Small Business Genius

Small Business Genius Small Business Genius helps you get control of your time and business, rather than having your busin

Several years ago, I ran a program for a corporate business, much like the 5 Day Training program I run now.Yesterday, I...
15/10/2020

Several years ago, I ran a program for a corporate business, much like the 5 Day Training program I run now.

Yesterday, I was clearing out my bookcase, and came across the following inscription written in the inside cover of the Malcolm Gladwell book "Blink".

The book was a gift from a participant who came into the training not knowing quite what to expect.

My delight in having him in my training was that he realised early on that what he put into it, he would definitely 10x in the skills he was developing.

And here's what he had to say...

Kudos if you are experiencing increased demand and unprecedented growth right now. With growth, comes the requirement to...
11/10/2020

Kudos if you are experiencing increased demand and unprecedented growth right now.

With growth, comes the requirement to up-level our productivity skills, so we're making the most of new opportunities for profit.

So here are 3 simple things you can do to up-level your skills to get the most productivity from your employees, today.

1. Get on top of YOUR priorities.
Use whichever tool method or matrix you need - there are many around, to get on top of the four areas you need to master;

-Planning
-Doing
-People
-Delegation

(For a breakdown, PM me.)

2. Find time each day or week to ask your people what they are working on “right now”. Being clear about what our focus is works not only for goal setting, but in how you can better understand where your people are spending their time, and then work out how to best help them achieve more.

3. Ask them how you can best help them with what they are working on “right now”. Sometimes people experience roadblocks - they may be personal, skill-based or communication based. Be prepared to help with whatever they need.

By implementing these 3 steps into your daily or weekly employee management routine, you're not only setting a great example for your employees, but the consistency will show them how they should be focussing more on their productivity too.

A win for them, a win for you, a win for your profitability.

We go to great lengths to not offend people.To try and “save face” or preserve the niceties between us.But, when it come...
08/10/2020

We go to great lengths to not offend people.

To try and “save face” or preserve the niceties between us.

But, when it comes to holding people accountable for their actions, that tends to be something that employers steer away from.

All sorts of fears and concerns come up;

“They’ll think I’m bullying them”.
“I don't want to seem like an ogre”.
“I don’t want her to cry”.

Or, worse still, he’ll complain about me to Fair Work Australia.

Actually, no.

Holding people accountable is about asking them what they plan to do to get the job done, meet their targets, contribute to the business according to what they were employed to do.

People are crying out for you to do that.

To have more meaning in their work. To add more value to your business. To be seen and recognised as a result.

And, it happens when you help them identify goals and clear away the barriers to achieving them by asking some really great questions.

That’s it.

The clear path to their productivity, and your profitability.

Accountability.

If you're growing, so will your business. If your people are growing, so will your business. If you can distinguish betw...
05/10/2020

If you're growing, so will your business.

If your people are growing, so will your business.

If you can distinguish between productivity and action, then you have the trifecta.

I'm curious, chime in...
04/10/2020

I'm curious, chime in...

04/10/2020

Shouldn't we just STOP wishing away 2020?

Not everyone has lost.

Some have gained;

Insight...

Love...

A renewed passion...

New skills...

New friendships...

The clarity to let go of a relationship that didn't work for them...
The freedom from a job or circumstance that kept them from exploring their own voice, creativity and expression.

There's still a 90 day window to make something of your time spent this year.

Do it.

2021 can wait.

Curious as to your thoughts!



Image by Flora Westbrook-Pexels

As with most small business owners, in the past six months I’ve had a lot more reason to contact customer service centre...
03/10/2020

As with most small business owners, in the past six months I’ve had a lot more reason to contact customer service centres than previously.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed, it’s that the difference between “we answer these calls because we have to provide customer service”, and, “we offer exceptional customer service”, reinforces what I teach my clients.

In ALL cases, those agents who have exceptional customer service skills have the ability to listen between the words.

They listen intently to the spaces between the words.

They listen to the pauses, the intonation, the concern or curiosity in someone’s voice.

They listen to what is being said, as well as what is not being said.

And THAT is how you get to EXCEPTIONAL. Anticipating someone’s concerns, and addressing them before they become a consideration.

In small business, for you, this is a valuable skill to learn too.

It can mean the big difference.

The difference between having a completely profitable team, which flourishes when working both individually, and comes together to work on projects, and one that “leaks” time, and spins their wheels trying to work things out.

A team that leaks time from their workday, leaks money from your business.

If you want to learn how to have a more profitable business, look at the productivity of your people. Listen to what is being said, but more importantly, what is NOT being said.

What are they NOT doing? Is it planning, preparing, collaborating? These three things are always present in a productive and profitable team.

The simple formula you can apply here is;

PEOPLE + PRODUCTIVITY = PROFIT

Pay attention to and apply this formula to understand what might be the case with your profitability.

Keep sight of your biggest resource, and how they contribute to your reason for being in business.

02/10/2020

A close friend called me just before COVID-19 hit.

She had just taken a new position as “Customer Experience Manager”.

A great modern day title for Chief S& #@ Sorter.

She’d stepped into a role where there were people drinking over long lunches with clients and coming back slushed to the shared office space and disturbing other small business employees.

A Customer Experience Agent had long outgrown her role and was reported as “playing on her phone during work time”, whilst the more mature employees were still grappling to get their heads around the new customer management system that had been rolled out ten months earlier.

Then, with the introduction of lockdown, my friend was engaging in a battle of the wits with a Finance Manager who didn’t understand, and complained at length why my friend was allowing her team to take all their desk equipment home to work with.

As I wrote earlier, Chief S& #@ Sorter.

The interesting thing about this situation is that all of this was going down because the Manager before her was really poor at productivity and communication.

They hadn’t put in place simple systems for training that would have gotten the Customer Experience Agents up to speed on the new customer management system much quicker. At lightning speed, if done right.

They hadn’t bothered to get to know which of their employees were due to outgrow their role, and needed (and wanted) more stimulating work. Perhaps she would have preferred to have been training her teammates who didn’t yet understand the basics of the new system, rather than wasting time on social media.

They failed to build relationships with other Managers.

Now, I must admit, I DO have Superpowers in this area, so I have a bit of an advantage to see what was going on.

What my Superpowers give me is the vision to see that, with ALL of these people, there’s a productivity issue.

And, where there’s a productivity issue, there’s a PROFITABILITY issue.

For some small business owners, that means “Time to cut costs”.

Or, “Time to find a liquidator”.

Heartbreaking, demoralising and devastating for employees, clients and the business owner.

For the smarter small business owner, it can mean that it’s time to get your people working for you, rather than against each other.

Time to get your people productive.

Time to get profitable through leveraging your employees.

After all, they work for you, not the other way around.

For assistance with people, productivity and profitability, or even just to find out more about how the three aspects of your business are costing you money, as well as the time you spend with your family, reach out here.

I can share my Superpowers with you. It’s far less painful than the alternative.

PM me here.

Dealing with business change head on requires one of two actions. You can either choose to cut costs, or increase profit...
29/09/2020

Dealing with business change head on requires one of two actions.

You can either choose to cut costs, or increase profitability.

A lot of business owners I’m speaking with at the moment are doing what they can, having been playing Superhero for some time now.

But, some are struggling with how to increase profitability.

Your workforce is a resource. A valuable one at that.

If we’re to take lessons from Sir Richard Branson, (who I am very much in love with as a role model for business success), we can agree that without them, we’d have no customers.

No business.

So, why not increase profitability by paying attention to our greatest asset - our employees?

Brilliance at work!

Here’s how I helped a client of mine to increase his profitability in three simple steps.

First: The Lay of the Land.

Who does what, when, where (most important now with a hybrid of in-house and remote workers) and with whom?

How effective and productive are they? It’s not just about spinning wheels and making a lot of noise, like at the start of a NASCAR race. It’s looking at what is the output of each of your employees.

Think about how they contribute day to day, to the service you provide, and the customer satisfaction. Great service, and looking after your customers means higher profits.

When you walk into a BMW dealership, what’s the service you receive?

Second: How effective and productive do you want them to be?

If they were a model employee, who you never wanted to lose, what would they be doing all day, and how would they go about doing it?

Third: What is the starter conversation you need to have with them about how effective and productive they are, and how you want them to be?

This can be a very simple, straightforward “I need you to do this for me...”, or it can be more like showing them how to do something you’ve never asked them to do before.

Either way, keep it simple and straightforward.

And, if you’d like to steal away with some of my time to “sound out” how you’re going to approach this, feel free to DM me here. I offer a limited amount of free 30 minute spots to small business owners who qualify.

Image Courtesy Ahmad Qime - Pexels

You know that saying; "What got you to here, won't get you to there."?It's true of how we are managing our remote workfo...
29/09/2020

You know that saying; "What got you to here, won't get you to there."?

It's true of how we are managing our remote workforces right now.

When we have really simple, straightforward conversations with our employees, we get bigger profits.

Simple.

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