Category: General news

The high take up of the Local Shop campaign before Christmas and the popularity of the Directory section of the Westender indicates the hunger for services connecting local business to the community.

The next step in this campaign will be announced in the March print edition of Westender and will involve a relationship with the startup Internet company, ISaveLocal. This service is phone based and encourages readers to come into your business and redeem special offers promoted through the Westender.

More details will be provided closer to the launch date.

Networker, guru and advocate for small business, Terri Cooper, was at West End’s Loft for the SW Chamber of Commerce, February breakfast. Westender caught up with her for a quick chat about the need for real advocacy on behalf of small business.

Terri’s next business breakfast is at Red Hill on Wednesday, 26thFebruary featuring ICT (Information Communications Technology) Woman of the Year for Australia, Yvette Adams. Yvette will share the Top 10 Social Media and Technology Trends for 2014 that you MUST be aware of.

Find out more about:

• which social media networks you should be spending your time in building up
• cloud computing
• Time saving apps and programs
• wearable technology
• how the internet will run our lives
• 3D printing

Full details at http://www.terricooper.com.au/brisbane-breakfast.html

Terri is concerned that most business groups and political parties claim to support small business but end up listening to big business that has the money to lobby them.

Small business is the engine that drives innovation and that keeps the economy ticking over regardless of the macro economic circumstances. Governments spend billions of dollars trying to keep big business operating here instead of moving off shore only to see those billions, and the billions of dollars of profit those companies subsequently make, go to international investors and tax havens.

In the meantime, small business keeps producing the money that keeps the local economy going. Small business is also a member of the community, employs locals and nurtures the community in which it operates.

John Dwyer from the Institute of Wow lived up to his name at the South West Chamber of Commerce breakfast at West End’s Loft this month.

He spelt out the basic rules of marketing, which most of the audience agreed they already knew and then not so gently reminded us all that almost none of us followed them.

In a range of examples from print advertising, websites, vehicle signage and television advertisements he pointed out that most of us throw our promotional budgets away without really knowing what we are doing.

Of course, he is offering his expertise to address this on a commercial basis but we are all in business here and none of us mind being sold to when the product is worth finding out about.

With rolling events moving between West End’s Loft, The Brisbane Golf Club in Tennyson and Robertsons Gardens in Macgregor, South West Chamber of Commerce is getting around its footprint in style.

Next month’s breakfast on March 6^th is just over a week away. To be held at the Brisbane Golf Club, the breakfast will feature Brett Chamberlain, author of $30,000 in 30 minutes. Be there to hear the 30 minute spiel worth one thousand dollars a minute.

Full details, including booking, at The South West Chamber website

Don’t forget the customer in your drive to do business smarter and more efficiently.

Companies struggling to remain profitable in tough times tend to retreat from “the customer is always right” to focus on new business and the 20% of customers who produce 80% of the profit. This is especially notable in large organisations that keep customers on the phone for up to 45 minutes and have their contact details buried three and four pages deep in the most obscure parts of their web-sites.

You can get away with that if your market share is protected (by monopoly, regulation or a unique product) but this arrogance is fatal if your customer can simply go elsewhere.

Yes, it is true that new customers are difficult to acquire and therefor deserve special attention.

Yes, it is also true that a small number of customers produce most of the profit and also deserve special treatment.

But, the other three quarters of your customers are also a major asset.

• They are stake holders in your business.
• They talk and bad news travels faster than good news.
• You should be moving them up the chain by cross selling and up selling to them.
• You should be converting them to ambassadors for your organisation by giving them marketing material they can use to promote your business to their friends.

This little homily customer service was inspired by a stunning example of customer service provided to Westender. I ordered a thousand business cards from our local Kwik Copy in Geet Street West End. Part of the reason I went back there was because of a special deal and good marketing. It was essentially a loss leader to get business in the door.

Because of a technical stuff up at my end, the final artwork had a fault that rendered the phone number and email microscopic. I let the company know that the cards were useless, the fault was mine and that I wanted another set made up. When I went to pick them up, there was no charge.

No fuss, no bother, no whining that I had stuffed up an already unprofitable job and made them lose money by doing it twice, simply a recognition that I needed support and they were providing a service.

Of course, every time anyone has asked me about printing since, I have sent them to Kwik Copy. I have become an advocate for their business, actively promoting them everywhere, including this article. I’ve gone out of my way to remember the owner Daniel’s name and refer people directly to him.

This is not an epiphany. I have always been an advocate of good customer service. As a sales manager I separate the account management from the sales function and give simple instructions to the two teams. If someone contacts us, stay with them until they buy something or their problem is solved. I do all of the pipeline management and work out who the most profitable customers are and set up special deals for them, but the key to turning any business around is landing the largest share of the business possible ad the start to that is to look after the customers who walk in the door.

As a salaried manager I have driven out to Brisbane Airport in the wee hours of the morning to nurse packages through customs and down to the Gold Coast late at night to deliver goods needed for the next morning: If the courier can’t get it there for you, then take it there yourself.

Customers remember when you go the extra mile for them and they talk.

Don’t let slick marketing gurus and ruthless analysts cause you to lose sight of that.

If you ask any long term successful business the secret to their success, the customer is always prominent in the answer.

Two families in the same neighbourhood go off to work each day with similar incomes and similar expenses. They each have two kids in the local primary school and the kids go to school together. They invite each other for barbecues and get to know each other pretty well.

Gradually though, one family begins to accumulate more wealth. They buy a new car, have overseas holidays and eventually an investment property. The two families drift apart.

What happened?

The answer will be different in every case, but in many cases it is as simple as having a financial plan.

We all know that if we make a budget we can save. We all know that our house and then our superannuation are our major assets. But if someone asked you whether or not you should sacrifice some of your salary to build up your superannuation, or what the impact in fifteen years would be if you paid your mortgage fortnightly instead of monthly, what would you say?

Many people avoid thinking about their long term finances, thinking they will do that when they have a family, or pay of the house.

Even people who have a structured approach to saving do not understand the advantages and disadvantages of the various investment and salary packaging options they are presented with.

To really build wealth, you need a solid financial plan and the best time to make a financial plan is before you make a long term commitment such as buying a new car or house, or when you have the opportunity to restructure your finances such as when you get a new job or unexpectedly get some money.

Finding a financial planner who will work with you rather than simply try to sell you a product, is the tricky part of the process.

Here is a quick checklist of things you need in a financial planner:

·         Does not represent a particular lending company, insurance firm or bank

·         Explains to you how they make their money, so that you understand what you are paying them for and what motivations they have for providing you with advice

·         Listens to you and maps out your plan before trying to guide your thinking

·         Gives you the time to think through what you are doing and seek a second opinion

Westender is sponsored by a couple of local financial advisers who offer independent, fearless advice. While we encourage you to do your own research and see who else is in the market, we also encourage you to support the organisations that support the magazine you know and love.

Suzy Butterworth of Yellow Brick Road has been a long time supporter of Westender, advertising in the days when we were a tabloid newspaper and a fortnightly magazine. She has brought her extensive local experience and hard work ethic to Yellow Brick Road because of the range of services it offers.

Founded by Mark Bouris, best known to many people as the Australian host of Celebrity Apprentice, Mark’s mission is to provide ordinary Australians with access to good financial advice. This is the business model that made Merril Lynch one of the world’s leading stock brokers. Take a service that has traditionally been a preserve of the wealthy and provide access to ordinary people.

You can find out more about the company online.

This month, Suzy is offering a free financial advice package to any Westender reader who organises their home loan through Yellow Brick Road. Worth $1,650, the free package is limited to advice on income, super and mortgages, if you own a vineyard, a beef farm and mining shares, you are going to have to pay for your advice like everyone else.

When you call Yellow Brick Road mention the WestEnder and take along a copy of Suzy’s advertisement with you for the initial interview. That’s all there is to it. And Lakshmi’s blessings on building your wealth. You deserve it.

<caption>Lakshmi is the Hindu Goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity – oh and beauty as well.

 

 

In partnership with the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, QUT is presenting a public lecture and panel discussion on sustainable architecture, with keynote speaker, Dr Nirmal Kishnani, assistant dean at the National University of Singapore’s School of Design and Environment and chief editor of FuturArc , a journal of green architecture in Asia.

The discussion brings into focus ideas and themes from Kishnani’s recent book, Greening Asia – Emerging Principles of Sustainable Architecture , a groundbreaking critique of the industry-wide green-washing running rife through the building sector in Asia. Joining Dr Kishnani on the panel are:

• Maria Atkinson, founder of the Green Building Council of Australiaand the first Australian board member of the Holcim Foundation
• Mark Allan, chair of Sustainable Buildings Committee at Property Council of Australia
• Dr Tony Fry, Professor of Sustainable Futures at Griffith University

Download the full details including a link to book your ticket.