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Brexit is not over until it’s over!

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The Brexit Chaos is NOT all over! New BizVisionBrexit Resilience service launched.

You could be excused if you felt relieved with the UK general election results and that all the Brexit chaos was now finished. “Sorry, it’s not over until it’s over” says Brexpert, Malcolm Gallagher of BizVision, “You may need to take Brexit resilience action,” he added

Yes there’s lots of intention to leave the EU by the end of January but there’s lots of impacts to consider such as hard or soft exit, trade agreements, new markets, customer or supplier demise, immigration and employment. Amongst others.

In response to business concerns, BizVision has developed the Brexit Resilience Audit for businesses to help manage the “Beyond Brexit risks and opportunities”

With over 80 episodes of our Get BrexFit podcasts, our BrexFit TV Channel along with writing articles and making presentations, I’ve been immersed in all aspects of Brexit,” continued Malcolm Gallagher,” With this knowledge I’ve created the BrexPulse Scorecard as part of our exclusive Brexit Resilience Audit,” he said further.

BizVision offers a set of options for its Brexit Resilience Audit. Details are at www.bizvision.co.uk/brexit/

Option 1. The One-day Full Brexit Resilience Audit : A complete review of your business activity across the four scorecard perspectives of customers & markets, business & operational management, people & teams. A comprehensive report is one of the outputs from this activity along with the BizVision BrexitPulse Scorecard. The work-flow is usually 1 day pre-plan,  1 day at your premises followed by your scorecard and written report. .Your investment is £1300 plus VAT and agreed expenses.

Option 2. The Half-day Select Brexit Audit: This is a focus on your choice of an element of your business activity such as sales, trading, operations, business or people. The work, at your offices, uses a select template in the BizVision Brexit Pulse Scorecard. You get a ready-to-implement post report. Work-flow is typically 1 days pre-planning, Half-day at your premises followed by report writing.  Your investment is £750 plus VAT and agreed expenses.

Customise The Brexit Resilience Audit

Other and customised options of the exclusive Brexit Resilience Audit are available. To discuss your needs, and to start a conversation about the results you want, please contact Kim Gallagher

Make 2020 Great Action Show announced

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2020 will be here soon. A new decade with new opportunities. It’s time to shake off uncertainty, banish gloom and seize those 2020’s opportunities.

To kickstart your 2020 success, BizVision has announced the launch of a new dynamic series called The Make 2020 Great Action Show. Local hosts for the show are now being sought amongst accountancy and law firms and local business support organisations.

” Over the past 10 years over 70,000 businesses have been to the events at which I’ve presented, so I know what they expect”, says Make 2020 Great creator and presenter, Malcolm Gallagher of BizVision, ” This half-day show is about the 2020’s – a new decade so it is energizing, full of inspiring ideas and highly engaging,” continued Malcolm.

Malcolm said that the multi-media show progresses through 6 valuable learning modules in what he calls his Experiential Formula, helping those attending to gain more from the event. He went on to say that over the years he has presented 100’s of events for accountancy and law firms and believes the show is exactly what their clients want and that it will attract new clients for those firms.

Exclusivity is being offered in local areas to show hosts.

Firms and organisations interested in hosting a Make 2020 Great Action show can download a one-page introduction or contact Show Director, Kim Gallagher on kim@bizvision.co.uk

 

Is productivity your answer to the 2020’s?

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Welcome to the Achiever Blog with Malcolm Gallagher and my thoughts on Productivity.

I noticed the Tory election slogan this week as Unleash Britain’s Potential. I grinned a bit as it is very like the slogans and marketing material by Tony Robbins one of the world’s top self-help gurus. One of his great books is Awaken the Giant Within and he often talks about unleashing potential.

He also has the slogan of:

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

I think that’s appropriate to all of us in business especially as we move into what I believe will be both an exciting and challenging new decade.

I’ve launched my new programme Make 2020 Great here at bizvision.co.uk and Make 2020 Great is my slogan for the 2020’s. It’s important after all the chaos to re-awaken and re-energize. Much like the resurfacing initiative of Andy Murray.

But back to the Tory slogan of unleash Britain’s potential. It seems that we are being promised that everything will be wonderful once we leave the EU. But you are not daft – you can see that there’s no Disney fairy dust to instantly change things even if it is pantomime season!

One of my clients, Chris Kennedy, is a digital genius and also a very forthright Labour-leaning political thinker.

He said to me that he believes the underlying problem in the UK isn’t a lack of leadership but instead its low wages and flexible labour markets. Chris says, regardless of the election or Brexit, the long term problems are wages are going to go up, there will be lower immigration, plus even longer working hours. He says wages can’t be lowered, taxes or interest rates can’t be increased.

Chris reckons we will face a mirror of the 1970’s. He adds that the opportunity will be for businesses who can increase their wages AND their margins.

I told you he was a deep thinker! But he is right, isn’t he?

In my mind, the solution to unleashing potential lies in first tackling increased productivity. I reckon the big issue for the 2020s will be increased productivity

And that’s where your post Brexit business opportunity lies. How can you increase productivity – perhaps through implementing technology? If you are a coach or consultant how can you help clients increase productivity?

So how do you improve productivity?

Well, you start by stop running away from a deep inward dive on productivity. Too many business leaders are frightened of possibly rocking the boat.

They will persevere with old systems, traditional processes because everyone feels comfortable with that – we’ve always done it that way syndrome

Meanwhile, competitors, from anywhere in the world, will be sailing by them.

Sorry but change has to happen. Disruption is happening all around – just look at the high street.

My approach is to start with what I call a Productivity Audit. I use a scorecard approach in my Productivity Deep Dive Sessions to identify problems and opportunities.

Now, you may not like facing the productivity question,– and certainly, many of your people may be the same or even obstructive – but if you don’t address it then the lure of the lights of 2020 may not be shining so bright for you.

Over to you! As always let me have your thoughts or comments or ideas. Please email me mg@bizvision.co.uk or comment below.

 

It’s 2020 time at BizVision. Make 2020 Great!

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2020 or MMXX is just around the corner. It’s the start of a new decade and a terrific opportunity to re-energize yourself and your business. So what are you going to do about it?

All this week at The Daily Achiever TV Channel here at BizVision – https://www.bizvision.co.uk/series/daily-achiever/ – there’s a daily short video giving you some thinking on how to Make 2020 Great.

Start off now with what I call an Energize Audit. Now this will differ depending on the size of your business from a one-person through to a corporate. And of course, the energize deep dive need will differ. But, as MMXX week starter, let me give you 5 elements to think about.

https://bizvision.co.uk MMXX week starter 6 to energize

First up is you personally as the leader. Have you perhaps slipped into a bit of languidness, marking time because of Brexit, confused as to direction? I am saying Stuff Brexit – think of opportunity. If you are not personally energized then your business and people will follow suit.

Second is Team Zest.  The zest is disappearing from too many teams. That’s the zest to be on a winning team, the zest to work together, the zest that brings the best in customer service. When teams become languid team members start to think of themselves not teamwork.

Stretch Goals. Start off MMXX with the right vision (2020 Vision) and XX your goals. If you just go for incremental goals, you will get mediocre performance. Some of your team may be happy with easier goals but you shouldn’t be. Know how to set stretch goals and how to visualize achieving them.

Routes to market. Present-day change and present-day uncertainty are closing many doors but are you opening enough new ones? Or is your business one that resists change? Don’t let comments such as “that won’t work” or “we have tried that before” exist in your business. New alliances, new collaborations, new markets are constantly emerging. Use your MMXX vision to see and seize them.

And finally profit focus. Too many salespeople have been doing anything to get a sale and, in doing so given away the profit margin by focusing on making the easier less profitable sale. Its time in 2020 to energize your profits. Where are you losing? And by that, I am mean either giving it away at almost a loss or not stretching up and making the profitable sale. Where are you letting costs getaway? Where are you undermining profit through a poorly communicated value proposition?

Okay, there’s your starter for MMXX – First the energize audit. I’ve just given you the bare bones. The first questions are will you, where will you, and when will you start energizing for 2020. Follow more this week as we focus on MMXX opportunity.

Also, to see how to progress in 2020, check out Malcolm’s new flagship system called Energize 2 Achieve. See the E2A model by clicking here.

Why you lose customers

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In these uncertain times, you can’t afford to lose customers so here’s what you can do about it says Malcolm Gallagher of the BizVision Network. But first, some research that I recently also chatted about from the BrexFit Bunker on the Get BrexFit podcast episode 75. The research is from the US Chambers of Commerce and Brooks Group. It’s about customer loyalty. You know how expensive it is to get new customers so you obviously want to retain as many of your existing customers as possible. That may be hard with all the flux caused by uncertainty and the economy. Here are the figures (see the Brooks Group graphic) why customers may leave you: https://bizvision.co.uk Brooks Group figures on customer loyalty68% are upset with the treatment given to them by one of your team 14 % are dissatisfied with your product or service 9% just simply switch to one of your competitors 5% actively seek other alternatives or other relationships – It’s their nature! 3% move away 1% die or close down   Okay, those figures may not be new to some of you but I like what Brooks Group says. And it’s this that is the “nugget of learning” for you! Based on those average percentages YOU, yes YOU, control 96% of the reasons customers will stop doing business with you. Now that means, likely with some skills training, you can remove most of the risk of customer loss. And that’s one of the big worries of to-day out of the way for you. Probably not for your competitors because they will likely just follow the usual; bland coaching and training that is around for free. Tackling the emotional issues around why customers leave is paramount. So don’t forget you control at least 96% of the reasons why customers will stop doing business with you. Look at the research breakdown and tackle them. If you need any help with this then book one of my 2020 strategy sessions.  

Daily Achiever Weekly Themes Nov & Dec 2019

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Here’s the list of the upcoming weekly themes ( 5 days a week) for the Daily Achiever videos from the BizVision Network. The videos are published every weekday on Linked In, Vimeo, YouTube and here on the Daily Achiever TV Channel 

If you would like to contribute an article or a video for any of the themes please contact Malcolm at mg@bizvision.co.uk

Has the “C-Family” already left the UK?

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https://bizvision.co.uk Has the C-Family left?What am I talking about- well it’s a bit of a rant in one way or perhaps time for reflection in another.

The thing is I’ve been very dismayed with the Brexit chaos and especially in the abhorrent behaviour of many of our politicians. After nearly 75 of my weekly BrexFit podcasts I think I have seen and witnessed some atrocious conduct.

The C family – well I grew up with them – but I think they’ve had enough and left.  Who are they? Well there are 3 of them in the family and they are:

Courtesy

Civility

and Considerate

Courtesy seems to have left early. How many times do you do something for someone – like send them some information they have asked for – and you never get a reply or even a word of thanks.

It also annoys me of the hundreds of companies who don’t respond to job applications claiming they get too many. Don’t those companies realise that  those applying may be future customers?

It seems to me to be too much give me, give me, give me. I guess most of us learned our “please and thank you” from our parents so why are we becoming a discourteous nation?

Civility is simply being polite. I watch politicians in the House of Commons being uncivil. I think that then starts to rub off into everyday life where people think it is the norm to be abrupt. And there’s a big danger. Incivility in the workplace can have an impact on productivity and commitment to the organisation.

And the final member of the C family is Considerate. Being considerate is about being polite and caring. People like it when you’re considerate of their feelings. We could all probably be more considerate of others. Considerate means you’re thinking of other people — considering them — and then treating them decently and with respect. Yet look at how social media has spawned so many inconsiderate remarks. Some totally hostile. Yes, I am like so many others and get angry at things and dash off letters and emails. But I have learned to put that letter in the drawer overnight and not to send that email but read them again the next morning before probably not sending them!

So how can we tempt the C family back to the UK or is it too late? What’re your thoughts on my rant?

 

7 tactics to boost sales

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By Malcolm Gallagher

Hello and welcome to  7 tactics to boost sales. Sales are the lifeblood of your business. Nothing happens until something is sold. However – often the approach to sales and selling becomes languid. So I am asking you to plan ahead with urgency and to ensure you take action to boost sales. How to do it? Watch the video or read below for 7 tactics to boost sales.
  1. Be clear on the BIG results you deliver for your customers. It’s not what you do that they buy, but the result they get from what they buy from you.
  2. Know your audience or customer. Make sure you have profiled your ideal customer. A good way to target them clearly is to segment them by their need.
  3. Now position your product or your service to deliver that BIG result you are delivering in step 1 above. Be careful that you are not fixated on what you do – remember they want results.
  4. Make it easy or them to buy from you or do business with you. How often have you been frustrated in dealing with a business, especially say a large utility company with complicated processes and systems? Many times I have had to bluntly say to a business leader how hard it was to buy from them – -they often say they didn’t know about it! The higher up the ladder they are the more removed they often become from what’s happening at the sharp end of sales.
  5. Add value to your customers by teaching them. Use your knowledge, expertise, and connections to help them be more successful. Use video, webinars, white papers, blogs. I often prepare for my clients what I call Go Kits which are digital learning packs.
  6. Keep your message relevant to your prospective customer. Remember it’s not about you, or what you do, it’s about them and how they will benefit.
  7. Execute a World Class sales set-up. You may need a little outside help here but an essential element is …….Ensure salespeople know how the BIG RESULT is delivered and how they fit into the process
REFLECTION I trust you want to boost your sales so how will to make sure you take action on all this?    

Start Your Brexit Opportunity Odyssey with a Disruption Dive

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https://bizvision.co.uk Brexit Opportunity Odyssey

By Malcolm Gallagher  FCIM

It’s time to get out of your bunker and go seek new opportunities – even amidst all this Brexit Deal/No Deal uncertainty.

Unless you have a real pile of cash to waste you can’t afford to sit on your hands. Plus, the more you do nothing then the more languid your people become, the more customers forget about you and the more your business value dwindles.

So, what to do?

Now I am sure you have been through all the usual Brexit checklists on supplier contracts, customer contracts supply chain and so on. The usual battening down the hatches in tough or uncertain times. Or perhaps you are like too many other businesses, hiding away until the summer holidays are over.

Is that truly the best way to lead your business? How about seeking and seizing the opportunity – there is plenty of it around as I’ve been helping clients find out.

Take one of my brewery clients. With our Tourism Plus Channel, I’ve got them to focus on a very special event next year – VE Day – the 75th anniversary of the ending of WW2 in Europe. By some special branding and contacts, I was able to provide, and by doing things now they should now be able to make 2 if not 3 years profit just in that one-weekend event.

Take my business law client who through aligning alongside our Supplier Plus Channel and our bid readiness and tender writing services has got a new, sustainable and immediately buoyant revenue stream on contracts preparation, T&Cs, and other relevant documentation.

Take my Gin School client who provides a world-class product as well as an attractive venue. They have aligned themselves with my Leadership Plus channel and team-building courses to be able to offer a key solution to the people retention and people growth challenges faced by corporate companies today, especially around uncertainty. Win-win all round.

Okay, those 3 examples were a bit self-centered around me but I wanted to show you that real and profitable opportunity is there NOW if you look up and around.

So how do you start what I call your Opportunity Odyssey. Yes, I say Odyssey, a lengthy journey with lots of highs and lows along the way. Uncertainty is the new global norm and there is no way there will be an instant Brexit quick fix – it will continue to be a challenge and so will your Odyssey to discover opportunities.

But get started!

Start your Odyssey with the word “Disruption”. Disruption will occur if there is No Deal or if there is a Deal or even if there is Remain. Disruption is becoming endemic in business – mostly through technology or Industry 4.0 or climate change and so on.

The Disruption Dive

Stage one of your Opportunity Odyssey is what I call your Disruption Dive.

Think which markets or clients that you serve or want to serve or could serve will be subject to disruption. How can what you do, or offer, help them be successful?

What new products or services could you develop to meet prospects needs?

Now this Disruption Dive exercise requires foresight, knowledge and a good deal of lateral thinking. But I know it works as I’ve facilitated it for many clients!

Don’t do it as a solo exercise, by yourself, but instead get your team involved or even external help for facilitating.

It can be great fun and you’ll likely end up as I do with a wall full of mind maps or a crammed whiteboard but, provided you do it correctly, the light bulb moment will happen!

There are other parts of the Opportunity Odyssey for you to discover with me over upcoming posts, episodes, videos, and courses here on the BizVision Network. But for now, get started with your Disruption Dive. Get in touch with me mg@bizvision.co.uk if you need any help or prompts.

5 tips to Postpone Procrastination

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In this blog post, I’m bringing you my 5 top tips to postpone procrastination. Yes, I said postponing rather than say overcoming because, until you have embedded them, you’ll forever be postponing.

In this fast-moving business age, Procrastination is a serious condition suffered by too many companies. And, unfortunately, it starts at the top! Does that resonate?  Here are the 5 tips:

  1. Stop waiting for the right urge. You don’t have to feel like doing something in order to get doing it. My suggestion is to just get working.
  2. Avoid last minute stress. Too many people put things off until the last minute in the belief that they work best that way. I suggest all that is doing is just putting additional stress on you and everyone who works with you.
  3. Do the difficult bit first. It’s easy to be tempted in doing the easy bits first but go for the difficult bit first and you’ll feel a better sense of accomplishment what will keep you motivated
  4. Chunk the job. For many years I felt that I had to do a big job al at once. Inevitably distractions interrupted and I kept having to restart. Then I started chunking my big job into smaller ones and I accomplished more.
  5. Don’t punish yourself. Far too many people punish themselves when starting a job late. They’ll do things like skip meals, take no breaks even fall asleep at their computer. Don’t do this it only makes matters worse. Don’t worry about the late start or, as someone once told me, forgive yourself and move on.

And a final warning about procrastination is the well-known saying “You may delay but time will not”. What will you do about these 5 top tips? Do you procrastinate or does a colleague?

If you have any other postponing procrastination tips then Please email mg@bizvision.co.uk or comment below.

Brexit- 2 Top Tier Actions To Take

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https://bizvision.co.uk The Brexit Crystal BallIt’s Malcolm Gallagher here in the BrexFit Bunker with my call to action piece. Recently I’ve been giving a lot of thought as to how you, on behalf of your business, can see through all the current political smoke. That smoke is not going to clear for some time but you can’t afford to wait until it does.

You need a strategy to be able to move from surviving to thriving. Coming up are 2 top tier actions to take.

So how to do it? There’s no quick and easy solution. It requires some insight thinking and scenario planning. In this post, I’m giving you my suggested starter actions and I’m going to focus on two top tier considerations you must take as leader of your business.

FIRST Top Tier CONSIDERATION – No Deal Outcome

First, let’s look at what you need to be considering. There are likely 3 basic outcomes and these are deal, no deal and remain. You’ll know about those three already. But at the time of writing this, I suggest the position is that “no deal” is not only possible but arguably far more likely than it appeared at the end of March which was our first EU leaving date.

With UK Government more fixated on its own internal troubles and leadership challenges, your need for sound business preparation and resilience planning has certainly become more acute.

A no-deal Brexit will inevitably mean that dreaded word “change” will happen – and it will happen quickly, almost overnight.

What preparation have you made or are making for no deal? Any preparation won’t be wasted effort because you may need that preparation if there’s another outcome such as an extension beyond October 31st.

Some areas of preparation include the following:

GDPR and the movement of personal data between the EU and UK could be a key impact. In the event of a No Deal, you may need to change or adapt your processes regarding data transfer. There’s the likelihood of the need for a thing from the EU to the UK called an “adequacy decision” to be granted and that may take time to do.

Just to give you an indication of the seriousness of this. It may affect just the receipt within your UK business of an email from an EU citizen. Don’t assume it will be all plain sailing. Prepare!

Another area of concern is that, with a No Deal Brexit, there won’t then be a system of reciprocal recognition of professional qualifications between the UK and the EU. This means some professionals may not be able to deliver services and advice in the EU. Again, it will take time to put the right recognition in place. Just think about the impact this may have with the medical profession let alone lawyers and accountants!

One area I am already experiencing regarding a No Deal impact is the impact on those people from the EU who are living or working in the UK and will have to apply for indefinite leave to remain. That’s called ILR and is also known as settled status. It’s a major impact on sectors such as hospitality. For example, around 25% of all chefs in the UK are from the EU.

And then there are the unknown areas such as how with such EU citizens you will handle payroll issues such as tax and NI contributions.

There are many other issues that we know about here at BizVision within our BrexFit activity. You need to find them and to take action.

Think about these 3 steps to prepare yourself and your business.

  1. Decide which of the necessary preparations you and your team can handle and which you need outside expert help.
  2. Get reading. Scour documents such as the UK Government technical notices. A good idea is to start your own digital library of such information. We’ve done this for the last 2 years here at BizVision with our own BrexFit Library so we can help guide clients. It’s all been keyworded so we can be agile in our response.
  3. Keep talking to your customers and your suppliers. Reassure them of your future and make certain they are also taking No Deal preparation action.

Now for the SECOND top tier consideration. Uncertainty will be the norm.

So far it has likely been hard for you to prepare for something when you are not sure what the outcome will be. However, and I speak from long experience and observation here, uncertainty will not go away. The world is and will continue to be, in a state of uncertainty. It’s not just EU but for example, issues such as Trade Wars, Cyber Security, Political Unrest, Emerging Nations, Climate Change amongst many others.

As we’ve been saying here on the BrexFit podcast and BrexFit TV for over a year you need to view uncertainty in a different light.

Most leaders are viewing uncertainty as a risk. Now is the time to start viewing it as an opportunity. Switch from survive thinking to thrive thinking.

Look for the areas of opportunity. Many see it as in what is called Industry 4.0 especially in the use of technology and the application of innovation.

I’ll cover more of this in a future Bunker posting and on our BrexFit TV channel. But for now, are you prepared to switch thinking and see uncertainty as an opportunity?

We’re not only covering more of preparation in BrexFit future podcasts and on BrexFit TV but importantly at our Brexit War Room Live events and our forthcoming Brexit Digital Go Kit.