The information topic seems to be appearing everywhere we look this week. Now this article from Selling Power – The Cost of Poor Communications – attempts to put some metrics to inapt communication between managers and employees. While managers are off worrying about sales trends and marketing plans, they often overlook a primary drain on productivity: poor communication. 55 percent say their employees are not easily able to find information they need. 44 percent say the information they use lacks appropriate detail. What amount of money could this miscommunication be causing your company? There is a way to neutralize this problem – assess your team and provide your sales manager… Read More
Continue ReadingA Line for Sales Managers
I got this military quote from my brother-in-law: Good luck is often with the man who doesn’t include it in his plans. That sounds like a great line for a sales manager when reviewing his or her team’s forecast this new year.
Continue ReadingInformation Motivation
Yesterday I posted on an interesting article involving the importance of providing information to your employees. Now I as I catch up on my RSS reading for this week, I have kicked up a complementary Selling Power article with a quick reference to the same topic – Low-Budget Motivation. From the article: 4. Keep them in the loop Your people often depend on you to be the intermediary to the corporate powers that be, and the information that may affect them and their jobs. You need to honor that role by keeping them abreast of whats going on as much as possible. In the midst of bad times, your candor… Read More
Continue ReadingUpward Mobility
Thomas Register has a blog. If you have worked in the industrial market, you probably are familiar with their encyclopedia-like register. I used to be a sales manager for a high precision sheet metal fabricator and was quite familiar with researching the Thomas Register. The fact that they have a blog today speaks volumes. ThomasNet.com (online name) has a post that plays off of the CareerBuilder.com 2007 Job Forecast that was released earlier this week. Their 7 tips are all excellent including number 7: 7) Better training In light of a seeming shortage of skilled workers within their own industries, employers are looking for transferable skills from other industries. Seventy-eight… Read More
Continue ReadingHow To Motivate Employees
I’ve been reading Hidden Business Treasures blog of late and have found some…well, treasures. Their post today – Stupid Motivational Tricks – provides an excellent suggestion to managers in regards to motivating their employees. We measure motivators using our assessments, but I think they hit on a more fundamental, over-arching principle that applies to all employees. Employees have been cross-trained, sensitivity trained, multi-tasked and quality circled. They’ve been enhanced, advanced, mission driven and value positioned. They’ve even been downsized, right-sized, smart-sized and out-placed. Don’t you think its time for just plain informed? What motivates employees? The same thing that motivates you. Trusted members of any team must have access to… Read More
Continue ReadingA Failure To Communicate
From salary.com: 82% of managers believe they provide clear goals to their employees prior to their formal performance review, but only 46% of employees say the same. Nearly half of the employees surveyed said their performance has at some time been reviewed against goals that were not previously communicated. A bit of an indictment of manager’s communication skills. Of course, employees have been known to hear only what they want to hear also. Whatever the reason, may I suggest assessing your existing team to ensure you are communicating with them in the most effective manner? Part of our business is solving these problems for companies by identifying the ideal communication… Read More
Continue ReadingAre Your Employees Looking?
Apparently yes. From a recent poll conducted by Career Journal of nearly 500 employees: 41% of respondents admitted they are actively searching for a new job 35% considered themselves passive jobseekers 21% indicated they were not looking for a job at all So the obvious question is what are you doing to change those numbers within your organization? With 3 out of 4 of your employees potentially leaving, are you properly rewarding and motivating them on an individual basis? No two employees are the same so understanding their rewards and motivations will help ensure that your team is happy and content.
Continue ReadingSocialize With Your Younger Employees
From Rasmussen Reports – Younger Workers Want More, Connection That Is. Not really a surprise here, but a reinforcement: On top of everything else, Generation Y employees also prefer more frequent social interaction with their managers. One-quarter (26 percent) would like to socialize with their boss at least monthly. This is compared to 21 percent for Generation X, 16 percent for Baby Boomers and 17 percent for Traditionalists. That seems to be a strong trend towards socializing amongst the younger workers. If you have a retention problem at your company, this survey provides a good place to start correcting it.
Continue ReadingPardon the Interruption
Here’s What to Say When Boss Asks: ‘Why Isn’t This Done Yet?’ I’m sure none of you have been asked that question before. I, being an incredible putz, have been asked that question many times. U.S. office workers get interrupted on the job as often as 11 times an hour, costing as much as $588 billion to U.S. business each year, according to research. I wonder how they get to that staggering dollar amount. A typical manager is interrupted six times an hour, one recent study showed, while another found the average cubicle worker is interrupted more than 70 times a day. The telecommuting trend has a new study to… Read More
Continue ReadingEmpowering The Sales Team
Sales & Marketing Management has an excellent article out titled Break the Bureaucracy. The gist of the article is the revenue differences between companies that micromanage their team vs. companies that empower their team (especially sales). First, an intuitive point from the author: The result of this micromanaging? Young hires felt they got no respect and so returned no loyalty, Swanson remembers. Within 18 months, he and 10 other entry-level analysts had quit. This point cannot be overstated. The younger generations greatly prefer a more horizontal org chart with less hierarchy. The example in the article describes how this analyst working for a bank (well known for multiple layers of… Read More
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