Blog Entries

Do You Make These Costly Mistakes In Your Business?

changeme@actioncoach.com — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:41:47 +0100

Are you struggling to attract more new customers to your business? Do you have a great product or service, but aren’t sure how to let prospects know about you? Do you see your competitors growing and wonder what they are doing to be so successful (even though you know their product or service isn’t nearly as good as yours)?

Chances are you may be making the following mistakes in your business …

Mistake #1

Many business owners [...]

Here Are 9 Secrets To Getting The Perfect Employee

changeme@actioncoach.com — Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00:00 +0100

These days too many business owners are throwing their advertising dollar down the toilet using out-dated recruitment methods and using boring old ads. And, then they wonder why they’re getting the wrong response!

In this article you’ll learn the secrets to getting and keeping the perfect employees. This information is an invaluable and often neglected secret weapon when looking for your dream team.

1. Have a clearly defined job description for the r [...]

8 Tips for buying a franchise for profit…

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Franchising is a great business system, one where you combine a great system for running a business and producing a profit, with great people who have an equity interest and thus will do a much better job. That said, it doesn't mean every company on the planet is able to be franchised, or franchised well.

So, here are the top eight things to consider if you're thinking of building or buying a great franchise …

1.   How many other sam [...]

8 Tips for buying a franchise for profit…

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Franchising is a great business system, one where you combine a great system for running a business and producing a profit, with great people who have an equity interest and thus will do a much better job. That said, it doesn't mean every company on the planet is able to be franchised, or franchised well.

So, here are the top eight things to consider if you're thinking of building or buying a great franchise …

1.   How many other sam [...]

Selling Your Business – The Hardest Sale You Will Ever Make

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100

They say the three most stressful times in a person's life are when they get married, buy a house and change jobs. Well, try selling a business - It's your baby, the thing you have built over 15 years. You have put your heart, soul and an incalculable number of hours into it. Now you are going to sell it.

There are many things you need to do and consider, but these seven areas are of immense importance when it comes to finding a buyer, selling the busine [...]

How to get things done... putting First things First

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Whenever we are looking to improve our business we look at a number of areas and often start at looking to improve sales or marketing or our employees or improving our production, I believe we should look at ourselves first.

To improve your business you must take the following steps:

1.   Values and purpose

2.   Vision and Mission

3.   Goals

4.   Plan

5.   [...]

Goal Setting in Life and Business

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Goal setting is as important in personal life as it is in business. The most common denominator in all the self-help literature and books is the importance of goal setting. We’re told to set long-term goals, short-term goals, lifetime goals and personal goals.

The benefits of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results orientated, Time-framed (S.M.A.R.T) goals have been written about in self-help books for years. So, it follows that goal setting is obviously a powerfu [...]

If it doesn’t add up, don’t do it.

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Business is all about making a profit, so if your business strategies aren’t adding up to business profits, don’t do it, or do it differently.

To be a business – that is, ‘a commercial, profitable enterprise that works without you’-your business must give a good return on investment plus a full wage for every hour you spend working in your business. You can then pay someone to do your job and the business profits are not affected.

Th [...]

Leadership… Who’s driving your business?

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100

When business performance needs to be improved it may well be wise to start the improvement process by first exploring the source of the leadership in that business. From my coaching experience I have found in many instances, that where a business is not performing the leadership direction is unclear and is not understood by the team.

Leadership is about painting a current picture of the future in the form of a vision. The common thing in all of the great leadership stories of [...]

Making Business Work… Simply

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100

There are some things in life that are supposed to be really complicated; being a parent, learning how to invest and running your own business. When you look at all of these things nothing could be further from the truth.

Parents are taught by their children, investors are taught by their experiences and business owners should be taught by a mentor.

Often when I look at businesses it is clear that the owners have given up trying to improve their lot in life because they thin [...]

Pauline Bright's Story: From Client to Coach

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0100

I've been a business owner for 28 years. I have had businesses in retailing; market stalls, a souvenir shop, a tee shirt shop, a craft & decorating shop; a manufacturing business making garden art; a graphic design business and an interior decorating consultancy.

I have always loved the independence of doing things my way and I went in to business with the idea of working my own hours and earning the money I deserved. The reality of working in my business was that I work [...]

The Power of Priorities or the 80/20 Rule in Effect

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

There are two things that business people find very challenging: thinking ahead and doing things in order of importance

Doing these two things makes the difference between success in business and just surviving. And the same is true for all areas of our lives.

Leadership trainer and author John Maxwell says, “thinking ahead and prioritising responsibilities marks the major differences between a leader and a follower.”

Most people have heard of [...]

Here’s how you can improve your sales conversion rate

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

When I speak to most business owners for the first time and ask them what they think their sales conversion rate is, they almost always say 60-70%. Sometimes this is true, though most times it is not and with our testing and measuring system, we help business owners to find out what it really is. And surprisingly enough the true answer on average is around 30%.

So what that means is that only 3 out of 10 new leads will purchase from you on average. Now when you consider the cos [...]

Setting Your RAS for Success

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

You want me to set my RAS?

What is that?

Never heard of it you cry!

Your RAS is your Reticular Activated System.

Now before you stop reading this article and think it is going to be some scientific piece of work, let me explain it in layman’s terms. Your RAS is like the compass to your brain, it is like setting the autopilot of your subconscious of the brain to what you want in life.

A practical example may be when yo [...]

Taking Advantage of the Christmas Rush

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

It is that time of year again, Christmas is just around the corner … and it’s time to start thinking about all those customers and how you are going to convert them into “Year-round Raving Fans.”

Most retailers get a massive influx of never seen before customers over the Christmas period. And that’s a massive opportunity, yet most will never see those customers again until next Christmas ... (maybe).

So, here’s how to turn yo [...]

Tips for Businesses to Make the Most Out of the Christmas Period

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Christmas is an interesting time for business. On one hand, for retailers and associated businesses this is one of the busiest times of the year and for others some will shut down for up to4-6 weeks.

It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy – if you think you are going to be busy you gear up your business that way and if you think things are going to be quiet you start winding down.

The reality is Christmas can be one of the most profitable and productive times for al [...]

Turning Customers into Raving Fans

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Raving fans are customers who are so over the moon with us that they not only tell all their friends and colleagues about us, they actually bring them to us and help us to sell things to them.

It's a frightening fact of business life in Australia that we spend six times more to attract new customers to our businesses than we do to up-sell, on-sell and generally over service our existing customers so that they stay our customers and don't leave us and go to our competition.
[...]

Why Use a Business Coach - What is it anyway?

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0100

What is a Business Coach?
Coaching has been around for a long time in sport but only made the leap to business about ten years ago. The concept of using a coach within a business environment actually makes a lot of sense.

Coaches push athletes to reach their optimum performance and motivate them when the going gets tough, so business coaches assist owners and proprietors overcome the difficult challenges they face in running their businesses and help them attain their drea [...]

Wallet Share Versus Market Share

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Chasing market share in today’s business world is a guaranteed formula for chasing your tail. If buying customers is your biggest expense then continually buying new customers (buying market share) is the most expensive way to do business.

Market share, or a focus on new customers comes with an assumption that you are in the business of buying products or services and selling them to customers. If however you swap to the idea of buying customers, then your w [...]

What Makes Your Business Unique?

changeme@actioncoach.com — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0100

If there is nothing different or unique about you, people will only buy from you because of convenience, or price, nothing more. Added to that, you'll never be able to raise your prices: if there's anyone doing it cheaper, people will buy from them.

You need to work out what is special about you, and then make a big deal about it. We call this your Unique Selling Proposition or USP the objective of a USP is to position you against your competitors and to d [...]