Business Coach FNQ

You are busy, right? You turn up to work with an endless to-do list, and you don’t have much free time. Why would you invest more time creating a strategic plan, when things are changing so rapidly?

I am curious to hear how you and your business is travelling. It seems that word-of-mouth is a common way for us to get new customers and I thought you would be interested in the following. Let me know what you think.

There couldn’t be a better time to be an entrepreneur right now: You make your own decisions, you are great at what you do, and you are passionate about the industry you are in.

Here’s a testimonial we received from Sy and Amber at Sy Dolphin Electrical;

‘We started working with Sam in Sept 2019 at a time when our business was flailing. We had been in operation for over 15 years but a downturn in Tourism severely affected the small town of Port Douglas where our business is located.

Have you ever thought ……where’s my money?

Your accountant tells you that you have made a profit but there is no money in your bank account………….WTF!

Here are a few reasons why this may be the case:

When I first met Pete and Damo just over a year ago, Pete said to me, “we’re OK mate, we are just going to double down, we are bloody good plumbers and we can make this work.”

You will be amazed at how quickly you can get organised and save yourself heaps of time with these three simple steps. As a business owner one of your most precious resources is your time.

I bet you often tell people what you do, do. But how often do you tell them what you don’t do?

When you complete a job quickly it is important to let your client know you haven’t cut corners.

Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

Are you finding the same challenges keep on coming up in your business, it might be difficult clients, problems with staff or just not making enough money, or another recurring problem?

Continuous feedback is one of the most effective ways of improving a person’s performance. In all my years of coaching I have found that most business owners don’t give their team feedback because they just don’t know how to.

Here’s how you can sell more by changing your focus.

Without sales you will have no business.

But I don’t want to be seen as a sales person I hear you say.

And I agree if you define being a salesman as……..being pushing and trying to trick people to buy things that don’t want or need.

Here’s how you can sell more by changing just one word.

How many times have you walked into a store and had someone ask you “can I help you?”

5 most common causes of cashflow issues.

One of my favourite sayings is turnover is vanity, profit is sanity and cashflow is king, because without cashflow your business won’t survive.

3 Areas That Have A Massive Impact on Your Bottom Line
Often when it comes to running a business and trying to make more money it can seem really complicated and almost overwhelming.

So lets get back to basics. There are three areas you need to focus on.

What you focus on is what you will attract.

You’ve heard the phrase “Pay Attention” so what exactly does that mean? To me ATTENTION is the currency of manifestation. In other words what you focus on is what you will find more of.

Address these 5 concerns and watch your conversion rate soar.

Do you get frustrated and even despondent because you invest a huge amount of time quoting and then following up potential clients but they just don’t convert into contracts and jobs?

Even considering having to ask yourself this question as a business owner can make you break out in a cold sweat.

There are a number of business owners who do have to ask themselves this question.

Often when we are presented with opportunities, we don’t know how to quickly work out if it is an opportunity worth pursuing. If you are someone that is able to get stuff done and you are making progress it is highly likely that many “opportunities” will start come your way.

As a business owner, I am sure you have heard of the concept of paying yourself, however, based on my experience of working with hundreds of business owners it’s a concept that many just don’t practice.

The other day one of my clients threw her hands up in the air and asked. “Why does this always happen to me?” She was frustrated and really upset.

When a small business employs another person, it can be a very big decision. If you are fan of statistics, you can make it sound very impressive. I grew my company by 25 % last quarter. Really what did you do, oh I employed my fourth team member!

Have there been times when you have looked at other businesses and they look far more appealing than your current business?

“I just don’t have time!” Yes, we have all heard it and I am sure we have all said it.

Being a business owner is exciting. You have the opportunity to make your own decisions and secure your future whilst doing what you love. However, if you are not careful you can end up becoming someone’s puppet.

Most business owners I meet want to increase sales, which makes sense, because without sales you have no business.

As a business owner one of your most precious resources is your time. Most business owners that I meet almost always have a challenge with time. It is also surprising how much time people waste time and the scary thing is that it is generally the people that have the least amount of time, waste it the most.

As customers become more and more aware of what is available out there and have more options to choose where they spend their money it has become increasingly important to be able to differentiate your business from others and become the business of choice.

It can be easy to confuse quality over quantity. Just because there is more does not necessarily mean it’s better.

Many people get into business because they are great at doing the work of the business. For example, a great electrician starts an electrical contracting business, a great plumber – a plumbing business and so on.

Setting clear expectations with your clients, your team, your contractors and your suppliers is so important.

Having a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is a great way of differentiating yourself from your competitors.

When you know what your ideal clients top 5 concerns are, you can start to address these in your marketing messages, making it so much easier to close the deal.

Frequently I hear people say, we are the best in the industry, we provide the best value, but we keep on getting beaten on price when we are asked to quote.

Have you ever shared some information or an insight with someone only to have them respond with…? I already knew that?

This was the question someone asked me. And to be honest I have never sat down and worked it out. So, let me share with you what planning I do and how much time I INVEST in it.

No! I am not talking about little pills or even certain herbs, I am talking about how you can design your life so that you can be happier more often.

We all have certain things that make us happy.

Growing up I used to love horse riding. When I was seven, I asked my parents if I could have my own pony. My dad said he would pay half but I had to pay the other half. Well with my first failed venture of selling fleas I had to find another way to earn some money.

When I was seven, my best friend Richard had a border collie called Rocky. We discovered that Rocky had fleas and we also discovered that our parents did not know the difference between fleas or headlice.

This created a massive opportunity for us.

That’s a pretty bold statement, but it’s true.

We have all experienced the awkward silence when we have followed up with a prospective client and we can’t get hold of them. They are not responding to our beautifully crafted e-mails asking for feedback and our polite phone messages we leave.

People are often reluctant to “follow up” with a prospective client after a meeting or after sending through a quote or proposal.

The easiest way to do this is to phone and just ask for some “feedback” or you can do what we did with this company.

At the end of each day, reflect on what you have achieved.

Three great questions to ask yourself at the end of the day are:

We have all heard of the saying, “if you want something done, give it to a busy person.”

Are you that busy person? Are you saying “yes” too often and not getting to the most important things that are going to make the biggest difference?

Growing up I remember my mother always saying to me “less haste, more speed”.

Set aside at least one session of between 60 to 90 minutes of uninterrupted time each day to just focus and work on one thing that will make the biggest difference.

Take a couple of minutes and write down absolutely everything you need to do. Everything. Get it out of your head.

Grade the list into A, B, C, D & E tasks.

When someone is under performing it can be very frustrating and it is always easy to blame that person. However, I have found that often when this is the case it’s because clear expectations haven’t been set and there is also a lack of feedback.

Yes, that was the exact words a business owner (let’s call him Bob) said to me at our first meeting. Considering that accountants are one of the most trusted advisors for business owners, this was a very serious accusation.

I was waiting to catch a flight from Sydney to Cairns and I must have been asked this question at least 5 times. I was standing between Gates 40 and 42, and Gate 41 was nowhere to be seen. Down the one side of the airport the Gates where all in numerical order except for Gate 41.

When you can clearly understand, and articulate someone’s problem with empathy you will gain their trust and be in a better position to influence and help them.

Often as business owners we are looking for ways to motivate and engage our team to perform better. However without thinking through an incentive properly you could be encouraging the wrong type of behaviour resulting in more damage being done than good.

I am sure you have had a client that you have been quite happy to lose or “set free” because they have been a PINTA client! (Pain IN The Arse)

You may be asking yourself, what does Sam mean? Let me explain, if we take the amount of money you spend on lead generation,

As a business owner the decisions you make will depend on what level your business is at.

Demonstrating your product or service can often be the quickest and easiest way to convert a person making an enquiry into a client.

Almost Every Business Is Sitting on A Goldmine BUT They Just Don’t Realise It.

How many times have you walked into a store and had someone ask you “can I help you?” The problem with this question is most people say “no” and we have lost the opportunity to help them buy from us!

A simple question but in all my years of coaching so many business owners really find this a difficult question to answer?

Most people view marketing as an expense and unfortunately for most businesses this is the case.

How many times do you get interrupted in a day?

Each time we get interrupted we lose anything between 2 to 10 minutes of time getting back to where we were?

Over the years we have come across many instances of fraud, however in the last couple of months there seems to have been an increase in good bookkeepers turning bad!

When asked this question, as tempting as it may be to answer with the price, your first response should be the magic question………………….” Just so I can help you best would it be Okay if I ask you a couple of questions?”

Would you like to know what I would do if you employed me as a sales person and said, “Sam we need to make more sales quick!”?

I often find that going back to basics helps put things in perspective.

When we know how much it costs us to open the doors of our business we can get clarity about how much we need to sell and deliver each and every day.

Many business owners make the mistake of not getting clear on who their ideal client is. They also often try and define their ideal client in very broad terms resulting in them wasting time and money when trying to find new clients.

Do you know which products or services are the most profitable? Many business owners don’t, and this can result in you being really busy and not making the money you deserve…

When you have clarity on your business model and know how your business creates value for your customers it becomes easier to make more money…

Melbourne Cup is known as the “The race that’s stops the nation”, well it seems that the nation doesn’t get going again until after Australia Day!…

Most new businesses are doomed to fail even before they get started. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics more than 60 percent of small businesses fail within the first three years…

“Why does time go so slowly?” This was the question that my ten-year-old son was asking me, the interesting thing is he was absolutely serious. It made me realise at some stage we go from…

It is surprising how many business owners and their teams are not clear on how their business makes money or what their “Value Proposition” is…

Wikipedia defines culture as: The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group. Even if your company does…

Are you aware of how much time you spend each day responding to e-mails?…

One of the things I have found in working with hundreds of business owners and managers is that most people do not give their team good feedback….

Problems are a sign of life. The only people who don’t have to solve problems are dead. I was listening to a webinar the other day by Darren Hardy – the publisher of Success magazine – and he said…

Knowing what you want to achieve is not always enough; you need to know why you want to achieve something…

I am what some would call a reluctant shopper, particularly when it comes to buying clothes. I am the kind of person that when I find a pair of jeans I like, I will buy three pairs, that way I don’t need to worry about buying jeans again for a long time.