10 Best Marketing Tips for Growth Even on a Tight Budget
Feb. 6, 2012
Like many businesses small or large in this soft economy, you’re probably looking for a competitive edge on a tight budget.
Ignore the hype. Don’t take shortcuts. It isn’t easy to create luck.
A strong Web presence is helpful, but by itself, it doesn’t create or sustain revenue. Make it a goal to create a trusted brand with high visibility on all fronts.
Here are 10 best marketing tips:
- Partner with others for strategic alliance success. And develop centers of influence – people who can refer business to you, such as members of business associations or Rotary clubs.
- Become active in the groups and get face time by serving on boards and volunteering your time. Speak before your member peers at every opportunity. If you’re inexperienced in public speaking, here’s how to get more opportunities as a guest speaker and how to obtain the most profit from speaking opportunities.
- To build trust and loyal customers, look for opportunities to align with a charity. Whenever possible, use cause-related marketing. Why? Cause-related marketing can increase sales by double digits.
- Capitalize on your customers’ environmental concerns by branding and selling your biz as green.
- If you have good writing skills, go to your local media outlets and offer to write articles of interest to their readers. If you need more tips, here are the five best practices in thought-leadership Web publishing and 25 best practices for better business writing. Negotiate a link from your writing to your Web site. Links from authoritative media sites with a good page ranking will boost your site’s prominence.
- Do you need PR, but don’t have a budget? Here’s how to leverage the news media.
- Launch a blog on your Web site. For popularity, be sure to implement search engine optimization for a No.1 rated blog.
- Prospect and make cost-effective sales contacts. Here are eight tips for cold calling by e-mail and telephone.
- Review your online presence and use best practices to optimize your brand and manage your Web reputation.
- Use Linked, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook – and the key steps to make your social media work.
Oh, and a word about good will – stay on the high road. Don’t give away your power by speaking ill of your competitors in your marketing.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are more resources:
Checklist: 19 Quick Marketing Tips for New Entrepreneurs
Overview: Marketing Plan Essentials for Best Results
Understanding the Marriage of Technology and Human Behavior
11 Sales Strategies to Outsell Your Big Competitors
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
-Robert Collier
_________
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Internet Criminals to Pose Bigger Threat than Terrorists – FBI
Feb. 4, 2012
The U.S. government along with state and local agencies, businesses and consumers should all heed ominous testimony before Congress. FBI Director Robert Mueller warned “the cyber threat will equal or surpass the threat from counter terrorism in the foreseeable future.”
That was his message to U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence last week in discussing the importance of the Internet.
“The theft of intellectual property, the theft of research and development, the theft of the plans and programs of a corporation for the future, of all which are vulnerable to being exploited by attackers,” Mr. Mueller testified.
Mr. Mueller warned it’s imperative for the FBI and federal government to get more proficient in analyzing, gathering and sharing information. He also requested appropriate legislation.
Indeed, we see proof of his admonition in news headlines almost daily, which has prompted countless Biz Coach columns about cyber attacks with tips for Internet security.
The most-read Biz Coach topic of all time quoted Dr. Stan Stahl, a nationally recognized security expert, in using Starbucks’ WIFI? Security pro issues warning and security checklist. Also highly read is our mobile-banking warnings about security prove prophetic.
“In the last several weeks, we’ve seen successful distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against banks, governments, law enforcement and the entertainment industry,” said Dr. Stah in Los Angeles.
Don’t forget about healthcare. It’s vital to understand why many healthcare workers are responsible for an alarming trend: Medical ID theft. Here’s a lesson about passwords after the theft of 16,000+ UCLA patient records.
“We’ve seen Israeli and Palestinian cyber-vigilantes launch DDoS attacks against each other’s web sites,” he explained.
“What happens when radical organizations discover they can launch a DDoS attack against their enemies?” he asked. “We should not be surprised to see the Internet become a battleground in America’s culture wars.”
Key questions
Dr. Stahl recommends that all organizations answer four key questions:
- Are we gathering the information we need to understand our cyber threat and the quality of our cyber defenses?
- Are we effectively analyzing this information, using it to better secure our information?
- Are we sharing it with the necessary parties?
- In particular, is management getting the information they need to proactively manage information risk?
“One highly critical defensive measure, for example, is to rigorously keep software patched,” he added. One of the easiest ways for a cyber criminal to take control of a computer is to exploit a vulnerability in unpatched software.”
Dr. Stahl’s firm, Citadel Information Group, is regularly asked to help businesses.
“Patching needs to be on the weekly must-do list of every IT department and IT vendor,” he explained. “Yet, when we assess the patch levels of organizations, we are not surprised to often see more than 100 unpatched vulnerabilities on desktops.”
Questions for IT departments
To information technology departments, he poses these five questions:
- Does IT gather vulnerability information?
- Do they analyze it, taking appropriate action to keep vulnerabilities to a minimum?
- Is it shared with senior management?
- Does senior management know that IT must patch vulnerabilities to comply with laws like HIPAA HITECH or contractual obligations like the payment card industry’s data security standard?
- Does senior management regularly monitor “weekly vulnerability trends?”
“Human nature being what it is, cyber crime and hacktivism will likely get worse before things get better,” he concluded. “While we can hope to avoid cybergeddon, we also have to remember that hope is not a strategy.”
Amen. You can keep yourself updated by subscribing to Dr. Stahl’s Weekend Patch and Vulnerability Report.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are more Internet security resource links:
Cyber Security: Is Your Business Prepared with Precautions and Response Philosophy?
5 Safety Measures to Thwart Mounting Social-Network Attacks
Security Precautions to Take Following Citibank’s Second Reported Online Breach
“Security is, I would say, our top priority because for all the exciting things you will be able to do with computers…organizing your lives, staying in touch with people, being creative…if we don’t solve these security problems, then people will hold back. Businesses will be afraid to put their critical information on it because it will be exposed.”
-Bill Gates
_________
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
SEO: Strategic Primer for a No.1 Rated Blog
For a popular blog, you must understand the process — important basics in search engine optimization (SEO). If you’ve been blogging for awhile, you know success doesn’t keep come automatically. SEO is arduous work.
You must have a strategic blogging goal. Is it to promote your business or e-commerce? A consultancy? Is it an advertising business model?
Whatever you decide, there are certain SEO tips to keep in mind.
They include:
Keywords. Decide your keyword niche, and in what categories you want to be found. Pay special attention to key words, as they are the first step in determining whether you are successful. If properly implemented in search engine optimization, they will help determine when your site appears when users are looking for content. Insert them throughout your text, but don’t go overboard. Use 10 or fewer key words for each topic.
Page headers and titles. The words you use in page headers and titles will be the first read by the spiders and users of your site. So, first impressions are important in describing the value of your pages. Short action verbs should be included.
Bots and spiders. Spiders are important to your success because they crawl your site to view your content and collect data. The spiders determine what pages appear on search engines when users are surfing for a topic.
Ostensibly, the most-sophisticated is Googlebot, which looks for your new and updated pages. Google uses an algorithmic process.
It’s helpful to understand Google’s reasoning for best Web site rankings and how to be optimized for Bing (in some ways, my sense is that bing is more logical). If time constraints prevent you from mastering both, focus on Google because of its 66-percent market-share dominance. If you’re successful on Google, chances are you rank well on Bing and Yahoo. Above all, quality of content rules – Google speaks out about frequency vs. value.
Sitemap. You can improve your odds for success with a Sitemap, which is a list of pages on your site. That’s to insure Googlebot and other spiders can detect your links on pages.
Google says Sitemaps support your cause, if:
- Your site has dynamic content.
- Your site has pages that aren’t easily discovered by Googlebot during the crawl process—for example, pages featuring rich AJAX or images.
- Your site is new and has few links to it. (Googlebot crawls the web by following links from one page to another, so if your site isn’t well linked, it may be hard for us to discover it.)
- Your site has a large archive of content pages that are not well linked to each other, or are not linked at all.
Images. Many people believe images are helpful to make a site interesting to users. That’s true. But they can’t also hurt you, if they’re not inserted properly. You see, spiders can’t detect images. Spiders can read a text description on your images, if you insert an ALT tag.
Flash pages are hip and attract users, but they serve no purpose in maximizing the impact of crawling spiders.
Videos are good. As you might expect, videos continue to surge in popularity.
Format. Keep your site’s format simple. Make sure it downloads fast, keep in mind Google’s continuing quest to increase page speeds because in SEO, your site’s download speed matters to Google. Update content frequently. But don’t insert multiple topics on a page; instead insert links to other pages. Links from one page to others helps your time-spent-viewing. The longer you keep a user on your site, the better off you’ll be.
It’s preferable to make the blog part of your Web site – don’t separate the two. Otherwise, you’ll have to work twice as hard to make sure both rank well. Further, search engines don’t like even the appearance of duplication.
Links. With one caveat, encourage other sites to link to yours. However, make certain the inbound links have a higher Google page rank than your site. If you can persuade a bonafide reporter to insert a link to your site from an authoritative media site – congratulations. If you need tips, here’s how to leverage the news media.
Another strategy is to submit press releases to online press release firms. Some are free, but again check their Google page rank. Quality of links is paramount. Always avoid weak links to you.
Minimize the number of your outbound links. Your site will be penalized.
Social Media. If you want a strong business brand, leverage these social mediums: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
Bear in mind these tips aren’t all-inclusive. But if you put them to use, you’re on your way. Good luck.
From the Coach’s Corner, note achieving strong results on Google is now easier with social networking. Here are 25 best practices for better business writing.
“…the time has come to ask yourselves does your blog suck … and what are you doing to change it?”
- Michael Gray
_________
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Insights for Restaurant Owners: Keeping Good Employees, Profits
If you, as a restaurant owner, have trouble keeping talented employees, consider insights from a report on a Sacramento, California TV station. It will also help you stay in business.
The headline, “Servers Say Groupon Leads to Smaller Tips,” on Jan. 25, 2012 is enlightening. The KXTL-TV report cites numerous comments on YCombinator.
It seems restaurant employees across the nation are unhappy about the small tips they get from customers who use discounted Groupon coupons. Groupon has about 150 million subscribers.
Consumers get coupons from Groupon for discounts. The rub is that restaurant customers are tipping on the 50 percent discounted price, not the regular menu price.
What’s worse, the article states: “The State Restaurant Association tells FOX40 that with the stressed economy, business owners are finding it hard to keep giving such big discounts.”
Indeed, the report confirms informaiton in a Biz Coach column last year: Daily Deal Sites and Pricing Principles – What’s Sustainable and What Isn’t.
The column cited research by Rice University that shows many restaurants find it impossible to be profitable by partnering with Groupon and other daily deal sites.
I wrote:
“The study caught my eye because this business portal has long maintained it’s dangerous to sell products at the cheapest price in the marketplace vis-à-vis focusing on value and customer service. (See What are the Secrets for Success from Advertising?)
“Companies that focus solely on price attract the smallest segment of consumers – 18 percent – the least-desirable customers who make buying decisions solely on price. Such consumers are not loyal. Additionally, they’re the biggest complainers and more likely to return products.”
The warning is still valid.
Listen to your employees – here’s how and why to partner with your employees. Consider eight simple strategies to give you pricing power.
From the Coach’s Corner, for business success in marketing, here are related resource links:
Fast-Food Restaurateur Shares Secrets for Success
Tips To Get Strong Results From Your Marketing Plan
Fast, Easy Ways to Create Buzz
Marketing Essentials on a Shoestring Budget
“Incentives are not strategy, they are tactics. Defensive measures.”
-Carlos Ghosn
_______
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Will State Lawmakers Heed New SBA Data, Small Business Concerns?
Jan. 26, 2012
There’s more evidence that small business plays a pivotal role in creating jobs in Washington and other states, according to the Office of Advocacy in the Small Business Administration (SBA). The Office of Advocacy released small business data for each of the 50 states.
SBA believes the new data is “an invaluable resource for small businesses, legislators, academics, government officials, and policymakers in each state.”
Why?
“Small businesses are the foundation of economic growth in Washington and in our nation” said Dr. Winslow Sargeant, Chief Counsel for Advocacy. “By supporting policies that promote innovation and entrepreneurship, we help small businesses tackle these challenging economic times. These statistics are a resource for a path to economic growth.”
As for Washington state, the report explains “small business employment; business starts and closings; bank lending; business ownership by minorities, women, and veterans; and firm and employment change by major industry and firm size.”
Salient data about small business:
- There were 532,162 small businesses in Washington in 2009. Of these, 142,854 were employers and they accounted for 53.3 percent of private sector jobs in the state. Small firms made up 98.1 percent of the state’s employers.
- Throughout 2010, the number of opening establishments was lower than closing establishments and the net employment change from this turnover was negative.
- Washington’s real gross state product increased 0.7 percent and private-sector employment decreased 1.8 percent in 2010. By comparison, real GDP in the United States decreased 1.3 percent and private sector employment declined by 0.8 percent.
- Self-employment in Washington surged over the last decade. Female self-employment fared the best compared with other demographic groups during the decade.
To promote entrepreneurship, this week the Washington Policy Center sent state lawmakers in the 2012 legislative session these recommendations:
- Revisit the voluntary settlement agreement as passed by the state Senate in 2011 – $1.2 billion
- Reform the displaced worker retraining program
- Simplify sales taxes by using an ‘origin based’ tax (as opposed to a ‘destination based’ tax) and creating a flat rate for out-of-state businesses
- Review regulations to ensure that Washington rules don’t exceed federal regulations
- Enact Tort Reform
- Do no harm in transportation policy – do not reduce road lane capacity
- Do not follow Seattle in enacting statewide paid sick leave
In addition, Gov. Gregoire suggested her strategies to aid small business — business and occupation tax relief.
How has the Legislature responded? Lawmakers have ignored their $1.5 budget-deficit crisis.
Instead, lawmakers are considering other matters – mandating paid sick leave and safe leave, banning plastic bags, abolishing the death penalty and gay marriage.
When will Washington’s Legislature demonstrate wisdom?
From the Coach’s Corner, also read:
WPC Hits Target, but Will Washington State Legislature?
Washington: A Balanced Budget Is No Longer Enough
Does the Federal Reserve Understand Small Business?
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
_______
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
CES: Best Business Strategies to Get Tech Funding
Jan. 24, 2012
If you have a tech startup looking for funds, you already know the competition is intense. But there are strategies that will help you to get funded. Investors revealed their preferences for funding technology firms at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
On her blog, the chair of the CES venture capital panel, Joey Tamer, writes “each early stage fund planned to invest in a Series A for four or five new early stage companies during this year.”
When she’s not chairing venture panels, Ms. Tamer is an outstanding Los Angeles-based strategic consultant to technology and media (www.joeytamer.com).
“In the case of Jerusalem Venture Partners, Yoav Tzruya reported that this number represents no more than 1 percent of the 600 companies JVP reviews each year for its early stage fund,” says Ms. Tamer.
“Kevin Spain of Emergence Capital which has a focus on B2B applications, and Chris Petrovic of GameStop Digital which is a strategic investor/acquirer of game companies, as well as Habib Kairouz of Rho Capital agreed with the plan for four to five new deals this year,” she adds.
Improved environment
“We are in a boom period again, this time for the number of early stage companies in play in the market,” Ms. Tamer explains. “The continuing trend that allows for new technologies and applications to be built with many off-the-shelf tools, using world-wide technical expertise, for much less capital, has created many new companies competing for the funding resources available.
“The new trend of incubating companies in accelerators has added some seed capital to these concept-companies to get them through their initial product development,” she says. “But then these companies need to get some traction in the market, hopefully to significant revenue, before they can hope to move from seed capital to Series A.”
Optional strategies
Ms. Tamer indicates you have options to consider if you can’t get from seed to Series A or from Series A to Series B.
“Early stage companies not attracting that critical Series A or Series B funding should consider connecting strategically or through acquisition or merger with other similar-stage companies to create a stronger offering for funding,” she advises. “Aligning with other early companies that would enhance your market position or extend your product offerings or brand, you might attract that essential next stage of funding.”
She explains a developing trend.
“Kevin Spain added a new point, that he sees a strong emerging trend in B2B and enterprise applications using the new technologies that are mostly focused on the consumer market now,” she writes. “He advised companies to look for those B2B market opportunities for their current B2C products and applications. A doubling of your target markets, which rise and fall under different economic conditions, may present a strong offering to investors.”
She explains the motivation of two investors.
“Scott English from Hearst and Chris Petrovic of GameStop approach their investments as strategic additions to their portfolios, rather than as pure venture investments –even though each has a different priority for these investments,” she explains.
“The first point made was to conduct your due diligence about how strategic investors value their target companies,” Ms. Tamer says. “Hearst, for example, is a later stage investor focused on financial ROI to Hearst first, and strategic value to the portfolio second. GameStop, focused on early stage game companies, values its acquisition targets first as an operational addition to its portfolio plan (does the company add to GameStop’s infrastructure, product mix, learning about new markets, or strategy) before financial and ROI considerations.”
She explains some lessons:
- Do your homework about your company’s “fit” with what an investment group might be seeking.
- Talk with other companies in the investor’s portfolio.
- Narrow down your list and your efforts to those investors that prefer your company’s stage, market sector, and your possible enhancement of their portfolio’s current companies.
- Some strategic and corporate investors function very much like venture capitalists, and others have different priorities. So, after your due diligence, and as you enter discussions, read the deal’s restrictions and the detailed legal conditions before negotiating or accepting any investment.
Critical factors to help you win
“Norm Fogelsong of Institutional Venture Partners, a later-stage venture fund, insisted that your company’s vision must be big, very big, to attract the rounds of capital needed to become a major player,” she points out.
“The panelists agreed that they are very focused on execution, in particular execution on market penetration,” Ms. Tamer advises. “After you have been funded on your product’s unique value, it is time to turn your attention to your market, especially your customer acquisition and retention strategies, tactics and results.”
She provides another insight: “Yoav related that he looked for CEOs with deep market savvy, a founder who knows his or her product and its market realities, and has a strong go-to-market strategy.”
Ms. Tamer shares the insights of Sharon Wienbar of Scale Venture Partners, a later stage investor, who wants to minimize risk three ways:
- Proof of market responsiveness: Does your customer commit to your vision of your product’s value, price and use?
- A business model that prioritizes customer acquisition and retention: Do you have a plan that acquires each new customer quickly and for less and less cost of acquisition?
- Compelling metrics: are your projections for market penetration, growth and profitability backed up by proven metrics?
“So, amid the growing competition for capital we are seeing this year, particularly in the consumer market, investors’ focus seems to move quickly from unique technologies and applications to strong execution,” concludes Ms. Tamer. “Early stage companies need strategies to present compelling offerings to investors, and an increasing focus on market execution that leads to growing a big company and taking significant market share.”
Hope you enjoyed these insights. As usual, Ms. Tamer speaks and writes with authority.
(Note: I’m very familiar with Ms. Tamer’s expertise. She is a fellow member of Consultants West, www.consultantswest.com, a roundtable of veteran consultants in the Los Angeles area.)
From the Coach’s Corner, here are more of Ms. Tamer’s valuable insights:
How To Get More Opportunities As A Guest Speaker
How To Obtain The Most Profit From Speaking Opportunities
6 Values for Financial Protection
Options to Navigate This Marketplace Bedlam
What Should You Divulge When Asking for Investment Capital?
Eight Strategies to Consider Before Starting A Tech Business
What No One Tells You about Raising Investment Capital
“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
-Walt Disney
_________
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
RIM Provides 9 Lessons in Best Turnaround Strategies
Jan. 23, 2012
RIM, Research in Motion, needs more than just advertising and marketing strategies. Companies – from big to small – can learn business turnaround lessons from RIM’s predicament. RIM has failed to respond to marketplace changes. Despite installing a new CEO, Thorsten Heins, and hiring a vaunted crisis management firm, Sitrick and Company, RIM’s comeback attempt is already off to a poor start.
Analysts, investors and customers are troubled by the headline: “New RIM CEO says drastic change not needed.”
Numerous published reports quoted Mr. Heins: “I don’t think that there is some drastic change needed. We are evolving … but this is not a seismic change.”
To the contrary, my sense is that drastic changes are needed – externally and internally. Unless the company can upgrade its products, solve its product delays, and fix its reputation, the company will go under unless it’s sold. (Note: To be clear, I’m a long-time Blackberry user.)
Yes, RIM has marketing challenges. But as any savvy salesperson knows, it’s difficult to sell a product that’s considered inferior to competitors. Apple’s iPhone and iPad, and Google’s Android operating system have taken market share from RIM, which is why the once-proud company has also lost market value.
So, RIM needs to develop a strategic plan and wisely invest its $1.5 billion in cash. It only has until May 2012 to win applause from Wall Street analysts who sway investor opinions. And telling the world that drastic change isn’t needed is the wrong approach.
RIM’s demise provides these turnaround lessons:
- Understand first things first. It’s important to move current product inventory, but simultaneously make long-term product development a priority. The company needs effective decisions. There are nine dos and don’ts for best decision-making. RIM will earn praise if it can unveil a strategic plan to publicize successful development of software for its Blackberry 10. So strategically plan and implement management strategies for a successful turnaround.
- Develop a strategic marketing plan and align it with sales. Notably, RIM is looking for a new marketing director. Hopefully, innovation will result. Consider tips to get strong marketing plan results, and the 14 reasons why major marketing campaigns fail. And for profits, don’t forget to align marketing with sales.
- Attract visionary product-creation relationships. It’s important to stay atop marketplace volatility. Hire or partner with visionary innovators. RIM lost ground because it didn’t have enough developer support, which opened the door for competitors. Think about nine key questions before you form a partnership and here the nine steps for strategic alliance success.
- Create an iconic product. Innovation is key to be a Ninja innovator. In RIM’s case, the company should create excitement by intensifying its research and development for a blockbuster smartphone – bigger screen, 4G, and better camera.
- In view of the economy, remember Henry Ford’s success. A salient reason Mr. Ford was successful: He manufactured an everyday car – the Model A – a car the average American could afford. Think 1930s for business success. Consumer attitudes are changing. RIM used to own the corporate market and didn’t create a consumer niche. It needs regain corporate market share and its own version of the Model A for the digital phone age.
- Restructure the team. If Mr. Heins really believes drastic change isn’t necessary, he better wake up quickly and reverse course. He should make certain he employs a lot of thought leaders who serve as devils’ advocates. RIM needs to earn marketplace confidence by exploring and communicating all its strategic options. Unfortunately, it appears RIM needs to take the six steps to implement a cultural change for profits.
- Operate profitably. Develop a laser focus on profitability. Understand in any economy, what drives your profit. Here are 10 basic tips — leadership for business profit.
- Continue to focus and promote security. Daily, the media is filled with headlines about identity theft and security. Blackberry is known for its security, but the message has been diluted. Android is successful despite its security weaknesses. After all, who profits from Android’s security issues? Not users.
- Manage your reputation. The key is to create positive images. But RIM is suffering in reputation management. Here are the best practices to optimize your brand and manage your Web reputation. It’s also vital to know how to leverage the news media for publicity, and to implement PR crisis management tips.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are developing trends and solutions for manufacturing success.
“The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.”
– Peter F. Drucker
_________
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
9 Dos and Don’ts for Best Decision-making
Here are nine tips – dos and don’ts for best decision-making. They’re applicable whether you have difficulty making the best decisions, engage in self doubt after making one, or are gun shy because some of your decisions have failed you.
To err is human. Businesspeople have been known to make unproductive decisions even after conducting a SWOT analysis. It’s common to get it wrong to set yourself up for failure. But it’s also possible to avoid being victimized from decision-making.
Whether it’s a career matter or a personal dilemma, here are tips to remember:
Especially, if it’s a major situation, accept it. Realize that if you’re facing an unforeseen dramatic situation, you’ll undergo three emotional stages: 1. Shock and denial. 2. Anger and depression. 3. Understanding and acceptance. Understand that this is the process and it’s important to get to the bottom of the acceptance stage as soon as you can.
Avoid confirmation bias in your research. Confirmation bias is the tendency to look for information that sides with you – either by giving more weight to information that confirms your goal or by ignoring information that shows the evidence cannot be right. Don’t let your ego run amuck.
Take precautions to be objective. Don’t let memories of past events cloud your thinking. Don’t confuse the new issue with others in your past. Seek the truth. Research objective online sites; possibly with this list of informative Web sites.
Keep an open mind. Don’t pre-judge your situation. Don’t let your personal biases or cronyism create inappropriate attachments lead to the wrong outcome. Practice the principle of contrary action in all that you do.
Learn from past mistakes. Take stock, admit mistakes and profit from them. But if you’re a new boss, here are strategies to succeed as a new manager – a checklist.
Get a good mentor. A good mentor is a coach – someone who is a devil’s advocate and sounding board – not a yes-person – for honest feedback.
Foster critical thinking in your organization. A leader has multiple sources of information, including knowledgeable, assertive employees and peers.
Ask the right questions. Make certain they’re open-ended questions.
Don’t be tempted to take shortcuts. Shortcuts will get you where you don’t want to go – but only faster.
Cash flow is the normal concern in the new economy. If financials are a problem, here are step-by-step solutions for a company turnaround.
From the Coach’s Corner, think about 9 key questions before you form a partnership.
“Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.”
-Proverbs 19:20
_________
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Nervous About Your New Boss? Here’s How to Deal with It
Whether you just got a new job or whether your company just assigned a new boss for you, it might seem hard to deal with it. But deal with it you must. Learn to develop poise and to manage your boss.
First, recognize two things: 1. Fear is common. 2. Throughout your career and personal life, you will face adversity.
Second, consider fear to be an acronym, FEAR: “Frantic Effort to Avoid Responsibility.”
Getting a new boss does not constitute a problem. Facing fear actually makes you stronger. It’s an opportunity for growth.
If you have apprehension, you need to understand why. In such situations, the most-common questions to consider: Do you fear change? Do you have authority-figure issues?
The solution to such personal and professional issues is to conduct a personal assessment. On a sheet of paper, create two columns – your strengths and weaknesses. Analyze your attitude and behavior in similar situations whether you had friction, were laid off or fired.
For negative situations, here’s a hint: You’ll learn fear was a factor – a frantic effort to avoid responsibility – to yourself. Understand your role, but don’t focus on the other person’s. Don’t give away your personal power by focusing on the possible motives or behavior of others – even if you feel you were dealing with the reincarnation of Attila the Hun.
At the bottom of the sheet, develop a strategic game plan – strategize how and why you’ll be successful.
You might also develop a list of positive affirmations, such as: “I’m a great employee,” and “I welcome this new boss as an opportunity for growth.” Keep this list handy. Recite these affirmations in front of a mirror. With enough practice and by facing fearful situations, you’ll get stronger and someday will feel compelled to share these tips with someone who will benefit.
Then, implement your strategic plan. Research your new boss. Learn all you can. If you have questions for your boss, create a written list. Include questions about possible likes and dislikes about preferred employee performance. Don’t procrastinate. When you’re ready, ask your boss for a time to chat.
Once you’re working with your new boss, there will be opportunities to contribute to the welfare of the team. The team is only as strong as its weakest member. Don’t be afraid to speak up to solve problems.
But it’s important to remember this concept: It’s not what you say, but it’s how you say it. Even unpopular viewpoints serve as catalysts for your professional and organization success.
Don’t speak with finality with an accusing tone, for example: “This is a problem.”
Instead, ask a non-threatening question, such as: “Is it possible that the problem is…?” In this way, you’ll help open the door to a team discussion.
Oh, and by the way, by doing this you’re on your way to becoming a leader among your peers. Then, you’ll be ready for the eight tips on how to ask your boss for a pay raise. And if you want, you might become management material, too.
So, the place to jumpstart your career development: It’s all about poise in managing your boss.
From the Coach’s Corner, related readings:
Do You Have A Toxic Relationship With Your Boss?
How To Deal With An Oppressive Employer
Top 11 Tips for a Great Elevator Pitch
“If the world operates as one big market, every employee will compete with every person anywhere in the world who is capable of doing the same job. There are lots of them and many of them are hungry.”
-Andy Grove
__________
Terry Corbell is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
Washington: A Balanced Budget Is No Longer Enough
Updated Jan. 11, 2012
A Seattle Times headline is perplexing. True, the headline –“Lawmakers open session, try to close $1B gap” – is a fairly accurate assessment of Washington state’s budget. Not to be laboriously repetitive, but the headline is worrisome. Once again the Legislature faces a budget crisis.
“The economy is the focal point of this year’s legislature as state lawmakers attempt to close a $1.5 billion shortfall in a $34 billion budget at the state capitol in Olympia,” blogged Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business (AWB).
Mr. Brunell is known for his pragmatic reasoning.
“As they deliberate, they must be mindful that Washington is in the midst of an anemic economic recovery which is very fragile,” the AWB president added. “New costs to employers, especially those along Main Street, have a dampening effect on our ability to increase consumer confidence and bring people back to work.”
That’s my sense, too. But the Legislature routinely fails to prioritize first things first. The short-term priority is to balance the 2011-2013 budget. But as a priority, it’s secondary to a bigger quandary – government and budgeting reform, which are needed immediately, as well.
Instead, all budget discussions are about the short-term and relatively insignificant issues grab a disproportionate amount of attention.
Gov. Gregoire wants to focus on a new $3.6 billion transportation package, gay marriage, shorten the school year, abolish social services, release some prisoners before the sentences expire, and increase the state’s sales tax. House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, also says same-sex marriage is a top priority.
A significant number of citizens wants to legalize marijuana. Some lawmakers want a statewide ban on plastic grocery bags.
Most of us in business agree education is a priority. But increasing taxes even for education isn’t productive as long as government/budgeting reform is ignored as a priority.
In addition to Mr. Brunell, another thoughtful pragmatist is Jason Mercier. Mr. Mercier is director of the Center for Government Reform of the Washington Policy Center.
Worth consideration is Mr. Mercier’s list of recommended reforms:
- Enact a constitutional tax and spending limit (with two-thirds requirement to raise taxes) modeled after the original 1993 I-601 formula.
- Remove as many of the restrictions on lawmakers’ ability to set spending priorities as possible (collective bargaining restrictions on compensation, federal mandates, assumption of auto-pilot budgeting on programs).
- Reform competitive contracting. Allow agencies to make performance-based contracting more proactive (create a Competitive Contracting Council).
- Provide the governor discretionary authority to cut spending.
- Repeal unaffordable programs instead of suspending them.
- Require at least a 5 percent reserve when adopting the next biennial budget.
- Require updated four-year budget outlooks to be published after each state revenue forecast or budget adoption.
- Require completed fiscal notes before bills can be acted on.
- Phase in a defined-contribution retirement plan that gives state workers benefits that can never be taken away.
Amen. Yes, the Legislature should soberly balance the budget. However, unless the Legislature concomitantly reforms government and the budgeting process, uncertainty will never be alleviated for the state’s businesses and consumers.
From the Coach’s Corner, you might want to consider other public policy columns.
“There is an important sense in which government is distinctive from administration. One is perpetual, the other is temporary and changeable. A man may be loyal to his government and yet oppose the particular principles and methods of administration.”
-Abraham Lincoln
_______
Columnist Terry Corbell is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services (many are available online). For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule Terry Corbell as a speaker, why don’t you contact him today?
