Archives for July 2014
How to Be More Engaging on Social Media
Have you ever noticed that some people have a knack for conversation? They know just what to say and when to say it. They know when to be quiet and let others talk. They ask the right questions, and they’re generally fascinating to be around. Others gravitate toward them and enjoy their company. In short, these conversationalists are engaging.
Those same conversational skills are transferable to social media. In fact, “engagement” is one of the most important metrics of social media success. You have to be engaging. With that in mind, let’s look at how you can use conversational skills to be more engaging on social media. Below are a few tried-and-true conversation tips and how they can be applied on social media:
- Find out a little bit about your followers. In a traditional social setting, conversation comes easier when you have some background material. For example, “I hear you played football in college” could open the door to an interesting conversation. On social media, interesting
details are often just a click away. When followers post on your page, check out their profiles before you respond. You may be able to tap into their expertise for an even more engaging conversation.
- Ask questions. This gives your followers the opportunity to share their ideas, insights, and expertise. Open-ended questions are best as they require a thoughtful response. However, the occasional rhetorical or yes/no question can also generate a lot of “likes.”
- Speak less, listen more. As the social media manager, you will likely need to facilitate conversations by jumping in periodically and keeping the conversation on track. While the Facebook page may be yours, it’s also about engaging with others. Avoid monopolizing conversations as much as possible. Think of yourself as a host tasked with keeping the conversation going and making sure everyone has the opportunity to share their thoughts.
- Comment on general interest topics. Just as you might say something along the lines of, “What do you think about the latest iPhone?” at a cocktail party, you can do the same on social media. That said, your general interest topics should be relevant to your niche. For example, if you manage a Facebook page about dog training, the latest iPhone wouldn’t be relevant; however, a new app that controls a dog training collar might be.
- Stay positive. Share positive news relevant to your niche. Not only are people drawn to positive people and repelled by negative ones, they’ll be more likely to click the “like” button when they actually like what you have to say. As you know, there isn’t a “dislike” button.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Turning Underperforming Employees into Great Ones
Every now and then, you may notice that one of the employees at your small business is not performing up to his or her usual standards. Before you start thinking about termination, there are definitely ways that you can motivate that employee to get back to providing a higher level of quality.
Here are some tips for turning an under-performing employee back into a great one:
1. Don't beat around the bush; address the problem when it arises.
The longer you wait to address the problem, the harder it will be to remedy it and the more likely it will spread to other people in the office, causing resentment or additional under-performance. Take action as soon as you realize there is a problem so that you can solve it before it festers. 
2. Figure out why the employee is under-performing.
There are any number of reasons why an employee may be losing motivation with his or her work. Maybe they are simply a bad fit for the job, and lack the necessary skills to do well. Maybe there is some external factor that has the employee distracted. Perhaps the duties of the job aren't challenging enough for the employee. Whatever it is, it's important that you uncover the cause so that you can more effectively treat the problem.
3. Talk through the problem with the employee.
Be upfront with the employee; tell him or her that you believe there is a problem, and why their actions have an impact on the rest of the business. Emphasize that you would like to help them solve the problem. Give them a chance to brainstorm solutions to that problem, as well.
4. Coach the employee in ways to improve his or her performance.
Come up with specific goals and improvements, and monitor the progress on those goals. Be sure to follow up with the employee consistently so that they know you are invested in helping them achieve these goals and improve their performance.
5. If all else fails, take action.
If there are no improvements after you have taken all of these steps, you need to be more firm with your approach to the issue. Explain the consequences of the employee's under-performance. Be careful in your consideration of potential disciplinary action; while occasionally you will have no choice but to fire an employee, realize that action has an impact on the rest of your business.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
"Busyness" in Business: It's Overrated
We live in a culture that thrives on being busy. In fact, you'll often hear people brag about just how busy they are every day. But it's important to note that “busyness” doesn't necessarily correlate with success, or even getting things done. In fact, when you get extremely busy with work, it actually becomes easier to let things fall through the cracks, because you don't have the time to take a step back and analyze the progress of your business.
It all comes down to this: quality over quantity. Just because you are coming into work early and staying late, putting in more hours than anyone else at the office, doesn't mean that you're on the fast track to success. It's time to stop thinking about the number of hours you're working, and start 
thinking about the amount of progress you're making on accomplishing the goals you've set for yourself and your business.
This is one of the biggest reasons why it's important to have a planned-out routine that you can follow. By following what you have on your daily to-do list, you'll much more efficiently accomplish the tasks you've laid out for yourself. Chances are, you'll be able to accomplish much more within a smaller amount of time, giving you a chance to pull back a bit on the hours you're spending at work.
Try getting into the habit of asking yourself these three questions every day:
- At the end of every day, ask yourself how much closer you are to accomplishing the goals you've laid out for yourself. The focus should never be on how busy you were, but how much you've achieved.
- Ask yourself: do I have a plan in place so I can get the most out of my day tomorrow?
- Finally: does my routine make the most out of the time I have available to me, and does it give me the chance to take breaks and reflect on my progress?
Life in the business world is busy; there's not much getting around that. But there are various types of busy. You can be busy yet still have time for other things in your life outside of your business, and you can achieve that without having to sacrifice any progress made towards your goals.
Quality over quantity, every time.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
"Busyness" in Business: It’s Overrated
We live in a culture that thrives on being busy. In fact, you'll often hear people brag about just how busy they are every day. But it's important to note that “busyness” doesn't necessarily correlate with success, or even getting things done. In fact, when you get extremely busy with work, it actually becomes easier to let things fall through the cracks, because you don't have the time to take a step back and analyze the progress of your business.
It all comes down to this: quality over quantity. Just because you are coming into work early and staying late, putting in more hours than anyone else at the office, doesn't mean that you're on the fast track to success. It's time to stop thinking about the number of hours you're working, and start thinking about the amount of progress you're making on accomplishing the goals you've set for yourself and your business.
This is one of the biggest reasons why it's important to have a planned-out routine that you can follow. By following what you have on your daily to-do list, you'll much more efficiently accomplish the tasks you've laid out for yourself. Chances are, you'll be able to accomplish much more within a smaller amount of time, giving you a chance to pull back a bit on the hours you're spending at work.
Try getting into the habit of asking yourself these three questions every day:
- At the end of every day, ask yourself how much closer you are to accomplishing the goals you've laid out for yourself. The focus should never be on how busy you were, but how much you've achieved.
- Ask yourself: do I have a plan in place so I can get the most out of my day tomorrow?
- Finally: does my routine make the most out of the time I have available to me, and does it give me the chance to take breaks and reflect on my progress?
Life in the business world is busy; there's not much getting around that. But there are various types of busy. You can be busy yet still have time for other things in your life outside of your business, and you can achieve that without having to sacrifice any progress made towards your goals.
Quality over quantity, every time.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
How to Keep Your Employees Happy with Their Jobs
It's basically common sense: happy employees make for a better company. While you can't exactly force anyone to be happy with their work, there are definitely some steps that you can take as a leader to ensure that you're making your business conducive to happiness.
Here are some of the best ways you can do exactly that:
1. Continually work on building relationships with your employees.
Just because you've had a good chat with an employee once doesn't mean that you've created some kind of lasting, unbreakable bond with them. Think of your relationship with your employees as any other important relationship within your life; it strengthens over time as you continue to talk and get to know each other. Be genuinely interested in your employees' lives, aspirations, etc. Find out some personal things about them that you may be able to make a connection with. While you shouldn't cross any professional boundaries, you can at least break down some of the barriers that often exist between “bosses” and “workers” to help make your employees more comfortable with you.
2. Realize that you don't always have to have the same opinions.
While it's important that everyone in your company is aware of the company's goals for growth and long-term success, it's also important to realize that the people working for you may have different personal career goals that they're working toward. Be open to these goals and do what you can to help your employees achieve them. They'll be much more motivated to help you achieve your goals with the business if they know you're helping them in return.
3. Take it out of the office.
One of the best ways to get employees to let their guard down is to take the people from the office away from business grounds. Go out to lunch, have cookouts in the summer, have a day-long retreat, etc. It's a great way to offer a break to your employees while getting to know them better in a more comfortable setting for them.
4. Show appreciation.
People love being told that they're doing a good job. Show your appreciation for great work whenever you get the chance, whether it's with a simple verbal “thank you” or with rewards or thank you notes. Give gifts at the holiday season as well. Your appreciation goes a long way toward keeping employees happy.
Your business can only truly be operating at its peak efficiency if your employees enjoy working for you. Follow these tips and your company will continue to run like a well-oiled machine.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.