What stakeholder alignment can mean for your business

Stakeholder alignment is the process of understanding your stakeholder’s interests and aligning those interests with your own business objectives.

Your stakeholders are the group of individuals who are involved in your business. They could be  your spouse and/or business partner(s), your team, and your customers too.

The alignment process gives you and your team the clarity and focus you need to do what is necessary for your business to be successful. The process also allows you to better define the specific target market you’re committed to attract.

You may think that as a sole trader you don’t have stakeholders...

If this is what you’ve been thinking. it’s time to rethink... In fact, the need to establish your stakeholder group and gain their support is greater than ever!

Your key stakeholders could be your spouse and your family. In other words, your greatest supporters. Imagine what it would mean to lack their support. This could even lead to your business failure...

The stakeholder alignment process is also a great empowerment tool. It serves to get all your stakeholders working together and delivering on the same common business goal.

What follows is a practical tool for talking to stakeholders about your business. It could be used in three ways:

1.    Understanding Your Stakeholders. Ask stakeholders the key questions and make a note of their answers. Stakeholder answers reveal their interests in, and perceptions of your business. When stakeholders answer the questions differently, you have early warning of emerging conflicts.

The goal of Stakeholder Alignment is to get agreement from stakeholders on what the answers to these questions could be. Note that it is easiest to achieve this agreement at the very beginning of a business or a project you want to implement in your business– ideally, during the “Define” Phase.

2.    Communicating with Your Key Stakeholders. It takes skill in communication and negotiation to align stakeholder interests, particularly when stakeholders have very different perspectives and needs. Keeping them informed about what is happening in your business, where you are right now, and where you will see the business going is critical.

    Make sure your communication also includes those who do not support your  business or project too. Have a shared understanding of the following points:

(i)   What your business or project is doing;

(ii)  Why your business is doing it this way.

(iii)  Who will judge the business success.

3.    Empower your Key Stakeholders. Share you vision with your key stakeholders. The more they are involved in your business they easier it will be for you to achieve your business objectives.

 Remember, a team effort is always better than trying to do every yourself.

Want to learn more about  Stakholders  Alignment in your business?

It’s as simple as 1... 2... 3...

1: Like  ArtSHINE's Facebook page

2: Come along to the ArtSHINE workshops in Sydney: workshops@quantumcompass.com.au

3: Contact Vinh for a no cost, no obligation coaching session:

Vinh direct on  0410 636 138, Vinh@QuantumCompass.com.au, 

or go to: 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ArtShineDiscovery

Do You Have A Big Plan In Place For The New Year?

Here is some food for thought if you're planning to increase sales and profit in your Art  & Design business.

Remember, while some strategies may have an immediate impact, most will take months to generate results.

Before you get started with the marketing strategy, Firstly you need to clearly define your ideal customer.

Knowing your ideal customer will help you decide the marketing strategy that will help  you generate more ideal leads for your business.

Increase Leads:  We highly recommend you to have a combination of short, medium and long term lead generation strategies in your business.

By implementing these strategies at different stages it is also more manageable and  measurable.

For example; The time it takes to drive more leads will be depended on the type of marketing technique and the nature of your business. 

• If you use more direct marketing methods  such as direct mail, e-mail and phone could take a month to generate leads and a systematic referral strategy could begin to pay dividends in a week or two (short term). 
• Arranging a strategic alliance with another business or association could take 3 to 6 months to really impact the lead flow (medium term). 
•   Attending more tradeshows could take months to a year depending on the tradeshow schedule.(long term) 

Better Conversion: Seeing improvement in the conversion or close rate from prospects to clients could be very quick, or extremely long depending on the sales cycle of your art &  design practice.

A design business with a short sales cycle could see a rapid increase in conversion with some sales training and the development of a unique selling proposition (USP) and guarantee. Once the techniques are effectively implemented, they could have an immediate impact on the bottom line because clients decide relatively quickly.

However, if you are a Licensing artist, those same sales technique improvements would take much longer to reach the bottom line because the sales cycle could be 6 to 12 months or more. The key is to expect to see measured improvement a full sales cycle AFTER your business has effectively implemented the enhancements.

Average Transaction  Size: This will also generally follow the sales cycle. If a cross sell or upsell is integrated into the sales process, results could be seen within the typical sales cycle. "Would you like fries with that?" Could have an impact the day it is implemented.

Average Annual Number of Transactions Per Client: The time to see an impact will vary greatly by the nature of your design business. The key to remember is that multiple transactions depend on the first experience going well!

Profit Margin: Profit margin can be impacted almost right away with the right strategy. For example, If your business negotiate a handbag order with a 5% less in the cost of goods from the manufacturer, it can go immediately to the bottom line. A 5% increase in prices will also increase profits as soon as it is implemented. Many  Art & Design businesses have not increased their prices for years and have watched it erode their bottom line. The New Year is the perfect time to review and  align prices with the value you provide. Eliminating habitual discounting in the sales process can also have a major impact. Overall the profit margin often offers the fastest way to bottom line impact.

If we now take a second look at our plans for a fast start to 2011, you can see that it starts with actions taken right now. 

For Art & Design businesses with longer sales cycles, the early 2011 results will be a result of actions taken in third quarter. If your business has a short sales cycle, there is still time to get off to a fast start in 2011. If your business has a sales cycle measured in months, there is no time like the present to be taking ACTION to impact the second quarter.

Remember that a 1% improvement each week equates to a 67% improvement in a year. 

So Make Tomorrow Today!

Need help with your  business planning for the New Year?

Want to learn more about planning for the new year the ArtSHINE's way?

It’s as simple as 1... 2... 3...

1: Like  ArtSHINE's Facebook page

2: Come along to the next “Action Planning” workshop.

    E-mail Quantum Compass: ActionPlanning@QuantumCompass.com.au  for details of the      

    next half day session near you.

3: Contact Vinh for a no cost, no obligation coaching session: 

    www.surveymonkey.com/s/ArtShineDiscovery

Do you have the right people in your business?

How often do you hear about business owners you know say ‘It’s so hard to find good people to help me’ or ‘why can’t I get my team to do what I want them to do’.

Here are some of the questions for you to consider?

•          What systems and processes do you have in your business?
•          Do you have job descriptions for members of your team to follow?
•          Do you share your vision and business objectives with your team?
•          How much time do you invest and interact with your team members?

Just say if you have a team of people in your business and why are you still the one doing most of the work?

Please explain?

The answers to this could be:

•          You are a control freak and thinking you are the only one can do the job and no one can.
•          You don’t have time to teach you team to do the task and it’s easier for you to do it yourself.
•          You spent too much time in your business and not enough On an Above your business.

To have the right people in your business firstly you need to get back to basic and build a good foundation for your business.

As you may know to run a successful business you need to have a great system, a system that will suit your business lifestyle too. Systems are usually responsible for having a business that runs like clockwork and makes money for you. Once you have systems and processes in place you can then recruit the right team and coach them to fulfil the role they need to do in your business.  The best real life business example which has a great system in place is McDonalds.

What I am saying is, if you don’t have a system in place then you need to come up with one or even though, if you do have a system and it’s not working for you then you need to review it and fine tune it. You need to cover all systems and processes even the most basic tasks like how to greet customers right through to how to create and design your product or service.  The key is your system needs to be clearly defined and easy to understand; therefore your team knows exactly how to follow and performs the tasks. Have a job description for each role in your business and a training manual with check points for your team to follow. 

Systems and processes are the basic foundation of business -- and are critical in getting your people to work as a team. However, it's not just a matter of having people who come in, follow the system and get the job done. What you are looking for now is SYNERGY & OWNERSHIP!

Synergy comes from having people who are committed to the ‘same business goal’. If you shared your company vision with your team and involved them in setting ‘the same business goal’, then they are more likely to commit and live and breathe your vision.

The next step is to create business ownership with your people. If they are empowered and treat your business like their own then your business will definitely flourish and be successful. At this level of ownership your team will think of ways to help you grow your business and will actively get involved in your business.

The final step is to give constructive feedback and give credit to your team where it’s due.  In this area is where you can maintain staff morale and keep them motivated. Recognition and rewards are the two critical points to getting your team in high spirits and living your business vision.

Want to learn more about the right system for your business?

It’s as simple as 1... 2... 3...

1: Like  ArtSHINE's Facebook page

2: Come along to the ArtSHINE workshop in   Sydney: workshops@quantumcompass.com.au

3: Contact Vinh for a no cost, no obligation coaching session on 0410 636 138.

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FREE COACHING SESSION

Make Tomorrow Today™

Setting Goals, Make Choices & Not Making Excuses

It doesn't matter what your goals are, the process of achieving your Personal or Business goals are very much the same.


As a Business LifeStyle coach working with clients every day, we firstly help our clients to define their goals. Then help them see the value of making good choices, and not making excuses. 


As your coach we help you to understand why you want to achieve your goals and what is the real purpose for achieving them.


The 'Real Purpose" behind why you want to achieve your goals is the key to reaching your goals and becoming successful in what you do.


Making Good Choices: Real Purpose will stop you making excuses and getting caught in the procrastination trap. In fact it will empower you to do more as every thing you do will have a real sense of purpose in your life. The more you achieve your goals, the more confident and successful you will become. As you start to recognise and enjoy these accomplishments it will also give you a wonderful sense of well being.


Do you need a plan and direction in accomplishing your goals? 


Just to let you know, there is no magic pill... It will take work, sometimes hard work.


But where there is a plan and specific steps in place, your goals can, and will be accomplished.
Success is straight ahead and not around the corner.


It's time to learn the difference between making choices and making excuses.


Want to learn more about goals and action planing the Quantum Compass way? 


It’s as simple as 1... 2... 3...


1: Like  ArtSHINE's Facebook page

2: Come along to the next “Goal Setting” workshop. E-mail Quantum Compass (insert link: GoalSetting@QuantumCompass.com.au ) for details of the next half day session near you.

3: Contact Vinh for a no cost, no obligation coaching session.

www.quantumcompass.com.au/free-coaching.php