Business management tips Australia

In my view, there is an inverse relationship between number of meetings and increasing profit.  In other words, more meetings less profit!

A lot of time can be wasted each week with so-called business meetings.  I think meetings that don’t have a direct link to key financial objectives are useless.  They serve little purpose other than making participants feel busy and included.

It has been my observation that universities and public service organisations thrive on them.  Quite often an organisation’s entire decision making system can be based in a system of meetings.

Even though these organisations have to operate inside budgets and pay their way, no individual’s income is directly affected by the meeting outcome.  The only purpose seems to be one of accountability and equity.  That is, everyone knowing what’s happening; everyone having their say and keeping as many people as possible happy.

In the real world, a meeting where the underlying purpose is not somehow profit-driven is unproductive.  No innovative and profit-oriented business in the private sector can stand too many meetings.  In fact, most meetings tend to actively stifle innovation and therefore profit.  The larger the group, the less likely is change.  It called the comfort zone.  It is a worrying trend that this tends to happen when small organisations grow larger.

The only worthwhile business meeting is one where the income of one or both participants depends directly on the outcome.  Anything else is pure and unadulterated shooting the breeze and communication alternatives should be considered.

The post Do you attend too many meetings? first appeared on Gary Weigh.

The hallmark of the elite is complete calmness under extreme pressure.  When bullets are flying around their head, or a 20 foot putt stand between them and the green jacket of golf, a calm mind, iron-clad concentration and years of training is what they rely on.   Developing that elusive calm mind is a skill in itself, and also takes considerable practice.   It doesn’t happen naturally when humans are under extreme stress.  The usual adrenalin induced instincts are either ‘fight’ or ‘flight’.   Either can get you wiped out or have your income severely maimed if you don’t know what you are doing.  So either you get yourself some quality training from a quality instructor or you buy yourself some brown corduroy pants!

Gary 0408 756 531

gary@garyweigh.com

The post A calm mind wins the day first appeared on Gary Weigh.

It can be a very costly mistake to assume what customers want.  The smart strategy is to first find out what the needs are and then to set about finding a solution to satisfy it.  It is easy to fall into the trap of being a ‘supply pusher’, where you peddle what you have available to sell instead of responding to what customers actually want.

You wouldn’t be the first to launch into business with what you believe to be a good idea and then focus most of your thinking on the technical side of your product or service offering.  It is common to do everything else but make sales, believing that sales will just magically appear.

Unless you have some serious traction and some supporting promotion, it is a mistake to take for granted that simply by opening the doors for business, customers will magically seek you out and rush to buy.  This rarely happens!  The ‘build it and they will come!’ fantasy may have worked in the movie ‘Field of Dreams’, but it rarely works in practice.

Until next time

Gary

For more business management tips read Customers compete to buy, business should allow them

The post Are you a supply pusher? first appeared on Gary Weigh.

Business Management Tips

Reports of bad service can be aired and multiplied rapidly across social media; and it has the potential to ruin Australian businesses in a short space of time. 

Whether Australian consumers are justified in their complaint or not, the communication power they now hold in airing their opinions can be devastating. 

An American Express dining study found that on average, people are 50% more likely to complain to others, than complain directly to the dining establishment. The study highlighted the popularity of social media as an outlet to air grievances.

An American Express global customer service barometer survey also found that Australians voice their frustrations more often and to more people than most other countries surveyed. 

On average, a disgruntled Australian customer will tell an average of 23 people about bad service compared to an average of 10 they will tell about good service.

It is interesting to note that Australian consumers also tend to avoid direct confrontation with a provider of poor service, but they are not slow in telling everyone else.

This business management tip should spell a warning to business to take good care of their customers.  The responsibility for customer care applies across the entire business, not just to front line sales people.  It also implemented through relationship management, service standards, terms of trade, returns policies and warranty policies.

Until next time!

Gary 

For more business management tips Australia, visit http://garyweigh.com/financial-management-the-key-to-home-and-business-success.html

The post Bad news spreads faster first appeared on Gary Weigh.