Articles | LimeMinds - A Fresh Approach to Business

Coaching to GROW

Coaching is fast becoming one of the most popular and most effective ways to get the best results and develop people to achieve their goals.

More and more large businesses are incorporating coaching into their management and leadership models and are implementing coaching courses up and down their management structures.

Coaching delivers great results when developing people because coaching is seen as a non-judgemental way of creating plans of action when looking to achieve goals. It also engages with the coachee as it is them and not the coach who creates the critical next steps. Nothing irritates more, or engages less than being told what and how to develop.

The best know method of coaching and one that main businesses are utilising is the GROW model. This model is a simple 4 step plan that can be utilised in both professional and personal environments and should be used in one-to-one meetings

G.. Goal

What is the desired outcome?

Set performance goals?

Make it achievable & SMART

R.. Reality

What is the current situation?

Look for evidence and facts

Compel the coachee to think

O.. Option

The more the better!

Record them and do not judge

Offer suggestions only if asked

Compel the coachee to think

W.. Will

Convert discussion to decision

Highlight any barriers/blockers, ask what support is required

Check commitment to course of action

All the way through the process remain in question mode, use ‘What else?’ as much as possible. Do not enter solution mode and suspend judgement, remember this is the coachee’s problem/development area not yours.

This is a quick overview of the process of using the GROW model, for a in-depth guide visit our academy and download our manager’s guide to ‘Coaching to Grow’ to help implement in your business.

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Managing Your Key Customers

Managing your large and key customers is an important yet often tricky act for many businesses, especially smaller ones.

By their very nature your key customers can place you as a supplier (of product or service) under much greater pressure than your smaller customers. Large customers deliver the much needed revenue and often prestige for your business or brand but they are also able to apply pressures to your supply chain, margin and time.

How you manage these customers can be vital to the future success of your business, manage them poorly and they can ultimately be the downfall of your business.

Know their business - Allan Leighton (former CEO of Asda) once said “If you don’t know my business, you don’t have a business!”. Find out everything you can about their operation, understand what pressures they may be coming under and build your service around that knowledge.

Relationships are key – People by from people, it might be a cliche but its true. If you need a customer to get behind a new product or to implement a change it all happen much faster and smoother if you have a good relationship with your buyer and the team around them.

Have a plan – Take time to write a 2/3 year plan for your key customers and option build for possible future scenarios. Be clear on your strategy to develop these accounts and understand where you want them to be in the future. Look to have a ‘What if?’ solution ie: What if they go bust? What is the impact and alternative for my business?

Move from being Transactional to Collaborative - If you spend all your time with your key customers talking about investment, prices, deals, service levels, margins you have a transactional relationship. Work on moving the relationship to a more collaborative one by bringing more to the table than just price. Look to discuss joint business plans, offer strategic insights and thought leadership, demonstrate your understanding of their business and trading environment. Make yourself a strategic partner and position your product/service as far away from being a commodity as possible.

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What can you learn from Dragon’s Den?

For many small business owners and entrepreneurs external investment is required to help them develop their business and whilst gaining that investment may not take on the appearance of that seen in the BBC program now in its seventh series. You can certainly take some key lessons from the show.

For those who watch the show the criteria the Dragons are looking for in potential investments are very clear and more importantly consistent.

Here are the top 4 things to consider when looking to raise investment straight from the Dragon’s mouths…

1. Know your business – Understand how your business works or will work, know your numbers – turnover, profits, margins. Be able to communicate what your business does clearly and succinctly. If you can’t explain what your does does in 30 seconds you don’t have a business.

2. Don’t stick your finger in the air when valuing your business – Your business valuation should be be based on sound reasoning; sales performance, comparisons to similar companies and products. Don’t use the 1% rule or £1 million, both just highlight the lack of research and planning you have done and will scare investors off from the start.

3. Give the investors some thing to get excited about – Demonstrate why your expertise or your product are different from the competition and why you are better placed to be successful. Maybe its your experience or a list of achievements you have made, or maybe its a patent you have secured on the design of a new product.

4. Give them a clear exit strategy – At the end of the day all Investors want to make money out of their investments and if you provide a clear plan for them to make their money back (and then some) within 3-5 years they’ll much quicker to invest.

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Quick Financial Measures to Check The Health Of Your Customers

We’ve listed a few of the quick financial measures you can run on your customers (or suppliers) to check their business health. We’re sure you’d agree that in ths current economic climate any insight into the long term viability of your customers and suppliers is fairly useful.

If the company you are looking at is listed on the stock exchange you should be able to access these measures through a number of financial websites online without needing to employ any maths, (our favourite is www.advfn.co.uk) but don’t worry if the company isn’t listed as you can work these measures out with just the company’s annual reports logged at Companies House (for those based in the UK) and a calculator.

Current Ratio

Current Assets (CA) Divided by Current Liabilities (CL)

Current assets divided by current liabilities i.e. the ability (in theory) of a company to meet its short term debt on demand, for instance, if it went into receivership.

Strictly speaking this ratio should be greater or equal to 1, although in practice a much lower value is widely accepted (one of the effects of Just-In-Time).

Quick Ratio (acid test)

Current Assets (CA) – Stocks Divided by Current Liabilities

Current assets less stocks divided by current liabilities.

The rationale here is that stocks cannot be quickly converted into cash in order to meet short term debt on demand, and hence they are deducted from current assets.

In theory, a company’s quick ratio should be greater or equal to 1, or it is insolvent. However, a much lower figure is generally accepted today, provided that the company is considered to be financially stable.

Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) %

Net Profit before taxation x 100

Fixed Assets (FA) + Current Assets (CA) – Current Liabilities

Net profit (profit before taxation) as a percentage of the capital tied up in the business i.e. the company’s profitability.

The higher the ration the more profitable the company. Relate this to net margin and capital turnover.

The percentage return must be compared with alternative investment opportunities, such as returns offered on bank accounts.

If investment in the bank can yield a guaranteed 7 per cent plus (depending on interest rates at the time), a company should show a return of around 20 per cent in order to justify using those funds at a higher level of risk.

Debtor Period (days)

365 X Debtors Divided by Turnover

The average number of days credit given to customers i.e. how long it takes the company to get its money in.

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Marketing Template

Writing a marketing plan for a business or product is the first and most critical step in making it a success. In this article Limeminds aims to provide you with a template from which you can develop your own marketing plan over and over again.

1. Executive Summary – This section is the headline, the grabber and the summary of your plan. Whilst it will be positioned at the front of the plan it will most likely be written last as it encapsulates everything your marketing plan aims to deliver.

Try to keep the summary around the 350 words mark and make it to the point.

2. Situation – What is the need for the business/product? What does the current market look like?

You should look to answer these questions and others through a mix of techniques

a. SWOT analysis

b. PESTLE analysis

c. Competitor analysis

This section should also include commentary on the market and its current trends, an overview of you company and it performance in this area and an overview of the customers including size of market and type of customers.

3. Objectives or Targets – This section should be used to define what success will look like. Provide your marketing and financial goals along with some commentary as to when they are there.

4. Strategy – Here you will describe the plan to deliver your objectives, work around the 4 P’s (Product, Price, Place & Promotion). Highlight your USP and describe in detail how you will reach your target market.

Within this section you may want to include an overview of alternative strategies, this may add weight to reasons why you decided upon the chosen strategy.

5. Implementation and Budget – The final section should give the details of how and when you will implement the plan and how much you expect it to cost. Detail and accuracy are key here especially if you require an investor or manager to agree to your plan.

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Customer Loyalty Will Drive Growth

Businesses large and small who have a loyal customer base out perform their competitors time and time again, but so many firms never take the time to understand what their customers think of their service and products.

We suggest you ask your customers one simple question – How do you rate our service from 1 to 10?

This one question will give you a great understanding of what your customers think of you, those who rate you 9 or 10 a loyal customers and advocates of your business. 7 or 8 is a moderate score these people are content but they won’t be shouting about your business to their friends and family. Anything below a 7 is the area of concern and where you should look to dig deeper. You should look to interview a handful of these low scorers and find out what is really hurting your business. Research has shown that you will gain more of an insight by interviewing in depth a handful of customers than surveying a vast number.

Once you have all your results build a plan based on the in-depth feedback and record your score (number of 9 & 10′s – number of 6 & belows). Keep gaining feedback track your score and adapt your plan to build customer loyalty.

If you need inspiration or motivation to take action and address your customer loyalty just take a look a the likes of Apple I-Tunes or Amazon for examples of businesses that have out grown their competitors off the back of customer satisfaction, just imagine your business could be next.

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