By Kate Tribe, Tribe Research

There are many times in your customer’s journey when you can capture information to help you to understand them better – both individually and in terms of your whole business. Here are 4:

How did they find out about you?

Find out early how they found out about you. You might have many contacts in your database that become customers from one marketing source, clearly it’s one you need to keep. If it was a referral, have you thanked them? Are you storing who your referrers are so that you can analyse the types of customers they are sending to you? You might also spend a lot of time and/or money on another source that is bringing you contacts but not customers. Often your perception isn’t reality, which is why collecting data and periodically analysing it will help you to be clear about the facts that you can then use to make business decisions. Additionally, collecting this information in a survey could be different due to recall bias.

Are they profitable?

If they keep coming back to you, so have the advantage of being regular, but you can’t charge them in a profitable way, then you need to say good-bye. You will only know this if you collect information about how much time you spend working on their needs as well as how much they pay. Use your accounting package’s time billing component if you’re a service-based business so that you can see how much time you and your team spend on a client. This is especially important when you provide fixed priced quotes and then do the work, or if you have a policy that you don’t charge for all those 5 minute calls. It doesn’t always take what you estimated at the beginning.

Are the payment terms good for both parties?

In the product sector, a customer generally pays in advance or on delivery, however the business has already paid for much of the cost of the product and storage related to it until the customer decides to buy it. The service sector is a little trickier in terms of payment terms. It can be negotiated for payment at the end, deposits, full up-front and many other combinations. What is important is finding a balance where the customer will be happy about the terms but is also good for your cash flow. It also isn’t just about the invoicing, it is when they pay the invoice. Keeping track of the number of days customers take to pay in previous jobs will assist you the next time you set up a contract with the client.

Can you find a special marketing angle?

Tribe Research helps many business owners, so one way that we keep in touch is to send a birthday card in the month that they registered their business. The information is publicly available, easy to find and enter into a database – and then a report can be created on a monthly basis. I believe business owners should be celebrating these mile stones and often forget to do it, so the card is a good prompt. What new way could you connect with your customers and prospects in an unexpected way?

Store it in a database

Firstly, relying on your brain to remember all of it, puts a lot of pressure on your brain that could be used in a better way. More importantly, as soon as you hire staff (or sub contractors, or suppliers that assist with administration), if it is only in your brain, it will be very difficult for them to help you.

Secondly, storage allows you to cross analyse information. You can compare: how they found out about you, how much they paid, how much time you spent working for that client, how fast they paid. You can then work out which ones you want to keep – and which ones your business is better off without.

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY KATE TRIBE

• The 9-Step Feedback Cycle
• Survey Reveals Diversity Within the ABN Community

By Susan Wareham McGrath, Susan Wareham Immigration Services

On International Women’s Day, Australia’s peak shareholders’ body said women should be appointed to company boards according to their abilities, not arbitrary quotas, according to The Australian newspaper. And Federal Opposition Women’s Affairs spokesperson Michaelia Cash restated the Coalition’s opposition to gender quotas, in response to Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey’s call for women to occupy a mandated 30 per cent of boardroom positions.

Meanwhile, Governor-General Quentin Bryce used International Women’s Day to call for board quotas, saying they are needed to break the “old boys” stranglehold over Australian business, and Australian Minister for the Status of Women Kate Ellis has stated that quotas were a last resort but that the government was leaving this option on the table.

But are we targeting the real problem in our discussions about quotas and getting more women onto Australian boards?  I don’t think so.

I see the lack of women on boards as just a symptom of a much deeper problem that seems to have had disappointingly little media attention paid to it.

The real issue – the problem that must be addressed before any sustainable progress can be made toward gender equity in corporate Australia – is Australia’s prevailing organisational culture that keeps women off boards, by restricting their access to the C-suite executive roles that are feeder positions to corporate directorships.

I recently undertook a piece of research relating to factors that affect women’s representation on boards in Australia. I only used significant Australian and international studies that were up to two years old, so my sources were somewhat limited, but even so they identified no less than sixteen separate and evidence-based factors that currently block women’s ascendency to the board table.

Just a few of these factors were:

• the culture of mateship that continues to pervade Australian boards
• a lack of transparency in board appointment processes, and a failure to articulate and assess applicants against clear selection criteria
• the fact that boards usually recruit from restricted pools of applicants that are already known to, or referred by, their members
• board members’  tendency to “appoint in their own image”
• the fact that significantly fewer males than females see gender diversity on boards as a strategic corporate priority
• organisational expectations of a straight-line, always-available, geographically mobile career model
• the fact that board feeder positions – senior corporate C-suite roles with line management responsibilities – are predominantly filled by men
• the lack of support for women who wish to continue to build their careers after having a child, or taking on caring responsibilities, for example personally tailored return to work programs, telecommuting and the provision of quality, flexible child care, and
• the lack of high level female mentors to assist other women get onto boards and into board feeder roles within an organisation.

And this is despite the fact that evidence has proven over and over again that having women in leadership positions and on boards is good for business, not only by leading to improved financial and corporate results, but because it leads to improved governance, enhanced public perception of the organisation and better employee attraction and retention.

The introduction of quotas would certainly improve the gender balance on Australian boards, and would do so over a very short period of time.

But the introduction of quotas would also have the potential to encourage lip-service, forced compliance, a public questioning of the worthiness of the incumbents who were appointed under the quota requirement and a nagging worry in the minds of the incumbents themselves, about whether their appointment stemmed from merit or tokenism.

So regardless of whether Australia eventually does nothing, goes down the forced quota pathway or takes the voluntary target option, one thing is obvious.

To address the organisational culture that is the fundamental cause of the lack of gender balance on Australian boards, we need strong corporate leadership that champions gender equity for all employees, from the new recruit to the executive team and the board.

Until corporate Australia has the strategic foresight and pragmatic business sense to use such leadership to implement change across Australia’s business sector, the best that will be achieved is the continued implementation of band-aid solutions which, to the detriment of the Australia’s business sector, mask the obvious symptoms, but do little to stem the growth of the real problem.

The Australian Businesswomen’s Network recently presented an exclusive, one hour webinar with governance expert Julie Garland McLellan. This presentation dispelled the popular myths and provided viewers with the practical information needed to decide whether, how and when to enter the boardroom. Download the webinar recording from the ABN website now.

MORE GREAT POSTS BY SUSAN MCGRATH:

• What I Want for International Women’s Day
• “Tell us a little about yourself” – How to answer tough interview questions
• Six Characteristics of Success-oriented Small Business Owners

This poll is part of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network commitment to advocate on behalf of its community. The ABN’s herVoice initiative was established by the ABN in 2008 to give our community a voice about issues that impact on its members’ business, lifestyle, interests and wellbeing.

Learn more about our advocacy program here.

This poll is part of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network commitment to advocate on behalf of its community. The ABN’s herVoice initiative was established by the ABN in 2008 to give our community a voice about issues that impact on its members’ business, lifestyle, interests and wellbeing.

Learn more about our advocacy program here.

by Amy Lyden

Australia’s first ever paid parental leave (PPL) scheme was passed by Parliament yesterday. Australia was one of only two OECD countries (USA was the other) which did not have a comprehensive PPL scheme.

What the PPL covers:

The PPL will commence 1 January 2011 and will include 18 weeks paid leave at the federal minimum wage ($569.90 per week or about $15 per hour).  This will be taxable.  The PPL will be funded 100% by the federal government, with an estimated net cost of $731m over five years.

Eligibility

• Expectant mums must earn no more than $150,000 per year to qualify and work at least 330 hours in 10 of the 13 months before their due date (around one day of paid work a week).
• Families electing to participate in the scheme will not receive the Baby Bonus (except in multiple birth cases) or Family Tax Benefit Part B during the 18 week PPL period.
• Families will have the option of signing the benefit over to stay-at-home dads if mothers want to return to work.
• About 148,000 Australians will be able to claim the benefit every year.

Points of Contention:

Burden on Small Business

Businesses will need to act as paymaster for the PPL scheme, not the government.  Many believe that administering the scheme will place yet another burden on small business and may even result in an additional potential discrimination against women.

Where’s my Super?

The PPL scheme does not include superannuation payments.  Women are already disadvantaged greatly compared to men in this area because of their broken work patterns mainly due to having families.  Businesses must pay super to all employees – why shouldn’t the government?  It is time the government recognises the gap in retirement saving between men and women and not add to the problem.

Summary:

The PPL scheme is certainly a great start to helping support working families.  Is it enough to make a significant impact to working families in the long term?  I don’t know yet but at least the government has taken the first step.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Take part in a nation poll on this issue.

Amy Lyden - Advocacy Advisor – Australian Businesswomen’s Network

An entrepreneur and specialist in ecommerce and online strategy, Amy has had over 13 years of practical experience in these areas. Launching her first website in 1998 Amy was at the forefront of an online revolution without even realizing it. Within a year this site became and remains today a #1 ranking site and global community of pet lovers that attracts over 4 million visitors a year.

This Australia-based business, Bow Wow Meow, now sells product online to over 100 countries worldwide. Amy sold this business in 2007 and turned her energy to the nonprofit sector.

Amy is the recipient of numerous business awards including the 2006 NSW Telstra Business Women’s Awards for Innovation, the 2002 National Telstra Business Award and the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World Grant.

Amy is an Ambassador and former Chairperson for the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, an organisation that supports female entrepreneurs. Amy was also invited to serve on the Commonwealth Small Business Council, an initiative by the Federal minister for Small Business.

Amy is currently the CEO of Australian Scholarships Foundation, an organisation that facilitates scholarships for education and training for people who work in the nonprofit sector. Amy is passionate about using technology to connect people globally for positive change.

A recent US survey showed that business owners work an average of 59 hours per week. How many hours a week do you work?

This poll is part of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network commitment to advocate on behalf of its community. The ABN’s herVoice initiative was established by the ABN in 2008 to give our community a voice about issues that impact on its members’ business, lifestyle, interests and wellbeing.

Learn more about our advocacy program here.

Take our national poll

Do you believe that the Federal Budget brought down in May has benefitted, or will benefit Australian female entrepreneurs and businesswomen?

This poll is part of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network commitment to advocate on behalf of its community. The ABN’s herVoice initiative was established by the ABN in 2008 to give our community a voice about issues that impact on its members’ business, lifestyle, interests and wellbeing.

Learn more about our advocacy program here.

The Australian Businesswomen’s Network and Citrix GoTo Webinar will soon launch a new lunchtime series with prominent business authors from around the world. Designed to provide lunchtime education (the series is part of Citrix’s Lunch + Learn initiative) each webinar will feature a business thinker whose work and message is compelling and thought-provoking.

We are looking for a good name for the series, and we’d love your input.

A couple of points:

• The speakers will (in most cases) be authors. Occassionally a prominent business person may be asked to address the audience.
• The sessions will be educational more than ‘motivational’.
• The webinars will often coincide with the release of new business book titles.
• The webinars are for a business audience.
• The name of the series should be short (no more than 4 words, ideally).

Any ideas? We’d love your thoughts.

You can either add a comment below or email me direct.

My appreciation,

Suzi

P.S. I’m very excited about this series – and especially our first guest (who I’ll announce next week).

Complementing this month’s Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace roundtables, the federal Office for Women is inviting employees to complete a brief online survey.

The Government is keen to have the broadest possible section of the community provide input into its examination of the effectiveness and efficiency of the Equal Opportunity for Women Act.

Both women and men are invited to complete the survey about their perceptions of equal opportunity for women in the workplace and how it may be improved.

The survey consists of five questions and is completely confidential. Respondents are not asked to reveal their identity or workplace.

The survey closes on 30 October 2009.

To complete the survey or for more information on the review, employees should visit: www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/women

Susan Wareham McGrath

Susan Wareham McGrath, National Special Projects Manager — Australian Businesswomen’s Network

Susan joined the ABN Board as National Special Projects Manager – Public Policy and Advocacy in February 2007. Tertiary qualified in psychology, business and public policy development, Susan holds Accredited Professional status with the Recruitment Services Association Ltd and is a nationally accredited trainer. She is a mentor in the ABN’s MentorNet program and a regular panelist in the Queensland Government’s Mentoring for Growth program.