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How do you detect what’s wrong in your business?

A honeybee on an apiary, spreading feromones t...
A honeybee on an apiary, spreading feromones to ‘call back’ her colleagues, showing her nassanoff-gland.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Honeybees in the US are dying in large numbers but industry experts and scientists can’t put their finger on precisely what is killing the honeybees.

In a recent article I saw in Time the estimate was that one-third of US honeybee colonies died or disappeared during the past winter. This drop they say is a 42% increase over the previous year and well above the 10% to 15% losses beekeepers have experienced in normal winters.

What makes the mass deaths in the colonies so concerning is the potential impact on farming. The honeybee accounts for one in every three mouthfuls of food. Bees pollinate agricultural crops worth at least $15 billion in the US.

Continue reading “How do you detect what’s wrong in your business?”

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Would you listen to small business advice from these tee vee xspurts?

English: Johannesburg from the top of the Carl...
Johannesburg from the top of the Carlton Centre. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m probably going to get rapped on the knuckles but I’m going to say it anyway: beware of the advice that “thought leaders” dish out to small business owners on reality tee vee shows.

The advice sounds so sensible on the show but when you realise that each and every business is different, you can take it at face value – superficial generalities.

Modify your offering to suit customer needs, look for gaps in larger business offerings, compete on value for money rather than low price, create partnerships with allied businesses and think strategically about your online strategy – that’s the typical pearls spouted on these tee vee shows.

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Will all boats rise with signs that the tide could be turning or is it just a drop in the ocean?

The IVS Hunter at the wharf. At 20,000 tons, H...
The IVS Hunter at the wharf. At 20,000 tons, Hunter is Handysize. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What an exciting feeling it is to stand on the quayside and watch the gigantic ships in the harbour. The thrill of hearing a ship blow it sworn as it leaves Cape Town docks. Tugs towing a huge container ship into harbour to its moorings.

The raw materials, dry bulk commodities such as iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertilisers that are shipped on the sea routes around the world give a good indication of the level of global economic activity.

The main sea freight index, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), tracks freight costs on 23 shipping routes (not just the Baltic Sea countries), covering carriers including Handysize, Supramax, Panamax and Capesize dry bulk (for the ship classifications and sizes see Wikipedia (“Dry Baltic Index”). The index indirectly measures global supply and demand for commodities shipped aboard dry bulk carriers.

Continue reading “Will all boats rise with signs that the tide could be turning or is it just a drop in the ocean?”

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Detect changes in your market really and act quickly

If your market changes and your customers have new problems they need to solve but you keep using the same selling methods, then it will be no surprise when your sales drop.

The selling methods you’ve used two years ago, three years ago, even five years ago may no longer work with new prospects. Your market is constantly changing; people face new problems, new wants, new tastes and new personal and business challenges.

Look at it this way: You have changed over the past few years; technology has changed, costs such as electricity and fuel have risen beyond predictions; the economy has been in a worldwide recession; bankers eroded trust in the financial system; large companies are squeezing suppliers and taking longer to pay. Continue reading “Detect changes in your market really and act quickly”

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Increase your time asking for referrals

IMG-20120524-00214 croppedIn this economy with people buying less than they did in the good times more people are on the phone making cold calls. Though cold calling is important if you don’t have a lead generation system, it’s not nearly as effective as asking customers who have bought your product or service in the past for referrals.

Larger companies have a marketing program for generating leads such as adverts in newspapers and consumer and trade magazines, on radio and the Internet. These leads still have to be qualified but at least the person who has called, filled in an online form or emailed the company has an interest in the product or service on offer. Continue reading “Increase your time asking for referrals”

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What makes a successful salesperson?

IMG_5940In these uncertain times your ability to make the sale can mean the difference between constant financial worries and trying to desperately make ends meet or living confidently where money is available to support yourself and your family and enjoy your life.

The term selling can mean different things to different people. Some people would say that everyone is a salesperson. If you share an opinion or explain an idea you’re selling yourself. You are a valuable asset and can produce well for yourself and other people. Others may consider themselves salespeople when they work on a retail shop floor and tell prospective customers where to find products and give some information about them. Continue reading “What makes a successful salesperson?”

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Power questions to help you generate breakthrough ideas

Ideas wherever you care to look.
Ideas wherever you care to look.

Innovation isn’t something that can be reduced to a formula. It can’t be turned into a formal structured process. Nor can it be simplified into fixed rules. You can’t just copy or imitate the methods of another business and expect the same or better results.

An infomercial business owner walks into stores and asks:

“Do you have anything unusual that would make a great gift?” Continue reading “Power questions to help you generate breakthrough ideas”

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10 top tips for your best business blogging

Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing th...

Blogging can build a new customer audience for your business. But if your blog is too salesy, boring and predictable you’re not going to hold readers for long.

Small businesses used to rely mostly on passing trade for new customers. They were bound by their physical address on main street or in a shopping centre. Advertising helped bring in new prospective customers it’s true. But being on the Internet connects you with people far outside your traditional catchment area.

The Internet enables almost anyone with basic computing skills to be a publisher. This liberation has increased the variety and richness of information available to everyone. But it also means that your information must stand out if you want people to visit your blog. Continue reading “10 top tips for your best business blogging”

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Do you have an idea for a small manufacturing business?

Eric Fredericks demonstrates the simplicity of Bigstep. Photo credit: The Editor, KZN Industrial & Business News and Eastern Cape Industrial Business News
Eric Fredericks demonstrates the simplicity of Bigstep. Photo credit: The Editor, KZN Industrial & Business News and Eastern Cape Industrial Business News

I was surprised to see almost no small manufacturers in a small business competition being run by a radio station in Johannesburg. Where are all the small manufacturing businesses? Why don’t small manufacturers enter these competitions?

Look, I’m not saying the entrants aren’t innovative but they mainly comprise service businesses. A household cleaning firm, gas servicing company, holistic massage salon, restaurant and financial adviser business all have their merit but what about the “real” economy of manufactured products?

No doubt we are in a service economy but without small manufacturing you don’t have the opportunity for exports and higher levels of job creation. How far do we want to go down the road of deindustrialisation? A developing country can’t go as far down that road as the UK has done. Continue reading “Do you have an idea for a small manufacturing business?”

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Fishy tales of snoek in False Bay

Recreational fishermen still catch snoek in the occasional run. Local Fish Hoek business person Alf Caplen looking happy after a morning catching snoek in the bay.
Recreational fishermen still catch snoek during the occasional run in the bay. Local Fish Hoek business owner Alf Caplen looking happy after a morning of catching snoek.

Lawrence Green, the gem of South African writers who loved the country so deeply, recalls meeting the old fishermen at Saldanha who talked of the days when one man could “haul in 200, even 300 snoek in a great day’s fishing.”

As Green says, “… the fishermen needed enormous catches when a snoek fetched only twopence on the wharf.”

I never caught much above 100 snoek in False Bay and the times that I did break through the hundred mark I could count on one hand.

Already in the mid-1970s commercial fishing was taking its toll on snoek fishing in False Bay. Even the professional fishermen from Kalk Bay did not often catch 100 each a day. Yet there was a legendary skipper nicknamed “Hondered Bedonderd” (Hundred Crazy”) who regularly reached his target. Continue reading “Fishy tales of snoek in False Bay”