Well that is true, no doubt about that, on the other hand it is worth remembering that the reasons for this are long standing and actually not at all complex. Lets start at the beginning, every country worldwide now has to pay its way, no matter whether its Africa, Asia, Europe, USA, South America…

The difference between those who can and those who cannot is complicated by individual countries abilities to develop a stable business environment, stable currency, generate sustainable business growth and balance their  internal and external payments.

In Portugal’s case there are currently massive endemic issues causing a lack of inward investment and therefore strong trade and foreign investment cash flows. Let me start by saying that Portugal is place of old world charm, patient, wonderful people and the best weather in Europe for holiday makers and tourists. The people make the country what it is, no doubt, but they  hampered by certain political and economic blockages.

So what are these issues: – First and foremost is the basic ability to start a business and deduct bonafide business costs as a small sole trader. In Portugal a new start up can only deduct up to 30 % of its costs and these exclude costs like telephones, fuel, motor vehicle costs, stationery all those areas that are genuine start up costs. As a result somebody in another country who can deduct 100% of its start up costs is at an advantage already.

This means that to make money a sole trader must charge 3 x times his costs to make  a small profit.This foolish and short sighted approach has led to a black market economy that over the last 4 years is estimated to be worth 112 billion euros. Business will not declare income, taxes will go unpaid and the country faces a massive task to change what is in effect a major investment error.

Secondly, as any business knows when starting or running an existing business, costs have to be controlled, revenue and the profitability of it, are prime factors. In Portugal anybody with a registered limited company is forced by law to ensure that they contract an accountant who needs to be paid every month.

Whereas in most competitive countries accountants are employed at year end or as and when they are needed Portugal forces all limited companies to pay high fees every month regardless of whether you need an accountant or not. This is bureaucratic and simply a licence to print money for accountants. As a result the black economy flourishes.

If you are a small young business and you make no profit in your first year – you still have to pay business tax, why? Because the government have deemed fit that regardless of whether you make money or not you must still pay tax!So they levy a tax..

Small businesses regardless of whether they make money or  lose money, have to pay Social Security taxes that in any normal business elsewhere would cripple or bankrupt a company relatively quickly.These a just a few examples of the ludicrous and fundamental reasons why businesses will not invest in Portugal.

Most of the important, strategic business, legal and regulatory laws  have not been modernise or updated for the last 10 years, in addition as there are strong and powerful Portuguese families who own land and have power many of them don’t want to see any changes as it suits them to maintain the status quo as it is.

Living as I do in Europe, this is prevalent across Portugal. Recently I was consulted about why a particular town in Portugal was struggling to attract investment.  I asked why the vast number of delapidated and ruined buildings were not been sold, modernised or why there was no sustained programme to attract new employers into the town? I was told that a small, wealthy group did not want to see new, modern buildings or any type or industrial activity in this town!!As this group had powerful and influencial connections within the local council nothing subsequently would happen.

So.. in conclusion, Portugal has a great potential, wonderful opportunities but lacks, vision, drive and the desire to create a better future for its people. In fact that is the reason so many people leave Portugal and work abroad as there are more chances to grow and develop professionally and obtain much needed experience.

Right now because of its legacy of sloppy accounting and poor management practices Portugal will now be forced to change as it has the IMF gun pointed at its head!Its taken 110 billion euros, that comes at a cost, a high cost, which could all but bankrupt the country and force it into a protracted and desperate effort to repay this enormous debt.

For anybody running a small, medium or large enterprise here are some statistics to blow your mind.Portugal received 70 billion euros in revenue in 2010, it spends 83 billion euros managing it, then goes on to borrow another 136 billion euros!! Wow – you have to ask yourself? What the heck is going on? I ask again what does a government of the poorest country in Europe do with an extra 136 billion euros?

Over to you!

Cheers

John Norton – John runs a group called Leaping Ahead, helping businesses build businesses online and offline. To date Leaping Ahead has helped businesses generate over 150 million euros in new business.

First it has the money to buy just about anything – food, minerals, products, energy, oil, gas and much more. Secondly its annoying the developed world because they have currencies that have appreciated and China has not strengthened its currency. If China strenthens the RIM it could put  all its industry at risk. So it has a balancing act to achieve, make as many friends as possible like South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Portugal…then secure long term supplies for its growth.

For businesses today China, Hong Kong and Macau are still attractive but going in as a foreigner is difficult and dangerous. China has made it hard for business to invest and extract profits at the same time and still harder for small and medium size businesses to enter the market. The censorship of Google is a good example of the difficulties faced, Google has had to step back and eat humble pie or so it is reported.

The online model can be one way but China still censors web sites and has developed long tenticles to manage and control the internet, its access and the ability to use it freely. The answer to working in the east lies in good local partnerships, strong joint ventures and a careful eye on your bank account. The other point to remember is that alongside China in the Pearl River Delta lies Macau. This tiny peninsula has special status and has become the dei facto face of China due to its tourism and gambling status which now surpasses Las Vegas.

For those in Europe and the rest of the developed world looking to access Asia, Macau could be their way in. It has first world status, excellent infrastructure and although its exports to China have declined it made 15 billion USD  in new revenue last year from tourism and gambling while the rest of the world was in recession. Its growth in 2009 was 8% and it has 2.8% unemployment. Its also acts with Hong Kong as the gateway to Guandong region which is China’s largest economic zone with 160 billion USD in exports worldwide. Here the langauges spoken are English, Portuguese and Chinese.

Google is competing with Baidu the local internet search engine and its a battle, although Google is still outfront by some distance. The opportunities for ecommerce in China are vast and complex with language being first up as the biggest obstacle to success.However with 1.338 billion people, more new millionairres being created  than any other country and 142 million consumers  currently online you would be foolish not looking to tap into this enormous and complicated market.

Look east maybe the treasure at the end of the rainbow might just still be China in spite of the censorship, political challenges and the langauge…

Happy hunting….

John Norton

John Norton is an international marketing and web solutions specialist and has helped businesses worldwide generate over 130 million euros in new business.

 www.leaping-ahead.com

First and foremost the product you have needs to be the result of careful thought and targeted at the right audience. You need to either stimulate demand for a new product or tap into an existing need that  you can supply. Marketing experts will bamboozle you with facts but essentially you either meet a need or create a need for a new product or service.The next step is to cost out how much it will take to put your product in the market assuming there is a need for your new product. Wisdom says its better to cancel a product than launch one that will not fly at all and in the process meet no real need. So do the maths and find out first if your product has a market, is priced right and most importantly has a distribution channel. In other words how are you and your team going to physically get it into the market place!

The cost of launching a product is time-consuming and expensive so be sure that you have sufficient expertise on board to help you and I am not talking about the bank manager as they are usually no help at all. You need, creative marketing expertise, financial help, distribution assistance and drive to make it happen.

Now here comes the hard part… with a limited budget how do you decide where to focus your energy and time…There are businesses who are purely online and I don’t need to remind you who these businesses are. If you want to be purely online focused that’s fine, but today launching an online business is just as hard as a bricks and mortar business. So multichannel marketing is the key. Multichannel marketing means promoting your goods through one or more channels. For example if you sell cosmetics you need to be seen at relevant expos, retail outlets, magazines, TV, catalogues, direct marketing or using network marketing – this is multi channel marketing.

To use multi channel marketing requires sufficient capital and vitally a tool to measure what you do. If you cannot measure what you do, don’t do it, simple. Start with the channel that offers the path of least resistance and build up channel by channel, constantly monitoring and measuring what areas of marketing work and  why and those that do not. When you feel you have a successful approach then start to think about how you can measure what you do across all the channels you use to market your business.

 Multi channel marketing software offers you the opportunity to gauge where you should put your focus and why!It also allows you to move your budget around depending on where the marketing opportunities are and how much they cost. Importantly it offers you a complete view of all customers transactions across the different channels that you use to promote your products or services.

Till next time happy hunting…

John Norton is a sales and marketing specialist in Europe who has helped small,medium and large enterprises generate over 150 million euros in new business. john@leaping-ahead.com

www.leaping-ahead.com

Add to this the fact that visitors now have an extremely limited attention span  and I can see why there is such a reaction to not using Flash technology. There is of course the other issue which is about Adobe and its ability to extract revenue from anybody who uses Flash.  With no real other competitors in their space it means they can rake in the bucks without any competition at all.

The HTML 5 technology that is being tested will in all likelihood radically change the market because it will be available pretty much free of charge. This makes Adobe and Flash potentially redundant that is why Adobe is rushing to ensure Flash is used in   technology now so that they can lock in customers sooner. HTML 5 will not be out for quite some time so for now we are stuck with Flash.

For the web site owner my advice to you is to use Flash away from front pages and only if you need to host video, games or have a client who needs a cool, trendy design. But remember, the more Flash plugins you use means more bandwidth, more disk space and more cost added to your web host packages. Good news for  web host companies bad news for your profitability and business.

There are a ton of statistics that demonstrate the issues Flash causes to your site, including slow loading times, heavy bandwidth, higher web host costs, customer irritation and confusion, Google issues with Flash, poor customer experience, higher technology costs, the list goes on… so you have been warned.

Remember the 4 F’s for your web site whether you use them or build them: Fast to load,  Frequently updated, Fresh and Friendly to use.

Till next we meet …

Happy browsing and happy hunting

John Norton

John has helped businesses and organisations worldwide generate over 130 million euros in new business. John works and lives in Europe.

john@leaping-ahead.com

www.leaping-ahead.com

For customers its great to get something for free on line like a free gift, free prize or a special gift for buying more than a certain amount!Customers love this and will feel special but they wont feel special if you ask them for enormous amounts for personal data. Amazon rewads you for giving by offering you other areas to look when you offer up your valuable time and money to provide your personal details.

Another thing…people generally do not like to be hit with multiple offers all at the same time.. If you are offering 40 % off levi jeans now and 60 % off ladies track shoes and 30 % off accessories it makes it hard to choose but if you have a single large red or orange button right next to the discount sign then there is only one thing for the customer to do and that is press the big button.Simple.

Pop ups have to be the worst tool around and they make me mad as hell but… and this is a big BUT… they do have one simple useful purpose.Imagine you buy your books and DVD and just before confirming your payment you get a popup that says:’thanks choose your free gift’. Now that is a great way to use a popup,guaranteed.

Another thing for designers to beware of is the use of numerous drop down menus. I absolutely hate having to choose my state,my country and my region. Customers do not want to deal with this but some techie somewhere insists that they want you to wade through this unnecessary. A post code or zip code is essential, an email address is essential and a shipping address for goods is needed. What is not essential are having to provide different addresses unless of course the goods are being bought by Mr A and being sent to Miss B somewhere else. This type of duplication is about lazy IT and web teams not having thought through the customer process at all.

The best one so far is when you are spending time registering on a site and then having used your time to register you are directed away to another site or place and when you get there you have been led round th bush and all you wanted in the first place was a price for a piece of software. Absolutely poor show.

The number of times pricing is simply buried in a site or is not available makes one wonder why the vendor sells on line? If you are offering products on line, pricing needs to be clear, correct and up to date. Its important to also be clear upfront about added costs like postage,VAT or any other rates that need adding. It is maddening to come to buy a product and then see that the postage is more than the value of the goods.

Airline offers have to be the worst culprits of all. They hook you in with a ridiculous price, send you to a page unrelated to their site, offer prices up to 3 times more than they quoted and then having spent money getting you there make it as hard as possible to find the right flight at the right price.What they should be doing is reducing the number of flights they show you and hone in on the ones that meet your price range then help you quickly and easily to find the right price and time.Do they actually do this, in the vast majority of cases they do not. Most flight search engines throw up hundreds of overpriced flights departing at the wrong time for the wrong price.No wonder the airlines lose money and cut routes. There is no focus on the customer at all.

Finally there are web designers who get it right and they are to be congratulated, they have provided quick easy access, automated all the dull boring parts, not asked you to register, only asked for an email address, made paying easy and painless and ensured that all goods are priced and the pricing can be seen.

These are my pet hates but also my way of saying, please use common sense, please think about the massive impact your site layout has on customers and their ability to buy your products and services or not.Most of all remember you have spent your hard earned money promoting your site and getting the visitors to your site, give them a great experience and a positive and memorable one after all a loyal customer these days is truly a rare commodity.

John Norton

John is a business development and web solutions specialist who has helped businesses develop over 130 million euros in new revenue.john@leaping-ahead.com

www.leaping-ahead.com

In effect we sometimes lack fresh ideas, or stimulation, we do the same things everyday, we talk to our customers and offer them similar solutions. So.. how do we remain inspired and lead our customers to greater success?

You might well be paid on time and your accounts are up to date, customers might well say to your face that they are pleased / satisfied with your performance and to be fair you might be doing a great job at retaining your customers. For those of you in the above category well done.

For those of you who are at 70% or less from a customer satisfaction point of view or whose service level agreements are challenging here is some food for thought.

The first question to be asked and answered is ‘WHY’ – the question ‘why’ – has the ability tell you as a leader or manager what is the current thinking behind a series of customer activities and the results. It also reminds those of you working frontline with your customers that you should not take anything for granted.Asking why a particular activity is done or why a particular customer was treated in a specific way opens the door to understanding how your business is dealing with your customer or customers!

There are one or two particular customer acquisition and retention frameworks that are brilliant at understanding where you currently stand relationship wise with your customers but also what you will need to do to take your relationships to another level.If you would like to know more email me your details and I will send you the information.

I remember taking over the customer satisfaction relationship management role for a large outsourcer and finding that everybody told me all was well on the account. When I started to delve into the individual relationships, there were people who held differing views on the customer side and were looking for a different type of relationship with us as a major vendor.This was a real problem and resulted in our developing a new relationship management system for uncovering deep-seated views from the customer and being able to evaluate these weekly rather than when a problem reared its ugly head as a major issue.

Winning the hearts and mind of your customer now is more crucial than ever before as the need to design and deliver superior results is ever greater. Technology now makes it easier for customers to shop around, so beware, they might provide a smiling face but that does not necessarily mean they are delighted with your service.

Customers will only stay with you if the cost benefits,time and actual results they receive far outweigh the desire to move vendors or change strategy. However nothing lasts forever so beware of any tell-tale signs and ensure you move in and nip in the bud the slightest signs of vendor lethargy or customer discontent.

Happy hunting

John Norton

john@leaping-ahead.com

www.leaping-ahead.com

What made me smile was the fact that I was reading the FT which purports to have a full range of experts with global experience, MBA’s, degrees,economics professors expounding about bond rates and the recovery of the economy.Nowhere but nowhere has there been a clear,rational, and comprehensive view of why we are in the mess we find ourselves in.

Firstly in spite of Barack Obama introducing new financial market regulation laws there is still nothing to stop banks ripping off their own customers. In what business anywhere would a business survive if it automatically took money from its customers without first asking and explaining why it needed to do so and then get the permission to do so.

Secondly the reason nobody knows what will happen is that the man in the street does not fully understand what he or she can do with their money.If they did banks would be deluged with lawsuits,complaints and bankruptcy. Right now everybody is so afraid to say what they want. The first things consumers should be doing right now is taking hold of their savings, investments and then going to their institutions and asking them what collateral they have to hold their monies or investments.This would seriously frighten the life out of banks and start to make them truly accountable to their depositors not their shareholders.

Thirdly its time the UK and USA governments did not privatise their recently nationalised banks but instead turned these greviously damaged organisations into cooperative financial institutions run for the depositors not the shareholders. In this way all depositors share the risk and rewards and there is not this implicit need to provide ever-increasing returns for the few as opposed to the many who bank everyday. The aim of a bank was to safeguard your money, this they have patently failed to do and as a result should be completed restructured to become a different type of organisation in the future.One focused on people not profit.

We as consumers have the power to change banking for the better after all remember when Britain had mad cow, the beef disappeared from the supermarket shelves over night.Remember when the UK Labour Govt tried to force through genetically modified food it was stopped by consumer protest.When SONY tried to sell dodgy software it was made to apologise and pay damages for the wrong it caused and remove the offending products.We have the power to change the system of banking which has completely lost touch with its audience who funds it and with its depositors.

Finally as this is something I believe in lets take stock of what has happened and ask ourselves how much more unsustainable greed will we allow? Are we going to sit idly by and watch our savings and investments used for all the wrong reasons.We need to start building thinking around the principles of integrity,sound judgement, clarity of thought and finally honesty.

John Norton

john@leaping-ahead.com

www.leaping-ahead.com

The information comes from the report on electronic commerce published by everis, a multinational business and information technology consulting firm, that includes data from 41 countries.

The United States is in first place in the global ranking, with annual sales valued at $134.9 billion, followed by Japan with $51.2 billion, and China with $36.9 billion. The remaining positions were held by Germany (US$36 billion), France (US$28.4 billion), the United Kingdom (US$28.1 billion), Italy (US$19 billion), Canada (US$16.1 billion), Spain (US$15.2 billion) and South Korea (US$13.1 billion).

The report also shows that online sales in 2009 world-wide reached $502.1 billion, representing a 4.5% increase in 2008 and twice the volume recorded in 2004. The average global proportion of the electronic sales volume to GDP was 0.88%. In Brazil, the ratio was 0.55%.

“Despite the severe international financial crisis that struck last year, growth in electronic sales did not fall off. The best performance was in the BRICIT countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, Indonesia and Turkey), where growth was 15.8%, and in Latin America, which increased by 10%”, said everis National Chairman Teodoro López. Brazil was at the Latin American leader in the ranking by volume managed.

The study also compared the volume of electronic sales during the year with the number of residents in each country. Among the 41 countries studied, only four showed a decrease in the online sales load: South Korea, Denmark, Sweden and Nigeria. Meanwhile, eight countries grew by over 15%, especially India and Vietnam, with rates of 30.8%. Brazil grew by 8.9% in 2009 compared to the year before, while the increase was 238.8% for the 2005-2009 period.

So.. whats stopping you now from claiming your piece of the action….

Happy online hunting..

John Norton
john@leaping-ahead.com
www.leaping-ahead.com

Secondly, even if you dont live in South Africa how many businesses actually went out and organised World Cup events in their countries to generate new connections, entertain your current customers and add value to your existing customers by providing them with a reason to keep connecting with you?

Third, in spite of all the negative publicity about South Africa they have pulled off one of the best and most exciting events in the history of the game. Moral of the story is there are people who will support your ideas and those who dont. Stick with the ones who provide you with good energy and are supportive for the right reasons.

Fourth, money in business can buy a lot but nothing can replace the fact that people are what count. The South African supporters lost their team early on but went on to get behind other teams and really create passion and excitement. The great people in your business need support, encouragement and recognition otherwise your business will ultimately fail.

Many other nations were critical of South Africa because of the ‘Africa’ connotations. Do not make rash assumptions until you have the facts in hand and can take time and space to understand what is occurring in your business. Moving too quickly to pre-judge a situation can boomerang back onto you. Australia repeatedly made calls for FIFA to move the tournament to their country. SA stuck by their committments and won out in the end.

Finally to cap it all one of the stand out facts about the FIFA World Cup teams that won their matches on their way to the final is that many had few if any major stars like Ronaldo, Kaka, Messi, they all were well drilled and disciplined teams who were playing as a team and not as a group of star struck gladiators.Remember its good to have great players but one star person in your business does not make a profitable and successful business. You need everybody pulling together in a focused and organised manner.

Till Brazil 2014 happy business hunting and enjoy the summer…

John Norton

john@leaping-ahead.com

www.leaping-ahead.com

John Norton has helped small,medium and large enterprises around the world generate over 150 million euros in new business.

As mentioned previously the internet is still developing and growing as a medium to promote and market products and services. It is also clear that there is a huge group of sites that are either seeking sensational reporting or add no value to internet users at all.

The rise of social media sites has also added a new dimension by allowing anybody to have an internet presence without offering an service or product. This now allows users to not only interact but also creates a vast number of internet users who have no real need to buy a product, look for a service or seek information but simply connect with others online.

In our own businesses helping our customers develop successful sites means that we need to attract new business to their sites and convert that into revenue. Now however we need to wade through thousands of sites whose only purpose is to talk, chat, write potentially inane messages and clog the internet waves with potentially useless information.

Now I dont for minute believe that the world wide web is for business only, far from it but I do believe that currently just like the plethora of sensational magazines at your local newsagent there are now hundreds if not thousands of commentators and opinion makers seeking fame and fortune online.

The work of helping our customers be profitable and successful just got harder but like all things the challenge is to clear away the unnecessary ‘clutter’ of the internet and focus ones attention on the issues that count for your customers and for their businesses.

So… what really matters when working with your internet clients currently:

• Providing personalised and attentive service is still an absolute must.
• Being efficient and professional is a must get.
• Never assume anything about your client as you might be in for a surprise.
• Deliver to budget and on time.
• Go the extra mile…!
• Never be afraid to disagree and offer a better and more successful reason for saying so..
• Times can get tough so come prepared to negotiate your pricing and play the long game not the short term get rich quick game.

Till next time happy hunting and enjoy helping your customers be successful.

John Norton is a sales and marketing specialist based in Europe who has helped small,medium and large enterprises deliver over 150 million euros in new revenues.

john@leaping-ahead.com

www.leaping-ahead.com