Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone…the next 30 day challenge

A few days ago, I posted a quote on twitter: Silent gratitude isn’t much good to anyone” (Gladys Stern).

The Challenge

This got me thinking with regards to my next 30 day challenge. Wouldn’t it be great to form the habit of going out of my way to show my gratitude to people I wouldn’t ordinarily do that with? I am not just talking about my wife or team mates, but people that I am in brief contact with – the lady at the checkout, the guy on the phone etc.

People that I just normally give a passing thanks to. Wouldn’t it be great to form the habit of being really grateful to those guys? How would it impact these folks?

So for the last 5 days, I have been going out of my way to say thanks to these folks – it is my current 30 day challenge.

Happenings with O2

I’ve made an interesting discovery in the last few days: people and companies aren’t geared up for people saying thanks. But they are geared up for people who complain.

Take my recent dealings with O2 over my lost iPhone. On the whole their policy has not blessed me, at all. Normally in such situations – I would give the guys on the phone a hard time. This time I tried a different route. I looked for ways to be really grateful for the the help they gave me.

There was a girl called Sarah, a kind Scouser. The more I appreciated what she did – the more she did. It got to the stage where I thought it would be good to write into O2 and congratulate them on hiring someone so kind and helpful (even if limited by the company’s crazy policy). When I told Sarah that I would like to do this and asked her who I should write to – she didn’t know.

The same with the next two people that I spoke to at O2: the more I thanked them, the more helpful they became. When I asked who I could write to – no one knew.

The best advice they could give me was to given them a good score when I get the text message asking me to rate their service.

Amazing isn’t it? People just aren’t used to receiving positive remarks about their service. Perhaps this is peculiar to the UK?

Bizarrely, when i told one guy that I wanted to write in – he gave me the complaints department details. His assumption was that I wanted to complain despite being grateful with him on the phone. I guess those guys in the call centres are used to getting complaints everyday!

So, as a business – we have a complaints procedure. What about a gratitude procedure?

Takeaways

• I wonder if i should set up a system that illicits gratitude from people about my staff? Could be an interesting experiment? (This is probably more of a takeaway for me).
• Being quite vocal about your gratitude with someone really influences them.
• You have to be both sincere and specific about your praise with people. When you thank people, reference a specific thing that they have done for you. So, don’t just say “thanks for the help” but rather “I really appreciate the fact that you went and checked that for me, thanks.” It is much more effective when you are specific.

It will be an interesting month, and i look forward to seeing what happens over the next few weeks!

End of the first 30 day challenge: 30 Blog Posts in 30 days!

Well, the first challenge is done!

So what did I learn over the last 30 days:

1. The discipline of writing everyday really causes you to think creatively.
2. Not everything you write is worth posting – but write is anyone (just save it as a draft and come back to it).
3. When you spend a lot of time writing, you spend less time promoting your site. According to Analytics – the number of new visitors to my site fell.
4. When you add regular content, the number of repeat visitors goes up, and it goes up a lot! Readers also spend longer on your site and view more pages.
5. Give people takeaways when writing an article that is to bring about a change of some kind. Takeaways is a term given to me by Rob Brown (thanks Rob!) describing an action people can do (usually quickly).

The most popular posts from the last 30 days (in order)

1. Today, I had a great leaders meeting at church…I know, I was surprised too! (Posted 10.06.2010). This took the most hits, but bizarrely had no Tweets (using the site tweet button) or Comments. It is the article people mention the most to me when they see me though.
2. Performance lessons from the iceberg: pt I (Posted 04.06.2010).  This was popular on twitter.
3. The best sales advice I can give you: authentic selling (posted 09.06.2010). This sparked a number of great conversations (both on the web and face-to-face), that then led to a series of posts on what Authentic Selling looks like. All of these posts have become popular so I have just added the link to the first post.
4. A new definition of marketing (posted 21.06.2010). This is the one post that has sparked the most involvement and contribution from people and led to my post from last night: Update – A New Definition of Marketing. These posts I can see becoming some of the all time populars as they are only a few days old, but already up to number four on the hits parade!

Ironically – these are the posts that I have enjoyed writing the most. It has been great for me to cement my thoughts on Sales (Authentic Sales Posts) and Marketing (The New Definition Posts) – it is very relevent to me and my business that is for sure. I never thought that the church meeting one would do so well (it just goes to show you!) – I imaging a lot of the success there was the title of the post (a brief moment of inspired genius).

I have really enjoyed working on my blog with this much focus and emphasis. I do think the number of posts will drop (to maybe 2 per week), but the writing will continue and I’ll be a little more selective of what to actually post.

Something that I have not been able to do is as many Vlogs as I would have liked (they are recorded and being edited the few that I did do) – but this should hopefully change as I am changing some of the technology set up that I have to make this quicker and easier.

I’ll post about my next challenge tomorrow – just trying to decide which one to do!

So thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

Question: What is the one thing that you think I could do to instantly improve the quality of this blog?

Update: A New Definition of Marketing

Last week I wrote a post called A New Definition of Marketing (if you haven’t read it – it might be worth a quick glance). It has sparked some interest on the comments, facebook, twitter and email! It has definitely been the most engaging post of the week, taking most of the web traffic and social network interaction.

I mentioned on the blog that anyone could take the diagram that I put together in Omnigraffle (iPad version) and change it as they thought. John LeMasney did just that and came up with an adapted version:

Thanks to 365sketches.org

John’s idea of a circle connection intrigued me, and I have been playing around a lot this week with the diagram. A few emails back & forth with John and afew others, I eventually came up with this amendment – taking the original idea and adding the connections in.

As you can see, instead of the circle joining from the Ally back to the Beginnings section – I noticed with my customers a much tighter pattern emerging. Specifically, I saw two (general) things:

1. Engagement Cycle: People on their journey are more likely to have an engagement cycle with the previous phase of their journey.
2. Spread the Message: People pull in other people to their previous phase of their journey.

The Engagement Cycle

For example, let’s say that I have just released a new product to the market – Product Y. If an existing contact is at the Conversion phase with my company (with, say Product X), then they will end up at the Beginnings stage with Product Y. Our previous connection helps them speed through the Discovery phase, but because I don’t have much connection with them, they end up in the Conversion-Beginnings cycle.

Spreading the Message

People at the conversion phase tend to be good at gathering people into the beginnings stage. They don’t have a lot of connection with your company – but they have enough to at least recommend you to people. These people then join at beginnings.

The Engagement Cycle

The Existing customers are somewhat easier to get involved with our new Product Y. They have a stronger connection with us. They like our company and services, so end up back at the Conversion phase and take a little persuasion to get involved.

Spreading the Message

Customers have a much stronger connection with us, so when they refer people to our company – they do so as part of your sales team. They convince the people a little more than those at the conversion stage – so people that come to our company as a result of the Customer referral tend to enter at the Conversion stage and are easier to convert into sales.

A Business

This is the end point for most companies and indeed where I find our company at. We have customers that are connected to us. We don’t win them on every product or service we sell – but we are, at least asked and stand some chance.

We spend our time then, increasing the amount of people in the discovery phase (lead generation), and through our sales process – lead them to conversion. We also work on providing a great follow up service to our Customers (at least a portion of them) and we also get some great referrals from Customers.

A movement

I came across a quote by Ron Bruder: Bruder doesn’t run companies. He leads movements.

This quote gave me a great split on this diagram. Movements come as a result of deepening the connection with Customers and thereby creating Allies. This is where I want to take the companies that I am involved in – not being just a business but a movement, and I guess to do that I have work at getting the customers in to the Ally phase, because here is where the magic starts to happen.

The Engagement Cycle

Apple have done this well. That’s why they have people queuing for 8 hours to get the new iPhone, even though they have never used it. They buy just because you make it. That’s all the reason they need. There is no conversation or conversion – they are sold immediately.

Spreading the Message

Not only that – but Allies persuade other people to join your movement. They draw in people – and these people by-pass all of the other stages and quickly become customers – just because of the passion and evangelism of your Allies. How many people have decided to buy Apple stuff long before ever connecting with them simply because of the Apple Evangelist Friend?

Takeaways

Takeaways are actions that you can takeaway from reading this blog post that hopefully help:

1. Quick Check. Print the diagram out or quickly redraw it. Mark on the diagram where most of your current marketing effort goes (in terms of money and resource but also in terms of ROI). This should show strong and weak spots.
2. Strengthen. Now you understand where you weak spots are – write down a list of 20 things you can do in the next 3 months to strengthen each weak spot.
3. Implement. Take the top three items from your lists and work on those today.
4. Review. Schedule a time in your calendar to do this exercise again in 2-3 months.

A quick thanks…

So, there you go – this is my thinking so far of the Connection Journey Diagram. If you want a quick recap of the different phases of the journey – then please read my blog post: A New Definition of Marketing.

Thanks to all those that contributed so far with thoughts and ideas (through all the various forms of social media) and thanks again to John for doing a great job of re-drawing my initial model.

What do you all think of this model? How can we make it better?

How to change the world

You change the world by not only inspiring people to action but showing them clearly how to take that action.

I am just finishing off reading Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John Maxwell. As I was reading today – this jumped out -

I once read the statistic that 95% of the people in an audience understand what’s being communicated and agree with the speaker’s point of view. However, they do not know how to apply what’s being said to their lives.

Given that this is from a John Maxwell book – I am going to assume that this statistic is reasonably accurate. And if it is reasonably accurate, it is incredibly frightening, especially if you are a communicator on any level with people. It is one of those things that I have been fascinated with in recent years - how do you distil your message down to a series of actions that I can take away and apply tomorrow?

And I can’t say as I have got there yet! I’ve been doing well with speaking events, but not so great with written stuff (like my blog for example – so please forgive my past indiscretions!)

A major problem for the church

I am not the only one that can learn from this. It is perhaps one of the major problems in the church at the moment. You can preach theology all day long (and yes, sometimes it is interesting), but unless you look at how to take a theological principle and make it apply 9.00am on a Monday morning – I am not sure what good it will do.

I imagine that 90% of the people in John’s statistic are church goers.

They sit there week in, week out trying to have a better walk with Christ, but failing because the message is too heavenly minded but no earthly good.

I think it is for this reason that preachers like Joyce Meyer have become so popular. She takes the message of God and shows you how it will work on a Monday morning. She gives you specific steps that you can take to master that area of life. There is theology shown on a practical level.

I have used the following Venn diagram in the past to explain what I mean:

If you just have theology – you become flakey to say the least. I am not discounting the importance of theology, but theology doesn’t change lives.

Conversely – if you just have life or “practical” teaching it can be just a bunch of short term solutions to something that really needs God’s involvement to be successful. These “life hacks” can be somewhat void of meaning or power on their own.

The real magic happens when you can take the Word of God and understand how to apply to your life. There is a spiritual explosion of energy when that moment arrives – the aha! moment (or, what we call in the church, revelation). If you are a pastor and wonder why your teaching is not hitting the anointed home run that it should – check how easy it is for people to take what you teach and apply it to their lives.

A problem in business

Of course, this is not just a principle for the church either. It is a principle for business.

Understanding the next course of action – how to get your product and service to enhance their lives – is always a challenge. I am amazed at how many times I am ready to connect with another company – but they have made the process so difficult that I am not sure what to do. Like everyone else, I don’t enjoy feeling uncertain about things – so I  shut down and move on.

It takes a lot to create the desire in people to change. When that moment comes we should make it clear what the next steps are. It needs to be understandable.

A problem in the family

Do you remember being a kid and your folks did something that you just didn’t get? My standard response was to say, “I’ll never do (or say) that to my kids!”

Yet I have found myself of a number of occasions saying or doing those very things! Admit it, you’ve done it too if you have kids!

Many times this happens because when we talk to our kids, they understand what we say (and even sometimes agree) but they are not sure what to do about it or how to apply it.I find myself guilty of not helping them think through the subject to the point of understanding and implementing some clear actions from it.

Easy V’s Understandable

Don’t get me wrong – I am not suggesting that we make things easy. There is a big difference between understandable and easy. It shouldn’t be easy to become a doctor – but if you want to become a doctor, the process should be understandable and clear.

How to Change the World

If we want to affect change in people, out church, our customers, our team, our family and kids – then just communicating a message seems not to be enough. Even communicating in a way that is understandable is not enough. We have to carry people through to a point of them knowing what actions to take so that they can apply it to their lives and bring about change.

In Action

One great tip I have learned recently is to ask people at the end of every meeting to give a summary of their actions from the meeting. We no longer put actions in the minutes – people have to be responsible for taking their own notes. At every meeting, whether a team meeting, an audience or a one-on-one, I am trying to put this principle into practice. I don’t want people just to hear and agree with me. I want people to take action and bring about change.

That’s how we get things done and improve performance. It’s how we engage the church and boost our business. It is how we ge along as a family.

It’s how we change the world.

So Following my own advice – here are some general action steps that you could implement immediately to help you affect change:

• Change yourself. If you haven’t got a good life coach, get one. They make a massive difference by helping set your action goals that bring about change.
• Always ask: is there a clear action that people can take away from this? If you are having a chat with your son, don’t finish until you have a clear & understandable action that he can take away? What about your new marketing letter? Is there a clear action for the reader to take?
• No action required: sometimes you communicate without the need for taking action. You just need to communicate something. That’s fine – just understand what mode you are in when you communicate.
• Action Summary: At the end of your meeting (one-on-one or team meeting), have each person give a quick summary of their Actions at the end. Actions always start with a verb. Then hold them accountable to those actions the next time you meet.
• Connect: You know, I might be an up and coming awesome communicator – but if you don’t want to do something, then action points or no action points, I can’t help. Not everyone will connect with you and want to take action. That’s fine. Just make sure it is because if their reasons and not because you are pants at communication.
• Make it personal: One of the great things that comes out of asking people to note their own actions during the meeting is that it becomes deeply personal. it isn’t me telling people what to do. It is people understanding what they need to do and deciding to do it. I am a facilitator, not a dictator. Allow people the freedom to think – you’ll be amazed at what they come up with.
• Keep your own notes. When you make your own notes (don’t rely on the minutes for you action points) – ask – “What can I apply here? What actions do I need to put in place?”

What actions do you think you should take having now?

I still believe, but I should also learn: England World Cup 2010

I sit here somewhat at a loss because of the England performance I witnessed.

I could talk about today’s game. There would not be enough words to describe how badly we played. We were indifferent, lacklustre and without any passion.

I could talk about the team. Why can’t a bunch of world-class talented guys play together and create a world class team?

I could talk about the manager. Why would you take a striker off the field when you need 3 goals in 20 minutes?

I could talk about the system. Why don’t we play Gerrard in the holding position behind Rooney?

I could talk about what we don’t have. Beckham. Passion. The list would be long!

I could talk about the fans. Incredibly loyal fans that cope with immense levels of disappointment.

But I thought I would talk about my business.

Everyone can see what is wrong with the England team, yet we all hope and believe things will be different next time. How often do I treat my business the same way? I’ll change maybe one or two things – but that’s it. I can see the problems, but do I change them? Do I listen to my fans, or do I believe that I know better than them? Do I still keep a member of staff that can’t play on my team because of their past reputation? Am I the type of leader that can create something totally world class, or do I blame someone else for it not working? Do I let my team put forward a display that shows no belief in what the company stands for?

I would be embarrassed if I was the England manager today.

I would be shamed if I was one of the England players.

I still believe that thing can change because that is what England fans do.

In short, though, I am like most people. I can see what others need to change. I am just not so clear at seeing what I need to change, and then having the strength to change it.

Start With Why, Simon Sinek – Book Review

If you have read a few of my recent blog posts – you will have noticed that I have been reading the book – “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek. You will also know that I have made a few references to how it has helped me with a few things – so, the bottom line is, I like this book.

There is one caveat – it is way too long.  I found myself getting a little bored in sections, so I would skip over them. This is the only thing that I didn’t like about it mind you, and it was easy enough to skip the sections that I didn’t connect with.

Rating

It’s a definite read that is for sure, and it should be on your book list. If you have a few speed reading skills, it will help you through various sections – but don’t let that stop you from buying it.

What the book is about

Sinek spends a lot of the book looking at the above diagram – the Golden Circle.

WHAT: Every single company and organization on the planet knows WHAT they do.

HOW: Some companies and people know HOW they do WHAT they do. Whether you call them a “differentiating value proposition,” “proprietary process” or “unique selling proposition,” HOWs are often given to explain how something is different or better.

WHY: Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. When I say WHY, I don’t mean to make money—that’s a result. By WHY I mean what is your purpose, cause or belief? WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?

If you watch this video that Sinek did at TED recently – you’ll get a good overview. This video as actually the reason that I purchased the book.

What I learned

I find that when I read books like this – I often enjoy them and, at that moment in time, have a moment of revelation and learning. The problem is – I often don’t do anything after that. There can be little action.

I have started to combat this by making notes on each book that I read (easy to do with the Kindle, as long as you don’t mark too much). On this book, I have three sides of typed notes, but I also have some actions from it.

So here are the key points:

• We have a good purpose (or WHY) with our company. I just need to make sure that we keep focusing on putting that message across.
• This book, along with a few others, caused me to think a lot about how we do marketing as a company. If you haven’t read my musings, have a look at the following post: a new definition of marketing.
• I want to look at our company values based on the following statements from the book:

Making it even more difficult for ourselves, we remind ourselves of our values by writing them on the wall . . . as nouns. Integrity. Honesty. Innovation. Communication, for example. But nouns are not actionable.

It’s nearly impossible to hold people accountable to nouns.

For values or guiding principles to be truly effective they have to be verbs. It’s not “integrity,” it’s “always do the right thing.” It’s not “innovation,” it’s “look at the problem from a different angle.” Articulating our values as verbs gives us a clear idea . . . we have a clear idea of how to act in any situation. We can hold each other accountable to them measure them or even build incentives around them.

• The simplicity of understanding WHY and making sure your HOW and WHAT connect with that has really helped me with communication in all the various ventures that I am involved in. I am asking the question “WHY” a lot. For example, I do some coaching with some community leaders in the church – and we started to look at a slightly adapted model of this – it was a great session that should hopefully make things clear.
• People have to connect with your “WHY”. A lot of companies have a purpose (WHY) that has come from the leader, which is how it should be – but, and this is a big but, people have to connect to that WHY. If your WHY is to build a large, profitable and successful company – people won’t connect with that. People aren’t interested in helping you to build a company and become more successful. WHY has to connect with their heart.
• Sinek validated my views on authentic selling! I love it when I am on the right path. According to Sinek, authenticity is proven in WHAT you do – which  is something that I totally agree with. This causes you to examine what you do through the lens of authenticity.
• My views on competition have changed due to one of the last paragraphs in the book.

Now think about how we do business. We’re always competing against someone else. We’re always trying to be better than someone else. Better quality. More features. Better service. We’re always comparing ourselves to others. And no one wants to help us. What if we showed up to work every day simply to be better than ourselves? What if the goal was to do better work this week than we did the week before? To make this month better than last month? For no other reason than because we want to leave the organization in a better state than we found it?

Have you read the book – what did you think?

Scalp and Head Wounds & Cuts

Have you ever wanted to “play” on an ambulance? I have! A few months ago I did a trauma module with the Red Cross which puts me one step closer to a qualification that I really want (can play on the ambulance properly then!). The module was great to do and lasted all weekend. We covered all kinds of things.

During the weekend, we had to do a lot of scenarios. The “casualties” in the scenarios were all “hollywood” with great makeup showing the injury. We had open fractures (so the casualty had bones sticking out), spinal injuries – and my favourite, a gun shot victim (shot in the chest). I really really enjoyed it.

We finished around 5 on the Sunday, and I cycled from the British Red Cross building to home via the Otterspool path along the river Mersey. I wasn’t in a rush and the weather was good.

It wasn’t long before I came along a group of people standing around an older lady sitting on the floor. I stop to see what is happening, and see that the lady had cut her head. So, I park my bike, walk over to the lady and asked what happened. Her daughter told me that she had fallen and not been able to protect her face.

I started to examine the lady’s neck and ask all the probing questions that first aiders are supposed to ask. I even managed to remember to check the pupils. I asked a gentleman (whose name I have forgotten, but I assumed was related somehow to the lady given his concern) to support her back. Quite deliberately, I took control of the scene and started to bring some calm direction.

The daughter said, “this is great, we have two doctors on scene!”

I replied, “Oh, I am not a doctor – but you are my 5th casualty of the day. The last one was a gun-shot victim so you should be OK!”

A kind neighbour gave us an ice pack and some basic first aid supplies. So we patched her up and got her off to A&E.

First Aid for Scalp & Head Wounds

1. Understand the reason for the cut. My casualty had fallen quite hard on her face, so I wanted to check her neck too (I followed the principles of dealing with a head injury).
2. Remember that the scalp can bleed a lot! Don’t be freaked out by the amount of blood
3. Get them in a comfortable position – which will mean sitting down (unless there is a possibility of a spinal injury). Remember that they could faint or collapse with this type of injury – so the floor is a good place for them to be. My casualty was already on the floor, so that was easy. I had her sit up slightly and rest on the knees of a kind helper for support.
4. If there are any flaps of skin – replace them over the wound. This happened in a motor bike accident that I was at but fortunately for my old lady she didn’t have this – just a lot of blood and bruising.
5. Reassure. If you are treating a child, the chances are they can be quite hysterical at this stage. Be calm and confident and offer lots of reassurance.
6. Dress the wound. Ideally you have a sterile dressing and a bandage. You would put the sterile dressing on the wound and then hold it in place with a bandage. I had this with the lady at the Nickleback concert (a great story, I’ll tell you at the end of this post)but with my old lady – I didn’t. Fortunately a close neighbour gave us some clean tea towels and ice blocks.
7. Off to hospital. The book says that with this kind of injury – you should get them to hospital. There may be an element of discretion here but for me, the lady had a bad cut, some bruising and she landed on her head with full force. She needed to get off to A&E and be checked by a doctor. If you are unsure – always best to go. Head injuries are not great.

The Nickleback Concert

I remember one particular scalp wound very well! It occurred when I was at a Nickleback concert (on duty with BRC). The drummer from the support band recognised a few of the girls in the audience and threw his drum stick to them at the end of his set for a souvenir. The trouble was – he threw it a little too well and the point of the drumstick hit a lady in the middle of her forehead.

This split the skin and quite a lot of blood came out. Whilst I am not supposed to laugh at the misfortune of people when on duty, both the casualty and I found this story extremely funny! So I laughed, a lot! I think it reassured the casualty too because there was a lot of blood everywhere.

So I dressed her head with a sterile dressing, and held it in place with a bandage as the manual tells you to do. I then walked her back to the first aid room. The concert was on a break, and the lights were on so thousands of people watched this lady with a rather large head bandage and blood on her face walk round the front of the stage. There were even some cheers!

Probably the most memorable head wound for me so far!

(In case you want to know the end – the drummer was shocked at what had happened and came to see them I think. They got VIP passes to the next gig. She needed a stitch or two and I got a great story to tell people).

Dan Pink on Motivation – but much better!

Came across this video today (courtesy of inspirisimo.com). I love Dan Pink’s TED talk on motivation – but these guys add a whole different level to message with an extraordinary presentation that both captivates you and strengthens the message. Just brilliant and well worth 10 minutes of your time!

A remarkable business model that I stumbled upon.

A few months ago, I wrote about the death of trade shows because the shows that I went to were very disappointing for me. Yet, in the middle of one of one particular trade show stood a company that absolutely caught my attention.

How it Worked

I walked around the show with my heavy back pack (why I insist on taking this bag I’ll never know, but I did) and stumbled upon a small, out-of-the-way stand that offered massages. I looked at the signage and there was no indication of price. In fact, the sign didn’t tell me anything other than the company name: Mobile Massage UK. One of the masseurs saw me and she asked me to sit and one of the (7) therapists would be with me soon.

She then proceeded to tell me that for the pleasure of a massage “you pay what you think it is worth”. This is what surprised me. She offered the service, but no price – that was my choice based on what I thought about the service they offered. I, of course, accepted her offer as I had nothing to loose. If it was bad – no money. If it was good, then I would pay something. I didn’t have a clue what I would pay – but I knew it would be something.

As I sat there contemplating this and as the lady continued to massage her client – my masseuse became available. He explained to me again that he would give me a 10 minute head and back massage. At the end of the ten minutes I could pay what I thought was a fair price for the massage. He also told me that “people usually give between £5 and £20″ and that “10% of the money I give will go to a Children’s charity”. I still, of course, wanted my massage (which was very good and too be honest, I could do with another one now).

I sat there thinking about this model and how it worked. At the end, I paid £10, which equates to £1 per minute. I did think about 60p per minute, but that would mean asking for change. It seemed fair and neat to pay the £10. It was easy.

The lady that initially spoke to me owns this business and I was keen to talk to her about her company and especially the business model that she had chosen. She kindly spoke to me and answered every question that I had.

The Business Model

They had tried the fixed price for a massage – but she made more money this way (although she didn’t know how much more). She put on the signs once “pay what you think it’s worth” and business dropped dramatically. So all she had on the signs now was the name of the company (Mobile Massage UK).

People would walk by and stop and ask if the service was free (put on by the event organisers). This was, of course, planned. That initial question was the opener for the staff to give their story. They must get asked this question hundreds of time every day, and each time the patter is the same. Some people didn’t like this – but more often than not people sat down.

She (the owner) told me that a few times people didn’t pay and occasionally you get teenagers paying £2, but more often than not people did what I did – and paid £10 (which is actually expensive for a 10 minute quick back rub). So not only did she get more business, but the people seemed happy to be paying more for the service. She takes a risk on the price, but reaps the rewards of doing so.

The charity thing is because it is what people expect rather than out of a desire to change the world, “people in this country don’t like the idea of you making money – so the charity statement helps with that” she told me. She is obviously listening to her customers.

View more info at: http://www.mobilemassageuk.com/

What do you think to this idea? Have you experienced this yourself (I know there is a restaurant in London that does this for example)? Have you done this yourself?

Top tip for new entrepreneurs, start ups and those struggling in business

I’ve spent quite a lot of time talking with new entrepreneurs, working with guys struggling with their business as well as putting some ideas and teams together for a few new business ventures of my own.

In all the many hours of discussion that I have had recently – there seems to be a reoccurring theme: do it different.

I am aware of how easy it is to fall into the default of “doing it this way because that’s the way everyone does it”. The trouble is – that doesn’t make for a very interesting business model, and it makes it hard to differentiate. It can be quite boring.

Finding the magic

When I am talking about doing things differently – I am talking about doing it radically different. Is there a way to re-write the rules for the business that you want to start? I encourage people to start with a blank piece of paper and try and think without restraint and the “benefit” of experience.

It’s on that piece of paper that I find that the true magic starts to appear. It is often on there that the real reason you want to do your business comes out.

If you want to set up a business just to make money – you’ll find this exercise hard, which probably means that you should look at another business market. There has to be a passion and a drive in you to change the market place for the better. So how do you do that? Don’t just change one or two things – change everything and see what comes out of it.

Change your industry

If everyone else in your industry opens at certain times, what happens  if you change those? If everyone charges by the hour, what happens if you charge by the session? If there is a lot of competition in your industry, what specific areas are missing that you could exploit? If prices are all around £35 a session – what would happen if you charged £45? Why is it people really use this product or service – and how can I connect with that?

Sure, there maybe reasons why things are done in a certain way – but you’ll be amazed at the cool things that happen when you really test those reasons and assumptions. Most people don’t – which is why everyone else is probably doing it that way, they are just following along. Dyson made a fortune by redefining the vacuum cleaner. Apple changed how we listen to music like Sony did a few decades earlier by challenging the assumptions. Starbucks changed how we drink coffee by challenging assumptions.

Change your price

The great thing is – when you do something different, something that people really want and can connect with – you no longer have to be too concerned about the price. The Dyson, Apple iPod and Starbucks coffee we massively more expensive when they came out. People still paid it because they connected with it, it was different and not the same old. That means I don’t have to try and be the cheapest. I can’t be reckless with the price but chances are you can charge higher prices because you are offering something of more value.

Simple Exercise to rock your world

So – do this simple exercise. Take a blank piece of paper and redraw your industry, product or service by challenging the reasons and assumptions that currently exist. Think without restraint. Don’t spend too much time on the detail for now, or thinking about how to do it just yet. Let God deal with the impossible. Just write everything down as it comes to you. As I said, the chances are – you’ll find something magical as a result.

Let me know how this goes for you! And if you have any top tips for a start-up – then please share them.