10 Minutes to a Better Company

November and December are generally filled with reflection on the year--and planning for the coming year. So, in the spirit of this annual ritual by many business owners we've collected our top five blog postings thus far. 

If you missed any of these goodies, take a short break from your work to catch up. Here's our countdown:

5. Ever wonder how to compensate top employees in the long-term? They may give more than other employees--or have invested many years in the business. Either way, its time to get creative. Read the 10 Creative Ideas to Compensate Long-Term Employees.

4. The economy. It's on the minds of most business owners, which is easy given the media attention surrounding it for the past couple months. Where's the first place most small businesses look in a down economy? Sales. Read what our small business coaches have to say about sales. 

3. As the business owner you may get pulled into the daily operations more than you'd like. But, your time is best spent working on the business--not in it. Getting a written, strategic plan is key. Get started with a few of our tips on strategic planning sessions for the whole company.

2. The vast majority of small business owners don't have a company vision before they join TAB. Your statement tells your prospects, customers and employees where you want your company to be. It drives decisions and actions for all involved. Start to create your company vision statement. 

1. There is no easy way to do this, which is probably why this article was one of your most viewed over the past few months. It's by far one of the hardest things a business owner will ever do. Read more on how to right-size your company.

As always, we hope our blog gives you a few ideas that you can implement into your business.

If there are challenges or topics you'd like to see us address in the future, post a comment to let us know. Or, if you have something to add to the above articles, let us know those also.

Company Holiday Vacation and Gift Plans

It isn’t too late to review your plans for the forthcoming holiday weeks. The tough economic environment is causing many companies to look for opportunities to reduce expenditures. With Thanksgiving and Christmas falling on Thursday this year, discussions in the Northeastern Wisconsin TAB meetings surfaced the following plans to cut back, capitalize on or otherwise modify holiday vacations.

One member, who usually gives each employee a $300 Christmas bonus, called a company-wide meeting (under 20 employees) to discuss the market for their product drying up due to budget cuts, the cost of employee shortcutting on jobs—resulting in quality problems and having to fix them—costing even more time, labor and materials. He also discussed how the company is struggling to break even this year. Despite all of this, the member told his employees the annual bonus will be forthcoming, but will be halved to $150 instead of $300. The employees understand the situation, are aware of the dropping workload and have committed to increasing quality control.

Another member—who has barely enough work to keep his shop going over the holiday season—is going to have his first two-week layoff for office staff and will encourage them to file for unemployment insurance. Another member, like many others, is going to give holiday week Fridays as an extra day off for employees. However, in doing so, he is explaining that the Friday holidays are the company’s Christmas present this year—in lieu of gift certificates that have been given in the past.

When looking at ways to reduce costs within your organization this holiday season, try one of these approaches to still show your appreciation for your employees—despite a tough economy.

Small Business Must Strive to Thrive not to Survive

From the TAB-East Bay North Web site:

With the hardships small business are currently facing, I decided to list the essentials I am seeing in owners who are good at enduring the tough times. However, I then noticed that there is a lot of overlap with that list and what I see the prospering people doing. I realize that many small businesses are more interested in just staying alive than having a drive to thrive, however, you are going to need all ten of these elements regardless. Therefore, why not just try to be a Thriver rather than a Survivor?

1. They Are Passionate about Working On Their Business
   Theresa Szczurek, Ph.D says, “Ordinary people become extraordinary and produce extraordinary results when they align their passion with a meaningful purpose." The Michael Jordans or Stephen Kings of the world know that you need to be clear on what you want to do in life and then just go out and do it. Similarly, the Thrivers of business are internally driven rather than externally driven. Thrivers are zealous about their business purpose and when they are aligned with that mission it pushes them forward with enthusiasm and energy.
2. They Make Decisions and Take Action
   Franklin Roosevelt said, “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all try something.” Right or wrong, Thrivers take action.

Read more...

Effective Listening=Increased Sales

The world of sales is filled with infinite possibilities, but while opportunity does have a reputation for knocking, it doesn’t always use a heavy hand. If you only listen with your ears, chances are you might not hear what you need to know. Sales professionals are up against some pretty tough competition, and it’s not the flesh and blood variety. Technology has greatly increased consumer choice and just as drastically decreased the need for personal contact. But, while technology may have “ears”, it definitely doesn’t have a heart.

The art of effective listening requires a discipline in which the first rule is to slow down and engage not just your ears, but also your mind, body and heart. The goal is to hear not only what the customer is saying, but also what they’re trying to say—and deliberately not saying—in order to create an empathetic connection. The era of the hard sell is over. In today’s 2.0 obsessed world, you can’t go out selling bells and whistles. You may make a sale, but if it doesn’t meet the customer’s emotional needs, you’ve not only killed the chance of future business, but you risk suffering the viral effects of negative feedback.

Smart sales professionals make a commitment to listening. They find out what the customer really needs and wants before they try and make a sale. And, the results are more than just a satisfied customer and big dividends. A happy customer is also someone who is happy to spread the word that you’re a rare breed of salesperson who really cares. And, this is the kind of reputation that can take you far.

Think back to your most recent conversation. Did you really listen to what the person said? And before you jump in and say, “Sure, I can even repeat their words verbatim,” listen to what I am really asking. You likely heard the words that were spoken, but what about those that went unspoken? No doubt you opened your ears, but did you also open your heart and engage your emotions and intuition to feel what was being said? If not, you weren’t truly listening.

When words sift in through the ears and are only allowed to resonate in the mind, it’s far too easy to allow unproductive listening habits to block out critical information. And once it registers that you aren’t really listening, the customer begins to feel invalidated. Nothing kills a potential sale faster. It takes more than hearing what is being said—you’ve got to feel it.

When you practice effective listening, you deliver a form of respect that establishes trust. Every sales professional should aspire to emotionally engage their customers and to use their heart, as well as their ears towards the goal of making a sale.

Negotiating: Breaking the Ice

Most people have a tendency to want to get into the purpose of a negotiation too quickly. This can be especially detrimental if you are meeting with someone for the first time. People prefer to do business with those they know, like and trust. While a trusting relationship takes time to build, taking five to ten minutes to break the ice over topics of interest on which you and your adversary can connect is a great jump start to building such a relationship.

There are a lot of interesting questions or topics you can bring up that will create a more relaxed and open atmosphere. However, your efforts to break the ice will not be effective if they are insincere or based on a set of contrived questions. Ideally, you want to find a neutral commonality shared by both you and your adversary and use this to establish camaraderie. The warm up is not about sharing deep personal secrets or giving away anything that will help your adversary have an edge.

While I prefer to meet on my own turf, if I am meeting outside of my own office, my warm-up often springs off of something I observe in my adversary’s office or the place where we are meeting. Sport or recreation-related topics are an area about which most people feel comfortable talking. Give some thought to the type of topics about which you are comfortable talking about that may also be of interest to others.

Once you feel that the ice has started to melt, ask follow-up questions that can be easily answered and have the potential to warm things up even more. There are definite subjects that are taboo to the warm-up session. You always take a big chance by bringing up any topic that could be volatile. For instance, you want to avoid discussing your health or the health of your adversary. Political and religious subjects should also be avoided unless you know exactly where the other person stands on the subject. Also, avoid gossip or saying anything bad about the competition.

Five Simple Rules for Selling Anything

Rule #1 Always be prepared.

This will enable you to speak without hesitation, projecting authority and utmost professionalism. Consequently, you will give the prospect the sense that you have the answers to their needs.

Do you know all the features and benefits of your product or service? Are you completely aware of what pains or problems all the benefits can resolve? Do you know what benefits the competition is offering? How do you differentiate your product or service from the potential competitors?

Rule #2 Have advance contact with your prospect.

How many times have you showed up on a sales visit to find out your prospect only has a few minutes to spend with you? In addition, know all the individuals who may be making the decision on your sale, who might not be in attendance during your presentation?

Get a verbal agreement with your prospect prior to showing up. Make sure to confirm when you will be there and how long you intend to make the presentation. Who else besides the individual you initially spoke with should be at the presentation? What do you intend to do at the presentation? What would you like the prospect to do at the presentation, and finally, what should the next step be after the meeting?

Rule #3 Bonding or “birds of a feather flock together.”

People enjoy being with people like themselves. Begin a conversation with a common subject. Look on their walls and desk for objects that you can chat about other than business—especially things you and the prospect may have in common.

Rule #4 Seek to understand before being understood.

We have a tendency to start selling our services without really knowing what the customer truly needs. Just ask questions and let the prospect talk.

Have you developed a questionnaire to establish the needs, pains and problems of your prospect? List on your questionnaire all the needs or pains of the prospect.

Rule #5 Give fulfillment.

Explain how your product or service’s benefits will resolve their concerns using the list you have created of the prospects needs, pains and problems.

Growing Through Mistakes

There is no time like the present for sound decision-making and support from fellow business owners. Discussing other business's mistakes and successes helps you make your business stronger. 

The key here is remembering that some mistakes are okay. In fact, it's the way most businesses and people grow. One of our personal business coaches had a some great ideas on how to encourage these types of discussions within your company.

From the TAB-Scottsdale blog:

"In July, we had our semi-annual convention in Denver. One session involved the top franchisees and them telling their biggest mistakes. What a great way to learn and grow your business."

"I first read about supporting fast failures in Tom Peter’s book "Thriving on Chaos”. He quotes Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor as saying. 'Many people dream of success.  To me success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection.  In fact, success represents the 1 percent of your work which results only from the 99 percent that is called failure.'"

Read more....

Creativity and Innovation: Changing the Creative Mindset

Great Entrepreneurial Masters (GEMs) use their skills for creative thinking and innovative implementation to bring personal and business plans to the heights of success. Creativity and innovation come more naturally to some people than others, but they are skills that can be learned and used by all.  Even for those who don’t think of themselves as being creative thinkers, it is possible to learn to integrate creative ideas into your business plan. 

  

Some plans are so basic in nature that they do not require much creativity or innovation.  Other plans test skills in these areas to the limits. 

           

There are people who resist even trying to develop these skills.  They claim that they have never been, and never will be, creative thinkers.  Others adhere to a belief that they are left-brain oriented, hence analytical, and that only the right-brain people are the creative ones.  This “side of the brain" argument is just one of many excuses that people use—especially when defending why they have not reached greater success.  It is easier for them to lay blame than to make the needed efforts to develop their creative abilities.

 

Even if you hold strong to the concept of being a left-brain person, surely you still have enough mental talent to develop your creative and innovation skills.  Recent research shows that creativity is an essentially learned behavior.  In other words, everyone is capable of being creative.

 

In understanding how creativity develops, look to the example of children at play.  Unprompted, children use their imagination to make play more fun.  A child pushing a truck along a carpet can transform that rug into a bumpy terrain or a vast superhighway.  Ask a child with a doll or stuffed animal to tell you about their plaything and you'll most likely hear a very detailed story.  What happens to this ability as we grow into adults?

 

As adults we still have creative ability, but the idea that we must “think like an adult” often blocks all thoughts that are not serious, hence our creative ideas never stand a chance.

 

Make a conscious effort to let your mind wander to the myriad of possibilities—and even impossibilities—and you are on your way to thinking creatively.