Did you know that 75% of new leads never hear back from the business they contacted and office workers are interrupted roughly every 3 minutes? We look at 10 ways that businesses are pouring money down the drain. Find out how your business scores and start plugging the leaks.

1. STOCKER
PAR TNERSHIP
10
Colander by jbweir on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbweir/306600341/
WAYS
but hopefully
not yours!
A BUSINESS LEAKS
MONEY LIKE A SIEVE*
* And yes, for the picky among you, there
are photos of colanders too - my bad!

2. NOT RESPONDING TO
ENQUIRIES AT ALL
75
%
of new leads never hear back from
the business they contacted...
...but companies continue to spend
significant money on marketing,
social media, PR and sales
Source: Time Business http://business.time.com/2013/08/21/lead-management-leads-to-business-growth/
Collanders by libertygrace0 on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35168673@N03/4725529450/

3. NOT KEEPING NEW
LEADS WARM
1/2
of all leads aren’t ready to buy yet...
...and yet many businesses don’t
follow up a lead more than once,
missing out on potential business later
Source: Time Business http://business.time.com/2013/08/21/lead-management-leads-to-business-growth/
Sieve sale by Matty Ring on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattring/8447594563/

4. NOT GETTING BACK TO
CUSTOMERS QUICKLY
Businesses that don’t respond to
customers within an hour
lose on average...
0
0
,0
0
3
£
per year
in lost business and
cancelled contracts
...but never put the processes and
procedures in place to ensure that
customers get the service they want
Vodafone research via Smarta.com
Broccoli in colander by senorleroy on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10078789@N00/4571428421/

5. NOT RETAINING
EXISTING CUSTOMERS
More than
*
50%
of customers won’t complain if they
are unhappy—they will simple walk
away and never come back
...but companies rarely enable service
recovery by identifying customers
with issues, encouraging complaints
and proactively seeking feedback
*Non-complaint rate rises to a massive 85-90% when a customer
feels an employee is incompetent or has treated them poorly
Source: TARP via Business Week
Tea strainer by aesop on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreweason/5679141535/

6. HAVING LONG,
INEFFICIENT MEETINGS
4
HOURS
Average amount of
time spent in
meetings per week
X NUMBER
OF STAFF
Amount of
time wasted
in meetings
2
HOURS
...and yet managers and staff are rarely
trained in effective meeting
management
Source: Centre for Economics and Business
Research via LinkedIn
Sieve by karl.herler on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17843347@N05/4659981526/

7. SPENDING THOUSANDS
ON ‘EMAIL TIME’
£5,000£10,000
of staff salary is spent on ‘email time’
per employee, per year
...and yet staff aren’t trained in
effective email management, either
in education or at work
Source: University of Loughborogh via EuropeanCEO.com
Project 365 #356: 221210 It's A Baker Day by comedy_nose on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/comedynose/5284109074/

8. ENABLING A CULTURE
OF DISTRACTION
3
Office
workers are
either
interrupted
or selfinterrupt
roughly every
MINUTES
and
research shows
constant interruptions lead to higher
stress, lower productivity and
increased error rates
...yet management themselves often
precipitate this culture
Sources: Microsoft.com | NYTimes.com | FastCompany.com
Whether I pass through? by Jorbasa on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jorbasa/7536180992/

9. WASTING TIME
BROWSING THE INTERNET
EMPLOYEES WASTE
3-5
HOURS
PER WEEK
surfing the internet for
non-work purposes
...though employers do little
to help staff be more effective
and get more done
Source: Kansas State University via www.bizjournals.com
4909 by BobPetUK on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22179048@N05/5194658295/

10. LACK OF
TECHNOLOGICAL NOUS
96%
of fee-earners felt their firm’s lack of
focus on current technologies resulted
in wasted time and money
...yet the majority of corporate boards
have only one technology-related
discussion a year or none at all
(despite regular discussions about costs and profitability)
Sources: ThomsonReuters.com | HBR.org | McKinsey.com
Sieving Flour by peterjroberts,on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_roberts/5334386342/

11. POOR CASH MANAGEMENT
AND DEBT RECOVERY
13%
of small business invoices remain
unpaid every year
...yet 1 in 3 senior managers are
unprepared for the level of financial
responsibility involved in their job, and
50% of staff do not believe there is a
clear process for chasing unpaid invoices
Sources: ShiftBusiness.com | Basware.com | eeiplatform.com
Sifting the flour by waitscm on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chriswaits/6607823843/

12. HOW DOES YOUR
BUSINESS SCORE?
1.
NOT RESPONDING TO ENQUIRIES AT ALL
2.
NOT KEEPING NEW LEADS WARM
3.
NOT GETTING BACK TO CUSTOMERS QUICKLY
4.
NOT RETAINING EXISTING CUSTOMERS
5.
HAVING LONG, INEFFICIENT MEETINGS
6.
SPENDING THOUSANDS ON ‘EMAIL TIME’
7.
ENABLING A CULTURE OF DISTRACTION
8.
WASTING TIME BROWSING THE INTERNET
9.
LACK OF TECHNOLOGICAL NOUS
10.
POOR CASH MANAGEMENT AND DEBT RECOVERY
10

13. STOCKER
PAR TNERSHIP
The Stocker Partnership
is a strategic innovation
consultancy
Matt Stocker
We help organisations to
create and exploit new
opportunities
Debbie Stocker
WE’RE NOT
BIG
BUT WE ARE
CLEVER
@mattstocker
024 76 100 193
hello@stockerpartnership.com
www.stockerpartnership.com
@debbiestocker
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