That date is just after the Federal Budget and Grange Directors Diane Terzian and Duncan Barber will present for 20 minutes on 5 critical areas that all businesses MUST address to a) protect their assets from the tax man and creditors b) succession planning for the future and c) consider what will happen to your business if you are no longer around.

KONA Group Managing Director Glenn Dobson will then present on How to Match Your Prospecting and Lead Generation to Your Clients Buying Journey.

Following the two 20 minute presentations you will have the chance to network and meet new business contacts.

The event will start at 6pm sharp until 8, and light refreshments will be provided.

Please contact KONA Group on 1300 611 288 or by email at info@kona.com.au if you would like to attend as numbers are limited to 60 attendees.

Bookings close: Monday 13 May Don’t delay as places are limited

1 Day Horse Whispering Leadership Training with Louise Kropach and Horse Sense for People

Louise Kropach is a Horse Whisperer’, Natural Horsemanship Trainer Equine Behaviour Specialist & Personal Development Coach

Develop natural leadership within your organisation or business using the principals of ‘Horse Whispering’

An exciting one day outdoor training workshop where you will delve into how to lead yourself and others more effectively in life and the workplace while being guided by a horse.

By understanding and engaging the principles of ‘Horse Whispering’ you can build trust, improve professional and client relationships and create successful outcomes in your business, workplace, team or classroom.

Using these principals the one day training will connect the practice with the horses into tangible outcomes for you:

• Increase your self confidence
• Improve the depth of engagement in life and work and how you ‘show up’
• Understand how to increase productivity and results through a better connection to others
• Discover new ideas and ways you can handle situations
• Alignment of goals through effective communication
• Inspire and motivate others using intuition and assertiveness.
• Understand the power of nonverbal communication.
• Focus through clarity of thought and intention to achieve what is important to you and your business.
• Be proactive in dealing with challenges and explore principles of authentic leadership

Come and join the horses and enjoy how the presence of a horse can help you on the fast track to success in business and in life.

This is a FUN non-classroom event that gives you direct experience with learning!

DATE: SUNDAY THE 26TH OF MAY

TIMES: 9.30am until approximately 4.30pm

COST: $210.00 Includes lunch and refreshments

VENUE: Cloverfern Equestrian Centre 256 Gyro Close Riddells Creek, Victoria

To book please call Louise Kropach Ph: 1300 611 266 Email: info@kona.com.au

Developing Human Potential through the Way of the Horse

The Art of Horse Human Communication

30 April 2013

When it comes to business software selection, what are your options?

Whether you are a start-up or you have outgrown your current systems, a time will come in your business cycle where you need to choose appropriate software to run your business.

Your options will be influenced by the nature of your business and the flexibility of your business processes. Here are some examples:

Custom developed software

You have a clear vision as to what you expect from your software, you have defined your requirements, you have had a good look at what is available and nothing quite fits; you can consider custom developed software.

This is usually the most expensive option in terms of cost and time to develop and deliver. However it is the best option in terms of developing a system that does what you want and fully reflects your business processes.

This option requires commitment and dedication to the process of having the system developed. Major milestones in this process include:

• Requirements gathering
• Developing functional specifications
• Creating use case scenarios
• Defining user experience interfaces
• Developing test data
• Carrying out extensive system testing
• Developing user/operations guides
• Developing training material
• Deploying the system

It is unlikely that you will be able to cope with all of this by yourself or with your internal resources that are focused on the day to day operations of your business. You will need external expert assistance in many of the stages of this process but at all times you will be involved to ensure the development is on track and continues to meet your requirements.

Customisable software

This option is used when you are fortunate enough to find software that is commercially available and where the developer is able and willing to develop a customised version to address specific requirements that are unique to your business.

Cost of customisation aside, issues to be considered with this option include:

• How will future developments of the base product be integrated into your version?
• Who owns your version of the software?
• Who will maintain the system?
• What is the life expectancy of this customisation?
• Is the system scalable to continue meeting your needs into the foreseeable future?

Similar to custom developed software, you may still require an external project manager to manage and progress the customisation and act as the go between your business and the software supplier.

Configurable software

This is a commonly used option with most software systems that are developed in a way that with the use of system options, terminology modification and user definable lists, the software can be configured to reflect your requirements without impacting the underlying system.

This is the preferred option both in terms of cost and time to go live.

This option, however, may require you to modify your processes to fit in with those dictated by the system.

You may still require specialists who have a good understanding of the system who can assist with the configuration of the system to meet your needs

Off the shelf software

These are systems that you have no control over; including most open source applications. “What you see is what you get”. This is typical of most commonly used systems such as word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software etc. However these systems are typically so feature rich that the average user would often use a small % of the packaged feature.

As you would expect, this is the least costly option and the quickest to implement.

Having decided on the software for your business, the next question is how best to deploy it; cloud or in-house? This is the topic for the next post…

To discuss how Karnig can help your business please call 1300 611 288 or email him at info@kona.com.au

 This is hardly surprising when you consider both days are either side of the weekend. So why do businesses still send out some of their most important emails on these days?

 A key problem many businesses have is that they look at their email communication as instant news rather than what it should be – part of the marketing communications mix. As a result they often fail to dedicate the same time and effort in developing their eMarketing and email messages.

By dedicating a bit more time to developing the message, you are able to deliver a message that engages the readers.

However your emails will lose effectiveness if the email is sent without considering when the message when the message will be received, including days of the week, time of the day and the time of year that your email is sent.

 The goal of any marketing plan is to work towards maximising Return on Investment as well as promoting sales opportunities at key points of your business calendar. Would you send out a Christmas flyer at Easter? Your eMarketing strategy must be combined with the rest of your marketing activity as well as a logical place in the calendar based on your promotion.

Although we may plan to send an email on Tuesday morning, as the week quickly takes over, before you know it, its 16:00 on Friday and the email “has to be sent this week” regardless of how the timing may impact results.

Don’t sacrifice your results for speed. Industry statistics show that there are decidedly better days to send emails if you want them to be opened and acted upon.

The two busiest days of the week for sending emails is Mondays and Fridays – yet for all the emails that were sent, both days achieved an open rate of less than 20%.

Contrary to popular belief, Monday is one of the worst days of the week for emails to be read as people are flat out working on their own issues and plans for the week. They are also clearing up all emails that have come in over he weekend and are more likely to delete those that don’t immediately interest them (or leave them until later then forget about them!)

Friday is also a poor day as most people are thinking about clearing their desk before the weekend

Compare that to emails that were sent throughout the week – Tuesdays saw a peak of 24.62% of emails opened. If you’re still not convinced this small percentage difference matters, consider an email send of 10,000 messages. The difference between 19.82% opened on Monday and 24.04% opened on Tuesday is almost 500 more people reading your email. What Are the Best Times to Send Email?

For similar reasons as the best time of the week, the best times of the day to send an email and hope it gets read and actioned are 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 – 1:30 p.m.

In fact the open rate increases as the day progresses with a low of 21.4% at 8 AM to a high of 34.1% at 5 PM (though the chance of being actioned reduces as the day progresses as they will get added to the overnight emails and/or being seen on a smartphone, and are not that easily readable

Taking these figures into account, planning your emails to be sent on the more profitable days of the week is the obvious solution. Knowing recipients are more receptive to emails received from Tuesday to Thursday, perhaps it’s time for you to start getting more out of your email campaigns and call to action.

To discuss how KONA’s Hearts and Minds™ Sales Training and Coaching will help your team to smash their targets please contact KONA today on 1300 611 288 or Glenn@KONA.com.au

By understanding and engaging the principles of ‘Horse Whispering’ you can build trust, improve relationships and create successful outcomes in your business, workplace and team.

Using the key principals of Horse Whispering Louise will demonstrate how you can;

• Inspire and motivate others using intuition and assertiveness.
• Understand the power of nonverbal communication.
• Focus through clarity of thought and intention to achieve what is important to you and your business.
• Be proactive in dealing with challenges and explore principles of authentic leadership

ATTEND AN INTRODUCTION AND DEMONSTRATION SESSION IN VICTORIA ON THE 27TH OF APRIL

For more information please visit: http://www.kona.com.au/training/specialist-training/horse-sense

Or to book please telephone: 1300 611 288 or Email: info@kona.com.au

WHEN: Saturday 27th April 6.30 – 8 pm

WHERE: Cloverfern Equestrian Centre 256 Gyro Close

Riddells Creek, Victoria

COST: $35 / $25 Concession

Recommended for business leaders, managers, directors, teachers, coaches, entrepreneurs and those working with teenagers and youth.

Many have fallen into a mental and emotional hole and feel lethargic, despondent, slow, frustrated, angry and sometimes extremely down and depressed

For all of us, when this lack of motivation kicks in this is an extremely dangerous time as the downward slide can increase quite dramatically and damage our business, performance and/or health.

No matter if we are business people, sales people, sportsmen and women, overweight or a multitude of other roles, if we are not doing the Activity that Generates Momentum(A.G.M.) we emotionally and physically stop doing the key activities that create a result. Then not long after the results also start to flat line or even come to a halt

In sales, A.G.M. is the # 1 principle of successful sales people as they typically spend more time out of the office meeting customers and prospects, than their office bound colleagues

In health and weight lose, people who are slimmer typically take more exercise and eat less rubbish than theirunhealthier counterparts

In relationships, the more we ‘settle down’ and do the same things over and over again, the more chance the relationship has of becoming stagnant

I have a friend whose business is going through a tough time at the moment and he has gone to the doctors who filled him full of antidepressants

When we reviewed how he was spending his weeks, 3 things stood out:

1.He has stopped arranging meetings with clients/prospects and network contacts

2.He has stopped exercising

3.He has started to believe his own excuses (which is making it easier for him to accept points 1 and 2)

Negative Activity Generated Momentum = Negative Energy = Negative Results

So if you are below budget, or feeling depressed, or your belt is starting to get tight around your waist, stop making excuses to yourself and others, get off your backside and start to drive the KEY ACTIVITIES that will CREATE A RESULT:

Business Owners and Managers: Stop wasting time on reports that are based on the past and start to drive activity that generates more sales and customers

Sales People: Get out of the office and from behind your computer and go and speak to more existing and new customers

If you are depressed and down: What are some of the small changes to your levels of activity you can put into place every day to start to turn things around and get you and/or your business moving in the right direction?

Please note: This blog is based on proven practical experience and not by someone who has never run a business, managed a team or built a sales Pipeline. So if we can help you get out of your rut, or you are interested in KONA’s AGM Process please call us on 1300 611 288 or email Glenn@KONA.com.au

     1. Drink coffee to keep going.

     2. Sedentary.

     3. Overweight.

     4. Have regular pain.

These categories affect decision making, energy levels, concentration, performance and therefore productivity. Money isn’t making into your pocket.

With obesity affecting 60-70% of the population and costing $37.7 billion and a further $6.4 billion from premature death, absenteeism and presenteeism; even when your team are there, they are not there and you are paying for it.

It’s time to stop the money leak and put the Health back into OH&S…

Your brain and body need regular doses of oxygen, proper nutrition, activity and rest to perform optimally.

The benefits are…

     1. Lower stress levels

     2. Clear thinking and accurate decisions

     3. A motivated team

     4. Decreased sick leave and costly medical bills

     5. Increased productivity and profits

As an outcome of one of last years KONA Sales Training workshops many of the participants went on to change their lives by making the 3 following commitments (one middle aged sales manager has lost 39 kgs in 6 months!!!!):

      1. They stopped eating most things that contained white sugar especially soft drinks, cakes, biscuits, fast food, etc

      2. They stopped eating most things white especially white bread, white rice and white potatoes

      3. They started to walk most days including getting off and on the bus/train one stop early; walking round the block before they went into the office; meeting a friend/partner in the evening and walking before bed

PLEASE: Stop throwing good money at poor food choices, pain killers and costly treatments

Reshape your life and business with a seminar from KONA’s Health & Fitness expert Stephen Robertson. His message is sharp and clear – respect your body and life is easier.

Stephen has a life time of sport and fitness behind him, is a previous volunteer speaker for the Heart Foundation and a qualified fitness trainer with 20 fitness videos to his name.

For more information about seminars tailored to your needs please call Stephen on 1300 611 288 or mailto:info@KONA.com.au

An athlete has a long-term plan for success to ensure their body and mind stay strong and flexible to cope with the demanding workload. Their success is forged on passion, proper nutrition, and intense bouts of activity, variety and rest. The result is exceptional performance.

Contrast this with the business world that are overloaded with information, stress, boredom, deadlines, minimal activity, ‘it’s a job mentality’ and a box they sit in front of daily. The result is decreased performance and profit.

Combat the constant pressure of business with these power boosters…

1. Overcome boredom & monotony by starting a lunch away from the desk initiative and this will freshen stale minds.
2. Start a weight loss contest with a prize for the top 5 losers and this will create a flow of enthusiasm and increase morale. Promote it with posters, food and activity tips and education. Show them how and it will take care of itself.
3. Remove unhealthy snacks like biscuits, chips etc from the office; when these things are out of view they are less tempting. Replace them with nuts, fruit and cracker biscuits.
4. Stop causing physical stress, wrecking spines and causing pain in the office; it’s costly and decreasing productivity. Continual sitting crushes spines and increases pain and discomfort that lead to decreased performance. Postural alignment at the desk is as important as a weightlifters posture during a heavy lift; it’s vital for safety, performance and results. Have a workstation assessment and save your spine from permanent damage.

Tighten the control of your results and instigate a health program so you and your team perform like business athletes.

Contact KONA’s Health & Fitness expert Stephen Robertson for health or workstation set up presentations and workstation assessments. Book a presentation or 10 + assessments during January or February and receive three complimentary assessments valued at $300.

If you make only one new years resolution that you keep commit to this one as it will…

1.    Improve your decision making powers

2.    Decrease sick leave and save $$$ on costly medical bills

3.    Open your mind to new projects

4.    Increase staff motivation, retention and productivity

This unique seminar will be held in your business for your team and is crammed with information to increase energy and productivity, clarity and focus for accurate decision making and improve overall performance. Healthy people means a healthy organisation.

Give yourself and organisation a make over and hit 2013 early with this renovation special that can be tailored to suit your needs from a 1 hour conference presentation to a 4 hour workshop. We’ve left the rocket science for the scientists and trimmed the fat so the life changing message will benefit you and your organisation.

Don’t let January be the start of you and your business racing towards an early grave

Call or email Stephen at KONA on 1300 611 288 or info@KONA.com.au and book a presentation.

Overweight and inactive employees are 17% more likely to have sick days and suffer from depression than healthier colleagues. That’s costly isn’t it?

Don’t get stuck in the same thoughts, routines, patterns and results! 2013 is the year to clear your mind, unclog your arteries and put HEALTH into Occupational Health & Safety.

Stop poor health affecting your organisation.

For more information go to http://www.kona.com.au/training/specialist-training/fit-for-work/ 

Special offer: 2013 won’t change by itself so book Stephen for a January Workshop and a FREE Fitness

Coaching session for your team

Your presenter has a life time of sport and fitness behind him, holds a Certificate IV in Fitness and is a previous volunteer speaker for the Heart Foundation.

Make it happen today and call or email Stephen at KONA on 1300 611 288 or info@KONA.com.au and book a presentation.

Testimonial

“Stephen is an excellent presenter and participants feel at ease with his style and manner. He delivers what he promises and participants finish his workshop with a new set of skills feeling confident they can apply to their work. “

Great Results, Expert, High Integrity

Linda White, President Warringah Chamber of Commerce.

Our new, practical, hands on, and fun program will give you and/or your people IMMEDIATE and PRACTICAL RESULTS  and leave your team smiling for days after the experience.

Is  Your team primed for an outstanding 2013 with total purpose and commitment, or will it just be a repeat of last year?

Book a 2 day Team Effectiveness Workshop with KONA and start your 2013 with:

• Clarity of goals and purpose
• Clear and authentic communication
• Clear out old patterns that hold the team back from effective functioning

In this radically different program and using unique accelerated learning methodologies  your participate in a dynamic process of building authentic self- leadership, self-awareness and behaviour skills through Horse-Human interactions.

With one-on-one interaction with Individual Horses, attendees learn new relationship building skills, receive a tremendous confidence boost and start the new year with a totally different focus that  comes from learning how to connect with and direct a 500kg animal without a word spoken.

At the end of the program, people walk away with learning that they can immediately apply into the business environment.

Limited programs in January and February:

Call or email Andrea or Louise at KONA on 1300 611 288 or email info@KONA.com.au  to book your Team Effectiveness Workshop.

This workshop is for any team that needs to work effectively together to achieve outcomes, or a totally different approach to your Management Development and Training.

For more information check out: http://www.kona.com.au/training/specialist-training/emotional-intelligence/

Sessions with horses are highly interactive and provide an ‘in the moment’ learning experience, giving participants skills which can be difficult to acquire in more traditional settings.

While interacting with horses, individuals are able to identify and shift their limiting behaviour patterns, which stop them from developing trusting relationships in business settings. 

Horses provide the ultimate short cut for those who are serious about finding solutions to the challenges they face in their day to day business and relationships

SPECIAL OFFER – Book a 2 day Team Effectiveness Workshop for January or February and receive the second day half price.

Call or email Andrea or Louise at KONA on 1300 611 288 or email info@KONA.com.au  to book your Team Effectiveness Workshop.