Build relationships to grow your business

I'm always delighted to introduce business people to others who may be able to help them do something different.

Often, as small business owners, we get so wrapped up in our own "stuff" that we miss the glaring opportunities right in front of us. These opportunities are more than just a simple sale for our product or service but can be strategic alliances or partnerships where the sum of the whole is far greater than the constituent parts.

An example of this followed a recent discussion I had with a theoretical competitor where I can offer a service that she wanted to bring to her clients. By teaming up she is able to promote my product and fill a room for us both to make money.

Had we not created this strategic partnership I would not have run the event, as I wouldn't have made the time to promote it, and she would not have had the opportunity to add my product to her portfolio. In fact she may have had to invest time and money in developing her own product and then build awareness and credibility for it.

In this case two "competitors" are able to promote a new product (for her) to a new market (for me) and everyone wins. She gets to expand her portfolio, I get to expand my client base, and the clients get a new service which adds value to them.

It's easy to get defensive and secretive about our clients, our developing products or services, and how well we are doing in business. It's even easier in fact to sit down with people offering similar products and services and explore the greater opportunity that exists through strategic partnerships.

Moreover, my experience shows by working with someone else, the likelihood is that we are able to deliver a service more quickly to the market place because the partners hold each other accountable and keep their promises to each other!

Look to your "competition" and see what you can find as the greater opportunity...

Back up or risk losing all

Sometime ago a colleague in BNI gave the audience a useful fact in a 60 second presentation that he gave that really struck a chord with me.

He said research showed that 90% of small businesses that suffered a massive loss of data due to an IT system failure, go out of business within two years. A frightening thought that had me urgently schedule an appointment to further understand the risks and more importantly, implement a process that mitigated against the risks.

The irony is that the simplest and very cheap solutions are available and I was delighted to get something in place for less than the cost of a night out with the family.

This last weekend I was merrily working away when my laptop crashed. It turned out that the hard drive was completely dead and the data on it was lost. Imagine how I would have felt, not to mention the potential impact on business, had I lost 20+ years of research, training material, manuals, seminar audio programmes, video presentations, coaching notes, family pictures, music etc etc.

Thankfully I listened to my BNI colleague that day and apart from the few days of inconvenience without a laptop, we were up and running very quickly. In fact, I got to spend a little more time on the phone, much of which in the sunshine and peace and quiet of my garden. There's always an upside!

Excellence in presentation skills will increase sales

Listening to an educational programme today I was impressed by the excellent presentation skills of the teacher and his ability to engage the audience. He drew them into his story that had them making a purchase without a second thought.

This wasn't manipulative techniques or a crude sales pitch. It was simply a strategic process of building rapport with the audience and creating the space for them to make an informed buying decision that met all their needs.

The presenter used his great ability in telling a story to hold the state of the audience in a way that had them relate to it [the story] as if they were playing the starring role.

Why was it so enthralling?

1. He built rapport - The teacher engaged the audience from the start. He used his skills to have the audience listen attentively and with anticipation.

2. He managed their state - If you want the audience to get excited, you need to be excited yourself. If you want the audience to be inquisitive you must stir their imagination so that they are curious and eager to know more.

3. He told a story - By using a story, a tale that the audience could relate to, he drew them in. They were able to see themselves within the story and began to make internal connections that resulted in the natural next step of needing to buy.

People buy from those they know, like and trust.

When you create the space for this trust, from a position of the buyer, rather than a seller, the relationship becomes such that people actively seek out the purchasing opportunity knowing that you will be helping them "solve their problem" or "providing the solution". Buying becomes easy for them.

Collaborate for Growth

Much is made of the power of networking and building your network. It is said that you are the sum of the five people you spend most time with.

If this is true, and I believe it is, then it makes sense to surround yourself with like minded people who add value to your life and you in turn add value to theirs.

If you think about it, have you ever found yourself being drained of energy by being in the company of someone who is constantly whining and moaning about how unfair life is, or how everything bad that is apparently happening to them is the fault of someone else?

When you are in this position, what do you do about it? Do you get drawn in and affirm what they are saying? Do you ask them to stop whinging because you don't want to be part of it? Do you walk away and remove yourself from the conversation or do you simply just put up with it and tell yourself that's just the way they are?

Being in business can be a lonely environment, particularly in the early days. Finding people who reflect how you think, who have similar values, who offer complementary services or products to yours, can be a great antedote to the dis-ease of getting involved in the "life's a downer" club. Furthermore, they can motivate and inspire you, support your projects and ideas, become an advocate of your work to others, or indeed form a partnership in which "two heads are better than one", creating a product or service far more powerful than each individual might have created on their own.

So next time you meet someone for the first time consider how you might be aligned and then ask yourself "is there an opportunity to form an alliance that is mutually supportive and potentially profitable, not only in terms of money but also in respect of motivation, inspiration and creation?".

When you do this you will often find that those you might have considered competitors previously, may in fact be your biggest allies.

When great minds come together the possibilities are endless!

Focus on your core skills - let others do what they are good at

It can be hard when you start a business to get everything done. Not only is there the work that you started the business to do, your passion if you like, but there are also all the other things that need doing that keep a business efficient.

These are often the tasks that drain your energy and take you away from your core skills. Prospecting, accounts, banking, tax issues, marketing, sales, networking, insurance issues, payroll, staff issues, training and so on. Sometimes it can seem that there is not enough time to do what you went in to business to do, and yet all these things have to be done.

Advisors will tell you "outsource" and it seems logical. However this can be scary. After all it means investment in paying someone else to do the things that you could do yourself and save money. At the beginning it is even more of a dilemma.

How do you balance expense against your own productivity?

I struggled with this for a long time. I am perfectly capable of keeping reasonable accounts. I know what I want in terms of how my office is organised. I can theoretically turn my hand to writing script for website. I can put a sales letter together and no one can network for me so I have to do that myself.

Then I realised that I was spending 12-18 hours a week on my accounts. I was being diverted from getting new clients by posting articles on various websites around the world. I was creating spreadsheets to track coaching and training hours. I was developing new ways to market my business. I was doing everything I could do move my business forward, I told myself, but I wasn't getting enough time and I wasn't getting enough clients!

So when the light bulb came on with the accounts fiasco, I woke up and smelt the coffee. I got myself a book keeper. Suddenly I had "created" another two days to my week. She did what she did best which freed my time up to do what I did best. Then I engaged a marketing coach and she supported me with what she does best. After that I took on a new accountant and a financial advisor, a new bank, a success coach and got involved in a mastermind group. It wasn't long before I had a great support team around me and I was then able to do what I do best, coach, train and speak at events. The business literally went from zero active clients to the best ever month in 4 weeks and each subsequent month continued to grow.

I'm not saying it wasn't scary. The idea of investing more money after having already put everything into the business was terrifying frankly, but it did mean that I had created my very best chance for success because I had stacked the odds in my favour.

The best move of all though was taking on admin support. With two part time assistants I could now delegate all those essential yet time consuming tasks around the office. Keeping the database up to date, creating spreadsheets, prospect call lists, filing etc etc etc. This was the crunch. This enabled me to go from 1 "focus" day a week and 6 "buffer" days to 3-4 focus days and 1 or 2 buffer days AND get at least 1 totally free day and even 2!!

I then began to find that the more I delegated the more I got done...obvious really, but when your business is your baby you don't want to give it to a baby sitter!

It's a stretch to move into "outsourcing" but it is, without a doubt, one of the quickest and most satisfying decisions you can make. You get to focus on your skills, those things that you went into business for, and you allow others to do what they do best in support of you. Tu
You can employ people later but in the first instance just get your support team on your bus and watch the results improve.

A word of caution though...make sure you use the extra time you create to drive your business forward. Don't fall into the trap of outsourcing and then divorcing yourself from your primary responsibility of making your business work. That's an avenue that, if followed, will certainly lead to misery.

So my tips for success right now are:

1. Create a powerful and effective support team
2. Outsource anything that is not your core skill or passion
3. Delegate, delegate, delegate

And of course, hire a success coach! ;o)

To your success!

If you want to know more about how success coaching can help you transform your business visit is at www.simonsmithcoaching.com and submit an enquiry, or call us for an informal chat on +44 (0)28 9048 8673.

Your success is our business!

Your Net Worth is directly related to your Network

It is said that your net worth is directly related to your network. The more people you know, the more successful you are. My experience is that this is absolutely true.

I remember my time in the corporate world and I actively avoided networking opportunities, unless it related to something I was particularly interested in such as cricket, football or other sports events. The whole idea of networking and meeting strange people in strange surroundings simply terrified me. Eventually I guess I got used to it but I always had the misconception that networking meant making small talk with people you probably had no real interest in at all.

Being in business for yourself though brings home the stark reality that networking is not only necessary, it is vital to your success. After all, how can you expect to promote your business and create success if you are not prepared to get out there and talk to people about it and how you can benefit prospective clients?

Actually networking is far more than simply trying to push your product or service onto everyone you meet. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It’s really about accessing your contacts’ contacts. It’s about positioning yourself and meeting people who can introduce you to others who you may be of service to you, or you to them. Beyond that, my experience is that the very best networkers are those that simply aim to introduce people to each other like you would if you were hosting a party, just to provide people with the opportunity to create a discussion, perhaps with a view that they may help each other.

Everyone I know who has a successful business has had to step up to the mark and get networking. You simply do not exist in business without marketing yourself and talking to other people.

Once I got to understand that my job was not to push my services but simply to facilitate people meeting people, I found that people started introducing me to people I wanted to meet. Starting from a position of serving others, my networking results improved.

There are many networking organisations and opportunities. My marketing coach advised “just get in the game” and this is what I found myself doing, networking anywhere and everywhere I could. It wasn’t long before I was able to simply approach people I didn’t know and say “hi” without worrying that they wouldn’t want to talk to me. In fact, they were often in the same position as me, wondering how to approach people and start a conversation so they were delighted to have someone come and up to them and start the process off.

So my Success Tips for effective networking are these:

Get in the game – Just do it. Network wherever you can.
Be of service – Act like a host not a guest waiting for someone else to introduce you.
Prepare – Work on your “elevator pitch” so that you confidently talk about your business concisely. Get clear about your Unique Selling Points and why people can refer you with confidence.
Be an active listener – Listen to the other person first and look for the opportunities to connect them with people they want to meet.
Set targets – Go to an event with a view to speaking to a certain amount of people. You cannot predict the result of making 3 new good contacts but you can create the result of talking to 10 new people.
Follow up – Always follow up. When you meet someone, call them and arrange a coffee some other time to continue the discussion further. You are highly unlikely to do business at the event so aim to call afterwards and arrange to meet.


If you want to know more about how to create success in business through networking then we’ll be happy to discuss that with you. You can contact us here

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RBS Children's Charity Awards 2007 - Ask, Believe, Receive

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), in partnership with the Daily Mail, is giving away £1m to children’s charities this Christmas in their RBS Children’s Charity Awards. Daily Mail readers and RBS employees are being asked to nominate their favourite children’s charity. This will be in the form of a few sentences (less than 50 words) describing why their chosen charity should be awarded a £10,000 Children’s Charity Award.

The Children’s Charity Awards are being launched on Tuesday 20th November in the Daily Mail. If it is the same as last year, you will be asked to collect coupons from the Daily Mail on 5 different days and send them off with a short sentence or two about why Make-A-Wish deserves support. The coupons were often tiny and hidden away so you may have to hunt around!

So we invite you to buy the Daily Mail on Tuesday and start collecting the coupons and then apply on behalf of Make-A-Wish and see if we can persuade RBS to give some of that money to Make-A-Wish? And if you know anyone who works at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (and that includes NatWest, Coutts & Co, Direct Line, Green Flag, Churchill Insurance and many other brands), perhaps you would be kind enough to persuade them to write in support of us as well?

90 charities will be selected to receive £10,000 each. A further 10 charities, those 10 with the highest number of nominations, will be shortlisted and featured in the Daily Mail when readers will be offered the chance to telephone vote for the charity that they think most deserves to receive a one-off donation of £100,000