Keep your focus on these 3 to beat challenging times

September 29, 2022 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

BVTV 4 Purpose & Resilience Short Blog

If you are lucky to be young enough to have never faced tough or challenging times then this short blog post may help keep your focus.

And if you have had them in the past then the 3 actions will help you remember and hopefully sail through the challenges we all face.

Action 1

Take Massive Action. That likely means firing off in all directions. Get the whiteboard going in the office, (or for your remote teams use the new whiteboard facility in Zoom). Make every day and every hour important. Be creative, be innovative, be daring

When Bill Gates was trying to get Microsoft going he wanted to get into IBM. Eventually, he got them to agree to a meeting. Instead of the usual “week on Tuesday” booking, he said he would be there that day even though he was hundreds of miles away. How often do salespeople NOT take massive action?

Follow our BVTV 1: Growth & Productivity Channel to keep ahead on tough times success.

Action 2

Communicate your solid purpose and values and do it well. In tougher times customers are less trusting, they need reassurance and, above all, they want to know what you stand for, what’s your purpose, vision and values. In other words, they want to know “who are you” as opposed to “what you do”. Review those values NOW and be very critical. Are they values that are truly customer oriented? If not get re-writing and make sure everyone knows them and lives them. It may seem a “soft” thing to do in these challenging times but you will find it will differentiate you, it will rally your team around you and customers and influencers will think more of you. And that leads to better recommendations and sales.

Follow our BVTV 4: Purpose & Resilience Channel to keep ahead on these issues

Action 3

Make sure you have a full sales funnel. In tough times salespeople are prone to exaggeration as regards their prospects!! Deep Dive into your sales funnel now so that you know what’s working and what isn’t. Who is being productive and who isn’t? How can you help them? Then make sure you have realistic projections from this exercise. What are you doing to top up the funnel? How long does it take for a customer to go through the funnel? Don’t leave it to the salesperson to give you inaccurate information, take responsibility and ask the right questions. Be curious.

Follow our BVTV 1: Sales Growth Channel to keep ahead on sales and marketing actions.

Want more help to thrive? Our BVTV Todays Answers Collection of coaching, courses and clubs brings you expert help including today’s popular solution, hybrid coaching.

How to win during uncertainty

February 27, 2020 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

It’s time to learn a new skill – How to win during uncertainty

In this post I’m focusing on handling uncertainty. It’s not just the uncertainty of Brexit talks and elements such as immigration rules that’s causing business concern. It’s a pile up of other things such as coronavirus, climate change, floods, funding, supply chain.

Let’s face it uncertainty is the new norm and it’s here to stay.

As a business owner or leader or senior manager you need to develop a new skill and that is the ability to win during uncertainty.

It’s so easy to get into gloomy mood and ignore the opportunity out there. But opportunity is there!

For example, the Coronavirus outbreak has seen UK manufacturers, especially textile companies, get an upsurge in order from retailers who fear empty shelves from their usual China suppliers.

Goods made in the UK can be on the shelves in 8 to 12 weeks whereas China is 5 to 6 months – you know slow boat from China- so just think of the backlog brining opportunity to UK firms.

To get into the positive mindset of winning during uncertainty, think entrepreneurial.

Below are 3 strategies to help you win during uncertainty in 2020

Embrace Change – change the way you think about uncertainty. You know that change is happening and that it’s the only constant.

If you want to succeed set your attitude mindset that uncertainty brings opportunity, new markets, new ideas. It is not a problem but an opportunity for you to accelerate growth.

Have 2020 Vision…. Predict Your Future by creating it.

You know it’s coming so don’t wait for it – invest your time to see it coming. Get talking about the changes happening outside of your industry. What is happening with the economy, where’s the new technologies, and how will they impact your industry, what is changing with customers, who and where are the new competitors?

This gives you the room to prepare. see change coming – see opportunity. choose to ignore it – and you lose.

Build Your Team Talent – It’s likely that the only thing differentiating you from your competitors is the team around you. No, it’s not your brand, not your product or your service. It’s your team. And I know that only too well from my team building coaching. It’s about the customer experience of your team and your reputation in the marketplace that they have created for you.

The best companies have leaders whose passion is developing, investing in, and building their teams. Are you one of them?

Reflection. Let’s agree that Uncertainty is the new frontier that is here now. And change is needed to manage it. Are you up for it?

Check out my 2020 Success System where I help you win during uncertainty. Or book a strategy session either online or 1-2-1

For growth success overcome the 3 barriers to change

February 21, 2020 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

By Malcolm Gallagher

There’s a lot of very nervous workers in the UK at the moment. In fact, one recent survey found that 51% of UK workers fear they will lose their jobs this year.

That alone is concerning for business leaders. A settled team makes for a happy customer experience and the opposite applies.

The recent news on immigration reform has caused great alarm in the hospitality, farming and care sectors so we are about to see big upheaval there. I firmly believe that this will end in predatory poaching by competitors of the best team members from rivals. So take action to protect your talent.

Then that brings the job of recruitment, finding the right new people and getting them onboarded. And people are just one of the many challenges of change on its way to you.

So how to manage change? Well it’s something I have a lot of experience in with my coaching. I’ve coached on the change needed through compliance, digital disruption, leadership, ownership, procurement, sales process and much more.

In all cases I’ve worked on I’ve found that a few general scenarios exist.

The big one is usually…. well it won’t happen to me. That’s understandable but its ostrich head in the sand thinking.

The other common scenario is to simply address a single change challenge, Again it doesn’t work like that!

Can you remember that fairground game Whac-a-mole where you bash down one mole’s head and another pops up elsewhere? Well, change is like that – you almost have to play 3-dimensional chess to anticipate where the next challenge, or opportunity, will come from.

Again, so how to manage change? Don’t rush into it. First, know and understand the 3 barriers to change.

Let me take you through them.

In my experience, business leaders face a fundamental conflict. Change requires action but efficient companies tend to have high levels of inertia.

A blue button with the word Change on it

When business is going well, managers and teams generally only pay lip service to change requirements. Knowing that there are three barriers I’ve identified and studied. See if you recognise any of the 3.

The good is the enemy of the better: Efficient, currently successful businesses often slow down necessary change. The usually think why should they change what is successful today? You know the thinking – don’t change what’s supposedly working. But will it keep on being right?
Watch out for your main team: Your most successful managers might be the ones slowing down your efforts to change because they have the most to lose. Change needs to start with the person at the top, BUT…. it’s often those who have grown accustomed to success that finds it most difficult to change course.
Your Business DNA takes time to change: Don’t underestimate the time and effort required to change deep-rooted mindsets and ways of working. Your past and current business exert a natural pull that will stop all meaningful change unless you’re persistent and change at enough pace and scale to break through the barrier.

I trust you found these 3 barriers to change interesting. Do any apply to your operation?

I’ll be bringing you more posts on change from my Changeology Programme as we all progress on our journey Beyond Brexit.

Are you about to lose a vital team member?

February 4, 2020 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

New research shows that around 46% of all UK workers fear they will lose their job in 2020. This is according to job search engine, Adzuna. This uncertainty could be damaging to your business if you have an “unsure” team member who is starting to look elsewhere.

According to the research 2 in 5 of your team may be concerned about their future. It varies across the UK as you will see in the video but the average is a whopping 46%. That alone demands your attention let alone the cost you have incurred on training them and the new cost of recruitment.

However, it could also be an opportunity for you if your competitors are facing the same challenge! Their team may be weakened and their ability to efficiently service a customer put in jeopardy. Time for you to step in! You need to make certain you have an efficient “knowledge” system in operation so you can be agile and react quickly if this happens.

In this short video #MalcolmGallagher gives you the details for each of 10 UK cities and suggests action to may want to take now to reduce business risk and possibly put you in a stronger position.

Become part of the BizVision Affiliate Community

January 24, 2020 by Malcolm Gallagher Leave a Comment

Whether it becomes your main income or a side earner becoming an Affiliate is a great 2020s way to earn money. But the challenge you may have is what to promote as an affiliate. And, the wrong products can quickly ruin your hard-earned reputation.

I’m Malcolm Gallagher, director of the BizVision Affiliate Programme

At BizVision we have been developing online products almost since the internet began! Not just for us, but also for big clients such as Central Government, local authorities, chambers and trade associations

Now, with our BizVision.co.uk platform we are able to welcome a select community of affiliates, hopefully yourself, who can not only earn generous commissions but also expand your influence and reputation because of our topical and quality business support products.

Our products revolve around the core business support needs of Leadership, Team Building, Sales & Marketing Skills and Supplier or Vendor Skills.

Plus we have a speciality in Hospitality, Not for Profit and our unique Silvepreneurs brand which is about starting a business aged 50 plus.

Our products come in 3 distinct formats:

You’ll be able to recommend our unique GoKit collection. Each title is a set of downloadable incisive videos at a very affordable price.
You’ll be able to recommend our quality courses and programmes which are all housed on our LMS system on our site. These include Built to Lead, Top Gun Sales Achiever, Built 2 Supply and many more.
You’ll be able to recommend and earn from our membership programmes. And white label services

We’ll support you with your own affiliate tag and dashboard. You’ll be able to download marketing support material such as images, copy, videos and have unlimited marketing advice.

You can even go further and be an associate running local events using our proven presentation material.

To become a BizVision Affiliate is first an easy sign-up by going to:

www.Bizvision.co.uk/affiliate-support/ which will then re-direct you to the internal signup form. After approval of your appointment, I’ll be in touch to start your affiliate success journey.

I hope I’ll be welcoming you soon to the BizVision Affiliate Community at www.bizvision.co.uk.