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

Have you got a Strategy? Is it right for your business?

On Module 3 of the Business Growth Course you’ll be introduced to eleven potential strategies and evaluate which one is right for your business based on your Vision and Goals, and the Diagnostics you created in the previous session. Having the right strategy for your business if fundamental to your success!

What Does Module 3 Include:

The saying goes, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. When preparing for growth in your business, it is essential to know exactly where the business is heading and how you are going to get there.

In this session you will be building on the work you have already done to set your Vision and Goals, and combining that with the in-depth knowledge you now have about your business from the Diagnostics session, to create a realistic plan for growth. During this session, you will start to work on the Strategy Document for your own business.

What you’ll be covering in this session:

• How far ahead can you realistically plan for?
• The key elements of Strategic Planning—Competitive Advantage, Adding Value, Mass markets vs. Niche Markets, Cost-Based Strategies & Market-Based Strategies
• Examining Contingency Plans and Growth Plans
• Corporate Culture—what is it, what drives it and how do you go about defining the culture of your company?
• Integrating your Strategic Plan with your Vision, Aims and Objectives
• Using Analysis tools such as SWOT and PEST within your Strategic Plan
• Porter’s Five Forces model and how this can be applied on a practical level within your business
• The resources that you need to implement your strategy
• 11 Different types of Strategies and how to choose the strategy/strategies that will enable your business to grow and meet your objectives

Find Out More about the Business Growth Course

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

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.

The Business Growth Course, led by Patrick White, takes place over 6 weeks. The 2 hour sessions are perfect for learning the theory and then applying to directly to your business.

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

Or call Lenka on 020 7939 9910  to discuss whether the course is right for your business.

Read Testimonials for this Course

Funding is available via Train to Gain. A Home Study Course is available.

Watch the Full Video by Clicking Here

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

Or call Lenka on 020 7939 9910  to discuss whether the course is right for your business.

Read Testimonials for this Course

Funding is available via Train to Gain. A Home Study Course is available.

To hear the full interview Click Here

Dr Patrick White from SME Academy explains how a little-known Japanese fishing technique can be applied to your business in a recession to improve results.

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Transcript

Hello. Today I would like to talk about:

‘Putting A Shark In Your Business’

You might think this is a really odd topic but I’m relating it to the recession that we are currently having; because one of the things I have learned, being old enough and having been through a few recessions is that it gives you an opportunity to really examine what is going on in your business and make some steps that will improve your business ready for the future.

I’d like to tell you a story that relates to this which I read not that long ago and it’s to do with a Japanese fishing fleet.

The Japanese, over recent times, had fished out all the fish around their own islands and therefore had to send their fleet much further afield to get the fish. Obviously they couldn’t keep the fish alive to get back to the market unless they did something about it.

So initially what they did was they put big freezers on their ships and froze the fish and then took it back to Japan.

However this presented a problem because the Japanese consumer noted that the fish did not taste as fresh as they were used to eating. So what were they to do about this?

So they took their fleet, took all the freezers off and replaced them with big tanks. When they caught the fish they would put the fish in the tanks, fin-to-fin, and let them wriggle around and try and keep them alive so when they got back to Japan they would have the fresh taste.

However after a while the fish stopped wriggling and would just go into a sort of state of frigidity. So when they got back to Japan the same problem happened; the local consumers in Japan said the fish still tasted like it wasn’t fresh. It still tasted like it had been frozen under the previous way of doing things.

So then someone came up with a bright idea of: “Why don’t we put a small shark in each tank? And the shark will swim around; he might eat a few fish but because the shark’s there the fish keep wriggling around.”

And when they got back to Japan it tasted still like fresh fish. So you’ve got to treat the recession like someone has put a shark in your business. And let it wriggle around until you find out ways to do things better and get the results you want.

Thank you. For more video tips and articles go to: www.smeacademy.co.uk

[END TRANSCRIPTION – 00:02:37]

Dr Patrick White from SME Academy talks about the dangers of surrounding yourself with ‘yes-men’ in your business. His story illustrates how not allowing people to challenge your decisions can lead to expensive mistakes.

Liked this video tip?

We publish tips like this on a regular basis, so make sure you’re on our mailing list and you’ll be told when we add new video tips and articles to the site. You are automatically added to our mailing list when you download a copy of our FREE e-book ’10 Ways to Sabotage Your Own Business: Are you making these mistakes?’ Claim your copy now here.

Transcript

Welcome to today’s tip of the week. Something I’d like to talk about is called: ‘Never Let Me Make A Mistake’

And this is very important when you’re an entrepreneur or manager or leader because it has two values that I want to talk about initially and then I’ll tell you a story to illustrate how I came about this rule.

One of the things you don’t want when you’re running a business is a lot of ‘Yes’ people around you. You want people to be able to be empowered to tell you if they think you’re making a mistake because sometimes we as owners and managers tend to rush off and do things that our staff think aren’t too bright at times.

So one of the things you need to instil in your business is to let your people know that they can actually come up to you and say: “I think that you are making a mistake.” – And then have a discussion about why they think that.

I have found this very empowering for people and I’ll tell you a story where I actually learned the lesson about this.

One day I happened to be visiting a fellow fuel distributor, which was one of my past businesses. And on his premises he had this really shiny, very nice Pantech truck with a nice big back on it all painted up and sign-written and it had a drop-loader elevator on the back which was great; it looked really good.

And it immediately came to mind that I had a depot that I had visited not long ago which had a very poor looking truck which was 20 years old and had just a flat deck on the back.

I thought: Wouldn’t it be great to buy this truck and send it to that depot and give that particular truck driver a big thrill?

So I went ahead, purchased the truck and then rang the Manager of the depot, told him I had purchased the truck and sent it on to him.

A couple of months later I had to go and visit that depot and when I got there I met the truck driver just as I was walking in the door and said something to him and I got a bit of a grunt.

After that I carried on walking and talked to the actual depot Manager and I said: “What’s wrong with Brian? We’ve just sent him this brand new truck and it looks really good, why is he not happy?”

The depot Manager proceeded to tell me why. He said: “The reason we had the old truck with a flat deck is because we needed to move a lot of fuel tanks around so we don’t need a truck with sides on the back because we can’t manoeuvre the fuel tanks in and out of the truck.”

So what was actually happening was they were using the new truck I’d bought for local deliveries but when they needed to shift a tank they would go and hire a flat bed truck.

So not only had I bought another truck that I didn’t actually need but it didn’t serve the purpose that they needed it for. What I should have done is asked the question. But if I had empowered these people before I bought the truck they could have told me that this was a mistake, that wasn’t the truck they actually needed.

So hence I learned the lesson ‘Never Let Me Make A Mistake’. It’s important to give your people the right to talk to you when they think you are making a mistake.

It’s also important to encourage them to make sure they tell other people in the business if they think they’re making a mistake and most importantly they must tell the customer if they think he or she is making a mistake.

So that’s a lesson I have learned. So if you want to empower our people get rid of the ‘Yes’ people around you and empower them so that they can tell you when they think you’re making a mistake.

Thank you.

For more video tips and articles go to: www.smeacademy.co.uk

[END TRANSCRIPTION – 00:03:54]

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