To have a winning mindset, it sometimes requires time and effort as it involves changing ideas and assumptions that no longer serve us. The power of mindset is not just about talents, it mainly involves changing and improving. It also involves awareness and a ‘we’ attitude to create better environments for ourselves and for our organisations. The main traits to adopt a winning minset are: being aware of cognitive biases, cultivating a growth mindset and to improve our conversation intelligence.

1 – Being aware of cognitive biases

According to different authors in the field of behavioural economics, the human brain contains different cognitive biases and heuristics which clouds judgment and reasoning. The most common biases are the framing effect, anchoring, overconfidence, loss aversion and hindsight bias. These biases affect our decision-making progress leading to undesired outcomes.  

Many people  in the business sector are not even aware of the mental shortcuts generated by our brains so many cannot even distinguish between a subjective and an objective thought. For instance, overconfidence is something that is commonly heard in the business world. The idea that a person considers their judgement as much more reliable than the objective accuracy of those judgements. In other words, thinking that statistics do not apply to you or to your business only to others is a common mistake. 

 2 – Cultivating a growth mindset

In her book Mindset, Professor Dweck explains why it’s not our abilities and talent that bring us success – but whether people approach their goals with a fixed or growth mindset. A fixed mindset mainly consists of believing that one person’s talents and abilities are fixed and unchangeable. On the other hand, a growth mindset is all about improving our abilities through practice.  

If we use this perspective to observe our organisations, we will soon notice that leaders with a fixed mindset believe they are superior to others and they must affirm that they are superior through words and actions. This, in turn, creates and reinforces an environment of distrust. On the contrary, leaders with a growth mindset make the effort to create a supporting environment where no person or role is either superior or inferior which increases levels of trust and cooperation. 

3 – Conversational intelligence

According to Judith Glaser, author of Conversational intelligence, conversations have three dimensions.  

First dimension – Biochemical  

At this level, people are not communicating, their thinking gets clouded by assumptions, judgements and aggression. There is a lot of frustration and there in very poor listening. 

Second dimension – Relational  

This level is about sharing needs and aspirations with other who listen and are in a state of reciprocation. Ot is about connecting with others at a relational level. 

Third dimension – Co-creational  

This level is about co creating a new reality where both parties feel happy and satisfied. This goes beyond reaching goals or meeting needs. It is also more about engagement and influencing others at a transformational level. 

In conclusion, putting these ideas in practice will help you managing your organisation with the right mindset. However, if you need further assistance with integrating these ideas in your business, do not hesitate to book a consultation with us.

Whether you’re looking to sell your business or to get some pointers as for what direction shall you head towards, getting a business valuation is a great idea. And you know what is better than that? Getting it for free. For that very purpose we have our Value Builder System for you to utilize. 

To give you a small insight of what to expect, let’s just say there are many things to take into account if you plan of selling your business. Such would be: 

• Are YOU the engine that keeps the company going? How would things change if you were gone for a week? Would the business take a hit or would it be unaffected? 
• What do you depend on? Or rather – who? Is it a superstar team member or a very important customer that keep you afloat? 
• If the business goes into someone else’s hands, will the customers continue buying from it? 

Whatever your objective is, be it actually selling the business or to get pointers as what should the growth focus areas be, business assessment will highlight what drives the company value up and what drags it down. Such insights outline the course of actions to be taken and that’s precisely where the Value Builder and the score if provides comes to your aid. The system itself works in a way it recognizes all the potential things that undermine your business, and trust us, often you have no idea it is even there. The algorithm of this business valuation tool has been developed using quantitative research on successful business owners, alongside professionals that specialize in acquisition and mergers.  

We also know how little time business owners have. With that in mind, the Value Builder Score questionnaire will take you a total of 13 minutes and provide the result immediately. Yes, 13 minutes is all that’s needed for a business valuation! Don’t believe us? Give it a shot.  

The report won’t just give you a score: it will give you all the details, covering areas that are bringing you the most success and ones that are potentially devaluing your business. There is a total of 8 factors this business assessment system is built on and you will get a suggestion on opportunities covering each of them. 

So, what is next? If you need more assistance as for what next steps should you take with the newly acquired knowledge, we will arrange a 1 on 1 consultation with you. Don’t worry if you’re not a big business either; this business valuation model is designed for businesses at all stages and of all kinds.  

From our personal experience we can tell that usually the businesses that score over 80 on a business assessment via the Value Builder have about 71% higher chance of receiving an offer. Coincidence? We think not. Our skilled business coaches are well trained on all 8 factors and if the insights provided have been too daunting, we are here and we are happy to help. 

Are you familiar with upselling and cross-selling?  

When you go to McDonald’s and the kid behind the counter asks if you would like your meal “supersized,” that’s upselling. When that same kid then asks if you would like an apple pie to go with your supersized meal, that’s cross-selling. 

Upselling means offering a higher grade or quality or size of the item that the customer may be interested in at the point when the customer is ready to buy. 

Cross-selling means offering other products or services which complement the item the customer is interested in, at the point when the customer is ready to buy. Now here’s what most Business Owners don’t realise. 34% of prospects will buy additional products or services at the time of their original purchase…IF they’re asked to do so.  

Most businesses NEVER ask them, and they lose out on this lucrative opportunity to dramatically increase their revenue. Let me show you a brilliant example of this. 

The strategy here is to get yourself in front of your prospects as often as you can so you give yourself more opportunities to sell them more. 

So, let me show you how this strategy will work for a dentist.  

A dentist offers basic dental services like exams and teeth cleaning. That is NOT where they make their money. A dentist generates the vast majority of their revenue from cosmetic services, root canals, crowns, fillings and braces. So obviously the more patients they can get in front of, the more of these services they sell. 

The problem for dentists is that most people already have a dentist, and 90% of them will never change unless their dentist either retires or dies.  

So, what might convince someone to leave their current dentist? Consider these stats… 

85% of the population have medical insurance, but only 50% have dental insurance. Among those without dental insurance, 44% said that was the main reason they didn’t visit the dentist. See an opportunity here if you’re a dentist? 

What do you think might happen if some dentist specifically targeted families without dental insurance…and offered them virtually the exact same services as those with dental insurance…but without paying the expensive monthly premiums? 

Do I have your interest yet how is this applicable in terms of upselling and cross-selling? Scroll down for a surprise.  

There has NEVER been a better time to start and build your own enterprise… and never have you been able to get started with so little money.

We’ve helped hundreds of budding business owners  to successfully launch their new business the right way… and we will show you how to do it as well. Do you know what Apple, Amazon, Google, Disney, Virgin Records and Harley Davidson all have in common? They were all started in a garage! You’re about to learn their secrets to success… as well as the mistakes they made… and how they overcame them.

The three biggest mistkes that startups make are :

Mistake #1      they fail to get professional help.

Mistake #2      they don’t know the fundamentals required to successfully market their business and attract as many new clients as their business can handle.

Mistake #3    they have no idea how to use their marketing to generate immediate cash flow

With these mistales it is estimated that as many as 96% of all small business start-ups fail within their first 5 years. The main reason for this tremendously high failure rate has to do with the lack of expertise when it comes to generating leads and making your phone ring. Most small business start-ups do not know anything about these three  critical  things that marketing is supposed to do.

Its purpose is three-fold:

1. Capture the attention of your target market.
2. Give them enough information to make the best decision possible when buying from you.
3. Lower the risk of them taking the next step in your buying process

Marketing that accomplishes these three objectives will result in your prospects and customers coming to one single conclusion… that they would have to be an absolute fool to do business with anyone else but you, regardless of price.

To find out more about how to avoid critical mistakes in your market and how to adopt the right marketing approach to get the best results and more customers download our free Ebook now you can get your Ebook by clicking the link below.

Hiring the right people is arguably one of the most important things you can do to support the long-term success of your enterprise. And yet so many business owners approach hiring as an afterthought. They put a half-hearted ad in the local newspaper and hope to high heaven they get lucky and don’t invest into management training. 

This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make if you want your business to succeed. 

The solution to this problem is called an Employee Acquisition Plan–and you simply must implement one to your management training if you want to reduce staff-related headaches, shrink, and waste…not to mention find real, high-quality candidates to take over your business once you decide it’s time to move on. I always like to say that hiring is a lot like fishing: the more fish on deck, the choosier you can be! Here are four simple steps to making it happen… 

1.Write a Brilliant Job Description.  

The best way to catch a lot of fish (especially the right kind of fish!) is by using the best bait possible. Most job descriptions are anemic and weak. Make yours stand out! Write your job descriptions in “what’s in it for the applicant” language; be specific about the personality characteristics and qualifications needed; include the hours and earnings potential. Here are a couple of samples I’ve used with great results –feel free to borrow it the next time you have an opening:  

Superstars only! You can earn as much as £60K if you’re a star. Don’t even call unless you’re an overachiever and can prove it. Call between 12:00 and 2:00. NUMBER.  

If you’re the personal assistant we’re looking for, you’ll be…Driven, successful, and great at selling over the phone. Persuasive, independent when needed, sociable, assertive, and convincing. Pushed, asked to achieve great results, taught about business marketing and ultimately trained to manage a team. Responsible for following up leads and selling to business owners over the phone. Answering calls from clients and prospects, getting marketing letters in the mail, keeping communication flowing in the office. Ready to sell to dozens of business owners every week. Someone who only accepts the best performance from self and others, and fired up about taking on a long-term challenge to create success in your life and business. Full-time hours, earnings potential up to £100k per annum. If you believe this is you, be ready to show us why when you call before 5 p.m. this Thursday…..on NUMBER. 

2. Generate Leads.

• When hiring, you’ve got to be proactive, which is the foundation of management training! It’s not JUST about writing a great job description. It’s about getting that description in the hands of the right people. Here are seven great ways to find quality candidates… 
• Look within your ORGANISATION first; who can be promoted? 
• Call past high-quality team members and ask them, “Is there anything I can do to get you back?” 
• Post a sign on your door/window. 
• Post an ad in local newspapers. 
• Advertise in trade magazines and publications –this is a wonderful way to get highly targeted applications. 
• Create a recruiting incentive program and announce it to their team. Give staff members a bonus if they bring in a high-quality candidate. 
• Go to networking events and remember that every conversation is a potential interview.  

The point is to recognise how important hiring is to your ORGANISATION, and to be completely engaged in the process of finding the right fit.  

3. Implement a Pre-Interview Screening Process.

Too many business owners waste unnecessary time interviewing candidates who are not truly qualified. Fortunately, you can eliminate a lot of “dead weight” quickly, just by implementing a simple screening process. There are two strategies I recommend before you get to actual, in-person interviews… 

Voice Mail Screening. 

Set up a special voice mail box for screening purposes. In your job description ad, have candidates call the number and leave a message BEFORE they even submit a CV. Listen to the responses. Ask the applicants whose messages impress you most to send a CV and to complete a psychometric profile.  

Here’s the exact scripting I recommend you use: 

Hi and thanks for calling [your company], located in [your city, town]. My name is [your name] and I’m the founder of the company.[Your company] is…Right now we’re looking for a [name of position]. The responsibilities of this position include [responsibilities]. [Your company] will provide [training, development]…The compensation package includes health insurance, life insurance, and a retirement plan.[your company] is [describe the company and what a wonderful opportunity it will be to work for you and why]. [Your name] is a highly talented, proven winner in the field of [your field]. He/she has [name some of your accomplishments] and will personally mentor the person chosen for this position.Now, please take just a couple minutes to answer the following three questions. If you want to write these questions down and call back with your answer, you can feel free to do that. What actual experience have you had…?What actual experience have you had…?What actual experience have you had…? After you’ve answered these questions, please leave your name, phone number, and address. If you fail to answer these questions, your application will not be considered. Thanks for calling [your company]! 

e-Screening.  

Instead of a phone message, in our proposed management training, ask candidates to reply via email and include some specific questions that they should answer, in addition to submitting their CVs. You’ll find that a surprising percentage of applicants won’t even follow this simple instruction –which is a fast way to weed them out. Make a shortlist of promising applicants and ask them to complete a psychometric profile. Depending on the number of applicants and the nature of the job, you might even add another layer of screening: a live phone interview before you get to the final step, an in-person interview. 

Bring Them in for a Test Drive.  

Now that you’ve narrowed the field of applicants down substantially, you’re ready to invest some quality time in them. Bring them in for a 4-8 hour on-site interview. Get a feel for their personalities. Have them complete an on-the-job task or two. Introduce them to the rest of your staff. Compare their completed psychometric profiles to the characteristics needed for the job. Create a series of interview questions that you use uniformly for all the applicants who reach this stage, and have them focus on actual past experience as opposed to theoretical future possibilities. Then make an offer to the candidate who impressed you most.

Business transformation starts at setting the goals you want to achieve. And you want them to be smart. Whether you are setting goals for your personal life, your business, or with your employees, goals that have been developed with the SMART principle have a higher probability of being achieved.  

The SMART Principle 

1. Specific

Specific goals are clearer and easier to achieve than nonspecific goals. When writing down your goal, ask yourself the five “W” questions to narrow in on what exactly you are aiming for: 

Who? Where? What? When? Why?  

For example, instead of a nonspecific goal like, “get in shape for the summer,” a specific goal would be, “go to the gym three times a week and eat twice as many vegetables.” It will help you build a very precise road map and all the bits you need to take into consideration to carry out a perfect business transformation. 

2. Measurable

If you can’t measure your goal, how will you know when you’ve achieved it? Measurable goals help you clearly see where you are, and where you want to be. You can see change happen as it happens. Measurable goals can also be broken down and managed in smaller pieces. They make it easier to create an action plan or identify the steps required to achieve your goal, and business transformation strongly depends on ticking all the boxes. You can track your progress, revise your plan and celebrate each small achievement. For example, instead of aiming to increase revenue in 2009, you can set out to increase revenue by 30% in the next 12 months, and celebrate each 10% along the way.  

3. Achievable

Goals that are achievable have a higher chance of being realised. While it is important to think big, and dream big, too often people set goals that are simply beyond their capabilities and wind up disappointed. Goals can stretch you, but they should always be feasible to maintain your motivation and commitment. For example, if you want to complete your first triathlon but you’ve never run a mile in your life, you would be setting a goal that was beyond your current capabilities. If you decided instead to train for a five mile race in six months, you would be setting an achievable goal. 8 

4. Relevant

Relevant – or realistic – goals are goals that have a logical place in your life or your overall business strategy. The goal’s action plan can be reasonably integrated into your life, with a realistic amount of effort. For example, if your goal is to train to climb to base camp at Mount Everest within one year and you’re about to launch a start-up business, you may need to question the relevance of your goal in the context of your current commitments.  

5. Timely

It is essential for every goal to be attached to a time-frame –otherwise it is merely a dream. Check in to make sure that your time-frame is realistic – not too short, or too long. This will keep you motivated and committed to your action plan, and allow you to track your progress. 

If you find yourself in a position where your customers always insist on speaking with you directly instead of your employees, then you might want to consider shifting your structure so you can improve the value of your business.

Here’s why: a business that can thrive without the owner at the center of all its operations is more valuable because processes can run smoothly with or without you. If you’re too stuck in the weeds, you’ll have a difficult time improving or evolving – and your employees won’t have the opportunity to grow and become advocates for your brand.

 To maximize the value of your business, you should set a goal to quietly slip into the background and let your staff take center stage. Here are five ways to make customers less inclined to call you:

If you display the bio of key staff members on your website, re-order the list so that it is alphabetical rather than hierarchical.

If your surname is in your company name, consider a re-brand. There’s nothing that makes a customer want to deal with the owner more than having the owner’s surname featured in the company name.

Giving someone the title of president conveys the message that they have real authority to solve customer problems.

Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4 Hour Work Week among other books, made the email auto-responder famous, and it can serve you well. Set up an automatic response to anyone sending you an email explaining that you are travelling or attending to a strategic project and unable to answer their questions immediately. Instead, train customers to direct questions to the person best suited to answer them quickly.

A word of caution using this strategy: if you continue to answer customer emails after setting up an auto-responder, it’s going to become transparent that you’re just trying to hide behind your autoresponder, which could diminish your credibility. If you set one up, you need to be ready to let others step in.

If you have the kind of business that customers visit in person, set up a home office so you can spend more time away from your location.

For a hard-charging A-type entrepreneur, the steps above can be complicated and feel counterintuitive. They may even have a short-term negative impact on your company’s sales, but once you get your customers trained to go to your team, you’ll be able to scale up further and ultimately maximize the value of your business.

Find out how you score on the eight factors that drive your company’s value by completing the Value Builder questionnaire:

Get Your Value Builder Score Now

One of the biggest mistake owners make in selling their company is being lured into a proprietary deal.

Acquirers land a proprietary deal (or “prop deal”) when they convince owners to sell their businesses without creating a competitive marketplace. Acquirers running a proprietary deal know they don’t have any competition and tend to make weaker offers with more punitive terms because they know nobody else is bidding.

Many founders become the target of a proprietary deal without even knowing they have been duped. First, someone senior from the acquiring company approaches the founder, complimenting them on their business. The acquirer suggests lunch, and then high-level financials are exchanged. Soon, the owner starts going down a path that is difficult to come back from.

As the parties in a proprietary deal get to know one another, founders often share information with the acquirer that puts them in a compromised negotiation position. The interactions are set up as friendly exchanges between two industry leaders, but many founders reveal key facts in these discussions that end up being used against them when negotiations turn serious. Business owners also become more emotionally committed to selling the more resources they invest in the process and the more time they spend thinking—perhaps dreaming—of what it would mean to sell their business.

Savvy sellers avoid the proprietary deal by creating a competitive process for their company. Take for example Dan Martell, the founder of Clarity.fm, among other companies. When Martell decided to sell Clarity, he knew the likely buyer was one of five New York-based companies. Instead of negotiating with one, he invited all five to an event he hosted in New York. The five CEOs—all of whom knew one another—saw a room full of their competitors and realized that if Clarity went on the market, they would have to out-bid the other buyers in that room.

Hosting the event was Martell’s way of communicating to all the potential buyers that a proprietary deal was off the table and that if they wanted to buy Clarity, they would have to compete for it.

It’s flattering to receive a call from an executive at a company you respect. Just know that if you accept their invitation of lunch, you run the risk of becoming the latest casualty of the proprietary deal.

Find out how you score on the eight factors that drive your company’s value by completing the Value Builder questionnaire:

If you display the bio of key staff members on your website, re-order the list so that it is alphabetical rather than hierarchical.

If your surname is in your company name, consider a re-brand. There’s nothing that makes a customer want to deal with the owner more than having the owner’s surname featured in the company name.

Giving someone the title of president conveys the message that they have real authority to solve customer problems.

Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4 Hour Work Week among other books, made the email auto-responder famous, and it can serve you well. Set up an automatic response to anyone sending you an email explaining that you are travelling or attending to a strategic project and unable to answer their questions immediately. Instead, train customers to direct questions to the person best suited to answer them quickly.

A word of caution using this strategy: if you continue to answer customer emails after setting up an auto-responder, it’s going to become transparent that you’re just trying to hide behind your autoresponder, which could diminish your credibility. If you set one up, you need to be ready to let others step in.

If you have the kind of business that customers visit in person, set up a home office so you can spend more time away from your location.

For a hard-charging A-type entrepreneur, the steps above can be complicated and feel counterintuitive. They may even have a short-term negative impact on your company’s sales, but once you get your customers trained to go to your team, you’ll be able to scale up further and ultimately maximize the value of your business.

Find out how you score on the eight factors that drive your company’s value by completing the Value Builder questionnaire:

Get Your Value Builder Score Now

Volvo recently announced they will make their cars available on a subscription model where consumers will pay one fixed fee per month for access to a car which includes insurance and maintenance.

Everything from tooth brushes to flowers are now available with subscription billing.

Could you offer some sort of recurring plan to your customers? Here are six reasons to consider offering your customers a subscription:

1. Predictability: When you have subscribers, you can plan what your business needs in the future. For example, the average flower store in America throws out more than half of its inventory each month because it’s too rotten to sell.  At H.Bloom, a subscription-based flower company that sells flowers to hotels and spas, say they throw out less than 2% of their flowers because they can perfectly predict how many flowers are needed to fulfill their orders.

2. Eliminate Seasonality: Many businesses suffer through seasonal highs and lows. In fact, a whopping thirty percent of a typical flower store’s revenue comes on Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day – ultimately leaving them to scramble and make a sale in November. By contrast, H.Bloom has a steady stream of subscribers that pay each month. At Mister Car Wash – where they offer a subscription for unlimited car washes – they receive revenue from customers in November and April even though very few people in the Northern east wash their cars in rainy months.

3. Improved Valuation: Recurring revenue boosts the value of your business. Whereas most small companies trade on a multiple of profit, subscription-based businesses often trade on a similar multiple of revenue.

4. The Trojan Horse Effect: Once you subscribe to a service, you become much more likely to buy other things from the same company. That’s one reason Amazon is so keen to get you to buy subscriptions to things like Prime or Subscribe & Save. Amazon knows that once you become a subscriber, you are much more likely to buy additional products.

5. The Sale That Keeps On Giving: Unlike the transaction business model where you have to stimulate demand through advertising to get customers to buy, with a subscription based model, you sell one subscription and it keeps giving month after month.

6. Data & Market Research: When you get a customer to subscribe, you can start to see their spending and consumption habits. This data is the ultimate in market research. It’s how Netflix knows which new shows to produce and which to kibosh.

With our business coaching systems we can help you develop a subsciption model that will do wonder for your business

Get in touch by completing a brief questionnaire  using the link below:

Flat lay of business concept

The value of your business comes down to a single equation: what multiple of your profit is an acquirer willing to pay for your company?

profit × multiple = value

Most owners believe the best way to improve the value of their company is to make more profit – so, they find ways to sell more and more. As experts in their industry, it’s natural that customers want to personally engage with them, which means spending more time on the phones, on the road and face-to-face to increase sales.

With this model, a company can slightly grow, but the owner’s life becomes much more difficult: customers demand more time and service, employees begin to burn out, and soon it feels like there are not enough hours in the day. Revenue flat lines, health can suffer and relationships get strained – all from working too much. Does this feel familiar?

If you’re spending too much time and effort on increasing your profit, you could find yourself diminishing the overall value of your business. The solution? Focus on driving your multiple (the other number in the equation above). Driving your multiple will ultimately help you grow your company value, improve your profit and redeem your freedom.

Lots of Runway

Most founders think market share is something to strive for, but in the eyes of an acquirer, it can decrease the value of your business because you’ve already sopped up most of the opportunity.

Recurring Revenue

An acquirer is going to want to know how your business will do once you leave – recurring revenue assures them that there will still be a business once the founder hits eject.

Financials

The size and profitability of your company will matter to investors and so will the quality of your bookkeeping.

The You Factor

The most valuable businesses can thrive without their owners. The inverse is also true because the most valuable businesses are masters of independence.