Tag: Risk Management training

The KONA ‘Hour of Power’ can be a million-dollar injection to your sales budget!

Posted on | by Sienna

The KONA ‘Hour of Power’ can be a million-dollar injection to your sales budget!

The KONA ‘Hour of Power’ can make a positive impact on your sales team.

Do you have any of the problems below?

  • Are your sales people are not speaking with enough new customers and prospects?
  • Are they reluctant to pick up the telephone to call people they don’t know?
  • Do they struggle to make appointments with senior decision makers?
  • Do they struggle to get past ‘the gatekeeper’?
  • Do you have overstocks that need to be cleared?

At the end of the day the best way to fill your sales funnel is activity, and the right activity at that!  Making calls to potential and existing customers is a great way to do it.  This contact between salespeople and customers is critical to sales success and one of the key reason some sales professionals smash their targets and others don’t know what 100% of target is.

There are a few key points to make a calling session a success:

  1. SUPPORT each other by doing it as a group
  2. MAXIMISE the chances of success by getting the language right
  3. HAVE a conversation between people (emails do not work)
  4. PRACTICE some calls with each other before you make the call (I know the dreaded role play but this is so critical to success!)
  5. SET some targets for the hour of calling. (appointments and orders are a great starting point)

KONA has seen this ‘Hour of Power’ work with some stunning results, one client landed over a $1 000 000 in sales.  This works for both Account Management and Business Development teams and is a skill set we know is critical in Sales People.

Sometimes filling a Sales Funnel is a daunting task and when that funnel is emptier than it should be the excuses start to come out!

  • Things are slow.
  • Our competitor is cheaper
  • There are product problems

At KONA we hear them all and they all relate to ‘Price, Product and Problems’.  These are the best excuses in the world for sales teams to find reasons not to act.

Conducting an ‘Hour of Power’ is a tangible action that forces everyone to act.

If you need help running an “Hour of Power’ give KONA a call on 1300 611 288 or email us at info@KONA.com.au

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Business Process Mapping – The 8 frustrations you can face without it

Posted on | by Sienna
By Mark Hamon, Risk Management Training and Safety Consultant Sydney. Sometimes the work environment can be a little crazy, have you ever had those moments a customer calls and wants a solution yesterday. In these times staff can be stressed, time poorly allocated, communication breaks down and quality can suffer. Do you have a work culture where you’re constantly putting out spot fires and wish you could be more organised.  Streamlining of your business processes can reduce errors, reduce costs, and save on both time and money, so ask yourself the following questions about your operating processes:
  1. Are you sick and tired of dealing with bottlenecks and missing deadlines?
  2. Stressed or frustrated with customers complaining about errors or poor quality?
  3. Having to fit rework into an already busy and conflicting task schedule?
  4. Employees in denial or blaming each other when things go wrong?
  5. Conflict or low morale from a breakdown in team communication?
  6. Costs associated with task duplication or being missed all together?
  7. Frustrated at increased costs from reactive band aid solutions?
  8. Are longer or inefficient operating processes increasing your costs and reducing your profits?
Process mapping of your business operating cycles will support:
  • Communication and better understanding of the tasks
  • Allocation staff or employee responsibilities
  • Time allocation with stages of each work task
  • Better planning of materials and resources required
  • Inspections and standards for quality checks
  • Minimisation of employee frustration, conflict and stress
  • Customer confidence in your product or service
  • Reduced wastage of time and resources
  • Reduced rework costs and errors
  • Timely invoicing and payment from customers
Examples include:
  • Sales process mapping
  • Production process mapping
  • Service process mapping
  • Mapping of internal and external business procedures
Process or task mapping involves a KONA consultant visiting your workplace to create a mapping process customised for your business, the steps involved in this task involves:
  1. Mapping of your business process for product or service
  2. Analyse the process using proven methodologies
  3. Redesign the process
  4. Incorporate new resources into the change process
  5. Rollout change and communicate the process to all key stakeholders
  6. Management review of the improved process
If you have any questions about process mapping for your business operating cycles, then contact KONA Group’s Risk Management Training and Safety Consultant Sydney Specialist.  Mark Hamon can be contacted at info@KONA.com.au or call 1300 611 288

Business disaster prepardness, why risk a nervous breakdown

Posted on | by Sienna
By Mark Hamon, Risk Management Training and Safety Consultant Sydney.
“Private-sector preparedness is not a luxury; it is a cost of doing business in the post-9/11 world. It is ignored at a tremendous potential cost in lives, money and national security.”  ? The 9 11 Commission Report
Let’s face it, we are now living and working in a time where business managers are facing increased uncertainty, and more companies are embracing business emergency preparedness. Over the recent years we have been bombarded with media news about natural and man-made disasters, economic instability, poverty, disease, political unrest, cyber risk, terrorism and criminal activity. It tough to run a business when times are challenging and puts a huge amount of stress on managers and owners. Are you laying awake at night worrying about your business, knowing the stress isn’t good for you or your business? Anxiety and depression now impacts 1 in 4 people, a simple phone call to a Risk Management consultant can give you a solution and peace of mind. Ask yourself the following questions.
  1. Wouldn’t you prefer peace of mind, knowing you have a solution in place for emergencies?
  2. If you had a disaster or an unexpected emergency could you cope, and would your business survive?
  3. How would you generate an income, support your employees or family, do you even have a plan?
  4. What are the legal ramifications or duty of care if something goes wrong?
  5. What is the real consequence and costs for failing to plan?
You might ask, OK you have my attention so where do I go from here? The good news is that with the right consultant, you can have instant peace of mind.  You can have a system in place that will support your business, family and employees, especially when unexpected emergencies or disaster’s happen. An emergency management plan can be customised for your business, using national and international standards for emergency benchmark excellence. Once a plan has been established then it’s vital to carry out a test drill of your emergency management plan to determine its effectiveness. It’s not enough these days to have a bit of paperwork in a folder titled “Emergency Management” simply collect dust, you need to know it work. By consulting with Mark Hamon, the Sydney based Risk Management Training and Safety Consultant from KONA Group, you can discuss your concerns or needs regarding emergency and disaster preparedness, so you can have peace of mind. Mark’s background in emergency management comes from real world experience including:
  • Military service and operational training with both Navy (aviation) and Army service
  • Frontline hospital trauma experience as a Registered Nurse
  • Industrial health and rescue (ambulance responder) in the power industry
  • Safety management roles across mining, civil construction, manufacturing and engineering sectors.
If you have any questions then get on the phone (obligation free) and contact KONA Group’s Risk Management Training Specialist Mark Hamon at info@KONA.com.au or call 1300 611 288

Why you need a Safety Management System, and 16 ways it can benefit your business.

Posted on | by Sienna
By Mark Hamon, Risk Management Specialist. Having a safety management system not only benefits your business, but also your customer reputation.  Safety is a key part of risk management where hazards or actions of the business, can impact on:
  • Employee health & wellbeing
  • Operational activities (disruptions)
  • Prosecution& litigation risk
  • Company reputation
  • Financial loss
  • Loss of customers or contracts
  • Insurance costs
  • Personal stress and morale
  • Equipment damage
In order to prevent a business from being exposed to these kinds of risk, a business owner should develop or review their business’s safety management plan. Committing to such action shows a committed “Duty of Care” as a Manager to your business, employees and customers. So what are the benefits? The positive aspects of improving your business’s safety performance can include; better standard of safe workplace practices, enhances employee health and wellbeing, established systems of hazard identification and control, promotes legislative compliance, establishes a duty of care,  promotes employee consultation and communication, reduced operating times and costs, better customer reputation, reduced insurance premiums, promotes employee morale, enhances your competitive advantage, supports tender and contract requirements, promote marketing opportunities and supports best practice standards. Safety Management Systems can be bench marked against national standards AS/NZS 4801 or international standards OHSAS18001 of safety excellence depending on your needs. What are some other issues, I should consider for my workplace safety requirements?
  • Do you have a broad brush risk assessment and task specific risk assessments for all business activities?
  • Have you a risk management system in place for all your hazardous and dangerous materials?
  • Is there an effective workplace induction and training system established for all your employees, visitors and contractors?
  • What resources and training do you have in place for staff to carry out safety inspections and audits?
  • How effective is your workplace injury management program?
  • How current or relevant is your safety policies and procedures, do they need a serious review?
  • Contractors can directly impact your business’s reputation and safety performance? Do you have a contractor management plan in your workplace?
  • Emergency management systems, what do you have in place for your employees should an emergency occur?
  • Safety management systems can be used to support evidence of compliance with pre-tender contract requirements. Can you show an established evidence trail of proof, and met all your customer’s safety needs to win work?
  • Internal audits of safety systems can be a great way to show an independent review of your safety performance. Do you need an expert independent review?
  • Do you have a document control system for safety management system? Do you have a control and review process in place?
By consulting Mark Hamon, the Risk Management Specialist from KONA Group, an evaluation of your workplace safety management requirements can best determine where to priorities actions for hazard identification and risk control of your business operations. Bottom line is don’t leave yourself exposed to possible workplace hazards and safety risk, get on the phone and contact KONA Groups Risk Management Specialist Mark Hamon at info@KONA.com.au or call 1300 611 288