Strategy
If “location, location, location” is everything in real estate, then “preparation, preparation, preparation” is equally important when selling a small business. There are many reasons why a small business owner might decide to sell, but preparation is the one common ingredient that can make the difference between a sale and a fail. The single most […]
All businesses strive to a deliver great customer experience, and convenience and seamlessness are currently the winning factors for ensuring their engagement with your brand is at its best. In 2015, Forrester predicted that one-third of companies in the B2C space would compete on the basis of experiences, and change their business structure accordingly. This […]
As workforces become more and more geographically dispersed, organisations need to support ‘distributed collaboration’ (i.e. the ability for people to work together as a team remotely) to survive, according to Jeff Rodman, co-founder of multinational video collaboration company Polycom. Rodman told Dynamic Business that the impact of digital transformation, including the shift from away traditional […]
By employing a multi-channel strategy, creative types who aspire to run successful businesses they can self-manage can strike a balance between genuine customer connections and global reach, according to Linda Kozlowski, the COO of online marketplace Etsy. Kozlowski, formerly the COO of Evernote, told Dynamic Business that Etsy attracts hobbyists who want a creative […]
Innovation is an underappreciated word in the world of business. Small and medium enterprises are only considered innovators when they bring something new to the market. This parochial appreciation for the meaning of innovation often means SMEs overlook opportunities to innovate. For whilst ‘innovate’ means to introduce something new, it also means to make changes […]
“Go see, ask why, show respect.” The words of Toyota chairman Fujio Cho have become renowned as the basic lean principles on which to build and run a large business but what does this mean for small to medium-sized Australian businesses? The concept here revolves around the importance of business leaders getting up from their desks […]
This may be a passage from Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland but it perfectly sums up the strategic approach of many Australian businesses… “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here” said Alice. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to”, said the Cat. “I don’t much care […]
Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen AirBnB become the largest accommodation provider with no properties, Uber become the largest taxi company with no cars and Alibaba become the largest retailer with no stock. Tesla, which is changing the rules of the game in the automotive industry, is led by someone with no industry experience […]
Think about the last time you ordered an Uber… how did you find the experience? Convenient and time-efficient? Perhaps, enjoyable? Now, think about the last time you lodged a request either for leave or help from IT, or tried to raise a purchase order (PO)? How would you rate that experience compared to your last […]
In some ways, running a small business is a lot like being a plate spinner, especially if you’re overseeing several projects. You’ll need excellent coordination and a watchful eye; otherwise you’ll end up with smashed chinaware. As you grow in confidence, you might seek to add more and more plates to the mix. At some point, you’ll require an […]
Fifty years ago, running a company was a much more predictable business. There was less competition and customers were generally content to make their purchasing choices based on what you had on offer. If you were a leader in your market, the odds were you’d still be leading the pack ten years hence. Today, executives […]
The vast majority of small business owners in Australia are navigating tough conditions with little or no support. While they know their business better than anyone, often they fail to tend to certain nagging issues because, well, they’re too busy; instead, they choose to reassure themselves their business model is strong and push on. If you are one of […]
In today’s digital age of data, social media and instant gratification, we desperately crave feedback. Whether in our personal or professional lives, feedback is king. Why do we need it? Essentially, to understand how we can be better – identifying and fixing problems and making improvements. Getting feedback when you’re a business is not […]
I’ve been a business mentor for a while now and yet it never ceases to amaze me how often company’s either ignore or underrate their database. From my own experience, I’m acutely aware of just how important it is for a company to maintain accurate and up-to-date intel on the people in their network. In my opinion, your company’s database […]
1266% revenue growth. Business sale ROI of 10 x the purchase value. $1.25m profit. Yield growth of 293%. These are numbers many small to medium business owners could only dream about. However, it’s what one business, Cleanawater, achieved in just 5 years. How did they do it? By investing 6.56% of the business’ turnover into […]
Research suggests that it is critical for marketing and sales to work together to create best practices, deliver more quality leads, and drive higher-impact deals. Unfortunately, in Australia, many companies are misaligned when it comes to marketing and sales, as marketers focus on top of the sales funnel, while sales reps close deals at the […]
By the time you have read the title of this article there is a 50/50 chance that you have got something else on your mind as well. In 2010, Harvard psychologists carried out a study that tracked people’s activities, their thoughts and their feelings at random intervals. They found that just under 50% of the […]
It’s January. Over the break, you discovered that your CEO or senior executives won’t be coming back after the holidays or if they are, they won’t be staying for long – and you’ve been selected to fix up the mess once they’re gone. How should you go about it? It depends on where your predecessor/s went wrong… […]
Have you ever been at a ‘team away’ day and, when faced with the choice of abseiling down a vertical cliff (supported by your team), raft building (again with said team members), or an archery challenge (at that point perhaps hoping not to be chosen as the target), struggled to recall why it had ever seemed […]
A new year inevitably leads to new business goals but what many SME owners don’t realise is that these goals could trigger compulsive behaviours and actually stunt a company’s growth. There are only two types of goals business owners make – objective and subjective – the latter will negatively impact profits and workplace culture. Subjective […]
