by Paul Simister
on July 1, 2019
If you’re the owner of a small business based in the UK with a marketing problem, I offer a 90 minute consultation to help you.
I call it my Business SOS which stands for Second Opinion Session.
We’ll take a look at what’s happening in your business and what you need to do to improve your marketing results.
There’s a small payment of £60 to be made upfront and £240 more to pay when you find the consultation to be very helpful. I offer a free 60 minutes follow up call for those who pay in full but there is no obligation for further services.
To find out more, please click over to Business SOS.
I believe there are 7 big areas where marketing succeeds or fails. Any of these could be the constraint that is holding back your business and stopping you from having the success you want.
Six of them are explained in my free report, The Six Step Profit Formula and the seventh concerns the mindset of the business owner or manager making the marketing decisions.
by Paul Simister
on September 9, 2018
In my business coaching, I often talk to my clients about the importance of each of the 5 M’s of Marketing.
This is all about getting your ducks all lined up in a row and it’s very difficult to succeed, even if one of them is out of kilter.
What Are The 5 M’s Of Marketing?
The 5 M’s of Marketing are:
- The Market chosen to target.
- The Marketing Message used to explain the offer
- The Marketing Media used to carry the message to potential customers in the target market.
- The Measurement of marketing activities which allows you to test your ideas and to continually improve what you do.
- Your Marketing Mindset is the way you approach the activities including how consistent you are in what you say and do.
Let’s take a closer look at these Five M’s. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on July 10, 2018
Business Turnaround Coaching: Who Can It Work For And Who Needs More?
What is Business Turnaround Coaching?
Business Turnaround Coaching is halfway between traditional business coaching and turnaround management.
Traditional business coaching works very well for many growing businesses and is often a six months or twelve months improvement project as the coach and business owner work together. You would systematically work through your business, improving areas of weakness and testing new ideas in areas of strength.
Turnaround management is much more dramatic. It involves a turnaround specialist taking over management control of a struggling business that is on the verge of failure. It’s normally full time and the duration depends on the severity of the problems and the size and complexity of the business.
Business Turnaround Coaching recognises the need for fast improvement in a business but is less intrusive than turnaround management but much more intensive than traditional business coaching. For example, my 30 Days Business Coaching Boot Camp has daily contact with the business owner for 30 consecutive days Monday to Friday to maintain focus and accountability on the most important improvement efforts. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 2, 2018
What is A Living Business Plan And How Does It Work?
The big problem with a traditional business plan is that it takes a lot of effort to prepare, and then, when it’s done, it’s forgotten and ignored.
What a crazy waste of time, unless you must do it to get money from a bank or key support from someone else.
Plans Must Change
It was Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War 2 and 34th President of the United States of America who said
“In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.”
World heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson said
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Prussian (German) field marshall Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”
Business is also a contact situation, even if you’re not killing or punching other people.
What customers say and do, should change your mind and how competitors react will also mean you need to adjust.
Eisenhower accepted that plans change but said “planning is essential“. You must think about what you’re going to do in a structured way. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on July 25, 2017
Over the years I have experimented with using mind maps as a way to store ideas and knowledge.
In 2017, I made the decision to make mind maps an integral part of my business coaching and advice process.
Generally I like people who deal with me to use Skype, at least some of the time because there is a facility that lets us share screens. This means that I can show you what’s on my screen or you can show me what’s on yours, even though we may be separated by hundreds of miles.
Using mind maps is just an extension of that principle.
Why Use Mind Maps?
When I was doing classroom training, I used a saying that went along the lines of…
- Hear and forget.
- See and remember.
- Do and understand.
Business coaching is all about help business owners do more to solve business problems and issues. This involves analysing the situation, identifying potential actions, selecting the best or most appropriate steps and then doing them. It also then involves reviewing the implementation and seeing how well the original issue has been solved and then identifying what else needs to be done.
A mind map helps to do all those steps because it doesn’t rely on you taking accurate notes of what I’ve said or what we’ve discussed or, even worse, trying to remember on your own. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on April 19, 2017
I offer business owners based in the UK, a Business SOS consultation if they feel they or their business is stuck or struggling.
The Business SOS Offer
This is a 90 minutes conversation that can be on the telephone although I’d prefer to do it over Skype because it means that we can share screens. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 23, 2013
Today I want to introduce you to one of the most important business improvement ideas I know about – the Stop, Start, More Less matrix, grid or process.
I will be writing about how this process can be used to improve your marketing…
>>> The Stop Start More Less Process For Lead Generation
and for strategic differentiation and creating cost effective customer value..
>>> The Stop Start More Less Process For Strategic Differentiation And Customer Value
but today I want to focus on its use in helping you with time management.
Why Don’t Business Owners Make The Improvements They Want?
[continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 14, 2013
You are the owner of a business and you’re worried about how it is performing. Things aren’t going right but with some luck, they might get better.
When is it time to call in a Profit Expert?
- When performance first starts to dip?
- When the problem has gone on for six months and whatever you’ve tried doesn’t make much difference?
- Or when it’s very hard to find the cash to pay your employees and suppliers?
When is the right and best time to ask for external help?
What Is A Profit Expert?
In his book “Red To Black in 30 Days”, Allen Bostrom has this definition for a profit expert… [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on November 17, 2007
Last week I introduced you to my business coaching model – “The Eight Pillars Of Business Prosperity“.
What do I mean by business prosperity?
Why did I change it from my original concept, the Eight Pillars To Business Growth and Profits?
The dictionary describes being prosperous as being successful, thriving and flourishing.
This describes better my objective with each and every new business coaching client.
My aim, if you become a client, is to help make you more successful but it’s success on your terms.
It’s easy to think more prosperous to mean more sales and profit in your business. Often that is exactly what clients want but not always. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on November 10, 2007
My business coaching approach was originally built around “The Eight Pillars Of Business Prosperity“. This blog still has this approach.
I believe that there are eight core elements or pillars to any business and you need to be working on each of them to get the best results from your business.
In fact any one of the eight could be a major constraint holding back your business at the moment, which when released, makes your business gain momentum. That’s important. Your focus should be on your biggest constraint, the area that is causing the most friction in your business money-making system. [continue reading…]
