Archives for August 2014
How to Tell When Employees are Considering Leaving
One of the best ways you can continue to maintain a high level of success and quality within your business is to make sure that you retain all of your best employees. Of course, this also means that if an employee is considering leaving your business, you need to be able to read the signs ahead of time so that you can do your best to keep them aboard.
Here are some of the most common signs that may indicate employees could potentially leave your company:
1) A sudden drop in productivity
If you have a rock-star employee suddenly take a drastic dip in productivity, this could very well be a sign that they have already started working on an exit plan. Schedule a one-on-one meeting with the employee to uncover the issue and see if you can resolve it. This could also be an opportunity for you to persuade the employee to stick around, if he or she is indeed on the way out.
2) Unusual amounts of isolation 
Perhaps the employee is taking more personal calls than usual during the day, or speaks on the phone in a low voice. Maybe he or she seems withdrawn, which could be especially usual if the employee normally is quite social. Talk to the employee and see if you can find out the issue.
3) A lack of work ethic
If an employee is on the way out of the company, it's not uncommon for them to feel as if there's no point in putting in as much effort as they had done in previous months/years. Perhaps the employee just feels overworked or not used properly, and their motivation has started to slip. Whatever the scenario, it's important to confront the employee about the issue before it becomes even more serious.
4) Unusual requests for time off
If you notice an employee taking more time off or more sick days than usual, there's a chance that he or she could be becoming disengaged with their work and preparing to leave for a new position. Many people like to use up all of their sick time and paid time off in their final weeks of a position rather than leave them unused.
Remember: losing employees (particularly your best employees) costs a lot of time and money, as you have to find and train a replacement. That's not to mention the strain on the team to cover for that person while you search for a new employee. Pay attention to these sorts of signs and do everything you can to retain your best people.
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 Stay On Top of Business Trends
Chances are you feel way too busy as the owner of a small business to stay up to date with the latest news and trends in your field. There are always customer service, budget, marketing or sales tasks that require your attention, and that's completely understandable. But for the sake of your business staying on the cutting edge, it's important that you at least take a small amount of time every day to keep up to date with some of the latest news and trends relating to your business.
Here are some activities that will help you to stay on top of business trends:
- Attend Webinars and Live Events. Follow the thought leaders in your industry and even those you view as competition by attending live events, trade shows and webinars. Observing how others present themselves and looking at what they view as trending can be insightful to your own status. This does not mean you are going to play follow-the-leader, but it does give you an opportunity to evaluate your offerings, presentation skills and effectiveness from closer than 30,000 feet.
- Read online business journals and magazines. There are some great publications out there that can have some wonderful advice you can apply to your business. You don't even necessarily have to subscribe
to the physical versions of these publications; many have online editions with plenty of helpful articles. Look into Inc, Bloomberg Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, Small Business Trends and more.
- Stay plugged into social media. There are plenty of ways you can use social media to keep up to date about industry trends. Business-related groups on Facebook and LinkedIn are particularly useful for this. You can also create Twitter lists filled with people who have a lot of influence in your industry to see what they're talking about. But don't just sit back and observe – be engaged and ask questions that promote engagement.
- Join associations related to your business. These groups often have a lot of great networking opportunities that will help you to get to know other important people in your industry and see how they are finding creative ways to overcome many of the same challenges you face on a regular basis. Get out from behind your desk and meet those minds like yours – even on their turf!
- Find opportunities for free training. Organizations like the Small Business Administration, Small Business Development Centers and SCORE have free online training, blogs, webinars and plenty of other resources that will help you to stay up to date with your business practices.
- Keep an eye on recent studies. The Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis and more often report a lot of useful industry stats and data. These studies should help you learn more about trends in your area.
All it takes is committing a few minutes every day to staying on top of the latest news in your industry, and it will make a huge difference in terms of staying ahead of the curve with 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.
How to Minimize Expenses While In the Startup Phase
When you're just getting started with your small business, you most likely don't have a whole lot of money to throw around. This means that it's extremely important that you keep your expenses to a minimum across the board, at least until you're able to get additional funding or reach a certain level of sales success.
Here are a few of the best ways that you can make spending cuts in the early phases of your business:
1) Talk directly to customers rather than spending a lot on traditional marketing efforts.
Customer reviews and testimonials are more valuable when you're trying to make a name for your business than traditional ad space. If you buy up ads without having any validation about the quality of your product, you're most likely just going to be throwing your money away. There are certainly still ways that you can get the word out about your business (especially through web marketing), but don't make buying ads a priority in the earliest stages of your business. Lastly, while it can be a slow process, face-to-face greetings and social networking has immense power at this stage in the life of your new business.
2) Carefully analyze the pros and cons of every expense. 
Ask yourself if the rewards to an expense are worth the amount of money you'd have to pay. What is the likelihood that the expense will yield some sort of positive return to your business? This will help you to stay focused on the customer, creating revenue and becoming a profitable organization. There will be plenty of time later on for you to look into some luxury expenses.
3) Don't spend too much on your first product.
It's important that you get your initial product to market as soon as possible so that you don't waste too much money on the launch. This isn't to say that you should compromise the quality of your initial product, but you should understand that you can't realistically spend tons of money on perfecting a first product when there's no guarantee that it will succeed on the market.
4) Create a culture of frugality.
Set an example within your business; everyone should see that you're being as creative as possible within a small budget. If the rest of your team sees their leader conserving funds whenever possible, they will be encouraged to do the same.
For more tips about staying frugal in the early stages of your business, contact us today at Viral Solutions. We're here to help you find success with your business and achieve the goals you've always dreamed of!
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.
Don't Let First Impressions Determine Your Hirings
From the time we're kids, we have the importance of first impressions hammered into our brains. And it's definitely true that first impressions are extremely important, especially in the business world. However, when you're looking for great talent, especially when your business is still in its early stages, it's important that you go deeper than surface level when evaluating potential employees. Otherwise, you could be severely hampering your hiring process.
Here are a few steps you can take to reduce the “first impressions bias” in your hiring process:
- Reserve judgment. Rather than looking at bits and pieces of a resume or cover letter, wait until you've seen the entire package a person has to offer before determining whether or not you should bring them in for an interview.
- Try not to make comparisons. It's natural to compare job candidates to each other when making your hiring decisions, but this isn't an effective way to staff your company. Instead, evaluate every candidate as an individual to determine whether or not they are a good fit for the
position. This will help you to be more objective in your decision making process.
- Document your process. It's easy to start overlooking flaws in potential employees because of the biases formed in early impressions. Have everyone in the hiring process write down all of their reasons for or against the candidates that have applied for the position. That way you can go back and analyze these documents with a better chance of having objective information.
- Get to know the candidate. One of the best and easiest ways to look beyond a first impression is to give the candidate a chance to open up about him or herself. Bringing a candidate in for an interview certainly can't hurt; it gives you some face-to-face time to ask some probing questions and look beyond the information presented in a resume, application or cover letter.
- Eliminate unqualified candidates. If you spend some time looking at what characteristics do not make for a good candidate, you'll be able to make decisions about your hiring based less on emotional first impressions and more on actual qualifications.
First impressions can give valuable, instinctual information, but they aren't always reliable when we're talking about the hiring process. Do some more investigation yourself and avoid letting good employees slip through the cracks.
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.
Don’t Let First Impressions Determine Your Hirings
From the time we're kids, we have the importance of first impressions hammered into our brains. And it's definitely true that first impressions are extremely important, especially in the business world. However, when you're looking for great talent, especially when your business is still in its early stages, it's important that you go deeper than surface level when evaluating potential employees. Otherwise, you could be severely hampering your hiring process.
Here are a few steps you can take to reduce the “first impressions bias” in your hiring process:
- Reserve judgment. Rather than looking at bits and pieces of a resume or cover letter, wait until you've seen the entire package a person has to offer before determining whether or not you should bring them in for an interview.
- Try not to make comparisons. It's natural to compare job candidates to each other when making your hiring decisions, but this isn't an effective way to staff your company. Instead, evaluate every candidate as an individual to determine whether or not they are a good fit for the position. This will help you to be more objective in your decision making process.
- Document your process. It's easy to start overlooking flaws in potential employees because of the biases formed in early impressions. Have everyone in the hiring process write down all of their reasons for or against the candidates that have applied for the position. That way you can go back and analyze these documents with a better chance of having objective information.
- Get to know the candidate. One of the best and easiest ways to look beyond a first impression is to give the candidate a chance to open up about him or herself. Bringing a candidate in for an interview certainly can't hurt; it gives you some face-to-face time to ask some probing questions and look beyond the information presented in a resume, application or cover letter.
- Eliminate unqualified candidates. If you spend some time looking at what characteristics do not make for a good candidate, you'll be able to make decisions about your hiring based less on emotional first impressions and more on actual qualifications.
First impressions can give valuable, instinctual information, but they aren't always reliable when we're talking about the hiring process. Do some more investigation yourself and avoid letting good employees slip through the cracks.
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.