The Cobalt Group

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

8 Benefits of a Business Health Check

In EVERY business in EVERY industry in the world there are always more costs savings, more efficiencies, more profit, more market share, and more success obtainable than what is currently being achieved?

Do you want more of any or all of those things? Are you happy with where your business is today or do you want it to be more?

Every year most of us go to our doctor to get and annual health checkup. It helps us see how things are doing and identify where problem areas are in our health.

So why not do a Business Health Check every year?

Let’s start by identifying what a business health check is.

A business health check is simply a full diagnostic of the state of a business.

It starts with an evaluation of the current position of the business and provides an assessment of the critical elements affecting your business both internally and externally.

This assessment gives an external view of the business to highlight where things are going well, the areas that need change, and how to improve those areas to make a business even more successful.

Why does your business need a health check?

The main reason would be to see how we are doing as a business.

And a business health check is not just for struggling businesses. Healthy businesses can benefit from one as well.

It’s just like getting an annual health check – we may feel just fine but the doctor may discover something we weren’t even aware of so we can address it.

Here are 8 Benefits of getting a Business Health Check regularly!

1. Know the Current State of Your Business.

Probably the most obvious benefit of a business health check is getting an objective overview of where you stand.

This offers you with the basic knowledge of the overall business performance, where things are going well, where opportunities for improvements and growth are, customer experience, employee engagement, and more.

You should come away with a clear, objective view of your current overall business health.

2. Understand Your Business Maturity.

Businesses all go through three basic maturity stages:

A. Infancy: Startup and initial growth

B. Adolescence: Emergence and expansion

C. Maturity: Stability and progress

At each stage there are a lot of competing demands upon the business owner. A health check will help pinpoint exactly where a business stands internally, and externally in relation to the market. Understanding your maturity is necessary for identifying improvements to get your business to the next stage of maturity

3. Identify Strengths & Weaknesses.

There are many business owners don’t think they need help. The truth is that some of them may be right.

But wouldn’t it be valuable to have an external expert an objective look into what you are doing, how you’re progressing toward your goals, and make further suggested improvements to help your business become stronger?

4. Spot New Growth Opportunities.

Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees. Maybe you think you’re ready to expand but you’re not…or vice versa.

Look for new growth in your industry, other growth areas you may not have considered. Or, perhaps further growth in an area that you have already built upon.

A business health check can help you identify potential growth areas, and better prepare for this expansion?

5. Identify Business Threats.

Do you fully understand where the threats to your business success are coming from? Internally or externally?

Identifying these threats won’t necessarily make them go away, but knowing what they are will help you adapt your business to mitigate the damage as much as you can.

6. Re-calibrate Your Business Goals

Re-calibrate and refocus on the long-term goals you have for your business.

It’s easy to get caught up in the everyday problem solving, we lose sight of the reason and goals we had for the business, it’s time to get back on track again.

7. Get an Objective View

An opportunity to look at your business from a different perspective.

Getting another perspective from outside the industry with business experience can provide constructive ideas to really ensure future success.

8. Gain a Mentor

You get an expert to discuss your business with, much like a mentor.

Sometimes a business owner does not have anyone suitable to talk to about the business at a strategic level. Employees are usually not appropriate, friends and work colleagues may not understand or be experienced, but a business health expert, or consultant, is trained to quickly assess your business and help with problems and changes for improvement.

There are many more benefits of doing a Business Health Check, but the 8 above are great benefits for you and your business.

For more information about Business Health Checks and how The Cobalt Group can help you do business health assessment, or help you with any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

10 Ways to Differentiate Your Business

Why would a customer want to purchase your good or service over that of a competitor? How do you set yourself apart from the competition?

Businesses everywhere are trying to figure out how to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

This is sometimes called your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). But for our purposes in this discussion I will use the term Differentiation.

Product or service differentiation is a marketing process that showcases the differences between offerings by various businesses.

Differentiation is making a product or service more attractive by contrasting their unique qualities with the competition.

This is done all of the time by some of the most successful businesses in the world. They have made their name by articulating their unique capabilities, and delivering on them.

Perhaps in your industry, when others are scaling back their products/services you might see a benefit in expanding yours.

There are plenty of examples of successful companies and how they differentiated their offering to stand out from the crowd. After all, you want to lure prospective customers in your door and away from competitors.

As I’ve said before, you want your unfair share of the market.

Another reason for differentiating yourself is to help you avoid competing on price alone.

Think of your differentiation as your secret ingredient. It's something that's unique to your business. And it offers a definitive, tangible benefit to your customer.

Some differentiators are easy to figure out, while others are harder to come by. Ultimately, the question becomes – Why me?

Let’s take a look at some ideas for helping you answer that question.

1. Know the problem you’re solving. You are really in business selling your product or service because you are solving a problem for your customers.

Make sure that the problem you’re trying to solve is real. Make sure you understand exactly what that problem is.

List the main issues your potential customers have and create a differentiator to address them.

2. Know your ideal buyer persona. Having a great offering is a good thing. But if you’re not marketing it to the people that need your product you’re wasting marketing dollars. You want to market to the right people with the right message at the right time.

3. Take a look at your competition. What do they offer that you don’t? Is that offering significant? What do you offer that they don’t? Is their location and advantage for them, or is yours? What is bringing customers to them?

4. Define your unique value proposition. Maybe you're the only dentist with a kid’s play area on the premises. Or maybe you’re a business consultant has experience working with and for Fortune 100 companies.

What is it that you do that others cannot do, or cannot do as well as you? These are examples of differentiators that might set you apart.

5. Your differentiator(s) may change. Another competitor may match one of your differentiators, or may exceed your capability. You may develop a new one. Don't be afraid to change the message as your business evolves.

Your customers evolve, you need to be agile as well.

6. Offer a guarantee. Offer something to address common customer frustrations. For example, guarantee that your service delivery technician will show up within 15 minutes of the scheduled time or provide the first hour of work free.

What you’re trying to do is build trust with your customers and give them a no-risk opportunity to do business with you.

7. Be specific. Be as clear as you can on what it is that you offer that others don’t. Put it out there in big, bold colors and use it as a differentiator.

8. Never make a claim you can't deliver on. Be sure you can deliver what you promise or your differentiator(s) will be useless. Then, your reputation will suffer, as will your business.

9. Make sure your employees know and deliver on your differentiator(s). It does no good to advertise a unique good or service if your employees can’t follow through for you. Make sure they understand your differentiator(s) and deliver on them consistently.

10. Build great customer relationships. Every step in the buyer/seller process is a chance to build and strengthen a great customer relationship. Work on it all the time and make sure your employees do the same.

Remember, buyers and sellers with the best relationships will do the most business together.

So, then what? Once you've established your differentiator(s), reduce it into a few words and then communicate it at every touch point. This is your elevator pitch!

Use it in your ads, letterhead, marketing collateral, your website, signage, sales calls, and beyond. Your differentiators should roll right off of your tongue.

Think of it this way: what makes you choose one grocery store, dentist or moving company over another? Chances are it's their success in defining their differentiator and getting that message to the right marketplace. That’s what you want to do, too.

This should be a good start to get you thinking about how to make your company stand out from the competition. Above all, when defining your differentiators, be brutally honest in your evaluation. I guarantee that your customers will – either directly to you or by taking their business elsewhere.

For more information about creating your Unique Value Proposition, or to see how The Cobalt Group can help you with any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Thursday, March 28, 2019

4 Things Ethics Is Not

A company’s ethics will determine its reputation.

Good business ethics are essential for the long-term success of an organization. Implementing an ethical program will foster a successful company culture and increase profitability.

A company's ethics will have an influence on all levels of business.

It will influence all who interact with the company including customers, employees, suppliers, competitors, etc.

All of these groups will have an effect on the way a company's ethics are developed.

It is a two way street, the influence goes both ways, which makes understanding ethics a very important part of doing business today.

Ethics is very important, as news can now spread faster and farther and quicker than ever before.

Simply stated - Ethics refers to standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves. Whether as friends, parents, children, citizens, businesspeople, teachers, professionals, and so on.

I will cover Ethics more in future blogs but for now, I think it is helpful to identify 4 Things Ethics Is NOT:

-Ethics is not the same as feelings. Feelings provide important information for our ethical choices. Some people have highly developed habits that make them feel bad when they do something wrong. But many people feel good even though they are doing something wrong. And often, our feelings will tell us it is uncomfortable to do the right thing if it is hard.

-Ethics is not following the law. A good system of law does incorporate many ethical standards, but law can deviate from what is ethical. Law can become ethically corrupt, as some totalitarian regimes have made it. Law can also be a function of power alone and designed to serve the interests of narrow groups. It may have a difficult time enforcing standards in some important areas and may be slow to address new problems.

-Ethics is not following culturally accepted norms. Some cultures are quite ethical, but others become corrupt or blind to certain ethical concerns. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" is not a satisfactory ethical standard.

-Ethics is not science. Social and natural science can provide important data to help us make better ethical choices, but science alone does not tell us what we ought to do. Science may provide an explanation for what humans are like, but ethics provides reasons for how humans ought to act.

The challenge is that there are two fundamental problems in identifying the ethical standards we are to follow:

- On what do we base our ethical standards?

- And how do those standards get applied to specific situations we face?

Ethics is NOT an easy topic. But it IS a topic that needs to be addressed by our businesses and business leaders. I will dive more into this subject in future blogs.

For more information about Business Ethics, or to see how The Cobalt Group can help you do an ethics assessment, or help you with any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

5 Benefits of Clearly Defined Coaching Goals

If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you going to know when you get there?

In the coaching side of my practice I sometimes run across clients that have been previously told to ‘improve their performance’, but not what part(s) of their performance actually need improvement. When coaching a client/employee it is important for both the coach and the client/employee to have specific goals and timelines.

Goals have to be established in order to give direction and purpose to the coaching session whether it is a client or an employee. Ambiguous goals are usually never achieved and may cause frustration, at a minimum.

Defining Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time driven (SMART) goals will plot a marker in the horizon. It’ll act as your beacon. Without that beacon you are navigating blindly.

Having no clearly defined goal causes frustration for both you and your client/employee because there never seems to be any improvement or progress. It creates a constant cycle of failing to meet some objective – a cycle that will keep repeating without a clearly defined goal.

Setting a clearly defined goal gives you and your client/employee direction and purpose. Imagine being handed a bunch of tools and materials and told to build something without a clear vision or goal of what is to be built.

The same holds true for developmental goals. It is not good enough to tell your employee they must improve in sales or build widgets faster. These types of goals create more confusion because they do not know where to start because they don't know where they're specifically going.

Here are 5 benefits to establishing clearly defined goals upfront for your client/employee:

Both you and your client/employee have a better chance of starting in the right direction together

Coaching time is more efficient once goals are discussed upfront

You are able to plan ahead of the session and prepare targeted questions

Coaching session are direct and avoid meandering

You, as the coach, will come across more clear, instilling confidence in your client/employee

Going back to the building analogy, you may end up building a stool when what was really needed was as birdhouse. Clearly defined goals are the cornerstone of effective and successful coaching.

By establishing clearly defined goals you help to set your client/employee up for success.

For more information about coaching and mentoring, or to see how The Cobalt Group can help you with this or any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

10 Important Ways to Increase Employee Engagement

As I stated in a previous blog, employee engagement is the next level above employee satisfaction.

Basically stated, employee engagement is the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards their organization and its values.

There are two components of engagement:

Rational Engagement

The involvement, understanding and motivation an employee has in his/her job.

Emotional Engagement

The attitudinal attachment an employee has to his/her company.

In essence, employee engagement is a barometer that determines the relationship of a person with the organization.

At the heart of the engagement model is Leadership. This is where it starts. Your organization’s leadership sets the tone for your employee engagement model. And the engagement strategy must be directed from the top down.

The challenge facing the organization’s leadership is to move the employee beyond the way each feels about his/her job to the attitudinal attachment each employee has to his/her company.

So as you develop your employee engagement strategy, here are

10 Important Ways to Increase Employee Engagement

1. They Need to Know what’s Expected of Them

2. They Need to Have the Right Equipment to do the Job

3. Give Them the Opportunity to Do What They Do Best

4. Have a Formal Plan for Recognition & Praise

5. Care for Them as a Person

6. Let Them Know Their Opinion Counts

7. Build a Connection with Them and the Mission of Your

Organization

8. Talk With Them About Their Progress – formally and informally

9. Provide Opportunities to Learn and Grow

10. Encourage Professional and Personal Development

As your organization develops your engagement plan remember, the KEY to successfully engaging employees is getting to know each employee – not engaging a “them”.

For more information about engaging and mobilizing employees, and to take our free self-assessment about how well you are engaging and mobilizing, or to see how The Cobalt Group can help you with this or any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Monday, February 11, 2019

Why TEAMWORK Matters

You have a passion about something and decided to turn it into a career. You are building, or have already built, a business to bring your good or service to market.

Or, you're part of a bigger company and are responsible for part of that organization.

Undoubtedly, you want your business or organization to be successful. But, with all of the moving parts to running them, what are the important things to be focusing on?

While you are diligently creating and executing your business plans, go-to-market strategies, and all the other pieces of the pie, there is one important ingredient that is overlooked, or taken for granted too often:

TEAMWORK

Why does this matter? Because running a successful organization requires an effective team!

The simple truth is that effective TEAMWORK does, among other things, the following:

- It enhances the sense of accomplishment and promotes camaraderie

- TEAMWORK helps build enthusiasm and creates a more supportive atmosphere

- It creates collaboration in the organization – the sum being greater than the parts

- When employees use their talents together they are better able to overcome roadblocks and accomplish the mission

- Teamwork encourages interaction across organizational divides – and externally with partners and customers

There are many other benefits of effective TEAMWORK. The point here is, TEAMWORK must be an important ingredient for any successful organization.

So here’s the question...

Does your organization demonstrate effective TEAMWORK and reap the benefits?

We'd be glad to discuss that with you. The Cobalt Group can facilitate over 150 different workshops for your organization, six of them listed below are entirely focused on teamwork and team building.

· Building High Performance Teams Inside the Company
· Building High Performance Teams in a Remote Workforce
· Team Building for Managers
· Team Building Through Chemistry
· Teamwork and Team Building
· Virtual Team Building and Management

For more information about how to achieve better TEAMWORK, or to see how The Cobalt Group can help you with this, or any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

Please share this with your friends and colleagues.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s have a discussion.

Monday, December 10, 2018

5 Characteristics of Engaged Employees

Employee engagement is the next level above employee satisfaction. The difference between the two is distinct.

Satisfied employees perform under a more transactional relationship. They are willing to give X amount of work and time because the company gives them Y in return.

Engaged employees, in contrast, will go beyond a transactional relationship and are willing to give greater levels effort and time. They put more into their jobs because they are passionate about seeing the company and its customers succeed. Employee engagement is a barometer that determines the relationship of a person with the organization.

These are certain characteristics that are traits of more engaged employees. Among them are:

1. They have a belief in the organization. Engaged employees feel connected to the mission and values of the organization. They want to contribute to its success.

2. They have an understanding of the ‘bigger picture’. These employees know what is expected of them and they know how what they do fits into the overall strategy of the organization.

3. They work to make things better. Engaged employees seek out ways to improve the organization and the products or services they sell.

4. They are respectful and caring to colleagues. These employees appreciate that each has a role and that each bring certain strengths to the solution. They genuinely care for each other.

5. They are willing to go ‘above and beyond’. Another characteristic of an engaged employee is their willingness to go the extra mile to achieve the goals of the organization. They do so out of commitment to the organization’s goals and values,

At the center of any organization’s engagement model is its leadership. The tone for employee engagement is set from the top to the bottom of the leadership chain. To succeed, it has to be an all hands effort. The organization’s leadership must move the employee beyond the way each feels about his/her job to developing the attitudinal attachment each employee has to his/her company. This is the difference between having satisfied employees to having engaged employees. And it's not that hard.

And remember from a previous blog, the KEY to successfully engaging employees is getting to know each employee – not engaging a “them”.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.