“What do you do?” might seem like a simple question, but it can strike fear into the heart of the most experienced businessperson. So, I know how difficult it can be explaining your start-up business idea.
If you’re setting up an accountancy business, for example, how do you explain that you’re different from all the other accountants out there?
Added to the fact that you probably don’t want to sound cheesy or too salesy, you don’t want to talk for so long that people get bored, and you don’t want anyone to think you’re just rehearsing an impersonal pitch.
When you think about it like that it gets easier to see why the “What do you do?” question can feel like so scary.
But before you give up in despair, here’s some good news. It is possible to explain what your business does, in ways that are simple, fresh, and compelling.
Here are three ways I use to help my clients talk about their start-up business idea. There should be something here to help you get to grips with this too.
1. It’s Not All About You!
The usual question is, “What do you do?”
That wording naturally puts the emphasis on you, which is why so many of us will automatically mumble something like, “I’m a life coach/yoga instructor/beauty therapist” (delete as applicable) in response.
But if you reframe the question into “What problems do you solve?” it becomes much easier to think of a heartfelt, original reply.
For example, if you’re an accountant, you could say “I help you pay less tax.” A yoga instructor could reply, “I help you become more bendy!”
The key is to think about the question from the perspective of your customer, rather than yourself. It’s all about outcomes for them; definitely not the inputs from you.
So, try crafting a snappy, one-sentence explanation that tells people how you’ll solve their problem. This will not only help to avoid your business being stereotyped, it’s also likely to start a much more interesting conversation!
A strapline is a short, easy-to-remember phrase that helps people instantly recognise your business.
If you’re a start-up attempting to summarise your business idea the ‘strapline’ is a great place to start.
Here are a few, well known, examples:
Innocent – Little Tasty Drinks
HSBC – The World’s Local Bank
Carlsberg – Probably the Best Lager in the World
Co-Operative – Good with Food
Ronseal – It Does What It Says on the Tin
Apple – Think Differently
Nike – Just Do It
Your strapline should encapsulate your brand’s values and personality. Also, it shouldn’t contain any jargon or complicated phrases.
And … only use humour if you KNOW your audience will find it funny.
A good start is to select the very best aspect of your product or service, then think about your ideal customer mood.
For example, my own strapline, ‘Taking Your Business from Passion to Profit’ explains what I do, in a way that (I hope) generates interest and excitement!
3. The ‘Elevator Pitch’
An ‘elevator pitch’ is a clear introduction to who you are and what you offer. The idea is that it should be short enough for you to say to someone during a brief ride in a lift (elevator).
Your elevator pitch should be no more than 60 seconds long, and it should encourage people to ask questions… so please don’t attempt to cram everything into it (which is a relief, when you’ve only got a minute!)
I’m not a fan of the ‘pure’ version of the elevator pitch, to be honest.
What I mean by this is the ‘learned-by-rote’ speech that is delivered in every situation – regardless of the audience. You need to have enough flexibility in what you want to say, and enough confidence in your product or service, to make it appropriate to a variety of situations.
Keep in mind, the purpose of your elevator pitch is to build interest and excite your audience. If they hear the same thing over and over again or, the content is not relevant to the situation you find yourself in, it can do more harm than good.
You don’t want to be remembered for the wrong reasons!
Use your explanation to outline the customer benefits of what you do, and include a call to action at the end.
You could encourage people to follow you on social media, visit your website, download a resource or maybe you could suggest a one-to-one coffee catch-up, instead?
It’s well worth spending extra time and effort on describing your business well, and don’t worry if it takes a few tries and tweaks to get it right!
Next Steps
If you’d like to talk through some ideas or road-test your elevator pitch, I’m always happy to listen. All you have to do is schedule a half-hour, complimentary Breakthrough Sessi
We all want new customers right? Well, here’s our guide on how to rapidly increase your business growth through 9 highly effective, proven steps. This will assist you in generating new leads and successfully converting prospects into paying customers, therefore building momentum behind your business growth. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Build A Loyalty Ladder To Create “Raving Fans”
Loyal customers are ideal customers. These are the people who sometimes refer others to your business, which makes them especially valuable because they serve as a free form of advertisement. These are “raving fans” and they are a golden asset, and tremendous source of new customers. Read our blog on how to make your customers love you.
If a business makes a concerted effort to identify their loyal customers and earn their highest praises, they will almost certainly become cheerleaders for your business. This is an investment that pays off many times over, and it costs much less than traditional forms of marketing.
For a company to rise to this level of appeal, they must make an intentional, targeted effort to personalise each transaction and aspect of the customer relationship. Your investment in these special services should be calculated based upon the value of the business that raving fans bring to the company. Put another way, customer service is transformed so that it becomes an incentive and rewards programme tailored to individual clients. When other potential raving fans witness this kind of VIP treatment, they will similarly become inspired to tell others about the business in order to enjoy the exclusive benefits of this preferred customer relationship.
*Top Tip: Turn your local customers into raving fans! Birthday presents, surprise gifts aligned with times of the year – tell your customers you LOVE working with them on valentines day, celebrate International Women’s Day with your female customers, send Christmas presents….
Create A Referral Programme
Designing a referral programme that rewards customers for bringing others into the customer base follows on from our first point about building ‘raving fans’.
Referral rewards can be in the form of discounts, gifts, invitations to special events, or exclusive “closed door” sales events. A closed door sales event can have a particularly strong appeal with customers who desire a feeling of exclusivity.
A referral programme can borrow ideas and schemes from the raving fan concept, but it will be executed in a simpler and more general fashion. Many customers have friends, co-workers, and family members who require the same products and services, so referrals are a natural method of growing your customer base. By using existing customers as a resource for community outreach, you can easily turn one customer into five to build on your business growth.
*Top Tip: Offer your customers a discount code to share with their friends AND use themselves. Bloom & Wild have done this very effectively in the past where they have offered their customers a £10 voucher for referring a friend (who also gets a £10 discount).
Weed Out Bad Clients And Cater To The Best
Contrary to popular belief, it is sometimes advantageous to lose customers, especially if the business owner deliberately orchestrates the loss.
By prioritising the kinds of customers a business prefers to have, it makes it possible to eliminate those who create unnecessary headaches and detract from your overall bottom line. This allows you to better serve other, more valuable customers. Furthermore, it also allows a company to focus on attracting the kinds of desirable customers that contribute to most of their profits.
Shedding those who are a liability – the 5-10% of people who can never be satisfied – is actually a net positive in the long run. Identify who the best customers are by applying the “80-20” rule. This principle states that 80% of a company’s business comes from 20% of its customers. Treat those 20% of customers particularly well, and invest extra energy in satisfying their needs while extending service above and beyond the call of duty. They form the core of the business’ customer base, and by appealing to them it is possible to create more customers who are similarly lucrative.
As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. The needs of the best customers will always be the same as the needs of the best potential customers the organisation is trying to attract. Learn to cater to those needs and those kinds of clients, and you’ll watch your bottom line swell in size.
*Top tip: It can be hard to get your head around eliminating customers when they are paying you. Keep in mind the extra time these customers take up which you could be putting to good use in creating an even better service to your higher value customers.
Create Strategic Alliances
By partnering with other businesses with which there is a common customer demographic but no actual direct competition, a company can expand its customer base and rapidly grow quickly and easily. Customers who trust other businesses and have proven their loyalty to them will be inclined to follow their recommendations or perceived endorsements of an alliance partner.
Locate businesses that share the same philosophy, style, and corporate culture as your own. By creating good alliances, it is possible to come up with all sorts of creative campaigns to increase both business’ customer bases. Alliances are a form of networking that share the common goal of growing each other’s customer base, because two heads are often better than one.
*Top tip: Start with referrals to each other, promote each other to your database and ask your alliance to ghost write the copy for your email to save you time and ensure they are happy. Offer to do the same for your copy too. Share each other’s businesses on social media and perhaps even write a blog for each other. All easy steps you could take in the early days of your partnership.
Train And Support Your Staff
Employees feel valued when business owners invest in them to help them further their futures and enhance their careers and skills. As a result, they develop a sense of ownership and responsibility that can boost a business’s customer base dramatically. Read our blog on 6 ways to make great people love working for you here!
Employees come in contact with people every day, both inside the place of business and elsewhere. Anybody who walks through your doors is a potential customer, but it takes a certain level of professional skill to convert them into a raving fan. Alternatively, an employee might attend a church or school, where there are dozens of potential customers. By helping that employee learn the skills needed to promote your business to those people, it is possible to capture the people that have not heard of you previously.
Employees often profit from attending sales or marketing workshops, for instance. Representatives for major wineries often travel to Europe to learn more about wines, at the company’s expense. Hair salons send stylists to conventions to learn new tricks of the trade. Construction companies send carpenters and electricians to night school to get advanced certifications. These investments all pay off when those employees return and land lucrative new accounts, do a better job, or are able to charge customers a higher rate for more specialised service.
*Top tip: Invest in those who are already within the business, and it will pay off by bringing in new customers from outside the business, which will in turn aid your business growth.
Improve Your Conversion Rate From Leads To Customers
Keeping tabs on leads or sending contacts costly mailings can be a drain, not an asset. As leads and contacts are made, they need to be converted as soon as possible into customers. Otherwise, they can simply become a nuisance and a labour-intensive list of names.
Once someone becomes a “lukewarm lead”, it is important to warm them up so that they become a hot prospect and then a loyal customer. When someone walks into a party and doesn’t know anyone, they are inclined to turn around and leave. But a good host or hostess knows how to spot them, introduce them, show them around, and help them enjoy themselves. The same holds true for businesses that are converting strangers into loyal customers. Conversion requires getting to know the person, understanding their wants and needs, and then fulfilling those needs in a way that is mutually beneficial for both parties involved.
*Top Tip: Be helpful! Offering free advice and support is always a great way to warm up prospects and show the value you can add. Show them you care and don’t force a sales pitch. Sales isn’t about pushing your product or service to people who don’t want or need it. It’s about finding people who need what you do, and finding how you can help solve their problems!
Convert A Single Customer Into A Multiple Customer
One of the easiest ways to rapidly grow your business and increase your number of customers is to concentrate on those already in your database (we’ve spoken about this enough times in this article). This kind of conversion is often just as lucrative – but far less expensive – than trying to drum up business from cold-calling complete strangers.
For example, by up-selling or cross-selling different goods and services, profits can very easily be increased with little effort. Sell a customer a premium version of the standard item they are already buying, and it turns a mediocre customer into a top-tier one. Introduce them to other products in the lineup, or convince them to purchase other services, and it is just as good as landing a new customer.
*Top Tip: Get you know your customer’s needs. This will help in your up-sell as you don’t want to try and sell them something they have no use for.
Follow Up
Once a business manages to recruit customers, it is important to maintain consistency through on-going marketing campaigns that strengthen the relationship, expand upon it, and further respond to the wants and needs of those customers. The investments required to find, identify, and attract new customers are much greater than the energy and effort required to retain an existing customer who will reward the business with loyalty, referrals, and greater profits over multiple transactions.
Neglecting to follow through and preserve “top-of-the-mind awareness” is a common mistake made by business owners, and it can prove to be costly. Even the largest and most recognised brands in the world continue to run successful advertising campaigns designed to keep existing customers and add new ones to their database.
*Top tip: Email marketing is a great way to follow up with your customers. Providing regular helpful content in their inbox regularly will remind them of you when they are ready to buy again.
Test And Measure
At the final stage of the game, testing and measuring takes on a hugely significant role. Just as tests and measurements helped to identify successful marketing tactics, they also help to provide a quantifiable snapshot of results. Here are 5 main areas of the business which should be explored and monitored:
The number of leads generated.
The conversion rate that shows what percentage of leads converted into actual buying customers.
The number of transactions completed by each of those new customers.
The average cost of each sales transaction.
The profit margins generated.
It is also really valuable to ask leads how and where they were contacted. This data is needed in order to identify and weed-out ineffective lead-generating strategies.
Once you have worked out what seems to be working make sure you focus on those winning initiatives. Recognising this success is vital so you can replicate this process again and again.
It’s also worth remembering that campaigns work in different periods of time. What didn’t work this year might work next year or during another cycle of the market or sales season.
*Top tip: Make sure you hold on to ideas that, while they may not have generated a huge amount of customers, did show some promising results by attracting useful leads. Those “runner up” strategies might produce paying customers at a slower rate too, so don’t write them off prematurely.
I hope this has given you lots of ideas on how to grow your business quickly and effectively. While it is tempting to grow your business through generating new leads, much of the secret to rapid business growth lies within your already established customer base. Spend time nurturing and looking after your valuable customers and you will see your numbers grow, grow, grow!
To find out more about how I may be able to help your Norfolk business thrive then please don’t hesitate to get in touch on 01603 559590 or email markwilliams@actioncoach.com – you can also get in touch through my contact form here. If you’d like to know a little more about my experience, expertise and accolades then click here.
Thinking small means staying small. Discover how to harness your business mindset and increase your business success.
Have you ever wondered how some business owners leap effortlessly from working out of a small room in their house, to running a large, profit-generating company that employs teams of people?
Meanwhile, you’ve been working all the hours under the sun, yet you’re still barely covering the monthly bills.
But those big, hotshot business owners aren’t necessarily any more talented than you.
They’ve just developed a focused, business mindset for success, that’s all.
Business Success? It’s All in Your Head
Though their businesses are different, there’s one thing all successful business owners have in common.
They focus on three key principles, which are:
Money: they understand exactly how their business makes money (and how much their business costs), so they can implement the right financial management systems.
Marketing: they create compelling and engaging marketing strategies, regularly analysing their results so they lead directly to more sales.
Mindset: they develop a resilient mental attitude that allows them to make decisions, solve problems, bounce back from obstacles, and manage their success.
Business mindset is the most powerful principle of all, because it underpins everything else you do in business.
So, here’s how to start developing a business success mindset that will help pave your way from micro to macro.
Your Business Mindset will Bring You Your Own Version of Success
What does “success” mean to you?
It could be endless wealth, with your own private island, celebrity friends, and a collection of vintage cars, or it could be simple security and comfort.
Defining your own version of success is important, because it’s only then that you can start planning towards it in a purposeful and measurable way.
For example, visualising the wealthy scenario may mean starting work on an ultimate goal of making millions, whereas security may mean earning enough for you to be mortgage-free.
Understand the Power of Your Brand
Many people immediately think “logo” when they think brand.
But your logo is only a small outcome of your brand development.
Your brand is your unique personality – it’s everything people think, hear, see, and feel about your business.
Essentially, you are operating in a crowded marketplace, your brand is the thing separates you from all the other businesses offering similar products and services.
Build Trusted Business Relationships
Connections are not relationships.
As an example, look at the number of followers your business has on each social media platform. How many of them do you know personally?
Developing deeper, more long-term relationships based on trust will help you succeed in business, because we are all naturally geared to help those people we know and like.
Which leads on to…
Give Without Expecting to Get
One of the most important tools in your business mindset kit is to offer your connections something of value first.
For example, instead of starting conversations by telling people what you do, ask what they need help with.
Listen, share ideas, offer introductions… anything that you can see helps others out. You’ll develop a reputation based on trust and helpfulness, which is something everybody values in business.
(Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you won’t receive so much as a response in return, but when you do, the experience can be truly magical!)
Invest in Others’ Expertise
Whenever I am asked what is the missing link between a promising businessperson and a successful one, mentoring comes to mind
Sir Richard Branson
Investing in your future business success is essential.
As a micro business owner, ask yourself why others should buy from you, if you’re not prepared to invest in support and expertise that elevates you above your competition.
No one person knows everything about business (and nor should they) which is why drawing upon others’ professional skills – just as they will draw upon yours – will help you on your way from micro to macro.
I may be biased, but mentoring, as Richard Branson mentions, is a great start!
Someone who has been there, done that, and got the T-shirt to prove it will help you focus on your personal version of success, helping you develop the right business mindset while sidestepping all those classic business mistakes.
You’ll also have the benefit of a brain to pick and an ear to listen when the going gets tough.
If you’d like to discuss what the power of mentoring could do for your business, why not book a complimentary, half-hour Breakthrough Session now?
If you’re stuck in a job you hate or one you no longer enjoy and dream of the transition from employee to business owner, swapping it for the life of an entrepreneur can seem incredibly tempting.
Freedom. Control. Money!
Not to mention the word “entrepreneur” itself, which sounds so independent and thrilling.
It’s a word that tells others you’re not a corporate drone. You’re a go-getter who had the courage to leave a job or someone who has grasped redundancy by the collar, so you could make your business dreams come true.
But as someone who’s experienced life on both sides of the fence, I can tell you this: the grass isn’t always greener!
For one thing, becoming an entrepreneur means losing the security that comes with your regular salary, swapping it for all the risk that comes with going it alone.
Suddenly, there are no colleagues around to help you out when things get tough. You’re responsible for EVERYTHING, which can feel as though a rug has been swiftly pulled out from under you.
That learning curve can feel incredibly steep (and it never seems to straighten out!)
Don’t get me wrong. Making the transition from employee to business owner – via a side-hustle – counts among the best, most exciting experiences of my life.
But there have been some extremely rough times too, and I’d be lying if I said it was a journey everybody should take.
I’ve worked with lots of start-up founders over the years, which means I’ve seen the same mistakes (some of which I made myself) happen over and over again.
So, here are six fatal flaws to avoid when transitioning from employee to business owner.
1. Lack of Knowledge and Focus on ‘Business’
You can be amazing at whatever you make or do.
But you’ll also need to have some understanding of the mechanics of business, if you’re going to make the transition from employee to business owner and become a successful entrepreneur.
That’s because running a business involves so much more than designing a logo, setting up a website, and opening a bank account.
It’s a skillset that involves everything from planning and forecasting, to market research, selling, and ensuring you can attract (and keep!) customers.
2. Not Understanding How Long It Takes to Be Profitable
This might come as a surprise, but business isn’t just about making money, it’s also about spending it.
There will be costs associated with things like website design, hosting, and maintenance, marketing, memberships, admin assistance, and so on.
And that’s before we move on to things like getting customers, which is not guaranteed. And, I hate to say it but it’s an unhappy fact, some people just won’t pay when they say they will (or at all).
Try not to be disheartened if the money doesn’t flow in immediately. Seth Godin once said:
It takes about six years of hard work to become an overnight success
And I can report that he’s right!
3. A Belief That Start-Up Life is More Fun than Challenging
Oh my goodness, I don’t want to sound like a prophet of doom – honestly. But, remember I said that the grass isn’t always greener?
So you think you’re frustrated and challenged at work now, just wait until you’re an entrepreneur!
The transition from employee to business owner can be compared to a rollercoaster ride, with the same exhilarating highs, and the same plummeting lows.
As for free time, what’s that? In the beginning, you’ll be so consumed with business tasks so things like binge-watching on Netflix and (paid) holidays will feel like dusty relics from the past.
Also bear in mind that no-one will pay you for being sick anymore, and you’ll only receive professional development if you can make time (and pay!) for it yourself.
But, would I ever go back to the 9 to 5, even with all these challenges (they never go away, just become easier to manage). No I would not!
4. Thinking “It’s All About Me”
It may not seem this way from the articles and stories you read about popular entrepreneurs, but there’s no room for ego in business.
Your customers must ALWAYS come first.
That means dedicating yourself to providing the very best service or products possible – and that dedication has to override everything else.
You have one, very simple job as a business owner. It’s to make your customers love your products and services as much as you do. In order for that to happen they need to know, like and trust you. For that to happen, you need to be there for them.
The customer isn’t king (or queen); they aren’t always right. They do need to be nurtured and to feel the love.
5. Being Unprepared for Loneliness
When I started out on my own, I missed the office banter and ‘water cooler’ moments I’d taken for granted in my job.
It took me a while to get used to being on my own for a large part of each day (though not completely alone… my cats now know everything there is to know about running a business!)
You can combat loneliness by getting out and networking, joining a supportive group to chat with, and finding an experienced mentor to business bounce ideas off.
The important thing to remember about having a job is, if you don’t like it, you can always swap it for another one.
You can also take a holiday, a sabbatical, or a break whenever you choose.
But when you own a business, your life and your work become intertwined, and that’s not always the picture of sunshine and roses some people try to paint!
You could say that being an entrepreneur is like Marmite, in that some people try it and hate it, while others love it so much that they’d never go back to a 9-5.
And, you know what? There is nothing wrong with that. If you give business ‘a go’ and find it’s not for you, going back to work is absolutely OK. The most awful thing would be to feel trapped, or worse, a failure if it doesn’t work for you. You are no such thing. Like Marmite, it’s for some, but not for others.
Here’s An Important Question to Help You Transition from Employee to Business Owner
Has this list of flaws put you off becoming a business owner?
If it has, the lifestyle might not be for you… and that’s OK! There’s no shame in admitting that you’d rather be employed than self-employed.
But if you’re still raring to go for it, it’s time to think hard.
Don’t view entrepreneurship as an escape from an unhappy job. It can be that, it is also much more. You will need to make some serious adjustment (as we’ve seen.)
Why not start a side-hustle first, to test your ideas and give yourself a taste of start-up life before jumping in?
Make use of your corporate connections, and don’t burn your bridges by sticking two fingers up to the boss and walking out!
You never know whose help you’ll end up needing along the way… and one day you may even want to go back.
In the meantime, get some more advice from someone who’s been there and done that. Book a half-hour, complimentary Breakthrough Session with me will help clarify your next – exciting! – steps.
What happens when you fail at something? Do you brush yourself off and start over, or slink away in embarrassment, vowing never to try anything new again? If it’s the latter, you’re missing out on a valuable learning experience that every successful businessperson understands well – failure will teach you so much more then success ever will.
You never learn from success, but you do learn from failure
James Dyson
James Dyson is well-placed to talk about failure, since it took him over 5,000 attempts to create his famous Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner!
Other ‘famous failures’ include WD-40 (40 indicates the number of failed formulas that came before the one that worked).
Even the humble Post-It note took 12 years of development – and constant rejection – before it became the office essential it is now.
Did you know there’s even a Museum of Failure, that exhibits failed products and services from around the world?
“Innovation needs failure” is the museum’s motto, and among its big-brand exhibits are Google Glass, what was intended to be an ‘improved taste’ Coke, and fat-free Pringles (a terrible idea if I ever heard one!)
Why Don’t We Talk About Failure More Often?
It’s a good question.
We see, hear, and read so much about successful people and their brilliant businesses, that it’s easy to feel like you’re the only one who ever gets things wrong.
But many people are so scared of failure, that they don’t get started – so we never get to hear about their eventual success!
As someone who has failed many times in the past, my advice is that it’s always better to throw yourself in, and give your ideas a good go.
OK, so you may not get a ‘perfect’ result. But while it’s hard to get things 100% right, it’s just as hard to get things 100% wrong.
That means there will ALWAYS be something you can take away and learn from… and maybe even get right the next time.
And, of course, there are people like me – Business Mentors – whose role it is to help, support and nurture you. This means you can make those failures with the assurance that there will be someone there to catch you when you fall and put you back on your feet again.
When we fail, we’re reminded that nothing stays the same, and that we can never be in complete control.
So, we have to be as open and responsive as we can, adjusting our plans when the unexpected happens (we all have recent experience of this!) and trusting that others – such as those we’ve outsourced work to – will do what they say.
Our greatest glory is not in falling, but in rising every time we fall
Rocky Balboa
Failure makes us value what we work for
If we have to work hard for something, we naturally value it more.
That means when we try again in business, we know exactly why it’s so important to do things like attracting customers, developing strong relationships, or even getting to grips with podcasting.
We understand more about what we’re striving for.
Failure teaches us how to survive and grow
I can clearly remember all my lowest points, in my life and in my business.
While they were horrendous at the time, they also helped me realise that nothing was more important than getting myself back on track.
To do that, I had to face everything that had gone wrong, so I could learn from it all.
I call this realisation ‘finding your imperative’. It’s the ‘thing’ that makes you do whatever you have to do, almost instinctively.
And in my experience, nothing is more effective at helping you find your imperative than failure!
We don’t start learning until we have failed
People telling us that “the sky’s the limit”, and “anything’s possible”, and “follow these tips for success” is all well and good.
But no advice really takes form until the stuff hits the fan!
That’s when we tend to realise the difference between knowing and owning… because unless we ‘own’ whatever we need to do, we probably won’t do it!
Failure brings a world of opportunity
Failure means we’ve been given the chance to take stock, pause, then take a deep breath and start again.
Nine times out of ten, if we’ve honestly learned from failure, we’ll come back bigger, better, and bolder than we were before.
Failure has taught me to question my assumptions, do different, more successful things, and meet amazing people who have brought so much to my business, and to me personally.
Failure translates into courage
One of my core values is ‘courageous’.
Everyone who starts a business has to have courage, because as we know, there are no guarantees of success!
I was no different, starting a business aged 40, armed with nothing but enthusiasm and what I hoped was a good idea.
Interestingly, failure can even give us a courageous boost at times, since it teaches us how powerful and resilient we can be, both as people and as business owners.
Failure encourages inner strength
Failure teaches a positive mental attitude, as we realise that we can look at things with a ‘glass half empty’ or a ‘glass half full’ approach!
(One approach is much more appealing to customers than the other… can you guess which?)
It helps to remember things like this when you feel like giving up – and we all have days like that.
Remember that it’s a positive step to admit you need help, too, so don’t suffer in silence if that feeling of not wanting to get out of bed persists.
Failure reveals your true support network
Surrounding yourself with positive people is much better for you than spending time with people who are always complaining, or talking about themselves.
Think pipes versus drains! People fall into two categories: pipes or drains.
Water pipes bring us fresh water and allow us to feel refreshed; there are people like that. On the other hand, drains carry waste and effluent; there are people like that. So, question. Which type of people do you think you should surround yourself with – especially if failure is something you fear.
With ‘pipe’ people around you, when you need help, you can feel confident that you’ll receive it… so there’s no need to keep putting a brave face on.
Please Don’t Be Afraid to Fail!
As we’ve seen, the biggest, brightest, and best cite failure as the very thing that propelled them towards the success they enjoy now.
So why not join their ranks, by shouting, “come on failure, do your worst!”
If you could do with some help turning failure into success, or you want to understand how you can learn from your experiences, why not get in touch?
As a business mentor who’s seen it, done it, and worn the T-shirt, I can help motivate you to become even better than you think you can be.
Your market is the area or industry your organisation is operating in. It’s your field, your customers, your competitors. You can see then, how understanding your market is essential if you’re going to build a successful organisation. Finding out what your audience really wants will help you improve your products and services to meet their needs. By discovering how your competitors work, you can find ways to improve on your products and services to give your organisation an advantage.
Carrying out research on your market will allow you to create effective advertising and find new ideas for your products and services. It will also help you to understand the competition you face and help you to price competitively.
In this lesson, we will review the different types of market research and why it’s important for you and your organisation.
Gaining market awareness can be done in a number of ways. From online research, reading newspapers and other publications, speaking to friends and employees, talking with your customers, analysing your competitors’ business approach, analysing sales, to taking a note of trends happening in your business.
Informal research
This kind of research typically describes the gathering of information and opinions through conversation, surveys or more basic research techniques. For example, surveying of customers and potential customers to gain their feedback on a regular basis or reading a book on your organisation’s market. We’ll go into more detail in section 3.
Carl used informal research to set up ‘The Badger, a successful wine bar and craft ale house. He used Facebook to gain customer feedback and identified a real gap in the market, allowing him to build his business to fill it.
Formal research
In contrast with informal research, this research would be carefully planned and carried out, probably by a professional, to support a key organisational project or decision. The researcher should have a clear brief, budget and timescale.
View Chapter 2 here Improving your market awareness
Lessons for life, for businesses and for charities
Whether you want to improve your career or give your business or charity a boost, the Academy has lessons and skills training for you.
So you work for yourself. You’re either a director or you’re self employed – it doesn’t really matter which. You work 40+ hours a week and you rarely make it home by 6pm. But you wish you could. You wish you didn’t have to work so much and you realise something needs to change.
This is something which is felt by so many business owners. You leave your secure job in search of freedom, more money, more time and the ability to create your own path (just some of the reasons atleast), but more often of not business owners gravitate towards the hamster wheel, racing from one job to the next with little thought about why you went into business in the first place.
The clock doesn’t stop. You can’t magic more time out of thin air, but what you can do is master yourself through managing your tasks, your goals and your productivity in order to create more time to do the most important tasks to drive your business forward and achieve the results you want to see. The results you always thought you would achieve, but you’ve never ‘got around’ to working on.
Here are our top 6 ways on how to make sure you’re back for dinner:
Start at the end and work backwards – How many hours a day do you want invest in your business and at what points during the day do you want to invest them? Do you work best at particular times in the day or do you want to be the one to pick your children up from school? Through working out what the end game is you can then work towards that and create plans in order to achieve your goals.
Think about your lunch break. Hands up if you’re a ‘grab and go’ type. Sandwich at the desk whilst replying to emails with one hand kinda business owner? We’ve all done it. However, through taking time out at lunch time and enjoying your 30minutes-hour off you come back sharp and motivated, which lasts through the afternoon. It was well reported earlier in the year that Boris Johnson takes a short post-lunch nap, and whilst this was firmly rebutted by Downing Street it sparked a debate about the health benefits of napping. According to NASA and a study from Harvard Medical School napping can help with information processing, aid memory formation, regulate emotions, support the immune system and increase alertness. Not bad. It is also widely reported that napping is not for everyone and that some may find it counterproductive. If napping works for you then this may be something to consider in order to keep as focused and productive during your working hours.
Work out what your top time wasters are. Are they your staff? Is it notifications on your phone? Once you know where you are most unproductive it’s time to tackle those areas. Social media and notifications can be easier to handle, however if you have staff who come to your regularly with issues or questions then this is something which you can manage more effectively. Could your staff need more autonomy and confidence to make decisions for themselves? Or perhaps they need some more in-depth training and support to get comfortable with their role? Through increasing their confidence you will automatically find that they come to you less and you therefore have more time to do the important jobs.
Make a list of routine tasks – hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly. Then prioritise these tasks. Once you know what needs to be done and in what order, you can create a default diary for each week so you know how to spend your time each day. This will sharpen up your focus and enable to you work towards your goals more effectively. A great idea is to then give your default diary to someone else – perhaps your PA. This will hold you accountable and breed productivity.
Outsource or delegate. Once you have created your default diary you may like to work out where the majority of your business comes from and the work you need to do to attract it. Can you easily increase sales through being more productive in this area? If so then it may make sense to outsource or delegate jobs which you are doing that others can take charge of. This will free your time up to focus on the really important areas. As long as the cost of delegation doesn’t outweigh the new opportunities then it’s a no brainer.
Providing employees with the right tools and equipment is important so they can perform their duties efficiently and on time. There’s nothing more counterproductive than spending time waiting for paperwork to print because you haven’t got a fast printing device. High-quality, modern programs and equipment make a massive difference, not only to the workforce but also to how your company is perceived.
Being proactive rather than reactive in business is vital for increased productivity. Goals, focus, managing staff effectively, ensuring the correct procedures and equipment are in place and knowing when to delegate are all key elements in ensuring you can make the best use of your time in order to stop working 40 hour weeks and to make it home in time for tea!
Good luck! If you need any help with how to implement any of the above into your business then I’m always here to chat.
To find out more about how I may be able to help your Norfolk business thrive then please don’t hesitate to get in touch on 01603 559590 or email markwilliams@actioncoach.com – you can also get in touch through my contact form here. If you’d like to know a little more about my experience, expertise and accolades then click here.
By Alex Sellers, Director of Learning and Development at Turning Factor
There are countless articles and books written on the subject of motivation, and in particular, how to get the most out of our employees in the workplace. It is fairly clear that there is no one set of step-by-step rules to encourage people to maintain 110% effort 100% of the time.
Motivation can be defined as energy. Consider for a moment how you feel when you are motivated or demotivated. Are you energised? Are you engaged? Or do you feel lacklustre, tired and stressed? If we have too many people in our teams and businesses who are consistently demotivated, then the impact can be dramatic and difficult to recover. It is well known that negativity breeds negativity – when people feel isolated, frustrated and disengaged, the natural inclination is to pull other people into that world to create justification for these negative feelings. The literal opposite is true of teams and organisations where there are high levels of motivation and engagement – there is a competitive advantage to having high levels of motivation present across your organisation.
What is clear is that beyond strategy, structure, traditional performance management and organisational objective setting lies a universal and underpinning truth.
This truth is that people in the workplace have a choice about how much and what kind of energy they put into the work they do. This is called ‘discretionary effort’ and that there are many factors that can influence this choice. It is our role, as leaders and managers, to understand these factors and, therefore, what influences people’s levels of motivation.
So what can we do as leaders to encourage our people to remain focussed and engaged in their activities? Studies show that people are more engaged in their work through the right balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors.
Let’s look for a second at Frederick Herzberg’s ‘Two Factor theory of Motivation’, a widely accepted theory, which he developed in 1959 following a study of over 200 professional workers at the Ford Motor Factory. Herzberg suggests that there are two principal and different areas of need in the workplace that affect satisfaction and motivation. His work follows on from Abraham Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ and is classified in the group of motivational studies that are based around human beings’ desire to satisfy a need.
Herzberg stated that there are two distinct areas that we as leaders and managers need to pay attention to. The first of these areas he called hygiene factors, and they include things like working conditions, relationships with our peers and supervisors and, interestingly, pay. He found that the perceived absence of any of these factors would create dissatisfaction and he also found that if these factors were sufficiently present (in the perception of the workers), they would not increase levels of motivation, they would simply prevent dissatisfaction. The second of these two areas he referred to as motivators and these included things like achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth and the nature of the work itself. He found that when these factors were sufficiently present, they could positively motivate and when they were not present, they could demotivate. The two factors exist separately and the factors lead to positve motivation are fundamentally different nature to those that lead to dissatisfaction.
The beauty in Herzberg’s theory lies not in the precise validity (which has been challenged due to the size of the control group) but in how we look at the things that are important to us and our teams in the workplace. Consider for a second how you feel or felt when you got a pay rise. I am sure there would have been the flush of excitement, the thoughts of what we could do with the money and the added security … but how long did these feelings last? Now consider for a second the deeper reward that a pay increase gives us. Surely the pay increase has more meaning when we understand that it is a recognition of our value to the organisation that has garnered this increase. Herzberg found that the two most important motivating factors were achievement and recognition. He also found that hygiene factors had to be present to avoid dissatisfaction, but could not in themselves alone increase levels of motivation.
So, when we are in our businesses and our teams perhaps it is not enough to simply address the working conditions, environment or get the exciting new gadget. We need to be paying very close attention to how we are challenging, enriching, supporting and recognising our individuals and teams for the work that they do.
To consistently encourage high levels of motivation we should be looking to empower, challenge and engage our team members and ensure that we support and recognise their hard work and efforts towards our mutual goals. As managers, we should be constantly on the look out for things that we think are motivating our team, but are actually hygiene factors. The point is that we have to work hard to encourage positive motivation and we have to have the courage and self-awareness to challenge our own preconceptions of what truly motivates an individual. Simply put, we have to invest our time and energy to see the results. But when we do, those results will be dramatic and inspiring.
Turning Factor are taking a leading role in shaping the future of the local business community. Turning Factor, Strategic Partners of the Norfolk Chambers, demonstrate their position as exceptional leaders with a commitment to supporting growth for the Norfolk business community. See more about Patron & Partners here >
Client retention is one of THE most important parts of your business, especially in a time when anxiety is high and spending power may be slightly decreased due to uncertainty in the marketplace.
Focusing on your customers, building the trust, loyalty and their confidence in you is hugely important to your bottom line. After all, it could be your most loyal customers who are seeing you through these slightly rougher seas.
Right now customers are acutely aware of how businesses are handling the current crisis, with those showing care, empathy and compassion emerging as leaders in their industry. Never has there been a better time to focus on your brand values, ethics (for both your customers and your staff) and your purpose.
Turning customers into loyal and raving fans is a process which we call ‘Ladder of Loyalty’ and it goes like this:
1. Initially you have Suspects. Suspects are clients/customers who you feel could potentially be interested in your products/services. To get them hooked think of ways to grab their attention. That could be great social media content, a blog, collaborating with another business, an event, an invitation to an event (the invitation itself could be just what they need, even if they can’t attend).
2. Suspects then turn to Prospects. Prospects are essentially Suspects who have shown interest in what you sell. They have taken the first step of engagement and seem warm to the idea of what they could buy from you. According to the book Never Lose A Customer Again by Joey Coleman a Prospect is in the ‘Assess’ phase at this point. “The customer is hopeful that you’ll be able to help, but it’s cautious optimism at best. If you don’t position yourself as fulfilling your needs while wrapping them in a great customer experience, they won’t choose to work with you. If you can convince them that you are the best choice, they will move forward with the purchase. This dance between customer and the organisation is what most people would refer to as “sales and marketing.” The potential customer is assessing their options.” – Joey Coleman.
3. Shoppers are not like a Customer. Shoppers are those who have invested once in your product or service. They have seen the value of what you do and handed over their cash. Here is when you can start the process of keeping your shoppers loyal to turn them into a client/customer. Let them know how much their custom means to you – if you are a relatively small business you could perhaps tell them how their custom affects you/your staff/your family. Bring your shoppers into the fold and make them feel valued and appreciated. This phase is usually where a customer can begin to doubt their decision to work with you – commonly known as ‘buyers remorse’. This is where your communication skills play a huge part and can re-affirm the initial feelings of euphoria and excitement which your customer felt at the start of their buying journey with you.
4. Next up is moving your Shoppers into Customers. Customers are those who have made multiple transactions with you. They have purchased your goods or services 2 or 3 times and they’re beginning to feel some form of loyalty to you. Often this will be because of a mixture of a few key elements such as pricing, communication, brand values and ethics, customer experience and locality. These Customers need nurturing. Could you offer them exclusive deals? Boden do this in the form of a £10 discount offer to those who regularly buy from them online. If you offer a service are there any critical non-essentials you can send them as a thank you for their custom – everyone loves an unexpected card and box of chocolates. If your business is a one time purchase (like weddings) then perhaps there are special offers or bundled packages you can offer for future milestones like birthdays/babies/special occasions. I’m sure there are many ways you can reward your local customers to turn them into…. (go to point 5.)
5. A member. Your Customers reach Member level once they are fully engaged with your business. Now they are more than a Customer. They are a friend of your business who actively believes in what you do/sell and has some deeper connection with you. Members feel a part of what you’re doing. At this stage you want to build this connection. Can you take them out for ‘member meals’, invite them to join you at events, give them a relationship manager so they can always deal with the same individual, who in turn will get to know and understand their needs to further build the relationship. Ask them when their birthday is and make sure you send them a postcard or little gift to make them feel special.
6. Nxt up is an Advocate. Once you start moving beyond the Member level you should be able to rely on your Advocates to help YOU market YOUR business. See what’s happened here – your clients/customers/members have turned into a marketing resource for your business as a result of all the time your have spent building your relationship with them. An Advocate is someone who will respond very positively when asked about their experience with your business. They will say things like ‘I would highly recommend them’, ‘You must work with them/buy their products’. ‘I wouldn’t know what I’d do without xxx, they have really helped me’. Word of mouth is THE most powerful form of marketing and it’s your Advocates that will do this for you. Advocates appreciate your level of customer service and they feel a strong connection to your business/your staff/you. The key to building Advocates is to stay connected with them. Keep in touch with them to see how they are doing and send regular exclusive offers/invitations. Maintain this level of service to keep them feeling loyal.
7. Finally we move to Raving Fans. Raving Fans are simply the best type of customer for any business. They have bought into what you do with such emotion and understanding that they want to spread the word about what they have found. They feel proud to buy from you/use your services and you have made their life so much better that they want to shout about you. If you have Raving Fans then you know how to keep your customers loyal! Just keep doing what you’re doing and MAINTAIN the level of service you offer them!
One final note – if you are serious about client retention and working out how you can best navigate your way to gaining more and more advocates then we’d highly recommend you to read ‘Never Lose A Customer’ by Joey Coleman. Read his first 3 chapters here – we’re pretty sure you’ll get hooked pretty quickly!
To find out more about how I may be able to help your Norfolk business thrive then please don’t hesitate to get in touch on 01603 559590 or email markwilliams@actioncoach.com – you can also get in touch through my contact form here. If you’d like to know a little more about my experience, expertise and accolades then click here.
It was a statement I had expressed hundreds of times before, “continuous personal development (CPD) is fundamental in progression of not only your career, but also your life”.
It was a statement I had expressed hundreds of times before, “continuous personal development (CPD) is fundamental in progression of not only your career, but also your life”.
I was speaking with a new group of Operations & Departmental Manager learners at a large company specialising in the oil and gas industry. These were people experienced in their fields and now being prepared for future career progression as managers through the apprenticeship levy. We spoke about how CPD was not only about work, but also how outside interests could also play a part in how they viewed their world in general.
“Everyday is an opportunity to learn something new, even if that is for our own journey and mental health.”
I have recently started a bee keeping course, firstly to build on my hobby of producing delicious and natural treats for the home (I produced my first batch of cider last autumn), and secondly, to carry on my own yearning to continuously learn new skills. Whilst neither of these learning experiences are directly linked to my work, I do bring my newly acquired learning into my training and to demonstrate areas such as supply chain management and entrepreneurial mindset. Everyday is an opportunity to learn something new, even if that is for our own journey and mental health.
So I was surprised this morning to come across some information which prompted me to put fingers to keyboard (whatever happened to pen to paper?)
People aged 30 to 44 spend just nine minutes a day on average on improving their qualifications. And for people aged 45 to 64, the figure is even lower — only four minutes.
“For me, CPD narrows the gap between what we know and what we don’t know that we don’t know!”
It appears that we give little thought to our own personal development, but why? Whether it is furthering our career possibilities, or moving our business forward, it is my belief that CPD is key to personal growth. I see this daily with apprentices of all ages, I witness their growth and how they increase their understanding of the world around them. For me, CPD narrows the gap between what we know and what we don’t know that we don’t know!
As someone who went back to academia after being in business for over twenty years, probably the biggest lesson I took away with me was that if we want to create new, innovative and impactful ventures, then we had better have a wider contextual view of the world around us. That view can only be enhanced by learning new skills and having an understanding of the skills we do not have, or are unable to attain, therefore bringing them in from the outside. That allows us to join the entrepreneurial dots and see what others cannot.
So how is your CPD? Will it allow you to move forward and grow? Even a small amount on a regular basis can make a lasting impact and as we all know, there is no better time than NOW to begin.
There is arguably no more pure form of leadership than coaching a sports team, and business leaders can take many lessons from the world of sports team management.
I had a manager at work a few years ago who had rowed for Australia. He had a phrase he often used that has stuck with me: “Don’t say anything unless it makes the boat go faster.” In its literal application, it made sure team members only opened their mouth in competition if it helped correct a fault or offer encouragement. In the five and a half minutes it takes an eight-man team to complete a race, there is no time for negativity or personal agendas. Every second literally counts.
Of course, the use of sports phrases in business is nothing new. Whether you have a ‘game plan’, are ‘pitching’ to a client, or have just ‘dropped the ball’, the lingo crops up every day.
And more useful than these simple idioms has been the motivational wisdom shared by the great sports coaches over the years. Scan YouTube for motivational speeches and it is a mixture of sports stars and business leaders sharing their advice.
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary,” – Vince Lombardi
Perhaps you’ll just find them as memes on your social media feeds, but maybe you have the odd one printed or framed as an inspirational trigger. Lombardi was the first truly great sports coach to be thought of in this way. The hugely successful Green Bay Packers coach of 1960s American Football revolutionised what it was to coach a sports team. He was capable of gems such as: “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilisation work.”
And…
“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”
Teamwork and self-discipline were the pillars of his philosophy. He was very much about the greater good of a team; it was almost a form of sports socialism. Without that, he felt that you just have a group of people doing their own thing.
The challenge in business, as in sport, is to get them working together smoothly. And that often needs a whole range of skills.
Great sports teams are often led by an inspirational character with powerful motivational skills – most often someone who has played the sport themselves and walked in their shoes. They can understand the challenges the team faces, because they faced them in the past.
There is invariably plenty of communication happening on the sports field – much of it robust and direct. Shouting, gestures, instructing each other. And an acceptance that it is all in the name of the team’s greater good. There is an implicit trust that it’s not just about the individual’s need to be heard.
This trust comes from training and preparation. And unlike the business world in some respects, the majority of what a sports team does is preparation. Almost 90% of time is spent getting ready to do the job of competing. While this isn’t possible for the business world, you do sometimes get a sense that people at work are always busy. Flat out ‘doing stuff’ to justify their existence. Perhaps not enough time is spent thinking and planning.
“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal,” – Lombardi
And of that thinking time, the vast majority will be spent analysing what went wrong, rather than focusing on success and what you’re good at. Sport is always about looking at the positives and becoming even better.
Of all the modern sports, Premier League soccer in England is perhaps where sports coaches are most tested.
The parallels with commerce are strong – the Premier League is big business. A manager needs to recruit a diverse bunch of individuals with the budget at their disposal, get a strategy in place, manage and motivate large egos and achieve results almost immediately. Change management at an acute level.
The average tenure of a football manager in the EPL is just over a year. And the resilience they have to display in the face of incredible scrutiny can be soul destroying. Nearly three years, Bob Bradley took over at Swansea City, having previously managed the American national soccer team. He lasted 11 games in around 85 days and was sacked.
Imagine the CEO of Telstra or Optus sacked after less than three months, while simultaneously being booed by a stadium full of customers and their results picked apart right the way across the media as a form of entertainment.
Accept what you cannot control, and focus on what you can affect is one of the lessons business leaders can learn from sports coaches.
To survive 27 years as a Premier League manager then, takes a special individual. Step forward Sir Alex Ferguson.
In over 38 years in management, the working-class Scotsman won an astonishing 49 trophies. He helped grow Manchester United into one of the biggest brands in the world. And interestingly often credits the workers at the shipyards in Glasgow where he grew up, as an inspiration for the teamwork he strived for.
Obviously his management credentials are respected in the sporting world, but they have also been recognised elsewhere. Professor Anita Elberse of Harvard Business School called him “one of the world’s all-time great leaders”.
Ferguson has had a book published called Leading, co-written with his friend and long-time collaborator Sir Michael Moritz, a successful venture capitalist. It is about the lessons he learned in football that can be applied to business and everyday life.
Ferguson was the manager who showed David Beckham the door when he felt Becks had become bigger than the team. His book focuses on the qualities he identifies for team success: hiring and firing the right personnel, mastering boardroom politics, coming back from failure and adversity, discipline, control. But also perhaps unexpected skills such as data analysis and delegation.
And famous for trusting young players such as the Class of ‘92, Ferguson believes youth has a strong part to play in business. “If I were running a company, I would always want to listen to the thoughts of its most talented youngsters, because they are the people most in touch with the realities of today and the prospects for tomorrow.”
In researching this piece, a number of threads came to the fore from various sports and coaches; here are nine recurring themes about what business leaders can learn from sports coaches:
Teamwork, communication and self-discipline are the cornerstones of team success
Perfection never happens – so don’t let its pursuit slow you down
Failure usually comes before success – you win or you learn
Be obsessed with improving
Accept what you cannot control, and focus on what you can affect
Simplify your game plan into manageable components for the individuals
Visualise success and understand what success looks like
Encourage diverse personalities – everyone has a different skill and role to play
And perhaps most importantly of all, especially for micro managers, remember that: Coaches can’t get out on the pitch and play. Set the game plan, communicate, motivate and then let your team go to work
The final word goes to John Calipari, an incredible university basketball coach in the US:
“Leadership is about serving everyone under you, asking yourself, ‘How do I give you the tools you need to succeed and proceed?’”
It’s a great lesson to take into business. But there are plenty of others…
9 lessons business leaders can learn from sports coaches
Leon Davies, Sustainability Consultant
There is arguably no more pure form of leadership than coaching a sports team, and business leaders can take many lessons from the world of sports team management.
I had a manager at work a few years ago who had rowed for Australia. He had a phrase he often used that has stuck with me: “Don’t say anything unless it makes the boat go faster.” In its literal application, it made sure team members only opened their mouth in competition if it helped correct a fault or offer encouragement. In the five and a half minutes it takes an eight-man team to complete a race, there is no time for negativity or personal agendas. Every second literally counts.
Of course, the use of sports phrases in business is nothing new. Whether you have a ‘game plan’, are ‘pitching’ to a client, or have just ‘dropped the ball’, the lingo crops up every day.
And more useful than these simple idioms has been the motivational wisdom shared by the great sports coaches over the years. Scan YouTube for motivational speeches and it is a mixture of sports stars and business leaders sharing their advice.
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary,” – Vince Lombardi
Perhaps you’ll just find them as memes on your social media feeds, but maybe you have the odd one printed or framed as an inspirational trigger. Lombardi was the first truly great sports coach to be thought of in this way. The hugely successful Green Bay Packers coach of 1960s American Football revolutionised what it was to coach a sports team. He was capable of gems such as: “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilisation work.”
And…
“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”
Teamwork and self-discipline were the pillars of his philosophy. He was very much about the greater good of a team; it was almost a form of sports socialism. Without that, he felt that you just have a group of people doing their own thing.
The challenge in business, as in sport, is to get them working together smoothly. And that often needs a whole range of skills.
Great sports teams are often led by an inspirational character with powerful motivational skills – most often someone who has played the sport themselves and walked in their shoes. They can understand the challenges the team faces, because they faced them in the past.
There is invariably plenty of communication happening on the sports field – much of it robust and direct. Shouting, gestures, instructing each other. And an acceptance that it is all in the name of the team’s greater good. There is an implicit trust that it’s not just about the individual’s need to be heard.
This trust comes from training and preparation. And unlike the business world in some respects, the majority of what a sports team does is preparation. Almost 90% of time is spent getting ready to do the job of competing. While this isn’t possible for the business world, you do sometimes get a sense that people at work are always busy. Flat out ‘doing stuff’ to justify their existence. Perhaps not enough time is spent thinking and planning.
“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal,” – Lombardi
And of that thinking time, the vast majority will be spent analysing what went wrong, rather than focusing on success and what you’re good at. Sport is always about looking at the positives and becoming even better.
Of all the modern sports, Premier League soccer in England is perhaps where sports coaches are most tested.
The parallels with commerce are strong – the Premier League is big business. A manager needs to recruit a diverse bunch of individuals with the budget at their disposal, get a strategy in place, manage and motivate large egos and achieve results almost immediately. Change management at an acute level.
The average tenure of a football manager in the EPL is just over a year. And the resilience they have to display in the face of incredible scrutiny can be soul destroying. Nearly three years, Bob Bradley took over at Swansea City, having previously managed the American national soccer team. He lasted 11 games in around 85 days and was sacked.
Imagine the CEO of Telstra or Optus sacked after less than three months, while simultaneously being booed by a stadium full of customers and their results picked apart right the way across the media as a form of entertainment.
Accept what you cannot control, and focus on what you can affect is one of the lessons business leaders can learn from sports coaches.
To survive 27 years as a Premier League manager then, takes a special individual. Step forward Sir Alex Ferguson.
In over 38 years in management, the working-class Scotsman won an astonishing 49 trophies. He helped grow Manchester United into one of the biggest brands in the world. And interestingly often credits the workers at the shipyards in Glasgow where he grew up, as an inspiration for the teamwork he strived for.
Obviously his management credentials are respected in the sporting world, but they have also been recognised elsewhere. Professor Anita Elberse of Harvard Business School called him “one of the world’s all-time great leaders”.
Ferguson has had a book published called Leading, co-written with his friend and long-time collaborator Sir Michael Moritz, a successful venture capitalist. It is about the lessons he learned in football that can be applied to business and everyday life.
Ferguson was the manager who showed David Beckham the door when he felt Becks had become bigger than the team. His book focuses on the qualities he identifies for team success: hiring and firing the right personnel, mastering boardroom politics, coming back from failure and adversity, discipline, control. But also perhaps unexpected skills such as data analysis and delegation.
And famous for trusting young players such as the Class of ‘92, Ferguson believes youth has a strong part to play in business. “If I were running a company, I would always want to listen to the thoughts of its most talented youngsters, because they are the people most in touch with the realities of today and the prospects for tomorrow.”
In researching this piece, a number of threads came to the fore from various sports and coaches; here are nine recurring themes about what business leaders can learn from sports coaches:
Teamwork, communication and self-discipline are the cornerstones of team success
Perfection never happens – so don’t let its pursuit slow you down
Failure usually comes before success – you win or you learn
Be obsessed with improving
Accept what you cannot control, and focus on what you can affect
Simplify your game plan into manageable components for the individuals
Visualise success and understand what success looks like
Encourage diverse personalities – everyone has a different skill and role to play
And perhaps most importantly of all, especially for micro managers, remember that: Coaches can’t get out on the pitch and play. Set the game plan, communicate, motivate and then let your team go to work
The final word goes to John Calipari, an incredible university basketball coach in the US:
“Leadership is about serving everyone under you, asking yourself, ‘How do I give you the tools you need to succeed and proceed?’”
It’s a great lesson to take into business. But there are plenty of others…
