BNI Riverside

In these tough economic times, people may be tempted to ‘cut costs’ and consider not using the services of a lawyer to assist them in buying or selling a business. Our litigation division has plenty of ‘war stories’ of people burnt who have tried to cut costs and not obtained professional advice. For example, do you know that if you sell a business and assign the lease to the buyer, you may remain liable to pay rent to the landlord, even after the business is sold, if the buyer defaults in paying rent? This may be avoided by properly drafting the contract.

A business sale transaction can be quite complex and involves a broad range of issues such as employee entitlements, plant and equipment, GST, stamp duty, franchises, council requirements and obtaining the Landlord’s consent for either a new lease or assignment of an existing lease. 

McKays have prepared a guide to give you some general knowledge and discuss, in plain English, the key legal issues to consider in a business sale transaction. Regardless of whether you are a Seller or a Buyer, this resource will assist you in understanding the sale process and why a properly drafted contract is crucial to protect your interests.

The guide is very easy to use with headings to help you to find information that is relevant to you. It also alerts buyers to important matters to consider before signing a contract, such as whether you should purchase in your own name or set up a different business structure. Buyers and sellers are also encouraged to use the services of other professionals such as accountants, financial planners and insurance brokers.
 
Visit the below webpage to view the guide: http://www.mckayslaw.com/documents/McKaysBuySellBusiness.pdf or if you would like a hard copy please email the marketing department on rprout@mckayslaw.com.

For further information about buying or selling a business in Queensland call Geoff Matheson on (07) 3223 5901 or email gmatheson@mckayslaw.com

Business Networking Tips

When you receive a referral, how long do you wait to follow it up?

What are your first steps?

• Call the referee to get more information on their requirements
• Research the prospect to get a feel for their business and possibly personality
• Google??

I had a conversation with a frolleague (a colleague who wants to be your Facebook friend), let’s call her Mary, recently who was surprised that she’d gotten flack from a referral source, Brian, for taking five days to follow up with a prospect that Brian had referred to her. Mary explained that she doesn’t like to follow up with prospects for four or five days because she doesn’t want the prospect to feel like she’s too eager. I told her that she is clinically insane. read more…

Do you remember the Dread Pirate Roberts from the classic film ‘The Princess Bride’? The Dread Pirate Roberts legend has existed for hundreds of years. He maintains the legend by handing on the name to a young protégé when he retires. The longevity of the legend gives it further weight.

Santa Claus uses the same method. The Santa that we know and love today is obviously not the same Santa we had 100 years ago, but he sustains the legend by handing on the ‘reins’ to a younger protégé when he retires. read more…

Networking Education Session

The people in this room are your sales team. When you only have 45 seconds per week to train them, you need to get to the point, and quickly.

Often, we concentrate on explaining a different aspect of our business and run out of time to tell the group what exact referrals you are looking for.

We have to listen to about 30 infomercials each week while trying to eat breakfast, order coffee, pass the business card box around and think of our own witty one liners to throw in. If you don’t give us something specific to latch on to, we may not think of you again until next week

Tell us the specific person, business or industry you need to meet this week. This will immediately narrow our mental filter to begin thinking of matches for you.

Be careful what you wish for because, chances are you just might get it. If you are not specific in your requests, we may go looking for referrals in the wrong place or not even know where to start.

Brisbane only has about 2 degrees of separation. If you mention a specific person or business, there is a high chance someone in this room can introduce you.

Try centering your infomercial on the referrals you are seeking. Today, start your infomercial with “This week I’m looking for”.

Most people in business know the value of alliances. These are other business people, in non-competing categories, who can (and do) refer business to you.

Yet are you as creative as you could be in setting up these alliances?

My accountant told me about one recently that immediately grabbed my attention. Here is the story!

Time for a car service, so he takes his car in to the car dealer. While waiting to have it booked in and the paperwork completed (and unbeknown to him) a local “panel beater” does an inspection and writes a report on all the small marks on the car. These are the little scratches and dents you get in car parks and maybe also from inattentive parking. Just as he has finished signing the paperwork for the mechanical work the service attendant tells him about the “other inspection” and advises him that they can also get that work done with just another hour or two. Can my accountant friend collect the car at 4.00 pm instead on 1.30 pm? He agrees (as he will be in the office all day anyway).

Value here for both parties!

The customer gets two jobs done on the same day saving him the inconvenience of going to another repairer on another day. And he gets a car back looking much better than when he left it for service.

The car dealer gets extra credibility with his customer and also loyalty from another supplier. Needless to say that the panel beater also cross-refers to the car dealer.

Everyone wins!

So who do you know that offers a complementary service or product that you could offer at the time of your offer or quotation to your clients?

And have you set up an arrangement with them that works both ways?

The Referral Master®

If asked this question many of us would say yes. Yet when faced with real change we often resist simply because it is that – change.

We suddenly think of all the reasons why an idea won’t work because change moves us out of our “comfort zone” and into unchartered territory. Suddenly we are in areas where we have no reference point, no statistics and research, no proven assumptions.

Yet it is in these places that startling things happen and often, real progress is made.

Consider the report in the latest issue of Virgin Blue Airlines Voyeur magazine, which highlights the American state of Utah. In June 2008 they introduced a 4-Day Week for all government employees. Not optional – mandatory.

A revolutionary change if ever there was one.

Can’t you still hear all the “change resisters” saying……“it won’t work”?

Yet 18 months later it has proved to be a huge success. Here are just some of the benefits:-
• Reduced energy consumption by 13%.
• Reduced carbon emissions equal to 2500 less cars on the road.
• $6.4 million transport savings into commuters’ pockets.
• Stress rates and absenteeism down.
• Productivity and service quality up.

So what changes have you considered and then been talked out of. And even more importantly, what changes would you now introduce?

Why not hold a think tank on what changes you could make to improve your business?

The Referral Master®

While listening to Rachael Bermingham speak this week – she is Australia’s most successful female author – I was confronted with this thought.

You see the audience had been asked to introduce themselves for 30 seconds earlier in the programme and Rachael was listening.

She then challenged us about how we described ourselves.

One of the main thoughts in Rachael’s presentation was that, despite what we thought we did, we were all problem solvers.

So my question to everyone reading this is “what problem do you solve?”

The best way to build existing customer loyalty and to attract new customers is to be a problem solver. And you are in a perfect position to do just that – solve problems.

You don’t know all the reasons why ideas won’t work.
You are not locked into old paradigms.
You are not emotionally attached to solutions.

When you become a problem solver for other people you start to become indispensable.

So when next someone asks you what you do, how will you describe yourself?

The Referral Master®

There are numerous myths about networking! Here are just a few….

• Attend as many events as possible – more is better.
• Get as many business cards as possible – 20 or 30 is excellent.
• Exchanging cards will get you business so take plenty.

Yet all of these (and many other myths) overlook one vital aspect. Networking is about people and people like to feel valued.

Fast pace and quantity may work well with “speed dating” but it certainly does not work with networking.

Networking is about making a connection, something you don’t normally do in 60 seconds.

So it amazes me when people say “networking isn’t working for me”. Very often the thing that isn’t working is the person doing it.

To make your net works you need to do the following:-

1. Set a goal for each networking meeting – I suggest a maximum of 5 good connections.
2. Have a follow-up plan…. and do it. Plans without execution are just vacant words.
3. Turn those “networking connections” into “real relationships” by investing time and remembering each one is a person, not a number.

For more tips on making your Net Work, go to my website – there is a wealth of useful material to help you grow and develop your network.

The Referral Master®

When new members join my networking group one of the questions we ask is “how are you different from your competition” and it is amazing how many people give you answers like “we provide great customer service”.

I am sure that if we asked their competition they would say exactly the same thing. So where is the difference?
In today’s marketplace giving your customer things like “great customer service” just doesn’t cut it anymore. In fact, if you think about it, that is what the customer paid for!

So how do you go about “standing out from the crowd”?

In New York City the Naked Cowboy certainly understands this concept. What amazing brand recognition he has created simply by doing something no one else had done. In an often “bland world”, he stands out from the crowd for all sorts of reasons and has gone on to create a worldwide business.

So here are some tips on creating an image that is DIFFERENT from the competition:-

• ask others for ideas – form a think tank or mastermind group just for you – in 2005 mine resulted in the idea of International Networking Week
• be outrageous – bland never stands out and fear of what people might think will defeat you – imagine the Well Dressed Cowboy V The Naked Cowboy
• get a mentor/coach – they will give you new ideas and reasons not to reject ideas outright – that will ensure you stay the same

A guideline for all ideas could well be “has someone done this before in exactly the same way”? If not then try it!

The Referral Master®

I was asked recently what value I brought to a meeting and the question caused me to think about the topic of the value of meetings.

You may remember the brilliant John Cleese video “Meetings Bloody Meetings” where Cleese and his team send up the concept of the Monday morning meeting in a medium sized business. Hilarious as it is (and if you haven’t seen it get hold of a copy), it highlights the way people waste valuable time in meetings.

From agendas that are nothing more than a list of topics, to waiting for people who are late, to turning up totally unprepared, the list of time wasters at meetings is endless.

Given that everyone who attends a meeting has an investment in it (your time has a $ value) then it behooves us all to look at what value we bring to meetings so that others get a good ROI on their investment. Considering that a 3 hour meeting at $100 per hour (for your time) should give you back at least $110 of value.

Here are some tips that may help:-

1. Always ask the initiator what the purpose of a meeting is and how they will know whether it has achieved it’s aim/s.
2. If it is a one-on-one meeting, ask the initiator what 3 things they would like to get out of the meeting.
3. Always come with at least 3 questions and take notes on the answers so you can revisit them again if necessary.

Great meetings are short, interesting and focused!

The Referral Master®