Ben Fewtrell

Break Even or Else!

2010-02-18T21:08:00.000+11:00

It’s one thing to have a sales target in a business, most would be impressed if you stated you had a high revenue. What is more important; Big revenue or big profits?

Well, of course, big revenue without profits is useless, unfortunately many business people don’t get it! So I am going to do my best to explain to you how to work out when you are making a profit, it is called your ‘break even point’. This is the point when you have covered your fixed expenses and you start to make a profit.

Before we can begin to understand how to calculate your break even point we need to make sure you have an understanding of your profit and loss (P&L) statement. We will then use figures from your P&L to determine your break even point. We can also have a look at the effects of selling higher margin goods and services has to your break even point.

Your P&L records the following information. Sales, sometimes referred to as income, COGS or COS (cost of goods sold, cost of sales), Gross Profit, Fixed Expenses and finally, Net Profit or Loss. For you to work out your break even point you will need to make sure the information recorded on your P&L is correct. Otherwise, you will be working with incorrect numbers.

The first step to working out your break even is to work out your gross margin as a percentage. To do this, take your total sales and subtract your cost of sales, divide the result by your total sales, then multiply by 100. As an example, say you had sales of $500k and your cost of sales was $300k. Eg. ($500k - $300k = $200k) $200k/$500k x 100 = 40%. So you now know that your gross margin is 40%, this means that for every dollar of sales, you get to keep 40 cents as gross profit.

Now we know our gross profit we can work out our break even point (the point that all fixed expenses are covered and you start making profit)

To work out your break even point you take your total fixed expenses and divide by your gross margin percentage and multiply by 100. As an example, let’s say your fixed expenses are $150k and your gross margin is 40%. Eg. $150k/40 x 100 = $375k, so you’re break even point will be $375k. This means that you will started making Net Profit after you have sold $375k of products or services.

Once you have worked this number out you can work out your monthly, weekly, daily or even hourly break even sales by dividing the break even amount accordingly. Let’s say that $375k is your annual break even, divided by 12 will give you $31,250. This is your monthly break even. Take $375k and divide by 52, this will give you your weekly break even.

Next, work out the difference if you had a higher gross margin percentage. Imagine all the numbers are the same except you have a gross margin of 48% instead of the 40% we used in the previous example. Using the formula from above, (total fixed expenses and divide by your gross margin percentage and multiply by 100) $150k/48 x 100 = $312,500. Over $50k less needed in sales to Break Even! A great reason to focus on selling higher margin goods and services!

So there you have it... a simple way to calculate when you start to make money!

21 Ways To Manage Time More Effectively

2009-07-22T14:45:00.000+10:00

This is a list from Brian Tracy...
Using time effectively is one of the main keys to success. Remember the old saying.. “If you need something done, ask a busy person to do it!” Why is that? Well in many cases it’s simply because they are usually organised.

Here are 21 ways that will get you going.
1. Be decisive
2. Set clear goals and objectives (using SMART)
3. Set a daily work plan (the night before)
4. Prioritise tasks using A,B,C,D,E (consider the consequences in setting priorities). Reprioritise A tasks using 1,2,3 to identify the most important A tasks and so on
5. Separate the urgent from the important (what are the long term potential consequences of doing not doing tasks?)
6. Use the law of forced efficiency (what is the highest value use of your time, right now?)
7. Use the 80/20 rule to identify the 20% of tasks that will have the greatest benefit and just do those
8. Develop stamina and high energy through proper exercise, diet and rest
9. Develop single-handling skills to concentrate on one task at a time
10. Eat that Frog (do the hardest task of the day first – don’t sit and look at it or procrastinate – just DO IT!)
11. Organise your work workspace (don’t work in a mess). Use the acronym TRAF – Toss, Refer (delegate), Action, File to help you
12. Use travel time effectively (listen to CDs, prepare a work schedule for flights/rail journeys)
13. Develop expertise in key tasks through practice and repetition
14. Work in ‘real’ time (pick up the tempo, develop a sense of urgency, do it NOW!)
15. Learn to make decisions quickly; don’t carry ifs, buts, and maybes around
16. Reengineer work processes: map them out and identify what needs to be done to reduce the number of steps by 30% minimum
17. Reinvent yourself at least once a year: identify what you need to do to become more productive, because everything changes (90 day plan)
18. Ask yourself this on a regular basis: knowing what I know right now, would I be doing this/be in this relationship/working with this client etc
19. Identify what tasks to procrastinate on, i.e. the lower priorities that can wait, the 80% of tasks that have less value and only contribute 20% of the output
20. Decide to work to live, not live to work. This means working towards a balanced life. It’s the quantity of time on downtime and the quality of time at work to aim for.
21. Be Intensely Action Orientated. It’s acting and executing that generate results

Keep Cash Flowing

2009-07-02T16:58:00.002+10:00

IF YOU’VE DONE THE HARD WORK AND BILLED YOUR CLIENT, THE LAST THING YOU NEED IS SLOW PAYMENT playing havoc on your own cash flow. Setting up a system to ensure your debts are paid on time should start before a contract or terms of trade even begins.
Putting these controls in place from the start and taking the appropriate steps in a disciplined manner shows customers you mean business, so they’re more likely to pay on time. Here’s a few pointers for settings up credits controls, managing debtors and improving the chance of payment when things go wrong.

SETTING UP CREDIT CONTROLS
Systems: Have a system and process in place and stick to the process.
Automatic payments: Encourage payments to be made automatically to your bank account.
Credit checks: Use references and reports to check credit rates for new customers, in particular those placing significant orders from the outset. Such checks should identify any new customers with bad credit experiences in their past, so these can be monitored.
Stick to terms: Set terms of trade at the outset and enforce them. It’s much easier to follow up on slow payers if your trading conditions have been clearly laid out from the beginning.
Rank debtors: Debtors should be ranked by value and risk, and their accounts monitored accordingly. This is particularly important for new customers.

MANAGING DEBTORS
Follow up: Follow up on all slow players.
Decision- makers: Those responsible for the transaction should deal directly with your customer’s decision-makers. Monitor collections and follow up if payment schedules are not met.

Reminder letters: Automatically send 30, 60 and 90 day reminder letters. Insist on your trade terms being met.
Personal contact: Go and see them if payments are not made on time, and don’t leave the premises without having a commitment for payment.
Keep in touch: Don’t rely on one visit. Follow up, including regular telephone reminders, if necessary. Again, don’t finish the call without obtaining their firm commitment to make a payment. And follow again if it is not paid on the promised date. Or better yet, undertake to pick up the cheque on the day promised.
Review: Review credit ratings and available reports regularly to check any changes in buying habits and increasing levels of debt. Customers with whom you have done business for years are often the greatest credit risk, because no one thinks to check on them.
Check your systems: If you don’t get invoices out promptly it encourages customers to delay payment. Delivery systems should also be checked. For instance, do you keep signed delivery dockets so you can prove delivery? Efficient systems avoid arguments later.
Check growth: As part of the monitoring and review process, keep an eye on customers undertaking fast expansion. An expanding customer may help your sales, but rapid growth also puts pressure on the customer’s management and may increase risk. Make sure they continue to pay promptly.
Special arrangements: Be careful when handling any request for extended credit. Check out the customer‘s ability to survive, and make a commercial decision based on the available information.

PROBLEM CUSTOMERS
Warning signs: Look out for warning signs of customers that may be experiencing difficulties. Sometimes they are not easy to recognise. For example, while the sales team may want to claim credit for any increase in a customer’s ordering, the new business the customer is giving you may be the result of other suppliers removing credit facilities. Industry gossip about a company’s financial position is often surprising accurate.
Commitment: It’s important to get difficult debtors to admit they have problems in paying and to then obtain a firm commitment for an amount. When possible, get this in writing, or write to them confirming their confirming their commitment.
Stop supplies: If accounts are not being paid, supplies should be stopped. This should be part of your credit system. You can then discuss the situation with your customer, and perhaps reach an understanding regarding payment for past supplies and conditions for new customers.
Legal action: Don’t put off sending professional demand letters or threatening legal action.
Collection program: Discuss your policy and the credit limit you are applying up front so customers know you are serious about your collection program.
Debt Collectors: If necessary use a professional debt collector and be prepared to go to court.
Some business owners are concerned about taking such a disciplined approach to debt collection as they are afraid of upsetting and losing the customer. But if customers are not meeting their payment obligations, they’re not worth having. You should be using your debtors to fund your own business, not your customers’.

Friend or Foe - The Importance of Creating Great First Impressions.

2009-06-26T21:53:00.000+10:00

We often refer to the brain as having two hemispheres, the left, and largely responsible for logic and the right, predominately responsible for creativity. This description fits what we know to be the cortex or new brain, however there is a third dimension, the hypo-thalamus or pre-historic brain which is in fact the brain stem and is solely responsible for instincts.
Bruno Catellani of the Institute of Communication, Management and Sales in Switzerland refers to the pre-historic brain as the ‘Guard’ or ‘Gatekeeper’. The ‘Gatekeeper’s’ sole function is to decide whether you are a friend or a foe, it is incapable of thought or rationalisation and reacts purely on instinct by how it perceives your approach.
If your initial approach stresses the ‘Gatekeeper’, it will switch on the fight/flight response and part of this process includes shutting down all other message receptors which means any opportunity you had to communicate has just been totally closed off.
It’s absolutely true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Building the language of trust is the first step to successful customer service, which translates into building sales.
So, if the ‘Gatekeeper’ doesn’t think, does the initial ‘Language of Trust’ have to be verbal? No, the first impression you deliver is based on instinct alone. The signals that you need to give out in the first 10 to 20 seconds are instinctive, eg. your body language translated by your movements, gestures, facial expression and eye contact are open and relaxed. Your voice modulation and tone are calm, the speed of your speech is controlled and gentle and finally, you must not invade the customer’s space.
Other factors, which will influence the ‘Gatekeepers’ decision whether you are friend or foe, are, your appearance, clothes, smell, enthusiasm and posture. Once you’re past this initial first impression you can get on with developing a relationship with your prospect.
Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA broke communication down into three V’s as follows:
• Verbal; The message itself eg the words you use
• Vocal; The sound of your voice, intonation, projection, pitch and speed of your voice
• Visual; The posture and gestures, facial expression and eye movement that people see
The Thomas Gordon Institute added another dimension to this research and came up with:
• Words; Verbal
• Voice; Vocal
• Face; Visual
• Body; Visual
Both Institutions measured the effectiveness of each component of communication and it’s contribution to believability, here are the results of their respective research:

UCLA Thomas Gordon
Verbal 7% Words 7%
Vocal 38% Voice 23%
Visual 55% Face 35%
Body 35%
100% 100%

So, the first step in delivering Great Customer Service to Create Great Sales is:
• Approach and greet your suspect/prospect with open, friendly body language coupled with soothing, gentle voice modulation.
Our total focus in this step is to get past the ‘Gatekeeper’ so that we develop and build rapport and open the prospect’s message receptors. The words themselves are not that important, a simple “Hi, how are you today” is a good ice breaker.

The True Measure of Marketing Success!

2009-06-25T17:18:00.002+10:00

It’s called testing and measuring. Most people hate it. That’s because it Means ‘there is a chance, however remote, that every marketing strategy you try will not work the first time’. In other words, it’s possible you’ll spend money without seeing any returns.
But consider this – you’ve probably been testing and measuring all your business life. Remember the newspaper advertising you tried that ‘didn’t work’, and the radio spots that ‘did OK’.
That’s all testing is… Testing what works and what doesn’t…
The next step is to do it properly, here’s the five steps to successfully working out what ‘works’ and what doesn’t…

1. Start asking people where they heard about you.
Start right NOW, immediately. If there’s one thing I stress to business owners when consulting with them, it’s this – if you don’t know what’s working and what’s not, you can’t possibly make informed decisions and you’ll never know which ads to run. You may keep running an ad that never brings a sale, and accidentally kill a good one.
Customers usually come from so many sources, it’s impossible to judge how an ad is working on sales alone. You need to find out for sure. Create a tally sheet, including the ways someone could hear about you – newspaper ads, direct mail, fliers, phone directory, referrals, walk-by traffic etc
Every time someone buys, ask them this question – “By the way, can I just ask where you heard about my business’.
Make a mark on your tally sheet in the relevant column. Keep track, and ensure every member of your team does the same. At the end of 14 or 28 days, tally up and get the figures.
Now you can start making decisions…

2.Prune, modify and increase.
The first thing to do is see what’s not working. If you ad is getting a very low response (which means the profit margin from the sales is not at least paying for the ad), kill it straight away.
Now you only have one option – improve your ad to ensure you get a great response.
There’s a couple of things you can do to make the task simpler.
First, go back over your past ads and think about how well each one worked. Pull out the best couple and see if you can pick what gave them their edge. Next, read a couple of books, or at least flick through them. Last, look at what your competitors are doing. Do they have an ad which they can run every week? What can you learn from it?
Go through this process with each marketing piece that you are currently using… Kill, examine, modify… Kill, examine, modify…
Remember – the true test of a marketing strategy is whether it pays for itself. If you run an ad and it costs you $600 and makes you $1300 in profit, it’s a good ad.

Also run through each of the strategies you know are working in depth, examining why these are producing results and the others aren’t. See if you can pick the one important attractive point about each. This in itself will teach you a massive amount about your business.
Next, think of a way to use each strategy that is working on a larger scale. If it’s fliers, the answer is simple – drop twice as many fliers. That should bring twice the sales. If it’s an ad, run it in more papers, or increase its size. If it’s in a phone directory, book a bigger space next time.
But whatever you do, don’t meddle – just do the same thing on a larger scale.

3.Test and measure for another two weeks.
Measure the enquiries with the new revised strategies. Also compare this with how much you’re spending on marketing.
You’ll probably find you barely miss those dud strategies and the ‘larger scale’ working strategies are paying out nicely indeed. If it’s not, return to the original size.

4.Check your conversion.
Conversion is the number of enquiries that become sales… So many times when analysing a business, I discover that poor marketing is not the problem – it’s inadequate sales techniques. There are stacks of businesses that have ample leads, but no skill to make them sales.
Be honest with yourself – how many leads do you convert into sales? Is it possible to increase this ratio, even just a little?… In almost every case, it is.
You just have to give the customer a reason to buy from your business. Price is not the only reason a customer spends with your business. What if the salesperson at the more expensive shop actually took an interest in your needs? And what if they were that little bit friendlier? And what if they were willing to back their product with a guarantee? And what if they offered free delivery? All of these ‘what ifs’ add up, and can tip the sale your way.

5.Consolidate.
Leave it for a month or so, just working on converting the supply of leads you have. A better conversion technique, plus more leads from bigger scale successful marketing strategies should give your business a boost.

6.Branch out.
Remember all those marketing strategies you examined and modified? Now is the time to pull them out of the drawer, and give them a run.
Do one at a time, and track the result meticulously. Note down exactly how many leads it brings you, and how many of those turn into sales. Compare that with the marketing cost, and judge whether it has been a good strategy.
If so, add it to your list of ongoing strategies. If not, try it again – testing a different headline, medium, offer, look etc… If it doesn’t work again, give it another try…Very soon, you’ll develop a collection of marketing strategies that work, and weed out all the costly ones. Now that’s a business success formula!

How long have you got?

2009-06-24T17:07:00.002+10:00

Wow... I just got off the phone with a friend that I hadn't spoken to for about 6 months. When I asked how he was, he replied with "great now that I am back on my feet"... I asked what had happened?
What he told me next knocked me for a six. At the age of 38, he was diagnosed with high grade prostate cancer, 1 month before his latest addition to the family was due to be born!
Amazingly, he has been given the 'all clear' now and is getting on with life. The Dr told him if it wasnt picked up and surgically removed, he wouldn't have made it to fourty!
So why am I sharing this with you? I think it's a nice reminder that we shouldn't take any day for granted. What have you done today to get yourself closer to your goal? It certainly made me stop and think!

Market Share or Wallet Share?

2009-06-12T07:59:00.006+10:00

Did you know it's 6 times easier and cheaper to get an existing customer to buy from you again than it is to get a new customer.

Let's face the facts! Generating new business is risky, and can be expensive if your marketing isn't effective and statistics say 80% of marketing fails!

And why would you work on generating new business when you're not maximising your return from your current clients, in other words, maximising your share of their wallet!

Here's a couple of tips to get you started towards making sure you are getting a good wallet share.

1. Does every one of your customers know 100% of everything you offer? If not, then get on the phone, send them an email and send them some direct mail. Let them know about everything you do, chances are they're buying something you offer from someone else!

2. Think about what else your customers need, for example, if I were a removalist then I could offer a packing service, a storage service, a carpet cleaning service and the list goes on. I don't even need to provide the services, I could align myself with a business that does and get a commission!

3. Set up a regular form of communication, this could be a newsletter, a direct mail piece or as simple as a monthly call, this will ensure that when your customer has a need you're likely to be the first they think of!

So there you go... focus on maximising your return from your current customer base, it's a guaranteed way to grow your wallet share and your profits!

check out my website for more info on how to grow your business!

Can you really manage time?

2009-06-10T21:10:00.002+10:00

If you can stop the clock or add an extra hour to the day then give me a call... you have a very special talent!

The reality is that time management is all about self management. Time is a LIMITED resource and once a minute, hour or day is gone you can never get it back! So you need to make sure you make the most of every second.

If every one of us has the same amount of hours in a week, how is it possible that people like Donald Trump, Bill gates and Richard Branson have become so wealthy?

It's what they do with their time that matters the most. Stay focused on the activities that are going to get you closer to your goal. identify when and how you get distracted and work on reducing these moments!

A great way to get focused is to write a daily to do list every afternoon for the next day and prioritise your tasks to make sure you're completing the most important things each day!

A piece of pie

2009-06-10T07:56:00.000+10:00

As this so called economic crisis continues I am amazed at how quickly people are willing to blame it for them not achieving the results they were after in their business. I am going to show you a totally different way to think about things, so you can get your head around how to grow your business in any economic situation.
Firstly, what percentage of your market place do you have... in other words... what piece of the pie do you have? If it is less than 100% then you have room for improvement. I would guess that your market share is less than 5%, it could be even lower than 1%...
Now ask yourself, "If I doubled my current market share would I have a good business?", I bet you answered YES!
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and build your business. Now is the time to take ACTION. Every other one of your competitors is sitting and waiting for the economic situation to get better so use this time an an ooportunity!

4 Easy Steps to Writing Killer Ads

2009-05-07T22:53:00.000+10:00

Have you ever written an ad and then wondered why you got hardly any calls, or maybe you didn’t even get a call? Then you went on to blame the paper or publication you were advertising in as if it was their fault…

Reality is, you probably suck at writing ads! That’s cool, at least you know you have plenty of room for improvement.

I am going to share with you a formula for making sure you write killer ads, ads that will outsell anything you have done in the past. You will also need to read my article on how to build a marketing plan so you know you are marketing to the right people. Even a killer ad won’t work if it’s pitched to the wrong people; I mean, imagine placing your killer ad for bungee jumping in the nursing home weekly magazine… not likely to work too well is it!

Here are my four steps to writing a killer ad…

Firstly, get the readers ATTENTION, secondly get them INTERESTED, thirdly create DESIRE then finally, get them to take ACTION. It’s the A.I.D.A principle. A nice simple formula that guarantees results every time. Let’s go through each step in a little more detail

1. ATTENTION

Using your company name as the headline is a BIG mistake. This is a classic, open your local directory to the plumbing section and I can guarantee you will see a “Joe’s Plumbing” or a “Bob’s Plumbing”, and let’s face it, this is only going to excite Joe and Bob… oh and of course, their mums!

The first thing you have got to do is get the readers attention, and to do this we need a headline that will engage the reader. For example, if I was advertising a wedding planning service, I could use something like "Here’s how to guarantee you have the perfect wedding". If you were getting married, I bet you would stop and read the rest of that ad… wouldn’t you?

Another great way is what is called a ‘reader group’. For example, if I wanted to get the attention of fishermen, then my headline could simply be "Attention Fishermen".

Your headline should take up at least 20% of the ad space and should create a need for your target market to read the rest of your ad.

2. INTEREST

Now you need to get your reader interested in what you are offering. Some great ways to do this are before and after photos, testimonials and make sure your layout is easy to read. Nothing worse than a badly laid out advertisement. Make sure you include a head and shoulders photo of yourself with your name and position printed as a caption, people buy from people, not ads, so this helps build rapport with the reader.

3. DESIRE

This is where most ads fall apart. Especially in a directory where your competitors ads are right next to yours!

Ask yourself, why would someone choose to ring me over my competition? The key to desire is showing your reader what the benefits are, and if you need to, creating additional benefits by providing extra value. For example, ‘Call now and you will receive a bonus xyz valued at $100’

Offers and Guarantees will set your ad apart from the competition. Imagine you were looking for a plumber and you found my ad that read “Finally, a plumber that guarantees to turn up on time or your job is free!”
I am sure you would give me a call before calling Joe’s plumbing!

4. ACTION

This is the final critical step. I have seen ads before that didn’t even have a phone number. How is anyone going to find you if you don’t make it easy? Your call to action should be CLEAR and SIMPLE! You can simply put something like “CALL NOW 9999 9999 and have your credit card ready”

Let your readers know what they have to do to take advantage of your offer and make it easy. If you make it too hard then you will not overcome their resistance.

So that’s it, four easy steps to writing ads that sell. The more you practice, the better you will get at it. Make sure you try several different variations of an ad and test what works best, only the market will tell you what truly works!

Courtesy of Sky News

2009-04-10T21:50:00.000+10:00

Credit crunch opens doors for start-ups
Updated: 19:14, Friday April 3, 2009
Contrary to all the doom and gloom in the SME sector, now is actually are good opportunity to look at starting your own business.

With a spate of reduncancies sweeping across the business sector, many are finding it may just give them the push they need to turn their dreams into a reality.

Ben Fewtrell from Action Coach says there are many reasons as to why now is a good time to look into starting a business, most of all because the cost of doing so has come down significantly.

Attracting the right people to work in small business can always be a challenge, but now with unemployment rising it provides significant opportunities for small business owners to secure the best people.

Base salaries have come down now and Fewtrell says it is a good time to put in place a bonus incentive scheme for new employees.

With businesses reviewing their suppliers to find a better deal, this also provides opportunity for new businesses to come into the market with innovation or lower pricing structures.

Fewtrell says that if you are looking to start a new business, it is a great time to go and get some cost free PR as many other small businesses may have gone into defensive mode in preparation for a recession.

He says the businesses that are more proactive in tough times are the ones who can rise to the top once the economy ticks up again.

How to write ads that sell

2009-04-10T21:26:00.000+10:00

I can’t tell you how many times I have had someone tell me that advertising doesn’t work, when in reality their ad was terrible... Advertising is an art, and knowing this simple formula will get you off to a good start.
Now before I kick off with my killer 4 step process I want to make sure that you understand that unless you are a BIG name product that already has a huge market presence, you don’t even need your company name in the ad at all! Yep… I know that might be freaking you out right now, in fact, you’re used to having your name right at the top of the ad… and who does that excite… well, just you, and your mum!
So let’s get started. I am going to teach you a simple formula known as the AIDA principle. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. You can use this for ANY type of advertising, whether it is a newspaper ad or a brochure, if you follow this principle you will get more responses from your advertising guaranteed!

Step 1.
A is for Attention, so what are you doing to get the readers attention? You need to have an attention grabbing headline. For example, if I were a wedding photographer, I could use my name as my headline (unfortunately very commonly seen). Ben Fewtrell Photography is not a very strong attention grabbing headline, sure, I am going to get the attention of some people looking for a photographer, but what if I was after wedding gigs… How about a headline like…
At last, a wedding photographer that personally guarantees you’ll be ecstatic with your wedding photos or you won’t pay a cent!Or it could be as simple as…
Don’t hire a wedding photographer until you have read this…
Now, if you were getting married and looking for a wedding photographer there is no way you could go past that ad without reading it. Your headline has to get the readers attention, and has to get the reader to continue reading the ad.

Step 2.
I is for Interest. Basically, your ad has to be interesting or your reader will move on pretty quickly. You can make it interesting with words, photos and layout. Before and after photos are great if it suits your business. One tip that I will give is that you must right your ad remembering that your reader is interested in WIIFM (What’s in it for me). Rather than the boring old we have been in business since 1978 and we have a new showroom and we pride ourselves on our work and we we we we all the way home! Make sure you write in a point of YOU. Use the word YOU rather than WE and you’ll be talking directly to your reader and they will be interested. (Just like you feel right now!)

Step 3.
D is for Desire. Desire is create through using a great offer. Remember, your job is to get the prospect to the next step, the easier it is for them to respond to your offer, the higher your conversion rate will be. For example, If I were the wedding photographer as mentioned above, I could offer a free guide called “7 things you need to know to guarantee you have the perfect wedding”. It would be easy for me to write this or get someone to write this for me, and I would instantly have something that my target market would want, after all, if you were getting married would you want to know these 7 things? Of course you would, so I now have a way to instantly get my target market talking to me (or doing whatever call to action I request)

Step 4.
A is for Action. Now all that is left to do is create a call to action. It can be as simple as CALL NOW on 999 999 999 or visit www.yourdomain.com/free-guide. Just make sure you make your call to action clear. Make it easy for your prospect to respond and you will have more leads than you know what to do with!

How To Build an Effective Marketing Plan for Your Business

2009-04-10T09:34:00.000+10:00

The best mouse trap doesn't always sell the most! In this "how to" I am going to share with you the 6 steps you need to take to build a bullet proof marketing plan. Too many people put zero effort into creating a marketing plan then wonder why they aren't attracting any customers?

Step 1. Work out WHO is your ideal client. Think about who it is you want to deal with, what type of customer are you looking to attract. This is one of the most critical parts of any marketing campaign and one area that is often overlooked. For example, if you want to attract people that pay on time and don’t haggle for a better price, then you need to make sure you identify WHO these people are so you can go through the next 5 steps with ease!
Simply write a list of the top attributes of your favourite customers and this will be a good starting point. You can now add any other attributes you think would be ideal, and also add things like demographics, gender, age etc.

Step 2. Now you know WHO you are looking for you need to work out WHERE you will find them in their highest concentration. For example, if your ideal customer was young mums with disposable incomes, then maybe you would find them at exclusive child care centres… get the idea? So grab your pen and write a list of WHERE you think you would find your ideal customer. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a location, maybe there is a certain magazine they are reading, maybe you would find them on an internet forum… It can be anything so make sure you’re thinking outside of the box.

Step 3. Okay… cool, you are just about at the halfway point, now that you have worked out WHO your ideal client is and WHERE you will find them in their highest concentration you need to work on WHAT are you going to offer them and WHAT does your prospect want?
Getting clear on WHAT will greatly increase your chance of your marketing campaign success. You could offer something as simple as a free report or a free consultation. Think about WHAT your prospect wants… it’s no good offering a free report if it isn’t going to excite them. As you create your offer, remember the larger commitment you are asking your prospect to make, the lower your conversion rate will be.

Step 4. Now it’s time to work out HOW you are going to communicate your offer to them. In other words, what marketing medium will you use? During step 2 you would have worked out where they are, so start thinking about HOW you can get your message to them.

Step 5. Once you have worked out HOW you are going to communicate your offer to your prospects, you need to decide WHEN the best time for me to do this is. It is no good marketing to your target market when they are not listening/watching or paying attention. If you’re marketing a ‘back to school’ product then you wouldn’t market this at the end of the school term. Have a think about WHEN you’re prospects are in tune and looking for your service or product.

Step 6. This is the final step, and one of the most critical of all 6 steps. Once you have a prospect contacting you, you will need to know WHY they will buy from you rather than a competitor. What makes you unique? Is your offer strong enough that they feel compelled to buy from you over the competition? If your prospect has nothing besides your price to compare against others then you are destined to fail. Work out how you can add additional value and this will answer the WHY question for every single prospect.

Branding your Business

2009-04-03T09:44:00.000+11:00

Have you ever run a marketing campaign and then wondered why the phone didn't ring? Or why hundreds of customers didn't come rushing to bash down your doors to buy from you?

Reality is, the response rates to 'direct response' marketing is lower than any of us would care to know. We are optimistic by nature, and when we place an ad, do a flyer drop or run a radio campaign we spend the week leading up to the campaign working out how we are going to handle all the extra business it will create, only to be disappointed when the phone only rings two or three times...

So should you even bother spending your money on marketing? The short answer is a resounding YES! The key is to understand how to make it work for your business.

Have a think about the last time you got so excited about an ad, flyer or radio/TV commercial that you dropped everything in a mad panic to get to the phone and buy whatever it was they were advertising. However, I am sure you could sing a jingle or two of your favorite brands.

Now, I'm not saying that direct marketing doesn't work, what I am saying is it rarely works as well as we expect. For this reason, it is a trap for any business and to maximize your return on investment there are some important factors to consider before launching any campaign.

There are two very different types of advertising, Brand Building and Direct Response. I'll kick off by saying that 'Direct Response' marketing needs to make you enough profit from the campaign to pay for it, and also add some profit to your bottom line to be considered a 'success'. This type of ad is 'salesmanship in print' and needs to compel the reader to take action NOW. Don't expect a high response rate unless you are willing to offer a deal too good to miss. I am sure you'll remember the "but wait, there's more" ad campaigns, offering a set of steak knives to close the deal along with money back guarantees and 2 for 1 deals.

Now let's take a look at the latter, Brand Building. Brand building is all about 'Trust' and 'Credibility'. You will always feel comfortable buying from someone that you trust and has credibility, no matter how good a deal is, if you do not 'trust' the seller then you won't buy. Marketing guru Seth Godin says it's about being a "purple cow". It's about being the one purple cow in a paddock of brown cows. Also known as your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). If you are not different from your competitors then you're destined to compete only on price.

Having a strong brand can make the phone ring, can make customers walk into your store, can create loyal customers and get people to buy from you. Many of the 'big' players have proven this time and time again. So how do you go about building your brand?

Make it unique

You need to be truly unique to position your brand for success. 'satisfaction guaranteed' and 'friendly service' are far from unique, and if that's all you can come up with to clearly define your difference then you are wasting your time.

Support a cause

Sometimes building your brand can be as simple as supporting a cause, the rock band Midnight Oil did it, as did the 'Body Shop' with their policy of 'no animal testing' and there 'save the whales with Greenpeace' campaign. Studies have shown that people will switch to your brand if you support a good cause.

Create a 'WOW' factor

Remember the last really good movie you watched, how many people did you tell about it? Make your business an 'experience' your customers will rave about.

Have a clear vision

Your vision needs to enroll and inspire everybody in touch with your business. You, your team and your customers. Get everyone excited about your brand.

Know your customer

Make sure you are clear about WHO your ideal customer is. Using a 'blanket approach' will cost time and money. Once you have clarity about your ideal client you will be able to send a clear message directly to your market.

How to Improve Your Sales Results!

2009-04-01T21:57:00.000+11:00

Did you know that you can talk yourself out of a sale?

You have two ears and one mouth, you need to use them proportionally in sales, otherwise you run the risk of talking yourself out of the sale. The key to getting the sale is asking great questions. Let your prospect buy from you rather than you sell your prospect. No-one likes to be 'sold to' and as soon as your prospect feels they are being 'sold to' they will turn cold and it will be even harder for you to get the sale.

Let's take a look at what you need to do to improve your sales results.

You only get one first impression

Make sure that your first contact with the prospect has a good impact. You only get one 'first impression' and your prospect will be making their initial assessment of you and your product/service based on your first contact. In fact, you can make or break the sale in the first 3 minutes of contact.

Have a customer orientated 'purpose'

Focus on what your customer needs, not on the fact that you need to get the sale! This can be especially difficult if cash flow is tight or you desperately need the sale. Your prospect will know if you are genuinely interested in what they need, and if your purpose is to help them get to a beneficial solution, they will be happier to buy from you. If your only focus is getting the sale, your prospect will be harder to convert, possibly increasing your focus to the point where it is a vicious cycle. As you become more desperate for the sale, it becomes harder to get the sale!

Create a sales kit

It is important that you have the tools you need to help your prospect understand what you have on offer. A good sales kit will also provide you with structure and tools to keep you focused. In your sales kit you should include customer testimonials, Product samples or photos, relevant agreements and paperwork and a visual sales presentation. Make sure you use a quality folder rather than a cheap one that will be falling apart by the time you have used it a few times. I would recommend spending the extra few dollars on a leather folder; it always makes a good impression.

Understanding People

Different people operate in different ways. We all have a certain personality type and a preferred modality of communication. It is important to know if your prospect will need a lot of detail or not, will they want to touch and feel your products or would they rather see it or hear it? Will they need re-assuring or are they the type of person that will jump straight in and try new things? As a professional salesperson you should know how to work out what personality type someone is, what modality of communication they use and how they would most likely want to be dealt with.

Ask Lots of Questions

The key to getting the sale is asking great questions. This has two main purposes. Firstly, it will help you gather information about what your prospect is looking for so you can decide what you are best to offer. Secondly, asking great questions keeps you in control, and positions you as the expert in your field, your prospect will think that if you're asking the questions you must know the answers...

When asking questions start with open ended questions. These are questions that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Usually an open ended question will start with Who, What, When, Why, Where or How. Once you have started to gather information you can then start to get more specific with your questions helping you find out exactly what your prospect needs. You can then check their temperature by asking something like "would you prefer the blue or yellow one?" If they choose one of these colours then it is likely they are ready to buy, you can proceed by asking a more detailed question like "would you like that delivered Tuesday or Wednesday?" At this point they will either give you a delivery date or you'll get an objection.

Handling Objections

Too often I have heard salespeople get argumentative when they receive an objection. This is not an attack on you, it is the prospects way of telling you they either need more information or they don't see value in what you are offering. Arguing with your prospect will turn them off, and you won't get the sale. If your prospect has an objection... Listen! Be empathetic and help them work through the issues. Ask them if there is anything else bothering them, and if you resolve their issue will they go ahead today.

Ask for the Sale

Your prospect knows you are trying to get them to buy your product/service and will be expecting you to ask them to buy. However, sometimes salespeople fear that they will get a rejection and they do not ask for the sale! To help make this easier, ask your prospect for permission before your sales presentation by saying something like "if at the end of my presentation we both agree that there is a benefit in working together, we'll get the paperwork done today. Is that okay with you?" This way they will be expecting that if everything is okay, you will be getting them to make a commitment at the end of your presentation.

Have Fun!

Finally, have fun! Don't expect that everyone you see is going to buy from you, you need to be realistic, I will finish up by leaving you with a saying that I love... "Some will, Some wont, Some do, Some don't"

Ben Fewtrell is a Business Coach, Author and Key Note presenter. Ben has presented to thousands of business people around the globe. You can find out more about Ben at http://www.benfewtrell.com

Learn how not to treat your customers by dealing with Telstra!

2009-04-01T12:34:00.000+11:00

I thought I would share a recent experience with Telstra. I was amazed at the lack of customer focus this company has even though we are in tough economic times and the competition in the telco industry is growing!

I was checking over my latest bill (something I haven't done for a long time) and discovered that Telstra had been charging me $5.95 a month for a dial up service. Now I know what you're thinking! What a bargain! Where do you get internet access for $5.95? Well... the answer is that you don't, and I didn't. In fact, I had never ordered this service, and if you rang telstra and said you wanted to go onto the $5.95 per month internet plan I am sure they wouldn't have a plan that low.

So I checked all my bills to see how long they had been sneaking this charge onto my account, and discovered it had been charged for the past 20 months! A whopping $119 for nothing...

No big deal I said... "I just call them and sort it out" - hmmm, I thought it would be simple to fix - BIG MISTAKE.

They said it was my responsiblity to check my bills and that their policy was to only refund the last 3 months. Regardless of the fact that they agreed that this was a wierd charge, and was never used.

I do have an option, it is to fill in some 'request for credit' form and send it off to them hoping that they will alter their refund policy for me...

To them, I am just an account number, I spend several thousand dollars with them every month, and this is the service that I recieved!

Telstra, a simple "I'm sorry, we'll rectify that for you and apologise for charging you for something we shouldn't have" would have been nice, instead, you want me to jump through hoops because I trusted you (silly me) and didn't check my bills in great detail.

The cost to Telstra - well, now I tell the world what they're up to by use of the internet... and hopefully Karma will bite them in the arse some day!

now run off my friends and check your bill!

How to make money online using a blog

2009-03-31T22:41:00.000+11:00


Hi There!, 
At some point in your life you have to say to yourself..."Enough is Enough." You know there is something better out there. But,unfortunately, you don't know how to get it. 

Little over a year ago, Greg and Jerry asked themselves this question and answered it with a simple system to create multiple streams of income using the power of blogging to generate a life of fulfillment rather than of scarcity. CLICK HERE to find out more 

"Blogging" is the latest rage and for good reason. You can generate traffic, readers and buyers very easily and more importantly, quickly. The search engines love them and they make adding content very simple. What Greg and Jerry have done, is take a great blogging platform, Wordpress, and through trial and error have come up with a system that generates multiple income sources, almost on autopilot. 

Blogging for Riches is a step-by-step, video tutorial series, teaching you how to build a blog and monetize it. And then do it over and over again to help you generate multiple streams of income.
CLICK HERE to find out more 

Once you know the blog-building secrets that only the pro’s know, you will virtually have a license to print money! 

With Blogging For Riches, you will: 
Learn How To Create Multiple Niche Blog Networks, All Working To Make You Money
Discover How To Generate Free Targeted Traffic
Be Able To Own and Operate a Successful and Profitable Business 

This system is guaranteed to deliver, but honestly you really need to watch the video on the site to understand everything that's included and what it will do for you.
Review the video now: BY CLICKING HERE 

It's time to crack the money code and achieve your goals. But you need to take the first step by learning more about Blogging For Riches. 

warmly,
Ben Fewtrell
PS - Make sure you check out the bonuses, they are designed to get you up and running right away.

At last! There's a piece of copywriting software that does the job ... AND ... is easy to use.

2009-03-31T19:26:00.000+11:00

"It's true - in just 30 minutes from now you can have your own professionally written sales letter WITHOUT paying huge copywriting rates!" CLICK HERE to find out more...
I'm sick of the programs that claim to be easy - then force you through so many fiddly steps that you'll be lucky to use them more than once. That's why i'm stoked Bret Mcfall created his own software that makes it easier than falling off a log - and automatically inserts his secret and proven copywriting formula into your marketing!"

Ben Fewtrell on Sky Business TV

2009-03-31T19:19:00.000+11:00

Make sure you tune into Sky SME Money Makers show with Mathew Noland this thursday at 8pm! Mathew will be having me on the show as a guest to talk about why now is a great time to get into business!

Failing to plan or planning to fail?

2009-03-26T21:02:00.000+11:00

The old adage says that if you fail to plan then you are planning to fail. This is more than just a clever play on words, in fact, statistically it has been proven that you are more likely to achieve your goals if they’re written down… not rocket science, is it?

Back in 1973 Harvard University did a study on all of the students for that year, only 3% of the attending students had written down their goals. 25 years later in 1998, that same 3% had acquired over 98% of the wealth!

This is not about putting together a detailed ‘business plan’. This is about having a plan you can execute, and monitor your progress on a regular basis. Depending on your business you may want to review and correct daily, weekly or monthly.

Generally, we have been trained in life to look back and then make an assessment, your accountant is a classic example, they are dealing with historical numbers, and at the end of the year will tell you how much profit you made… or… how much you lost! And by that time it is too
late to do anything about it. This is why it is vital that you as a business owner understand the
‘mechanics’ of business so you can be the ‘pit crew’ during the race. As a ‘pit crew’ for your business you will know the result before you’re told at the end of the race.

I have personally worked with over 100 different businesses and can honestly say, the most successful have been those that have been disciplined and created their plan, and also had the consistency and focus to execute it too. After all, a plan will fail if it is executed poorly.

So why is it that so many people fail to plan?

Well, in some cases, it’s just plain laziness, but in a lot of circumstances people don’t know where to start. So what is the best way do go about getting a plan together?

1. You need to know where you’re going.
If you’re not clear on your vision then you’re never going to arrive, it doesn’t matter how good your plans are… imagine you’re driving to a restaurant, and you didn’t know the name of it, what street it was on, or even what suburb it is in… are you likely to get there?

2. Break it down.
Goals by nature are high achievements in life, and sometimes it can seem too hard to reach them, we lose motivation and give up! Break your goals into “milestones” so you can celebrate your wins along the way.

3. Write it down and make it visual.
By writing your goals down you will be much clearer on where you are heading. Look at it every day, stick it on your fridge, or your computer, it can be a picture, the words, whatever will motivate you to keep striving to achieve your goal.

4. Tell someone about it.
Telling someone about your goals will create accountability making sure you follow through. If you need someone to help you stay on track and keep focused you my well benefit by using a business coach.

5. Check your progress and celebrate your wins.
Review your goals on a regular basis and celebrate reaching your milestones. Tracking your progress will keep you motivated!

As for making this all happen, you will need to set aside some time to get clear on your goals and create a plan, once you have your goals worked out you need to ‘reverse engineer’ them starting with the end and working back to the start date.

Once you do this you will end up with a daily or weekly set of tasks you need to complete
to achieve your goal by the set date. Finally, make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T tested. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Results orientated and Time Framed.

www.benfewtrell.com

A Boss Who Tells It like It Is

2009-03-24T11:44:00.000+11:00

I was sent this from a friend of mine, and thought you might enjoy the read!

Date: 4 February 2009

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your jobs. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

However, let me tell you some little titbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Subaru Outback outside. You've seen my big home at last year's Christmas party. I'm sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealised thoughts about my life.However, what you don't see is the back story.I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 2 bedroom flat for 3 years. My entire living area was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.My diet consisted of baked beans, stew and soup because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rustyToyota Corolla with a wonky transmission. I didn't have time to go out on dates. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50,000 a year and spent every cent they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the David Jones for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me.When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Subaru, the vacations... you never realise the back story and the sacrifices I've made.Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their pay suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes, Property taxes, Sales and use taxes, Payroll taxes, Workers compensation, Unemployment taxes, Taxes on taxes. I have to hire an accountant to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time.

On Oct 15th, I wrote a cheque to the Australian tax Office for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" cheque was? Zero, Zip, Zilch.What is Kevin 07 Rudd doing with all my taxes? He's giving them away to people who don't work as hard as me, to people who have never worked and have no intention to, deliberately single mums breeding more drones, recent migrants legal & otherwise plus their huge extended families. They are told to spend, spend, spend - the very thing that got us into trouble in the first place!. Go out and buy that you-beaut widescreen TV for say $2000 of which $1,750 goes to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore& Malaysia where all the bits are made or assembled, the remaining $250 keeps the salesperson & delivery guy in a job for another day & pays a franchise fee to Harvey Norman. As we hardly manufacture anything in Australia any more virtually all the money spent on manufactured goods keeps overseas workers in jobs much longer than any locals.Now, to cap off mere financial incompetence, Rudd has risen to mind boggling levels of truly monumental stupidity by borrowing about 40 billion dollars every year from foreigners, we don't have the savings here!....... to GIVE AWAY!!!!.

The State Labor governments have all been grossly mismanaged, even QLD & WA are in trouble despite the good mining boom years, NSW is effectively bankrupt & VIC is not far behind, SA & TAS are reverting to basket case status. The infrastructure funds are a thinly disguised bailout to incompetent Labor mates in the States but at least that will employ Australians, however inefficiently.Rudd has blown what we thought of a huge multi-billion dollar surplus in one hit, in just one year!. But borrowing to give people $950 to spend on goods that will employ Asians mostly?, that will make our current account deficit worse and create a HUGE DEBT that will have to be repaid by us, our kids and our grandkids. Taxes will have to go up drastically for decades to pay for all this - there is no other way.

Rudd's cure is going to be vastly more painful than the illness, unemployment is still expected to increase by 500,000 by the end of the march quarter 2010. Bringing forward the next tax cuts would reduce that to 350,000 and if we were to spend stimulus money productively on pipelines, bridges, hospitals, rail systems etcetera instead of wasting it on $950 gifts we'd have to better off and have more people in jobs.

Rudd wants to emulate Obama's huge spending spree without realising that we simply can't do that. The US dollar is the world's reserve currency, they can print money and it will still be worth a dollar, but if we print 30% more money, which is effectively what borrowing does, our $A will be worth 30% less which makes everything we import be it petrol or TV's 30% dearer and so. Rudd plans to do this for four years to the tune of $200 billion! .... Despite Rudd often referring to Turnbull as the (wealthy) Merchant Banker, Rudd, or at least his wife, has many more millions than Turnbull and his family, most of it from Liberal Government training programs ironically. We'd be better off if Ms Rein was running the country, her husband's ego is such that he'd never listen to her unfortunately, at least they will still be sitting pretty when it all goes pear shaped.Turnbull is right about Tax Cuts, it has been proven over & over again in all Western democracies that for all tax brackets, for every $1 of tax cut the multiplier effect is $3 - now that's a stimulus!. That stimulus happens each year, every year because it's a gift that keeps on giving as the saying goes. Give away $1 and that's it - spent $1 no multiplier effect, this or any other year. Once Rudd borrows & gives it away forget about tax cuts for a decade - think higher taxes, higher GST until we repay the huge debt burden he's creating.

This is not rocket science! it's real, as opposed to Rudd's fairy's at the bottom of the garden approach to ruining the economy.Rudd's hero is Gough Whitlam, for those who are old enough to remember, Whitlam came within a whisker of sending Australia bankrupt and the country was saved from financial disaster by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr dismissing his government. The Greens & Independents, being the populists that they are, will pass Rudd's so called stimulus with minimal changes. We are going to be lumbered with this very bad mistake. Let's hope that Ms Quentin Bryce will likewise act with courage and conviction before Rudd looks like losing the plot completely and takes us down with him.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business?, or the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child by the latest unemployed layabout who won't pay child support, waiting for her next welfare cheque? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your pay you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had the government suddenly mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Canberra black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries.

But you can forget it now.When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of Australia and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it.

But the power brokers in Canberra believe the poor of Australia are the essential drivers of the Australian economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.So where am I going with all this?It's quite simple.If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your 4WD and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem anymore.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalises the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship. There will be many, many more small & medium sized businesses that do the same and between us we employ 60% of all Australians in work and produce 68% of GDP (more when China is not paying top dollar for everything we mine). Fewer people paying taxes mean higher taxes. Much higher taxes for the remaining taxpayers who have no choice but to work. Countries like China are thrifty, have all the money, and will own all the mines and a lot more because we will have no choice but to sell them the family farm to pay our debt.

That's business - whether it's mine or the Country's.So, if you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a politician that swept through this country changed its financial landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....

Signed,
Your boss

What Recession?

2009-03-23T22:37:00.000+11:00

Wow! What an amazing time...

What amazes me is how many business people are talking themselves into a recession! I ran a free sales and marketing seminar last week and it was interesting to see what business owners are thinking... As an owner of a business coaching firm I get to see alot of businesses, and now is the time for any small business to go hunting for extra customers.

If times are quiet for you now, then the same is true for your competition. And if they have cut their marketing budget and stopped alot of their advertising etc. then who is marketing to your target market?

now is the time for you to think about how you can get more customers, and when business picks back up, you will have a strong business!

Here are some tips for you... this is my 5 step marketing plan...

1. WHO... Decide who your ideal client is.
2. WHERE... work out where you will find them in their highest concentration
3. WHAT... Decide what you are going to offer them (and make sure it is a strong offer!)
4. HOW... work out how ou are going to communicate your message (ads, web, direct mail etc.)
5. WHY... Make sure you differ yourself from your competition... this is WHY they will deal with you!

until next time... have a profitable day!

check out www.benfewtrell.com for my lates events and offers

Is your Brand Bland? by Ben Fewtrell

2007-02-01T23:19:00.000+11:00

Is your brand… bland?
By Ben Fewtrell

Have you ever run a marketing campaign and then wondered why the phone didn’t ring? Or why hundreds of customers didn’t come rushing to bash down your doors to buy from you?

Reality is, the response rates to ‘direct response’ marketing is lower than any of us would care to know. We are optimistic by nature, and when we place an ad, do a flyer drop or run a radio campaign we spend the week leading up to the campaign working out how we are going to handle all the extra business it will create, only to be disappointed when the phone only rings two or three times…

So should you even bother spending your money on marketing? The short answer is a resounding YES! The key is to understand how to make it work for your business.

Have a think about the last time you got so excited about an ad, flyer or radio/TV commercial that you dropped everything in a mad panic to get to the phone and buy whatever it was they were advertising. However, I am sure you could sing a jingle or two of your favorite brands.

Now, I’m not saying that direct marketing doesn’t work, what I am saying is it rarely works as well as we expect. For this reason, it is a trap for any business and to maximize your return on investment there are some important factors to consider before launching any campaign.

There are two very different types of advertising, Brand Building and Direct Response. I’ll kick off by saying that ‘Direct Response’ marketing needs to make you enough profit from the campaign to pay for it, and also add some profit to your bottom line to be considered a ‘success’. This type of ad is ‘salesmanship in print’ and needs to compel the reader to take action NOW. Don’t expect a high response rate unless you are willing to offer a deal too good to miss. I am sure you’ll remember the “but wait, there’s more” ad campaigns, offering a set of steak knives to close the deal along with money back guarantees and 2 for 1 deals.

Now let’s take a look at the latter, Brand Building. Brand building is all about ‘Trust’ and ‘Credibility’. You will always feel comfortable buying from someone that you trust and has credibility, no matter how good a deal is, if you do not ‘trust’ the seller then you won’t buy. Marketing guru Seth Godin says it’s about being a “purple cow”. It’s about being the one purple cow in a paddock of brown cows. Also known as your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). If you are not different from your competitors then you’re destined to compete only on price.

Having a strong brand can make the phone ring, can make customers walk into your store, can create loyal customers and get people to buy from you. Many of the ‘big’ players have proven this time and time again. So how do you go about building your brand?

Make it unique
You need to be truly unique to position your brand for success. ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ and ‘friendly service’ are far from unique, and if that’s all you can come up with to clearly define your difference then you are wasting your time.

Support a cause
Sometimes building your brand can be as simple as supporting a cause, the rock band Midnight Oil did it, as did the ‘Body Shop’ with their policy of ‘no animal testing’ and there ‘save the whales with Greenpeace’ campaign. Studies have shown that people will switch to your brand if you support a good cause.

Create a ‘WOW’ factor
Remember the last really good movie you watched, how many people did you tell about it? Make your business an ‘experience’ your customers will rave about.

Have a clear vision
Your vision needs to enroll and inspire everybody in touch with your business. You, your team and your customers. Get everyone excited about your brand.

Know your customer
Make sure you are clear about WHO your ideal customer is. Using a ‘blanket approach’ will cost time and money. Once you have clarity about your ideal client you will be able to send a clear message directly to your market.

www.benfewtrell.com

Action International rebrands to ActionCOACH

2007-02-01T23:09:00.001+11:00

Action international has rebranded itself to ActionCOACH