60 minutes is all you need to come up with some great ideas for your company’s succession planning!   Try a brainstorming session! This is a good way to facilitate meaningful, strategic discussion with your group on a sometimes-tough topic. Typically, I’ll recommend a longer SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) session, but this is good when you have a limited time frame. Here are  6 questions to get you started:

1. What do you want your  Company to look like in 3 years? (i.e., industry leader, well-respected, leading edge).
2. What is the GBU -Good/Bad/Ugly- about your Company and what top 3 issues does your Company face? ( try this in lieu of a longer SWOT analysis).
3. Who can help you solve these things? (i.e., how can we better target our efforts?)
4. How can you use the experience available in your Company?
5. What can you do to make the Company more attractive to young professionals?
6. How does your leadership in the Company impact the organization?
7. What’s your elevator pitch?  (i.e., can you provide a snapshot of what the Company does in 30 seconds?)

As you can see, it would be easy to branch out into other questions from the ones above. To be sure, there are a few tricks for effective brainstorming. Stay tuned!

The post 6 Succession Planning Strategies to Use Now! appeared first on Alter Consulting Group.

Mercifully, it isn’t a singing group. Ron Johnson’s departure as J.C. Penney’s CEO does bring one thing to mind: if you can’t connect to your customers, not much else matters.   Did he make changes? Yes. Was he quick? Absolutely. Did Penney’s customers sail along with the changes? Definitely not.  This turn of events makes me think of what I call The 3 D’s.

You know the story. When times are tough, we’re tempted to take retailers we might otherwise decline, just to fill our vacancies.  When times improve, we are hopefully able to think more strategically about our center’s tenant mix. We’re rethinking retail. The trick is, we’ve got to get our retailers to rethink it too. Hence, my 3 D’s for what  retailers must accomplish:

Develop their target market and customer profile:  If you’re not sure how important this is, and how exact it needs to be, take another look at Ron Johnson’s experience. Did J.C. Penney’s customers really long for edgier apparel and free kids’ haircuts? True, some customers applauded Penney’s plan to turn its standard floor plate into a desirable avenue of shops, but they weren’t the only ones who got more than they bargained for.

Determine the right price: Gone, gone, gone. That’s what happened to J.C. Penney’s sales. Not only did their sales volumes decrease a whole lot (an estimated 28% for Q4 2012) but the actual, physical store clearance sales that Penney’s customers knew and loved disappeared. What’s the key here? I can answer this one in 3 words: Customer Connection Counts.  Of course, it’s imperative for a retailer to know its competition inside and out. But it’s that customer connection that makes the difference for all of us.

Deliver stellar customer service:  Some things never go out of style. Or do they? It’s always seemed strange to me that when times are down we struggle to make–and keep– that customer connection we worked so hard to establish in the first place. As one colleague so succinctly described it,  sometimes we’re guilty of acting merely as “operators”, leaving connections to go by the wayside.

It may be too soon to determine what J.C. Penney’s outcome will be, but I’m sure you’ll agree that rethinking retail deserves some thought. If you’d like tips on how to merge enterprise and experience, stay tuned for my upcoming article, “When All the World’s a Mall”. 

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If you’re old enough (ahem!) to remember the TV series Dallas, you know that J.R. Ewing was the series’ villain.  Even if you’re not, you know that every dramatic series has a character we love to hate. So, apparently, do companies. Mulling over Market Watch’s list “The 10 Companies We Love to Hate”, I found myself musing over what these diverse firms all-too-closely share. Besides the obvious disasters (remember Enron?), a few things clearly stood out from the rest.

Here are 4 things to AVOID if you want your clients, customers and team to love working for your company:

Rude employees:  I know, there’s a lot of talk these days about the importance of providing great customer service.  And many of us do.  But this is a topic that always deserves and demands repetition, and here’s a telling example:  Arriving for a meeting last week, I approached the company’s front desk and was greeted with…nothing. After a moment or two, the receptionist lifted her head and looked at me.  That was it: no smile, no greeting, and in fact, no words.  When I offered my name and the purpose of my visit, she turned away to contact my host and… you guessed it…her demeanor was exactly the same. Pretty welcoming, huh? Face it: truly exceptional customer service can make your company swim with the best of them. Or not.

Falling short on your promises:   People are like elephants: when we perceive we aren’t treated right, we remember it. We are gracious though; most of the time we’re willing to forgive if the issues are corrected-quickly. Of course, the crucial thing here is to be able to plan strategically: if you know in advance you won’t make a deadline, complete a space or finish the budget, now’s the time to be proactive.  Think that’s not a problem in our business? You may want to reconsider the next time a tenant declines to renew its lease.

Cutting to the bone:  It’s true, many of us had to reduce our ranks during tough economic times just to stay afloat.  That’s understandable. What’s surprising is when we fail to realize that it’s almost impossible to sustain that effort over the long term. No matter what business you’re in, it pays to appreciate that you can absolutely pile more challenges (or opportunities) on your team, and sometimes that works. When doesn’t it? The next time a valued employee leaves to work for a competitor, it may be a good time to reassess.

Creating a culture of distrust:  Believe it or not, this is one area that can sink your ship faster than the Titanic. Do you want your customers and employees to rate their experiences with your company as terrible, or unfortunate? Of course not, but it happens-just take a look at MarketWatch’s list. This is one area where you’ll have to earn trust.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your comments. And if you’d like to read my article “Want to Earn Trust & Respect? Ask These Questions”, just email me at shannon@alterconsultinggroup.com.

The post Do They LOVE You? 4 Things to Avoid appeared first on Alter Consulting Group.

What’s your favorite season of the year? I’d bet not many of us would say “CAM season is it!”.  Undoubtedly you’ll get a few questions from both clients and tenants after you deliver the news. Here are 3 sure-fire tactics you can use NOW to save time on the back end.

Connect CAM to BUDGET: This may sound obvious, but all too often real estate managers—especially new ones—don’t take this aspect seriously enough. Look at it this way: what goes into the budget will definitely come out in the CAM.

I’m often asked by managers, for example, if it’s possible to charge tenants back for a management fee and an administrative fee, plus salaries. My first response is always “it depends”, because it does depend on the lease language for each tenant.  My second answer is “does it make sense?”, because although it may be possible to charge back everything allowable, it may or not make sense to do so. Once you’ve finished your spreadsheets and prepared your invoices, be sure to take some time for an overview:  look at your property’s expenses and see if they do make sense; you’ll save valuable time later.

Review your leases:  If you haven’t done it already, there’s no better time than now to review and re-visit your leases.  A colleague of mine noted that whenever his company takes on a new third-party management account they come out looking like heroes to the owner. The reason?  He’s steadfast in his belief that having his managers re-read and review every lease turns up dollars—he almost always finds something that was billed incorrectly.

Look at past mistakes:  When I worked for an anchor grocery tenant, we discovered that almost 95% of the CAM bills we received from real estate management companies were incorrect. Most often, the errors were easily rectified, but the bills took longer to evaluate and pay, simply because the process of getting them corrected took longer.  Reviewing the prior years’ CAM reconciliation with an eye toward correcting past mistakes can be a great time-saver!

Here’s the secret:  Year-end and first quarter are a busy time for everyone, but if you keep your eye on these tactics, you’ll sail through CAM season without a hitch.

What’ are your tips?  I’d love to hear from you.

The post Got CAM? 3 Sure-Fire Tactics to Make Your Life Easier! appeared first on Alter Consulting Group.

I admit it: I’m addicted to leadership. One of my favorite, unofficial leadership “mentors” is Jack Welch. Here’s my take on the 7 things Welch says are most important for today’s leaders:

Highly collaborative: Face it, we’re not a team of one. The best thing you can do to make both you and your company successful—is to surround yourself with the best and brightest, especially if they’re better than you.

Ability to work with diverse teams: Perspective counts.  Even if you work for a small firm, you’ve got to be global now.

Ability to ignite them to work together:  This may be third on the list, but it’s probably the most important.  If you can’t ignite and inspire your team, not much else matters.

Guts to make tough decisions: This can be difficult, indeed. Leaders today have to have the innate ability to assess performance and know how to move an organization forward—and to make decisions that count when it doesn’t.

Endurance to execute:  You’ve heard it said there are a lot of great ideas out there—the internet today is a constant feed of ideas all by itself. What really matters is leaders who can actually focus, implement and get the job done.

Resilience: Sometimes, just toughing it out takes a lot of energy. Staying power makes all the difference.

6^th Sense:  I have what I call a finely honed “baloney meter”, courtesy of my early experience in the hospitality field.  A highly tuned 6^th sense can serve you well—whether it’s your instinct on who to hire, who to fire, or which clients to take.

It’s a good time to look at your leadership style. Do you have what it takes?

The post 7 Things Leaders MUST Have appeared first on Alter Consulting Group.