Tag Archives: success

How to quit a job without burning bridges

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This question came from a busy professional.

 How do you quit a job without burning bridges?

 

I work for a consulting company and just got assigned to a 3-4-month project at the client site due to begin in early May or early June. I found out about this project last week and unfortunately, I wasn’t given a choice. The concern that I have is that I was already planning to give my resignation notice in early May and leave the company by the end of May at the latest.

I would like to tell my supervisor now that I won’t be around to take on the critical project, so they can find a replacement right away and run it by the client – but I need to iron out the details with my potential new employer first. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. My supervisor has been good to me and I don’t want to put her in a difficult situation, as she would need to find a replacement immediately after I begin the project and the client will not be thrilled about potential delays in project delivery.

Given the timing and importance of the project with a key client, I run the risk of burning bridges. Not sure what I should do. Any advice helps.
Without knowing much about your current situation – the problem doesn’t seem to be your current job.  The problem is how long it is taking the new employer to iron out things with your new position.  Therefore, I recommend focusing on fixing that area first.

Managing the New Employer

If you cannot iron out things with the new employer relatively quickly, this is a red flag that any future issues will also be difficult to complete.  If your new employer is unable or not willing to complete these things in a reasonable time frame, this is not a good sign.  The new employer is putting his/her best foot forward at the time of hire.  This is as good as it gets.

So, you need to start on the right foot with the new employer.

Transparency with New Employer

Transparency is always a good thing when starting a new position.

  • Tell your new employer that you need to iron these things out very quickly (within the next week or two).
  • Tell your new employer what is going on with your current employer and upcoming contract.
  • Set a reasonable deadline to “iron out the details” of the new job.

The new employer will appreciate that you don’t want to put your current employer in a bind.  This illustrates that you will be as conscientious with the new employer as you are with your current employer.

Next Steps

At this point, you have 2 directions to go:

  1. Deadline is accomplished
  2. Deadline is missed

Deadline is accomplished

If the new company makes the agreed-upon deadline, at that time – talk to your current manager about your plans to leave at the end of May.

  • Offer to mentor and train someone else during May on this new project.
  • Offer to use the time to document and automate any tasks to make it easier for your replacement.
  • Offer to conduct any training sessions, video or record any training tutorials to make the transition easier.
  • Don’t feel guilty or apologize that you didn’t tell them sooner because you really didn’t know sooner.

Deadline is missed

If the new company cannot make the agreed-upon deadline, consider this a RED FLAG.

  • Give the new employer additional time (3-4 months) to iron out those details (during which time you complete the other project).
  • Let the new company know that during that time you will be working on that other project for your current company.
  • Offer to do some part-time projects for the new company during that time.
  • Revisit that new company again in 3 months to see if those “details are ironed out”.
  • Line yourself up to join that new company full-time at the completion of that other project.

You always have options and say when it comes to your career and future employment.

How to give feedback employees will hear?

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A busy professional has this question regarding employee performance reviews.

She asked:

  • How to give feedback employees will hear?
    What are some tips for giving effective feedback?
  • What are the barriers to hearing and understanding feedback?
  • When giving feedback, how can you make sure employees get it?

 

Who needs the feedback the most?

These are very good questions.  Before we answer each of them, lets review some reasons employees need constructive feedback.

  • They are doing well but seem too comfortable in their current position. They don’t seem to have any desire for advancement
  • They are average performers but are essentially falling behind because those around them are excelling
  • They are excelling
  • They are performing below expectations

As you can see, the need for employee feedback isn’t isolated to those that are not performing as expected.  Exceptional, Above Average, and Average employees all need constructive feedback.

Setting the stage

Giving an effective feedback starts with understanding your employees’ goals and career objectives.  Once you understand the “why” the employee comes to work – the better you can connect the feedback to their goals.

For example, if they want to eventually lead the team or become a manager, then focus on the skill sets that will help them achieve those goals.

These business commitments or goals need to be agreed upon at the start of the performance review year.  These documented PBC (Personal Business Commitments) tie the individuals role/responsibilities to the company goals.  Everyone understands how they can individually contribute to the company’s success.   These PBCs can then be reviewed several times during the year and before the official performance review.  Setting the stage in this manner makes feedback easier, because everyone involved understands both the employer and employee expectations.

These business goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, Relevant and Time bound).  With SMART goals, it’s very easy for both the employee and manager to agree whether the goals were met or exceeded.

Barriers to hearing

The most prevalent barrier to hearing and understanding feedback is our mindset.  The moment your supervisor releases a perceived negative comment, we automatically go into defensive mode.  Our brain immediately will find situations that negative what was just been said or provide detailed reasons/excuses for the events.

Best advice is to continually focus on the SMART goals or commitments set at the start of the year.  Use the agreed upon PBCs as your starting point.  Since your PBCs will have specific metrics and goals in place for each performance commitment, it will be easy to determine if the criteria has been met.

For example, If one of the PBC goals was to standardize code reviews in the development team to reduce delivered defects to test group by 30% – and the employee (team leader) still does not conduct regular code reviews and the defect rates to test group are on the rise – all you need to do is share the past defect rate and current defect rates.

Then simply ask the employee if he/she feels if they have met that particular goal.

Repeat this until all the PBC goals are reviewed.

Making sure employees get it

Once you and the employee have agreed upon the status of the PBC goal, ask their opinion on where to go from here.

For instance, if the employee agrees that the team did not meet the defect rate goals – he/she also agrees that standardized code reviews would have caught a number of these defects by simple review – and therefore would have been fixed prior to sending to the test team, you can now start a discussion on where to go from here.

The discussion is focused on working on a solution together. Perhaps it’s unrealistic for the team to take the time to gather and code-review each other’s work.  Perhaps there isn’t enough time in the schedule to detail code review.  Therefore perhaps the next assignment is for the team leader to investigate and recommend a development tools that automatically code reviews. The mandate then becomes 80% of all the code review defects are fixed before handing to the test group.   Perhaps the new PBC is to automate the unit tests going forward such that a set of automated acceptance tests are run before handing off to the test group.    Then the development teams continually add to the unit tests as they go along.

As you can see – these discussions then become the foundation of their next PBC SMART goals.

Keep them involved

At the end of the day, keeping your employees involved and engaged in their own career development is key.  Although the above examples were technical, this method also works on soft or people skills.

How to set the right priorities?

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A busy professional has this question regarding time management:

How to set the right priorities?

I have a lot on my to-do list and I tend to focus on the day to day tasks I have. I am finding it hard to find time to focus on some of my strategic goals because the rest of my to-do items take up all of my time. I am thinking I need to do a better job at setting priorities. How do others tackle their strategic goals while getting all of their pressing daily tasks done?

Every successful person will have their own system.  And I believe that the best system is the one that works best for you. Having said that upfront, here is what I recommend.

Start with the end in mind

I applaud you for having your strategic goals clearly defined.  Often people go through life without a strategic plan for their personal, professional, social and career lives.  It is these same folks that wonder where time has gone and why they haven’t accomplished more with the time they were given.

Outlining a simple mission statement for your personal, professional, social and career purpose will help keep you on track.  After all, how can you stay on course if you haven’t plotted a destination?  If you don’t know where you are going, you deserve anywhere you end up.

So – get a 360° mission statement which includes all significant aspects of your life.

Outline your imperatives

Once you have your 360° mission statement, carve out the imperative things that need to be accomplished to support those statements. Imperatives are those things that – if everything else were to disappear from your live – your life would still be happy and fulfilled.

For instance, perhaps one of your personal mission statements/desires is to be closer to your family and increase quality time with them.  You then realize that your family is an imperative.  That’s something that – if everything else were to disappear – you would still be very happy.

So you now have prioritized your family as one of your imperatives.

Some other imperatives might be your health, working on things that you are passionate about, getting great satisfaction by helping others or the community, be recognized and accomplished in your career – whatever creates joy in you.  Nothing is wrong – it’s just your individual imperative list.

Create supportive tasks

Once you have your imperative list, create realistic actions/activities to accomplish those goals. Create them in the form of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).

For example: To accomplish getting closer to your family, commit to a block of time each week for quality time with family members (sans electronics and distractions).

To be recognized and accomplished in your career, commit to working with a mentor or business coach to identify your career road-map and subsequent skill gaps.

To give back, commit to volunteer your talents to a non-profit organization.  I would also recommend volunteer to a position that also supports and enhances your career.  For instance, if you wanted to improve your skill set in web-design, offer to design the website for a non-profit.  Combining the two imperatives will be of greater benefit to you.

Schedule the time

Once you have your SMART goals identified, take out your calendar and block the time out in your calendar.  Treat these assignments as imperative, and allow the day-to-day activities fill the gaps around them (instead of the other way around).

Bottom line:

Every day activities will always fill in the gaps.  So, if you don’t deliberately and mindfully create the space (schedule it in your calendar with a “DO NOT DISTURB”), you will never have the time to accomplish your most important activities.

What is the best way to advertise a forum on a niche topic?

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A busy professional has this question regarding branding and marketing:

What is the best way to advertise a forum on a niche topic?

I have a forum on a niche topic. I am advertising the forum via ads (Although some of the keywords have low quality scores, they are all very specific to this niche).

Now, do I directly link the ad to the forum home page, or add some high quality article/posts around the ads? Does this matter?

Thanks in advance for any help. I didn’t find the right answer from searching the internet.

 

Whether you are marketing your forum, book, website, product or service, you can use similar marketing strategies.  But a successful marketing strategy has lots of moving parts and tools.  I recommend doing a combination of things:

  • make sure your “ads” are on brand with a consistent message
  • create engaging and compelling content (blogs, articles, posts, videos, vlogs, etc)
  • opt-in offers (valuable information through eBooks, white papers, webinars) to collect contact information of the people that you are attracting with your offers
  • create a Facebook around your forum – to start engaging and creating your followers
  • give speaking engagements about your topic with door-prizes to collect the contact information of the people that you are attracting with your topic
  • keep your CRM (customer relationship management) up to date personally contact them with emails or newsletters
  • with everything that you post or release – include links back to your forum

Find similar forums that share your target market

It will take time to create a following from scratch.  Therefore, investigate or go where your target marketing is already.  For instance, if your target market is parents, you might want to visit or guest speak at forums for single parents, divorced dads, and other topics that interest your same target group.

 

  • investigate what your competitors are doing.
  • reach out to complimentary forums and engage with those groups that share your target market/followers
  • invite guest speakers to your forums that have already have their own followers. This will introduce you to their followers.

As you can see – there’s no 1 thing that you do. There’s a never-ending list of things you can do to market and expose your forum.

To help narrow your focus, clearly describe your target audience or personas.  By deciding the age group, interests, income, hobbies, and lifestyle – you can better focus your marketing strategies to get the bigger bang for your time and budget.

 

The 6 biggest pitch deck mistakes you may not know you’re making

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The 6 biggest pitch deck mistakes you may not know you’re making

 

Today we are very fortunate to have a TV program to emulate regarding the perfect pitch deck. If you haven’t already watched ABC’s the Shark Tank, make the time to watch and take notes.

 

It gives you a very good illustration of pitching to investors. Even though the ABC’s reality show “Shark Tank” is available for all to learn from, I am always surprised when an entrepreneur shows up unprepared.

If you are interested, I have a list of the most frequently asked Shark Tank questions in a separate article Things we can learn from Shark Tank

 

For now, below is a list of 6 big pitch deck mistakes that you may be making:

 

  1. Not knowing your audience
  2. Not getting to the important stuff quickly
  3. Not including a summary
  4. Not knowing your numbers
  5. Not incorporating the investor’s terminology or experience
  6. Having one pitch deck for everyone

We will cover each mistake separately.

 

1.     Not knowing your audience

Many entrepreneurs are so focused on their own product, their own needs, and their own wants – that they forget the true goal of this presentation. Your goal is to adequately interest the investors such that they will want to do business with you.

People do business with people they know, like and trust. And the quickest way to earn trust is to show the investors that you already know them, what their needs and wants are, and how your product or service can help them reach their goals.

In other words, why should they care about you and your products or services?

Use Stephen Covey’s 5 Habit from his top-selling 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: “Seek first to understand, and then be understood”

Spend time researching your investors. Find out what excites them. Find out how they make their investment money back.

2.     Not getting to the important stuff quickly

 

Your prepared pitch should be no longer than 5-8 minute in length. So you really need to get your investor’s attention quickly. If they are interested, they will ask additional questions and will get to know you better. Your pitch needs to interest them quickly.

Once you have a better understanding of your audience, make sure you get to the important stuff as quickly and succinctly as possible. What is the “important stuff”? The important stuff is the stuff that the investors care about (and not necessarily what you care about).

This is where watching the Shark Tank will help. Here are some of the typical questions you need to cover, and a fuller list is available at: Things we can learn from Shark Tank

  • What problem are you solving?
  • How prevalent is this problem? (size of the market)
  • What you need financially to make that much money?
  • Who are you competing against?
  • How are you going to grow? How are you going to use their money?

 

3.     Not including a summary

A pitch presentation falls into the category of a training presentation: “Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you have told them”. But many forget the summary or “tell them what you have told them” part. Your summary should end with a CALL TO ACTION.

4.     Not knowing your numbers

Investors are interested in a quick return on their investment; therefore, make sure you understand your numbers. And just knowing the dollar figure isn’t enough. You need to be able to articulate where these numbers are coming from, on what platform, are they driven by promotions, and what sort of partners are you working with? Is the marketing working? What does it cost to produce? What are your expenses?

Know your sales information inside and out.

5.     Not incorporating the investor’s terminology or experience

You won’t have much time; therefore, make the best use of that time. Incorporating the investor’s terminology and experience into your pitch will not only eliminate miscommunication but lead them to feel that you already speak the same language. That you are connected.

6.     One pitch deck for everyone

Don’t fall into the trap of creating 1-perfect-pitch-deck. Consider having a “perfect-pitch-deck template”. By understanding your audience, their terminology, and their unique interest in your products or services, you can tweak and quickly customize your single-perfect-pitch-deck template to win-over each unique investor.

Added Bonus

Now that we’ve discussed mistakes to avoid, below is a quick list of things to think about when preparing your “pitch”.

Things to think about when preparing your “pitch.”

  1. What your business makes or does?
  2. What market you serve?
  3. How will this business make money?
  4. How your business compares to similar businesses?
  5. Why you will succeed?
  6. Your ultimate goals for your business?

Conclusion

At the end of the day, there are various Do’s and Don’ts to keep in mind. The best recommendation is to run your pitch deck past a “mock Shark Tank”. One such “mock Shark Tank” panel are the experts at Crowdsourcia. You can’t go wrong with this set of experts.

 

 

Can one person handle all the content marketing when starting your business?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of TimePeace: Making peace with time – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies. I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for taking big ideas and converting them into smart, sound, and actionable ideas.

 

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional and an entrepreneur:

Can one person handle all the content marketing when starting your business?

Coming up with new ideas and writing about them takes a lot of time and effort. I feel like I have more important things I can be doing when just starting my business. I’ve thought about outsourcing some of the work but then the voice of the content doesn’t match up. How does one person handle everything if possible?

I think the mistake that you might be making is to think of “writing content” as a solo and isolated activity. You see it as something separate from your business that you do over and over again. Instead of thinking that “writing content” is something extra that you need to do, productize it. You need to incorporate it into your business product line.

Increase the lifespan of all your activities.

Whether you are an entrepreneur creating your own business or a corporate staff member supporting your department’s goals – the recommendation is the same. For every task or activities find a way to increase the value and lifespan of that item. By increasing the lifespan of your results, you increase its value, reduce your time, and better promote yourself.

Focus on business focused experience
Stay focused on topics and materials that are business focused. Make sure your content supports your brand and company vision. This way you are not confusing your readers on what your company can do for them. You are not distracting or misdirecting them away from your company purpose.

Once you have their attention, lead them to your other products and services that will better help them on their goals.

Use multiple sources for content

For example: I get the ideas for my material from questions people ask me throughout the month. Many of my articles come from the questions that a Recruiter.com website sends me; some are sent to me from a “Help A Reporter” website; some come from my clients, etc. Because these topics and questions come from relevant sources to my business, I am assured that they are relevant topics to my clients and potential clients. In my business, there is no limit to the topics and content if I just keep an eye out.

I also go out of my way to interview other experts in different fields. I then use these interviews as additional content, as well as a network tool. I interview their business for my BlogTalkRadio show. This way I get to know them and they get to advertise what they do, their products and their business on the radio show. I send them the audio of the interview, so they can publish it on their websites, social media and newsletters.

 

Reuse your materials

Continually upgrade and re-bundle your materials.

For example: I reuse the various materials, videos, and audios for my blogs, newsletters, social media, and weekly interviews.

I am a Business Systems and Solutions consultant. I help busy entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have the time to do spend on the things they want to do.
As such, I am interviewed weekly by a client company. We meet monthly and tape 4 interviews which they air on a weekly basis to their clients. I take those interviews and create articles (which I am paid for). Then I take that material and modify/split them up for my newsletters and social media postings. I do the same thing with the business interview content.

Then I take those topics and create my monthly training webinars for other clients.
I then combine those webinars, articles and worksheets into a training package or DVD.
I also used this same content to write the book “TimePeace: Making Peace With Time”.

Create your Product Funnel

To make this easier – – Start with a product funnel strategy – such that your “content” is incorporated into the next product bundle. If you plan ahead to see where the content will take you, you will get much more out of your “writing content” than you previously imagined. Your content will play a bigger part in your revenue stream.

You can do this whether you have you own business or work for someone else. Figure out a way to increase the value of your current activities – such that it creates revenue for the company.

Conclusion

Change your mindset from merely “creating content” to “how do I use this to increase revenue or attract clients”. If you plan ahead to see where your activities will take you, you will get much more out of your time and attention than you previously imagined.
If you need additional ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

If you need additional help on this topic, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

I am a business coach and this is what I do professionally. It’s easy to sign up for a complementary one-on-one coaching call, just use this link https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

 

How can I get credit for work I’ve done that someone else took credit for?

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Today’s comment came from a busy professional and an entrepreneur:

How can I get credit for work I’ve done that someone else took credit for?

 

There are several versions of this issue. Your employer could have taken credit for your work; your co-worker would have taken credit for your work; and your business competitor could have taken credit for your work. In all three versions, the solutions are very similar. Let’s take a look at each.

 

Your employer could have taken credit for your work

If you are dealing with your employer or company, you need to check your contract with them. Most employers pay you for your work. Therefore, even though you did the work, they own the results. This also includes any patents, published books, etc that you have authored during your regular work hours.

 

  • Check your agreement with them.

If they have paid you for the work, they own the piece. Review the contract or employment agreement. Most times they state the ownership expectations.

 

  • Keep records on authenticity of the work.

If you can demonstrate your authorship in a time sensitive way then that will clarify who came up with the ideas first.

  • Talk to them.

It’s always best to have a heart-to-heart with them about the issue. Often times it’s a miscommunication or misunderstanding. More often than not, the offending party (once realizing their oversight) will do their best to amend.

Once again – it goes back to what you agreed to in your employment agreement.

 

Don’t have an employment agreement? Use that one-on-one (heart-to-heart) to co-create one on the spot.  If you would like to keep your intellectual property rights, include that in your agreement. This will eliminate similar issues in the future.

 

Your co-worker would have taken credit for your work

It’s important to realize that ideas are free. It’s what you do with the ideas and the results of your efforts that matter. Often times many people have the same ideas without “stealing it from others”. They may experience similar situations that lead you to those thoughts. They may have been working in the same field or shared the same background that leads you to those same thoughts. Just because someone ends up with a similar solution doesn’t necessarily mean that they stole your work.

 

In either case, preventive medicine is best. It’s much harder to correct, after the damage has been done.

 

  • Continue to share your work progress with your manager on your regular one-on-one meetings. If you are transparent with your manager, then he knows who did the work on this project.

 

  • Keep good records on your designs.

If you can demonstrate your authorship in a time sensitive way then that will clarify who came up with the ideas first.

 

  • Talk to the co-worker about it.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence and perhaps you can collaborate on the next steps. Also share the fact that you have been sharing your project progress with your manager all along. If your co-worker is knowingly taking credit for your work AND they know that your manager has been involved in your work – it’s likely they will back-off.

What if it’s a business competitor that is taking the credit?

  • Consistently place your copyright or trademark on your work.   This is one way to illustrate authenticity.
  • Keep design records of your concepts, prototypes, etc. This will help if you decide to go through litigation.
  • Talk to them about it. Perhaps some type of affiliation or partnership can be derived by this synchronicity of ideas.

Conclusion:

It’s much harder to correct, after the damage has been done. Therefore, keep good records, copywright your work, and share early prototypes, demos, and specs with trusted individuals.  If you are in business, ask those individuals, you are sharing your ideas with, to sign a NDA or confidentiality agreement.

 

For help on leading a more effective staff meeting, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

 

Or sign up for a complementary one-on-one coaching call, just use this link https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

 

How do you deal with workplace bullying?

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Today’s comment came from a busy professional and an entrepreneur:

How do you deal with workplace bullying?

bullyMy friend at work had a computer crash. So he came to me since I know about the environment.
The computer crashed on him, he reset it, but while the program was down, and was costing client’s money. His manager says he does not have time to deal with this. The supervisor says he has to deal with it. This means he would have to pay out his own pocket. How would you deal with this without making a fuss? My advice was to phone the area manager, but there are no rules on what to do here. Do you have better advice for him?

First of all – I am not sure this is an example of “workplace bullying”. Many times “workplace bullying” is in the eye of the beholder. People that do not want to take responsibility for their situations are more comfortable taking the “victim” role than the hero. In this article, we’re going to focus on what you can do as the hero in these types of situation – instead of the victim.

Secondly, “The supervisor says he has to deal with it.” — Doesn’t automatically mean that “he would have to pay out his own pocket”. This is an assumption on your part. What the manager actually said was that the employee needs to use his own best judgment on this issue.

One suggestion is to ask your manager that – since he doesn’t have time to deal with this, would he like you to contact the 2nd line manager (his manager) about this. Or does his manager have someone else you should contact. Asking your manager “point-blank” if you should go to his manager often gets your manager’s attention. Now that you have your manager’s attention – you can work on a solution together.

Take advantage of your one-on-one manager meetings

If you have been following any of my webinars, articles, and blogs, you know how much importance I place on scheduling frequent and regular one-on-one meetings with your manager.   Having these critical meetings actually eliminates or greatly reduces misunderstandings between employers and employees.

The better working relationship you have with your manager, the less likely that your manager will “blow you off” or “bully you”. The one-on-one meetings are just the thing to build a better working relationship with your boss. Take a more active role in building that better working relationship.

I have more tips on how to impress your boss in the webinar: 5 Keys to Impressing Your Boss. If you are interested in more information on that webinar, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info or setup a one-on-one chat using https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

Document the solution

Just because there are “no rules on this” or (no current procedures) doesn’t let you off the hook. Anything that you encounter needs to be properly documented. Once you run into an issue, you need to document the issue and its subsequent solution. Forget that “it’s not my job”- take the initiative and make it part of your regular MO.

Conclusion:

The key to avoiding this situation is to be proactive. Document your work, be transparent with your manager, and talk to the offending parties.   It’s more difficult to get credit for something after the fact, without looking petty. So be proactive on your copyrights/trademarks and “document, document, document.

 

For help on this topic, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

 

Or sign up for a complementary one-on-one coaching call, just use this link https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

Who to make friends with at work

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional:

 

Who to make friends with at work

Who are the people who are important to your career? Who are the people who can help you be happy at work? Who are the ones who can help you or be someone you can rely on? We are looking for tips on how to identify these people as well as how to know what level of friendship you should have with your co-workers.

 

Best advice is to clearly know where you want to be, do and have.  If you can clearly articulate your career goals and professional path – then it’s easy to understand “who to make friends with at work”.   Statistics show that we typically hang-out with people in our same social-economical standing.  If we want to advance, get promoted, make more money, be more affluent – we need to start meeting and networking with those people that have already achieved what we want to achieve.  This means that we need to define our own career goals and take full ownership of our own professional growth.  Once you have that clearly defined, you can start networking (making friends) with the right people at work (i.e. the people who can help you achieve your goals).

Have an INS

I have a workbook called the Individual Network System or INS.   This workbook outlines the who, what, where, when and how of corporate and business networking. It helps you identify the right people to meet and how to keep you on their radar. If you would like a complimentary copy of that workbook, please setup an appointment.

The intent of creating a business networking is to build relationships with the right people that will help you find the positions and roles that you really want. If that is what you really want, then take the 20 minutes to chat about it with me.

Find a mentor

 

Consider finding mentors in various areas of your professional development:

1) How to better market yourself within your professions

2) Help you with promoting your ideas and innovations.

3) How to write and publish your articles, presentations, and white papers

4) How to present to the exec

5) How to get other managers from sibling departments recognize your value to your company (If your manager is the only person that knows your value – you are doing yourself a disservice).

 

 

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a presentation on “3 Keys to saying YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

 

 

How do you deal with the pains of customer service?

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Today’s question came from a busy entrepreneur about his customer service plan.

How do you deal with the pains of customer service?

I work in the hospitality industry, and I spend a lot of money on what I call “guest investments” where I give some sort of discount, free merchandise, etc. in order to win back customers when something goes wrong. I can’t tell if it’s working or if I’m throwing money away. How does your business deal with the challenges of customer service and keeping people happy?

This question came up at a very appropriate time. I had recently discovered that my bank offered a “Private Bank Level” for clients that have 1 million dollars invested with the bank. At that level, they receive premiere customer series and 24 hour concierge service.

Consider doing this with your own customer service strategy. In an earlier article (Should I have specific segmented brands or one brand that does all at different price levels?) we discussed the Product Funnel.

Product Funnel Strategy for Customer Service

Give low-interaction help instructions for clients that are taking advantage of your free products and services. Low-interaction help instructions can be in the form of (but not limited to):

  • FAQ articles and cheat sheets
  • Community Discussion Groups
  • Email response within 2 days

As the client invests more in your products and services, they get more access to support.

Structure your customer service as a product line of service. Give premium service to the people that are actually doing the most business with you. This will transform the “pain of customer service” into a product or business of customer service.

Customer Referral and Loyalty Programs

Also, don’t wait until there is a problem to implement your customer service program.   Be proactive with customer referral and loyalty programs. Visualize your product funnel in there area and incorporate rewards programs based on the amount of business your client is currently doing with you. Use your rewards program to entice your customers to do more business or move into the next price-point of programs and service.

Creating a great referral/loyalty/retention program not only elevates your customer service focus and energy – it automatically solves the “pains of customer service” as well. Take time to clarify what your Mission Statement and vision is regarding Premiere Client Service. Start dealing with clients instead of “customers”. Start building raving fans that will ultimately market your products/services for you – and simply release the customers that do not fit in your plan.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

When you clearly identify your niche or target market, some people will not fit. When someone doesn’t fit, there is only one thing that will make them happy. That one thing is to release them and direct them elsewhere.   This is where affiliated partners and business referrals come in.

You are still providing customer satisfactory solution – it’s just not with YOU. You are still making the client happy.

Quick summary:

  • Clarify your Vision of your target or ideal client
  • Create affiliated partnerships with those clients that are not ideal
  • Design a referral partnership agreement with those partners
  • Design a referral/loyalty/retention program for your target/ideal clients

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.