Debbie Mayo-Smith shares her recipe for working smarter. Photo / iStock
With MasterChef back on TV (though you really feel Simon Gault's absence don't you), I couldn't resist a little analogy for this week's column.
As yeast works its magic on flour and sugar - doubling the volume - you can do the same for your business by working smarter instead of harder to generate greater income. Like a bread machine does all the work, you can automate much of what you do, saving hours and hours.
My business
MasterChef
recipe is simply this:
Information + Communication x Automation = Profit & Time
The first ingredient reflects all the hard work you put into great customer service and your marketing and business development work. You never let a client or viable prospect go. You've paid and worked hard to get them. So you put their details in a database. The data you store should also be relevant to them (not only you).
Your database is a goldmine if you use it. Not only can using your database bring in income and value-add to your customers, it's also an actual asset adding to the goodwill value of your business if you ever sell it.
You use your database by instituting a communication plan which is multifacted in distribution - email, print, phone, texting, social media, in person, etc. The communication content is also multifaceted. It's not just to sell. It's to build relationships and support tenacity. Your communication is tips, hints, ideas, what's on sale, what's new, case studies, etc.
We normally use only a few of the host of features our everyday business tools have for us. By learning how to better use your software (especially email), smartphones and your database, you can make magic happen. You mix your yeast (database) with your communications (flour, water, salt). Your result? A bread so tasty that people keep coming back for more and more.
Clever you - you gathered the ingredients, stored them and used that bread machine to do all the work.
Charlene White talks to Tom Raynel about her event-management business, The Cartery.