Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting about marketing and why it’s so important to have a marketing plan that aligns to your business vision.

Without marketing, your potential clients will not know you are there or what your do. Reactive marketing that does not align to your business plan,  will be unproductive and costly as it may not reach your target market or give the right message.

A proactive sales & marketing plan that is coordinated with your business plan, will help you set clear objectives, establishing direction and focus on your target market. Assessing and monitoring what your competition is doing will also help you to work out the best ways to keep existing customers happy whilst reaching and winning new customers.

Your marketing plan is a working document that will help you structure effort within the resources you have available, including people, time and money. It will support you in monitoring success and reviewing what to do differently to build on your success; also to identify what is not working, so you can allocate resources more effectively.

‘A sales and marketing plan must be reviewed and revised regularly to gain maximum return and to make your vision become a reality’.

Align your marketing with your business vision

Your marketing goals are your route to achieve your key business vision goals. 

 Before you  create your marketing plan, or  consider any marketing activity, you need to be clear what you are offering to whom.

 -          What is it that you will tell prospects that you do?

-          What are the features and benefits of what you have on offer?

-          What does your product offer that your customers’ value?

-          Are you product or market driven, ie have you a product for which you are trying to find a market, or are you seeking to provide a service/product to meet market needs, or, is it a blend of the two?

Next time I’ll be posting on being clear about your target market, your pricing and competitors.

To set a solid foundation for your marketing plan with a clear business vision, why not join my Vision Formula Workshop this Wednesday 16th May in Maidstone.

It costs just £47 and you will leave the workshop with:

More details can be found here.

Look out for Marketing Part 2 !

Denise

Denise Molloy works with small business owners to help them build a profitable and sustainable business that suits the lifestyle they choose.

I attended a Ladies at 11 Conference last week where I heard some really interesting speakers from whom I picked up some great and practical tips. This week I’d like to share just some of the tips offered by Voice Coach Laura Hart.

Her tips touched a cord (no pun intended), as I was suffering with a sore throat yet was continuing my coaching timetable regardless of the strain it was placing on my voice – a tool without which I could not survive!  So the first tip is about taking care of your voice and the others about how to better use your voice for greater impact.

1.      Take care of your voice:

• Fresh air! With all the air conditioning and central heating we use to keep comfortable, don’t starve your vocal chords of oxygen!
• Water – drink it, but  occasional inhaling of steaming water over a boil with open mouth will give your chords an extra boost
• If you are suffering with a sore throat – give it a rest and shut up!

2.     The need for colour :

• To give colour to your voice think slow, slow, quick, quick, slow
• Deliver new content more slowly for comprehension
• When reviewing content already delivered, speak more quickly

3.     Stand and deliver

• Think where best to position yourself for sound and sight
• Move your position occasionally – then stand firm and straight
• Visit as many in the room with direct eye contact

4      Get physical! 

• Use gestures to release your energy overflow
• Show what you are saying with your hands when you want greater impact
• Make facial expressions too, it gains interest and attention

You don’t need to be public speakers or Adele to appreciate the need for making the best of one of your most treasured and taken for granted assets.  Whatever business you are in, you need to optimise every tool in your kit bag, so make the best of your voice to be a more effective communicator to help you grow your small business.

Laura Hart is a Voice and Speaking Skills Coach. The tips above are just a hint of how Laura helps her client.  To find out more visit her website.

Denise Molloy is a business coach who works with owner managers to build a sustainable and profitable business that fits their lifestyle.

A quarter of the British economy is made up of family run businesses, employing 10 million people. 1000 go bust every month! That’s how Alex Polizzi starts her weekly programme ‘The Fixer’.

Polizzi is an hotelier and part of the Forte family run business who in this series is helping 6 family run businesses who are struggling to stay afloat.

Maintaining good relationships in a small business is crucial and is even more challenging when it’s alongside family members! Are you working with your dad or your boss, your sibling or your colleague, your spouse or business partner? As Polizzi put it – ‘it’s not just profit on the line, it’s relationships’.

As a business coach I work with small businesses, a number being family run. Key to their success, whether family run or not, are the people, and that means having open communication.

Effective communication opens the door to sharing great ideas and working together to achieve the business vision. If people don’t talk openly, tensions build and concerns are bottled up waiting to be released like a pressure cooker.

I use profiling with all of my clients to find out more about their strengths, areas for growth, and sources of motivation. One of the profiles is called DISC and is particularly effective for discussing their communication style. We look at how they can think more about the way they communicate with others to better build and sustain relationships for mutual benefit.

Here are 10 tips to help you communicate more effectively and achieve the business success you want:

1. Be clear about your business vision so you can share it with others. If you don’t know what it is, others will have no chance of knowing where you are heading and how they can help.
2. Openly discuss the need to be flexible and keep up with trends and needs of your client – if you don’t, you won’t grow and may not stay in business
3. Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis with your team to help focus on your strengths and identify areas for growth
4. Help all of your team members find their voice so they feel able to actively participate in decision making
5. Be sensitive to the needs of others and how they may interpret what you have to say
6. Don’t make it too much talk and not enough action!
7. The whole team needs to be clear who is responsible for what tasks and results. Make sure they have the authority to take the action required to get there!
8. Agree who is going to do what and by when
9. Communicate clear measurements so you know that the desired outcome is achieved
10. Finally, remember that communication is ongoing and not just a one off task to clear the air.

Regular two way communication will keep the momentum going and ensure everyone who is involved in the success of your business, be they employees or an external resource, are clear on their role, responsibilities and level of authority. They will then be happy to be held accountable.

Denise is a business coach who works with owner managers to build a sustainable and profitable business that fits their lifestyle.

If you want to be clear on your business vision so you focus your efforts and find the right people to help you, visit The Vision Formula to find out more about dma’s 3 hour workshop.

If you are a follower of my blogs you will know that I am always advocating you should delegate whenever you can, to someone responsible and that can do a good job. Well yet again Jade Pluck has written a blog summarising a presentation I did for Women In Business West Kent – so it would be just rude not to guest her on my blog! Over the next few weeks I will go into more detail to help you set some goals or aims for your life and your business but this should get you thinking.

Tips on Goal Setting

Following on from our Dec session Working from Home we couldn’t resist but get Denise Molloy back again to talk to us on goal setting a perfect subject for January.

It was another interactive and very informative session and I think we all came away with something we could action when looking at our goals for 2012 – mine was when setting your goals, look at your key strengths  and for me this meant being organised, so I am re-evaluating my goals to incorporate this.

To all of you that came I would love to know what you took away from Denise’s session.

So here is a taster of what Denise shared, and don’t forget if you need help setting your goals do get in contact with Denise now.

• First and for most when setting your “goals” use a word that means something to you, for example goals might sound to formal how about saying achievements, already this is making you want to look at them and re-evaluate them!
• Share your goals with someone, this can be a friend, business partner or anyone that is supportive of you and your business, this then makes you accountable to someone and you will more likely achieve them.
• Just because you write them does not mean they can’t be changed – they are your goals/achievements after all.
• If your still struggling to set your goals for 2012 don’t forget they came be in more areas than just your business – do you have any personal goals around staying fit and healthy or perhaps you want to build your confidence by meeting new people? I think the key thing to remember is they are about you and when you look back over 2012 how proud will you be if you achieve all your goals.

Do you want to “Get your year in gear” then sign up to Denise’s workshop on 1^st Feb, please don’t worry if you can’t make this date Denise will be running more in due course, it is exceptional value at just £35, for more details click the link above.

Happy New Year!

My last blog suggested you look at next year’s goals for your small business when you had an hour or so to spare over Christmas. I have to say – I took a full break over the holidays and had a great time with family doing very little work. I hope you were able to do the same!

2012 is here NOW so where to start? Steven Covey advocates starting with the end in mind but I want to turn that on its head today and start with:

What did you achieve in 2011?

• What successes did you have? They don’t have to be huge. Success as measured in terms of what you wanted to happen.
• Who helped contribute to your success? Keep them around and make sure they know they are valued!
• How well did you manage to play to your strengths, to do what you do best and retain inspiration for your business?

What do you want to happen this year?

• How did you make your successes happen? If you want a repeat of the success, what can you do again this year to make it happen again?
• What didn’t happen that you tried to achieve? What do you need to do differently to make it a reality this year?
• What didn’t you make time to even try last year that you really want to go for this year? How are you going to make time for it now? How much of a priority is it?

Just by writing down your considered responses, it will start your creative juices flowing as to how to get on track.

If you would like a booster to help you get started, come to my 3 hour workshops in Tonbridge and Maidstone to Get Your Year in Gear.

You will leave with:

• A core 3 year business vision that clarifies what you want from your business
• Key measureable goals by which to monitor progress towards making your vision a reality
• A personal needs analysis and development plan to achieve personal and business growth

Click here to find out more and book. Places are limited to 12 for each workshop so that you get individual attention from me and Kathy de Koningh of Skills South East.

If you would like to get in touch with me to discuss the support I can offer you, please do ring me on 01732 851858 or email.

Meantime here’s to you taking action to make 2012 as successful as you want it to be!

Denise Molloy is a business and performance coach who works with owner managers to take their business to the next stage.

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7 Simple Steps to Get Your Year in Gear!

The New Year is approaching and you may be thinking of New Year’s resolutions. Stop now! Instead, start thinking about where you are now and where you want to be – then set measurable and achievable goals to get you on track and keep you on track.

Plan – then take action to make it happen

Don’t you find that during the year you can get so caught up working in the business that you lose your way and end up on a rough track or road that is harder to travel?

Written goals provide you clarity of direction that set you and your business up for success – it’s your commitment to take action to make things happen. By taking time out to plan your route you are giving yourself the power of choice about your journey. Some call it a business plan, a business vision. Call it what you like as it is your route to success. It is a series of goals to get you where you want to be.

Make more time!

You may know where you want to go but without taking time out to make a written plan or map of how to get there, you are losing valuable time, a commodity that all business owners just want more of!

So when you have the odd hour over Christmas, don’t think new year resolutions – think positive measurable goals and take time to get your thoughts on paper so you are back to work with the focus you need to get the results you want.

Follow these 7 steps in writing down your goals to help you make more time, get you on track and keep you on track for business growth.

• Think about what you really want from your business?
  

  Be clear on the lifestyle you want to have so that your business fits into your life rather than your life fitting around your business. Make sure you are working to your own measures of success and not what others expect from you.

• Live by your values and work to your strengths to gain the work life harmony you want
  

  Get the balance that is right for you and that is congruent with your values. If fun, growth, security and love for your family are all values you live by, make sure you don’t set goals that contravene them. Be aware of your strengths and play to them, you will be happier in what you do and you will be setting yourself up for success.

• Write your goals in the positive
  

  For example, ‘stop procrastinating over sales calls’ becomes, ‘ make x number of sales calls per day’. The power of the written word cannot be overstated, and writing them in the positive gives your subconscious something to act upon. It needs to know what to do to move forward  – not what not to do.

• Write your goals in the present –
  

  Visualise yourself fulfilling your goals just as athletes see themselves winning their race and standing on the podium. It builds your confidence that you are already doing it – it’s a done deal!

• Make goals you can track
  

  You will need to know how far you have travelled,  and if you need to take a detour to reach your chosen destination. Remember if you want a different result, you will need to do something differently so make sure you monitor your progress to maintain control.

• Step out of your comfort zone and step into your stretch zone.
  

  Whilst making sure your goals are achievable, make sure you are maximising your potential to stimulate personal and business growth.

• Review your written goals regularly
  

  Share them with those who will encourage and support your efforts.  It will help you keep on track and make them happen.