The most important gift you can give to your business in the early stages is to get great systems and strong financial information in place to manage all the mission critical aspects of your operations. The number of people who tell me they have everything in their head is frightening. You cannot grow unless you create a solid foundation. Very early in the Boost journey, we discovered the value of systems — particularly when we decided to move to a franchise model. Strong systems will save you when the going gets tough because — like military training — they give you something to fall back on when your brain is in a fog and you have a thousand urgent things screaming for your attention at once. I was fortunate that my brain works in systems, and every day I was either tweaking or creating a system so the business could grow. Of course, no system will work unless you have an A-team in place to ensure that, as the business grows, it develops into a relatively sleek and streamlined operation. Without good systems and a winning team, you risk creating a scary ‘Frankenmonster’ of a business that will need a lot of pruning and restructuring down the track to get it back into shape.

It’s also important to consider what the future shape of your business will be and make sure the important decisions you make in the early days take you closer to that goal and not further away from it. In the case of Boost, franchising was on the cards from the outset, but franchising isn’t right for every business so consider carefully what the best model will be for you. Another thing that set Boost apart was our marketing, which I talk more about in this chapter.

Spend some time in the beginning to think through what your business will need and set yourself up for success early. Remember — you cannot build a house on cracked foundations; you need to make these foundations as robust as possible. The hours you spend early on will save you weeks, months or even years of pain — and potentially substantial sums of money — in the long run. Learn to love the ‘boring stuff’ as much as the creative side of your business.

Mixing up your marketing

It is no accident that Boost Juice achieved 94 per cent brand awareness in juice and smoothie drinkers in Australia in just five years. After all, having a terrific product is pointless if nobody has ever heard of it!

Much has been made of Boost’s marketing and, the truth is, it should be. We weren’t the first juice bar, but we were the first in most people’s minds. At one point, there were 47 different juice bar brands vying to be in the top two to survive. Boost was the brand that made it through.

It may be old school but the philosophies of Ries and Trout, covered in their book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing , were followed to a T. This is marketing defined simply as ‘find out what customers want and give it to them’ — but it’s only half the story. The other half of the story for Boost was finding things that customers could talk about and giving them to them. So consumer desire and innovation became our mantra.

Early on, so that we had a flag for our team to point to, we came up with the ‘Boost JAM Factor’, which still stands today. JAM stands for Juxtapose, Assimilate and Make your mark, as follows:

• Juxtapose: If the other guys do it, we don’t! What can we do because we are small and don’t answer to a marketing committee? Things like the ‘What’s ya name?’ game (where customers receive a free smoothie if we call their name), or ‘Boost Vibe Challenges’ (where customers do crazy stuff for free smoothies). Another promotion that was a huge success for us was the ‘Give away a Boost store’ promotion. We ran this in conjunction with a major radio station, and it formed the station’s major rating promotion for the year. The concept was a bit like MasterChef — we short-listed 100 people and then worked with these contestants and, eventually, through a series of workshops and interviews, reduced the list to 10 people. We then reduced the list even further, until we got to a final three, all of whom were given a key — and the person with the key that opened the door to the store owned it. (We were worried that the winner may end up not being satisfied with the win — after all, not everyone is suited to being a business owner; it’s hard work and not everyone understands the reality of running your own business. So we had a fallback — in six months, the person could choose to keep the store or take $50 000.) The exposure from the promotion was incredible — sales in the state in which the promotion was held went up 20 per cent and we received over $1 million in free advertising. These are all things that the big guns of the world couldn’t do, and they’re innovative and new food retail ideas.
• Assimilate: Find ideas everywhere and from anyone at any time. Tweak these ideas, twist them and blend them into another ‘by Boost’ idea. Never stop searching and assimilating ideas from the Boosties (staff who work in the stores).
• Make your mark: If you do something, do it big! Don’t be included in the ‘and thanks to …’ list with eight other sponsors. Do one big thing great, for maximum cut through. Using this basic formula, we smashed into the minds of Australian youth, and they loved it. These Australians are now in their thirties and forties and still drinking Boost.

Why our marketing strategy worked

Here are some of the reasons our marketing strategy worked (in no particular order):

• Belief: As Simon Sinek says, ‘people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe’.
• Vision: ‘Love Life’ was our soul. If something could make people smile, we had licence to do it.
• Loyalty: Our Boosties believed in us and were proud to work in our stores. Because of this loyalty, ideas were well executed in store.
• Saying yes: We told staff to not think too much about an idea, just have a crack, and say yes! Some of our ideas may not have become a reality if we had put them to a vote.
• Radio: We couldn’t afford television advertising, but radio was incredible for building our brand. We still only buy breakfast spots on high rotation.
• Pillars: We know what supports our brand: taste, the experience, health and me. If even one of our pillars gets a crack in it, we put energy and focus on it and fix it.
• Brainstorming: We allow for the energy flow of an idea, and let even the craziest idea have its space to grow and develop into something magical. When one of the team suggested doing a kids’ cup promo with The Wiggles six years ago, it was so ‘off brand’ for our hip little Boost brand that I had to try very hard not to blurt out, ‘No, stop!’ The team member worked on it, came up with a vision of how it could all work in harmony, and bingo — we nervously proceeded into one of the best things we still do today.

It’s important to push the boundaries philosophically. It’s my objective that Boost will have a huge impact on the health of our society — a society that’s becoming increasingly overweight. Research indicates that the increase in obesity in children in Australia is in line with the growth in fast-food outlets. I think I’m in a very exciting position to make a difference in the future. If I can create a trend in health and make Boost a phenomenally successful healthy product, perhaps others will see that there’s money in health, and they will make more healthy products. I think it’s already happening. By promoting our ‘Love Life’ idea, we’re driving home not only brand extension, but also life expansion!

Delegation

Do the words ‘control freak’ mean anything to you? Okay, I was a huge control freak; I needed to be across everything and needed to know everything — and that is okay if you are running a small team and business. However, if you want to grow a business, you have to learn to hire great people and delegate. Geoff Harris told me once that very few people can take a business from inception to a multimillion-dollar business, and I can see why. You need to change how you think and work as your business grows, as it will have different needs from you — and if you cannot change, you will not be able to be that person who can manage a large business.

For a leader, a lack of delegation shows bad management skills; you cannot grow without trusting people to be able to do a great job, and if you hire well they will be able to do the job better than you.

When Boost first started, I did everything myself. I had to — there was no-one else to do it. There are still days, I admit, when I think, It would be quicker if I did this myself . However, I know that I simply don’t have the time to do everything. Who does? If I tried to do everything, I’d succeed at nothing.

Of course, I have high expectations of those to whom I delegate. I never choose someone simply because I feel I should, or because that someone thinks they deserve a chance. I always try to hand a task to a person who I believe will do a better job than I could do myself.

I also keep a close eye on how people respond to being given responsibility. Do they deliver? Do they keep me informed? Is the project completed on time? It’s all about their actions, not their words. I don’t want to be told someone can do it — I just want them to do it!

If you find that you’re not getting the desired results when you delegate a task, find another person to do the job. Don’t feel bad and don’t play along to save someone’s feelings. Never reward mediocrity.

Have good systems in place to ensure you, and those you delegate to, stay on track. Much to the horror of all the people who reported to me at the time (and I had 16 direct reports), when things were really ramping up at Boost I discovered the Task icon in Outlook. For those people who are like I used to be (and don’t know it even exists), how the Task function works is that you click on the icon and you add in the instructions to the person to whom you’re delegating your task. You can add in reports, emails — anything really. You then add the date for the task to be completed by and the person receives a copy of the delegated task. The person doing the delegating also keeps a copy of the task. I even colour-code tasks based on the people they’re delegated to … but perhaps that’s the OCD in me.

The Task function was my lifesaver — prior to discovering it, I would have so many balls in the air that deadlines were often missed, there was often confusion on which tasks had been delegated and to whom, and the not-so-great employees benefitted from the lack of follow-up. I started to use the Task system for all my meetings. The rules were simple: I would send you a task with a date by which it had to be completed; you had 24 hours to come back to me if the task was not achievable; if I heard nothing, I would expect the task to be completed. I met with all my reports weekly and we always started with the task list first.

Great people loved the system because it kept everyone on track and on the same page; average people hated it because there was nowhere to hide. If someone missed a deadline, it was there in black and white (actually, in red, because the task goes red when you miss a deadline).

It was not uncommon for me to have hundreds of tasks active. With everything involved with opening over 70 stores in one year, it was critical that everyone kept on track and knew what everyone else was doing. Okay, my obsession with the Tasks function was the standard joke at Boost, and there was even a Christmas skit on my tasking, but it kept me sane and, more importantly, on track.

The key to good delegation is clear communication, with everyone understanding who is ultimately responsible. Setting deadlines is also critical. But when you delegate a task, let the person run with it. Being a control freak, I’m sure that I was probably a bit overbearing in the early days because I wanted everything to be just so, which was not necessarily the best way to go. If you hire the right people in the first place, you can empower them to do the job.

Meetings

OMG! Not another meeting. How many times have you had this reaction to a meeting request? Meetings can be powerhouses of ideas and actions, and are great in some ways, because you can get together face to face and you have a great chance to get everyone on the same page. Especially now that our world is so focused on electronic devices, you can find yourself doing much of your job without talking to anyone. But everyone has experienced people misunderstanding the written word, so meeting face to face can reduce these misunderstandings.

But you can overdo meetings and they can be a huge waste of time if done incorrectly. Sometimes, they can just be a group of people sitting around a table putting off decision-making. The difference between good and bad meetings comes down to tactics and disciplines.

Always ask yourself if you really need to have a meeting. Once you’ve established that a meeting will indeed be the fastest and clearest way to communicate with staff, follow these guidelines:

• Set a start and finish time, and keep the process efficient. Allocating time prevents those rambling, open-ended discussions that are time wasters.
• Set an agenda. This will help keep the meeting on track and on time. Those attending should be given the opportunity to list their own points for discussion.
• Brainstorm and write up ideas or key points. Flip charts or whiteboards are invaluable for getting everyone involved. Remember: there is never a bad idea. Encourage input from all attendees.
• Write down clear actions to be achieved, and next to each point write the name of the person chosen to take care of that task, along with a deadline. By the end of the meeting there should be a consensus of what needs to be done. Minutes must be taken at the meeting, and should be typed up and distributed as quickly as possible. Refer to these minutes at the next meeting to ensure all action points have been completed.
• Send each person the list of action points as a gentle reminder (or not so gentle if the gentle approach does not work) to complete the tasks before the next meeting or approaching deadline.
• Get to the point. Respect other people’s time if you are giving a presentation; make it slick and make it short.
• Take it offline. If a discussion is between only two members of the meeting group, the two can meet on that issue after the meeting; do not waste everyone’s time on issues that do not concern them.

I remember meeting with someone who was selling me something. I cannot for the life of me remember what he was selling, but I do remember he came into the meeting without an agenda but with a 40-slide PowerPoint presentation. He handed me a copy of the presentation and off he went — each slide was like a novel and he was just reading off the slides. I had to stop him. I then flipped to the last page of the presentation and got the point.

The meeting would have taken almost two hours if I’d just sat there politely; however, at the end of the day, time has to be seen as money. He was a lovely young man, but he did not follow the rules of a meeting. When you’re presenting you have to be respectful of people’s time. He also thought he was prepared, but it was in all the wrong areas. And he shouldn’t have handed me a copy of the presentation. (Never do this — people stop listening to you and start reading.) You need to be clear in meetings and ensure they go for no longer than 45 minutes.

Assumptions

Are your feelings getting in the way of the facts? You’ve probably heard that to assume makes an ASS out of U and ME. Believe it. When you make assumptions, you let emotions colour your view of a situation. Emotions can blind the smartest people. Some of the assumptions you make about others might be wrong.

Check yourself: are you an emotional person? Do you react to situations, or do you respond? If you react, don’t!

A reaction is explosive. There have been times when I’ve been told a story by one person and reacted by ringing another to blast that person. Then, when the second person’s side of the story is put forward, I’m left feeling foolish. No doubt you also have to admit that at some point in your life you’ve jumped to an assumption and, in your mind, have built a situation up to something it is not. And then you discovered that what you’d assumed was not actually quite right.

I had an executive who used to tell me various things that people were saying or doing in the business. As I trusted this colleague at the time, I would often get angry and act on this information — to then find that I had been told a half-truth. People don’t necessarily mean to lie; they may only give you their version of events — a filtered view. When you’re handed the objective facts of a situation, or told both sides of the story, a knee-jerk reaction is often out of place. A response is more measured. In this case, you wait until both sides of the story are in front of you before choosing how to reply. I learned quickly that you should always wait until you have the whole story before you act. Acting on wrong or twisted information is a fast way to ruin that great reputation that you have worked hard to develop.

There’s no doubt about which of these actions is more professional. Be a person who responds, rather than reacts. Learn to sleep on situations. Keep that angry email in a draft folder for a little while before you hit send. You must also ask questions. It comes back to my philosophy that no question is silly. Asking questions means that you are not making assumptions. It also means that you will have all the information you need to make (hopefully) the correct decision.

Here’s how to stop yourself jumping to assumptions:

• Think before you speak. Yes, the story you’re hearing may seem outrageous, but you may not be hearing the whole story.
• Try not to make assumptions of any sort — whether you’re assuming that someone else will fill the empty printer tray or that a staff member knows what you’re thinking.
• Try to keep your negative emotions out of the office, particularly if you are the leader. As the boss, my emotions set the daily tone for the entire office, so it’s vital that I keep positive.
• Treat everyone with respect, and respect will be returned.

Respect

Respect is much harder to earn than dollars and it can be more valuable. Respect cannot be bought, sold or traded. You must earn it. In my opinion, having the respect of peers and staff members is the most valuable goal to which a manager can aspire. Your employees don’t necessarily have to like you; however, if they respect you, they will listen, understand and cooperate. They will trust in you. If your staff believe what you say, they will follow your instructions. If your customers believe in your product or service, they will buy it.

Showing respect for others is equally important, and the more you do so the more others will give you respect in return. Being an attentive listener is the first way to do this. Never interrupt or mock people when they have found the courage to speak. They believe in what they are saying and you owe them the space to air their thoughts. Try to learn something from them or something about them. By encouraging people’s opinions and ideas, by sharing in their successes and not blaming other people when failure occurs, you will earn their respect. Also, if you value other people’s time, they will acknowledge that your time is important too.

Always put yourself in the place of the people you’re dealing with, and treat them as you wish to be treated. If you give them the respect you believe you deserve, you will find that others begin to treat you in the same manner.

This is particularly important with creditors and debtors. Pay on time and keep the wheels of commerce rolling! You want to be paid quickly, don’t you?

Let me give you an example. We’d worked with a particular supplier from the very start — the relationship was great, we liked the company and its staff went above and beyond to ensure we always had supply. This was until the owners sold the company. After this, the relationship started to sour — the new owners were inflexible and did not return calls. The relationship got to the point that we needed to cancel the contract simply to guarantee supply. A meeting was called and a very tall man came in. My hope was that we could either resolve our problems or part company with respect. His strategy was to threaten and use heavy-handed tactics.

From the moment he sat down, there was no respect in the room shown by him for me, which in turn ensured that none was shown for him. It inevitably ended with the only winners being the lawyers. The shame of the whole episode was that if both parties had worked together with respect and with a firm commitment to resolve the problems, it would have ended in a win–win.

If all negotiations are based on respect, even if you think that you got a raw deal, you know that in the future it will all work out. I would much rather be respected than liked. Great leaders are respected. If you are always looking to be liked first, you will find that respect will eventually dwindle.

Here are the components for building respect:

• If people respect you, they will believe in you. This is the cornerstone of good leadership.
• Respect is a two-way street. Treat people with respect and they will respond in kind.
• Attentive listening is an important part of showing someone respect. If you are distracted, people can quickly pick up on that fact and it will make them feel unimportant to you.

Confrontation

Most of us will go a long way to avoid a confrontation (yes — I’m talking to you!) and I used to be exactly the same. Now, however, I’ve learned to deal with unpleasant situations. I face up to difficult problems at the beginning of each day and get them out of the way.

You won’t earn respect for being inactive and pussyfooting around an issue because you don’t want to clash with someone. I used to hand some of the more difficult situations at Boost to Jeff (who thrives on confrontation). Now, I see that confronting these issues can be an amazing and cleansing experience. The key is choosing the right way to fight.

A calm manner gives you the upper hand in any argument — if you show control of yourself, you will be in control of the situation. Keep your voice level, your eyes directed at the person and speak clearly and concisely. It’s very difficult for your opponent to speak or act aggressively towards you in the face of such composure.

Make sure that you have all the facts you need at your fingertips. I will only get into a confrontation if I have right on my side. If that means I need time to prepare, I will avoid having the discussion until I am ready.

And remember, confrontation does not have to be an argument but rather can be a discussion about different points of view — and it can have a positive outcome! Bully tactics may win a particular battle, but they will lose the respect of all those witnessing or involved in the discussion. There are two sides to every argument. Try to understand the other point of view because, believe it or not, you could be the one in the wrong.

Here’s how to deal with confrontation:

• Aim to ignite and extinguish an issue in one meeting. Have the confrontation face to face, and keep coming back to the facts to support your point of view.
• Always attack the problem, not the person. If you can avoid injuring egos during the exchange, the relationship will always recover much more quickly.
• Don’t take it personally. I’ve always found this difficult, as I am a passionate person, but I’ve learned to follow this advice. You cannot respond in a calm and intelligent manner if you take things to heart.

Here’s how to take your confrontation skills up a notch:

• Take notes during your business dealings. If a confrontation brews, you can avoid a ‘he said–she said’ mudslinging match by showing supporting evidence that backs your position. Remember — you cannot have enough written support.
• Avoid email fights because they can be misread — and they could come back to bite you later.

Money

William Shakespeare knew what he was talking about when he said ‘Loan oft loses both itself and friend’, and nothing much has changed in 400 years. It’s always easier to lend money to a friend than it is to get it back. Don’t do it! Learn to say no.

If you’re running your own business, also learn to say no to any unnecessary consumption in the short term. For the first three years of running Boost, I didn’t take anything out of the business, not even a salary, and I put everything I could back into the business. During those years, we lived in a rental property with three kids and the business. Everything was on a budget.

When you start a business, suddenly you have lots of friends who want freebies. Start how you intend to finish. Even to this day, I pay for my smoothies and juices and, if I shout someone, I pay for it. In a cash business, you can be tempted to take money or give a mate a free drink, so the easiest way to stop this is to act in the way you want everyone to act. You may feel like a tight arse for not giving your friends free stuff, but all these ‘freebies’ cost money — you pay for them. Do not feel guilty about charging for products and services. Keep your friends, family and business as separate as you can.

The other thing to note on money is that it is all that matters. In other words, you can have a great profit but the only thing that matters is what is in the bank. Even when buying a business you only care about the amount of cash you put in and the amount of cash you take out at the end of the day. If the amount of cash you take out is a lot more than what you put in, then it is a success. That is business in two sentences. No fancy names, no tricky accounting: it is all about cash.

Here are some things to keep in mind about money:

• Cash is king. No matter what else you think about and focus on, without cash you have no business.
• If you build a reputation for never lending money, it will be easier to say no to requests. When I invest I make it clear, like Geoff Harris did when he started with me, that I am not a bank. The business needs to run as a business and together we need to solve the money problems of the business.
• Offer your time and advice to those seeking help; those forms of assistance are much more valuable than cash in the long term.
• If running your own business, try to forgo short-term gratification for the long-term success of your business. Ask yourself whether certain personal purchases really need to be made or whether the money would be better invested in the business. Every cent spent should return double. Ask yourself: is this expenditure really necessary right now and will it return me profit?

Negotiation

A negotiation is not successful unless both sides feel they’ve won. In line with this, two elements are vital to a successful negotiation:

• Information: Do not go into a negotiation with only your point of view. Understanding the other party’s needs is equally as important as understanding your own. Ask yourself, ‘What do I feel is reasonable?’ or ‘What would I want if I were them?’ This will allow you to counter the opposition’s arguments before they are raised.
• Lack of emotion: The only way to negotiate a great deal is having the ability to walk away. The only way to know if it’s a great deal is to listen, listen and listen. Never let your heart rule your head in negotiations. If you are emotionally attached to something, you will give away too much. This holds true whether you’re buying a house or making a business deal. Try not to take the proceedings personally. It’s difficult, but try to think of yourself as a third party.

Negotiations take an enormous amount of courage and a very clear head. You should always ask for more than you want and then negotiate down. Don’t give away your minimum requirements — you may end up with even less. Also, don’t favour the same weapon over and over; it will become less effective each time you use it. The more options you have, the more power and control you have.

I remember my first major negotiation — we took on a small juice chain in Queensland that had started up with the name Juice Boost. In the end, we paid for them to change their name and we bought their trademark. It was a win–win situation. We had to pay, but it was worth it to retain the purity of our brand. We had right on our side and got the best out of the deal!

I have negotiated all sorts of things — including bills from lawyers who in my opinion have overcharged me (perhaps not surprisingly, this happens a lot), multimillion-dollar master franchise agreements and sales of businesses — and the biggest thing I have found is that no negotiation is the same. The greatest skills you need in any negotiation, however, are emotional intelligence and the ability to be a really (really) good listener. If you listen more than you talk, you will hear what the other party wants. The other great skill in negotiation is putting yourself in the chair of the person you are doing business with. (Remember — the best negotiation is when everyone wins. If you cannot put yourself in the other person’s shoes, you should not be negotiating.)

In 2005 I was in Dubai with Jacinta, negotiating a master franchise agreement with a party we thought would be a great company to open Boost stores in Dubai. We wined and dined with their sheikhs, we listened to their needs and we presented our business with the passion and enthusiasm that we have for the brand. The business spoke for itself — it was a sexy brand, and was in the wellness category from a country that is perceived to ‘love life’. They had the contacts and experience to launch the business in the market and were ready to move into the wellness category. We negotiated the contract while we were there, constantly working on the memorandum of understanding in our hotel room. I remember being with Jacinta in the airport on the way home when it was all over, not quite believing that we had completed an amazing deal to launch Boost in Dubai with a party who had never seen a store.

Here are the core elements of great negotiation:

• Learn as much as you can about the other party. If you’re negotiating with a public company, you’ll find that everything you need to know is easily available — from information on the shareholders and senior executives to the company’s profit forecasts. Information is your key weapon.
• Try to stay detached during the negotiation. Emotion has no place when you’re making a deal.
• Put yourself in the opposition’s shoes. This will help you to counter their arguments and provide a win–win solution.
• Know what you are prepared to accept, but never give away your minimum. Aim high and negotiate down — never the other way around.

Success

There is a price to be paid for success. No-one achieves their goals and dreams without sacrifice. But can you afford not to try?

What have I given up? A hell of a lot of time — time with my family, husband and friends and also time on myself! Is it worth it? For me, yes. That’s because the results are not just financial success — I also love the journey of creating something special, as well as the mental stimulation and the chance to follow creative pursuits. My success has made me a better, more rounded person, and I wouldn’t have given up what I did if I didn’t want to. Sometimes when I’m torn between work and family, I feel like I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul, but it comes down to what’s worthwhile for you. My whole life has been a pendulum, trying to get the balance right, but that is what makes life interesting.

If you want to follow your dreams, you need to be prepared to make sacrifices; you must decide what you’re willing to put in. Many people expect luck to deliver them a fortune — well, I’ve got news for them and it’s all bad! Success does not just come about magically — you have to make it happen, and that means giving it everything you’ve got. With any luck, your hard work will pay off. It has for me and I have no regrets. I have a great life and nothing to complain about. Can you ask for more than that?

Of course, success means different things to different people. My sister Lisa is 21 months older than me, and I remember being in the car with her when she was 17 years old. She said then that what she wanted in life was to find love, get married and have a family.

Lisa has never not gotten a job she went for, and at every job she gets they love her. However, even now her family is her success — I look at her three girls and her husband, whom she loves, and I really see success. Happiness is success, not dollars. I am sure that Lisa has never looked at me and my business success and wanted my life, because she is already happy and successful. I am successful because I have a husband I adore, and kids who are all individual and amazing — because that is what makes me happy and that is my success.

Here are some things to remember when chasing success:

• Be prepared to give your all to achieve your dreams.
• Success is not just monetary (or sometimes not even). Do what you love, and the financial rewards will come.
• There are no fairytales — there is just damned hard work!

Communication

Most conflicts and problems start with a lack of good communication. Great leaders are always good communicators. Never underestimate how important it is to have a ‘catch-up’ with people, and to communicate effectively and consistently. These days it comes in many forms: social media, email, Zoom, face to face … the list goes on. Each platform has its own positives and negatives, but nothing beats a face-to-face conversation. One of the things I learned on Survivor is that face-to-face conversations and interpersonal skills are really good for relationships and, frankly, good for the soul. There was nothing like sitting in front of a fire (while very hungry) with nothing to do but talk. There were no smart phones buzzing, no-one was fixated on posting on Instagram, everyone was present — which enabled relationships to grow and flourish. It made me realise how bad I was off the island and how much time we all spend with our noses facing our smart phone screen. More importantly, how much we are not focusing on our loved ones around us. How often do you see people at restaurants having a romantic dinner while both are on their phones? We all need to make a change. We are all so highly stimulated and obsessed with our phones, no wonder stress and poor mental health are so common.

Everyone talks about good communication … but how do you go about it? When we think about ‘communicating’, most people tend to have talking in mind. However, communication comes in many forms, including verbal, social media, email and other written communication (remember that thing we used to do?). Given that we spend so much time emailing and texting, it can be overwhelming when you’re faced with the prospect of speaking to a group of people. You don’t have an opportunity to ‘backspace’ or ‘delete’ if you blush, stutter or stumble through a speech. My good friends will tell you that I make words up. They are nearly the right word (cringe) but there might be a letter missing or I simply change the letter. I sometimes am going so fast that my words get messed up. This unfortunately has been the case my whole life, so I just laugh at my own stupidity and move on. If you ever see me give a talk, listen out for the odd crazy word.

Good presentation skills offer you the opportunity to leave a positive and lasting impression on others. You don’t want to be remembered for the number of times you flicked your hair or adjusted your tie. If you are, your message is hopelessly lost. Make no mistake — the audience will judge you on your performance.

Do you need some work in this area? Not sure? Try taking a video of yourself in action. Is that the image you want to project or are you cringing at your performance the whole way through? (Don’t worry if you’re a bit embarrassed by the sound of your own voice at first — most of us are.)

Confidence is the key to a good presentation and you can gain the poise you need by practising and refining your skills. Plenty of courses in public speaking are available. They cover all the essentials — dealing with nerves, projecting your voice, cultivating the right image through your appearance, delivering your key message and the secret of the ‘pause’ — as well as other skills you can nurture and adopt.

Most tutors will advise that your natural style should not be changed completely. The best course of action is to refine and improve your inherent ability. If you attempt to adopt a totally foreign persona, you will come across as insincere. This is an important aspect I have learned about communication and developing your communication style — be true to yourself. It’s fine to take tips from other people, but still do it in your way.

I have been asked to tell the Boost story a number of times and, in the early days, I could never quite do the story justice — the way I told it just wasn’t quite right and I knew I wasn’t communicating the ideas clearly enough. Then I saw a presentation by Simon Hammond, who had put us in his top 20 list of wonderful brands. He is one of the few people we have come across who truly understands the power of the brand.

We heard he did a great presentation on brands so we asked him to present at our annual conference. His presentation was wow! It was a show, complete with music and interesting snippets from the internet on marketing ideas. He made us laugh and almost cry with the emotion of his presentation. I was so impressed that I asked him afterwards if he could help me formulate my story into a great presentation. We spent weeks (and weeks) pulling it together and getting to the truth of the story, and also the true essence of what I am naturally like as a presenter.

We found my presentation could vary greatly from day to day, depending on the audience. In essence, I was a confident player if I felt like I had engaged with the audience — if they laughed and nodded, my presentation was pretty good (if I do say so myself). But if I didn’t feel like I had connected with the audience, it was normally a disaster. Simon assisted me with understanding who I am and what my natural style is, with the added help of a few videos and props to ensure my communication is consistent. The main point has always stayed with me — whatever you do, be you.

Regarding email, be sure to investigate correct etiquette and read your emails thoroughly before clicking the ‘Send’ button. (Be wary of ‘Reply all’!) Be courteous and remember that the ramifications of an email can be with you a long time; email can be subpoenaed in a court of law! If I have an important email that I need to send, I write it, then send it to myself to read later as the reader would, and then I re-edit it.

On the subject of phone calls, don’t do anything else while talking to someone on the telephone — it degrades the conversation. The sound of your fingers typing on a keyboard is a sure sign to the person on the other end of the line that you place little importance on the person and the conversation.

Here’s how to polish your communication skills:

• A professional speaking or presentation course is an investment in your business future.
• Be professional in all your business communications, be they typed or spoken.
• Learn to use technology to your advantage.
• Give all your attention to the person to whom you’re speaking, whether it’s face to face or on the phone.
• Treat email communication with care. It may be an instant medium, but the message can come back to haunt you.
• Poor communication is the number one reason for conflict.

Customers

Many businesses talk about being customer led, and mostly it is simply hot air. When businesses goals are motivated just for the money, then good luck on being successful. A great business has to always have the customer in mind, first, second and third. If they can accomplish this the money will come, but not without their customer.

As Boost has grown, I’ve found that I’ve gotten further away from the ‘on the ground’ customer experience. As the manager of a growing company, you ultimately move on to the next level of development in your business, delegating tasks to others. You become more removed from the day-to-day running of the company — and you can miss the simplest problems. Try not to make this mistake and never be a stranger to the frontline. Don’t ignore the very hand that feeds you. Always, always make the time to speak to the people who are facing the customer.

I work hard to counter any movement away from the frontline. It’s vital to continue to tap into the root of your business, and for me that means going into a random Boost store and queuing up with the other customers. Or when I’m in the office I might answer a ringing phone — any phone. If it’s a customer wanting to vent frustrations or even give positive feedback, I talk to that person one on one. I ask questions about the company and the level of service received; I ask for people’s opinions. It’s a simple task, but an extremely valuable exercise because it allows me to derail potential problems that may be quietly simmering away.

One tool we use to encourage feedback is our Boost Juice Guarantee. Every store displays this guarantee, and you can also find it on our website. If you do not have a good experience, let us know and we’ll fix the problem. And we absolutely do fix it, every time. What’s more, we offer customers a number of easy ways to get in touch with us, and we employ several staff members to take care of customers and respond to customer feedback, including one full-time staff member, a weekend support person and two social media coordinators.

Resolving customer complaints immediately and effectively is critical; our policy at Boost is to respond within 24 hours. Customers are usually so grateful (and surprised) to receive a response, their problems are easily resolved. This is a vital and mostly unseen part of our marketing strategy.

Whole books are dedicated to the subject of creating and keeping loyal customers, so the main thing I am going to stress is this: love your customers; truly love them. And if you are the leader of your company, make sure that every day you find out what your customers are thinking and wanting; this knowledge will flow through to influence all your behaviour.

Get angry when your customers aren’t treated well, and fix every customer problem with vigour — they are your life support system. Hire frontline staff who like people. Every Boost store has a multitude of talented people, specifically chosen for the role they need to play in the customer’s experience. We’ve even given each role names. ‘Eva’, who is bright and bubbly, is on the front counter greeting the customer. ‘Ian’, introverted but super-diligent and process-oriented, is making the smoothies. And finally ‘Beth’, a real extrovert, is on the last station — pour up. This person is the last impression customers get of the brand, so (hopefully) she hands over the finished product with a big smile. We don’t always get this process right, but it is indoctrinated into our belief and it is what we strive for.

Make the love of your customer an absolute pillar of your company’s beliefs and you’re on the way to success.

Here’s how to focus on your customers:

• No matter what your position in a company, never take your customer base for granted. Keep in touch with your market and respond quickly to its needs.
• Small problems can become large if not dealt with quickly. Put systems in place to ensure customers never feel ignored.
• Customer liaison is vital and should be part of your marketing strategy. Word of mouth is your best friend — and can be your worst enemy if you don’t address issues.