Continual Improvement

29/08/2011 By Mushroom Internet

As a small business owner wanting to grow your business you will be looking at ways to improve your business to generate more profit and cash, to free-up working capital, and to make more effective use of your own time.

While there may be one-shot improvements you can make, such as outsourcing an overhead function to make a net saving, there will always be those issues where the benefits are obvious but the means of achieving them are not so clear.

Continual Improvement is not just for manufacturing quality

Adopting a systematic, continual improvement approach to those issues could be the answer.

It used to be thought that continual improvement was about manufacturing quality, but these days, quality is seen as something that should be embedded right across a business.

And likewise the continual improvement methodology can be applied to issues, right across a business, in every function, for example:

improving the enquiry rate from an existing marketing budget
increasing the average sale value by designing and up-selling additional features and products
improving cash flow though better credit control and debtors management
reducing manufacturing costs with improved delivery times and no loss of quality
reducing inventory cost and obsolescence
achieving an overhead cost saving by reducing headcount
releasing management time by putting in better delegation, coaching and review processes

And lots more…

The PDCA Continual Improvement Cycle

The PDCA or Deming Cycle

First you set down the objective you want to achieve.

Then you embark on the 4-step PDCA cycle Plan – make a plan for achieving it; Do – carry out the plan; Check -gather and quantify the results; and Act – decide what to do next.

Having decided what to do next, you then make a new plan and repeat the cycle.

Obvious, really – when you sit down to work out how to deal with your issues, your thinking almost certainly follows those steps anyway.

Set a timetable and review progress

But the key to making this work is to get the people designated to resolve the issue – you, a member of your staff, or a small project team you have put together – to set a timetable for each cycle and stick to it.

And if you have the resources to run a number of improvement projects in parallel, you can review them at your management meetings, monthly or quarterly.

The results will come, slowly but surely, and year on year your company’s performance will get better and better!

We can help

Posted by Peter Johnson, Business Advisor with SGBA. If you would like a free initial consultation to discuss your business, including how to embed Continual Improvement in your company’s culture, call Peter on 07714 093406 or email him at peter.johnson@sgba.co.uk.

Appointment making tips

25/07/2011 By

How do I get to meet key decision makers?

A question that I am frequently asked.

First, like all Sales people and marketeers, it is key to identify your target audience, and have a message (‘the hook’) that is likely to spark their interest. Once you have both of these clear in your strategy then you can act.

An exercise that has proved successful is to attend an exhibition. Research an exhibition that has some relevance to your business area of expertise. Check all the companies that are within your ‘geographical’ target, exhibition web sites make this quite easy to achieve before travelling. Take note of exactly where they are on the floor plan. Prepare a few words that demonstrate your knowledge of the subject, without it being a ‘sell’. It is vitally important to make sure that you are NOT selling here. In fact ‘selling’ to exhibitors is highly unethical, after all they have usually paid ‘big bucks’ to enable THEM to sell!

Only approach when all is quiet on the stand, its amazing how the most senior person pounces when all is quiet! Carefully chosen words (that contain ‘the hook’) should solicit the response, “Why dont you call in on me some time?”. Bingo! Yes, it does work.

A good tip is to practice first on two or three stands that you have NOT targeted, so, make any mistakes where it does not matter! You will be surprised how slick you will become when you come to your key targets!

Moving on to ‘telephone approaches’, the same philosophy should apply. Create a ‘guideline script’ (but create a means of expressing this without reading it parrot fashion). Approach several companies whom you regard as ‘peripheral targets’, and make your mistakes here, before you call the key targets.

How do I get past the ‘gate keeper’? This can be quite a skill! A good ‘gate keeper’ may be difficult to by pass. However, calling early in the morning, or late afternoon, when many may have gone home can prove successful. Perhaps you can inform the gate keeper of ‘what the boss is missing by not talking to you’. Another possibility is to get the e mail ID of the boss, in order to stimulate his/her interest with some well chosen words.

Networking events can also provide good opportunity. The down side is that you probably do not know who is there until after the event. But the day after, when you read the attendee list, and realise that you missed the very target you sought, drop an e mail to them. State that you wished you had met, reference something of note from the networking meeting, then state why it would be worth talking in more detail.

As a sales person, it is important to recognise you will probably never get to see every prospect you target. Some will prove impossible to track down. Accept it, do not take it personally. Learn from your approach, develop your style, and get on to the next prospect.

Want to brush up on these skills? Call Ian Thomas or Bob Francis at Southern Group Business Advisors on 0870 787 7590, or e mail ian.thomas@sgba.co.uk / bob.francis@sgba.co.uk.

Happy Selling!

New groups launched to help businesses in response to demand for experienced Business Advisors

20/04/2011 By Mushroom Internet

Increasing demand for experienced business advisors has driven the opening of two new local groups by UK Business Advisors (UKBA). The first is based in East Anglia and is called Eastern Region Business Advisors (ERBA). The second in Yorkshire and Humberside and is called Yorks & Humber Business Advisors (YHBA).

Like the existing BA groups, all their advisors are experienced business people who also run their own businesses, and are thus in a prime position to advise other Managing Directors and Owners. This demand has been emphasised in recently with the statement from BIS that they “have been repeatedly told by business owners that the advice they value most comes from other experienced business people.” **

With their formation there are now 11 local UKBA groups round the UK who are focused on helping the SME sector in their particular region. These are supported by 3 other specialist groups addressing the issues of Financial Support, Business Turnaround and Manufacturing in the South East.

Brian Dash, Chairman of UKBA Business Advisors, said “We are really pleased to announce the opening of these two groups. We focus on the small and medium sector which is often forgotten when it comes to business help, but who are in fact the powerhouse of the economy, and the sector that the government is looking to for increasing employment. All our help is provided by real business people who have been there, done it, and will roll their sleeves up to provide real practical help for the MDs”.

>SME business owners rely on other business people for advice

02/06/2010 By Mushroom Internet

A recent survey by EnterQuest highlighted the importance of independent advice to owners and directors of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). 80% of business owners said they sought help from other business owners, and 72% used contacts in business networks. However, only 36% used a local enterprise agency or support agency.The weakest reported skill was in sales and marketing, with one in three business owners saying they were quite weak or very weak in this area.

This report confirms what UKBA^TM (UK Business Advisors) have been saying for some time, that true independent advice is difficult to come by, but can be absolutely critical to the success of an SME. It is important that any advisor is actually a specialist in their specific field. Companies that claim to provide across-the-board business advice from a single adviser rarely provide much added value.

All UKBA^TM advisers run their own business, so “know what it is like” to be a business owner; and most of their work comes from networking and referrals from other customers and businesses.

Bob Francis, a Sales and Marketing specialist within SGBA (part of UKBA) said, “I see companies needing help all the time. If it is sales and marketing help, then I can provide it personally. However I also know I can call on an extensive network of many real experts in their field to address each company’s specific issues. In these times of tight financial management, getting the right advice quickly and cost-effectively can make all the difference”

For full details visit the SGBA website www.sgba.co.uk or contact Bob Francis at SGBA on 01903 784651

>SME business owners rely on other business people for advice

02/06/2010 By Mushroom Internet

A recent survey by EnterQuest highlighted the importance of independent advice to owners and directors of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). 80% of business owners said they sought help from other business owners, and 72% used contacts in business networks. However, only 36% used a local enterprise agency or support agency.The weakest reported skill was in sales and marketing, with one in three business owners saying they were quite weak or very weak in this area.

All UKBA^TM advisers run their own business, so “know what it is like” to be a business owner; and most of their work comes from networking and referrals from other customers and businesses.

For full details visit the SGBA website www.sgba.co.uk or contact Bob Francis at SGBA on 01903 784651

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