Business Lessons from Toddlers and a Labrador...

Anyone with toddlers or a Labrador will know that the most important thing about a gift is the packaging...

Cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and wrapping paper are so much more fun than whatever the contain; unless in the case of a Labrador, it's a tennis ball of course...

Back in 1986, before mobile phones, the interweb and even before Kim Kardashian could clog up YouTube with her bottom; I was studying for my Institute Qualifications - the Institute of Packaging no less...

To this day I am able to use the letters MInstPkg(Dip) after my name; I don't for obvious reasons, including the fact that nobody actually cares - apart from my Mom who thinks it means I am a Doctor of something...

Doctor of Boxicology for example...

Dixie Dean was my tutor - he was a legend in the packaging world and one of the first lessons he taught us the 3 P's of Packaging...

1. Preservation - the package must prevent the product from going rusty, getting wet or deteriorating prior to use.
2. Promotion - has to inform, attract and differentiate the contained product such that it can be recognised, identified and located.
3. Protection - preventing damage from drops, shakes and knock of all types; keeping the product in tact during transit and storage.

Now imagine someone in Sainsbury's on a Saturday afternoon attempting to select a bottle of wine to impress the other half over a Chicken Madras later in the evening...

How would they decide which wine to choose..?

Not knowing anything about wine, expect that it comes in two main flavours; Red and White with fizzy options available if you aren't married yet...

Exactly - the label and the price...

They may know that Appellation Controlee is better than Vin de Pays, although they won't know why. They may also know that Bordeaux is a safe bet, but not that it is a region and not a grape variety...

And they definitely won't know that Cremant is a nicer drink than many Champagnes and costs around 1/3 of the price too...

If in doubt, and a decent bottle of red is required, the rule is simple;

Don't buy the cheapest, and if the bottle looks nice and has a fancy label and cork (not a twist cap of course..) then life is good...

You could of course go for a Chateauneuf du Pape and warble on about the Popebeing based out of Avignon, France in the 14th Century for a while and how nice the castle is; at least it will make you sound like you know what you are talking about and will take your and your partners mind off the actual taste of the wine...

You could even sing the song "Sur le pont d'Avignion.." too...

Remember...

Marketing = Packaging...

Only interesting to Toddlers and Labradors in the long run...

And here lies the challenge with marketing - in common with Packaging t does nothing to enhance the product it contains; the best packaging in the world will still only guarantee that a product arrives, even if it's a rubbish product...

But this is how people buy products and especially how they buy services - they won't admit it but "hope" is their major decision making strategy.

Perceived risk is reduced based on the look and feel of the Marketing; the website, the logo and what other people are saying about the product or service in question.

This is why the best products and services don't necessarily make the most money, because their marketing (packaging..) sucks; no one can find them or if they can, are not sufficiently convinced to actually make an enquiry let alone a purchase...

Packaging and Marketing conspire to lure purchasers, but they do not guarantee the quality, standards and performance of the service they will experience.

Does your product or service actually live up to the promises made in it's Packaging...?

Better still..

Does your Packaging live up to the standards of your service or product...?

Packaging will attract the interest, but gets quickly discarded once the product is in use - no one cares about the box your curved screen TV came in when your watching Dexter take another blood sample...

Authenticity wins every time...

...but your Packaging had better be good too...

Customers simply want to know that what yo say about your product or service in your Marketing is true - that you will deliver with authenticity, be the real deal and keep your promises...

Authenticity keeps customers coming back time after time and telling people about you; it's the simplest rule in business that is so often overlooked...

Make a compelling Promise and Keep it; simple...

If your product and service is rubbish, then no amount of packaging will save you, remember this..

"Above all it's a Rover..."

So the plan needs to be...

1. Build a product or service that is truly excellent, represents great value and actually solves a problem for someone..

2. Package it in such a way that it attracts the right people to you - they may still buy because you are not cheap and have a nice label...

3. Authentically deliver exactly what you promised, consistently, on time and on budget; and keep innovating all the time...

In 2015, don't let someone with a dodgy product but interesting Packaging steal your customers and margin away; this year get your Marketing sorted and start to attract the clients, sales and profits you really deserve...

Have a great 2015...

David Holland MBA is the Founder and CEO of Results Rules OK, a Business Coaching, Training and Publications Company with offices in France, Luxembourg and the UK...

To find out more about working with David as you Business Coach, Executive Coach or Team Trainer - just drop him a note todavidholland@resultsrulesok.com for an introductory and complimentary discussion that just could change your life, your business and your results...

If you'd like to come to one of our Events to meet David, the Team and some of his Clients, then check out the website HERE - we look forward to seeing you and hearing from you...

Happy New Year - a Fun Blog to kick off 2015...

...Four Lessons from my Dad's Shops...

I started working in the family business from the age of Five - stacking shelves, sweeping up to begin with, but by the age of Eight I was serving customers, moving vans and trucks in the yard and gong to market at 05.00 to buy the produce.

It was my first Business Apprenticeship, that lasted until I was 17, so as it's nearly 2015 - I thought I'd bring you a smile with the lessons and tips I learned from the sharp end of fresh food retailing...

1. Attractive people get the best service - when an attractive woman came into the shop they got noticed by the guys working there, and the same happened when a good looking guy walked in with the girls.

There would be a rush to be the one who served them, the trick was of course not to be seen to be so eager, that was not cool at all. 

Ugly, unattractive or scruffy people got noticed too, for the opposite reasons and would be avoided; the trick here was to engineer the work and waiting customers so that you only served the good looking ones.

Lesson - always look your best, be polite and engaging and you will get much better levels of service than if you are ugly, rude or scruffy; if you cant be attractive, at least be tidy and polite. In Sales, you will sell more too...

One Christmas a young man came into the shop and bought one apple, on orange, one banana, one tomato, a small tin of peas and a small piece of fish.

Doreen who was working on the checkout looked at him and his purchases and said "you are single aren't you..?"

"Yes.." he replied "how did you know...?

"Because you're an ugly @#$£..."

2. People buy on Greed not Price - for example, oranges were sold by quantity whereas apples were sold by weight, don't know why but they just were.

One orange would be priced at 10p, however, if we sold the same orange at a price of 4 for 50p, we sold more...

Note here how greed dazzles they eyes and intellect of the customer. There is a psychology to selling even fruit and vegetables that can be used in all areas of business - people buy what they believe gives them the best deal, not what actually does...

Lesson - bundling is great way of increasing volume and profits. Next time you are in the supermarket, check out the "£/ kg" or "£/litre" comparisons between individual products and those that are bulked together - you may get a surprise; and don't let greed be your only buying strategy.

Tragically at one of the stores we had to fire Kevin for gross misconduct.

Kevin had been seen by customers and his co workers attempting to insert a large cucumber into both the bacon slicer and the bread mixer; so we really had no choice...

Unfortunately, we also had to fire the bacons slicer and the bread mixer too...

3. People buy with the Eye - Granny smith apples are the best looking apples. They are uniform in weight and size and have a thick peel that can be polished to a shiny and lustrous finish.

As a 6 year old one of my jobs was to stack the fruit for display. If I polished each apple, and stacked them in a perfect pyramid with tissue paper between each layer of the stack, they looked amazing.

These apples could be sold for 50% more than the same apples sold loose from a bin into which they had simply been tipped form the box.

Picture Credit - Wrensoft.com

Lesson - presentation is key. People believe that if something looks good, then it must be good, whatever you are selling, always present it well and package it properly (see below...) it is worth the effort.

One year we had a Christmas party at the Birmingham branch an all staff were in fancy dress; being six I, came as a Dwarf...

Steve arrived late and was not in costume, but he had decided to bring his girlfriend along...

Seeing he was not in costume, Dad challenged him at the door of the shop before allowing him in...

"what have you come as...?" he barked...

Quick as a flash, Steve replied "Ninja Turtle..."

"...and who's this...? Dad enquired...

"It's Michelle..."

You may need to think about this one...

4. Packaging adds value and fools the Eye - selling flowers at some of our shops, we had to find a way of selling them quickly and at good margin. Flowers don't last long in storage and they are easily damaged so stock loss tends to be high.

Danny, who had been thrown out of the Army for stealing a Tank whilst on deployment in Germany - it was only a small Tank apparently, had a bright idea...

One Rose would sell for £0.95, however, if we packed it in a square plastic tube with a gift card and a red bow on it, we could sell them for £4.95.

The packaging cost around £0.50 so this was great for margin too - Danny also offered to write the cards for an extra £1.00 too...

Lesson - it's not what you sell it's how it appears to the buyer. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder as value is in the mind of the customer.

Packaging of your product is key, and so is the packaging of your service - what do you surround your service with that makes it look and feel better to your customers..?

One Saturday, Helen who was a regular, attractive and polite A Grade customer came into the shop...

She looked upset and anxious so Kevin (before he was sacked for his Cucumber episode..) asked if she was OK...

She replied that she had been to the doctor with a worrying condition that she was concerned about...

She told Kevin that the symptoms included having a lettuce leaf protruding out of her underwear...

"That sounds terrible..." Kevin said..

"...and that's just the tip of the iceberg..." replied Helen...

From all the Team at Results Rules OK we wish you a Healthy, Wealthy and most of all Fun 2015...

David Holland MBA is the Founder and CEO of Results Rules OK, a Business Coaching, Training and Publications Company with offices in France, Luxembourg and the UK...

To find out more about working with David as you Business Coach, Executive Coach or Team Trainer - just drop him a note todavidholland@resultsrulesok.comfor an introductory and complimentary discussion that just could change your life, your business and your results...

If you'd like to come to one of our Events to meet David, the Team and some of his Clients, then check out the website HERE - we look forward to seeing you and hearing from you...

Stop all your Marketing and do this..

...your network holds the key to your success...

In 2015, if you couldn't do any marketing except through referrals and introductions, what would you do...?

Time to Dump all your Marketing Strategies...

Imagine never having to update LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+ ever again; no more cold calls, direct mail and email campaigns...

No more SEO, Pay Per Click or Adwords; forget advertising, printed mugs and tee shirts, let alone the taxi backs and flyers that never work anyway..

You aren't even allowed to go to your favourite Breakfast Networking events, so good for the waistline too...

How could you double your business without all these tactics..?

Simple - the rule of 5;3;1

Imagine actually meeting people face to face and talking to them about how you can help each other - a radical ideas indeed...

First, make a list of everyone you know...

1. Friends...

2. Family...

3. Clients...

4. Suppliers..

5. People you like...

6. Influencers you've heard of..

7. Competitors...

8. Celebrities / Authors you'd like to meet...

Your Target here is to get at least 250 names - sounds a lot but over a glass of Merlot, you'll be surprised who you can put on your list...

Then make a commitment to contact FIVE of these people every week and simply invite them for a Coffee; not a Sales Meeting, but simply a conversation to find out how you can help each other.

Your objective is simply to find ways to cooperate and collaborate with them and explore the possibilities...

This is how the "system" will likely work...

• Contact 5 People per week - 250 people contacted in a 12 month Period...

• Likely that 3 of those People will agree to meet with you during the 12 months; so 150 meetings...

• 1 of the 3 you meet will have an opportunity or an idea that can add value to you and likely to them too; 50 new opportunities...

You'll build a real network of around 150 people that, providing you keep in touch with, communicate with and add value to; may be all you need to attract enough opportunities to double your business in 2015...

The magic of 150 is called Dunbars Number - a sweet spot for the maximum number of people that each of us can develop into a stable social relationship.

Now imagine if your Team did that too...?

So simple and effective - you'll slap yourself you didn't do it sooner..

If you had just one Opportunity each week from this simple method - what could it do to your results...

This is not a "made up" system - I have tested this out and so far have achieved the following in the last 4 weeks...

1. Strategic alliance with a Top Accounting firm in the UK...
2. Merger offer from the USA - this one alone will double our sales...
3. Proposal request from Investment Bank - Circa $25,000...
4. 2 Day workshop Booking from Germany...

Now imagine you did this AND you kept your other marketing strategies running too - how great could 2015 actually be...?

Have a great 2015...

David Holland MBA is the Founder and CEO of Results Rules OK, a Business Coaching, Training and Publications Company with offices in France, Luxembourg and the UK...

To find out more about working with David as you Business Coach, Executive Coach or Team Trainer - just drop him a note todavidholland@resultsrulesok.com for an introductory and complimentary discussion that just could change your life, your business and your results...

If you'd like to come to one of our Events to meet David, the Team and some of his Clients, then check out the website HERE - we look forward to seeing you and hearing from you...

3 Reasons your Start Up will fail in 2015...

...or at least it will if you make these mistakes...

Speaking with Angel Investors is always interesting and entertaining...

They remind me of Gamblers - they always tell you about their wins, but gloss over the losses; telling me they are in the "investment" or "development" phase...

They have that hopeful optimism of explorers and prospectors; the next big win is just around the next ridge, gold will be found under the next rock..

When they calm down and reflect on their investments, there is a pattern that emerges about why Start Ups fail - so here are the lessons they have learned so painfully...

The Number One reason a start up fails is...

The person in charge is an idiot...

So if you are an idiot - don't start a business - just a tip. Sounds really harsh, but look around you at the people who get fired from their jobs for being incompetent, or made redundant for being ineffective, and overnight become "Entrepreneurs.."

Entrepreneur translates to "Unemployable" so remember that it's not because they are any good that they are starting their business - it's simply that they don't have any other option..

Would you invest your money in an idea created by an unemployable idiot..?

Some Investors do - it's called Greed, they of course call it strategic planning, but as whiskey is sure to improve the looks of the person sat at the bar with you, greed makes a junk start ups look amazing, sexy and attractive...

For 2015, if you are thinking about jacking it all in, taking your final pay-check and opening a bar, cafe, on-line business blah blah blah; think again, take this quick idiot test and if you don't score well - polish up the CV and phone the agency in the morning...

1. Are your great at Sales and marketing...? Yes = 10 No = 0
2. Can you live for 12 months without any income...? Yes = 10 No = 0
3. Is your idea radical, new and cutting edge...? Yes = 0 No = 10
4. Are you likeable and attractive...? Yes = 10 No = 0
5. Will you work 90 hours a week, with no holidays...? Yes = 10 No = 0
6. Do you let life's drama become an excuse..? Yes = 0 No = 10
7. Does your partner have an income...? Yes = 0 No = 10
8. Is your ego bigger than your mortgage...? Yes = 0 No = 10
9. Is adding value your #1 motivation...? Yes = 10 No = 0
10. Do you have a Coach..? Yes = 10 No = 0

If you score less than 100; go get a job...

The Number Two reason a start up fails is...

The product or service never gets finished...

When someone has a great idea about a product or service, in their mind they can see it finished and working; the challenge is not the idea, its the execution...

Of course, all products and services can be refined, improved and developed over time. It's why we have the IPhone 6, Windows 8 and New Daz...

Speaking with a Startpreneur at a recent event, he was explaining to me how his product had been designed, refined, re-designed, tested, refined again and then tested yet again...

I asked him how many product he had actually sold in the last 2 years...

None - the product wasn't ready...

He was haemorrhaging around $500k a year, his investors were getting nervous, he wanted to build the perfect product but in the dazzling glare of perfection he had forgotten the small problem of cash flow...

If you are going to launch - then get the product and service "good to go..." but forget perfection - it simply doesn't exist...

At some point you have to let your idea float into the market and hope that enough people like it that they will actually pay money for the pleasure of experiencing it.

Launching is hard because it means that there a risk of failure, rejection and the dream being over - while things sit on the drawing board the dream is kept alive on the investors life giving transfusions of cash...

Many ideas simply die because they run out of time; the cash dries up or the market takes over and the idea itself becomes obsolete. If you are going to launch a business in 2015 - get 90% happy with it and press the launch button...

The Third reason a start up fails is...

It's a service that no one actually wants...

At a recent seminar in the UK, I was approached by a man with an idea; beam me up Scotty...

He showed me a prototype of an App that would transform the way we use social media, communicate with each other and build our business networks...

He absolutely loved it, he was excited and passionate about the idea and how much money he could make as a passive income in year 3 onwards...

Looking for investors and distribution partners, he showed me the App and how it could tag, transfer, message and arrange "face-time meetups in the real world.."...

Yawn...

First, I am the wrong person to pitch this to - I am not an 18 year old looking to get laid on a Saturday.

Second, the fact the HE thought this was a cool idea, doesn't mean that anyone else will; excitement and hope are not business strategies...

He had put his last £££'s into the development of the App - there had been no research, testing, control group study or even basic market research done - just an idea in the shower..

Sometimes the best ideas come to us in the shower - most times it includes what to have for lunch or buy for Christmas - not the multi million £ business idea that will make us a fortune and cure world hunger..

RULE...

Selling a new product to a new market is tough - don't be the first in your sector.

Follow Richard Branson and go second - he learned from Freddie Laker and created Virgin Atlantic...

Do your market research, find a great product or service that is in demand already, then do it better; innovation is expensive, use it to refine your product not define it..

Have a great 2015...

David Holland MBA is the Founder and CEO of Results Rules OK, a Business Coaching, Training and Publications Company with offices in France, Luxembourg and the UK...

To find out more about working with David as you Business Coach, Executive Coach or Team Trainer - just drop him a note to davidholland@resultsrulesok.comfor an introductory and complimentary discussion that just could change your life, your business and your results...

If you'd like to come to one of our Events to meet David, the Team and some of his Clients, then check out the website HERE - we look forward to seeing you and hearing from you...