Management

Employees

Advertising That Does More Than Grow Your Top-Line

Posted by . In topics: Advertising · Management · Your Business

Synopsis: Advertising does wonders for more than just sending customers your way. It also impacts how you recruit and retain talent. We discuss how.

Your advertising is driving new customers through your doors today. That’s great! But what if it could do more? A lot more?

Human talent is one of the most critical assets for businesses of all sizes. They’re usually one of the top costs on your income statement and when they’re doing a great job, your business usually thrives. When they’re not, you may be losing customers faster than any advertising can bring new ones in. In short, having the best people you can afford is a mission-critical business strategy.

What does this have to do with advertising? Everything!

When you advertise, your impressions are reaching potential customers. They’re also reaching a lot of people who aren’t going to buy for you for one reason or another. At least today. But these impressions are still doing something important.  They’re increasing awareness and/or changing minds about your business! And here’s where the “talent” issue comes into play…

The “Recruitment” Benefits Of Advertising

The most talented people in every business type and at every skill level are probably already working for somebody today. They’re a vastly superior pool of talent compared to those looking for jobs online all day! Many businesses employ professional recruiters today to find these employees and talk them into switching – usually at a much higher salary. These “headhunters” are most prevalent in higher-end talent searches. These services are costly (6-20% of starting salary) and are often unavailable for less-skilled positions. Read more »

Toilet Paper, Laundry Soap, and a $25K SBA Loan?

Posted by . In topics: Management · The Economy

While you may have some experience buying paper products, computer equipment, or even insurance for your small business at Sam’s Club, odds are you haven’t tried their newest service:  small business lending.

With a lot of the government stimulus programs coming to an end, often without helping the liquidity crisis facing many small and medium sized businesses, retailers like Sam’s (A division of Walmart) are taking it upon themselves to help businesses finance growth.  Call it over-the-counter stimulus plans.  Sam’s lending service is built upon a standard SBA loan program, though the service streamlines the paperwork and approval process considerably (a significant deterrent for many businesses) and even discounts the loan application.

The program lends from $5,000 to $25,000, unsecured, at a low rate (7.5% at time of publication).  Pre-approval is available online in minutes…  To date, about 45% of its applicants have been approved. Read more »

Does Your Business Need CHANGE To Thrive?

Posted by . In topics: Management

Do you think that your staff needs to care more about the quality of their work?  Do you need people to show up on time and respond to customers in a more timely, positive manner?   Do you need your sales team to pay more attention to their most important accounts, or do more prospecting?  Do you need to stop paying too much attention to things that don’t directly grow your business?

These improvements represent needs for CHANGE.

Change can be a scary thing.  We all know (from first hand experience) that most of our hard-wired behaviors, habits, and beliefs work in direct opposition to change, no matter how profitable, healthy, or enriching that change might be.  But most of us aren’t quite sure why.  We try carrots and sticks to effect change, but most of the time, these changes don’t stick.  Sometimes we look at employees and think ‘they can never change, I have to replace them.’  Other times we just take bad situations as a given and work ourselves to death running around the obvious problem…  Our lives would be so much simpler if we could actually master change when it’s needed most.

The latest book from Chip and Dan Heath (the co-authors of best-seller Made To Stick) may just provide the answer.  Switch demystifies change and presents a very simple framework for understanding and solving a wide-range of changes.  Unlike most business books, Switch is relevant and compelling from cover to cover and is extremely readable.  Their cases, examples, and frameworks will stimulate so many thoughts about your own change needs that your biggest problem may simply be finishing it!  It’s easily one of the best business books written in years.  Give it a shot.  It’s available in most bookstores and on Amazon/Kindle.  The Heath Brothers also have a website that discusses some of their content (though to be honest, it doesn’t do the book justice).