This month I was elligible for my next phone/contract ‘upgrade’ from Vodafone. Currently I was paying £36 a month for unlimited texts, 600 minutes and 500mb of data. The monthly bill was so high due to having to upgrade early 2 years ago because of a damaged phone that Vodafone wouldn’t fix (even it I paid for it).

As you can probably tell, my main concern was lowering my monthly bill to something more reasonable. I already have an iPhone 3GS so wasn’t bothered about upgrading my phone just yet – it still works and I am happy with it. I had seen price plans from Tesco Mobile and the Utility Warehouse that were comparable but a lot cheaper.

I finally managed to speak to someone at the Vodafone Customer Service and explained to the agent that I wanted to keep my phone and lower my monthly fee (which seemed a simple enough request). After a few minutes the agent came back and informed that she couldn’t do anything because she couldn’t see that I regularly paid my bills on time (despite them being direct debits that have always been collected) and that I wasn’t a loyal Vodafone customer (I’ve been with them around 10 years). I pointed out the error, to which I was told that she could over-ride the system and reduce my payments from £36 to £30 a month.

In no way was this acceptable. I queried why Tesco Mobile and the Utility Warehouse could offer much better deals? The agent put me on hold for a few minutes and then advised that she was passing me over to someone in the upgrades team who may be able to help me. Once again I said I wanted the same package as what I was currently on, to keep my phone and lower my bill.

Without any hesitation he reduced my bill from £36 a month to £10.50 per month!

Why couldn’t this be done by the first person which would have saved me half an hour on the phone? My wife also had a similar experience with O2 a few weeks ago. If the main mobile phone companies are so worried about loosing customers to the likes of Tesco Mobile and Utility Warehouse, why do they persist in messing about loyal customers and risking loosing them to their rivals?

I came across this article today which states that most small businesses fail within the first 5 years – the article is based on US statistics but these statistics are likely to be the same for other countries.

One of the comments lists two things the reader believes indicate that the business has been a success:

• Pays a living wage comparable to the national average to it’s employees and/or owner
• Makes a profit

photo credit: thinboyfatter

I agree and disagree with the first statement. With the global economy in such a mess at the moment many people are starting up businesses in their spare time outside of their main jobs because a) they need extra money b) they have a skill/hobby/service that they feel is in demand.

If you are a Twitter user, take a look at your followers and the accounts that you follow, a large majority of these are probably ‘ordinary’ people who are using Twitter to engage with other businesses and to promote their own. Social Media is a great leveller and is a massive help for smaller businesses to compete against larger organisations. It also helps businesses talk directly to other businesses that they may never have interacted with before.

How do I think that you can define success? Like most things it’s all relative as each and every business is different. Below are a few ideas:

• Does your business get repeat business?
• Is it making a profit?
• Is your product/service/skill still in demand?
• Are you seeing sales growth?

Most importantly, is your business achieving what it set out to do?

If a business set out with the sole aim of increasing the owner’s income by an extra £500 a month to meet the day to day bills and it is providing that amount (plus enough to cover year end taxes), then the business owner will consider it a success.

photo credit: Regina Hackenberg

One of the major factors behind businesses failing (small and large) is that the business sets unrealistic goals. If you make hand made chocolates, don’t set out with the aim of competing with Cadbury’s in your first year of trading. Be realistic about it. Use the mnemonic SMARTER:

• S – Specific targets
• M – Meausreable targets
• A – Attainable targets
• R – Relevant targets
• T – Time orientated targets
• E – Targets which can be evaluated
• R- targets which can be re-evaluated

photo credit: alexmcc1986

In a world which is becoming more and more dominated by smartphones and tablet PC’s many businesses are turning to Apps to enhance their brand image and also gain/retain more customers in the process.

There are many questions and problems which are associated with developing and creating an app, some of which you may not even have thought of. This new e-book written by David Howell and published by Brightword Publishing is aimed at arming you with more information about the process involved with creating an app. Be aware that this IS NOT a book that will tell you how to create an app.

The E-book is availble from the Brightword Publishing website for the very reasonable price of £5 (currently on offer at £4.25 as of 28/12/11) and covers several topics from the birth of Apps right through to how to price your app once it has been created. The book is 74 pages long and broken down into 8 chapters (below) and will take a couple of hours to read through. I found that it was better to split my reading time over a couple of sessions to enable me to take in all the information.

CHAPTERS

1. There’s an App for That
2. The Business of Apps
3. Mobile Payments and M-Commerce
4. How to Create and App for Your Business
5. Choosing Your Platform(s) and Building Your App
6. Building and App – Case Study
7. Marketing Your App
8. How to Price Your App

Each chapter gives you plenty of facts and information to enable you to decide whether your business really needs an App. There isn’t any ‘waffle’ to pad out the book, you can be sure that when you buy the book it is worth the money. If you decide that an App isn’t what your business needs right now, the £5 spent on the book is better than hundreds or thousands spent on developing a redundant app.

From my own point of view I never realised how much goes into creating an App and this book has been a real eye opener for me. The case studies in the book just go to show that if your business does need an app, it can benefit massively.

If after reading the book you decide that your business will benefit from an App there are lots of links within the text of websites/companies that will be able to help you. One thing that is crystal clear from this book is that, unless your App is very specialised or very niche, it is very difficult to make a lot of money from it when the development costs are taken into consideration. The developer of Angry Birds (Rovio) had made over 50 failed games before they struck gold.

In my opinion, if you are even remotely considering creating an App for your business this book is well worth the small investment and time taken to read it. You are left in no doubt about what is needed to create an App.

How your business can use apps to increase market share and retain customers

If you thought that the app market was just about games and big brands, think again. Businesses of every size in every sector have built their own apps and are reaping real commercial rewards.

Because of the relatively low cost of entering the app market, smaller enterprises can level the playing field, often outstripping their larger competitors simply because they have developed and marketed an app that delivers a service that their consumers are looking for.

This book isn’t about how apps can help small businesses run their business more efficiently, or an in-depth tutorial about how to create an app for their enterprise.

Instead, it provides a unique introduction and overview of the possibilities for any small or growing business. It’s a focused guide about the business of apps for those whose time is money.

Connecting with customers over their mobile phones and tablets allows a more intimate and ultimately more lucrative link between businesses and consumers to be established.

With this latest book in the popular Business Bites series, small business owners can help their companies take the first steps into an exciting and growing marketplace!

This book is available from Brightword Publishing with an RRP of just £5.00. There will be a review of this new title being post here on this blog soon. Subscribe to the RSS feed to be kept up to date when it is published.

Small Business Guide to Apps

I’ve just received this short email from The Nationwide Alliance of Business Owners detailing 10 top tips on using social media to grow your business. For small business owners social media is a fantastic way to put you level, or even in front, of much larger companies. It takes time and effort to gain a presence, but is well worth it:

1. Before you do anything with Social Media, recognise that unless you have the resources to outsource the whole thing, it will require effort, commitment and consistency on your part. It doesn’t happen on its own. However, if you are organised, have a plan and are prepared to schedule your time sensibly, there is no reason why it cannot replace at least one networking event per week in terms of time spent.

2. Write compelling, well-optimised blog posts that get people talking. Invite discussion and be relevant. This will help drive people to your website to find out more about you and your service.

3. There’s nothing more powerful than an endorsement of your work in the form of a video testimonial from happy clients or customers, sharing their experiences of working with you. The videos only need to be a couple of minutes long. Once you’ve made them, you can quickly upload them onto YouTube and embed them into your website.

4. Join Groups on LinkedIn and start showing up, connecting, sharing or posting useful advice. Word of caution – you need to be in the right ‘fish tank’ of course – so go where your customers/clients are more likely to be swimming!

5. Optimise your articles and blogs with your keywords so they are search-able on Google. Then ensure they are ‘pinged’, i.e. circulated onto social bookmarking sites like Digg, and Technorati, and other places where you have a presence such as FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn. 6. Encourage people you meet at networking/trainings/seminars to link up with you online as well. Build the relationship. Remember – don’t spam them with your stuff when you’ve only just met – it’s the kiss of death! Give relationships time to develop.

7. Remember, people want to connect to a real person rather than a faceless corporate entity. Being personable, genuine and transparent helps to gain other people’s trust, and is the essential ingredient to building your credibility and likeability. One way to do this is to reveal something about yourself that others might find interesting. For instance, do you skydive in your spare time? Are you keen on ballroom dancing? Do you love (or loathe) Marmite? Let people know about your interests.

8. Demonstrate your expertise by making it easy for potential clients to gain access to some of your useful resources and material. It might sound counter-intuitive but the more you share – the more your name gets out there!

9. Go for quality rather than quantity – you don’t need to be connected to the whole world. Develop relevant connections and find friendly advocates who can talk about you to other people – then build from there.

10. Use Social Plugins/Widgets/Buttons (e.g. FaceBook’s ‘Like’ button) and place them on your blog or website. These will leverage social proof (people look around to see what everyone else is doing before they make their choice). The opinions of other consumers carry more weight than marketing messages.

To learn more and sign up to their newsletters, please visit their website

If you have any tips that are not included above, please feel free to comment and add them to the list

Starting and/or running your own business is a daunting task, making sure that your accounts are up to date and correct can be even more daunting. Most businesses employ a book-keeper or accountant to take care of everything for them, but how should you choose the right person for your business?

photo credit: hang_in_there

 1) Reputation

Ask around in your local area to see what people are saying about your prospective bookkeeper/accountant. If you don’t like what you hear, search for someone else

2) Reliability

This is something that you will only find out through dealing with them. Do they stick to what they say and get things done on time? Do they go away on holiday without warning and leave you in the lurch? Are they easily contactable when you need them? If you feel that you are being let down look to change. You wouldn’t accept a sub-standard service from you phone, internet or utility providers so why accept it from someone your business relies on for advice?

3) References

Don’t be afraid to ask for references during your initial meetings. If there is nothing to hide then the bookkeeper/accountant should gladly provide you with some businesses to get in contact with. Bear in mind that not all companies will provide references no matter how good the service they receive is.

4) Credentials

Make sure you check that you are dealing with the person/company that you think you are. Ask to see proof of insurances, memberships to professional bodies etc… to allow you to verify who the bookkeeper/accountant is before allowing them to carry out any work for you.

5) Trust & Personality

You should only work with a company/someone that you can trust and will get along with. You will work closely with your bookkeeper/accountant throughout the year, for this relationship to work effectively and efficiently you will need to be able to completely trust them and have a good working relationship/friendship. If everything else is fantastic about the person/company but you personally would not be able to get along with them, it may be wise to look elsewhere.

6) Cost

Bookkeeping and accountancy fees vary from one person/company to the next. Don’t be afraid to ask what the fees being quoted are for. You need to make the correct choice for your business. Always ask for fixed fee that way you know what you are paying out; you could be in for a shock if your accountancy fees turn out to be more than your profit.

This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but remember to make the right choice for your business and one that you will be happy working with long term. If you are looking for a new bookkeeper, please get in contact with me to discuss your requirements and how I can be of service to your business.

As 2011 draws to a close it’s time to reflect on what has happened during the year. Each and every one of us will have faced some tough challenges, but along the way had some fantastic experiences that we will remember for a long time.

There have been 2 highlights for me this year. The first was spending the weekend in London for my first wedding anniversary and going to the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final whilst down there (just a shame that Leeds Rhinos lost). It was a fantastic few days and we hope to do it again in 2012.

But the experience that was head and shoulders above everything else was when I got the chance to drive 3 supercars around a race track – something that I have wanted to do for a long time. My wife bought me this as a wedding anniversary present. The whole afternoon was fantastic and one that I will never forget. The sound of the Ferrari engine behind my ears will stay with me forever! Below are the videos from the day.

What has been the highlight of your year, outside of your job/business?