The  “GIVING A START” Competition 2011 is aimed at encouraging potential entrepreneurs to follow their dream and to start their own business.

The judging panel will include Bobby Kerr CEO of Insomnia and of “Dragons Den”, Paula Fitzsimons, of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, and Terry Clune of Taxback.com.

The winner‟s prize is valued at €25,000.

This prize will be made up as follows:

-Office, business support, conference and meeting rooms in 11 Patrick Street

-Accommodation and events in The adjoining Pembroke Hotel

Support and consultancy from businesses in 11 Patrick Street to the value of €3,000.00 per business.
-Paschal Bergin Accountants & Tax Consultants
-MD Media PR Consultants
-Brian Dunlop Architects
-Optimize Recruitment
-Real Solutions, Staff training and coaching
-Fitzwilliam Partnership, Strategic and Financial Management

-Support from the Invest Kilkenny Business Support Unit and seed money of €1,000

-A strong PR campaign behind the competition locally and nationally aimed at giving profile to the winner and finalists.

For full competition entry details go to

http://www.elevenpatrickstreet.com/givingastart

If you have a particular objective to achieve in speaking to someone are you ready for that conversation? So whether you are going to a network event or talking to one of your customers, suppliers here are some of my tips on getting the most out of those conversations:

- Always have your research done on the person, company you are going to approach. Look at their website, talk to others in same industry, similar role.  Find out about the industry, whats driving the industry, whats changing the industry. Who are their competitors, what are they doing.

- Listen out for tones in the voice of the person you are speaking to. Are they interested, busy, bored, engaged? React to their tone . For instance if they sound busy then ask them is there a better time to talk? If they sound bored then you need to engage them more. Ask more questions about themselves & their business & the challenges they face.

- Check your own tone of voice, is it energetic, interested, happy?

- Use same language as they are using , use their speak. If you do not understand the words they are using then ask what that word means e.g. “It was interesting”  Question back “What specifically was interesting about it?”  “Why was that interesting for you”? This helos you better understand specifically what was interesting for them.

- Check who is doing the most talking. If you are doing most of it then how does other person feel & if you are trying to find out information about them why are you doing the most talking?

- Empathise where appropriate. If a person is telling you something negative about their business then symapathise, share a similar story with them, showing them that you understand.

- Summarise back to the person to ensure you understand. “Just to clarify my understanding………is that correct”.

- Gain agreement from the other person on your understanding being correct plus on the next actions.

If you do all this then conversations for you & your customers will become more meaningful. It was also enable you to move closer to that person & build stronger relationships. Remember if you are really listening to what they are saying you will follow up on the actions that have come out from that conversation.

I recently delivered a customer service programme to group of individuals.  As part of the programme we reflected on a number of questions.

• Who are your customers? Do you segment or categorise them?
• What do they do exactly? What is their business about?
• What are their challenges? In their specific role, in their business, in their industry?
• Are you reactive or proactive with them?
• How do you sound,  speak to your customers?
• Who does most of talking?
• Do you know what they say about you & your company to other companies?
• Do they recommend your company to their customers, suppliers?
• Do you keep your promises?
• Do you say Thank You for your business? Do you say sorry if you make a mistake?
• Do you go beyond your competitors in service? How do you WOW them?
• Do they consider you to be an expert/leader in your field?

This is a pro active customer service strategy. If you have answered yes to most of these questions then you have excellent customer service & I would love to hear how you got there.

When I think back on all the bosses I have had or reflect on the many conversations with clients – the more successful ones demonstrated some of the attributes in the below article.  We cannot be everything for our team or business , we have got to use the resources available to us & around us.  So letting go some of the reins will empower you to be more & enable you to achieve more. The difficult part is to understand what to let go & to whom?

Once you have figured that out you yourself will not only feel empowered but your team around you will feel empowered. This has a rippling effect that should benefit everybody.

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/managing/article/lessons-in-leadership-susan-sobbott

The initital euphoria of your new idea may wear off or you realise that actually your goal is going to take much longer to attain than you initially thought. At some point you need to take stock of where you are at & start to put pen to paper, or at the very least the bank manager will need to see a plan. Formalising your goal & how you are going to get there will help to identify the  actions you need to take.  Without a plan, with targets or KPIs linked to it,  you run the risk of wandering around for quite some time, trying desperately (like our squirrel friend) but never quite attaining what it is that you want.

Here’s a simple tool that I have used that helps me to focus:

1. Write down your stretch goal , 5 or 10 year goal. Ask yourself  – What is it, what does it look like, what does it feel like when you are there, what does it taste & feel like (this will help you visualise your goal). How will you know when you have got there? What will you have achieved?

2. Break down this goal into a 3 year goal - this is where you need to start putting down some specifics. How much? How many? How far? Set specific targets or KPIs for you & your business.

3. Break down 3 year goal into 1 year goals. These are very specific & should be tangible. Against these you need to set yourself more specific targets , KPIs.

4. From these 1 year goals should come your day to day actions that you need to be doing to achieve the 1 year goal. This is your action plan going forward.

Make sure your goals & actions are realistic & achievable.   Follow the SMART rules,  Specific,  Measurable,  Achievable, Realistic, Time oriented.

If actions are big or difficult for you, break them down into mangeable pieces. Take it one step at a time & build on the success of each achievement. Each success should motivate you to next one.