How Legal is your Business?
If you were asked today to produce all your companies registration papers, latest Tax certificate, staff contracts, health and safety compliance and a BBBEEE certificate, how long would it take to get these copied and ready?
If your answer is, “Just a few minutes”, then you do not have to read any further. If you gave an audible Gulp, then this week is for you. We will walk you through some of the issues of compliance and legislation that a typical business in South Africa needs to adhere to.
We will start with your CIPC registration and the annual return that need to be done. Then there are all the required tax registrations and returns followed by the Labour and HR policies.
But what about your health and safety compliance of your office, factory or workspace. Who is responsible for that? We will introduce you to people who are experts in these fields and who are willing and able to assist you in getting the right things done right.
Remember that ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Get to know what makes a business legal and get on it.
The 3 P’s of your back office
Getting your business defined is not just about the products and sales pipelines: you also need to define very clear processes, procedures and policies that will govern how your business is run when you are not around.
The supply chain process that follows stock items from initial order, manufacturing, packaging, delivery and returns needs to be setup, defined and different procedures and policies defined to ensure that it remains constant and in line with customers expectations and any service level agreements.
Your customers flow from initial contact to final invoicing and follow up also needs some form of definition. This allows your staff to follow these procedures without having to consult you, the boss, for each and every decision that needs to be made.
Finally your financial flows need to be defined together with all the associated paper work to ensure a correct auditable paper trail and regulations are followed.
Developing an in-house procedures manual is a tedious and often long process, but you will reap the benefits from it once done. This allows you to work on your business and then out of your business giving you time to take leave, relax and rejuvenate form the new year.
Do you have an effective sales funnel?
This is week 8 in the 90-day business sprint and this week we speak all things sales and marketing. Last week we chatted a bit about the internal marketing and getting the message right inside your business before going outside to customers. So let’s go out and see what you need to create a solid offering to your potential customers.
Your Sales funnel is key: this is the defined and refined process that drives people from initial interest down to that all important first invoice stage. We will define this in more detail later in the week, but it all starts with having Captivating Content on your website, blog and social media platforms. This is what initially attracts your clients.
All marketing processes need to follow the sales cycle of Inform, Educated and then Sell in order to not lose people along the way. But one aspect of selling that a lot of people fall short on is the ability to close the deal and get that all important confirmation from the customer. We opt out and look for discounts and other ways to close because we lack the confidence in our product and self-ability. We will chat about this one too.
We have an awesome web assessment tool that we use and we have 10 vouchers on offer this week for free. If you want your website assessed for how effective it is as a marketing tool, then email us to claim one of the 10 vouchers.
Internal Marketing
What do you do to market your business internally?
Marketing your business always starts from the internal. It always starts with how you view yourself and how you view your business. Your business starts with you and then it flow onto your staff. If you market your business well to your staff they would be the best and most effective people to start building brand awareness for your business. The idea is to treat your staff as though they were your first customers. Internal marketing sells your business to your employees.
Internal marketing will help you find out where you are as a business. Why don’t you do some research. How is your business doing? Is everything you are doing still in line with your vision and goals of your business? Are your office staff members aware of your goals and vision for your business?
How effective is your internal marketing? Why don’t you do some internal marketing research within your business and find out how much your staff knows about what the vision of the business is, the products you have and all the service you offer. If you have a website, what is your website like? How do does your offices look and do they represent you brand well? Do you use social media to market you business? If you do, how are your ratings like? All questions will help your business get ready and geared up for marketing.
Spend some time this week analyzing your internal marketing and use the about questions as a starting point.
Building your Strategic Network
We are not able to run and rule the world alone: not even our own lives. We do need others who offer support, counsel, and services to areas that we are not proficient at.
These areas can be separated into three different networks, we call then our Strategic Networks. Each offer a different type of support or serves and function to both our own lives and that of our business.
Our Foundation network group people who are there to offer services and products to enable your business to grow.
Our Support network includes people who are there to offer support to you without the need to fix or find a solution other than just listen.
Our Expansion network contains people who know the people you need to sell to. They are also equipped with enough information about your business and products to share this with others.
This week we will begin to map each of these out and assist you in developing a strategic network for your future.