Business Edge

You do not have to be original to be successful

2011-10-31T16:59:00.001+05:30

There is never paucity for original business ideas. However, most individuals or organizations are poor at converting an original idea to profit.

In fact, history is replete with accounts of individuals who have done better with an idea than the idea's creator. For instance, Shakespeare borrowed storylines from others and converted them into classics. Similarly, Steve Jobs is a striking example of an individual who took an existing product, scaled it and marketed it for profit.

Therefore, it is not necessary that an individual should have an original business idea to scale and market it. He can do the same with ideas that have gone nowhere for others.

However, an individual should have the innate ability to take an existing idea, innovate and scale it to be successfully.

How are today's chief information officers successfull?

2009-11-22T16:51:00.001+05:30

The 2009 IBM Global CIO Study explored this (Real Business of IT: How CIOs Create and Communicate Value) and learned how today's chief information officers are successfully growing profits for their businesses.

They are:

Driving technology innovation to make it a reality
Increasing the return on investment (ROI) in information technology (IT)
Expanding the business impact of IT

From The New Voice of the CIO.

IRR Wage Subsidy Program

2009-08-23T07:44:00.001+05:30

Employers coming under the Taconite Assistance Area (Northeastern Minnesota) are eligible for wage subsidy for new full time employees.

Businesses engaged in manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, finance and insurance, professional and technical services and management of companies and enterprises are eligible for the wage subsidy.

However, businesses that have lain off workers are ineligible.

For more information on the IRR Wage Subsidy Program go to: http://www.jobtrainingmn.org/irr-wagesubsidy/

Small Business Owners Minimize your risk

2009-08-22T12:09:00.001+05:30

Here are some basic errors made by small business owners and ways to avoid them.

7 ways to minimize small-business risks

Importance of Ergonomics in workplace safety

2009-08-22T08:05:00.001+05:30

One key factor often ignored when considering workplace safety is ergonomics. Granted, the carpel tunnel syndrome has brought the issue of ergonomics in desk bound jobs, but how about in the shop floor.

According to Lidia T Petersen, three basic principles are important when considering workplace, as in shop floor, safety. They are:

1.When lifting, the largest muscles in the area should perform the task. The larger the muscle or muscle group used for lifting, the lower the stress placed on smaller, more vulnerable muscles.

2.During any work activities, people should be able to comfortably assume a number of different postures and not remain in one position for an extended time. Muscles will fatigue and be more prone to injury when assuming a particular posture, especially a poor one (e.g., partially bent forward at the waist).

3.When performing tasks, it is important to keep the joints either in their neutral posture or approximately halfway into the range of motion. Working with your joints at the extremes of their ranges of motion for prolonged period's places abnormal stresses on them and can cause repetitive stress injuries.

The essence of strong management

2009-08-22T05:27:00.000+05:30

Ben Leichtling on being decisive.

Don't create management vacuums. Some people are self-regulating, but most require strong management. Accountability requires immediate and ongoing feedback coupled to meaningful rewards and consequences.

Good management is not shown by cleaning up messes created by your direct reports. Good managers prevent messes from forming.

Results count. People get no credit for going through the motions and using only ineffective processes such as suggestions, talks or empty threats. They get credit for succeeding.

Privacy Policy

2009-04-03T15:57:00.001+05:30

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Cold Calling Scripts to Make Sales Appointments

2009-03-10T16:41:00.001+05:30

Many small business sales people use a cold calling script. A common mistake small businesses make when they make sales appointment calls is that they use a cold call script but they don´t build it around a cold calling sales appointment process.

Imagine if you used an effective sales appointment making process. Then you can build your own words and phrases around that process.

Consider some of the ideas and sales training in these 3 stages of a sales appointment call.

Advisory boards are beneficial for small business.

2009-03-09T17:11:00.000+05:30

After all, most small businesses don’t have a large management team, but their owners still need to be able to brainstorm ideas and strategies with others who have more than a passing knowledge of their business issues. A board that meets regularly and gets to know you and your business can provide valuable insight and solid advice.

As good a time as any to start your business

2009-03-05T16:43:00.001+05:30

Economist Brian Headd, of the Small Business Administration believes recession is as good a time as any to go solo:

"Non-employer firms have the highest growth when the labor market struggles and the lowest growth when the labor market is doing well." Because loans are a small part of such start-ups, he sees no reason why "the data won't follow similar patterns" in the current recession.

‘Germiest’ workplace surfaces.

2009-01-10T08:56:00.000+05:30

Image via Wikipedia

Charles Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona and Americas’ leading expert on work and home hygiene says an average office has 100 times more bacteria than a toilet seat.

He along with his fellow researchers found that the ‘germiest’ workplace surfaces included (ranked from most germy to least germy):

Phone
Keyboard
Computer Mouse
Desktop

It is patently obvious that human hands are the primary carriers of germs in the workplace and they need to be clean and dry in order to stop infection.

You can find more hygiene tips here.

Does a casual dress code decrease productivity?

2008-07-27T15:39:00.001+05:30

Image via Wikipedia

It was not very much long ago that organisations insisted on formal attire. However, the current stress on business casuals seems to have set off a debate on dress code and its effect on productivity.

Unfortunately, there seems no conclusive end to this debate. There are organisations that insist on a formal dress code and there are those that believe a casual dress code is the way to go. Both strongly believe that dress code does affect productivity.

A recent Web poll of 9,105 conducted by FPC, a national executive search firm, found that 60 percent of managers, directors, vice presidents — and higher — believe a casual dress code has helped to improve the workplace. The other 40 percent of supervisors thought casual dress hurt productivity.

However, entry- and mid-level employees were almost evenly split in the debate — 51 percent said they preferred to dress casually and 49 percent said they believed wearing corporate attire made them more productive.

The very fact that organisations agonise over productivity and dress code means there is a need for a dress code isn't it?

Are the twenty something’s an unprofessional bunch?

2008-04-15T07:53:00.000+05:30

Your organisation worries about graduate recruitment, “talent pipeline” and how to make themselves “an employer of choice”. Nevertheless, you still feel that the twenty something's are an unprofessional work-shy bunch.
Learn more about them before falling into the generalization trap.

Dealing with sick employees

2008-04-14T06:07:00.001+05:30

When dealing with an employee on sick leave, an employer has to follow due process.

As an employer, it pays not to let situations drift over sick leave. Deal
with any absence in a timely manner and use a fair and careful process. In this
way, employers can hopefully avoid long-term absences and ensure they are
working pro- actively with ill employees to either encourage a return to work or
end employment in a fair way.

If decisions are arbitrary, the employer will fall foul of the law.

Where is the time to spend on recruiting?

2007-09-14T06:32:00.000+05:30

An article suggests that for most businesses, the Web is the best tool for finding employees. It goes on to suggest three Web related tactics: use three main Web-related tactics: viewing association and trade group membership directories; scanning social networking sites such as MySpace and LinkedIn; and mining industry-specific blogs, discussion forums and news groups.

These methods will no doubt help in cutting cost, but is it possible for any small business owner to spend time and energy on it? Another question which comes to mind is how successful are we going to be?

Web related searches require high level of search expertise and involves huge amount of time. The same goes for viewing social networks, membership directories and industry specific blogs. Assuredly, there are hundreds of recruiters who are more professional, trawling these avenues.

So what will be our success rate?

Have a well designed "customer portfolio"

2007-09-13T12:08:00.001+05:30

Recently, a research team at the W. P. Carey School of Business began to wonder whether Markowitz's, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, "portfolio theory" might be applied in the world of marketing as well.

Marketing professors Ruth Bolton, Michael Hutt and Beth Walker, and Crina Tarasi, a doctoral student in marketing, have proposed that a company's choice of customers is every bit the "investment decision" that an investors' choice of stocks is.

Accordingly, the research team suggests companies would be wise to identify the risk-return characteristics of all of their potential customers, then build a "customer portfolio" that, like a well-designed investment portfolio, can reap returns in both good times and bad -- and shield against tough times in the marketplace.

Reduce Risk by Building a Diversified 'Portfolio' of Customers

Hat Tip : cabarnet

BUYERS WANT THESE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ONLINE

2007-09-11T06:17:00.000+05:30

Tatsuya Nakagawa writing on Five Essential Online Trends For Small Business makes a valid point when he says, "anything that a small business gets asked often by customers or prospects is something you should likely have online".

If we provide answers to these questions upfront, it enables the customer to take an informed decision immediately and fully commit to the purchase.

CEO's Do Matter

2007-09-09T11:14:00.001+05:30

A recent study by three Danish finance professors looked at whether large changes in a CEO's life had an effect on a business's performance. This is what they found out:

Profitability slid by about one-fifth, on average, in the two years after the death of a CEO's child, and by about 15% after the death of a spouse. The death of an executive's mother-in-law led to a slight rise in profitability.

So chief executives do matter to their companies' performance, unfortunately, what they do outside the boardroom matters too.

Via Mark Williamson

India's Fab 12

2007-09-07T10:59:00.000+05:30

The 12 Indian companies on the Forbes Asia 'Fabulous 50' list :

Bharat Heavy Electricals

Bharti Airtel

Grasim Industries

HDFC Bank

ICICI Bank

Infosys Technologies

Larsen & Toubro

Reliance Industries

Satyam Computer Services

Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Steel

Wipro.

Asking for Referrals

2007-09-03T06:03:00.001+05:30

Somehow or the other, I have developed a mental block when it comes to asking for referrals. Even though I know it is one of the best lead generation tools, I have never asked for referrals with conviction. Unless and until a customer refers another on his own, the percentage of business through referrals is dismal.

I have to admit here my opposition to asking for referrals unlike Barry Morris is purely emotional and unreasoned.

Check out why Barry Morris insists 'why you should never ask clients for referrals'.

Social interaction a vital resource for entrepreneurs

2007-09-01T07:10:00.001+05:30

The British Chamber of Commerce has claimed that without networking, SMEs will find it increasingly difficult to expand and to keep pace with their rivals.

Explaining why social interaction has become such a vital resource for entrepreneurs, a spokesperson for the BCC said, "Engaging in networking is beneficial because the only way you can grow your business is by interacting with people.

Furthermore, "It's about marketing yourself and networking is another way of marketing your business; getting out there and telling people who you are and what you do".

"And you can only do this by meeting people, whether you are meeting them online or whether you are meeting them at physical events, word of mouth is very much the best way of getting your business out there.

Death by inventory

2007-08-31T16:59:00.001+05:30

John Elder Robison talks about the danger to small business from excess inventory.

As he correctly points out,

"When times get slow debt is the #1 killer of small business. That, and a lack of capital and a lack of hard assets. The best insurance a small business can have is equity in real estate. Banks like that kind of equity best, and when hard times come, the guy with $500,000 equity in his buildings will be fine, but the fellow with $500,000 in inventory may find his loan called, and his company in bankruptcy.

Why, you ask? Because a $500,000 building is 500 grand, any time to anyone (within reason) while $500,000 in inventory may have essentially zero value if the company ceases to operate."

Therefore, it is vital for any small business to correctly interpret industry trends, monitor sales and optimize inventory.

Preparing your business for natural disasters

2007-08-31T07:16:00.001+05:30

Jan Norman points us to an AT&T list of disaster preparation and recovery tips for small businesses:

Along with them, I share some from my experience.

Find out how prepared the vendors/suppliers are for disasters. If they take a hit, our bottom line gets impacted.
Have a plan to protect your machinery, inventory or stocks from flooding. If it is possible to shift them, identify safe and device a plan to shift them to higher places.
If possible, have a pair of employees stay with you overnight in your premises to affect these plans.

Do you have any other suggestions?

What American workers desire from their employers.

2007-08-29T18:57:00.000+05:30

A study of more than 1,200 U.S workers by workplace consultancy Kronos and pollster Harris International to coincide with Labor Day has identified what it is American workers most desire from their employers.

They want to be paid more, they want better healthcare coverage and, above all, they want greater respect from their managers.

Very basic demands, isn't it?

Boardroom pay at UK's top companies

2007-08-29T18:46:00.000+05:30

Guardian reports that salaries of full time directors in the UK soared 37% over last year.

To quote, "The ratio between bosses' rewards and employees' pay has risen to 98:1, up from 93:1 a year ago - meaning that the work of a chief executive is valued almost 100 times more highly than that of their employees."