The saying was that there are three things that matter in real estate – location, location, location. In the past, this also applied to office space when a promotion meant a better or more private office space and ultimate success was defined a having the “corner office.” Does this still apply today? Many companies have responded to met the needs of the modern workforce who want to work virtually at least some, if not all of the time and are reaping huge rewards. Check out our September newsletter for our article entitled Location, Location, Location. Let us know what changes you have made to get the most out of the modern workforce.
We are now planning our 2012 editorial calendar – let us know what topics or issues you would like us to tackle. We have received some of our best ideas from our readers. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
Picture this — you have been looking forward to interviewing this top caliber candidate with an amazing history of accomplishments. The day of your interview finally arrives and you can tell the candidate is nervous but seems prepared. After the icebreaker small talk you ask your first question and the candidate is stumped; the candidate has no idea how to answer it. Or worse, there is something negative about the candidate or their work history and you happen to nail that right at the beginning of the interview. How should you expect a top caliber candidate to respond? Well, you will just have to read out September newsletter to find out.
Let us know what has been the toughest interview question you have asked or been asked during an interview.
Our August Newsletter has been delivered to your inbox. Thank you to all of our subscribers for reading our newsletter every month. We appreciate all of our subscribers. This month’s topics are the corporate ladder and strategic conversations.
In our first article “Corporate Ladder“ we try to provide good insight about what the corporate ladder looks like today compared to the traditional corporate ladder that has been in place since the industrial revolution. It is very different. We would like to hear from you to let us know what the corporate ladder looks like in your company.
We talk about strategy, creating strategic plans, thinking strategically but what does this really mean? Our second article gives you some suggestions for actually having strategic conversations so that all these strategic plans do not become shelf documents.
As always, we would like to hear from you — what do you think of our newsletter? Are there any topics you would like to us to tackle? Some of our favorite topics have been suggested by our readers.
The July newsletter will be delivered to your inbox shortly. The new movie “Horrible Boss” opened recently in theatres and there has been some discussions about this topic on blogs and publications. We thought it would be good to cover this topic from a different perspective. Our newsletter takes a fresh approach to what can be an old topic and focuses on a comparison of a “tough” boss and a bad boss. We don’t want to say too much here so you will be sure to check out our newsletter. Our second article takes a fresh approach to the knowledge worker. Are you managing your knowledge workers effectively?
As always, let us know what you think of our articles and what topics you would like to see us tackle in upcoming issues of our monthly newsletter.
Some executives intuitively know how to have great meetings. Others have meetings that are unfocused, usually start late and end even later. Most employees think that meetings are a waste of time even though we spend much of our week attending them. How can you facilitate meetings that your employees will look forward to attending because they are interesting, necessary and productive? Check out the suggestions in our upcoming newsletter.
We all want to have more time to enjoy these beautiful summer months so our second article addresses another topic that can take much of our time and energy – workplace conflict resolution. It is so important to have a policy and procedure that empowers employees to resolve their workplace conflicts as soon as possible. Our article provides some suggestions on putting a resolution process in place. We welcome you to post conflict resolution suggestions that have worked for your business that you would like to share with others.
Did you know that the average unemployed worker has been unemployed for ten months. These unemployed include workers who were laid off when their company downsized as well as recent graduates. Imagine how grateful someone will be to have a job after being unemployed for some time. Now, add an incentive on top of that.
The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act provides major incentives for employers to consider hiring unemployed workers and, once hired, to retain them. The HIRE Act is a $17.5 billion legislation, signed into law by President Obama on March 18, 2010, that gives a potential tax exemption and credit to businesses. The HIRE Act targets the unemployed who have had difficulty finding work for some time. For example, the HIRE Act grants businesses that hire workers who are unemployed 60 days or longer an exemption from the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll taxes for each worker for the remainder of 2010. And, if the workers are retained for one year, participating businesses get a tax credit of $1,000. The maximum value of the incentive is $6,621 per qualified employee, which equals 6.2 percent of the Social Security FICA maximum wage cap of $106,800.
The goal of the HIRE Act aims to provide hiring incentives to stimulate the economy, restore some of the jobs lost in the latest economic recession, and put Americans back to work.
What are your thoughts on the HIRE Act? We encourage you to share your thoughts with us. And, of course, you are welcome to contact us if you would like to learn more about it.
If you would like to see us tackle a particular topic in our future monthly newsletters, drop us a line and let us know. We are working hard on our July newsletter and we are very excited to be sending it out shortly. We selected one article on creative thinking and one on negotiating. We hope that you will enjoy the July issue of our newsletter.
Everyone has a limit to what they can afford and what they are allowed to spend when it is a business. There are many issues that surround the idea of hiring for the future, that it makes the topic logical. When managers and business owners talk, they are talking about the performances of the employees and where the bottom line is. It is a smart investment to invest in employees because of the high turnover rate people are having in major companies today. Everyone is always looking for the bigger and better. This is bigger in salary and better in duties. As the world grows older, the human race is looking for faster and more efficient work. There are many reasons why you should think ahead and start hiring for the future. Reasons include:
1. No down time– You don’t have to worry about having a break in production or work time because you will have the right amount of employees necessary to run your business. The turnover rate regardless of the crisis is high enough. People are always trying to improve themselves and this is by jumping jobs. Having no down time is good for your business in many ways. Increasing your bottom line is the main focus to concentrate on. When you have enough employees, you won’t have to worry about burn out. Burn out from employees is the death of any company.
2. Employees won’t be overworked– As just stated, employees who get burned out are more likely to get tired of the many hours they are required to work. In turn, they will quit. It is very hard to keep a schedule not so full of workers who are overworked. Burn out happens when an employee is constantly working more than 50 hours a week without any vacation time. Think about your employees and care for their well being.
3. Freshness– This is freshness in your staff. Having fresh new faces will increase your bottom line. When an employee is new, they are energetic. The stress of a job hasn’t struck him or her yet. When you have fresh faces, the clients know. They will want to get to know them if the client is a repeat customer or client. In any business, having fresh faces is always needed. The reasoning varies from company to company and depends on the size of your business.
There is always going to be a turnover rate. Even in times of crisis, there are people who don’t want to be in fear of loosing their jobs so they quit before they are fired or laid off. People move to job to job based on the notion that they want to have steady but fun work experiences. It makes it impossible to run a business if people are quitting and not giving any employee to replace them. There are ways to prepare yourself and your business for this onslaught. Be aware of how your employees are and where they need encouragement from. This could be in the form of a handshake or a compliment. It can really improve someone’s day if you give into their needs.
Also, please feel free to forward this blog to your friends and colleagues and to come back often.
The JK Consultants Team
You Never Know Where Professional Friendships May Lead
JK Consultants brings outstanding leadership talent to organizations to help them strengthen their management teams and to realize increased long-term profitability and growth.
By Vistage member Michael Braun, CEO Pivotal Advisors
CEO beliefs and behaviors either contribute to sales or work against them. Are you helping your sales team succeed or are you hindering their improvement?
Ineffective sales growth strategies
When CEOs tell me they need to increase sales, the first question I ask is: “What are you doing about sales now?” Responses range from interesting to shocking. Here are some typical comments:
“We’re going to just ride it out. When the economy comes back we’ll get our share.”
“I’m not happy about it, but it’s up to our sales leader. If he doesn’t get it going soon I’ll have to replace him.”
“We’re trimming our sales staff. If we can’t sell enough at least we’re going to spend a little less. And, we can weed out the lower performers.”
“We brought the sales team in for a three-day training workshop to improve their skills.”
“We invested in a CRM system so we can see what they are working on and get more accurate forecasts.”
“We’re cutting our prices so at least we can generate some volume.”
“I’m personally getting a lot more involved in deals to make sure we win.”
These responses usually foretell that the strategy employed is not working well. If you’ve been using one of these strategies to little effect, you might consider becoming more personally involved in your organization’s sales.
Sales involvement quiz
To gauge your current level of involvement, try answering these 10 questions. Answer each with a YES, SOMEWHAT or NO.
1. Do you foster a culture (policies, recognition, stories) that enables the entire company to support the sales team?
2. Have you invested enough in your sales team to give them a competitive advantage?
3. Have you worked with your sales team to understand the critical steps your customers take in evaluating your products and services? Have you documented the best approaches for all to use?
4. Have you determined your most probable customer or growth segment and communicated it to the entire organization?
5. Have you encouraged your sales leaders to understand what behaviors and activities lead to sales and then supported the development the team needs?
6. Do you understand a sales leader’s job is to develop a team of sellers, and do you devote part of their pay to making it happen?
7. Do you continually invest in your sales leaders to be sure they have the best education, tools, and practices to drive continual improvement?
8. Do you routinely make sales accomplishments visible to the entire organization, recognizing sellers and those that support sales?
9. Do you believe that sales is a process that can be taught versus a skill that’s inherent in certain people?
10. Do you look at sales as an investment in the business verses a cost to be managed?
If the majority of your answers were YES, you are most likely helping your team succeed.
If the majority of your answers were SOMEWHAT, you are doing some things right, but you need to take a closer look at ways you can improve.
If the majority of your answers were NO, here’s an opportunity to make changes that can make a big impact toward improving your sales.
CEO actions that lead to results
To drive sales growth and become more involved in helping your sales team succeed, try taking these actions:
Publish a growth strategy. Explain to everyone outside of the sales department exactly what type of client you want to work with, then show them how to get those leads to sales people. Follow-up with a routine communication that shows how their efforts are driving sales. You’d be surprised how many employees are connected to people who could become customers.
Invest in your sales leaders. Sales is a discipline like any other function in the organization, and it’s driven by the boss. Salespeople do best with a clear set of expectations regarding what they’re supposed to do, how they should behave, how frequently and what results they should be getting. Most managers learned their job from their former manager who never learned to do it well. Be clear their job is not to sell, but rather develop a team of people that can sell your products and services. Then, provide them the education and support they need to do it well.
Create a step-by-step method for engaging your customers. Createa methodology that clearly outlines what activities help your prospects make effective decisions. Document which steps, tools, and resources advance the sale, and reinforce them over time. If you want the new approach to stick, think of it as the beginning of several months of teaching or re-teaching skills to resistant adults. It takes time and it’s up to the manager to teach and coach until a new habit is formed.
Stop making your manager the score keeper. Managers often spend 50 percent of their time forecasting, sitting in meetings to communicate the latest projection, working with the CRM team on the latest upgrade, or helping marketing with what signage to use for the next trade show. Studies show that when managers spend time in the field coaching their reps, sales go up significantly. Reduce their administrative time wherever you can and help them focus where they’re needed most, teaching their team to be better.
Take pride in your sales team. The best salespeople want to work for companies that believe in, invest in, and continually develop their sales skills. If you’re not doing this, they know it and it shows up when they talk to your customers. You can show your pride by offering learning events for the sales team and sending announcements to the entire company recognizing key sales wins.
The exciting part is that this is all within your control and it works. And, it works in every economy. Your customers are always looking for the best value. Sales teams that help their customers make good business decisions by understanding their needs, concerns, and risks, will always have a competitive advantage. Sign up for our Free Newsletter and receive a special report for FREE…INSTANTLY!
We encourage your participation and comments.
Please leave us your comments below!
Also, please feel free to forward this blog to your friends and colleagues and to come back often.
The JK Consultants Team
You Never Know Where Professional Friendships May Lead
JK Consultants brings outstanding leadership talent to organizations to help them strengthen their management teams and to realize increased long-term profitability and growth.
The Importance of Business Coaching.
By Gary Sorrell
Business coaching is defined as an interaction intended to enhance performance and facilitate change. It focuses on sound inner judgment and that leads to the best possible outcomes. Business Coaching has been practiced for years. When you have business coaching in your company, you are opening the door for a bigger advancement in the performance of your employees, thus your organization. You will be able to see numerous benefits when you implement business coaching. Some benefits of this well known practice are:
1. Employees will perform at their best– When you incorporate business coaching into the employee developmental process, your employees will challenge themselves and seek to perform at their best. It is very important in any business to have efficient and effective employees. One-on-one interaction with a business coach provides the environment for employees to untap their hidden potential, demonstrate their additional capabilities and added value their enhanced performance brings. This far exceeds the investment you have made in this person. Under all circumstances it is prudent to stay ahead in the business world and this becomes more important in times of restructuring and uncertainty. When you want your business to grow, you need to think about how your employees will help secure this growth. Business coaching is your answer.
2. Recognizes their experiences– This goes along the same lines as employees performing at their best. With business coaching the employee works with their coach to reinforce their current strengths and to surface new opportunities where these skills can be utilized allowing the employee to expand their contribution to the company. Business coaching allows for employees to share their work experiences and feel more intellectual for doing so. Their attitudes change when they feel they have attributed something to the company. This benefit increases the level of the employee’s engagement to the firm and has a domino effect throughout the organization.
3. Increases your bottom line– When you have business coaching available to your employees, you recognize and communicate their worth to the company. The main goal of business coaching is to offer the tools and support individuals need to enhance their performance and to facilitate change. With business coaching, you will be able to increase your revenue stream. Always thinking and staying ahead in the business world is what is going to make your business grow. Business coaching is what you need if you want to achieve this.
Outcomes that you can expect when you have business coaching in practice are higher levels of engagement, more efficiency and productivity. Investing in your employees is a sound business decision that will yield a high ROI (return on investment). Sign up for our Free Newsletter and receive a special report for FREE…INSTANTLY!
We encourage your participation and comments.
Please leave us your comments below!
Also, please feel free to forward this blog to your friends and colleagues and to come back often.
The JK Consultants Team
You Never Know Where Professional Friendships May Lead
JK Consultants brings outstanding leadership talent to organizations to help them strengthen their management teams and to realize increased long-term profitability and growth.
been practiced for years. When you have business coaching in your company, you are opening the door for a bigger advancement in the performance of your employees, thus your organization. You will be able to see numerous benefits when you implement business coaching. Some benefits of this well known practice are: 
JK Consultants - The Executive Search Firm 