Dead Wood, Good Wood and Gold

The toughest test of a business traversing an economy in crisis may be how they choose to manage one of their valuable assets, their staff. Retrenchment, cutbacks and downsizing are the bitter pills many managers are forced to swallow in these times and as much as you would like to weed out the non-performers, slackers and delinquents amongst your ranks you have to follow protocol or you will be facing a lawsuit before you know it!

The focus must therefore turn rather to a more positive approach. How do you retain the employees who are worth their weight in gold?

Each business can identify individuals who are willing to do what it takes to make your business successful against the odds. The people with vision and grit, who pick up an extra task or two, suggest time or cost cutting improvements, maintain an optimistic viewpoint and focus on the finishing line.

Enthusiasm is critical in protecting these human assets. We spend thousands on securing our business’s physical assets in insurance, security and alarms yet often neglect the vital employees who make it happen on a daily basis.

Employers and managers should ensure valued staff receives appropriate respect in an environment where achievements are acknowledged with heartfelt recognition. Research in a major listed organization has shown that the single biggest reason why people resigned was because they felt that “their contribution was not valued”. Training can also be a useful anchor in keeping good people as can cross-training which broadens their skills base for future promotion within the business. In addition to this a mentoring programme which draws prize staff closer to management in strategizing, making key decisions and analyzing results will encourage loyalty as the staff can then perceive potential for future advancement.

Ensuring that the business has clear vision, objectives which are regularly and widely communicated and clearly understood at all levels is vital. As is feedback which is another essential tool to empower loyal staff and align efforts at all levels to a united end goal. The fact is, money is important but alone it is not enough. You really want your team to buy-in to the big picture.

Invest in some of the efforts shared above and you may find even the seasoned malingerers will become enthused by the powerful energy that these new activities will manifest.

Highly committed, competent people who are confident of their value in your business are worth their weight in gold. In these challenging economic times you really can forge ahead with impressive results when a team is supported in doing what they are good at.

To find out more about a practical step-by-step programme for small businesses visit TheSmallBusinessToolbox.com now!

The ‘NO’ Strategy

THE ‘NO’ STRATEGY

We have all met someone in life whose default response to requests is a flat and unemotionally delivered no.

We often think of these people as having disagreeable personalities with little interest in voluntarily assisting other, be it individuals, communities or charity projects.

If you are a good team player who would normally co-operate and compromise, putting others needs before your own, this blog is for you.

We cannot, and must not, be all things to all people and certainly will not get ahead if other people’s agendas always come before our own.

‘No’ as a response can be used very effectively but you need to learn to be comfortable using it.

Whether you need to buy yourself time to think clearly, block or delay a negotiation process or simply enable yourself to focus on a task at hand, it really is a good ideal for all small business owners to learn to say ‘no’.

If a Yes does not meet your own predetermined criteria (i.e. it will serve an identified purpose for you professionally or personally) you should be comfortable saying No. Particularly when a Yes will not facilitate growth, increase your network, provide spin-off, fit your budget or enable you to achieve a goal.

The question that begs asking of small business owners then is ”Why do we still find ourselves horridly uncomfortable saying ‘no’, to the point of finding it embarrassing to do so?”

Could it be that many of us want to be accommodating and agreeable so that others like us better? Do we feel others needs are more important than our own? Do small business owners want to be so accommodating that our Yes’s often have negative impact on our businesses but we say Yes anyway just to feel needed?

Be aware that repeatedly saying Yes to satisfy others’ needs is often a lifetime habit that can diminish your soul or essence, the core from where your personal power resonates. There is strength in refusal.

When you say No you feel confident because you have clearly identified goals and have the strength to focus on them until they are achieved, not allowing yourself to be distracted by anyone who asks nicely.

For the recipient a ‘no’ can be a sign of rejection, which will make them feel bad and they may very well withdraw their alliance. However, remember that when this happens you must be alerted that the individual is clearly not understanding your big picture and needs to be gently tethered back in line with some guidance and gentle discussion. No can reveal areas of vulnerability which need attention. This in turn gives momentum to a highly productive process.

Saying No is critical to success and easy to do when you are working towards a formal Strategic Plan for your business. It’s so much better to say No when you have clear reasons. Instead of being seen as obstreperous you will be seen as focused, confident and driving towards success. And, after all, isn’t that how you would like to be perceived?

To find out more about a practical step-by-step Strategic Programme for small businesses visit TheSmallBusinessToolbox.com now!

Goals in Strategy

Goal setting is a necessary and critical aspect of any strategic plan and developing your strategic plan is a process that requires both introspection and vision. Setting goals is the bridge between dreams and reality and they must be tangible and realistic to avoid frustration and disappointment.

Simple goals are definitive and historically elicit a better success rate from the implementation team. Specific targets give staff a clear sense of purpose, eliminate confusion and minimise distractions. By including staff in the discussions and goal setting process you increase your success rate 10-fold and build a strong and committed team along the way.

Seek consensus on achievable expectations from the ground level and discuss different methods of committing to goals and implementing the action plans. Incentives, beyond any usual bonuses or commission structures are a great way to challenge comfort zones and stretch the boundaries. Aim to inspire your staff, not necessarily with monetary incentives but perhaps some time off or even just a simple and sincere thank you!

Allowing the goals, which are typically managerial decisions, to evolve through discussions with employees builds a sense of shared work, common goals and team rewards. In turn this builds a sense of accountability and responsibility, which your customers will reap the benefits of by way of improved service levels and you, of course, will see the impact on your profitability.

Good communication between staff and employer aligns the team to the corporate mission. Persistence is the key to living the Strategic Plan and later revelling in the rewards. For a simple step-by-step guide to Strategic Planning visit TheSmallBusinessStrategicToolbox.com today.

Do we really develop minds or just activities?

Whilst involved with doing some marketing planning work with a client last week, I was privy to a discussion between the Sales Director and one of her sales team members. I had asked to spend some time with the sales people in different environments to get their views on what was happening in the market and to get some feel for the vital interface between sales and the business.

The title of this blog post was inspired by an interaction I witnessed between a Sales Director and a sales representative, which left me in little doubt that I had just seen yet another example of ineffective leadership.

Sure the relationship between Sales Manager and sales representative is often a difficult one – the manager wants immediate results and bottom line contribution whilst the sales person is often finding life in the trenches extremely difficult and feeling that they lack real support from the business. And yet what I saw in this interchange was unlikely to make any real impact or difference in the long run.

The primary reason for this was because the meeting was dominated by the sales director (in terms of the time spent talking as opposed to listening) and was made up mainly of the sales director telling, advising and suggesting what the sales person should be doing.

Whilst this works to a point, research suggests that we, as average human beings, reject a large proportion of the suggestions and advice given to us. And even that which we do adopt, we tend to forget within a comparatively short period of time – literally weeks or months.

So what makes us think that someone is going to take every bit of advice and suggestion which we offer them – when we know full well, that if the boot was on the other foot, we would probably only adopt 10% of the advice and then forget it entirely within a matter of weeks.

Which leads us to the crux – should we not stop focusing entirely on what we want and start to find out what they need to learn to lift their performance? Should we not look at the interactions and try to work towards making them ones in which the people we are trying to help learn (for themselves) rather than we continually try to teach them what we want and how we want it?

Should we not be working towards creating a safe environment in which they feel that they can begin to express themselves? And towards developing their abilities to make decisions, draw conclusions and find ways to do these things for themselves? Should we not be looking for commitment and self-discipline rather than simply trying to ensure compliance with what we suggest, recommend or advise?

I am not for a moment suggesting that we settle for second best – our role as leaders is to develop accountability and outstanding performance – not to settle for mediocrity. But surely we can do this so much better by helping our people to learn to think for themselves – rather than simply continuing to expect them to listen to us and do them the way we say? And if we teach ourselves to listen to what they have to say and to ask the sorts of questions which probe to the guts of the issue, can we not coach them to develop this self-reliance, accountability, decisiveness and initiative that will make them more effective people?

If we can help them to see the possibilities and the opportunities that never existed before, will the automatic result not be the improved performance that we say we are looking for?

To find out more about a practical, step-by-step marketing programme for small businesses visit The Small Business Marketing Toolbox today.

 

Business Marketing Plan

There are always a number of critical success factors that you need to take into account when developing a business marketing plan.

First, you need to assess what your desired outcome is. What’s your business objective, what are the milestones on which you’ll determine whether the marketing’s been effective, or not effective? If you clearly define, up front, what you would like marketing to do for you, you are better positioned to manage the business marketing planning implementation and therefore are more likely to stay on track.

Second, you need to take a good look at the macro environment within which you trade. Is there anything happening that could affect your ability to maintain sales or pick up additional sales? For example is there a strong chance that a change in legislation could significantly impact your ability to run your business effectively. How is the current economic crunch going to affect the spending habits of your existing/potential customers? You need to look at all the macro issues to ensure you are not caught unawares with a side on swipe that capsizes your marketing and business needs.

Third, clearly define who you are targeting. What makes a good customer for you? A lot of business marketing plans define “everyone” as their target market, but this clearly cannot be the case, it’s just lazy strategy development. Challenge yourself, and your team. Describe the type of people that have problems you can provide the solution to. What is the problem? Who are the people? Where do they live? What do they read etc? Really focus your brainstorming and drill it down until you get into the minds and hearts of the type of people that are ideal customers for you. Focus in this area will ensure the rest of your marketing plan will be based on a solid foundation. Lack of focus in defining your primary target market will mean a business marketing plan that is wishy-washy, unstructured and ineffective.

Last but not least, decide what you want to tell those people about you, your products or your services that will make them sit up and take note. For example what are the benefits of people using your products/services in order to solve their problem? What makes you an essential product/service?
People only buy products and services because they have a need (real or perceived) that needs satisfying. The job of your business marketing plan is to determine what that need is and then work with your team to deliver the solutions to those needs profitably!

If you’d like to develop an effective business marketing plan follow the link now.