In our work as consultants to various businesses, we have witnessed what we hope isn’t a growing trend but rather a neglected area of leadership practice: the infrequency of formal company addresses or town halls. From the leader’s perspective, this makes sense. We hear, “They already know what we do and why we do it,”… Read more »
Business Management Blog
Giving Staff Appreciation
It’s not always easy to find ready-made, hospitable, seasoned service people. Is good help hard to find or can you take anyone and make them great? Small business leaders often side with the former, but best practices repeatedly prove the latter. Availability of motivated, talented workers in the labour pool can appear to be cyclical…. Read more »
Key Supplier Attributes
“We offer the highest quality, the best service, and the lowest price. You can have any two you want.” – Unknown Salesperson There are many attributes prospects are looking for from their supplier and the salespeople who say “they all just want the cheapest one” is doing your company a disservice. Describing your prospects’ possible… Read more »
Business Planning
A client asked me this week, “What are the top five things you would recommend we do differently to really improve our business?” Not that this year was bad¸ but they knew they were capable of so much more.
3 Checklists for Managing Projects
Outsiders have little appreciation for how difficult it is to profitably grow your business. The more time you spend in the office bringing in the next project or managing the staff, the further removed you are from wearing a tool belt in the field. This results in a gap in oversight and a greater challenge to… Read more »
3 Marketing Best Practices
Similarly published in Business in Vancouver: Marketing Best Practices BIV – Oct 19, 2010 Over three consecutive days last week, I was Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. I met with a different client each day and observed each one of them try to ignore the same marketing best practices in their strategic planning sessions. The… Read more »
Upfront Contracts
Is it possible to change the behavior of Pete the Promiser? You know Pete. He’s the guy that tells you he’ll get the job done by a certain deadline but never does. He doesn’t warn you that he’s going to be late. He doesn’t even realize he didn’t do it until you ask him for it. And when you do, he’s got an excuse. If you point out the excuse is a lame one, he’ll either get angry at you (the best defense is a good offence) or he’ll take full responsibility “Yes, my bad. I’m so sorry.” Then he’ll turn around and do the same darn thing next week.
Getting Good or Avoiding the Bad
“Prospect Theory” was first published in 1979 by Kahneman and Tversky, and though many would think it was about finding new business, it is instead, a theory that looks at how people make choices between alternatives. The purpose of this article is to explore how people make choices and how you can apply this knowledge in your pursuit of persuading people, whether they are your clients, your staff or your manager.
Do You Know Your Business Terminology?
Recently, at a fundraising luncheon for the Minerva Foundation, I was seated next to a woman who sold regalia. “Do you know what that is?” she asked. “Yes, of course,” the words jumping from my mouth before I had the chance to think. It sounded familiar. “What is it then?” she asked. “It has something to do with the flags ships fly that represent letters.” I smiled confidently until she clipped me with a terse, “No.”
The Five Steps to Prepare for Succession
What triggers a small business owner to surrender control of their company, either by transferring leadership or ownership or both? Overwhelmingly, the circumstances surrounding succession in a business are predicated by one of two external factors.