This happened to an E-Myth business coach, who has written about the lessons the shop could learn. She didn’t make a complaint – that would give them an opportunity for improvement – but she won’t go back again.

The lesson is, of course, that it’s all very well having customers, but you need to keep them satisfied. You have to make sure that you can deliver the promise that the customer thinks you’ve made.

Here are four areas to consider in bringing maximum value to your customer:

• Product design and strategy: Do your products do what you promise they’ll do?
• Your production process: Your product must be of the highest quality and streamlined to minimise cost.
• Your delivery process: Your customer must feel the BEST about the decision they have made.
• Customer service: This is where you have an opportunity for competitive advantage – e.g. by additional information, follow-up assistance, advice, notice of upgrades

No promise is more important to keep than the one you make to your customers about your products or services. You have to prove that you understand their needs and that they can rely on you to give them what they want. The only way to ensure that your clients get exactly what they need every time is to create a system to deliver it.

In other words, delivering on your promises is your mission.

You can read the full article on the e-myth website.

Jim and Ollie Adkins get into practice

“Are you up for a real challenge?” my son Ollie asked me. We are preparing for an epic charity climb of Mount Kilimanjaro this October, but he suddenly suggested an even greater challenge. And that’s how the Sunshine Mountain Challenge was born. 

Ollie is a personal trainer, but he’s turning into my personal trainer as well. Together, we are attempting to set a world record by climbing Kilimanjaro –a 19,330 ft hike – while passing a rugby ball. 

In doing so, we hope to provide funds for Water Aid and Tag Rugby, a charity that supports sport and development in Africa. 

We’ve been sponsored by Gilbert, the rugby ball manufacturers, who have ingeniously designed a special rugby ball with a pedometer inside. This will count the number of passes made each day, in case Ollie’s greatest fear is realised – that I will drop the ball and he will have to go back down to get it. 

Training is already underway but fitness doesn’t always mean success and only 60% of those who set out manage to get to the top. Altitude sickness is another obstacle that we need to overcome, but it’s totally unpredictable. 

We are looking for sponsors and supporters and have set up a website www.sunshinemountainchallenge.com to take donations directly. All the money we raise will go straight to the charities as we are funding the trip entirely ourselves. 

If you’d like to help, you can do so in several ways: 

• by supporting this event and making it really count
• by donating on the website
• by being a sponsor on the website: £500 will place your logo on the website
• having your company logo on T-shirts and have it photographed and shot in HD video at the summit

If you sponsor us, you can guess the number of passes we’ll make. Whoever makes the nearest guess will win a rugby ball signed by the England team. 

For further information contact either of us: Jim Adkins 07809 834485. Ollie Adkins 07706 537724.

On Tuesday 5 October we are co-hosting a breakfast meeting, providing an opportunity for local businesses to meet up and network at one of the UK’s elite sports training venues.

Itinerary:

08:00am Tea & Coffee with welcome & networking
08:20am Transforming Debt into Cash – Colemans Solicitors
08:40am Interpreting the Numbers – Kirkpatrick & Hopes
09:00am Breakfast buffet & networking

Colemans Solicitors LLP
Now, more than ever, businesses of all sizes are being forced to tackle their problem debtors. Our aim is to help you achieve real results with effective and targeted debt-collection procedures. We will advise you how to improve your chances of getting paid quickly and, if necessary, how to turn a County Court Judgment into cash, thereby arming you with the weapons to help you successfully combat bad debtors.

Kirkpatrick & Hopes
Most business owners do not understand the information contained in a typical set of accounts. Using a case study, we will explain how you can use the accounts to get a real insight into the state of a business’s financial health so you can assess its creditworthiness and avoid the risks of bad debts and slow payment.

Speakers: John Lennon & Kate Williams of Colemans Solicitors LLP and Pauline Williamson of Kirkpatrick & Hopes

Numbers are strictly limited, so please book ASAP by contacting Clive Hollyer by email at clive.hollyer@colemans.co.uk, by fax on 01628 622 106 or by phone on 01628 631 051.

August is traditionally an exam result month – not only for GCSEs and A levels, but also accountancy. I’m delighted to tell you that here at K&H Andrew Neale passed his Business Analysis exam and Stacey Delve passed her Tax Paper exam. Congratulations to both of them on their achievements – they have already started studying for their next papers.

We’ve had birthday celebrations too. Jen, who is our newest recruit having joined us earlier this year, celebrated her 21st birthday recently and I understand was lavished with gifts of diamonds, show tickets, flowers delivered to the office, and a surprise family meal. Her birthday celebrations were rounded off with a camping weekend in Chichester.

The footie season has kicked off again and we are repeating our internal Fantasy Football league with members of the team and their families joining in the fun.  Currently, and of course it is very early days, my son Daniel and Pauline’s son Josh are leading the field with Poppy very close behind.  I must say it was very strange seeing Blackpool at the top of the Premier League, albeit for just a day.  I will be very surprised if they reach that height again this season.

The decorators are still with us and are now concentrating on the inside of the Overdene House building – once again please accept our apologies if your visit here has been disrupted in any way.

We also had some very sad news this month. Jackie’s dear husband Digby died very suddenly and unexpectedly on 7 August. A large part of Digby’s life was as an Officer in the Merchant Navy and when they first married Jackie accompanied Digby on his extensive travels to many parts of the world including Australia, Japan and Indonesia and even through the Panama Canal. Our condolences and deepest sympathies go to Jackie and their son Jeremy and his wife Trudi.

Business Development Workshop
Here’s a reminder that our next Business Development Workshop will be held later this month – Wednesday 29 September here at our offices in Theale. This workshop provides an introduction to four key areas that we work on with our clients: using accounts, saving tax, and improving profitability and business development using E-Myth principles. We get really good feedback on these BDWs and have already received a number of bookings, so if you would like to attend please let me know as soon as possible.

Breakfast Seminar
And finally, on Tuesday 5 October we are co-hosting a breakfast meeting with Colemans Solicitors on the subject of Getting Paid.  The seminar will be held at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre and, as places are limited, you need to book in advance. Full details here

If you would like to comment on any of the above, I’d love to hear from you.

• The only way to get anyone to do anything is to make them want to do it
• The deepest urge in human nature is to be important
• A quote from Emerson: “Every man I meet is superior to me in some way”
• To influence people, talk about what they want, and how to get it
• Henry Ford: the secret to success is seeing the other person’s point of view
• “A man convinced against his will/Is of the same opinion still”
• People have two reasons for doing things: one that sounds good and the real one
• The way to get things done is to stimulate competition- not to make money but to excel
• Say “and” not “but”
• “Praise is like sunlight to the warm human spirit”

The book ends with an insight into what made Carnegie (and so many other people) so successful: the ability to speak in public, ’a shortcut to distinction’, and praise totally disproportionate to merit!

Please have a look at the full review on my LinkedIn Reading List, and let me know what you think about HTWFAIP.

In Lord Sugar’s opinion, the recession should not make any difference to the timing of a new business launch. The decision whether or not to start a business should be based on sound business principles (supply and demand, financing needs etc.) regardless.

• His best bit of advice to start-ups was to keep a constant eye on the business and basic numbers, e.g. money in and out. Don’t get too bogged down in detail.
• The main mistake Lord Sugar sees small businesses making is getting stuck in a rut and not taking a step back to look at things strategically on a regular basis.
• His view of the credit crunch is that business finance is not as hard to find as most people suggest. If you are refused credit by your bank, take it as a warning that your business plan/model may not be good enough.
• When asked if he thought accountants made a positive contribution to small business and enterprise, Lord Sugar agreed with Sage’s survey that accountants are likely to be the first place business owners turn to for advice, in particular to help them take a step back and look at things strategically. Helping in dealings with the banks is another key area, e.g. interpreting their guidelines on lending.
• As for what makes a good accountant, Lord Sugar said that the best accountants are the ones that take an interest in their clients’ business and do more than just number crunching. He adds that many clients would appreciate a simple explanation of measures like debtor days and solvency ratios so that it makes it easier to understand what is happening in the business. The full text of the article is here .

I am not sure my experience of the banks is the same as Lord Sugar’s, but I completely agree that accountants must do more than just the number crunching to help their clients. At the same time there must be a willingness on the clients part to recognise the value of that advice and, of course, pay for it.

Please tell me what you think.

They hope to collect an additional £140,000,000 of unpaid tax in this way.

Contracts have been signed with the following debt collectors:

• Commercial Collection Services Ltd
• Credit Solutions Ltd
• Fairfax Solicitors Ltd
• iQor Recovery Services Ltd

The Revenue Spokesman Nick Lodge says:  ”We are all expected to pay our taxes on time and most do. DCAs give HMRC vital additional capacity, strengthening our ability to pursue the debts of those who decline to pay.

“We do understand that some businesses and individuals are not in a position to pay what they owe and we have put procedures in place to help those who are genuinely struggling. But those who simply refuse to pay have to be pursued, and our partnership with DCAs ensures they will be.”

The Revenue say they contact a business or individual taxpayer before putting any tax debt in the hands of a DCA.

I wonder how this will all work in practice?  For more details, please click on the following  links:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/cap-cap-pilot.pdf  and

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/reports.htm

Feel free to leave a comment below or contact me directly.

1. You must employ between five and 250 people on PAYE, including charities.

2. There must be a senior decision-maker accessing the fully-funded first £500 part for their own training.

3. The training itself must be seen as able to help drive the business forward.

4. You must not have had the grant previously.

5. You must not have received state grants or subsidies from the Government worth more than £170,000 over three years.

For more information, see www.skillssoutheast.co.uk

Many businesses may have paid their PAYE late for cash flow reasons but the government has now introduced new PAYE penalties.

You may now have to pay a penalty if you pay your PAYE, NICS or CIS payments late.

The penalty rules applied from 18 May 2010.

All employers are subject to the new penalties, including people employing domestic staff, nannies or care workers in their own home.

The good news is that no penalty is due on the first late payment and the Revenue should then issue a warning letter.

The penalty for the second and subsequent late payments increases from 1% to 4% of the amount due in the same tax year.

Additional penalties of 5% are due:

• for payments six months late
• for payments 12 months late

Getting behind with PAYE can be very expensive.

You can appeal against a penalty if you have a ‘reasonable excuse’ for not making the payment on time. The Revenue is unlikely to accept lack of funds as a reasonable excuse unless you can prove that this was due to something beyond your normal control such as an exceptional bad debt.