Business Mentors Blog

A sales pipeline helps you track each opportunity from first enquiry to confirmed sale. It helps you see what needs attention, follow up at the right time and plan future sales with more confidence. This article has steps you can use to set up a simple pipeline, identify stalled sales and build a weekly sales routine.

Customer retention is one of the most effective ways to build steadier sales for your small business. Repeat customers already know what you offer and how you work, so you don’t need to start from scratch. Customers who have had a positive experience already understand your value, are more likely to buy again, and can also become a valuable source of feedback, positive reviews and referrals. It all comes down to relationships. This article explains how relationship-based selling can ...

Case Studies

When Patrick Moloney bought Wellington-based Door Specs just over a year ago, he inherited a well-established business with more than 16 years of history. It also involves thousands of small decisions that consume time every single day. ...

Also published on business.govt.nz: At its heart, mentoring is a transfer of knowledge. A business owner sits down with someone who's seen more, built more, and failed more. For an hour or two, that hard-won experience is theirs for the taking. But knowledge only changes a business if it's captured, remembered, and acted on. Miss that step, ...

Case Studies

For Alastair, owner of Kair Design & Print in Foxton, artificial intelligence isn't replacing creativity, it's reshaping where creativity adds the most value. Since launching Kair Design & Print in 2018, Alastair and his wife Kim have built a business serving tradespeople, start-up businesses, community organisations and local clubs throughout the Horowhenua region. Like many ...

Cashflow is the money moving through your business: what arrives in the bank, what must leave it, and when. Profit is important, but it doesn’t guarantee you can pay this week’s wages, rent, tax, suppliers or loan repayments. Seasonal cashflow management helps you plan for quiet months while trading is strong. For many small businesses across Aotearoa New Zealand, the year includes both busy and quieter periods that change your cashflow. Your cashflow might be ...

Being growth-ready means building strong foundations so your business can take on more work without losing quality, profit or control. When the New Zealand economy is restrained and things remain steady, you have an opportunity to review your capacity, cash flow and creative growth ideas. Below you’ll find things to consider, answers to common questions and a growth checklist.

By Vaidik Patel, Cybersecurity Consultant, FUJIFILM CodeBlue: Every few weeks, another major cyber attack makes headlines. Most of us read about a large global organisation being breached and assume cyber criminals are focused on bigger targets than our own businesses. What rarely makes the news are the incidents happening much closer to home. The tradie whose ...

Case Studies

This case study was orginally published by the Construction Growth Foundation (CGF): Lloyd Bassett-Smith is the founder of Bassett-Smith Architecture, ...

Case Studies

This case study was orginally published by the Construction Growth Foundation (CGF): Barry Connor has spent fifteen years designing bespoke homes across New Zealand from his Christchurch base. New ...