Small Business Training

Crafty Kraft or a longer term Own Goal?

Linda Mattacks — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:35:11 +0000

I read in the news earlier about Kraft’s decision to continue with the closure of the Somerdale factory in Keynsham after the takeover of Cadbury. This was despite its alleged earlier indication that it would keep it open even though plans to close it were already well advanced.

It’s not just the 400 workers at this plant and their union representatives who understandably view Kraft’s actions as a “cynical ploy” and “cruel manipulation” purely to gain public support for what was from their view an unpopular bid – though the PR from that angle would be bad enough in itself.

Lord Mandelson has joined the fray by pointing out that Kraft’s CEO would have known a week ago what the announcement would be and should have been straight.

Let’s say Kraft is willing to take the employee and union backlash on the chin. What message does the company think it’s sending out to the business world? That it’s a company of its word? That you don’t have to ‘count your fingers’ after shaking hands with one of its representatives? That it actually cares what anybody thinks of it?

I have no idea what Kraft is like as a company to work for or do business with but I know what impressions it’s giving me – and I can’t be the only one thinking it’s actions are more than a little tacky.

It may have got its way in the short term but I wouldn’t be surprised if this comes back to bite it in the you-know-where down the line.

Moral of the story for the rest of us?

Business is business and it’s not all warm and fluffy – we know that. What I can’t understand is that Kraft seems to have ignored the fact that it takes time to build and nurture a reputation and only seconds to demolish it …

What are your thoughts?

Crafty Kraft or a longer term Own Goal?

How would you describe You ‘Plc’?

Linda Mattacks — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:02:09 +0000

Okay, so you run or work for a company. That may be a big part of you. Yet it’s not the whole story by a long shot, is it?

How often do you step back to get a perspective of the whole, great big picture and see how your work is serving what you want out of your life? When was the last time you came up for air and even thought about what you want out of life?

A client we ran this exercise with recently said:

“I now have a much better idea of how to allocate my time and energy to get to where I want to go.

The funny thing is that where I want to go is also clearer. This tool will
be something I will continue to use to review and evolve how my
purpose, passion and process are aligned.”

Worth you having a go?

By the way, regular visitors and followers will see we’ve just added the Tweet gizmo and applied it to earlier posts, too – it’ll be interesting (for us, anyway) to watch – and it adds colour to the site …

Did you say something BAD about me?

Linda Mattacks — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:08:52 +0000

We often feature customer service here and the importance of getting it right – never more so than dealing with a customer complaint. Or even preventing a problem turning into a complaint… so I thought I’d share this with you…

Background

A land line went down here the other day and I was having real hassle getting through to the telecomm provider to report it.

The recorded service I got through to (using a cable line) said it couldn’t run the test on the faulty line as it was busy… and suggested I call back…
The form on the website accepted all the details I inputted then wouldn’t process…
When I finally got through to a human being, English wasn’t her first language and she insisted on trying the web route again on my behalf – only to discover it wouldn’t register the fault…

I was eventually transferred to someone in the UK who manually logged the necessary information and started the process of sorting it out. From then on, I must admit in all fairness, it all happened pretty quickly.

Meanwhile, the interesting bit

Half an hour into this malarkey I was really getting hacked off, so I tweeted about it on Twitter, naming the company. Within about a further 20 minutes I had a direct tweet from its Care team inviting me to email them the info and they’d get on the case!

I did email them and thanked them for spotting my dilemma and offering to help. I also suggested they get the ‘powers that be’ at their (blue chip) company to phone in with problems/ use the website to try and solve them and see how they get on see how they like the experience.

Even when I received a follow up call the next day to check that everything was okay I still felt that they were playing catch up from a customer service viewpoint:

The competent human interaction should be there right from the first contact.

Now a question for You

What happens when a customer phones your company with a complaint?

PS: You Plc coming soon – Customer service happened to be more topical for me right now

Employing young women

Linda Mattacks — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:46:22 +0000

With recruitment issues way at the back of many companies’ minds in the current economy, this may seem like weird timing to raise the issue of the potential ‘risk’ involved in employing young women:

Will she decide to go off and have babies?
If she’s already a mother, what happens when one of her children is sick?

Some years ago I needed to recruit people (admittedly on a temporary basis) for a telephone marketing research project. It was my first in that role for the company and I decided to opt for 10 part timers rather than 5 full timers (there were good reasons for this – contact me direct to know more) and I was going to be a ‘model’ employer : The best 5 males and the best 5 females would be taken on, trained and have a two-week trial period.

It was a tough one that entailed a) identifying and b) conducting a 45-minute telephone interview with plant directors/managers in specific industries across 3 European countries. The first stage was with English speaking participants though the team had the language capabilities to cover all 3 countries for the roll out.

As it turned out, none of the males ‘made the grade’ whereas all 5 females (including an artistic ‘resting’ film director and a down-to-earth mum of three who had never worked in an office before) were retained and went full time on the project, were introduced to the client and really ‘got into’ their part in the aims of the research. They bonded well as a team with the ‘mum’ naturally herding and taking on additional responsibilities, and each went on to work on further projects as and when their skills were required and they were available.

That didn’t mean that I never took on some smashing blokes to work on later projects, rather that my focus should have been on the best 10, regardless of gender, in the first place.

The point to this?

People will move on; their priorities will change, as will their circumstances. Employers can’t predict when and why. We can only willingly take the opportunity to work with the best as and when it presents itself to us, for as long as it lasts.

I want to give credit to a post I saw earlier today that started off this particular stream of thought: Is it too risky to employ young women? and suggest a mosey over there would be worthwhile – you’ll see input from different and interesting angles and viewpoints…

Enjoy!

Next up: I think it’s time to look at You Plc (unless something extremely topical alters my tack… )

When Toyota gets it wrong…

Linda Mattacks — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:45:10 +0000

When the manufacturer long upheld as a shining example of Gemba kaizen and the use of PDCA, quality management and all things ‘lean’ gets it wrong, it does so in the unrelenting glare of the global media!

Toyota car recall hits US, Europe and China pulls no punches and shows the far reaching ramifications not only to Toyota but, by implication, the impact on its workforces and their communities in several countries around the world.

In contrast, when small businesses get it wrong, ‘it’ can often be contained, kept under the radar and fixed with minimal brand damage.

The good thing about the Toyota situation that we can and should all take on board is:

There’s not the slightest element of “Not our fault” or heads in the sand from the company. It’s “Let’s get this sorted out.”

Putting ourselves in the customer/client position: What kind of company would we be inclined to stay with?

Make your website work for you!

Linda Mattacks — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:43:02 +0000

Reading an article this morning that said: “Many small business owners do not have the complete range of skills required and are forced to learn as they go along.”

Well there’s a surprise ! It went on to say:

“A recent survey we carried out at Made Simple Group clearly showed that marketing, and specifically improving visibility to generate new business, were key concerns for many.

In the face of this, it is indeed a surprising, if not extraordinary, statistic that fewer than half of all such businesses have a web presence.

Furthermore, of those small entities which are online, it is estimated that a large proportion are failing to promote their businesses properly.”

Making the most of your website presence is one area where the Davids of the business world can successfully compete against the Goliaths, so why shouldn’t you? It’s far less down to how much money you throw at it than how wisely you invest whatever budget you have. Your ‘budget’ is going to be a mixture of your time and maybe some money to be most effective:

What do you want your website to say about you to whom?
What do you want it to do?
How will the people you want to visit know it’s even there?

Regular visitors will know we don’t as a rule promote business services here. Yet today we’re making an exception, mainly because this particular one gives so much away upfront and proves that the team behind it really knows its stuff.

There’s a lot to read up on and try for yourselves at nikkipilkington.com, so you may want to bookmark it and come back to it several times…

Competition and Selling: Where’s the Focus?

Linda Mattacks — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:20:25 +0000

I was catching up on reading earlier and thought I’d share links to a couple of blogs I subscribe to.

They’re both written by American males yet there the similarities probably end… you’ll see each has his own distinct slant on life and business and the way the sites are used.

I found this one from Chris interesting and it’s pertinent to any business. It’s central theme is: Compete with yourself rather than against the competition and it’s an approach that makes a lot of sense.

Though I’d add a caveat to it saying: Instead focus on what your customers a) need and b) think would be ‘nice to have’ (would they pay the extra for b)? What value would they place on it? Do the sums add up for you?)…

His business is largely online and he actively encourages participation from the site’s visitors – as you can see from the comments.

When you read the title of this post you’re expecting him to say that it’s a no-no. Quite the reverse – the message is: Get with it!

Jeffrey is passionate about selling. And he approaches it from some weird and wonderful angles. Some may seem way too OTT but there are usually gems that you can adapt and use in a way that suits you.

He’s not looking for dialogue with the site’s visitors: it’s a showcase where he freely demonstrates his skills… and encourages you to buy if you want more…

Build a PROFITABLE business

Linda Mattacks — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:57:10 +0000

Does this title sound daft?

Although this is about a company providing medical services, the horror is nothing to do with what happens to the patients. It concerns a small company that provided:

A 24-hour turn around service of laboratory tests results to the private medical sector – Doctors and laboratories that didn’t have the necessary equipment to process the tests or staff qualified to “read” the results.
A similar service to the commercial sector, where it would provide a specialist nurse to perform the same test on employees at the workplace and return the samples to the service provider company which would then process and “read” the results and report back to the client company medical department on the findings, usually within seven working days.

The straightforward lab work was the bread and butter business that kept the company going on a day-to-day-basis, whereas the onsite visits to ordinary companies that were prepared to look after their staff in this particular area were the icing on the cake.

Over time, two laboratories came to provide the lion’s share of the bread and butter business and negotiated their rates for the service downwards again and again – this was despite the fact that the individual “reading” and reporting on the findings was a skilled task that took the same amount of time per sample, regardless of the rate charged. Several people, employees especially, pointed out to the owner that it was bad business practice to keep giving in on the rate per sample, but to no avail.

Ultimately one of the laboratories was placing such demands on the service provider for increasingly high volumes at such a low rate that it was fairly easily able to potentially cripple it by withdrawing its custom. Faced with this the owner of the service provider sold its company, its staff and its client base, to that laboratory for a pittance and just walked away from the business.

Don’t let this happen to your company!

If the service you offer is based on the experience and expertise of your people, stick to your guns and charge a fair commercial rate. The chances are that any company prepared to undercut you will either be offering an inferior service or they won’t survive long – in either case you stand a good chance of winning your customer back in time.
If you have already allowed one or two customers to take over 50% of your resources or more (in this case it was nearer 80%) at an unfavourable rate to your company, take immediate action:
Go look for other valuable customers to spread the load. If necessary diversify your market or your offering. Once you’ve built your customer base back up at rates you’re happy with go to your two bullies and say that unfortunately you can no longer provide them with your service at their current rate. They’ll either find a cheaper service and that’s okay as you can now manage without their custom (and it will free up resources for you to keep busy with replacement customers) or they’ll pay you the going rate.

I wish you a successful, profitable business!

Don’t forget to add your comments – or perhaps you have a story you’d like to share…

Pain-free selling: Jeffrey’s view

Linda Mattacks — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:57:09 +0000

I just received the introduction to an article by Jeffrey Gitomer in my mail box and would love to link you to the full article but, sadly, the site won’t allow it. So I’ll direct you to his site home page instead. You might want to see other stuff there.

Anyway, in the article I’m referring to he talks about how the whole idea of basing a sale on identifying pain is maybe not the best premise. On first read I found it hilariously spot on the mark.

On second read I realised how many people have ‘jumped on the band wagon’ of identifying pain to the exclusion of virtually any other reason as to why a customer might buy. Trouble is, unless you’re very, very good at this technique, you end up coming across as a snake oil salesman.

I’ve met one guy who is very good yet, without exception, anyone can spot the people he’s trained a mile off and they don’t have anywhere near his finesse. And guess what? They sound phoney, nobody likes their attitude or approach and they fail.

“… if you want to find pain, become a doctor” – is Jeffrey’s sound advice that really hits home.

So, if you’ve been going down this path and getting nowhere, why not STOP right now? Adopting this no-nonsense approach can free you to instead use sensible, gentle conversational questioning techniques to find positive bases for people to buy from you…

When did you last ask for a referral?

Linda Mattacks — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:57:08 +0000

Who do you think will be more predisposed towards you: Someone who doesn’t “know you from Adam” or somebody who has been referred to you by a person they respect?

Especially in times of economic uncertainty people will be careful who they spend their money with. So if you think it’s non-u to ask for a referral, isn’t it about time you got over it?

Another thing is that a customer who refers a potential client to you once could and would refer many more if sufficiently motivated to do so.

American research has shown that the average person has an immediate scope of influence over at least 50 similar people. That’s potentially 50 new clients from each existing satisfied customer. Yet the average satisfied customer only tells three people of his or her good experience.

So the moral of the story is:

Ask for referrals and reward them appropriately.