Month: December 2011

Categories
Human Resource

Human Resource Management Must-Haves

Article Contributed by Charlotte Mark

Whether you work in inventory management or hardware sales, HRM is an integral part of every business model. In management positions, we spend the majority of time focusing on making quotas, hitting our goals, or making projections. However, if we forget to keep our team happy and motivated, goals, quotas, and projections can all come to a screeching halt. This is especially true in a small business, where every person has a critical role in making the business run. Here are the must-haves when it come to human resource management:

Efficient Delegation

Delegating is probably the trickiest part of management. Why is this so? Well, for one, the person delegating usually feels hesitant to delegate an important task to an employee. Our logic tells us that, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.” Secondly, the person receiving the delegated task may either feel anxious with fear of failure or may feel slightly resistant to take orders. Understanding that this is a very complex, psychological exchange is the fist step in becoming a successful delegator. The second step is executing a delegation that is accurate and with concise, easy-to-follow directions. Make sure that the task is not at all associated with management (which is, clearly, your job).

Interaction and Communication

In many small businesses, numerous amounts of people are crammed into tiny spaces, which can make for a tense environment. Additionally, the startup environment can be fast-paced and stressful. To minimize these stressors, open communication is the best remedy. Open communication can be conducted through regular meetings (either weekly or bi-monthly). Often, managers tend to forget the importance of individual meetings to supplement regular group meetings. Meeting with your employees individually allows you to show your concern and listen to feedback.

Increasing Performance

If you are seeing low productivity, set goals in writing. Put an initiative up (either online or in the office) for everyone to see and follow. You should also check up on your goals and quotas frequently enough to understand productivity levels but not so frequent that you stifle productivity or make employees feel like they are being micromanaged.

All of these factors will result in a better retention rate, higher productivity, and happier employees.

About the Author

Charlotte Mark writes about small business, inventory management, and entrepreneurships for the Blog Content Guild.

Categories
Business Ideas

3 Steps to Starting the New Year on The Right Foot for Your Business

There’s no better time to take stock of your business than the time between the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It’s “out with the old, in with the new” and that includes out with anything that isn’t serving you or your business at the highest level, and in with what you want your business to look like.

To help you get on track for the fresh New Year and all it’s possibilities, I thought I’d share 3 simple steps to get you and your business started on the right foot.

1. Start by cleaning out the old year. Are you surrounded by stacks of papers or old files? Now is the time to clean those up and make room for all the new business and opportunities that are bound to come your way (unless there’s no room for them).

What about old products or programs? Is everything you’re offering in your business still a good fit? Or maybe there’s something you’ve outgrown or doesn’t work with your brand anymore?

And don’t forget to look at your mindset or your habits. What are you still not doing you know you should be? What habits or blocks are you finally ready to ditch for good?

Get it all out there. Write everything down you want to throw out with the old year. Then you may want to destroy it — burn the paper or shred it. Remember, this is all about clearing away what you don’t want or don’t need anymore.

2. Be grateful for what you HAVE accomplished. Now that you’ve gotten rid of the old and worn out, don’t forget to take a moment and write down everything you’ve accomplished last year. What are you grateful for? What are you most proud of? It’s time to celebrate your accomplishments — take the time to do this. (If you’re anything like me, this is the first thing to go. It’s difficult for me to celebrate anything, I’m constantly looking at all the things I WANTED to do and didn’t.)

3. Now, get set up for the New Year. Some of the things I do include getting my new calendar in place and writing down my goals in it. Then I put together a marketing and promotional plan for the year so I can reach those goals.

You also may want to take some time to lay out a plan for getting rid of those blocks. Is there a program you need to buy? A coach you need to hire? Or maybe there’s something you need to implement. (Ditto for the changing those habits — what do you need to do to ditch those old habits that no longer serve you for good?)

Now, when you set up a plan, make sure you do what many people do when training their dogs — set yourself up for success. Create the plan with your success in mind. Don’t make it so overwhelming or paint yourself in a corner so there’s no way for you to succeed. Push yourself but be realistic too. There’s no shame in taking small steps toward your goal — the only shame is making yourself feel bad because you didn’t give yourself a realistic plan to meet your goals.

And, whatever you do, don’t forget to celebrate! You deserve it.

Categories
Success Attitude

3 Ways to Make Your Business Sing On-Key Despite the Flat Economy

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

At times we allow the negative noise of the flat economy to drown out any positive, on-key music in our businesses. Soon the negative noise has an effect on you. You become filled with:

  • Fears about finances—“The bank called. Surely they’re not calling in my note.”
  • Suspicions about an employee—“He sure talks about our competition a lot.”
  • Mistrust of a vendor—“She says she’s doing me a special favor with this contract, but…”

What’s a business owner to do?

One cold winter’s night, I was sitting in my favorite recliner at home, trying to have a conversation with my wife. She was seated in the chair next to me with only a lamp table between us.

Suddenly I realized that I was yelling to be heard. I listened around the room for a moment and discovered why. First, the TV was on, blaring through our speaker system. It had to be on loud enough to be heard over the fan that was blowing hot air from the gas logs. Because the gas logs were on and dry out the air, we were running a humidifier with its fan blowing. Throw in a couple of daughters talking, and it’s no wonder I was yelling.

So I got up out of my recliner and turned off the humidifier, turned back the fan blowing hot air from the gas logs, turned down the TV, and said, “Shhh” to our daughters. Then I sat back down, smiled at my wife, and said, “There, that’s better. Where were we?”

You can do the same with regard to your business.

First, identify the negative noises. Do what I did—analyze the room. Pick out the negative noises. What are they—news reports? An employee? A friend? You’ll know them when you hear them. Pay attention to your own irritability, or nausea, or headaches, or negative attitude that increases after you’re exposed to them.

Second, cut them down or off. Just like I did, you’ll have to get up from where you are and move towards where you want to be. You can choose to turn off the morning TV news—push media—and instead go online and select only those stories you choose to read or watch—pull media. You can confront your employee about that negative attitude. You can limit your exposure to your sky-is-falling friend. Get up and cut them off.

Third, focus on the positive. I returned to my recliner and my conversation with my wife. I chose to listen to her instead of the noise. Pick one positive dynamic in your business and listen to it. A customer’s testimonial letter. An employee’s thank you. A positive third quarter. Fix your thoughts on these on-key musical selections instead of the negativity that a flat economy sings.

Choose these three ways to make your business sing on-key despite the flat economy and watch your profits crescendo!

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is an international speaker, business coach, and best-selling author of the #1 Amazon business book, Work Positive in a Negative World: Redefine Your Reality and Achieve Your Business Dreams. He has taught business professionals this life-transforming process for over two decades, leading individuals in organizations of every size to achieve amazing results. He is the founder of Listen to Life, a company that coaches people to redefine their reality and fulfill their business dreams. He is the host of the syndicated radio show, Listen to Life. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org, connect with him on LinkedIn, follow him on Twitter @DrJoey, and become a Facebook fan at Work Positive.

Categories
Branding

Managing Your Online Brand in the World’s Best & Worst Marketplace

Article Contributed By Jeff Beals

“Had a very long day today. Got into an argument with my boss and a client. All I want to do is drink a glass of wine and take it easy, but I have to do laundry tonight. Arrrgh!”

This is the text of a post I once read on a friend’s Facebook page. She was clearly frustrated after a tough day at the office.

There’s nothing earth-shattering about this post and certainly nothing unusual. We all have periodic days we would rather forget. It’s common to come home from work tired out, feeling sick to your stomach, knowing you have important work to take care of at home.

That said, the Facebook post above does nothing to build my friend’s personal brand, and worse yet, it probably harms it. In the branding game, we need to paint a picture, cast a vision of ourselves as interesting, fascinating and anything but ordinary. We should never lie when we make a post on the social media, but don’t focus on the mundane. Focus on those things that will make people want to know more about you, wish they were like you and want to go out of their way to work with you. Be special. Be fascinating. Be intriguing.

The Internet is the greatest marketplace ever invented, because it is available worldwide 24-hours a day, is so vast that every imaginable product or service is available, has low barriers to entry and is comprised of billions of prospective customers.

The Internet is also the worst marketplace ever invented, because it is available worldwide 24-hours a day, is so vast that every imaginable product or service is available, has low barriers to entry and is comprised of billions of prospective customers. It’s too loud and crowded, making it hard to be noticed.

While the Internet (and the social media that are a part of it) provides us with historically unprecedented access, it also provides us with unprecedented clutter. It is easy and challenging at the same time. It has the potential of bringing riches but is filled with land mines. You can’t afford to take missteps.

That’s why savvy professionals carefully manage their online brands just as they manage how their personal brands appear everywhere else. Below are a few pieces of advice to keep in mind as you promote your personal brand online and take advantage of the countless benefits that come from the world’s greatest AND worst marketplace.

It’s a Game of Fundamentals – Regardless of the medium used, your personal branding must be of value and stand on its own merit. In other words, nobody is impressed just because you have a presence online. People are impressed if your presence is interesting, fresh and provides value to them. When determining what you’ll write or say online, think back to your area of self-marketing expertise, the part of your professional self that is most interesting to other people. That’s what you talk about when you make posts on the social media.

The Invisible Man or Woman – I will periodically receive a call from a stranger, who says, “Jeff, I’d like to meet with you, get to know you and pick your brain. Do you have time for lunch next week?” As soon as I hang up, the first thing I do is Google that person. I want to know who I’m dealing with and what he or she is all about. This may not be fair, but if nothing or very little pops up after I Google someone, I’m unimpressed. My assumption is that they don’t have much going on; they’re not involved in their profession or community.

It’s safe to assume people are Googling you too. When that happens, you MUST have a presence. A number of positive things about you should show up in their search results. To be safe, I recommend you Google your own name at least once a month. Also check Bing, Yahoo and other search engines just to make sure you cover all the bases.

If you are not satisfied with your search results, start building a better online presence now. Deliberately build a “Google trail” that people can follow to get to you:

  • 1. Maximize social media. Postings, links and photographs show up in many searches.
  • 2. Become a blogger. Write interesting articles about your area of self-marketing expertise. You can also comment on others’ blogs.
  • 3. Once you have a blog, submit your articles to the countless websites that publish articles written by a wide variety of people. Just make sure your writing is of high quality.
  • 4. Tell everyone about each of your new blog articles via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
  • 5. Shoot short but interesting videos related to your area of self-marketing expertise and make them available on YouTube.
  • 6. Post messages using your real name on discussion forums that relate to your profession. Just make sure the forums are legitimate.
  • 7. Write reviews of products and services on various websites using your real name.
  • 8. Develop your own personal website, where you post articles, photos and information about yourself in a flattering way.
  • 9. If you are an officer in an organization, or if you sit on a board of directors, see if the organization will include your name, bio and photo on its website.
  • 10. Start a regular podcast.

Live Socially – The social media are such an important part of online branding, they deserve their own section:

  • 1. Develop a nice list of friends, connections and followers on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Don’t just invite people willy-nilly. Make sure you know them or have had a professional interaction with them.
  • 2. Participate in LinkedIn discussion groups
  • 3. Ask and answer questions on LinkedIn. This has generated powerful results for many professionals.
  • 4. Keep your profile information up to date especially on LinkedIn and include all your accomplishments. In a lot of ways, a LinkedIn profile is akin to your resume or professional bio.
  • 5. Don’t just tweet. Re-tweet the tweets of other Twitter tweeters.

Avoid the Gotcha’s – A few words of caution are in order:

  • 1. Don’t succumb to the temptation and do anything online that would undo the hard work you put into building your personal brand.
  • 2. Never slander or libel someone else.
  • 3. You may want to disconnect from or de-friend anyone whose online behavior is unbecoming or unprofessional.
  • 4. Carefully manage how you are depicted in photographs. Keep in mind that undesired photos of you may appear in someone else’s social media.
  • 5. If you want to participate in non-professional discussion forums, consider using an alias or a pseudonym.

In conclusion, remember that your Internet presence is to you what a big advertisement in the yellow pages was for large companies 20 years ago. If you’re not easy to find, you might as well not exist. But just don’t put yourself out there for the sake of “existing.” Manage your online brand and carefully control your online presence. Be interesting and relevant, while always remembering that the most effective messages you can deliver are the ones that bring value to your readers, listeners and viewers.

About the Author

Jeff Beals is an award-winning author, who helps professionals do more business and have a greater impact on the world through effective sales, marketing and personal branding techniques. As a professional speaker, he delivers energetic and humorous keynote speeches and workshops to audiences worldwide. You can learn more and follow his “Business Motivation Blog” at JeffBeals.com.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

How to Be a More Productive Sales Person

Article Contributed by David Lynch

I’m always looking for ways to improve productivity in selling because I know that it’s what makes the difference in the long-term. Productivity measuring makes more sense when you actually break down your working hours, days and months into some kind of programme where you can monitor progress over a period of time. If you put sticky notes on your wall instead of putting information into your desktop calendar, you won’t realistically notice if this creates beneficial results after just one day of trying, will you?

Make a to Do List

Just get a notebook and write down a list of 10 to do’s at the beginning of each day. Make sure that you write them out in order of importance and cross them off the list as you complete them. Don’t do the easier tasks first as this could create problems later in the day. People by nature tend to leave the uglier tasks to the last if they are given the choice and I couldn’t see myself making 20 cold calls in the last 45 minutes of the day. The most difficult tasks normally require more energy and drive and this is usually much stronger in the earlier part of the day.

Set Mini Goals

Setting mini goals each day is a great way of being more productive in selling. There’s nothing worse than setting goals that you will never achieve. Not only is this very disheartening, but it stops you from continuing the highly successful habit of goal setting. Remember the golden rule here is set mini goals every morning that will increase productivity, and monitor the success rate to see which ones work best.

Reward Yourself for Achievements

When you see that your mini goals have brought some positive results you are perfectly entitled to reward yourself for a job well done. I’ve seen situations in larger corporations where sales people don’t get enough thanks for their hard work. I’m sure that you will agree with me when I say that I believe that this is a huge mistake that can have very negative repercussions. Thanking people for their efforts breeds loyalty and consistency and is a must do for anyone managing a sales team. Great performers sometimes get taken for granted but they could quickly change their tune if they don’t feel appreciated.

Focus on Single Tasks in Blocks of Time

I’ve found this method of working to be extremely effective in terms of increasing sales productivity. It often happens in sales that you find yourself doing two or three different tasks at the same time. Maybe you’re answering an email from an angry customer while at the same time you’re on the phone to another client. Then on top of all this, a colleague walks up to you and asks you how to work the fax machine. All this multi-tasking gives you the feeling that you’re really busy and you’re getting loads of stuff done. Often the reality is very different because with multi-tasking you end up doing lots of things badly. What works much more effectively is to allocate blocks of time to particular tasks. For example, you can set aside 60 minutes for replying to customer emails and during this time you must switch off your phone and make yourself unavailable from any kind of disturbance. This will produce quality work and quality results. After such discipline you will also feel less stressed and more satisfied with the quality of your work.

Brainstorm New Methods

One final method that has really helped me to improve my productivity levels in selling is the simple old- fashioned idea of putting pen to paper and scratching my head for new ideas. We get so used to working in a certain way that we just don’t stop and verify if it’s the most efficient way of using our time and energy. This is why it pays to review our daily tasks and work out which ones are most important towards reaching our objectives and which ones could possibly be removed or assigned to someone else.

About the Author:

David Lynch is a Sales Training Designer & Accomplished Author. He has more than 20 years of experience in a variety of industries including software, insurance & hospitality. If you would like to learn more sales skills from David you can download a Free Copy of his E-book “25 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling” at http://www.saleswillgrow.com/freesalestraining2.html