Is Instant Messaging a Distraction or Productivity Enhancer?
Question: I have a small business with several employees and they have been using Instant Messaging on their computers. Do you think that’s okay? I’m afraid they are goofing off and not working. THE Small Business Expert: You bet I do. Instant messaging is becoming popular in the business world and the technology may actually increase workplace productivity. A study by researchers at Ohio State University and the University of California found that workers who use instant messaging on the job reported less interruptions during the workday than their fellow colleagues who did not. A lot of employers worry that instant messaging is just another distraction because workers would add it to other types of communications such as email, the phone or in-person office visits. But the researchers found that isn’t the case. Employees use instant messaging as a substitute for other forms of communication. The ease and convenience of using instant messages may increase the number of conversations your employees have, but those interactions are much briefer according to the co-author of the study, R. Kelly Garrett, assistant professor of communications at Ohio State. “The key take away is that instant messaging has some benefits where many people had feared it might be harmful,” Garrett said. “We found the effect of instant messaging is actually positive. People who used instant messaging reported they felt they were being interrupted less frequently.” To gain the benefits of instant messaging in your company, engage your employees in a discussion about proper usage of the technology. For example, suggest that instead of dropping in unexpectedly on a co-worker, use IM to determine their availability. Instant messaging can also be used to get a quick answer to a general business question. And if you get into the swing of using the technology too, you could help your employees increase their productivity by replying through IM to specific questions related to a project or task. This enables employees to keep the ball rolling instead of waiting until they can speak to you face-to-face to get the information they need to proceed with their work. Instant messaging also allows users to control how and when they communicate with coworkers. The technology gives people the ability to flag their availability or postpone responses to a more convenient time. Of course, as with any type of communication in your business, stress to your employees the importance of minimizing personal IM conversations because that can be a work distraction. Most every employee has the occasional need for outside contact during the workday. However, on-going instant message conversations with friends or family members can eat up time and impact job effectiveness. My suggestion to you is to embrace this new technology as an effective tool for your employees and start instant messaging your way to...
read moreSmart Business Owners Understand the Importance of Minding Their Ps & Qs
Editor’s Note: This essay originally ran in June 2014. We reprint it here today in recognition of Take Your Manners to Work Day. The advice is just as sound and important today as it was in 2014 because good manners never go out of style! People often make fun of me because I’m a stickler for etiquette. Whether it’s using the right utensils at a meal or writing a thank you note for a gift. Sometimes people say to me, “Oh, no one pays attention to that stuff anymore.” Really? Good manners simply make good business sense. Courtesy and respect will never go out-of-style. Just last week, a delivery service dropped off a box of scrumptious cookies with a handwritten thank you note from a business colleague for whom I’d done a favor. I was so impressed. Too many of us don’t take time to do those things anymore. Text or email isn’t the same as a handwritten note. And don’t get me started on table manners. I try to help some of my young family members learn basic table manners such as to putting your napkin in your lap when you’re seated, how to choose the right bread plate, and how you don’t cut your roll in half and cram butter in the middle. Geez! Yet as I try to teach them, I see adults at business luncheons making as many, if not more of the same mistakes. When I was Miss Missouri, I sat next to the editor of a newspaper who subsequently wrote a editorial piece about me. In his article he noted, “Even her table manners are impeccable.” People do notice. By now you may be wondering why I’m on my soap box. Well this week is National Business Etiquette Week. So here are a few tips to help you navigate today’s sometimes blurry business etiquette rules. Mobile Devices. Turn off your mobile devices when you’re dining with others or in a meeting. Unless there is a pending emergency, everything can wait until you’re through. Focus on the person you’re with, not your digital device. Respect Time. One of my pet peeves is when someone is habitually late or cancels a meeting at the very last minute. There are always exceptions, but too often it is carelessness. I was working with a woman who canceled a scheduled meeting three times in a row less than 30 minutes before. As a result, I was left with a hole in my schedule that I could have used productively. Needless to say, we aren’t doing business any longer. Brush Up On Your Manners. You don’t need to be Emily Post, but good table manners are important. Sloppy manners are an indicator of your character and professionalism. Many companies take job candidates to lunch to observe their behavior. Plus, bad manners make others feel uncomfortable. Don’t be a Weiner. I’m talking about Anthony Weiner, the former Congressman who was caught Tweeting inappropriate pictures of himself to women. Social media, the Internet, email, text messages – nothing is private so don’t kid yourself. If you don’t want the world to know, don’t put it in a written communication. You never know who is watching. Even lenders monitor social media to get a sense of your character when considering loan applications....
read more4 Ways to Increase your Small Business QR IQ
QR (quick response) codes are everywhere today. You know what I’m talking about, right? They’re the square—in the literal sense, not the “unhip” sense—squiggly cousins to the product bar codes that get scanned at checkout counters. People have QR code reader apps on their smartphones and when they are scanned the user is presented with information. Business of all sizes as well as solopreneurs are using them in a variety of creative ways. First you need to generate the QR code and one of my favorite websites for this is QR Stuff. You can easily generate QR codes there to go to a website, get a telephone number, start a Skype call, plot a location on google maps, link to an iTunes song and much more. Further, most of what you’ll want to do is free. Before I toss out some examples to prime your idea pump, you need to understand the difference between static and dynamic QR codes. A static QR code will always lead to the same place, usually a webpage. With a dynamic QR code, you can change the “landing page.” And this brings us to our first great use of QR codes. 1. A/B Testing I said A/B testing, but you can really test any number of alternate landing pages. With a dynamic QR code, the code itself stays the same but you have the power to point it to different web pages. This allows you to fine tune your landing page and test different ideas until you discover the one that gets the best results. Few of us do enough A/B testing. Dynamic QR codes can simplify the process. 2. ’1-800′ number replacement If you’ve been in business for a while you’ve probably featured a “1-800″ number in your promotional materials to encourage more responses. In many ways the QR code can fulfill a similar function. In fact they have the potential to be a lot more powerful. Instead of, “For more information, dial 1-800-bla-blah” just say, “For more information, scan this QR code.” Within a moment or two you can be feeding your prospects exactly the information you want them to have. 3. Pinterest pins The QR Stuff website doesn’t have a Pinterest QR code generator, but you’ll find one here. If you have a retail store you can use your Pinterest page to suggest pairings of items, color combinations or any idea that might help up-sell or cross-sell your products. Post your Pinterest QR code throughout your store. And since we’re on the subject of social media, you can use QR codes to direct users to any of your social media profiles. From there, you can gain some “likes” or “followers.” 3. Lead capture Use a QR code in tandem with some kind of offer to encourage prospects to give you their contact information. If you run print ads, put the QR code there. Offer a coupon or a free e-book—anything of value that will grow your prospect database. 4. Anything printed I just mentioned adding a QR code to print ads, but you can go further than this. How about a QR code in a product manual that leads to a product registration page, or a page that offers “updates”? One of my favorites is to have a QR code on...
read moreStorytelling — Small Business Greats.
I love small business. I grew up in a family business and I’ve been an entrepreneur since my early teens. I think every small business owner has a powerful story to tell. In fact, I told my husband that some day when I retire I want to drive across the U.S., stopping in small towns and writing about some of the business owners in the area. Small business is the heart of America. Well, as luck would have it, someone beat me to the punch. (Also I really can’t see myself ever retiring.) Two filmmakers from New York, Trisha Dalton and John Sears, are on a 7,300 mile road trip across the country to tell small business stories, courtesy of Capital One Spark. After starting in the Northeast, I caught up with them just outside of Oklahoma City. It’s a campaign titled “I Am Small Business Proud,” (#smallbizproud) sponsored by Capital One Spark Business. Naturally, I was interested in learning how these two storytellers landed such a fun gig. Dalton shared with me that Capital One Spark Business was reaching out to small businesses and they thought it would be great to film it. The company was looking for a documentation team that could manage a cross country tour for 10 weeks. “John and I are both small business owners and the idea to travel the country and tell the stories was really exciting to us,” she said. “We film one or two stories every day or two in each city, but we also stop by others and try to meet as many as we can,” Dalton explained. In addition to documenting the stories, the filmmakers are spending money with local small businesses. For example, in Nashville they stayed at Crocker Springs Bed & Breakfast where they enjoyed playing with and filming the owner’s miniature donkey, Chewy. In Houston, they were wowed by the “Frozen Awesome” ice cream at Eatsie Boys. So far, the duo has spent $40,000 with small businesses across the country. I asked Dalton what kind of mood small businesses are in these days. “It’s been sort of surprising. When we were preparing for the trip, a lot of people said it is a hard time for small business, but we found they are doing well and a lot of people are starting small businesses,” she responded. Both Dalton and Sears hope people will watch their videos and they will walk away with a true understanding of the pride and passion these entrepreneurs have in their enterprises. They explained that the businesses owners they’ve met and have profiled have a ‘stick to it’ attitude. Failure is not an option for them. “When they tell the story of how they got started in their business, it’s really inspiring,” Dalton added. “As one business owner in Austin noted, whenever you start a business you have a 99 percent of failing. You have to be pretty crazy.” I’d say I have to agree, but as many of the business owners Dalton and Sears profiled, I love what I do and I wouldn’t have it any other way. You can watch the video profiles on the “I Am Small Business Proud” YouTube channel, but let me warn you, they are so inspiring it’s difficult to stop. Much like a familiar...
read moreThink Small to Grow Big in Your Small Business
Often the most positive thing you can do for your business is to be negative: “We tend to focus much more. People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” That’s Steve Jobs talking about how he piloted Apple. Consider how narrowly focused Apple Computer is. For many years, its climb to the top was built on a small handful of elite computers. When Apple finally said “yes” to the iPhone, it had a product that met or exceeded every customer expectation and integrated with the Apple computing experience. Think different? Maybe not. In fact, what made the iPhone and later the iPads successful was not that they were different Apple products. What made them successful is that Apple users already knew how to use them because they were built around the same core suite of Apple software: iTunes, iPhoto, Calendar, Contacts, and more. However, strategically adding those products to the Apple catalog did diversify its offerings. It expanded within its niche, i.e. Apple pulled more users into its niche. By the way, some years earlier, Apple tried to expand outside of its niche by licensing its operating system and allowing other manufacturers to build “Apple” computers. It was a strategy based on how the PC market grew. However, that road to diversification was a dead end for Apple. We might define the Apple niche as user-friendly, reliable, high-quality, integrated, branded computing devices. Steve Jobs always wanted Apple products to be seen as simple appliances that just worked for people and made their lives easier. Sum it up What is your niche? Can you define it in a sentence? If you have to keep adding commas, phrases and if-then clauses to your definition, maybe you don’t have a niche. And, if you don’t have a niche, how can you possibly focus and refine your efforts? Expanding your customer base is a good idea, except when it causes you to lose focus on the attributes of your business that attracted your original customer base. The well known saying, “You can’t satisfy everyone” leads to an important truth: When you try to satisfy everyone, you end up satisfying no one. We’re well into spring now and summer is just around the corner. Folks with green thumbs keep the garden shears busy during both of those seasons. In early spring, they trim back much of last year’s growth to re-focus the shapes of shrubs. They prune dead wood to make way for new growth. In the summer, they deadhead flowering annuals to keep them looking fresh and promote more blooms. Don’t ‘jump the shark’ Be similarly aggressive in your approach to pruning your business back to expose its core. Don’t add products or services willy-nilly; understand how they work within your niche. In show business, they call desperate attempts to do something new and unusual to attract an audience “jumping the shark” after an infamous episode of “Happy Days.” Maintain focus on your niche; it will keep your small business a safe distance from those ever-hungry...
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