By Leon Gettler >>

TIFFANI BOVA, global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce, has written extensively about the Growth IQ for companies. She talks to many businesses about it.

Ms Bova travels around the world helping companies grow in the face of stiff competition and a fast-changing business environment.

As she describes it, a company’s Growth IQ comes down to simple steps. But it’s also about being honest about where the company is heading.

“The one thing about growth is it’s not one thing and starting with the context that a business is in – what  industry, what region, what sector, whether other things are going on around them and within their own business – you need to know that first,” Ms Bova told Talking Business.

She said if companies did not know the context of their business, they might end up just replicating what their competition was doing. 

“If you just go for replicating what someone else is doing, that’s their context, that’s their culture, that’s their capabilities, not yours. That’s always super dangerous,” she said.

“You have to know your business, you have to know your employees, their capabilities, you have to know you customers.

“You have to know your ability to absorb change internally. You can’t throw a bunch of ideas out to your employees and expect them to respond accordingly and everything to be executed perfectly. There’s a lot that goes behind those things that need to be done.”

WHAT GROWTH DO YOU WANT?

Ms Bova said the key question that businesses needed to ask was what kind of growth rate they wanted to have.

“Is it 2 percent, 5 percent., 10 percent, 50 percent? Each would have a different context for that business.”

One of the things Ms Bova does when she gives keynote speeches around the world is ask people how many want to grow their businesses? How many want to double their business in the next 12 months? How many want to grow at 50 percent? Or 25 percent? While everyone wants to grow, they want to grow at different paces.

“Then it goes back to that context. What can you handle as a business when it comes to growth?” Ms Bova said.

FIND COMMON STARTING GROUND

Tiffani Bova said when she talked to executive teams, there could be differing views within the company about how much growth they wanted, who their main competitors were and whether their company could handle innovation at a rapid pace.

Until everyone has a common starting ground, which is not easy to do, but at least the leadership teams need to have it, they can tackle the important issues facing the business, she said

Ms Bova cited a Bain study which found that 95 percent of businesses turning over more than $5 billion a year felt that internal inertia, not external forces, was what kept the business from growing profitably.

She said companies wanting to develop their Growth IQ needed to accept that growth is a thinking game. How much growth does the company want? Are their leaders aligned?

“It isn’t necessarily about having the best products, or the best strategy or the best execution,” Ms Bova said. “It’s about, did we come up with the right plan to begin with?”

www.salesforce.com

www.tiffanibova.com

www.leongettler.com

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness.

By Leon Gettler >>

NEOS is an insurance company with a difference – a technological difference.

Apart from policies, the UK insurance firm also offers customers smart home technology to protect against burglaries, fires and water damage. Neos is also planning to add a smart door bell and an outdoor camera in the near future

The technology includes smart cameras, motion sensors, door-window sensors, leak detectors and fire detectors.

That is all managed through the app and if an issue is detected at the home, the customer can contact Neos through the app or on the phone and Neos will send someone out to put the situation right. 

And of course, technology can’t protect against everything so the customer still has good old insurance.

The technology is in essence offered free of charge and Neos is competitive with traditional insurance companies.

Neos was started up two and a half years ago and the firm is expanding globally, expecting to double its sales over the next year.

CEO and company founder, Matt Poll said the aim was to provide customers with something different.

He had spent many years working in the insurance and noticed customers all had a common gripe.

“Customers would come and say ‘You know what, I pay you all this money every year, I’m a great customer, I never claim, I get nothing in return and then at the end of the year, you go and put my price up,’’ Mr Poll told Talking Business.

“I thought customers deserved more and I had seen how smart technology can add value in terms of engagement to customers and help prevent claims.”

WINNING WITH TECH

Mr Poll said it was a win-win situation. The customer wins because they are able to protect their home better and get something of value and even if they don’t make a claim, they can check in on their home whenever they want.

And Neos wins as well because if they detect a problem early, it can save on the claims payouts. 

He said Neos also has a B2B offer for other insurers.

Aviva, the largest insurer in the UK, uses Neos technology as does a large insurer in the Netherlands and another one in the US.

Neos white labels the technology and the service around it and licenses the offer to other insurers so that they can offer it around their brand.

“When we looked hard at the market, we saw the easiest way to increase our distribution internationally was through partnerships rather than trying to sell insurance in multiple different territories which is tough for a start-up like us,” Mr Poll said.

While the company is planning to expand further into the US and Europe, Mr Poll said Australia was also an attractive market (however, there is an Australian insurance company with a similar name which has been operating nationally for several years).

“We have had some interest from Australia,” he said. “It’s certainly a market if we found the right partner we would look at because there’s a lot of similarities, apart from the weather, to the UK and obviously being an English speaking country, it makes things a lot easier for us.”

www.neos.co.uk

www.leongettler.com 

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness.

AN OLD African saying – 'It takes a village to raise a child' – is being applied successfully in Brisbane to help foster small businesses.

For local Brisbane businesses – such as unique and interactive catering solutions business Gathering Events – the challenges of running and growing a business are about to get easier with Brisbane City Council’s mission to create Australia’s most small business friendly city.

With three new council initiatives on the way to help small business flourish – including free small business networking events, workshops to enhance skills and empty space activations in suburban retail precincts – Gathering Events managing director Jen MacMillan said it was an exciting time to be in business in Brisbane. 

“We’ve been able to directly benefit from the support of council initiatives, including mentoring when we first launched our business, which gave me advice that has shaped where we are today, and more recently 50 percent off a food licence application fee,” Ms MacMillan said.

“Even after five years in business, a saving like that is huge and gives us additional funds to invest into other areas of our business.”

GATHERING EVENTS KUDOS

The Gathering Events business, which has grown organically year-on-year from a mobile caravan bar service to now offering clients food carts, gelato carts and cocktail bars, relies on local suppliers.

“All of our suppliers, from our printer to our gelato maker, are local,” Ms MacMillan said. “We have come to consider them friends and these initiatives provide a way to create an even richer small business community in Brisbane.

“It is exciting to think that more businesses will have opportunities to develop with additional support and somewhere to talk about the challenges and wins – we’re really all in it together.”

With Brisbane as the base, Gathering Events has found its innovatie services in demand and now travels ‘far and wide’ servicing Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Byron Bay, Ipswich and Toowoomba. Gathering Events can also now  service Adelaide city and the greater Adelaide region in South Australia, by arrangement.

LISTENING TO BUSINESS NEEDS

With more than 124,000 small businesses operating across Brisbane – and accounting for 97 percent of all registered businesses in Brisbane – the new support offered by Brisbane City Council will allow additional businesses to grow and start across the city.

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the new initiatives were in addition to existing small business support services and were a direct response to feedback from business owners.

“We know our small business owners are battling, and want to feel more connected to the local business community, have more life in the suburbs and access training that is focused on their needs,” Cr Schrinner said.

“With the right support, small businesses can thrive in Brisbane and we want to ensure we are doing all we can to give these businesses the opportunities necessary to grow and stay in Brisbane.” 

When thinking of anyone waiting to launch their idea or businesses in their startup phase, Gathering Events’ Jen MacMillan said, “Brisbane is constantly changing and it is incredibly positive to see how our city is growing. Suburbs are being activated and Brisbane is now seen as a legitimate player by big brands. What better time to start something?”

Brisbane City Council also offers local business owners a 24-hour business information hotline and dedicated small business liaison officers who provide one-on-one support.

New small-business initiatives to be introduced in the coming months by the Brisbane City Council include free monthly small business networking events – to be held across Brisbane suburbs each month to help build regular local business connections – in addition to the existing Lord Mayor’s Small Business Forums.

Also planned are free skills workshops, a series of free intensive business training sessions aimed to help small business owners enhance their skills and build capability. These are in addition to the Lord Mayor’s Business Excellence Workshops.

Council is also developing a set of ‘empty space activation’ guidelines, for a pilot program to encourage property owners with vacant space in suburban retail precincts to allow temporary pop-up usage between long-term tenancies.

For more information on Brisbane City Council’s small business support programs, visit www.brisbane.qld.gov.au

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BRISBANE boutique fitness studio, Raw by Bek is giving the fitness industry itself a ‘workout’. Raw by Bek has developed unique, pre-choreographed ‘to-the-beat’ classes, changing the way Australians view what is now known as ‘high-interval-intensity-training’ (HIIT).

Raw by Bek’s director and head trainer, Bek Strachan said Raw by Bek is Australia’s first and only ‘HIIT-to-the-beat’ studio that features music-synced interval training designed to push members to work harder and see results faster.

Each playlist and song is carefully selected and used as the foundation for the routine, designed to engage the entire body to move to the rhythm of the music, leaving muscles burning for hours after. 

Ms Strachan said her trainers each spend 2000 hours a year choreographing routines to ensure every burpee, lunge, squat, plank and tuck jump is strategically and rhythmically matched to the music.

“Music allows us to create routines that are fresh, unique and fun. There’s nothing better than seeing everyone training, in unison, to the beat of the music,” Ms Strachan said.

“You get the biggest results in the shortest period of time. There’s something special that happens when you combine blood-pumping beats, revolutionary functional exercises, and a team of trainers who shift your mindset to a place that frees you, empowers you, and ensures you leave feeling on top of the world.

*A study conducted on the effect of music tempo on exercise performance and heart rate indicates the combination of music and exercise increases the exerciser’s effort output and heart rate without them noticing,” Ms Strachan said.

“My classes are different to the usual HIIT workout because we create our routines using music as the inspiration for movement. The music is carefully selected for an optimal full body workout, each lyric, beat and rhythm targeting specific areas of the body.

“As the beat of the music fluctuates, so do our movements, ultimately encouraging short bursts of extremely high physical intensity with rest periods to boost fitness levels and burn fat. 

“Raw by Bek capitalises on the instinct to synchronize movements with music and channels this into a fast-paced, fun and effective workout that lifts our members’ moods and persuades them to ride out waves of exhaustion.”
Ms Strachan said Raw by Bek takes a holistic approach to health and fitness, giving people access to all the required steps in their fitness journey.

“When members sign up, they receive a Raw by Bek shirt or towel, booty bands and online access to weekly updated meal plans crafted by an accredited dietitian, at no additional cost to their monthly membership,” she said.  

“We believe in an inclusive and open community environment and strive to help our members become the best version of themselves. This really sets us apart from other gyms and allows us to be the change we want to see in the fitness industry.”  

Raw by Bek is celebrating three years in business on December 14, 2019.

www.rawbybek.com.au

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