Post on 29-Mar-2015
Being in Business Seminars
Australian College of Mental Health Nurses
ACT Conference
Canberra, 19 March 2010
Adds up to better businesspowering better business online
Expanding a Business (Practice)
Topic Duration
Business Strategy 15 minutes
Marketing Strategy 20 minutes
Professional Networking Steps 5 minutes
Lessons in Professional Services Contracting 5 minutes
Adds up to better businesspowering better business online
This discussion will contain…
– Strategic thinking;– Marketing speak;– Abstract concepts; &– ‘Touchy feely’ stuff!
– AND LOTS of personal opinion.
Business Strategy
Adds up to better business
powering better business online
Your Business Strategy
Your
business
strategy
should drive
all your key
decisions
Be clear about the intent of the business?
Business Strategy questions… NOW FUTURE
What do you stand for?
Why do you do it?
Who do you do it for?
Why does it matter – to you and others?
What do you want to achieve?
How do you operate?
What capability do you need?
Whose support do you need?
Business Strategy on a Page
Build a better business
Your need to clarify:
•Why you want to grow?
•When you should grow?
•How you want to grow?
•What you need to grow?
Growth Adds Complexity
Marketing Strategy
Adds up to better business
powering better business online
Deb’s Top 10 Strategic Marketing Tips
1. Understand your marketplace
2. Get inside the skin of your customers
3. Continually refine or reaffirm your business strategy
4. Dare to offer a different customer experience
5. Make sure your pricing is ‘right’
6. Look in the corners of the room
7. Prioritise opportunities
8. Mitigate competitor strategies
9. Focus and align all areas of the business on your goals
10.Value your brand reputation as a key asset of the business
Understand your marketplace
Situation Analysis.
• Understand the characteristics and drivers of your…
• External Environment
• Internal Business Environment
Market Analysis
• Profile your suppliers & partners/ alliances
• And your competitors.
Get inside the skin of your customers
What is in it for them? (WIIFT)
Who is the customer?
Who are your partners
GPs Psychiatrists
Hospitals Medicare
• What are they like?• What are they seeking
from you?• What do they believe
about you now?• What do we want them to
believe about you?• How do they decide to use
you?• Who do they listen to?• What do we want them to
do?• What will keep them with
you?
Put yourself in the other persons shoes…
Dare to offer a different customer experience
Think about what creates value for your customer?
Functional Benefits (e.g. what it is used for )
e.g. BMW – ‘efficient, safe and comfortable transport’.
Emotional Benefits (e.g. how it should makes them feel)
e.g. BMW - ‘the exhilaration of superior engineering.’
Aspirational Benefits (e.g. why they should think its a smart choice)
e.g. BMW – ‘Reward and recognition for personal success.
Look in the Corners of the Room
Growth strategies...
1. Give more of the same to the same type of customer
2. Offer something new to current customers
3. Offer current products in new markets
4. Take new products into new markets
Prioritise Opportunities
Firm’s capability to meet market needs
Mar
ket A
ttra
ctiv
enes
s
Low
High
High
Market AttractivenessConsider strategic importance, market accessibility as well as market size and growth rate.
CapabilityCurrent and achievable profile, physical presence, relationships, knowledge and overall capacity to meet market needs .
Potential Competitive Strength
Mar
ket A
ttrac
tiven
ess
Low
High
Aust Govt. (FMA Depts.)
Other High Growth SMEs (ACT region /
Vic)
VIC Govt.(MSP
agencies)
Aust. Govt(CAC Act)
Strategic
ACT Govt.
VIC Govt.(NON MSP agencies)
Recommended Market Development Stance
NSW Govt.
Proactive
Not for Profit
(Private – Canberra
)
Technology Businesses
Opportunistic
High
Professional Networking Steps
Adds up to better business
powering better business online
What goes around, comes around!
Source: The Schmooze Guide to Effective Professional Networking
Networking steps Consider...
Know your goals Gathering industry intelligence, promoting your business, accessing people with influence?
Conduct a network audit Who do you know? Who do you want to know? Who knows things you don’t?
Identify other networks and contacts
Ask around – remember six degrees of separation (it only two in the ACT!)
Identify how to access these networks
Subscribe to newsletters/email lists/ online networks/ join associations & clubs / go to business & social events
Focus and plan how to invest the time and effort
Turn up at events, set a specific time in your week, informal coffee chat, etc.
Review and value your networks against your goals
Give it time to pay off, be sincere, be nice, pay it forward.
Lessons in Professional Services Contracting
Adds up to better business
powering better business online
Are contracts worth more than the paper?
•Scope of work
•Schedule of work
•Performance standards
•Key personnel
•Roles and responsibilities
•Risks and liabilities
•Termination and variation
•Included costs and pricing
•Payment terms
A word to the wise...
•Define your ideal client
•Assume this is the first of many dealings the client
•Trust your gut
•Know when to walk away
•GET ADVICE.
Sources of Advice and Support
• Your professional association (ACMHN)
• Capital Region Business Enterprise Centre
• www.business.gov.au
• www.ato.gov.au
• www.asic.gov.au
• Commercial business advisers (accountants, lawyers, banks, consultants, etc.)