Brian's Business Tips

Over the past 5 years there has been a big push on “reviews” and the ability to review business. If I had a $1 for each time a business owner had asked me how to remove an incorrect statement about their business that was currently posted in the public domain, I probably wouldn’t be writing this to you right now.

There are always two sides to every story, but the online community seems to mostly cater to only one side.

It’s a major issue, but all website owners have such a push on user feedback that they forget about the business owners and the fact that one misguided statement can undermine someone’s blood sweat and tears. What do I mean by this..?

Well the first question you need to ask yourself is “who exactly has the time to sit and write reviews about businesses in the first place?”. As in what type of demographic are we dealing with here?  And why did they not give their feedback to the business then and there? Don’t get me wrong sometimes, I too have sat there getting my hair cut thinking to myself “I really should say something” but then by brain says well it’s not like they can glue it back on and it’s going to make the rest of this haircut experience pretty awkward if I say something now. So I grin and bear it. But then there is other times when (for whatever reason) I’ve chosen to be more vocal and expressed my displeasure with the job. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. But I certainly know which one was more constructive and is far more likely to benefit the business (assuming they take it on board). But I’m a firm believer in giving people more than one chance. And if you haven’t made mistakes in business, then you’re not in business.

All businesses make mistakes somewhere along the line. Why is it then that we write them off so quickly without a peep. Not even a tip on how they can improve. Have we become that impersonal that we march home ready to take it out on a keyboard. Does that bring us any satisfaction. Or even worse, did anything improve from that situation. No.

Review systems can be good but they must be built constructively. The must cater for the entire feedback cycle. The one that see’s the customer walking away knowing that the business knows how they feel about the service but also then gives the business the opportunity to make right what was wrong and learn from that mistake without it hanging over their heads (because it’s now written in back and white in the public domain) for their existence. This then enables the business to respond if they so choose to by offering something (as a gesture of “good will”) back to the customer. And everyone’s happy!

This blog post is here for 3 reasons. 1. To encourage website builders to think outside the box about review systems 2. To encourage businesses to treat customer feedback like absolute gold dust and do something with it, which will hopefully lead to more of the  next point. 3. To encourage users to be constructive with their feedback so that the business can actively benefit from it.

Hi All,

I enjoy writing about business that do it well. Our office is located in Northbridge and therefore we have had to endure some relatively average coffee for some time with limited choices and over inflated prices.

Recently a new place opened up called Milk & Honey (see them on bloo.com.au) if you want directions (and no.. they dont pay to advertise with us…. YET .  Just a FREE entry)

I’m not suggesting that they have everything right. But so far i’m they seem to have the ducks lined up. These are some of the things I’ve noticed about it.

Great Branding – They have followed the theme of milk and honey throughout. Right down to the design of their coffee cups. Even the lid on their takeaway cups has a nice smooth design which just seems to feel nicer when drinking. And ofcourse fits with the smooth “milk and honey” theme. And ofcourse the subtle use of honeycomb throughout and bee’s on their wall paper brings follows with the theme.

Atmosphere – I personally love bi-fold doors that make a place feel open. Milk & Honey has large bi-fold doors at the entry with high ceilings throughout and marble pillars (great way to avoid scuffs & chips) with beautiful “non slip” floor tiles and a white and brown theme. Personally I am a big lover of the color brown if the place has anything to do with coffee. And ofcourse the most important part is you are then greeted by someone who seems rather happy to be serving you (what a change!). All of this surrounded by a great choice of cafe style music to set the atmosphere (and don’t underestimate the power behind your music choice if you own a cafe – so important!).

Product – So all of these things seemed to add up, but how was the coffee & food? Well the first thing I noticed was the type of milk they use for their coffee. I’ve spotted in before and it is the bannister downs milk which is now renown for it’s smooth and rich milk taste (a big thumbs up). Needless to say, the coffee was spot on (comparable to my other favourite place – Epic Coffee in West Perth).  And then there is the food. I understand they bake their own muffins fresh, which is very cool. I Haven’t tried one yet so cant comment. However, I have tried their salmon quiche which was “the bomb”. And I have also tried their Steak for lunch. It was also very impressive for the <$20 price tag. Cooked medium, on a bed of Mash with a beautiful mushroom sauce. Only problem was, it left me wanting more.

Consistency – I’m sure Milk & Honey will continue to thrive if they maintain what they are doing and don’t compromise on service or product.

However, I was pushed to talk about Milk & Honey because of the direct contrast from another coffee shop that I used to attend beforehand. I’m not in the interest of making businesses look bad so I wont mention names. I believe everyone should have a chance to learn and get things right before being broadcast to the world wide web with no chance at all.

This particular coffee shop had also had a renovation and the facade looked pretty inviting. it was convenient to me because of it’s location as I was driving into my office but here’s where I believe they went wrong.

General Presentation – I walked in and found no music was playing. I glanced to the right and saw a coke fridge with boxes piled up beside for of drinks that hadn’t been opened. I was greet by a girl who had just looked like she had woken up and when I spoke to her (in my sometimes over exuberant way), she responded with “geez, what makes you so chirpy”. I said, I don’t know. Just the way I am I guess. And don’t really have anything to be shitty about. She said ok, what can I get you. I had a bit of a sweet tooth that morning so i ordered a mocha. I then asked her if she had ever visited any other coffee shops to do market research because I love the mochas at Epic. The use real belgium choclate and it seriously gets me excited with every sip (yeh.. I know “easy to keep me happy”)? She immediately jumped on the defensive and having known that I worked at bloo she responded with. Well, how can you ask me that, do you ever use the yellow pages? without responding to that (which of course, i do market research nearly every day) I responded and said “I just thought you might like to know” and left it at that. Needless to say I haven’t been back there since. And it’s not because I don’t like the girl, but more because I know have a better option. And I have to walk further for it, but to me it’s worth it.

Customer Feedback is so important. Yet, often we treat it as an attack rather than someone going out of their way to try and help us improve. I didn’t make my comments to her in front of any other customers. It was purely one on one. She had the prime opportunity to not only take that advice but ask me if there was anything else I thought they could do to improve. And given the mood I was in, I would have happily offered some suggestions.

Treat these opportunities as gold dust. They come around rarely but will turn your business into a gold mine.

Next blog I will be focusing on the current rating system for businesses online and why I believe the vast majority are fundamentally flawed.

Regards

Brian Gillett

Running any businesses has it challenges, but some would argue the most difficult of all is keeping your staff motivated and effective in their particular job role.

It doesn’t matter whether you work in a larger corporate or small business, at some stage you will encounter difficulties and just when you think everything is humming along like a well oiled machine… wham! you get hit with a “left fielder” and your stuck trying to resolve these issues that have seemed to come out of nowhere.

Here is a few things I have learned (but still putting into practice), and when I use them I see a significant difference.

Beat the Drum’

You need to be the first to arrive and the last to leave. Your staff need to see you! Make yourself seen and give them a beat that they can march to.

Create the Beat

Some people use goal setting, others use incentives or bonuses, but for some it’s a simple & common mission. It doesn’t really matter which one of these you use and in most cases it would pay to use all of them if you can. It’s always good to define some kind of mission so that everyone has a common focal point for the future. But the future always looks so far away, which is then why you need to give them smaller goals with some kind of incentive or bonus attached. These should be run consistently and not just for sales people. I would suggest monthly incentives with some kind of bonus attached. 1 month gives people enough time to strive for the goal and gives you (as the manager of business owner) enough time to think of what you are going to use the following month.

Meetings

Meetings can seem counter productive but they are useful if used properly. Here at bloo we have weekly meetings that start at 8am on a Monday morning. Punctuality can often be an issue where you have different people rocking up at different times. We have Zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and have adopted a “fine” system. If you are late for the meetings, you then have to buy coffee for the rest of the group. This is always nice if you’re on the receiving end but not so nice if you have to constantly be purchasing coffee’s. We have found this to be an effective method of ensuring punctuality. I still personally question whether Monday mornings are the best time to run meetings and will let you decide on the best time for your business. But just make sure they are weekly and that you have relevant material to cover off. Try to delegate here.

It’s important not to be the only one talking at your meetings so make sure you get others involved by getting them to talk about their particular division or updates.

One-on-One’s

These are so important. I only realized this recently. But you need to have 1/2 to 1 hr allocated to each of your staff each month. You will learn things about your employees that you wouldn’t otherwise know in an open forum. If they are comfortable and you give them every opportunity to speak their mind, you will learn about them and about your business. This really helps to prevent surprises with staff. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably grown to hate surprises in business.

Incentives & Bonuses

Try to make these decent ticket items that people actually want. That doesn’t mean they need to cost you an arm and leg either. It all comes down to knowing your staff (which your one-on-one’s would have helped with!). Come up with an incentive and an achievable way to get there. Then stick it up on all the walls around the office so they don’t forget about it (and neither do you). Remind them of it daily and use it to create a bit of healthy competition internally. This creates a good atmosphere and keeps some fun in the business.

If you’re just starting and things are a little tight..

Don’t let that stop you! We also have come up with the following awards that we hand out each month. They are a simple A4 (laminated) design that takes 5 minutes to do. The trick is to look out for just about anything you can reward people for. And make sure it’s laminated. Gives it a sense of importance.

Highest Sales

Highest Yield

Highest Customer Satisfaction

Customer Service Award

Technical Breakthrough Award

Potato head Award

(This one is important for a laugh. If someone does something stupid, they get this award. I’ve had it and it pays to get it once or twice yourself to show that we are all in this together and to teach people that it’s ok to make mistakes, recognize them, have a laugh at yourself and move on)

I hope these tips help out with day to day management of your business and help reduce any staffing issues and increase staff retention.

Regards

Brian Gillett

MD – bloo.com.au

Directories are still a very important part of connecting buyers to businesses and my belief is that they will continue to be. Obviously they may take on different forms as opposed to the traditional print publications. However, in the digital space they are (and will continue) to be heavily depended on for local business information. This is simply due to there still being more than 60% of small businesses that don’t have a website. They need to be found and directories enable this to happen.

The key is to take some time out and make sure your details are correct. The great part about digital directories is the simple fact that you can change your information (well at least you should be able to). I can only speak for bloo as its turnaround is less than 24 hours. But other sites may take longer.

Sensis / Yellow Pages have a “changes” team who do it on your behalf, but be sure to give them specific instructions. You don’t want to end up back at the bottom of the pile.

Most Directories will entitle you to have a “free entry” including Yellow Pages of course. If you don’t have an entry in the Yellow & White Pages then you can certainly request to get one put in. Free entries into the Yellow Pages are typically generated by TSO’s (Telstra Service Orders). So when you get a LAN line connected Telstra will then give a copy of your TSO to Sensis. They will then automatically place a free entry of your business into their printed and digital publications. Other directory submissions are relatively simple if you follow their prompts.

You can expect that every directory has some kind of commercial model behind it. So if you do list your business there is a fair chance you may get a phone call or offered something else to further promote your business at a cost. Typically they will get your details, see if you already have a website, and offer you a google adwords campaign or a free review of your existing campaign with the view of taking it over. So their directories are generally just a way of generating leads. The problem of course with this is that they still only cater to the people that have websites and not to the other 60% that don’t; but still want to give their customers more information rather than just a name and number. Now what kind of person would I be if I knew this was an issue for users but didn’t create a fix?  Yes, of course whether you are a paid entry in bloo or not you can list more information than just your name and number.

Now any SEO (search engine optimisation) expert will also tell you that directory submissions are essential for quality back-links to your own website. If you already have a website, this will contribute to your rank/organic results in google.

Before I begin, let me introduce myself. I’m Brian Gillett MD at bloo.com.au. This is my first blog. I’m going to try hard not to be a “flogger” but a blogger. From what I’ve been told, that means I should probably switch my brain from wanting to talk about bloo all the time to sharing other information with all you folk that may be useful.

I have a passion for business and deal heavily with SME’s on a day to day basis. So most of what I’ll be blogging about will surround this.

Today I want to talk about effective advert design and why designing an advert for a business directory is sometimes fundamentally different to outdoor media or flyers and brochures etc. This is just as applicable to any online directory such as bloo or Yellow pages online as it is to hard copy print publications such as Yellow pages print.

Layout – You have to first remember (I’m in a directory!), so people obviously know they need my type of business but just don’t know who to use. We call these “ready to buy” consumers. They know what they require, but just don’t know who to get it from. So what about your layout can make sure that you are found and transacted with?

Don’t go minimalistic : You are not on a branding exercise here, and if you are? you should be looking at other media types.  You need to give people answers to what they are looking for. You need rich information without clutter.

Your Brand doesn’t need to take up half the page at the top : This is generally not considered the best use of the page. Find a niche/need within your industry and use the top area of your advert to answer that need. An example of this is “On Time – Or the 1^st Hour FREE”. If you believe this is a soft point for a lot of consumers, go out there and milk it!

Dot Points : These work an absolute treat in directories. They are easy for a consumer to absorb and mention your essential information without clutter. Inform & educate.

Avoid massive phone numbers : This one cracks me up. We all tend to think the bigger we put something the more likely it is to be noticed. This is typically opposite to what we think. Research shows us that people typically look straight past it and their eyes wander to the bottom (typically right) of the page for contact details. Bold, with one or two bigger font sizes is fine.

Images : Avoid use of negative images. For example don’t put a picture of a burglar breaking into a house if you own a security company. People don’t want negative associations especially if they have just been victim to something in their life. Before and after images are also dangerous. It is tempting to put them into certain adverts but can quite often have an adverse effect. Once again it applies to a similar principle that consumers like to see the end product (where they want to be, not where they are).