5 tips for effective communication in your small business
In business, if you fail to communicate, you fail. And the special difficulty in small business is that you’re required to be an effective communicator in a wide variety of settings to a diverse group of people. For these reasons, it’s always wise to be on the lookout for practical tips for effective communication. At the very least you need to communicate with your employees, your customers, and your vendors. Further, you may sometimes be communicating to a group and other times communicating to an individual. Your goals within these settings will be different, but some principles remain the same. You want to 1) understand what others are saying to you and 2) be certain that they understand what you are saying. Keeping those overarching truths in mind will serve you well. Consider them the foundation, on top of which you build your communication skills: Understand and be understood. If we start from there, we can begin to add some additional tips for effective communication that will serve you well in a wide range of settings. 1. Understand what your body language is saying. Have you noticed that some people are “approachable” while others aren’t? We have all probably worked for a business owner or manager who was difficult to talk to. Don’t let that be you. A smiling, pleasant manner is fundamental to opening up the lines of communication. Further, not only will this kind of body language make you more approachable, it’s contagious. Those around you will be more open. They will feel less threatened and be more likely to bring up important issues that might be “swept under the carpet” if you cultivate a less open culture. Avoid postures that tell others you’re closed, such as folding your arms, being half turned away when you’re talking to someone out on the floor, or leaning away when you’re seated at your desk; these postures tell people that you would really like to be somewhere else. And don’t forget to make eye contact. 2. Let people finish their thoughts. You’ve probably seen some of those 24-hour cable news channel shows where they bring in people to represent both sides of an issue. Often those turn into to shouting contests where everyone is talking over one another. Here’s a simple question: Does any communication go on when this happens? Of course not. Let people finish their sentences. Don’t finish them for them. Sometimes this requires you to take mental notes, so you can come back to a point made earlier. Paraphrase what people tell you and say it back to them to reassure everyone that you have understood what is being communicated. 3. Be an active listener. My previous thoughts lead to this effective communication tip: Your effectiveness will depend on your ability to be an active and proficient listener. I know a former high school teacher who always started the school year teaching these three pillars of success: Show up Pay attention Do the work He told his students that if they did those three things they would pass any class they ever took. Being an active listener is the “pay attention” pillar. Unfortunately, most people are thinking about what they are going to say next, rather than what the person they are talking to is saying now....
read moreThe incredible recent growth of Facebook and what it means for small business
Hold on to your figurative hats: more than 50 percent of all Americans check Facebook every day. Here’s how I got that number. According to the most recent Pew Research Center Social Media Update, 68 percent of all Americans use Facebook, and of those, 76 percent are on the popular social media platform at least once every day. Diffusion vs concentration Why is this important? It’s important because “diffusion” is the general trend in media today. With alternate sources of news, television and print media are losing eyeballs. With online streaming, broadcast and cable TV channels are hemorrhaging viewers. That makes this concentration of viewership on Facebook very noteworthy. There’s one more aspect to the growth of Facebook that flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Virtually always, as an entity becomes bigger, growth becomes more difficult. When you’re a small player, notching an impressive percentage growth number is easy. In 2016, the opposite was true among the social media platforms. When Goliath beats David Check out the growth for these sites between 2015 and 2016: Facebook grew from 72 percent to 79 percent of adult Internet users. Instagram grew from 28 percent to 32 percent of adult Internet users. Instagram grew from 25 percent to 29 percent of adult Internet users. Twitter grew from 23 percent to 24 percent of adult Internet users. Pinterest was flat with 31 percent of adult Internet users in both 2015 and 2016. Facebook added an additional 7 percent of the adult Internet using population to its user base, while the best any of the (much) smaller social media platforms could do was increase by 4 percent. The Pew update says that much of Facebook’s growth has come from older Americans jumping on board. Hey, if you want to see what the grandkids are up to, you have to be active on social media! The one-stop social media platform I’d like to make a comparison. I’m now seeing Facebook as the Amazon of social media, and by that, I mean that it is trying like crazy to diversify. Facebook wants to be all social media things to all people. It is making an incredibly strong play with its video service (watch out Periscope) and I just heard that it is going to somehow incorporate job listings. If you’re looking for work, you’ll be able to find opportunities as you browse your news feed (watch out LinkedIn). I’m just waiting for Mark Zuckerberg to start his own space program. We’ll see… Facebook ad revenue grows Let me couple one more fact with what I’ve outlined so far: During the most recent reporting period, Facebook revenue was up significantly, which means that advertising is catching on. Add all of this up and it points to the fact that you need to be seriously exploring how you can best leverage Facebook in your sales and marketing strategy. Don’t expect to hit it out of the park when you take your first swing. Take it slowly – and that’s easy to do with Facebook ads. Emily Coop and Mike Aynsley recently updated Hootsuite’s article on Facebook advertising for beginners. It will get you started. Finally, if you struggle with Facebook advertising, head over to one of the freelance sites and find a highly rated freelancer who specializes...
read moreThis week in small business: Snap to it! Snapchat marketing tips and more
My crystal ball is a little foggy on where the Snapchat stock price will be in the coming years after its impressive IPO. But, I do know that whether it’s up or down, many small businesses should be investing a concerted marketing effort on Snapchat. This week’s collection of curated content has a great article to get you started. Marketing and sales Since Snapchat (due to its IPO) has been in the news so much lately, this Brian Peters piece on Snapchat marketing is nicely timed indeed. Okay, I’m thinking that your website is mobile friendly by now, but how about your marketing? Ben Cogburn goes over the important points here. (And if you haven’t made your site mobile friendly, Sohail Abbas has seven tips for you.) If you’ve ever wondered what’s the point of content marketing, Adam Fout has your answers. Chris Gomersall offers a lot of insights into visual marketing in 2017, among them is that you should be “looking out the windshield instead of down at the dashboard.” The best things in life are free, but the best things in business are scalable. Kyle Gray offers five steps to a scalable content marketing campaign. Anyone just getting into email marketing will benefit from this article by Miranda Paquet: How to Make Your Website Profitable With Email Marketing. If you want to conquer social media, steal the ideas of those who are super successful. That’s exactly what this article posted by Jane Danes does. Leadership, management, and productivity Sujan Patel shares 10 tools that help him stay productive and connected to his team when he’s out on the road. Wegmans grocery stories are number four on Forbe’s list of the country’s best employers. Marcia Layton Turner outlines what small business owners can learn from Wegmans. Believe it or not, it’s time to mark your tax calendars for 2017 and Barbara Weltman delivers the info we need to get ’er done. Here are eight ways to improve productivity and reduce stress without much effort, by Isaac Lien. You have to love the “without much effort” part! “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power.” – Anon Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation It may be hard to do, but Per Bylund says entrepreneurs should ignore the success of Facebook and Uber. David K. Williams chronicles how Amy Regenstrief is using her own experience battling cancer to influence health care innovation in this Forbes article. Need to dump your day gig and get going with your entrepreneurial vision? Jonathan Chan has some ideas for you. Denise Restauri tells the story of Kimra Luna, a Millennial who went from food stamps to millions. “Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.” – Maya...
read moreHow being unplugged can be good for you, your business
The first Friday in March is “National Day of Unplugging” and it’s worth taking this time not only to enjoy a respite from the Internet, but to critically examine our connections to the virtual world. You may have read the news earlier that France enacted a law requiring companies with 50 or more employees to establish hours when their workers should not send or answer emails. The ideas behind the law were that employees should be paid for their time and that “unplugged” time would decrease burnout. (Will it impact productivity in France? I’m not sure and that’s one issue Allison DeNisco examines in this TechRepublic article.) It’s difficult to argue with either of those points and we should all keep them in mind for ourselves and for our employees. I’m not in favor of government regulating details like these, however, you should have policies and create a work environment that provides flexibility while protecting your team from undue off-hour work pressures. Sleep on it There is a bigger picture to see here, however, and that is the personal downside of being plugged in all day long. Use the National Day of Unplugging to educate yourself and your employees on the dangers of digital addiction. The connection between staring at glowing small screens and sleep disorders is well established. The blue light emitted from our mobile device screens disturbs our melatonin production, which makes it difficult for us to fall asleep. Apple has an optional screen setting that reduces this blue light during specified hours of the day, but I don’t know how well it works to reduce the sleep issues. Perhaps one of the biggest problems caused by small-screen dependency is a breakdown in personal relationships. We don’t interact with people eye-to-eye very much today; we interact message-to-message. Plug in personal connections That can’t be entirely good. Further, if you take time to develop more personal – as in “in-person” – relationships with your customers or clients, there is a good chance that it will set you apart from many of your competitors. I was talking to a friend about the difficulty of finding healthcare providers in a new city. He told me how much he liked his previous dentist and one of the reasons he cited was that his dentist would personally call to check if everything was okay after a procedure. His new dentist does a lot of notifying via text message, which is convenient, but there is no personal touch. Our connection dependency – the new co-dependency – reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon I saw. A couple is sitting at a restaurant table. The man says to the woman, “Is there anything wrong? You’ve hardly touched your phone.” So how about making this pledge and encouraging your employees to do the same: For one day, restrict your smartphone use to just making voice calls and experience the difference it makes. If it’s not too bad, extend it....
read moreThis week in small business: How non-techies can start tech companies and more practical advice!
There is a lot of practical advice out there this week, from keyboard shortcuts that you’ll use every day to the bad habits you need to break in order to succeed. Also, given today’s startup climate, you’re certain to get something from the article about how a non-techie can found a tech company. Leadership, management, and productivity Counselor and entrepreneur Tori Utley offers four pieces of advice to help Millennial entrepreneurs develop their leadership abilities. Enough theorizing! Here are “60 Essential Keyboard Shortcuts To Boost Your Productivity.” When Courtney Hurst bought a second business, it created a lot of challenges. Learn from how she was able to cope with the stress and handle the problems in this Business 2 Community article. Let go and let yourself succeed: “18 Destructive Habits Holding You Back from Success” by Deep Patel. Marketing and sales If you need to uncomplicate inbound marketing a little, you’ll appreciate this Forbes article by Mike Templeman. Jill Schiefelbein tells us how to give away content and marketing to gain customers in this video. There are a lot of unknowns when marketing a startup. James Nguyen says that means you need to start with what you know. Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation Is it sheer madness to reject a $40-million offer for a $9-million dollar company? John Warrillow tells us the story. Need to land a flexible position with a company to have time to dedicate to your startup or other activities? Manon DeFelice tells you how to negotiate for it. In this interview, Philip Salter picks the brain of a successful tech entrepreneur to find the best ways for managing a remote global workforce. Even non-techies can have success founding a tech company…and these six keys from Geri Stengel will help....
read moreFor increased productivity, these chrome extensions are must-haves
Without a doubt, Google’s Chrome web browser is currently being used more than any other single browser. I have no idea how many hours are spent each day peering intently at Chrome windows, but I know that for more productivity, chrome extensions – if they line up to your web browsing and Internet usage habits – can be important additions. And, they are almost always free. The first two productivity chrome extensions I’d like to mention function in conjunction with other productivity-boosting services or apps. Evernote web clipper. I, and other small business experts, often recommend Evernote. It’s like a Swiss Army Knife for digital documents and communication. I use the Evernote Chrome extension to save web pages that I know I’d like to come back to later, or pages I’d like others I work with to see. You can save web pages or articles in a variety of formats or simply capture the URL. Hootsuite (or Buffer) chrome extension. If you use a social media productivity booster, such as Hootsuite, get familiar with its chrome extension. This makes posting very easy. With Hootsuite, you can either schedule a post for a specific date and time or let the app “auto schedule” the post for you. Every social media platform and related app has an extension. Sandy Stachowiak has a good rundown of some of the others you might find useful. Rescue Time. Think of this as the anti-social-media productivity chrome extension. If you feel you waste too much time browsing social media sites (or any other specific site), you can set up Rescue Time to measure how long you are on those sites. It acts as a kind of coach, leading you away from your bad habits and encouraging you to spend more time productively. Be Limitless is also a worthy competitor in this niche. Marinara, a Pomodoro timer. You probably know about the Pomodoro technique for timing bursts of work followed by short breaks. The basic routine is 25 minutes of work followed by a five-minute break. Every fourth cycle, you take a 15-minute break. This app will cycle you through the routine. Toggl. This is essentially a time clock extension. Keeping track of how much time you’re spending on activities such as blog writing, making cold calls, or on Skype, for example, can be very revealing. There is some crossover between Toggl, Rescue Time, and even Marinara. Toggl, for example, has a Pomodoro function you can use. Gistnote. This productivity Chrome extension does the work of a highlighter marking pen in your browser window. It also helps you organize your highlighted passages. Gistnote speeds up your online research. If you’re like most of us and have several tabs open at the same time, it’s a great help to have relevant passages highlighted. Gistnote takes it a step further; by clicking on a passage in a “collection” you can go straight to that place on the web page. There are some of my favorite productivity chrome extensions. Do you have some that have given your daily output a shot in the arm? If so, please share them with us in the...
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