Biz Coach Steve

Tag: Growth

  • What is Your USP?

    What is Your USP?

    What is your USP?

    You may have heard that question at some point when you were building your business or starting up. USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition.

    In very simple terms, why should I buy from you versus anyone else?  What makes you different? Unique?

    After presenting at two large business groups and hearing everyone’s elevator pitch, it still blows my mind how many people do not have a clear focus on what their business is and who problems they solve and to whom are they solving those problems.  We hear extra filler junk, such as. “I am like the UBER of XXX.” So, what I heard is that you have a billion-dollar valuation, are in the debt over a billion dollars, and have not been profitable and probably will never be profitable. Not good.

    This was from an INC magazine article. “A Unique Selling Point is a feature or a characteristic of a product that makes it stand out from the masses and allows the product to look more exclusive/valuable to the customer. The unique selling proposition is often the crucial factor why a customer bought a specific product from a specific company (A), rather than a comparable product with similar features to another company (B). Simply put: the USPs are the unique benefits a product offers its purchasers.”

    So how can you create your own very compelling USP?

    Simple. Follow this simple formula and create your USP. Think of it as your elevator pitch.

    First, write down your target market. Now you may have more than one, but not more than three. Why? Because if your message is trying to be everything to everyone, no one cares, and no one wants to hear it. They want someone to solve their problems-not the world. Be specific about who your market is.  If it’s dentists, then what kind of dentist? Orthodontist? Periodontist? General? Oral? Etc.  Be specific.  “My company works with orthodontists.”

    Next, write down at least 25 problems your target customer has, then write down 10 more. This will really help your business down the road. Identify the top 3 problems your target market has based on your list. How do you know what the top 3 problems are? Hopefully, you know why your customers are doing business with you. If not, ask them what problems/challenges your product/services solve for them.  If you don’t have customers yet, then meet with a mentor to have them help you find those top 3 challenges. You also may know what 3 challenges you want to solve for your customers-but it must be in alignment with THEIR needs.  I.E. Orthodontists problems are; patients not showing up for appointments, potential clients not having insurance to get braces (cost), and finding good staff.


    Now write down at least one solution to each one of the problems you outlined in the last step. Be specific. Using our dentist as an example; send out email, text, and voice mail reminders for the appointment, provide another insurance solution if they don’t have insurance, and use a systematic process to hire great staff.

    Let’s put it all together.

    “My company works with elite orthodontists who have challenges obtaining new patients and attracting high-level staff. We help them develop acquisition and retention strategies to build their practice and their team.”

    You may be thinking, how did I get that USP from the exercise? It’s simple. THEIR problem is getting new patients in because they don’t have insurance, keeping patients, and getting new staff. The USP says that in a language that is speaking to the orthodontist-not to anyone else. Now, if another type of dentist heard this, would they want to know more from you?   Absolutely. You can alter your USP to your market.

    I.E. “My company works with elite dentists who have challenges obtaining new patients and attracting high-level staff. We help them develop acquisition and retention strategies to build their practice and their team.”

    See how that works.  You must speak to your audience. It’s NOT about you. It’s about who you serve, what are their problems, and how are you solving them.

    Stop being the Uber, Apple, Tesla, Google, Amazon, or whatever other company you want to compare yourself to. They have their USP. Here are a few.

    Uber: Ride when you want, where you want

    Apple:  We provide a lifestyle with our products

    FedEx: When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight

    Coke: The real thing

    Google: Access the world from your fingertips

    Mine: We can uncover $50,000 to over $100,000 of hidden revenue for a business in 45-minutes

    You are NOT them. They have established themselves in the market, you are working on establishing yourself. Speak to your audience, be unique, and be you. They do not have to define their market; it has already been defined.

    Create your USP today.  Be clear.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, and Author, a coffee enthusiast, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations and conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • Are you a good Negotiator?

    Are you a good Negotiator?

    I was having coffee with a fellow business owner, and he was telling me that he is expanding his office into the suite next to his current office and he is about ready to start negotiating with his landlord. He confessed he has never had to negotiate anything like this before and was worried that he will not get everything he wants with the larger space.

    Many business owners just accepted a lease from a landlord and never entered into negotiating with them, which is normal.

    In a sense, all of life is a negotiation.

    You are always negotiating in some way. When you drive from one place to another, you negotiate through traffic, letting other people get in front of you and you get in front of them. When you go to a restaurant you negotiate, to get a table and then get the kind of table you most like. You negotiate all the elements of your work life and all the things you do or don’t do. You negotiate prices, terms, schedules, standards, and a thousand other details all day long. The process is never-ending.

    Your ability to interact, communicate, persuade and negotiate with others determines your income more than any other factor It is therefore well worth your while to do everything possible to be very good in this area.

    It is not really a question of whether or not you negotiate. The only question is, “How good of a negotiator are you?”  If you want to get things in life faster and easier then you need to be better at negotiating than the other person.

    How many times have you heard someone say, “I am not good at negotiating.”  The reason they feel this way is that negotiating is a learned skill, just as learning how to ride a bicycle.  They may not be good at negotiating because they were never taught how to negotiate.  Learning how to be an effective negotiator takes time and practice.

    Why does everyone hate to negotiate with a car salesperson? Because the salesperson has been taught how to negotiate and usually has the upper hand in the discussion.  Now, if you were trained as they were on how to negotiate and understood the rules of negotiating, would you dread negotiating with a car salesperson?  Probably not.

    The primary purpose of negotiating is to come to an agreement between two or more parties and then fulfilling that obligation.  That’s it. Simple right?

    Your ability to negotiate will for yourself and your company will make an enormous difference in the quality of your sales and the degree of profitability you achieve for your organization. So being an effective negotiator will make a great difference in your life.

    There are many rules for negotiating. 

    Rule #1) This is a shocker – AVOID IT!  Yes, that is correct, avoid negotiating. If the other party is good at negotiating and you feel you’re not, then why go into a negotiation with that attitude-you’re not going to fair too well on the outcome.

    Rule #2) Delay negotiating as long as possible. You must first have a desire to buy before offering concessions. Never use negotiating as a substitute for salesmanship (value).

    Rule #3) Negotiating is a sales tool – use it as one. Early concessions have very little impact on the deal and decrease the attractiveness of your product or service.  Early concessions create an appetite for more & bigger ones later and the first person to concede will usually concede again & again.

    Rule #4) There are several requirements for negotiating.  All parties involved must first have the authority to negotiate as well as to uphold what has been agreed upon. Many times, you may enter a negotiation, and come to an acceptable outcome only to find out that the person you have been negotiating with must get someone else’s approval.

    Rule #5) Some primary aims of negotiating in sales.  Remember if you don’t need to negotiate, then don’t.

    • Negotiate only when it’s necessary to get the sale
    • Negotiate to build a long-term relationship
    • Negotiate to find a way to satisfy both parties

    There are only six outcomes of negotiating.  If the outcome is NOT a Win/Win or No Deal, then end the negotiation. You may win in a Win/Lose outcome for now, but the party that lost will not be doing business with you after that deal.

    1. Win/Lose
    2. Lose/Win
    3. Lose/Lose
    4. Compromise
    5. Win/Win
    6. No Deal

    Finally, always prepare to be successful at negotiating. Remember negotiating is a skill that can be learned, and you need to prepare and practice before entering a negotiation. Some ways to prepare are;

    • Lawyer method:  Prepare your position from the other party’s point of view.
    • 20 Idea Method: Write out 20 benefits for the other party and when negotiating present those ideas.
    • Research the other party: Many times, this simple step is avoided.  Find out what they are looking to gain from the negotiation.
    • Get the fact before you enter a negotiation:  Make sure you are clear on why you are entering the negotiation with the other party and what they are willing to offer to enhance the negotiation.
    • Ask the customer for the information you need to negotiate effectively. Pretty simple, but how many times have you just asked the other party for their information?

    The next time you must enter into a negotiation with another party, be prepared, practice, do your research, qualify them to make sure you are dealing with the decision maker, research them (talk to some of their customers), and only accept a Win/Win or No Deal as the outcome.

    Good luck negotiating.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, and Author, a coffee enthusiast, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations and conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • Eight Signs it’s Time to Hire a Business Coach

    Eight Signs it’s Time to Hire a Business Coach

    As a leader, you might think you should have everything figured out already, but this simply isn’t true. While all of us have our talents, leadership skills are often something we have to learn along the way.

    Enter the business coach. A business coach oversees and guides a manager or founder in starting, growing, or developing a business. Like a sports coach, a business coach’s job is to help you develop the skills and resources you need to be successful. A coach is there to assist you in your business, not to tell you how to run your business. They can see your shortcoming and provide you the tools and resources to fill in those gaps to grow your business and improve your own skills.

    Whether you’re overwhelmed, in need of advice, or want to see better results, here are 8 signs that it may be time to bring in a coach into your business.

    1. You Are Overwhelmed

    One of the top signs that it’s time for a coach is when you hit that feeling of being overwhelmed. You are overwhelmed by feeling like there is too much to do and too few hours in the day to get everyone accomplished. You are overwhelmed by not knowing how much profit you are making at the end of your month. And you are overwhelmed because you don’t feel like you have control of your business, your employees, or your vendors.

    2. You Need a Confidant to Talk About Your Business With

    Standing center stage expects excellence. Who can you trust to speak without feeling exposed, or impairing your credibility or reputation within the organization or its clients? How would it feel to have a safe sounding board for honest feedback on your ideas and a partner to support you in the process of design, implementation, and evaluation? Time to hire a coach!  

    3. You Intellectually Know What to Do But Don’t Do It

    You need a coach when you “know” what to do but don’t implement. Lack of change typically occurs because you need to experience some paradigm shifts that require someone with an outside perspective to challenge your assumptions and because you need someone to help you translate general principles into specific steps that you can take in your own life.

    4. You Aren’t Getting the Results You Want

    Sometimes we think we know the right path to take in our career growth or business growth, but we come to find it isn’t working. To get the results we want, we may need guidance from someone who can see things from a more objective view, not a subjective view. Turning to a business coach can increase ROI, surge active engagement, and allow one to remove obstacles that are precluding results.

    5. You Want to Save Time and Money

    If you’re business or thinking about starting a business and thinking, “Wow, I could use someone to help me figure out the best way to do this,” you should be considering getting a coach. Going the “lone wolf” route can cost much more in wasted time and money, and that can all be avoided by working with an excellent coach.

    6. You Find Yourself Listening Only To Your own Ideas

    You need to hire a business coach is when you find yourself only listening to your own ideas. The higher up the ladder you are, the more people tend not to be honest and just comply. The same thing can happen to entrepreneurs because they have a tendency to work alone; they tend to only hear their own ideas. We all need checks and balances. A coach can help you.

    7. You’re Feeling Stuck and Frustrated by Others

    Einstien stated the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I hear this all the time. My clients often have a similar story reappearing in their lives in different ways. A great time to work with a coach is when you find yourself repeatedly frustrated by others around you at work, or if you can see that you have some unhealthy workplace dynamics, but you’re not sure how to really shift them. The unbiased perspective of a coach can be just what that executive needs.

    8. You Want Your Company to Grow

    If you’re alive and breathing as an entrepreneur, you need a coach. I’m not only a coach I am also the CEO of my company with multiple people in the organization. I’ve hired half a dozen coaches (and have 2 coaches), been the beneficiary of a couple of dozen mentors, and worked with multiple strategic partners. Your company only expands at the rate of your own growth. Find a coach you can rely on and get to work. The ROI is ridiculous.

    Stop the madness and wishing your company can grow. Get the help you need to really have your business take off. It will be one of the best investments you ever made in your business and yourself.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, Author, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops, and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • The Manager – Coach and Confidant

    The Manager – Coach and Confidant

    Your people are your most precious resource. Only your people can be made to appreciate you and the value you bring to them. All other resources and corporate assets depreciate over time. You need great people in your organization to grow your business.

    People leave jobs due to their manager and that person’s poor leadership and managerial skills. People stay at bad jobs due to how great their manager treats and lead them.

    Many organizations have managers that were promoted because; they talk a great game (the BS’ers), or performed well on a project, are great at shuffling paperwork, are well networked in the organization, due to nepotism, or were hired externally to make changes within an organization. Many managers are just that – managers and not leaders. There is a big difference between managing and leading.

    Bad managers may or may not know they are demoralizing their staff through their words and actions. The worst managers do not believe they are negatively impacting the business but believe the business is declining due to the staff.

    One big area I have seen managers and business owners fail at is providing effective coaching to their employees. They believe having that annual review with their staff, beating them up over something they cannot remember 10 months ago, and providing nothing, but negative comments are showcasing their great managerial skills.  They are doing it because that is all they know, and they need to check a box to say they did the review.

    The fastest and most effective way to increase the productivity and performance of your people is for you to give them timely and relevant coaching and counseling at the proper times in their careers. This is the exact opposite of what many managers believe. People cannot grow without honest, objective feedback and instruction from someone who can look at their performance and tell them exactly how they are doing.  The best managers are always communicating with their staff, coaching and guiding them. Correcting them if needed but in a positive and supportive manner.

    Everyone needs feedback and counseling from someone he or she respects and trusts to improve and to get better at their work. Many average people have become star performers within their organization as the result of a manager taking the time to guide them and instruct them on how to improve in critical areas of their work.

    One of the best managers I have ever met never wanted to run the company. They were very happy in their manager role looking over 50 people who were on the manufacturing floor.  The reason being his employees in his division had the highest output compared to other locations the company had as well as the industry average. His employee turnover was unheard of at 99% retention. He told new staff members that they will only work for him for a maximum of 5 years. His goal is to provide his staff with managerial and leadership skills to get a better job within or outside the organization. He had monthly group and one-on-one meetings. He did little talking at all the meetings. He listened. Asked the right questions at the right time. Provided guidance and support to everyone. All his current and prior staff members would walk through fire for this guy.  His passion was to be the best manager and develop leaders.  Could you emulate his vision and actions?

    You need to learn how to give timely and accurate coaching and counseling to each of your staff members regularly. If they are performing below par, take them aside and find out why. Ask them questions. Don’t start criticizing them and threatening them about their performance. You may be shocked to find out that person may have lost a close family member and that has impacted their performance. You don’t know. Treat them with respect and ask questions.

    Make sure you are clear about what is expected from your staff. If you just tell them to produce 100 units an hour, that is an expectation. Go deeper. Show them how to produce 100 units an hour. Sit with them. Ask them how they could produce 100 units an hour. What could they improve on to produce more?  Be clear on your expectations and be the coach and confidant.

    “The number one demotivator in the world of work is not knowing what is expected.”

    A great strategy is to have short monthly one-on-one meetings with your staff. The manager is there as a facilitator, the coach, guiding the meeting, but doing the listening and asking questions. To make these meetings effective and to coach your staff, they create the agenda for the meeting. Let them tell you what they have been working on in the past month. What their goals were in the last month and if they achieved them or not and why. They will tell you their goals for the next month and how they will achieve them. You will just ask questions to clarify anything they said and to push them a little bit to learn something new. Improve their production, their leadership skills, whatever it may be. You are the coach. Coach them. Be clear in your communication. No fluffy stuff. Be open honest and caring. Have them always reaching higher to achieve their personal goals and to achieve the goals of the business. 

    What are you going to do to be the coach and confident in your business?

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, Author, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops, and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • Develop a vision for your future

    Develop a vision for your future

    Where do you envision your business to be in a year?  5 Years?  10 Years?

    Where do you envision your personal life to be in a year?  5 Years?  10 Years?

    When I ask business owners these questions, I usually get them spewing a bunch of platitudes with no definitive answer on where they see their life and business in the future. They have no clear vision for their future.

    Simple questions, but with hard answers. 

    One quality that all leaders have in common is that they have a clear and exciting vision for their future. This is something that only the leader can do. By leader, could mean the business owners. Parent, Guardian, Manager, etc.…  Only the leader can think about the future and plan for the future each day.  Think of it like this. If you are the captain of a ship, are you just floating around the ocean? Or, do you have a clear plan to go somewhere or do something? Pirates had a clear plan. Sail the seas, find other ships, steal everything they have, and move onto the next ship.

    Excellent leaders take the time to think through and develop a clear picture of where they want the organization to be in one, three, and five years. Leaders can communicate this vision in such a way that others “buy-in” and eventually see the vision as belonging to them.

    Set aside sometime over a weekend and put some thought into your vision. Write it down. Be as detailed as possible. Then write one simple statement that you can say to convey your vision to others. This will help you get crystal clear on your vision and stay on track to reach your goals.

    Use your vision to motivate others. Your vision shows your future possibilities of what can be, and that arouses emotion and motivates you and others to give their best. The most powerful vision is always qualitative, aimed at and described in terms of values and mission rather than quantitative, described in terms of money. Of course, money is important, but the decision and commitment to “be the best in the business” is far more exciting.

    A clear vision that is communicated properly can encourage others, instill confidence in them, to help them to perform at their best. It does require you to lead by example and stick to your vision.

    A clear vision for your future can create great team players.
    A study at Stanford Business School examined the qualities that companies look for in promoting young managers toward senior executive positions, especially the position of Chief Executive Officer. The study concluded that there were two important qualities required for great success in leadership. The first is the ability to put together a team and function as a good team player. Since all work is ultimately done by teams, and the managers’ output is the output of the team, the ability to select team members, set objectives, delegate responsibility, and finally, get the job done, was central to success in management.

    Keep Your Cool
    The second quality required for rapid promotion was found to be the ability to function well under pressure, and especially in a crisis. Keeping your cool in a crisis means practicing patience and self-control under difficult or disappointing circumstances.

    Everyone Is Watching
    The character and quality of a leader are often demonstrated in these critical moments under fire when everyone is watching, observing, and privately taking notes. As Rudyard Kipling once said, “If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, then the world is yours and all that’s in it”.

    Your job as a leader is to have a clear vision of where you want to go and then to keep your cool when things go wrong, as they surely will.

    Action Exercises
    Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

    First, project forward 3-5 years and imagine your ideal future vision. What does it look like? What steps can you take immediately to begin turning your future vision into your current reality?

    Second, resolve in advance that, no matter what happens, you will remain calm and cool. You will not become upset or angry. You will take a deep breath and focus on the solution rather than on the problem.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, Author, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops, and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • Speed Networking

    Speed Networking

    When I tell business owners one of the easiest ways to expand your network is to attend a speed networking event, they always think I am pulling their leg.  I’m not.

    All business owners, salespeople, and those that live on commissions should always attend a speed networking event to “PRACTICE” your elevator pitch. This is the best testing ground to test your elevator pitch in a relevant environment.

    Speed networking programs are showing up all around the world. These events tend to be a fun, exciting, and effective way to make a lot of initial connections in a very different environment from the standard business networking meetings.

    Speed networking programs generally involve people meeting each other one at a time for a short interval and then moving on to the next person in line. They are fairly structured in the way people queue up to meet. For example, one variation is to have two concentric circles of people. The individuals sit across from one another and after the set period–generally one or two minutes–the outside circle of people gets up and moves in one direction around the circle until everyone has met.

    You might not be surprised to learn that I have some definite opinions and ideas about how to best use speed networking as a tool for creating viable referral partnerships. First, I think speed networking is a great way to meet other business professionals in a short period. It’s a good tool for business people to be the viability to a high number of people in a short amount of time.

    The potential downside to speed networking is if someone thinks this is “all” they have to do to network effectively. The key to making speed networking work is to take those contacts and develop them over time into “credible” relationships that lead to “profitable” referral partners.

    Some people have likened speed networking to speed dating. While there are some similarities, there is also a subtle but significant difference. Speed dating is done to eliminate potential suitors and keep from wasting time on people with whom you share no common interests and no mutual attraction. The presumption is that you are going to follow up with only the ones you connect with during the exercise.

    I don’t feel speed networking can be used to its potential if you treat it as a means to eliminate potential referral sources, but to attract potential referral sources. Developing a strong referral base is about developing relationships with a variety of people, even when it seems you have nothing in common.

    So how do you go about participating in a speed networking exercise with the proper focus to make the most of your time? Here are several points to consider:

    1. Start with the end in mind. You’re not there to bag the big one. You are NOT there to sell your stuff, nor is someone there to buy your stuff. You’re not there to eliminate referral sources or referral partners. You’re there to find ways to connect with every person you have the opportunity to sit (or stand) in front of for that one- to two-minute period.

    If you are going to a speed networking event to “refine” your elevator pitch, bring 3 versions and practice each pitch to a third of the room and gauge their reaction to your elevator pitch to see which one engages the other person to what to know more.

    2. Conduct the exercise as a mini-interview. Think in terms of what you can find out about the person you’re meeting. That’ll allow you to help further the goals of that individual. Forget about mining their database or trying to determine who they know to further your goals. In working to mutually benefit one another, ask questions that’ll clarify where and how you can best help your new referral source.

    3. Make notes during the exercise. If you’re not provided some type of contact card on which you can jot notes while in the exercise, be sure to use your pad of paper to write down the information you discover. Be sure to note the person’s interests and goals you could help achieve.

    4. Follow up. Follow up. Follow up. If you don’t follow up with those you meet during the speed networking exercise, you will only have succeeded in wasting your time–which is exactly what you were trying to avoid by attending the event in the first place. Collect the business cards of each person you sit with during the exercise. The magic happens after the exercise, in the weeks and months to come.

    Set appointments with each person, not to convince them they need your product, but to become better acquainted, finding out what their needs are and how you can positively impact their lives. You’ll realize the reason you went to the speed networking exercise in the first place: to develop more referral business.

    I believe speed networking can work if it’s done the right way. It can be a fun, energetic, and dynamic way to further your own goals of having a thriving, successful word-of-mouth-based business.

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    Steve Feld, MBA, Certified Business Coach, Author, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals, and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops, and training.  Focusing on lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business.

    Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.

    #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking #keynotespeaker #meetingprofs #eventprofs #meetingstoday #businesscoachnearme

  • Complacency Kills

    When a business’s culture stagnates and complacency sets in, performance declines, growth stalls and existing customers sense the lack of drive and erosion of value occurs. In many situations where a business has lost its drive and is backsliding, the cure it to reset to a performance-based culture. This is a move that can have a significant impact on the organizations long-term financial performance.

    But how to instill a performance-based culture as a means of improving a product or service and concentrating on three main components: Goals, Incentives, and Measures.

    Have you ever noticed the companies that are consistently growing are always changing? Having a strong culture to keep inventing is usually directly correlated to consistent growth. That culture starts with leadership but can diminish over the life of the business as other coefficients of culture become more powerful.  Undoubtedly, a company’s culture is impacted by many factors. Sometimes corporate culture is nurtured by involved and caring management where it flourishes and sustains, while other times the culture gets dinged and damaged over the years to the point of being unrepairable. Among the many no-so-positive factors that might harm the culture are: major restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and frequent changes in leadership at the corporate level.

    Mission Drift: Businesses naturally evolve and change. Executives, staff and customers come and go. Change and evolution are good and to be expected, but over time, businesses can experience “mission drift.” When a business starts it is focused on its mission, as the business grows the organizations workforce expands with the business’s growth. Roles change, key resources stretch to take on new responsibilities and try to transition their knowledge about their old role to someone else. Mis-interpretation creeps in, so does improvisation.

    The original organizational culture has changed, it gets diluted as fresh blood gets pumped into the environment. This is also when the culture transforms, sometimes positive with new ideas and innovation. The key is to stay in check and preserve the core mission of the business, but yet keep it moving forward.

    Relentless Charge:  Expansion creates fatigue and burnout within the organization and can also lead to an exhausted and ambivalent workforce that is detrimental to growth, innovation and operational excellence in the business. This does not mean that a business should not push ahead, or coast along and slack-off. It does mean that we must have a formula to fuel the business for the long-run. Think in terms of running a marathon and not a sprint. The formula must be mixed with the new culture and be attuned to the business’s strategies and goals.

    During boom times, business leaders must listen to the signals the business is sending to them. Organizations get tired and need rest cycles as well. Not like us humans need to rest, but the business cannot endlessly expend energy with replacing it along the way. Business cycles go in spurts of work and then rejuvenation. Constant full-speed accelerations without maintaining the organizational pistons will wear out the engine and momentum will slow. A balance is needed between the need to constantly move the organization forward and the need to recharge energy and celebrate successes along the way.

    Complacency: One of the biggest enemies a business culture faces is complacency. Complacency can come from having reached a level of comfort that accompanies some degree of achievement and feelings of success. Sometimes when an organization reaches a significant milestone the employees throughout the company sometimes gravitate towards a place where it is comfortable and safe. Why risk what we’ve works so hard for? Complacency develops out of our natural desire for the predictability of a routine over the uncertainty of change.

    The primary issue with complacency is that we cannot remain in a fixed position with the external environment is moving and changing. This guarantees that the organization will be passed by competing businesses that embrace change.  Businesses that do not systematically strive for improvement and growth will plateau, stagnate and then decline. Those businesses that continue to reach beyond the status quo and adapt to evolutionary changes in their environment will thrive.

    Strong leadership during growth periods is essential to curtail dilution and avoid organizational complacency. Non-proactive leadership during a growth period can slowly erode confidence throughout the organization and lead to complacency and disconnectedness.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but these outcomes are exposed when people begin to focus on the wrong things as a result of the business-essential tacit knowledge held by the original core team being stretched and worn thin. Some workers may begin to feel overworked, while others may feel underutilized.

    So, what do you do when your organization’s culture has been pummeled and is no longer reflective of the workplace that it once was?

    What’s your ideal target?  Clearly, a broken culture must be addressed by changing it, but that requires a vision of the target culture be in place before attempting any transformative actions as well as a realistic plan for change. Ultimately, the goal of the culture reset is to create a strong and positive culture that is well-aligned with the organization’s core values.

    A strong organizational culture is one that is extremely well aligned to a common set of core values, making policy and procedure changes easier to introduce. However, rigidity and group think are two rick factors that accompany strong organizational beliefs and corporate dogma. Having a strong culture is certainly preferable to a weak one but is not entirely the optimal situation.

    A healthier model is a performance-centric culture, striking a balance between the desirable attributes of a strong culture and the equally important ingredients of goals, incentives, measures, flexibility and acceptance. A performance-centric organization allows for and promotes diversity in thought and business innovation but does not tolerate complacent behavior. These organizations have developed a corporate structure that promotes accountability and rewards performance target achievements, while accepting and embracing challenges to the status quo. Bureaucracy and group think are viewed as the demons of innovation that must be kept in check in order to allow fragile new and game-changing business ideas to survive and one day be implemented. Research has shown that organizations with performance-centric cultures experience better financial growth.

    The Reward: A culture with a bias for action: Make no mistake, transforming a culture is not easy and requires an organization to seek change. Unfortunately, an organization in mission drift, exhausted from the relentless charge and/or suffering from complacency is not an ideal patient to respond quickly to any treatment. Conditions that developed over a long period of time will require a careful and paced culture change program as opposed to an attempt to introduce quick fixes that create more disruption and distraction.  Those organizations that succeed in change the rewards are enormous.

    Realizing the benefits: Performance-based cultures unify employees and naturally bridge the organizational gaps such as hierarchy or geography. In a performance-based culture, the organization feels and behaves much like a family. This commitment helps guide employees to do the right things right and strive to advance the business in the absence of explicit direction.

    Perhaps most importantly, employees in performance-based cultures demonstrate a marked bias for action remaining fundamentally dissatisfied with the status quo and thinking and acting more like owners of the business. They show accountability and take personal responsibility for overall business performance and not just their own domains. As such, the culture tolerates very little bureaucratic debate and expects team players who display high levels of passion and commitment to achieving organizational goals.

  • Ready to Grow in 2019? Plan to tell a story, and tell it well!

    Have you ever considered that one of your primary roles as the owner of the business is lead storyteller? That beyond what you know and what you can do, there’s a more essential role that only you can fill? It’s time to stretch yourself in a different way and TELL YOUR STORY.

    Start by thinking back to this year-2018. If you had to choose a word or short phrase – something that captured the best of 2018 was about for your business, what would it be?  Was it a year of ‘growth,’ or ‘stabilizing our systems,’ or ‘innovation,’ or‘expansion?’  Even if you had a down year in terms of profits or revenues, can you find a positive thread, or a big decision you made and stood behind, that ran through it that you could build on this year?

    Finding a theme for 2018, and every year, can be very powerful. Just imagine if you knew what that word was in advance – on January 1 last year – and you talked with your team about what it meant, how it connected your long-term and short-term business goals, and could use it as a conversation starter to talk to everyone in the company about what the year was going to be like for them?

    Your people want to hear the truth. Sure, they’d prefer it was an optimistic truth, but it has to be the real truth…

    One of the most common errors business owners make is assuming that the only thing employees want to hear is that the company is growing rapidly. It’s just not true. Your people want to hear the truth. Sure,they’d prefer it was an optimistic truth, but it must be the real truth, because they already know what’s true on the front lines of the business, often times more clearly than you do.

    Take a few minutes to look at your organization from an outside point of view. Just sit and write down all the positives and negatives that occurred this year and wait until you can find that one word or phrase that captures what this year is all about. Maybe as you do, you’ll see that 2018 is a year of ‘stabilizing our finances’ and 2019 is really the year of ‘initial expansion?’ Whatever it is for you is fine, just make sure it’s the most true and real one you can find.

    Now, once you’ve got it, you’re going to make a really big deal of it. I mean a REALLY BIG DEAL. Schedule a company meeting, whether you have 100 employees or one. Tell them about the process you went through to figure out this next year’s theme. Tell them a (true) story about what you now realize 2018 was about. Show them how much you care about not just today’s results but the journey that your business is on – no matter how difficult or over whelming it might seem on any given day.

    “Team, this year was about                              , and here’s why:                              . Next year is about _______________ and here’s why: _______________”

    You’ll be amazed what happens when everyone – but especially your key managers – can feel how this year will lead to the next one. You aren’t selling anyone on anything, you’re just giving them an experience of what it will feel like when the business is that much healthier than it is today.And the pain – the gap – is what will motivate everyone to get there, including you. It’s what will inform and enliven all of your conversations about the specific strategies and tactics you’ve come up with and will keep coming back to throughout the year. And whenever you get stuck, all you’ll have to remember is that one word.

    So, what is that one word that describes your businesses 2018?

    What is that one word that will describe your business in 2019?

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    Steve Feld, MBA is a certified business coach that provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives.He has owned and operated 6 businesses and operated 3 large corporations with Fortune 500 Companies and assisted hundreds of business owners achieve their business goals. #bizcoachstevef

  • When should I review my business plan?

    Many of you put a lot of time and effort into creating a business plan for your new business and now it sits on a shelf or in a drawer collecting dust.  Maybe you had an executive business plan that you used to entice potential investors, or a managerial business plan to pitch your business to investors, or the full operational business plan that is your true business blueprint and map to show you the way to achieve your business goals.

    No matter which type of business plan you created, you should ALWAYS review it on an annual basis at a minimum. Publication such as Entrepreneur, Forbes, Inc and many more recommend that you conduct a thorough update on your business plan at least once annually.

    Many businesses review their annual business plan every month to make sure they are staying on the path they laid out for the business and to make the necessary adjustments along the way.

    Apple has their business plans out to the mid-2020, but they update their plans every 90 days.  This way they can be adaptable to the market trends, technology, consumer behavior, regulations, and much more.

    Updating your business plan regularly can help you to ensure that you and your partners or co-owners are on the same page if there are multiple owners of your company.

    When major changes occur at your company or in your industry, this is also a good time to update your business plan. Your plan needs to reflect the current situation and it needs to be relevant within the current business landscape that you are operating in. If something major has changed, it is essential that you make an update to your business plan to accommodate that shift.

    Keeping your business plan updated is vital because no company can succeed unless it stays current with the times and unless it evolves. The goals that you have for your organization will be different when you first get started than the goals you have once your organization is already underway. You want your plan to reflect the latest goals that you hope your company will accomplish so you have clear and measurable objectives to work towards.

    Keeping your plans updated also allows you to adjust to any changes in the law or market conditions that could affect profitability; helps you to identify new competitors and new potential sources of business; and allows you to see how your company is progressing with enhancing profitability over time.

    Business plans are living documents and need to be revisited every so often to ensure they are still relevant. In this way you can continue to use and benefit from the strategies and tactics.

    You probably prepared the original business plan yourself, since you were likely the only employee. If you have now grown and added staff, try to involve them so there is buy-in. That way, when it is time to implement the plan, your staff will be on-board, and the activities will go smoother.

    To recap on why you should review and update your business plan at least one time every year:

    • External and events can trigger the need to update your business plan (consumer trends, competition, regulations, suppliers, market, etc.).
    • Internal events have changed (employee growth, new products, systems/processes, etc.). You are not the same company that you were a year ago.
    • Updating your business plan is more focused and fun than the writing the original one.
    • Involve staff in the updating process-watch how this helps your business.
    • It is never too late to create a business plan-start now if you haven’t already.

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    Steve Feld provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training.  Focusing on the foundations of business to get positive growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, [email protected], or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. #bizcoachstevef