Business: Nov 26, 2012

Monday, November 26, 2012

Better Small-Medium Business: Wisdom From Mark Twain, John Wooden and The Aussie Outback

Summary

Inspiration for the improvement of small medium enterprises can come from anywhere: even Mark Twain, John Wooden and a mining town in the Australian outback.

Once Upon A Time ...

40 years ago I lived in a mining community in a very, very remote Australia. The nearest town was 400 miles away. I found myself volunteering to coach a team of artisans and workers in the event of local basketball. It was rudimentary basketball bush with little or no finesse. But it was very fun. It was the whole community, men and women, 10 years and above.

Message

One Sunday afternoon another volunteer coach and I were having a drink and a chat. "You know," he says, "the great thing about basketball is that the more you learn about it, the more you realize you do not know." I agree. But the time I had no idea how deep was his comment.

That Mark and John Say

Last year, I found two quotes that said the same thing that my colleague from coaching.

Mark Twain said: "It is not what you do not know what puts you in trouble. It's what you know for sure that this is not true. "And John Wooden said:" It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. "

Consequences of Small-Medium Business

Why do not we pay more attention to these intelligent and experienced people? I spent most of the last 35 years advising managers how to manage best companies. This time, I worked exclusively with managers from small-medium business nearly 20 years.

I am fascinated by example how these managers are willing to try to imitate the large companies. I constantly find business managers employ, for example, 26 people tell me what they can learn from a company that employs 26,000 people!

Gurus

And they are also willing to follow certain gurus academics who have outstanding professional reputation. But many of these gurus have never run any type of business in their entire lives.

Examples

In 1981, Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote "Positioning, The battle for the mind." In 2011, 30 years later, readers of "Advertising Age" voted "Positioning" "Most Important Marketing Book Ever". I continues to find managers who say that Jack and Al speech "does not apply to my business." Thirty years after the approval purchaser does not seem to mean much to them.

The enigma

Many managers are reluctant to accept the philosophies and methods have a long history of effectiveness. Yet they cling to methods - written applications for jobs are an example - that are simply no longer works and that technology has caught up. It is also puzzling why so many managers get the latest fashion and run with it simply because it's new, not because it works.

The perils of extension of the pipe and other "Essentials"

Ries and Trout strongly advised against the extension line. It confuses customers and employees. They also stressed that ideas such as "benchmarking" and "global best practices" are not as valuable as they first appeared. They suggest that SME managers should emulate what people like Apple did when he was, say, 30 employees, rather than today when it is "the most valuable company in the world."

The enigma And You

So that's all this got to do with you and your small or medium business?

    Focus, Focus, Focus: decide the only thing you do well and work to get better and better than anyone
    Define your target market spend all - yes, all - your marketing budget for marketing your target market. Market to anyone else.
    Accept the fact that there's a lot you do not know: buy the best external expertise that you can afford in these areas you know little
    Beware of fads and fashions, especially if they emerge from the study of large companies. Look for things that have worked for companies around the same size as yours and Development
    You can not be everything to everybody: do not try
    Grow your business by doing what you do well even better, but do it for more people in your target market
    Arrogance is the enemy of successful business people and entrepreneurs. Just because you're the best driver on the planet, do not imagine for a moment that this entitles you to teach others to do the screwdriver or screw you
    Be careful when you change something that already works well for you. As the old saying goes, "The first person to get tired of the marketing slogan is the seller."
    If you pay other companies to provide service to your company, the same thing. There is always someone who will say, "We could do it ourselves just as well and save money." First of all, you will not "save money." Service will always cost when you provided internally. Secondly, if you are satisfied with the results you receive from outside, leave it in place and focus your efforts in the areas of your business that need to change and you know a lot of things.
    Beware of the views of those who say: "I know very well ..." Remember what Mark Twain said. Never accept "facts" without irrefutable evidence proving their existence.
    In case you do not know, John Wooden is considered one coaching basketball again. He chose not to bring in professional leagues. He spent a long career basketball coaching college with extraordinary success. He died in 2010 at the age of 99 years. If you think you "know it all", Wood suggests that you deliver. "Failure is not fatal, said Wood," but no change can be. "
    Surveying customers to find out what they want from new products simply do not work. When Henry Ford was asked why he did not investigate to find out what people wanted, he replied: "They wanted a faster horse." And Steve Jobs did not believe in surveying customers on new products.
    You run or help run a business. It is easy to lose sight of reality. "How does this benefit the business?" This is the question that always arises.

Trap technology

"The only constant is change" is an old adage that still applies. What this means is that iPads and iPhones and all the technology that we have become accustomed to just the last change. Technology simply allows us to do things more efficiently, more successfully, more quickly and at lower cost. This is not the alpha and omega. It is simply a superior tool. Use it wisely to improve your business. But do not dominate.

How to Tackle Safety Safely

The word "security" is often used nowadays that sometimes we do not stop to think about what that implies. In a nutshell, the purpose of security is to prevent accidents or untoward incidents.

This could be one of the best ways to measure the degree of safety of a workplace. The absence of accidents or untoward incidents is generally directed to a safe place. Moreover, the lack of security can often lead to a dangerous place too.

Security breach can often lead to security problems. Intruders as armed robbers who threaten the security of a place through the use of dangerous weapons. Due to the unpredictability of the reason or actions, even the use of bare hands to harm may be a cause of concern for those who are faced with an intruder.

Another issue closely linked to security, is health. Safety of a person may be affected by health risks.

What is the difference?

Any security breach could cause an accident. An accident will result in some sort of physical injury to the person, whether a cut, burn, laceration, contusion or even death if it is serious.

Any infringement health exposure may cause long-term damage to an individual, which may not be apparent at the time of exposure. Eg exposure to chemicals such as benzene can not cause death if the dose is low, but repeated exposure to high concentrations can cause cancer to develop in the person. Does that make sense?

The effect of chemicals can be classified again later. Chemicals can also cause accidents.

Hazardous chemicals can be classified as toxic, corrosive, irritant, explosive, flammable, oxidizing, carcinogenic, mutagenic. The degree of risk may also vary depending on the concentration and the amount of exposure to an individual. Thus, a corrosive chemical diluted may not be as harmful as a concentrate in a certain instance, but can do damage if exposure is long.

The effect of chemicals is also more serious parts of the body than others. For example, corrosive can damage the eyes very quickly, but it can affect the skin of the palm much. Time is also a factor. More exposure, the more damage is done.

Many cases of exposure to corrosive substances caused accidents. The effects can be felt immediately. However, people exposed to carcinogens do not know that their health has been affected for many years later.

Thus, in order to promote safety, we must consider all aspects - safety, security and health aspects.

When we asked to talk about safety, it is necessary to know where our workplace. Otherwise, we can be silly. Some workplaces are extremely hazardous to health and safety. Some places have security risks, while others are extremely safe.

So the first thing to note is the industry. And not only that, it can still be classified work areas as production floor, outdoor installation, office, lab, on the road, and so on.

If you are serious about the prevention of accidents in any workplace, then you should try to gather data or information about the nature of employment, accidents and incidents analyzed. For example, you want to know what caused these accidents - they are due to human error, fatigue, poor machine design, defective materials, act of God, and so on ... If you do not have a lot of data, perhaps because many accidents have not been saved, you can still make an analysis of risks. Sometimes, you can deduct the causes with a little common sense, but at other times, you may need to consult experts.

A risk assessment is a reflective exercise in which we try to understand the level of risk to a certain task. Many experts establish risk matrices that systematically tabulate the severity of the risk in relation to the likelihood of things going wrong for each task. After drawing up a risk matrix, it becomes a useful tool to tell from a glance what kind of risk that we will encounter if we had to do some work, and what precautions or other additional preparation must be performed at the same time to avoid an accident.

It is only when you have a clear idea of where the risks may be working on how to minimize risks.

Additional preparation in order to minimize the risk could be as simple as filling out a form for a work permit, or implement an alert, marking out the living energies of electrical panels, or it could be of activities detailed and people.

Of course, a risk assessment must be implemented by someone who knows very well the job, someone who can accurately determine what will happen when you perform a task. These people are content experts. Their roles can be extremely important.

Sometimes a new task must be done that nobody has done before. The content expert must be able to visualize what it is and what type of risk (s) to wait before the work is started. Toolbox meetings should be conducted with all persons involved in the task so that everyone is aware of what is happening and no surprises are in store.

How do experts know what to expect? Usually it is by experience. Experience is what can make a person competent. They become proficient in fact work in dangerous places, and then have survived. Their past experiences have taught them that the danger was around them, but they learned not to get caught up in a dangerous situation.

Safety from posters and newsletters are extremely useful for the education of future competent person. Security is not a one-time learning experience, but the safety should be rooted in the person so it becomes very careful. Awareness is a key factor in the prevention of accidents or avoid exposure to health risks.

Safety Posters Cartoon worth display in the workplace. People are naturally impatient and are not inclined to sit time to consider safety. Safety messages posters cartoons are a resource that can break the habit. You can not see the difference now, but they can produce for you a subject matter expert for the future that can address security safe.

Employee Referral Program Tips And Tricks

Businesses will benefit certainly have orientation programs for their customers. However, companies often do not enjoy the benefits that employee referral program can bring. Be an employee of a company, you refer to them can be a unique experience for some people.

In general, we expect the employees of a company to know the "real deal" about the products or services offered. Does the company use cheap materials, reliable? Frozen dough in this "gourmet restaurant"? When an employee of a company recommends their company, we tend to believe that their knowledge of the interior reflects the fact that the supply of their business must indeed be impressive and deserves consideration.

All-Inclusive Referral Program

Including all the most essential elements of the recommendation of employees is essential from the beginning. While each business its own way of organizing and recording points, marks, credits or their preferred system of rewards in their records, it is essential to create a program that rewards employees for all types of references they can bring in.

Employee Referrals to employees

Allow employees to earn rewards for referring other employees into the fold. Many companies will provide a comfort zone for their employees employed by requiring that references the newly hired employee to put in a specific amount of hours before referring the employee receives a reward.

Employee Referrals consumption

Always offer your employees instant rewards when someone refer makes a purchase. Whether you choose to allow them to benefit from the future purchase or continue to you. Most companies can find a way to reward that will not hurt their bottom line. Allow employees to earn extra vacation days for a consumer to bring long term may be a factor for many incredibly conduct.

Good staff rules Referral Program to live by

There are some useful rules to live by that will help a mentoring program run correctly used.

Keep a scorecard, but not compete

While the company must find a way to display a kind of dashboard, employees should not be encouraged to compete with each other to improve their scores. Giving away a huge prize and irresistible is a great idea, but do it by encouraging each employee to achieve personal goals so that their names can go into a blind drawing for the winner. This type of technique will remove any possibility of personal problems arise between employees may occur in more competitive contest.

Limit required "work" to bring in Referrals

Unlike consumer references, social referents are less likely to want to add more workload for the few points on a scoreboard. Bring or submit new references as easy as possible. In this day and age, with social networks to reach billions of people, any company would do well to consider allowing employees on Facebook or Twitter to refer their friends and immediate family. If you need a bit of information for referrals, make sure to enter the system, it is easy and smooth operation.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm and Referral. It illustrates how to take advantage of joint venture and orientation relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Business

Monday, November 26, 2012

Better Small-Medium Business: Wisdom From Mark Twain, John Wooden and The Aussie Outback

How to Tackle Safety Safely

Employee Referral Program Tips And Tricks

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