According to CEO Marissa Mayer, telecommuting costs "speed and quality." But research suggests otherwise.
Kamis, 28 Februari 2013
Dealing With Obamacare: 4 Strategies
Obamacare will soon be the law of the land. What's your strategy? (You do have one, right?)
Photograph by Jonathan Robert Willis
WOULD YOU LIKE TO OPEN A TAB With 85 full- and part-time employees, and no health insurance policy, Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis could face a penalty of $60,000 when new health care regulations take effect in January 2014.
After years of often bitter debate, health care reform--a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act, or if you prefer, Obamacare--will take full effect January 1, 2014. How will it affect your company? Good question. Like Tolstoy's unhappy families, every business will be made unhappy in a different way by the new law.
Or maybe not: For smaller companies, it could mean subsidies that make offering health benefits more affordable. Companies with 50 or more full-time employees, on the other hand, could face a range of penalties for failing to offer affordable coverage.
Most employers will not have to make big changes. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 94 percent of businesses that employ 50 to 199 workers already offer benefits. And a survey by Towers Watson estimates that employers paid an average of 76 percent of employees' total health costs in 2012--above the 60 percent threshold mandated by the ACA.
But no one knows exactly how much Obama care will affect premiums, which surged 97 percent from 2002 to 2012. The law's new mandates--such as requiring insurers to cover preventive care at 100 percent--could drive rates higher. And small employers that buy insurance through the newly created Small Business Health Options Programs, or SHOP exchanges, may find higher costs once they are lumped in with a general-population risk pool.
So we ran the numbers for four companies--of different sizes, in different industries, and in different parts of the country--to see how they plan to deal with all the changes. We've also put together a decision tree to help you learn which mandates, penalties, and incentives you might encounter, as well as a glossary of the ACA's key terms and concepts.
Case Study #1 | Kavaliro Staffing: Bracing for Higher Health Care Bills
Case Study #2 | Oren Elliott Products: This Manufacturer Cries Foul
Case Study #3 | Maiden Media Group: Bring It On. We're Ready
Case Study #4 | Sun King Brewing: A Microbrewery Asks Premiums or Penalties?
Yes, it's a lot to take in. But you really do not have any choice. And remember: The clock is ticking.
Tony Hawk: I Learned to Say 'No'
It's easy to lose focus when you can't turn down a business opportunity. Here's how Tony Hawk learned the value of sticking with what you know.
Dake May
"It's easy to lose focus. Don't." - Tony Hawk, CEO of Tony Hawk Inc.
Tony Hawk knows that when you're hurtling down a halfpipe into an aerial spin, losing focus could get you seriously hurt. After co-founding a skateboard company in 1991, Hawk learned that distractions in the business world can be equally dangerous.
When we first started, I was doing all the marketing and all the promotional materials myself. I was OK at it, but I wasn't the most qualified person. Finally, one of our team members said, "Your ads aren't very good. You're better at skating. Why don't you let me take this over?"
So I took a step back from the business and focused on skating. I stopped being so involved in the day-to-day operations and became more of an adviser. The company was growing, and everything was working out pretty well. But all that changed when we started to move outside of the skate world.
A friend of mine persuaded us to sell his high-end denim line. It sounded like an awesome idea, but we had no idea about the clothing industry. It sucked up our profits for a good two years. After wasting a couple million dollars, we ended up selling the line to another company just to get out of debt.
Not long after that debacle, my partner, Per Welinder, told me he wanted to acquire a surfboard brand, too. After what we'd just been through, I didn't want to do it. I didn't know enough about surfing. Besides, this wasn't why I got into business. I got into it for skateboarding.
Per and I weren't seeing eye to eye, so I offered to buy him out. It took him about a year and a half, but he finally said yes. It was a relief, because I could finally do what was best for skaters again. I started licensing the brand and launched a new line of skateboards that were sold at a mass level in stores like Target and Walmart.
These days, it's easier for me to turn down opportunities that don't fit the brand. I have the confidence to say no.
Age when he turned pro: 14
Start-up capital: $80,000 of the co-founders' personal savings
Total video-game sales: More than $1 billion through a licensing agreement with Activision
Rabu, 27 Februari 2013
5 Hardest Jobs to Fill in 2013
Fast-growing start-ups are waging a war for top talent. But among even the most difficult positions to slot, a few emerge as the most challenging of all.
Peter Mukherjee/Getty
The tech and start-up industries continue to thrive in many cities throughout the United States, especially in San Francisco, Boston, and New York. Although many people are still talking about the so-called Series A funding crunch stalling seed-funded companies that have failed to gain significant traction, it's still an exceptional time to be an entrepreneur.
Why? The barriers to entry for a new tech company are a lot lower than even a few years ago because of the advancements of cloud computing and access to hosting options like Amazon Web Services. And funding is still accessible for great teams and great business ideas.
Plus, there are new financing outlets available through crowdfunding sites. For example, Formlabs, a desktop 3D printing company, raised an initial seed round of capital and then went on to raise $3 million through a crowdfunded Kickstarter campaign.
What does all of this mean for the hiring landscape this year? Competition for top-tier talent continues to be fierce.
It's still ultra-competitive in each of the five areas I outlined last year. But I am noticing five new sectors in which it is getting extremely challenging to recruit, too:
Big Data
While 'big data' is a trendy term that, at this point, probably makes you cringe, it's also a huge reality. The amount of data that is generated in today's world is amazing. Did you know that Facebook processes 2.5 billion pieces of content and more than 500 terabytes of data each day? Yes, each day. Incredible.
Data is great. But unless you have someone who is able to build out an infrastructure to wrestle with--and make sense of--it, data is useless.
I've seen a steady increase in the demand for data scientists who have a passion for solving complex analytical problems as well as experience working with large, multi-faceted data sets.
This demand for data scientists touches almost every industry, and comes up across many functional areas within a company, not just engineering. For example, marketing departments are increasingly seeking data scientists to help develop content strategy.
Mobile
Even before the iPhone, I remember each time I went to a panel discussion, I would hear: "This is the year of mobile." Now, if you're not thinking mobile first, you're likely compromising your growth trajectory already.
The demand for mobile talent is exploding, and the market for people who have mobile experience is ultra-competitive. For example, software engineers who have developed iOS or Android apps are in high demand, as are user-experience experts who know how to create a compelling design on smart phones or tablets.
Enterprise Software
Enterprise is back! The areas of growth are online business-to-business and software-as-a-service products. Need proof? Check out the October IPO of Workday, which sells cloud software for enterprise technologies. The opening day it popped 72 percent and the company's current market cap is almost $8.5 billion. Or Box, a cloud file-sharing company, which raised $125 million last year to bring its total funding to $284 million.
Many companies are actively looking for people who have past experience in these industries, and they're looking across departments: sales, marketing, product management, executive management. What's most desirable? Those who understand how businesses like these scale as well as market trends and customer requirements.
Cloud Computing
These days, you can get your company's online service up and running quickly with Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, or a myriad of other cloud providers. But if your product finds a market fit and it's a runaway success, you'll need in-house expertise to help you scale and manage cloud infrastructure and operations with a cloud host.
As such, I've noticed first-hand more and more companies looking for engineers, architests, and developers who have experience working with Amazon Web Services, or other cloud providers. Experience with Linux systems administration is also in need.
Ruby on Rails
When it comes to web development, it's difficult to find engineers who are qualified across all technologies (PHP, Python, Java, for instance), but it Ruby on Rails talent is frequently the toughest to find. A lot of start-ups choose Ruby on Rails because of the frameworks it offers and the fast speed at which development can be done.
Many developers recognize the need, and are setting up their own web development consulting firms or operating as independent consultants.
6 Ways to Be More Compelling
Everyone has to sell something, most often themselves. Most pitches fall flat or offend. Here are six ways to make your offering compelling.
shutterstock images
Selling something? Teaching something? Applying for a job? Trying to motivate people? If you are attempting any of these tasks, you better be compelling or you are simply wasting other people's time and your own energy. What's worse is you might be blowing great opportunities that may never come around again.
Time and attention is precious in today's information overloaded environment, so it's important to make the most of anytime you might get someone to consider your offering. I didn't want to waste this opportunity with your attention so I teamed up with positioning and branding expert, Mark Levy, who puts the "compel" in compelling.
Levy makes his living behind the scenes helping companies and experts like Marshall Goldmith, David Meerman Scott, and Simon Sinek position their concepts for maximum attraction. Together Levy and I created this 6-tip insider's guide that will help you compel people to action.
1. Find Your Contribution
Levy accurately points out that wanting to be compelling for the sake of being compelling is megalomania. Being compelling needs to be in service of a greater good. How is what you're doing a legitimate contribution to people's lives? When you're clear about why people indisputably need what you offer, the compelling part often takes care of itself. Oh and just because you think people need your offering, doesn't mean they really do need it, or believe they do. Your job is to communicate the need in a way they'll understand and ultimately respond.
2. Tell the Truth
Too many people try to cover up lack of substance with abstract language or sexy props like infographics. Just saying you're different, doesn't actually make you different, and lipstick on a pig still presents as a pig. Levy queries his clients on their current promotional material to get at the compelling core of their offering. "What would I see that's truly different?" He asks. "What have clients said that proves it?" Levy and I agree that being truthful is critical to long term success. As Levy says: "Your offering must be based, not on head-spun concepts or wishful thinking, but on real facts and the five senses." People can sense exaggeration and will become cynical and defensive. Besides, as Levy suggests, genuine benefit is always more compelling than fancy packaging.
3. Surprise and Entertain
Few offerings are short and simple these days. There is real value in offering complex solutions. But long explanations can quickly grow tiresome and boring. The surest way to get people's attention is with surprise. Provide an Aha! moment, an insight that makes your audience see something familiar, but with fresh eyes. A story they haven't yet heard. A fact they hadn't expected but changes their perspective and adds to your argument. Once you have their attention, make it fun, different, and intriguing. Levy starts by asking: "What do you know that most people don't?" The answer needn't be huge and life changing, just something they don't normally hear or read. People love to learn and will follow those who teach them something valuable. Levy's book Accidental Genius is a great tool for getting those amazing lessons out of your head and into theirs.
4. Be Intentional
Compelling communication is naturally strategic. Levy suggests you should decide the purpose of each statement, asking yourself; what do you want your audience to think, feel and do at each line of your pitch? His free e-book on making lists helps you organize your thoughts so you can determine what's important to communicate and how. Once you figure out what to say and how, you must edit, edit, edit. There should be nothing in your pitch that leads the audience away from the desired goal. This will be difficult for those of you who believe that every fact is important and moving. Be brutal and deliberate in your cuts.
5. Communicate Appropriately
Thanks to social media, tons of data is now available to learn about your audience. That means the responsibility to speak to them in an appropriate way is now on you. As Levy points out: "Context is key." The expectations of the audience need to be surpassed perhaps even with shock value, but not in a way that offends them, tarnishes your image, and kills your credibility. Study your audience and listen to your own pitch with their perspective in mind.
6. Rehearse
Being compelling doesn't just have to do with what you say. It's also in how you say it. Once Levy helps clients position their pitch, he makes them rehearse it aloud dozens of times. If they're confident about what they do and how people benefit from it, that confidence should come through in their voice, and the image they project, as well as in their written materials.
Like this post? If so, sign up here and never miss out on Kevin's thoughts and humor.
GitHub: Turning a Nerdy Hobby Into $750 Million Business
One, the maker of the world's most powerful software-development tool is growing at a stunning rate. Two, your next business will be built on it.
Photographs by Robyn Twomey
Fork, Yeah Chris Wanstrath (left) and Tom Preston-Werner. Their little side project is now worth $750 million.
Photographs by Robyn Twomey
The De-Nerding Wanstrath and Preston-Werner want GitHub to be used for collaborations that have nothing to do with software.
It's "Beer:30," and Tom Preston-Werner is standing at a lectern in the vast San Francisco loft where GitHub makes its home. Before him, arrayed on a mashed-up assortment of chairs and couches or topping up a glass of whiskey at the overstocked house bar, are maybe 40 GitHub employees; another 44 around the world are watching a live feed. Preston-Werner has the tired eyes and untended facial hair of a new father, and the low-def biceps of a software engineer. Atop his head sits a mammoth banana-yellow foam-rubber cowboy hat.
The weekly gathering begins with Preston-Werner welcoming a few new employees. The co-founder and CEO then runs through a series of shout-outs to folks who have finished off pieces of code designed either to improve the GitHub site or to make it work better for clients. Then Preston-Werner takes a few minutes to wax philosophical. Taking a page from science writer Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From, he invokes the importance of "serendipitous interactions," the way powerful ideas can emerge from the most random collisions of people, thoughts, and artifacts. He urges his people--many of them recent hires, most of them in their early 30s, tops--to go out and cultivate new experience, to engage with the unknown. To underline his point, Preston-Werner reminds them that out of the investment the company received in July from Andreessen Horowitz, "about half of a percent" was picked up by Ron Conway, known in these parts as the godfather of Silicon Valley. Preston-Werner met Conway at a Y Combinator conference. Serendipity, indeed.
That venture round was worth $100 million. It valued this little five-year-old company at $750 million. As Preston-Werner speaks, between pulls on a beer, his giant foam chapeau jiggles gently.
As nerd endeavors go, GitHub is pretty much at the top of the food chain. What began as a private project with zero commercial intent has since emerged as one of the world's most--if not the most--powerful development tools for software. In just a few years, it has inserted itself at the center of the developer universe by making it easy for coders around the world to work together. If "software is eating the world," as Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen put it not long ago, GitHub is where much of that software gets its teeth.
The Andreessen Horowitz bet was the "biggest investment we've ever made," says Peter Levine, the partner who now sits on GitHub's board. It's not hard to see why the VC firm went for it: GitHub's momentum is astonishing. The company says it took 38 months to host its millionth project on the site; the five millionth came in just two months and 21 days. "I don't know a start-up that's not on GitHub," says Jay Sullivan, VP of products at Mozilla, maker of the Firefox Web browser. In other words, your next company, or parts of it, will be built here.
GitHub started as an effort by Preston-Werner and co-founder Chris Wanstrath to solve what Preston-Werner calls a "pain-in-the-ass problem": using something called Git, a version control system developed by Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. A version control system is a tool that allows multiple coders to work on the same piece of software without losing track of the various changes made in each version or allowing the source code to be corrupted with lots of contradictory fixes. Torvalds built Git in reaction to the centralized structure of previous version control tools, which made it all but impossible for developers to work together independently. And though Torvalds's system "makes collaboration possible, it doesn't make it easy," says Preston-Werner. He sensed that Git could be "this superpowerful thing if only you could understand it."
Selasa, 26 Februari 2013
Better Productivity: 3 Biggest Things Holding You Back
There's one thing every leader needs to have to be great: time management. Struggling? Take a look at what may be hurting your leadership.
Don Carstens/Getty
In my years of coaching founders, owners, and executives, I've found that one key skill is the doorway to just about everything else. Get this one thing right, and everything else follows. Screw it up, and you'll face an uphill battle all the way.
What is this magic skill? In a simpler age, it was called time management. A while back, the terminology changed to productivity management.
Now, in the 24/7 information era, I prefer to call it environment control-- the ability to manage the swirling, chaotic, constant flow of information, decisions and tasks that surround every leader.
Why is this seemingly mechanistic skill so important in the development of leaders? The answer is simple, but hiding in plain sight: I've found that most would-be leaders have the mental, emotional, and physical resources necessary to develop whatever skill or attribute is asked of them.
Whether developing as a leader requires you to work on the art of delegation, or more courageous risk-taking, or becoming more innovative (your mileage will vary), chances are you are quite capable of developing that skill. If you have the time and space to do it.
And there's the kicker: you probably don't have the time and space to do it. You start with good intentions, but the sheer pressure of other commitments and the constant inflow of new demands, new information, prevent you from taking a disciplined, structured approach to building the new skill you need.
Net result, six months later, little has changed. You're still not delegating enough, not thinking strategically enough, not innovating enough. Taking a firm grip on the environment around you--getting to the point where you can control how and where you spend your limited resources--involves radically upending how you approach three key areas of your life:
1. Your Calendar.
If you regularly slough off meetings because you're overbooked, end the day embarrassed because you failed to show for conference calls you were expected on, or spend your time scurrying from one late-running meeting to the next, you're not going to develop as a leader. You'll simply stay on the same hamster-wheel, trapped in a groundhog day of your own making. No excuse: Great leaders have the exact same 24 hours a day that you do. They just manage them better.
2. Your Commitments.
When was the last time you made an inventory of all the outstanding commitments you've made to others? Or even just noted down the commitments you casually added in one day?
Stuck leaders fail to realize that we can't keep making commitments, large and small, without at some point overloading our ability to deliver on those commitments. If you've reached the point where others can't trust you to do what you say you'll do, you have a systemic problem--one that will fatally stall your ability to grow as a leader.
3. Your Communications.
Got 400 unread emails in your inbox? Looking at a reading pile the size of a small library? Do outstanding reports and presentations start yelling for attention every time you open your laptop?
If so, your ability to lead is being compromised--severely compromised--by the pressure to manage.
I wish I had a magician's ability to make the problem of environment control go away overnight. I don't. But I do know that until you fix it, you'll never be the leader you want to be.
There is a solution, but requires hard work (sadly, not a popular concept in much of today's leadership literature). Grab one of the many great resources on environment control, and invest the time needed to install systems and processes that will give you mastery over your calendar, commitments and communications.
Personally, I highly recommend David Allen's classic guide, Getting Things Done (full disclosure, the author is a friend of mine, but I admired and benefited from his book long before we met), but there are many others out there. The issue is not a shortage of resources. The issue is your commitment.
Are you prepared to invest time to learn the only leadership skill you may ever need?
7 Things Confident Leaders Don't Worry About
In a world full of wannabe entrepreneurs and leaders, don't try to be what you're not.
Kevin Jordan/Getty
If you've been around long enough, you begin to realize that success is just as much about what you don't do as what you do. Any CEO, entrepreneur, or venture capitalist will tell you that lack of focus is one of their most insidious enemies.
It's always been true, but the temptation to try to do more or give in to distraction has never been greater than it is today.
Don't get me wrong. Some people do manage to find ways to capitalize on their natural tendency to get easily sidetracked. I should know. I'm one of them. Still, it's a constant battle that I fight to this day. No kidding.
In my experience, and I've worked with hundreds of successful executives and business leaders, there are certain things they simply don't do. I don't know if they're instinctive or cognitive, but I've noted seven things they rarely, if ever, do.
1. What everyone else is doing.
Quite the contrary, they tend to have a natural tendency to question conventional wisdom and challenge the status quo. Fads, cultural norms, groupthink, forget it. They don't worry about their personal brands, personal productivity, or social media.
That is, unless that's their competency, their passion, who they are. I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey manage to update their Facebook and Twitter pages from time to time.
2. Worry about weaknesses.
Maybe they should. For all I know, maybe that's the difference between successful people and really successful people. All I know is, they're usually confident and comfortable with who they are. They're not plagued by the fear and self-doubt that derails so many people. They don't fixate on what they're not. They accept it.
Don't get me wrong. They are human. They have fear. But one of the key reasons why they're so successful at what they do is because it is their passion. They've found their true path. When they're doing what they love, they're comfortable with it, not fearful of it. And it shows in their work.
3. Waste a lot of time.
It's not that they're concerned with productivity or time management. They don't waste a lot of time because they have a vision--a mission. They truly want to spend their lives on whatever it is they love doing, so that's what they do. Period.
They don't indulge activities that so many people waste their lives on. They don't try to get inside other people's heads. They don't ask why things happen or why people do the things they do. That is, unless it's a problem they really want to solve.
They don't wish for things to be different. They make things different.
4. Try to be successful.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying they're not savvy business people. What I am saying is they're usually just trying to accomplish something. Then they're trying to accomplish another thing. Then another. Most successful people are driven to do, to accomplish, to win. It's one thing at a time. Success just comes with the territory.
5. Breathe their own fumes.
There is a downside to being too indoctrinated with your own vision. You can become blinded by it. That's what ultimately takes down lots of people who are initially successful but can't sustain it. They stop asking questions, succumb to their own status quo, stick with flawed ideas.
Highly accomplished people do not surround themselves with yes-men, give in to group think, or accept anything other than the genuine unfiltered truth. Sure, they might bite your head off at first. But that doesn't mean they're not listening. What can I say; that's how it is.
6. Fear competition.
They understand competition, know their competition, are comfortable with competition. They're generally confident in their abilities and courageous in the face of competitive battle.
That said, they're not fools. They're not sure they'll prevail. It's just that, the question doesn't usually enter their minds. They just do what they do best and give it all they've got. After the fact they may look back and see that they've won, but only briefly. By then, they're usually on to the next battle.
7. Try to be what they're not.
Not a single successful executive, VC, entrepreneur, or business owner that I've ever known has ever gotten to where he is by being something he's not. Not a single one. Anyone who tells you to focus on self-promotion instead of doing whatever it is you love to do just doesn't get it.
It sounds so simple, but this is the big takeaway that will set you apart. In a world full of wannabe entrepreneurs and leaders, where everyone's a CEO of their own little world, don't try to be what you're not. Just be you.
Daymond John: Empires Are Built on Relationships, Not Favors
You don't build a brand like FUBU by begging for favors. Daymond John explains how he found partners who believed in him.
Marc Royce
In 1992, Daymond John started selling homemade hats and shirts on the street. Within a few years, he had turned FUBU into a popular clothing line. For John, it all came down to supply and demand. (And being friends with a few rappers didn't hurt, either.)
I started FUBU selling hats and screenprinted T-shirts, but the ones that really got us noticed were our embroidered shirts. I had 10 of them. Not 10 styles of shirts. Just 10 shirts. For the first few years, I put those 10 shirts on rappers to wear in their videos. I'd put one on LL Cool J, take it back, and put it on Method Man and take it back. Because of those videos, people saw the product everywhere, but they couldn't get it. It built up huge demand.
At the time, I really wanted to be in Macy's. That was my Holy Grail. But the big department stores we approached said, "We don't know. We think those clothes are going to attract the wrong type of people into our stores who will steal clothes or get in shootouts."
So, instead, we focused on the mom-and-pop shops--the small chain stores in the middle of the hood. These were the type of places where you go in and the owner says, "This is a great brand! These guys are on fire! You need to wear this!" Those were people we could build an intimate relationship with.
Within a few years, the department stores came around. They found out those mom-and-pop stores were making a lot of money from our products. The first department store we landed was Macy's. The best part was, they supported us. We didn't have to walk around hat in hand. This was something they wanted to do. It's always better to do business with people who respect you. When you go around begging for favors, it doesn't get you far.
Day job while launching FUBU: Waiter at Red Lobster
Start-up capital: $100,000 from a home mortgage
FUBU's peak annual revenue: $350 million
Senin, 25 Februari 2013
College Degree Required. But Why?
A bachelor's degree is now required for jobs that used to be held by high school grads. Could this actually hurt your business?
shutterstock images
There's an idea that the person with a degree is "better" than a person without one. Indeed, The New York Times recently reported on the relatively new phenomenon of companies hiring people with college degrees for jobs that historically didn't require college degrees. Are you doing this in your business?
If so, I have to ask, better for what? Yes, having a four year degree does show a degree of dedication. You have to pick a major, take class after class, write paper after paper and work on dreaded group projects. (Which, in my humble opinion, should be banished off the face of the educational earth unless the professor is willing to act as a proper manager, which most are not.) But, anyway, in theory you learn some things and you demonstrate that you have stick-to-itiveness. This is worth something.
But what? You also have to assume that no one enrolled in college, shelled out fantastic amounts of tuition and studied for hours to memorize the philosophies of 40 different dead people with ambitions of becoming an administrative assistant. No, they had other goals.
So, why are you looking for an administrative assistant among college graduates? This is a challenging role that is best filled by someone who wants that role. That is, someone who is not just biding time while waiting for an analyst spot to open up, or who is trying to earn money before gong to law school. What you want is an expert administrative assistant (who are hard to come by, by the way, which may explain why people are settling--yes settling--for degree holders to do the job).
Now, part of the problem is that hiring managers feel that students with high school diplomas are not as educated as they should be and, are not capable of performing these jobs. They need the maturity and extra knowledge that a four year degree brings. Which means that jobs that used to be reserved for the holder of a bachelor's degree are now given to those with a master's degree. So, in order to get the good job, you now have to shell out more money and spend more time in school.
Are you really getting higher quality employees this way? Or just more educated ones? Is your turnover at an acceptable level, or are you losing people quickly when they land something more in line with why they went to college in the first place? Granted, if you run an accounting firm and need people with CPA certifications, you need to find someone who has the degree and has passed the exam. If you need an engineer, it's likely you won't find someone who can do the work without the degree. (But you might!)
It's very easy to add a degree requirement to a job description, but stop and ask yourself it it's really necessary. And if it is, what degree is necessary? A bachelor's in a specific subject? Or are you only looking for someone who has completed a program--anything from a degree in animal husbandry to zoology will be fine? Does the work require someone with a master's degree? Why? What additional skills did this person gain in this second degree that will help your business?
You should always look to hire the best person for the job. And that may not always mean the person with the most letters after his name. It means hiring the person who is most likely to excel in that job. If possible, you want to hire someone who would be better at that job than you would, yourself. That's why you're hiring someone and not just taking the tasks on yourself.
So when you write that job description, think about the skills needed. Don't give into the trap of only hiring people with certain degrees. It takes longer, of course, to find the best person and not just the person that some university has stamped as acceptable. And, I'm certainly not advising you to not hire people with degrees. Just that you hire the right person, not the right degree.
_23474.JPG)
How to Tell If You're Getting Good Advice
When you hear it, advice is just that, advice. You only know if it's great after the fact. Wouldn't it be great if you knew in advance?
shutterstock images
The father of my college girlfriend once told me that digital electronics--semiconductors, to be specific--was going to be huge. That was in 1978. I had nothing better going on at the time so I went back to school, got a masters degree in electrical engineering, got into the high-tech industry, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Great advice can be priceless. The only problem is, when you hear it, it's just plain advice. You only know if it's great after the fact. Sometimes, as in the case of my college story, a very long time after the fact. Wouldn't it be great if you could tell if the advice you're getting is good or not? Well, you can. There are just certain factors I've learned to pay attention to. Some are logical; others are instinctive.
With that in mind, here's my advice for you. Will it be great? I think so. But, as we both know, only time will tell. Here are five factors that will help you determine if the advice you're getting will turn out to be great. They've never failed me yet.
What's your state of mind? This is an internal factor that has nothing to do with the person you're listening to, but it's a critical one, nevertheless. I've gotten what turned out to be life-changing advice a handful of times. And each time, the best way to describe my state of mind was desperate. I believe that's when you're most receptive and open to ideas, to change. That's when advice speaks to you. That, I believe, is also why necessity is the mother of invention.
Listen to your gut. Intuition may sound like a vague concept, but it can be a powerful tool in decision-making. If you can just be in the moment and focus on what the other person is saying without thinking, without judging or filtering it, you can listen with your feelings. If you can't do that in real time, then try to do it after the fact, when you're alone and it's quiet. Yes, I know it sounds like mystical mumbo jumbo. It's not. It's called mindfulness and it's science.
Consider the source. This is where things get a bit more logical. If the other person has a vested interest in the outcome, especially a financial one, forget it. Don't listen. Ever. Also, if he's not a subject matter expert--and clearly successful at it--forget it. My former girlfriend's father was the chairman of a semiconductor company. He was a successful investor with a nice home, a good family, and a Porsche. So I listened.
Can you corroborate it? Indeed, the chairmen of the physics and graduate electrical engineering departments thought I was making a good move. If you can't corroborate the advice, at least apply some reasoning. Does it follow from reasonable data, assumptions, and observations? That carries a lot of weight. If, on the other hand, you're going to apply your gut instinct on top of somebody else's shoot from the hip advice, then you're likely to reach a random conclusion. Not such a good idea.
Consider the risk. What have you got to lose? Back in 1978 I had a physics degree that was worthless, more or less, and few options. The advice looked and felt solid and there wasn't much of a downside, so I took it. All the arrows pointed in the right direction. When that happens, take the risk. Otherwise, assess it as best you can. If you're young and you have time to recover, I would always err on the side of taking risks. That's good advice, for sure.
Richard Branson: 'Screw it. Just Do It'
At a certain point, ignore the naysayers and just act. That's what Sir Branson did--at age 15.
AFP/Getty Images
Long before Richard Branson launched a record company, a mobile-phone company, an airline, or any of the other 400 or so companies he has created, he was dropping out of school to start a magazine. Fortunately for Branson, he had an understanding father.
Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I had no interest in being a businessman. I was a young man and the Vietnam War was raging, a war I thought never should have been started. A lot of us young people felt very strongly it should be stopped. I thought that maybe by giving us a voice, I could help stop the war. So I set about launching a magazine for young people called Student.
Of course, I didn't have any money. So I worked out of my boarding school, ringing up Coca-Cola and Pepsi and National Westminster Bank, playing them off one another to buy advertising. I had no idea what I was doing, but somehow my enthusiasm managed to land me $6,000 worth of advertising, enough to print 50,000 copies. I wrote my headmaster a note that said, "I'm off! But thank you very much," and I left school to launch the magazine.
A few people tried to talk me out of it. My father was the first. He'd have been an irresponsible father if he hadn't. He drove up to the school to persuade me to continue my studies, and reluctantly, I agreed. He wanted me to be a lawyer, like him. But when he went home, my mother was not happy. She ordered him to turn around and tell me it was OK. On that second visit, he took me on a walk around the garden to lecture me on the perils of what I was doing. At the end, he said, "Look, you know what you want to do at 15; I didn't know what I wanted to do when I was 21. Give it a go, and if it doesn't work out, we'll try to get you a formal education again."
He was a wonderful father. Because, if you have a good idea, 99 percent of people will tell you why it's no good or how it's been done before or why else you're going to fall flat on your face. You've just got to say, "Screw it; just do it" and get on with it. If you fail, pick yourself up and try another one. If you have enough determination, you will succeed more likely than not because of all you learned those times you didn't.
Early funding: 300£ his mother got from selling a necklace she found on a train
Opened first Virgin record shop: 1971
Tickets prepurchased for Virgin Galactic space flights: About 550
Minggu, 24 Februari 2013
Content Your Customers Actually Care About
Offer expertise and knowledge to help customers--don't just sell to them.
Flickr/Getty
Content marketing seems to be all the rage right now, right? But as it turns out, businesses have been using content to give customer-value for over a hundred years. Here's a great example, if you're a Jell-O fan, in 1904 Jell-O door-to-door salesmen would give out their cookbook for free. Jell-O's sales rose like crazy in just a few years. True story.
At my company, VerticalResponse, we have a content marketing team that produces the lion's share of our content whether it be our blog, webinars, free guides or videos that we produce that help small businesses grow. That's cool, but we also have every member of our marketing team, as well as folks from every part of the company contributing. By making content not just a function of one group, or of just the marketing department, we ensure the entire company is lending their expertise and knowledge to help customers, not just to sell to our customers.
1. The Master of Your Domain
What a great Seinfeld episode! But seriously, you and your staff are the masters at what you do, so you should write about it, post it to your social networks, make a PDF that prospects and customers can download and share it with fellow bloggers.
At VR, our domain expert for email deliverability, Kirill, has a depth of knowledge about the ins and outs of how we get email to the inbox second to none. By sharing a blog about the latest developments, he helps our customers have the most up-to-date information so they can create emails that get delivered to inboxes. A win-win.
2. Great Stories From a Conference
If you have anyone on your staff attend a conference or event for employee development, it should be one of their tasks to write down what they learn and publish it to social media or your blog. There's not a better way to show your customers you're up on the latest and greatest on their behalf.
And, whenever someone on our staff attends a conference (Check out what I've published attending the amazing Inc.com conference) we make sure they write about what they've learned through the filter of a small business owner. We include takeaways that apply to our customers. That way, we pay the big bucks to attend events that they might not have the time or money to, and they reap the benefits through our content.
3. Customer Service is Your Ultimate Content Treasure!
If you've got a ton of calls or emails asking the same types of questions over and over, you can craft a great piece of content that answers the questions quickly! At the end of each week, ask your team members what the top 5 "hot buttons" were from the calls and questions they received. Tabulate and answer them in multiple formats: post a blog, send an email marketing campaign and post it to social networks.
Another bonus? We've found that many of the folks that work here at VerticalResponse have personal blogs and are talented writers. While it might not be in their specific job description to contribute content, we've found many of them have actually asked to write for us. How cool is that? When your company is creating useful content in service of your customers, everyone benefits--your company, your employees, and your customers.
Now that's what I call content for the win! How are you using content for your biz?
Did you enjoy this post? If so, sign up for the free VR Buzz weekly newsletter and check out the VerticalResponse Marketing Blog.
Sabtu, 23 Februari 2013
Brian Halligan: 5 Ways to Build Trust Fast
Today faith only goes so far. Earning trust is the sure path to success. Brian Halligan, CEO Of HubSpot, shares five tips for building trust fast.
genvessel/Flickr
All collaboration is built on trust. Whether making sales, building a team, or managing people, without trust productivity falls apart. Often, you'll take action, requiring trust even before it's earned or secured. You might have to buy, transact, hire, or participate, not on trust but on blind faith...at least until that trust is confirmed, or broken.
Best-selling author and HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan knows a lot about building trust fast. With Halligan's company adding nearly a person a day, and growing at a screaming 82 percent annually, he has to build trust among his partners, employees, managers, and customers quickly and efficiently. Without trust, HubSpot, the leader in inbound marketing software, would waste valuable resources on politics and concern.
Together, Halligan and I identified key trust-building insights from HubSpot practices. Whether you are a CEO, salesperson, manager, or team member, we're sure these five tips will help you build trust today:
1. Be Transparent and Consistent
Inspired by the book The Cluetrain Manifesto, Halligan and co-founder Dharmesh Shah dedicated the company to open book management and transparency. Nearly every aspect of financials is shared with employees, investors, and customers alike. As a private company, they're not required to publish financials, but they do. In fact, they're publicly releasing 2012 annual numbers today, which you can see right here. Regular communication is encouraged in an open environment with few walls, and no offices, allowing for constant interaction. No question is off limits at HubSpot company meetings. Everyone's trusted with sensitive information and expected to capitalize on their inclusion by driving the company forward.
Lesson: Share information openly and regularly so people can use it to help. Otherwise they'll assume you're definitely hiding something.
2. Tell True and Relevant Stories
When you meet people, you fill in your own story about them until truth is provided. They, of course, do the same about you. People use often-wrong stereotypes and archetypes to gain much-desired context quickly. HubSpot counteracts this with constant storytelling within the company. In today's meme-dominated world, broadcasting your own real stories of hardship, achievement, success, and failure are important to show patterns of true behavior amongst management, employees, and customers. Co-founder Shah says, "Whether it's right, wrong, or different, it is. And all of us need to be acutely aware of what's going on in our business and be able to talk candidly about our company narrative." Halligan himself takes employees on off-site "Story Walks" to give them insight to HubSpot thinking and culture.
Lesson: Share stories that define how you have dealt with tough situations so people can understand and appreciate your character.
3. Celebrate Individualism
People want to stay in their own comfort zone. Buyers, employees, and managers want to adapt as little as possible when engaging in something new. HubSpot purposefully highlights individual traits among their people. They make the point very quickly that their solutions are adaptable to the way you do business. Internally, they emphasize that people have individual personalities and all are accepted. They often host "Lunch Roulette" where all employees, including senior management, submit their names and are randomly picked to have a company-paid lunch with other HubSpot employees.
Lesson: Let people see who you really are and readily accept them for who they are. Authenticity is the shortest path to trust and the surest way to keep it.
4. Give People a Preview
Uncertainty makes people uncomfortable and drives distrust. People automatically fill in the worst when there are gaps in the upcoming story. The drama of surprise can be fun, but not when stakes are high and people are making critical decisions. Earn trust by giving information as it comes in even when it's unfavorable. People handle the truth better than optimistic projections that don't come true. Halligan not only informs about the present, but shares his intended future tempered with realities of the journey. This way he inspires his team, solicits valuable feedback, and also prepares them for road bumps ahead. Painting a positive but realistic vision lets HubSpot constituents dream and execute with excitement and confidence.
Lesson: Share where you are going and why. Manage expectations about the journey so fear is minimized and participants can help.
5. Prioritize Safe Authority
Trust doesn't exist at the outset because people need to prove themselves trustworthy. Noted credibility and references help, but until people show trust in action you're flying on faith that they will perform as expected. Give people a chance to try something and succeed early. HubSpot does this immediately by letting people determine their own vacations. Seriously, there is no formal policy or guidelines. Employees are told on day one to "Use good judgment" and then given the authority to design when, where, and how long, to optimize for productivity and lifestyle.
Lesson: Give away authority early, in ways that position people to succeed. They will then trust themselves first, opening them to trust you as an ally in their journey.
Like this post? If so, sign up here and never miss out on Kevin's thoughts and humor.
Your Start-up Needs Some Structure
As your company grows you need to think less like an entrepreneur and more like a CEO.
beckstei/Flickr
As entrepreneurs, we inherently resist structure and conventionality. Entrepreneurs succeed in many cases because they break the mold and think about things differently. They build a team that can move in many directions at once and can turn on a dime. This typically means that they lack a formal organization structure and almost always implies that they reinvent their model regularly to suit the needs of the customer.
In a recent article, Growing Like Gangbusters, we outlined three changes that growing companies need to make as they transition from an entrepreneurial start-up to a growth-minded company. First, growth companies need to focus their customer targets, as we outlined in Why Fewer Customers Will Help You Grow Faster. Second, they need to change their leadership style, as we outlined in Difference Between Brute Force & Strategic Growth.
The third key element growing companies will need to transform is a structure and supporting processes. For a small entrepreneurial company, the lack of a formal organizational structure actually helps the team break down barriers and move quickly to capture the highest-value activities. But once a company reaches a certain threshold, a lack of structure becomes a hindrance to further growth.
We've seen this in our own business, and we see it time and again in similar growth businesses. An unstructured approach creates the nimbleness that a small growth company needs to gain new customers and maintain a flexible business model. The larger growth company needs structure to define roles, create clear accountability for results, and ensure that it can scale the business beyond a few customers, locations, or products.
What's the threshold that drives this transition? The answer varies from company to company, but from what we've seen the best opportunity to establish a structure and process is when a company has proven its model and is ready to scale. Structured organizations are inherently bad at reinvention but can excel at growth. You don't want to create an overly structured organization, with lots of processes, until you've determined that your business model is right and can withstand the trials of growth.
True sustainable growth is created by an organization with clear accountability and process. The CEO needs to be able to delegate specific elements of growth and monitor progress. Managing growth through the P&L is like driving while looking in the rear view mirror. The growth process must measure activities that lead to growth and enable frequent course corrections to redirect the business toward sustainable growth.
The structure and process required of a growing company is in some ways the opposite of the entrepreneurial organization. But it's essential in creating a sustainable, growing enterprise.
Send us your learnings and challenges on growing your company. We can be reached at karlandbill@avondalestrategicpartners.com.
Want to Start a Company? Stay as Ignorant as Possible
Forget cramming to learn your new industry inside and out. When you're starting up, ignorance makes you more creative, unique, and effective.
toohotty/Flickr
Maybe ignorance really is bliss. I talk with entrepreneurs all the time who started their businesses without a real understanding of what they were getting into. It sounds crazy, but I actually think it may have been their single greatest asset.
Here's why it pays to know as little as possible.
You're willing to take bigger risks, with bigger rewards.
A little knowledge can make you cautious--and hold you back. So often we're told that something isn't possible, that we won't be successful or that our venture won't work because others have failed. That's daunting. When you go into something new without lots of knowledge about who was there before, you aren't held back by the way it was approached before--by the standard way of doing things. That opens you up to greater possibilities.
When I first started User Insight, many in the research space told me that you "couldn't sell fixed price research and there was no way to turn it into a process"--that it was too risky to approach research that way. But I did it anyway. I turned research into a repeatable process, enabling my company to bid business on a fixed price basis anywhere in the world.
You bring fresh eyes.
If you have no experience in a space, you create new approaches to a problem that others might not have considered. You may bring something from another industry or experience to your current situation that is more appropriate.
I listened a group of entrepreneurs speak at a panel discussion the other night--one of them shared the experience of bringing a product to market. She recalled the moment when she was on the verge of signing off on the purchase of several hundred thousand dollars worth of molds for a bottle to hold the product.
First, she decided to bring everyone involved in the product's manufacturing process into one room and have them talk her through it, from inception to delivery in the consumer's hands. During this meeting, where she openly admitted to being the least knowledgeable person in the room, they identified several breakpoints in the process that would require major modifications to the molds she was ordering. This half-day meeting saved her start-up hundreds of thousands of dollars in mistakes.
The amazing thing--these industry experts, each with about 25 years of experience, said it was the first such meeting they had ever attended that took such a holistic look at the process for a product. All because she was ignorant.
You ask stupid questions.
Entrepreneurs who are new to a space ask questions to try to understand it. By having this outsider view, they can see gaps and opportunities others "on the inside" don't see. As newbies, they have permission to ask questions like "why do you do it that way?" and, "have you ever thought of doing it this way?"
If you have a staff, encourage them to ask the stupid questions when they first start with your company. If the person answering the question can't provide a solid answer with a specific reason, something might be broken: It might be a process or procedure to reconsider. Those so-called stupid questions may end up lending you the unique opportunity to be creative and solve a problem in a new and market-changing way.
Jumat, 22 Februari 2013
How Great Leaders Cultivate Teams
Your greatness isn't enough. If you want your company to succeed, you need a fantastic team.
Chabruken/Getty
Success in a company usually comes from the top down, starting with a quality leader and moving on down the ranks. Think about Larry Page at Google. Through his company's ups and downs, Page is a fantastic leader, one with a vision, goals, and the drive to push those around him to achieve greatness.
But it doesn't start and stop with leadership. A successful company is built on a healthy ecosystem, which includes a quality leader, the right employees and some inspiration.
First: Set the Tone
Great start-up leaders tend to envision a world that's better than it is today, a world where something--be it education, technology, communication--is more dynamic and enhanced when they're done. At the end of the day, they're evangelists for whatever they're working to improve and are the driving force behind the product and company.
The first quality of a great leader is an understanding of the importance of surrounding themselves with smart people. To be viewed as a great ecosystem, a work environment needs to be a great place for people to come and be nurtured.
If there's one thing I've learned in leadership positions it's that people really can do amazing things when they're inspired. When you find ways to pull that inspiration out of them and really determine what they want, you'll see some truly incredible work.
From my experience, people tend to fail when they aren't inspired. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, said, 'No company, large or small, can succeed over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.'
Next: Nurture Greatness
And if you're thinking money is the ultimate motivator, you're wrong. Greatness comes from passion and from dedication. You can't get truly brilliant things from people just by paying them. You can get bursts of greatness from them, but you need to engage them to answer, "Why am I working on the weekend? Why am I here?" The best leaders understand that they need to inspire their workers but they also recognize that everyone wants something in their career, and it's up to the leader to deliver that to them. When employees recognize their leader is working hard to push them towards their personal career goals, they're even more likely to harness the passion and dedication needed to do amazing work.
The people you surround yourself with need to be fundamentally smart, hard working, and have good judgment. That's the easy part. More difficult, you have to be willing to let them go if they're underperforming. When the founder of my company started the business, there were some smart people working here, but some had very poor judgment. He was quick to let them go.
After all, your company's first hires should drive the vision forward and doing so requires strong judgment. You must be willing to let them go if they're holding your company back.
4 Ways Employees Manipulate You
Use these tactics to thwart four common dirty tricks that employees play on their bosses.
Getty
While most people are well-meaning, there is always a subset who thinks they can get a head by manipulating others to do what they want. Nowhere is this tendency more toxic than in the employee-boss relationship.
I've already written about the ways bosses (foolishly in my view) attempt to manipulate employees rather than inspire them. This post describe the four most common ways that employees try to manipulate a boss, and how a boss can avoid being manipulated.
1. Forcing a Card
When stage magicians have an audience member pick a card, they have numerous ways to ensure that a particular card is picked. This is known in the trade as "forcing a card."
Employees do something similar when they want a boss to make a particular decision. They prepare three alternative approaches to a problem so that it appears to the boss that there's a choice, but in fact only one approach makes any sense.
For example, suppose an employee wants a boss to hire his college friend. He recommends three candidates: 1) his friend, 2) an unqualified person, and 3) an overqualified person.
The Best Defense:
When presented with false alternatives, refuse to accept them. Say something like "I wanted three real alternatives and what you've given me here is one that's viable and two that aren't."
The employee will probably get defensive. If so say: "Be honest: are you trying to force my hand? Because I need some real choices." Your goal is to insert honesty into the relationship while letting the employee know you can't be manipulated.
2. Creative Goldbricking
When employees want to avoid difficult projects or even work in general, they'll often pretend to be so busy that you'd be insane to even consider putting something extra on their over-full agenda.
Such employees sport frazzled expressions, carry around huge stacks of papers, and complain--constantly--about how "stressed" they are. Even so, when you actually look into what they're getting done, it's not all that much.
Some employees, of course, may be spinning their wheels unintentionally, in which case you'll need to help them get out of a rut. But make no mistake, sometimes the "stressed to the max" shtick is only for show.
The Best Defense:
The difference between wheel-spinning and goldbricking is the intent behind the behavior. Since it's impossible for you to read an employee's mind, it's a waste of time to assess intent. Instead, address the behavior.
Tell the employee: "I'm clearing you of all responsibility, starting now." Give that statement a second or two to sink in. Then say: "We will now work on specific tasks that must be completed by a specific date."
Make certain that every task on the list has a concrete end-point, where there's no question whether the task has been accomplished or not. Think "get Acme to buy a product by end of month" rather than "increase customer communications."
3. Hiding the Skeleton
Suppose an employee wants you to remain ignorant of a fact but also doesn't want to be accused of holding back information. In this case, the employee may inform you of the fact without really informing you.
There are two ways to do this. The first is to bury the inconvenient fact near the end (but not AT the end) of a long report or email. Chances are you won't notice it, but the employee can claim you were "told all about it."
The second method is to hide the fact with weasel words and legalese. Example: "Pursuant to the inquiry dated 11/7, the conclusion was that the extirpation resulted from product usage." Translation: "Our product just killed somebody."
The Best Defense:
Whenever you receive a long report that might contain something problematic, click to the end of the document, then click back a few paragraphs. If there's a skeleton hiding in the report, that's where you'll find it.
When confronted with jargon, your best approach is to ask, point blank: "What does this mean in plain language? Please use words of one syllable." Note: this approach is a really fun way to drive corporate lawyers crazy.
In either case, hedge your bet by asking: "Is there anything here that, if I fully understood it, might alter my decision?" Then add: "Because I'm going to hold you accountable if there is."
4. Rat-holing
When employees don't like where a meeting is headed, they may try to change the subject by bringing up an issue that's guaranteed to distract your attention. This is known as "sending the meeting down a rat-hole"
For example, suppose the purpose of your meeting is to review project status, but "Joe" hasn't gotten much done. Rather than take the heat, Joe brings up (or makes up) a rumor that your biggest customer may leave for another vendor.
Suddenly, the project review turns into a planning session to avoid the impending disaster. The ensuing discussion consumes the remainder of the meeting time, thereby keeping the lateness of Joe's project off your radar.
The Best Defense:
Rat-holes only work when you're willing to jump down them. Have an agenda for every meeting and stick to that agenda, so that your meetings stay on course, even if employees surface distracting issues.
Whenever you sense a rat-hole, state that you realize that the issue is important (even if it's not) and then "table" that issue for later discussion. Eventually, employees will realize that, in your case, rat-holing is futile.
Like this post? If so, sign up for the free Sales Source newsletter.
6 Things You Need to Know About Leading a Meeting
If you don't know how to run effective meetings, your business, your organization, and your career are doomed.
Getty
There's nothing worse than a bad meeting. You sit there grinding your teeth wondering why in the world you have to waste your time sitting through something that never should have happened in the first place.
The fact that we've all been there, sometimes weekly or even daily, doesn't make it any less annoying. It doesn't even begin to take the edge off that nagging thought that you could be making so much better use of your time.
But here's the thing. Meetings aren't just an unfortunate fact of business life. They're a hugely important fact of business life. They're how strategies are debated, budgets are vetted, projects are reviewed, and plans are agreed upon. They're how deals are negotiated and how they ultimately get done.
Not only are meetings the most efficient ways to get certain things done, they're the most effective tools for managing teams--if they're done right, that is.
I once calculated that I sat in more than 30,000 meetings during my 30-year career. Every type of meeting you can think of, from executive staff and board meetings to project reviews and strategy sessions. From one-on-ones to all hands operations reviews. From press interviews to customer meetings.
And you know what? I learned a lot about how to make meetings more effective. Here are 7 tips that I guarantee will make a big difference for you and your organization.
Learn this equation. No leader + no documentation + no follow up = waste of time. Every meeting has to have a leader, a stated purpose, a start and end time, and a valid reason for each and every person to be there. The leader documents conclusions, plans, action items, whatever, then follows up.
Do you even know what you're doing? Every leader should know how to run effective meetings, like how to set ground rules for constructive engagement, how to use tools like Parking Lots to take issues offline, and how to bring people to consensus.
Have them in the afternoon. I once read in a Douglas Adams Dilbert book (no, I'm not kidding) that people do their best work in the morning, so you should have meetings in the afternoon. I asked my staff and they agreed unanimously. Turned out to be a great move. Also most people are more relaxed after lunch. Don't ask me why.
Beware the hive mentality. I've worked with companies where executives were double and triple booked in meetings most days and managers were required to have weekly one-on-ones with their boss and staff (and monthly with peers). How in the world do CEOs expects their management teams to get anything done that way?
Lose the hallway meetings. Founders and other start-up executives are often fond of ad-hoc hallway meetings. The problem is that decisions are made without input from key stakeholders. Sometimes that's a smokescreen for passive-aggressive behavior. Other times it results in strategy du jour. Either way, it destroys organizational effectiveness.
Challenge the status quo. If you run a periodic staff meeting, occasionally ask your team what you can do to improve it and help make them more effective. You'll usually get at least one good suggestion. Not only that, but your folks will appreciate it.
Kamis, 21 Februari 2013
7 Ways to Ensure Your Emails Are Read
Tired of sending out emails and getting no responses back? An email expert shares seven tips to help make sure that your emails get read.
Ray_from_LA/Flickr
Recently I connected with Jonathan Borge, an email expert who has mastered the art of getting emails answered. Through an email conversation, (how else would you communicate with an email expert, right?), he shared with me seven great tips on how you can ensure that your emails will get noticed.
1. Subject lines: Remember that only 20 percent to 40 percent of your emails will actually get opened, though most of your subject lines will be seen. To boost your open rates, think of short, catchy, and informative subject lines. You should try to dangle compelling information ("The future of sales emails"), and you can even try adding some mystery ("Strange question"). We also recommend personalized subject lines, if possible ("Hunter Sullivan suggested I contact you").]
2. Your tone: Portray yourself as someone that other people can connect to. You'll want to show your recipients that you care about hearing back from them... so you can't simply sound like you're just sending another mass email. Never use "Dear sir or Madam," and stay away from overly formal language.
3. Email content: Make your emails short, simple, and easy to quickly digest. Your leads are busy people with jobs, too, so you need to maintain their interest. Do your research and find out what resonates for your prospects. Try to get an introduction to them or, if that's not possible, figure out in more detail what they or their company do. Tell them why you're emailing them, specifically. Talk about how you can solve a problem for them.
4. Your sign-off: End your emails with a definitive, clear call to action. Make it dead simple for your recipients to say yes'whether it's to a meeting, phone call, or product demo. Don't ask them for permission. If you want a phone call, then say "Call me right now at X for more details."
5. Your timing: Reach out to your leads when they're not too busy. Make sure you avoid heavy traffic times like Monday mornings. Based on our tracking data, we recommend the middle of the week, mid-day, as the best time to send emails.
6. Your image: First impressions are important both in person and online. The tone and formatting of your email is all your recipients have to judge you by. Make sure you are being professional, clear, and easy to understand. Stay away from over-formatted emails that look gimmicky, but don't hesitate to call out important information in bold or bullet points.
7. Your homework: Send yourself a sales email. Put yourself in your leads' shoes. If you were them, would you open this email? Would you spend more than two seconds reading it? If so, what would you do next?
The first time you read this list, you'll probably think "I already knew all that." But, do what I did. Go look at the last 10 emails you sent to prospects or new contacts and read them with a critical eye to see if you followed all seven tips. I scored four or five on all of mine, but not a seven on any one of them.
About Jonathan Borge
Jonathan is a product specialist at ToutApp, a sales communications platform that helps salespeople and sales managers streamline and track their day-to-day email communications. Be sure to read ToutApp's book on how to write effective sales emails.
Business in Trouble? Ask Your Customers for Help
When this café ran into financial trouble, the owners did the only thing they could: They asked customers for help--and help they did.
Courtesy of company
When Mocha Maya's owners told customers the business was struggling, the community pitched in to bring business back.
Many entrepreneurs have an almost instinctive reaction when they are in trouble: They clam up, particularly around customers. Fueled by equal parts pride and fear, they pretend that all is well--too often up to the date that they lock up shop, maybe leaving a sign in the window saying that they won't be back.
But what comes first to mind may not be what is best for the business. Chris King, co-owner with his brother Bruce runs Mocha Maya's, a cross between a café, bar, gallery, and performance venue in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. The two found themselves in deep financial trouble this bleak winter and were almost ready to give up. But some sound advice and frank honesty may have helped them turn the corner.
The Backstory
The two started the business after Chris moved from upstate New York to the area and fell in love with it. He took a job in a local café and then decided to open one of his own. (He had previously started a janitorial business in the Syracuse, New York, area.) He persuaded Bruce, who had years of experience in the fine-dining industry, to partner with him. Chris ran the daily operation while Bruce did the bookkeeping and booked bands for the spot.
Almost immediately, they found a problem in trying to run a business in the area. It received significant tourism in warmer weather, as people traveled to see the glacial potholes at the base of a waterfall, an old trolley bridge that had been turned into a giant planter for flowers, and other local features. But in winter, transactions dropped off by 30 percent. "We lose 99 percent of the tourists from summer to winter, and you lose a lot of the local people who don't go out for the winter," Chris says.
The past few years have been rocky. Business grew by about 50 percent from 2005 to 2008. And then the economy tanked, and by 2009, Mocha Maya's lost half of that growth. Things built up again, and by 2012, the brothers saw steady growth. And then January 2013 hit. The business suffered its usual winter drop but then saw another 30 percent drop in sales on top of it. Meanwhile, expenses stayed the same. "It's not like you're setting anything aside," Chris says. "You're just trying to get caught up from the past winter."
Unfortunately, they had no cushion, because they started the business on a shoestring: $25,000, rather than the $250,000 consultants told them was necessary to tide them over during the slower months. "We've been playing it so close to the line for [a long time]," says Chris. "Had we had a big cushion of money there, it might not have been an issue at all."
A Counterintuitive Move
It looked as though they would have to close. Then Chris spoke with a customer who he says is a fundraiser for documentary filmmaker Ken Burns: "She said, 'You have to send a message out to people. If they know you're struggling, they'll come in.'"
He put a note into the café's newsletter and on its Facebook page. The word went viral in the local community. Suddenly customers were showing up. "A lot of people said, 'Sorry we haven't been in. We've been caught up in our routines and hadn't thought about it, but we'll try to come in more often now,'" Chris says. Even more surprisingly, people had assumed that business was good. In this part of Massachusetts, winters can be harsh, so everyone assumed that Mocha Maya's must be selling a lot of hot drinks and figured that they didn't need to brave the cold.
The area's daily paper ran a feature. Customers lobbied local radio station WRSI to promote a cash mob--like a flash mob, only one organized by people to support a business in need. It turned into their best day ever. Some musicians donated their time for a benefit.
People bought coffee and stocked up on gift cards. Others simply donated money, which Chris and Bruce plan to eventually pay forward to another local business that might need a hand.
"Even that first day after the announcement, I think we probably had three times as many transactions as we had been seeing over the past two to three weeks," Chris says. "It's down a bit, but our numbers have pretty much doubled."
Looking Ahead
Chris does worry that the momentum could stop, so he keeps talking to customers, encouraging them to return frequently. The brothers are also looking at ways of expanding the business that will fit the local culture. For example, they're trying to build a fundraising program for local organizations with a concert at the local hall and a special blend of coffee for each one. "Our goal is to tap into their different spheres of influence" and get a broader reach of people as customers, Chris says. The organizations will benefit, as will Mocha Maya's.
The main lesson? Improve communication with customers. "If you use the same signals over and over, people start tuning it out," says Chris. "That's why we tried to be totally honest. If you want us here, you have to come in and support us."
Why You Need to Stop Being So Nice
For some entrepreneurs, prioritizing yourself can be one of the biggest challenges. Here's how to learn to say no and set boundaries.
chat-lunatique/Flickr
Helping others, sharing, being kind: These are the sorts of values that have been instilled in most of us since kindergarten. And they're great values that make us better spouses, parents, neighbors, and citizens.
But sometimes, when you're an entrepreneur, being nice to others means shortchanging yourself and your business.
As Renée Warren, co-founder of Onboardly, reflected when asked what she wished she'd known starting out as an entrepreneur, the value of your time is one of the hardest things for some founders to learn. And safeguarding this resource requires saying no and being (constructively) selfish.
"It took me years to finally start saying no to things that would take me away from what really needed my attention," she says. "Time is the most valuable thing you have. Make sure you invest it wisely."
Why You Should Say No More Often
No one suggests being rude or truly self-centered, but according to time coach Elizabeth Grace Saunders, always trying to please others gets not only Warren but also a lot of busy professionals into trouble.
"In some jobs, immediate responsiveness comes with the territory (just think of fire fighters)," Saunders wrote on Lifehacker. "In others, a quick reply is preferable, such as with customer service reps or publicists. But in many other work situations, this cycle of responsiveness leads to neglect of the most important activities. Either they don't happen at all, or you end up filling your nights and weekends doing your 'real' work. I've worked with clients on six different continents who come to me feeling like victims of their circumstances."
So what can be done about this lack of boundaries? The short answer, which everyone already knows, is to say no more often. But if that were as easy as it sounds, so many of us wouldn't be struggling to manage our time.
How to Say No
Handily, Peter Bregman, writing on the HBR Blog Network, offers a mental toolkit of nine practices to help oversolicitous entrepreneurs get better at saying no and avoid both exhaustion and calendar chaos. Among them:
Be as resolute as they are pushy. Some people don't give up easily. That's their prerogative. But... give yourself permission to be just as pushy as they are. They'll respect you for it. You can make light of it if you want ("I know you don't give up easily--but neither do I. I'm getting better at saying no").
Establish a preemptive no. We all have certain people in our lives who tend to make repeated, sometimes burdensome requests of us. In those cases, it's better to say no before the request even comes in. Let that person know that you're hyperfocused on a couple of things in your life and trying to reduce your obligations in all other areas. If it's your boss who tends to make the requests, agree up front with her about where you should be spending your time. Then, when the requests come in, you can refer to your earlier conversation.
Be prepared to miss out. Some of us have a hard time saying no because we hate to miss an opportunity. And saying no always leads to a missed opportunity. But it's not just a missed opportunity; it's a tradeoff. Remind yourself that when you're saying no to the request, you are simultaneously saying yes to something you value more than the request. Both are opportunities. You're just choosing one over the other.
The remaining six suggestions are just as helpful, so check them out at HBR Blog Network. Saunders also has useful tips. She breaks down those who struggle with saying no into three categories--those with unrealistically high expectations for themselves, extremely service-focused people, and folks who are a bit delegation challenged--and offers advice for each.
Do you struggle with saying no? How do you cope with the problem?
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)