What does success mean to you?

We all want to be successful. The trick is knowing how to define what success means.

Is a business successful if it has strong growth and high sales? Or is it successful when it is a nice place to work and fulfils its core purpose?

If you are a business owner, should business success come at the price of personal happiness?

These issues are highly subjective and too often we only understand them after the event. If we run full tilt at what we think success should be, we may discover we have gone down the wrong path.

Visualising success is a vital step in planning. Once the whole team knows what success looks like, it helps them to:

• Contest issues and make decisions on an objective basis
• Identify opportunities that will benefit the business 
• More confidently analyse what is waste

Complete this sentence. "My business will be a success when we . . ." Will this inspire and excite your customers, your staff and your stake-holders?

Andrew Wylie, Director of Pandemonium Creative, strategic thinkers in marketing, sales and creative.

What's the purpose of your business?

One of the greatest risks for a business is to not understand why it really exists. Lack of understanding often leads to poor decisions, missed opportunities and even disaster.

This misunderstanding can be seen with Kodak. Consumers were buying memories – Kodak was selling film. As soon as a more efficient method became available, all the IP, infrastructure and experience Kodak had became worthless.

How could this happen? Kodak was a pioneer in digital technology yet, as Pete Pachal writes in Mashable Tech, “they squandered every opportunity they had, finally entering bankruptcy in 2012. They were simply not able to change.”

Don't let customer service slip on a bad olive.

It can be said that customer service is, "The art of knowing what people are NOT willing to put up with, and then raising the bar a notch." Too much service and the unit cost magnifies into a weight on profits. Ironically, over-servicing can waste resources, stifling investment in other areas that could give a greater overall customer experience. However, if you under-service, your customers may desert you - as other ex Vodaphone customers will testify.

Does your business have a well rounded marketing diet?

There are different types of marketing the same as there are different types of food. If we eat badly it affects our energy, our health and even our appearance. The same may be true for your marketing.

If we think of your marketing as a food pyramid, most activity can fit under these five headings:

5 ways to connect your marketing strategy to your business strategy.

When talking with an SME business owner the other day, he was unsure what the point of their marketing activity was. The marketing team seemed to be busy but he couldn't put his finger on how that activity made his business any better. So are there some simple ways to make sure that the marketing strategy is actually delivering the business strategy?

Is your industry going to be replaced by an app?

Often the greatest threat for a successful business is complacency. When orders are coming in and customers seem satisfied, then it is tempting to focus on scale and throughput. This means that the greatest threats may take you by surprise. Is your industry going to be replaced by an app?

Get Creative to Win More Business

The days of creative being a cherry on the top of a sales or marketing campaign are over. Interruption advertising, the workhorse of twentieth century salesmanship, is on its last legs. If you want people to pay attention, you need to get creative at the DNA level.

Loyalty Programs and the Customer Experience.

How many loyalty cards do you have? I've got five I can think of straight away, plus I'm eligible for discounts through my auto club and other subscriptions I have. Even my credit cards give me bonuses I'm never likely to use.

Loyalty Leaders state 96% of people are members of at least one loyalty scheme, while 64% belong to three or more. How much do they change buying behaviour?

Business Success and the Facebook Generation

Historically, businesses have been very protective of their secrets. Concepts such as the protection of intellectual property have been the foundation of a company's value. However, what would happen to that "value" if your intellectual property was freely given to your competitors?

A great cause, a huge achievement!

In a special blog this week I want to congratulate Arax and her team of amateur swimmers who took on the 24 Hour Mega Swim for MS and raised over $10,000 in sponsorships. Impressively, most of this was personal donations from individuals who were inspired by the teams passion and commitment to take on that physical challenge.

Is detail causing a yawning gap with customers?

If you're playing the violin in an orchestra, it's fairly important to know all the right notes. But as a concert goer, these are only of interest if the musicians get them wrong. The audience are looking for the big experience and the overall story. The same is true when discussing your business to customers and prospects.

Cut your advertising fat and shape your marketing muscle.

Over the good times it's easy to put on a few pounds, and our businesses are no different. But it can be hard to tell fat from muscle and know what activity is waste and what is vital.

What beliefs stand in the way of your marketing success?

One of the interesting aspects of being an external supplier is watching how companies approach marketing activity. Like many chaotic systems, it sometimes seems there is no pattern at all. But step back to see the full spectrum of personalities, inter-departmental empires and embedded supply chains and some of those weird decisions start to make sense.

7 qualifying factors when choosing customers

Having highly qualified prospects is one of the keys to sales success and an important factor when determining your star customers.

5 Key Needs for a Successful Team

The Hierarchy of Team Needs 

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is an interesting model to investigate our behaviours and motivations. In essence, he believes each layer of need must be satisfied before we can focus on the layer above. First we must address our biological needs of food and air, then our safety, followed by family and friendship, then self-esteem. Only when all these issues are addresses can we focus on creativity and problem solving. Critics have argued over the order and categorisation of the needs but it stands to reason that it's hard to focus on the future when your house is on fire.

New Year Resolutions

We may as well face it, 2011 is as good as over. If you are not implementing an existing plan now, it's probably too late to start.

This means there is no excuse not to cast the eye further afield and start setting some goals for the the end of 2012. If you are glad to be seeing the back of this year, what should you be celebrating this time next year?

Overcoming Implementation Inertia.

One of the biggest hurdles managers face is the ability to work on their business, not in their business. Once a strategy has been developed, implementation is often the greater challenge. In fact, up to 80% of plans are never acted upon as day-to-day spot fires are always a priority.

What's my motivation?

There's an old joke that an out of work actor is getting by waiting tables. Confused on his first day he asks his boss, 'So I'm a waiter, yeah. But what's my motivation?"

Is your brand ready for the big time?

For a company that has been successful in one market, it can be frustrating that this success does not immediately translate to a new market. On paper there should be strong demand, but for some reason that does not turn into sales.

How unhappy should you make your customers?

As unhappy as possible of course; absolutely miserable. And scared too. In fact, not buying your products or using your services should terrify them!

Building customer dissatisfaction is the key to driving change in their behavior. The more they are unhappy with their current position, the more likely they will be to listen to your story and start considering your plan to make their lives easier.