It's been a warm summer - beware the cold winter

It’s all too easy to lose track of goals and time during the summer, particularly a good old fashioned English summer of warm days and balmy nights. Now the kids are back at college and the roads are jammed with school runs, commuters and more white vans that ever before I realise that I’ve taken my eye off the ball.

Perhaps this was Tesco’s excuse. In trying to be all things to all shoppers, taking Lidl on at one end, Morrisons in the ‘market street’ middle and borrowing quality ideas from M&S at the top. Now, of course they have ‘borrowed’ basic financial husbandry from Marks & Spencer as Alan Stewart moves into his new office (same title) as chief financial officer at Tesco.

Why?

Well, instead of paying dividends to shareholders as promised during the heady heat of the summer, Tesco in fact opened their tills to find they were short a cool, almost chilling £250 million – or to give it its full breadth of zeros; £250,000,000. In simple terms it appears that they accounted for income not yet presented and ignored costs due.

In short, Tesco stock crashed 11.6% off the market value that flew off the shelves on day one. Now one egg short of an omelette they, like many businesses across the country, wish they had paid more attention to basic business detail.

These are the words of Penny Power OBE, entrepreneur and development coach, written for the preface of a new book – ‘Thinking Profit – the journey’ that I read this summer (get a copy on Amazon).

“The growth of new businesses across the world reflects how easy it is now to register a company, build a website and begin trading. This is fabulous, however, the growth in failures is a poignant statistic. Starting a business is easy, growing a business is the tough part. Over 90% of global businesses employ less that 9 people which in many cases is through choice, but in a large number is due to the skills in building a business that can export, scale, withstand competitors and knows how to manage itself through turbulent times.”

I underlined the key part: ‘Starting a business is easy, growing a business is the tough part.’

Because it’s tough and because it is all too easy to take your eyes off the ball – whether you are Tesco or the corner shop – you should take nothing for granted. Step back (try sitting on the opposite side of your desk, it offers a great perspective), take the phone off the hook, grab a sheet of paper (not a tablet, paper) and jot down the pivotal factors of your business.

Pivotal factors are key events that individually can swing business one way or another independently of other events.

What are the key (basic) elements of PROFIT:

£SALES X FREQUENCY = £INCOME    

£INCOME - £COSTS = £PROFIT

£PROFIT - £TAX = £NET INCOME

Now bring in the fulcrum for each event. QUESTION:

1.     How much can you increase the price of your goods / service to clients without affecting SALES?

2.     How do you increase the FREQUENCY? Is your marketing effective/ Are you communicating clearly? Could you articulate your proposition better?

3.     Is the COST of each SALE as good as it could be? Could you ‘buy better’ or do you need to buy your office inventory at all?

4.     Is your Accountant doing their job? Could you be more TAX efficient in the way you manage your money?

I hear you. There’s nothing new here. But how often have you been to a business seminar, read the agenda, raised your eyes to the ceiling in despair at the thought of wasting a whole morning here - then rushed back to the office after lunch inspired by the three bright lights that taking time out to consider even the basics, just lit in your head.

Each of the above, particularly SALES and FREQUENCY can be broken down further to identify their own pivotal events.

If you do nothing else, grab another sheet of paper (if only to doodle - you know who you are), identify three fulcra for SALES and three more for FREQUENCY and consider the effects of change on each.

It’s an exercise worth doing to avoid a cold winter.


Rodney@aspiruswords.com

www.aspiruswords.com

Making our website fit for purpose

In the same way that a builder’s own extension is the last to be finished, so too was our website the last to be reviewed and declared UNFIT FOR PURPOSE!

We want to share some of the key considerations that lead us through the review and on to the new site. To create this: www.aspiruswords.com we considered this - QUESTIONS:

When you last closed the office door and took your phone off the hook to read your website (what do you mean you don’t review it?) did it say the right thing, in the right way, in the right order, to be clear to an audience you’d be pleased to do business with, so they can action the right levels of contact?

Let’s consider those key points again:

Does your website say the right thing;

We all spend time reviewing and refining the corporate message – from a succinct elevator pitch, to finely tuned correspondence, e-mail marketing, advertising, corporate literature and blogs. But is the message on your website still singing from the same hymn sheet?

In the right way;

‘It’s not what you say but how you say it.’ When we physically make a face to face presentation we know that tone, style, posture are as if not more important than the content. In the same way, tone and structure can add enormous power to the words you say on screen. Line breaks, paragraph lengths, column widths, font, colourways and … punctuation. Is your message written in such a way that the viewer will be able to actually read it.

In the right order;

This is crucial to a website and there are two sides to this coin. Imagine yourself standing by the podium about to present your business, services and ethos to a room full of prospects. You start with a sensible summary of what’s to come, then move logically through the process from one theme to the next, ending with a closing summary and chance for the floor to ask questions. So, that’s the home page, service development ‘chapters’ and contact call-to-action.

The flip side is that we do not know which page the viewer will start at, or where they will go next. Because of this, each page must have its own start, middle and end with a clear, single-proposition opportunity to act and make contact.

To be clear to an audience you’d be pleased to do business with;

It‘s really very simple. Your web copy, structure, content and style should be built with your audience profile, needs and authority in mind – as should any corporate message and language.

So they can action the right levels of contact?

For the viewer to confidently click that all important contact button, the benefits they’ll gain by doing so must be clear and appropriate. We know what we want them to do and how, but how do we impart what they will gain and why? What’s in it for them? Again we need to properly understand our intentions and our audience needs. If we are just list building then perhaps free gifts, information and discounts might be appropriate. But if we are talking to senior decision makers for mutually beneficial corporate benefits then it’s the ‘benefit to need’ clarity that counts.

This is the process. Follow it and you won’t go far wrong. Consider the same steps in the context of all of your communication materials – correspondence, emails, brochures, newsletters, blogs etc etc and your marketing / CRM / customer relations will improve enormously. Not only will you know you’ve clarified the message, but they will understand the message too.

rodney@aspiruswords.com

A wise man once said.

Well, indeed, wise men are always saying something or other. But it’s the wiser person still, who makes and takes time to listen.

Words spoken are meant to be heard.

But what about words written?

Logically they’re intended to be read. That is asking a lot of your audience. People read in different ways – that’s if they bother reading at all. Some start at the top left and hang on every word, guided by articulate punctuation all the way down to the end.

Actually no. Not many, if any bother reading it at all – certainly not all of it.

Now, if you write, articulate, pitch your message knowing, understanding and respecting the readers’ limitations, then it really is possible to wrap your proposition in a sensible handful of words and deliver it in such a way that your clients and prospects will know:

What you do

Why you do it

And the benefits they’ll derive by embracing the relationship you are trying to develop.

 

By breaking the text into bite-sized portions of interest and fact, they’ll practically h e a r  the words they read and listen to the message in digestible mouthfuls.

Click on the image (left) and even at its original size, a page of blocked text with no paragraph breaks has no chance.

The words themselves need to be the right ones and all in the right order. But their delivery and presentation needs to be right too.

Little paragraphs.

Short sentences. With occasional rolling sequences of sensually sparkling alliteration bouncing across the page as a butterfly bobs along a border of asters on a balmy late summer’s eve.

But. Do please make sure the balmy’s not barmy and your apostrophe’s in the right place. And yes, if it helps get the message across, then start a paragraph with a ‘but’ and the odd sentence with an ‘and’.

A wise man once wrote ... so the wiser man could read, understand and know what to do next.

What I would now like you to do is ‘phone or e-mail me; invite me to meet you; let me listen to your own wise words; then allow me to cost-effectively re-package them to an articulate corporate presentation of you and your what, how and why.

 

www.aspiruscopy.com

www.intimeprofit.com

02476 609 104

Rodney Bashford

rodneybashford@btinternet.com

Ladders, Snakes and Perseverance.

Business can be something of a roller coaster, or in this scenario a game of Snakes & Ladders.

The climbs can be tough at times, needing investment of funds, time and resources. For small / medium sized businesses the Managing Director is so often the owner, operations officer, sales director and marketing director. Are you taking on too much?

If you recognise this picture, you’ll know that each rung of that ladder is a brow sweating (or glowing - PC) effort. Then, when you hit that snake, you’re back where you started if not further down the competitive board. Ladders are the product of all our own efforts and combined with the prudence to bring in the support of others when we feel the goals of clarity and success merit the help.

Snakes are either operational mistakes or the effects of external forces – political, competitive, climatic, economic … the list can be endless. But snakes are all too often the result of the business leader taking on too much and dropping the ball at that oh so crucial moment.

What’s the point?

The point is that the ladder is always steadier / easier to climb if someone else is holding it. That supporting resource could be someone like us – ASPIRUS.

ASPIRUS Words is now proudly in partnership with intime PROFIT.

Between us we have the skills and experience to take a firm hold of our clients' corporate ladders.

Because the wobble is now steadied by professional support, you are better placed to climb with renewed confidence. Our combined services equip business owners and managers better to take on each new rung whilst keeping those snakes at bay.

But what of Perseverance?

Of perseverance, according to Henry Ward Beecher:

“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.”

Beecher was a highly regarded American Congregationalist, clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist and speaker of the mid-19^th century. If nothing else, his legacy is a collection of wise words and heart felt wisdom…

“It is easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better from the top.”

If you want to bring clarity to your communications and to grow your business - use  a strong will, not a strong won't - the view really is better from the top.

 

www.aspiruscopy.com

www.intimeprofit.com

 

02476 609 104

Rodney Bashford

 

Fly – the power of a three letter word:

I don’t know if your phone, like mine, beeps at eight o’clock every weekday morning to announce the arrival of a ‘Daily Tickler’ from intime PROFIT – if not, you should make sure it does.

Why?

Firstly because they’re regular as prunes and porridge and set the pace for the day. Mainly though, because they offer those occasional flashes of amazing inspiration.

Yesterday the quote was: Fly.

“Come to the edge” he said,

“We are afraid”.

“Come to the edge” he said.

They came.

He pushed them and they flew.

Guillaume Apollinaire was the French poet, writer and art critic whose words this Daily Tickler recounted.

As the managing owner of a small business helping like-minded managing owners of small / medium businesses this struck a chord – sometimes subtlety suits the hand-holding management and business development style but often you need to be pushed over the edge … step out of your comfort zone, jump over the edge and see if you fly too.

Thanks to Mr Wiki I discovered that Guillaume Apollinaire was born 26^th August 1880 and died 9^th November 1918 and is considered one of the most important literary figures of the early twentieth century. His brief career influenced the development of such artistic movements as Futurism, Cubism, Dadaism, and Surrealism and the legend of his personality - bohemian artist, raconteur, gourmand, soldier - became the model for avant-garde deportment.

A portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire by Maurice de Vlaminck.

Vlaminck's compositions show familiarity with the Impressionists, several of whom had painted in the same area in the 1870s and 1880s. After visiting a van Gogh exhibition, Vlaminck declared that he "loved van Gogh that day more than my own father".

Well, I’ve been a soldier and my girth betrays 'mes passions gourmandise' but I covet the man, the life, the environment and the skill.

I had to look further and found this:

La géométrie est aux arts plastiques ce que

la grammaire est à l'art de l'écrivain.

“…geometry is to the plastic arts what

grammar is to the art of the writer.”

Wow – how right. How true.

As you know, words are my tool and making them work harder for businesses is my service. So often overlooked - the structure of a web page, brochure or advertisement is as important as the structure of the written message – not just the physical structure but the geometry of the message that the words impart.

I was working with a client recently to help structure some key elements of his corporate message. It wasn’t working. The message was there but tripped over itself as one read the words … and, hello … words are there to be read. And, readers read aloud, even in their heads. So, if the message can’t be read aloud, with ease – it just won’t work.

To make this client understand, the revelation was the introduction of a metronome.

Tick tock, tick tock – dee daaa dee daaa, dee dum dum dee daaa.

The rhythm was given, the structure was set and the words began dancing to the corporate tune.

If you want your corporate message to fly,

                                          step over the edge.

Call me on 02476 609 104 or e-mail me: rodneybashford@btinternet.com .

To get your own Daily Ticklers email intime@intimeprofit.com and ask for your 8 o'clock wake up beep.

 

www.aspiruscopy.com

call for a FREE SPRING CLEAN today

02476 609 104

Rodney Bashford

New Year - new words – FREE Spring Clean

Every business starts a New Year with good intentions, fresh thoughts and a magic dust to sprinkle over colleagues, staff, clients and prospects.

I’ve been participating in a series of business development seminars with colleagues running SMEs in Kent (see: http://www.intimeprofit.blogspot.co.uk/). One of the recent exercises that caused much furrowing of brow was for each of us to refine our ‘elevator pitches’. The clash of benefits prevailing over values threw all into disarray as we tried to think on the part of our clients and customers, considering their views and needs as opposed to our intentions.

All positive stuff - as indeed are the benefits, thought provocation and pearls of wisdom derived from each monthly gathering.

So here we find ourselves starting yet another New Year with yet more fresh and invigorating ideas to carry us towards Easter.

But:

How are we applying these sparks and how are we articulating our inspiration to others – staff and clients alike.

How fresh is your website – not the expensive side of its structure and functionality but the simple side of its message – THE WORDS … is it still singing from the same business hymn sheet?

So often the answer is NO.

The same goes for the packaging of your key and unique selling points; your standard mailings and responses to inbound enquiries … are your clients and prospective clients hearing (reading) the story as you wish to tell it now, today, in 2013?

Again, possibly not.

ASPIRUS Words is offering an EARLY SPRING CLEAN - FREE.

Put us to the test by meeting; you talk, we’ll listen and leave you; then we’ll give you a written assessment of your written presentation, your verbal summary and how we might re-articulate the proposition to fit your New Year glitter and goals.

This will cost you nothing and – you don’t have to do anything with the thoughts we then share.

But you never know … you just might use ASPIRUS to make accost effective difference to your business – now.

www.aspiruscopy.com

call for a FREE SPRING CLEAN today

02476 609 104

Rodney Bashford

Orla Boylan (soprano) rehearses; Mo Farah (athlete) trains; Rodney Bashford (commercial writer) goes to business development seminars

Orla Boylan (soprano) rehearses; Mo Farah (athlete) trains; Rodney Bashford (commercial writer) goes to business development seminars including topics such as … copywriting.

Magic Moments:

Well, why not. My fellow delegates and I enjoyed the second of six Business Development Seminars from intime PROFIT. About twelve of us gathered around the boardroom table of a hosting company. Reeves of Chatham, Kent hosted the last one.

They are a firm of Accountants who themselves have a positive and innovative slant on Business Development. Their strap line is simply – business, tax, wealth. Probably one of the best Accountancy strap lines I’ve ever encountered and no, I didn’t write it.

For a long time I, like so many of you and so many of my clients, have had trouble summarising what it is I do and shoving it in the proverbial nutshell – the illusive elevator pitch or networkers’ 60 second intro can be so hard to define.

I came away from last week’s seminar with three or four inspired changing moments. Some came from the Seminar Leader David Mack. Equal value came from the comments and observation that punctuate the day, enthusiastic contributions from our colleagues around the table.

To come away with four or five ‘must do’s’ a month is perfect – that’s one a week, sufficient to make a difference because just the right number for a busy business to actually do something about.

Today, for me, the 60 second service summary. It looks a little like this:

I help businesses and organisations to identify – what it is they actually do – to identify their features and bottle their values.

I then articulate the message through the web, blogs, brochures, advertising and general correspondence – letters, e-mails and even tweets.

These are all written to deliver, not just the product / service values, but the core personality of the people and ethos behind the business - the ‘WHY’ that makes them different.

ASPIRUS Words is a commercial writing service that makes words work harder and businesses look sharper. Google  ASPIRUS Words  and you’ll see … it’s not just the right words that make the difference, it’s the wisdom behind them.

Hmmm … I like these Seminars.

Life is not all about blogging (though ther are a great CRM vehicle) but I would like to share some of the other blogsites currently written by ASPIRUS Words:

http://blissbeatitudes.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.intimeprofit.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.greycoat-ifa.blogspot.co.uk/

Plain English, plain speaking, pure correspondence. Words that work.

 

02476 609 104

www.aspiruscopy.com