Today marks the three-year anniversary of the passing of our founder, my father, Chet Holmes. I could have written a lengthy blog post in his honor for the occasion, but it occurred to me that in life my father was never the longwinded type. Certainly there were events where he spoke on stage for upwards of ten hours, but he did so only because he had so much knowledge to share-there wasn’t a wasted breath. “Straight to the point” was truly his modus operandi. So Instead I’ve decided to keep it short and to the point. Today we celebrate Chet Holmes’ life, his work, and his pithy wisdom by collecting his very BEST quotes.
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In celebration of my father’s life, here are a couple of free videos for you to enjoy:
A solid disaster recovery strategy should be a part of any effective business growth plan.
When starting your business, you mapped out everything you wanted to achieve and the steps to take to get where you wanted to go. Now that your company is up and running, you most likely still have a plan in place to deal with your organization’s growth. But what about if disaster strikes? It doesn’t happen to every enterprise, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen to yours.
A solid disaster recovery strategy is part of any effective business growth plan. Even if a disaster never occurs, it will give you, as an owner, peace of mind knowing that you have something in place to keep your operations running. Even though developing a disaster plan may sound daunting, all it takes is some research and preparation to create a strategy that will stand throughout any possible disaster.
Business disasters can range from natural occurrences, such as hurricanes, tornadoes or floods, to more technical issues, such as a cyber attack or data center loss. Whatever the case, getting a plan in place now means your business can recover more quickly and efficiently should an emergency happen.
- Assess the various risks: Businesses that are located in the Southeast United States may not have to worry about extremely cold weather conditions possibly disrupting their operations every year, but they do have to worry about tornadoes. Companies in every region of the country have to deal with various weather-related disasters that happen in their areas, so figuring out what could potentially throw off your enterprise for a few days is the first step to determining how you can handle them, suggests the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants.
You should also take the time to assess any technical dangers, such as information loss due to hackers, the source recommends. This will help you lay out the proper protocols for recovery.
- Create a business continuity plan: Crain’s Detroit Business states that small companies need to develop a strong business continuity plan that outlines what steps will be taken in case of an emergency. The source also recommends that you determine which staff members will be in charge of which responsibilities so that employees know who to reach out to.
- Take a look at your systems: Looking at the systems you have in place can help you poke holes in anything that could be severely impacted by a disaster, writes the Minnesota Society of CPA’s. Do your employees have a way to work if your company’s Internet is down for an extended period? What if your facilities are damaged? Is there somewhere else you can operate out of while recovering? These questions can give you more insight into improvements that can be made to your disaster recovery plan.
Whatever the disaster, whether it’s weather-related or tech-based, you need a plan to get your operations back in line should something occur. Also, having your employees provide their advice and input on the strategy ensures everyone is onboard and prepared for anything that happens.
Understanding employee motivations can help increase productivity.
Professional consulting services help businesses on the cusp of reaching new levels of profitability, efficiency and output attain their goals. Such services also help employers better connect with employees and learn best practices for worker interaction and leadership.
One of the best ways to make sense of what drives workers is to look at things from their perspective. Some overarching career advice from Business 2 Community can help managers and owners understand the motivations of many of their workers, as well as know how they can adapt their offices to better accommodate staff. Some of the advice will apply to you and your managers as well.
Personal branding
Employers and employees should both have an idea of how they want to be viewed by others and make changes to that effect. For workers, those differences may involve extra effort in certain business behaviors and a focus on learning new skills. Reputation is a factor that can be controlled by both individuals and businesses if they put in the work.
The corollary to managing perception is that everyone needs to be honest about who they are. Making positive changes is entirely possible for employees, but they likely can’t become totally new people or go against instinct. Instead of enforcing a too-rigid corporate culture, supervisors should find out what their employees are deeply interested in and see if they can fit those passions into new work opportunities.
Management should offer to help employees who want to learn and do more and be proactive about letting their workforce know that mentoring and counseling for professional growth is available.
When companies bring in a corporate consulting service, they should involve employees as much as possible. Asking for and acting on feedback is a great potential source of growth for employees and supervisors. And when an employee is successful, management should make note of a job well done as well as subtly encourage others to offer congratulations for good work.
Employee-to-employee interaction
Workers often care the most about their relationships with colleagues, according to research by TinyPulse reported on industry website Employee Benefits. The happiness of staff often has more to do with co-workers and less to do with managers, especially with businesses becoming less hierarchical and more focused on collaboration.
Employers can foster positive relationships though non-traditional benefits like catering lunch or offering out-of-work activities in a low-pressure fashion to help develop those horizontal bonds between employees on the same level.
Keeping track of emerging business trends can put your company in a very strong position.
As your company looks toward 2015 with an eye on growing successful practices and finding areas to improve, there are some emergent workplace trends that may influence how you do business.
Staying abreast of changes in the work environment and prevailing attitudes can help position your organization for success and keep your operations ahead of the pack. Knowing how to use some of these new trends in fashion at top companies, as reported by U.S. News and World Report, may give your group an edge.
Developing young and talented hires
Millennials, those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s, are beginning to make a mark in the working world. Hiring young talent is important because it brings workers on board who could stay and develop within your company for decades, are in touch with cultural trends and can help steer marketing, sales and customer service efforts toward younger populations. Incorporating young employees into breakthrough consulting sessions for your company can strengthen these positives.
Internships and proactive college recruiting are both poised to become more common in 2015. Emphases on recognizing ability and providing interns and apprentices the opportunity to have substantial interaction with high-level employees and executives are gaining popularity.
For existing employees, an added focus on professional development can keep them eager and willing to advance and learn. Mentoring and job-shadowing programs are growing at top companies, providing ways for workers to become more involved and move up the corporate ladder.
Workplace Trends for 2015
Some trends cited by Forbes as the most popular of 2015 are already predicted to continue through the new year, like increases in the hiring of millennials. The continuing retirement of baby boomers will also likely continue, but a few trends from the past year are worth extra consideration.
Other trends worth mentioning is Mobile hiring and mobile job search as well as social media posts used to attract and retain talent.
The use of freelancers in the workforce is becoming a normal way of life and Forbes has continued to predict an increase in 2015 as well. Companies use freelancers to both save costs on benefits and other long-term financial obligations and to successfully target specific problems and opportunities.
To help your business decide which new trends will be especially beneficial to your unique situation, look into acquiring help from a corporate consulting service.
Working together, along with healthy competition, helps drive positive business metrics.
A healthy competitive spirit can help businesses be successful, whether it drives a company to do more when vying against a competitor for a contract or pushes individual employees to try to attain the month’s highest sales volume.
A progressive collaborative attitude is another driver of business, fostering positive attitudes and a sense of team accomplishment as well as strategies to increase profits and growth.
Managers have to balance sympathetic and antagonistic relationships to get the most out of their employees. A corporate consulting service can help you work with the two sides to create an especially effective business strategy both internally and externally. Taking some advice from Fast Company about the nature of healthy and unhealthy business competition can also help organizations stay positive.
Competition within reason
There’s nothing wrong with rewarding top performers and having employees compete for recognition or prizes, as long as the engagements don’t become overwhelming and negatively influence attitudes, behavior and productivity. Too much contention in the office can eventually have negative impacts on a variety of work metrics, Fast Company said.
Competitions can reward those who respond well to such ventures but may not actually be much better at job tasks, making the long-term health of the business take a backseat to performance rivalries and challenges. Employees who do good work but aren’t as attuned to adversarial matchups may be minimized and, even worse, discouraged, hurting their output and the business as a whole.
Focusing on the positive results of interoffice competitions and not the negatives can help contests serve their intended purpose of benefiting the company. Recognize top performers but take care not to shame those who are on the lower end of the spectrum. Managers can also reward those who put effort into improving their skills outside of a designated rivalry.
Working together efficiently
Collaboration can help isolate and develop new ideas that help a company, as well as create a sense of community amongst staff and increase engagement. Working together also helps sharpen employee focus, Forbes reported.
Intense research and analysis are often best completed individually, but other tasks like developing client interaction strategies, deciding on a quarterly goal for a department or team and brainstorming sessions can all benefit from group work. Collaborative efforts should focus on areas where an increase in creativity and multiple perspectives are needed.
Even if employees aren’t physically near each other, using video conferencing and Internet-based seminar software can help bridge the gap.
Technology can be used to bring about positive change, and this is especially true for businesses.
Technology is everywhere. People are constantly using smart phones, tablets and computers to conduct a variety of daily tasks and while these devices have become essential for nearly every individual, they’re even more critical for businesses.
Chances are that, as an owner of a business , you’re probably already using one of these devices on a daily basis. This technology can help make operations easier when it comes to expanding your marketing reach, managing company finances or seeking out new employees.
Technology is increasingly making a mark on the business world, so it will become extremely important for any size organization to embrace what mobile devices and computers can do for them. Incorporating their use into your business growth plan will allow your organization to thrive and stay ahead of the competition.
Mobile is growing fast
A few years ago, seeing someone using a smartphone was a rare sight. Now, almost everyone has one of these innovative mobile devices., including perhaps yourself and your employees. Fortunately, you can use this technology to greatly benefit your operations and increase your business success. According to a report from AT&T and the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, mobile technology, including smartphones and tablets, is changing a number of things for smaller companies . Owners experience greater productivity for themselves and their staff members, as business can be conducted from anywhere, not just in the office.
Applications developed for customers to download is another advantage of mobile technology, according to the report. This gives patrons the chance to connect with your business at anytime, which boosts consumer satisfaction and engagement.
But perhaps one of the greatest benefits of smartphones and tablets is that they allow companies to save a significant amount of money. The report reveals that organizations using these devices have saved approximately $67.5 billion a year by implementing mobile technology into their daily operations.
“Clearly, we are at a point where entrepreneurs now look first to communications technologies and innovations for solutions to improve productivity, cut costs and better manage and engage with customers,” said SBE Council President and CEO Karen Kerrigan. “That is time and money that can go back into driving sales and innovating in the marketplace.”
Cost-efficient technologies bring advantages
As an owner you may concerned about the cost of implementing software and hardware for your company. Tools such as the cloud and ecommerce technology can seem as though they would be too expensive to benefit your business. However, there are viable options available when it comes to adopting low-cost technology.
The New York Times highlighted several companies that were looking to incorporate software to make their operations easier. Each organization took the time to conduct research and find software development packages that fit their needs. By doing this, they were able to increase their sales and even make their entry into foreign markets. With some dedication, planning and time, you can find the technology that works for your operations, helping you to bring about the business success that you want.
Every small business owner knows that planning ahead has its advantages.
Every small business owner knows that there are advantages to planning ahead. Whether crafting a plan to recruit better employees, developing a solid marketing strategy or improving delivery of products and services, having a plan in place benefits companies of all sizes.
One of the most important aspects for smaller enterprises is creating a strong business growth plan. As an owner, if you don’t have a roadmap in place to outline where and how you want your operation to grow, things can quickly fall out of place. Therefore, it’s essential to develop a growth plan that puts you, your employees and your organization on the path to small business success.
By following these strategies and incorporating them into your plan, you can ensure that your company has the tools and methods it needs to grow strong.
Outline what’s most important - One of the first steps to creating a solid business growth plan is to write down what is is most important to you and your operations. Business 2 Community suggests mapping out these points and consider where they belong in your growth plan. Additionally, write down any goals you want to achieve along the way before moving forward.
Don’t be an overachiever - As an owner, you already have ambition and motivation, which are two great qualities for growing your small business. However, don’t let that drive overtake overtake your ability to be reasonable. Small Business Trends suggests that you have to let go of trying to do everything when it comes to overseeing important aspects of your company. Let your employees manage daily operational tasks while you focus on what’s in front of you.
Look toward your company’s future - You’ve heard the old adage that says, “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” The same rings true for your enterprise. Small Business Trends recommends that when coming up with a growth plan, think about the company you want, not the one you have now. This will give you a better glimpse into what you and your employees need to do to get where you want to go as an organization.
You can also invest in professional business coaching to hash out your ideas for the future and learn how to implement them.
Don’t be afraid to reach out for help - Although you are in charge of your small business, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask for help when you need it. B2C suggests connecting with other owners and networking with professionals in your industry to gain more insight into how you can grow your company. Also, using business coaching services can provide you with a better view into what your enterprise needs to do to realize the success you want.
Every small business wants to grow, and with these methods, you can see your operations flourish.
Amid the uncertainty of recessions, post-recessions, tax reform, healthcare, mobile technology, off-shoring, re-shoring, local, state and federal elections… Business leaders today find themselves at the mercy of an ever-changing marketplace, shaped by evolving technology, sophisticated consumers and an unsteady economy. Compounding that relentless progressionare information outlets that constantly pump out new data. If business owners stop to pay attention to one, they risk falling behind in the others.
As a research director who’s equally passionate about helping businesses grow as I am about learning and harnessing the power of information, I see business owners struggling with this every day. Very few of my clients, large or small, have a formal function set up to access the right information at the right time, even though that’s the first and easiest step. The solution does not have to be complicated, but as we all know, taking the first step is the hardest part. What I evangelize are scale-able research functions that can assist with day-to-day operations as well as inform long-view strategy.
Here are four general areas where research makes a positive impact:
1– Connect with customers on their turf. 87% of customers are not engaged (loyal, attached, Etc.) with the companies with which they do business. And yet, engaged customers deliver a 23% premium over average customers in share of wallet, profitability, revenue and relationship growth1.
One of the first things I establish with my clients at Empire Research Group is what they know about their customers. I ask them what they’ve heard from their long-standing customers, or to think about conversations they’ve had with their business peers. That gets the wheels turning, and it’s a great place to start compiling what you already know – or what you think you know. But imagine: instead of constantly being on the receiving end of that information, what if you could respond to that interaction with a fact that would really blow their socks off? Such a comeback is a powerful demonstration that you’re listening, you’re engaged, and you’re a partner who understands what they need.
On the other end of the scale, I hear from start-ups who are taking lots of shots in the dark as they begin to navigate their marketplace. With those clients, I help them begin to compile a repository of data and the analysis to go along with it. With hard facts in front of you, the lights will come on over the targets. You’ll have a clear line of site on the intersection where your ideas meet the market’s desires.
2 – Quit reinventing the wheel. Whatever you’re trying to do within your business, whether it’s attracting top level talent, making employees more productive, boosting sales, or improving logistics, the best practices have already been outlined somewhere. Information overload may have its downfalls, but having a treasure trove of pre-tested ideas at our fingertips is one of the benefits. Meaning don’t waste your invaluable time, energy and effort creating your own answer when the answers are not only already out there but have been proven time and time again.
3 – See the future coming with enough time to pivot and roll out preparations.
As the list of things to worry about has grown, likewise has the depth and quality of our news shrunk. 76% of small business owners name the effectiveness of government leaders as their #2 concern for 2014 (right behind health care benefits/costs at 77%)2. And yet the average political sound bite is now 9 seconds3. Stack a few sound bites together, and that’s the average depth of our news segments. That’s fine for the casual viewer – not for the competitive businessperson planning for their future livelihood. Business leaders need a comprehensive, actionable analysis of the macroeconomic trends that will affect their business.
4 – Know what the competition is doing. Why wait until you’re losing business to figure out what the other guys are doing better? We’re not just talking about reverse engineering the Coca-Cola formula; a simple competitive intelligence program would monitor the public output of direct competitors as well as other companies in the wider marketplace. I’ve helped start such programs for companies, and the first (and hardest) step is figuring out which companies or press outlets to monitor. Technology helps with the rest. No matter what system is set up for collection, though,the real value isn’t so much in what is found out today, but in combining that information over time to determine patterns and likely outcomes.
A McKinsey survey found that almost half of executives think they don’t spend enough time directing the strategic direction of their company4. Why? They’re stuck doing other things. For example, a survey of small business owners found they spend more than 20% of their time doing back office work like bookkeeping5. That means they’re lucky to be able to scan articles that cover their own industry once in awhile – asking them to carve out time to read about other industries can be a nearly impossible order. And yet,
“Performing regular analysis is guaranteed to yield those key data points or trends that inform strategy at its deepest levels and attract and retain valuable repeat buyers.”
Whether that research function is an outsourced consultant, a dedicated employee or a few hours sequestered on the calendar each week to review Google Alerts, the modern business owner will make harnessing that information overload into a priority that will truly allow them to work smarter, not harder.
by Allison Porch, Director of Research and Senior Project Director for Empire Research Group, a division of Chet Holmes® International™
Sources:
1 Global Customer Service Barometer, American Express and Echo, 2013
2 Small Business Owner Report, Fall 2013, Bank of America
3 The Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite, NPR, 2011
4 Making Time Management The Organization’s Priority, McKinsey Quarterly, 2013
5 Survey of Small Business Owners, ADP Research Institute, 2010
In the 1980s a TV show called MacGyver captured viewers’ imaginations; a secret agent with practical scientific knowledge and the ability to deal with complex problems got out of dangerous situations using common, everyday items he found lying around. In every episode, MacGyver was in a life or death situation fighting villains and had to throw together something to save the day, without using a gun. Even today, when someone comes up with a creative way to fix or solve a problem using common or unexpected items, it’s known as “MacGyvering”.
What does this have to do with your business?
More new businesses are starting up faster than any other time in history and your competition can come from down the street or the other side of the planet. With so many options available, now more than ever, you must differentiate yourself from your competition. Often business owners perceive that the marketplace is forcing them to compete on price alone if there’s nothing ‘unique’ about their business; this is where education-based marketing steps in to save the day.
The usual response is to spend more money on advertising to hammer your message into your consumers. But, if you’re limited on budget, resources, network and opportunities and you still need to get it done, what do you do? What would MacGyver do?
Brains beat budget. More important than having specialized knowledge is having the right mindset to deal with difficult situations and come up with creative solutions to complex problems.
1. Understand the Most Important Person in Your Business
Because MacGyver deeply understood the underlying principles behind what he was doing, he was able to use common items in extraordinary ways. Just like you need to understand your ideal client to connect with them on a deeper level. The purpose of your business should be to understand your client, solve their problems and provide so much value that you become their only logical option.
Businesses lose clients every day because they forget clients want to connect with another person, not a company. One of the best ways to do this is by developing an Ideal Client Profile.
As yourself these questions:
What’s your client’s biggest fear or frustration?
What’s your client embarrassed to admit, even to themselves?
What words do they use when talking about their fear and frustration?
What does the conversation going on in their head sound like?
How does your perfect client use your product or service?
Find all the things your ideal clients have in common and then speak to those commonalities, because something magical happens when a person feels understood.
2. Embrace Systems Thinking
Whether you’re selling a product or a service, what you’re really selling is an experience. An experience moves in stages from discovery, purchasing, support assistance, eventual replacement and everything in between. Companies usually handle each stage as separate processes done by a different department, which can result in a terrible experience.
If you consider the different parts of your business as part of a system designed to put a prospect in one end and produce a loyal, satisfied client at the other end, what would you do differently? What processes would you put in place? What parts can be removed to streamline the process?
This is known as Systems Thinking. Systems Thinking views a system as a whole with properties, behaviors and their effects which can’t be understood by looking at the components alone and may only show up when interacting with other components in the system.
Here’s how to apply systems thinking to your business.
Map out your system process
What problem are you solving?
Is it a problem people want solved and are willing to pay for?
How will the solution meet those strategic goals or long-term vision?
What unintended consequences might it have?
This will determine what plans, policies and procedures you set up in your company. There are many companies that think of their business as a whole system and offer excellent services with great experience supported by smooth, efficient operations in order to deliver upon their promises; companies like Apple, Amazon, eBay, FedEx, Kayak, UPS, Nordstrom, Ikea, Virgin, Trader Joe’s, and Zappos, to name a few.
3. Learn From Outside Your Industry
Because MacGyver understood the underlying principles of technology and science across many disciplines, he knew how to combine common, unrelated objects to create exactly what he needed to get out of a nasty situation.
You can do the same thing for your business by not only staying current on what is happening inside your industry, but on others outside of your space as well. You will learn about strategies and tactics that might be as common as dirt in one industry, but can be like a nuclear explosion when applied in another.
When Hotmail first launched, they had a problem - how to grow their number of users. Their original idea was to use TV and billboard ads to promote their new web email service. One of their investors, Tim Draper, recalled stories about Tupperware parties from the 1950s, where housewives would get together and show off the latest Tupperware products. Tim suggested each Hotmail email sent should have at the bottom, “P.S. Get your free email at Hotmail.com“.
Within hours of doing this, their user-base shot up. They started getting 3,000 users a day. Within 6 months they got 1 million users, and 5 weeks later they hit 2 million users. When they sold to Microsoft one and a half years after first launching, they had 12 million users.
They took a successful concept from a totally unrelated industry and applied it to their problem.
CLICK HERE for more examples of borrowed ideas from unrelated industries.
4. TEST
MacGyver wasn’t daunted by any situation, no matter how much the odds were stacked against him. He rationally thought through each situation and pieced together a solution bit by bit. He formulated a plan and worked with whatever he had on hand.
In your business many situations might seem impossible – you can’t get your team to execute. No one is contributing to the company blog. The executives won’t fund your marketing campaign. You might be really frustrated, but let’s think about it. Even if you got approval and the money you need, it doesn’t mean you’ll succeed. You may waste a lot of money during implementation. Maybe you’ve targeted the wrong market or you haven’t thought all the logistics through; it can be very risky. So instead, do small tests and experiment.
CLICK HERE to get more examples of how to apply the ‘Test’ principle.
Here are the takeaways you can apply to your business:
Connect deeply with the people
Apply Systems Thinking, a creative—MacGyver like—approach to business problems.
Step outside of your industry and see what others are doing and how you might implement it in your business to shake up the industry.
Test small and fail fast so you can focus on workable ideas and scale up.
By guest blogger Luis Arauz, Chet Holmes International Community Member, Entrepreneur, Business Owner and Account Manager at Brella Productions
