferred Supplier event. Resilience is not totally internal, for example about your financial strength, but also external about resilience within your own supply chain and the market your serve. Start thinking, how strong and reliable are your suppliers because that’s what your customer is likely also thinking if they are to select you?

Innovative is to-day becoming an abused word! My friend, Charles Sellers, is an acclaimed expert on innovation and passionate about the need to start thinking just what is true innovation. When I talk about innovative actions he makes me think if it is truly innovative by asking which of these three things can be said about the innovation. Is it the same as, similar too or different than? I can’t stress how important innovation is in being the preferred supplier but, at the same time, it has to be true innovation.

Compliance is something far too many suppliers hope will go away – but it won’t! A recent CIPS survey showed that 54% of companies expect compliance demands to increase this coming year with only 2% thinking it will decline. But compliance is an all-embracing word. Compliance in what? It differs across company, organisation and sector but don’t ignore the essentials of inclusion, environmental and health and safety.

CRIC is my core four attributes or make-up of a selected or preferred supplier. Have I missed anything truly essential? How do you measure up to the four? Where is your biggest challenge?

How to make your meetings more productive

September 5, 2016 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

7 Change Maker ways to improve meetings

One area where you can make quick and productive change in your organisation, and show your leadership as a Change Maker, is to make your team meetings more effective and productive. Coming up are my suggested 7 steps check-list to help you achieve this.

A few smart changes can result in meetings that get more done more quickly and cause fewer headaches for everyone.

How to be a Meeting Change Maker? Here are 7 practical action steps:

If the meeting has no clear purpose, don’t have it! It’s amazing how many meetings are held because they’ve always been held. The biggest culprits are those “same day, same time” sessions that people have carved into their calendars. For every meeting, try to come up with a compelling statement that describes the purpose, and identify at least one intended outcome. If nothing worthwhile seems to surface, the same will happen during the session.
Take the agenda seriously, but not too seriously. There are times when digressions are worthwhile and when certain issues should move up in priority. It’s a fine call every time, but sometimes that fixed agenda has to go out the window.
Don’t use meetings to rubber-stamp decisions. Often teams come together and try to pretend a group decision when they’ve already “pre-decided” the outcome. If you simply want to communicate information, save everyone’s time and use e-mail.
Strive for meaningful dialogue. When six people are around a meeting table, it’s like having six computers at the ready. In fact, people are far better than computers because they also have hearts. Instead of “leading” the meeting, learn to facilitate the session. Instead of making statements, ask questions. Instead of raising objections, ask more questions.
Be your own constructive critic. Are you talking too much? Are you holding back? Are you listening to understand? What would you say about you if you were sitting across the table from yourself?
Wrap up each meeting with a group evaluation. With everyone contributing, decide what went right during the session, what could’ve gone better, and what should be done differently the next time. Commit to one or two practical improvements.
Cut down on those meeting minutes. An hour-long meeting should yield a page or two of notes at the most, and these should be circulated no more than two days after the meeting. Use them to keep track of major discussion points, decisions, and assignments.

Have you any extra tips to add to the checklist? What works for you? How do you avoid time-wasting meetings?

Spread The Risk – The Change Maker Winter Check-List

August 25, 2016 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

As I write this, there’s glorious sunshine here in Northumberland and I’m about to be asking you to think about planning for Winter!!

However time marches on and before you know it, the snow, ice, rain, floods cold and slush could affect your business. Change Makers plan ahead which is why they are winners. Below you’ll find my 7 part Change Maker check list to help you spread the risk of winter hurting your business.

Watching the TV news of the floods in many parts of the UK (my home city of Carlisle has suffered badly over the last years and my mother has now been flooded 3 times) just think of the disruption to local businesses. And then think of the knock-on effect with power outages, road and rail lines blocked, staff unable to get to work, customers that can’t be contacted.

Now think of the impact of winter on your business -it’s enough to make you shudder with the cold of it!

It needn’t be a disaster for your business.

Work through the winter 7 check list and you should be able to effectively plan to minimise risk by anticipating how bad weather could impact the various areas of your business and its activity.

To-day customers are also asking their suppliers what they are doing about planning for bad weather to ensure continuity of supply and service. This check-list exercise could help you both win and keep and customers – especially if your competitors have taken no action, made no changes!

The Change Maker “watch phrases” that come from the check-list are:

Increase your resilience
Plan for continuity
Make it a team effort

The 7 part Change Makers check list

Don’t wait –plan now

Depending when and where you are reading this, it may already be too late! The TV weather-lady may already be giving you a weather warning! But doing something is better than doing nothing so get on with determining a strategy that will help you protect your business and make it resilient.

Here are your prompts to consider:

What do we do that is essential to keeping our business going? Is there any of that activity we could time-shift or postpone in the vent of bad weather?

What do we need to think about regarding our people? Who are the most vulnerable to weather because of their location, health or other factor? What’s the least amount of people we need to provide our essential services and keep us going?

Are we capable of remote working?

Is there the possibility that, if weather is really bad, your people could work from home or even another base? This doesn’t mean you are going to encourage staff to stay at home but it does mean that you understand and have considered the resources and processes needed for remote working and how it can be both managed and controlled.

Your prompts to consider are:

Are our people equipped to work from home, both in access to technology and also in knowing how to do it and what they will do? Where are our concerns?

What work could our people do from home or take home to do it? Are we putting ourselves at any risk here with documentation leaving the office?

How can we turn working from home into an advantage for us and get good productivity from say them having “away time for planning? Where is our upside?

Are our I.T. systems and processes truly in place so that people can get access to information and also share and work collaboratively?

Customers are key

The way you care for customers and maintain service to them in times of bad weather will form their opinion of you for years to come. Look after them well and they will be loyal – forget about them and they’ll soon forget about you!

This part of the check-list is all about communication with customer s- talking to them in advance about any adverse weather preparations that may be necessary.

Your prompts to consider are:

With which of our customers do we have strict service level agreements (SLA’s) where we could experience severe penalties if we don’t meet standards. What do we need to discuss with them?

How can we use technology to maintain customer service? Have we considered:

A web portal with updated information and also with the ability for customer service calls to be logged and responded to by staff working remotely

Do our key customers have the mobile and home numbers of their key account managers?

How will our customers judge us during this bad weather? How tolerant will they be and how can we WOW them?

Our people are important

It goes without saying that the health and safety of staff should be a prime consideration. But it is essential to set down some ground rules, not because staff may abuse the “bad weather opportunity” but because they may be too diligent and put themselves at unnecessary risk.

Here are some prompts:

Have we communicated to our people what we expect from them during bad weather? Are they clear about our expectations from them? Have we written it down for them?

Have we set up systems so they can sensibly judge if travel is necessary and know how to re-schedule any visit?

Do our people know and have easy access to other members of the team who may be able to make a visit in place of the existing contact?

If they can’t reach a customer, do staff have other work they can do that is productive for the company?

If staff have to travel in bad weather, have we given them guidance on aspects such as adequate winter clothing and back-up elements such as blankets and drinks. Are we truly showing we care?

Have we instructed staff in how to plan changes to routes and allow for longer time. Do they know how to access up to date information such as using the AA site at www.theaa.com

Have we communicated our policy on absence “due to circumstances beyond our control” to our staff so that they know exactly our policy of pay in times of bad weather. Have we considered all aspects of the impact of employment legislation?

Our equipment and premises are fundamental

In tougher times with tighter budgets, it can be easy to overlook essential things such as vehicle or plant servicing. And so just when you need it most comes the let down!

Here are some prompts:

Have all our vehicles had full winter servicing including any necessary changes such as winter tyres?

Have we got adequate power back-up for our systems and places? What will happen if we have a long-term power loss? Have we had our stand-by generators serviced?

Are we happy with our IT back-up systems? Are we making good use of “the cloud” back up which can also help with remote working?

Have we looked at possible winter weather damage to our premises, including flooding and even tree damage?

Have we discussed with our IT team what contingencies may be necessary and ensured that any vital equipment or paperwork is not exposed to risk?

Our suppliers

You only have to consider the impact of the tsunami in Japan in 2011, to realise the impact on a business of a key supplier being unable to deliver. It is therefore sensible to consider your suppliers in your winter planning.

Here are your prompts:

Which of our suppliers are essential to our continuity? What would happen if they were unable to deliver?

Have we got a list of alternative suppliers if our prime suppliers let us down? If we need them in an emergency, how are they likely to deal with us on pricing?

Are we happy with our stock control and that we have sufficient levels of stock to see us through any adverse weather period? How will we monitor those stock levels so that we are not over-buying but also not running out?

Have we protected ourselves

Insurance can often be seen as a grudge purchase and it can be tempting to under-insure. Other governance aspects can also leave the business open to risk.

Have we recently examined our insurance policies and checked the small print to see that we are adequately covered? Are there any areas where we are exposed?

Have we considered how we will meet all governance and compliance issues in the event of bad weather? Statutory bills still need to be paid (e.g. HMRC) along with staff wages.

The way a business responds to bad weather can often be a good indicator as to how well it is managed and how well it is led.

The Winter 7 Check-List is not meant to be comprehensive but instead to prompt your thinking in key areas helping you be a more professional supplier and a resilient business.

How to handle them when they ask for a discount

August 25, 2016 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

With tougher times comes bigger demands from customers for more substantial price reductions. All too often, and out of fear or desperation, suppliers yield and drop their prices. Often to below profitable levels, writes Malcolm Gallagher of BizVision

Here’s how to resist those price cut demands and turn then tables on your customer. Let’s start with how you handle discount requests.

When someone asks you for a discount, what do you do? Do you just give them a discount?

If you give in here’s what happens

If you give in or yield, then your prospect is going to think one of several things:

You seem desperate for the sale.
I wonder how far you will lower your price and maybe I should have asked for an even bigger discount.
The price you originally offered was not the real price. Are you trying to trick me? Can I really trust you?
You don’t set a very high value on your own services and products if you are prepared to discount so quickly.
You agree your price is too high. This is a problem.
Next time I come to buy anything from you, I’ll ask for a discount again – an even bigger one.

Just giving a discount sends the complete wrong message and has a significant impact on whether your prospect trusts you or not.

Plus giving a discount can cost you the sale or get you a sale you regret later.

So what must you do instead of just giving a discount?

Instead of just giving a discount when asked for one, turn the whole conversation around and go for a higher priced sale. I know this is counter intuitive but it is not that hard to do and it works.

Next time you’re asked for a discount, what if you could increase your sale by 10%? What if you could in fact double the price of your sale? What would be the revenue value to you?