Business Coaching Articles For Entrepreneurs & Small Business OwnersSuccess is All about Managing FailureIt was tough making this year’s annual company picnics – back-to-back meetings, a redeye back to make one picnic and an early morning flight to make our next location’s picnic. Attending our company picnics has always been important to me because it gives me a chance to both recognize and encourage teamwork. Perhaps most important, […] Self-Employed? Five Reasons to Consider IncorporationIf you are one of the many who are self-employed and are experiencing business growth, you may want to consider incorporating your company. Incorporation means your business becomes a separate legal entity that operates under state and federal business laws. Considering the idea of incorporation means that you are ready to take your business to […] How To Manage Your Contacts & CustomersMost of us need, at some time or another, to group our contacts according to type. Most often, this is because we need to know who is to be included in something; maybe a list of people attending a proposed event, or a list of everyone who has signed up for a newsletter. HOW to […] How to Save Your Business & Survive a Small Business CrisisSmall business owners dread circumstances that could wreak havoc on their companies. At one time or another, businesses go through a crisis and wise owners or managers should be prepared to address this. Nat Wasserstein, a corporate crisis manager, shares with his Intuit Small Business Blog readers some pointers on how to manage a business crisis. […] Exit Planning in the 2012 Deal Market: Value Added Commitment“It’s not whether you get knocked down … it’s whether you get up” Vince Lombardi on Commitment We know it’s been a rough and tough market to get deals done: Values are down Buyers are interested, but worried Deal terms and conditions are different in today’s “new normal” Financing remains uncertain, though improving Yet, […] Entrepreneurship and Sourcing Business IdeasWhen it comes to creating a business venture, any future success is bound to have its origins in the initial concept. So long as the core business idea is well conceived and suited to the contemporary consumer market, it will be afforded every possible chance of long term success. The issue that faces most novice […] 15 Tips to Become a Successful EntrepreneurWhat makes an excellent entrepreneur? Kelly O’Neil in his The Secrets of Success blog outlined 15 characteristics of an excellent entrepreneur. This is a result of his association with extraordinary and successful entrepreneurs. Excellence is not inborn. It is something you have to work at. A high performing entrepreneur should care about his company and […] 11 Ways to Improve Accounts Receivable CollectionsSUMMARY: Many businesses do a good job delivering their goods and services but then find it difficult to collect payment, often causing a cash flow crunch. This may be because the credit worthiness of a customer was not properly investigated in the beginning or it may be that insufficient attention was paid to monitoring and […] How Top Management Views Performance Appraisal SystemsA survey of human resources professionals recently found a surprisingly high number of them lacked confidence in the effectiveness of their company’s performance-management system. Though 91% of respondents said their organization evaluates performance, only 47% said the process is effective. It gets worse. Only 47% of respondents said their appraisal system helps their organization achieve […] Employee Performance Management: Time to Reinvent the WheelPerformance-management systems are broken at the majority of companies in every corner in the world. By teasing apart results of a recent worldwide survey of HR professionals, we’ve seen how evaluations are viewed as a joke by employees, a waste of time by many managers and a non-actionable talking point by some senior executives. Even […] Performance Appraisals and Compensation: A Deadly MixPerformance appraisals are hated by employees, largely dreaded by managers and often described as ineffective by HR professionals. So why do organizations still engage in this annual exercise? The primary objective, cited by 66% of respondents to a survey by Sibson Consulting, is to distribute rewards based on individual performance. By comparison, just over half […] 6 Tips to Help You Give Instructions on How to Use an ELearning CourseIn the past, not everyone used or owned a computer, so when someone came in contact with one, they had to be taught everything, starting from the basics. The same is true for elearning courses. When these started appearing, logically people had to be told how to use them, because they hadn’t been in contact […] 3 Great Ways to Interest Your E-LearnersWhat do people do with their computers nowadays? They basically check email, surf the Internet, and post on Facebook. With this in mind, why don’t you think about creating an online training course that imitates these actions? Most e-learning courses have a typical structure, are centered on communicating data, and lack interactive features… sometimes this […] 5 Hints that Tell You it’s Time to Look for a New E-Learning PlatformThere are as many e-learning alternatives today as there are products in a supermarket. You go grocery shopping and find 15 different brands of teas, 10 brands of salad dressing, and 50 brands of soap… it is the same in the virtual arena of online training and development. How do you know the e-learning platform […] What Is Wrong With Performance Appraisals?“Needs Improvement” “Below Expectations” “Unacceptable” As an employee, you would be mortified to see these ratings on your performance evaluation. Yet year after year, those are the words often used to describe performance reviews at organizations around the world. Any employee with such ratings would have “managed out” long ago. How badly are employee performance […] Seven Practices of Successful Teams in Sport and BusinessSports teams play hard to win, and so does your business. The desire to take a victory lap, however, isn’t the only similarity. Business owners and sports teams watch rivals closely, strategize at every turn and work together to reach the final goal, whether it’s the trophy, a customer win or the successful deployment of […] The Role Of Process Visibility In Continuous ImprovementAs the most important goal in any organisation, striving to achieve continuous improvement should be at the forefront of all management processes, regardless of the size of the organisation or the nature of work produced. Effective processes are required to achieve this goal, and also assist in quality management. Processes should not only be developed […] Have You Got The Courage To Ask?During the last 16 years I have worked with many great salespeople and they all do one thing more consistently than their colleagues … they ask. If you want to increase your sales and grow your business you need to develop the ability and skill to ask for a variety of things. Ask more qualifying […] Sales Prospecting Best PracticesProspecting is a key selling skill and a critical skill to develop if you want to increase your sales and achieve long-term success in sales. Yet, most sales people don’t invest enough time to this integral sales strategy. Part of the problem is that very few companies teach sales reps how to prospect. Here are […] Think BackwardsOver the years, I’ve worked with many small business owners who are often put off from doing a task because they feel they need to have everything in place before they can move forward. Take one client who wanted to run some workshops for her business. Sounded like a great plan, but she didn’t want […] |
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