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We’ve all been through our resolutions. Some of us have decided not to have any. But we all want 2008 to be better than 2007. Even if 2007 was pretty good.I’ve discovered it’s always the small things that make the difference. Rarely is it a monumental change. Even changing jobs can be a simple decision. An effective strategy is to look at 3 things:

1. What do you want to stop doing?
2. What do you want to start doing?
3. What do you want to keep doing?

If you can define these things your 2008 will more than likely be better than 2007.So, what are they? What will you stop, what will you start and what will you keep? Here are mine. I’d love to hear of yours.  3 things I want to stop doing 

1. Stop drinking any alcohol during the week.
2. Stop eating junk food any time I feel like it.
3. Stop treating work like a To Do list - project manage my role.

3 things I want to start doing

1. Exercising 5 days out of seven
2. Being interested in others more - without the need for reward or recognition
3. Paying off my short term debt before any more purchases (though I really do want that new Honda VFR 800!!  )

3 things I want to continue

1. Being a good husband - I have a great marriage, need to hold on to that
2. Learning - the older I get the less I understand
3. Being a role model at work

As easy as they may all sound it is not alway easy to accomplish. To some these may not seem that deep but it is often the “little foxes that spoil the vine” so if I can get these things on track I think I can tackle some bigger things later on.  I want my 2008 to be different and better than 2007.  I hope yours is too. 

One of the things that always intrigues me is how people become successful.

I’ve read many books on successful leaders, attended seminars and talked with people at length.

I’ve listened to strategies and tactics, things they have done that have worked well, how lucky they feel themselves to be. The problem being, no-one can replicate those things and ensure success. Circumstances are different, contexts are different, upbringing is different.

So, to try to begin (this isn’t exhaustive) to find out what makes successful people tick, we’ve tried to dig into their psyche for a brief moment to try to understand their view of the world.

Our first interview is Miles Burke, CEO of Bam Creative, a web development company in Perth, Western Australia. Miles is also one of the team here at Creative Suit. Miles has also been recently recognized as one of WA’s “Top 40 under 40″ - which gives you a clue to his vintage.

The answers to the following questions are unedited but do provide great insight to how Miles sees himself and his world.

1: Name: Miles Burke

2: Business: Bam Creative

3: Time in Business: 4.5 years with current business

4. How many businesses have you owned? Including my first freelance attempt, four.

5: Do you plan to retire soon? Nope – I’m having too much fun! 

When you started your business, did you have a specific objective and, if so, what was it? The original concept was to provide me with a lifestyle where I could afford to spend time with my young family, and to also prove to my peers that you can be successful without becoming a ‘bastard’ – we’re talking solid ethical grounds here. 

How did you deal with the challenge of “you have to be different to your competitors”? The main distinction I discovered early on was that I thought of marketing and branding than ‘cool technology’. We’ve got cool technology, but that shouldn’t be a driver for a website project. The fact we’re purposely small and approachable has been a big part of our success. 

What was your first setback and how did you deal with it? The first one was cash flow – as with everyone, it took a while for me to discover turnover didn’t mean money in the bank. I was honest with clients – I called a number in that first year and asked them to pay me straight away, as I needed it to pay wages and put food on the table. 

What 3 things have you learnt about yourself in business that you like? I’ve learnt that I will happily put a client’s needs before my own – we’ve turned down many a project because we have believed there were better solutions to their needs. Secondly, I have learnt how to be fair but firm in management – a certainly hard skill to learn, and lastly, I have learnt when to say no, which is a very important step towards staying focussed and staying true to your beliefs. 

What really annoys you about your industry? The low barrier to entry means that anyone with a basic understanding of some simple software can call themselves a ‘web business’. There is a huge leap between that and best practise systems with sound methodologies and QA. It’s heart breaking when I hear of stories where clients have lost money or faith in our industry through charlatans. 

What would you change about you if you could? I’d love to learn how to better wind down after work, and to be able to better define the balance between work and life. 

When someone first presents you with a ‘great idea’ how do you respond? I pick it to shreds! I have a grand idea at least daily, so it is an important ritual to pick all of the holes and play ‘devil’s advocate’. If it makes it through my intense stripping back, then it’s worth considering. 

What words would describe your approach to your business? Honest and focussed. I’m committed to be as transparent as I possibly can with clients, staff and suppliers, and I am constantly honing our service offering, so we offer only what we’re exceptionally good at. There are a multitude of ‘quick buck’ offerings which we could offer, but I believe in long term gain not short term profits. 

Describe one thing about yourself that most people wouldn’t know that might give an insight into your personality. I have volunteered for organisations or charities since I was a teenager. Since starting Bam Creative, we’ve consistently given at least 5% of our gross turnover to charity – meaning we’ve returned more profits back into the community than we’ve actually kept for ourselves in some years. I keep that fact low key nowadays, because with the ‘triple bottom line’ buzz words and social responsibility trends that seem to be sweeping business, the concept sounds marketing driven, when it isn’t. 

What is the one thing you wish you could do to improve your business tomorrow? The holy grail of keeping enough work in the pipelines to be busy enough, to make a reasonable profit and provide all of our clients with the turnarounds which they would all love. There’s a hard balance there, with busy periods affecting our responsiveness, and quiet periods affecting our bottom line (although they are rare nowadays).

More interviews to come. If there is someone you know who you would like to discover more about drop a line to us and we’ll try to get in touch with them.

Note: all interviews will be around the same questions to build the profile list as well as deliver consistency. If there are other questions you would like asked, let us know and we’ll try and squeeze them in somewhere.

 

A big issue here in Australia is the lack of skilled staff. Both Western Australia and Queensland have been in the middle of a resources boom for the past 3 or so years and it doesn’t look like ending soon. A recent report also suggested that in the next 10 - 15 years Europe is going to be needing 20 million skilled workers for various opportunities.

All of a sudden, our employment competition is on the other side of the world!

This affects everyone. Every IT company, every blogger, every web focused individual. People’s skills are in demand and there are plenty of people with the resources to steal your better staff.

So in a recent HR Forum a few colleagues and I discussed options for attracting and keeping people within your business. It seems that the best way to keep people is to address the basics of human requirements. Maslow was right all along - as was Herzberg!

I learnt in grade 3 that people were social beings. That we needed each other and there was a need to interact. But the type of interaction is also important. It’s no longer Command and Control, “Do as I say” or “you’re lucky to be here.”

People today are realising more and more that they have options. And options provide us with choice and lifestyle. If I don’t like working for you I’ll go and work for someone else. And you can’t stop them.

So, what do you do?

firstly, it really does come back to basics. People want to be recognized for their part in the business, they want to know that what they do makes a real difference and they want to be heard. The Internet opens up so many options today that there are probably more ideas floating around that there was in the whole of last century.

So ask questions. Find out what your staff are thinking and what they are thinking about their jobs. Ask them how you can help them make their job better. Better still, give them the challenge of making their own job better. They’ll have plenty of ideas and they probably won’t cost you anything.

“Back in my day.” Mentally count the times you say or think this. Now pay yourself $10 for evry time you say it and see how it mounts up. That’s how much you’re probably annoying your team. Now ask them what they need to do today. Ask yourself as well but if you’re in a leadership role remember who’s actually going to be doing the work.

Create small project teams. Ask these teams 3 questions:

1. what are we doing that we could improve upon?
2. what are we doing that we should stop right away? (and I mean today!)
3. what are we doing that is good and we should continue to do?

If you ask these 3 questions and nothing else, you will get a huge amount of feedback that will enliven the team, produce results and build a sense of ownership within the group. And once you have ownership with value, they aren’t going to be going anywhere soon.

Oh, one last thing: don’t start these things and not see them through. If you do, your turnover will go through the roof and your profits will go through the floor.

Bill

Feedback is important in every sphere of life but more so in business simply because it tells how we’re going and how we can improve.

If we continue to improve, we’ll continue to grow.

The benefits of feedback are obvious:

1. Consolidates the relationship
2. Lets you know where you’re falling down
3. Opens up communication
4. Can be the catalyst to valuable testimonials

But Many Businesses Still Don’t Do It ( and Many Don’t Do It Well)

So, why do so many businesses fail to implement a proper customer feedback process?

Every business will have their unique reasons and on the face of it, most will be very rational. Here are three:

1. Time - it’s hard, in the traditional format, to arrange constant customer feedback nevermind tracking it and taking action.

2. What to Ask - some questions may seem personal, while others may seem to say “tell me how good I am”. Where’s the balance? What do you want to know?

3. Customer Response - not just to the survey questions but to the survey itself. Just not knowing people’s reactions might hinder the implementation process.

But what if you could get the feedback when you wanted it, automatically and have it collated so you can get an overall feel for how you’re doing?

How priceless would that be?

To know:

• what your customers think about you
• what your customers and prospects think about your product and your service

would be so powerful your business would be at the edge of its performance very quickly.You see, you don’t want “nice & fluffy” feedback.

You need feedback much like the Grand Slalom skiers are getting at the Winter Olympics in Turin at the moment.

If they miss by 2/100ths of a second, they get told. There’s no apology or softening the blow.

That’s what great business is about.

But How do You do This Quickly & Easily?

For those with assistants it may be easier but with any business there are simple and effective ways to get customer feedback. Some use checklists, others have it pre-prepared in the client file and hand it over or post it out at the same time every time.

One way I’m going to suggest is with an online survey.

Why Online?

To my way of thinking this is the best way to get client feedback today.

1. The population is increasingly “web aware” and are exploring the Web more and more.
2. An online survey (example below) is generally quick saving both you and your customer time.
3. Completing the survey privately will allow better responses. You can even have the responses go to a third party like a coach or a manager.
4. Inexpensive: this is a big one. Mail out surveys cost both time and money. Online surveys, once they are set up are done. All it needs is for clients to complete them.

Nothing Happens in a Vacuum

I can hear some people question the use of technology and how it might appear to be impersonal. I actually believe the opposite.

If any service provider has made enough of a connection then almost any tool used to promote the relationship (like a survey) will be beneficial. The means to that survey can be immaterial.

I will agree though that online surveys, just shot out of a cannon because it’s the latest fad can do more harm than good. You need a well thought out strategy to go with the surveys.

Overcoming Resistance

If a client refuses an online survey, that in itself is feedback - not to change tools, but to develop a closer relationship, find out their objction to it and help them overcome whatever is getting in the way.

It is a signal to add value.

So How Hard Is It?

I’m not sure who said it but someone wiser than me stated: “The questions you ask are defined by the answers you need.” (not want)

That is how you form your questions. And if you follow the advice the content becomes easier.

Now What To Do

The next thing to do is to work out 3 - 5 questions you’d like to know from your clients and write them out how you’d like to ask them.

If you’d like feedback on your questions you can fire them off to me and I’ll oblige - f.r.e.e. of charge for the next two weeks.

I’ll look forward to your responses.

p.s. if you know someone who is looking into this already, feel free to pass this article on to them.

Back in the distant past I wrote a post on Business Blogging - Where do you Stop? and asked the question “Are there industries that should or shouldn’t blog at all?” My point was, does blogging solve a whole lot of problems or potentially create them, so it’s best left alone.

Banking was the industry I picked on as here, in Australia, and I’m assuming in other parts of the world, they have suffered a bad reputation of late.

John, from ThingsThatAreFun.com then commented that Not-for-Profits are an industry that would benefit from having a social commentary such as a blog. It was a ‘blinding flash of the obvious’ and I appreciate John’s time to let me know.

A Not-for-Profit (NFP) is all about building community to ensure they receive the necessary funds for their research and activities. And it’s a highly competitive field. I did some work with the Multiple Sclerosis Society in Perth, Western Australia a couple of years ago and found that is extremely tough to secure funds and there is ‘no rest for the wicked.’

So how, specifically, would blogging help?

Here are six benefits of a blog for NFPs.

1. The key to communication is it’s timeliness and understanding. To have a tool that alerts constituents what is happening, real time, would be invaluable.
2. The communication of ideas to the general public who don’t currently support the charity.
3. Communicating to supporters how each initiative is tracking can achieve a momentum that is lost if the result is only communication after the event is finished.
4. Building momentum. Having a common portal (the blog) can act as a meeting point for those wishing to know what is going on, build energy and promote events.
5. The RSS feed is now the easiest way to keep up to date with your chosen charity. You will now, right away, what is happening.
6. More than a website. A website, by comparison is static and if you visit it, you generally have to find the information. A Blog is the opposite - it pushes information to interested parties which can promote activity, energy and, most importantly grow a list of loyal supporters who will support the charity.

I am sure there are many other reasons that NFPs will benefit from a blog. I’m off to find some examples. Drop me a line if you know of any.

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