Top Tips
Without customers you don’t have a business. Ensure that you provide customers with plenty of opportunity to feedback, ask them what they need, what they like and don’t like and act upon what they say.
A press release is an effective way of publicising an enterprise and unlike advertising you don’t have to pay for it. Make sure that any press release you prepare is newsworthy. Possible topics include the opening of new premises, securing significant new contracts, development of new services or products, visit by celebrity / well known individuals etc. Ensure that the news is all in the first paragraph and that you send the release to the right people – find out which journalists/ reporters will be most interested in your news.
Managing your time effectively will help you achieve more. Plan each day by writing a ‘to do’ list with the most important tasks at the top. Prioritizing will ensure that you spend your time and effort on the things which are most important to you and your business.
Decide who will deal with press inquiries and ensure all queries are directed to that person/persons.
Never think that ‘off the record’ conversations with journalists can’t be used in the press. Be careful what you say!
Be proactive. Build relationships with journalists and then ‘shout out’ about your successes.
Don’t lie. It sounds obvious but if you/your organisation is in the wrong – say so and apologise.
Be aware of tight deadlines which journalists adhere to and respond to queries in good time.
Be clear about who has responsibility for what in your organisation. A job description is a good way of clarifying who does what so that nothing is left out (such as filing financial reports).
Finish meetings by summarising a list of action points so everyone is clear who needs to do what before you next meet – and make sure this information is recorded.
Filing is a chore, but it can save you time when you need to find things, and can help your colleagues if you are unexpectedly absent and they need to find something. Develop a filing system and make sure everyone understands it.
Keep track of your customers with a computerised database. Record their name and contact details, plus information about what they buy, how much they paid and when they bought it. It’ll be a valuable resource when you come to do market research and can be used for direct marketing (get consent from your customers for this to comply with data protection).
Collect testimonials from your customers – they are a great way to convince other people to use your product or service.
Think ahead. Establish policies before you need them. Doing so helps avert crises and awkward situations, and helps solve problems before they arise.
Trying to sell a product that is new can be an uphill struggle. Being first is not always best, as you have to educate a market and convince them of the need for your product. So don’t be put off if your idea has been done before – think about how you can do it differently, by including an additional feature or benefit.
Carry out as much market research as possible. Find out about your market place, concentrating on areas such as the demand, your competitors and the size of the market. Talk to potential customers, suppliers, competitors, distributors and ex-employees of competitors.
Identify what you do well and what you do badly, dividing it into areas such as financial, marketing, operational and general management. Be honest with yourself, but also be realistic. Identifying your weakness will help you to recognise what you are good at, and which areas you delegate to someone else or get training in.
Keep your Business Plan short. An ideal format for your plan, if you intend it to be for outside use, is to have between three and ten pages of text that draw out the important points, plus a series of financial figures. Excessive detail should be confined to appendices.
Involve your family. Your home atmosphere should be very supportive, particularly in the early stages. Your family could also be useful as a sounding board, helping out with the odd task or providing feedback or finance.
If you’re making a presentation, test the equipment beforehand; get familiar with it before you start. PowerPoint and OHPs often seem as though they´re out to get you, so make sure you´re in charge not them.
If you’re making a presentation, use visuals to give a big picture quickly, graphics, pictures, cartoons, bar charts etc; you can then use words to elaborate. Slides with words on are of limited value. If you seem to have a lot you may find you are showing your audience your speaker notes!
Treat a presentation like a conversation with your audience. They may not actually say anything, but make them feel consulted, questioned, challenged, argued with; then they will stay awake and attentive.
Always use a spell checker – but make sure it’s set to the correct language (UK English not US English).
Don’t get distracted by incoming emails. Deal with your in-box at a set time (such as for an hour after lunch) and turn it off for the rest of the day.
If you’re writing a document, use short sentences. More than fifteen words in a sentence reduces the clarity of the meaning. After drafting your communication, seek out commas and ´and´s, and replace with full-stops.
Don’t ‘justify’ text alignment in documents. It makes it much harder to read than simple left, right or centred alignment.
Any printed material looks very untidy if you use more than two different fonts and two different point sizes. Generally the fewer the better.
