Strategy

Where did Coles go wrong?

There is a special ingredient when it comes to small business success and leveraging this ‘special ingredient’ can make all of the difference to the ultimate triumph of the company you worked so hard to build. What is this ‘special ingredient’ you ask? Simple: It’s being small. Small enough that you can cherish your customers […]

Businesses are under incredible pressure from constant deadlines and the need to deliver short-term results. Business leaders want immediate outcomes, which creates a culture of ‘doing’. So, when a problem arises, we quickly jump to solution finding, without isolating what the real problem is. If we don’t take the time to dig deep, observe and […]

“Uber changed the way business owners think and work in more ways than are instantly noticeable,” says Maria Bellissimo-Magrin, CEO of creative marketing agency Belgrin. Here she examines what business owners can learn from Uber’s actions. Launched in San Francisco in 2010, Uber quickly became one of the world’s most valued tech companies and widely-known brands and their […]

Attracting the right talent to your small business can be an uphill battle and as challenging to a business owner as any other macro force. Not only are you competing with players in your own sector, you’ve also got the big guys to contend with. You know the ones, big staffing budget, big, shiny training […]

In my previous article, Oops… my business made a pricing mistake, I outlined pricing mistakes businesses commonly make.  Knowing the mistakes should help you identify and avoid making the same mistakes but what do you do after you discover you’ve made on? Fix 1 – Know your target customer or customers A really useful strategy in […]

It’s a sobering exercise to consider where Australia ranks when it comes to global productivity levels. When the OECD compares countries by GDP generated per hour worked, Australia scrapes in at just 14th in the world.[1] We’re lagging the likes of Ireland, Germany, France and the United States. So, what’s the reason for this lacklustre […]

Today is Youth Homelessness Matters Day. Homelessness is often seen as a challenge for governments and charities to solve, but the private sector can play a part too – beyond throwing money at the issue. Youth homelessness is growing at an epidemic rate, and SMEs should take notice. These young people are future job candidates […]

If you’re a small business, here’s an interesting question for you… what does your gut tell you about your business performance? For many Australian SMEs, the answer would likely be: not much. According to research by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, almost 62 per cent of SMBs lack any form of reliable data strategy, preferring […]

In my recent article, How to work out what price to charge, I discussed how pricing is one of the most crucial decisions business owners and managers must make, while touching on the eight rules for pricing effectively… But what happens when you get pricing wrong and how do you recover from pricing mistakes? In this […]

In recent years, disruptive forces have transformed how we think about entire industries. Spotify with music. Uber or Lyft with transport. Netflix with television programmes and films. Technology has changed the way that we think about things that we used to take for granted. Slowly but surely the way in which we think about offices, […]

“There are only two types of companies: Those that have been hacked and those that will be hacked.” – Robert S. Mueller, III, former Director of the FBI and now Special Counsel into the Russian interference of the USA election, made this famous quote. But almost by the time he made it, it was out of […]

Today is Harmony Day, the annual Australian holiday recognising our multiculturalism and different backgrounds. It’s a great opportunity as a workplace to celebrate what makes us as individuals different and unique, as well as what makes us inclusive as a society. We celebrate Harmony Day as Harmony Week every year. It gives everyone in the […]

Regardless of the shape, size or industry of a business, the endgame is, and should always be, the customer. Whether that be a direct consumer, another business or the wider community – they’re what keeps the business ticking. As a company dedicated to getting Aussie’s the best bang for their buck, we’ve focused on keeping […]

Retaining key employees can be a struggle, particularly when they are talented and experienced. Research from the Australian Human Resources Institute Pulse Survey on Turnover and Retention reported that in 2016 employee turnover was as high as 16%, which had increased by 3% from 2012. With the rise of social media and professional networking sites […]

What do Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso have in common? They are all thought of as born innovators. Creative geniuses. The myths and stories surrounding these three people support the notion that one is either born an innovator… or not. And if not, perhaps consider a career in accounting. (That’s a joke – […]

The ‘Holy Grail’, for many business owners, is to launch a business, grow it, sell it at a profit and retire early. Even for entrepreneurs who are committed to their business for life, the mere knowledge that they could sell if they chose provides a security blanket. However, selling a business can be a complex […]

The price that is set for products and services is one of the most crucial decisions business owners and managers must make in a business. Entrepreneurs, new businesses and small business often give too little thought to this highly complex matter and the consequences can be dire. Pricing requires thought and an understanding of the […]

Leading companies across a range of sectors – including finance, utilities, government, education, automotive and telecommunications – need to lift their game when it comes to customer experience (CX), a new study reveals. CX consulting firm, Customer Service Benchmarking Australia (CSBA), studied 3000 customer interactions with 136 companies in Australia, assigning each a score out of 100 […]

As anyone who starts a business will tell you, the time and effort required to move from startup to sustainable small business is intense and as a founder you’re always juggling roles and priorities. In this process. you also usually work out where your time is best spent and the need for delegation in order to […]