Don’t Let Flying Drain Your Productivity
November 27, 2007
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Many employers send their employees business class on transatlantic flights for good reason: a) They can work on the flight and b) They’re more productive when they return to work if they’ve been able to sleep on the plane.
If you’re a business owner, it can be more cost effective to fly business class when you go on holiday, to avoid being less productive at work when you return. I discovered this after a long haul economy flight left me feeling exhausted for 2 weeks.
Now, everyone is different, but for simplicities sake, if you’re only half as productive for two weeks, and you usually work 60 hours a week and your time is worth £50 an hour, then you’re losing £3000.
The trouble is, business class flights can cost a fortune. So how do you get a decent sleep on a plane for a reasonable cost? Try these tips:
Fly Premium Economy or World Traveller Plus: You’ll get more legroom, it’s quieter and they usually give you plenty of free drink at the beginning of the flight to knock you out. The only thing is, the seats don’t recline that much. So unless you fall asleep easily, it might not be a good bet for you.
Travel at a Quiet Time Of Year: If you’re lucky and the plane isn’t that full you might be able to get a lie down in Economy. I was lucky to have an empty seat next to me on one flight, so I was able to grab a sleep. However, this might not work so well if you’re tall (I’m quite short) and you do need to wear ear plugs as many of the 200 plus others in the cabin may not feel like sleeping at all.
Find a Z Fare: Different fares have different codes. For example - full Upper Class fares on Virgin Atlantic are “J” fares and usually cost around £4500 to £5000 return. A “Z” fare is a discounted fare in Upper Class. These usually cost around £1200 to £1500 return. And you get exactly the same seat - the only thing you don’t get is a chauffeur. And if you’re that desperate to have a chauffeur I’m sure you get one for a lot less than £3500.
Join a frequent flyer program: You can soon rack up quite a few miles with a frequent flyer program and most airlines allow you to earn miles through a partner program - eg hotel stays or car rental. And you don’t always need thousands of miles to get a discounted flight. For example Virgin have a scheme called miles plus money, where you are able to get a discount by using a small amount of miles. And if you’re slightly short of miles for the flight you want, they’ll allow you to buy up to 19000 miles in a year to get your free flight.
Fly economy out and business return: Flights from the UK to the USA are usually in the day time and you’ll rarely arrive exhausted, because you are gaining time. So you can save a heap by flying out in economy and returning business class. Of course, if you live in the States and you’re coming to England, you’ll gain time on the way home anyway.
Use one of the business class only airlines: Many of the business class only airlines offer return flight to popular destinations such as New York and Los Angeles for less than £1000 return and they frequently run even cheaper offers. Check out Silverjet, Maxjet or EOS.
Bid for a cheap flight: Check out http://www.skyauction.com for flight and travel bargains. Many airlines including Virgin and Silverjet auction off cheap seats on this site. Just read the terms carefully so you know what tax and supplements you will have to pay.
Use Your Airmiles Wisely: If you’re using airmiles to pay for a flight you’ll still have to pay the tax on the flight, but tax on flights from the UK to the USA is much higher than tax from the USA to the UK. So sometimes it can be worthwhile to pay cash for your flight from the UK to the USA and use your miles for the other half of the journey only.
Mind when you book: Monitor flight prices carefully. Often they will come down significantly a few months before, if you’re not flying at a peak time such as Christmas or summer holiday times. As a rule of thumb the best prices can usually be had around three months before you fly.
Be Prepared For Emergencies: Remember to look for travel insurance that will cover you if you can’t fly in the case of a business emergency.
5 Things To Consider When Choosing A Business Mentor
November 26, 2007
Most of us could do with a good business mentor or two. But, before you go hammering on Richard Branson’s door, here’s few things to consider:
Mentors Are Busy People: Whilst many people will be happy to give you a bit of advice - don’t expect to monopolise their time.
Not Everyone Is A Good Mentor: Have they had business experience, or did they just take a business course? Have they actually ever employed everyone, or are they just self employed? Being self employed is not the same as running a business.
Do They Think They Know It All? I was speaking to a friend yesterday and coincidentally, his old boss was his new boss’s mentor. Unfortunately, his new boss had also acquired his old boss’s weaknesses. And he said this was simply because his old boss thought he knew everything.
Nobody knows everything and you don’t want a mentor who thinks they do. So, ask them what their weaknesses are, and what mistakes they’ve made in business. If they don’t admit to any, they’re not going to be a good mentor.
Are You Going To Listen To Them Anyway?Many people starting out in business will constantly ask for advice, then not put any of it into practise. I’m not suggesting you do everything your mentor tells you, but do be prepared to put their best advice into practise and also give them feedback. There’s nothing more frustrating than a mentee who never listens.
Do You Want To Be Like Them? Be careful who you take advice from, no matter how successful they seem. For example, if you want to build a successful business, eventually reduce your working hours to 10 a week, enabling you to have a balanced life, don’t choose a mentor who is divorced, works 80 hours a week and is well on the way to having a second heart attack.
3 Great Businesses You Can Learn From
November 25, 2007
I like to keep a careful eye on other businesses. Not only can you learn from their mistakes, you can also take what they’re doing well and apply their ideas to your own business. And here’s 3 great businesses to keep an eye on:
Who Are they? A Liverpool based IT company.
What I like about them: a) They don’t give up - they almost went bankrupt, but managed to turn the business round again, and one of the Directors, Ian Denny shared the experience with others in Phoenix from the Ashes.
b) They offer remote IT support - I’ve tried it and the service is excellent - even on a weekend.
c) They dare to be different - Most IT companies come across as boring, and a bit geek like, but not Multisolutions. They have a special traffic light system and each month their customers use the system to rate their service. If they don’t receive 100% excellent scores each month, one of the Directors has to pay a forfeit, which they video and broadcast on their blog.
Who are they? A UK based garden design and construction company.
What I like about them: a) They can make your garden look like this.
b) Their Expansion Plans: Recently they were taken over by Marshalls plc and they have massive expansion plans. They currently have 18 franchisees, and recently they recruited Ron Hutton, to help them increase their UK coverage. Ron intends to recruit 27 franchisees in his first year with the company. And whilst his plans seem ambitious, he has an excellent track record in the franchise industry and I know that if he says he can expand the company this quickly - he will.
c) They Use Feedback to Improve: As you probably already know, one of the best ways to improve a business is to ask your customers what you’re doing right and what you could be doing better. Ron has spent hours speaking to existing franchisees to discover what Scenic Blue are doing right, and how they can improve and this will definitely pay off in the long run.
Who are they? The UK’s best airline, providing flights to many cities in the USA and the Caribbean.
What I like about them: a) Unlike many other big companies, they haven’t become complacent and they’re constantly improving their service. And they actually make flying fun, with their award winning entertainment system. Plus, they recently opened a new terminal in Heathrow Airport, a new lounge in JFK and upgraded their Premium Economy seats. And they’re even planning trips to space for 2009.
b) Their frequent flyer program: They reward their customers with a brilliant frequent flyer program. In virtually no time at all, I was able to save enough points for a one way Upper Class ticket from New York. And one man has even racked up enough frequent flyer miles for a trip to space.
c) They dare to be different: Some of Richard Branson’s publicity stunts are legendary. And Virgin Atlantic’s advertising campaigns are like nothing you’ve ever seen from an ordinary airline. Click here to check out this hilarious video they brought out to promote their Upper Class flat beds.
Do you have a favourite company that we can learn a lot from? Please tell us about it in the comments section.
Do You Think Your Customers Are Sea Lions?
November 24, 2007
Are you making it virtually impossible for people to buy from you? Do you make your customers jump through hoops before you make a sale?
Your customers are not Sea Lions. Most of them are busy. They want an simple, straightforward sale, and if they don’t get it, they won’t buy from you.
Here’s an example of an Internet directory who are losing customers because they not only make it difficult to buy. They also ensure that they screw up their chances of ever selling to that customer ever again, and encourage bad word of mouth.
A while ago, I received a call from a lady selling spaces on a new directory. I won’t usually advertise on directories, as many of them are spammy and I don’t like having to compete against them for my keywords. But, I agreed to advertise with her for the following reasons:
1) I liked the idea that she was providing some valuable local area content rather than just hundreds of links to various sites.
2) She seemed nice and she was just starting out in business (she’s a franchisee for a fairly new company).
3) She came out to see me to explain her services - she wasn’t just some random telesales person who expected me to pay money over the phone to a company I’d never heard of.
4) I’d heard that a quite famous entrepreneur who’d recently gone through some difficult times was involved in the business. And as I was keen to see her do well, I wanted to support her new venture.
But, really, I agreed to advertise with her to do her a favour, as she was just starting out. I was taking the chance that her site would attract more local people than our excellent local newspaper site. And, I don’t need someone to get me on the first page of Google for my keywords because I’m already lucky enough to be in that position. But, lots of local companies aren’t and if her service turned out well, I’d recommend her to others.
So what went wrong? Well, I signed up for a year, filled out my bank details and she gave me a copy. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise that she intended me to send that copy to my bank - I assumed she was doing that. In fact, I don’t really have time to do things like that - if I’m buying a service from someone, I expect them to do all the legwork.
Now, if she’d called me, I would have explained all that to her. But, she didn’t. Not long after her visit, I became ill with flu. And Stuart received a call from her head office, asking why I hadn’t sent in the bank form.
Of course, he told me about it but dealing with it was not on my list of priorities because a) I had flu, b) I didn’t know that I had to send in the form anyway and c) I was a bit annoyed that the woman hadn’t called herself. So, I decided I would give her a call when I felt better.
But, it didn’t end there. Shortly afterwards, Stuart received a call from someone who appeared to be from the same company asking us to advertise. He assumed it was another franchisee, but he wasn’t sure as most of these directories have pretty similar names. Anyway, he told them that I deal with all the advertising, but they could email some details, which they did. Of course, I still had flu, so when he told me about it, I said no straight away, I just couldn’t be bothered. Plus, I’d already signed up with the other lady, so I’d give her a call when I was well.
But, I didn’t because - when franchisee number 2 called back and Stuart told him we didn’t want to advertise, he was rude. He said we’d messed him about and wasted his time, just like we’d messed the other franchisee about.
He obviously hadn’t been in sales for long if he expected to sell to everyone he emailed details to!
Well, that was it, I decided not to bother contacting franchisee number 1 and she still didn’t bother to call me either.
What Could The Company Have Done To Avoid Losing The Sale?
1) A personal follow up would have been good: This woman called me, then came out to see me - she must have been here for over an hour. But, she couldn’t even call when she realised I hadn’t sent in the bank form - she got her head office to do it.
2) Sent in the bank forms themselves: If you’re getting someone to fill out their bank details, then you give them one of the copies, the chances are they’re going to assume that it’s a receipt and that you will actually be sending the bank a copy.
3) Operated in exclusive areas: It caused confusion when a second franchisee called to try to make a sale.
4) Avoided rudeness: Being accused of wasting these people’s time was annoying. After all, I’d given up my time to allow them to sell me a service that I didn’t really need that much. The call from the rude guy put me off going out of my way to call the first franchisee, since she hadn’t bothered to call me. And I certainly wouldn’t recommend them to anyone else.
5) Refunded the deposit:: I definitely recall having paid a deposit by cheque. And I have not received a refund. So, now I will have to go through the cheque book and waste even more time going through the process of demanding a refund.
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