Two for the price of one
Nearly all products and services can be sold in more innovative and creative ways, so why are we so precious about how we used to do things?
Maybe it was the supermarkets that taught us to ‘buy one and get one free’. Whoever it was, whenever we see an offer like that, most of us stop and think about it.
But now many organisations are recognising that repricing means business. Solicitors are doing it, optometrists are doing it, butchers and dental practices are doing it.
The essence of all these schemes is the win : win concept. The provider gets business they may not otherwise have had; the customer or client gets a better price or more for less.
It doesn’t seem to work with commodities like petrol where it seems I have to pay £1.25 per litre whether I like it or not, but it works for us and it may work for you too.Labels: Repricing means business
Opportunity
Many businesses are looking for more or bigger or better opportunities to trade.
I was meeting a potential new client last month at a typical rural Herefordshire venue which is actually a very successful farm diversification project employing ten people.
He had suggested 1000 Monday morning and when I arrived a notice said ‘Closed on Mondays’. Whilst strolling round the deserted car park waiting for my contact I noticed an empty craft workshop. Anyone wishing to rent was invited to ring James on the number.
Now I remember James from twenty years ago. He and his wife Joanna attended my Finance and Business Planning course when they were starting this very farm project back in 1990. So I rang the number, explained that I was waiting to meet someone and asked where else we could go for a coffee nearby.
James said he’d come out to see me because he remembered the course. I said he’d lost some weight and he said that he was fitter than ever, and that he needed to be now his two sons were heading up the business!
The sons are nearly forty years old now and since our conversation, one of them has signed up for our Herefordshire Directors Forum.
I just wonder how many satisfied clients / customers we all have known these last twenty years or so that we have almost totally forgotten about.
What an opportunity.Labels: linking up with long forgotten clients
Hold your position, stay on your feet and keep it simple
Wisdom that can transform business leaders and their organisations can come from anyone, anywhere and at any time.
The pundits on Match of the Day, a BBC programme that plays football matches and then analyses them, provided the latest example.
They were analysing the recent performances of the former England football captain, John Terry when Alan Hansen shared the following. He said that when he played for the Liverpool Championship winning teams, everyone had a bad patch at one stage or another. It was accepted and management encouraged players with three pieces of advice.
The first was to hold your position because poor form can be linked to loss of confidence; when we lose our confidence we can easily be drawn out of position. Secondly, stay on your feet. During a barren period, loss of form goes with loss of confidence and that goes with falling over. Several video clips showed John Terry doing just that in situations where he would normally dominate.
And finally, if we are panicked or traumatised, the tendency is to over compensate, to over complicate. The answer is to keep it simple. Keep on doing the simple things well.
A local company director also saw the programme and rang to tell me that he suddenly knew how to steer the company away from the rocks.
Hold your position (in the market), stay on your feet (when there are so many that want to knock you over) and keep it simple (carry on delivering in your particular area of expertise)
Great stuff Alan.Labels: Business advice from Alan Hansen
Mentors and coaches
I meet quite a lot of senior business people that are more or less dissatisfied with their mentor or coach.
One CEO said recently, “I’ve been with her for two years and she doesn’t tell me anything I don’t know already.”
Another female executive said, “It’s useful to get an outside perspective but I don’t feel that it is improving my performance as such.”
And then at an executive group forum in London last week someone said, “Well it hasn’t worked for me so far; in any case how do you go about finding a coach in the first place?”
As someone who has two, the first thing I would say is that it is important to know where you want to be. The more clearly you can describe what you want to be doing in three years time – I call this the Bull’s Eye period – then the easier it is to find someone to help you on the journey. In simple terms you look for someone who is already where you want to be.
Secondly, and this is an apparent contradiction, none of us really know where life’s journey is taking us. Therefore if we are open to personal growth and development, we need to leave a little space for the unexpected encounter, the crazy conversation, the observation from someone else that causes bells to ring in the back of our mind.
That’s why I’m seeing a female practitioner in Harley Street next week.Labels: How to find a mentor or coach
