The Content Hoarder

Succeeding in the modern business world depends on competent people management skills. With a little effort you may succeed in developing these skills. It may be a plus to have a natural affinity for managing with people, however there are a lot of skills you can learn that will make the process easy. Build relationships: Begin by memorizing staff’s names. Engage in conversation; get eye contact when you’re speaking. Have a respectful attitude, and be attentive to the other person’s point of view, even if you do not agree or have a different opinion. The development of the ability to listen is one of the greatest things you may do to better your talent management skills. Be sure to show an interest in what they can offer the team. Live up to your word: Keeping your word is key. If a promise is not kept, it will destroy trust, and if they don’t trust you your staff will not perform at their best. Everytime you make a statement or make a promise about something, ensure that you can deliver or don’t bother giving your word at all. The truth is, if you can’t be depended upon, you can be assured they will act in the same way.

Feedback is essential: It’s a two-way street. Human Resources management skills mean being receptive to all feedback. Being accessible and open establishes that other’s views are important to you, and they will value yours. Encouraging discourse also opens doors to fresh ways of thinking, innovative ways of accomplishing goals, and develops the company in general. By allowing the staff a voice, every employee takes an interest in the project’s outcome.

Communicating is the key: Dealing with your team boils down to the same thing — good communication. Be approachable, listen closely to other people, retain an open mind, and encourage all your staff to express their views. Inspire staff not just to communicate to you, but also to talk to each other. The creative process relies heavily on the interchange of opinions, if the team members communicate effectively, it is easy to find any issues before they may present as problems, and corrective measures can be implemented before things get out of hand.

This may take some time, still the rewards far outbalance the work. By establishing the bonds of a good team and by taking heed of your team’s suggestions, a successful business can be yours.

The current economy is such that it is easiest to increase profits by minimizing expenses, not a growth of income. One concept often omitted is business performance management software.

It’s well known that an efficient company adjusts its procedures to the specialties of each employee to get the most from them. Pinpointing and making this information ready to use tends to be where it gets challenging.

Simply keeping track of employee evaluation and determining development in that performance is a significant amount of work. You first put employee appraisal techniques together in order to assess work done by each worker. Analyzing this information comes next. Before you can put it to use setting goals and tracking future progress it’s crucial to know what the raw data translates to. Employing performance management software you can be confident that this appraisal is taken care of and you only need to look at the various analyses to find what the right targets for this employee would be. It also renders following the employee’s advancement much easier. With more useful information for less time invested, this is a major saving before putting these findings to use. If you want to you can instead make your own assessment, merely utilizing the software to generate and update a record to use as a basis. Needless to say, it’s not employee performance alone that can benefit from advice from performance appraisal software. It can also be valuable to study suppliers and clients to better reduce costs by precision buying. Identifying which suppliers offer the higher grade or best priced products can be a great help.

When it comes to clients - retailers, affiliates, or similar - performance management software can still provide a better picture there, too, showing you just who sells the most of your products, any loss percentage and any similar fallout, and providing a reminder of outstanding payments. This information is useful in minimizing expenses and boosting profits. As well as all this, it’ll be less trouble to plan marketing campaigns due to your deeper insight into your market and the location of your biggest audience. Performance appraisal software allows you to study your sources so you can save money and analyze your market to customize your plans and develop your profits. It renders employee performance management a breeze and far more effective as well as helping encourage staff by giving them definitive goals significantly. With all that taken into account, the real benefits of this system are endless and depend exclusively on your creativity and ability to use the information provided…

Human Resource personnel spend much unneeded time on the phone verifying employee work histories. The tedious and time consuming job of performing Employment Verification is not effective for an in-house Human Resources department in a large corporation. However, there has recently been a new growth of an innovative service that a savvy company who hires a large number of people, can now use to outsource the burden of having to personally making calls that inevitably which waste invaluable hours that could instead be spent serving the needs of their current employees as opposed to being used for verifying others for possible employment.

Employment verification with VeraTrack is as easy as typing in applicant information, prior employer contact information, and the selective data to be verified. Verifiable data most likely includes dates of hire and separation, supervisor, reason for leaving, salary, and last position held. The next step (and the best part) is easy: simply wait. VeraTrack sends notice to the previous company via fax or email. The company then responds by going online, using a unique code to log in with and complete the verification. It is as simple as that!

Utilizing this new process can not only simplify the act of hiring new employees, it can also free up human resources time and allow them to conduct other valuable services by having a future employee fully verified and in place as soon as possible. This process will be available to use online.This eliminates personal contact thus streamlining the whole process. Pricing for this service is calculated for according to how many times a corporation might conduct unique employment verifications within any particular month. Many employers are taking advantage of this outsourcing thus saving cost in not only salaries, but the costly benefits provided for any extra personnel previously needed to perform these duties.

It’s felt in a lot of businesses that, as long as every last employee has basic health and safety training, they are well equipped to manage any situation. The truth is that, regardless your industry, training in safety legislation and risk asessment simply isn’t enough. You need to supply your staff with an enthusiastic supervisor, the appropriate equipment, and last but not least regular practice. Every team must have a great supervisor to watch the shop floor, yet this person must also take an even more important function on the floor. Whomever you choose as the supervisor needs to see their health and safety training as crucial and have the ability to share their excitement. In addition to ensuring conformity with health and safety regulations, a supervisor’s job also includes checking up on employee performance. Naturally it isn’t easy to accomplish all this at once. A good supervisor is required to have in-depth knowledge of both the industry and production in addition to an in depth comprehension of safety laws, risk assessment, and CPR.

It simply is not enough to send any staff to a health and safety course. To effectively identify a risk they need to put their knowledge to the test. Staff also need a firm grasp of the steps necessary to remedy the situation and how to react when disaster strikes. Only when these processes become a habit are workers completely protected. Safety equipment is just as vital to the well-being of your employees as training. Should they discover they don’t have equipment they require, or even learn that they’re not functioning properly in an emergency, even the most advanced training won’t help them.

You have to check regularly to ensure you possess all the gear you might need and to check it’s working correctly too. When an item doesn’t come up to the pertinent criteria, make sure it is repaired or serviced as quickly as possible. Your workers need to have good health & safety education, but in addition they also need to have quality equipment, the opportunity to practise, and an educated supervisor who gets employees charged up about working safely. If you follow this advice you will find the safety regulations become ingrained in the culture of your business rather than something challenging for employees to think about constantly.

Manager means to manage any work or an organization. To manage is not that easy. Imagine the size of some of the large organizations. Their turnover exceeds GDP of many countries. But the companies have to be managed effectively and efficiently and good managers are needed to do that. It applies to self-run businesses. If you don’t know how to manage your business, it will suffer. How to test yourself and know if you are a good manager or whether you have the qualities to become a good manager? Let us find out.

What are the qualities of a good manager? Let us summarize. To know the goal of the organization and to achieve those goals with minimum resources and maximum effectiveness is the first goal of any manager. If the primary goal of your company right now is to increase sales, irrespective of profits, you have to do that with given resources. If the goal is to increase profits, you have to do that by cutting costs, improving sales, raising prices, and improving employee effectiveness and raise profits.

The quality that is most important for a good manager is skill and knowledge. Unless a manger has skill to perform a job, nothing will work. The second important quality is focus. A manager should be focused to the goal of the company and his/her every action should go in that direction. All such sub skills as Time management, Human resources management, Marketing, Production and purchases are part of the larger goal. Each of these has to be made more effective and efficient.

One important factor that at times overrides all others is vision. What is the vision of the manager about the organization? How does the manager look at the future and what is larger game plan? These are very important to formulate policies, which will satisfy the goals of the organization. No organization is static. It is a dynamic mix of many forces that has to be managed to move in a single direction. The test of a manger lies in doing this. Test yourself against all these requirements and find out the strengths and weaknesses. Once you know your weaknesses, you can work upon them and improve your performance. Try some quizzes from the Internet on Business & Career and try answering them. The tests will help you greatly in finding out more about yourself.

CD Mohatta writes for ecards and online greetings, screensavers and desktop wallpapers. The topics of his writings include love, inspiration, holidays, birthdays, nature, religion and spirituality, success etc. You can have his writings on your desktop with free screensavers. These are video screensavers with beautiful background music. Read the messages and get inspired all day. Also try out some of the free ecards at ecarduniverse.com. You will find lovely video animated ecards in all topics like expressions, celebrations, family, friends and many more.He writes content for Quiz and Tests on Personality, Dating, Marriage and Career

SIX “HONEST BUSINESS FRIENDS” - THEY GUIDE ME IN ALL I DO

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.
(RudyardKipling, from “The Elephant’s Child” in Just So Stories).

A few days ago I posted a very simple question on an Internet
Marketing Forum. I knew I would kick myself when I heard the
answer.

And I did.

DNO - “Do Not Open”. Obvious really.

What I hadn’t expected was to be flamed for being stupid by an,
allegedly, 12 year old MENSA member. While I am old enough and
thick skinned enough to cope with his response it did cause me
to reflect on the nature of learning and Kipling’s words. Words
that still provide the basis of my business philosophy today.
i.e. If you don’t know, ask.

So I got to thinking. Is there a modern business equivalent to
Kipling’s six honest serving-men?

To be fair, Kipling is a bit of a hard act to follow.
But thats not going to stop me…

KIPLING UPDATED: THE SIX MOST POWERFUL BUSINESS ACRONYMS OF ALL
TIME

Here we go - 6 acronyms that have the capactity to transform any
business.

SWOT

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats - the most
famous business acronym of all time. SWOT provides a great
framework for brainstorming sessions. Done honestly and openly
your SWOT analysis holds a mirror up to your business that
highlights just what you do well and can exploit, and what you
dont do well and which your competitors can exploit.

To get started take each term in turn and answer the following
questions:

Strengths:

- What are your businesses core strengths?

- What are you really good at?

- What makes you stand out from your competitors?

- What proprietary tools, technology or process do you

have?

- What do our competitors see as our strengths?

- What do our customers see as our strengths?

Weaknesses:

- What dont you do well?

- What do you want to improve?

- Where do you lose out to your competitors?

- What dont your customers like about you?

Opportunities:

- What changes are taking place in your business

environment Social, Technological, Economic,

Political, Legal, Environmental (STEPLE - another

acronym snuck in there)?

- What do customers want that you could deliver?

- What are your competitors weaknesses?

- How else could you exploit your strengths?

Threats:

- What is your competition doing?

- Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?

- Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

- Could any of those STEPLE factors threaten your

business?

Use these questions to get started. Remember, you are meant to
be brainstorming - anything goes.

Your SWOT is the starting point. Your real challenge is to use
your SWOT to develop a strategy and plans that you can pursue to
turn your weaknesses into strengths, your threats into
opportunities, and to maximise on the opportunities that are
presented.

SMART

If there is one key to turning busy, ineffectual organisations
into models of streamlined efficiency then this is it. Probably
as well known as SWOT, SMART turns goals, objectives and tasks
into concrete deliverables.

More accurately SMART ought to be SMARRRT. There are at least
three equally valid definitions for the R.

OK, the 10 second introduction to working smarter:

SPECIFIC: Be completely clear on the outcome expected of the
goal, objective or task
MEASURABLE: Phrase the statement of what is to be achieved so
that the achievement of that outcome can be clearly measured.
ACHIEVABLE: The idea is to clarify and motivate. There is
nothing more demoralising than carefully constructed, but
utterly impossible, goals.
REALISTIC: Given your current situation: is your goal realistic?
RELEVANT: Is this specific task, or goal relevant to the
overall aims of the company or plan?
RESOURCED: Are the relevant time, people, facilities and
equipment available to deliver the desired outcome?
TIME BOUND: Make sure there is a claim time limit on the
completion of the activity.

Properly applied, SMART transforms your business.

WIIFM

“Whats In It For Me?” WIIFM should be at the top of your
thoughts whenever you think about your prospects or customers.
But is has nothing to do with you at all.

To get to the me you must put yourself in your ideal customers
position. Think like that customer. Try to walk a mile (or
several) in their shoes.

Ask yourself :

- What problems plague their lives?

- What are they afraid of?

- What are they angry about?

- Who are they angry with?

Stay in your customers shoes.

Imagine someone is trying to sell you your own product or
service. Ask yourself (repeatedly) - Whats In It For Me? How
does it solve my problems? How does it make my life better?
These are the benefits your product or service must deliver to
your customer.

You should apply this simple principle to every piece of sales
and marketing material you use. Does it call out to what your
customers really want? Is it written in terms of your customers
viewpoint? Does it promote the benefits?

In short does it tell me - your customer - Whats In It For Me?

AIDA

No, not the Opera. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

AIDA has been in use in advertising for over 100 years. It is
just as valid today for use on the web as it is for crafting
sales letters, brochures, radio broadcasts, your elevator
pitch….

In fact, just about any marketing pitch.

ATTENTION: If you are to sell anything you have first got to
get peoples attention. The normal way of doing this is to use a
benefit Driven Headline. Some famous, proven headlines include:

How to Win Friends and Influence People

101 Ways to Quit Smoking Now

Are You Too Busy To Make Any Money?

Eye movement studies show that 95% of the time people don’t read
advertisements. Even worse for marketers, of the 5% of readers
who might read your advertisement - 95% never read beyond the
headline.

You do use headlines in all your advertisements and marketing
materials don’t you?

INTEREST: You’ve got your readers attention. Now you must make
them interested.

This is where all that work thinking like a customer comes into
play.

Dont mess around. In the first sentence fire your biggest gun.
Hit your readers with the biggest benefit that your product or
service brings to them. Explain how you deliver that benefit
and then hit them again with the next biggest gun you have.
And keep on doing it.

Got more benefits? Good, keep them coming. Marketing copy
cannot be too long only too boring. Keep it interesting, keep
firing your benefits and your message will get read.

DESIRE: You’ve aroused interest. Now create desire.
Make it impossible for your prospects not to buy.

Make them an irresistible offer. Add some urgency:

- Call now - offer applies to the first 100 customers. -

- We can only keep this price until the end of the month.

Add a no quibbles, iron cast guarantee.

Add free bonuses (Free is the second most powerful word in the
English language).

Use your imagination. Give people a great reason to want to buy
now.

ACTION: You’ve done the hard work. Your customer is ready to
buy. So make it really easy for them. Tell them exactly what
they need to do right now to make an order:

- Call 01636 605 707 now, ask to speak to Keith and quote
ad001.

- Click this button to place your order now.

- Register for our newsletter by filling in this box now.

Keep it simple. Make it clear and quick to do. The easier it is
to do business with you the more sales you will make.

SWAT

SWAT is not actually an acronym. It is a compaction of the
question so what?

You see, one of the biggest problems that even experienced
copywriters and marketers fall into is being clear on what
benefits their product or service actually delivers to their
customers.

SWAT provides the solution.

Here is how it works:

- Take a piece of paper. Divide it into columns one
headed features and one headed benefits.

- Under the features column list all the features you can
think of.

- Under the benefits column list all the benefits you can
think of. (Dont worry about neatness there will not be a
one-to-one correspondence between features and benefits)

- Now, get yourself back in your customers mindset. Take
each feature in turn and ask yourself SO WHAT?

- And keep on asking the question if the answers you
produce until you can’t think of any sensible answer.

- Do this for every feature in your list and then for
every benefit

It is pretty certain that the same benefits will occur many
times over as you run through this exercise. That’s fine.
These are the ultimate benefits you have been looking for.
These are the benefits you will ’sell’ to your customer.

KISS

KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid needs little introduction. In all
business environments there is a tendency to over elaborate. In
marketing the problem is particularly acute.
Marketing is populated by creative wanabees. There is always
another idea to try. A more eye-catching and creative design.
Dont fall into this trap.

Remember KISS.

And taking my own advice that’s where I am going to leave this
article. Over to you. What do you think are the most powerful
acronyms in use today? Which do you think are the biggest waste
of time. Drop me a line and let me know. I will feature the
best comments and suggestions on the JKL website.

Just keep it clean

Keith Longmire is a business development and long-time business change programme manager. His company, JKL Business Growth Solutions, specialises in helping smaller businesses achieve rapid, sustainable growth. Keith works exclusively with the owners of owner managed businesses to bring main stream corporate expertise within the reach of smaller companies.
http://www.jkl-small-business-marketing-solutions.com

Some interviewers ask great questions; others ask dumb questions; and, worst of all, some ask questions that can get them into legal hot water.

Every recruiter, hiring manager, executive, and department manager must realize that asking the wrong questions or making improper inquiries can lead to discrimination or wrongful-discharge lawsuits. These suits can be won or lost based on statements made during the interview process. To stay out of hot water:

Avoid these seemingly non-threatening questions.

• Are you a U.S. citizen? (Seeking national origin.
• Do you have a visual, speech, or hearing disability?
• Are you planning to have a family? When?
• Have you ever filed a workers’ compensation claim?
• How many days of work did you miss last year due to illness?
• What off-the-job activities do you participate in?
• Would you have a problem working with a female partner?
• Where did you grow up?
• Do you have children? How old are they?
• What year did you graduate from high school? (reveals age)

Steer clear of questions that would be considered discriminatory.
For example, you shouldn’t ask a female applicant detailed questions about her husband, children and family plans. Such questions can be used as proof of sex discrimination if a male applicant is selected for the position, or if the female is hired and later terminated. Older applicants shouldn’t be asked about their ability to take instructions from younger supervisors. Younger applicants should not be asked about working with older workers.

Don’t make binding contract statements.
When describing position, avoid using terms like permanent, career job opportunity or long-term. Suppose that an applicant is told: “If you do a good job, there’s no reason why you can’t work here for the rest of your career.” The applicant accepts the job and six months later is laid off due to personnel cutbacks. This could lead to a breach of contract claim where the employee asserts that he or she can’t be terminated unless it’s proven that he or she didn’t do a ‘good job’.

Ask the right kinds of interview questions.
Organizations that consistently hire top performers and also stay on the right side of the law use a behavioral-based interview process. First they conduct a job analysis audit to objectively identify the core competencies required for a given job. Then they customize a list of behavioral-based interview questions to identify those competencies. Finally, they not only train their recruiters, but also their executives, department managers, and hiring managers on legal and effective interview techniques. Here are some examples of questions that focus, not on the person, but the specific competencies that the job requires.

• “What has been a particularly demanding goal for you to achieve?” (This question taps into the candidate’s achievement orientation and requires them to explain the obstacle and their and actions to overcoming the obstacle).
• “What are the typical customer interactions you have in your present position?” Can you think of a time when you had to think quickly on your feet to solve a problem? (This question focuses on the candidate’s customer service skills and orientation).
• “Have you ever been in a situation where you have had to take on new tasks or roles? Describe this situation and what you did?” (This question allows you to probe into the candidate’s degree of flexibility).

By implementing the behavior interviewing, all organizations - small or large, private or public, for profit or non profit - can significantly reduce their exposure to employment practices claims and increase their potential for hiring top performers.

Marcia Zidle, the ‘people smarts’ coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to
http://leadershiphooks.com/ and get the bonus report “61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers”. Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

We are just hearing from news the variant aspirations and developments of FDI in retail in Indian Domestic market, whether it is a Specialty Retailer, Hypermarket or Super Stores. Now it is matter of challenge to increase our success once they open. Indian retailers need to follow 4 - A`s i.e Acknowledge, Analyze, Alter and Act

Few Facts and real threat of largest Retail Company in the World:

• 4 out of 10 Women will shop at Wal-mart

• Wal-mart being the largest employer than the US Army
• One in three Procter & Gamble products is sold through Wal-mart
• One out of every five toy purchases happen in Wal-mart
• Wal-mart can demand maximum margins from its vendors

Normal perception of a regional retailer is, My customers are loyal to my store but this will not suffice in the longer run, in today’s scenario where the expectation levels of a consumer has gone beyond our imagination.

In such developments, we to acknowledge the real threat and analyze our Current Infrastructure, Merchandise Mix, Trained sales team and finally the marketing plan through which we would be generating business.

Retail Infrastructure, which needs more attention to attract consumers and increase footfalls in our stores, this will lead a customer to spend maximum number of hours in your stores delivering business.

Merchandise Planning:

A store will perform better amidst of competition, through its forecast of understanding its consumer with latest fashion and trends,the overall goal is to have higher-end merchandise that isn’t as readily available with any big Discounter

Training & Development:

It is high time to analyze the sales team, do they value customer? Do they have a positive attitude? Do they no the features and benefits of the merchandise we sell? Does our sales staff know the technique of up selling. The major focus on comprehensive retail training will bring in results interpreting better customer service, creating disparity among parity

Reviewing Marketing Plan:

Analyzing, examining the existing marketing efforts will show the way to improvise the current phase, especially store should create a consistent image in the market to have a defined customer segmentation. the plan should basically cover your existing consumer and consumers who don’t know your store. Finally it is a matter of differentiating your business and take on the big box.

Business Style:

Firstly differentiate whatever products you have against the big box, if they carry the same brand find another expensive brand, taking time to creatively build a compelling and selling display. Finally, if there is no way to change your product mix to different brands, consider discontinuing the items most likely to sold with the Discounter or a Big box.

Now you’re ready to take Action! Prioritize, Plan, Profit

Initially we need to look at the critical things for success, even if it is not easiest thing to do. Critical things are absolute must will really bring change in the business growth. They might include adding new lights to your store, hiring new employees, moving your layout plan, re-training your existing employees. Work your plan until you have accomplished much of your list.

If you go through this discomfort early, you could have different outcome when Wal-mart opens. Changes is much better when you initiate it. When you Acknowledge the threat ,Analyze the weakness, take action to change and Act on those items on daily basis, you will be leagues ahead of your frightened competitor.

Happy Selling!!

Thanks and Regards,

S.Rabi Jayakumar
Head - Retail Operations
Mobile: 09323738042
Phone: +91 22 39402936 / 39407123
E.mail : rabi.jayakumar@lp.giniandjony.com
Play at www.giniandjony.com

A leading retail Expert with variant expertise in Retail management and Operations

Are you using your time efficiently?

Do your actions support your goals and job requirements?

Checking items off a to-do list is less important than performing tasks and activities that support you.

Doing a lot is less productive than doing the right things.

In order to get what you want, you need to produce results. You do this not by managing time, but by investing it to produce the highest return.
By adopting the following strategies, you will save time, reduce stress, and create more of what you want. You cannot fail. You can only succeed and achieve more than you ever dreamed possible.

Each Week, Review Your Goals And Link Them To Your Activities For The Week.