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| Planning a strategic direction
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Now Available: Click on the above book cover to order your
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3 Reasons
You Must Use Social Media Now!
Check out our latest podcast with the three reasons you
must consider social media: Click Here! and listen
to my TAB colleage Laura Ali’s powerful take on what social media can
do for you now.
Here is how you
can interact more with us using social media:
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Press
Releases in a Down Economy
Even with a declining economy, it is important to keep
your company name and brand in front of customers and prospects. This can
be done with next to no advertising dollars, if you invest in public
relations. Make sure any company news, especially upbeat features, is sent
in press releases to local, regional or national publications. Editors are
always looking for content—especially if you include graphics or
photographs. Contact your local radio and television media with
interesting ideas—such as what you are doing during the downturn to
maintain or increase your market share, what you are doing to expand or
maintain employment levels or how you are contributing to your community.
Then, any published material, news spots or radio programs can be
forwarded to your customers, added to your Web site or sent to new
prospects.
Norine Carlson-Weber, Alpha Source Inc., Milwaukee, WI
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Clearly
Communicate with Your Clients
It is not enough to sell clients on the benefits of doing
business with you—you must also collect your money. We take
the time to explain everything we will do for them and rarely explain their
required performance and expectations! Make it clear to your clients after
the account is sold that each of us has a performance responsibility.
Their responsibility is to pay for the services on time (and any
other requirement you may have)! Communicate the rules upfront with your
clients to guarantee a great relationship. If the client doesn’t
completely understand and agree with the responsibilities of each party at
the beginning of your relationship, then it will be very difficult to
overcome later. You get what you tolerate—communicate—make it
clear up front!
Richard Gaynor, Middleton and Company, Newton,
NJ |
A New
Marketing Frontier—Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is no longer for kids. Combat the
recession and return to the basics of marketing through relationship
building. People do business with who they know and trust. Social media
marketing is free, easy and effective. Recommended sites include Facebook
and LinkedIn.
Terry Low, Byte Technology, Appleton, WI |
Dealing With
Problem Employees
Problem employee? They are never fun to deal with. When
handling a challenging employee, drop their salary and write down a very
specific plan they have to meet over time (two to three months,
etc.)—and if they don’t achieve the agreed upon goals, let
them go. Don’t be vague, be overt! Lastly, make sure the employee
signs the agreement stating what needs to be done.
Lou Schornack, Criterion Technology Corp.,
Rollinsville, CO |
Scheduling Strategy
Planning Sessions
Schedule your corporate strategy planning sessions during
your slower business periods. There are peak times for some businesses
when it may be necessary for a business owner to work IN his or her
business. Review your sales trends and block off strategic planning time
during the sales “valleys”. One obvious strategy may be to
look at developing business opportunities during these
“valleys” to even out cash flow.
TAB Winnipeg Board, Winnipeg, MB |
Difficult Layoff
Decision
I took the collective advice from my TAB Board and made a
difficult decision regarding layoffs. I made the decision without
including my GM as I thought it was important to do it without his input.
I talked with each employee and asked them the following six questions:
- Do you understand the current state of the company?
Last year’s profit/loss? This year’s profit/loss?
- Is there anyone you feel this company does not need?
- Do you feel the CEO pulls his own weight?
- Do you feel the GM pulls his own weight?
- Do you feel “safe” working here?
- Is there one thing you can do to help this company
move forward?
I asked questions two and three to discern if the
employees felt management was taking a free ride or if they noticed that
management was working every possible angle to improve the company. I
asked question five to discern if the employee felt they were
irreplaceable—I received mixed answers on this. I asked question six
to hold them accountable for a commitment to make one improvement to help
the company—some employees tried to give multiple answers but I
refused to allow more than one. Overall, I decided to keep everyone and
reduce payroll by 20 percent and explained that it would be restored as
quickly as possible once we were profitable again. I offered 50 percent of
the net income to the staff based on a board member’s
recommendation. To date, no one has resigned and it appears as though
everyone will remain and half of the staff has signed and returned a
document indicating they have agreed to the salary reductions—I
expect the others to return the document as well.
Matt Ward, Central Mass Web Design Inc., Gardner, MA
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Quick
Tips
Manage Distractions
When focus is critical, such as detailed numerical
analysis or accuracy of data entry, interruptions break your concentration
and cause you to lose momentum. Maintaining productivity in our office was
a huge challenge, so to solve the problem we implemented
“roundups”—short 15-minute meetings held twice per day
allowing employees to share saved up issues or requests. The time in
between these meetings is the “quiet zone” where, short of an
emergency, much more work gets done. This has greatly improved the
dynamics.
Jay Cowan, RiverCross Partners, Richmond,
VA
Easy Access to Financial Records
We recently purchased a new building and are in the
process of seeking loan options. We were constantly making copies of our
financials and tax records that were repeatedly requested so we scanned
our financials into a PDF file format to save huge amounts of time. If
security is an issue, you can even encrypt the files. Now, we scan our tax
documents annually so we have them available instantly.
Jay Cowan, RiverCross Partners, Richmond, VA
Free Films for Sales Meetings
I recently began using free movie clips from www.simpletruths.com to add variation and
deliver strong and inspirational messages during my weekly sales meetings.
The team has enjoyed these and the cost (free)—is perfect.
Tom Richter, CT Financial Network LLC, Murray,
UT
Understanding the Effect of Budget
Cuts
If you’re making budgetary cuts due to the current
financial environment, don’t forget to take notes. When things are
good, you can review these notes to learn what items can painlessly be
removed and increase profits and what should be left alone.
Matt Hanner, Carmel Building and Design, Carmel,
CA
Planning for Business Sale
When beginning the process of developing an exit strategy,
get a business evaluation early. This will help you determine who should
be on your exit team and help develop the dashboard to prepare for the
sale.
Gary Allietta, Bromley Financial Advisory, Grand
Rapids, MI
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ABOUT
THE ALTERNATIVE BOARD®
The Alternative Board® is comprised of members who are
business owners, CEOs or presidents who run businesses in non-competing
fields. During a TAB Board meeting, you receive the benefit
of the collective experience of the board members, who
offer practical solutions to your problems-not theories.
You can learn more about TAB, which has been
helping business owners succeed since 1990, by visiting TheAlternativeBoard.com. |
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