Tell us a bit about your company and your role My company is Black Label Strategies and my role is Founder & President. We have our own analytics and business intelligence platform called BLIX. BLIX enables our clients to make fast, rock-solid strategic and tactical business decisions by using real data & analytics to drive action.
Why did you decide to join Mindshop? I originally joined when I was working for a CPA firm in their Growth & Profit Solutions Niche as it was required in my role. I continued as a Mindshop member even after starting my own firm because the quality of the people, tools, and coaching is outstanding. The value to others philosophy rings true and I have been a better person and company for it.
Most valuable Mindshop Tool you have used? It's an oldie but a goodie - the Force Field. I use it for anywhere and everywhere. One of my client’s COO has nicknamed it the "Profit Tree" because it drills down into the key issues and generates instant action.
Most successful outcome using Mindshop? It would actually have to be me & my business. If it hadn't been for Chris Mason coaching me along the way and really believing in me even in my darkest hours I would not have pressed on. Now, I'm a growing company, happy, confident & excited about my future.
Most beneficial part of being involved with Mindshop? Being able to watch the North American Mindshop group grow to what it is today. I've been a Mindshop member for 5 years and it is truly amazing to see the accomplishments of the North American group. The level of expertise in that group astounds me. The VTO philosophy and the fact that it is encouraged that we leverage each other's expertise is unparalleled. I look forward to and wouldn’t miss a meeting because I always have some kind of "A-Ha" moment either from the conference or the group.
In 5 years time, I want to be...... Dominating the Business Improvement space for the small/mid-size business in the southeast.
New Member Welcome
Business Advisors: Tips for Your Success
3 Key Ideas for Business Advisors
1. Know your Personal Brand
Every person in business has a 'role' or a 'title' that defines what they are expected to do day-to-day (the 'features' of what they do). However rarely is that the same as what they are truly 'known for' (the 'benefits' of what they do) within the business. For example somebody may have the title of 'Operations Manager' but they are actually known for being a great strategist who can problem solve better than most within the business. This 'Personal Brand' or what somebody is truly known for is in many case more critical to that persons future growth potential within the business (or outside of the business) than their title. Knowing clearly your personal brand can also help you move between departments or play more effectively to your strengths. Finding out your personal brand can be as easy as asking those around you that you trust: "What do you feel I'm known for in the business above and beyond by role?" What's your Personal Brand?
2. Be an effective Leader in volatile times True leaders step up during volatile times in a business. They are the ones who can navigate through the choppy waters of business and take an 'internal locus of control' approach (i.e. focus on what they can control rather than what they can't control). To help you or your leadership team be more effective in volatile times it's critical to:
Slow down the amount of change initiatives in the business. It's more effective to have 3 strategies properly implemented than have 10 strategies in the air your team doesn't have the time to complete.
Focus on what's within your control to change. Don't fall into the trap of blaming things outside your control; develop strategies to work around them.
Be more effective problem solvers. Train your team in key problem solving tools such as Force Field, Pareto, Mindmapping, and One Page Plans so they can have the tools to address team issues and problems that arise.
Boost the accountability levels of your entire team. Have a culture of ‘doing what you say you will’.
3. Don't forget the simple stuff
Often the most successful businesses and business people have got where they are by just being very effective at the simple stuff in business. Whether it’s their sales process, marketing, recruitment process, strategy development, operations or people development they keep it simple and continuously improve their approach. Too often business people can be distracted by the latest fad, business methodology or technologies (looking for a quick fix) and forget to do the fundamentals well. Don’t fall into the same trap for your business.
Marketing 4C's - Moving from a Monologue to a Dialogue
By James Atkins, Vantage Marketing
With over 3000 commercial messages served up to an individual every day it's no wonder people feel overwhelmed with choice. Add to that an economy under stress, and brands desperately trying to be heard, and you have a recipe for confusion and customer switch off.
Effective marketing helps customers solve problems and, in so doing, cut through the clutter.
The answer? Marketing needs to move from being a monologue to a dialogue.
And dialogues are based on exchanges of information, or content, based on value to each party.
Content should be the new currency of marketing and those that deliver it effectively will engage their customers.
John Jantsch in The Referral Engine touches on what he calls the 4 C’s of Marketing as a new way of thinking. He is spot on.
Context, Connection, Content and Community, whilst they may not exactly replace the 4P's, they certainly give them a run for their money! Here's a brief overview from my perspective: Context – Customers are looking to make sense of the explosion of data and information served up, in part, by the digital revolution. Truly understanding a customer's life, their pressures and problems is a huge contextual opportunity. Situating your brand and its competitive advantage in a relevant, engaging manner is a core tactic of the future. But only if you truly understand the context.
Connection – Technology has increased the ability to connect but it’s how you balance so called 'high tech' connections with 'high touch' engagement that is key. Linking and informing what you learn online with how you behave and engage face to face will be a winning strategy.
Content – We have more than enough content! Your inbox is testament to that! Content can be the new currency for marketing. But only if it is authentic and genuine to your brand and business. Developed, curated, edited and remixed. Tailored to real problems. Delivered how your customer wants – face to face, email, blog, twitter, brochure, advertisements. If you understand the customer context then you can deliver content in a way that truly engages.
Community – Communities are built on shared interests and passions. The question you have to ask is does your business have a crowd or are you building a community? How do you motivate and connect your customers – either as a whole or, preferably, by sensible interest based groups. Effective communities around your business enable you to grow and develop.
Thinking about your business from the perspective of the 4C's will throw up some interesting challenges to how you approach your marketing. It may just engage your customers in a dialogue... and that's exciting!
Mindshop Member, James Atkins, is a director of Vantage Strategy & Marketing a boutique business improvement firm that helps organizations grow. If you have any comments or questions relating to marketing he can be contacted on jatkins@vantagemarketing.com.au
Global News
Business Advisors turning volatile markets into an opportunity
In November 2011, Mindshop Business Advisors from Australia, United Kingdom and North America had their final round of Strategy Days for the year on the topic:
"Turning volatile markets into a Business Advisory opportunity in 2012"
2011 has been a year with a great deal of challenges and opportunities for Business Advisors - 2012 will be no different. This final round of strategy workshops for 2011 ensured members were ready to capitalize on the vast opportunities that will be present during volatile times.
Australasian Strategy Days
The Australasian Strategy Days were run across 5 states and in New Zealand by Accredited Mindshop Facilitator and Implementation Support Coach, Michael Burke, who did a fantastic job of challenging attendees. Overall there were almost 80 attendees across all sessions and was a great opportunity for networking and for taking time to work on their plans for 2012.
United Kingdom Strategy Day
Held in Birmingham, the event was well attended with 45 Business Advisors and was presented by Mindshop Founder, Chris Mason. With topics such as "how to convert new business in volatile markets" and "Tips to play politics like a pro in order to stay engaged with clients", attendees were able to take time out to focus on their 'sweet spots' for success.
North American Strategy Day
This event was run as a 2 day coaching session, chaired by Mindshop Founder Chris Mason. It gave attendees an opportunity to network with the group and reflect on the past year while working on what they need to change in 2012.
Don’t forget to put the date for your next Strategy Day (which you can find further down the page) in your diary!
Mindshop North American Conference 2011 - Atlanta, Georgia
In mid September, 17 Mindshop Facilitators arrived at the GH&I Offices for a 2 day Conference event around the topic of "Leveraging for increased success". Day 1 focused around different ways they could leverage themselves through such as through existing clients, the audit process and the Mindshop Business Leader Platform. At the end of Day 1, Mindshop member Sue Groszkiewicz kindly opened her home for each member and their partner to attend a special group dinner – a real treat for the group! Day 2 focused on topics such as creating change and how to have productive client conversations. Feedback was fantastic from both days with many saying it was the best Mindshop event they had been to.
Congratulations to North American Mindshop Facilitators Wayne O’Neill and Rob Tautges who this year celebrate 10 years of Mindshop Membership.
Mindshop United Kingdom Conference 2011 - London, United Kingdom
In September, delegates arrived at the Rembrandt Hotel in Knightsbridge, London for the 2011 Mindshop United Kingdom Conference.
The focus of the main conference was around "Simplifying the Complex in Business" and Day 1 started with key note speaker Hamish Taylor, an award winning professional speaker who has held roles as Head of Brand Management at British Airways and Managing Director of Eurostar (UK). Hamish brought a wealth of experience to his presentation about Innovation and Lessons in Change. Over the 2 day conference there was a further 9 sessions covering topics such as "Driving the Evolution of Strategy with Clients" and "Implementing a Team Approach to Driving Strategy with Clients".
On the Friday night of the Conference, attendees took a short stroll to renowned restaurant, Montpeliano, for a special Gala dinner where there were a number of awards handed out. The award recipients were
Rising Star - Ian Hewitt
Value to Others - Paul Hopwood
High Achiever - Will Abbott
There were a number of awards handed out to celebrate 10 years of membership with Mindshop. These awards were presented to:
Graham Apperley
Ian Lloyd
Jane Everingham
Mindshop was thrilled to hand out for the first time in the United Kingdom, an award for 15 years of membership with Mindshop to Paul Hopwood.
Congratulations to all recipients!
We have had fantastic feedback coming through from conference attendees such as:
"This was the best I've been to and I and all my team are fired up to act on it."
"Overall great experience."
"Overall experience was great - new to Mindshop so an enlightening experience."
Thank you to everyone who made this a wonderful event.
Coming Events
Mindshop 2012 Australasian Conference - 18 and 19 May 2012
The 2012 Australasian Conference will be held on 18 and 19 May at the Stamford Plaza in Brisbane with the theme of "Unlocking your strengths to ensure success in 2012". Highlights of the Conference include:
Over 14 workshops on a range of topics
Key Note: John Lees - Sales and Marketing Specialist
Fantastic networking opportunities with leading advisors
A wealth of new ideas and strategies to be gained!
A special day for Mindshop Accredited Facilitators (AMSF) will be held at the same venue on the day prior to the conference - Thursday 17th May. This day is a great opportunity for all AMSF’s to learn and develop in a collaborative environment with their peers.
2012 - Member Strategy Days to mark in your diary!
Event
Date
Region
Member Strategy Day
9 February
Australia, VIC
Member Strategy Day
13 February
Australia, WA
Member Strategy Day
14 February
Australia, SA
Member Strategy Day
16 & 17 February
Atlanta, USA
Member Strategy Day
20 February
Australia, QLD
Member Strategy Day
21 February
Australia, NSW
Member Strategy Day
21 February
United Kingdom
Member Strategy Day
27 February
Auckland. NZ
AMSF Training Day
17 May
Australia, QLD
Australian Conference
18 & 19 May
Australia, QLD
Member Strategy Day
14 & 15 June
USA
Member Strategy Day
19 June
United Kingdom
Member Strategy Day
9 August
Australia, VIC
Member Strategy Day
13 August
Australia, WA
Member Strategy Day
14 August
Australia, SA
Member Strategy Day
20 August
Australia, QLD
Member Strategy Day
21 August
Australia, NSW
Member Strategy Day
24 August
Auckland, NZ
United Kingdom Conference
21 & 22 September
United Kingdom
North American Conference
27 & 28 September
USA
Member Strategy Day
12 November
Australia, WA
Member Strategy Day
13 November
Australia, SA
Member Strategy Day
15 & 16 November
USA
Member Strategy Day
16 November
Australia, VIC
Member Strategy Day
19 November
Australia, QLD
Member Strategy Day
20 November
Australia, NSW
Member Strategy Day
20 November
United Kingdom
Member Strategy Day
23 November
Auckland, NZ
Business Leader Launches and Updates
Throughout October and November there were 39 Business Leader Strategy Workshops run across Australasia, United Kingdom and North America with most sessions on the topic:
"Discovering the hidden sweet spots in your business for 2012"
Attendees discussed the key business trends to be aware of in 2012 and how to identify the 'sweet spots' across their business when it comes to key areas such as sales, people, profit and social media. They walked away with critical new insights, ideas and had the opportunity to have their 2012 strategies challenges by their peers.
There have recently been a number of Mindshop Business Advisors embedding the Mindshop Business Leader model into the way they work with clients:
Cameron McGregor – McGregor Bailey – Auckland, New Zealand
Johnathan Dudley – Crowe Clark Whitehill – West Midlands, United Kingdom
This model provides their clients with a common approach to strategy, just-in-time training and a valuable sounding board with peers to compliment the strategy work being completed with the Advisor.
Mindshop has recently released some exciting new changes to the positioning of the Business Leader/Corporate Model and if you’d like more information, please contact James Mason (jmason@mindshop.com).
New Business Tools for You to Use
NEW Mindshop Business Advisor Resource Centre is now LIVE!
In August, Mindshop released our NEW Mindshop Resource Centre for Business Advisors. Mindshop helps advisors to Plan, Learn, Sell, Deliver, Collaborate and Share with hundreds of Business Leaders and Advisors around the world. This innovative Online Resource Centre has now been structured in the same way and will provide a fantastic array of tools and resources to help support your growth and profit targets.
What is in the new site? Mindshop has not only restructured its' entire Business Advisor resource centre to make it much easier to navigate and find the information you need, but it has also added all NEW:
Selling a Waste Audit in Volatile times promotional tools
3 tier retainer package example / template
Retainer pricing process and model
Example SPIN questions to sell retainers
Evolution to strategy promotional email and PowerPoint
Retainer 6 step sales process
Example client proposals
Guides to starting a Business Leader or Corporate Model
Tips to weaving a community of clients into your business model
Evolution to Strategy 1 day workshop and PowerPoint (with presenter notes)
Example 2hr coaching meeting structure
Tips on how to weave strategy into your coaching meetings
Example Mindshop tool sequences for your coaching meetings
These resources were developed over 6 months with great assistance from a number of senior Mindshop advisors to ensure you have the latest supporting resources to take to your clients.
We hope you are finding the NEW Business Advisor Resource Centre and NEW tools / resources valuable as you continue to increase the Growth and Profit in your business. Please talk to the Mindshop team about any queries or technical issue you may have.
NEW Expert Tip Videos
A fantastic new feature of the NEW Online Resources is that you can now access 20 Expert Tip videos on a range of hot topics presented by Mindshop Advisors including:
3 Tier Business Advisory Model
Improve Team Performance
Marketing in Volatile Times
Building a sales pipeline
Compliment the tools/resources available online with the 20 Expert Tips video and you have a very powerful combination to give you the confidence to tackle any opportunities with clients in 2012 and beyond.
Latest edition of Best Practice Newsletter
In November this year Mindshop released the latest edition of "Ideas for Success", a best practice newsletter purpose built for Mindshop Member to circulate onto their clients to give ideas for boosting Growth and Profit in their businesses. Mindshop understands the time consuming nature of writing articles and putting together newsletters however Mindshop Members have the ability to send "Ideas for Success" in its current format to clients or cut and paste the text/graphics into their own format. A quick and simple way of keeping in touch with prospective and existing clients.
The November Edition contains the following articles:
"Applying the "Art of Action" To Your Business" By Simon Fawkes, Director – Business to Markets Ltd
"Designing Surveys to Test Customer Needs" By Chris Mason, Founder - Mindshop
3 Key Ideas for Business Success in 2011
Mindshop Members can access past and current editions of "Ideas for Success" in the Mindshop Online Resource Area within the "Share" tab under "Newsletters" (click here to view)
We hope all Mindshop members take advantage of this resource to help trigger new client opportunities.
Video of the Month: Building An Effective Sales Pipeline as a Business Advisor
Have You Seen Our YouTube Channel? Selected Mindshop videos are now available to view on YouTube. Pleaseclick hereto be taken to Mindshop's YouTube Channel.
Mindshop Excellence
Mindshop Excellence fast tracks the development of young minds through a one week employer hosted work experience programmed aimed at fostering skills such as team work and self-confidence. Acting as company 'executives' for the week, students are given an issue by the host company and using powerful problem solving tools, find solutions to the issue as a team.
To find out more about the program, click hereto view a 5 minute YouTube presentation.
In the true spirit of 'Value to Others', we ask you to work with us this year to make our Excellence Programs better than ever before! The Mindshop team will assist you every step of the way. To get started, email Julie: jemason@mindshop.com
Click here to view the NEW Mindshop Excellence Website
Click Here to view the December 2011 Mindshop Excellence Newsletter
You are receiving this Newsletter because you have subscribed for our newsletter at our site or have been selected as a business person who would value receiving this update newsletter. If you do not wish to receive further news or mailings from Mindshop.com click here to email us and unsubscribe.
