Many Australian small businesses are unknowingly handicapped due to a lack of planning for future possibilities. Small businesses cannot afford to function effectively without such planning, especially in times of constant change.

Consider for a moment your business. If your business is like most small businesses, the most vital element of your organisation is you – the owner. With this in mind, you need to make sure your business can go on without you.

Why?

• In the event of unexpected injury or illness where you need to take extended time off work to recover, you need to live off more than just your savings.
• In the event of dispute, divorce, retirement or simply wanting to move on from the business, you need to be able to sell your business rather than be forced to close it down and miss out on any profit.

In addition to a succession plan and exit strategy, the most important security precaution for every small business owner is income protection.

Tragically, many small business owners who cannot work due to unexpected injury or illness can’t afford the cost of living and find themselves having to the sell their business.

Income protection can replace up to 75% of your salary if you are unable to work due to unexpected illness or injury.

Think about it like an umbrella. An umbrella can’t stop the rain from falling, but it will protect you in a storm. In the same way, income insurance cannot prevent life’s storms, but it does make sure you and your family will survive if you can no longer work.

It also means you don’t need to rely on your business to pay the bills. Instead of facing the possibility of losing your business to cover the costs, you can calmly follow your succussion plan and exit strategy and depend on your income protection insurance to help pay the bills instead.

There are many different kinds of income insurance and not all will suit you. You can save yourself a lot of money by talking to a specialist personal insurance broker who can assess your situation and shop around for the most affordable and tailored solution.

This is particularly important for small business owners, as their income tends to fluctuate and is often more complicated than employees of medium-to-large sized businesses. For example, your income may be determined by the profitability of your business at any given time, and it may come from multiple sources or even act as savings for your business.

Planning ahead for your business is just as important as the initial planning stages of a start-up business, but it need not be as daunting. An exit strategy, succession plan and income protection, are vital measures for small business owners.

Author Bio: Rick Mapperson has almost twenty years experience in the insurance industry and is the founder and managing director of Rick Mapperson and Associates, a personal insurance brokerage. The focus of his business is specialised to insure people, and to do it well. Rick combines his skills as a licensed Financial Planner and his understanding as the co-founder of an Australian charity focused on families, to understand the best interests of his clients.
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So before you sit down to tackle the marketing, accounts, or business administration, evaluate how much your time is worth. Add this to the income a third party specialist can potentially generate for your business and evaluate your return on investment. If the numbers add up, then you may want to consider taking the next step in outsourcing.

Here is a quick checklist to help you get started

1. Ask your contacts for a recommendation.

If someone you trust has had success with a particular company, and would recommend them, you will cut out a lot of work out of the process.

2. Look at their previous work/ask for references.

Look at some projects that are similar to the one you are undertaking to get good feel for their work. Or speak to some references and ask them about their experiences. If the company is not forthcoming, move your business on.

3. Don’t worry about geography.

If you need your third party partner to be on-site, look local; but don’t ignore the range of talent that’s available outside of your city. Working remotely, across states, countries and time zones is very easy with the help of email, fax & Skype.

4. Discuss fees upfront.

Many companies don’t have their fees visible as pricing can be dependent on a number of factors. You should be able to get an estimate after a brief conversation and a written quote after discussing more detail.

5. Set the right expectations.

Think about what you want to get out of the relationship and discuss this as part of the “hiring” process. Do you still want to be involved or do you want a totally hands off approach?

6. Get the details sorted.

Misunderstandings are awkward and potentially expensive so it’s worth making sure you’re across all the details of the contract. A few areas to cover off are:
• Exactly what does the agreed project include?
• What are the agreed delivery dates?
• Are there specific inclusions and exclusions?
• Are there any repercussions if you change the scope of the job?
• What do you need to supply so the third party can meet the agreed deadline?

7. Be prepared to give feedback.

You will be happier with the results long term if you can articulate what you like and don’t like about the work done by your third party partner. Discuss any points you would like altered in a professional manner; agree the steps to take and who is responsible.

8. Stick to the payment terms.

A reliable contractor is someone worth keeping around and making sure you pay within the payment terms agreed will ensure your business relationship continues and grows (along with your results!)

9. Remember that you might not hit gold on the first time.

And that’s okay. Outsourcing is supposed to make your life easier so if a third party isn’t working out, move your business on. Think over what you learnt from the “hiring process” and apply it to your next potential partner.

What are the main areas you outsource? Has it been the right decision for your business?

Author Bio: As a marketer I know that good copywriting plays an important part in an effective sales and marketing strategy. It’s not just about punchy words. It’s about engaging with people and building relationships that are mutually beneficial. As a professional copywriter, this is what I can help you create for your business. For more information about Belinda, visit her online at www.copywritematters.com.au.

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1. Accept Responsibility

It’s an oldie but a goodie: “If the student hasn’t learnt, the teacher hasn’t taught”. If you’re the manager or presenter of the training, you’re responsible for its success. If, at the end of the training, the trainees can’t perform the skills you nominated before the training started, you , not them, have failed.

2. Write Crystal Clear Outcomes

This covers both knowledge and skills. Start writing, using the following words. “At the end of the training you will be able to ….” The next word must be a verb describing some action e.g. “write”, “drive”, “operate”, “dig”, “recite”, “specify”, “identify”, “paint”, “cut”, etc, etc, etc. Never use fuzzy words that are hard to measure like “understand”, “appreciate”, “recognize”, “gain insight”, “value”. If you can’t measure it, don’t teach it.

3. Prepare Tests

You’ll need tests at least three times
• Before training starts to ascertain trainees’ current knowledge and skill. If they can already do it or know it, don’t waste time and money training them.
• During training when the training occupies long time periods. This ensures trainees are ready to move from stage to stage comfortably.
• After the training as a final test to see whether you’re successful.

4. Allow For Practice Time

Work out how long the actual training will take. Then add time for practice and testing. Practice is a legitimate part of training. It could take up a lot of time. Allow for it.

5. Prepare A Schedule

A schedule or timetable is essential especially when the training occupies more than one day. It helps you decide how much time will be needed, the sequence of the training and the most cost effective way to use equipment, tools and classroom or workshop space. It also provides a useful guide for trainees.

6. Decide Location

The ideal place to train is where the trainee usually works. If this isn’t possible, find a location that replicates the worksite as much as possible. You should also try to replicate the place, equipment and general environment. Teaching advanced driving skills on an abandoned airstrip doesn’t replicate highway conditions.

7. Check Equipment

Any equipment, from handtools to hi-tech machinery to be used in the training should
• be in perfect working order
• match the equipment the trainee will use on the job
• be robust: able to resist trainee error without malfunctioning
• be easy to repair in case of malfunction
• have safety instructions and equipment fitted and operative including personal items.

Preparation is the key to successful training. To deliver effective training you must prepare thoroughly. Preparation is part of the training and part of your responsibility. And so is the personal wellbeing of your trainees during training.

Author Bio: Leon Noone helps managers in small-medium business to improve on job staff performance without training courses. He’s an independent consultant, author and staff performance improvement specialist. For more information on Leon Noone view his profile

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For any business the experience of being the subject of a fraud is not a pleasant one: being defrauded by an employee can be devastating particularly for a smaller business. Apart from the financial loss (which in some instances can be enough to destroy the business) the experience can be highly damaging to the working environment throughout the organisation. Unfortunately the consensus is that roughly 2 out of every 3 dollars lost to fraud is lost as a result of a person known to the business (usually an employee or contractor).

Completely eliminating the risk of fraud is almost certainly not possible but significantly reducing that risk is quite simple: when you consider the consequences the steps below should be high on the agenda of the owner of any small business.

Focusing just on asset theft (the form of fraud most prevalent in smaller businesses) what are the areas most at risk? And what can you do to protect your business? First what are the major areas of risk?

• Supplier related fraud: payments made through the accounts payable system for a fictitious or over-stated invoice.
• Payroll related frauds: payments made to terminated or “ghost” employees, or pays made at inflated rates.
• Customer related fraud: payments received from customers but diverted to the employee. Usually requires deletion or alteration of invoice to avoid detection, or employee simply “pockets” the cash receipts which are not recorded at all.
• Theft of stock: stock stolen for personal use or resale (sometime to the businesses own customers).
• Other:  there are many other forms of fraud (it is an area where creativity seems to be exercised to the full!) A few of the more obvious examples include inflated expense claims, “time theft” (through clocking off late or on early), the “sickie”, theft of miscellaneous property and theft of business data.

What can you do in your business to stop these? The different risk areas outlined above need different solutions, but there are a number of common themes.

1. Accept that fraud is a possibility in your business: once you accept that even trusted employees could be tempted to commit fraud then you will be able to adopt a mindset of control.

2. Implement a fraud policy within your business that applies to all employees (including the owner of the business). A business owner taking some (of his own) stock for personal use is not fraud (leaving aside any tax related issues), but it does act to undermine the businesses internal controls.

3. Create formal “separation of duties” within the business. By all means get a bookkeeper to enter supplier invoices and create payments, but have someone else check the payments and upload / approve the payments from the bank account. Have the bookkeeper prepare the bank reconciliation, but have someone else check this.

4. Make an effort to be involved in your accounting: whilst you (the business owner) will be very busy with other things, take time to review accounting transactions. And if this is not your strength, get professional assistance. Sit down with your accountant once a month and review your financials.

5. Encourage openness in the organisation: in a larger business this might be a formal whistle blower policy, in a smaller business simply encouraging employees to raise any concerns or suspicions they have can help early detection of problems.

6. Job rotation – get staff to cover other roles periodically. I know this is hard in a small business, but it is a very effective way of detecting problems. If you have an employee who works late and won’t delegate, who never takes leave then maybe you have a very dedicated and conscientious employee. Or maybe they have something to hide.

If your business has grown to the point where you no longer control every transaction (even if that just means you have hired a bookkeeper), you should consider how this applies to you, and if you are in any doubt about whether you could be a victim of fraud (refer to point 1), you should critically evaluate your business procedures, looking for points of weakness.

If you are not sure how to do this seek professional advice – it will save you money in the long run, and will help you avoid the trauma of a fraud committed by an employee, a colleague or even a “friend”.

Author Bio: Rhys spends his days demonstrating to small business the incredible value of the information locked up in their business systems, then helping them act on that information to improve their business.
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Whether you work in retail, hospitality, finance or engineering you’ve probably heard of public liability. In fact, most people probably wouldn’t even dare think of trading unless they had a public liability insurance policy in place.

Although in some industries, such as community organisations or property management it is compulsory to have public liability insurance, in many others it is often a pre-condition of trade or enforceable through business association memberships.

For example, a retailer in a shopping centre or a franchisee will almost certainly be required to have public liability as a pre-condition of trade. But what is it? In short, it protects your business for any physical injury or property damage suffered by a third party – potentially your customer.

So you’re an accountant and an elderly client slips on that shinny new wooden floor of yours – will your business compensate the client for medical bills with a few hundred thousand dollars out of its bank account? Probably not. Typically, businesses purchase between $10 million and $20 million worth of public liability cover. For office-based businesses, public liability can start from as little as $200, with doctor’s surgeries for example, starting at around $300 for $10 million worth of cover.

Of course, risk comes at a price and unfortunately if you happen to be in what an insurance company finds is a risky occupation, your business might have to pay a lot more for its insurance. Businesses such as grocery stores for example, can expect to pay between $1,000 and $2,000 whereas pubs or clubs can fork out up to $5,000 or more. In fact, some businesses are considered so risky that they can’t buy any public liability insurance at all.

In a litigious environment such as Australia, it would seem prudent to ensure that you have adequate protection – particularly given that in Australia, there is no cap on the amount of compensation awarded to a claimant.

However, in a commercial sense it can mean the difference between new business and no business with customers often more comfortable using service providers with adequate protection – wouldn’t you?

Author Bio: Vincent Moran, independent insurance specialist and chief blogger @ www.mybiz247.com.au – a free resource on insurance for business in Australia.

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Would you like to have more customers, greater consistency in your sales and cash flow? Are you afraid of getting a “no” and being rejected when you ask a potential customer for their business?

The key to your business success lies in your ability to effectively promote yourself and your business, which includes overcoming your fears of getting a “no” and learning how to sell yourself and your products, services and skills with integrity. Here are seven ways you can turn your prospects, leads and enquiries into customers.

1. Abundance versus scarcity

Creating abundance begins with your thinking. You may have amazing business building strategies, yet if your mindset is one of lack (including lack of self belief), it will prevent you from applying the skills you know, leaving your business in the same financial situation or worse. Having your beliefs and values aligned with abundance will enable you to develop an attraction mindset so that you can attract even more customers.

2. Watch your assumptions

What are you thinking and saying to yourself as you meet with prospects? Are you thinking that they are not interested in your products, services and ideas or are you questioning the value you offer? Research has shown that 80% of the people that walk into your store, call you on the phone or email you have already imagined owning a product or service like yours. So you could be serving up to 80% of all prospects because if you don’t, your competitors will. Imagine the impact on your bottom line if you had an 80% conversion rate!

3. Where is your focus?

What you focus on you will create through your actions. How much of your focus, time and energy are you spending on the people who say “maybe” or “no” to you? Too many people in business spend too much of their time on the “maybes” and the “nos”. Because their focus is caught up with getting these prospects to buy, they have very little focus left for following up the prospects that are really interested, so they miss out on their business. Remember spend most of your time with the prospects that are ready to buy now and have a system for following up the rest at another time as appropriate.

4. Build the relationship

Most people need more than one experience of you before they do business with you. So rather than selling your product or service at the initial meeting, instead sell your relationship with them. Build instant rapport, tailor your language to their preferred style, ask powerful questions and really listen to how you can best help them.

5. Serve the need

Selling isn’t about telling – it is about asking the right questions, in the right way and at the right time… so that you can best understand the prospect’s needs and how you can best serve these. Reading your prospects more effectively, assisting them in their buying decisions and really understanding what makes them tick will also help you to serve them better. Also remember that if there is no need, thank the prospect, seek referrals and find another customer. After all, there are plenty of customers out there for all of us!

6. Follow through

It is only by following through and completing things that we achieve results. Some people in business start strategies for generating leads, while others start to follow up and only see them through to partial completion. The highly successful business people actually focus on a select number of strategies and follow each one through to completion and, therefore, achieve amazing results. Put off procrastination and start following through your leads, prospects and enquiries and watch your sales grow!

7. Seal the deal

Fear of rejection or fear of getting a “no” is the major reason preventing people from asking for the prospects’ business and closing the sale. Research shows that 90% of business people have a fear of rejection which stops them short of asking for the sale and this alone is costing Australian businesses millions in lost business each year! Knowing exactly when to ask the prospect to buy from you is also very important. Because if you ask too early, you can come across as being too pushy and if you ask too late, you can miss out on the sale and on serving your prospect altogether!

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to promoting yourself and your business?

Author Bio Dr. Vesna Grubacevic is a Performance Transformation Expert™ with Qt, an NLP Trainer, holds a PhD, BEc and has over 28 years’ business experience. Dr. Vesna has a proven track record of assisting clients to transform their sales and staff performance.  For more information on Dr. Vesna Grubacevic, view her profile.

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Building trust is really important in any aspect of a person’s life. Every person you encounter has been raised with slightly different morals and ethics. They also have varied manners. So, with you putting your content out there for people to read, how can you build their trust to entice them to keep coming back or at least take you seriously?

Here are 7 ways to build trust with your audience:

Honesty.

If you are lying through your teeth, a lot of people will be quick to point it out.

Communicate with other people and do not make it all about yourself.

It is not always a negative, but if you are always talking, how can you listen to the other person in the conversation? Let them have their say. Most people like to at least be heard a little bit. You might be surprised at the possibility of learning something new.

Brand yourself and be consistent.

If you are not sure how you want to present yourself online, you need to sit down and have a long talk with yourself. Before you put yourself out there, you need to know yourself. How can others understand you if you cannot understand yourself?

Be accessible.

Whether it is regularly blogging, socializing on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, your readers will see that you are engaging with others and want to join into the conversation too.

Be humble.

No matter how good you think you are, there will always be someone who is better. Leave the ego at the door. A lot of people get turned off by such behavior. Same thing as the classic ‘know-it-all.’

Be eager to give credit and kudos.

People like a little love sometimes, especially if it is from a site they frequently visit.

Be active.

This kind of ties into being accessible. However, with being active, this is how frequent you are seen online. If you are active in a certain niche or two every day, you are more than likely connecting with others and building good relationships.

Even though I have listed only 7 ways to building trust with readers, I am eager to hear what you might like to add. How do you build trust with your own readers? With your customers?

Author Bio: Nile Flores, a sassy web designer and developer – a webmistress. Blondish.net is where I can freely share my love of all things involving web design, graphic design, web developing, and even my experience as a blogger. Join me on my journey. I hope I do not disappoint www.blondish.net.

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Articles are meant to provide useful information that can positively influence people. We all like to read information that can add to our knowledge or that which can guide us in our daily lives. It is then for this very reason that in writing articles for the internet, we should strive to always keep our target readers in mind.

As a writer and business owner, your aim is to persuade people to believe in the message you are trying to communicate to them and to eventually take action. It’s similar to when you’re convincing a person to try a new and useful product which you have used yourself. The only difference is you’re applying your persuasion skills through writing and your focus is on sharing valuable information rather than the product itself.

To make sure that your article is persuasive enough, put yourself first in the shoes of your target audience. Find out what solutions you can provide to their problems or concerns at home or at work. You can start by asking a question in your article and then providing an answer at the end. Using questions are a popular way of capturing people’s attention.

As you come up with possible solutions, it would be great if you can give valuable tips and strategies. Your readers will appreciate them. Use headings for each tip and provide chunks of information. Another option is to use bullet points or number them if you like to improve readability.

Remember to avoid talking about any product in your article as much as possible because this may discourage your readers. No one likes to be sold to. You can weave your power of persuasion magic by writing information that people will find valuable in solving their problems. Think about this. Very few people will make a purchase right away. They need time to think about it.

The period that it takes them to make a decision is the perfect time to do the convincing. This is where your article should do the work.

For example, you run a hair salon business. You provide services related to hair care. But again, your article should share information on the more important aspects of hair care rather than talking about your business per se. Talk about the latest hair trends, hair styles, ways to enhance the health of a person’s hair and tips to avoid damaging the hair through constant bleaching and use of harsh products. People will then naturally see you as the expert and look to you when they decide to purchase.

You don’t need to be formal in writing your articles all the time. Write in the same manner as you’d use when speaking with a friend. Use simple English in order to get your message across and be easily understood by your readers. Add to this, you must make your articles as interesting as possible to capture attention.

Finally, don’t forget to include a captivating author bio at the end of your article. This will let your readers know that you are a genuine person whom they can turn to for valuable information should they need it and you’ll be top of mind when it comes time for them to buy.

Author Bio:
Wendy Moore is the founder of Savvy Web Women and creator of the Web Secrets Success Club – the step-by-step program that shows business owners and entrepreneurs how to better understand the internet to build a highly responsive, targeted list for clients specific to their business niche. To receive your FREE Special Report and weekly how-to articles to expand your online List Building toolkit, visit www.savvywebwomen.com.

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You’ve got your swank new logo, a whip-smart tagline, a killer website design, letterheads, business cards and even a pull-up banner. Everything you need for international brand domination, right?

Think again … without some serious brand discipline, your plan to take over the world will quickly succumb to inconsistency and confusion.

Uniform brand expression is integral to the development of brand equity. Marketing 101 defines the four main inputs to brand equity: awareness, loyalty, perception and associations. Inconsistent application of your brand (visually or otherwise) jeopardises its recognition and identification, making it harder for consumers to know it, love it, trust it or, ultimately, prefer it.

To get the most from your new brand you’ll need a masterful, zero-tolerance approach.

Here are some “tough love” tips to get you started:

1) Develop a style guide

Whether you prefer style guide or graphics standards manual, it’s a rule book for your visual brand. It provides clear protocols for size, shape and colours of your logo in any given application from online to print to signage to vehicle livery. It defines font types, font sizes, spacing, positioning, paper stock and much more.

It sets non-negotiable boundaries to help you and your staff make the right decisions when arranging print and design – even when setting email signatures – so that every time your brand is seen, it is seen in the same way; not stretched tall to fit a certain space or re-coloured to suit an individual preference.

Think of it as your brand “constitution” – the document that embodies the way your brand is governed.

2) Execute a brand audit

Piece-by-piece expose all your marketing and communications collateral to a no-holds-barred brand audit.

The usual suspects like business stationery and signage fall into line easily, so make an effort to focus on inconspicuous offenders like order forms, receipts, memos and social media. Be ruthless – if it’s not up to scratch, scrap it. Any straggling, non-conforming relics will only diminish the influence of your fresh image.

3) Appoint a gatekeeper

Gatekeeper, bouncer, door bitch … call them what you like, but use them at the brand exit, not the entry.

Endow your guard with the authority of brand veto. Task them with checking every outgoing brand expression – print orders, emails, newsletters, correspondence, advertising – to ensure ongoing integrity with your style guide. Then let the power go to their head because the more demanding they are, the stronger your brand will be.

4) Identify brand champions

Balance out your tough-guy approach with some good old-fashioned propaganda.

Unearth any likely brand devotees within your enterprise, skill them up with brand wisdom and send them troop-side to wax lyrical about all things “brand”. Arm your brand champions with pithy key messages around the benefits of brand consistency to help win-over their less enthusiastic counterparts. The more brand converts on your team, the more chance you have of nurturing a consistent image to your external market.

5) Do what I do

Lead by example. Model perfect brand expression in everything you do. Nothing conveys brand obedience better than “be like me”.

Beating your business image into shape is a tough gig but someone’s got to do it. Responsible brand ownership decrees it … and when your brand grows up it will thank you for your “tough love” devotion.

Share with us how you keep your brand on the straight and narrow.

Author Bio Sheryl Allen is a Professional Copywriter with over 15 years of experience dealing with all types of businesses – from small start-ups to national brands. To find out more about Sheryl, visit her online at www.overthepage.com.au.

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The prospect of being interviewed by a journalist is a nerve-racking one to many small business owners. We all want to make the right impression from the word go and avoid that really embarrassing comment. The good news is, most journalists are not there ‘to get you’ but simply to hear your story and get the facts.

Preparing for your media interview

There are some simple things you can do to get ready and make sure you shine at your next media interview.

As a first step, you might like to ask the journalist the following questions to gain a greater understanding of the story they are planning on developing:

• When is your deadline (i.e. cut-off date & time by which the article or broadcast needs to be completed)?
• When would you like to do the interview? You don’t need to answer the interview straight away. Take time to gather your thoughts and be physically prepared. Even if the journalist is after answers on the same day, you can propose calling them back in 10 minutes.
• What media are you calling from?
• Which section of the paper/radio/television is the interview for?
• What sort of story angle are you writing about?
• Is someone else being interviewed?
• If it’s a radio or television interview, is it live or pre-recorded?

Once you understand who the story is for, its format and content, you can best prepare for your interview by following these seven simple media interview tips:

‘Off the record’
Only discuss topics which you would be happy to see included in an article. ‘Off the record’ comments are not always treated as such.

Give yourself time to think about your answers
Think through what you should be putting across, particularly in response to any possibly controversial issues. Don’t be afraid of silence. Breathe!

Stick to the point
It’s really useful to prepare three or four main points you wish to communicate during the interview and do your best to use every opportunity to get your message across. Sticking to the point also means providing short, sharp and complete answers without digressing.

Make your media interview interesting and relevant
Using real stories and examples makes your message more memorable and helps cut through the clutter. When you have facts to back yourself up, you will come across as more authoritative. Industry statistics can also help to give more impact to your interview.

Have something to say
If there are controversial issues in your area of expertise, work out where you stand and what you should say. Don’t be afraid to take a position, better that than saying ‘no comment’.

Be enthusiastic
You need to be slightly more animated and larger than life. Pep up your delivery so that it is bright and enthusiastic, rather than dull and low-key.

Mind your language
Avoid jargon and abbreviations. Imagine chatting to someone who’s perfectly intelligent, but doesn’t know anything about your subject.

Have you ever been interviewed by a journalist? How did you find the experience?

Author Bio: Kim Larochelle is account director at Dennis Rutzou Public Relations and the developer of PR Mentor, a 12-week group training and mentoring program on public relations for small businesses. PR Mentor teaches small businesses PR skills and provides them with tools and knowledge required to start raising the public profile of their business, in an interactive environment. For more information on Kim, view her profile

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