Is it true that a bad boss will create miserable employees?

The findings may surprise you.

It has been reported that researchers at the Université François-Rabelais in France now have statistics to show how bad management hurts workers. They conducted a survey of more than 1,100 employees from various companies. The participants in the survey were asked about their general well-being and their jobs. Not surprising is that those who were unhappy had bosses that had negative management styles.

If you are a boss that is reading this, it is not the end of the world. It is an opportunity to review your management style and decide if you can improve it or not. If you know that your style is not conducive to a happy work place and have decided not to change, that is no problem. This is because the majority of your staff will eventually leave and it will cost your company more money to replace and train new staff.

You have a decision to make.

Do you want to improve or do you want to cost your company more money?

Do you like working with people on an in person basis?

If you do, there may be some great benefits for you.

Recently I was made aware of some experiments that were described on Public Broadcasting in the United States. It suggested that newborn children prefer to look at face more than anything else as early as 9 minutes old. What does that say about us as humans?

I believe it shows that we like to be with others and communicate in person. You may be thinking, oh that’s not my way. That may be true but has it been learned or is it an easier way for you to operate?

I believe deep down all people like human contact. When we don’t have any of this connection, we tend to feel all alone.

What is one way that you can improve your connection with others?

Do you sell features, advantages or benefits to your customers?

I sure hope it is not features or advantages!

I say that sincerely as the only thing that clients are looking for is benefits for them from what you are selling. Yes, you need to understand the features and advantages. But the only reason to know these is so you can phrase your benefits in proper terms as reinforcement to your potential clients.

It has proven beneficial to many people to go through an exercise of listing all the features your product or service provides. Then break those features down into how they are advantages for your clients. Then finally itemize your benefits.

When can you do this exercise?

Did you hear the one about an old man, a boy and a donkey who were going to town?

The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. 

As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy walk." They then decided they both would walk!

Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey. 

Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned. 

The moral of the story is; in marketing, if you try to please everyone, you might as well... kiss your ass good-bye.

Can you honestly say to your clients ‘We are here for you.’?

Or are you just interested in the money you’ve got from them?

Your clients will be able to tell if you are interested in them, just by your actions. It is all about how you answer their questions about concerns after they have made their purchase. It’s all about how you keep in contact with them.

Have you put together a plan to show your clients that you are here for them?

When are you going to do that?

How many sales people do you have on your staff?

I hope you say that all of your staff are in sales and marketing.

It is my belief that everyone on your staff needs to understand what makes your product/service as good as you believe it is. If not, how do you think they are going to speak about your business and what you do?

Every person who works with you should be marketing your product or service. If not, what does it say about them? In fact what does it say about your business if they are not excited about what they are doing with you?

What are three benefits you can talk to your staff about in the next week that will get them excited about you, your business and the products/services you provide for your clients?

Do you recall a time when someone made a promise it meant something?

This something I am talking about, is when someone made a promise to you it meant that you could trust them to follow through on that promise.

I experienced a situation the other day when I was speaking to someone on the phone and we agree to the price of the product. I told her that I would be picking it up the next day, she said that would be fine and we agreed upon the time I would be there. As I was leaving my meeting to drive to pick up the product I phoned her to confirm that she was available. Much to my surprise she informed me that she had sold it to another person.

While I was disappointed, it made me realize that if she was willing to back-track on a verbal agreement, had she been honest with anything that she told me?

I only relate this story to you so that you may realize the impact that honesty can have on your business.

Is there something that you would like to improve in this area of your business?

Do you know the correct way to handle your competition?

Recently I was made aware of this story.

A retailer was dismayed when a competitor selling the same type of product opened next-door to him, displaying a large sign proclaiming "Best Deals."

Not long after that, he was horrified to find yet another competitor move in next door, on the other side of his store. Its large sign was even more disturbing "Lowest Prices."

After his initial panic, and concern that he would be driven out of business, he looked for a way to turn the situation to his marketing advantage. Finally, an idea came to him. Next day, he proudly unveiled a new and huge sign over his front door. It read, "Main Entrance!"

While this is a joke there are some good points to it; 

• There is always a way through effective marketing to get prospective clients attention.
• We all need to think differently than we did before in order to improve our business.

When can you take action on these points?

Do you think that your schooling ended when you were 22 or 23 years old?

I hope not!

In my discussion with business owners and leaders I’ve been shocked at times to hear from them how little on-going education is practiced. I say that because if you and your staff do not have a life-long focus on challenging yourself and learning, how do you expect your business to keep up with the world?

The education I am talking about does not have to include going back to college. What it does need to include is the ability to upgrade and keep one’s skills up to date over your entire work career. People are changing in the ways they purchase your product or service. So why haven’t you done anything to improve your marketing in years?

Isn’t it time to re-think the way you are operating your business?

Do you really understand the value of a customer?

Do you understand that the value of a customer exists long after you’ve made the first sale with them?

I say that because everybody knows someone else. If you have treated a customers with respect and kept in contact with them – don’t you think they will tell others? Of course!

So how are you treating your customers? Are they just a number? Or have they become part of your business family? There is a big difference, isn’t there?

How can you make your existing customer’s part of your business family?

When can you start doing this?

How remarkable is your business today, could it be better?

Do all your customers make remarks about how good you have treated them and served them?

Being remarkable is all about doing the little things. These little things are what this economy has helped us forget to do. These are things like the way you answer your phone, or the way you handle a customer concern.

Do you have methods you follow in all aspects of your business? For example; do you have particular procedure to follow so that when a call comes into your business so that no matter who answers the phone it is being done in an effective and welcoming way? If you answered ‘no’, when can you improve this area of your business?

In fact if you want to become a remarkable company/organization it is my firm belief that all aspects of business must become procedures and documented so that if someone is not at work, whoever replaces them can look up what needs to be done and do it.

When are you going to make your business remarkable?

Has the money you’ve invested in your marketing paid off?

Now that the hype of the Super Bowl commercials has worn off, let’s take a look at it seriously.

I know that for many of the multi-national companies they are spending millions of dollars on ads to get people like you and me to remember their name. But does it work long-term? Have you bought a Chevy truck in the last week?  Is there a new Acura parked in your garage? If your answer is no, has their marketing had immediate pay-offs?

I would like to address this issue from the basis of a small business. Over the years I’ve seen many small businesses try to operate their marketing like multi-national companies. Sadly this doesn’t work!

I say that because most small businesses are not known well enough for how their products or service benefit the customer. What that means to you is that until your product or services are really distinguishable from your competitors your name recognition marketing means nothing. All that your marketing is doing is giving the media outlets a regular income.

Marketing needs to educate or inform. This education or informing is not proclaiming your company name! It is about how only your product or service can solve potential client’s problems.

Is that what your marketing is doing? 

If not, when can you start to do this?

Is your positioning statement doing anything for your business?

You may ask; what is a positioning statement?

A positioning statement provides focus for a business or organization. It is done so that those who work in your business know what is important and all of their decisions are made easier and there are fewer mistakes. It can be developed by following these steps;

• Itemize or write down what your business is.
• Describe what business you are in.
• Itemize who you ‘ideal client’ is.
• Describe what these ideal clients want from want from you, and how it will benefit them.
• Review the above with your staff on a regular basis so they know and understand your position or where you stand when it comes to business.

Doesn’t it make sense to have a positioning statement in your business?

Can you see the clarity it would give your business?

What is the best way to grow your business?

As you know there are two options to grow your business; the safe tactical way and the strategic way. Which is the one that works?

With the safe way you maintain your old ways and habits. With the strategic way you are looking for new insights and new ways all the time. My question is; how can you grow your business by maintaining your old ways and habits?

Of course you can’t grow your business that way. I’ve said this for years; ‘The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.’ If you want to maintain your old ways and habits, your rut is slowly becoming a grave. If you don’t like what I’ve said – you’ve proven to me that you like your rut. How much longer before you attitude digs this rut into a grave?

The choice is yours isn’t it?

Do you have a competitor that does a better job than you do?

If you said ‘no’ your work is just beginning.

I say that because if there is no one that is doing a better job that you do now, why would you sit back and wait for that competitor to start?

Why don’t you figure out how to improve your business so you can be more cost effective, more customer focused and more progressive?

If you are saying that it isn’t possible, think about the following businesses that are history. Think about Compaq Computer (1982 to 2002), Eastern Airlines (1920’s to 1991). If these large businesses could go down, you can too.

Now is the time to take action, isn’t it?

Are your potential clients so busy that they don’t pay attention to your advertising?

Due to recent research it appears that getting people to pay attention to your advertising is a challenge for all businesses.

This research was done by the Bureau of Broadcast Management (BBM) in Canada. Did you know that this research has found out that the average Canadian adult watches about 29.5 hours of television each week? This works out to 1,534 hours of television each year.  According to Jay Walker-Smith of Yankelovich Consumer Research; "We've gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 1970s to as many as 5,000 a day today."  It is no wonder that we tune things out each and everyday?

Now think about this!

If you are in business you are trying to get your potential client’s attention. How do you break through the clutter? Try these steps;

• Decide who you want to do business with.
• Focus your attention/marketing on only those people/businesses.
• Be consistent and keep marketing to those potential clients until with they say ‘no, never’ or they become clients.

When can you start to do this?

What are the keys to growth and happiness in business?

If you not interested in happiness, let’s look at growth.

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook stated recently that “Even if our mission sounds big, it starts small — with the relationship between two people. Personal relationships are the fundamental unit of our society. Relationships are how we discover new ideas, understand our world and ultimately derive long-term happiness.”

He said it all when it comes to business – relationships are the key.

What have you done in the past month to strengthen the relationships in your business?

What have you done recently to strengthen your relationships with your long-term clients?

For what purpose did you start your company?

I know this is a very important question for everyone to understand?

Whether you are the owner or are an employee you need to understand why the business was started. In a recent letter from Mark Zuckerberg regarding the Initial Public Offering of Facebook he stated that “Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected.”

If this isn’t a wake-up call for all of us, I don’t know what will wake you up. I say that because if the only reason you started your business was to earn money I know that that reason will not drive you or your employees to great things. What this means to you is that if you are only driven to earning paper with pictures of deceased people on it (money), you are never going to be as successful as you could be if you had an inner driven motivation to achieve your objective for why you work.

What is another reason for you being in business, other than money? If you can develop that other reason you will be surprised at how much more driven you are to succeed. If you can make it an emotional reason, you will succeed to an even higher level.

When can you start to develop this?

Do you have limits as to what can be accomplished?

I hope you believe that what you can do is unlimited.

If you don’ think that your accomplishments are unlimited - you are imposing limitations on what is possible. Do you think that is good in the long-term for you and your business? Of course not! So how can you avoid these limiting beliefs? Here are 4 steps;

• Understand that your brain has developed self-doubt.
• Realize that you wouldn’t have this ‘great’ idea if it was not possible.
• Take action on your ideas and learn from your mistakes.
• Continue taking action and learning so you continue to move toward your goal.

Doesn’t this make sense?

Have you ever copied something that your competitor was doing?

Come on, admit it, we all have.

But have you ever copied something from someone in another industry? You may be thinking; ‘why would I do that?’ I think it is the right thing to do because if you find out that something is working in another industry and tweak it for your business, the results are going to be very positive.

Can you think of one business or industry that is experiencing great growth right now? If so, now is the time to examine what they are doing, then tweak what they are doing and grow your business due to it.

What have you got to lose?

Have you written down what makes your product or service appealing?

The key word in the above is the word ‘written’.

It has been said that what gets written gets understood and done. So why haven’t you written down what makes your product or service appealing? I think it could be that many of us are not sure about what is appealing in the customer’s eyes. I can understand that. Maybe this will help you.

If you are looking at what is appealing to your potential client you have to look at it from their perspective. What are the feelings they are going to get when they take ownership or your product or service? How are their lives going to be changed?

When can you start to prepare a statement that will help all of your staff understand what appeals to your customer’s?