Mark Williams Business Consultant

15/02/2024

Great opportunity with a growing company

Looking for a new Career? Drop us a line.

02/04/2023

"Always have a motto". That's my motto. Actually it isn't. But I've always loved a motto, especially a Latin one.

It probably comes from being a lifelong fan of Everton Football Club. Their motto, Nil Satis Nisi Optimum (nothing but the best is good enough), is as ironic as it is iconic these days.

In business, a good or serves as a concise and memorable statement that encapsulates the company's , , and . A good motto can help a company differentiate itself from competitors and connect with customers on an emotional level. Perhaps equally importantly, it can act as a single-line point of reference for employees - reminding them of what's important and why they're ultimately there. See Google's "Don't Be Evil" (now changed to "Do the right thing").

This weekend I set about thinking what the motto would be for my business. I started out armed with a general idea of what I wanted it to convey, a virtually non-existent grasp of Latin and (perhaps most importantly) an account with .

Here's what we came up with...."Crescit Personae, Crescit Negotium".
It translates to "As the person grows, so grows the business", and I think it works really well for business coaching.

Ultimately, what I do is a combination of and . I teach and give recommendations when that's going to help. But ultimately my role is to help the client to grow personally in order to grow their business. Then once they've got the business to a stage where it's less dependent on them, their role then becomes to grow their people to grow the business. It's pretty satisfying work!

Have you got a motto or a strapline? If so, what is it? And if not, what could it be?

Oh, and if it's not in Latin, why not!? 😄

01/03/2023

Would you mind helping me? I'd really value some feedback.

This is my Next Level Assessment https://markwilliams.nextlevelassessment.co.uk.

The assessment helps business owners to identify personal potential obstacles in their business as well as areas for progress.

It only takes 3 minutes to finish and will provide you with personalised insight about which of the four crucial areas of growth and development you and your business should focus on right now.

The assessment is completely free and could help you to take a new approach to levelling up your business and getting the most out of your work day.

How can you help? You could take the assessment! Any feedback (good or bad) would be much appreciated and could help me to improve the assessment experience overall.

And if you like it, feel free to share it with a business owner who might find it valuable.

Thanks!

Mark

29/07/2022

Tag a person who would be skint if they played for Aston Villa!

Aston Villa FC have (apparently) set out their rules for the they expect from their players.

What do you think of it?

How do you set out your 'rules of the game' at work?

Do people ( and ) know what will happen if they don't abide by the ?

21/06/2022

How do you yourself against your competitors?

I saw these businesses next to each other in yesterday and it made me smile. The key difference seemed to be whether you fancy freshly cooked chips or traditional chips. (On balance I'd probably go for the freshly cooked ones.)

But if you can't clearly articulate how your business is better than your , it's going to be tempting to compete on . Which usually results in a race to the bottom, and reduced .

To avoid this:
- identify how you're different (you may need to do some )
- clearly articulate a few unique selling points in your marketing
- refine them until you can show a clear to your customers: This is a bit of a hobby horse of mine. You're a family run business? So what? You're fully insured? Well that's encouraging but only really makes a difference if something goes wrong (I was kind of hoping it wouldn't). How are you different in a way that meets MY needs?
- offer about your product or service to reduce the risk of buying.

People will pay more for better products and services. But they can't be expected to know how you are better if you don't tell them.

And if you want a hand doing it, ping me a message.

03/05/2022

🤔 Tuesday Thoughts 🤔

Does every member of your team know and understand your unique selling proposition?

According to Forbes, great salespeople should have the 5 following qualities:

Be competitive
Be able to listen
Be resilient
Be confident
Be honest

No mention of shiny suits. No mention of great closing techniques. No mention of being pushy. And yet that’s what many of us think about when we think of stereotypical salespeople.

Actually, selling is simply the act of professionally helping people to buy. It’s about understanding a need or a problem and matching it to a solution. Think about those in your business who sell the most. What characteristics do they have? If you could bottle what your best salespeople do and get everyone performing at that level, what impact would it have on your business?

Creating a robust and consistent sales process and training staff on it increases the ability of all sales staff and prepares you to scale your business. Ensuring your staff know what it takes to help people to buy is a crucial step to your business growth.

02/05/2022

Are you pouring leads into a leaky sales funnel? Lots of people put loads of effort into generating new leads, but if they haven't got a water tight sales process then they won't get the best results. What have you put in place to maximise your conversion?

28/04/2022

Delegation is a key skill within business growth. If you want your business to succeed then you need to understand that you can’t, and won’t, be able to do every task. That would be crazy, right?! This is where delegation comes in.

Without being able to delegate your business will not be able to grow. Delegation really is one of the MOST powerful tools any leader can learn!

Here are 3 reasons to why you need to learn how to delegate for the good of you and your business:

1. Reduces stress on you. Running a business can be a tricky. Running a business with what feels like 10,000 different tasks on your to do list is even trickier! Learning to prioritise tasks and delegating the tasks which can be passed on will reduce your stress and means your vision for the business will be wider.

2. It make you an attractive leader to work for. Employees leave their positions in search of career development and personal growth. However, by allowing autonomy, control and growth within your company will not only help retain staff, it will make you an attractive leader to work for.

3. Reduces time which can be better spent elsewhere. Divvying up tasks as part of a bigger project means the work gets done quicker and saves time which can be focused elsewhere.

For another 4 ways on how delegate can make a huge impact on your business head to our blog: 7 reasons why delegation is good or your business and how to delegate effectively: https://buff.ly/3sP489m

26/04/2022

🤔 Tuesday Thoughts 🤔

Does your company provide social activities for the team? The saying ‘Teams which play together, stay together’ isn’t one to be ignored by business owners.

According to Forbes:

“Strong social connections make people happier and physically healthier, which can translate into work performance. Employers who support social connections in the workplace and help employees form strong relationships with one another help build a successful workforce. Some perks of employees with strong social connections include:

1. Increased happiness

2. Less stress
3. Increased engagement and loyalty
4. Healthier life

When we’re always focused on achieving ever more, it’s easy to forget to celebrate successes and have some fun. What do you do in your business to build that sense of esprit de corps?