The front line in business development – quite literally, for some

As we warmed ourselves by the log fire in the boardroom during a breakout session at last month’s business development seminar, we had another chance to find out more about each other’s businesses.

Paul shared the virtues of his print business; Gemma explained why she had taken the leap of faith to set up a recruitment business specialising in automotive trade positions; Mark subtly checked to see if we had each made a will; and Steve Wisbey told us more about his fascinating business, industry and world.

Steve runs NIC Instruments Limited in Folkestone - www.nicltd.co.uk - and has been amongst the regulars attending intime PROFIT’s seminars over the past several months.

NIC manufactures and sells EOD and IEDD equipment – that’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Improvised Explosive Device Disposal equipment … bomb disposal gear to you and me.

Protecting the lives of the brave folk on the front line in Afghanistan and throughout the diverse war zones and terror cells that litter the world with IEDs is a noble business to grow. But it is still a business, a business with prospects and products that benefit from technique to efficiently converge.

Steve’s goals include increased sales and he said of the last seminar: “…another very good session with focus on the tasks that need to be done to increase sales.”

Tony Huggins, QA Manager at NIC (who attends with Steve) simply said: “Effective, Efficient, Manageable” which is just what the seminar delivery intends.

Like all research, a background search for this article was done in Wiki-land where Bomb Disposal was described as “the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe”. The word ‘hazardous’ is particularly evocative in this sense.

However fascinating a product, industry, audience – sales still boil down to the need to generate enquiries; work those prospects through an effective CRM; convert them to optimal value sales; retain and nurture the clients generated to maximise lifetime values … building sales, profits and generating sustainable business growth.

Steve has applied a lot of what he has gleaned and is already seeing a difference, generating additional sales by employing the techniques each seminar develops. By working his database with innovative e-mails and mailings, such as lumpy mail (a recent seminar topic), he has honed his USPs, refined the proposition, made his product and service ethic noticed, captured attention and stimulated action.

It is so wrong to pre-judge. Either by pre-judging a fellow delegate at a business seminar, or pre-judging a prospect on your database opportunities are missed. Take nobody for granted because you just don’t know where your next referral or joint marketing opportunity is going to come from.

The bottom line with intime PROFIT’s Dramatic Business Growth Programme is quite literally – you have to be in it to win it … whatever your business, service, or product.

To find out more about intime PROFIT:

our One-to-One,

our Seminars and

our Marketing support services –

write to intime@intimeprofit.com or

call us on 08456 437 497.

www.intimeprofit.com

Taking the stress out of business growth.

It can be really quite stressful driving a small to medium sized business on your own. Even when things are going well, we manage to find something to worry about. Worry causes tension, tension causes stress, stress can lead to poor decision making – and poor decision making can trigger the problems which, in their own turn cause … you guessed it, STRESS.

One of the attendees at the intime PROFIT Dramatic Business Growth Seminars is a flourishing company called Restoring Health run by Deborah and Wayne Mc Nair. Because they are busy people, they take it in turns to attend the monthly one day Seminars and share the fresh ideas for business development when they have (make) time.

Restoring Health knows all about stress and the negative effect it can have on our minds as well as our bodies - they are a Sports, Remedial and Body Massage Therapy business. They provide stress remedies as well as advising on preventative approaches through well-being plans, posture awareness and diet.

“Restoring Health has been pioneered by my husband and I,” said Deborah Mc Nair, “and we are passionate to be a part of the physical, emotional and spiritual restoration in people’s lives.”

Intime PROFIT’s own stress-buster is to share innovation and methodology for business development. Through One-to-One development meetings and / or monthly Seminars, business owners and managers learn many and often relatively simple (once you know how) methods to increase enquiries; turn more of them into clients; and to increase the value of those clients – all leading to increased profits.

Deborah has been delighted with the thought provoking content and practical ideas, some of which they have already put into practice. She says of the Seminars that they have: “…stimulated creative thinking in problem solving and anchored a strategy in action planning…”.

Wayne also “gets it” – which can only be achieved by attending.

When asked his thoughts on the first Seminar he attended, Wayne said: “An eye opener – small things can change – but will have a major impact on how to grow the business”.

It’s so true. Change doesn’t have to be scary; it can be introduced in small steps. And the differences can be enormous.

Wayne would probably say the same about posture. Consider how you sit at your desk. Try to be aware of your posture. Stop hunching over the keyboard. Try moving it a little higher. Sit back / upright. A small investment in a new screen and perhaps writing and reading at 120% instead of 100% - these are all little things but improve the desk-side positioning, relaxing the shoulders in the process.

A little effort. Small changes. Big results.

Whether you are keeping ahead of stress through a therapeutic massage or stimulating business growth seminar, you really do have an awful lot to gain.

Taking a day away from working IN your business, to work ON your business isn’t asking a lot – particularly as your first Seminar is FREE. See what another of our attendees has to say on the video – it’s on our new website – just click here: http://www.intimeprofit.com/seminars.php.

Remember – your first Seminar is FREE.

 

To find out more about intime PROFIT:

our One-to-One,

our Seminars and

our Marketing support services –

write to intime@intimeprofit.com or

call us on 08456 437 497.

www.intimeprofit.com

 

Actions speak louder than words

It’s one thing running a series of Dramatic Business Growth seminars and another to make time to actually action some of the fabulous tips, tasks and techniques presented there each month.

As ER Haas says on the subject of SUCCESS – “You CAN succeed at whatever you do, as long as you simply take the right ACTIONS”.  You may remember this as a recent Daily Tickler from intime PROFIT.

Haas has founded 12 different businesses since leaving graduate school in 1968... some wildly successful... some flops. ("You'll never know success until you've experienced the cold edge of failure" is one of Haas' favorite quotes!).

The intime PROFIT Seminars are intended to equip business owners and managers with deliverable techniques to grow their business, increase sales and deliver sustainably greater profits – ideally without the ‘flops’ but definitely through ‘action’.

Invaluable information builds each month, which delegates take away with them to consider and apply within the context of their own businesses. The trouble is though, once they leave the thought-fuelled atmosphere of the 18^th century coach house on Duncan Lawrie’s estate in Wrotham, Kent … work once more takes its growth-preventing grip.

Last month, the seminar asked each delegate to write down just three of the tips they were going to turn into tasks to apply before convening again next time. OK, we did have Christmas and New Year between the two, but even so … how many tasks were actually actioned?

As co-hosts, we are not exempt from learning (it’s impossible not to) and therefore not exempt from actioning the plans and applying the good practice.

The two things we have actioned this month are; firstly to action the re-writing of our website to bring it in to line with current thought and future services; and secondly to refine and apply our elevator pitch.

Each delegate has been learning and refining their sixty second corporate intro or elevator pitch. You learn much from the techniques being suggested. You learn even more by refining its application. The ultimate lesson though is surely to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT – action it.

Here’s ours:

We think it’s rather good – and now, in the days of a ‘Ronseal Government’ - we too do exactly what we say in the elevator.

If you want to go up in the business world, here’s a tip or four for free:

1.       Take time out and start working ON your business rather than just IN it.

2.       Sign up to the intime PROFIT seminars – your first is FREE.

3.       Learn and share some of the thought provoking ideas and techniques.

4.       But most of all – TAKE ACTION.

 

To find out more about intime PROFIT:

our One-to-One,

our Seminars and

our Marketing support services –

write to intime@intimeprofit.com or

call us on 08456 437 497.

Tax and Death – guaranteed!

You may try to avoid one but you’ll not escape the reaper – tough but true.

So, why is it still so hard to make a sustainably profitable business by helping people to write a will? This was the problem facing Mark Underwood of Integrity Legal Services when he sought advice from intime PROFIT.

The first of what was to become a series of One-to-One business development meetings was free. Despite this Mark, like many, found it difficult to pick up the phone, dial 08456 437 497 and admit he’d appreciate a little help. It wasn’t as though business was bad, but Mark felt there could be so much more to make of it and to take from it.

On the premise that ‘two heads are better than one’, Integrity opened its doors to intime PROFIT.

A recent Daily Tickler from intime offered two words attributed to an African Proverb: GO FAR, and went on – “if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together.” Mark Underwood certainly wanted to take his business further than he was able to on his own.

When you sit across the table on your first One-to-One meeting, it’s your chance to unload some of the burden of running a business alone by sharing, discussing and solving some of the problems associated with business leadership.

It’s not a psychiatrist’s chair type babbling download of lonely fears and heartache though – intime PROFIT offer a structured series of analytical stages to help formulate the way forward. You are introduced to the intime 3 STEP PROCESS – Review, Plan, Action. It is this structure that then shapes an accountable plan tailored to each business we meet.

Working together rather than alone is often the first reality check. Mark himself admitted that: “…whilst I love being my own boss, making yourself accountable to someone else is a powerful tool.”

The process identifies business as well as personal strengths and weaknesses. It sets goals and a time line across which these goals might pragmatically be met. And it details the actions needed to achieve the goals.

Each time you then meet your intime PARTNER, you begin the session by reviewing the targets set previously and discussing the effectiveness of the actions taken. “Procrastination has always held me back from achieving my full potential,” said Mark (and put your hands up if you can honestly say you’re not the same). “Working with intime has given me the clarity and structure that will help me exceed my expectations.”

Obviously, the details of intime PROFIT’s relationship with Integrity are and remain confidential but the process undertaken follows similar principles whatever the business. When you are working hard within your business, it is difficult to make time to stand back to take a constructive look at the business.

Use your One-to-One to STOP the tumbling doms !

For two hours, once a fortnight over three or four months (whatever suits best), Mark borrowed an extra pair of experienced eyes, sat on the other side of the proverbial desk and looked hard at both the problem areas and the successes too.

Problems such as commercial errors or marketing weaknesses are quickly identified and their domino effect can be stopped. These are usually common mistakes that affect cost or devalue ROI by employing an inappropriate ‘I’.

Reducing costs without undermining service has an immediate impact on profit.

With more commercial control, attention can confidently be given to the flip side of the profit dynamics – sales.

intime PROFIT have two proactive tools to help drive sales. One is the 7 Step Marketing Plan and the other (another 7) the 7 Step Profit Multiplier. The One-to-One meetings concentrate initially on the Marketing Plan, structuring a series of tools to help increase leads, conversions and net order value.

“Marketing my business often slips to the bottom of my to-do list,” said Mark Underwood – “Intime have come up with some innovative approaches that will bring this activity into my top two 'must-dos'.”

The methods are proven and pragmatic – there’s no point introducing unachievable goals and unmanageable techniques. We don’t teach Rocket Science … because it’s not.

For your FREE first One-to-One meeting with an intime PROFIT Partner, don’t prevaricate, pick up your phone and dial  08456 437 497 – now.

To reserve your FREE One-to-One, please

e-mail intime@intimeprofit.com 

or call 08456 437 497

very soon.

Too busy working to make money?

If you are too busy working to make money then don’t worry, you are not exactly alone. 95% of SME owners and managers are making the same mistakes. Much of the problem is because they are too busy working IN their business and don’t make time to work ON it.

So, we have the time and the place to get you out of your office and around a boardroom table with a dozen similarly minded people who want to grow the businesses they manage.

They want to grow their businesses, increase sales, reduce costs perhaps – the bottom line is that they want to learn how to unlock the profitable potential that the routines of daily management leave tied up beyond practical reach.

Join us on Thursday 13^th December at the Wrotham offices of Duncan Lawrie.

Why here?

Well, as well as being a practical corner of rural Kent, the mental energies pervading the Grade II listed late sixteenth century brickwork of Duncan Lawrie Private Banking proffer a productive atmosphere of ‘intelligent relaxation’.

We first encountered Wrotham Place (pictured above) when Duncan Lawrie hosted a regional meeting of the IoD and have since become ‘mutual’ friends and clients. Now, we are delighted that they are hosting our next Dramatic Business Growth Seminar.

If you are coming to this as the second or third of our intime SEMINARS, we look forward to seeing you again.

If you are joining us as your first FREE Seminar then you’ll get a warm welcome, enjoy the day and leave with a head full of practical ideas and exercises that will start improving business techniques with immediate effect.

The buzz alone makes a difference to attitude and intent.

David Mack, who leads the Seminars, is looking forward to meeting up with you all again - so much so that in fact he can’t wait for you to see him. David has prepared a webinar to take you through the 7 Profit Multipliers, a preview of which has been uploaded below:

 …and the full version can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEfafrzgAUU.

Enjoy it as a catch up or a refresher and join us for ‘the real thing’ on 13^th.

For more details please call 08456 437 497

Growing your business? Essential dates for your diary

After two successful seminars – one in Chatham and the other in Maidstone, we are pleased to confirm the dates of the next five sessions and to announce a couple of exciting format changes … who says feedback forms don’t work.

We listened with interest to your comments and constructive observations.

As well as the obvious successes…:

“Hi Peter,

Put me down as the paying month to month option please.

I see the value and want more!

Best regards,"

Andy Harris

A1 WebStats 

…we we did receive some critical comments, which were very useful (thank you) and have led to the following changes:

Lunch –

“…it’s a pity lunch, even sandwiches, wasn’t included as it would have been good to interact with fellow delegates.”

Lunch is now included and the important networking opportunity is readily available.

Sequentiality –

“…I love what I have learned but am not sure I can be available for all six so might miss something in the sequence.”

We have now re-written the sessions such that each Seminar now stands alone. All six build into a Business Growth Masterplan whilst having an independent and exclusive value on their own. It may be that you don’t benefit from all 7 Profit Multipliers perhaps and you may miss the odd useful snippet and delegate interaction, but you will still gain essential value to help grow your business. If you have to miss November for instance, or find December is sold out, it doesn’t matter as we have removed the sequential nature of the learning.

FREE First Session –

“…I’d like to bring a colleague or recommend the Seminars, but it was only the first session that was free.”

You can bring a colleague if you wish and their first session will be FREE of charge. In fact, because we have now removed the Sequentiality of the seminars, each future session is, in effect, the first of a rolling six month cycle, so every month can be a FREE First Seminar for someone.

Of course, this is all subject to availability.

Dates –

It’s true and a little disappointing that we had still not finalised the dates for the next and subsequent Seminars, but here they are:

15^th November (3 places remaining)

Venue: Reeves, Chatham (left).

13^th December (5 places remaining)

Venue: Duncan Lawrie, Wrotham (left).

Then:

17^th January 2013; 14^th February; 14^th March

– venues tbc.

To reserve your place(s) please

e-mail intime@intimeprofit.com 

or call 08456 437 497

very soon.

Who’s boss – you or the business?

One of the greatest and most common barriers to business growth is the owner / manager’s relationship with the business itself.

Who is the boss?

Who is driving who?

Are you really in control of the business you head or do day to day responsibilities hold you in their tight unshakable grip?

This is one of the first things we look at on the Dramatic Business Growth Programme whose aim is to give SME owners and managers the ‘tools and rules’ to start making the business work harder FOR YOU.

In the first of the six full day seminars, held one a month over the next six months, we start by looking at the very foundations of successful business growth. We’ll explore what that actually means and how to do it.

The programme combines science with intuition and experience to identify and action 7 growth keys, also known as The 7 Profit Multipliers. Henry Ford said “the secret to achieving a complex task is to break it down into manageable component parts” – and that’s exactly what these seven keys do.

It’s a fact that often we let the business take over, being only too happy to let the day to day prevent our planning for tomorrow. But, with new tools, goals, and revitalised energies, this course literally fuels delegates with the adrenalin to go back and take positive action … and that’s just after day one.

Each session builds on the last, further developing the skills and visions needed to formulate a pragmatic plan and action it. You won’t be alone. We combine the real experiences of your fellow delegates with the professional guidance of the seminar leader and keynote speakers to support you and your way forward to sustainable growth.

This is a programme that will make you hungry for success and equip you with the means to step back, grip the business and deliver it. It only costs £195 (+VAT) per session, with a guaranteed refund if you are not absolutely convinced by what you learn (ask for details and our special discount offer).

Join us and this is the very least you’ll take away:

·         USE  all 7 Profit Multipliers

·         WIN  more business

·         BEAT  the economy

·         THRIVE  not survive

·         COMPETE  within your industry

·         MULTIPLY  your profits – dramatically.

PLEASE NOTE:

If you have received one of these...:

...there are currently only 5 places out of the 15 now available – to reserve your place please act quickly:

For more information call

08456 437 497;

e-mail intime@intimeprofit.com