Roadmap MBA (Modules 1-4)

Module 1 - Understanding your goals and ambitions

The first step to achieving any goal is to set targets. This module will help you articulate the goals you want to achieve.

If you never set a destination how do you know where to start? Also unless you have milestones, how will you know when you have arrived? By the end of this chapter you will have written the first draft of your goals and ambitions.

You will need a pen and paper, or write in the space provided. Within this module we will be asking questions to understand what is important you and what you want to achieve in life. The questions are just guides. Everyone’s dreams are different. The important thing is that you have a clearly defined goal. Module 1 is to get your dreams and aspirations on paper.

As you progress through Module One there are exercises which use a technique called visualisation to help you imagine the future benefit of achieving a new skill or growing your business or career. We do this to help you articulate your goals, which allows us to put strategies in place to help achieve them, but also teach an important lesson called Lead Actions.

Please feel free to skip past exercises that don’t resonate with you but do take the time to understand the concept of Lead Actions as this follows through every concept on the course.

You will also see highlighted throughout the course “Growth Actions”. These are suggested practical steps to help you implement the techniques being discussed on each topic.

If you look back through the course after completion the Growth Actions are the things to focus on.

What defines success for you?

What defines success for you? This is very personal. You need to answer this for yourself and nobody else. What is important to you will also change over time so don’t be afraid to revisit this and update your goals as you progress.

The questions on this page are designed to stimulate ideas. You do not need to answer every one, but for whatever your ambitions write as much detail as you can. We will explain later why this is important.

As you answer the questions, spend some time over this and go into detail about every aspect of your dream life you are wishing to achieve.

Can you describe your dream life?

• What is your dream salary? What could this income allow you to do? Would it allow you to work in the community? Volunteer more? Spend more time with your family? Write down your answers. Imagine there was no limit on what you could achieve.

• What kind of house would you live in? Would it be a country retreat in your dream location? Would you own multiple homes in exotic locations? Write it down.

• How many holidays a year will you have? Where would you travel to? How would you travel? Economy or First Class?

• What car would you drive? Would you have more than one?

• Spend some time to imagine every aspect of your dream life. Have fun with it, but write it down.

These questions are here to help you understand what you are actually aiming for. These do not have to be ‘audacious millionaire’ goals but just whatever would be an ambitious next step which would bring happiness and contentment.

Growth Action: Make notes and go into as much detail as you can. You don’t have to do this in one go, revisit it over time. It will genuinely help you sculpt your business or career.

Articulating your career goals?

In Module One we show how we can use a technique called Lead Actions to create positive behaviour change, but first we need to know what we are trying to achieve.

What are your career goals?

• Is it to become CEO of a major corporation?

• Do you dream of becoming a respected author?

• A famous public speaker? Write this down.

Growth Action: Imagine your dream job or career, what would this career be like? What would you do? What problems would you solve? Answer each of the questions below or create your own. Go into as much detail as you can.

What is your dream job title?

• What size of organisation would you work?

• What type of work would you do?

• Would you manage a team?

If you find it difficult to do this task, describe a person you see as being at the top of their business or career. Pick someone you admire who has a career you would like to replicate.

Replicating success

Next we will look at their behaviour to understand why they are successful. It is important to know not only the job title you are aiming for and the person you want to become. It is important to know the behaviours which got them there. We're going to look at what traits does this person show? How do they behave? We can replicate their success.

Documenting behaviours is the first step in achieving life or career change as we can use this to guide something called Lead Actions (described later) which will help you become closer to achieving your dream career goals.

Answer each of the questions below or create your own based on the person you see as being top of their career:

• Are they respected?

• Are they well known?

• Are they knowledgeable on key industry topics?

• Do they speak other languages?

• What hours do they work? Are they first into the office?

To help this process, answer the four questions below. We will use this to guide something called Lead Actions later in the module.

Q1: Can you name one person in your industry who you look up to or admire?

Q2: Why do you like this person? What is it about them that you respect?

Q3: What character traits does this person show? (e.g. Works hard, knowledgeable, honest, good communicator, nice to others)

Q4: Are these character traits something you could replicate? Replicating positive behaviours is a huge advantage when working on your own personal development

What is your dream life outside of work?

Continuing this visualisation exercise, what would be your dream life outside of work?

• How would you spend your time? Would you spend more time with family or is your career your passion?

• Do you have a passion or hobby you would put more time into?

• Would you travel more? Learn a language?

• Would you get more into sports and fitness?

• Would you learn to cook?

• Would you volunteer in the community?

Write down as much as you can on your ideal life outside of work.

It is important to imagine all of these traits because we are essentially asking you to describe your dream life. If it is your dream to work two days a week and have enough income to live the lifestyle you want, we can build this, we just need to plan it from the start and build a business that fulfils your dream.

Next we will be putting in place the actions to help you achieve it.

Making sustainable positive life choices

As you begin to build a picture of your dream life, the next question is to ask “how will this person do all of these things”?

To achieve the outcomes you want, it is these actions which we can replicate.

If we put in place clear actions which are measurable, this simple act can have a dramatic impact, creating the Roadmap for you to follow.

For each of your previous answers you have described a set of behaviours which you would like to emulate. You have described your dream career and the person who you see as being the best in the world at that role. Now we are going to put them into practise.

The statements you have made so far are probably high level answers which describe the end result you want, however the next stage is to break these down into something called Lead Actions which we can implement to make sustainable positive changes in your life.

Creating S.M.A.R.T targets

For any change you want to make in your business or career, always try and create S.M.A.R.T targets.

You have probably heard this term before. You want targets which are:

S - specific, significant, stretching,

M - measurable, meaningful, motivational,

A - achievable,

R - realistic, relevant, rewarding,

T - time-bound

We want your goals to be ambitious but achievable.

As you progress, your goals will become closer, however if you aim too high you may feel that you are not making progress. The important thing is to break down the goal and celebrate even the small wins every step of your journey.

The HOW we achieve these is in the next section.

The first-known use of S.M.A.R.T targets occurs in the November 1981 issue of Management Review by George T. Doran [1], however SMART criteria are commonly also associated with Peter Drucker’s management by objectives concept [2].

References:

[1] Doran, G. T. (1981). “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives”. Management Review. 70 (11): 35–36.

[2] Bogue, Robert. “Use S.M.A.R.T. goals to launch management by objectives plan”. TechRepublic. Retrieved 10 February 2018.

Lead Actions and Lag Measures

To achieve any goal we must first identify the things which we can control and not focus time or effort on things we can’t.

Using the questions from the example earlier in the module:

• What is your dream job title?

• What size of organisation do they work?

• What type of work would they do?

The answers to these questions are strategic career choices, but their outcomes are not in our direct control. Yes we can apply to the company, but it is someone else’s decision to hire you.

There is a distinct difference between things we can control (the input - how many and which companies we apply to) and the end result (the output) - if we get in.

Outcome based measures are called Lag measures, as the result is a Lag (behind, or caused by) other actions.

We cannot control Lag Measures therefore we should not worry too much about them, other than putting ourselves in the best possible position should an opportunity come up.

We should only spend time on things we can control. These are called Lead Actions.

Lead Actions ‘lead’ to the result or behaviour we want. As Lead Actions are something we can control, these are what we should focus on!

In simple terms you can think of Lead Actions as inputs, and Lag Measures as outputs, and applying this to your business or career.

Where does this come from?

The concept of Lead Actions is actually a sales technique. Lead Actions can be used to create a plan of action which can be used to address all areas of your business or career. Within the Roadmap MBA we use them for achieving your personal goals, but you can use them for anything.

Lead Actions are one of the major learnings from the book, so it will help your progress if you are able to understand this concept early on.

Examples of Lead Actions

Using the example of Lead Actions for losing weight. Your goal might be to lose 20lbs, but to actually achieve this we need to perform certain actions. These will be your Lead Actions.

GOAL: Lose 20lbs

The Lag Measure, as mentioned previously, would be how much weight you have lost, but this is not an actual plan or something we can control, therefore focussing on the result alone will not help us achieve your goal.

Instead we identify things which will make a positive impact and the things we can control. These are the Lead Actions! This is where we put our focus!

Weight loss Lead Actions:

1. Make healthier eating choices (and sticking to it).

2. Maintain an increased level of exercise.

3. Stick with it until your new habits become part of your normal routine.

All of the three actions are things that we can control, losing weight is just the by product.

Making this goal a S.M.A.R.T target

Specific - to lose 20lbs.

Measurable – i.e. measure your performance against the schedule or plan you set. Worry less about the weighing scales and more about sticking to the plan. Measure yourself on if you attend the fitness class (or go for the run), not how much weight you lose!

Achievable – Start with a small goal of 2lbs, then gradually build up. When you see yourself making progress you are less likely to give up or get disillusioned.

Rewarding – Have a reason why you want to lose the weight. It could be for a wedding or a holiday. Think about how great you’ll feel when you achieve your goal. The process of imagining how great you will feel is another sales technique called Future Pacing which we discuss in more depth later in the course.

Time-bound – Have a set date for when you want to lose the 20lbs for.

From researching weight loss losing 1-2lbs per week is sustainable, so aim for losing 20lbs over 20 weeks. If you achieve it after 10 weeks great, but if progress takes a little longer you won’t feel like you have failed.

This is a great example of Lead Actions.

Lead Actions for your career

In applying the Lead Actions for growing your career, we need to focus on the personality and character traits we would like to show and be known for in our professional lives.

In this example, we take the answers from your previous questions and developing them to understand what you are actually targeting, then creating the Lead Actions to make these happen.

If you have not already, go back answer the questions in this Module. We will use these answers here.

From helping to understand your career goals and identifying the character traits of people who you respect within your industry, these tell us the behaviours we want to replicate.

Through this process we are not only improving your actions and skill set, but also improving your personal and professional brand, so that when you apply for jobs or make your next career move you have already improved your chance of success.

Using the example questions.

For the person you see as being top of their game and well respected within your industry, why is this person respected?

Example answer: “Yes. This person is respected for being smart, commercially aware, knowledgeable, decisive, well liked”.

In the answer, we have stated that the person who is seen as being at the top of their game is respected for being smart, commercially aware, knowledgeable, decisive and well liked ... therefore, we would also like to be respected for being smart, commercially aware, knowledgeable, decisive and well liked.

We have identified the positive character traits which make people successful in your industry and can look to replicate them.

To achieve this we need Lead Actions to help us achieve these goals.

Taking each of the desirable traits one at a time:

1. Desire to be viewed as being smart.

Lead Action: to achieve this you want to understand all of the areas of your job you are expected to know. Review your job specification. Always understand everything that is being asked of you so that you can deliver and gain respect within your business. If you are not sure, ask.

2. Desire to be viewed as being commercially aware.

Lead Action: Learn about the commercial aspects of your business and what is important to your company. Build up this knowledge over time. This will allow you to demonstrate that you are commercially aware and shows you have potential for progression.

3. Desire to be viewed as being knowledgeable.

Lead Action: Read industry articles, attend conferences and speak to your network about important things going on. Do this to build knowledge. Read as widely as you can to develop your knowledge base, or watch industry webinars or talks on YouTube. This will develop your skills and make a major difference in achieving your next promotion.

4. Desire to be viewed as being decisive.

Lead Action: Don’t be afraid to make decisions when required, but also ask for opinions before you make your decision.

5. Desire to be well liked.

Lead Action: Treat your colleagues with respect. Set clear boundaries and expectations and be true to your word.

Applying Lead Actions to your career

With each of the actions above these are all things we can control, therefore Lead Actions can be used to achieve the outcome you want.

Emotional Anchors

Every year millions of people create targets to improve their lives as part of their new year’s resolutions, however these commonly fail as the pain or discomfort of putting them in place often does not overcome the desire for the end result. This is equally true in business or your career.

Lots of people want to start a business but are not willing to make the sacrifice to make it happen.

Example: Stopping smoking

For many people the difficulty of stopping smoking does not overcome the desire to actually stop.

Emotional anchors are strong emotional reasons which (like an anchor) which are strong enough to hold in place and overcome the short-term pain of making the change.

A great example of this is a father and daughter;

Daughter: “Daddy why won’t you give up smoking?”

Father: “I’ve tried it’s just too difficult”

Daughter: “But I don’t want you to die. I want you to walk me down the aisle when I get married. If you keep smoking I’m worried you will die.”

In this scenario the father had tried a large number of things to stop smoking but failed.

From the conversation, the emotional pain of potentially not being able walk his daughter down the aisle (something the father desperately wants) could be a strong enough anchor to help the father quit.

What does he value more, seeing his daughters wedding day or a cigarette? This is an example of an emotional anchor. We can use these to our advantage.

Applying this to you

Your emotional anchors can be anything which are important to you, but as described in the example having an understanding of these and identifying your own can make a real difference to your success.

Growth Action: Think about any emotional anchors in your life. This could be the fear of losing your house. The fear of not being able to buy your kids Christmas presents? Losing your job? When you know what is important to you, use this as fuel to help you achieve your goals.

Growth Action: What are you most afraid of? When where the most difficult times in your life? Write down your worst fears relating to your business or career should the worst happen? When you have these, use them as motivation for working hard to achieve your goal. It works.

We recap this later during Leadership and Management when understanding different types of motivation. We include the concept of emotional anchors early as for all of the things you have stated you want to achieve, this is a great technique for overcoming the challenges when putting them in place.

Module 1: Summary

Through completing this first module you have done three important things:

1) You have started to articulate your goals which you can now use as motivation.

2) We have helped you visualise your future. This is a technique called Future Pacing which will be discussed later. Having a person imagine their future life (or benefit from using your product or service) is a valuable sales tool.

3) We also taught you the concept of Lead Actions. Lead Actions are manageable steps to help you become the person you want to be. These also work for completing big tasks such as growing a business.

It is impossible to build a business or career which makes you genuinely happy if we don't first set the direction on what you want to achieve.

Your aims and objectives will change over time, so this strategic planning process should always be repeated every few years to make sure that we're building what you want and that your hard work is worth the effort.

Module 2 - Skills investors, business partners and employers look for.

Research conducted by Harvard University concluded that 85% of career success comes from well-developed people skills, not technical knowledge as you might expect.

From this it is clear that cultivating well-developed “soft skills” will make a huge difference to your professional career. This is also true in business.

You also need to be able to demonstrate these skills within your network. This is where your personal brand comes in.

Although this section was originally written in relation to careers, the skills covered will also help entrepreneurs demonstrate themselves as someone who is good to do business with.

Within this module there are nine key traits you should look to develop. Score yourself against each to identify areas for personal development.

Good communication

Your ability to communicate is the most important skill you need to develop.

Skilled communicators get along well with colleagues, they listen, they understand instructions and put across their point of view without being aggressive or confrontational. Good communicators also change their style of communication to suit the task at hand and for the person (or audience) they are speaking to.

Good communication skills are valuable in many different situations, from handling conflict, to trying to persuade a customer to buy, or even to convince the board you are the right person to become the next CEO.

Growth Action: Within the Roadmap MBA the techniques to develop high level communication skills are covered later, including both verbal and non-verbal communication. You should try and become an expert at both.

We will also create a plan for developing your personal brand to help you demonstrate yourself as being an excellent communicator. This will help both your personal and business aspirations, but also help be asked for speaking engagements or conferences – which both help with career and business progression.

Growth Action: Look into both verbal communication (such as public speaking tips) and also non-verbal communication (such as body language and facial expressions). You will gain a huge amount of knowledge on both, and these will become valuable tools as you progress your career.

Growth Action: Listening is also a key part of communication. Actively listening and understanding other people’s points of view will make you a better communicator, but also a better business person.

Do an internet search for “How to become a better listener” and watch some videos or read articles on the topic.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your communication skills?

Can you give examples of when you have done well or struggled in this area?

Later in the course we will teach new skills, but making a commitment to become a better communicator is a valuable investment.

The ability to make decisions

The ability to gather important facts, see the big picture, consider alternatives and be aware of potential repercussions are all things that are valuable in business, especially when you are empowered to make decisions.

In any leadership position you need to be decisive enough to be able to make a decision when you do not have all of the possible information available.

Leaders do not always have the luxury of having all of the information available at the time they have to make a decision.

If you have 80% of the facts, the ability to formulate the remaining 20% must come from your experience and ‘gut feel’ for the situation. This gut feel comes from experience.

People who are unable to make decisions may not be cut out for a leadership position. Likewise, if someone is too reckless in their decision making they may not last long and neither might the company.

Good leaders need to tread the fine line between making decisions too soon and not making them at all.

Although the knowledge required for you to be an expert in your field is not covered within this course, the ability to show good decision making is.

Growth Action: Actively listen to people’s views, weigh up the risks and be decisive. Strong leaders are not afraid to change their decision if new information comes to light.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate your decision making skills?

Can you give examples of when you have done well or perhaps struggled in this area? Are there any bad decisions you regret making?

For any decision in life you probably did the best you could based on the information you had available at the time. Never be too harsh on yourself. Hindsight is always 20/20. Learn to accept it and move on, ready to take on the next challenge.

Growth Action: If it is a high risk or big decision, always ask for people’s opinion, get all of the information you can, weigh up the options and make a decision.

TOP TIP: If an instruction to your team is important and you are asking others to implement it on your behalf, ask your team to explain it back to you. This helps you ensure that their understanding is the same as yours and very soon you will become known and respected for being a strong decisive leader, even from this one simple change.

Showing commitment

Every business wants people who are enthusiastic, committed and work hard. Employees who are committed need less supervision or motivation to get the job done.

Traditionally the word commitment also included ‘staying in your job for a long time’ as in the past it was common for people to stay in a single job for life, however in the modern world that is rarely the case.

You may be a brilliant employee but for reasons out of your control you have switched companies or been made redundant; or due to excellent performance you may have been head-hunted, pre-empting a career change. In both scenarios you could still be the perfect fit for your dream employer however your personal brand must reflect this.

Growth Action: Never leave any potential misconception go unsaid. If there are genuine reasons why you moved on, in an interview declare this up front and remove any uncertainty in the employer’s mind. They will appreciate the honesty.

Growth Action: If your personal brand can reflect the skills, talents, experience and values you want to show, the fact that you may have switched companies a lot in the past may not matter as much if you can justify why.

Use the skills from Module 11 Sales Closing to overcome any unspoken concerns employers might have about your career history when promoting yourself or in conversations with recruiters.

As with any sales close, you want to get the employer to love you as a person, have complete confidence in your skills and ability and see you as being a 10/10 fit with their company. This is your target when planning your next career move. As we will describe later, we need to get to 10/10 on all three to make the sale or get the job.

Growth Action: If you are an entrepreneur whose previous business may have struggled, rather than hide the fact, own the conversation. Say what happened, say what you learned from it and say how it made you stronger. This will change a potential negative to a huge positive and people will respect your honesty and strength.

Are there any weaker points in your past or on your CV which you might worry if they come up in an interview?

Take ownership and spin them into a positive. For example, if you launched a business which failed, own this up front and tell the person what you learned from it.

Controlling the narrative is the way to actually build trust from a negative and not have it impact you.

Flexibility

People who are adaptable and able to change are a great asset to have.

People who can step outside of their comfort zone and can react to the needs of a business are the future leaders.

The ability to react to new information, learn and adapt is valuable to investors and will put you ahead of the pack.

Employers like people who have a ‘can-do’ attitude, however this can be difficult to communicate via your personal brand. Anyone can say that they are flexible and proactive however like a good sense of humour this is something everyone thinks they have.

Instead of using words, demonstrate this in person by speaking to your boss and asking “what can I do to help?”

Simply asking your manager “I want to help the business grow. How can I help?” will do great things for your career.

Even if your boss already had someone lined up for that next project, they will respect your willingness to step up and it will put you on their radar for next time.

Simply asking will plant the seed in the mind of people with influence that you are a rising star who is willing to do whatever is required to help the business.

Growth Action: Ask your boss what can you do to help the business grow? Then back this up with work ethic, creativity and passion.

Time management

Time management is a difficult skill to master but is extremely valuable.

Time management, which can also be described as Project Management, is about tracking and prioritising tasks then communicating what is required to your team.

Growth Action: From the tasks you are allocated or asked to control within your job, always ask the following questions:

1. What is the most important task?

2. How long will each task take?

3. What is the most efficient way to complete each task?

4. What resources do we need to complete each task?

5. Are there any follow-on actions which need to happen after each task?

6. Which of the follow-on tasks are the most important? Does this alter the order you need to prioritise?

7. Have you communicated to people with actions before yours what you expect and when you expect it by?

8. Have you also communicated the impact of any slippage in the time line on each of the actions?

9. Have you communicated to people with actions after yours on what they should expect?

10. Have you also asked the impact of any slippage in their time line? It might be that task 7 on your list is actually the most important and should be moved to number 1.

11. When things change, communicate this to everyone involved.

12. Repeat.

Get this correct and you are well on your way to being an excellent project manager who people can rely on and is a valuable commodity. This will build your personal and professional brand within any organisations you interact with and make you more valuable.

Embracing responsibility

Employers want people who take pride in their work and who are confident to put their name to it. This shows good leadership.

Entrepreneurs have to put their reputation into their business and live or die by its success or failure, taking responsibility for whatever happens.

Investors, entrepreneurs and employers also respect people who hold their hands up when things go wrong. This is not something you can fake.

As with many of the skills described in this section, this can only be demonstrated with hard work and integrity.

Growth Action: In everyone’s career at some point something will go wrong. Own the situation.

Say “because this happened, I will learn from it and make sure it never happens again”.

You will increase your respect through taking ownership and be seen as a leader within the business.

We cover taking ownership again in Module 13 on leadership and good business management.

Loyalty

Loyalty is a personality trait which can’t be taught in a textbook. Loyalty is defined as “a strong feeling of support or allegiance” and this could be applied to your employer, friends, spouse, or suppliers, so it is a wide ranging term.

Loyalty will mean different things to different people. In a business context, loyalty could mean sticking with an employer who took a chance on you (or gave you your first job) however loyalty does not mean being trapped or staying in a bad situation.

Trust, ethics and personal values also play a key role in loyalty. What people think about you is strongly influenced by your behaviour and how you treat your personal relationships. So how do you make the right decisions?

Regarding loyalty your gut feel will often be correct. Always choose the best option for you / your organisation based on the information you have at the time.

If you are approached about a fantastic opportunity, weigh up the pros and cons and decide what is best, but always remember that your reputation is something that will follow you for the rest of your life and this has real value in terms of the opportunities you will be presented with.

In business, if a trusted supplier quotes a price which is not as low as someone else, loyalty could be allowing your existing supplier to match the price (or get close) before you move the order to the new supplier or decide to stick with the original but more expensive option.

Loyalty does not mean making bad business decisions. The original supplier should respect that you are giving them the opportunity to match the price, but also that you have your own business to run. If they still refuse, it may be that they don’t respect you as much as you thought, but you can move forward knowing you acted honourably.

Can you think of a time when you wished someone had been more loyal to you?

Are there any times you wished you had made different decisions? Always choose the best option for you / your organisation based on the information you have at the time.

Leadership

Leadership is not the same as power. You can demonstrate being a good leader at any age and from any level within a business and people will notice.

Good leadership is always doing the right thing even when nobody is watching!

Good leaders always:

• Lead by example.

• Look to improve.

• Go the extra mile.

• Ask how they can help.

• Do what they say.

• Give praise when appropriate.

• Take the blame when appropriate.

• Empower and support others.

• Continue to learn.

Growth Action: In Module 3 we start on personal branding. If you want to be seen as a good leader, like and share thoughtful articles on leadership or write your own feelings on the topic.

The best leaders have humility in this area so you need to demonstrate these traits and build your reputation from the ground up.

Word will soon spread if you are well respected. If you are not respected that will spread even faster.

Growth Action: If you have concerns how you may be coming across to others, ask a trusted friend for feedback. In terms of your overall career it is much better to change any misconceptions early-on rather than have them destroy your potential without you even knowing.

Growth Action: Ask yourself is there more you could do in your organisation? Are you getting the most from your potential, or are you sitting back or coasting?

If you want to progress into top positions nobody is going to hand this to you. You need to work for it and build the respect of the team in the process. These techniques are a great way to do that.

Growth Action:

• Lead by example.

• Look to improve.

• Go the extra mile.

• Ask how they can help.

• Do what they say.

• Give praise when appropriate.

• Take the blame when appropriate.

• Empower and support others.

• Continue to learn.

Great rules to live by!

Creativity and problem solving

The ability to apply logic and creativity to solving problems is highly valued. If you are the kind of person who can see solutions (as well as the problems) you will stand out.

From working on ideas for the next marketing campaign, to being creative on business strategy or in designing new products, the ability to solve problems is common in entrepreneurs and high achievers.

Growth Action: Don’t hide your creative side, especially if this can help achieve your business or career goals.

Write posts, create video blogs, invent things, record podcasts discussing your industry or hot topics. Demonstrate that you are an authority or expert on your subject. Talk about things you are passionate about and share this through your social media.

Growth Action: Don’t be afraid to tell the world who you are. The more you are honest about you, the more this will help build your brand in the industry.

See if you can apply your creativity to business to achieve a positive impact. The trick to being successful in this is to combine your creativity with your technical skill set to get the biggest possible benefit.

Note If creativity is not your thing, just focus on other areas. Always play to your strengths.

Module 2: Summary

Soft skills take time and effort to learn but they are extremely valuable. It is worth the time and effort to cultivate these as you develop.

For your career, do an internet search for the job specifications (or person specification) for your dream job. These will go into detail on the skills and qualities that companies are looking for in that role. Use this as your starting point for developing your skills then selling yourself to your prospective employers.

For Entrepreneurs, the proof is in what you create, the team you build, and the way which you treat your relationships as you go on your journey, not just your commercial success.

Even if you are in business and not seeking a job, the skills described within this module provide a guide of things to develop over time to become more attractive to investors, business partners or employers as you chase your personal or professional goals.

What the world thinks about you (or your business) is incredibly important for your future success. Most people would not disagree, yet very few actually have a clear strategy for communicating who they are, what their vision is and WHY they do what they do. This is known as your personal and professional brand.

Module 3 will help you understand and create your personal and professional brand and provide insight on how to change what the world thinks about you.

In today’s competitive market, knowledge alone is not enough to get your next promotion. The missing link is often the lack of control over what other people think about you, what they say behind closed doors, and the picture they have of you in their mind.

A strong personal brand will give you a competitive advantage against people who do not. A strong company brand has the same effect.

Without conscious control of your personal or professional brand, you could be holding back your business or career and not even know it.

Start now through controlling the messages you share with the world and this is what we cover in Module 3.

Your personal brand goes far beyond your qualifications or knowledge. Your personal brand is the entire package of what people say about you, what they think about you, and even how they act around you.

Your personal and professional brand is made up of many things including your personality, what you care about, your visions and values, your ability to connect with people, your public persona, your composure, your ability to speak in front of people, your ability to inspire action and your technical skill, expertise and knowledge.

Companies invest huge amounts of money, time and energy on branding to differentiate themselves from competitors.

This module is putting this same energy and focus on you.

Identifying your personal brand

When considering your personal or professional brand you need to demonstrate three attributes:

1. Authenticity – you need to create a brand that reflects the real you. It must reflect your true personality, values, beliefs and strengths.

2. Be unique – what makes you stand out? What are the skills and qualities that are unique to you? Why does the world need to know who you are? We want people to know your name and for you to stand out in a crowd.

3. Be relevant – from the qualities that you possess, what is it that makes you relevant to your audience? Why should anyone care? How are you relevant to your audience?

For careers your personal brand could be what makes you an ideal fit for the position or company you are chasing, or in business the perfect fit for the client you are selling into. Why should people pick you?

Growth Action: Answer the questions on the next page regarding what makes you authentic, unique and relevant. Go into as much detail as you can. Within the Roadmap we will cover all three and produce a genuine strategy you can use to achieve your goals.

In Module 7 on Marketing you will see how we use something called brand positioning to create something special in the market place. Answering the questions below and developing your personal brand will help us do the same for you!

What are you passionate about? What are your values? What do you stand for? What do you stand against? Are you authentic in what you communicate to the world?

Have you ever spoken publicly about any of these, or written blog posts about why this is important to you? Doing this is the first step in changing what people think about you.

What makes you unique?

This can be you as yourself or you as a business. If you struggle to answer this question think of your industry or sector. Within this group what makes you different to everyone else?

This could be that you’re based in a certain part of the world, your heritage, your life experiences, your sports teams, your education, your gender, the fact you have a family, the languages you speak, your hobbies or interests, or a combination of all of these! We are all unique and the trick is to identify what makes us special and use it to our advantage.

How can you be more relevant to your audience? What are they interested in? What are they looking for? How can you show this? Why should people pick you or listen to you?

If you struggle to answer this, a good common answer could be that you have knowledge on a certain topic which can add value to others. What topic(s) do you feel you could talk about? These all make you relevant to your audience. This could be knowledge you already have, or sharing your journey as you find out more.

Understanding your personal brand

How we communicate your brand is far more than just social media. Your digital presence is only one quarter of the puzzle. To understand your personal brand, this can be described by the A.B.C.D model.

Appearance, i.e. the way you dress and personal appearance.

If you are chasing a particular role or selling into a particular industry, clients or recruiters will be unconsciously looking to see if your appearance matches your ambitions and the social norms for this sector.

Dressing for a senior executive position is different to other jobs, for example a personal trainer. There is no right or wrong answer here, but you should always be conscious of your appearance. As the famous saying goes, dress for the job you want, not the job you have!

Why is this important? If the person who has the deciding factor in putting you forward for a job has only ever seen you in shorts and a t-shirt, they might not visualise you in a suit and therefore in the executive role you want. This perception on appearance, your brand, could stop you getting the job.

Through controlling your personal brand we can change how people fundamentally see you. People will judge you on how successful you are based on your appearance.

Many people might argue that you should not be judged on looks and that you should be judged on merit alone, however studies show that this is not the case. In building your personal and professional brand we are doing everything we can to give you the greatest chance of success in your business or career.

Growth Action: Invest in yourself. Buy appropriate clothing for the position you want not the one you have. Be well groomed and make an effort with your appearance relative to the industry you are in. Invest in yourself in the same way you would invest in a business. You are investing in your future.

Behaviour, i.e. professional conduct, etiquette and social protocols.

The way you conduct yourself should also be in sync with your personal brand for the level you are targeting.

The way you behave is a huge factor in how others will see you, how they act towards you and also what they say about you behind your back.

If you are seen as a joker, they might not visualise you as a future CEO. If you get drunk at the Christmas party, it is less likely your boss might see you as someone they can put in front of clients and it later affects your career opportunities.

Act appropriate for the position you want. You could be sabotaging your own aspirations without even noticing.

Growth Action: Learn from others who are in positions you aspire to. Review your answers from Module 1 and reflect on the person you see as being at the top of their career. How might they act? Do the same.

Growth Action: Learn rapport and mirroring from in Module 10 on sales presentations and business meetings. Build relationships with the key people in your organisation. This will give you more exposure on behaviours that might be expected for the level you are targeting.

Growth Action: Combine this technique with investing in your professional appearance and this will compound the benefit.

Communication, including both spoken and unspoken communication and body language.

There is a famous saying by Maya Angelou, “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Only 7% of how we communicate emotion is in the words we choose. 93% comes from body language and tone of voice.

Your communication and body language needs to send out the correct message appropriate for the situation you are in. For example, being confident in a big presentation but empathetic in a one-to-one situation. Both are completely different skills and you will communicate in both of these without saying a word.

Growth Action: Watch the videos on RoadmapMBA.com or buy a book on body language. Once learned many of the techniques are not difficult, but having a conscious awareness over your spoken and unspoken communication will transform your ability to communicate.

Use this every day to gradually build your craft in becoming an excellent communicator and soon it will become second nature.

Growth Action: Relating to how we communicate, always be conscious of what you say via text or in e-mail.

With only 7% of communicating emotion coming from the written word and the words we choose, it is very common that people misunderstand the meaning of written messages and this could be working against you.

Instead, go and see the person face to face or pick up the phone before you send your message. This will make a huge difference to communicating your true intent and getting the successful outcome you want.

Digital, including all of your social media and everything that can be found online.

In the same way that our personal appearance and behaviour needs to be controlled, the same is true online.

Be conscious of your social platforms, especially if there are things you might not want your employer to see.

People lose their jobs every day through social media posts which are either misunderstood, taken out of context or not fitting for behaviour that is acceptable at work.

Growth Action: Use your social media for showcasing your knowledge, skills and personal brand. LinkedIn is great for this.

Write blogs, participate in relevant groups or discussions and reflect your attendance at professional events. Social media and online video is a very valuable tool and one which we will build on in later sections.

Make sure your personal social media accounts are private. You never know who might be watching, including clients.

From reviewing the A.B.C.D model do you have any weak spots you could improve to increase your chance of success in business?

Do you need to invest in appropriate clothing for chasing the job you want or winning a prestigious client?

Could your behaviour not reflect the person you want to become? Could there be things online you don’t want people to see? Use this as an opportunity to check and make notes on areas you may wish to improve.

What does the world think about you?

Growth Action: Make a list of 5-10 points of what you believe the world thinks about you, good and bad?

What would they say about you behind your back? Be honest.

The list can be as long as you wish. Identifying any negatives or areas of potential misunderstanding, is something we can control. We do this as a key part of sculpting your personal or professional brand.

Having an awareness of what people may think is the first step in tackling the problem. If you’re not sure, ask a trusted friend who knows you in a professional context.

Also do this for business. How does your business compare against your competitors? Does your branding looks dated? Is this reflecting on how people view you? If it is, this too is something we can change.

What does the world think about you (or your company)?

Identifying any potential negative areas and then changing perceptions is something we can change over time.

After completing this task and making your list, later we will use techniques from sales to overcome these and increase your overall success.

What would you like the world to think about you?

What would you like the world to think about you? Write it down.

This list of positive traits will form the basis of our communications plan about you (or your business) to change and improve perceptions. On completion of this course we then put this plan into action!

Growth Action: List below the things you would like the world to think about you or your business? Example words could be: modern, exciting, knowledgeable, caring, successful, innovative.

Growth Action: What do you care about? Are you a technology leader? Write as much detail as you can. This is important.

As we create your professional brand it is the articulation of your visions and values and your answers from this section which will play a major part in dictating what you tell the world and therefore what they think about you.

Growth Action: Make a list. The longer the better, cover everything you might ever want the world to think about you. Use this as a reference point if you are ever struggling for content and you do not know what to talk about once we start to communicate your message with the world.

What would you like the world to think about you?

Whatever you answer, this becomes a list of topics we could look to tackle in your promotion to demonstrate your expertise or character in these areas.

As an example if you want people to think of you as an animal lover, we will talk about causes you support and why this is important to you. If you want be seen as a knowledgeable expert on a certain topic, talk about it. Provide proof of your expertise. It works.

We cover this again in Module 8, The six universal principles of social influence, discussing a concept called Authority and Expert.

Why do you do what you do?

If you don’t know Simon Sinek, watch his video “How great leaders inspire action”.

This video was a viral sensation when Simon gave his talk as the world realised how important it is to explain WHY you do what you do. It will be the best 18 minutes you will spend today.

In most people’s jobs making the business or shareholders money is an obvious goal, but a subset of having a profitable business is that it makes the lives better for everyone who works in it and supports the communities in which it operates.

A successful business creates jobs, gives the potential for career and financial progression, supports families and puts food on the table.

What gets you excited to go to work every day? What is your WHY?

With the Roadmap it is making business education accessible for 5 billion people to help them build a better life for themselves.

Growth Action: Why did you come to work or why did you start your business? What motivates you? Write down your answers and go into as much detail as you can.

What is your WHY?

What are you passionate about? If it helps watch the video then come back to this.

Look to see if you can embed your WHY into your business and what you tell the world, acting as a catalyst for positive change.

Review your current business promotion. Is it simply functional about the products you sell, or does it share your mission and values? A slight change here could bring huge business benefits over time and boost brand loyalty.

Demonstrate what makes you special

We have described how within your personal brand you need to be authentic, relevant and unique. These are the core building blocks we want to achieve to build a great connection with your audience.

In addition to this, like an onion we can now add extra layers onto this to add greater depth to your message. This is where we can begin to demonstrate the desirable personality traits which will help you achieve your outcome and change what people think about you.

Desirable behaviours for both people and companies could include being seen as:

• Entrepreneurial

• Works well with others

• Trustworthy

• Good communicator

• Works hard

• Commercially Aware

• Inspiring

• Knowledgeable

• Creative

• Good business network

Replicate these values in your marketing and personal and professional brand.

Growth Action: Which of your answers on what makes you special are most relevant to you / your brand?

Keep a conscious awareness of these and reflect these within your content, both social media but also traditional PR and marketing.

How do we implement this?

• For example, you can demonstrate being entrepreneurial through talking about projects your are involved in.

• You can demonstrate being knowledgeable through talking about industry trends or things for the future.

• You can demonstrate being creative in how you do these things - either through video or graphics or however you choose.

This is how personal social media can work perfectly side by side with company promotion. Through your communications, review this list of professional characteristics and regularly ask yourself if you are showing these traits within what you’re telling the world.

Planting seeds for that the world thinks about you

Once you know what you want to say regarding your personal brand, we now look to plant seeds for what the world thinks about you.

Perhaps unknowingly you already do this with every interaction you have. You also do this on a global scale using social media. You never know who is reading the content you put out. The greater your following, the greater the impact of your actions.

When we share information there are obvious actions or behaviours which influence what people think. These are often bold actions which have a clear intent.

There are also lots of small actions which often go unnoticed but play a major role in influencing what people think about you. These small actions and the impact they have is called priming.

Priming is a phenomenon that occurs when exposure to a stimulus influences our thoughts.

Conscious and sub-conscious priming is planting seeds for what people think about you.

In person we plant these seeds through our actions and with every interaction this will build this up a picture in that person’s mind about you. This happens all day every day with every interaction we have.

With your personal and professional brand we can positively influence what people think by demonstrating certain actions which reflect your audience’s beliefs and values and replicating traits that they value.

If you come across as similar to the person you are communicating with, that person will like you more. This is the technique called Mirroring which we will cover later.

If you want to be seen as a trust worthy person, we can create this impression over time if you have a cultivated professional brand which shares your views on certain topics without ever forcing it in people’s faces.

Online we do this with the articles we Like and Share, the causes we get involved in, the way we promote our visions and values and the things we talk about. In person we do it with everything we do and say.

Growth Action: Review back to the A.B.C.D model with your new knowledge on priming. This alone could change how everyone in your business network views you. You could have been giving out the wrong messages for the whole time you have known people.

Always tell the truth and be authentic.

If what you decide to tell the world as part of your brand is false, this will cause more damage than good.

If you are a difficult personality but very good at your job (think Steve Jobs, who was often described as being a difficult character but still a genius and people loved him) own who you are and control the conversation as part of your brand. This is where self-reflection is valuable.

For reasons described in Module 11 on sales closing, if you have traits which people may see as negative, we can still overcome these limiting beliefs through the messages we share as part of your personal brand. We do this by using a sales closing technique to change what people think and it is extremely effective.

The mistake would be to try and make people believe you are something you are not. If your actions don’t reflect your words, when they meet you face to face the resultant loss of trust will crumble everything you are trying to build.

Planning your personal brand is not enough, we actually need to tell people!

One of the aims of the Roadmap is to help you raise your personal or business profile to help you land your dream job, grow your business or achieve your personal goals.

You could be the best in the world at what you do but if you don’t tell people, nobody will know who you are.

Growth Action: Review your list of the things you believe the world thinks about you. Now review the list of all of the things you would like the world to think.

From the two lists, we now have the template to begin to craft your personal and professional brand and the communications message which supports it.

We will use this as a guide for all future public interactions, social media posts, comments, articles and content that we share with the world - although with practise it will soon become second nature.

With this approach we are planting seeds in people’s minds and creating the change in what people think about you.

Module 3: Summary

What the world thinks about you (or your business) is incredibly important for your future success. Module 3 was designed to help you understand and create your personal and professional brand and provide insight on how to change what the world thinks about you.

Growth Action: We shared the A.B.C.D model, for controlling your Appearance, Behaviour, Communication, Digital parts of your brand.

Growth Action: We created a positive list of attributes for ‘What would you like the world to think about you?’ which we can use as a guide for all future content creation.

Growth Action: From the list of possible negatives traits about you, hiding away from things which people perceive as negative will not make them go away, however owning the conversation on the topic, perhaps addressing it with humour will defuse the situation and remove their ammo or bias against you. It also shows humility which will win you fans in the long term.

Growth Action: Addressed later in sales closing there is also a technique called ‘overcoming buying wounds’. In this we acknowledge a buyer’s past experience and the bad experience, however address the improvements made and how things are much better now. Simply acknowledging the previous experience will go a long way. This approach helps to remove the worry in the buyer’s mind and makes them much more likely to buy the product or service. In this section we are essentially doing the same with your personal brand. We are taking any perceived negative about you and then overcoming it through addressing it head on (not avoiding it).

Growth Action: Spend time thinking about your WHY?

Make a list of everything that is important to you and try and distil this down to a single message. If you are not sure, watch the Simon Sinek video again or do some research on the topic. If you can articulate your WHY this will help address both the positive and negatives for your personal brand.

Once you have a strong personal brand even if you make the occasional mistake, if people know what drives you they should hopefully know that your intent was good and that you did not mean to offend them. A strong personal brand is valuable. Create yours.

A good business strategy is critical. A good strategy will help you review what decisions you can make and will provide new concepts which allow you to grow your business, navigate an excellent career or survive a tough situation.

Bad business strategy (or no strategy at all) may mean that what you are trying to sell does not reflect market conditions and you are in for a challenge.

Getting your strategy right is the first step to improving sales and growing a business, therefore should be the first step in understanding company growth and survival.

For anyone looking to build their career, the following sections on strategy may open up your thinking on making that next step in your career and raise awareness on the decisions executives have to make when running a business.

Due to this section’s size and importance, business strategy has been split into three parts (Modules 4, 5 and 6) and this covers everything about your business, product or service.

Key topics discussed in Module 4 are:

• When to launch your product or service

• What makes you special?

• Why should people choose you?

• What decisions can give you an advantage?

• Winning in the customer’s world

• How can we add more value?

• Diversification

These topics will build towards a complete overview of your business which can then be used to identify areas of potential strength or opportunity, which you can then choose to implement how you wish.

What does good business strategy look like?

Goals are excellent for a business. Goals give you direction, but goals are not a strategy. To grow by 30% is not a strategy.

Strategy is the specific detail of how you are going to achieve the goal.

A good strategy provides leaders conscious understanding control of the factors which will lead to a higher probability of success and making decisions which support this.

Modules 4 - 6 will cover all aspects of business to help you gain a high level view of everything to consider when forming strategy, either for your own business or during your career.

First to understand strategy we must ask some questions:

• What industry are you in?

• Is there a smaller niche within this industry which you particularly fit into?

• Who are your main competitors in this market?

• What are the trends you have seen hit your market in recent years?

• What are your competitors particularly good at / weak at?

• Where can you achieve a competitive advantage to beat them?

Based on your answers we build customer insight and market insight which is our view on how the world works. Based on this knowledge we try and find areas where we believe we have an advantage and all decisions made should align with this strategy.

What are your targets for the year?

In the above you are diagnosing the problem and understanding more about your industry. We will do this a lot over the next few modules, but this is still not strategy. Strategy is making strategic decisions based on your knowledge.

We diagnose the problem; create guiding principles and insight which guides our decision making; we then only make decisions which align to the guiding principles.

Finding competitor weaknesses

If a competitor has an excellent product and is the market leader, but a weakness is that they only bring out a new product every 3-5 years, part of your strategy could be to:

• Invest more in R&D and bring out a product every 12 months (v.s. your competitors 3-5 years), capturing more of the market with consumers who want the latest goods.

• Tailor your marketing to specifically target early adopters who want the latest technology.

• Invest in better automation to produce products faster and cheaper than the competition.

• Find 4 additional suppliers who bring you greater supply chain flexibility and reduce costs.

All of the above are measurable actions which become your strategy, not simply to grow 30%. We need to diagnose the problem first, find the opportunity, figure out how we can get there, then do it! That is strategy!

Timing and positioning your launch

One of the most important factors in launching a new business, product or service is timing.

It is well known that trying to launch a product too soon before the market is ready could mean a long and painful period struggling to gain traction.

An example could be launching social media websites in the early 2000’s such as BEBO or MySpace. Although successful in their own right, it was only when Facebook launched in 2004 was the market was ready for something new – and it dominated the market.

Likewise, launching a product late could mean users already have a solution to their needs. Imagine trying to launch another Facebook now? It would be difficult.

When reviewing how to tackle market timing, an example could be trying to launch a new e-mail service in 2020. Everyone probably already has a solution they are happy with. As such it is very hard to build a new business here and get traction. The solution here is to recognise your brand positioning, covered later in Module 7, and sell or promote your business in a new way.

SLACK is a great example of this. SLACK position themselves as a business communication tool, therefore creating a slightly different brand position in the market compared to the well established and saturated e-mail.

Although instant messaging has been around for over 20 years, its use as a business tool is gaining traction as the mass market is now use to communicating with instant messaging and hence SLACK has timed its growth well. Zoom could be another example in 2020. Right place right time, where people knew, understood and were comfortable with video calls.

The graphic above shows a visual of this process. It shows the need to launch your product or service at the right time to maximise its potential. The perfect time to launch your business is just as the technology is about to become mainstream and grow rapidly, gaining a lot of new followers quickly.

The area under the curve is the overall market size. Too early and there is not a big enough market to make your business sustainable. Too late and there are established players you need to compete against, but there is a larger market to go at. The trick is in your positioning.

This can be a complicated topic so join a classroom session to go through it in more detail.

Keep your sales engine turning

All too common businesses look to see why their sales are slowing down, when in fact their sales promotion and sales activity has slowed down. Always keep the sales engine turning!

Social media is a great way to hit a lot of people very quickly, but never forget about picking up the telephone or seeing people face to face.

Growth Action: Ask yourself:

• How do you get in touch with customers?

• How often do you promote yourself?

• How is this different to your competitors?

• What other touch-points do you have with customers, which aren’t direct sales calls? e.g. social media / store front / advertising?

Growth Action: Create Lead Action sales KPIs for your team. Every day you fall behind, you are falling behind target.

As a worked example on how to create your Lead Actions:

1. You need £1m revenue per year.

2. On average, each sale is worth £10,000.

3. £1,000,000 / £10,000 = 100 successful sales needed per year to hit target.

4. If you currently convert 1 in 20 sales approaches, you need to be approaching 2000 potential customers per year.

5. Therefore, if you do not approach 2000 customers you will not hit your target.

Creating your Lead Action:

1. If you work 5 days per week, 48 weeks a year. This equals 240 work days per year.

2. Based on the need to contact 2000 customers, 2000 / 240 work days = 8.4 customers per day.

3. So you need to be contacting 9 customers every day to hit your sales target.

4. If you contact any less than 8 customers per day you will fall short on your target.

5. If you contact 9 or more you will exceed target!

Growth Action: Take your answers and produce a weekly plan of Lead Actions. Follow this and make it part of your routine to keep your sales engine turning.

Explanation: In the example above, the Lead Action is to contact 9 people per day. The Lag Measure is the final achieved sales figure.

Focus on the Lead Actions as these are something you can control and this is how you can grow your business.

If you get the Lead Actions right the Lag Measures will follow.

What choices can you make to give you a competitive advantage?

Perhaps the most important question when reviewing corporate strategy is “what choices can we make to give us a competitive advantage?”

Every business has its strengths and weaknesses, however if you take a holistic approach to review all of your company’s knowledge, people, assets, products, customers and operational information, it might be that you find an offering you can make which is much more valuable to your customer, adding much greater value than your product or service on its own.

This is extremely important to create a successful business.

An example could be a manufacturing business who historically receive 12 orders per year from the same customer for the same part.

With tooling and set up charges, the manufacturing company may traditionally make one at a time. This costs the customer £10,000 per unit with a lead time of one week. The manufacturing company produce each unit for £8,000, giving £2,000 profit.

*The numbers are not important but more the concept and how to look at the problem.

The customer does not have the capital to purchase larger batches and they too are being squeezed on margin by their client, so price is an important factor.

Suddenly you lose the order as the customer can buy them elsewhere for £7,000. This is common in manufacturing, there will always be someone to make it cheaper. Good strategy can make all the difference.

A good executive, following a review of everything they have in the business, may realise that their company has both an abundance of cash and storage space in their factory.

Armed with this information the manufacturing company may be able to make all 12 items in a single batch, which reduces the unit cost for production down from £8,000 to £4,000. They can sell for a reduced price (keeping the customer happy) but actually make much more profit than before, whilst providing additional added value thorough hold the remaining batch as stock and potentially deliver same-day (not one week).

Suddenly the company has a competitive advantage simply through a change in mindset.

This approach is only possible as the company had the space in the warehouse to store the batch and the available cash to finance the investment in materials.

The same-day delivery adds more value to the customer than the previous 7 day lead time, however this was only possible through looking at the wider aspects of the business.

Other rival manufacturing companies may not have the cash or space to allow them to do this, hence the competitive advantage to the seller.

The change of approach in asking the question “what choices can we make to give us a competitive advantage?” could make or break a business, even though nothing has physically changed other than the mindset of the entrepreneur or manager.

Growth Action: Actively review everything you have within your business, both tangible and intangible assets, and see what choices can you potentially make to give yourself a competitive advantage.

Can you use payment terms to give you an advantage?

When asking “what choices can we make to give us a competitive advantage?”, the same could be true when considering payment terms.

Continuing the example from the previous page, the manufacturing company could potentially provide significant added value through not requesting payment as quickly, if they can afford to do so.

This could be offered at no actual cost to the business (*providing the business has no cost of capital themselves and the money could not be better invested elsewhere). Within the example above, even if a competitor does try to poach the work for a reduced price, they may not be able to match the new same-day delivery which the client may value more than the price difference.

Even if this does happen, it is likely that you can retain the business and still make more profit that in the original scenario, whilst securing and potentially growing your business in the long term if you are able to offer 60 or 90 day payment terms not 30, depending on the pain points of your customer.

In a recession or depressed market this will be especially important, as long as you are happy to manage the risk of getting paid yourself.

“What choices can we make to give us a competitive advantage?” is an important question to ask when reviewing corporate strategy.

Growth Action: Make a list of all of your company’s knowledge, people, assets, products, customers and operational information into account. Can you find an offering which is more valuable to your customer?

Growth Action: For your career, ask yourself what skills do you have which may make you an even more valuable employee?

Are you an excellent salesman as well as having great technical knowledge? Do you have graphic design skills or the ability to motivate people?

Ask yourself the same question of “what can I do which gives me a competitive advantage”, then use this within your personal brand to raise awareness of your full skills and potential within the work place.

This section on payment terms combined with Module 15 on finance, prove how a broader skill set can have a profound impact on your business or career performance, as you may be able to identify new opportunities you may have otherwise missed through now understanding more of the tools available to you.

Winning in the customer’s world

Always make a conscious effort to see in the customer’s mindset. Accept that customers don’t care what your goals are, they just want to know how you can help them!

Corporate strategies are useless if they do not answer this simple question, for the customer, “How can we see in their mindset and how can we win in their world?”

Customers do not care about your plan and what you want. They simply have their own headaches and challenges which you can either help with or not.

Many business strategies miss this simple point and talk about their own needs and goals. The realisation that nobody else cares about what you want will help you flip your mindset to focusing on how you solve the customers goals and not your own.

Always ensure you’re “Winning in the customers world!”

Growth Action: Make a list of the buying drivers for your customers? What do they buy? Why do they buy it? What do they like / dislike about your (or other peoples) products?

When you know the buying drivers of your customers, you can know how to win in their world. This will be covered in much more detail in Module 7 on Marketing.

Growth Action: Review the questions from Sales Closing, page 187. These are there to ensure you have ticked every box and understood the real drivers for understanding your client’s purchase.

To make it easy we have copied some of these questions below. Ask these questions as early as possible within your sales process:

• What did you like / dislike about the service?

• What would you change or improve?

• What would you change or improve with your current supplier, or in products you have bought in the past?

• What are your biggest headaches right now?

• What is your ultimate objective?

• Of all the factors, what is the most important to you?

• Have I asked about every detail that’s important to you?

Learn what is important to your customers!

Doing the above will put you a million miles ahead of the competition and help you build a solid business from the ground up.

Use this knowledge in your strategy to help you see in the customers mindset and build the whole business around delivering this.

How to diversify your business with a reduced chance of failure

At the appropriate time, every business should look to diversify and grow its product or service offering, or look to expand into new markets. The important part is not to try and do these both at the same time.

The concept is demonstrated in the simplified Ansoff Growth Matrix below. It begins with the concept we call ‘One Jump, Not Two’.

The Ansoff Growth Matrix was created by Igor Ansoff in his 1957 paper about product-market strategy - Ansoff, I.: Strategies for Diversification, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 35 Issue 5,Sep-Oct 1957, pp. 113-124

“One Jump” can be described as developing your current service into a new market; or developing a new service into an existing market.

Developing your existing service into a new market would be classed as one jump, as you have only one unknown in the scenario.

You know your current service, you do not know the new market, therefore the number of unknowns is one.

With less variables to control this provides a higher chance of success. The service you are offering is existing. It is the entry to the new market which is the unknown.

Likewise, launching a new product in your existing market would also be classed as one jump. The known is the current market, but the new learning curve is launching the new product.

“Two Jumps” is developing a new service offering into a new market at the same time.

With two unknowns and two learning curves there is an exponential increase in chance of failure and should be avoided where possible.

Think of it as climbing a ladder. You move one hand or one foot at a time, not everything at once.

Also, be cautious if you have the resource to manage the process as it will be very labour and resource intensive. You can bring in consultants who have experience in the new product or the new market which brings down your risk and increases your chance of success.

Growth Action: If you are looking to diversify or grow your business into new areas, make a list of all of your current products and service offerings. Then make a list of all of your current markets that you sell into.

This can be sector led (i.e. aerospace, automotive, oil and gas) or geographic (USA, UK, Canada), or both.

Growth Action: Next make a list of all of your new products and service offerings you wish to develop.

Growth Action: After competing this, make a list of all of the new markets that you wish to sell into. If you can, rank them in order.

Growth Action: Prioritise where your revenues come from and which are the quickest wins? Which provide the greatest margin, or which are the most realistic?

Growth Action: Once you have the list of everything you want to achieve, now you have a better idea of your potential growth strategy, what to prioritise and also the knowledge to only attempt ‘One Jump Not Two’ to give you the greatest chance of success.

Growth Action: Work backwards from this priorities target list and create your Lead Actions to move you towards your goal.

Is your business busy at different times of the day or year?

Many businesses have seasonal revenue streams. It could be that you are busy in the summer but quiet in the winter (or visa versa). Some businesses, especially those built around a season such as Christmas, may make 90% of their revenue in three months of the year. In these instances it is important to recognise that we can do something about it.

Growth Action: Ask yourself the following questions: 1) Do your revenues come at certain parts of the year?

If so when?

2) What impact does this have on your business? 3) What complementary areas could you consider diversifying into to cover your quiet periods. 4) What benefit could this have for your business? 5) What would you need to get started? 6) Do you have the resource to manage this process?

Every business has things it can do to balance seasonal trends. An example is given below using summer and winter coach holidays, but this can be applied to all businesses. What could you do?

This concept also works for busy times of the day. If you own a bar which is busy in the evening, consider opening for breakfast or lunch and targeting a different audience to help you maximise the profitable revenue generating activities of your business.

Is revenue “lumpy” or unpredictable?

Many businesses earn their revenue from a small number of contracts or projects each year. Between these contracts, a company could lose money on salaries or overheads and struggle to survive.

Businesses like these could consider adding a secondary, more predictable, revenue stream to cover their fixed costs. This does not even have to be related to its core business, but could make a huge difference to its survival.

Growth Action: What else could you do to earn money?

Could this extra income give you extra cash to invest and grow faster?

Review the example in the handout and ask yourself the following questions:

1) In this example the company’s profit comes from a small number of projects per year. This business might not cover overhead some months, when the Revenue is less than the Fixed Costs. This is risky and unpredictable but common in certain types of businesses.

2) Could you find an extra (or more predicable) revenue stream that is enough to cover your fixed costs? An example could be renting out some spare office space or working a part time job as a freelancer to help you become established.

3) Combining the two, now the company is profitable all year round. Even if the new secondary source of income is less attractive long term, use it as you become established to help you cover your costs and stay in business longer.

“How can we add more value to the customer”?

Adding more value will help retain or grow market share and protect your pricing.

Growth Action: Ask yourself, what are your client’s headaches?

Similar to asking “What choices can we make to give us a competitive advantage?”, asking yourself, “how can we add more value” is a hugely important question.

Ask yourself about how can you win in the customers world. What headaches do your customers have and what are their goals? This is the only thing which matters!

The better you can solve this the more successful you will be.

Hidden areas of value

Not all of the value you can offer clients is obvious. This is where a comprehensive review of everything your business has within its reach becomes useful.

As an example, it might be that someone in your network is a potential target for your key customer. An introduction to your friend would be very well received and win favour with your customer. It costs you nothing but adds value to your customer doing business with you.

In another scenario, you may have a corporate golf membership you don’t use to its full capacity. Why not let your clients use it to entertain their clients at no cost, simply as a perk of working with you?

Many companies have memberships or subscriptions which are under-utilised so this can be an easy win win for both parties.

For smaller businesses who may not be able to afford corporate hospitality, do you have a friend in a larger company who complains about not getting value from their membership?

Why not offer to jointly host an event where you fill their corporate hospitality places with clients who are advantageous to both of you, which allows you to host clients without the full expense and the larger client gets to meet new customers, creating a win win for everyone.

Just always ensure you give value to the large company and your guests! Never create a scenario where you are taking more value than you bring. This will hurt you in the long run.

There are always ways to add more value and they may not be obvious, however getting this right can help retain or grow market share.

Growth Action: Make a list of things you have within your control or network which could bring value to others.

Feel free to think outside the box, but there will be lots of easy wins for you to use.

Constantly refresh your strategy

Standing still is no good for any business. Review or refresh your strategy every two or three months. The world changes fast. This is a reminder to keep your head up and review the world ahead of you.

If you keep your strategy in a visible place you may also spot a potential problem or opportunity earlier than if your plan is simply stored on a hard drive or in a drawer.

Growth Action: Use this textbook as a constant reminder of the tools available to you, or do something similar with your business plan and keep it visible.

Even if it is only high-level notes, this will make you much more responsive as a business and aware of the challenges ahead.

If you can genuinely figure out how to bring more value to your customers and this will give you a genuine competitive advantage (through making smarter strategic decisions) this will help you make a real impact quickly.

Regularly reviewing and refreshing the strategy alone is a competitive advantage against everyone else that does not.

The three modules on business strategy are here to help you identify these opportunities and then together with the other modules help you put in place the plan to grow your business.

What things do you have within your control (or network) which could bring value to others?

Who could benefit?

What could this mean for your business?

Where do you currently store you business plan?

How often do you look at it?

Could you get input from anyone else?

Put a quarterly reminder in your diary to review the direction of your business, or simply join some of the Roadmap classroom sessions to give you fresh ideas and insight and keep your business moving forward.