Some years ago, I joined a technology SME to head it up through its next phase of growth. The business had started up long after the impact of a previous recession and was doing well on the back of a growing economy. From the outside, things looked rosy but inside, it maintained the same informal approach to systems and procedures, communication and control as it did in the start-up.
There was a disconnect between what the senior manager was aiming to do and what everyone else in the organisation thought was happening.
This is what I call the “Comet Effect”.
It can occur where the owner or senior manager focuses on growing the business virtually oblivious to all else in the operations. The effect can emanate itself in some very negative ways.
Middle managers and staff can be left to carry out tasks and make decisions they are not comfortable with or out of sync with the direction of the organisation. They can become demoralised or maybe even leave. Costs can run out of control because no one is made accountable. Inefficiencies can lead to the same thing because appropriate processes and procedures aren’t put in place.
Poor control increases risk to the business with all kinds of negative outcomes. Poor communication and inadequate involvement of staff de-motivates employees who become less productive. Staff turnover increases with direct cost to the business.
It isn’t rocket science to know how to stop the problem but it does involve a serious injection of structure into the business.
Depending on the particular business and the maturity of its management framework, there are lots of things to consider to gain better control over the business. Here’s just a few examples of what we installed in this business to improve things:
Three year rolling business plan were shared with staff members who were also kept updated on ongoing progress. Growth plans were designed to be seamless with other business operations.
A skills gap analysis was carried out for business needs and appropriate training was subsequently introduced.
Monthly accounts were revised vs budget with KPI’s agreed and included for team management and accountability.
Performance incentive schemes were introduced to gain team ownership and buy-in with departments.
HR policies and the Health & Safety system were updated and made fully compliant. (Yes – this did save significant costs and reduced worries about what could happen if non-compliant!)
Closer relationships with key suppliers were developed to improve manufacturing performance and reduce costs.
Emphasis on business development plans is obviously key to growing the business.
However as the business grows, inadequate attention to installing the right structures elsewhere in the organisation, commensurate with the particular phase of growth can have a negative effect in many different ways.
Some years ago, I joined a technology SME to head it up through its next phase of growth. The business had started up long after the impact of a previous recession and was doing well on the back of a growing economy. From the outside, things looked rosy but inside, it maintained the same informal approach to systems and procedures, communication and control as it did in the start-up.
There was a disconnect between what the senior manager was aiming to do and what everyone else in the organisation thought was happening.
This is what I call the “Comet Effect”.
It can occur where the owner or senior manager focuses on growing the business virtually oblivious to all else in the operations. The effect can emanate itself in some very negative ways.
Middle managers and staff can be left to carry out tasks and make decisions they are not comfortable with or out of sync with the direction of the organisation. They can become demoralised or maybe even leave. Costs can run out of control because no one is made accountable. Inefficiencies can lead to the same thing because appropriate processes and procedures aren’t put in place.
Poor control increases risk to the business with all kinds of negative outcomes. Poor communication and inadequate involvement of staff de-motivates employees who become less productive. Staff turnover increases with direct cost to the business.
It isn’t rocket science to know how to stop the problem but it does involve a serious injection of structure into the business.
Depending on the particular business and the maturity of its management framework, there are lots of things to consider to gain better control over the business. Here’s just a few examples of what we installed in this business to improve things:
Three year rolling business plan were shared with staff members who were also kept updated on ongoing progress. Growth plans were designed to be seamless with other business operations.
A skills gap analysis was carried out for business needs and appropriate training was subsequently introduced.
Monthly accounts were revised vs budget with KPI’s agreed and included for team management and accountability.
Performance incentive schemes were introduced to gain team ownership and buy-in with departments.
HR policies and the Health & Safety system were updated and made fully compliant. (Yes – this did save significant costs and reduced worries about what could happen if non-compliant!)
Closer relationships with key suppliers were developed to improve manufacturing performance and reduce costs.
Emphasis on business development plans is obviously key to growing the business.
However as the business grows, inadequate attention to installing the right structures elsewhere in the organisation, commensurate with the particular phase of growth can have a negative effect in many different ways.
Find experts to assist you in areas you are not strong in.”
“Efficient” is being able to get things done. “Effective” is doing the right things in the right order, and making sure you address everything that is urgent, vital and important, in every part of your life.”
“One of the main reasons people don’t improve is that they are not honest with themselves.”
“With self-discipline almost anything can be achieved in every aspect of life.”
“Physical fitness and a love of reading are among the most important gifts you can give your children.”
“one way to get your priorities accomplished is to schedule them into your calendar.”
Your team members are only human. Goals and meaningful feedback go a long way towards providing productive, consistent motivation.When good students suddenly lose motivation, parents may threaten to take away the smart phone or the car. But neither of these tactics provides good, long-term motivation. To get students back on track, parents can enlist the help of a tutor. As a manager, you too can draw upon elite tutors’ strategies to motivate your team. Here’s how:
identify the source of lost motivation
The first step in motivating a faltering individual is identifying the reason for the changed behavior. While it’s tempting to attribute the issue to boredom or laziness, there’s very likely a more significant problem.
Loss of purpose: If team members no longer believe in the company mission, they may stop caring about the quality of their work. Evaluate recent changes in your organization’s direction or policies, and ask yourself if your team has become detached from the vision.
Loss of ownership. Young adults perform best when they feel they have some control over their duties and goals. This also applies to the freedom to suggest shifts and improvements in the workplace.
Personal problems.It’s unrealistic to assume our personal lives have no impact on our professional performance. Life and work don’t fit neatly into separate categories. Develop a rapport with your team so they feel comfortable sharing potential health or family issues with you.
set goals
Goal setting can also help you motivate your team.
Create a timeline: People are unlikely to meet indistinct goals with vague target dates. Concrete goals with firm deadlines promote a sense of productive urgency, which establishes accountability among team members.
Make progress visible: A visual depiction of goals on a chart or whiteboard helps people monitor their progress. Moreover, viewing this progress each day provides positive feelings of accomplishment and leads to an increase in the quantity and quality of work completed. This sense of progress ultimately fuels pursuit of the next goal.
provide authentic feedback
Everyone deserves genuine feedback on his or her performance. Feedback rewards individuals for their accomplishments, encourages them to improve and empowers them to achieve their goals. Authentic feedback does more than just validate the person who earns it — it validates the relationship between the giver and the receiver.
Acknowledge progress: Recognising when your team has reached significant milestones will undoubtedly keep individuals performing at their best. Acknowledgement not only builds confidence in struggling students but also signals to team members that you notice and appreciate their hard work.
Give meaningful praise: Don’t offer insincere praise just for the sake of encouragement. You should, however, praise individuals for devoting extra care to a project. Students and adults sense when someone is genuine. Authenticity strengthens the relationship between you and your team.
Reward accomplishments: Reward hard work to show your team members you value them and appreciate their effort. This can include monetary rewards, time off, or special recognition – you’re recognizing behaviour you want to continue.
If you notice a decrease in motivation, avoid assuming that the individual is apathetic or careless. Identify the source of the problem, set goals to guide that individual back on track and lead with meaningful praise and purposeful encouragement. When your whole team is earnestly invested, your company will be able to rise to any challenge.
The word happiness is defined in most cases as a feeling of contentment, or as a feeling ranging from contentment to intense joy. If we focus on people, activities, even things that we love, or positive outcomes that we desire, we will draw them to us because our thoughts are a form of energy that act upon the workings of the universe.
This seems simple enough, right? Why is it that so many of us are unhappy, discontent, even depressed? Because ego gets in the way. That voice in your head, that one that talks incessantly, the one you listen to because you think it’s actually your voice, is actually the voice of your ego.
When we listen to the ego voice as if it is our own we remain unaware of our power and lose track of our purpose. We begin to focus on what we don’t want, what we don’t like. The ego has, at that point, succeeded in side tracking our happiness.
1. guilt
Is incredibly effective at paralyzing our forward momentum. The ego knows this. It knows just what to say to us to stir up our guilt. The triggers are different for each of us, ego knows our subconscious better than we do; it knows our past history, it knows everything. When you get the impulse to make a change, to do something that you’ve never done before, or something that you used to do that brought you joy, listen to what comes up in response to that impulse. If it’s negative it’s more than likely your ego talking.
2. insecurity
We all have more than enough of it and ego not only creates it, but uses it against us. When the impulse comes to you to pursue an interest, and is accompanied by a pleasant sensation and a compelling energy, you must follow it no matter what that ego voice tells you, because it’s the universe talking to you, assisting you to your path and your purpose and thus, happiness.
3. self-deprecation
Is the handmaiden to insecurity. Many people use self-deprecating humor in an attempt to hide their insecurities. Self-deprecating comments are one of the ego’s mainstays for keeping us small and we listen to them all day long. They start when we look in the mirror in the morning and continue all the livelong day. Even when we try to not engage, we still do. For example, one of my goals for the day is to be more aware of negative thoughts towards myself. At the end of the day what do I hear myself saying? You have such a short attention span you can’t even remember to listen to yourself! Oops. I could remind myself with compassion, instead. You were so busy that you forgot to listen for the ego voice today.
4. anger
Takes us away from ourselves. It balls up our energy and hurls it at another in a defensive response that is most often intended as a form of protection. Or, those of us who avoid conflict stuff that ball of energy deep down where it sours and burns us from the inside. Our ego creates our fear of losing, our need to protect. It is sometimes difficult to identify the fear underneath the anger, but frequently the issue at stake is power itself, or said another way, control. When confronted by the anger of another allowing that person some control will diffuse the anger. On the other hand, when you feel anger flare up inside, you must ask yourself what you are fearful of losing. Anger is just another mask that ego wears to usurp your power and your happiness.
5. judgment engaging
In the act of judging others – their beliefs, behaviors, lifestyles, clothing, how they earn their money, or don’t earn it, or how they spend it – keeps us from our own lives. It distracts us from focusing on the intent of staying on our path and our purpose.
Happiness can’t co-exist with fear. In order to create more happiness in your life you must learn to identify the voice of ego and its manipulations. Ego has a lot at stake, which is why it is so determined to keep us off-balance. If in fact we become aware of our power, accept the connectedness of all life, learn to live with self-compassion and compassion for each other; if we trust the Mystery, however we choose to name it, to reveal to us our path and our true purpose for being here in this life; if we were to divest ourselves of ego – well, it would cease to exist.
It’s hard to believe, but some businesses are still slow to embrace social media for marketing and brand-building purposes. These businesses cling to outmoded methods of marketing without taking into account just how influential and far-reaching social media has become for consumers in B2C and B2B.
“Not having the right social media channels for your customers to reach out to you is the 1985 equivalent of not having a phone line,”In case you’re not yet fully on board with social media, here are compelling reasons why not using it can harm your business:
1. people won’t know how great your business is
Let’s assume you do things right and you’ve built a small, but loyal customer base. Wouldn’t it help to let more people know about your satisfied customers? On social media, businesses routinely share customer testimonials with their followers, while customers are happy to share their buying experiences all on their own.
2. you’re unaware of what customers are saying about you online
Whether you like it or not, customers unhappy with your product or service won’t hesitate to share their experiences on Facebook and other platforms. Without a social media presence, how can you monitor negative reviews or attempt to answer them and demonstrate a policy of responsiveness?
3. you lack a method for engaging with your target audience
Social media is interactive. Small businesses build communities around their brands and instill customer loyalty. Engagement may include sharing product updates, conducting customer surveys, sponsoring contests, etc. A small business that lacks a social media presence must work much harder to engage its customer base.
4. traditional advertising is more expensive than marketing on social media
Not only does creating and distributing advertisements add up to significant costs, the level of customer trust in traditional advertising is fairly low. Start-ups in particular enjoy a much higher success rate using social media to promote their products or services.
5. it’s much harder to build a reputation as a thought leader
It’s likely you’re an expert in your particular field of business. But without a social media presence, who will ever know? Small businesses regularly create and promote content of value to their followers, in the process building a reputation as an industry thought-leader — which adds credibility when they reach out to prospective customers.
6. you can’t easily spread the word about new products or upgrades
Businesses use Facebook and other channels to launch a new product or announce a major upgrade. Customers are sometimes invited via social media to “test-drive” the new product and offer helpful feedback. This kind of customer input increases the odds of a successful launch or upgrade, because a business knows in advance what works (and what doesn’t work) with their target audiences.
7. you’re less likely to know what your competitors are up to
Never assume that just because you don’t have a social media presence, the competition is abstaining as well. They’re not! Monitoring the social media activity of competitors enables you to stay informed about their marketing efforts and who their customers are — information that could prove essential for your own marketing campaigns.
8. it’s harder to recruit quality employees
Businesses use social media as an active employee-recruitment tool — and job candidates do the same when it comes to checking out potential employers. Having a vibrant online presence (not just your business website) makes your company more attractive to talented candidates, the very individuals you most want to apply for your open positions.
9. in a crisis, the lack of a social media presence can be devastating
Sooner or later, almost every business experiences some type of public relations or product-related crisis. Companies that successfully “bounce back” usually integrate crisis management with social media in the planning stages. They use Twitter and other channels to beat back unfounded rumors and speculation, while ensuring a continuous flow of customer-friendly information. A business with no social media presence can be badly harmed by a tsunami of angry voices online.
Late to the show? Look at social media platforms your customers follow and start building your own community of fans and friends alike.
Customer experience” is a term we use when we’re trying to capture each individual customer’s perspective on what it’s like to deal with a business. When we say “customer experience” the implication is that we’re looking at the business from an outside-in point of view, because this is how the customer experiences the business. But the company’s own point of view is inside-out, it often crosses different, departments, products, and personalities within the company.
At many companies it’s easy to point fingers at the service people, or the sales people, or the account handlers. Customer experience is their job, it’s not my job. But I think delivering a better customer experience should be considered everyone’s job, and everyone needs to know something about what that means. A colleague of mine used to do consulting work for restaurant chains. He said in evaluating any sit-down restaurant he visited, there were two things he absolutely insisted that every single employee should know, from maitre d’ to the kitchen clean-up crew:
What was on the menu,
How to seat a guest.
This is a great analogy for the way most businesses should train their people. Everyone, no matter what their function – HR, accounting, sales, service, engineering – everyone should know what the business offers customers, and how to serve these customers, as well.
The thing is, customers don’t know who does what at a company they deal with, and for the most part they don’t really care. If a customer happens to be talking with an accountant at the company they’re buying from, they’re not really interested in that person’s department or job function. They’re focused on the problem they have. But if the accountant – or the administrative assistant, or the product engineer – doesn’t know anything about how the firm wants to serve customers, then it’s likely to generate a bad experience. And the customer won’t ascribe this bad experience to having dealt with the wrong person at the company, either. They’ll ascribe it to having dealt with the wrong company. A significant side benefit of this whole idea is that when everyone at a company knows not just what’s on offer but also the right way to treat customers, the culture at the firm will cohere around building the business. Workers who are united by a common vision of what the company’s mission is are more likely to make the right decision in difficult or problematic circumstances. And they’re more likely to enjoy working for you, as well. So ask yourself whether everyone at your business knows what’s on your company’s menu, and how to seat a guest.
Karl is a Sales Professional with a leading supplier of raw materials to manufacturers. For 15 years, Karl has been using Sales 101 techniques to build strong relationships with clients
He is now in a position to implement price increases for the first time in seven years. Karl doesn’t know what to do.
Like many Sales Professionals in the volatile economic conditions of the 21st century, Karl has never had to communicate price increases to his clients. Lacking experience in positioning a price increase, he is afraid of weakening the strong relationships that he has developed or worse, losing clients by delivering this difficult message. However, for Karl, as for many Sales Professionals, economic growth is making price increases inevitable.
Fortunately, it is possible to maintain strong client relationships in this situation by following five techniques borrowed from Sales 101 for leading a consultative conversation about price increases:
1. know the reason for the price increase
There are a number of reasons for increasing prices. For example:
Your costs (materials, labor, facilities, etc.) have increased.
The original pricing that you established with the client no longer reflects current conditions, and your margins are too low.
The market has shifted upward since you last quoted a price for the client.
Be honest with your client about your company’s reason(s) for the increase, which will help create transparency and build trust.
2. anticipate client resistance
Think through the implications of the price increase for your client, and be prepared to acknowledge these implications. Anticipate in advance how the client will react to the increase so that you are best prepared to address his/her objections and concerns.
3. neutrally position the price increase
As briefly as possible, lay out for the client why you are implementing a price increase, how much the increase will be, and when it takes effect. Do not belabor the point with excessive rationale. Remain neutral and confident. Avoid using phrases like, I know this increase is hard on you … or, I know this increase seems high … which could create a perception that you don’t support your company’s decision.
4. remain silent after positioning the increase
Anything you say after that point will open up room for negotiation in the client’s mind. Do not ask a checking question. If the client raises objections or concerns, use the Objection Resolution Model to address them, but avoid creating the impression that the increase is negotiable.
5. strengthen the relationship
End on a positive note. Thank the client for understanding and for his/her continued business. Express your enthusiasm for continuing to work together.What sales techniques have you used to position price increases? Share them with us in the comments below!
7 reasons why your price increases fail (and your bottom line suffers)
“When it comes to the prices we pay, we study them, we map them, we work on them. But with the prices we charge, we are too sloppy!”
pricing is the most important driver of profit
But unfortunately managers and entrepreneurs seem to neglect the issue. In one of our global pricing studies we asked over 3,900 high-level decision makers from all major service and manufacturing industries around the world how they set their prices. The main findings in a nutshell: many of them don’t get the money for the value they deliver. And weak pricing cuts their profits by 25 percent.
untapped pricing power = lost profits
Every company has the ability to achieve high pricing power. If a company can offer its customers real value and communicate that through a top brand, this will translate into money.Asked what or who is responsible for their weak pricing, managers often blame “tough competition”. Another favorite is to blame customers, and stating that the customers are very consolidated and have tremendous negotiation power is very common. These are all excuses that avoid getting to the bottom of the problem. Poor pricing performance is not a question of fate; it is largely up to each company to either become a pricing champion or go the road of devastating price wars.There are no structural reasons for pricing weakness, but three fundamental causes that make the difference:
insufficient monitoring
a lack of pricing know-how
and poor strategies
A few simple steps can help tremendously when it comes to pricing.
1. By focusing on market share, you start price wars
“If you ask your people to strive for volume, you should not be too surprised when you end up in a price war.”The effect of price wars on profits is disastrous for all sides. There are no winners— except the customer. That’s why companies should avoid price wars if at all possible and it’s up to their managers and owners to encourage their employees to strive for profit, not for market share.
2. You underestimate inflation threat
Neglecting prices and being weak at pricing will also prove devastating with inflation around the corner. What will happen if you are weak at pricing, you will typically achieve only half of your targeted price increases. That means you only get 53 percent in the end, although you wanted 100 percent of your targeted price.
3. You give discounts and goodies in return for price increases
Although price increases are essential for survival in inflation periods, managers and entrepreneurs are mostly insecure about how to plan and implement price increases. There are a few steps though that can help them.
First and foremost, you need a consistent and systematic process for pricing. For every single activity companies have detailed processes with descriptions and explanations, but when it comes to price increases many don’t exactly know what to do. Such a process includes starting with the price increase targets, selecting the right instruments, preparing the price increase and, finally, executing it.
Price increases are often accompanied by “goodies”, discounts, give-aways, customer-friendly payment terms, etc. Many fail to factor in the effect of these customer-friendly measures.
4. You don’t fight hard enough for the necessary price increases
5. You don’t think creatively enough about prices
Also, it helps to think creatively about prices. Besides a classical list price increase, there are tens or perhaps even hundreds of price instruments available. The key is to go through the list of possible instruments, analyze which one fits your specific situation the best and then make a conscious decision as to which instruments to take – be it discounts, shorter payment terms, smaller package sizes and so on.Take this example: the price of a one-liter bottle is known by most consumers. Almost nobody overestimates the price of a one liter bottle of water. But customers have a much lower price awareness of the small pack. More importantly, 50 percentoverestimate the price.
If you want to increase the price of your water bottles, the solution seems clear: don’t touch the price of the one liter pack, but apply a disproportionally high increase for the small pack. This is a general message that applies to B2B as well as B2C companies:set different price increases by product/customer groups based on the level of price elasticity.
6. You weren’t the first to set an ‘anchor’ price
Companies often ask us whether they should be the first ones to make a price move. If a company is or wants to be the leader of an industry, then it must make the first move and set the anchor price.
Many but still too few companies are doing that. When you knock at your client’s door and ask for higher prices, the clients are already informed, they already know about the price change, and the bad news has already been communicated.
7. You don’t reward your sales team right
Implementing the new price is the job of the sales department, but very often sales is struggling with this task. Either they only manage to implement a small part of the planned price increase or they give away goodies and discounts in exchange for the price increase; the bottom line being that nothing is achieved.
Every once in a while I run across someone who doesn’t want to change. What do I do to convince them that the change is good for them?
Nothing!
Have you ever tried to change the behavior of an adult who had absolutely no interest in changing? How much luck did you have with your attempts at this? Have you ever tried to change the behavior of a spouse, partner or parent who had no interest in changing? How did that work out for you?
My guess is that if you have ever tried to change someone else’s behaviour, and that person did not want to change, you have been consistently unsuccessful in changing their behaviour. You may have even alienated the person you were trying to enlighten.
If they don’t care, don’t waste your time.
Research on coaching is clear and consistent. Coaching is most successful when applied to people who want to improve. This is true whether you are acting as a coach, a manager, a family member, or a friend.
Your time is very limited. The time you waste trying to change people who do not care is time stolen from people who do want to change.
As an example, back in Valley Station, Kentucky, my mother was an outstanding first grade school teacher. In Mom’s mind, I was always in the first grade, my Dad was in the first grade, and all of our relatives were in the first grade.
She was always correcting everybody.
Dad’s name was Bill. Mom was always scolding “Bill! Bill!” when he did something wrong. We bought a talking bird. In a remarkably short period of time the bird started screeching “Bill! Bill!” Now Dad was being corrected by a bird.
Years passed. When Mom corrected his faulty grammar for the thousandth time, Dad sighed, “Honey, I am 70 years old. Let it go.”
If you are still trying to change people who have no interest in changing, take Dad’s advice. Let it go.