Bright Marketing

The First Mastermind #mastermind

2012-01-27T17:48:00.000Z

I was recently asked how and when I was introduced to the Mastermind concept.

Aged 21, I set up my first business with all the insufferable smug arrogance that I could muster. Pretty obnoxious I suspect.

Having read all the books and having attended all the courses (as well as having a degree in economics with business), I still felt things just weren’t coming together. I had accrued way too much theory and hadn’t learned all the lessons I should have learned. But then again, I was young, very young.

It was at this point, working my little socks off and feeling that I wasn’t really making progress, that I was introduced to what is now known as a Mastermind Group: expert sessions; ‘insider secrets’; golden nuggets of research and market research; exposure to genuine how-tos and tools, tips and techniques that actually work; regular coaching and feedback sessions; peer group support; regular info updates, especially about latest and proven techniques; selective introductions, and a whole host of myriad benefits that were too subtle for me to appreciate at the time.

The experience changed my life and I continue to be indebted to the expert business grower who is responsible not only for turbocharging my business career, but also for introducing me to a career that I would later follow: namely helping businesses to grow, and fast. So, what happened?

While my programme took place some time ago, the fundamentals have not changed. The recipe comprises:

· An expert business grower that can inspire you to make the tough decisions and take the actions required

· Regular (but relatively brief) coaching and mentoring

· The creation of a safe haven, a club, of trusted peers who can share your issues and your dreams. People who are on a similar journey to yourself

· A focus on results, how to get them and how to measure them as well as putting processes and systems in place to automate as much of the business as possible and to put you in a position of working ‘on’ and not ‘in’ the business

· Regular prompts and mini-updates to keep you fired up and focused, and much, much more...

When I signed up for the programme I wrote my targets for the programme on a piece of paper and put it in a sealed envelope to be opened at the end of the 12-month programme.

What I signed up for was the insights and the golden tips, the priceless nuggets that the others could share as a result of their combined x years of business experience.

What I signed up to was a clear pointer of what worked and what didn’t work for a business like mine.

What I signed up for was magic fairy dust that I could find in no book.

What I had signed up to was my own personalised version of ‘What They Teach You at Harvard Business School’ combined with ‘What They Don’t Teach You...’

And did the programme deliver?

Yes, the programme gave me all of the above. And yes, I exceeded all the targets I had put in that envelope. But this really is the tip of the iceberg.

What I hadn’t accounted for was that the programme changed my view of the business, my view of the world and what exactly I was trying to achieve and it totally opened my eyes to options I had never imagined. (I was young!)

Most of all, the programme succeeded in pinning me down. It got me to declare my ambition, explore how I would achieve it, commit to the strategy and be accountable for the results and my behaviour) not only to the programme leader but also to the whole group.

In the past I had got away with murder by refusing to declare my goals (not that I knew what they were!) and refusing to follow-through on plans and so I was not in any way accountable to anyone for the success or failure of my results. Like most owner-managers I behaved like a law unto myself, taking credit (where credit was not due) and moving the goalposts or blaming some external circumstance if things didn’t go my way.

The programme was the wake-up call I needed; it also provided the key, the solution (the tools) to help me move on. In short, it changed my focus, my viewpoint and my horizons. I became a grown-up!

So, is this type of programme for everyone?

Emphatically the answer is ‘no’! It is not for the faint-hearted or for people content at playing at being in business. Likewise it is not for the fresh-face start-up or the business that is about to go bust (in search of a magic wand).

Who it is for is... people who feel that they have a business that hasn’t yet fulfilled its potential. They have had some success but often feel that they are now working harder than ever and not realising the anticipated results. People who feel they need the support, focus and attention of others, specifically a particular business expert (people who have been-there-and-done-it and can inspire you to do similar things).

There are not too many groups out there that suit your individual business experience, ambition, drive and character. But they are out there. Time to start looking...

Mastermind Groups - Three Mini Case Studies

2012-01-27T09:49:00.000Z

Three case studies from the world of mastermind groups.

While the journalists and politicians always want to have sexy stories about business growth, the reality is that most growth comes in what appear to be fairly ordinary industries.

There can only be so many zero-to-hero stories that turn the owner into an overnight celebrity. Believe you me, there is no shortage of highly successful businesses that just never hit the award ceremony stage, or the entrepreneur of the year prize or the flash lamps of the paparazzi.

Likewise there is a fairy tale belief that high growth only emerges in the thrusting, new industries but in reality we see more than enough growth in what to many would be considered the dull industries.

I can assure you that these businesses are anything but dull. Their business growth and development are a testament to the bravery and determination of their owners to deliver extraordinary performance.

In my experience, these exceptional and relatively anonymous businesses include: opticians, specialist travel agencies, translation agencies, freshly prepared/chilled food, fish wholesalers, hospitality/meeting room hire, hotels, restaurant chains, software houses, specialist oil importers, outside caterers, 4x4 specialists, car dealerships, recruitment consultancies, haulage companies, marketing and business consultancies, digital agencies, magazine publishers, research agencies, cross-cultural learning centre and so on.

I make no excuse for the length of the list as I am trying to make a point about the breadth of different businesses that can outperform the market.

Either a mastermind group or one-to-one consultancy assignments have been the main processes to propel these businesses towards what used to be called hypergrowth. And each business went through a similar journey.

Case Study 1: Jane, Marketing Agency

Fed up with an education-focused learning group Jane chose between a Mastermind group and a consultant/coach to help her grow her £1.2m turnover marketing business. Somehow the vast array of very impressive speakers had entertained and educated but hadn’t translated into results.

The group quickly focused on her inability to be decisive and wooed, cajoled and virtually bullied Jane to make three tough decisions that she had avoided to date (sacking/replacing her business development manager, launching a new ‘platinum’ product line, and limiting her workweek to weekdays only).

Results: almost immediate; the sense of relief and the direct results to the bottom line were instant. Over 12 months profitability and sales both increased 30% after three bumpy flatline years.

Case Study 2: Sheena, Specialist Medical Consultant

Business growth and entrepreneurship courses had led Sheena to look for funding to run a private hospital (despite her international expertise as a specialist surgeon). The penny dropped that she was not a manager or entrepreneur and did not want to actually run a hospital but actually wanted to be the best surgeon in her field. 100% focus on establishing her reputation as a surgeon (and outsourcing the capital intensive hospital side) meant that Sheena was able to radically increase revenue by taking on ground-breaking work with brand name athletes. Sheena was not a born businessperson; she did need clear direction and she desperately needed the support of a business expert and the mastermind group members to make the leap of faith.

Results: Client Fee rates up. Profit up. Dividends up. Free time up. Worry down

Case Study 3, Jim, Training Company

Jim had become a training junky. Had all the books, CDs and DVDs but somehow none of the ‘one-to-many’ products had ever delivered the promised ROI for his £800k turnover business. The hands-on, nature of the Mastermind programme, with its obsession with results had a dramatic impact on Jim and his business. “The group fundamentally shifted my mindset and attitude to business”.

Results: with the changed mindset came a new energy that meant that he worked smarter, only working on high-value projects. The group provided him with over £400k of referrals. In one year, turnover up 35%, prices up, profits up, holidays up.

The case studies reveal an interesting series of themes. Marketing blurbs that hyperventilate and scream of incredible/unbelievable results (“double your turnover in just 17 days”) is not particularly helpful to potential delegates although some hopefuls may believe that the silver bullet is there for the taking/buying.

Most of the delegates had tried training/DVD/CD interventions and had felt short-changed by the one-to-many nature of the beast. Many had tried consultancy/coaching and had found it wasn’t able to maintain momentum. Most had tried the DIY option and discovered that they didn’t have the time or skills to master someone else’s craft. None of the delegates could have made their own respective leaps without the support of the group or the mastermind leader.

So what does seem to work is a combination of factors that all create a massive impact on the client business: group support for decisions, joint ventures and referrals; expert support, advice and insider secrets; accountability to the expert and the group; a changed mindset by rubbing shoulder with other highly motivated entrepreneurs; a focus on results, month-on-month; a programme that runs over a year and doesn’t disappear if the going gets tough.

Not for people looking for the easy option, not for people looking for someone else to do the hard work and make the tough decisions, the mastermind is only right for a certain type of person at a certain stage of their business career. Is that time now?

Turning the Corner Out of the Recession - a case study

2012-01-23T14:38:00.000Z

Three months ago I sat in on a so-called management meeting for a rather lovely business (10 staff in the creative industries) who were heading towards bankruptcy with remarkable speed.

They asked if I could bring a magic wand with me. (The bank manager's heavy-handed letter had prompted the meeting).

They showed me their wonderful work, they showed me their wonderful business plan and then they started to bitch amongst themselves about why other things were stopping them from being successful. The problem was not defined but a few questions clarified what was going on. In a nutshell, the key comments I heard were following a well-worn model:

"We're losing clients"

"Clients have got tighter and tighter budgets and are less and less profitable"

"Profitability is declining"

"Cash is shrinking at a growing rate"

Getting them to pause for breath, I asked them to explain how they get things done. The gregarious boss, Tony, explained: "We have this drop-dead vision and mission and out of that has emerged our strategy, milestones and performance indicators. Robert, we copied it straight out of your book so we know that it will work." The pregnant pause was huge. My nervousness was massive.

This team of creatives had skipped through the process without actually taking ownership of it. After twenty minutes I had put them back in the driving seat.

Business planning is simply making your mistakes on paper. It is only worth the paper that it is written on if something happens.

Here is what they had missed:

SUCCESS = DECISIONS + ACTIONS + ACCOUNTABILITY = RESULTS and OUTCOMES/BENEFITS

Success, at its simplest, is about following through (according to its Greek origins).

As well as doing all the good business planning stuff there is a need for your team to:

1. Make the tough decisions - what you are going to do?

2. Take action based on the decisions - doing it
3. Be accountable - who are you going to report to? ( to make sure you do it) - what are the penalties and rewards for success/failure?

4. Deliver the results and associated outcomes and benefits
They had written the business plan and then they waited! They had reverted to staring at the phones and their inboxes and waiting for something to happen. They had to break this loop of despair and negativity and get out there and make something happen.

They quoted some mid-Atlantic author who talks about passion and the will of the spirit and the karma of knowing your goal and meditating on it. Time for a wake-up call.

After they realised the vacuous nature of the philosophy (why should wanting something to happen make it happen?) they sat down and discussed how and why they got results. What was it that made them different from the competition? What was it that their clients loved about them? What was it that couldn't be copied? What was it that added 'awesome value' (their words) to their clients?

A new one-page plan was created with clear, measurable actions distributed. Everyone was to report in to the MD on Friday afternoon. All successes were to be celebrated. A new "quick 'n' dirty" marketing and sales plan was put into action within seven days. Every single existing and past client was contacted with a compelling proposition or white paper document that demonstrated how working with the agency would deliver clear RESULTS for the client.

Results are the proof of the pudding for the agency. Eight weeks since our meeting, the numbers tell the story. The pipeline is bigger, the proposal hit rate is better, the order book is fuller than it has been for nearly a year.

One swallow doesn't make a summer, but the agency has taken control of its destiny and stopped hiding from the decisions and actions that it needed to take to get the results it wanted.

Tony sent me a brief email this morning: "The penny has dropped. It is all about making the tough decisions then taking massive action and being accountable and getting the results. Thank you." Job done!

Smoke Your Own Dope

2012-01-17T10:08:00.001Z

I spend most of my time working with service firms. Either I am their customer or I am their supplier, helping them to grow their sales and profits. They provide services for other people: digital marketing campaigns, logo design, end of year accounts and management information, time management techniques, coaching around objective-setting, social media expertise, strategy workshops, and homeopathic treatments.

While the category of ‘service provider’ is huge, what they have in common is the selling of advice and expertise that will help the client.

There is a delicious irony in the behaviour of the majority of these businesses. They should be exemplars of their trade, demonstrating the highest values in every aspect of their field. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Buried in the mire of working IN the business, delivering the product/service to the client in the best possible way (whatever that means!), or finding the next client or getting paid, they usually are less than impressive in the very field that they advise on.

The digital marketing company who has a really naff website, the graphic designer with an embarrassing logo, the accountant who isn’t on top of his own management accounts, the time management trainer who turns up late. You get the message.

It is not so much that they deliberately fail to walk the talk but the reality is that so many service firms just don’t cut the mustard.

These businesses need to map out what is called the customer service journey, listing (and scoring) every step of the customer journey from hearing about the service through to the purchase through to after-sales service. It is my belief that most businesses do not sit down and design the customer experience. It is something that just falls out of what is convenient to the service provider, to fit in with their map of the world.

The reality is that the customer experience is everything to the customer. It is the only thing they can really measure you by. And they would expect an accountant to have stunningly fast and crisp measurement systems (and yet it takes 21 days to get a breakdown of my bill..!), you would expect a web designer to have a faultlessly red hot seductive website, and so on.

The truth is that, in all the hullaballoo and noise that is associated with delivery, the very thing that we claim to be proponents of gets forgotten about. We fail to demonstrate our above-average ability in our field.

So, just imagine how impressive your service firm would be, how much of a no-brainer it would be to potential clients if you really did demonstrate brilliant skills in your area of expertise.

You should ‘smoke your own dope’ if it is as good as you say it is...

Why Do Some Firms Grow Nine Times Faster Than Others?

2012-01-12T11:33:00.001Z

There is a group of professional service firms (PSFs) that grow nine times faster than the average. They are 50% more profitable than the average. So, what’s going on?

Doing the research for the new Grow Your Service Firm book, it was easy to see that high- performing service firms are the ones that have clients that believe in the business. The ‘positioning’ (and ‘targeting’) talks to clients in a way that the client can relate to and understand. The firm understands the client needs, hurts and wants and has a solution. The likelihood is that the service firm is a specialist and not a generalist. That is the Grow Your Service Firm ‘ology’.

High performers have always had a particular profile; they have always been identified as being different from the average.

So, how do they drive their growth?

They could just spend more on marketing and sales. But the high performers don’t do that; they just become qualitatively better at the marketing and sales. Frederiksen and Taylor point out that the high performers do not spend proportionately the most on marketing and sales because they are already very good at it. They are simply more effective so don’t need to compete by spending the most. Obvious really.

The high performers actually spend (slightly) less than average firms on their sales and marketing activities. The high performers’ marketing spend isn’t quantitatively higher; it is qualitatively better. They spend less and get better results.

Every firm says pretty much the same boring thing, selling similar services to similar people using similar straplines and similar people with similar qualifications to sell similar services at similar prices etc etc.

Clients have switched off; shouting louder just irritates them some more. The days of interruption marketing are over: people trust referrals, recommendations, word-of-mouth and reputation way more than any paid-for sales campaign. In fact, most people believe that businesses lie in the adverts!

The high performers, meanwhile, focus on client needs and priorities. They are not preoccupied with their own capabilities and expertise. They are not mesmerised by the reflection of themselves like some Greek myth. They focus their limited budgets on specific target customer groups and use a clear and easy to understand message. Simple really.

So, who is in this group of professional service firms that grow nine times faster than the average and are 50% more profitable than the average? How can you join them? What do you need to do?

The starting point I am afraid comes straight out of day one of your Marketing 101 class. You have to create and communicate a clear positioning that demonstrates how you can help your target clients… unequivocally. A totally compelling proposition becomes seductive.

As a starting point, ask yourself if you consistently communicate:

Your overt business benefit
The real reason you can deliver
The dramatic difference between you and your competitors

I meet very few service firms who have actually done this properly. As a result they deliver average results.

When Gold/Silver/Bronze Packages Become A Bad Idea

2012-01-10T09:57:00.000Z

I have long been a fan of creating different service qualities for different client groups; different service packages at different price points for differing client needs and pockets. There is, however, a big BUT...

Gold/Silver/Bronze can in fact be expanded into Platinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze/Paper product classes where ‘platinum’ is uber-expensive and ‘paper’ is free (See Expensive is the New Free)

The incremental cost of selling the premium price product tends to be negligible so it makes sense to spend more time selling the better (and more profitable) offering. Despite this, there is an opposite pull – a force to dissipate the benefits of premium pricing. One which will damage your business.

So, here’s the problem, the paradox. In the interests of growing our businesses we look to maximise our opportunities to grow our client base. As a result we might abuse the various package offers and alienate our existing loyal customers by doing the following:

Take away parts of the platinum offering to increase profits quickly
Downsell clients as a quick win (losing out on the more profitable opportunity)
Upsell clients when they don’t really want it creating resentment
Discount the higher level offering to win the sale
Forget about the platinum clients as we chase new sales.

Of course it is correct to sell (or rather to upsell) to people who wish to pay a premium price. Do not forget, however, that they are paying for and expect to receive the premium-priced service.

Creating different product packages (gold/silver/bronze) works but please be careful not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

From Vision To Exit

2012-01-09T13:44:00.001Z

Guy Rigby's From Vision To Exit arrived on the doorstep...

The book is pretty ambitious in its goal - a guide to building and selling a business. No mean task. In fact, Rigby succeeds in covering all the key points from vision, strategy, tactics through growth, pace and profits to flexibility and focus and on. If you've got a 'growing/selling the business' question, it will be covered in the book.

The book uses plenty of examples and quotes to support the commentary on each topic. This brings things to life.

As a thorough A-Z, the book cannot be expected to be an expert in every field but it certainly gives you clear, straightforward guidance and is an excellent starting point.

Rigby is from an accounting background and the book is a thorough piece as one would expect. No wish-washy hippy stuff here. Just a factual account of what do to, where to go, how to do it. While this approach may not appeal to new age business people it will appeal to those people who are looking for a grounded real-world viewpoint.

Some people will read this from cover-to-cover; others will use it as a reference book.

The book will be used and kept by anyone in the business advisory world as the book they have in their drawer as the reference point they can use at zero notice.

It will be read by the aspiring entrepreneur to help them understand the journey ahead.

It is certainly not a bluffer's guide. It is grown up which is refreshing after all the breathless, get-rich-quick, fad-of-the-month, I'm-a-celebrity/guru, PR-driven volumes that have been published more recently.

Does it achieve its goal, to be a guide to building and selling a business? Yes!

2012 - The Year That Social Media Became Exhausted

2012-01-06T12:26:00.000Z

Nick Tadd says

"About bl**dy time too. According to Mashable 2012 is the year we exhaust social media."

I couldn't agree more. I don't think that it is dead ("deceased, no more" as in Monty Python) but as mashable say, we are exhausted. Social/digital Exhaustion will become the catch phrase.

People finally realise that connecting or following or being followed (as a numbers game) is meaningless unless there some purpose and some result. (See Twitter is For Losers)

I think the light bulb moment is when you employ people and they appear to be playing on social media (while you are paying them to do so).

Now I don't deny the benefits of being open, pursuing random connections and so on. I love it. BUT we must not confuse activity (=wheel spin?) with business.

I am not the social media guru but we have noticed that many of our clients have become fixated with activity and almost irrelevant metrics when they need to get back to basics...

So reflecting about the state of play... On the one hand, we have the social media zealots grabbing at the next new best thing universal antidote (and yes I do feel myself falling for Google Plus!!!). On the other hand, we have the incredibly lazy marketing habits of the old school agencies (see Why Marketing is a load of B******s!) simply spending more in a naive attempt to interrupt and buy people's attention.

What I do know is that there is:

just too much noise and it is turning off a lot of people
just too much "me-too" follower behaviour (buyers and sellers)
not enough common sense engagement and connection
a brilliant system (fast, quick, vast, cheap) to reach out and find and explore and share with others.
tons of opportunity if you can just navigate your way through it all
not enough time to do it all so a need for clear guidelines, prioritisation and time management!!!

To be honest, I am starting to feel that the problem is actually about THE MESSAGE. Your message. (The channel may be a red herring.):

What exactly are you saying that is interesting?
Is it compelling?
Worthy of attention?
Clear and helping other to understand what you do?
And how can you help?

All the talk is about how you communicate and what works . (Maybe that's simpler than dealing with the basic "why should people bother to buy from you question!)

But if the message is broken (and let's be honest, most are) then you are simply wasting your time.

Business Leaders as Jazz Band Leaders

2012-01-03T09:35:00.004Z

The orchestra conductor has often been cited as the perfect metaphor of a leader; the conductor is capable of creating harmony from an enormously complex team. In the army, as well as in business, campaigns are regularly referred to as having to be ‘orchestrated’ to describe the complexity.

Leading The Music - And The Beat Goes On….

The need to manage complexity seems to become more and more important. This pressure is so great that maybe the skills of the jazz leader are now required more than the skills of the classical orchestra leader.

In essence, classical music is ‘old school’, where you know what is going to happen in the end. In jazz, anything can happen, a bit like the modern business environment.

Technically, jazz involves taking a theme, taking it to bits within a rhythmic framework, and putting that back together such that two plus two equals five - you have more than you started with. The great jazz leader has to be thoroughly schooled in the fundamentals, yet possessing an absolute technical competence, and also being able to improvise on a theme. The crucial skill of modern management is this ability to improvise on a theme; this is what separates the classical from the jazz leader.

The ability to improvise is crucial; it is this ability that enables the leader to develop and understand patterns as they unfold. For most leaders there is no real score or script.

The leader is given a theme around which he or she must work and improvise.

The metaphor of jazz is a rich one. You only need to think of some of the great jazz musicians of the later half of the century to see the similarities. Great names such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Gil Evans, Keith Jarrett, and Stephane Grappelli took traditional themes and ways of working and pushed them to the limit - as with all innovative work, some of it didn’t seem to make so much sense to the ‘mainstream’.

However years of expanding what were originally narrowly defined parameters have opened up new possibilities for the players (and their customers, the audience).

Ellington, Davis, Coltrane and Grappelli can be seen as examples of the expansion of the ‘traditional’ way of doing things; compare them with one of the more innovative modern business leaders, say Tom Peters, classically trained and thoroughly grounded in the fundamentals of their profession.

The Richard Bransons and Anita Roddicks are equally grounded although their learning may not be quite so formal (compare Miles Davis or John Coltrane for the less classically trained jazz players).

Both management and jazz leaders should be great team players (the Dave Brubeck Quartet was together for 16 years). Both types of leader need to be great innovators and have a passion for the success of the team that is only matched by the compassion for the team. Humility is shown in giving credit to the team.

What counts is the leader and his/her ability to take the whole further, beyond existing, safe boundaries; to continuously improvise and to continuously learn. To learn you have to make mistakes, but the key is to learn from those mistakes.

Management-speak and jazz-speak do merge. The role of the leader is to achieve the task - after all this is why the group exists. The other main role is to maintain effective relationships.

Management and jazz leaders are committed to achieving results through people. Their main objectives will be to:

· Gain the commitment and the co-operation of the team;

· Get the group into action to achieve some kind of agreed objectives; and

· Make the best use of the skills, energies and talents of the team.

Successful leaders need to harness and satisfy the needs of the task, the group, and the individuals to be successful.

Case Study A lovely example of the difference between (visionary) leadership and (getting things done) management has emerged as some critics suggest that Paul McCartney was in some respects the creative leader of the Beatles rather than John Lennon.

Yoko Ono is quoted as springing to her dead husband’s defence, ‘John did not make the phone calls, he was not on that level as a leader - he was on the level of a spiritual leader…. He was the visionary and that is why the Beatles happened.’

Will future musicologists view Sir Paul as little more than an organiser with a good telephone manner basking in the reflected glory of Lennon’s genius? What a wonderful portrayal of the difference between the leader and the manager! Or rather, the point is that together they were amazingly successful - a successful team needs both sets of skills.

taken from Kick-Start Your Business, 2001

Top Blogs of 2011

2012-01-02T15:23:00.008Z

In no particular order here is a selection of my popular blog postings of 2011

What should agencies learn from Lady Gaga?

2011-12-31T09:29:00.007Z

Manu Field in Marketing Insights on May 16, 2011:

I don’t propose to go into whether or not Lady Gaga deserves this level of success based on a dispassionate assessment of her musical talent. However, one thing which surely everyone can agree on is that she (or her handlers) has hit on – and consistently played on the strength of – a winning strategy. She is shamelessly different.

So Manu, where is your tenuous link to what can be learned from this by healthcare communications agencies, you may be thinking. Well, I would say that Lady Gaga is an excellent case study in support of the core thesis of a book that I read a while back called Bright Marketing by Robert Craven...

Read the whole blog at

http://blog.wcgworld.com/2011/05/what-should-healthcare-comms-agencies-learn-from-lady-gaga

Holiday Homework!!!!

2011-12-22T11:42:00.003Z

Read the following list and commit to follow through on just five of the following ideas as soon as you get back from the bank holiday:

1) Talk to at least five percent more existing/past clients every day

2) Talk to at least five per cent more potential clients every day

3) Find five ways to improve your product/service

4) Find five ways to get more out of your staff

5) Find five ways to get more profit out of your business

6) Find five ways to get more sales

7) Find five ways to improve understanding of how sales and marketing works

8) Find five ways to improve operational efficiency and consistency

9) Find five ways to spread the work load and not be so dependent on you

10) Find five ways to make money get used more effectively

11) Find five ways to improve financial planning

12) Find five ways to spend more time "on" and less time "in" the business

13) Find five ways to communicate the vision/purpose to the team

14) Find five tasks to finish or dump that have been hanging around

15) Decide five decisions you want to make

16) Focus on five ways to enjoy your social/private life even more

17) Find five ways to maximise your time

18) Find five ways to laugh more

19) Find five ways to congratulate yourself on your successes

20) Find five ways to spend a little more time thinking and a little less time doing, but also…

21) Find five ways to be a bit more spontaneous

22) Find five new connections you want to make

23) Find five big steps you want to make

24) Agree five things you are going to do in the next five hours

25) Agree five of the above list that you are going to do in the next five days!

Andrew Ludlam's Maverick Marketing

2011-12-20T12:09:00.008Z

Andrew Ludlam's Maverick Marketing is a slim book.

His voice and tone is good; he is neither patronising, smug, nor condescending which is a total relief.

He talks to you about your business in a quietly confident tone.

A small volume that shows you "the essential building strategies for extraordinary business growth" is what the cover says.

Certainly, Ludlam does cover key issues and attitudes to business growth. I found myself nodding and grunting in agreement.

He covers key issues and succeeds in keeping his words to the point. No endless waffle which means you can read the book pretty quickly. However only do this if you are prepared to return to start to uncover the value in the book. Ludlam is spot on when he says that (and I paraphrase poorly) he can only point you in the right direction but you need to do the hard work.

No empty promises of get-rich-quick schemes in sight. Hurray.

The book is a great intro to business growth and the sort of topics that you would need to work on if you were serious about the subject.

It is clearly an intro to the work that he does and gives you an insight into the tools that he uses in his consultancy work.

As ever, take one nugget from the book and it will be worth its weight in gold. This book has plenty of nuggets.

FT Guide to Business Networking - Heather Townsend

2011-12-16T08:16:00.002Z

Heather Townsend’s FT Guide To Networking gives you exactly what you’d expect from such a prestigious publisher: a thorough and robust introduction to the subject.

Networking is a mystery, a dark art to many, especially to those in professional service firms where people are trained to be brilliant in their job but often do not receive any formal guidance on the necessary softer skills required to grow a practice. (You are meant to pick up the networking thing by osmosis!)

Townsend systematically takes the whole process apart and examines each piece so the beginner or the relative expert can find great nuggets and insights into the networking process (and then apply them).

Her use of the FITTER framework and an opportunity scoring system allow you to apply her ideas, thoughts, and techniques. And the book is full of helpful lists, how-tos, tips, resource lists and summaries.

You can dip into this book where you feel you need a quick update and review or read it from cover-to-cover.

The book is free of the hippy nonsense that is so-often written about the subject. It is a well-researched book littered with real life examples of the ideas and approaches that she recommends.

Like a sex manual, there will be two types of owners of this book: those who shame-facedly hide it from view for fear of being found out... and those who proudly have it on full display. Which one will you be?

The Happy Manifesto

2011-12-05T09:15:00.001Z

- The Happy Manifesto - So, to start the review I have to declare that I find most touchey-feeley self-help-type books excruciating to read. I assumed this was just another.

I keep thinking 'show me the numbers' and 'where's the proof?'.

Reading Stewart's book I was like the proverbial dog being dragged on a lead for a walk that they don't want to be part of.

Despite my attempts to challenge and object to Stewart's philosophy I found myself agreeing and supporting his views and I found myself buying into the happy manifesto. So my early prejudices (justified or not) were entirely unfounded.

It is a short book. 120-ish pages.

Its mantra. its ology, its way of looking at the world is deceptively addictive. Like chocolate but for your business brain.

Corporations will find Stewart's arguments almost hypnotic. He gets under your skin.

Not many business books hang around in your thoughts. Not many that you send to your clients. Not many that you want to share.

Of course the book is not perfect but I don't think it intended to be that. What it is... is a springboard, a catalyst, to get you thinking about how you run your business. Not only does he say to you 'Could do better...' but he gives you some very simple starting points....

For me, ideas like pre-authorisation will become part of my business toolkit. Terrific. That one idea is worth its weight in gold.

Learning To Leap - book review

2011-11-30T17:20:00.001Z

Shindler's Learning to Leap was a delight to read. And that surprised me!

Having spent many years in the past - 'in the training room' - I am familiar with most of the self-help-y type models and self-assessment tools. This book manages to present its content in a light and refreshing manner.

Digestible and understandable and free of the touchey-feeley nonsense most books in this area always sink to. Phew. Well done David.

I particuluarly like the fact that you can skim OR read, take one idea or a bunch of ideas. The book is accessible and not limited to school-leavers only or redundant managers only.

My only minor observation is about the page formatting which has very narrow margins.

I can see this book being reproduced and focusing on many types of different targets. It could easily be fine-tuned as a book for school-leavers only, or graduates only, or qualifying accountants only. The list is endless.

Shindler has managed to crack the balance between being accessible and yet based on a rigorous and thorough understanding of the subject. His 'voice' is reassuring and not patronising.

FREE EXCERPT FROM GROW YOUR SERVICE FIRM

2011-11-15T11:29:00.010Z

EXCLUSIVE... THE FIRST 13 PAGES OF 'GROW YOUR SERVICE FIRM' ...
CLICK HERE

FIND OUT MORE... BUY THE BOOK... HERE

and check out
- this article, The Grand Canyon Between You And Your Clients in Real Business
- this article, Work Deeper With Few Or Shallower With Many in Marketing Donut
- this article Why You Are Not Paid What You Are Worth
- this review/article Why I am Going To Buy From Your Competitors by Bridget Greenwood

Check out the mini-ad...

Checkout the new hashtag.... guess what it is...

And check out the new audio interview with Ian Brodie
Audio Interview with Ian Brodie (30 minutes) (or full link including webpage and description)

A New Baby

2011-11-08T16:48:00.004Z

Mini-Case Study 3: Turnover Up 50% Even In A Deeply Recession Hit Market

2011-10-28T07:55:00.001+01:00

Scan: the recession caused the almost immediate collapse of revenues for construction companies, architects and interior design products.

Evaluation: our client sold up-market furniture etc to hotels, offices and wealthy individuals, but had little profile and no leadership positioning. They ended up selling on price, and not winning enough competitive pitches.

Recommendations: position as regional leaders, focus on “famous” designers, evolve the website so it offered more and better than any competitor, promote the owner as the regional authority on design, refurbish premises and launch high quality events for media and clients/prospects.

Results: margins increased and turnover was up 53% ahead of an ambitious target in the first 6 months.

Contact Paul Jobin or Robert Craven at The Directors' Centre to find out more. +44 01225 851044

Mini-Case Study 2: Increasing Accountants’ Sales By 32%

2011-10-24T07:45:00.002+01:00

Scan: three companies of accountants had merged, but operated to their own agendas as businesses and individuals. Too many were merely “order takers” leading to poor client relationships.

Evaluate: a business review showed little clarity of purpose or direction, and no unity of operating systems. Needed to change 1+1+1=3 into 1+1+1=5.

Recommendations: management and staff seminars created a shared sense of purpose and willingness to co-operate because they would all profit. New system set up by DC and key staff. Training was practical, comprehensive and positively received.

Results: 32% increase in services taken by clients transforming profitability. 10% annual growth exceeded.

Contact Paul Jobin or Robert Craven at The Directors' Centre to find out more. +44 01225 851044

Mini-Case Study 1: Doubling Net Profit In 18 Months

2011-10-17T07:38:00.002+01:00

Scan: a care homes group in the Midlands with 6 homes. Good care, good people, low profits, no growth. Being out-gunned by national big company competitors.

Evaluate: too many NHS residents at low rates. Residents cared for, but not happy. No strategy. No direction.

Recommendations: increase the rates; cap NHS resident numbers. Invest in activities to create happier residents. Launch positive initiatives: position as leaders in “home-from-home care” (what the big companies could never do); create a Fair Prices Campaign positioning them as the champions of good value; Elderly In The Community Awards to build community relationships, attract sponsors and recruit new residents.

Results: happier residents; a waiting list of residents; net profit margin up from 12% to 26% in 18 months.

Contact Paul Jobin or Robert Craven at The Directors' Centre to find out more

A New Mastermind Group is Born! October 2011

2011-10-13T15:58:00.005+01:00

A Mastermind Recipe:

Take six business people (three men, three women).
Lock them away for two solid days. With me.
Show them how to healthcheck their businesses, define and set their personal, career and business goals.
Get them to bring their key issues to the table.

This is a recipe for a high octane mix of:

results-focused decision-making,
breaking self-limiting beliefs and
creating the focus and drive that so many of us seek.

Chatham House Rules apply at such events. Names and identities will always be disguised to protect the innocent!!!

However, I can tell you that we had a vivacious mix of industries represented: media, e-learning, auctions, fitness, financial services and events.

The original issues were clearly defined as ‘GROWTH’ or ‘survival and growth’ and this manifested itself in many different ways.

At the heart of every conversation was an obsession with ‘deliverables’ and the actions required to achieve those results.

By results we meant increased profitability, better sales, and a better work-life balance. The subjects tackled were diverse and varied but the intensity and passion were second-to-none:

How to really make our clients feel loved-up!
How to create an out-sourced business model
How to introduce crowd-sourcing as an idea-generator
How to scale-up fast
How to switch director roles so that people do what they are best at
How to create/hit challenging sales/profit targets
How to put in place/create a scorecard process for highly effective monthly board meetings

Everyone left tired but invigorated to take on the exciting challenges that lay ahead. All condensed into three succinct action points to work on first thing Monday morning.

What is clear is that the formula works:

The right group of individuals
+

The right leader with the right knowledge/skills/attitude
+
An action orientation
+
Honesty, not politeness
+
Respect and the right chemistry
+
Accountability to deliver
=
Massive results for all the individuals concerned

Will New Business Consultancy Programmes Translate Into Better Businesses For The Client?

2011-10-03T15:13:00.006+01:00

SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT BUSINESS IDEA

So, imagine the situation. Five budding entrepreneurs come together and decide to look for a new business venture.

They create their wish list and send out their researchers to find

the perfect industry (growing, immature, without any significant major players) and
perfect clients/customers (hungry for the product, insatiable appetite for repeat purchases).

Some other characteristics would be ideal:

relatively easy to brand
the opportunity to productise and create apparently unique special formulae/recipes
a growing national obsession with the topic
a few celebrities available to be associated with the brand.

If it were 1970, then the industry would be the diet industry.

If it were 1980 it would be independent record labels or holidays.

If it were 1990 it would be extreme sports or fitness.

If it were 2000 it would be gap year students.

And in 2010, my guess is that it could be business support for small businesses.

COULD IT BE BUSINESS SUPPORT?

The business support industry has been a classic growth industry. The collapse of the existing providers (Business Link etc) who had a variable reputation combines with a growing obsession with entrepreneurship (The Apprentice, Dragons’ Den, Queen of Shops, an entire government pinning its hopes on entrepreneurship and SMEs as the hero of recovery). All this creates the perfect breeding ground for new businesses focusing on selling to the small business.

Large business-to-business players have always tried to own the small business space (banks, accountants, insurance, phones, stationery, power) but all have failed because of their inability to understand the highly differentiated and fragmented nature of the marketplace.

Classically the use of the phrase SME is the give-away clue that the advertiser hasn’t really got a clue about the market place or how it actually works. Most large businesses selling into the market are simply trying to sell the excess or dumbed-down versions of their full-scale product. They hear of 4 million discreet users and think that they can clean up by ‘targeting the SMEs’, using the same brutal marketing techniques they use to sell to households - and they wonder why it doesn’t really quite work.

BUSINESSES UNDER £500k AS A TARGET?

So, some might say that they have small businesses (typically under £500k turnover) as a ripe market for plundering.

The numbers stack up: millions of them.
The demand is there: they want to know how to grow their businesses, the secrets, the quick-fixes, the short-cuts.
They have the spending power: generous redundancy and pension packages to be plundered
They have the hurt: poor profit, low sales with the recession as the backdrop. The have the desire.

So, the next step is to satisfy the need. The ‘so-called’ formula is relatively straightforward (whether you are selling accountancy, web design, marketing, business development, or growth services):

speak in a voice that the customer/client can relate to, demonstrate your credibility (testimonials, endorsements, case studies, video, website, how tos)
have a proven track record
have an expertise and an ‘ology’(a proprietary point of view)
ideally focus on a niche subject or market

and away you go.

Add to the mix some combination of:

money-back-guarantees,
Try Before You Buy or free seminar/workbook/ebook
an obsession with long copy
another obsession with capturing email addresses

and you have the ingredients for your new business development business.

In a nutshell:

offer an overt benefit
give clients a reason to believe in you
be dramatically different!!

I have no beef with how this has panned out. Quite the reverse, I welcome the increased attention that the business development marketplace is getting. My new book Grow Your Service Firm helps service firms to grow sales and profits using similar tactics (although without the cynicism implied above).

In my humble opinion, the whole industry is about results. What else could it be about?

IT IS ALL ABOUT RESULTS FOR THE CLIENT

The attention of the potential client has to be focused on the (subtle?) difference between what consultancies sell and do as opposed to what clients wish to buy. It is clear that small business clients want to buy more sales and more profits. Most consultancies seem to sell a variation on the theme of more profit/sales for the business owner. What is in dispute is whether the consultancies deliver on the promise.

After several decades in the industry, having taken client businesses literally from zero to hero, from dream to final sale, I understand how the industry can deliver not just for their own share-holders but, more importantly, for the clients.

It is not sustainable (or moral) for the industry to under-deliver on its promises (even if there appears to be a bottomless pit of needy clients in search of the magic silver bullet). Neither is it good enough to make the sale, take the clients’ money, deliver on the promised service… especially if the client doesn’t get the benefits (= results) offered.

SO, WHAT WORKS?

What I have learned from both sides of the business development/growth industry is that books/seminars/tapes/videos/CDs are fantastic at pushing you in the DIY direction: showing you the basics and explaining the mechanics.

However, they still miss out on an essential ingredient: one-to-one support is the point at which you and the expert are able to design the model to fit your own specific circumstances. It is this one-to-one (consultancy) or one-to-few (mastermind/masterclass) interaction which has the massive impact on your business especially when run over a time period of several months.

So, the opportunity is there for the new providers to help/assist the smaller businesses. That is not in dispute. But, will these interventions translate into significantly improved business performance on the part of the clients and delegates? It is as simple as that.

The "Secrets of Success" - My Foot! Research On Mastermind Groups (reprinted)

2011-09-08T10:09:00.006+01:00

Due to popular demand I am republishing this article here. Apologies for any cross-posting. It was originally published at The Directors' Centre Online Business Club

The eternal search for the secrets of business success creates wave upon wave of products and services that “unlock the potential” etc etc. However, some evidence of what actually works does already exist.

After a late night brandy and long discussions about exciting people I have worked with in the past, I decided to do some digging around. I followed up a cadre of companies I worked with some ten years ago and decided to see quite what had happened to them.

What we do know is that the ‘successful’ are very different from the ‘less successful’ (see the Magic Million Survey) and one of the key differences is how the successful take control and ownership of their destinies. They do not blame others.

Other characteristics include a “can do”, “take action now” and “get the best help” attitude. All good stuff. And then, of course, there is the obsession with strategy, marketing and teams… but that’s not what I wish to talk about here.

So what became of my 2001 business group (and why)?

I chose to chase up a typical group of entrepreneur and business owners that I had worked with in 2001. The eight businesses had an average turnover of £1.2million; they varied between £50k and £3m turnovers. They worked with me over the year, coming together in what would now be called a Mastermind Group, to explore and develop their businesses. And what became of them?

Well, the results were almost too good to be true (but I think I can explain that). Depending on how you measure “current business activity” (because of acquisitions, mergers etc), the average £1.2m p.a. turnover is now between £3.5m and £13m.

All are still trading in one form or another. They have gone on to achieve:
• Sales in excess of £500 million
• One business sold for in excess of £20million
• One business the subject of a full management buy-out in excess of £10million
• One business owner able to retire aged 42 and hand over the business to a management team.

So, is there some kind of secret formula? Some magic, silver bullet? Well, the answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’!

But, mainly no.

Let me explain.

The world is currently littered with get-rich-quick, too-good-to-be-true, money-back-guaranteed promises to help you grow your business. Our inner child looking for relief from the stress and pain of our ‘under-performing’ business responds positively to offers.

Sometimes the “ten things to do in the next ten days” type programme can be the red-hot raw ginger we need to sort our businesses. But, more often than not, the real problem is more, shall we say, ‘structural’ and requires a more considered and bespoke solution to create a long-term improvement. Anyhow I digress.

My point is this. You need to think about whether your business will benefit from a quick fix (a quick tune-up, points, plus an oil change) or whether it needs a more significant, real fix (changing or replacing key components to match what is really required). Either way we all know what we think about anything that claims to be a quick-fix or too-good-to-be-true.

So, why did these businesses do so well?

I believe that there were two reasons:-

1. The nature of the programme: A closed group that meets with the sole intention of improving each other’s businesses. All attendees were looking for profound, significant and measurable growth in business performance; they shared ‘insider secrets’ and best practice from ‘been-there-done-it’ experts. The programme also created intense, supportive business relationships and produced the accountability required to make delegates over-deliver on their action plans.

2. The nature of the people who are attracted to such a programme: Only certain people (the truly success-focused) would be attracted to such a programme, people with the “can do”, “take action now” and “get the best help” attitude that I mentioned before.

This combination of the right programme and the right people creates a dynamic and electric atmosphere.

Government Health Warning: While the results of the individual firms concerned are very impressive, one doesn’t really know whether they would have done much, much better or much, much worse had they not attended!!! We will never know the answer but what we do know is that the sort of people who do attend these kind of programmes see truly significant improvements in their business performance.

P.S. I have subsequently looked at other similar groups and they have all got similar leaps in business performance

Robert

The Real Virus That Is Killing Your Business

2011-09-05T11:17:00.001+01:00

There seems to be a virulent disease spreading through the business community. Like all viruses it has pervaded its hosts almost unnoticed, and slowly but surely it has spread and got so comfortable with its parasitic existence within the body of its hosts that the hosts seem oblivious of its existence.

This disease, this scourge of the business community, is the recently discovered “five-year-old-itis”.

Symptoms

The symptoms are plain to see:

Nothing seems to work as well as it used to (sales campaigns, adverts, proposals)
Everything seems to take longer (commitments, decisions, replies to emails)
There seems to be less traction and more ambiguity wherever you look
You’re working harder than ever before and making less progress than in the past.

These are warning signs that you are probably suffering from “five-year-old-itis”!

Cause

Most businesses have behaved like frightened rabbits in the headlights of the recession. They have got stuck, unable to decide what to do, petrified of making the wrong decision. And their whole world view will have been based on a pre-recession model of the world. In the past five years everything (and nothing) has changed. Five years ago everyone was doing pretty well. There was virtually no Twitter, FaceBook or Linkedin; we had become familiar with living in a constantly-growing economy where consumer demand and house prices just kept going up. And then the bubble burst.

Most businesses that I currently see are using five-year-old assumptions about:

Their business and financial model
Who the customers are and why and when and how they prefer to buy
Who the competition is
Current staff, processes and systems, and whether they are the right people for today’s true customer and market needs.

Cure

There is no shortage of hyperventilating, breathless, get-rich-quick, money-back-guaranteed, effusive, testimonial-driven business programmes now on the market. However, I am not convinced that a one-size-fits-all quick fix is necessarily the right answer for your business. None of us believe that quick fixes (hair removal, sun tans, patio doors, weight loss) really work. (As my mother says, if it is too good to be true then it probably is.) So, why would you think that a quick fix would work for your business?

The alternative to the quick fix (despite how seductive and appealing it may look), would be the ‘proper fix’. And this, my friends, may be harder work but may sort you out properly. By this I mean actually stopping and redesigning your business, creating a business for today and tomorrow rather than for five years ago.

Food for thought.

What help should you get for your business?

2011-08-26T15:44:00.005+01:00

In an earlier article article, I asked:

“Is it better to work with more businesses (in a relatively shallow way) or is it better to work with fewer but in a more intense way (and therefore more long-term benefit)?”

(The original question arose out of two sessions working out in Africa (Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and Mauritius). My preference (in terms of giving the biggest benefit to the individual clients and to the group) was to work longer and deeper with fewer people.)

Applied to your own business (and specifically to your marketing) I wondered if it is better to narrow your focus and look for deep knowledge in a narrow field (niche) or is it better to go broader and shallower?

As I reflect on my own activities with business owners and directors (spread between keynote speaking through seminars to mastermind groups and one-to-ones) I have been following the progress and successes of clients and delegates.

All the research points to one blindingly obvious fact.

Yes, the choice of intervention is varied from free workshops, seminars and ebooks through paid-for CDs, videos, events and workshops through to mastermind groups, strategy awaydays, coaching and consultancy support. And yes, business owners should choose the style of intervention that suits them best. However, the medium selected is just that, simply a means to an end. And the end is to significantly improve business performance. So, the question that should be asked is, “which medium gives the biggest and best improvement for my business?”

What is emerging is that the simpler, shorter interventions, especially what can be called ‘one-to-many’ activities (one speaker to 150 delegates, one speaker to 150 people on the end of the phone, one person making a CD and selling 150 copies…) is not necessarily the best catalyst to get the business owner to

Recognise the business’s key issues
Understand the cause and best possible solutions
Understand what decision needs to be made
Take the decision and put in place a plan to roll-out the necessary actions
Make the plan happen
Know how to monitor/evaluate/improve on the plan (and do it).

‘One-size-fits-all’ solutions rarely do fit all. If (as a director) you don’t know what you don’t know then how do you know if you are actually doing the right thing…?

Because business owners need to understand what is wrong with their businesses (and because they probably don’t have the diagnostic skills to identify them) so it can be seen that smaller groups working for longer time-periods (not just one-offs) and actually inter-relating in discussions about the specific business should be more effective.

To that end, we find that mastermind groups, strategy awaydays, coaching and consultancy support are the most effective interventions.

In general terms you can see a continuum going from low price/low result through to high price/high result.

However, a high price-point does not guarantee high results. The key seem to be whether the intervention (at whatever price-point and by whatever medium) actually gets the business owners/directors to take the necessary actions to grow their business.

Regrettably too few of the business interventions actually help the owner to do this.

So, as an owner-director what do you do? I think you have to choose the intervention that you think will best help you to make the decisions and take the actions. Making decisions and drawing up plans is good but actually it is the implementation of the right plan that you are looking to accomplish.

So, is the best intervention (from the point of view of giving the individual client, you, the best result) to work with more clients (but in a shallow way) or to work with fewer clients (but more intensively)? If you are talking about the future of your business then the shallow solution (a book, CD or workshop) simply cannot be sufficient. You need the intense solution that gets you to take action.

The Books I Lend Out The Most

2011-08-07T08:24:00.002+01:00

From Warren Cass's blog....

Warren Cass has just asked me to write about three books that I think are great (“my favourite business books”) as part of his ‘Big Business Book Month‘.

Should be a doddle I thought as I’ve just put the finishing touches to two chapters for a book on Business Gurus (you’ll have to wait to find out who I wrote about).

To spice things up I have decided that maybe a better title than “my favourite business books” (see this link also) would be “the books I lend out the most” because this reflects the interests of my clients and colleagues.

So, my list of the books I lend out the most is as follows:

Seth Godin: Purple Cow

PC asks the crucial question, “How can you make your business remarkable ie worthy of being talked about?” Godin argues (as I do in Bright Marketing) that the key to success is to find a way to stand out. The book claims that we have now moved into an era where markets are largely satisfied, and that to be noticed a product and its marketing need to be remarkable to be seen at all, let alone to sell. In his language, you need to be the purple cow in a field of monochrome brown cows.

Godin’s blogs and articles always entertain and challenge. For a taster take a look at In Praise of the Purple Cow

He reminds us to keep looking and searching and questioning and to not accept the status quo as being good enough.

Tim Ferriss: The 4-Hour Work Week

4HWW is like Gerber’s E-Myth plus Covey’s Seven Habits but all on steroids – the tagline says it all: “escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich”. A challenging read and not everyone’s cup of tea. Ferriss explains how to follow a step-by-step process to get yourself a ‘luxury lifestyle’. He advocates using the available tools (that usually tend to actually complicate things) to become more effective and filling your personal time with the things you really want to have.

Ferriss concedes ‘much of what I recommend will seem impossible and even offensive to basic common sense’. Statements such as “everything popular is wrong… be unreasonable… cultivate selective ignorance, interrupt interruptions, management by absence” give you a feel for his approach. The idea of mini-retirements is promoted as an alternative to the ‘deferred life’ career path where many people work their 9-5 until they get to retirement in their 60’s when they are too old to enjoy what the world has to offer.

Bo Burlingham: Small Giants

Again the tagline says it all: “companies that choose to be great instead of big”. 14 companies that choose not to grow just to sell-up. (See more here) There is an alternative to the dream of the big exit strategy; you can choose instead to avoid the pursuit of endless growth deciding to focus on more satisfying business goals, being the best at what they do, creating a stimulating place to work, and pursuing perfect customer service.

Postscript: I’d like to thank Warren for the invitation. On reflection, a couple of points:

It is curious that all the books come from over the Atlantic – can’t the UK compete or is it just that I like their style and their attitude?
Godin, Ferriss and Burlingham are by no means flawless. Their work is presented as work-in-progress, warts and all. What I love about them is how they get me to think about my businesses and those of my clients. Interestingly enough, while Burlingham is a safer read, it is the companies he describes that are so stimulating
All these books kick against the status quo
Good books (or at least these books) tell you exactly what they talk about on the cover.

High Court rules Bath Planners have a case to answer on controversial Woolley site

2011-07-23T17:08:00.007+01:00

High Court Refer On BANES Planning To Judicial Review Hearing

SWVAG Ltd is pleased to announce that at a hearing on Friday, 21st July, in the High Court, by the order of Mr. Justice Ouseley, they were granted permission for a Judicial Review in the High Court in their action against Bath and North East Somerset Council (BANES). The judge heard arguments from SWVAG's counsel, Richard Harwood, and from Lisa Busch representing BANES, and ruled that BANES have a case to answer in two Planning cases regarding the Golden Valley Paddocks Ltd (GVP) intensive farming development in the Woolley/Swainswick Valley.

The first case involves SWVAG's claim that BANES' position that ten chicken sheds, each designed to house 1,000 chickens, does not fall under European Environmental protection directives is unlawful. The second case involves SWVAG's belief that the only Planning Application (one of 8, that GVP have submitted, all retrospectively) so far approved by BANES for a stock pond has been approved unlawfully.

Mr. Justice Ouseley also granted SWVAG a Protective Cost Order so that they can proceed with their action with the comfort of being able to budget their costs. He also agreed with SWVAG's request to expedite the hearing as the case has been proceeding already for some considerable time and has ordered for the case to be heard in the next term ie the next 4 months.

SWVAG Ltd is the legal vehicle for the Save Woolley Valley Action Group who have registered more than 1,000 expressions of support on their website
www.savewoolleyvalley.co.uk

Background

Local developer Golden Valley Paddocks Ltd (GVP Ltd) have continued work on a site in the Woolley Valley despite having 8 retrospective Planning Applications, 5 which were rejected, one granted (which is now to be considered in judicial review) and 2 which BANES are currently considering. BANES Planning Dept. failure so far to enforce the 5 refusals sets a dangerous precedent for rogue development in Green Belt land across the country.

GVP Ltd appears to be a property developer who is using agricultural schemes to justify the siting of first mobile and then permanent residences. They applied retrospectively for planning to erect an agricultural building supposedly to house alpacas – a known shoo-in for residential planning with some local councils. They then proceeded with further developments (all without permission) to support an intensive chicken farming operation involving the use of 10 bungalow-sized chicken barns, which will allegedly house 10,000 chickens.

The Woolley Valley in which the development is sited is within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and has the additional protection of an Article 4 Direction which was put in place by the Secretary of State for the Environment on 3 Feb 1993. The Article 4 Direction removes specific permitted development rights:

Works for the erection, extension or alteration of a building; or
Any excavation or engineering operations.

BANES Planning Department issued a Planning Contravention Notice in early May and a Temporary Stop Notice forbidding further excavation and engineering work on the 10^th April 2010 (which expired 20^th May 2010). BANES Planning Dept. issued an enforcement order on the 21^st May 2010 to halt any further site earth level changes. It acknowledged in its Enforcement Report of the 18^th May 2010 that it is expedient to enforce the removal of the mobile home but to date has not issued an Enforcement Order for this. It is now over 15 months later .

Peter Gabriel commented:

"This is one of the most beautiful valleys in the west of England, and the development is making a mockery of our planning and environmental policies. I can only think that BANES don't have the resources to fight it, as clearly it would be an issue that you would imagine would be high on their agenda."

Jonathan Dimbleby, who owned the land from 1993 until 2005 stated:

“I am particularly dismayed by the way in which the field nearest the village has been excavated and partially filled with what looks like hundreds of tons of spoil. This was the most ecologically valuable field on the holding with natural streams and it was farmed with great care to avoid poaching the land and to maintain its particular character.”

Jacob Rees Mogg, newly elected MP to the area commented of B&NES:

“It is important that planning laws are applied effectively. There must not be one rule for us and another for aggressive developers. The scar on the landscape is a disgrace and I am urging the Council to act.”

The National Trust have stated:

"It is clear that the landscape is being destroyed with major earthworks and a number of enormous supposedly mobile chicken houses," Wendy Stott, the National Trust's Bath property manager.

"This is an important valley and the National Trust urges the council to take speedy and effective action to prevent unauthorised developments. We are more than willing to lend our support to the local campaigners and will always seek to protect such important countryside areas around Bath. The National Trust is supporting the campaign being run by Save Woolley Valley Action Group.”

Ends

Editor’s Notes

SWVAG Ltd formed in April 2010 to raise public awareness and encourage organisations and influential individuals to apply pressure on BANES Planning Dept. to stop the illegal and destructive development taking place in Woolley Valley. They launched an online petition (www.savewoolleyvalley.co.uk) to demonstrate to the council that the campaign has significant public support and that they must enforce planning regulations against rogue development, if they are to maintain their integrity and support amongst the local public.

For further information please contact:

Kieran Higgins, Public Relations on 07776463859 or higgys356@hotmail.com or visit http://www.savewoolleyvalley.co.uk

Mastermind Group Links etc -update

2011-07-21T10:42:00.010+01:00

After several requests, I am putting together the various Mastermind materials in one place. The new programme commences 1st March 2012 and spaces are strictly limited.

Webpage: for The Mastermind Group
Article: The Power of Groups - Mastermind Groups - blog entry and comments... also available to be seen at The Directors' Centre Online Business Club (and the original Power of Groups article is in Growing Business magazine)
Article: Will A Mastermind Group Accelerate Business Growth? Or Blow Up In Your Face? in B2BusinessHub (and How Mastermind Groups Can Accelerate Your Business Growth in Start Your Business magazine)
Article: The Secrets of Success, My Foot - Research on Mastermind Groups - article at The Directors' Centre Online Business Club: do Mastermind Groups work? Also available here on the blog
Article: What Help Should You Get For Your Business? blog post: what will help you to grow your business?
Article: Who Holds You To Account? - Real Business
Article: Why Are We Short-Changing Our Customers? - article at The Directors' Centre Online Business Club: why consultants and coaches often don't deliver the promised results and now at Real Business
Article: A New Mastermind Group is Born! October 2011 - blog post
Magazine: Robert Craven's Mastermind Group a fascinating 'curated' magazine

Video: The Mastermind - Quick 'n' dirty video 45-seconds from Bristol

Video: The Longer Mastermind Video (4 mins) from Bath can be seen at YouTube

For more info go to the Webpage for The Mastermind Group or contact Paula on 0207 305 7008

and a PS