The business world is changing! Today customer’s are better informed and much more demanding. The internet has made information readily available to customers and for the first time ever small companies are able to compete with the big boys on very small marketing budgets.

It is therefore imperative that your business is ready to respond and has an up to date and robust marketing strategy. In this week’s tip of the week, Serial Entrepreneur Patrick White introduces you to Module 4 of the Business Growth Course, which addresses these very issues and offers helpful insight.

Find Out More About the Business Growth Course

Session 4: Marketing

A good Marketing strategy is at the heart of a solid growth strategy. In order to increase your revenue and profitability, you first need to understand your customers’ needs, provide a product or service to meets those needs and let your customers know that the solution they are looking for exists!

What you’ll be covering in this session:

• The concepts behind a Marketing-led approach to business and the POISE model of Marketing
• Contents and Structure of a Marketing Plan and how each section is relevant to your business
• Marketing Research—working within the process, different types of Marketing research
• Using Marketing Research tools and techniques
• Applying analytical tools to your Marketing Plan
• Understanding Buyer Behaviour and what makes people decide to buy from you—you’ll be shown how this applies to both B2B and B2C customers
• Classification and segmentation of customers according to type and buyer behaviour
• Setting strategies according to the current stage of the Product Life Cycle and planning for New Product Development and Launch
• Applying the Boston Matrix and Ansoff’s Matrix to your business to identify which products you should be offering to which markets
• Pricing Strategies—you’ll be shown 13 different short-term and long-term strategies for using your price to position your products and services in the marketplace; as well as in the minds of your customers, and to generate sales
• Channel and Distribution Tactics—selling via agents, wholesalers, retailers and other intermediaries
• Communicating your message and promoting your products and services through appropriate media
• Relationship Marketing and Business Development strategies for forging strong business contacts
• Creating your own Marketing Flowchart which illustrates how you will execute your plan

Find Out More About The Business Growth Course

Are certain people making life difficult for other people at work? SME Academy offers a solution.

Problem behaviour at work affects everyone. It affects the people on the receiving end and it also affects those who are bullying and argumentative in the first place.

But how do you deal with it?

The first step is to take a pro-active stance, take command and control it in a positive way. It used to be that punishment was the only way forward and indeed some form of disciplinary action may be required. But prevention and support should also be provided, along with a strong and positive management style that will go a long way towards preventing such occurrences happening in the future.

Both coaching and mentoring have led to positive changes in such individuals, as they are offered practical and supportive solutions to change the behaviour that has so affected them and their colleagues. While it will take time to get back to a workplace which is more positive in nature, if you can provide leadership that everyone looks to for advice and support you will be setting the stage for that to gradually evolve.

It can be a tricky balance to present a face of management that is both firm yet supportive in the right ways, but it is vital to do so. You should also keep a close eye on how things are progressing and be prepared to meet with members of staff who have concerns or issues about any kind of detrimental behaviour they are experiencing at work.

Many businesses are now turning to neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) to produce better results over both the short and the long term. NLP is designed to help you understand the behaviours of others from both audio and visual signs, and can therefore help in two ways. Firstly the offending member of staff will learn how their behaviour affects others in a detrimental way, and secondly they will also learn how to make positive changes that will help to eradicate the problem behaviour altogether.

As far as your role as a manager is concerned it is vital to ensure that you learn to identify problem behaviour as soon as it arises, rather than finding out about it from staff members. By providing a hands on management style you can learn more about how your team works and thus get to know your team a lot better than perhaps you do now.

By looking at long term solutions to problem behaviour rather than quick fixes, you will find that your team works in a more harmonious way as a result.

SME Academy offers a range of Coaching and Mentoring packages that can be adapted to your needs. Call us on 020 7939 9910 or click here for more information about coaching

© Copyright Hannah McNamara 2010

There is more to business success than having a great idea.  For some people, their ideas translate instantly into a profitable business and for others, years of hard work and study. Often entrepreneurs who find success quickly are considered lucky, but as Patrick tells in this video there is more to it than just luck, and early success does not dictate ongoing success.

For more information on the Business Growth Course and upcoming start dates, click here.

Knowing where you’re driving your business is just as important as driving it. Having a clear vision and mission for your business allows you to make decisions that are right for the long term growth of your business, rather than short term ones that feel good.

In this video Dr Patrick White introduces the first module of the Business Growth Course and explains just how important having a clear vision for your business is.

To find out when our next Business Growth Course starts Click Here

Or call Lenka on +44 (0) 20 7939 9910 to discuss whether the course is right for you.

Find out how you could access a grant of up to £1,000 to help fund training within your company (see below).

New funding from Train to Gain means that you can invest in training and development for yourself and your team

Changes to the Train to Gain Leadership & Management Programme Announced

We are pleased to announce that the eligibility criteria for the Leadership & Management Grants from Train to Gain have changed so that they now include more small businesses.

If your organisation has between 5 and 249 staff, you may be eligible for a grant of £1,000 to spend on leadership & management training, coaching or mentoring.

This is a great opportunity to up-skill – both for you and your staff:

• Are your business skills and knowledge up to date (or are you still relying on skills you learned on a course 10 years ago)?
• Who in your business could improve their management style?
• Are the members of the senior management team ready to inspire and lead staff through changes?
• Are you being as strategic as you could be?
• Do you throw new managers in at the deep end without any training on how to get the best out of their people?
• Are you holding your business back by not delegating? You know: “If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself”.

SME Academy can explain how the grant works, show you the options available to you and help you to apply for the funding with the help of a Train to Gain Leadership & Management Broker.

How much is available?

You may be eligible for a grant of up to £1,000.

The way it works is that the first £500 is a straight-forward grant and then a further grant of up to £500 is available on a match funded basis, i.e. you put in £500 and Train to Gain match it with a grant of £500.

Most people like to take the maximum amount available and get £1,500 worth of training/development for an investment of £500 – the company pays £500 and Train to Gain pay £1,000.

What can I use the grant for?

Our services include:

• One-to-one training, coaching and mentoring
• In-house training and workshops
• Open programmes and training courses

Our style is very down-to-earth and we focus on what helps you and your staff to get the skills you need, when you need them.

The grant from Train to Gain can be used on a variety of options and if we are not able to provide you with the kind of training or support that you need, we will put you in touch with someone who can.

You can use the funding to combine the services of different providers, for example if you want to spend £250 with a course run by someone else, but use the balance of the grant to spend on business coaching with us – you can!

How do I apply?

Contact Hannah McNamara on 020 7939 9910 for more information or use the form below to request a call-back:

Required fields are in bold

Do I need a small business coach, a mentor or a life coach?

SME Academy in London offers all three services which are explained below.

The terms small business coach or business mentor are often used interchangeably within the business world, but what do people really mean when they talk about small business coaching or business mentoring? And how are they different from executive coaching or life coaching?

Countless articles and text books tell you that mentors use coaching skills and that coaches can act as a mentor – not much help is it?

The reason for this is it is actually very difficult when you’re a business coach or mentor NOT to utilise both techniques because when you’re working with a client on building their business you often have to be a supporter or coach, an experienced guide or mentor and also to provide one on one training in business skills and soft skills such as leadership skills, communication skills or negotiation skills.

The best business coaches are able to help you to:

• think strategically and so can assist with business planning and strategy
• work out how to increase business through offering guidance on sales and marketing techniques
• be a better manager or leader by helping you with communication skills, dealing with difficult people, confidence and assertiveness
• manage your stress levels through more effective time management, delegation and giving you back a sense of work/life balance

However, not all business coaching organisations can offer this in one person and if you go to a specialist life coach they might be able to help you with the soft skills and life planning aspects but won’t be able to offer you guidance on building your business because they typically use what’s called a ‘non-directive’ approach, i.e. they won’t offer advice or suggestions but help you to draw the answers out from within yourself (assuming of course that at some level you DO know the answer!).

So as a potential user of small business coaching or business mentoring services how on earth do you find a suitable coach?

Ask around and be prepared to devote some time to talking to a few suitable business coaches. Don’t just ‘jump into bed’ with the first person you speak to (unless they meet all of your criteria) and have an initial discussion with them to work out if the two of you can work together.

At SME Academy we always offer a free initial consultation either by phone or in person to talk about your needs and then we recommend the person on our team who fits your requirements. On-going packages of coaching time are then arranged with you as required. You can view a sample of the standard packages available at www.smeacademy.co.uk/courses/business-coaching-mentoring/

To arrange a free no-obligation consultation please call Hannah McNamara at SME Academy on 020 7939 9910 or +44 20 7939 9910 or contact us via our contact page.

SME Academy is based in central London (SE1) close to London Bridge station and Borough station which is a short walk across the bridge from the City of London and Bank/Monument stations.

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