Will 2016 be the year that you enjoy business success? Follow the advice from The Best You’s business experts and see what you can achieve
“Know who your clients are. I cannot tell you how much time I wasted trying to serve everybody. Cash will only flow into your business when you concentrate on a specific market. You need to establish quickly who you are aiming at and how you plan to reach them. Without this key piece you really don’t have a business at all.”
Jamelle Sanders, life coach
“What do I see as the factor common to growing businesses? They all have founders who are alert and open to entering new markets, launching new products and tying up with new partners. With more than one billion people online across the globe, often looking for British made or designed products, you could say it’s a good time to Go Global.”
Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation
“There are very few natural communicators. I studied Steve Jobs’ speeches for one of my books, and he definitely evolved as a speaker. His style was very visual, and his presentations had few words, but his TED-like approach made his product launches extremely impactful and effective. Anyone can achieve this, it just takes thought, creativity and practice.”
Carmine Gallo, author of Talk Like TED
“Daily upgrades are something we’re used to in daily life – we turn on our phones and they tell us the latest operating software is available for download. In fact it’s something tech companies like Apple, Google and Facebook do very well, constantly looking to improve. We need to apply the same approach to our thinking, to evolve, tweak and treat yesterday as out of date.”
Richard Tyler, author of Jolt
“Once you have a business idea you need to believe in yourself. The more you can do this and in your chances of succeeding, the more likely you are to do just that. Of course, we all have doubts from time to time – the danger is if those doubts spiral out of control, creating unnecessary anxiety and negative self-limiting beliefs, which prevent us from doing something that we really want to do (and, deep down, know that we can do).”
Annabel Karmel, author of The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner and Mumpreneur
“I always suggest asking yourself, ‘What is my intention?’, before posting – breed positivity, not negativity in what you say and share. Conversely, if people on your news feed are posting negativity, move away. If people are in your face virtually, work out what the trigger is. Focus your energy on positivity. Be a positive stalker and treat social media as a way of spreading positivity, giving someone a like to make them feel great. Whatever we do is mirrored back to us in time.”
Rebecca Campbell, author of Light is the New Black
“Often we expect others to hold our values, but we have to realise that we can’t control others and we shouldn’t get emotional if they don’t deliver. You have to really know your values and go deep on them, rather than be frustrated at the first hurdle.”
Jo Simpson, author of The Restless Executive
“The next generation wants more than just a pay cheque and they are much more choosy on how they spend their time and want companies to support their dreams. It’s a good way to do business and even big firms can do it and still be authentic. It takes a lot of guts to stand up to shareholders, but it’s absolutely the way to go in the future.”
Laurence McCahill, co-founder of The Happy Startup Summercamp
“It’s been said that most sales people give up after three or four attempts and buyers take 10 to 11 ‘touch points’ before making a decision; this could be a combination of phone calls, texts and emails. This is one major reason for sales people failing, a lack of perseverance and tenacity. Therefore my tip is to not give up. This doesn’t mean keep calling and being a pest, it means keep calling and giving value and change your approach to try different things.”
Tony Morris, the Sales Doctor
“Get in touch with your USP – I call it your YOU-nique brilliance, do a big ‘show-off’ chart and write down everything that’s great about you, it’s critical that you get in touch with all the ‘facets’ of you, imagine yourself as a diamond, which bits are really shining and which bits need a polish! By the way this isn’t an ego trip, it’s about being connected to your authentic self so that you can make the right connections in your work and your life. It’s not vanity – its clarity!”
Janey Lee Grace, author of You are the Brand – PR secrets to fast-track your visibility and skyrocket your success
