Want a Profitable 2016? End 2015 on a Positive Note With Your Clients. Here’s how.
Editor’s Note: This post is sponsored by Staples. All thoughts and opinions are my own. What’s the last interaction or communication you usually have with your best clients or customers? More often than not it’s giving them a bill, right? Compare that to your first contacts with these folks when you were trying to bring them on board. I can illustrate this with an example that will probably resonate with all of us. You go into a restaurant. You’re greeted by a friendly employee, your server makes an introduction and goes over menu options with you. You enjoy your meal and are ready to leave. Now it’s crunch time. How will this experience end? Sometimes an attentive server anticipates your needs, brings you your bill and efficiently lets you finish your business and be on your way. However, there are other times when you can’t find your server and you start to hear a clock ticking in the back of your head. This is not the ideal situation for a server who wants a good tip. What’s the last interaction or communication you usually have with your best clients or customers? More often than not it’s giving them a bill, right? Compare that to your first contacts with these folks when you were trying to bring them on board. I can illustrate this with an example that will probably resonate with all of us. You go into a restaurant. You’re greeted by a friendly employee, your server makes an introduction and goes over menu options with you. You enjoy your meal and are ready to leave. Now it’s crunch time. How will this experience end? Sometimes an attentive server anticipates your needs, brings you your bill and efficiently lets you finish your business and be on your way. However, there are other times when you can’t find your server and you start to hear a clock ticking in the back of your head. This is not the ideal situation for a server who wants a good tip. The billing problem I’m relating this narrative to you because in business we always remember our last interactions and it is critical that they are a positive one. Unfortunately the typical flow of a business relationship encounter ends with the presentation of a bill. However, it doesn’t have to be that way and right now, as we’re going into the holiday season, you have the perfect opportunity to finish out 2015 on a positive note with your clients and customers. Most business owners know that the holiday season is a time to send greeting cards and perhaps gifts to customers and clients. If you’ve been ignoring this tradition, my first advice is to get on board; you don’t want to be remembered as the one company that ignores its customers at the end of the year. That’s a very bad finishing experience. By the way, Staples Copy & Print is an excellent resource for your company’s holiday cards. But let’s go one step further. I think many companies miss a great opportunity with their year-end gift giving because they are thinking about themselves, and not about the clients who are receiving the gifts. Typically, companies send out some kind of swag that is imprinted with their logo or name. The thinking is...
read moreUntapped employee talents are buried business treasures.
When you hire an employee, you focus on the skills which are necessary for that particular job. But that employee may have hidden talents which could help you take your business to the next level. As a small business owner it is important to discover those hidden treasures, but you are going to have to do a little digging. Once uncovered however, if you can match those special skills with the right position, you’ll have a match made in heaven. Your company will benefit and the employee will excel. “Employees who identify their talents and passions and apply those toward driving business usually do much better,” says Dan Coughlin a training consultant who works with companies to get the best performance from workers. “Employers can create a very motivating workplace by asking staff about their strengths and passions,” Coughlin explains. Coughlin a former athletic coach, borrows a few techniques from the playing field in his approach to business coaching. He suggests huddling with staffers; “Small meetings can give small business owners valuable information about what drives their employees and how those talents can be used to grow the company,” Coughlin explains. Employee outings can also reveal some unique characteristics. Create an environment allowing individuals to showcase their unique abilities. Coughlin assists his clients in designing activities that will create an ongoing dialogue about each individual’s unique perspectives. If your company’s budget won’t allow you to bring in a coach to help employees unearth their gifts and apply them to your firm’s day-to-day operation; here are some steps you can take. Make the Connection Don’t assume employees understand your firm’s priorities or what you expect from them. You need to help your staff connect to why their job matters. Then, give them the freedom to utilize their talents in creative ways. In other words, give them opportunities to show their stuff. Check In Regularly Create an ongoing dialogue to gain information which can reinforce trust and commitment. It is easy for well-intentioned staffers to get off track if they don’t feel as though they are part of the bigger picture. Regular meetings will help you steer them back on course. Have Some Fun Play time is often the best time to discover an employee’s hidden talent. Schedule a company softball game and picnic or consider planning a company talent show. Informal, fun environments provide a safe way for employees to showcase their talents and they can also enhance employee morale. Develop A Game Plan Once you have identified an employee’s talent and passion develop a plan to incorporate it into their job responsibilities. If this means additional training or experience for the employee, it’s an excellent investment. “I have always had a philosophy of allowing employees to take classes in anything they want to learn, given budget constraints and time with the company, etc. Most people, especially star performers will pay back in performance any money that is ever invested in them. I let them pick any classes – art and music, included. Goals and dream development are a constant process,” says Trish Adams, president/founder, Education Resources/StarShine Academy. Small businesses need to utilize every resource to the fullest. Discovering hidden employee talents can be a big boost to your bottom...
read moreYour first Tweet chat: What you need to know to be successful
I’ve participated in a number of Tweet chats and they are a great way to gain followers, establish your authority and both interact with and learn from others. Tweet chats are quite popular and if you plan on being a Twitter power user and leveraging it to become a recognized influencer, you need to jump in and get involved. If you don’t find yourself being invited to participate in the Tweet chats of other users – yet – start your own. If you’ve been wondering how to start a Tweet chat, here’s what you need to know to get going: Create a unique, short-as-possible, easy-to-type hashtag. Make sure your hashtag has not been used. It’s best if you establish a regular Tweet chat schedule so people catch on. Check for scheduling conflicts. Here are resources: Tweetreports has a twitter chat schedule (can also schedule your chat). Twubs has a list (can also schedule your chat). Calendar where you can view by topic/category. Chatsalad lists chats that are about to start or are in the near future. Schedule guests/cohosts who have significant Twitter followers. That allows you to leverage their promotional powers. Create a static web page that has all the details on your chat and how a Twitter chat works. Create promotional graphics, videos for your Tweet chat. Include date, time, hashtag to use and a subject for the chat. If it is a reoccurring chat, make sure to let people know that and then regularly update the information to reflect what will be discussed each week. Summarize your Twitter chats on your blogs. (They can give you a lot of ideas and direction for your blog posts and other social media.) Get participants’ feedback, input on the Tweet chat and future topics for chats. Analyze your sessions to find the most influential participants. Here’s a Twitter archiving Google sheet. It would be great to know if someone who participated in your chat had 100k followers, for example. Various Twitter clients can be used to participate in a Tweet chat. Streams or columns can be added to Hootsuite and Tweetdeck to follow the hashtag. Tweetchat.com makes it very easy to follow and participate in a Tweet chat session. To keep Tweet chats moving, you need to give your guests a list of questions that you will discuss. Without some advance notice, it can be very hard to compose responses within the 140-character length that Twitter requires. Do you have any recommendations to help people stage or participate successfully in a Tweet chat? Share them...
read moreShould you sweeten your benefits with snack foods?
For quite some time we’ve been reading that small business owners want to expand their teams, but are having a hard time finding the qualified candidates. So here’s a question to consider: If the path to your small business is paved with snack foods, will desirable recruits start pounding at your door, wanting to get in? A recent article in USA Today said that free snacks are the key to employee happiness and an informal survey of some high tech firm employees ranked free food as their second most desirable non-traditional perk, right after game rooms. Further, it seems that having a good assortment of free snacks handy is particularly important to Millennials, so if that’s the demographic you need to bring on board, you may want to push “stock up on snacks” higher on your to-do list. However, if you’re planning to open your wallet and start satisfying your employees’ hunger pangs, you need to know what you’re getting into so you’re ready for the problems that might arise. Snack food snags When I started to provide food at one of my companies, I quickly learned a lesson that all restaurant owners know: employees will walk out the back door with food and take it home with them. This is just a fact of life. You will experience “snack shrinkage.” Of course, some employees leave with reams of paper and other small items, so this isn’t really anything specific to snack foods. Stacy Williams, who is the Director of Consumer Experience and Operations at her company, SERVIZ, makes a good observation that applies to many small businesses and startups. “Buying snacks for the office can be tricky and if not done with care can end up alienating rather than motivating employees. Especially at a startup where there usually isn’t an office manager dedicated to these things on the payroll yet,” she explains. When she started buying snacks for her team she asked for input, but this “quickly spun out of control as I started getting too many individual requests for specific items no one else wanted and I noticed some things were running low too quickly which meant people were ‘hoarding’ them in their desks or taking food home,” Stacy says. She scaled back on the requests, noted dietary restrictions and eventually everyone settled into a routine. Spoiled fruit James Armstrong of Wooden Blinds Direct had similar hassles when they decided to start bringing in fresh fruit: “Initially it was a great success, but problems with the quality and selection of fruit soon emerged, and low level conflicts began around certain employees taking all the choice pieces for themselves.” They decided that it just wasn’t worth the trouble and cancelled the order. Something that’s fundamental for everyone to understand is that the snacks aren’t “free.” Ultimately, the money comes from payroll as do all other benefits. And since we’re on the topic of money, it’s important to know when you can feed your crew without getting into trouble with the IRS. Bringing Uncle Sam to the table The IRS has two tests that must be met for meals to be excluded from income tax reporting requirements: The meal must be served on the premises, and The meal must be furnished for the convenience of the employer. Rakini Chinery,...
read moreThis Week in Small Business: Make your blogging painless and beat your anxiety
If blogging is an important part of your social media marketing program, this week’s curated content contains a lot of great tips you’ll be able to use immediately. We also have information to help you deal with anxiety, personnel, a website launch and much more. Marketing and sales If you’re like Jeff Bullas, and every other blogger, and have nightmares about no one reading your stuff, you need these 21 power tips from Jeff to get your blogs shared. And if it’s Facebook likes that you’re after, this article will steer you in the right direction. But maybe once you adopt the six habits of successful bloggers outlined in this post, you won’t be stressed out anymore anyway. Psst: Need some new places to steal ideas for your next social media campaign? If so, read this. In this short post, Seth Godin discusses the other element of guerilla marketing. Apparently there is a world of marketing that exists outside of the digital realm and this article delivers five offline techniques to boost your small business. Leadership, management and productivity Sometimes we need to push ourselves to achieve success. Evan Teague shares five tips. But if all that pushing causes anxiety, you need these eight ways leaders can reduce anxiety on the job. A good hire is gold. A bad hire will sink you as sure as a lead weight sinks a stinkbait. You need to know what characteristics to look for when hiring for your startup or small business. And if you have a good team, you’ll probably want to do like the small business outlined here and pay as much as twice the minimum wage…or more. Entrepreneurship, startups and innovation Small businesses are just starting to do great things with beacon technology. This Entrepreneur article explores some innovative and creative uses. Getting ready to launch a new website? Here are 10 essential items for your final checklist. If a new small business is in your future, this overview gives you a good idea of the various directions you can take. Politics, government and the economy Is Amazon killing small business? If you think Amazon is threatening your small business, Ian Altman has analysis and advice for you. Written by a franchise small business owner, this essay explains how the National Labor Relations Board is threatening small...
read moreIs Your Small Business Facebook organic reach down? Stop guessing. Here are the facts.
Much has be said about changes at Facebook in recent months. We know that Facebook is pushing small businesses and others to advertise and not depend totally on their fans and friends seeing their posts in their news feeds organically. We can’t be too critical of Facebook for this strategy. After all, millions of people around the world use the social media platform for free; Facebook needs some way to make money. Although this infographic is a bit dated, it shows that Facebook organic reach isn’t dead, and depending on your industry or the nature of your Facebook page, it could even be up. To get an accurate and up-to-date picture of the “state of the union” when it comes to Facebook organic reach, Agora Pulse, which published this infographic, has a Facebook Page Barometer that updates. You can also use it to benchmark the Facebook organic reach of your small business, and then see if your small business organic reach goes up or down over the months. For many small businesses Facebook organic reach has been a vital part of their marketing, branding and even customer service strategy. It’s critically important to understand how well that is working for you today and not assume that you’re getting the same reach you had yesterday. With that information in hand, you can make an informed decision when Facebook asks you if you’d like to “boost” the reach of any given post. Courtesy of:...
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