Blog - Essential Business

August 6, 2012 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

Selling to people who believe what you believe

I love this TED talk by Simon Sinek. In it, he explains about his Golden Circle concept which is, in essence, the process of communicating from the ‘inside’ out.

In the video (sorry about the poor quality), he shows how to reverse your message so that instead of going on and on about what you do and how you do it, you talk instead about why you do what you do: why you set up your company, why you’ve created this service or that product, what makes you different… what you care about. [Read more…]

October 17, 2011 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

Is business a dirty word?

Too busy to read this? Listen to Julie on SoundCloud instead. She’ll soon put you to sleep…

This morning, I’ve been pondering the nature of business (as you do). Prompted, for the most part, by the recent news that the UK energy providers are raking in the profits (up by 733% we’re told) and Vodafone are paying just £1,400 tax on profits of £3.5bn*.

It’s no wonder that some people hate business. It feels lately that every newspaper we open, radio or TV we turn on, or blog we read, regales us with stories of corporate greed, hidden profits and backroom deals.

But — and it’s a big but — we risk confusing the vehicle with the driver. [Read more…]

August 29, 2011 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

When do you say, ‘No’?

I’ve just been watching the BBC programme, Dragons’ Den on catch-up TV. During the show, an artisan is pitching for investment in his company, which sells high-price hanging garden seats.

Towards the end of his (unsuccessful) pitch, one of the ‘dragons’, Hilary Devey, tells the artist that he could be sourcing manufacture of his product in Morocco, for a tenth of the price he pays in the UK. The artist replies, ‘But we do have to keep some work here in the UK. It’s not just about outsourcing everything, surely?’ [Read more…]

April 15, 2011 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

Finding the right customers

Many businesses sell to whoever chooses to buy from them. On the face of it, there’s no problem with this, but often it means that they are not dealing with the customers who would most appreciate their strengths, and who would bring them the most profitable business.

A far better way is to choose your customers, then concentrate on winning those customers by designing products and services that match what they need. [Read more…]

March 4, 2011 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

What are you going to sell?

No time (or inclination) to read this? Listen to Julie instead:

When it comes down to it, despite all the complexity and overwhelming levels of information surrounding it, business is actually simple. It’s about selling products (or services) to people. It might not feel like it, as you wrestle with the day-to-day reality of that statement, but it’s still true!

According to the man with ‘a name to conjure with’, Igor Ansoff, you really only have four options when deciding what you are going to sell and to whom, and the surprising simplicity of these four options can be liberating when it comes to working out the details of your marketing and sales strategy. [Read more…]

Selling to people who believe what you believe

Is business a dirty word?

When do you say, ‘No’?

Finding the right customers

What are you going to sell?

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