Realistic Small Business Planning (NID52)
Conventional business planning methods often don’t suit small business owners. But it is important to know where you’re going and why, and that your strategy is sound. We have developed a planning system we think is better tuned to the needs and realities of small business. Let me outline the concepts of our small business […]
Tune your business to suit your lifestyle
Most small business owners reach a stage in their business where they are comfortable with the income, workload and stress levels. They tend to park the business there so they can better experience other aspects of their life; like family and travel. At some future point, they may resume growing or decide to exit the […]
Unique Selling Proposition (USP): What is it?
Your competitors usually offer, essentially, the same goods and services as your own. Example: Consider retail grocery shops where every shop offers, by and large, the same product line. To stand out from the crowd, the shop needs to differentiate themselves in the minds of the consumers. This is to bring buyers to their grocery store. “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP) is the business term used for differentiating yourself from your competitors. If your business needs to be differentiated to stand out, you need to think long and hard about your USP as part of your strategy. Yellow Belt.
Sales and Marketing: How to Improve
Are Sales and Marketing Overwhelming? Your business Revenue is declining but you are not sure why? Overhauling your Sales & Marketing is a great way to increase leads that convert, therefore increasing your Revenue. Sales Leads Declining? Rudderless Marketing Strategy? Not enough leads, leads coming to you but not converting – overhaul your Sales Funnel. […]
How to Choose a Brand Name
A brand gives your actual and potential clients a “hook” which they can use to remember that you exist. Every business has a business name and that is the start of their “brand”. From there, a business leader can develop a “personality”, or “brand identity”, for their business that is part of what attracts their customers. This article introduces several useful external references that are worth reading to find your first, or next, “brand name” Yellow Belt
Small Business Strategy Consultant and Coach
24/7 Strategy Solution for Small Business In a big business, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has the vital role of strategy coach and tracking what’s going on and using that information to recommend future strategy. Most likely, you are too small to afford a CFO on staff at the moment! So you are missing out […]
Introducing Mission Control
12Faces Mission Control app is a one-stop tool that brings all the vital information on your marketing and business health together in one place and in a convenient format. Mission Control is purpose-built for Local Search Marketing businesses. These are business that provide services to a local catchment area and wish to improve their marketing […]
Take Advantage of Agile / Scrum / Kanban to Increase Productivity
In a smaller business there is always plenty to do and many demands on a managers most limited resource; time. Often the owners time is the major bottleneck on the growth of the business (see the introductory article to Theory of Constraints). Plenty of other businesses have struggled with prioritising time before you and several techniques that are very similar have evolved. The three best known of these are named Agile / Scrum / Kanban. Various references cite improvements in team productivity ranging from 25% to 300% by using these methods. This article introduces these concepts and a way of using a free software app named Trello to manage the process. A mix of Yellow and Blue Belt introductory material.
How to Use Our Business Tune-up Menu
This Tuneup Menu is a periodic review of the state of your business with a view to streamlining and removing poor practices that have crept in over time. A good Tuneup will lead you back to best practice, better productivity and higher profits. Yellow Belt
Are Line Extensions for You?
The term Line Extensions refers to making a number of variations of an original product in order to create more sales. Using Laundry powder as an example, line extensions might include ‘for colours’, ‘for top loading machines’, ‘extra tough stains’ and so on. See how and when you can use this marketing technique. Yellow Belt