Tag: David Lennon business tips

3 Keys to Effective Meetings to Help Turn Your Business Around

I’ve facilitated over 15 meetings with clients in the past couple weeks, and hundreds more with all the businesses I’ve worked with over the years and there is a trend.

Businesses that are NOT achieving their profit targets or have productivity issues, are not having meetings.

And I mean ‘effective meetings’.


When I ask why a business isn’t having meetings, the two common reasons are: they take too long and they don’t work.


If you have this belief and are looking to turn your business around, here are my tips for effective meetings:


> Set an agenda/checklist of topics. You may or may not need this and it can be the same checklist every month so you don’t have to rewrite it. But it can help add certainty to the team. No one is wondering if their question/issue is going to get raised etc. And can keep you on track and prevent you missing important bits. If you, as the boss, don’t discuss it, then the team will assume it isn’t important, and you can’t blame them for not taking it seriously either. Note my points below to add weight to what you think is important.


> Focus on outcomes and what needs to be done. It is quite natural for everyone to want to explain the background or talk around the subject, and about the people involved. It’s human nature. However in order to keep your meetings short and sharp and prevent people from blaming meetings for taking too long, you need to encourage the habit of allowing just a couple sentences on the issue, decide if it needs fixing and then just go straight to the outcome you want and what needs to be done to get it. Short a sharp. Issue is raised, “great, what do we need to do about it? Who’s going to do it? When do we need it done by?” Bang, done. Next topic.

> Make sure you write down and clarify:

  • What needs to be done – outcome needed, what it looks like, how you will know it’s done
  • Who’s going to do it – check the person is comfortable doing it, knows how to do it or needs some support/help/equipment/training
  • When does it need to be done by?
  • Give permission to get it wrong. New procedures may not work and that is ok. You don’t want people fearing taking action to improve things.

The above prevent staff losing faith in meetings because they ‘don’t work’.

Communication breakdown is a major reason businesses fail. Effective meetings are essential.

Contact me if you need help identifying the kind of meetings you need or to facilitate the first few to coach everyone on how to have effective meetings.

Don’t Ask for a Meeting or Reply!

SITUATION: YOU ARE NOT GETTING REPLIES TO EMAILS OR REQUESTS FOR MEETINGS.

This can be due to several reasons, but here is one that you may not have thought of or considered.
A client today had a lightbulb moment regarding their issue of prospects not returning their calls or replying to emails.

It highlighted how easy it is to be more in OUR world instead of being more in THEIRS. And as a result we get ignored.

My client was telling me:

“I’ve asked them many times to meet so we can explain our service, I’ve even invited them to come to one of our sites and see our work firsthand! And I’ve given them names of clients they can call to confirm we are good.”

I translated this for him so he could understand what the prospect may be hearing:

“So you want me to interrupt my day and give you time I don’t have in my overloaded schedule, to help you, a stranger, make money?”

The penny dropped. Yes he’s got a good service but everyone is busy. And he was approaching his business development from the perspective of himself. So every email or phone message was asking the prospect to agree to an action and add yet another task to their already overflowing to-do list. Even replying to an email is an extra task they don’t need.

The solution was to brainstorm a range of ways he can remind them he exists and how he can ‘give’  value before asking for something from them.

businessdevelopmenttips, prospecting, businesstips, salestips, businessdevelopment

 

Business Owners Need a Shot of O2!

‘That was like a shot of O2!’

This was a comment from one of my clients last week after our one hour session. He was motivated and pumped about his business again and felt like he’d had a shot of O2.

So often we focus on the financial rewards or reducing long hours and stress…but passion, excitement, motivation, enthusiasm and love for the work is equally important. And something I definitely can bring back to your life and business.

How did this particular client get a shot of O2? He was in a common situation of not knowing how to attract more work.

Finding and winning work is my specialty.

In our one-hour session we did two key things that gave him his O2 shot:

1. Build a quick table of existing customer categories ranked by dollars they spend, ease of dealing with them (A, B, C types, A are awesome, B are bread and butter, C are complainers and challenging), how he won them in the first place, and growth potential.

2. He was then able to look at this table and confirm which type of customer he wants more of. Great – all I need is to know is what type of customer you want and I’ll tell you have to get more of them. And that is what I did. I gave him a clear plan on how to win more of his target customer.

He came into the session starved of oxygen due to confusion about how to get more business. And I totally understand and appreciate this. When we do laps in our heads we burn ‘oxygen’ and it’s draining. We all need external input, help, advice in business, ie oxygen shots. I have my coaches and mentors.

If you are feeling you need a shot of oxygen – I’m here, at your service. Bottles of O2 in abundant supply!

‘About You’ page should be about THEM

Situation: your ‘About You’ page is about you and not about your potential customer.

Solution: write your About You page from the perspective of your customer.

They are tuned into WIIFM and want to know whats in it for them.

Ironically an ‘about you’ page is NOT about YOU, it’s about them.

Word it so that it is clear how your background, your experience, your quals, your awards, your life experiences, your roles, your age, your location, your industry, your personality, your nationality, your hobbies…can benefit the prospect reading it.

Think of a dark cave…we are biologically wired to avoid scary places like a dark cave. We don’t go running in do we? Sharing about you on your website is like turning on a few lights in that ‘dark cave’. It helps your potential customer feel comfortable taking a step inside. They get to see things they can relate to and even like.

YOUR FM STATION COULD BE AFFECTING BUSINESS

We all tune into an FM station…and this station dictates how we feel.

What we choose to ‘FOCUS’ on.
And the ‘MEANING’ we give it.

What station have you tuned into this past week in your business, personal life? How did it make you feel and most importantly, how did you act as a result??

As business owners, the station we pick can make or break us!

For example, how’s your mood when you focus on all the knock backs or sales you haven’t won, or customers that weren’t happy?

vs your mood when you focus on the amazing happy customer(s), how fortunate you are to be able to serve, and how another day is another amazing chance to win.

To get different results we need to think differently. Picking a different FM station is the key.

What FM station will you tune into next week?