SFM Consulting Blog

17th January 2012 / Posted in: Management, Planning and preparation

3 things to do before a client meeting

Most of us have so many meetings that it’s easy to slip into the habit of not preparing adequately in advance. As well as the common sense preparations about knowing where you are meeting, how to get there, arriving in plenty of time and taking all the relevant paperwork etc.  Time with clients is precious so aim to get the most out of any meeting, and grow your credibility, by being well prepared.

• Set aside time in the diary well in advance of the meeting to think, read minutes or notes from last meeting, draft an agenda and research any new ideas you have suggested previously or want to mention at the meeting
• Send an agenda, agenda items and any papers for discussion in advance of the meeting allowing enough time for the client, and anyone else attending, to read and prepare for the meeting
• Have a ‘pre-mortem’before the meeting, that is imagine everything that might go wrong in terms of the client not liking what you’ve presented, the client not agreeing to things you’d assumed would go ahead, obections about price etc. If there are two or more of you attending the meeting each come up with your own list of the objections you may face, explain your rationale for identifying them. Agree what are valid objections then together work out how you would overcome them should they arise. It’s an excellent way of challenging your own thinking and identifying any potential weaknesses.

Pre-mortems are really useful when working on large projects, tenders or pitches. See Harvard Business Review for more information.

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16th January 2012 / Posted in:

Following up turned a lead to a win-win

In my January newsletter I wrote about the benefits of driving opportunities forwards by using your diary and sending clients notes after meetings. Last Monday I was on the receiving end of a courtesy call from someone who was trying to get a particular road bike for me to test. He was just calling to say that he hadn’t forgotten me but was having trouble getting a test bike in my size. Fast forward to Friday and I was walking out of Cycleworks in Petersfield, pushing a new bike and grinning like a Cheshire cat. Here’s what happened.

Two years ago I bought a road bike on e-bay as I fancied cycling but didn’t want to spend £800 on an entry level ladies road bike. I hadn’t used it much until last April when a friend offered to take me out for a ride and give me some tips.  He has cycled for years, competitively too, which gave me confidence as I’d fitted SPDs - those pedals you clip in and out of - and I was somewhat nervous.  The plan was to ride for about an hour and a half, but it was a glorious day and it was fun so two and a half hours and 66km later I found myself back at home with aching legs but thinking about the next ride. In May I rode my first Sportive - an all womens 100km. I was hooked.

By November I’d realised that my bike was too small and I needed to buy something that fitted me properly so I went to see Simon (Manager and Director) at Cycleworks in Petersfield to see what test bikes he had. So as not to bore the non-cyclist readers he had a lovely red bike*  which he proceeded to adjust so it fitted me perfectly. 

Getting the bike geometry right for the rider is a science I knew nothing about until a few months ago. Forty five minutes with spirit levels, plumb lines and a gadget to measure the angle of my knee and the bike was set up precisely and ready to go.  Simon had explained how important it is to get the bike set up right and that he wanted me to have the ‘ride of my life.’

I did - but being cautious, in love with a bike that was much more than I has planned to spend or my ability warranted, and only having ridden my e-bay bike I wanted to test something else. Simon led me in the direction of a racy white bike. It looked even more beautiful than the red bike .... and more expensive. Unfortunately it wasn’t my size but the right size was due in but probably not until the New Year.  And that’s why he phoned me last Monday.

Since test riding the red bike I’d been thinking about new bikes and researching costs using the iPad my husband bought me for Christmas. I’d reached the conclusion that the red bike was the top of a particular range and its substantially cheaper sibling would suit me fine.  I’d received an e-mail saying Cycleworks were offering 10% of everything and idle chatter had found me a buyer for my e-bay bike, so when Simon called last Monday I said I wanted to pick his brain about the red bike’s cheaper sibling as with 10% off, and a buyer for my bike, it was just within my price range.  Now that I was being specific about price Simon mentioned that he’d got a bike in stock that was very similar to the test bike he was trying to get me, it was my size, in the right price range and when could I pop over for a test ride.

The fact Simon made the follow up call gave me the opportunity to get into a serious discussion about buying a bike during which he learned what I could afford to spend and by giving me the sale discount off a bike he’d already discounted was a win-win for both of us. So many businesses would have got a junior to make the call who may not have had the skill to turn what I was saying into testing a bike.

Although Simon had the measurements from the last test he spent more time making sure the bike was just right before I took it out for a short spin. When I walked back into the shop he didn't need to ask whether I wanted the bike - the look on my face said it all.  On Saturday I cycled to Petersfield to meet up with other cyclists from the Tri Club. There was thick frost everywhere, no wind and bright sun.  A perfect day in anyone’s book but made exceptional thanks to my new toy and comments from the boys about how much faster I was going.  I know it will give me hours of pleasure, for years to come - with the added benefit of keeping me fit. I'm one very happy customer!

* For the cyclists

• The bike I bought on e-bay was a Specialised Dolce
• The red bike was a Specialised Roubaix Expert SL3
• The bike I wanted to try for comparison was a Cervelo R3
• The red bike's cheaper sibling was a Specialised Roubaix Competition
• The bike I bought was a Cervelo RS with Shimano 105s and Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels

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12th January 2012 / Posted in: Business efficiency, Operational management, Planning and preparation, Priorities, Productivity, Time management

Tips to boost your productivity

On 10th January I gave a 10 minute presentation,  at the Chichester College Business Breakfast Club, on what gets in the way of working productively. Judging by the number of e-mails, texts and tweets I received the subject and presentation were spot on. The slide presentation is on Slideshare and the following are the key points from the presentation:

• About 50% of the audience admitted to allowing their work to be interrupted by pop up messages on their screen, pings etc when e-mails, texts etc arrive. 
• Interruptions damage waste your most important commodity - time. Once used time has gone for ever.
• Interruptions are a distraction and reduce your ability to focus your concentration and effort on the matter in hand leading to lower quality work that takes longer to produce
• Many people use their diaries simply for appointments and sometimes to list reminders. Using your diary to schedule everything is a discipline and a disciplined approach to managing your time delivers results.
• To start using your diary effectively do a brain dump of everything you need to do - not just tasks, but strategic priorities or the actions needed to achieve these priorities. Go through this list and highlight everything you need to do this week then separate in to two lists for the week - one for strategic and revenue-generating priorities and the other for everything else.
• Schedule the strategic priorities into your diary first remembering that you can’t focus for more than 90 minutes at a time, effectively, then take a break. Make the most of the first 90 minutes of your working day - it’s when you’ll work most effectively  (See ‘The way we’re working isn’t working’ by Tony Schwartz.)
• In your breaks you need to do something different. If you’ve been sitting at your desk looking at Facebook or Twitter isn’t a break. Move around. Have a change of scene.
• Remember - successful people like Richard Branson schedule time to look at an action e-mails - rather than looking at umpteen times a day,  and also define one important or key task as the priority for the day.
• Electronic diaries make using different colours for different types of task easy so you can see what is fixed and what can be moved around.
• Like any new habit working this way takes a bit of time but once you start using your diary effectively you’ll:

1. achieve more priorities - providing you put everything in your diary and you don’t shy away from diarising the ones you don’t want to do
2. feel good about achieving more priorities .... and the business will benefit
3. be less likely to forget to do things as if you need to reschedule something you simply move it to another time
4. be better prepared for client meetings, phone calls etc because you’ve identified planning time in your diary
5. be in a better position to drive opportunities forwards and keep ideas on the agenda if you schedule time to write notes after all meetings
6. become more realistic about the time it takes to do something and hence better at estimating how long something takes - which is really important if time is money
7. find yourself working faster or more efficiently if you know you have an hour do to something - providing your interruptions are being kept to a minimum and you remember to take proper breaks
8. achieve things rather than getting to the end of the day and feeling a failure as you haven’t crossed anything off the to do list
9. discover if you really have more do to than time allows, thereby putting yourself in better position to evaluate what to delegate or outsource
10. have a better work-life balance
11. be happier!
12. It’s worth spending part of Friday afternoon planning your diary for the week ahead

If you work with other people the business will be more successful if everyone recognises that time is their most important commodity and knows how to manage it effectively.

Click here to go to the slides

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9th January 2012 / Posted in: Care Quality Commission (CQC), Management, Operational management

Are the Care Quality Commission’s failings at Castlebeck just the tip of the iceberg?

At the beginning of October Panorama revealed that over 150,000 social care workers are paid less than the minimum wage.  The care industry employs over 2m people in the UK. It’s physically and mentally tough work, those receiving care are dependent on carers for many of their basic needs yet it’s poorly paid.  Many are paid the minimum wage, many little more, and a significant number are paid less as their employers exploit loop holes.

In November the media announced that Dr Foster had published a report which revealed that the death rates in NHS hospitals in England are higher at the weekend. Their report showed a correlation between highest mortality rates and the fewest senior doctors available.

Last month concerns were voiced as to whether the Government should do more to monitor the finances of companies operating in the care home sector needs following the collapse of Southern Cross earlier this year.

The regulatory body in England - the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has developed a document - the Essential Standards of Quality and Safety - which is used to evaluate whether registered health and social care providers in England are compliant with section 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Standards against which providers are evaluated include:

• staffing - there are sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced persons, at all times, employed for carrying out the regulated activity
• financial position - the service provider must take all reasonable steps to provide the regulated activity in such a manner as to ensure the financial viability of delivering the service as defined  in their statement of purpose.

According to their website the CQC state that their job is ‘to check whether hospitals, care homes and care services are meeting government standards.’ Comparing these standards with the events reported in the press suggest that the CQC aren’t doing their job, and the failings at Castlebeck hospital in relation to mistreatment of residents have resulted in an investigation by officials at the Department of Health and NHS Management. 

Whilst the regulated health and social care providers have exacting standards they are required to meet, how does the CQC demonstrate it meets standards required by a regulator? Previous healthcare regulators of the independent healthcare sector - the Healthcare Commission and National Care Standards Commission struggled with service standards and inconsistency between inspectors.  Is Castlebeck just the tip of the iceberg and has anything be learned by the mistakes of the CQC’s predecessors?

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3rd January 2012 / Posted in: Business efficiency, Management, Planning and preparation, Priorities, Time management

3 top tips for client meetings

When we're busy we often don't allocate enough time to prepare for meetings with our clients or follow up after the meeting.  Every meeting, or significant telephone conversation, presents an opportunity to sow seeds which may develop and grow the business with that particular client.

These three tips may help you make the most of these opportunities: 

► Send a summary of what was discussed and agreed within 48 hours of the meeting. If you don’t already send minutes or action plans Minutes.io is a useful tool.  A summary is useful ground work for future meeting agendas.

► Take time to reflect on the meeting and whether any additional information, or clarification, is needed to progress any work

► Plan the actions required by the client remembering to schedule time in your diary. As well as making sure actions don’t get overlooked, scheduling helps keep track of the time actually spent on each client/project

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