Feel the Force - Become a Business Jedi

  I have had an interesting week and have spent a bit of time with a number of franchisees. I massively enjoy talking to you all and always come away with some new thinking, or something happens that acts as a reminder for me. I was chatting to a small group saying how pissed off I get when you put in a quote and then you never hear again. Well that had happened to me a few times over the last couple of weeks – a couple of nice quotes had been put forward after following my structured process and then radio silence. For some reason some prospects seem to have access to the “witness protection scheme”…… uncontactable. And the fact was I had followed up more than a few times on each…… and got nothing back. However, following my trip I was determined to get an answer and find out why they hadn’t purchased from us. I was determined to ensure that I either got a return for my time investment by getting a “yes” or I found out the reason they had not moved forward. Happily I can confirm t...

  Check this out.... I was in London the other weekend watching my daughter Tori doing the London 10K run. It was a great little run through the streets of the West End, along the Embankment, past Big Ben and then to Downing Street. At the end of the run we decided to go for lunch in Covent Garden.  You'll probably know that there are lots of restaurants around Covent Garden and there is a certain one called Flat Iron. It was recommended to us but you can't book. After a short walk we arrived to find a queue of people waiting to get in for meal. And I mean a queue - check out the photo. We were starving so we didn't bother waiting and moved on. However, this got me thinking... how can a little restaurant attract so much attention and yet other restaurants nearby were empty? What was this place doing that clearly had raving fans queuing to get in for food? I appreciate that we are in a very different market than a restaurant but doesn't it make you think?  What am I doin...

Check out this image....    This is from a workbook from a recent conference I attended. As you know I try and attend a few external conferences to extend, or reinforce, my knowledge. This picture resonated with me so much as I know it to be true for so many business owners. So my question to you is...... Where is your AIM? I appreciate that is quite a big question so let's just start with the current year... 2024. Have you got a Sales Target (aim) for this current year? Or maybe you work to the tax year which ends in a few weeks? And if you have a bigger AIM for the future does your aim for 2024 get you closer to where you want to be..? I have attached a link in this blogger to a spreadsheet that may help you calculate your AIM for the current year.  Sales calculator (stress free sales) The sheet works to a monthly Sales figure which should help to assess what level of sales you require each month. Simply download the file and fill in the yellow cells and see what is sho...

 I was listening to a podcast while relaxing in the bath (probably a sight you don’t want to imagine) the other day. Phil M Jones was the speaker - he has a great book called Exactly What To Say. I recommend it for your reading list.  The podcast covered lots of thing but 1 thing resonated with me HUGELY.  I n our training we talk about the only way to succeed is to fail. (Fall down might be a better thing to say). Failing is a key attribute to success. The problem is that many people don’t want to go through the pain of failure to discover success. Or they try something once and give up too early. This was emphasised on the podcast but he added another element… mistakes!!   Phil Jones made the point that there is a difference between failure and mistakes.   His interpretation was that..   a mistake is knowing how to do something and simply not doing it properly or consistently. while,   a failure is trying something new and not getti...

Back in April 2017 we discussed the value of online Customer reviews at the first Group Conference at the Birmingham Motor Cycle museum. In those days we might have had 30-40 attending. One of the talks was on Reviews and what Review platform everyone preferred..? There was lots of differing opinions but with the help of Trustist it meant we could accommodate everyone. In 2017 the Group has amassed not much more than 1,000 reviews in over 10 years but following that meeting the Group hasn't looked back. There were some cynical views from around the network but they have been silenced through the results achieved since. We have a very specific process for collecting reviews and that is why we rhythmically collect hundreds a week. If you are a top operator you will know when to ask for a review and how to ask for a review. And if you are one of the best you will even follow up (nicely) to remind a customer of the importance of a review - good or bad.  The best performers get over 30%...

Online Customer Reviews have fundamentally changed our business over the last few years. It was back in April 2017 the Group conference at the Motor Cycle Museum that we highlighted that the Group had collected very few reviews over all the previous years. From memory we had less that 800 reviews across the brands. I am really proud to say that we have now close to exceeding 9000 reviews!! That is HUGE..!! We are leading the way in our respective sectors and when, or if, the competition finally wake up we will be way ahead of the rest. If you are not actively seeking out reviews from your customers then you will be losing sales. We have lost count of the number of customers that say they chose us due to the reviews they had read. Not only are they good for prospective new customer they can also…. Increase the Click Through Rate on the website They help add new content on your website which is a positive thing for Google They make you stand out from the cr...