Tag: business profit

Be A Business Success By Copying Other Successful Businesses

Posted on 28th February 201824th May 2018 by Robert

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Be A Business Success By Copying Other Successful Businesses.

Want To Boost The Success Of Your Business?

A Method Guaranteed To Bring Business Success.

If you are running a business or you are planning on starting a new business, I am sure you want it to be as successful as you can make it.

There is one simple process that can boost the success of any business, but so many business owners don’t think to use it.

Many don’t even know about it.

But if it is done right, it is guaranteed to work.

Here in this report, I want to share with you the method I used to create a great start to my first business. I am certain if you use the same method, your business or your startup could be greatly enhanced as a result.

Originally, I Was Told I Would Not Succeed In Business

When I first started in business, I was told that I would not be a business success and that I would fail and that I should forget the idea.

This got me thinking and wondering why some businesses were successes and why some businesses failed and why some entrepreneurs were massively successful and why some entrepreneurs were not.

I decided to research business success and business failure and to see if there was a trend.

This was back in 1980, when there was no internet, so the process was not as easy as it could be now, but I decided to talk to as many business people as I could and to research their businesses, their business models, their business strategies and their levels of business success.

A very strong trend emerged

1) The most successful businesses owners and entrepreneurs were those with a strong positive mindset and attitude, generally.

2) The least successful business owners and entrepreneurs were those with weak, negative mindsets.

In short, I observed that the stronger and the more positive the mindset, the greater the business success.

But this was only true if the strong mindset was applied right.

A strong positive mindset and attitude did not guarantee success.

The most successful in business were those who applied their strong mental attitudes best in their thinking and in their actions. In other words, the entrepreneurs who were able to adopt the smartest thinking and the smartest actions.

Thirty plus years later, I can say that this observation is still true and, importantly, it is not just my observation, as it is also supported by The Harvard Business School and many of the other global business schools, who consistently report that their most successful candidates are those with the strongest attitudes and not necessarily the best grades.

I have written about this previously in four of my other blogs, namely:

Become One Of The 10% Most Successful In Business

Please have a read of these, if you have not already done so.

When I did Start, I Was Ready To Start

I eventually started my business in 1984, but when I did start I was ready to start.

I knew how to succeed in my business and I knew how to avoid failure.

I not only researched the most successful entrepreneurs in business and understood why they succeeded but I also copied many of their successful business ways, strategies, and methods.

And, I also researched those entrepreneurs who had failed and understood why they failed and made a conscious effort to avoid their ways and methods.

I changed My Mindset And Attitude

One of the most important things that I did was to change and strengthened my mindset and my attitude and I learned how to think smartly and creatively.

Again, previously, I have written about this in two of my other blogs:

7 Ways To Achieve A Positive Attitude

8 Ways To Beat The Fear Of Failure

I Researched My Competitors

My research also took me to investigating my potential competitors, in great detail, and to looking at their business strategies and business models. I worked out which business strategies and business models created their business success and worked out which strategies and models were not so successful.

When I started, I designed my business around the strong parts of my competitors’ business models and I avoided the weak parts and the parts that were obviously not working.

In other words, I copied the best parts of my competitors’ businesses and avoided the bad parts.

But also, importantly, I did not just look at my competitors, I researched other businesses outside my niche and investigated both successful and unsuccessful businesses.

As with my competitors, I included the best parts into my own business and avoided the bad parts.

History Is Full Of Examples

When you look back at the history of starting and running businesses, there are loads of examples where SUCCESS IS SUCCESSFULLY COPIED.

It goes on all the time.

And, the reason is simple - it works.

Every successful business does it.

In the 1960’s, McDonald’s were very successful in the U.S. with their take-away burgers. The founders of Burger King could see the success that McDonald’s were having and wanted to start a similar business.

But they did not rush in.

They took their time and they did their HOMEWORK first.

They studied the most successful McDonald’s outlets and learned about the methods of trading that they used, the products that they were selling and the customers who bought these products.

They did much of this research by literally visiting McDonald’s outlets and sitting inside and outside the busiest outlets.

They then simply watched what went on.

With their research complete, they then started their own outlet a very short distance from the busiest McDonald’s outlet and it proved a great success for the first Burger King.

Not only did the founders do things in a similar way, but they offered a similar product to McDonald’s, and as they started close by, McDonalds customers would see the Burger King and visit.

Burger King took a significant number of McDonald’s customers.

Burger King Were Smart

But Burger King were smart – they looked at the business model for McDonald’s and they copied it, but, importantly, they thought creatively about it and asked themselves one very important question:

“How can we make this better?”

They Made Subtle Changes

They made small changes to the business idea, business model and the products offered, which proved to be very popular with their target customers.

One distinctive change was offering relishes and sauces with the burgers, which is something that McDonald’s, at the time, were not offering.

You might think this was very bold starting a similar business on the door step of your competitor. But it worked – look at Burger King now.

I started In A Similar Way By Copying Other Successful Businesses

My first business was a pub.

But instead of just taking over the pub and trading, I looked at the other pubs in the area. I would visit the most successful pubs, buy a drink and sit and watch.

After several months, I understood which customers, I should target, what food and drinks were popular, what prices to charge, what customer service to provide and what customer experience to create.

When I started to trade in the pub, everything learned was put into place and within a year, the pub was the local market leader and I grabbed many of our competitors’ customers – the competitors’ who we had copied!

Like Burger King, I thought creatively about my offerings and offered everything slightly different but much better.

And, it worked.

Ironically, the better competitors, then tried to copy me but I kept creating new and better products and they just could not catch up again.

Copying Other Successful Businesses Goes On All The Time

Copying goes on all the time – Pepsi Cola copied Coca Cola with their own cola drink and Apple and Samsung copy each other with their smart phones.

So it goes on all the time.

If you are not doing it in your business, you are a missing a very smart trick.

Understand What Your Competition Does & Why

Once you have identified a business to copy, it is important that you RESEARCH it heavily and UNDERSTAND why it is a SUCCESS and how the business model works.

You should look at all aspects of the business and ANALYSE EACH PART and THINK how you can incorporate the same ideas into your business.

One note of caution, most things you can copy, especially when you make small changes to the idea, but beware of any patent and copyright restrictions that may be in place and avoid plagiarism.

The High Failure Rate For Businesses Really Concerns Me

The high failure rate really concerns me, but I am absolutely certain that many existing businesses and those planning to start a business could do much better if they used this same method.

Think How You Can Be A Success By Copying Other Successful Businesses

1) Firstly decide that you are going to study SUCCESS and FAILURE.

2) Then start to study and research your competitors comprehensively and worked out why some of these businesses are doing well and why some are not.

3) Include other businesses outside your niche in your research and work out the reasons for the most successful and the reasons for the least successful.

4) Think how you can incorporate the best parts into your business and how you can avoid the bad parts. Set your business strategy and business model accordingly.

5) Think creatively how you can improve on the best parts of your competitors’ business, to give yourself a competitive edge.

6) Finally, take action and put into place what you have discovered.

One Thing To Think About

If a certain business is successful, and you were to introduce the same methods, same business strategies and same business models into your own business, would you not be just as successful, if you did things right?

The answer should surely be “YES!!!”

If you did it right, then you would be a success, too.

Be A Success By Copying Other Successful Businesses

If you want to be a SUCCESS in your business and not risk FAILURE, you should look at your SUCCESSFUL COMPETITORS and see what they are doing and copy them – but add a twist, by making your version slightly different and better!

But don’t make the mistake of trying to reinvent the wheel.

That is very difficult to do.

Remember, Be A Success By Copying Other Successful Businesses.

If you would like to talk more about this with me, please contact me at Robert@prestigebusinesscoaching.co.uk. or contact me here:

Boost Your Business Success By Making Your Customers Happy

Posted on 27th January 201826th May 2018 by Robert

Boost Your Business Success By Making Your Customers Happy.

Driving Up Your Customer Satisfaction Rating Will Drive Up Your Customer Numbers.

More Customers Will Mean Greater Sales And Greater Profits.

When a customer is happy with a certain business, that customer will support that business much more, through buying more and telling others about it.

This may seem obvious, but so many businesses just don’t understand how important having happy customers is to their success.

I constantly see BIG and SMALL businesses with obviously unhappy customers and no efforts on the part of these businesses to improve things.

In my view, this is ONE BIG REASON why businesses fail.

And to be honest, any business that neglects its customers, deserves to fail.

Every Customer Deserves To Be Looked After

Every customer to every business deserves to be well looked after, to have their needs and wants satisfied completely and to be made to feel valued.

If a business is not doing this, then it does not deserve to be blessed with customers buying from it.

If you are not making your customers happy in your business, then you need to take a long hard look at yourself and start to change things.

My Objective Has Always Been To Have Very Happy Customers

With every one of my businesses, I have always strived to make my customers VERY HAPPY; and, that has been a big reason for my success.

My ultimate objective was to always achieve a HIGH CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATING.

I have achieved that by focusing heavily on my customers and their wants, needs and desires and by delivering an EXCELLENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.

In simple terms, I worked out what they wanted and gave it to them.

It Is Not That Difficult To Do

It is not that difficult to do.

Any business owner can do the same as I did - work out what your customers want from you and give it to them in the best way possible.

And, then focus on this process intently, day in and day out, and make it central to everything you do.

Every Business Needs Customers

Every business needs customers to survive.

Without them, there are no sales and no profits.

The more customers a business has, the more sales it will have, so it makes sense to drive up your sales by driving up your customer numbers.

And, the best way to drive up customer numbers is through having HAPPY CUSTOMERS.

In An Earlier Article, I Described How An Excellent Customer Experience Will Attract Customers

In an earlier article, I stated that you would never have to search far for customers if your customer experience was excellent. I said that happy customers will return to buy more from you and they will tell others about you and your business, creating good ‘word of mouth’.

In the article, I describe how I used intense focus on the customer and the delivering of an excellent customer experience to acquire large numbers of customers and high sales for my seven businesses in 30 years.

You can read the article here:

Please read it now.

Within the article, I explained a procedure that you can adopt to improve your customer experience.

I emphasised the importance of knowing and understanding your customers and their wants and needs and of providing products that satisfy these. But I also emphasised the need to always send your customers away really happy, so that they become loyal to your brand and they tell others, creating ‘word of mouth’.

Customer Satisfaction Must Be Measured

Again, in the same article, I said that once you have enacted a strategy to create an excellent customer experience, you must appraise it and monitor it, continually.

When the customer has an excellent experience, their customer satisfaction rating should be high. But you should never assume your rating.

It should always be measured.

As part of my strategy, I have always measured how satisfied my customers were.

I Did Not Just Want To Hear The Good Stuff

Crucially though, I have not just wanted to hear the good stuff and know that my strategy was working but, also, I wanted to hear the bad stuff too.

Through the bad stuff , I could see where things were not working right and I could work out how to rectify things.

And, I always did and I always did it quickly.

I Had A Strong Message For My Customers

In my businesses, I had a strong message for my customers.

I used to say to them:

“If what we do makes you happy, please tell your friends. But if what we do does not please you, then please tell us, so that we can correct things”

And, our customers did help us here.

Most were very happy and did, indeed, tell others but occasionally our few unhappy customers did tell us about their poor experiences and we were able to rectify these.

Importantly, by talking to our unhappy customers, I was able to put things right and to make them return again to purchase more from us.

In fact, in most cases, I was able to convert unhappy customers into loyal and happy customers, over time.

I did not lose them.

Things Don’t Always Go To Plan

It is almost impossible to run a business where things do not always go to plan and where the customer experience suffers.

But many businesses have a poor contact with their customers and this makes it difficult to quantify how happy their customers are.

They are ignorant of their true Customer Satisfaction Ratings.

Some Business Owners Don't Want To Know

Some business owners don’t want to know what their customers are thinking, hiding their heads in the sand, not able to confront their customer dissatisfaction.

That is not the way to trade a business.

As Bill Gates of Microsoft once famously said:

“Your unhappiest customers are your greatest source of learning”

You Must Know What Your Customers Are Thinking

Customer numbers and sales will only grow, significantly, if you know what your customers are thinking about you and you can address the concerns of your unhappy customers.

You will lose your unhappy customers and you will not attract new ones and eventually your business will die.

Furthermore, your unhappy customers will tell others and that will create negative ‘word of mouth’ – something that can seriously erode and hamper the growth of a business.

How To Achieve A High Customer Satisfaction Rating

It is much easier than you think to change things and here I present a good way to do it.

Set One Big Objective

Set yourself one BIG OBJECTIVE of creating and achieving an excellent CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE and an EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATING.

Set the objective of achieving excellent experiences and an excellent customer satisfaction rating

In short, set yourself the objective to make your customers VERY HAPPY.

You should keep thinking about this, over and over again, until it sticks in your mind.

Then, start thinking about your customer experience and how you can make it better. If your experience is already good, you should still think how it can be improved.

In my view, every business can make improvements.

Set A Strategy To Optimise Your Customer Satisfaction Rating

It is very possible to make your customers happy and to optimise your customer satisfaction rating and to minimise your number of customer complaints.

Here is a 9 Step Strategy that you should implement:

Create a strategy to provide an excellent customer experience. Use the procedure that I suggested in my article -

Provide An Excellent Customer Experience & You Will Never Have To Search Far For Customers Again.
Ask your customers for their comments and their reviews.
Invite your customers to tell their friends if they are happy and to tell you if they are unhappy.
Analyse the reasons for your customers’ unhappiness.
Make changes to what you do, to improve your experience.
Compensate your unhappy customers and encourage them to return.
Set an objective to reduce the number of customer complaints.
Don’t get complacent when you achieve a high overall customer satisfaction rating.
Keep working hard to create happy customers, excellent customer experiences, a high customer satisfaction rating and a low customer complaint ratio.

Central to this procedure is understanding your customer and their needs, wants and desires and to giving them the products that satisfy these, in the way they want to receive them and at the prices they want to pay.

Once you get this right, you can then look to making the experience EXCELLENT.

Talking To Your Customers Is Key

Whether your business involves face to face contact with your customers, such as retail, or distant contact with your customers, such as an online business, you must devise ways to talk to your customers and to ask them for their views on what you do.

You must listen to both the good and bad comments but, in particular, you should listen to the bad comments and you should take action that effect changes to improve your customer experience.

Your unhappy customers should be compensated and appeased and you should attempt to encourage these to return and to become loyal customers - this is very possible, if complaints are handled in the right way and quickly.

Over time, the number of customer complaints should diminish but you should set a low complaint ratio as your objective.

Don’t Get Complacent

It is important that you don’t get complacent when you achieve consistently high customer satisfaction ratings.

You must continually work hard to provide an excellent customer experience and high customer satisfaction rating and low a customer complain ratio.

Start Doing This Today

What I advise here does work, as I have done it myself over many years and I have advised others to do the same.

So, please start today, copying my methods.

Today, set yourself the BIG OBJECTIVE:

Set the objective of achieving excellent experiences and excellent customer satisfaction

Then, set about implementing my 9 Step Strategy.

If you can do this right, your customer numbers should go through the roof, as will your sales and business profits.

I Want To Inspire Every Business Owner To Focus On Customer Experience & Customer Satisfaction

The purpose of this article and all my others is to encourage every business owner, to do better in their businesses.

If you have found the article useful, then please copy what I have done and make your customers really happy and drive up your customer satisfaction rating.

Also, please circulate it to other business owners and business friends, too, so that more can benefit from this.

Best Of Luck Everyone

Best of luck to everyone and please let me know how you get on.

I Coach Business Owners To Think And Act Differently

Having sold my businesses, I now coach other businesses on the tried and tested methods that I have used for 30 years to drive my own success. I have many methods to teach, but focusing heavily on the customer, customer experience and customer satisfaction is a principle one.

Business success is down to the quality of the thinking and the quality of the actions - the better both are, the greater the success potential.

Also central to much of what I coach is changing how and what business owners think and how they act. The ultimate goal being to achieve far better results in less time and with greater efficiency.

If you would like to learn more about these processes, I include links to articles that should help you in your business, here.

For Greater Business Success, Change Your Thinking - Create Smart Business Thinking

For Greater Business Success, Change Your Thinking - Create Smart Business Actions

Become One Of the 10% Most Successful Business

If you would like to talk to me about this or you have any comments, please contact me here. Also, if you have your own stories of how you have achieved an excellent customer experience, I would love to hear them.

Become One Of The 10% Most Successful Businesses

Posted on 18th December 20174th June 2018 by Robert

Become One Of The 10% Most Successful Businesses & A Member Of The '10% Club'.

Transform Your Business Success By Changing Your Mind, Changing Your Thoughts And Changing Your Actions.

Copy The Ways Of The Most Successful In Business.

Just 1% of all businesses and entrepreneurs are mega successful and only 10% of all business make a good profit and provide a good living and good retirement prospects for their owners.

That is the sad reality.

90% of businesses either fail or just drift along, languishing in mediocrity in terms of profits and performance & many never really achieve real business success.

Often the owners of those 90% of businesses cannot see how they can elevate themselves and their businesses to do better. Sadly, many of these entrepreneurs do not realize that the switch to become a member of the ‘10% CLUB’ of the 10% most successful businesses is much easier than they think.

What Is A Successful Business?

For me, a successful business is one that is growing in sales with a good profit base and a strong balance sheet. The following sums up an ideal successful business:-

sales and net profits should be growing by at least 20% per annum, year on year
sales should exceed £100,000 per annum in year 2 after startup
sales should exceed £0.5 million - £1 million per annum after 10 years
net profit should exceed 20% of sales
business should have a strong 6 digit cash-rich balance sheet after 5 years of trading
business owners should have full control over the business
business should run efficiently with low wastage
business should have a strong team of happy & effective employees
business owners should be happy and not be stressed
business should provide a good living and a good pension for the owners
business should retain a good profit after owners' drawings
business owner should run the business & the business should not run the owners

This is a very rough appraisal.

For me, a SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS is one that is growing and making money, but is also one where the owners are in full control and are happy and are enjoying running their business with a good life balance. A successful business entrepreneur should be able to draw a good income, leaving a good residue profit for re-investment and for building the balance sheet.

A successful business entrepreneur is one that could sell after, say 10 or 12 years, for a good reward that would allow them to retire or for a sum that would allow them to go a big way to providing for their long term.

Too Many Business Owners Do Not Enjoy This Scenario

Sadly, too many business owners do not find themselves in the scenario of the ideal successful business that I describe above. Many of the 90% of businesses have poor mediocre sales and profits with low or no growth. These owners find themselves stressed as a result and importantly they are not happy and are not enjoying the experience of running their businesses.

Many business owners would say that money is not important and I think that can be right, but I know from experience that a business is much easier to run and provides a much happier experience for the business owners if sales and profits are growing at a good rate of the order of 20% or more.

If you are a business owner, where growth in sales is flat and profits are poor, you should think that it is much easier to transform your business nearer to the scenario that I describe above than you possibly think.

You Must Think Of Your Business As Being Two Parts

If YOU want to make the change and to become a great BUSINESS SUCCESS, the place to start is to think that your business is about TWO FUNDAMENTAL PARTS:-

PART 1 IS YOU & YOUR ATTITUDE
PART 2 IS YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY

Harvard Business School has consistently said that business success is consistently down to ATTITUDE rather than STRATEGY. You can have the best business strategy and the best business plan but if your attitude is weak and negative, then your strategy is not going to work and YOU will never achieve real BUSINESS SUCCESS.

As the business owner, your business success is determined by YOU. So if YOU want to become one of the most successful business entrepreneurs and achieve huge business success, YOU have to change 'YOU'.

You Have To Change 'You' As Part 1

YOU have to become like the most successful in business.

PART 1 is YOU and includes:-

YOUR MINDSET
YOUR ATTITUDE
YOUR THINKING
YOUR ACTIONS

Part 1 includes your mind, your mindset, your attitude and your thinking and how YOU carry out your actions within your business.

The most successful business entrepreneurs all have the same mind characteristics and consistently have similar attitudes and mindsets. Consistently most successful entrepreneurs have the same qualities, such as:-

GREAT PASSION
BURNING DESIRE FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS
HUGE BELIEF IN THEIR BUSINESS SUCCESS
GREAT EXPECTATION OF THEIR BUSINESS SUCCESS
BIG BELIEF IN THEIR BUSINESS ABILITY
STRONG POSITIVE ATTITUDE
GREAT DETERMINATION, DRIVE & PERSISTENCE
MASSIVE OPTIMISM
SETTING OF GOALS
MASSIVE FOCUS
POSITIVE THINKING
SMART BUSINESS THINKING
GOOD DECISION MAKING
NEVER PROCRASTINATING
SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS
ABILITY TO STEP OUTSIDE THEIR COMFORT ZONE
NO FEAR OF FAILURE
ABILITY TO LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES
ABILITY TO REBOUND QUICKLY FROM SET-BACKS

If YOU wish to replicate their business success, YOU need to develop the same MINDSET.

From my experience, the right business mindset starts with a STRONG, POSITIVE ATTITUDE, a HUGE PASSION for what they do, a BURNING DESIRE to be successful, a MASSIVE BELIEF in SUCCESS and a MASSIVE BELIEF in the ABILITY to achieve everything within the business.

GOAL SETTING is incredibly important for maintaining the right mindset. The most successful entrepreneurs in business all use goal setting and they always work hard to achieve their goals, with each goal achieved propelling them forward. By continually setting and achieving goals means the most successful are continually making progress.

The process of GOAL SETTING creates intense FOCUS which, in turn, creates DETERMINATION, PERSISTENCE, DRIVE, OPTIMISM and PASSION making it possible to do whatever is necessary in the business including STEPPING OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE.

SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS don't FEAR FAILURE; importantly, many have experienced FAILURE and SET-BACKS. They view SETBACKS as part of the learning process and part of the process to achieving business success. Importantly, they learn from each experience and they never repeat the mistakes. Each one is very resilient and they don't linger on the setbacks. They shrug off the setback and get moving forward again, quickly.

The big consequence of all this is that SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE make QUICK and SMART DECISIONS, eliminating PROCRASTINATION.

SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS are then the result creating good outcomes which drive their businesses forward, ultimately generate great profits.

The TOP 10% most successful business entrepreneurs have many of the above and if YOU can replicate these qualities, then YOU should be SUCCESSFUL, too.

And, that will help YOU achieve PART 2.

Part 2 Is Your Business

PART 2 is YOUR BUSINESS and your BUSINESS STRATEGY.

Having the right BUSINESS MIND allows the most successful in business to set and execute the BEST BUSINESS STRATEGY and the BEST BUSINESS PLAN for their businesses. In my view, LASER FOCUS derived from having the RIGHT BUSINESS MIND becomes highly effective in the key areas of the business:-

UNDERSTANDING THE TARGET CUSTOMERS & THE TRADING MARKET
BUILDING AN ARMY OF LOYAL CUSTOMERS
CREATING THE RIGHT PRODUCTS FOR THE TARGET CUSTOMERS
CREATING A STRONG BRAND
DELIVERING AN EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE
CREATING AN EXCELLENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
HAVING HIGHLY EFFECTIVE MARKETING
DRIVING HIGH SALES & HIGH PROFITS
EMPLOYING & TRAINING THE RIGHT STAFF
CREATING EFFICIENT BUSINESS SYSTEMS
RUNNING THE BUSINESS EFFECTIVELY & EFFICIENTLY
CREATING A MONEY RICH BUSINESS
HAVING FULL CONTROL OF THE BUSINESS

The most successful ENTREPRENEURS in business UNDERSTAND FULLY their TARGET CUSTOMERS, their COMPETITORS and their TRADING MARKET. This allows them to provide the RIGHT PRODUCTS and the RIGHT CUSTOMER SERVICE and to deliver the right benefits for a HUGE ARMY OF LOYAL CUSTOMERS and to ultimately create EXCELLENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES.

The most successful are also continually creating MARKETING that builds a STRONG BRAND and delivers more CUSTOMERS and more SALES. They also FOCUS heavily on employing the RIGHT STAFF and training and treating them RIGHT and on creating STRONG SYSTEMS to run their businesses effectively and efficiently.

Importantly, they also FOCUS heavily on the the MONEY within their businesses and FOCUS on generating PROFIT and keeping their businesses CASH RICH.

All of this is possible because of a STRONG BUSINESS MIND, i.e. PART 1.

PART 2 is possible because of PART 1.

You Can Become Very Successful

So for YOU to become one of the MOST SUCCESSFUL in business, YOU need first a STRONG BUSINESS MIND and that will allow YOU to RUN your business much better.

The most successful in business do this and YOU can do the same - YOU just need to decide that YOU will do it.

It could be much easier than YOU THINK to become a member of the '10% Club'.

This website is full of useful business articles and features to show YOU how to BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ‘10% CLUB’, so if you are serious about your future, then please take the time to explore it.

To start, YOU should read the following articles that link into this article:

If you wish to talk to me more about this, then please contact me: Robert@prestigebusinesscoaching.co.uk or leave a comment below:-

For Greater Business Success, Change Your Actions

Posted on 10th October 20173rd March 2018 by Robert

For Greater Business Success, Change Your Actions.

Copy The Ways Of The Most Successful In Business.

In previous articles, I described how to acquire a STRONG POSITIVE BUSINESS MIND, MINDSET and a STRONG POSITIVE ATTITUDE and I described how to use the POWER OF THOUGHT and SMART BUSINESS THINKING to make your thinking more creative.

A strong business mind and smart business thinking jointly will combine to make your ACTIONS within your business become MUCH BETTER.

The Smart Business Actions Are Innovative & Creative

The SMART BUSINESS THINKING of the top 10% entrepreneurs is CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE which means that their SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS are also CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE, too.

Their SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS will always be focused on their CUSTOMER with the aim of continually creating ways to build and maintain an army of loyal and happy customers, who always want to buy their products, keeping them ahead of the competition.

The Top 10% Entrepreneurs Make Decisions

The top 10% of the most successful entrepreneurs make DECISIONS very quickly and they always attach GOALS to each DECISION and create a STRATEGY for implementation. By doing so, each DECISION is EXECUTED QUICKLY and in the RIGHT WAY.

The Top 10% Entrepreneurs Are Achievers & Don’t Procrastinate

Once the top 10% entrepreneurs make a DECISION, it is implemented - they work with URGENCY and don’t DELAY or PROCRASTINATE as they know DELAY is MONEY.

The Top 10% Entrepreneurs Always Measure Progress

The top 10% entrepreneurs always MONITOR and MEASURE PROGRESS with all their SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS. If things are not progressing RIGHT in accordance with their STRATEGY, they are never afraid or slow to change or modify the strategy.

The Top 10% Entrepreneurs Are Always More Organized

The top 10% are always MORE ORGANIZED in their lives and their businesses and this leads to greater EFFICIENCY & EFFECTIVENESS. This means that they can achieve MUCH MORE with less effort and in less time than one of the 90%.

The Top 10% Entrepreneurs Are Usually Less Stressed And More Happy

As a result of being more ORGANIZED and more EFFICIENT, generally the top 10% of the most successful entrepreneurs are less STRESSED and are more HAPPY; and this is important - STRESS and UNHAPPINESS can affect your health significantly. Also HAPPY businesses always trade better and if the boss is happy, then so should the rest of the business be happy, too!

The Top 10% Entrepreneurs Always Have Clear Strategies

The top 10% most successful entrepreneurs always create clear and precise STRATEGIES for the major parts of their businesses:-

UNDERSTANDING THEIR CUSTOMERS & THEIR NEEDS
CREATING THE RIGHT PRODUCTS
SELLING THEIR PRODUCTS
CREATING GREAT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION & EXPERIENCES
COMPETING AGAINST THEIR COMPETITORS
CREATING PROFITS & CASH-FLOW
MARKETING THE BUSINESS AND THE BRAND
HIRING & TRAINING OF STAFF
RUNNING THE BUSINESS

For each STRATEGY, OBJECTIVES will be set as part of their business plan and these will be achieved by the setting and achieving of several GOALS.

The Top 10% Entrepreneurs Research, Understand, Think, Plan & Act

The Top 10% most successful entrepreneurs always RESEARCH everything within their businesses and this leads to a SUPREME UNDERSTANDING of their businesses. Then, through SMART BUSINESS THINKING and SMART PLANNING and the setting of SMART STRATEGIES, they are able to execute SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS.

I call this RUTPA, an acronym for:-

RESEARCH
UNDERSTAND
THINK
PLAN
ACT

RUTPA is a big part of every successful entrepreneurs arsenal and a big contributor to their BUSINESS SUCCESS and YOU should do the same.

This Is A Rough Snapshot

This is a rough snap-shot into how effective SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS can be for driving BUSINESS SUCCESS.

But, it is important to realize that ACTIONS will only be SMART as a result of having acquired a STRONG POSITIVE BUSINESS MIND and a STRONG POSITIVE ATTITUDE and from using the POWER OF THOUGHT and SMART BUSINESS THINKING.

Generally the stronger your BUSINESS MIND and the better your SMART BUSINESS THINKING and the more time that you can devote to it, the better your SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS will be, the the better your business will trade and the greater your business success will be.

Have a STRONG BUSINESS MIND, SMART BUSINESS THINKING and SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS and YOU should over time be able to boost your BUSINESS SUCCESS and enter the '10% CLUB' - the 10% of most successful entrepreneurs.

In short, you should become one of the most successful entrepreneurs.

There Is Plenty More On This Site

There is plenty more on this site regarding SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS.

If you wish to discuss this article further with me, please email me at Robert@prestigebusinesscoaching.co.uk or contact me here:

Have Full Control Of Your Business For Success

Posted on 5th September 20173rd March 2018 by Robert

You Must Have Full Control Of Your Business For Success.

Business Success Comes From Control Of Each Part Of Your Business.

But Do You Only Focus On The Parts That Interest You Most?

You must have full CONTROL of your business for success.

The very best in business and the most successful in business always have TOTAL and FULL CONTROL over every part and every aspect of their business.

And, that CONTROL allows them to be VERY SUCCESSFUL.

Only 10% of businesses are successful and make it into what I call the '10% CLUB' - if YOU are to make it into the ‘10% CLUB’ - you need to replicate the ways that they achieve success.

FULL CONTROL OF YOUR BUSINESS FOR SUCCESS is one aspect to look at.

HAVE SMART BUSINESS THINKING & SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS

If you wish to discuss this article with me more fully, please email me at Robert@prestigebusinesscoaching.co.uk or leave a comment below.

Double Your Business Profit

Posted on 3rd June 20173rd March 2018 by Robert

Would You Like To Double Your Business Profits?

It Could Be Easier Than You Think.

You Could Do It By Just Making Small Changes.

It is very possible to DOUBLE YOUR BUSINESS PROFIT by making SMALL changes to your REVENUE SALES, MARGINS and COSTS.

If YOU have read some of my other articles on this site, YOU would have read my comments about the top 10% who achieved good profits and good success in their businesses and the remaining 90% who are running mediocre business with mediocre profits.

In my articles, I have also made several references to SMART BUSINESS THINKING and SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS and have said that if the 90% want to migrate to the top 10%, they have to change their THINKING and ACTIONS in their businesses.

In this article, I want YOU to THINK that through SMART BUSINESS THINKING and SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS, YOU could increase your BUSINESS PROFIT dramatically by only making small changes to your business and your business plan.

I know from experience in my own businesses and working with other businesses and startups that relatively small changes can be made that could literally DOUBLE YOUR BUSINESS PROFIT, through doing the following:-

REVENUE SALES be increased by 20%
MARGINS be increased by 8%
COSTS be decreased by 10%

Look At An Example

Let me give YOU an example for an average business with £125,000 SALES REVENUE (ex VAT), GROSS PROFIT MARGIN of 50% or £62,500 and COSTS of £40,000.

A PROFIT AND LOSS SUMMARY for this business could look like this:-

REVENUE SALES £125,000
GROSS PROFIT £62,500 (50%)
COSTS £40,000
NET BUSINESS PROFIT £22,500 (18%)

If YOU made the changes that I highlighted above, the PROFIT AND LOSS SUMMARY could look like this:-

REVENUE SALES £150,000
GROSS PROFIT £81,000 (54%)
COSTS £36,000
NET BUSINESS PROFIT £45,000 (30%)

Here the NET BUSINESS PROFIT in terms of MONEY has doubled to £45,000 and the NET BUSINESS PROFIT in terms of PERCENTAGE has risen 66% from 18% to 30%.

Hopefully, YOU can see that a BIG CHANGE to the NET BUSINESS PROFIT has been made through reasonably small changes to the BUSINESS NUMBERS.

Business Profit Is Doubled

Surely £45,000 is MUCH BETTER than £22,500!

But, I hear YOU say that YOU could NOT make these changes in your business, small as they maybe.

My reply would be that these changes could be easier than YOU THINK, so please read on!

How To Do This

If YOU have read some of my other ARTICLES on this site, YOU would have read that I have said YOU should KNOW and UNDERSTAND YOUR TARGET CUSTOMERS COMPREHENSIVELY.

This means KNOWING and UNDERSTANDING them MUCH BETTER than YOU do now - MUCH BETTER!!!

Through this KNOWLEDGE, YOU will be to achieve the following:-

YOU will able to TARGET your TARGET CUSTOMERS much better with your MARKETING, grabbing more CUSTOMERS and making them BUY MORE from YOU.
YOU will be able to BUILD A BIGGER ARMY OF LOYAL CUSTOMERS who will return time and time again to BUY MORE.
YOU will be able to provide MUCH BETTER PRODUCTS that will provide BETTER HELP and BENEFITS for your TARGET CUSTOMERS.
YOU will be able to provide MUCH BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE that will EXCITE and IMPRESS your TARGET CUSTOMERS.
YOU will be able to provide BETTER PRODUCTS and BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE, allowing YOU to increase your PRICES modestly.
By EXCITING your CUSTOMERS, YOU will create WORD OF MOUTH, the most powerful MARKETING TOOL in business, thus reducing your MARKETING COSTS.

All of the above will GROW your REVENUE SALES and GROSS PROFIT MARGIN and help to reduce some COSTS.

In addition to this, every business owner should do a COMPREHENSIVE AUDIT of their REVENUE, MARGINS & COSTS ideally every 3 months and certainly every 6 months to see where they can GROW their business and make SAVINGS - many businesses don’t do this EVER!!

The most successful in business will do this as a course of habit and are constantly tweaking their BUSINESS PLANS.

Have The Same Habit

If YOU want the same SUCCESS, YOU could achieve it by acquiring this same habit.

Hopefully, this has convinced YOU that this possible.

If you wish to continue the conversation, please email me at Robert@prestigebusinesscoaching.co.uk or contact me here:

You Could Do Even Better Than This

In my view, doing what I have described is the minimum anyone can do in their businesses - I THINK much more is possible - I am talking about DOUBLING or TREBLING REVENUE SALES!!!

The WILL to MAKE THE CHANGES along with SMART BUSINESS THINKING and SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS is all that is needed. This will create the FOCUS to look at your CUSTOMERS, your PRODUCTS, your TRADING MARKET and EVERYTHING ELSE in your business and an AVALANCHE of possibilities will unfold to effect the changes that I have described here in this ARTICLE.

TRY DOING THIS NOW!!!

WHY NOT SET YOURSELF THE OBJECTIVE of:-

INCREASING REVENUE SALES by 20%
INCREASING MARGINS by 8%
DECREASING COSTS by 10%

And, DO IT NOW!!!

If YOU wish to discuss this article further with me, please email at Robert@prestigebusinesscoaching.co.uk

Or please contact me below:

HAVE SMART BUSINESS THINKING & SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS!

Is Your Business Profit Good?

Posted on 5th April 20179th April 2018 by Robert

Is Your Business Profit Good?

How Healthy Are Your Profits?

How healthy is your business?
Are your sales rising?
Are your margins good?
Do you have control of your costs?
Are your Profits growing?
Is your business profit good?
Do you need to boost your business profit?

If your sales and profits are growing then you should have a healthy business. But if your sales and profits are flat or are decreasing, then your business is not so healthy and you need to take action.

In such a situation, your business needs a complete re-think - you need to re-think everything within your business, starting with FOUR major areas:-

Your Products
Your Customers
Your Margins
Your Costs

You should ask yourself questions about your products:-

Are your products matched exactly to the needs and wants of your customers?
Do your products bring real benefits to your customers?
Do your products make the lives of your customers better?
Are your products priced right to give value for money but also a good margin?
Have your product sales dipped in the past 12 months and, if so, by how much and why?

You need to sell a high number of your products to generate high sales that keep growing, but you will only achieve that if your products match exactly the needs and wants of your customers.

You should ask yourself questions about your customers:-

Do you understand fully who your target customers are & everything about them?
Do you have an army of customers that is growing?
Do your customers return to buy more from you?
Do your customers tell their friends about you?
Do your customers get a good customer experience from your business?
Has your customer numbers dropped in the past 12 months and, if so, by how much?

It is imperative that you understand who your target customer is and you understand everything about the needs and wants of that customer - then you should be able to sell them the right product and achieve a large army of customers and keep growing that army.

You should ask yourself questions about your gross profit margins:-

Is your margin sufficient to pay your costs and to give you a good net profit?
Are your selling prices lower than the equivalent charged by your competitors?
When was your last selling price increase?
Are you paying too much for your products?
Has your margin slipped in the past 12 months and, if so, by how much?

It is important to understand how your margin affects your net profit - it must be large enough to comfortably pay all your costs and to give you a high net profit. Are your prices too low and if you were to increase them, would sales slip? In my experience, if you have a strong product offering, price increases should not affect sales.

You should ask yourself questions about your costs:-

Do you have a clear understanding of all your costs?
Are you as efficient and lean as you could be?
Do you know which costs have increased over the past 12 months, and by how much and why?
Are there purchases being made that could be trimmed or eliminated?

It is very easy for costs to creep up and to not be noticed. You should look at each cost and analyse each one and see where quick savings can be made.

From experience, doing this exercise can often generate significant changes to the health of a business. Even just a 10% increase in sales, a 2% increase in margin and a 10% decrease in costs can have a dramatic effect on the net profit, often adding as much as 40% - now that is surely worth having?

Have a think about this now!

This is a very quick snapshot of possible remedies for an unhealthy business, but if you would like some more advice, email me now: Robert@prestigebusinesscoaching.co.uk.

Or contact me here:

HAVE SMART BUSINESS THINKING, HAVE SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS!

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You Must Know How To Run Your Business Right

Posted on 27th April 20169th April 2018 by Robert

You Must Know How To Run Your Business Right

If your business is to be a success and YOU are to become one of the ‘10% CLUB’, YOU must KNOW how to run your business RIGHT.

It constantly amazes me that many small and medium sized businesses have such a poor knowledge of how to RUN their businesses RIGHT and such businesses ALWAYS perform POORLY.

Always!

Often a poor performance can be converted into a massive SUCCESS by simply UNDERSTANDING how to run a business MUCH BETTER.

It is often as simple as that!

Each Business Can Be Divided Into 7 Parts

Each small and medium sized business can be divided into the following SEVEN GENERAL PARTS:-

CUSTOMERS
PRODUCTS
MONEY
MARKETING, BRANDING & SELLING
CUSTOMER SERVICE
BUSINESS RUNNING & BACK OFFICE
EMPLOYMENT

Every business has ALL of the above, unless YOU have NO EMPLOYEES.

Every Part Of Your Business Has Equal Importance

Every PART is as important as the other PARTS within the business. If YOU are to OPTIMIZE your BUSINESS SUCCESS and your BUSINESS PROFIT every PART must be RUN to its BEST.

If ONE PART is run LESS WELL, then this will affect the WHOLE BUSINESS.

You Must Know How To Run Each Part To Optimize Your Business

If YOU want your business to run to its OPTIMUM, YOU must UNDERSTAND how to RUN EACH PART OF YOUR BUSINESS.

Let me ask YOU these 22 questions:-

Do you REALLY understand your target customers and what they REALLY want to buy from you and what they want to pay YOU?
Do your REALLY understand the products that your target customers need and are your products RIGHT for your customers?
Are the sales of your products increasing, year on year, and do you REALLY understand how to keep your sales growing?
Do you REALLY have REAL control of the money in your business?
Do you REALLY know how to control the margin in your business and understand how to keep it optimized?
Do you REALLY have absolute control of your costs and know how to keep these minimized?
Do you REALLY understand how to control your cash-flow and keep your business cash rich?
Do REALLY understand how to effectively reach your target customers with your marketing?
Is your marketing REALLY effective and are you REALLY reaching your target customers with it and is it working?
Are you REALLY getting a real return on your marketing expenditure and REALLY seeing real growth in your sales as a direct result of your marketing?
Are you REALLY successfully building a STRONG brand that is recognized by your target customers?
Do you REALLY understand your COMPETITORS and what they are doing & do you REALLY know how to compete within them in your trading market REALLY EFFECTIVELY?
Is your customer service REALLY superb?
Is your customer experience REALLY superb?
Are your customers REALLY happy and do they return to buy more from you, time and time again?
Do you REALLY have an army of loyal customers and do these customers spread ‘word of mouth’ about your business?
Is your back office running REALLY effective?
Do you REALLY have fantastic systems in place to control all parts of your business?
Are you REALLY using digital technology to the full & optimizing its effects?
Do you REALLY know how to employ the best employees for your business?
Do you REALLY know how to train your employees really well and do you REALLY know how to manage them right?
Are your employees REALLY a real asset to your business & are they REALLY making a real contribution to your business as a whole?

I could have asked YOU many more questions, but these 22 are arguably the most important questions to ask anyone running a business.

You Must Answer These Questions Honestly

Try answering these questions REALLY honestly. If YOU can honestly answer a BIG ‘YES’ to each one, then YOU KNOW HOW TO RUN YOUR BUSINESS RIGHT.

But if one or more questions get a ‘NO’, then YOU must address the aspect raised in that question and turn it into a BIG ‘YES’

It is important that every PART of your business must RUN RIGHT.

You Need Smart Business Thinking

YOU need SMART BUSINESS THINKING about the RUNNING of your business, if YOU are to be one of the ‘10% CLUB’

SMART BUSINESS THINKING MUST COME INTO EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO IN YOUR BUSINESS

HAVE SMART BUSINESS THINKING & SMART BUSINESS ACTIONS

If you wish to discuss this with me more fully, please email me at Robert@prestigebusinesscoaching.co.uk or leave a contact me below: