As we all rush out to do some holiday shopping and retailers put their best foot forward, as a small business owner you want to be sure that your sales don’t cripple your business. Attracting new customers is great, but what you want is repeat business and customer loyalty. Stick with these tips and build a relationship, not a sale. Listen to your customers While it is … [Read more...]
The Capable Employee
As a modern business owner, I’ve caught the fever to rely on gadgets and depend on electronic communication in lieu of actually picking up the phone; but I wonder, have I done my company a disservice? As I visit client sites and assess the challenges they face, it becomes clear that sometimes the culprit is not the employee, it’s the technology. Excessive reliance on … [Read more...]
Hey Boss, Your Policy is Stupid!
As business owners we often set policies and procedures from a reactive point of view. Something happened that brought the situation to our attention and then we put things in place to ensure they don’t happen again. But is this the best way to create policies? Can your staff weigh in on their effectiveness and when they do, do their opinions matter? If you have a sense that … [Read more...]
The Inside Scoop on Recruiting
Once you strike out on your own, your relationships with recruiters change. When you were looking for a full-time job, they represented a way to get your foot in the door at a company. As an entrepreneur, their roles shift slightly. They still help you get a foot in the door, but now they also bring the ability to provide new projects. The one thing that continually frustrates … [Read more...]
Grab the Money!
It’s no secret that you need capital to operate and grow, but then comes the question how do you get it? For some of the lucky ones they have the personal cash to use or they are able to tap well heeled friends and family for the money. For the unlucky ones, you need money to operate and grow, but where do you get it? Tap your community bank. An often overlooked … [Read more...]
Are They Contractors or Staff?
One of the more complicated tasks for a business owner is being able to correctly classify the people working for you. As a one man shop it it’s fairly easy, when you pull someone in it is a temporary arrangement. As a larger operation, it gets a bit tougher. The Department of Labor and the IRS have just made this issue more complicated. The Department of Labor and the IRS … [Read more...]
HP Headed to Hotel California?
HP has made some controversial decisions lately, but is Meg Whitman a great strategic move or the kiss of death for this once great tech company? HP announced Whitman’s appointment on September 22, 2011 but given the public comments, customers seem to think it’s a bad choice. It’s my stance that HP usually leaps before it looks and I am not sure that I am sold on Whitman as … [Read more...]
The USPS Lesson
The post office is nearly bankrupt, the cost cutting is not working. We are in danger of losing a service that is vital to many small businesses. So while other business blogs are looking at this situation and wondering what went wrong, I’m asking “what can we learn?” The postal situation is not unique and what it highlights is how the wrong type of organizational culture can … [Read more...]
The Cost of Business
In our current situation many companies are cackling about how much money they have saving on services and are doing their fair share to keep pushing prices down. On the surface this savings looks good to many companies, but as soon as the economy turns around these services are going to go back to the increased costs they deserve and then what? Well in my years I have observed … [Read more...]
You Are What You Say You Are….
Leadership is an elusive quality and few people ever really get it, but as the figurehead of a company you are supposed to know what it means to be a leader and a motivator even if it wasn’t taught to you. In my industry I see a lot of individuals who were really good at their chosen profession and that skill got them thrust into the management arena. Leadership is an elusive … [Read more...]