Monday Mornings with Madison

Yearly Archives:
2015

February 23, 2015

Avoiding Email Blunders

Issue #367

Email is a key tool that allows business professionals to communicate very quickly in writing in great detail. It has replaced traditional phone calls and long-winded memos. Emails have also greatly reduced the need for group meetings just to share information. Emails also serve as written proof or validation of past requests, instructions and discussions. Practically no business today operates without email.

However, like any tool — when not used properly — email can be detrimental. Even old emails and ones that are thought to have been deleted can still be resurrected from computer memory and used in legal proceedings. Email mistakes can (and have) cost companies both business and money. That is why it is imperative that business emails be thoughtfully composed and vetted before sent. While that may seem obvious, companies continue to deal with email blunders by staff at every level. Given the increased demand for privacy and security of information in many industries and the major financial consequences that can be on the line when emails go awry – think of the embarrassing emails that surfaced when Sony Pictures’ computers were hacked — email best practices are vital for every organization’s survival and success. Here are eleven of the most common blunders and how best to avoid them. Continue reading →

Leave a comment
February 16, 2015

Benefits Employees Want Most – Part 2

Issue #366

Although the most headline-grabbing economic issue in the U.S. during the last decade was the ballooning unemployment rate, this particular woe has been decidedly declining in direct proportion to the rise in jobs. With the Department of Labor Statistic reporting unemployment holding at about 5.6% – 5.7% since October 2014, job gains are still being reported in retail trade, construction, health care, financial activities, and manufacturing in January 2015. Ironically, though, a decline in unemployment is now accentuating a different concern for U.S. businesses; namely, the need for more highly-skilled employees. U.S. companies report wanting to only hire people who are “job ready.” But such skilled workers are increasingly harder to find.

Indeed, recent surveys of business executives indicate that finding appropriately skilled workers is their biggest worry, and they foresee it getting worse. In 2015, businesses are facing the reality that, with little slack in the U.S. labor market plus a global skills-job disconnect, efforts to attract enough employees to fill high-skill jobs is becoming increasingly difficult. If skills shortages do increase in 2015, as expected, businesses will need to get more creative in how they attract and keep top talent long-term. In addition to increasing wages, which have been stagnant, employers will need to offer benefits that are most valued by employees. According to the late Steve Jobs, “I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1. Given that, you’re well advised to go after the cream of the cream. A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.” Indeed, in the long run, companies with the best benefits will be the most successful simply by attracting and retaining the most innovative and productive staff.
Continue reading →

Leave a comment
February 9, 2015

Benefits Employees Want Most – Part 1

Issue #365

Salary is not the only variable that employees factor when considering a company to work for or job to keep or leave. While pay is obviously a primary concern – after all, the reason people work is to earn a living – there are a number of other variables employees consider when deciding where to work. An employee’s benefits package is often just as important. However, which benefits are valued most by employees depends on the employees and their particular circumstances. A woman with small children might value flexible work hours and a Flexible Spending Account for child care while a man nearing retirement might value a company’s 401K plan and more vacation time. One might say that the benefit of a benefit is in the eye of the beholder.

That hasn’t stopped government from weighing in on the matter. In the recent State of the Union address, for example, one employee benefit that was given the spotlight was paid sick leave. Touting it as ‘middle-class economics’, President Obama challenged Congress to pass a federal mandate that provides paid sick leave for all employees, saying “Send me a bill that gives every worker in America the opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave.” In fact, three states and 15 cities have already passed measures requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to all full-time employees. Under current U.S. labor law, employers are not required to provide short-term paid sick days or longer-term paid sick leave. As companies and government weigh the pros and cons of what types of employee benefits to support, it might be useful to consider what benefits are needed and wanted most by employees. Companies that want to be top in their industry and want to attract the best talent must go beyond salary to offer benefits that employees want most. Continue reading →

Leave a comment
February 2, 2015

To Be A Top Salesperson in 2015, Embrace Rejection!

Issue #364

Being a salesperson can be a challenging – and at times even downright daunting — occupation (which is perhaps why they are usually very well-compensated). Selling involves a number of skills that many people are either weak at or don’t possess at all. The best salespeople are outgoing, friendly and sociable. They are never intimidated and are comfortable talking to anyone. They genuinely like people and people like them. They are skilled communicators, knowing what to say and what not to say to gain a potential customer’s interest. They are able, savvy negotiators, adept at overcoming objections and finding a solution that meets the needs of those involved. But most of all, the best salespeople are tenacious, with tremendous perseverance and a deep capacity to accept rejection and keep going. In fact, being able to handle rejection well is perhaps the most important skill of any professional, full-time salesperson. After all, most salespeople will hear “no” many, many times before getting a “yes.”

According to Bo Bennett, a tech entrepreneur who sold his tech company for $20 Million at the age of 29 and author of the best-selling book Year to Success, “A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success.” Indeed, it’s been said that selling doesn’t begin until a customer says “no.” In other words, if after pitching a product or service, the customer immediately says “yes,” then the person didn’t really sell… they educated and took an order. Selling is actually what happens after the first “no.” So if sales and rejection go hand in hand, how does someone who wants to be a top salesperson overcome the fear of rejection? Continue reading →

Leave a comment
January 26, 2015

The Challenges Ahead for U.S. Businesses in 2015

Issue #363

According to President Obama’s State of the Union Address this week, “After a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. More of our kids are graduating than ever before; more of our people are insured than ever before; we are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we’ve been in almost 30 years.” Indeed, just a few weeks into 2015, the nation’s economy does seem to be in the best shape it’s been since before the Great Recession (which is indeed good news, but certainly does not set the bar very high). U.S. employment increased by nearly three million jobs in 2014. Unemployment decreased a full percentage point between 2013 and 2014, dropping to the current 5.6% — the lowest rate since 2008 and the largest year-over-year decline since 1984. If things continue on this track, the U.S. is predicted to reach 5% unemployment by the end of the year, which is nearing that economic nirvana of “full employment”. Also, declining oil prices have helped bolster consumer purchasing power. The U.S. dollar is also at its highest value in many years. These are all good indicators.

Despite all the positive economic indicators, most U.S. businesses will still face certain challenges in the year ahead. Even as the U.S. enjoys a healthier economy than most any other industrialized nation in the world today, companies will have to contend with issues, many of which were carried over from 2014. Companies that ignore these problems do so at their own peril. However, recognizing what issues lie ahead is the first step to either tackling them head-on or sidestepping them altogether. Continue reading →

Leave a comment
January 19, 2015

To Change a Behavior, Change the Environment

Issue #362

At the beginning of a year, many people make resolutions to change. They want to break a bad habit or start a good habit. Or they want to improve or reduce how or how much they do something. For some, the change is personal. Lose weight. Eat healthy. Exercise. Stop smoking. For others, the change is professional. Stay organized. Find greater work/life balance. Be on time to work. Have more patience. Be more pleasant to customers. For each person, it is a different resolution. Yet, everyone basically wants to do the same thing: change a difficult-to-change behavior. (After all, if it was easy to change the behavior, there’d be no need for a resolution!)

Indeed, changing a behavior is not easy. Even when a person really, really wants to change their own personal conduct, behaviors persist. Eating the wrong foods. Drinking too much. Smoking. Being tardy. Why is that? In part, it is because humans are creatures of habit. Habits — which live in a specific part of the brain (interestingly independent from the part of the brain that houses memory) — control of much of the automatic behavior we perform each day… often mindlessly. Many behaviors are done on auto-pilot with very little thought. If so much behavior is done on auto-pilot, how does a person break a bad habit or start a new behavior? For decades psychologists suggested that to change a behavior, one simply had to first change one’s attitude. But, it turns out that that is not really true. To change a behavior within, start by changing the environment outside. How so? And is there a way a manager or employee can use this to improve productivity, short-circuit undesirable work behaviors and increase profits? Continue reading →

Leave a comment
January 12, 2015

Handling Competitors

Issue #361

There is no business that exists anywhere in the free-market world that is without competition… at least not for long. The moment a product or service is invented and sold, someone somewhere opens a business that rivals it somehow. The competitor’s delivery method might differ. Or its service and support might be better. Or the competitor’s product might be slightly improved. Competition is inevitable.

Since part of being in business includes having competition, businesses must decide how to contend with competitors. Is there a right way to handle business rivals? Some entrepreneurs approach competitors like arch enemies. Others see competition as a good thing, driving companies to continually improve. Still others see competition as a non-issue. And there are some who – at their own peril — dare to ignore competition altogether. Which approach for dealing with business rivals is correct? Is there a right way to view competition and handle competitors? Continue reading →

Leave a comment
January 5, 2015

Four Tips for Making a Fresh Start

Issue #360

An unequivocal part of being human is making mistakes. We try things and fail. When standing at a fork in the road, we sometimes take the wrong path. We act when we should wait, and wait when we should act. However, failing is not synonymous with failure. Mistakes and wrong turns are the reasons that there are erasers on pencils and a ‘reverse’ gear on every car’s transmission. Miscalculations, blunders and slips are an undeniable and unavoidable part of the human condition. No matter how big the error or how ‘off track’ one might go, there is always an opportunity to pause, reassess, and start again.

There is nothing that says that fresh starts are reserved for the beginning of a calendar year. However, it does seem to be the time of year when many are inclined to consider changing course. Resolutions abound. Some folks start diets and begin exercise programs. Some companies change policies. The idea is to stop doing things the “wrong” way and do things a “better” way. Just as errors are part of being human, so is the desire to start anew. Here are four tips on how to wipe the slate clean. Continue reading →

Leave a comment