Smart Company September 2012

PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

September 2012

Welcome to the SeptemberEdition of Smart Company -New Zealands BusinessLifestyle Magazine

Written by some of the most exciting businessand marketing minds from New Zealand,Australia and around the world, SmartCompany focuses on cutting edge businessstrategies that business owners can implementin their organisation today!

Smart Company is a great resource as itprovides guidance for business owners andmanagers to develop ideas and concepts fromtheir peers, leading edge entrepreneurs andorganisations.

Boasting exceptionally high quality information,tips and advice, every issue is packed withfantastic value added content including videosand webinars.

Best of all, its completely free and open toeveryone!

About Smart CompanyMagazine:

Web Site:www.smartcompany.co.nz

PublisherMaxiom Group Pty Ltd600 Lonsdale StreetMelbourne Vic 3000www.maxiom.com.au

EditorMark Matthews

Digital Magazine CreatedBy Maxiomwww.maxiom.com.au

Advertising Enquiries1300 855 696(within Australia)+ 613 8199 3486(International)[email protected]

Editorial, Media Releases& Article [email protected]

Welcome

maxiom Smart Company Magazine | 3

Thank you and welcome to the September edition of Smart Company,New Zealands business lifestyle magazine.

And thank you to all our subscribers and readers for making the launchissue such a success last month. We greatly appreciate your support andsome great feedback.

We have put together a packed second edition of Smart Company withcontributions from some of New Zealands and Australias well knownand respected business minds - plus selected international contributors.Smart Company contains special features, information, tips and adviceon how to supercharge your business and your life.

Running a business today is as exciting as it is challenging. We know thatKiwis have the courage to aim high, but more importantly to grabopportunities when they are presented. Smart entrepreneurs know thatbecoming predictive and embracing the future now is the key to theirongoing success.

In this issue we look into some of the future trends in business, how tofocus on creating a lean and agile business as well as what it takes todevelop leadership capability and differentiate your business from the rest.

Smart businesses are thriving simply because they have focused oneffective business systems, strategies and implementation, which iswhat Smart Company is all about.

Systems, and strategies that make you and your business smarter.

A Quick Word withMike Price

Whats in this months Magazine?

Regular FeaturesPage 14: Smart Business

Page 38: Getting To Know You

Page 42: Ask an Expert

Page 64: Featured Business

ProfilesPage 14: Smart Business - Store-it

Page 38: Getting To Know You - Pricing Prophets

Page 42: Ask an Expert - Mark Fernandez from BDA

Page 64: Getting To Know You - Gene Stark from the Marketing Network

Special FeaturesPage 6: Once Fat, Now Skinny

Page 8: The Traditional Fast Food Model Has Just Been Killed

Page 10: 7 Deadly Sins of Web Site Design, Copy and Content

Page 12: The Workplace Revolution That is Changing Business

4 | Smart Company Magazine

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SEPTEMBER 2012Why Outsourcing has Become thekey to Business Success

Smart Company Magazine | 5

Special FeaturesPage 18: Cash Flow Friendly Pricing Models

Page 20: What Every Leader Can Learn From Olympic Athletes

Page 22: How to Run Your Own Publicity Campaign in 5 Easy Lessons

Page 24: Dont Mistake What You do With Who You Are

Page 26: How to Make Your Subscribers Love You

Page 28: Common Branding Mistakes Small Business Makes

Page 30: Why Outsourcing Has Become the Key to Business Success

Page 44: A Lateral Way to Grow a Business

Page 46: Physically Here, Virtually There

Page 48: Put Your Franchise in First Place

Page 50: Cultural Awareness in the Lucky Countries

Page 52: Manufacturing Your Future

Page 54: Why Your Employees Behaviour and Attitude Can Determine YourUltimate Success

Page 56: Fitness in a Nutshell

Page 60: The Future of Business

The power of the before photo,next to the after photo shows thecontrast and therefore theresults- this is the magic.

People go WOW that isamazing!

They also say they are just likeme- if they can do it, so can I. Itseems to captivate people andthats why theres a bunch ofreality TV shows doing just this.

The once fat now skinnyapproach can be applied in justabout any industry. As you readthis article, do so with a translateand transfer mindset. That is,think how can I make this ideaapply to my particular business?

Getting people to buy is allabout psychology.

The once fat now skinny beforeand after demonstration providestwo very powerful psychologicaltriggers in your marketing andselling.

Psychological Trigger #1-Show People What isPossible For Them

Many people actually lack theimagination to picture what theafter result can be. Whether itssomething to do with their home,their business, theirrelationships, they are often sostuck and have been for so long,they cant see how it would lookdifferent.

Your job is to show them what ispossible.

Some examples:

Bathroom Expert- Show photoexamples of Before bathroomsand After bathrooms.

Graphic Designer- Showexamples of Before brandingand After branding.

A Chiropractor- Examples ofBefore X-Rays and After X-rays, along with testimonials of

how bad and painful life was andnow how pain free andproductive they are now.

Shelving Units- A mess before,followed by tidy and organisedafter photos.

Website SEO Consultant- Ashot of before web page statsand Google ranking, next to theafter ranking and stats, ideallyclearly outlining how quickly theyhappened.

It doesnt always have to bephotos. It could be reports ofbefore and after. Whatever it isfor your business, think how youcan show people what ispossible for them by showingexamples of what you have donebefore.

When you do this, you will alsohelp people get clarity aboutwhat they want for themselves.Youve shown them thepossibilities and it providesmomentum towards them buying.

The entire weight loss industry is built on the testimonials of people whowere once fat, but are now skinny. Whether it is the latest abdominalmachine, Jenny Craig, or some magic weight loss pills, youll see thebefore photo, followed by the after photo.

ONCE FATNOW SKINNYBy Hamish Conway

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Smart | FINANCE

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Psychological Trigger #2-Providing Proof You Can DoWhat You Say

People generally want to buy aresult. They want to get fromwhere they are now, to wherethey want to be.

As they consider the options ofwho, or what product can helpthem close this gap, they want toknow who has demonstrated theycan deliver the desired result.

The Before and After approachprovides proof to the prospectthat you can in fact get them theirdesired result.

Demonstrating ample proof couldbe the difference that makespeople choose you over thecompetition. By the way,research suggests you need atleast 5 examples of before andafters. More is fine, but 5 is aminimum.

Your job is to show your clientthat they are fat.

Before I get in trouble here, letme explain what I mean.

A bonus strategy here is toactually help your prospectrealise that where they are now isnot where they want to be.

Highlighting to them a GAPexists is key.

People buy on emotions andjustify with logic. So youve got totap into peoples emotions. Hereare two quick questions you canask;

What annoys you the mostabout (your current situation orspecific problem)?On the flip side;

If you could wave a magic wandand have everything be just howyou want it, how would you know,what would you notice?

These two questions will help theclient realise them self there is agap that needs to be closed.Your job is to show them how youcan help then close the gap.

Systemise this in yourBusiness

Depending on your businesswork out how you can add gettingbefore and afters in your workprocess, so you can then usethem in your marketing.

Take them to every presentationyou do, or have them handy forprospects to see. This step alonewill help you stand out from thecompetition and be someone

who has shown people what ispossible for them and alsocreated the emotional spark toget them to take action now withyour solution.

Hamish Conway is a former EYYoung Entrepreneur of the YearAward winner and BusinessPerformance Consultant at WHKBusiness Performance.

WHK Business Performance is adivision of WHK (the fifth largestaccounting and advisory firm inAustralasia) where they helpAmbitious Business Owners andEntrepreneurs Get Clarity, NewSkills, Experts Guidance andResults!

For more information, visit:www.businessperformance.co.nz

or contact Hamish Conway on04 384-4161

email: [email protected]


Smart | TECHNOLOGY

But all good things must to cometo an end. Yes, weve heard it allbefore - that peoples tastes andhabits are changing. Many of usare eating healthier, or trying toanyway. But still the traditionalfast food model reigns supreme.Until now!

Marcelo Coelho and Amit Zoran,a pair of whiz kids from MIT,have developed what very wellmay be the next major revolutionin food preparation. It may alsobe the only machine that keepsyou alive when the RobotApocalypse goes down, but we'lltry to push that to the rear of ourminds for now.

Essentially, the Cornucopia is a3D printer that precisely mixesfoods and flavours from anumber of canisters in order toproduce something that's edible(and supposedly close to whatyou ordered).

Ive never ordered duck alorange from a street vendorbefore, but apparently now thatstotally possible.

Able to deliver "elaboratecombinations of food," themachine also has a rapidheating and cooling chamberthat purportedly allows for "thecreation of flavours and texturesthat would be completelyunimaginable through othercooking techniques."

Imagine printing your dinnerevery evening? What aboutbeing able to print food to savethe lives of starving people in thepoorest countries? It seemsmind blowing right now but thetechnology has already beendeveloped and will becomemainstream in the near future.

Will this be the future of foodpreparation? Will this be the endof the fast food model as weknow it? What impact will thishave on cafs and restaurants?- guess just have to wait for it tobecome mainstream to find out.

Food for thought!

The traditional fast food business model just never had a chance, now didit? Well its had a good run. It is well over 50 years since McDonalds rolledout its first franchises.

THE TRADITIONAL FASTFOOD MODEL HAS JUSTBEEN KILLED! By Richard Wozniak

Richard has a long history in themanagement of food businessesinternationally.

A sought after speaker on futuretrends in food, hospitality and retail,Richards understanding of howtechnology is transforming our foodand hospitality sectors isunsurpassed.

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So how does your website stackup? Is it representing you well, oris it telling uncomfortable truthsabout how you felt when youwere writing it?

Poor copy loses you clients andpotential employees you didntknow you had. They come, theyread and - if they dont like whatthey see - they leave. Whatmakes them leave? Perhapstheyve noticed one of thesedeadly sins lurking in your copy:

Greed

You spent a lot of money on yourwebsite. The more you wantedfrom your web designers, thebigger the bill became. By thetime it was finished, it lookedgreat but the budget wasburned out. It still neededcontent, so you did all you coulddo: you wrote it yourself.

Unfortunately youre no more aprofessional copywriter than aprofessional web designer, sothe finished content doesnt quite

measure up to your slick newdesign.

Solution: Resist the temptationto blow the whole budget on webdesign and set aside some forprofessional copywriting. Toolate? If youve no choice but towrite your own copy, read on...

Pride

If the last thing you canremember writing was acaffeine-fuelled college essay at4am over a decade ago, youmight find yourself lapsing into aformal style. Thats acceptable inthe depths of academia - but noton your website, particularlywhen trying to attract your nextstar employee. Aiming forauthoritative can quickly arrive atstuffy.

Solution: Read what youvewritten aloud. Does it sound likesomething you would becomfortable saying to a client,employee or candidate over thephone?

If the answer is no, go back andedit it until it does.

Gluttony

In copywriting, less is more.

Which is easier to read?

Established in 1986 and basedin Wellington and offeringarchitectural and design servicesthroughout New Zealand, XYZArchitectural Design is aspecialised architectural andengineering design consultancythat has been providing aproactive, innovative, andeffective service to theconstruction, mining and publicsector for over 25 years.

or

XYZ Architectural Design is aspecialised design consultancy.Weve been serving NewZealanders with proactivearchitectural and engineeringdesign services for over 25years.

They always say first impressions count. So whether you are looking toattract new clients or that new star employee, the key is making a good firstimpression - and that usually means with your website. It represents yourbusiness and its standing - your brand and your employment brand.

THE 7 DEADLY SINS OFWEBSITE DESIGN, COPYAND CONTENT BY KRISTIN McNICOL

Smart | MARKETING


Solution: When youre finished,re-read what you wrote andconsider whether theres a moreconcise way to covey the sameinformation. If your sentencesspan more than 2 lines, its timeto turn some of those commasinto full stops.

Lust & Envy

Youve seen some copy you love.Its witty, its funny, and its gotstyle. You want your website toread just like it, so you try to injectthe same humour and fun intoyour copy. When youre finished,it just doesnt have the sameimpact though. Why? Chancesare they had a professional writerdo theirs.

Solution: If in doubt, keep itsimple. People visit websites forinformation over entertainment,so resist the temptation to useambitious technique unlessyoure a pro.

Sloth

Our firm's reputation forproviding quality service reflectsthe high standards we demand ofourselves. Our high standards,responsive service andspecialised staff spell thedifference between our firm andthe rest.

Earlier this year, some ofReddits users noticed thatpasting this piece of copy intoGoogle turned up thousands ofexact matches (it still does - tryit). These companies got lazy.They needed content, discoveredthat writing was hard work, andduplicated it. They thoughtnobody would notice butpeople did notice, and it wasembarrassing.

Google noticed too. Google isdesigned to detect and penalisewebsites that use duplicatecontent by sending them towardsthe back of search result pages.

For any business, this can bedeadly: and when you are lookingto recruit that new star employee,or attract new customers, the lastthing you want is to be at theback of the queue. Yourrecruitment website already hasmillions of competitors, so youneed every chance youve got topush towards the top of searchresults.

Solution: Never use stock copy,and never pinch copy fromanother website. Search engineswill silently punish you for it and, ifsomeone notices, its going toget embarrassing.

Wrath

Ive been looking at this copy forhours! Im sick of it! Itll have todo. This is a frustration thatevery writer knows.

Solution: Step away from thekeyboard and make a cup of tea.Sleep on it. Come back withfresh eyes and tidy it up somemore. Once you feel like theresnothing more you can do, ask afriend or colleague to proofread itfor you. Ask for their feedbackand then edit it again. Continuethe process until youre looking atsomething youre proud to put onyour website, because its got tostand in front of more clients andmore potential employees thanyou or your staff ever will.

Kristin is a consultant toenterprise on HR & recruitmentbest practices, having workedfor over 20 years in NorthAmerica and Europe.

Kristin has worked with some of thebiggest household names,franchises and governmentorganisations helping seniormanagement improvecommunication with allstakeholders in order to achievebetter business outcomes.


Simply putThe employee isdead!

This statement may seem slightlyover the top to some. How couldanyone say that the employee isdead?

Why would anyone make such asurprising claim? Why should wemake such a non-politicallycorrect statement, and upset theapple cart? What's to be gainedby rocking the boat?

Well the short answer is that theworkplace is in the early years ofa revolution. That means thatwhat you see today will becomemore and more common.

The word revolution implies thatsomething has been revolved,completely turned on its head.

The certainly can be said of theworkplace now compared to asrecently as 5 or 10 years ago.

And a growing number of peopleare beginning to see that thedust they thought wouldeventually settle, won't. It willnever again be the way it was.

First, we are seeing the way wework undergoing a significantchange. We are more mobile.Technology means we are nolonger tied to a desk or an office.

This in itself allows us to be moreentrepreneurial, taking charge ofour own calendar, agenda andworking day. More often we aremaking our own decisions abouthow we do business.

More people are coming to therealisation that they dont needan employer for security. In fact,working for someone else is nowless secure. There is no suchthing as a job for life anymore.Most of us have several careersand many jobs in our lifetime. Somore and more we are asking,why not do it for ourselves?

Society as a whole, however,seems to be stuck in the infancystage of this revolution becauseit still refers to unemploymentand employment. Until such timeas the words they use todescribe the world of workreflects the new, rather than theold, it will remain there.

Seth Godin observed that priorto the Industrial Revolution, therewas no such thing asunemployment. And he's right.Employment, as we know it, hasonly existed for about 300 years;and now, the workplace in thatrespect is returning to those pre-industrial days.

Why am I telling you this?

Because it's the entrepreneur towhom the future belongs.

Employment will have its upsand downs for some time tocome, and during that time, manypeople will feel the push to starttheir own businesses. But, you'llknow that the revolution ismaturing when self-employmentis as common as employment isnow.

There has been a mood of individual entrepreneurialism sweeping the worldsince the GFC. Structural change, new technologies and ultimately ingrainedhuman behaviour are creating a revolution in our workplaces. By David Marks

THE WORKPLACEREVOLUTION THAT ISCHANGING BUSINESS

David Marks is a respected advisorand consultant to small businessowners, franchisees andsolopreneurs having authoredseveral books on the changingworkplace and entrepreneurship.A keen futurist and analyst ofemployment trends, David is highlysought after key note speaker andadvisor on these issues.

Smart | HR


A great way to be seen!How else will your Potential Clients Find You?

Group of Companiesmaxiom

Advertising Tailored To Your Requirements

14 | Smart Company Magazine

1. What inspired you to startStore-it?

In 2002 I was talking to a builderwho had constructed somegarage style storage units for aWellington client.

With an interest in propertyinvestment, renovation anddevelopment, I hadnt envisagedowning a storage business.

However, I was shown awarehouse in Ngauranga thathad been vacant for 18 monthsand the conversation with thebuilder was timely and becamethe trigger to further explore whatI saw as real potential for a newway in secure self-storage inWellington.

In 2002, as part of my research, Ivisited several storagecompanies and was interestedwith what I saw in terms offacilities and customerservice. The three main issueswere Dampness, Security andAccess. Rodents andCleanliness were two otherissues.

Knowing I could provide a betterservice, I embarked ondeveloping and launching Store-it to overcome the issues I foundwithin the storage industry.

2. What are your goals?

Open additional Store-itfacilities in Wellington, NewZealand and ultimately Australia.

3. What are your values?

Respect others firstIntegrity we do what we sayCamaraderie/ Teamwork -together we achieve more

Service Excellence a betterway everyday

Make It Happen can do, willdo!

4. What was the driving forcebehind your decision tospecialise in the self-storagesector?

I started with residential propertyinvestment but since starting inself storage Ive furtherexpanded into industrial, officeand car parking propertyinvestments, but my heart lieswith self storage. Its moreengaging, rewarding and thereis more people contact.

We are now re-focusing thebusiness towards expanding ourself storage interests, with thelaunch of our second facility inMarch this year.

5. What types of customersdo you help?

Clients who have a short or longterm storage dilemma and needan easily accessible, secure,clean, dry, flexible storagesolution.

6. What experience do youhave helping small businesscustomers?

We have a range of smallbusiness clients including,retailers, sales reps, tradesmenincluding builders, plumbers andelectricians, home business,wine distributors, lawyers,accountants and land surveyorsto name a few.

These clients store excess officefurniture, equipment anddocuments allowing them tocreate space and grow theirbusinesses.

7. Do you service othersectors as well?

We also service Government,corporate, not for profit andresidential clients includingstudents.

SMART BUSINESS:STORE-ITAfter immigrating to New Zealand in 1998, Mike Price thought hed invest in some propertyand ended up in the storage business. We talk to Mike about why he started Store-it howhis business has grown to become recognised as a leader in its field in Australasia.

Smart | COMPANY FEATURE

8. What are the main reasonsthat someone would chooseStore-it for their self-storageneeds?

Store-its - 7+1 Better than RiskFree, Take-It-To-The-BankGuarantee ( DRAFT)

Security Fort Knoxguarantee

Access Mum I need myteddy, 365 days guarantee

Dryness Dryzaboneguarantee

Spotlessly Clean Ill eatmy dinner off the floorguarantee

Size promise The perfectfit guarantee

Price We wont be beatguarantee

Service If you dont loveus guarantee

+1 bonus guarantee Illtake all the risk, Moneyback guarantee

At Store-it your completesatisfaction with both our serviceand storage is 100%guaranteed. Simply put, whenyou choose Store-it to solveyour storage problem, you cantlose.

It's not just a guarantee, it's mypromise to you!

9. What process, services andsupport do your clientsreceive?

My team teases that we haveprocesses for processes;essentially weve got a processfor everything to ensure ourclients get consistent service, nomatter who they deal with.

We are the experts in providingsafe and secure storage. Wehave a wealth of knowledgewithin our team to ensure ourclients have a great storageexperience.

For advice on how to pack yourstorage unit to maximise the

space available to you, how tobest wrap and package yourpossessions, down to helpingyou choose the moving companythat best suits your needs andeverything in between we canassist you.

My team works hard to provideclients with a great storageexperience see our humblingGoogle reviews

10. What challenges did youface in setting up yourbusiness?

Starting a business with very littlecapital and the banks thinkingwe were too much of a risk wasour biggest challenge. The nextbiggest challenge was leading ateam, which I hadnt done before.

24 | Modern Franchise Magazine Smart Company Magazine | 15maxiom

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11. Tell us about some of theexpectations that you had.

Our aim was to provide the beststorage operation andexperience in Wellington.

12. Have they been met?

Exceeded Store-it is NZsmost awarded self storagefacility. Store-it was judged theFacility of the Year 2006 at theSelf Storage Association ofAustralasia (SSAA) Awards inSurfers Paradise.

Store-it was selected fromapproximately 1200 storagefacilities in Australia and NewZealand, and the award is opento any facility, regardless oflocation, age or size.

The SSAA Awards are judgedacross a number of criteriaincluding facility location, marketsize, presentation, access,business performance andoccupancy, management style,marketing strategies,promotional material and amystery shopper component.

Additional Awards haveincluded:

Winner Manager of the Year2011 category. Finalist

in Facility of the Year 2008category, Runner up in theManager of the Year 2006category, Finalist in Facility ofthe Year 2005 category, Runnerup in the Expansion of the Year2005 category

13. What types of services doyou offer?

Self storage with care, includingpersonal storage, businessstorage, wine storage, carstorage, boat storage and wesell a range of packagingsupplies.

We also offer a free truck hire orfree truck hire and driver serviceor free trailer use on move in.

14. Do you provide servicesnationally?

Not currently, we have 2facilities. One in Wellington andthe other in Lower Hutt

15. Do you have any plans foroverseas expansion?

Yes - Ultimately;

Ive recently been to Singapore,to have a look at the marketopportunities, but Ive decided Iprefer to do something closer to

home in the first instance, but itdepends on the opportunity.

16. What would you say tosomeone looking for astorage facility and whatadvice would you give them?

One thing you need to know is thatnot all storage facilities are createdequal.

The storage facilities purpose is tomake your storage experienceeasy, stress free and to provideyou with peace of mind.

To ensure that they are use a Selfstorage facility 7 pointchecklist, which should cover

1. Security

2. Dryness

3. Access

4. Rodent control

5. Insurance

6. Location of the storage unitsand style of the facility

7. Professional Membership

For more details go to Thedefinitive consumers guide tochoosing a storage company

SMART BUSINESS:CONTINUED..


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CASH FLOW-FRIENDLYPRICING MODELS BY JON MANNING

My contribution to the topic was thatpricing is preventative medicine forcash flow. Get your pricing right,and you have the type of cash flowsituation you want (a healthy one),but getting it wrong can be acontributor to cash flow problems.

There are a number of pricingmodels that are more cash-flowfriendly than others:

Subscriptions: The world ismoving towards a subscriptioneconomy, in both business (B2B)and consumer (B2C) markets,particularly for services.

Look at companies like Flexicar andQuickflix (in Australia), and Zipcarand Netflix, the overseasequivalents. Spotify, and manySoftware-as-a-Service (SaaS)companies also fall into the samecategory.

Link Pricing to a Value Metric:Often, the above-mentioned cashflow friendly pricing models arenon-linear, or have two or moreparts. Subscriptions can beaccompanies by usage charges.Photocopy rental agreements oftencomprise a rental fee as well as acost-per-page price.

The beauty of selling subscriptionsare numerous, including the abilityto sell once and renew many,lower perceived price points,greater segmentation opportunities

and revenue that forms an annuity,rather than a lump sum payment.

Rentals: Companies sellingtangible goods can achieve thesame result as service providersoffing subscriptions by renting outtheir products. Most companiesdont buy photocopiers any more:they rent them.

In addition to the advantagesassociated with subscriptions,further advantages of this pricingmodel is the ease with customerscan be upgraded to new andimproved models when they arereleased, as well as retention ofownership.

Goods Sold as a Service: Ahybrid model, betweensubscriptions and rentals is to sell agood as a service. Those engineson the wings of airplanes have notbeen purchased by the airline youreflying with. They are operating onpower-by-the-hour contracts, withthe airline paying for their use whenthe aircraft is in the air and earningthe airline revenue. Likewise, Oricanot longer sells explosives: it sells arock removal service.

Ideally, these linkages should be toa value or usage metric that isgoing to grow within yourcustomers business, therebygrowing your revenue. If airlines flymore hours, then Rolls Royceearns more revenue. Just be awarethat the converse may also apply.

There is one other benefitassociated with these pricingmodels that illustrates why pricingis a holistic, business-wide initiative.Such pricing models can be easierfor your sales force to sell, as theyoften become OpEx, rather thanCapEx spending for clients.

Can you afford not to have a cashflow-friendly pricing model?

Early in August I had the pleasure of being a panellist at the NAB SmallBusiness Summit in Melbourne. Along with a taxation specialist and amanagement accountant, our topic was How to Best Manage Cash Flow.

maxiom18 | Smart Company Magazine maxiom

Jon Manning (right) and GregEyres (left) run the websitePricingProphets.com, the worldsfirst and only online pricingadvisory service wherecompanies can ask a panel ofglobal pricing experts andthought-leaders what price theyshould charge for a product orservice and why.

http://twitter.com/PricingProphets

http://www.youtube.com/user/PricingProphets

http://www.linkedin.com/company/pricing-prophets

Smart | MARKETING

The general commentary hasbeen around the athletes mentalstate as opposed to theirphysical state. Although theathletes were at their peak,physically, many of the athletesfailed to handle the pressureassociated with the greatestsporting stage in the world.

Throughout the entire 116 yearsof modern Olympic history, therehave been examples of wherethe greatest athletes have failedand where an unknown has comefrom nowhere to win gold.

After years of training the inabilityto master their mind can result inperformances belowexpectations. Its why manyOlympic athletes enlist theservices of sports psychologists.Sport psychology exists becausethe human mind can do strangethings under stress.

Anxiety, nerves and negativethoughts can all cripple an athletebefore their event. It has beenreported however that for the firsttime in 20 years the Australiaswimmers are competing withouttheir own professional sportpsychologists.

Watching the effect of nerves andstage fright has had on our highlyfancied Olympians, I wasconstantly drawing parallelsbetween an Olympic athletesmindset and the mindset ofsuccessful presenters.

Most people, who present, nodoubt experience nerves,negative thoughts and stagefright, with a detrimental impacton their performance.

Given that the most commonphobia is fear of public speaking;these states of mind are normal.

Being able to master your mindbefore your next presentation willset you up for success and makepresenting a lot more enjoyableexperience, for you and youraudience.

Granted, the audience at yournext presentation may not be onthe global scale of the Olympics,the consequences of losing orbenefits of wining not sodramatic and the sacrificesperhaps not as significant.

Yet for anyone who has to deliverpresentations there are three key

techniques we can learn fromOlympic athletes that workparticularly well for presenters.And all of them relate to yourmindset.

Slow Your Breathing

The first is slowing yourbreathing. You may haveexperienced some of thesesensations before apresentation, feeling nervous ashell, you cant remember youropening line and you are fightingyour greatest natural humaninstinct to flee. When this occursyou will be well served to findsome space and a few minutesand actively focus on slowingyour breathing.

Slowing down your breathingreduces your heart rate andsignals to your mind that all iscalm here. The key is to identifythe early onsets of nervoustension and start this techniqueimmediately.

After swimmer JamesMagnussen failed to meetexpectation in the mens 4x100freestyle, he said "the morning ofmy race my hands were shaking

Before the London Olympics are even over the analysis and debrief havestarted into why Australias athletes (specifically some of the highly favouredswimmers) did not win the gold medals as expected.

WHAT EVERY PRESENTERCAN LEARN FROMOLYMPIC ATHLETES By Gabrielle Dolan


Smart | MARKETING

and my heart was beating out ofmy chest". Perhaps an attempt toslow his breathing may havehelped.

Visualise success

The second is visualise success. In the lead up to the 1996Atlanta Olympics, the once muchfeared Australian mens rowingteam, the Oarsome Foursome,were not rated highly. They onlyjust scraped into the final andagainst all odds won the goldmedal. Sport psychologist JeffBond had worked with theOarsome Foursome on positivevisualisation in the lead up toAtlanta. Wed run through thewarm-up, and the paddle to thestart and then I would talk themthrough the race. They wentthrough this process ofvisualisation hundreds of timesand the actual race went exactly,exactly as they planned it.

Presenters can use the sametechnique. In the week leadingup to your presentation, pictureyourself walking on stage, youropening, your key messages,your ending, the laughs, theapplause as you leave the stage,the congratulations and handshakes afterwards.

The power of visualising successworks because the brain cannot

distinguish between reality andimagination. The more youvisualise success the brain willbe tricked into thinking it is real.As you are about to walk onstage your brain will be think Okbeen here, done this before, allgood.

Know Your Routine

Many Olympic athletes have aroutine they religiously performbefore each event. Sportpsychologists call thismindfulness or process focusing.

Its helpful because it distractsthe brain from racing ahead byfocusing the mind on the presentmoment. In All Psyched UpAustralian swim coach ShannonRollason instructed the swimmerJodie Henry to have a routine forthe 20 minutes preceding eachrace. On leaving the changeroom she was to speak tosomeone in the marshaling area,then she was to find theAustralian team and wave tothem. Next she had to seek outher parents in the audience andgive them a wave and so right upuntil her being introduced andonly then taking off her tracksuitand putting her cap on.

Henry won three Olympic goldmedals in 2004 after followingher pre-match routine.

Similarly every successfulpresenter has a routine that setstheir mind and heart in motion.

They have a getting readyprocess. This might be just onething like some speakers brushtheir teeth before they present.

Others do a final practice or prepthemselves with some upbeatmusic that signals to them this isshow time.

Having a pre performanceroutine helps you shift your state.

You shift into high gear ready togo.

So before your next presentation,take some learnings from ourOlympic athletes to help youmaster your mindset. Slow yourbreathing, visualise success andknow your routine. Doing all threewill help achieve your own PB(Presenters Best).


Gabrielle Dolan is a globalthought leader on organisationalstorytelling and an expertin making good presentersInspiring.

For more informationand workshop details, go to:

www.onethousandandone.com.au

HOW TO RUN YOUROWN PUBLICITYCAMPAIGN - IN FIVEEASY LESSONS By Jules BrookeLESSON 2:

When you are about to start yourvery own PR campaign, youneed to make sure you contactthe right media.

When we say right, we meanthe media that your target marketreads, listens to or watches.

So the very first task you have isto identify exactly WHO you arespeaking to. It may be that youhave a few different markets tocover.

Tailoring Your Media List toYour Target Markets

For instance, one of our HYOPRclients, Phoebe, the owner ofwww.myfavourite.com.au, anonline gift store, spoke to us theother day about her differenttarget markets.

She has Mums and Dads(parenting media and websites)as well as general lifestyle typeproducts (lifestyle media whichincludes in-flight magazines).

By using both lists and tailoringher media release, she isdoubling her chances of gettingcoverage and targeting themedia that her customers use.

If we are creating media lists forour own clients, we always try toinclude at least three or fourdistinctly different media groups.

The more we can approach, thehigher our chances of gettingcoverage.

For example, Simone has beenworking with a fantastic toycompany who have clever sportsgoggles with built in videocameras.

To get them the maximumexposure she has targetedmens media, gift guides,lifestyle media, newspaperproduct sections, technologywriters, general sportmagazines, speciality sportsmagazines (for motorcross,skiing, scuba diving etc.)photography media and evenkids media & womens media.

Another example is a childrenswear company Jules works with.

Dont Forget to Tell YourStory

They have an incrediblebackground story so as well assending out a release to theparenting and kids magazinesand blogs, and the FashionEditors for magazines andnewspapers, she also pitchedthe idea to magazines like GoodWeekend who featured them inthe Two of Us section andWellbeing magazine (it is a fairtrade label) with great success.

Target the Media YourCustomers are Likely to Use

Start by thinking about what kindof people your customers andpotential customers are.

Old or young?

Parents, singles orgrandparents?

Male or female or both?


Smart | MARKETING


Are they environmentallyminded?

Do they love sports?

Then think of the sort of mediathey would use including online,magazines, newspapers, TV andradio

From there you will start to get apicture of the sorts of categoriesthe media will fall into.

You can then either spend sometime researching media contactsonline or via the contactsprovided in such magazines andnewspapers or buy the relevantlists from us.

Get Organised and Add YourMedia Exposure to YourWebsite

However you get your mediacontacts make sure you placethem into an Excel spreadsheetwith the name of the media, thecontact person, their role, theiremail address, their phonenumber and a leave a column fornotes.

Its also a great idea to create aspace for media clippings onyour website.

That way potential customers cansee that your business is credibleand endorsed by others.

A new Handle Your Own PRcustomer, All Day Heels, has agreat example of a mediasection on their website.

They recently picked up a storyon A Current Affair and haveprovided the link to that story, aswell as others, on their site.

This is a great way to make youreditorial work for you well after itruns.

Get cracking on that list now!

Jules BrookeHandle Communications andHandle Your Own PRPh: 0409 494 490

www.handle.com.au

www.handleyourownpr.com.au(Au/NZ)

www.handleyourownpr.com(USA)

www.handleyourownpr.co.uk(UK)


We have all seen it. A single greatproduct gets the company startedbut then in turn becomes thecompany. None of which is aproblem until you are trying tolaunch a new product and no oneknows who the organisation behindthe product is or what it stands for.

Where do you go from there?It is certainly a trap thatentrepreneurs and start-upsparticularly technology productcompanies, seem to fall into withdepressing regularity.

Building a company foundation ofbelief and purpose is just asimportant as getting your productready to ship. The trouble is thatgetting to those things involvesexploring messy questions such aswhy not something peoplefocused on what usually want totake time doing. I have lost count ofthe number of times Ive workedwith startups who say they will getto that stuff later.

But heres something to considerbefore you ditch the nextdiscussion people buy productsfrom companies, and when theyknow what your company standsfor and trust and respect it, theybuy even more products! So takingthat time might be the bestinvestment in your future you canmake.

Having a solid foundation of why isalso a great way to help guide thethousands of decisions that have tobe made as the company gets up

and going. I can always spot theones who havent done the work.The what and how they go aboutthings are littered withcontradictions and misalignment.

If you look around you will see atrail of companies that reach yearthree and suddenly find themselvesstuck with a product and companythat are synonymous with no placeto go. Trying to create separation atthis point, both internally andexternally, is at best expensive andat worst, nearly impossible.

When you build the value of yourcompany and make that visible toyour customers and otherstakeholders, you create a strongerreason for them to purchase fromyou than just the features andbenefits of the product.

Case in point, I could buy lots ofdifferent washing powders. Thesupermarket shelves areoverflowing with choices. I will goout of my way to find and buyEcover, because I like what thecompany stands for. I could buysimple slip on shoes for ten dollarsin KMart. I choose to buy TomsShoes online and get them shippedfrom US because I like what thecompany stands for. Sure theseare consumer examples, but theprinciple holds just as true for B2B.

For example software companyAtlassian has largely defined anddifferentiated itself in a crowdedspace by what they stand for (and

what they make - lets not forgetthat is still important too).

What you do can, will and shouldchange over time, who you areshould not. There are plenty ofproduct companies out there thatare built to flip long before thisbecomes an issue. However, if youare aiming to build something forthe long haul, the question of whoare we and why are we hereshould be top of the agenda atevery company meeting until youfind your answer, no matter whatyour products are today.

Its never too soon to start.

Your product is not your company (at least it shouldnt be).

Dont confuse them. By Michel Hogan

DONT MISTAKE WHAT YOUDO FOR WHO YOU ARE

Michel Hogan is an independentadviser and advocate dedicatedto helping organisations makepromises they can keep and keepthe promises they make witha strong, resilient organisationand Brand as the result. She alsopublishes a blog at michelhogan.com. You can follow Michel onTwitter @michelhogan.

Smart | MARKETING

Finding the right franchisees to help grow your businessdoesnt need to be hit and miss.

Get the franchisees that are going to make yourbusiness a success

Talk to the Experts in Franchising

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Your Franchise Dreams into Realitymaxiom Smart Company Magazine | 25

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In this article, Ill give you 4 waysto make your subscribers loveyou and why you should onlypromote products that you trulybelieve with help others to besuccessful online.

Product selection is critical toyour success and your reputationas an ethical marketer. If youpromote the latest, greatestproduct launch just becauseeveryone else is, or you promoteproducts that you haventpurchased and personallyevaluated, you risk losing therespect of your subscribers. Youmay make a quick sale, but if theproduct recommended turns outto be junk, you wont sell anythingelse to that person in the future

If you dont truly believe that aproduct or service will help yoursubscribers succeed, then youshouldnt recommend it. I knowthats difficult to accept, but itstrue. When you believe in theproduct youre promoting, its somuch easier to recommend toothers and youll make muchmore money in the process.

Here are 4 guidelines you canfollow to make your subscriberslove you:

1. Sell Solutions NotProducts

Create a solid portfolio of qualityproducts that provide solutions toproblems. Identify the problemsand challenges that yoursubscribers face and then, one ata time, find a few good productsthat provide a solution to eachproblem.

Here are a few problems thatyour subscribers may have:

Getting traffic

Building a list

Building a website

Writing sales copy

Setting up a membershipsite

Setting up a blog

And the list goes on and on

Now you just need to pick andevaluate a handful of goodproducts at different price rangesand continuity programs that willhelp your subscribers overcomeeach one of those challenges.

2. Invest in the Products YouSell

I understand that you cant buyevery product that a merchantsells. But I highly recommend thatyou buy at least one product fortwo reasons:

1. To make sure youreselling something with truevalue. You dont want torisk your reputation byrecommending a productthat is full of fluff and filler.

People buy from peoplethey trust. If you want tocontinue selling productsand services to yourcustomers, dont wastetheir time with low-qualityjunk.

HOW TO MAKEYOUR SUBSCRIBERSLOVE YOU By Mikel Kew Sell Solutions - Not Products

Create a Hype Free Zone

Lower Customer Acquisition Cost

Smart | MARKETING


2. You can use the content topre-sell your prospects.For example, you couldsummarize an ebook andgive it away as a freereport. Or you could droptips and tricks that youlearned in a series ofemails.

The bottom line is thisits mucheasier to sell something thatyouve purchased and personallyused.

And if you use the product andget good results, youll have areal success story to share withyour readers that will send yoursales through the roof!

3. Promote one Product at aTime

Learn everything about theproduct, develop uniquemarketing materials to promoteit, and create a unique bonus thatcompliments it and addtremendous value to the offer.

Make your promotion an eventand send multiple emails to your

list. I recommend promoting oneor two products per week.

Show your subscribers that youbelieve in the product, havepersonally used it yourself, andhighly recommend it.

4. Dont Promote Hype andLies!

Take the time to thoroughlyevaluate every product beforeyou promote, and help yoursubscribers make a buyingdecision.

Stay away from products soldwith blind sales copy, falsescarcity, fake actors, and otherlies.

Its not worth risking yourreputation to just to make a fewbucks. If you run your businesswith honesty and integrity, all theefforts you make to help otherswill come back to you tenfold!

If you enjoyed this article, sharethe luv leave a comment, clickLike and +1 this page. Thanks!

Mikel Kew is Co-Founder &CEO of Bargains4Business,Australias premier businessgroup buying and deals site.Mikel is also Director of FilmCartel and works as atechnology consultant fora number of AustralianeCommerce sites.

LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=53411085Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Bargains4BusinessTwitter: http://twitter.com/#!/B4B_AustraliaGoogle+: https://plus.google.com/107036293438866621077Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/b4baustralia/Website:http://www.bargains4business.com.au


Branding is extremelyimportant for small companiesthat want to grow and sustaintheir businesses for the longterm

It is a major challenge for a smallbusiness to establish a brandbecause of the lack of funds,resources, people and time. Yetbranding is what makes yourcompany attractive to investors,consumers and futureemployees. Your brand is therelationship you have with yourcustomers and relationships arenot built overnight.

A lot of entrepreneurs havedifficulty with branding becausethey prioritise productdevelopment and sales beforemeaning and experience. Acompany that doesnt have awell-defined brand will havetrouble with differentiation in themarketplace and with generatingmedia awareness. Here aresome common missteps towatch out for.

1. They dont define a settarget market

In order to gain visibility in themarketplace, its imperative thatyou are specific with the types ofcustomers youre going after.

You cant be everything toeveryone or youll be nothing tono one.

Too many entrepreneurs thinkthat they need a mainstreamproduct for the highest potentialsales.

By defining and segmenting youraudience, you can appear higherin search engine results and theright people will find you andwant your product.

Think about the age, gender,geography and lifestyle of thepeople youre targeting and dontbe afraid to define your market inpublic.

For example, instead of beingjust another accountant insuburbia, you can positionyourself as business mentor foryoung entrepreneurs in yourregion.

If a young entrepreneur is lookingfor business support, they willsearch online and your websitewill come up.

Since you have a well definedposition, they will choose youover a more generalist firm thatdoesnt understand their needs.

2. They focus too much onadvertising and not enoughon PR

Sixty-three percent of small tomedium-sized businessesadvertise online. While targetedadvertising on specific blogs,websites, and through GoogleAdWords and Facebook SocialAds might help, its well worth theinvestment to get PR support andpartner with brands.

Public relations is extremelyimportant because what otherpeople say about your brand hasmore impact than what you sayabout yourself.

Self-proclamations dont buildbrands; the your audience, yourstakeholders and the mediadoes.

Its far better to have a profilein a magazine related to yourindustry or sector than it is to payfor a full-page advertisement inthe magazine.

Earned media is much morerespected by customers. Smallbusinesses typically dont havewell-known brands so theyrequire third-party endorsementsand partnerships in order tobecome established.

COMMON BRANDINGMISTAKES SMALLBUSINESS MAKES BY ANDREW BROWN

Smart | MARKETING

If people havent heard of yourcompany, then its helpful if youcreate strategic partnershipswith companies that your marketis familiar with.

By associating your companywith a well-known brand, yourcompany becomes morecredible and your brand grows.

3. They dont build a strongWeb presence to attract newcustomers

Every single business shouldhave a website, but 55 percentof small businesses dont haveone.

How are potential customerssupposed to find you?

People are searching for youonline and every time you dontcome up, theres another missedopportunity to build yourbusiness and brand.

Consumers turn to the Web firstbefore making a purchasingdecision.

A strong Web presence allowsyou to point people to where theycan find more information about

who you are, what you do andwhat products and services youoffer.

Instead of blowing money onadvertising, invest yourresources in social media andyour website.

Consumers alsoturn to their friends, throughsocial networks, when decidingwhat company to purchase from.

Thats why its crucial, more thanever before, to create your ownprofile pages, and engage withyour customer base.

Start by concentrating yourefforts on the top three socialnetworks: Facebook, LinkedInand Twitter.

4. They disable theiremployees from building theirbrand

Half of all small businesses havea policy that prohibits employeesfrom visiting FaceBook andother Social Media.

Many also do not have a blog ornewsletter and those that dodont empower their employeesto contribute.

Small business owners shouldlet their employees use socialnetworking sites as long as theyare doing it for the benefit of thecompany.

Consumers want to hear yourstory and connect with youremployees to get a better senseof your company.

If you enable your employees tobecome evangelists for yourcompany, then you will be able toscale your marketing and fosterstronger relationships with yourcustomers.

Your employees should be ableto build and develop their ownpersonal brands because thenthey become more valuable toyour company.


Andrew Brown is a smallbusiness marketing specialist thathelps start-ups get more clientsfaster.

Andrew has been influential in anumber of industries includingexport, manufacturing andtechnology.

You can visit his web site:

www.clientmachine.com.au


As more businesses realise theimportance marketing plays indriving growth and achievingbusiness aims many have turnedto outsourcing to help ramp uptheir marketing activities.

This has driven home the realitythat many business functions arebetter off being outsourced sothat management canconcentrate on the key drivers ofbusiness growth and profitabilityrather than managing time-consuming and repetitivebusiness functions.

There are still challenges though,with the talent shortage andaccess to finance still remainingkey barriers to achieving thegrowth business leaders desire.

Many businesses are increasingtheir online presence with greaterutilisation of social media,content and local marketingtactics to boost revenue. Manyare outsourcing the day to dayprocesses of creating & postingcontent, managing feedback andcomments.

Business is turning to technologyto boost productivity andflexibility.

This also brings employeerecruitment and educationchallenges as businesses needto recruit and train staff to copewith this new marketing andtechnology. It is also bringingabout a new appreciation forrelationship building with allstakeholders as business ownerscarefully steer their businesstowards its goals.

Labour Shortage

Despite the doom and gloom talkof the economy, unemployment isstill at very low levels. This isunlikely to change significantly inthe near future which meansentrepreneurs will continue to findit difficult to recruit the expertisethey need to grow their business.

Marketing, sales, finance andtechnical positions will beparticularly hard to fill.

Businesses of all sizes will leanmore heavily on cloud-based

software in particular Software asa Service (Saas) to facilitateproject and client managementas an increasing shortage oftechnology labour affects allbusinesses in 2012 and beyond.

This places a greater pressureon businesses to outsourcesome of these new roles in orderto get access to the talent andknowledge required tosuccessfully utilise thesemarketing and technologyopportunities.

Business is now learning how tointegrate outsourced servicesinto their operations asseamlessly as possible in orderto pursue their commercial goals.

Freedom & Flexibility

Business has embracedoutsourcing more than ever in aneffort to be more flexible.

New Media tools such as tablets,webinars, document hosting andvideoconferencing have becomemore important in staffcommunications and training.

WHY OUTSOURCINGHAS BECOME THE KEYTO BUSINESS SUCCESSA combination of new business realities, delivery models, destinations andtechnologies has increased the utilisation of outsourcing strategies by SMEsand large enterprises alike.

Smart | LEADERSHIP


The latest generation of potentialemployees insists on being ableto work wherever they feel mostproductive.

If that means at home, on acustomers premises, or at acaf, business will need to offerways for those employees tokeep connected.

Being Where Your Clients Are

Many businesses have takenkeenly to the online environmentand to social media in recenttimes, using sites like Facebookand LinkedIn to broaden theirreach to customers.

While the commercial zeitgeistsuggests every company shoulduse this technology,entrepreneurs are scrutinising thebenefits carefully to avoid wastingan investment that may be betterplaced in other media, includingtraditional media, as that may bewhere clients are.

Having the right outsourcedpartners to help you reach theseclients has become vital tomodern business success.

Tough Customers

Heres something that isnt goingto change anytime soon -customers willingness to paymore. Some companies havebeen discounting their productsand services to compete withonline businesses, discountcoupons and internationalcompetitors, both online and newbricks & mortar arrivals.

As the traditional retail economystruggles, clients wont want to goback to paying higher prices.

Social Media has also beenpartially responsible for the highlevels of retail competitivenesswith a clear majority of peoplethat follow or interact withcompanies using social mediadoing so to gain special offers ordiscounts (71%) and makepurchases (55%).

As a result, business is findingways to reduce their own costs torestore margins, and zero in onthose customers who may bewilling to pay more, givenexceptional service and best-of-industry products.

Relationship building will be thekey to winning over these clients.

While we would never suggestoutsourcing relationship buildingwith your clients, outsourcing willhelp business reduce costs,become more flexible andprovide more time to concentrateon building these clientrelationships that are so essentialto staying competitive in themodern business environment.

Finance

Entrepreneurs trying to win overbanks and other lendinginstitutions are facing a toughaudience. Banks arent going toopen their purse strings to SMEsthat dont have incrediblecredibility.

The European debt crisis has putfinancial institutions there underpressure. If a European bankwere to fail, lending may beseverely restricted, and we couldeasily see a return to the GlobalCredit Crunch that saw bankscollectively review their lendingpolicies based on their access tofunds. This could mean thatobtaining business financewhether to start or grow abusiness will be more difficult.

Regardless of this, lenders wontbe willing to lend to businesses


that lack excellent business plans and in this day and age, youcan bet that more businessesthan ever are vying for the banksattention.

Smart outsourcing to improvecash flow (such as payingoutsourced contractors monthlyinstead of staff weekly orfortnightly) has helped manySMEs stay afloat and reducesthe reliance on external financeoptions.

Strategic Outsourcing

Many business-critical, high-levelservices such legal, finance &accounting, marketing, HR,recruitment, facilitiesmanagement, security, andstrategic planning areoutsourced.

Modern outsourced serviceproviders, have become moreexperienced at seamlesslyintegrating their services intoclient businesses.

Collaborative and StrategicAlliances and Partnerships

Models where customers andservice providers workcollaboratively to developperformance-based partnerships

are being increasingly used bycompanies. Business is movingoutsourcing out of the back-officeand into more customer-facingprocesses and more strategicopportunities making seamlessintegration by service providerseven more critical to businesssuccess.

Technology Convergence

The convergence of socialnetworking, collaboration andmobility platforms has created asignificant demand for value-added outsourcing services.

Companies are increasing theiremphasis on social media tosource talent globally, positiontheir products and services, andcollect intelligence around theirend users that goes significantlybeyond SEO and SEM.

The Cloud

As cloud computing solutionscontinue to proliferate worldwide,customers and suppliers willcontinue to struggle to complywith increased governmentregulations, the real risks ofcyber-security and threats of eco-terrorism. Having said this, thegrowth in cloud solutions acrossthe IT, Human Resources,

Marketing and Digital Publishingfunctions means morebusinesses will need HR,Marketing & IT expertise thatunderstands the technology.

The use of cloud based servicesfor document hosting, training,sales and promotional materialshas been growing significantly forseveral years and as morecompanies look to replace out-dated intranet solutions withmore secure, flexible andfunctional cloud-based solutions,printed marketing material withdigital brochures and look formore measurable marketingsolutions that the cloud offers;integrating these with existingbusiness functions, processesand strategies has become vital.

The roles of sales, marketing andIT have become somewhatmerged. Very few businessescan find candidates with theknowledge and experience todeliver the results required formodern business. This is whereoutsourcing comes into its own.

The best outsourced providershave teams that deliver for clientsacross these disciplines so thatthe entrepreneur can concentrateon the business functions thatdeliver the highest returns.

Smart | LEADERSHIP


If you are a smaller company inyour market, you often arecompeting against the idea thatthe safe choice is the rightchoice.

The best part of fighting Safe-Choice Syndrome is that safety isa minimum standardmeasurement. If you can appear"safe enough" then you can winon your compelling value.

Recently, I had a couple ofbusiness owners in my office whohad discovered that their largestcompetitor quantified its numberone reason for winning contracts,over a third of all deals, frombeing the "safe choice." That wasit.

That competitor wasn't better,cheaper, faster or smarter. Theywere just perceived as safer.

As entrepreneurs, we find thishard to stomach. We createadvantages, best-in-classperformance, tailored solutionsand benefits.

To be beat out for the reason that"bigger is safer" is intellectuallyoffensive. This notion has to becrushed in every corner of thesales process that it is found.

Otherwise, smaller companiesrisk permanent second-positionstatus in larger salesopportunities.

Here are some strategies andtechniques to use when upagainst a competitor that trots outthe safe choice fallacy.

1) Risk Ratio - Challenge yourprospect to consider where theywant to be on the priority ladderof their provider. As the 21stbiggest customer of a bigcompany, your prospect wouldreceive very different attentionthan that prospect will receive asa top 5 customer of yours. Thequestion is simple, "Who wants tobe someone's 21st biggestcustomer?"

2) Strong - Bring your strength tothe conversation early and often -not just your value. Take your bestpeople, case studies, and clientsinto the early parts of the salesprocess that show your strengthand stability. The safe-choiceoption only wins because ofstrength, stability anddefendability as a decision. Bestronger.

3) 4 key safety flags - If safety isthe operative term, then what canyou include in your salesconversations, presentations andproposals that will convey safety?

People - Demonstrate a sense ofscale, interplay and uniquelyrelevant resume experience toyour prospects.

It's true - people buy from people.However, even more true is thatpeople connect to safety withother people they see as peers,not sales people.

Process - Illustrating directly theprocesses that you follow toachieve results gives theconfidence of predictability andscalability that decision makersneed to feel safe.

Technology - One of theconcerns of larger buyers whenconsidering a smaller firm is thatof scalability - "Does this littlecompany have the resourcesnecessary to grow and flex for myneeds?" Your leverage ofequipment, systems, softwareand platforms generatesconfidence that you can ramp upthrough technology rather thanonly by hiring, which carries manyinherent risks.

Experience - Your bona fides inthe prospect's problems first,market second and industry thirdgive them an anchoring referencepoint in defending the decision togo with the smaller company. Youneed to bring these to thediscussion and hammer homethe direct application on all threelevels.

Know that safe-choice is alwayslurking in the decision-makingshadows of every big sale. Usethese strategies to win.

RUNNING WITH THE BIGDOGS AND WINNING BY PATRICK HANNAN

Smart | LEADERSHIP


The

ClientMachine

Get as many clients as youwant for a fraction of thecost of regular advertising

www.clientmachine.com.au

Get the Clientsto come to You!


Choosing the right design agency- one who will clearly understandyour vision - can be a timeconsuming and tedious exercise.You want a designer who cantake the visualisation you have ofyour company name ortrademark, what your businessrepresents and the message youwant to send to your audienceand replicate it. Here are somethings to look for in a graphicdesign professional.

Open communicationchannels - A professionalcreative design agency shouldhave an open communicationchannel with you at all times. Thiswill keep you in the loopthroughout the design process. Itwill also give you a chance togauge how much time and effortthey are putting into your project.

Furthermore, graphic designerswho are looking to keep younotified on your design, imply thatthey are giving due attention tothe work at hand.

Prior research - To get acomplete understanding of yourcreative design needs, anagency should be willing and ableto conduct a thorough research.

This will give them insight intoyour company, as well as yourbusiness focus. With suchinformation, creation of a designthat embodies the company'squalities is possible.

Personable - The graphicdesigner you work with should beapproachable. They shouldcarefully listen to your instructionsso that they do not miss out onany details. In addition, theyshould ask questions wherenecessary, so that as muchinformation as possible can beavailed for the project.

Price quotations - Dealing withdesign agencies can get a bittricky when it comes down topricing. As such, be cautiousabout the agency you pick, andensure all the costs are given,prior to carrying out the project. Ifthe work is on a contract basis,be sure to read all documentsbefore signing. This eliminatesany future misunderstandings orhidden costs.

Passionate - Good websitedesign and graphic designersare genuinely passionate abouttheir work.

Creativity is part of the job, andthat aspect should be evident asthey carry out the project.

Skills Required - The designagency you decided to useshould be capable of designingwith the most up to date software.It's essential that the company isable to offer you visual designproofs before you decide toagree to the design project.

But it shouldnt end there. Toomany designers and agenciesare just proficient at using thesoftware but lack real knowledgeand understanding of modernbusiness requirements,marketing and branddevelopment as well as specificindustry knowledge relative toyour business.

The best agencies have industryspecialists, who have workedwith many companies like yourand understand the audience youare trying to reach.

The agency should also havevision and be proficient in thetechnology available to ensureyour message is consistentacross all channels.

The benefits of hiring a good graphic design agency are many and there arean oversupply of designers out there, so why are the great ones so hard tofind? By Trevor Cooke

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHENHIRING A PROFESSIONALGRAPHIC DESIGN AGENCY

Smart | DESIGN

MWA Design can help you get your marketing message to yourtarget clients in the most effective way to boost your sales andyour profit. We are not just interested in great design and thelatest technologies were interested in your business, yourcustomers and your commercial success too.

Inspire them to buy

Inspire them to share

Inspire their loyalty

Increase brand recognition

Increase interaction with your brand

Create a consistent brand experience

Amaze Creative

Brand Design | Print & Digital | Web Design | Web Development

www.amazecreativestrategies.com

Keeping it clear and simple.

Amaze Creative StrategiesCreating, distributing and analysing engaging,

recurring digital content experiencesacross multiple channels.

Inspire Your Customers & Franchisees


1. What inspired you to startPricingProphets? What areyou goals and values?

In mid 2010, I was at anetworking event where therewere speakers talking aboutcrowd-sourcing. Although, Iwasnt one of the speakers, Iwas asked a question aboutpricing and crowdsourcing.

After the talk had finished,someone approached me andsaid Im selling this product, butIm about to launch that product,what do I charge for it?

At that moment I realised thatpeople had been asking methat question for over 20 years,and rather than answering thatdepends, I could provide amore specific answer if I createda platform that crowd-sourcedthe answer.

[NB: crowdsourcing is anonline movement where youget crowd of people to solve aproblem, such as, in the case ofPricingProphets, what price tocharge]

2. What was the drivingforce behind your decisionto specialise in the pricingstrategy sector?

I have worked in pricing foralmost all my working life, and itstarted by accident rather thanDesign.

My first job was in the oilindustry checking the prices oninvoices, and wondering wherethose prices came from. I dontthink anyone has solved thatmystery yet.

I then started pricing catering,and quickly worked out wherethose prices were coming from:the addition of costs, plus adesired profit margin.

After that I moved into pricingairfares, where prices areprimarily driven by thecompetition. And for the last tenyears, Ive been consulting to awide range of companies,assisting then with pricing on thebasis of value, rather than costsor the competitions.

3. What experience do youhave helping small businessclients?

SMEs are the type of clients Ilike the best. Ive helped manyover the years, ranging fromhomebased business,entrepreneurs with start-upbusinesses, as well as retailersand wholesalers.

Some of their products includemarketing and music recordingservices, websites andtechnology products, through tofresh flowers.

The great thing about workingwith SMEs is that you can makea difference to the bottle linevery quickly, and without havingto worry about the bureaucraticbaggage that comes with alarge firm.

You usually end up with both arelationship and a friendshipwith the people in the businessas well.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU:PRICING PROPHETS


Small business hasnt had access to much good pricing information and advice in thepast. Most people think that there is only one option when pricing their product orservice. You work out the cost to manufacture a product, or the number of hoursinvolved in delivering a service, add a percentage for the profit you would like to makeand voila! You have your price. Talking to pricing expert Jon Manning to find out moreabout pricing strategy, we quickly learnt that value based pricing is far more effective.


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Of course! You know, one ofthe misconceptions of a lot ofpeople is that you need pricingexperience in their particularindustry to be able to help them.This could not be further from thetruth.

People dont ask an accountantif they have experience in theirindustry: 80% of what they needto do they are trained in, and theother 20% is worked out fromthe financial transactions theycrunch for the client. The sameapplies in pricingperhapseven more so, as we know whatsort of pricing works in businessmarkets or consumer markets.

5. What are the main reasonsthat someone would choosePricingProphets to assistwith developing theirbusiness?

There are several reasonsclients use PricingProphets:

They realise that anincorrect pricing decisioncan mean the differencebetween profit and loss,but they have no ideawhere to start;

They think they arecharging the right price,but theyre not quite sure,and they would like tovalidate the price, or;

They are going to begrilled on their pricingstrategy by an investor orventure capitalist, andthey want to speak from aposition of informedauthority.

6. What process, serviceand support do your clientsReceive?

So using PricingProphets isrelatively simple. The first step isto create a log-on and completea simple, once-only businessprofile. Once thats done, aclient can run a project, whichinvolves answering around 40questions on the product theywant priced. That seems a lot ofquestions, but most are relativelystraightforward. Clients then payfor the project, we do our stuff,and in about 7 days the clientgets and email telling them theresults are available online toview or print.

One of my personal dislikes iswebsites run by people whodont want to talk to theircustomers.

Were happy to chat, andsupport is available on everystep of the journey, either byemail, telephone Skype or evenTwitter.

7. What challenges did youface in setting up thebusiness?

Im a very optimistic person, andI dont believe in problems orchallenges, only solutions. Sothe biggest challengeassociated with setting upPricingProphets was self-imposed. I set my partner andmyself a deadline of 100 days toset up the business and build thewebsite.

Did we achieve the target? No!The Australian Tax Office tooklonger than expected to give usour tax file number, and it took us101 days.

8. Tell us about some of theexpectations that you had.Have they been met?

I tend to find people in businessfall into one of two camps: thosethat have business plans andthose that do not. Im closer tothe latter. I dont have a formal,written business plan, other thanthe one in my head.



There are two reasons for that.The first is that I can changedirection quickly, without havingto worry about that change ofdirection being in my businessplan (or not). And secondly,if my expectations are notdocumented, then there is nodisappointment if they are notachievedbut we are happywith the progress weve madewith PricingProphets so far.

9. Who is the target market foryour business?

Weve built the service for thehundreds of thousands of SMEswho have no dedicated pricingresources, who cant afford toattend pricing workshops orconferences, who cant affordexpensive pricing researchalternatives, such as focusgroups or conjoint analysis, andwho want to ditch cost-pluspricing.

10. Do you provide servicesNationally?

Absolutely. Obviously Melbourneis our home market, but half ofthe projects weve completed todate have been for clientsoutside of Victoria.


That process has already startedas well. We already have expertsin (Australia, NZ, the USA,the UK, Singapore, India andthe Netherlands), Weve alsocompleted projects for clientsin the US and India, as well asAustralia.

12. What would you say tosomeone looking to growand develop his or herbusiness?

Ive got a couple of tips. Firstly,look to partner withorganisations that have alreadygot the clients you want. Its a lotmore cost effective than goingafter all those clients individually.Secondly, identify companiesthat are either upstream ordownstream from your business(i.e. what do your clients buybefore and after they buy fromyou) and work with them.

Finally, and not everybody cando this, but if you can, adopt apricing model that grows withyour clients business. One of theprojects we recently completedon PricingProphets was for acompany selling a safetyservices to parents of schoolchildren.

The experts suggested the clientstop selling the service to theparents and start selling it to theschools. It would not only makethe schools look concernedabout safety, the schools werehis channel-to-market, and if hepriced his service as apercentage of school fees, therewas only one way his revenuewould go: up!

Jon Manning has over twodecades of global pricingmanagement experience,and is the mastermind behindPricingProphets.com.To speak to Jon for furtherinformation you can email himat; [email protected] phone 0405 629 141International+61 405-629-141)

Find us online;http://www.PricingProphets.com

Youtube;http://www.youtube.com/user/PricingProphets



Ask an Expert - FranchisingBusiness Development Alliance

1. What inspired you to startBDA? What are your goalsand values?

BDA has been servicing theFranchise and Business sectorssince 2002 and we have growninto one of Australias PremierManagement Consultancy. Ourvalues enable us to expresswhat we do and what we believein, which, in turn enables us toput into practice what we arecommitted to, which is excellence in everything we do.

Our goals revolve aroundproviding the best advice,service and education toFranchise Networks whilstassisting and educatingprospective franchises tobecome more profitable.

2. What was the driving forcebehind your decision tospecialise in the franchisesector?

Its all about passion!!! Thissector demands a high level of

passion and determination. Withour never ending search forexcellence coupled with ourexperience we believe that wehave a lot to offer anyone eitherentering or already immersed inthe sector.

3. What experience do youhave helping franchise sectorclients?

We have been involved in theFranchising sector for over 40years and have experienceacross all facets of franchising.With this vast experience webelieve our clients can onlybenefit from what we havelearned along the way and thatbrings expertise to the tablewhen making those criticalbusiness decisions.

Our Director is a CommitteeMember of the FranchiseCouncil of Australia WA Chapterand is intimately involved in anumber of well recognisedbrands within the sector.


Yes, we have worked in manysectors assisting business growincluding; manufacturing, retail,hospitality, shipping andwholesale. We have thecapabilities and experiences toassist any small business find itsgrowth path.

5. What are the main reasonsthat someone would chooseBDA to assist withdeveloping their business?

Businesses choose BDA as weassist in finding the right growthpath. We will determine wetherLicensing, Agency Agreements,Dealerships, Co-Operatives orFranchising is the best wayforward. Most businessunderstand the need for controlwhen expanding however, maynot be aware of the boundariesin which that control can beexercised.

Franchising is a highly competitive sector with a unique set of challenges.But we discovered that successful franchises have one commoncharacteristic, and that is extraordinary passion. This is a key asset forany business owner, particularly in franchising - along with getting greatadvice - as Mark Fernandez from Business Development Alliance explains.

Strategise Systemise Commercialise

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We have had many clients overthe years that just need good,sound business advice andthats where we come in. Asounding board for seniormanagement and for thosefranchises that need assistancealong the journey.

6. What process, servicesand support do your clientsreceive?

We provide a one stop shop forfranchising your business. Weundertake all activities in settingup a franchise; everything from

completing the Viability Study,Financial Modelling, ScriptingOperation Manuals to Trainingand Recruitment. The real workstarts after the launch of afranchise, we then take acoaching role in theorganisation just to keep thingson track and to enable thepractical application of thesystem is actually in play.

7. Who is the target market foryour business?

Typically we find that businesslooking to grow and have heardabout franchising but not reallysure what Its all about. Yes theyknow of the major brands but arelooking for a guiding hand totake their business to a newlevel.

Business that have beenoperating successfully for atleast 12 months and areprofitable are now looking toexpand. With this in mind, settingthe structures and putting theinfrastructure in place for growthcan be a costly exercise andwithout sound advice can leaveyou exposed and put yourbusiness at risk, hence we arefinding more and moreentrepreneurs seekingprofessional advice.

8. Do you provide servicesnationally?

Yes we do, we have worked inall states and territories in andacross our beautiful country.


We are looking to forminternational affiliates withcompanies that have the samevalues and principals as us.

12. What would you say tosomeone looking to franchisetheir business?

The key here is to get goodquality advice. If you want to besuccessful in an industry thatemployees around 650,000Australians and contributesmore that $140b to theAustralian Economy, then youneed to have a relentless searchfor excellence.

Surround yourself with the bestadvisors that you can afford andget out and chat to people in theindustry these are my top tipsfor business that are looking togrow through franchising.

Mark [email protected]

Mark Fernandez - brings over 20years of senior managementexperience in business developmentand franchising to your business.


1. They do more marketing.

The truth is, there is no moreeffective way to grow a businessthan increasing marketing efforts.If your business is not rocketingalong, it is almost alwaysbecause you arent spendingenough of your day learning andapplying new marketingmethods.

2. They introduce newproducts.

This method can also quicklygrow a business. If you used tosell one product and now you selltwo, then some people willchoose that second product andsome will choose both. Result?Increased sales.

If your business isnt growing asfast as youd like, then simplythink of ways you can introducenew products youll usually geta quick uplift in profits. Buttheres another way of growing abusiness that very few peoplethink of, and Id like to focus onthat today.

3. Change the distributionmodel.

By simply changing the way theproduct is delivered,you canunlock enormous wealth. Let megive you an example. Because Icoach people all around theworld on improving theirbusiness, I am often asked byentrepreneurs at social events togive them advice (lucky me)!

Last week I was at a lunch andan owner of a vineyard in NapaValley (USA) was complainingabout how tough the winebusiness is.

They pointed out how hard it is todifferentiate their wine from theother ten thousand winesavailable. I totally agreed. Butthen I said something that reallygot them thinking.

I said that instead of trying tocompete at the same level as allthe other winemakers, theyshould just move to anotherdistribution model. I gave themtwo ways they could do this:

Firstly, they could create a newmodel where they sold shares intheir winery for say $150. For thisprice someone who likes winecan actually achieve a dream-becoming a part owner of awinery.

As an owner, they could evenhave their name printed on everybottle they buy. Now think aboutthis for a moment.

If you owned a share in a wineryand had your name on the bottle,wouldnt you buy a lot of thatwine? Of course you would.

Think how cool it would be if atdinner parties if you brought yourvery own wine with your name onit! It would be very impressive.

The primary owner of that winerywould get the upfront $150which would help cashflowenormously, then also get farmore regular sales of the wine.

When people seek to grow their business they usually look at doing it threeways.

A LATERAL WAYTO GROW ABUSINESSBy Siimon Reynolds

Smart | ENTREPRENEUR


You could even sendshareholders a bottle a month(charging them an annual fee forthis of course).

I also suggested a second wayof changing the distributionmodel. In America ( and much ofthe world) the TV reality showKeeping Up

With the Kardashians is a hugehit. In case you havent seen it,the shows follows a familyaround as they go about theirlives,which are full of drama,tension and fun. I told them theyshould do a deal with theKardashians and produce aKardashian wine.

It would appear at every mealthey have on the show,their hugearmy of fans would buy it, itwould get loads of press andmany liquor stores would stock itjust for the novelty.

Bottomline; theyd sell a lotmore wine.

Notice how neither of theseideas were about doingbusiness as usual.

They were focused around howto change the business modelby focusing on the distributionmethod- the first via gettingpeople to own the winery andthe second by getting theKardashians to expand thedistribution to their fans, not justto the average wine lover.

So think laterally about your howyour company can sell itswares. If youre in a marketwhere its really tough tocompete, then change thegame. Move the battle to a newfield, where you are the onlyplayer.

It takes guts, but it often works.

Over the last 25 years, Siimonhas created multimillion dollarbusinesses from the groundup and is now teaching otherentrepreneurial business peoplehis systems for success.

He started the Photon Groupand grew that company to beworth over $500 million whileemploying over 5000 people sohe can definitely help grow yourBusiness.

Siimon has a passion forhelping entrepreneurs build andgrow so definitely visit hiswebsite and download the freeebook and business buildingvideos.

http://thefortuneinstitute.com


2020

In 2020 we will hold the 32ndOlympic Games

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Smart Company September 2012