Blog 16: It was Good while it Lasted

It is hard to believe, but I have been blogging on the Star’s Business Challenge for 4 months now.  I am amazed at the progress that the featured Challengers have made: Chris and Tal’s Better Foods have landed Costco as a major account; UM Financial has met up with not one, but several financial partners; and Dinnerworks has diversified its social offering and created a new online image (www.dinnerworks.ca).  So, if you ask yourself “What can a business really achieve in 4 months?”  The lesson that should be heard loud and clear is that for some businesses, you can completely turn your sales position or business operations around.  It all depends on your drive, determination and engaging partners where you need to. 

So, if you are in a slump or want to jump start your business, here are some tips to change the momentum of your business:

·        Identify your priorities, goals and objectives. (It could be landing 5 new accounts, cleaning up your finances or launching that new product you have been debating.)

·        Get some external advice - a fresh perspective on contacts, partners or resources could be just what you need to ignite your engine

·        Set measurable goals – don’t be afraid of being specific with measurable outcomes, timelines, and budgets

·        Seek help if needed – hire someone to handle the administrative tasks that can take you away from value added activities, engage a branding agency to reposition your image, or create a strategic alliance with a channel partner that could help drive sales

By following these simple steps, I hope you will kick your business up a notch.  We have a saying at our company, “If what you are doing right now isn’t adding value to our clients or our company, STOP NOW!”  So, I will end it with that final piece of advice and wish you all the very best. 

Tasha Mazza-Kelton, Partner

www.torquemi.com

Tasha Mazza-Kelton: Impact of Great Customer Service

Blog 15: Live up to your Customer Service Commitment

I have to share this recent personal story…I was away this past weekend in the Bahamas for a friend’s wedding.  We flew with WestJet simply because they had a great rate.  But I will admit, all I think of when someone says WestJet are those friendly commercials with employees promoting their commitment to the company because “they are more than just employees, they are owners”.  As most of us would do, I typically roll my eyes at companies who constantly brag about their commitment to go that extra mile as it never seems to be the reality.  But I have to say, I was absolutely stunned to actually take part in one of those unbelievable WestJet customer experiences.

On the flight down to the Bahamas, I managed to lose my BlackBerry on the plane.  Yes, it was like leaving my second-born behind but I didn’t realize it was lost until we were in the taxi en route to the hotel.  So as soon as I got to my room, I called WestJet’s customer care line and logged the missing device.  They said they would send a supervisor to the plane right away to look for it.  At this point, I was thinking this is a lot of “blah, blah, blah…we will try our hardest” when there really was not a chance in hell that they would find it. Four days later on the return flight home, I heard one of the flight attendants say “will Tasha Mazza-Kelton please identify herself to an attendant”.  WestJet actually went out of their way to have someone meet me as I got off the plane with my found device.  Now this is unbelievable customer service!  Not only did they find it, instead of sending it in the mail which would have caused a 4-day delay, they actually sent a WestJet “owner” to meet me at the exact time my flight landed.  It was the perfect example of how to develop lasting impressions, unforgettable customer experiences and devout customer loyalty. 

It seems so rare to encounter companies that truly live up to their brand and service commitment, but I will stand behind WestJet’s commitment any day!  Especially in a consumer world where superior customer service seems to be a dying breed, I bet you cannot top this customer service story.

Tasha Mazza-Kelton, Partner

www.torquemi.com

Geoff Claydon on Changing Business Processes

Dear Judy, In business we all have processes that we are comfortable with and are reluctant to change; however, we all know that there are ways to improve how we do everything.  If those changes result in saving time, reducing costs and lowering stress levels then we should take a very careful look at them. I believe that we don't have enough meetings, at least not the right kind of meetings.  We spend too much time traveling to and from them only to find that the right people weren't able to be there.  We leave feeling that the experience could have been much more productive and perhaps decide not to attend the next time. The same goes for working on a team project, collaborating on documents and spreadsheets, training, as well as showing a presentation to a group of people. You wouldn't believe how much time, money and frustration you can save by using effective web tools. Take a look at and see how you could use it to help your company improve communications by having web meetings with customers, clients, vendors etc.  Give us a call at 416 907 9976 to find out how we can help you implement the right tools to enable you to communicate efficiently and effectively and at the same time save money.

MS Office 2007 At Web Communications, we recently installed Office 2007 on our systems and cannot believe how much better it is than previous versions of Office.  It contains so many new features, the most notable of which is the entirely new graphical user interface called the Ribbon, replacing the menus and toolbars that have been the cornerstone of Office since its inception. If you can, I strongly recommend that you move to this version.  In combination with Dragon Naturally Speaking there are significant time savings to be gained from using these two products. Eliminate Duplicate Files Here is a great tool that can save you an incredible amount of stress.  Clone Cleaner Pro is a Windows utility that helps keep PCs clean by locating duplicate files according to a variety of user-specified parameters.  It allows you to copy, move or remove files with the same name, same size or same content on both local or networked computers.  Clone Cleaner Pro helps easily reclaim disk space wasted by all the extra unnecessary file copies and keeps them well organized.  It can also examine multiple paths or drives, even across a network.  Detailed search criteria accelerate a search by filtering files by name, size, modified date or attributes and allows the exclusion of certain folders.  Users can save search parameters for future use.  Well worth checking out!  More Information

Web Communications would be pleased to help you implement the web tools that will improve your communications and enhance your business.  Please call or email us to find out more or visit our website for more information about all of our services can benefit your business. Sincerely, Geoff Claydon Web Communications Inc. 416 907 9976

Tasha Mazza-Kelton: Alternative Sources of Funds

Blog 14: The Banks are Missing Out

You hear it time and again: a small business owner has been turned down by the bank because they don’t fit into the bank’s perfect-little-black-box when it comes to financing criteria. The measures often include lending risk and debt service ratios, but with a fairly narrow threshold in terms of approval ranges.

If you are growing rapidly, you don’t qualify – not predictable enough. If you have stable sales, you don’t qualify – no growth prospects. It seems like a catch twenty-two. So, it makes complete sense that businesses like UM Financial, one of the featured companies in the Business Challenge, and New Horizon Mortgages Investment Corp. are popping up. Traditional financial institutions, such as the banks, want to see a record of consistency, a strong credit rating, profitability, and repeat customers. It is the exact opposite of what most small and medium businesses experience, especially in the early days. The banks are missing out on ripe business opportunities that private firms seem to be scooping up and generously benefiting from given premiums ranging from 3-15% above bank rates for traditional lending products. So if you are in the situation where you continuously get turned down by the bank, or you have gotten the standard “come back in 6 months” speech, there might be light at the end of the tunnel after all.

Depending on your financing needs, here are some alternate options to check out: · Morrison Financial (www.morrisonfinancial.com) · ICICI Bank Canada (www.icicibank.ca) · Business Development Bank of Canada (www.bdc.ca) · Roynat Capital (www.roynat.com) · The Shotgun Fund (www.shotgunfund.com) This message goes out to the plethora of other private or alternate lenders: please post your information as there are thousands of small and medium businesses ready to knock down your door.

Tasha Mazza-Kelton, Partner www.torquemi.com

Ric East comments on hypocrisy, as he sees it

Judy.

Very interesting article.. If nothing else, if a Jew and a Muslim can work together there may actually be hope for this planet. Maybe we could tell George Bush that his system may not be the best !!

Did some searching on this mortgage issue and found it is nothing new. Lots of info on sites in the U.K.

I only wonder however how one can trust people who twist the rules to get that they want. The reality is that these mortgages are not interest free.

I experienced similar hypocrisy many years ago when I lived in a predominantly Jewish building in the centre of Toronto. My wife and I were the only non-Jews so it was interesting to see the things we were asked to do

. As you may know many Jews cannot "Create Fire" from sundown Friday to Sundown Sat. This means they cannot turn lights off and on, open a fridge door which would cause the light to come on or turn on their stove. They also cannot operate an elevator so one of the two in our building stopped automatically at every floor.

  You cannot imagine the number of times I was asked to turn on a light which a child had turned off, open a fridge and unscrew the bulb so they could have access to the stuff inside and of course they just loved to get on the non Jewish elevator to take advantage of the fact I could make it go to the bottom without any stops.

I once asked one of the people asking for my help why  it was acceptable for them to ask me to break their rules.

Never really got an answer. I could say lots more about this but I think you get my point..

Keep up the great articles,,,,

Ric East

Farina Irfan comments on business attire

Hi Judy~

Your column today made me realize the possibility of 'putting off' people around due to my 'obvious adherence to Muslim traditions' .

That it was a favor Scheinman bestowed upon the Muslim guy when he overlooked his ' appearance' and ventured on to enjoy the the ripe fruits of this lucrative business.

Judy! on a daily basis I come across people with pierced tongues, navels, naked midriffs and bellies. In fact a cocktail of explicit AND offensive dressing up. These may be remnant of the days of Slavery, BUT why....Why I never have the guts to say ' I am putoff by his/her appearance.'

Maybe becoz I am not living in the Medieval times ....

And here I see your article where you are judging this person based on his traditional religious attire.  Judy, will a Rabbis robe or a Nuns dress will 'put you off 'too.

Please take the time to purge out the inhibitions which reside somewhere in the sea called the 'unconscious' and look deeper into the hearts of people. Turn back the clock to the 21st century where technically it is permissable to live by our own rules sans breaking the law.

So why be bothered by a harmless guy's appearance! Be it a muslim, christian or Jew! Can we retrain our minds NOT to be religion conscious and live by the simple rules of Humanity.  Or maybe I am too idealistic a person.

Are we really working at 'Bridging the Gap'???

Farina Irfan

Judy Steed comments: Thanks for your comments. In the business context, it's a reality, I think, that "business exectives" expect other business executives to be more or less dressed like them -- and indeed, the suit and tie has become a global cultural norm. In any culture, the manner of dress of the dominant group tends to be the norm. That's what I was referring to, in the context of Derek Scheinman doing business with Omar Kalair.

Tasha Mazza Kelton: To Grow or Not to Grow...

Blog 13: Is there a Point where Growth hurts?

This week’s Business Challenge article focuses on the principal goal for the vast majority of businesses – Growth.  Whether it is growing revenues, growing your customer base, growing your product offering or growing your team, most management discussions focus on this single success-defining question: Have we achieved growth?

I have been part of a number of conversations lately that surround the idea of growth, but from a new perspective, they only want to grow to a certain point.  The comments have been centered around the idea that at some point taking a small business to the next level has daunting implications from a financial, personnel and service or product offering perspective.  Some have said it is when you reach 100 employees while others have said it is when you reach $5 million in revenues.  Whatever the growth hurdle, there is concern that beyond a certain size you require a significant capital output either for office or warehouse expansion, marketing efforts or doubling your employee base.  It can also mean a greater focus on things that are less familiar such as private equity financing, IT investments or outsourcing non-core activities.  And the biggest fear for small business owners is that they think it means pulling away from the front lines where they typically interface with customers.

So, if you have recently overcome this growth hurdle, let us know how you are handling it?  If the growth decision is staring you in the face, what will you do?  Continue on the growth path or make a decision to stay a comfortable size? 

Tasha Mazza-Kelton, Partner

www.torquemi.com

Mohammed Khan critiques Islamic banking

Dear Editor,

There is no need to hype up  the phenomenon of Islamic banking in Canada. The so-called Islamic mortages are only formally different from their conventional counterparts. They unnecesarrily increase the cost of being Muslim through their  fire and brimstone warnings There is even a difference of opinion on legality of interest. Some scholars like Mufti Abduh had ruled that the modern day banking is not equivalent of Riba and that only usury is prohibited.

Yours thankfully,

Mohammed Khan

Tasha Mazza-Kelton: The Tipping Point

Blog 12:  The Tipping Point          

As a young or small company, when do you know you are on the brink of something that will fundamentally advance your business forever?  For Chris Bower and Tal Rosenbloom of Better Foods, selling into Costco and its $59 billion channel is clearly one of those business-altering opportunities.  So, what is the turning point for your business and how will you get there?

Having started a new firm less than 2 months ago, at Torque we can feel the momentum internally and the business we have launched is clearly on the mark.  The response from clients, industry contacts and the media has been profound over the past few weeks alone.  So, is this a fluke or is there a process of ultimately getting to one of those defining moments? For some companies, it occurs when you meet that dream client, or encounter the ideal investor, or run into a journalist looking to profile a company that fits your exact description.  I personally think it is a combination of the following:

·        Passion for what you do ( this can’t be faked, it has to be genuine)

·        Right outlet for your “story” (whether it is a customer, channel partner, or the media)

·        Timing (of course, this part often can’t be planned)

As an entrepreneur or business owner, it is important to always be looking for opportunities that will drive your business to achieve its next peak.  Be diligent, chase down every opportunity or lead as you never know where your next break will come from.  So what events have occurred for you recently that have been pivotal in your company’s evolution?  Who made it happen?  And how has it changed your vision of what is possible for your business? 

Tasha Mazza-Kelton, Partner www.torquemi.com

Carol Lawson: Dangers of Soy

Good Afternoon,

I saw your article about Chris & Tal's Better Foods in the Toronto Star. (Their burgers, meatballs, sausages and ground are made from half soy.) Were you aware that breast cancer patients who have estrogen-positive cancer are not to eat soy as it has a high level of estrogen that makes the cancer grow. As a breast cancer survivor, I do do not believe that soy is the wonder food that it has been proclaimed to be. More people need to be made aware of its side effects. With breast cancer rates growing in leaps and bounds and the most common form of breast cancer (being) estrogen positive, we need to re-think the merits of soy. I read every label and avoid foods with soy.

These gentlemen may be wonder people in their business but I do not agree with the running of an article that has negative health risks.

Carol Lawson