Author: Ethan Theo

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

What Separates the Good Marketers from the Great Ones?

Article Contributed by Jeff Beals

If you go to work every day, you might as well go all the way and shoot for the pinnacle of your profession. It’s a competitive world, so set your sights high. If you’re going to take the risk and invest the time, strive for greatness.

Ever since Jim Collins wrote his best-selling book, Good to Great, in 2001, business people worldwide have been fixated on greatness. Why do some companies do so well when a similar competitor languishes? Why do some companies transition from being merely successful to being truly great? What traits and behaviors separate the good from the great?

Of course, good-versus-great questions apply not only to companies; they can be asked of people who want to be great salespersons or marketers.

And remember, everyone is in sales and marketing regardless of their title.

Whether you’re selling medical equipment, working in business development or brokering international business transactions, it’s frankly easy to fail. Salespersons, marketers and dealmakers in every profession commonly fail. Some succeed, but only a tiny percentage achieves greatness.

The question then is what sales-and-marketing traits will lead you to the top of your profession?

Character – Great professionals are ethical and honest. They don’t tell a client or colleague what he or she wants to hear, it’s what they need to hear. Leaders with character tend to hire employees who are also upstanding citizens. Together, they attract clients of character. Everybody wins.

Be competitive – “Second don’t mean nothin’,” said Hall of Fame football coach Barry Switzer who led the Oklahoma Sooners to three national championships and the Dallas Cowboys to the Superbowl. Play to win. Be persistent. Don’t let anything fall through the cracks. Keep track of your competition and do what it takes to run at least a couple steps ahead of them. Be bold for the world has no room for shrinking violets.

Interpersonal skills – It sure helps if you possess some charisma, but rule number one is to listen. Great professionals listen and truly HEAR. When you are engaged in conversation, remember it’s not about you; it’s about your client.
Strategic Thinking – Have a plan that takes into account the big picture. What’s your philosophy? Strong organizations have developed mission and vision statements. Great individuals need them too.

Focus – Whether you are looking at this from an organizational perspective or a personal one, determine your competencies and spend the majority of your time, energy and resources working on those. If you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, ask yourself, “Am I doing what is truly important?”

Have a good product – Contrary to the popular saying, nobody can really sell ice to Eskimos. If your product or service doesn’t stand on its own merit, trying to sell it is no different than beating your head against the wall.

Others first – Real estate agents, accountants and trustees are said to have “fiduciary” responsibilities to their clients. In other words, they are legally required to put the client’s interest before their own. No matter what you do, pretend you have a fiduciary duty to the customers you serve. If you do this, you will build rapport, which leads to a relationship, which leads to the holy grail of sales and marketing: trust.

Ability to handle stress – “There are many guys who can paint an incredibly cogent picture of why a company should be investing in China or why a football team should run a certain offense,” says Joe Moglia, who serves as both chairman of TD Ameritrade and a head coach in the United Football League. “The reality is, when things are not going well, when you’re losing money in China, and your guys keep fumbling the ball, how do you handle yourself?”

Keep prospecting – No matter how busy you are as you put the finishing touches a big deal, remember to think about future deals. Always take time to fill your hopper, so you always have a steady supply of business. Don’t get emotionally attached to a certain piece of business, because you give up your power. Always go where the business is, where your best prospects live. It makes no sense to fish for business in a deserted lake.

Wrap it up – Ultimately, the purpose of marketing is to get somebody to say “yes.” Know what you hope to achieve from a prospect before you meet him or her and then keep steering the conversation toward closure.

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
Human Resource

Talent Integration Problem – Why Most Companies Hiring Retention Is Rate Less Than 50%

Article Contributed by Sara LaForest and Tony Kubica

The hiring retention success rate is disheartening with some studies reporting a rate lower than 50%. Through more than 50 years of combined experience 50+ in helping organizations improve their business performance, we (Tony Kubica and Sara LaForest) have uncovered three reasons why most companies and organizations fail to hire and retain top talent.

The First Reason Why Most Companies Hiring Retention Rate is Less Than 50%!

In the movie “Field of Dreams” , Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) hears a voice as he walks through his cornfield—”if you build it, he will come”. Over the years it has since become part of our lexicon of misused quotes. It has even seeped into the talent integration and talent management world.

Many CEOs, executives, managers and HR directors believe if you hire them (or promote your employees) they will contribute. Well, to use another well- known phrase—”not exactly”.

Why would you believe that hiring or promoting employees into a new job or position will result in immediate success?

The Second Reason Why Most Companies Retention Rate is Less Than 50%!

Many executives, managers and HR managers fail to plan out completely:

.  The job requirements
.  What needs to be done
.  What skills, behaviors and attitudes are required for success now
.  What role adaptation is anticipated for the future

If you fail to map out exactly what you are looking for as well as the position you are hiring for –  you might as well spend your money on a trip to Las Vegas to roll the dice! The chance of winning is about the same –  or maybe slightly better in Vegas (and likely you will have more fun).

The Third Reason Why Most Companies Retention Rate is Less Than 50%!

Most companies are still hiring and promoting candidates using the standard elements:

.  An application
.  A resume
.  An interview (or two, potentially including a panel)
.  Perhaps a background check,
.  And references.

However, these really only tell you only what the candidate wants you to know. Meaning, good creative writing and strong impression management skills do not necessarily equal the most suitable candidate for your organization. Just because candidates can report experience and expertise on a resume does not mean they have the personality and character attributes to do the job and it doesn’t mean that they are the right fit for your company.

For example, we saw one of our clients hire a department director who was charged with turning around an under- performing department. He appeared to be well- qualified, coming from a department that recently had undergone a very successful turnaround. He was the assistant director.

But, he floundered in the new job. One of the reasons is that he was too empathetic and had a very high- interpersonal sensitivity toward others. Simply, he could not make the tough people decisions. Nowhere on the resume, during the interview, nor with the hand- picked references did this come out.

To Integrate Your New or Promoted Talent Effectively, You Need to Start Considering the “Talent Integration Potential”

This means, you need to look specifically to how a candidate fits the prospective role and how suitable the candidate is to your organization. Just as you cannot fit a square peg in a round hole (without damage), you cannot make successful a person who does not have the basic ingredients for success in the job you need done.

This does not mean the person cannot be successful. It just means they cannot likely be as successful in a particular job or perhaps even in your organization.

So, how can you know?

4 Ways to Uncover If a Candidate is Perfect For the New Role & For Your Organization

1.  Use behaviorally- based interview questions that probe their history of actions and outcomes respectively

2.  Include some culture- based questions to help you determine values and motivators as compared to company values and attributes

3.  Include/give them time for a scenario based problem to work and resolve and report back on

4.  Have top candidates complete personality- based and job performance  indicators that measure a candidate’s potential for success in different business environments and roles. (Though such an assessment should never be used as the sole criteria for selection. As part of a selection set, it can be an invaluable tool to avoid hiring the wrong candidate for the job.) It can also be used as a tool to support and coach the new employee in areas that need to be addressed to ensure a fast and effective integration into a new job and organization.

Now, are you ready to start increasing your top employee retention rate? Great! Then, change your thinking from “if you hire them or promote them – they will contribute”  to “if I hire the right talent, they will contribute.”  And, start following my advice by taking action on the items listed in this article – along with the information we reveal in our free talent integration white paper at: http://www.kubicalaforestconsulting.com/resources.php

About the Author:

Management consultants Sara LaForest and Tony Kubica have 50+ years of combined experience in helping organizations accelerate their business growth in record times. Now, you can learn how to manage transitions and hire the right executives with their free special report on talent recruitment and integration at http://www.kubicalasforestconsulting.com/resources.php

Categories
Planning & Management

Why 44% of Today’s Leaders Are Unhappy With Their Employees’ Performance

Article Contributed by Skip Weisman

Forty-four percent of business leaders at various levels and a variety of industry categories reported disappointment in the performance results of their employees, in a survey recently conducted by Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert Skip Weisman.

In the survey, whose results were released this week, 70% of those struggling business leaders also believe they need a new approach to how they communicate so they can better motivate for better results.

Leaders responding to the survey indicated significant frustration in motivating their people due to a number of key factors, including:

. An inability to rally team members to focus on a common goal,

. Dealing with a lack of cohesion between employees, and

. Employees looking outside of themselves for reasons of sub-par performance

. Employees engaging in excuse-making and

. Employees engaging in distracting behaviors that take attention away from the job at hand.

Another big issue for these organizational leaders was a lack of time to invest in connecting with their team members, both as a group and also individually, in one-on-one discussions.

This is why these leaders reported they felt they needed a new approach to how they communicated with their employees to improve performance.

Despite reporting an investment of 37% of their time communicating one-on-one to motivate employees to meet the performance expectations for their role, the business leaders responding to this survey felt they needed to change their approach.

The reason for this desire to change their approach to their own leadership communication is that 37% of a leader’s total communication time communicating one-on-one is significant, and the return on their investment is not adequate.

There are three ways to address this issue:

– increase the time allotted to one-one-one communication with employees (I would recommend raising it to 50%)

– improve their style and message so that it leads to behavior and attitude changes that lead to performance improvements

-evaluate the type of one-on-one conversations the leader is having with their team members, and adjust to attain better performance. There are three primary types of one-on-one discussions a leader might have:

  • issue/problem based
  • performance based
  • career based

In order to improve an individual team member’s performance more time must be invested in performance and career discussions and less on issues/problems.

Another vital determination leaders must make is whether the lack of performance results is due to an individual’s attitude and motivation or their skills, talents and ability.

Without determining if the problem is one of attitude or one of ability, there is a high-probability the wrong solution will be applied potentially causing more stress, frustration, a loss of resources, and continued disappointment in performance results.

About the Author:

Skip Weisman is The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert. He’s the author of the white paper report titled, “The 7 Deadliest Sins of Leadership & Workplace Communication: How Leaders and Their Employees Unknowingly Undermine Morale, Motivation and Trust in Work Environments.” The white paper is available as a free download for a limited time at www.HowToImproveLeadershipCommunication.com . If you’d like to learn how you can improve your work environment by improving communication contact him directly with any questions, or for a complimentary Strategy Session at 845-463-3838 or e-mail to Skip@WorkplaceCommunicationExpert.com

Categories
Operations

10 Big Businesses With Incredibly Casual Offices

Article Contributed by Business Insurance

Corporations are notorious for being formal and stuffy, but not all big businesses are created equal. Over the last decade, more big-name companies are ditching the standard suit and tie and allowing their employees to wear khakis, jeans, and even (gasp!) flip-flops. These trend-setting companies have gone above and beyond the business norms to provide a comfortable and fun working environment for their employees, while providing awesome amenities like free gym memberships, complimentary dry cleaning, and on-site chefs to meet their daily needs. Check out these 10 big businesses with incredibly casual offices.

Google

Google was one of the first companies to adopt the laid-back corporate culture that emphasized creativity and achievements on an individual basis that add to the team’s overall success. One of the company’s 10 principle philosophies is “you can be serious without a suit.” This philosophy speaks volumes for the casual culture of Google. Not only is the dress code casual, but the overall look and feel of the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., is also laid back and fun. Google employees can enjoy ping pong, snacks in the break rooms, video games, and “huddle” rooms for everyone to take a break. Some additional office amenities include massage chairs, foosball and ping pong tables, an onsite gym, haircuts, and complimentary car washes.

Zappos

Zappos has put a lot of emphasis on its company culture and takes pride in being a casual yet successful business. Even though it was acquired by Amazon in 2009, Zappos has managed to hold on to the same values and company missions that it was founded on. Zappos’ casual work environment takes after the Internet marketing and e-commerce industries, which emphasize comfort over formality to help employees produce their very best work.

Facebook

Facebook also adopted a Google-like office culture that consists of casually-dressed, but hardworking youngsters. Facebook has offices in more than 15 countries, some of which have bean bag lounges, kegs, on-site chefs, and plenty of places to kick up your feet and relax. At the Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., employees have several unique amenities that fit the laid-back online culture. Workers can break a sweat on the outdoor skate park, play some tunes on the office turn tables, and take care of their laundry or leather repairs without leaving work.

Electronic Arts

EA is one of the biggest companies in the video game industry, with an estimated 8,000 employees worldwide. Although most of the EA studios and subsidiaries have embraced a informal office culture, the EA campus in Vancouver is one of the most casual and decked-out facilities within the company. The campus has a state-of-the-art building featuring a theater, restaurants, coffee bars, a complete fitness room, and a full-size soccer field. EA Canada is also the company’s largest and oldest studio, so, naturally, it houses the world’s largest video game test operation and many employees take advantage of this cool feature.

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking service that knows how to have fun. The Twitter offices are located in San Francisco, San Antonio, Boston and New York City, and are chock-full of awesome amenities to keep their employees relaxed and satisfied. Twitter employees get to enjoy everything from free gym memberships, complimentary yoga/Pilates and rock climbing classes, as well as on-site laundry and dry cleaning services.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site and its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters has one of the most laid-back offices in the country. LinkedIn employees have many benefits and amenities in the office, such as a 24/7 gym with morning boot camp and afternoon yoga/pilates classes, chair massage,s and weekly lectures from entrepreneurs.

Quicken Loans

Quicken Loans’ corporate culture is uniquely different from other big-name companies. According to Quicken Loans, the keys to maintaining its competitiveness and great rapport with customers are the so-called ISMs that make up the company philosophy. The online mortgage lender puts more emphasis on the character and attitude of their employees rather than what they do. To enhance the company culture and give back to its employees, Quicken Loans offers some generous benefits and perks. Employees can enjoy 11 paid holidays per calendar year, free cappuccinos and slushies, concert giveaways, and ATM and dry-cleaning services.

AOL

AOL has also taken a casual approach to office culture and design. The Internet services and media company has adapted to changes in online culture by revamping their offices and turning them into inspiring and collaborative workspaces. To make this idea happen, AOL moved its West Coast headquarters to a new space in Palo Alto, Calif. Here, the company did away with private offices and designed open workstations and shared spaces, including a game room, an open kitchen and cafeteria, break rooms, and much more.

Genentech

Genentech has been regarded as one of the best and most desirable places to work, thanks to its unbeatable company culture. The biotech firm has garnered a lot of attention for its legendary perks, including doggie day care, weekly Friday night parties, an on-site farmers’ market, and rich stock options. But it’s not just the great perks that keep employees working for Genentech – they’re also attracted to the company’s emphasis on learning and having the freedom to experiment as they like.

Apple

Apple is no stranger to the casual corporate culture, so many companies have adopted over the past few years. Since its inception, Apple has fostered innovation and freedom of expression to make great things happen as a team. Apple’s casual corporate atmosphere started from the beginning when Steve Jobs reportedly walked around the office barefoot. Apple employees have some stellar benefits, including excellent health insurance and satisfactory military-leave pay, as well as awesome amenities like Apple product gifts and meals at Caffe Macs, where you might run into Apple’s top executives.

10 Big Businesses With Incredibly Casual Offices [Business Insurance]

Categories
Entrepreneurs

Is This the Time for Entrepreneurs to Come out of Retirement?

Article Contributed by Dave Thomas

In a day and age when it seems just about everyone has to work additional years in order to have a relatively secure retirement, more and more entrepreneurs are finding the need to come out of retirement.

Not only are older entrepreneurs realizing the need to work harder, in some cases coming out of retirement to make ends meet, they are also coming to the realization that their status as ideal entrepreneurs works to their benefit.

According to a number of studies, individuals ages 60 and older are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the nation.

For the older worker who has been let go from a job and is finding a new position hard to locate, more of them are turning to entrepreneurship to cover their financial needs. In many cases, they draw on their previous experience or venture into something entirely new to fulfill a lifelong dream.

According to a report from AARP and Urban Institute, nearly one-fourth of individuals who switch jobs after the age of 51 turn to self-employment to meet their career and financial needs.

In the event you are leaning towards being an entrepreneur in what would normally be viewed as your retirement years, here are some things to consider:

  • Use your work background to your advantage – With a wealth of experience, it only makes sense to draw on what you’ve learned during your career. Tap into what you’re most comfortable with and where you have the most experience;
  • Secure financial backing – It is of utmost importance to make sure your new business venture is financially secure. Given the state of the economy, it is not surprising that many potential entrepreneurs are hesitant to tap into their financial savings. Before looking to savings to start your venture, consider other avenues, including taking out a bank loan or going to family and friends to invest in your business;
  • Be prepared to work extra hours – For many individuals coming out of retirement to be self-employed, the work hours will be intense in many cases. In the event these individuals choose to add staff, they’re still responsible for managing them. Be prepared to put in more hours than when you worked for someone else and be ready for increased levels of responsibility;
  • Focus in on having fun – While having to work extra years for older entrepreneurs may not sound like fun, you can still make it an enjoyable situation. If you’ve ever dreamed of running your own business, just because you’re older does not mean you can’t do it. If you take time to enjoy the fruits of your labor, both you and those working under you will benefit.

With the economic forecasts saying more and more individuals will not be able to rely on Social Security alone to make a go of it in their later years, starting your own business can be both personally and more importantly financially satisfying.

Are you ready to become an older entrepreneur?

About the Author:

Dave Thomas, who covers items like business phone service writes extensively forBusiness.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.