As we move to the close of another year, (they seem to go faster and faster as I get older) its a good time to stop, prop and reflect on the year that has just passed before you race headlong into another year.
There are a range of tools and techniques that you can use but a really simple, and powerful, technique shown to me by my colleague, James Atkins (www.vantagemarketing.com.au) is to ask yourself some simple questions that really cut to the heart of the issue.
The questions revolve around 2 inter-connected concepts:
1. Shackles – these are the “things” that are holding you back from achieving your full potential. They can be external factors, but I find that in most cases they are really the internal challenges that we all need to face. Our Shackles are the real barriers to us moving forward.
2. Shields – these are the what we hide behind. Shields are the things that enable the Shackles to restrain us. Again they are usually internal factors rather than external factors. Your Shields will be the constructs that give validity to your Shackles.
For example: Your shackles could relate to your perception of yourself – “I’m not good enough” or “I can only work with X type of clients” or “In the past, I did Y…”. The Shield could then be something like I hide behind…. “my lifestyle” or “a lack of qualifications”.
So, the process is simple.
Focus on the relevant area e.g. personal performance, departmental performance, product performance, business performance, etc.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Shackle: What is holding me/us back from achieving our full potential?
Shield: What are we hiding behind that enables the Shackles to exist?
Develop some action plans to address your Shackles and Shields – use a tool like ForceField Analysis for extra leverage in this task.
POWER TIP: If you are unsure of whether you have identified the core issue then ask some trusted colleagues for their take on your shackles and shields and/or use a tool like “5 Why’s” to help you drill down. You will find a short video on the 5 Why’s technique here.
I have found this technique very powerful and have used it on myself and my business as well as with clients. Make sure you take the time to really drill down to what are the key issues for you.
Use this as the starting point for your reflection and planning in 2019.
Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year
If you want to apply some innovative thinking in your business, the “7Rs of Innovation” is a framework in which you can work in with 7 key areas to think about.
1. RETHINK
The first step in innovative thinking is that you ALWAYS need to rethink things. You need to continuously be thinking about how you can do things differently. Remember, this should be a constant process.
2. RECONFIGURE
Then you need to think about how you can reconfigure things especially in low-value or waste activities. How can you restructure things to make your business become more efficient, more effective, and more innovative? In this step, consider the following:
How can this activity be eliminated?
How can common activities be consolidated?
How can reconciliation be reduced by putting quality at the source?
How can information sharing with suppliers and customers improve the process?
How can intermediaries and non-value-added work be eliminated?
How can best practices from other industries be borrowed and improved upon?
3. RESEQUENCE
In this step, think about how you can resequence your business processes in a more parallel or efficient way when time compression is crucial.
How can predicting increase efficiency?
How can postponement increase flexibility?
How can parallelism reduce time?
How can the number of interconnections and dependencies be minimised?
4. RELOCATE
Apply this step when activities require a high level of teamwork or collaboration i.e. when distance from customer or supplier has introduced delay, miscommunication or error. Consider the following:
How can the activity be moved closer to the customer or supplier to improve effectiveness?
How can the activity be moved closer to related activities to improve communication?
How can we decrease cycle time by reducing travel time and distance?
How can geographically virtual organisations be created?
5. REDUCE
Apply when higher accuracy is needed, or critical resources are performing non-value added or waste work. What could you reduce in your process to be innovative? Can you reduce inputs, manpower? For example, you could reduce product quality even to get back to a price point where you’re competitive.
How can the frequency of the activity be reduced or increased?
How would more information enable greater effectiveness?
How would less information or fewer controls simplify and improve efficiency?
How can critical resources be used more effectively?
6. REASSIGN
Reassess your business. Do you have the right people doing the right jobs? Do you have the right companies, organisations doing the right jobs? Think about reassigning things to get improved outcomes.
How can existing activities and decisions be moved to a different organisation?
How can the activity be outsourced?
How can the customer perform this activity?
How can the organisation perform an activity that the customer is already performing?
How can cross-training integrate and compress tasks?
How can suppliers/partners perform this activity?
7. RETOOL
And lastly, in this globally competitive business environment, it is crucial to think about how you can use technology to drive change in your business. How could you retool or reskill your people? Consider multiskilling, cross-skilling to get your business to an innovative level.
How can technology transform the process?
How can the activity be automated?
How can assets or competencies be leveraged to create competitive advantage?
How can up-skilling, down-skilling, or multi-skilling improve the process?
Use the 7Rs as a framework to stimulate some innovative thinking in your business.
To fully understand the 7Rs process, download the sheet here and use it in detail as a guide to improve and apply innovative thinking in your business.
For more strategic and innovative ideas, check out our other resources – videos, diagnostics, webinars, etc. – on this website to help you grow your business and take it to the next level.
What do consulting fees, underwear, razor blades and toilet paper have in common?
OK, so what do consulting fees, underwear, razor blades and toilet paper all have in common?
The real connection is that they all have a similar mechanism for charging for their services or products. They are all part of a subscription model.
Pricing your products and services is a highly strategic activity that is core to your Marketing Strategy and is often overlooked by business owners. Too many people take the easy way out and do exactly what the competition is doing. They charge a similar amount and do this in a the same way as the others.
What we are failing to grasp is that pricing is a key Positioning Strategy for your business and by copying the competition we are losing any competitive advantage that we may potentially gain. You can gain this advantage in many ways but 2 key areas are:
1. Your Price Level – what does your product (or service) cost relative to the competition? 2. Pricing Mechanism – How do you charge for your services/product? fixed fee, RRP, subscription, hourly rate, commission, etc.
Setting your Prices
There are 5 common tools for setting prices:
Cost Plus
RRP
Competitor Pricing
Market Will Bear
Target Pricing
Cost Plus – as the name suggests is a very common way to price based on your costs. Simply add up your costs to deliver and add a margin for profit and voila you have your price.
RRP – This is where your supplier sets the pricing via a “Recommended Retail Price” Model. You will usually have purchased the product at a wholesale level with an in-built margin to get to RRP. You may also be restricted by Government Policy in some areas like: healthcare.
Competitor Pricing – This is where you base your pricing on the competition and it can be a dangerous strategy as its easy to price to low. Some of your competitors will have poor business skills and will no understand how to price to make a profit.
Market Will Bear – this is where you test your pricing in the market and keep work out where will give you the best return in terms of volume and price. This takes some effort but is often the better strategy for your business.
Target Pricing – This is a different technique that involves determining the price that will generate the most sales for your business. You then deduct your profit to determine a target cost for your product or service. Using this information you can then decide what to features, benefits, packaging, distribution options to include in order to meet your cost target. Its a powerful pricing tool that is rarely used but I suggest that you give it a run.
In reality, we should use a variety of pricing tools to help set our price unless RRP is your only option. My experience is that Cost Plus should set the minimum price. Competitor Pricing should allow us to explore the range (use the phone (mystery shopper calls) and/or internet to do a quick scan of competitor pricing. Typically, if your products are of similar quality them set your price below that market leaders and above the average and use “Market Will Bear” and/or “Target Pricing” to explore some pricing options and lift your prices above the competition.
Establishing a Pricing Mechanism
The second element to consider is your pricing mechanism. Again, don’t be lazy and accept what the competition is doing.
20 odd years ago, when I went out on my own as a Business Consultant everyone charged by a the hour or day for their services. When I asked my clients what they disliked about the “Professionals” that they worked with the overwhelming response was high hourly rates and a “surprise” in the mail (the bill). I explored a range of options with my clients and settled on an agreed fee broken down into monthly installments like a “subscription”. That pricing mechanism has the been the basis for my successful coaching services for the last 20 years. Check out my website to see how the coaching programs play out – https://shifft.com.au/programs/
Now I have a range of innovative suppliers including software (SAAS – “Software as a Service” aka a Subscription) and the products i mentioned above, that are all using a subscription model to differentiate their business:
Underwear – Australian Company “Knobby” (https://knobbyunderwear.com.au/) delivers me a quality pair of jocks every month. Each month has a unique design and they are the most comfortable “jocks” I’ve worn for years. Who would have thought there was a market to buy underwear by subscription?
Razor Blades – Fed up with paying extortionate prices for razor blades from the majors, I went looking for options to provide me with a quality product for less. I soon found Dollar Shave Club (https://au.dollarshaveclub.com/home) who deliver me high quality razor blades and shaving products on subscription basis.
Toilet Paper – We have been buying out TP on subscription for a couple of years from social Who Gives a Crap (https://au.whogivesacrap.org/) a socially driven business that donates 50% of profits to build toilets in the developing world. The product quality is excellent and it arrives on a regular schedule.
These are just a few examples of the types of products and services that you can access via a different pricing model – in this case: subscription. For each pricing model there will be pros and cons but unless we explore some alternatives and look beyond copying what everyone else is doing then we will fail to differentiate our business in the marketplace.
How could you build a subscription model into your product or service offer?
I’d also be interested in your experiences with trying different pricing models for your business and/or businesses that you use. Comment below.
As we gear up for the festive season, I’m taking a moment to share some thoughts on how you can make the most of the holiday downtime to think about your business. We’re talking about a little reflection, a bit of reading, and some strategic planning—all in simple, actionable steps.
I often find the best time is when you’re not “up to your eyeballs in it” and the Christmas/New Year period is often a good time to reflect on the previous year and to start setting goals and plans for 2024. To that end, here are a couple of suggestions that you might find useful.
1. Journal Your Way to Clarity Grab an A5 or A4 journal (plain pages – with or without lines). This isn’t your typical diary for daily activities (“Dear Diary, today we went to the movies…” as much fun as that would be) – it’s about having a place for you to write your ideas, thoughts, concepts, issues and plans for your business and life. Trust me, it’s a game-changer. 2. Recommended Read: “The Road Less Stupid”Looking for a thought-provoking read? Check out “The Road Less Stupid” by Keith J. Cunningham. It’s a straightforward guide to quality thinking about crucial business matters. The book starts off by talking about how you set up a time and place for quality thinking but the real value comes in subsequent chapters. Keith Cunningham cleverly poses a series of questions for contemplation on a variety of topics. Chapters can be read independently of the other and in no particular order. It is a great book available on both hardcover and kindle versions (you can read it on your phone, computer and/or tablet). Take notes in your journal, and let the ideas percolate. 3. Write Yourself a Letter from the Future Here’s a simple yet powerful exercise. In your journal, set a date 3 to 5 years ahead and write a letter to yourself. Describe your business and life in vivid detail, as if it’s already happened. Talk about how it’s grown and what you have achieved. Be specific and detailed. It’s a personal exercise meant for your eyes only, but the impact can be profound. (If you don’t believe how powerful this can be, let me tell you about my experience at a future meeting). 4. Craft Your 2024 Plans Let’s talk about planning for the future. Depending on your planning cycle, this could mean a full Annual Operating Plan for 2024 or just a quick update. Check out these handy templates for 90-day Plans and an Annual Operating Plan:
Make notes, set goals, and keep them in your journal for easy reference. 5. Run Some DiagnosticsTake a moment to run some diagnostics on various aspects of your business and life by using our free Diagnostics. There are about 20 Diagnostics that cover a range of topics from Growth and Profits to Life Balance. Each uses a similar structure of 25+ questions (no commercially sensitive information provided) to give you a score on 6-10 key factors, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. Assess the results and summarise your thoughts in your Journal. Use them as a foundation for building your 2024 plans.
A Proactive Start to 2024 As we close the chapter on 2023, let’s use the holiday break to our advantage. Whether it’s through journaling, reading, envisioning the future, planning strategically, or running diagnostics, these simple steps can pave the way for a purposeful and successful 2024. Got questions or thoughts to share? Leave a comment below. Wishing you and your family a happy, safe and healthy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Cheers,
I hope you’re well and surviving these challenging times…
Your response to COVID19 will depend on your industry, business structure and level of resources and I’m sure that you have addressed the most pressing issues and have locked down your business to weather the storm (if required) but where to next?
As our Governments start to contemplate lifting restrictions and “kick starting” the economy, now is the time to ramp up your marketing activity and start building momentum for the future.
Do not wait for the restrictions to be lifted to begin your recovery – START NOW! I am finding that people are looking beyond COVID19 and are starting to build resources and contacts to help them through the Recovery Phase so you need to be building your profile.
Marketing typically has a lead time to start producing results – so start your activity now and build momentum.
What sort of things should you be doing?
1. Get your post-COVID19 Business Strategy sorted – for many businesses COVID19 has been a catalyst for changes in how we: operate, deliver our products and/or services, manage teams, working locations, pricing models, etc. What changes will you hang on to? What old practices will you discard? Why? What will your business look like post-COVID19?
2. Ramp up your marketing activities – once you are clear on your strategy, then its time to double down on your marketing and sales activity.
Its important that you start this ahead of the curve as marketing has a lead time. If cash is still tight then think of all the free and low cost activities that you can do.
Your marketing activities should be focused on our 3 point Promotion Model: Networking, 1-to-1 and Broadcast Activities.
The emphasis you put on each element will depend on your specific business. Some potential activities could include:
Join some networking groups – most are 100% online at the moment so you can expand your geographic reach quickly and easily – Click here for networking resources – https://shifft.com.au/business-networking-resources/
Revise your website and social media presence – take the time to upgrade your website and/or social media profiles. If cash is tight, then change the content on your website not the layout. If you don’t have a website then now is the time to get one!
Ramp up your activity on social media – Pick one or 2 social platforms that fit with your target market and start adding regular content and interacting with your connections.
Build content that demonstrates “capability” – write blog articles, produce videos and add content to your website that demonstrate that you are an expert in your field. “5 top tips for xxxx” articles, etc. Watch our video on how to convert your blog into a video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_bq3pRSvog
Share this content with your clients and prospects – Send copies of your new content to your mailing lists – post content on social platforms – rework popular content and post it on authority sites to increase SEO
Explore online advertising – If your budget allows then consider advertising on Facebook, Google Adwords, etc. With less competition for key words on Google you may find that your funds go a lot further. Engage professional help to get better results or be prepared to learn on the run.
Connect with your Referral Sources – make contact with your “Centres of Influence” and rekindle relationships that may have gone cold over the last few months.
Ramp up your 90 Day Contact Program – most of these activities should be part of a structured 90 Day Contact Program for your business. If you don’t have a 90 Day Contact program in place or have let it slip – now is the time to re-ignite it. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS – You can download a free copy of the Program here – https://shifft.com.au/90-day-contact-program
So, now is the time to ramp up your marketing activities as we build towards a relaxation of restrictions and our economy starts to recover. Don’t wait for the recovery – be proactive and start working on it today.
Russ
P.S. Our FREE Training Program offer is still available. Through our partnership with Mindshop (www.mindshop.com), I am able to offer you and your team 2x business online training programs (from our suite of 26 courses) for FREE. This offer is open to anyone who would like to take it up. You can select the courses that you would like to do and you will have 6 months to complete them. Limit of 2 courses per person.
P.S.S. If you would like to have a 30-minute, no cost, no obligation, no “sales pitch” discussion with me about navigating COVID19 in these trying times, then please use the link to find a mutually convenient time for a zoom call. We’re all in this together and I’m happy to help – https://calendly.com/russellcummings/30-minute-call
