Bizvision Archives

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

October 14, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

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

August 18, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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

August 7, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

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 75^th 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

June 10, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

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:

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.
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.
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
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.
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

June 1, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

It’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 31^st.

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.

Decide which of the necessary preparations you and your team can handle and which you need outside expert help.
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.
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.

5 on Friday ep. 2 – 5 things salespeople should never do

May 31, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

In this episode 2 of 5 on Friday, international sales coach, Malcolm Gallagher, present 5 things a salesperson should never do. Are you “guilty” of any of them? Have you got any others to contribute for a future 5 on Friday video?

Winning at times of uncertainty – like NOW!

May 29, 2019 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

Hello, its Malcolm Gallagher host of the BizVision.co.uk network of online business channels.

The words worry and uncertainty are looming larger than ever in UK business at the moment.

Yes, there’s a lot of frustration and annoyance but what is concerning is very little action being taken. Inaction causes decay. Coming up are my ten principles of winning at times of uncertainty.

Get the right mindset – times of uncertainty brings an opportunity to build your business. I know I’ve been around long enough and done it.
Don’t assume your business category will behave like all the others. Are you paying attention to the trends and what’s happening in your sector? There’s lots of information out there for you to grab & use.
Run what I call “opportunity scans” to inform & strengthen your win strategy. Too many businesses are too introvert and don’t think laterally enough. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes works wonders in seeing the opportunity.
Raise your game at the Point of Purchase. How are you helping your customer make the decision to buy you? Or let me put it another way, where, or how, are you preventing your customer from buying. You’ll likely need an honest approach to manage this one!
Know who your priority customers or buyers really are and what they are doing, thinking, feeling right now. How important to them is what you make, do or offer? How can you remind them of this importance so that you are NOT downgraded in their purchasing priority?
Watch your competitors even more carefully and act against them decisively. Don’t be soft here as they are likely to be predatory in these uncertain times. I wrote and filmed recently about how to stop them from stealing your customers by using my negativity strategy. Click here for the “stop them stealing your customers” post
Maximise your Marketing Mix – be flexible and experimental. Marketing is constantly changing in its channels and reach. Customers are constantly changing in their behaviour and needs. Don’t just stick to what you have been told is the norm. Make sure that, at the very least, you are measuring your marketing effectiveness with sound KPIs that are focused on the pull through to revenue.
Spend and act smart – make efficiency and effectiveness your watchwords. Allow no waste and no complacency. What’s your conversion rate from enquiry to a customer? Is it slipping or improving? What’s the average spend? How long are sales taking to get through your sales funnel? Make sure you employ my favourite assistant here. She’s called Ruth Less!
Prioritise keeping current customers over getting new ones (unless you can manage both!) Make sure you are ring-fencing existing customers and giving them all the benefits you would give to a new customer. Think creating a community or tribe to draw in their loyalty.
Show leadership (both internally & externally) Show it with your close team, your broader company, your influencers, your customers and especially your suppliers.

I constantly see a lack of leadership in businesses but what I also see is the decay happening to that business and the missed opportunity from inadequate leadership. I’m not blaming those leaders, many of whom may not have ever experienced uncertain times. My grey hair testifies that I’ve lived and survived through a number of them!

So get stuck into the ten principles. Add or subtract as you want but at least do something! Have I missed any or have you got any to add?

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!).