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.
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.
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.
If sales are declining, you’ve got fewer customers coming in your door, or you’re having trouble paying your vendors, it’s time to figure out what’s broken in your business and make a serious commitment toward fixing it.
While every business is different, there are some typical reasons for small business failure. See if any of these resonate with you, then check out the “What to Do About It” section to turn things around.
1. you don’t know how to market your business
Not every business owner is born knowing how to get the word out about their business, and that’s fine. But when a business owner’s shortcomings put their business in jeopardy, that’s when somebody must take responsibility and take action.If you think marketing is too hard to figure out yourself, or you assume it costs more than you’ve got to hire someone, you’re essentially shutting down the possibility of finding new customers. Yes, marketing is an investment in time, money, or both, but an essential one.
What to Do About It: Start marketing. If you lack money, then invest an hour or two a week to read a few marketing books, blogs, or articles and teach yourself how to usesocial media, blogging, and PR to draw more people to your website and/or your store. If you’ve got more money than time, get a quote from a few marketing consultants or freelancers, or see my article, “7 Killer Online Marketing Tactics That Take a Minute or Less.”
2. your prices are too low
If you’ve got more work than you can handle but are still having trouble making ends meet, it’s time to assess your pricing. Pricing products tends to be a bit easier than pricing services, because you know what it cost you to buy or make those products, so price can be determined easily based on desired profit margin. But even with business services, you’ve got to factor in things like overhead (Internet service, heating/cooling), salary, and office expenses. Your profit shouldn’t be so scant you have difficulty paying your own bills.
What to Do About It: Don’t double your prices overnight. Instead, raise prices for new clients only and see what the market will bear. If you’re getting pushback, you might have raised them too much. If you’re closing sales too easily, you might have room to raise those rates even more.
3. you don’t really know your customers
You know who you think they are, but unless you’re really clued in to your demographic, know what makes them tick, and understand their problems, you’ll do a terrible job of trying to present an appropriate solution.
What to Do About It: A little market research can go a long way. Talk to actual customers. Use surveys. Ask questions on social media. Build out buyer personasthat will turn numbers into humans, and solve the riddle of how to connect with each type of customer you’ve got.
4. you think SEO and social media don’t apply to you
Regardless of whether you’re a global accounting firm or the bakery down the street, you should engage in an SEO campaign to help you get more customers. After all, it’s the keywords you use on your website that help the right people find you, and the links you’ve got online that help solidify your brand reputation. For entrepreneurs, SEO is uniquely important, as I outlined in my article, “7 Ways That SEO Is Uniquely Important For Entrepreneurs.”
Social media is becoming more intertwined with SEO, but has also established an extremely strong niche of its own in the online marketing sphere. If you don’t think social media can yield positive ROI for your business, see my article, “Myth Busted: My Industry Isn’t A Good Fit For Social Media.”
what to do about it:
Again, it comes down to time or money. Teach yourself SEO tactics that work and stay on top of Google’s latest algorithm updates to make sure you don’t get shot down those results. Or, hire a professional SEO company that’s well-versed on the subject and can help you focus on other areas of your business while remaining competitive online.
Over the years our clients have found the following when researching their Customer Service:
Poor follow up and lack of professionalism are the main two reasons for picking one business over another. While price may be used as an excuse, the real reason is that they did not receive the service they expected when looking for information, so had no confidence that the delivery would be any better!!
Ask yourself the following:
How quickly do you to respond to an enquiry?
How professional and friendly is the response?
How much effort do you put into giving the client information on their enquiry?
How many enquiries actually turn into business?
Why is this number not higher?
Its that short and that simple – start putting markers on your customer service.
1) “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan2) “Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.” – Anonymous 3) “Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.” – H. Stanley Judd 4) “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho5) “I’m intimidated by the fear of being average.” – Taylor Swift 6) “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky7) “Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.” – Denis Waitley8) “I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.” – Nikki Giovanni9) “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” – Thomas Edision10) “Remember that failure is an event, not a person” – Zig Ziglar 11) “I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” – George Burns12) “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” – Theodore Roosevelt13) “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Elbert Hubbard14) “If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative” – Woody Allen 15) “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” – Denis Waitley 16) “There is no such thing as failure. There are only results” – Tony Robbins 17) “Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.” – Sumner Redstone 18) “One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” – Henry Ford 19) “Most people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” – Napoleon Hill 20) “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard 21) “Failure is success if we learn from it.” – Malcolm Forbes
I hope you are all in great form for a great week.
Coach Chris
Remarkable employees spend significant time helping other people succeed: their company, their employees, their customers and suppliers…But remarkable employees also spend a little time helping themselves succeed, both for “selfish” reasons and because their success creates success for others.
1. be first, but with a purpose
Many people try to be the first to arrive each day. That’s great, but what do you actually do with that time?Take care of unresolved problems from the day before. Set things up so it’s easier for other employees to hit the ground running when they come in. Chip away at an ongoing project others ignore.Don’t just be the one who turns on or off the lights – be the one who gets in early in order to get things done. Not only will your performance stand out, you’ll also start to…
2. master a specific — and valuable — skill
Meeting standards won’t help you stand out.So go above the norm. Be the leader known for turning things around Be the shipping manager who makes a few deliveries a week to personally check in with customers. Be the MD who promotes from within. Be known as the employee who responds quicker, acts faster, or always follows up.Pick a worthwhile mission and excel at it. I promise people will notice.
3. create your own side projects
Excelling at an assigned project is expected. Excelling at a side project — especially one you created — helps you stand out.Try it. For example, experiment on a new process or service with a particular customer in mind. The customer will appreciate how you tried, without being asked, to better meet their needs… and you’ll never be forgotten.
4. put your effort where your mouth is
Lots of people talk a lot. Few take a stand and put actual effort behind their opinions.Say you think a project has gone off the rails; instead of just pointing out its flaws so you can show everyone how smart you are, jump in and help fix it.Everyone talks about problems. The people who fix problems are the few who stand out.
5. show a little of your personal side
Personal interests – help people to remember you. That’s a huge advantage for a new employee or a company competing in a crowded market.Just make sure your personal interests don’t overshadow professional accomplishments. Being “the guy who does triathlons” is fine, but being “the guy who is always training and traveling to triathlons so we can never reach him when we need him” is not.Let people know a little about you; a few personal details add color and depth to your professional image and it makes you likable.
6. work harder than everyone else
Nothing – nothing – is a substitute for hard work.Look around: How many people are working as hard as they can? Very few.One way you can always stand out — regardless of talent, experience, or skill — is by outworking everyone else.It’s also the easiest way to stand out, because I guarantee you’ll be the only one trying that hard.