Newsletter - 2010 09

Business Success

Brought to You By BMA Marketing

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

End Productivity-Zapping Distractions Forever

Interruptions consume nearly a third of the average workday and cost billions in squandered productivity. In addition to wasting time, distractions add to job frustration and workplace stress levels.

Email is often cited as the biggest offender among workplace distractions. Other annoying interrupters are such things as telephone calls and voice mail, unproductive meetings and cluttered work areas.

To minimize the impact of distractions, it's important that the boss set clear standards for focus and productivity. For example, plan meetings so that the right people are present. Include a good facilitator, a clear agenda and specific action steps.

Ergonomic factors contribute to productivity, so be sure the work environment is conducive to efficiency and high productivity. Make sure people are adequately trained to do their jobs and that equipment is functioning. Provide appropriate technological support. Planning and periodic maintenance can lessen the likelihood of distractions such as server problems and hard drive crashes.

Following are some simple ways to help you minimize annoying distractions in your own workday:

• Close your office door.
• Turn off your phone.
• Clear off your desk/clean up your work area.
• Eat lunch alone in your office.
• Telecommute once or twice a week.
• Set daily goals.

MANAGEMENT

How to Get the Most out of Your Employees

Management and leadership are two different animals. Leaders are imaginative, passionate risk takers. They are visionaries who can inspire people and stir emotions. Their main focus is on ideas.Managers, on the other hand, need to be rational, organized problem solvers who can execute strategies, make decisions, co-ordinate and balance opposing viewpoints, reach compromises, and mediate conflicts. Their focus is on goals and outcomes.

As the head of a small to midsize enterprise (SME), you may well wear both hats. Thus, you must develop managerial acumen and skills, whether they come to you naturally or not.

Skillful management is a tremendous competitive advantage for SMEs. Good management leads to greater productivity, better morale, employee and customer loyalty, and service and sales excellence, and it sends a positive message about the organization to employees, customers, suppliers, industry peers and other business associates. Well-managed companies are far more likely to succeed than those that are not well-managed.

Following are some tips to help you manage for business success:

Delegate: Good managers are able to let go of the reins and delegate tasks and responsibilities. They allow people to make mistakes, test limits and grow in their jobs.

Foster Teamwork: As a manager, it's up to you to hire good people and leverage their abilities. Top managers are able to develop and utilize diverse talents while also keeping people aligned with company goals.

Focus on Value Creation: Although managers are responsible for delivering results, wise managers allow people to be creative and individualistic and apply their own work styles to achieving outcomes. They do not micromanage, but instead set goals and focus on delivering results.

Build Relationships: Great managers make it a priority to build relationships. They spend a lot of time with people, including employees, competitors, and others in their industries and communities.

Seek Feedback: Good managers seek out feedback, especially negative feedback that can reveal where improvement is needed.

Develop Others: The best managers plan for the future. Fostering managerial skills in others is an important aspect of management.

Establish Standards: Managers need to set clear standards for themselves and others. It's important that employees see their managers walking the walk.

Treatment: Good managers treat people with respect and dignity.

There are some characteristics that are common to both managers and leaders. People in both roles need to be trustworthy, ethical, fair and principled. They need to be able to think big picture and plan long term. The ability to accept responsibility, shoulder blame, acknowledge mistakes and take charge when necessary goes with both territories. Communication skills are also essential to both.

The days of top-down management where the job of the boss was essentially to give orders and maintain the status quo are long gone.

Today's managers need skill sets that will enable them to motivate, coach and support their people.

Picture credit.

MARKETING

How to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Business

LinkedIn is an ideal networking tool for small and midsize businesses and solopreneurs. There are many ways to leverage the power of LinkedIn to grow your business. Following are some ways you can use LinkedIn effectively: Announce News About Your Company:Update your profile with information about new product launchings, special service offerings, new locations, and other happenings or changes in your business.

Create a Link From Your LinkedIn Company Profile to Your Website and Vice Versa: This directs LinkedIn contacts to your website and also helps raise your site's visibility on search engines such as Google.

Position Yourself as an Industry Expert: Contribute to forum discussions and answer questions from other LinkedIn users, and you will soon become known as a subject matter expert and an industry leader or even a spokesperson. This enhances your personal reputation and is great for your business.

Generate Leads: Sort your contacts by such things as industry, title or geography to obtain a targeted list of prospects. Ask these leads for recommendations and referrals as well as for their business.

Find Decision-Makers and Influencers: By looking at the job titles, you can identify the decision-makers in an organization and reach out to them directly, bypassing the gatekeepers.

Build Your Reputation: When a client is pleased with your products/services, ask for a LinkedIn recommendation.

Tap Into Expertise: Occasionally, you may have questions or need advice about best practices or certain aspects of your business. Use LinkedIn Answers to tap into the knowledge and experience of others.

Picture credit.

SALES AND MARKETING

PowerPoint 101: Tips for Effective Presentations

PowerPoint is most effective as a means of illustrating the content of a presentation.

It is best used to show graphs, charts, photos, maps or video clips or to highlight key themes or ideas.

PowerPoint should never be used as a slideshow outline of your presentation.

If at all possible, use visuals rather than text to engage the audience that you are addressing.

If text is essential to your presentation, however, the following tips will help you incorporate it into PowerPoint effectively:

• Use a consistent color scheme, font and text style throughout.
• Limit the amount of information on each slide. Four lines of eight to 10 words per slide are ideal.
• Don't display busy charts or graphs. If the detail is critical, distribute it in a handout.
• Choose sharply contrasting colors so that the text stands out from the background.
• Make the text large enough to be read easily. Twenty-four points is the minimum size for most presentation situations. Titles and headings should be 36- to 44-point size.
• Don't use transition and animation features, such as bouncing or flying text. These tricks are distracting and they add no value to your presentation.
• When text comes on the screen, allow the audience a moment to read it, then bring their attention back to you so that they focus on your message.
• Don't jiggle the cursor around to draw attention to specific points in a slide.
• Press the A key or Ctrl-H to make the annoying pointer disappear from the screen.