A Fish Out Of Water

Image credit: Exotic fish in water from Shutterstock

By Bruce Hodes, CEO of CMI Teamwork Chicago and author of “Front Line Heroes“

When does a fish notice water? When it is out of the water! The fish gasps for breath. The fish beats its tail on the deck and moves in a helpless manner. It is out of the water and clearly feeling the difference. Hence the saying “like a fish out of water”.

I recently had many of those “fish out of water” experiences while I was on my business trip to Ecuador. I arrive into the new Quito airport. As I get my bags a red, yellow and green traffic type light confronts and guides whether you need to get your bags checked by Immigration or not. If you get a Green light, which I did, out the exit door you go. Red light and into security you go. Traffic lights for bag security, never saw that before. It is OZ like in that you do not know exactly who is controlling the light or why they decide whether you get checked or not.

I now go out of the airport and on to my client’s new warehouse. The workers were in hard hats because of the high racks and heavy boxes on high shelves. Boxes and parts indeed could fall on your head. Here becomes the interesting part: Supervisors on the floor were not in hard hats. The manager with an orange baseball cap wasn’t wearing one either. The owner, she had no hard hat on either. Then it dawned on me and I was a fish out of water. What about me with my bald head? Didn’t I need no hard hat? My head could be crushed! I am scared and more than a little nervous because no one offered me a hard hat!

Today in the States, I find out that hard hats are required. Everyone wears them. Same with safety glasses and whatever else is required.   What is going on in that warehouse in Ecuador??? Are workers heads seen as more valuable than supervisors or the managers?????? Not sure, but I do think it involves hierarchy and class. What is interesting is that the higher up in the perceived hierarchy that you are the more at risk you are. Puts a new spin on from “off with their heads” to “lets squish their heads”. Again as I contemplated this I felt like “a fish out of water”. There was something going on that I did not understand.

A few days later…

Quito, at 10,000 feet, is surrounded by mountains and is at the foot of a 16,000 plus foot mountain. A cable car goes up the mountain to 13,000 feet. Then one can climb, bike or ride a horse the rest of the way. Rene, my friend and guide, had brought his nine year old son Efrain. Like nine year olds here he complained of being hungry and tired. Then ran ahead to hide and spook us. His energy at that altitude was boundless.  Unlike nine year olds here he did not know about star wars and did not have a computer. I found that comforting and disconcerting at the same time. He did know about Mickey Mouse, thank god.

It was a craggy landscape. Like the moon. The trail undulated up and down taking you into the mists of the clouds. We rounded a corner and came upon a group of young people who were twenty or thirty years old. What were they speaking? I pride myself on recognizing languages, what was that young group speaking? They looked like ragamuffins, athletic and when I spoke to them in Spanish they would have none of it. They would only speak to me in English. “We are Russians”, they said. Aha, I concluded, spies and they are no doubt overrunning the country. “We are from a Russian circus that is performing along the Ecuadorian coast”, the young woman said and then they were off.

I was up at 13,000 feet sharing the route with young Russian speaking circus performers from Ukraine. Now I related to that fish and I was also gasping for air.

Where did that horse come from? Horses on mountain trails not so much in my world. I never saw how to get a horse up here. It just appeared. The skinny man on the small and very skinny horse came galloping up at 15,000 feet. Clearly a Russian circus performer who wanted the skinny girl to ride the horse with him. She got on the horse and off they went. I felt better in that the horse was heaving more than I was.

While Rene and I were hiking we came across a group of German tourists. The Germans asked Rene to take a picture of them climbing the mountain and he did. Rene then wanted me to take a picture of him with the German tourists. I did this and I was curious as to why Rene wanted to take a picture with people he didn’t know but didn’t say anything. I puzzled over this as we continued to climb the mountain.

Rene is a middle aged indigenous looking man. He is also a friend that works for an Ecuadorian company that I consult with. He drives me around on my visits and we have become friendly. He had not met and clearly did not know these Germans. That he wanted a picture taken of him with them surprised me and I had no context for it. I was baffled.

When we returned to the cable car that was to take us back to Quito I saw an Ecuadorian youth with a Chicago bull’s jacket. As I passed him, in Spanish, I said I am from Chicago. Suddenly I am surrounded. The dark Ecuadorian tourists wanted a picture of me and the lad wearing the Chicago bull’s jacket. The picture taking went on from there with me with various groupings. I was a rock star! Or maybe it was because I’m from Chicago? Hmmm…? It took at least ten minutes and I did not even get a tip!

As we parted ways smiling and laughing I finally asked Rene what that picture taking was all about? Why I had achieved celebrity status and incidentally, why did you Rene, want your picture taken with the German tourists? He said, quite simply, that for the Ecuadorian Indian it is fun to show their friends pictures with white people from other lands. How different, I thought. I thought this custom was strange and felt foreign. I wondered when that custom started in Ecuador and how diffident that is from the U.S.

What had occurred impacted me like “a fish out of water”. I was left with that by traveling to other places you see things that are different from how things are in your country. Back home no one wants their picture taken with me, even people I know, and I am no celebrity. But that it’s different on a mountain in Ecuador gives me a different perspective. By having a different kind of experience I am left more appreciative of differences and seeing that things are and can be different. It gives me perspective that I can bring to my work, and my life.

I use the fish out of water metaphor to communicate that these experiences shocked me in much the same way as the fish was shocked by being out of water. These experiences had me reassess how I viewed things and had me reassess my perspective. What’s fascinating is that I then found that I kept questioning my perspective upon my return to the states. That was the gift of having experiences that reminded me of being a “fish out of water”.

 

Since growing up in his family’s boating business to founding his company CMI, Bruce Hodes has dedicated himself to helping companies grow by developing executive leadership teams, business leaders and executives into powerful performers. Bruce’s adaptable Breakthrough Strategic Business Planning methodology has been specifically designed for small-to-mid-sized companies and is especially valuable for family company challenges. In February of 2012 Bruce published his first book “Front Line Heroes“.

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4 Ways To Better Your Leadership Skills

Strong leadership skills are often relative to success, whether you’re looking to gain traction in a start-up company, strengthen an established brand, or see a project come to fruition. When leading a group of employees, volunteers or co-workers, it’s vital you understand how you can align each person’s skills and dreams to meet a common goal.

Read on for 4 ways you can improve your leadership skills to bring out the best in not only yourself but others as well:

1. Be Humble Enough to Follow.

An effective leader is one who is humble and understands what it means to be led. One way to achieve this is to regularly swap into positions that foster teamwork and give you the opportunity to take on delegated tasks. This could mean participating in a team sport, or volunteering some spare time within an organisation. By doing this, you’ll constantly be reminded how it feels to follow others’ orders and understand what leadership qualities you like and dislike. This is something you can refine and implement into your own leadership position.

Take a Leadership Development Program.

Even the best leaders need guidance and training to ensure their company and team is successful. If you feel lost and unsure about how you can better yourself to effectively relate to your team, take a leadership development program. Agencies like Chandler Macleod have coaching programs available as part of their HR consulting services, which can help you better yourself and keep you up to date with proven leadership methods and research.

Communicate Clear Goals.

Whatever your position of leadership, it’s important every team member understands the ultimate goal of the company or project. To help achieve this, make sure you regularly reinforce a solid mission statement and open up goal-focussed discussions throughout weekly meetings. In these meetings, have members of your team report on their progress. This is a great chance for you to offer praise and advice as necessary. These discussions will help clarify each worker’s tasks and will ensure everyone is on the right track.

Surround Yourself with Inspirational Figures.

If you’re feeling flat and unenthusiastic, your ability to lead will suffer. It can be easy to fall into a rut, especially when certain projects are long-term and somewhat monotonous in nature. If left unchecked, this boredom and frustration can damage team morale and create an overall negative working environment. Be sure to stay inspired and passionate by surrounding yourself with people you respect and look up to. This may mean picking the brains of a successful business owner, or having coffee with a friend who is constantly pushing themselves to be better in a way that inspires you. By investing time into these types of relationships, you will be kept accountable to your goals and integrity.

If you’re in a leadership position, it’s important you take steps to increase your knowledge of what makes a good leader. You must also understand the needs of your team and how, as a collective, you can best work towards the business or project’s common goal. What leadership skills do you want to build upon?

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Why Your Startup Business Needs A Good Business Lawyer

Entrepreneurs are now coming up with creative business ideas than never before and as a result, the number of startup businesses from different sectors that enter the market is increasing tremendously. While there are startups that become wildly successful, a large number of them fail immediately they are established. One of the reasons for the failure is because they have no lawyers who can help them think realistically on how they can organize their businesses the best way possible.

When you are setting up a startup business, you need guidance in areas like choosing the location of the business, buying or renting of space, getting the necessary finances, intellectual property rights, and tax compliance issues. You will also need someone to help with the necessary paperwork like when making agreements and so on. The right person to help you with all these and more is a good business lawyer who understands startups, knows how to relate well to entrepreneurs and can help in the successful and smooth running of the business.

It is possible for a startup lawyer to fail- even good ones especially when you bring them at the time your startup business is about to crash and not at the onset.

Your Startup needs a lawyer to help you in dealing the government, the public and your fellow business people. You understand the consequences of breaking the law, and you will wish you had consulted a lawyer the time a sheriff will come knocking at your door to serve you with summons or complaints. To avoid this, you need to be sure that your business is operating under the law which means paying your taxes and having all the required licenses to run the business. If you are startup is in the liquor industry, for instance, you will need a liquor license audit attorney to handle all your liquor licensing and compliance matters so that you concentrate on running your business knowing that your operations are legal.

When you are dealing with the public and other third parties, there are always risks as you interact with your employees, customers, suppliers, users and the general public at large. You will not like it when one of your former employees files a suit against your business accusing your senior staff of discrimination or sexual harassment or even being unlawfully fired from work. When you have a lawyer who has been there since the inception of the business, you will already have the advice on how to prevent such situations from happening and how to deal with them when they arise.

There are always a lot of risks when entering into partnerships and signing contracts with other organizations. In such cases, it is important to have a lawyer’s opinion to ensure that you are not overlooking anything that is critical. During negotiations, you can also ask for advice from your lawyer and stop at just that; you don’t need a lawyer to negotiate or make any decisions on your behalf.

Your startup needs a good lawyer who knows all the regulations in the industry that you are in, who is an optimist and can always give the best advice, the one who will always give you a better option within a short time and who is concerned about the success of your business. Remember that hiring the wrong lawyer can also be the cause of your startup failure and you need to choose carefully.

Generally, getting a startup lawyer is good to ensure that your business complies with all the rules. Also to help you make the right decisions after thinking about and weighing all the risks involved in the business.

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Entrepreneurs, Commit Not These 7 Deadly Sins

Image credit: Sin from Shutterstock

By Tom Walker, president & CEO of Rev1 Ventures

There’s a lot of focus these days on teaching entrepreneurs how to do startups right: Validate the market before you build a prototype. Conserve cash. Meet milestones. If you have to fail, fail fast.

One of my favorite quotes from the late, great Yogi Berra (I’m a huge baseball fan) sets up a different perspective: “We made too many wrong mistakes,” the best catcher in all of baseball said.

The truth is, there are “wrong” mistakes that entrepreneurs can make early in the game, mistakes that will impact a startup’s ability to attract capital investment later on.

Here are tips to recognize and short-circuit seven behaviors that are sure to jeopardize your equity funding later on. It’s hard enough to start a company without self-inflicted pain.

1. Starting a company for the wrong reason.

There’s nothing glamorous about being an entrepreneur. It just plain hard. The Shark Tank moments are very few and far between. Count on 80-hour weeks at no pay. If your motivation is not having a boss, the freedom to manage your own calendar, or getting out of the corporate environment—anything other than a driving passion to solve an industry problem with your big idea—don’t take the leap.

2. Forgetting that perception is reality.

Investors invest in entrepreneurs. Your actions have consequences. Every interaction is an opportunity to increase your credibility. Seemingly small things, like ordering alcohol at a lunch meeting with investors can send a bad signal.

3. Not being coachable, or even truly understanding what being coachable means.

Most good entrepreneurs are experts in something—a particular technology, an industry, or a skill. Ask questions. Seek advice. Engage trusted service professionals (attorney and CPA) who have worked with startups before. Cultivate mentors and advisors. Listen more than you talk. Remind yourself that you don’t know what you don’t know. Don’t confuse arrogance with confidence.

4. Thinking too big or thinking too small. Acting before you think at all.

Investors consider business plans that show the potential to solve big problems for big markets. Sure, your plan needs to include pro formas and cash flow projections, but if you want to seal the deal, show how you have validated your concept with real customers. Demonstrate that you’ve modified your solution based on feedback from beta clients.

5. Delegating sales to someone else.

Thou shalt not! This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of early-state growth for entrepreneurs—particularly those with technical backgrounds. Get over it. Think about sales as the opportunity to help a customer solve a problem. If your solution doesn’t help potential customers reduce cost, increase sales, or improve their service to their customers, you don’t have a business anyway. And if it does, why wouldn’t you want to help customers gain those advantages? Besides, company founders have to learn first-hand what it takes to win over customers. How else can you define a sales process or know what to look for when you hire a sales manager or seek distribution partnerships? If you dread calling on customers, you can’t be a successful entrepreneur. Get a different job.

6. Thinking that all investors are the same.

They aren’t. It depends on the stage of your company. Incubators and economic development agencies may invest at the concept stage. Angel and other seed fund investors fund prototypes. Most VCs don’t invest pre-revenue. To be successful, your business plan must match milestones to the sources of capital.

7. Failing to accept that when you bring investors on, it will change your world.

If you can’t accept this, you aren’t ready to take on investment. You may never have even been to a Board meeting, even as an observer, and now you report to one. Investors are there to help you with more than capital. Your Board can be a remarkable source of contacts and expertise. Learn how to work with them. Set out goals and metrics for your business. Manage to those metrics and use that as a framework to communicate. Report your progress against those metrics every month.

And then there is this poison pill: Integrity wins the day. Telling half-truths or the slightest whisper of insincerity can break trust and kill any deal. There is no antidote.

A final quote from Yogi that sums it all up, “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going because you might not get there.”

 

Tom Walker, president & CEO of Rev1 Ventures, has been helping entrepreneurs build great companies for most of his career. First from the corporate sector within Battelle – and then regionally, building innovation and startup support systems in Oklahoma, Ohio and advising several regions of the United States and the United Kingdom. He’s formed multiple venture capital funds, founded angel groups, and is an angel investor. Tom is also the author of “The Entrepreneur’s Path: A Handbook for High-Growth Companies”. 

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Four Tips For Franchise Business Success

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One of the easier ways to start a business is through franchising, which is essentially purchasing the rights to use a successful brand and business model for a stipulated amount of time. But more than simply using the name of another business you’re really also adopting its entire value chain for use, with the franchisor also providing tangible and intangible support from the provision of specific equipment for use to marketing support and business know-how.

But just because you managed to land the franchise rights to a successful brand does not lead you to automatic business success. Making any kind of business work requires plenty of hard work, business-savvy and no small amount of luck. Oh, and heeding the following four tips may help:

1. Love what you do.

Far too many people think that the most important part of starting a franchise business – no thanks to the way many franchise business trade exhibitions are run – is to identify the franchisor that will give them the easiest path of success. While they are not entirely wrong, it is also crucial to actually pick an opportunity whose business model is something that you believe in and will have passion for. For example, you may love children and have a desire to prepare them for the future – you may want to take up a franchise for a business that focuses on children’s education, such as Mathnasium; or you may want to opt for something in landscaping if you enjoy working outdoors.

A good franchise opportunity can bring you success; a passion for meaning in that business increases your chances of success immeasurably.

2. Location, location, location.

We’re not just talking about picking the right shopfront in your area – just because a franchise business in proven in another city does not mean it will be the right one for yours. And just as population demographics can differ greatly from city to city even within the same state, it can vary in different districts within a city as well. Doing your research will help identify the right areas to set up your franchise business.

It is also not uncommon to have business owners even choosing to relocate to a different city with the right target demographic in order to help their franchise business succeed.

3. Understand that franchising is a partnership.

Like in any other relationship, picking up a franchise is essentially coupling your future with another partner or entity – the health of your business is similarly tied with the health in your relationship with your franchisor. The best franchise businesses are the ones whose franchisor and its franchisees work together on similar goals and have a mutual understanding and respect for each other. Open lines of communication, active collaboration and support are critical to your business success.

Always remember, your franchisor wants you to succeed too.

4. The right processes and systems will make or break your business.

One of the key reasons for choosing a franchise is to “borrow” the systems and processes of a successful business, lock, stock and barrel. Your franchisor would have had spent countless hours in research and development to hone those processes to their utmost efficiency and efficacy. As much as you’d like to focus on the sexier aspects of the business such as marketing and promotions, maintaining those systems and processes in tip-top condition – training your staff to adhere to those processes, spending time and resources in up-keeping those systems – is critical keep your operations running smoothly.

Not to mention, this is probably a requirement stipulated by your franchisor!

Franchising is a proven way to business success. All you need to do is keep these tips in mind, and you should be able to make it work.

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Best-Kept Secrets For Driving Website Traffic

By Holly Chaffin, Search Engine Optimization Specialist at Hostway Services, Inc.

Social media and blogging have become staples of search engine optimization – but these efforts alone aren’t necessarily enough to boost traffic to a company’s website. To go above and beyond these baseline best practices, businesses need to get a little creative.

So how else can companies effectively drive traffic to their websites? Let’s take a look at a few best-kept secrets for SEO and increasing visitors:

Press releases: Remember these?

In the past, press releases were much more popular – any time a company released a new product, launched a new service or welcomed a new staff member, it would issue a press release to share the news. However, these pieces have taken a back seat to blogs and other content in recent years.

While press releases may seem outdated to some, Egg Marketing and Communications President and Marketo blog contributor Susan Payton noted that they can be great ways to capture the attention of a brand’s audience and drive website traffic.

“A press release isn’t only a way to announce information – it’s also a great little ball of SEO,” Payton wrote.

In her post, Payton provides several best practices for creating effective press releases and support SEO. Click here to find out more.

Linking strategy: Earning inbound links.

Hubspot contributors Jessica Meher and Shannon Johnson underscored the importance of inbound links – links from other websites that lead to the company’s site. Having a linking strategy that includes links to other pages on the company’s site as well as other websites can do a lot for SEO and driving visitor traffic.

While inbound links are important, they can be somewhat difficult to cultivate. Meher and Johnson suggest including high-quality, educational content to encourage other organizations to link to the site. In addition, it can be helpful to submit the site to online directories and have the company’s staff members write guest posts for external blogs.

Feature in-depth articles.

As noted previously, blogging has become a mainstay for SEO and driving traffic. Even this tried-and-true strategy has room for improvement, however.

In the past, many companies observed a quantity-over-quality approach, where brief blogs and content pieces were published on a daily basis, if not more frequently. Now, however, search engines like Google appear to prefer quality.

According to statistics from Moz, 6 percent of Google search results are related to more in-depth articles – an impactful percentage when you consider the sheer number of Google queries taking place every day. In addition, Moz contributor Cyrus Shepard noted that websites featuring longer, more in-depth pieces see a considerable boost in visitors.

“While this doesn’t seem like a huge number, the articles that qualify can see a significant increase in traffic,” Shepard wrote. “Anecdotally, we’ve heard reports of traffic increasing up to 10 percent after inclusion.”

Longer articles not only drive traffic, but can also help educate and inform readers, particularly those looking for more than brief blurbs on current news and industry trends.

Include video content.

Video content can also be helpful for capturing potential visitors’ attention – Shepard pointed out that when a video clip appears in search results, “our eyes go straight to them.”

Videos also present the opportunity to showcase products, offer visual tours of company facilities or educate customers on the business’s processes or strategies.

Offer a winning user experience.

Finally, it’s critical to ensure that once visitors reach the site, they have the best user experience possible. While design and functionality elements are important here, one of the top ways to guarantee a beneficial UX is with proper website support.

 

Holly Chaffin is the Paid Media Marketing Manager/SEO Specialist at Hostway. Holly’s passion for marketing expands to include experience in; Brand Development, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click Development and Website Content Development.

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Here’s 8 Reasons Why SMEs Need To Outsource

Small businesses listen up – you need to take outsourcing seriously. Don’t think of outsourcing as a neat little trick that the big firms do to make their business successful. No, think of it as a neat little trick that you can use to make your startup successful.

The mistake that most new businesses make is that they fall into the trap of thinking that only certain firms can do certain things. That is a myth because you can do anything you want as long as it works for your company. And, outsourcing works for every company. If you aren’t yet with the times, you need to get with them quickly. If you don’t believe in the power of outsourcing, here are eight reasons that will change your mind. You can thank us later!

1. Cuts Costs.

The most important reason that you need to start outsourcing business tasks is that it saves the business money. If we are truthful, it will save your business a ton of money. The fact is that you can’t perform certain tasks to the same standards as outsourcing specialists. They have more time and more resources to focus on one element whereas you have to focus on every area of your company. The result is that they can cut their business costs to a bare minimum. And, because of this, they charge less to perform the same tasks.

2. Higher Standard.

Also, they produce a better standard of work for the reasons outlined in the last paragraph. You have to find the fine line between high-quality and efficiency because you can’t afford to be perfect. No business in the world that runs every operation internally is perfect. Outsourcing companies are different. Again, they don’t have to bother with as much work as you do because they only have one job. For that reason, they can put more time and money into their work. The result, invariably, is a better product or service than you could ever produce. Please just admit this as fact and don’t let your ego get in the way.

3. Save Time.

As the boss, you will always have money on your mind. Where is the money going or where can I save money? All of these thoughts are pertinent because your business needs money to survive. But, it needs to save more than money. This is where outsourcing comes into play because it saves time as well as money. When you fewer tasks to worry about, you have more time on your hands. And, you can use that time wisely to improve every facet of your business. With more time, your firm will become more efficient. And, efficiency leads to more money and success. Never underestimate the importance of saving time.

4. Networking.

If you look at anyone or anything that has had success, you will see that they benefit from strong networking. The reason for that is that networks bring knowledge as they open your mind to different possibilities. Whereas in the past you only thought one way, with networks you see an entirely different world at your fingertips. The same goes for outsourcing. Once you see how they operate, you can start to learn more about that side of the business. In the future, you may learn how to perform the tasks cheaper and to a higher standard. That will make you a fortune, and it is also because of your intellect. Remember: knowledge is power.

5. Lack Of Knowledge.

To begin with, though, the odds are that you won’t have a lot of knowledge on the subject. That is fine because you can’t know about everything across the board. But, you need that knowledge if you are going to succeed. The only alternative is to hire a team that has the knowledge. In most cases, that will cost you a lot of money. It will certainly cost you a lot of money if they have the title ‘specialist’ before or after their name. Outsourcers aren’t seen as specialists, which mean they don’t command the same fee. However, they have just as much knowledge in the area as anyone else. The effectiveness of outsourcing your SEO, for example, is that you hire a team with tons of knowledge. As you can see, they are a good source of knowledge and cheap. The question is why wouldn’t you outsource more work to them in the future?

6. Prevent Boredom.

Don’t just think about the company and how the company can benefit. You should also think about your employees and how they can benefit. The sad truth is that you have tasks that are boring. And, because they are boring, they make employees unhappy. Take customer services for example. No one wants to sit on a phone all day and deal with angry customers. But, they have to for the sake of the business. They don’t have to, though, if you outsource this to another firm. The firm will take care of the customer services element, and they will find their own staff. This frees your staff to do more constructive and challenging work, which hopefully negates the boredom factor.

7.  Reduce Stress.

Bosses that take on the world are bosses that regularly deal with stress. It is impossible to avoid stress when you micromanage every element of the business. Although it is good for your peace of mind, it isn’t good for your health. If the stress builds, it will have negative consequences for your health. Because you don’t want heart problems, you need to delegate your workload. You can choose people within the business and save money. Or, you can choose industry experts that charge a small fee. When you look at it like that, it isn’t a difficult decision to make.

 8. Helps Expansion.

When the time is right to expand, you are going to need some help. There isn’t a business in the world that can expand without help. And yes, you guessed it – you need to turn to an outsourcing team. They will handle all the necessary areas while you concentrate on the core areas of your expansion.

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Fourteen Steps You Need To Know To Run A Construction Business

Construction is a business that’s uniquely competitive and fraught with risk. Financially, physically and for your reputation. It’s difficult to keep the standard you need to make your company a success. But it’s worth it for the benefits. Steady business, wealth and the perks of flexible, fulfilling work await.

But there are a lot of firms out there making use of business practices that range from reckless to downright incompetent. How do you make sure you’re doing everything to make your business successful? How do you get the clientele and reputation that will keep you earning money more smartly for years to come?

1. The plan.

Every business needs a business plan. It’s more than just a plan that helps you identify your goals. It’s more than a blueprint for how you achieve your growth and measure your success. It’s also used for those financial situations when you need loans and investors. A plan is documented proof that your business knows what it’s doing. There are pre-made plans you can get and adapt. However, we recommend studying some of the existing plans and formulating your own. Only you know the market you’re working in, so plan accordingly.

2. Your team.

Construction’s a business involving a lot of hands and a lot of different expertise. That’s why you’re obviously going to need a team working behind you. But how do you make sure you start off with the right team to build on? Recruiting good employees takes effort and a keen eye. You need to be able to recognise what skills a position requires as well as what level of commitment you need from your employees. Use staffing assessment tools to find out whether a potential recruit meets your standards.

3. The best team.

Once you’ve hired your employees, that’s not your team-building mission complete. The next point is to make them the best team possible. Cross training is a way of getting your employees used to more than one task. This way they are more versatile and can temporarily fill gaps left by leave or retirement. It also builds a strong connection between employee and employer. By giving them upward mobility, you’re giving them a reason to stick with you for longer. Most employees will also recognise and appreciate the opportunity for development.

4. The skills you need.

It’s not just the team that needs to develop new skills, however. We’re going to get into all the managerial and organisational expertise you should have later. As the leader of a team, the key skill you need to head a strong team is leadership. You need to have the kind of personality that inspires the best kind of work. If it doesn’t come quite as naturally to you, study different leadership styles and techniques. Develop the skill of leading your team and you’ll be able to trust them with more.

 

5. Getting regular clients.

Construction jobs from one-shot clients are a competitive aspect of the business. For a job that lasts only one construction, you will be bidding against just about everyone in the area. However, if you manage to land yourself a client that will use you regularly, you’re just competing for their satisfaction. With the right strategies, all you need are a few clients that provide consistent, reliable opportunities. Re-evaluate what projects you’re bidding on. Then look for the opportunities that are likely to open more doors in future.

6. Marketing.

That said, even if you find yourself a client base you’re satisfied with, don’t rest on your laurels. A successful firm is one that diversifies its possibility. That way, if you lose some custom, you have plenty of other options to rely on. Marketing is the key to doing just that. Not enough construction companies use the power of content. Producing interesting, relevant content that shows your expertise is a key to a powerful brand. A powerful brand can attract business even when it’s not looking. That way, when you are looking, it’s just there for you to reach out and grab.

 

7. Your machines.

Construction can involve a lot of different kinds of specialised machinery. Especially if you’re aiming to tackle diverse tasks that can broaden your target markets. Anyone in the industry knows that this is not cheap. However, you can reduce some of your costs by being willing to go for used plant machinery. You can also hire instead of buying outright. Don’t let go of lucrative opportunities because you don’t have the equipment immediately available.

8. Maintaining.

These expensive machines usually take on quite a bit of labour. It’s far from unheard of for them to break down during a job. This is a potential disaster that can cost you a lot more money and time you don’t have to spare. That’s why it’s vital to make sure you know your large machinery maintenance. Keep daily records of their use and have oversight on all operations of big machinery. Keep a maintenance schedule for every piece of machinery in your arsenal and lubricate and clean them thoroughly after each use.

9. Get lean.

Lean is a system of management started primarily by Toyota’s identification of the key sources of waste. The spirit is to make obvious what is valuable by eliminating everything else. The practice of lean management began in manufacturing but has since spread far and wide. It’s no surprise that the often hectic world of construction has taken lean management to heart. The same practices in manufacturing often also apply here. This includes the careful maintenance and evaluation of equipment mentioned above. But it includes lots else, so make sure you read up on your lean practices. It could save you all kinds of time and money.

10. Reduce waste.

The other kind of waste you need to focus on reducing is the kind most of us do. Reduce, reuse and recycle. Governments the world over are moving closer to harder sanctions and tighter restrictions on waste. By taking steps to reduce the material waste your business does now, you’re better prepared for more changes in future. Not only can you conserve energy and resources, but you can also save money at the same time.

 

11. Safety.

It’s not just the environment you need to worry about either. Safety should be a primary concern of all construction employers. Always keep up to date on the best safety codes and practices and teach your employees often. Keep yourself well stocked with safety supplies. Keep your sites well signed with the precautions everyone in the area should be taking. As you grow, you may even want to hire a full time safety officer. This might seem like an expensive trip, but it will save you a lot in the long run. Particularly when you take worker’s compensation in mind.

12. Offer your expertise separately.

All industries are more connected and better able to communicate than they have ever been. The construction industry is no different. Get involved with the discussion with specialists to develop and share your knowledge. Visit trade conventions and company events. Not only do these give opportunities to learn, but also to network. Build partnerships with other local businesses and offer your services as a consultant. Your personal reputation is guaranteed to reflect brilliantly on your company in return.

13. Your budget.

No construction company can last very long with a poor sense of finances. That’s why you need to learn how to budget with total accuracy. Estimating errors can not only be bad for your business reputation. They can lead to all kinds of disputes that cost you money and time, as well. At worst, you can get into legal battles that can be completely disastrous for your company. Overruns are a fact of life for all construction companies. However, by avoiding omissions and assumptions, you’re better equipped to make better estimates. The better your estimates, the more likely your existing clients are to recommend you.

14. Your overheads.

Besides the pricing of your jobs, you also need a sound financial head when it comes to the costs of your own company. Given the in-depth nature of the job, it’s easy to lose track of your overheads. It’s just as disastrous as it is easy, too. Analyse the size and quantity of your vehicles and how much they cost to run over time. Do the same for your equipment. Use your specialists and provide incentives for them to develop techniques that will cut your costs. Don’t think that you’re saving money by using old tech time and time again. Newer models can just as easily save you money through their energy or fuel efficiency. There are all kinds of ways to save on your overheads, you just need to put constant thought to it.

A successful construction business relies on a lot of different factors. The team you hire and train. How you find and keep clients. Maintaining your equipment and the safety of your team employees. However, it all comes down to you so make sure you put in the effort before you start a construction company.

 

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How To Pivot Successfully

by Ted Spooner, CEO of RespondWell

Speed bumps and change live at the very heart of entrepreneurship.  As Mark Cuban says in his book “How to Win at the Sport of Business“, “you only need to be right once.”  But what if you got it right and you were derailed by circumstances out of your control? Part of being an entrepreneur is to know when to take a step back to build something else. Knowing how to do this, however, takes a different skill and talent altogether.

I know pivoting well. My current company, RespondWell, is the result of a pivot from our original company, RespondDesign, which developed the world’s first fitness game for the Xbox. We had to convince a major game console company to allow them to self-publish in a completely new category, compete side-by-side with other large competitors, and following their pivot take a chance in a completely different industry.

Here are my five tips on how to pivot successfully:

1. It’s time to burn the house down.

Part of the pivoting process is being able to recognize when it’s time to seek more fertile ground. You need to be able to read the signs from the business and the industry and acknowledge a declining revenue model. Once you’ve accepted that your offering will not accomplish your long-term plan, be open to re-imagining your assets and shifting to a new industry, one that can open up new revenue streams for your new company.

2. Pivot cleanly.

You’ve studied the trends in the industry and acknowledge it’s time for a change, but a badly handled pivot can cause more damage than good. Make the change as quickly and cleanly as possible. If you’re exiting one industry for another, let go of what once was. Focus on the new business model so it doesn’t lead to any confusion with employees and investors. It’s not easy giving up on the original plan but startups are so lean that they can only execute on one plan at a time.

3. Resiliency is key.

Being resilient can determine whether you are capable of continuing to fight or simply walk away and seek that low-risk corporate job to fall back on. Put your challenges into perspective. Once you’ve developed an ability to get knocked down and get back up ready to fight another fight, it is only then that you realize that guts and determination are the battle scars of success that no one can put a price on. Knowing how and when to go toe-to-toe with titans or insurmountable odds is an enviable and sought after trait for the startup CEO and his team. And until you’ve tried startup life, stuck with it for a several years and encountered many “no’s” along the way will you understand that having tenacity is also a key ingredient for a company and the individuals that manage and drive it.

4. Competition is good.

Don’t get thrown off by eager competitors. Those who establish themselves after your entry into a new market lends credibility to your new company direction and will make you realize that what you started really has legs. Concentrate on continuing to bring new ideas to market that will allow your company to change, evolve and stay ahead of the pack. Company heavyweights like Twitter, PayPal, Square, HP and Instagram started out as one concept and as competition grew each one evolved and changed to stay ahead of their competitors. Even if you are not the first to come to market with a product understand that it’s okay to take someone else’s idea and do it better. View competition as a vehicle to help shape the future of your company.

5. There’s no “I” in Team.

Before deciding to make the pivot, seek advice from experts in the new industry you’re entering to help you gain insight and information about the new market. This will help you to understand what part of your product works and what innovations are needed to make an impact early on in the industry.  Find a customer to partner with in the early stages of the process that is willing to take that leap with you to help guide you through your transition. Add members to your team that have experience in your new industry and expand your presence in the market with resources like industry accelerator programs like StartUp Health.

 

Ted Spooner’s 22 years of broad experience in financial services, technology, digital entertainment and healthcare IT led him to co-found RespondWell in 2003.  As Chairman and CEO, Ted led the company’s initial strategy for development of a new game category – fitness gaming, selling more than $80 million at retail in the global consumer fitness game category. Ted led the company’s transformation of the business, utilizing its assets for development of a Microsoft Kinect-based solution for physical therapy automation, making RespondWell the award-winning company it is today.

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The Power of “Old School” Service: Four Reasons Your Business Should Bring It Back

by Joseph Michelli, author of “Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way“

As the tech industry has exploded over the past couple of decades and millennials have risen to power, companies have innovated wildly to keep up with relentless customer expectations. Better, faster, easier! is the battle cry. Oh, and make sure there’s an app for that! It’s no surprise that sleek, streamlined, lightning-paced organizations abound these days. Yes it is what customers wanted — but isn’t there something cold and impersonal about many 21st century transactions?

You’re not imagining it. Yes, customers still demand the speed and efficiency. But what they really crave is that feeling of an old school company that takes the time to really know them, engage them, nurture them.

No matter how high tech your service becomes, you’re still serving human beings. Humans don’t want to feel like a URL or a Twitter handle or even a consumer. We want to feel like we matter. We’ll always choose companies that give us that feeling.

It may seem counterintuitive to ask a 2016 dot-com to bring back mom & pop, Main Street values. But really, it’s not a conflict. You can provide customized, on-the-spot service and still make people feel like they just had an authentic, deeply personal experience.

HOW you create this experience will vary depending on who you are, what you’re selling, what your current roadblocks may be. (HINT: You might have culture problems that shape your practices, processes, and priorities in ways that sabotage service.) Yet as you seek to go more “retro” in your service delivery, I suggest you start by knowing the WHYs:

1. Customers crave a connection to simpler times.

Life is so frantic and complicated, due in large part to technology. And people don’t want to get rid of technology, because it lets us attain goods and services quickly and efficiently. But when we need to get on the phone with a person, or when we’re face to face, we want to know we’re talking to a human being who has our interests at heart — not a machine. We long for the days when the shopkeeper would open the store after hours for a customer in need.

Customers want the organizations that service them to be part Silicon Valley, part Main Street. There’s this tension between our age of incredible technology and the retro, connected, heartwarming, Norman Rockwell-y type of customer service people really want, and I think too many companies have gone too far in the space-age direction.

A culture of compassion and empathy still has to come through in your person-to-person interactions. There really is something about sharing a smile — sharing a moment together — that becomes increasingly important in the cluttered world. We want people to pause and take a moment with us.

2. Customers find comfort in “the familiar.”

No one likes to spend their valuable time dumping less than stellar companies only to start all over again in the search for better ones. People enjoy predictable companies they’re used to and comfortable with — as long as those companies deliver great service. An effort to remind valuable patrons that they are valued goes a long way in ensuring that you retain your customer base.

I still go to my doctor in Colorado for second opinions — and I live in Florida! I don’t have to tell him a huge backstory, because he’s known me for years. And the fact that he does great work to serve me, as the customer… that’s a big part of it too.

He suggests you find ways to remind your customer how far back you go and that you strive to foster a lasting relationship. Whether that means logging notes about their particular needs in your database so you can follow up or offering “anniversary” discounts honoring their patronage, you can earn their loyalty and keep them coming back by treating them like they genuinely matter.

3. Old school service fits with the burgeoning artisanal movement happening now.

For many years there’s been a lot of mass-produced junk out there. Customers everywhere are conditioned to expect less thanks to millions of disappointing products coming from across the globe. No wonder we’re in the middle of a full-fledged consumer backlash. More and more, shoppers are choosing products and services that are unique, customized labors of love.

Look at the craft beer craze that’s everywhere today. For generations in the U.S., people drank pilsner — they were conditioned to do that. But now, more and more people are falling in love with the amazing craft beers available, because microbrewers have reclaimed the art of beer making.

Businesses will delight customers when they pride themselves on their craftsmanship and skill level. There’s something uplifting about watching well-crafted skills and just appreciating that ability. There is an artisanship of service at the Ritz-Carlton. Watching those professionals in action just makes you go, Wow, that’s a lost art!

4. Your service style helps you stand out from the pack.

Obviously this is the most compelling reason to adopt an old school approach to service. It will draw customers to you and maybe even keep you alive. There’s so much competition out there today that the way you treat and relate to customers may be the only thing that makes you you.

You can bring things to market very quickly today. Speed and global distribution sometimes make for product ubiquity, so it is all the more critical that you differentiate yourself by putting your customers first and really owning a certain style of old-fashioned service.

Here’s the bottom line: Even though the times have changed and technology has leapt into the foreground, basic human needs have stayed the same.

There’s NEVER going to be a time when people say, I don’t really care if you hurt me. I don’t really care if you appreciate me. I don’t really care if I belong. You know, as far as I’m concerned, I just want to buy your stuff. And I think because of that, we have to anchor ourselves to the timeless truth of humanity, even as we customize the delivery in line with the cultural trends.

The successful organizations are the ones that really get that. They figure out how to integrate technology but still truly connect to the customer face to face or on the phone. They instill it in their training. Team members learn to make sure customers know that they matter — that they are always heard and appreciated.

 

Joseph A. Michelli, PhD, CSP, is an internationally sought-after speaker, organizational consultant, and New York Times number-one best-selling author. He is a globally recognized thought leader in customer experience design. He is author of “Driven to Delight” and “The New Gold Standard“.

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How To Choose A Web Design Agency

For most people looking to build a website for their startup or small business, outsourcing is the only way to go. Without a knowledge of coding, you just won’t get the results you need with template design or DIY methods.

However, it’s not just as easy as phoning your local web design agency and getting them on board. There are a few things you need to know about them first – and in this guide, we’re going to go through each of them. Read on to find out how to choose the right design agency for your needs.

Realistic budgets.

When it comes to website design, you have to pay for quality  – and your budget should reflect this. Sure, you can get someone to develop a site for less than $200, but there will be a lot of limitations and far less quality control. If you do want to go down the cheaper route, try looking abroad, where the cost of living is less. There are some excellent designers in India, for example, who cost far less than the same quality on these shores.

Think about your needs.

Next, you should think about what you need from your website. There may be security concerns, for example – especially if you are in the medical or legal fields. You also might want to consider looking for a designer who specializes in your industry. There are web developers out there that design solely for the auto industry, for example. List your needs and plan out what you want from your site. Doing this will give the designers something concrete to base a quote on, and you will find there are fewer surprises further on down the road.

Draw up a shortlist.

Now you can start looking for the perfect web designer for your business. If you don’t go down the specialist route, ask your friends and family and see if they have any recommendations. You can also use the web to find good agencies in your area – check local business listings and reviews. Some websites also go into further depth with their reviews. Take Los Angeles Website Design, as a good example. They list their top ten agencies in their local area, and there might be something similar where you live.

The interview process.

Now you have a shortlist; it’s time to get talking. It’s important to choose an agency that you feel comfortable working with, as you will need to have a good relationship. Go through your wants and needs with them, and see how they respond. Probe them about their past experiences, and ask for examples of their previous work. They should be happy to show off the good stuff, of course. But, to get a really honest response, ask them to tell you about work they were not happy with. Talk to them about where it went wrong, and how they would do things differently the next time around. No agency is perfect, of course. But, only the best will be honest and hold their hands up.

With any luck, after following these steps, you should have the best agency for the job. Good luck!

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The Core Aspects Of Digital Marketing In 2016

Digital marketing is a fantastic way to promote a small business to a large audience. There has never been a better way for startups and entrepreneurs to get off the ground. Best of all, it’s affordable and highly effective. You can target a specific audience and create a small community. However, the world of digital marketing is always changing. There are always new trends and techniques to latch onto.

So today, we’re looking at digital marketing in 2016. Where is this niche heading and how can you capitalise on it?

Your website.

A website is still the core foundation of any digital marketing strategy. We like to think of it like a solar system. Your website is essentially the sun. It’s the centre of the solar system and all other aspects revolve around it. The other planets represent your social media channels, advertising, and emails. Their goal is always to direct people back to the sun. Your website is where you inform people about your business and ultimately secure the sale. In 2016 it’s especially important to have a website that works perfectly on a mobile device.

SEO.

Google is still one of the most powerful forces in digital marketing. Did you know, for example, that 70% of Google searchers never scroll past the first page. If you want to see big results for your business, getting on Google’s first page is essential. SEO is a selection of key techniques to help you do that. However, it’s crucial that you stay up to date in 2016. Outdated SEO techniques can actually do more harm than good. Use your keywords carefully and pursue natural, organic linking strategies.

Advertising.

Online advertising is fantastic because it allows you to reach a very specific audience. The best places to start are Facebook ads and Google AdWords. It’s often quite daunting for beginners, so it’s worth consulting a digital marketing agency. They’ll help you unravel the basics of online advertising. Typically, you’ll pay ‘per-click’, which means you only spend money when someone clicks on your advert. It’s an incredibly cost-effective way to get the most from your online presence.

 

Social media.

Social media is a powerful way to build a community and send visitors back to your website. But, which platforms are most effective in 2016? It’s very difficult to manage a presence on all the various social media sites. Well, Facebook remains the biggest and most effective site. However, don’t ignore Instagram, Pinterest, and even Snapchat. These three newcomers are proving very powerful indeed.

Email.

Email is one of the oldest forms of internet communication. Yet, it remains the most effective way to connect with your audience. It gives you a direct line of communication to your customers. You can drop into their email inbox and slowly build a relationship. Start by including a signup form on your website. You can then offer a free ebook or another incentive to sign up.

Digital marketing in 2016 is still as effective and powerful as ever. Use the advice here to hone your techniques and take your business to the next level.

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Why Storytelling Is So Important To Business

Image credit: pixabay.com

Why is it that some people just seem to be able to get their message across, when others can’t? What it is that sets them apart from the rest of the crowd? And why is it that they appear iconic, and others utterly forgettable?

If you ask most marketing managers, they will tell you that it all comes down to your business persona. It’s your persona that informs your appeal they will say. But what does that actually mean?

Tell Stories

Master The Narrative Trajectory.

Great businesses tell stories. In all of the best novels, the narrative follows a trajectory. There’s an introduction that sets out the problem. There’s a quickening of the pace as the story gets underway. There’s some type of conflict to increase suspense. And then there’s a climax, followed by resolution.

The same trajectory needs to be embodied in telling the story of your business. There needs to be some compelling narrative that explains why your business is even doing what it is doing.

By engaging with your audience through storytelling, you humanize your business and relate on their level. Not to mention the fact that you borrow from a tried and tested formula that has been working its magic for countless generations.

And one effective way to do this is by using newswire services. Using a press release service allows you to go into far greater detail than you could through advertising alone. If you’re in an industry that is undergoing rapid changes, press release services can be a great way to establish yourself as a leader in the space.

Essentially, press release services allow you to have content published on hundred of different news sites. What’s more, many packages allow you to target specific sites depending on the habits of your intended audience. Not all press release services are created equal, so read press release distribution reviews online. This will help you come to an informed decision.

By telling a story, you’ll be doing something that convincing and persuasive humans have been doing for millennia. It’s almost as if humans are wired to react differently when information is presented as a story.

Antagonists.

As in any great story, there has to be a protagonist. That’s you. But there also has to be an antagonist. What is it that you are fighting against? What adversaries are you trying to overcome? And why is this important to your customers?

Adversaries don’t necessarily have to be people. In fact, in business, they almost certainly won’t be. Rather, adversaries are the problems you wanted to overcome when you first started your enterprise. They’re the problems that you tried to solve.

Perhaps you saw that nobody in the world was providing an elite tuition service for people doing masters and PhD courses. Yet there was a demand from these students for additional support in their work. In fact, research has shown you that these students were the most depressed, stressed and unsupported of all students.

Therefore, you determined to solve the problem by setting up your own tuition business that would employ elite tutors only. Yes, the price would be higher than other tuition websites, but you’d be providing a service that was available nowhere else. And there would, at least, be an option for students in the upper echelons of education.

The demon you slew, therefore, was the absence of tuition support for people doing higher qualifications.

The Power To Relate.

Having the capacity to relate to your clients is also very important. Customers want to see that you really do understand their needs and what they want from your product.

Let’s take an obvious example. When Gillette try to sell razor blades, what do they always do? They always make a point of the fact that the razor blade glides effortlessly over the face. They even add computerised effects showing the coolness and gentleness of the razor blade stroke when using one of their razors.

They do this because the feeling of having facial hair tugged by blunt razors is awful. In other words, they’re relating to men’s experiences. Men look at the advert and see their own condition displayed.

Antacid adverts do the same. We’ve all seen those adverts where stomach acid is neutralised. Miniature firefighters descend a person’s oesophagus to put out the flames of heartburn. Antacid adverts are clever because they put into a visual format what the person really wants. A thick, cream-like substance, to soothe the burning pain they’re experiencing. The solution they present is exactly what the sufferer imagines would help them if only they had access to such a product.

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When Security Can Become Your Business Differentiator, Everybody Wins

by Mark Seward, VP of security solutions at Anomali

Many of the most innovative companies are small to medium sized businesses (SMBs). These businesses are full of new ideas for services, new products – and improvements to existing ones. And this is certainly true in the cyber security sector.

Many of the most exciting and innovative solutions to current cyber security problems are being produced by small and medium sized businesses. Ironically, though, many early stage cyber security companies initially target their offerings to the Fortune 500 and look to move down market to SMBs much later in their product life-cycle – and, sometimes not at all.

Non-cyber security small-to-medium sized businesses are focused on creating value around their core competency, not cyber security. According to a study by Towergate Insurance, “…ninety-seven percent of smaller companies neglected to prioritize online security improvement for future business growth.” Typically, the first few key hires in IT are ones that will help “keep the lights on,” deal with password lock-outs and provision and configure network services and company laptops. Even with a firewall and anti-virus program, these business are the most vulnerable to cyber attackers. If their intellectual IP is stolen or if they are discovered to have been a launching pad for attacks against a larger business partner, it can mean going out of business.

In terms of setting up and enhancing cyber security, SMBs face several interesting challenges:

• Many don’t have staff dedicated to cyber security
• Most don’t have security information and event management (SIEM) systems or threat intelligence data
• Cyber insurance is often prohibitively costly
• Many are aware of the need to collect log data for later analysis by a consultant for regulatory compliance purposes
• The cyber security of small and medium sized businesses is a growing concern in the supply chain

The security staffing challenge will remain a problem for all organizations – not just SMBs – for the foreseeable future. According to Michael Brown, CEO at Symantec, “The demand for the (cybersecurity) workforce is expected to rise to 6 million (globally) by 2019, with a projected shortfall of 1.5 million.” Wages for top-notch cyber security analysts are increasing at a rate of over seven percent each year. Supporting this kind of wage growth is difficult for SMBs, and companies that are able to afford this are able to poach the best talent. Hiring junior, or less experienced employees and keeping them once they are trained is a big challenge.

Those small businesses that may be aware of the availability of cyber insurance (67 percent are not) also know that the cap for coverage of data breach impact is only around $10,000. This might only cover the cost of system restoration – not the loss of intellectual property or the loss of customer records. SMBs understand the value of collecting logs for network and application troubleshooting and for regulatory compliance.

Security is challenging enough to stay on top of when you have to worry about just your organization and your technology. A near-impossible factor to track from a security perspective for for SMBs is the third-party “wildcard.” Supply chain security and the vulnerabilities and the connections between businesses represent risks that major companies are focused on. For instance, Lowes and Target both suffered major breaches due to security breaches in smaller business they had relationships with.

“If you list the top-10 critical suppliers and make sure they are secure, then that list might change or some random website created by a third party that wasn’t in the top 10 may be the risk,” said Sam King, executive vice-president of strategy for Veracode.

It’s clear that many SMBs that don’t have the cyber security staff, threat intelligence or infrastructure needed to be able to be able to protect their business – and by extension – their business relationships. These businesses need to focus on obtaining security products and services that automate breach detection and discovery, and allows them to get the value of security analysis and infrastructure without the huge upfront and ongoing costs. The service would also feature the ability to share a small business’s security posture as a proof point for other larger businesses in the supply chain.

These kinds of services are gaps in the market that, once filled, should allow any company to use security as a differentiator when competing to supply services or goods as part of a larger supply chain.

 

 

Mark Seward,VP of security solutions at Anomali is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and has more than 15 years of experience as a security practitioner, He has held a number of leadership positions in product management. Prior to joining Anomali, Seward served as the senior director, security and compliance, at Splunk, where he was responsible for security use-case messaging for the company’s real-time operational intelligence product. His tenure has also included positions at Symantec, Qualys and LogLogic.

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3 Tips To Overcome Go-To-Market Obstacles

by Steve Hershberger, co-founder and CEO of SteadyServ Technologies

Most entrepreneurs expect obstacles on the path to bringing a product or service to market, but they might not know how to push past that final roadblock.

What I have learned is that, once you’ve put your stake in the ground and are committed to bringing your idea to market – you must ignore how difficult is going to be, how intensely hard of a journey it is going to be, and instead focus on what you can do today to get that first small victory towards progress.

Throughout my entrepreneurial journeys, I have found that there is a rule of three, or a three “phase gate” process I have followed that has allowed me to conquer the impossibilities in each new business venture. By focusing on one progression point at a time, it is easier to move through the go-to-market process without getting deterred by the thought of the difficult journey ahead:

1. Confirm your product or service works.

You can save a lot of time by identifying and perfecting an underlying technology or process.

For example, the first thing we had to address at SteadyServ was the underlying technology: in order to measure consumption levels for restaurants and bars, we had find the right way to fit a sensor on the bottom of a keg. Before we could provide data to our retailers using an app and cloud-based technology, we needed to make sure the sensor could communicate in the cloud.

It took a year to perfect the sensor, but we needed to start there and stay focused: all of our other plans hinged on its functionality.

Remember: your product or service needs to work before you can consider how you will sell it — or if people will purchase it.

2. Do people believe your product or service works?

When the functionality is in place, the next step is about significance. How do people value your product or service’s usefulness? What difference does it make in business, lifestyle and other contexts? At this stage, you need to think about the “why” related to your idea.

This stage is where customer feedback is critical. Securing customers—even beta users—and practicing delivery will help you see if you are on the right track. It gives you the opportunity to demonstrate value, test, make adjustments and gauge customer reception. The information you gain could prove useful in developing case studies, which you can use to expand your customer base.

3. Do customers believe your technology, process or idea is part of the future?

Amazon laid the foundation for how we buy products online—and how they are fulfilled. The concept of dynamic pricing in an online market wasn’t accepted until Amazon showed us how, and now this model is now a standard.

Your business needs to convince consumers of a new way, something they feel sure will be part of their future. They are less likely to adopt something that may be outdated tomorrow.

The key for entrepreneurs is to stay focused on one phase at a time. You risk losing resources, time and people when you try to attack phases out of sequence, so start at square one and master it before moving forward. Small wins keep you and your team on track and more apt to overcome challenges in reaching your market.

 

Steve Hershberger is the co-founder and CEO of SteadyServ Technologies, a data-as-a-service company that delivers real-time performance intelligence on draft beer consumption and inventory. Prior SteadyServ, Hershberger co-founded and ran marketing agency Comblu, where he used his data analytics skills to build solutions that gave clients accurate metrics regarding word of mouth and ROI. An avid craft beer enthusiast, Hershberger also co-founded Indianapolis-based Flat12 Bierwerks in 2009.

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Why Your Staff Must Love Customers

Image credit: Customer satisfaction from Shutterstock

by Ian Cowley, managing director of cartridgesave.co.uk

Face facts… it can be hard to maintain a consistently sunny, upbeat persona when dealing with customer enquiries and complaints day in, day out.

However, your front line staff are there to ensure that every time a customer interacts with your business, the experience is good.

And that means a culture of ‘loving the customer’ must be inherent in every successful organisation.

Here our are top tips for creating a customer-friendly culture:

1. Recruit empathetic staff.

Recruitment is critical to the success of a ‘loving the customer’ culture. In 2012 The Journal of Service Research revealed that staff who were empathetic found it easier to manage customer relations, as they were more likely to treat others as you would like to be treated.

Therefore when recruiting, look for traits of high emotional intelligence by asking questions that elicit personality traits and reactions to people-based issues. On the job training can then develop these innate qualities through a programme that challenges staff to see every experience through the customer’s eyes.

If you have to pay that little bit more for the right people, then budget for that. Also, don’t try to hire too many people at the one time. By putting a focus on the customer experience, smarter firms hire one or two people at a time, train them right, pay them right and keep them.

Resisting the temptation to outsource will also benefit the development of a healthy workplace culture towards customers. The customer service function cannot be properly valued if it is operated remotely by an outside agency.

2. Customers who are treated better are more likely to let mistakes slide.

We live in an era where the internet has given every customer the power to potentially make or break a business. Therefore, as business owners, we must empower call handlers and sales staff to make it as easy as possible to be nice to every single customer.

We impose a simple rule: say yes as often as possible. If a customer makes a request and it’s something we’re able to do, we do it.

Think of how much time this has the potential to save you. How often has one of your staff got into a 45 minute ‘discussion’ with a customer about an item that might just cost a fiver?

Even if the debate is over a high-value item, is the price really worth more than the value of a happy customer who comes back to you again, tells their friends about you and reviews you favourably online?

3. Be authentic.

The culture of love for customers is never more important than when something goes wrong. This might be an order that has gone astray or arrived damaged or incomplete. When this situation arises, customers need human contact to get the resolution they need.

For this reason, we avoid scripts for our contact centre employees and never set time limits or targets on each call. The only target that matters is resolving the customer’s query fully, however long it takes.

This is empowers and place trust in your frontline staff. You are giving the responsibility for saying and doing the right thing and work towards a resolution by using their instincts, skills and in-built empathy.

4. Say yes.

Of course, a massive part of resolving any situation is listening fully to the problem that is presented before you. It’s a truism of modern life that many people only contact businesses because something’s gone wrong and they’re angry.

We teach that the quickest way to take the wind from the sails of an angry person on the other end of the phone is by saying yes.

Customers may well have their questions written down, they may have researched trading standards laws or consumer rights to arm them in their battle. So before they even get going, saying ‘yes’ to what they want to diffuse the situation and change the entire direction of the call.

5. Lead from the top.

Line managers and department heads should make time each week to listen to a sample of customer calls. The benefits of this are twofold. First, you get real-time examples of how staff are implementing your culture in their interactions with customers. Second, by listening to customer queries and complaints you can identify ways to improve what you do as a business.

Get these areas right and you’ll be well on the way to having happy customers spreading the word about the good work you are doing.

 

Ian Cowley is the managing director of the UK’s largest dedicated printer cartridge company –  http://ift.tt/zV0ZV1.

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6 “Don’ts” Of Starting A Successful Business

by Tom Silk, Executive Vice President at WorkStride

I’ve always believed that the best lessons are learned through experience rather than in a classroom. And unfortunately, the best of those life lessons usually comes from failures or near-failures, when you’re forced out of your comfort zone. It’s at those moments when you feel like you’re doomed that you’ll often come up with your most creative solutions.

I started as a sales representative more than 15 years ago at WorkStride, where I am now EVP of Sales and Marketing. I’ve seen the company go through ups, downs, more ups, near failure, acquisitions, and incredible growth.

Through this, I’ve learned some things you truly can’t learn any other way than the hard way. Hopefully I can save you a few bumps along the road with these tips:

1. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Different.

When you start your business you’ll be tempted to look around and reassure yourself that what you’re doing is right. You might get nervous if you notice that you’re taking a different path than the more established firms in the industry. For us at WorkStride, that was absolutely the case. We started the business based on a model that made sense to us at the time as a motley crew made up of a lifelong ad executive, a former mortgage salesman, and a professional investor. Like George Costanza, we proceeded to “do the opposite,” and it worked in our favor. Clients responded to our fresh approach and it continues to be one of our differentiators today.

2. Don’t Limit Yourself to Your First Vision.

When you first start your business you’re going to be really passionate about doing whatever it is that you set out to do in a certain way. Then one day you’re going to get a phone call from someone who is willing to pay you a lot of money to do it. There will be a catch though — they will want you to change some things to accommodate them. At the early stages of your business, I advise you to say “Yes” and then immediately hang up and figure out how to make it happen. We did it, and our product ended up evolving as a result. Plus, we still have that customer to this day because we have grown with them.

3. Don’t Stop Looking Ahead.

Eventually, there will come a time when scrambling will pay off and turn into stability. You’ll be tempted to ride it out and just enjoy your success for a while. I advise you to pat yourself (and your employees) on the back, have a glass of champagne, and then get back to work, because this is the time to look ahead! New competitors can pop up daily, the business landscape changes, and next thing you know, you’ll be sprinting just to catch up.

4. Don’t Go It Alone.

When you’ve raised such a beautiful, smart baby it’s hard to let someone else help you take care of it — I know. But sometimes the best thing you can do is bring in someone else who has been where you are trying to go, whether that’s the top of your local industry, or the Fortune 500. A more experienced partner can provide a wealth of new perspectives and unlock possibilities for your company that you could never dream of. When the Riverside Company purchased WorkStride a few years ago, Jim Hemmer was installed as our new CEO. He called us a “six foot two-year old” at the time. We were growing rapidly, doing great work for our customers, but we did not have sufficient coordination or processes to sustain growth. Jim came in and provided that structure we needed to grow in a scalable fashion.

5. Don’t Shy Away from Alternative Funding.

Traditional investors and funding strategies will probably be the first place you’ll look when you need capital. If you fail at attracting these investors or you don’t like their terms, remember that they aren’t the only options out there. Private financing is another source that is rapidly growing in popularity, and these investors are often less risk-averse than their traditional counterparts. Once upon a time, WorkStride attracted over 20 private investors with a well-placed New York Times ad!

6. Don’t Forget That This is Fun!

I often tell a particular story at company meetings, especially when employees perceive that times are challenging. For them challenging means we’re swamped on implementations, or we’re low on headcount. These are great problems to have!

The story is this – I spent a Saturday in the early days of WorkStride on the phone with Fed-Ex literally running down one of their trucks in the middle of Manhattan. Why? Because that truck contained a client payment check that would ensure we could make payroll on Monday and it needed to be deposited before the bank closed. Those were the hard times, but they’re also the times that I wouldn’t trade for the world. So try to enjoy them now, even if you’re a little out of breath.

 

Tom Silk is the executive vice president of sales and marketing at WorkStride. He joined the New York City-based company in 2000 as its first salesperson and quickly rose to Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In 2012, he facilitated the company’s sale to The Riverside Company. Silk has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

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