4 Advantages of Being a Sustainable Business!

The “green agenda” has moved to the forefront of the modern business world. Society is experiencing an increasing shift in focus to sustainable business and environmental responsibility.

For businesses, embracing sustainability includes encouraging active preservation of the environment and communities, while also promising attractive cost savings. Many firms have made considerable savings through implementing sustainability programs across their value chains.

1. Reducing Operational Costs

Low-cost initiatives can have a profound impact on reducing energy consumption. Legislation in the form of tax incentives is also encouraging businesses to implement sustainable practices. This includes property tax exemptions, income tax credits or easier access to financing and government grants. To qualify for these programmes, businesses must either install certain equipment, implement pollution control mechanisms or utilise environmentally friendly materials, recycled components etc.

2. Strengthening Brands

With the increasing global concern about the environment, businesses can now leverage their sustainability and related achievements, investments, and skills, to strengthen their value and reputation. Conversely, those businesses that fail to resonate with what consumers and stakeholders deem to be important could see a detrimental impact on their brands.

3. Improving Employee Recruitment and Retention

The next generation of professionals (millennials) are more environmentally aware and focused on sustainability. They are attracted to businesses that are socially responsible, and want to work for companies with a positive impact on the world around them. Therefore, building your firm's brand around sustainability will help you to attract the best new generation recruits.

4. Enhancing Innovation

Building a more sustainable business encourages your people to become more innovative. This focus on innovation encourages the development of new products or services and new ways of doing business.  Nike, who used plastic bottles from landfills in Japan to manufacture soccer jerseys, being a great example.

-PJ 
☎ 020 89310165 | ☏ 07900537459 | ✉ info@apjaccountancy.com

Knowledge Management - Importance & Strategy!

Knowledge management in business is all about identifying and developing critical technical and management knowledge and deploying it across the firm in a way that adds value.

Importance of Knowledge Management:

Most businesses will have considered the risk of losing valuable knowledge to the extent that when talent walks out the door, the prime concern is losing the technical know-how which those people possess. Exit interviews are reactive, somewhat ineffective and instead managers should adopt more proactive practices.

Knowledge Management Strategy:

Collaboration Systems

Collaboration systems such as internal forums can be useful in encouraging teams to share know-how across the firm. Some firms even create wiki sites which can be searched by staff who need to access important knowledge or information quickly and easily.

Central Repository

The firm should have a central repository, with policies and procedures as well as relevant know-how documents and guides. The majority of this knowledge will be internal and the focus should be on documenting and sharing know-how around operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Customer Focused

Your knowledge management strategy can also be customer focused. The key here is to create and share know-how that helps to ensure that customer relationships are maintained, service levels are high and sales volumes are increased. The crucial knowledge is centered around the products or services that the business offers, as well as knowledge about the customers themselves, the market, competitors and other firms in the sector. The majority of this knowledge will be internal with some external knowledge (such as market information) being needed to fully understand the client, your competitors and the sector in which you operate.

Innovation Focused

Your knowledge management strategy could also have an innovation focus. This involves the creation and utilisation of new and existing knowledge in order to create new products and services. Much of this knowledge will be external and may include market research, analysing client data, etc.

A successful management strategy must identify the key needs and issues within the firm, and provide a framework for addressing these.

Contact us for your business help requirement:
PJ | ☎ 020 89310165 | ☏ 07900537459 | ✉ info@apjaccountancy.com

What Does Your Strategy Say To Your Customers?

Your business’s strategy says a lot about what you and your firm believe in and where you are going to invest your resources. But what does your strategy say about your firm from your customer’s perspective?

Your customers want to know that you and your business care about them. They want to feel important and that they are at the centre of your universe. Without your customers, your business wouldn’t exist. As such, it is important to build your firm’s strategy around your customers.

The very best businesses build every process and interaction around creating a great experience for their customers. Businesses such as Amazon and Netflix are well known for their customer centric business strategies, but you don’t need to be a global enterprise in order to create a strategy that puts customers first.

The next time you and your management team sit down to review your strategy, start with your customers. Think about who they are, the problems they face and what your business can do to help them. Maybe they are time poor so your strategy could be to save them time by offering the most efficient service in your market sector. Perhaps your customers want better value for money so maybe a strategy that focuses on delivering a low cost product or service would be more relevant to them.  

Regardless of the strategy that you choose to implement, make sure that it sends the right message to your target audience. That message should be bold and it should tell your customers (and target customers) that they are at the centre of everything your business does.

PJ☎ 020 89310165☏ 07900537459✉ pushkar.joshi@apjaccountancy.com

4 tips to help Strategic Thinking for your business!

The business environment has been quite volatile since the financial crash of 2008. Strategic thinking is an area of focus for senior managers to navigate a way forward for their businesses, despite the challenges they face in the current market.

The benefit of strategic thinking is clear – competitive advantage. For most business managers, the first reaction is to deal with what’s directly in front of us (in our inbox). Maybe this is because it always seems more urgent and tangible. Unfortunately, while you concentrate on overcoming obstacles, you could miss opportunities, not to mention missing the signs that indicate the direction you are going is taking you off track.

Here are a few tips to help you to think more strategically about your business.

1. Ask questions

Ask questions that encourage new ways of thinking. One of the first questions to ask is “Why are we a good business?”  For the best answer, ask your customers. Find out why they use your products or services.  If you disappeared tomorrow, what would they miss the most about what you do for them? Another good question to ask could be, “How do I get my competitor’s customers to buy from me instead of them?” These questions will help you to think more strategically about the direction your business should take in the next few years.

2. Think critically

A critical thinker will question everything.  This means getting comfortable with challenging beliefs and approaches, even your own. Many business people will often respond to questions with answers like “we always do it this way”. You should ask, “Is there a better way to do it?” Following conventional wisdom is often considered to be a safe bet. However questioning convention is what creates new, disruptive business models such as Uber and Spotify. If you always take the safe option, your business could lose its competitive advantage.

3. Industry context

When thinking about your business it’s important to understand what strategy means in the context of your industry sector. In the accounting sector for example, it is important to understand contextual issues such as economics, key competitors, legal frameworks, technology and so on. Before developing the strategy for your own business, it’s important to understand what strategies work for your competitors and why. This can help you to create a very different, and hopefully more effective, strategy.

4. Create thinking space

Set aside time alone for strategic thinking/planning at least monthly, if not weekly. Use this time to reflect, research, consider ideas and dream. The focus should not be to “do” things. Getting outside or into a new physical space can make this time more effective. Try to get away from your desk and switch off your smartphone so that you can avoid distractions and think properly.

Tips While Planning Your Business's Exit Strategy!

Building a good business is one thing. Knowing when it is time to sell it is an entirely different matter. For many entrepreneurs it's not enough to build a business, they have to make sure to have an exit strategy, a way to get the money back out.

Depending on who you are and what kind of business you have, an exit strategy may mean something completely different to you compared to somebody else. Is it a retirement plan or are you ready to move on to your next venture?

Without a proper exit strategy, you risk losing some of the value that you have created. You could miss the perfect opportunity to sell your business as a result of being unprepared.

Here are a few things to consider when creating your exit strategy:

Options 

Consider the various options that will be available to you.

You can

1. Sell the business outright and move on. 
2. List the business on the stock exchange through an Initial Public Offering (IPO). This would allow ownership of the business to transfer to shareholders but you probably wouldn’t be able to walk away immediately. 
3. Perhaps you want to pass your business on to the next generation. In order to do this you may need to set up a family trust so that you can structure the transfer of ownership to your children in an appropriate manner.
4. Wind the business down, extracting cash over a period of time and eventually just close the doors.

Timing

Only you will really know when it is time to exit your business. You may feel you have had enough, are too old or perhaps or are ready for your next challenge. You may see the potential to expand into other markets and need to find a way to fund that opportunity. Regardless of when you are ready to sell, make sure that the timing of the sale is right for the market. You should also build enough time into your plan to allow for professional advisors to complete due diligence, etc.

The Right Team

Consider the team of advisors that you will need to successfully complete the transaction. The business will need to be valued, you will need tax and legal advice. There will be lots of administration required and you may also need to consider financial planning to create appropriate structures to manage your wealth as a result of the sale.

Cost

Regardless of the type of exit strategy you choose to develop, there will be an element of cost to consider. Whether professional advisor fees, tax bills or transaction fees, make sure that you have enough cash provisions to cover the exit costs.

We'll help you exit the business in the best possible way!
Contact us via:
☎ 020 89310165 | ☏ 07900537459 | ✉ info@apjaccountancy.com 

Strategy Versus Tactics - What to implement for your business?

Do you know the difference between strategy and tactics? Many senior managers who think they are talking about strategy are really focusing on tactics.   Indeed, many small and medium sized businesses aren’t very good at creating and executing a business plan at all. As a result, a lot of business owners and managers operate at a tactical rather than a strategic level; responding reactively versus proactively.  So, what is the difference? A simple explanation would be to say that strategy refers to the "what and the why" and tactical refers to the "how". Strategic thinking, planning and actions require the ability to look at the "big picture", recognise patterns and trends, establish priorities, anticipate issues, predict outcomes, and have strategic alternatives to engage as necessary. Strategic plans involve the vision, the mission, the guiding principles and the goals for the business. Tactical is the more hands-on or the "doing it" part of getting the job done, to ensure the strategic goals are met. The tactics are the detailed actions needed to meet the goals or solve a problem. An example would be, Strategy: Be the leader in terms of sales and percentage market share in the mid-market in our industry sector in the UK. Tactics: Offer lower cost solutions than our competitors, win 5 new contracts worth at least £100,000 each and expand our business by buying out two competitors over the next 12 months. When it comes to managing any business, having a good strategic plan and utilising good tactics are both very important. A business owner or a management team leader must know and use strategy and they must also have an awareness of their business's tactics. It is important to note that this does not mean that management should perform these tasks on a regular basis. The whole team has a responsibility to undertake the right tactics in order to deliver the company strategy. If the management team are truly aware of what "good tactics" are and are able to recognise them, they will become "tactically credible" in the eyes of their team mates.

It is critical for the owners and managers to  have this credibility in order to demonstrate to their team members how the tactical work helps the overall business to achieve its strategic goals and objectives.

Half My Advertising Is Wasted, I Just Don’t Know Which Half”

I read an interesting (and disturbing) statistic recently from Forbes. It stated that 45% of CEOs agree that ‘marketing efforts are wasting money’.

Yes, I’m an accountant (and proud of it) but I’m also a business owner. In many respects I’m in a unique position. I not only have to run and build our firm, I also get to advise dozens of other business owners (our clients) on growing their firms, making sure their financial management is as good as it can be, and ensuring they don’t pay a penny more in tax than they have to.

However, we are different to most accountants because we take an active role in helping our clients grow. That’s why we invested a considerable sum to give our clients access to one of the world’s leading sales and marketing systems (the BGSvault).

But when I read that statistic from Forbes, it reminded me of a famous quote from department store mogul John Wanamaker, who said: "Half my advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half".

It’s fair to say I have this discussion regularly with a number of our clients. They don’t measure the results of their marketing, so they have no way of knowing what’s working and what isn’t makes my team and me very ‘number conscious’. We do measure everything. That includes our marketing. I want to know if I spent X on a strategy, what return did I get?

Why is that important? Well, it means I know which strategies to invest more of our hard-earned money into and which strategies to ditch or try and improve. It’s not rocket science, but as small-business owners we have to watch the pennies and leverage as many things as we can.

I also smiled when I read that statistic from Forbes. I wonder how many CEOs actually know what their marketing results are and which strategies work. It is highly likely they are just like John Wanamaker—they haven’t got a clue.

This one simple act of measuring the results (or lack) of ALL your marketing is so simple, yet it will have a significant effect on the growth of your firm.  It’s your job to make   sure   you  put  in  place  a  mechanism that  gives  you this  data.  In   my   experience,  I can  tell you, it is TRANSFORMATIONAL!

The Amazing Power Of Persuasion

Whether we like it or not, as business owners we are in the business of persuasion.

Persuasion covers many different facets of our business. We need to use persuasion to elevate prospects to customers. Customers need to be persuaded to buy more frequently from us. The team around us need to be persuaded to do the things we want them to do things they like and don’t like doing. 

Even suppliers from time to time need persuasion to deliver the things we want from them, whether that’s in terms of products or services or service (with a capital ‘S’). The point is, if we can get good with ‘ethical’ persuasion, then the effect on our business will be significant.

Subconsciously, many of us use persuasion without even realising it. Our children master persuasion at an early age too! But what’s more interesting is that there is a science to persuasion that can be measured.

Perhaps the leader in the ‘field of persuasion’ is Robert B. Cialdini. His bestselling book ‘Influence—The Psychology Of Persuasion’ is an interesting read and covers the 6 major areas of persuasion…

1. Reciprocity

2. Scarcity

3. Authority

4. Liking

5. Consistency

6. Consensus

 

As a firm, we regularly (and not always consciously!) use reciprocity, authority, liking and consistency but I’d like to just talk about the real impact reciprocity can have on your business. This is the science of giving before receiving. Simply put, people are obliged to give back to others the form of behaviour, gift or service that they have received first.

For example, a recent study carried out at a number of restaurants demonstrated the result of giving each diner a simple mint with their bill at the end of the meal and the effect it had on the size of the tip. The results are quite frankly staggering and revealing (if you run a restaurant, you should implement this immediately!)…

They found that giving one mint with the bill increased the size of the tip by 3%. Not bad. Giving two mints quadrupled (yes, quadrupled) the tip to an increase of 14%. But when the waiter gave one mint per diner, walked away, paused and then turned back saying ‘for you nice people, here’s an extra mint’, tips increase an incredible 23%.

 That’s the power of reciprocity. How can you use it in your business to increase sales and profits? 

PJ

☎ 020 89310165

☏ 07900537459

✉ pushkar.joshi@apjaccountancy.com

5 Simple Time Management Strategies To Increase Productivity & Accelerate Your Growth

One thing that constantly amazes me is how quickly each year passes. The days, weeks and months seem to roll into one, and before you know it 6 months has passed. You’re left wondering ‘where did the time go?’

Now that’s okay as long as you plan your year out. However, most people spend more time planning their holidays than planning THEIR YEAR AHEAD.

If you plan  -  you get more done, much more done. If you fail to plan and set goals it’s surprising how little you’ll accomplish.

All the high achievers and successful people in this world identify planning and goal-setting as a major contributor to their success.

Why? Because in addition to giving them a clear roadmap, it also helps them plan their daily/weekly/monthly schedules and with effective management of time it enables them to get a huge amount of work done.

For example, many people who have observed me will say ‘how does Steve get so much done?’ It’s true, I get more done in a day than most do in a week. It takes discipline, but there are some proven tricks and strategies I use to achieve very high levels of productivity and that’s what I want to talk to you about today.

Effective time management is something that isn’t often associated with growing a business, but effective management of your time is a very potent weapon (and conversely poor management of time can be a real business growth inhibitor).

The good news is that it’s not that difficult to massively improve your output if you follow my simple ‘5 Key Time Management Tips For High Performers’. Like everything I will discuss with you in this newsletter, none of these things are difficult or even earth-shattering, but they do make a significant difference as long as you start using them! So here are my key Time Management Tips…

 

Proven Strategies To Help You Build A Better Business

 

Implement these Time Management strategies & create more time to get stuff done!

1. Planning: 

Plan each month and then each week and then each day based on your goals. The key here is to establish what you need to do each month to accomplish your goals. Then break these tasks down to weekly and then daily tasks. You must always prioritise these ‘goal orientated tasks’ above ‘general tasks’. You’re probably thinking—this will take a lot of thought and time to plan out. You’re right. It does. That’s why so few people do it. That’s why so few people succeed in life. Do not underestimate the power of carrying out this first step—it is the key to your success.

 

2. Work During Your High Performance Times: 

You’ll get much more done in times when your body is alert and active. For many this time is 6am-1pm and 8pm-11pm (but you’ll know when you’re at your best). The worst times are generally after eating! It’s during these high performance times you should carry out your ‘Goal Orientated Tasks’. This one step alone will improve your output significantly—so make sure you only allocate this time to the important tasks! Use the less productive times for ‘general tasks’ and meetings. Here’s why…
 

(1) Since our minds are more active and fresh we can get more done.
(2) Concentrating on the task at hand is much easier.
(3) Our creative juices are flowing when our minds are more active and alert.

 

3. Block Out Your High Performance Times: 

Next make sure you block out your high performance times and under no circumstances let other things get in the way. Again this is key to your success. Treat your high performance times as compulsory appointments (in other words, you can’t cancel them). If you have a secretary or P.A. make sure they understand these ‘appointments’ are never to be broken and replaced with anything else.

 

4. Resist All Distractions:

During your high performance times turn off your mobile, take your office phone off the hook and don’t open your e-mail programme. Even one interruption can set you back an extra 15-30 minutes not including the time of the interruption. This does take a high level of discipline. In the early days you will find the temptation of leaving your phone or email programme on hard to resist, but I promise you, this will slash your effectiveness by at least 50%. Once you force yourself to reduce your distractions to zero, you’ll find it very liberating!

 

5. Tell Staff (and family):

You must explain to staff and family that unless it’s an emergency you are not to be disturbed during your high performance times. 

By adhering to these 5 key time management tips I guarantee you’ll get so much more done. This translates to greater income and more success—worthy outcomes don’t you think?

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