Coming Soon – Business Analysis
We know the web and hopefully you know your business – the issue is where do we draw the line on that. Step in Business Analysis – that’s a bit of OTT description perhaps of what we provide, but let’s not beat around the bush – a common question we’re asked is how to get more visitors to the website – frankly that’s the task of any business I would have thought. Go shout it out down the street for all we care.
But seriously though – we’re here to help, we’ve had years of experience of all sorts of businesses, we see them come and go as they say and we often worry that a client is sloping off in the wrong direction and perhaps not so graciously we get rather opinionated ourselves. If you don’t do it our way then you’re going to fail.
There are two really strong arguments against that though, the first is we’ve seen websites succeed against all odds, they’ve done really strange things and not followed our advice at all and still made a huge success of things… and it’s not always been a case of throwing enough money at the problem for it to stick… sometimes the idea is really just too good. On a side note I would suggest contacts make a remarkable difference between success and failure.
The second argument against doing it our way is that it’s bloody hard work, requires significant pre-planning and means you have to stay within certain parameters, it can feel like putting your business in a straight jacket, it might be for your own good, but ultimately it’snot why you want to run your own business your own way.
So be aware of listening to us and now that I have made our disclaimer I hope I have your undivided attention!
I can never understand why a company wants to taken on a ‘system’ for something, a pre-packaged piece of software, this issue gets worse if you specialise in a given field and everyone else in your field uses the same software or system. Do this and surely you will hit the same walls as your competition and also you’ll have the same level of competitiveness. It’s a bit like racing one-design yachts, the skills will be up to you. But it should be far better for your business if you employ the right tools for the job. And that often means breaking the mould.
Microsoft did not get to where they are by using IBM’s software, nor did Richard Branson, or those Chinese guys over at Hinckley Point, wherever there is massive innovation literally the rules books have been thrown out the window. If you have a business that you want to succeed with – then the question has to be asked why would you use standard systems.
I better bring Business Analysis back into the equation before I really boot out the old ideas. Business Analysis is quite simply the right tool, for the right thing, by the right person. That adage was taken from a client and it serves a perfect purpose here. Look at your business what does it do and what can it do better. As runners of businesses we all know we can do better, and we know roughly the areas that we can do better – so those are the parts we should be focused on.
NComp@ss’s Role to Play
With the problem recognised – what can we do to help. Well with the Internet we can certainly take a good look at your business and suggest ways to make it better. With so many services and product based business looking to the Internet we are extremely well placed to offer this service. We can look at any aspect of a business and we can focus in on specific areas of the business.
Our Business Analysis will come down to essentially – can we replace a current workflow or system with one that is going to work better for you. We won’t always carry out the work, but we’re likely to know someone who can offer these services, there’s no commitment for you to select our choices, but we aim to give you the understanding you need to get a job done.
Shall I offer some examples:
- We have 15 years experience managing delivery schedules for a number of clients. Our clients want to get their products from their warehouses to their customers, fast, on time and with the right communication to their customers. We are still finding that improvements can be made… some of our clients take signatures on pieces of paper and return them to the Office at the end of each day – but with our Drivers App we can digitalise that process… the driver arrives at the customers location and simply requests their signature and all the final paper work is automated.
- More than one of our customers takes their website orders, prints them off and then types them into their fulfilment or accounting system, we call this working in triplicate and it possibly one of the biggest waste of resources we know about today – our solution – hook the system together so that website orders are transferred automatically (or on demand) to the right place.
- Marketing Plans – you know when your busy periods are – and when you’re busy the website and it’s role take the back seat, but with a proper Marketing Plan – that does not have to happen. Think of a great idea now for Valentines next year – put it into the Marketing Plan and come January – half your work is already done for you. Sticking to a Marketing Plan means you never have to think ‘what next’ because you already thought that months previously. Our Marketing Plans are super simple, very generalistic and easy to follow.
The Money
I hear you thinking this is going to cost me – NComp@ss are just plying their trade – but the reverse is true and you know it. I was brought up to believe it is better to be part of a large pie than the owner of a small pie.
When NComp@ss works with you – we bill you a fixed fee for a specific job, or some monthly fee for some monthly service. What we are paid has no bearing on the potential you can earn from something we have done. That sounds conceited, but it’s true none the less… Take the examples above if we charge you £1000 for some piece of work that saves you having to employee someone writing triplicate orders into your accounts system – we may have saved you £20,000 year. If we cost you £3000 for a website and you generate £100,000 in revenue – that’s a remarkable ROI.
And that is what it comes down to… ROI… I learnt this in travelling through the USA last year – no-one cared what the cost was (provided it was affordable) what mattered is the ROI… what will you get bac.
I would go one step further before I start back tracking – if NComp@ss does indeed make you a website that generates a £100,000 profit for you – why be stuffy about it costing £5000, that website is going to go on generating profits, so really there is no excuse not to spend more. I say this frequently about Google Adwords – if you are making profits out of spending £100 a month, then spend £200, if you still make profits on £200 a month, spend £500 – whatever you spend and so long as it is profitable is effectively free money.
The same should be true of your relationship with us. We’re here to make you money, we’ve 18 years experience in all sorts of businesses, we campaign hard for ROI, when we say shall we spend more of your money… it’s an invitation to allow you to make more money.
Of course, ultimately you’re the boss on all of this, but our Business Analysis of your business may open significant doors to you and even if there are costs and risks involved, be assured that if we’re not doing it for you, then someone is doing it for someone else.
Let’s get to work.