business

Quality Education

Productivity and Innovation – 5 Critical Questions Every Business Owner Should Ask

April 25, 2022 Comments Off on Productivity and Innovation – 5 Critical Questions Every Business Owner Should Ask

I was speaking with a friend and fellow business owner a short time ago who’s going through some growth transition issues. He’s improved his customer service practices and a key employee just couldn’t embrace the changes and keep up.

After waiting too long (his words) he reluctantly made the needed change and replaced a long standing employee with a new person. He has a small business with only 6 employees so any personnel issue has huge ramifications. All in all he did a great job smoothing the exit of the employee and allowing for the relatively easy entrance of the replacement.

About a week into things he called the new employee in and gave him a ‘project’. The mission was simple, pay very close attention to the business process, work flow, communication both with clients and in the office and look for problems, issues and bottlenecks. This is a great idea for any of us. He basically recruited his new employee to function as an internal consultant looking at his business with ‘new eyes’. Now realize that this is not a witch job is to look at practices and policies not to spy on fellow co-workers and then tattle.

I suggested that he expand this practice one more step and I shared with him an idea that I’ve used, as a consultant in company after company that I’ve worked with but also as a technique that I’ve used to grow my own businesses.

Ask the 5 Critical Questions.

The process is simple, simply sit down with your employees, ideally one on one, and out of the office for a candid discussion. The larger the company the harder this is to do, so in large companies small groups of 5-10 people might be the best you can do. In a small business, coffee, lunch, breakfast, any 30-45 minute session works. This is not an excuse for dinner with the good looking employee and should never involve heading to a bar…I’ve found a diner works best. Let everyone know this is coming ahead of time so they aren’t shocked and let them know that you really want to hear from them, both the good and the bad.

Try to schedule all of the meetings in as short a period of time as possible to avoid ‘meeting cross contamination’. If not all of the usual stuff will crop up in water cooler talks, “What did you say?”, “What should we ask for?”, “What did he/she want to know?” Try to minimize this as much as possible if you want the best information.

Once you have the meeting, get to know your employee a little better and then ask the 5 Critical Questions…I have found that asking them in this order works you ask for good stuff first they’ll gloss over the bad stuff.

What are we as a company doing poorly?

What am I, or what is management, doing that gets in your way?

What are we as a company doing well?

What can I, or management do, do to make your job easier?

And the $Million dollar question… “If time and money were not factors, what would you STOP, START or CHANGE that can help us do better for our clients?’

He took my idea and in a period of three weeks was able to have a meeting with everyone. Part of the feedback about the process…”The level of communications with our employees is at an all time high, and both the volume of output has increased while the quality has increased exponentially at the same time. Another benefit is that all of our employees are finally taking ownership, freeing me to actually grow the business.”

Ideas that have come out of other companies who’ve tried it:

Wholesales changes to archaic customer service practices

Creation of project bid teams made up of marketing, sales and service reps to insure workable delivery deadlines

Changes to purchasing patterns resulting in significant cost savings

Employee/management teams that collaboratively created specs for capital equipment purchases

Creation of an award winning client service website

New and different marketing ideas

Development of new profit centers

A renewed sense of purpose after employees knew they were being listened to

Give it a shot, you have a lot to learn and you’ll have an opportunity to develop better relationships with your team.

You have nothing to lose, you have to eat anyway but trust me, the knowledge you’ll gain will make these meals some of the best money you’ve ever invested into your business.

Primary Education

How Social Profiles Can Help Enhance Your Business

December 7, 2021 Comments Off on How Social Profiles Can Help Enhance Your Business

Using social networking when making connections to co-workers and clients helps to improve and enhance collaborations like never before. With social networking, you have simple interfaces to put all the great ideas together which will encourage participation and collaboration. One aspect of the social networking process is building and maintaining each user’s social profile.
Social profiles are just like profiles on Facebook or MySpace. Business social network profiles acts as the interface to the company so using it to familiarize co-workers within the organization to everyone else, saves a lot of time and reduces the “getting to know you” factor dramatically. Users can point out strengths, skills, expertise and gives each user the ability to create a personal brand to highlight unique contributions by using social networking. Also being able to bring out personal interests adds personality to the profile. You can still build an organizational profile even as the users are able to express interests, build a tag cloud and upload a picture or avatar to describe themselves.
Having the personal information such as interests and skills as well as past projects listed means team leaders and managers can group people into communities with common traits. This makes putting together specific teams for special projects a snap. You will be able to simplify the process of putting together a team within minutes, instead of the days it used to take, by setting filters with specific skills and traits.
One big part of the social profile is the interface others see and work with. To have leaders and users work together in a manner that is not only transparent, but benefits everyone, there are guidelines and standards that are enforceable and are behind the scenes. This transparency reduces the amount of friction that’s always a part of the participation and collaboration processes, being able to filter groups with commonalities like experience, skills and interests enables team leaders to build tight, motivated teams. This makes for smoother collaboration and also puts users together in well balanced teams and communities.
Corporate social networking sites that are used and maintained well with social metrics and analytics become a great tool for the organization. Not only does it allow smooth information flow and easier collaborations but it also allows the entire organization to be more effective and efficient. The return on the investment in terms of dollars and added benefits makes for a great bottom line.

Education For All

Why Your Business Is A Marathon

September 15, 2021 Comments Off on Why Your Business Is A Marathon

I could send you to websites now where the copy immediately starts talking about you making thousands of dollars in a few short days. What would be the point? You and I both know it won’t work, especially if you’re starting from scratch. This article gives 3 reasons to see your business building as a marathon, in terms of short-term thinking, pacing yourself, and learning enough knowledge.
1 You might prefer to have a few thousand dollars by next week but then what? Let’s suppose you somehow managed to reach that goal. A key question is as to whether you can repeat, and keep repeating, the process you used to make thousands the following week. Also, as part of that, whether you can scale up what you’re doing to create a larger operation making more money. It’s only then that you’re talking about having a business. If someone could really show you how to do that, I doubt they’d be selling it or, at least, very cheaply.
2 In a marathon race, you have to pace yourself. Ahead of time, you work out the best speed to go at different points in the race, whether for race tactics or for course conditions. If you simply shoot off as fast as you can at the start and hope to keep going, you’ll soon be reduced to a slow speed, particularly when you come across that second big hill. So with a business, you have to plan ahead, trying to see the problems you’ll have to negotiate. Also, the important thing is to be able to keep going, even when you have a winning formula.
3 Before marathon runners go out on the race course, they’ve thought about what they’re doing. They’ve trained and made sure they’ve rested and eaten enough and appropriately. In other words, they had to gain some knowledge about what to do. They could read, listen to others, and learn from their own experience. They make mistakes and adjust their thinking and actions. In your business, if, for example, you’re just following blindly a small step by step process, then you don’t really have a business. This needs to grow and develop. To do that you need to be able to input your knowledge, gained in various ways.

Quality Education

Help Desk Software Can Improve Your Online Business

April 23, 2021 Comments Off on Help Desk Software Can Improve Your Online Business

Nobody likes a dumb question. This includes the members of your online business team who ensure that customer complaints are met with helpful answers. Unfortunately, most customers are so excited to use their new product that they neglect to educate themselves with the user manual. These same frustrated customers will call support with questions that are easily answered, tying up the phone lines as customers with more complex complaints anxiously wait.
However, there is a solution – it’s called help desk software or customer support software. This software is designed to either help customers help themselves or to assist customers in contacting technical support. There are a couple ways that help desk software accomplishes this task.
Most customer support software will include a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ). An FAQ is a relatively short list of some of the most common questions that are asked of customer support and their answers. When customers first use help desk software, they should be exposed to a program or self-help list which will attempt to answer their questions before they ever get a chance to make a call.
Most major retailers are performing this task today by funneling customers needing support into a short questionnaire or troubleshooting session, handled by software, which will either answer the customer’s question or display contact information for phone support.
There is another option which separates the customer from costly phone support – text support in the form of chat messaging and email. The email option allows support teams to handle customer questions on their own time, allowing for more efficiency in handling complaints. It also allows more severe complaints to be handled before all others as support employees can choose which complaints they address first.
Chat messaging does not offer this triage effect for severity of complaints, but it does connect customers and support employees in a way that minimizes wait times and confusion. When on the phone, poor connections and differing accents can result in many poorly transmitted messages causing confusion and frustration. However, text is always clear and, in most cases, understood.
So you see, help desk software can do wonders for your company’s online business. While your competitors’ support teams are gridlocked with customers asking simple questions, you can educate your customers on how to use your product without even answering a complaint.
As your competitors’ support teams struggle to hear customers with bad cell phone reception or different accents than their own, your support employees will be sending satisfied, educated customers on their way. In business it all boils down to who can provide the most value to their customers. By contemplating adding help desk software to your online business, you may give your company the edge it needs to outclass the competition.

Importance Of Education

Twitter Or Facebook – Which is Better For Business?

April 9, 2021 Comments Off on Twitter Or Facebook – Which is Better For Business?

Twitter or Facebook? Your starting up an online business and thinking of social networking as a means to market your product or service. You need to know which social networking site is better for that purpose. Twitter or Facebook?
We will start out by looking at Twitter. With Twitter you get 145 characters to say what you want. You need to have followers in order to be read. But, your tweet can reach millions of readers in the matter of minutes if you use the right keywords and hashtags. This can be huge for marketers. You just have to use their service correctly. Learn it.
Facebook is your other option. If you have a personal page on Twitter than you should have one for your online or offline business also. Facebook is great for getting your friends and their friends acquainted with you and your business. Many business owners also use Facebook as a way to connect to others in their niche. While others use it mainly for personal reasons.
As you can see Twitter has its advantages. You can reach millions of readers with interest in your product or service. You just have to use the right keywords and hashtags to get them to read what your saying. While at the same time Facebook can reach millions also by connecting your friends and their friends all with the click of a “like” button.
While it seems that Facebook is better, Twitter has potential. Facebook is definitely easier to reach your audience. But, with the right knowledge Twitter is an invaluable marketing tool. There are internet marketers that use both Twitter and Facebook in conjunction with each other. This type of practice might just give your product or service maximum exposure.

Education Current Events

18 Requirements For Success With CRM – Business Relationship Management System

December 11, 2020 Comments Off on 18 Requirements For Success With CRM – Business Relationship Management System

Organizations rarely go it alone when they implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy and its supporting technology. That’s because it can get overwhelming: business strategies, technology, budgets, operational processes, change management issues, and more.
Good CRM practices and principles apply to companies across many industries. One core tenet of CRM is customer centricity.
Companies must instill a customer-centric focus throughout the organization to make a CRM initiative successful and to get the most “bang for the buck.” Essentially, companies must not only focus on cutting costs and improving productivity, they must also enhance the experience of customers across all customer touch points.
To obtain the success you deserve with CRM- consider the following requirements:
1. Get Executive Buy-In
Management must believe in a new CRM system and lead by using the system themselves. Support throughout all echelons of upper management affirms the company’s commitment to the initiative, which will motivate all stakeholders below management. Success will come for a manager who realizes the value of CRM, understands the problems it’s going to solve, and dedicates time and energy to making it happen. It’s incredibly important to be involved directly.
2. Establish Measurable Business Goals.
Define specific business benefits that you expect the CRM initiative to deliver. Is it to decrease the customer churn rate or decrease the sales cycle time by a specific percent? Is it to increase the win-to-loss ratio of sales opportunities? Maybe it’s to decrease the time that a service/support request is unresolved.
3. Let Business Goals Drive Functionality
Will a particular feature help your company better serve customers, improve efficiency in business processes, and lead to results that over-achieve the goals? Convert that big list of ‘features’ to benefits you hope to obtain by achieving the desired goals.
4. Avoid Automating Chaos
CRM Project leaders need to gain a 360-degree view of their own business first. Which business processes need to be rebuilt or simply need a little touch-up? What derails CRM initiatives very often is the lack of focus on the people and business processes.
Make sure you are not using technology to automate the same old ‘cow-path’.
5. Consider All the Stakeholders Affected by the System
Understand what everyone stands to gain or lose. Actively involve end users in the solution design. Solicit and act upon end user input by providing WIIFT–“What’s In It For Them.” A change to being “customer-centric” from product- or operations-centric involves management of the change process among all users. Make sure the whole team knows what it means to deliver customer value.
6. Align All Departmental Strategies
Each department, whether customer service, marketing team, or sales force, has its own requirements and goals. They are also, however, all part of an entity that should communicate a consistent message and brand experience across all customer touch points. Make sure all your departments’ strategies converge on the customer as you intend.
7. Strategy First, Technology Second
The software is there to enable implementation of a CRM strategy, not the other way around. Reorganizing business process efficiencies and bolstering revenue are good drivers of a CRM strategy. Find out how your company’s customer touch points can maximize those ideas, then give customers applications that work with them.
8. First, Use as Much Out-of-Box Functionality as You Can
Then customize for additional needs. By getting up to speed with core functionality you get faster ROI. By learning the CRM’s functionality you’ll be able to determine if there is a business process that needs changing or if customization is required. Refer to #4.
9. Use Experienced, Expert CRM Consultants
Your business success comes from knowing what you do best. Likewise CRM consultants live and breathe CRM and know what works and what doesn’t. Ask the expert when faced with a problem, whether it’s customization, functionality, or deployment strategy. CRM-specific knowledge will produce ROI faster.
10. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Keep people informed of the goals, objectives, and progress. People feel better during the management of this big business change if they know what’s going on. Communicate the “quick wins” as they occur to fuel enthusiasm.
11. Invest in Training
Training helps to empower end users and helps them become involved. Training should not merely focus on demonstrating how to use the software’s features. Instead, training should teach employees how to effectively execute the business process enabled by the CRM system. Give your end-users as much time as needed with the new solution before going live – it makes the transition much easier. Over time, additional reinforcement training will provide even more benefits.
12. Phase-In the Roll-Out
Focus each phase on a specific CRM objective that’s designed to produce a “quick win” – that is, meaningful results in a reasonable amount of time. Smaller, more manageable phases can yield more momentum and higher end-user adoption. You are building a holistic approach, using a step-by-step process.
13. Start with and Maintain Quality Customer information
Behavioral data is the lifeblood of CRM. CRM requires accurate customer information, so start by cleaning up any migrated data and duplications. Do this before a roll-out. Make it easier for people to tackle the tough job of data quality, access, and maintenance.
Enhance personalization by identifying the customer’s social network links – identify their LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter handles.
14. Minimize Financial Risks
It’s important that executives come to grips with the fact that CRM is not a one-time investment. As more and more users access the system, additional functionality will be found useful and other benefits become evident. CRM is a journey not a destination.
15. Consider Migration Paths
Understand where your company is heading. Make sure the software vendor you’ve selected can provide the additional functionality you might need in two or three years. Select one that will enable your CRM software to grow as your company grows. Make sure it can be customized for your business and personalized for the desired customer’s experience.
16. Plan for Disruptions – Companies Change
Companies change. They make acquisitions or they get acquired, sections are sold off or outsourced, and executives get replaced. When implementing a CRM strategy, management must be ready for these kinds of changes. Refer to #15.
17. Measure, Monitor, and Track
Once the system goes live, your company must measure, monitor, and track the system’s effectiveness, with an eye to continuously improving performance. Changing behavior is a long-term process, so monitor to track progress.
18. Choose a Champion of Change
When you’re making a full-suite implementation, start with a single department and let the dominoes fall into place. Choose a department with a manager who’s behind the implementation, realizes its benefits, and whose department will also find the most success early on. Nothing jump-starts a CRM implementation more than a manager who always has that can-do attitude. CRM success can be contagious.