Every industry is full of businesses trying to persuade and attract the same group of customers to shop with them, so you can’t just do the same thing as your competitors and expect your business to survive.
If you’re looking to start a new business or if your current business needs a refresh, there are things you can do to give your business a leg up on the competition.
You don’t necessarily need to revolutionize your industry to see success. You just need to stand out more than your competitors. Think for a moment, what do your customers actually want and need in your industry? How can you provide more or something different than your competitors?
When you find the answers to these questions, you’ll be well on your way to creating a profitable business.
When you own or operate a business, you want your customers to shop with you for life. That means you need to come up with some ideas to encourage loyalty.
Sure, you could start a loyalty program, but how can you be sure your rewards are better than your competitors? Instead, make each customer interaction about the customer. Personalize their experience so they feel valued at your business.
We live in a world full of distractions. Every one of us has a smart phone capable of keeping in contact with anyone at any time, searching the Internet for endless information and scrolling through social media for hours on end.
These distractions can quickly take away from our productivity, but it’s not always easy to put our phones down. Here are two ways to reclaim your focus so you can get back to work.
Find out what’s most commonly distracting you and find a way to block it out. If you’re distracted by your phone, turn on Do Not Disturb mode or turn your phone off.
If you struggle with talking to co-workers, close your office door. Log out of your social media accounts so they’re not as easy to access.
It’s essential to take breaks during your work to stay focused and refreshed. This is when you should be looking at the things distracting you.
Make sure you have breaks throughout the day and set a reminder so you take them. If you actually take breaks, you’ll be less likely to reach for your distractions while working.
More businesses are returning to on-location work, and hybrid meetings are becoming more prevalent. As meetings start to occur that host both remote and on-location employees, you may be wondering how to keep everything managed and what is the bets solution for hybrid meetings. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to ensure that everyone feels heard and respected.
Instead of having everyone on-site use one camera, have them use their individual laptops or computers. This will reduce chaos and allow everyone an opportunity to speak without interrupting others. If this is not feasible with your company, you could assign someone to monitor the remote workers and pass along any questions or information to the employees working on-site.
Having one-on-one meetings with remote workers and developing a connected culture both go a long way toward making everyone feel comfortable and appreciated.
It will take time to perfect hybrid meetings, but with patience, understanding and a desire to improve, your meetings can run smoother than ever before.
Virtual private network (VPN) technology is essential for securing the Internet safely, whether it be for work or pleasure. VPNs are one of the only ways you can have end-to-end safeguard encryption that keeps your information secure while browsing the Internet. If you don’t currently use a VPN, you absolutely should.
Here are a few things to consider before deciding on a specific VPN.
The VPN market is growing fast. It reached $31 billion in 2021 and is slated to grow to $90 billion within the next six years.
When choosing a VPN, you want to consider server locations, speed, security policy, whether the VPN has reliable encryption standards, device compatibility and so much more.
Choosing a VPN should not be a half-second decision. Take your time and do your research before deciding on a service.
If you’re looking to start a new business or grow a current business that sells a particular product or service, you need to have a solid online shop. A new report from Digital Commerce 360 took a deep dive into e-commerce and the features that users think are necessary.
About 76% of respondents said that a detailed description is important if they are going to make a purchase.
It was also reported that most customers want a convenient and speedy checkout procedure.
The pandemic has made finding many products difficult, and 68% of respondents said that they would like websites to mark their products as out of stock when applicable.
There are many things that you can do to make online shopping a better experience for your customers. When deciding what features to include, look at it from the consumer’s viewpoint and decide from there.
Parenting seems unrelated to business, but in my experience, it is very much related to people skills – and people skills are necessary for business.
There are four key people skills, often called “soft skills,” that I want to talk to you about:
How do you feel when you get a thank-you note?
People never forget when they get a handwritten thank-you note. A text or e-mail is nice, but they last a day.
People love to feel gratitude.
They love to share it and to receive it.
Thank-you notes remove barriers, so make it a habit.
Listen longer and listen better.
When you’re speaking with someone, encourage long pauses. Let the silence do the heavy lifting.
You don’t have to rush into an answer or response before thinking about what a person is saying.
This is helpful in sales and with direct reports.
Allow yourself to stay quiet so the other person can do the talking.
Don’t be afraid to ask open-ended questions like “How did that go for you?”
This is all about things that save you time.
Consider using the “while” system as a way to multitask.
For example, place an under-the-desk bike to work out while you work at your desk.
Another thing to consider: timed e-mails.
Schedule an e-mail to be sent out at a specific time and add links in e-mails to schedule time on your calendar.
One more time-saving tool is speech-to-text transcription. This ensures you have a record of every conversation that you can reference as needed.
Break down your vision into small parts.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by something large, choose one smaller goal for the month.
Do this with everyone in your organization.
Break down everyone’s goals into smaller parts. This makes it easier to track over the course of a quarter or year.
Even go as far as creating a vision board. Add images of what you want to achieve. Make your vision visual.
Lastly, write down your achievements as part of your vision. Where are you now and where do you want to be over the next three years?
P.S. Don’t forget to check out the “Soft Skills, Solid Skills” Petra Coach webinar at PetraCoach.com/soft-skills-solid-results-with-bea-wray.
In light of all the Zoom and videoconferencing meetings, communication is changing both internally and externally.
Some companies think working remotely is the best thing they’ve ever done, while others say it’s awful because they thrive on personal, face-to-face relationships.
Oftentimes, dominant personalities can overrun the room in person, but on a video call, the indirectness of virtual communication can help more soft-spoken team members feel comfortable speaking up.
When companies are together in person, they grab a coffee and a meeting breaks out, but when you have that on video it’s awkward. There has to be more structure to the meetings because people don’t want to spend an excessive amount of time like they would in person. They want to make it as short and efficient as possible.
Where people could get better is in their external messages on video chats. When you speak to your team, use a different tone. Simple things like charisma, lighting, and talking to your audience – the things people master for TV and film – take a lot more effort than chatting with your team in person. Not having this skill is hurting some on the marketing side.
In planning for 2021, companies are running into big issues and plans may need to change.
It’s time for the annual reset and the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP) – the gift that gives back for the next four quarters. We set our annual key initiatives – six to eight things over the next 12 months to move the business forward – but what often gets left behind is time to reset ourselves.
We need to be mindful of what we’re doing with our people to keep them on track on a personal-growth level. We’re all a little out of our rhythm right now, but so goes the person, so goes the business. We need to develop the whole person to get the best results in the new year.
Answer the question: what do you want? Don’t let your logic stifle what your true goals are. Once you define it, then you can set out and figure out how to achieve it.
With upcoming changes, necessary planning and so much more, how can organizations combat the fatigue?
We must make time to take a break and step away for a moment. Set some boundaries.
It’s easy for us right now to just keep working – especially working from home. You have to make yourself “go home.” Do simple things, like changing your clothes after work, to turn the “work” switch off. Make yourself “commute” home. At 5 p.m., go to the store and drive back home. Give your body and mind the shift change. Honor a schedule because it is easy not to.
Chip Gallent’s career has taken him through a number of C-level roles with a nonprofit, a technology development company, a publicly traded dot-com firm where he served as president, and more! With an extensive background in marketing, and as a fervent entrepreneur, he’s led many businesses to success. Now, as a Petra Coach, he’s helping others do the same.Some of the biggest challenges with companies today are “RECURRING PROBLEMS.” I’m talking about situations, hassles, and mistakes that happen over and over again and never get resolved.
These occurrences are worse when they happen to customers because if they happen too often, customers will quit doing business with you. Consider what RECURRING PROBLEMS do to employees – frustration sets in, morale plummets, and so do productivity and profits.
I heard it once stated that recurring problems eat up more than 40% of the average productivity of a company. That may seem a bit high to you, but consider the fact that rarely is a problem just one person’s problem. The employee who discovers the problem will most likely get others involved in dealing with it. What they were originally doing will come to a halt, causing that productivity to be lost while a remedy is figured out.
To make this an even bigger problem, according to estimates based on a recent University of California Irvine study, refocusing your efforts after just one interruption can take up to 23 minutes. So, every time you come up with a quick fix, you are adding an additional 23 minutes of lost productivity with every occurrence.
Time, which is money, is a precious commodity that we can’t afford to waste. It is imperative to gather data on problems that are RECURRING and hassling employees and customers so you can address them. You want a process to be hassle-free, so get your employees involved in identifying recurring problems. Your employees are closest to the problem and can give you valuable insight into what is really going on. In turn, this will reduce costs, increase profits, and improve efficiency across the board.
The Ritz Carlton Hotels requires employees to log all incidences of customer or employee problems or concerns and turn them in daily. This information helps them make improvements that will save them time and money, improve working conditions and morale, and increase customer satisfaction. A problem identified is a blessing because you can’t fix what you don’t know to be wrong. No company wants frustrated employees or customers, and a 40% loss in productivity is a scary statistic that needs to be addressed.
But understand this: do not start this process if you have no intention of following through on correcting the recurring problems. Be responsive to the issue identified and fix it. Eliminate RECURRING PROBLEMS and watch your morale go up, efficiencies improve, complaints go down, and profits soar.
One of the biggest challenges leaders face in their personal and professional development is identifying blind spots, the unseen obstacles that hold them back from achieving their full potential.
Unfortunately, many leaders don’t take the time to find out if they have blind spots. Research by Zenger Folkman found that 30% of leaders had at least one major flaw that they did not know about.
Finding and fixing blind spots isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of effort, courage, and discipline to identify them and course-correct. But going through the process will help you and your business to keep moving forward.
Here are four tips to guide you.
Conduct a self-assessment and categorize your known strengths and weaknesses. Block out time on your calendar and don’t allow interruptions. Force yourself to answer tough questions about your abilities and limitations.
Then write down the answers so you have a better understanding of where you are succeeding, where you are falling short, and what steps you need to take to improve.
The inventory you create during the self-assessment will be incredibly helpful when you compare it to information collected from other sources.
Standardized personality tests are another tool to help uncover blind spots.
Wiley’s DiSC and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator are two popular tests that provide insight into your leadership style. Most of these assessments are based on the “Big 5” personality traits: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness.
When compared to your own self-assessment, the tests can shed more light on your tendencies and preferences in communication, decision-making, and problem-solving.
This is where the process gets tough, but it’s also the most important step to take.
Ask several members of your team and peers to list your strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots.
Ask them to recommend ways that you can improve.
If you are unsure that team members and peers will share their true feelings for fear of looking critical, then use online tools like Google Sheets or Survey Monkey to obtain anonymous feedback.
The most effective personal and professional development initiatives have a written plan that includes the information collected in the previous steps and identifies tasks to be completed and milestones to be achieved.
It’s your blueprint for success and will keep you on track to achieve your goals.
Make sure every goal is SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timebound) and that tasks and milestones are reviewed on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis so you can quantify your progress.
Piscataway, NJ, July the 22nd -- In response to the growing demands of businesses looking for a simple and effective IT solution, QWERTY Concepts is excited to announce the launch of their Comprehensive Plan of information technology (IT) consulting, management, design, implementation and maintenance services.
This all-encompassing program includes everything a small, medium, or large business needs to effectively manage all of their systems. Companies no longer need to worry about what to do if their network crashes, their hardware fails, or they face a security issue. Instead, owners and managers can now focus on what is most important: growing their business.
With everything a company needs to manage their systems effectively for one affordable price, businesses also don’t need to build their own in-house IT team, saving valuable time and resources.
Perhaps the most innovative part of the plan is their Hardware Assurance Program, which supplies companies with workstations and servers they need for their operation. This means businesses don’t even need to worry about buying hardware, making this arguably the most comprehensive IT offering currently available.
“Our mission is to provide worry-free technology services to businesses by building partnerships, implementing value-added services, and handling as much of their IT infrastructure as they want to trust us with,” says Stanley Kaytovich, director of operations. “In our pilot program with few selected clients we have received extremely positive feedback when we arrived with a completely functional and workstation the next business day”
“If you own or manage a modern-day business, you’re likely spending a good amount of resources on IT. By partnering with QWERTY Concepts, you’ll receive a complete managed stack of value-added services that adapt to your changing needs while balancing the budget and injecting the surplus back into the department and/or business.”
Our mission is to provide worry-free technology services to businesses by building partnerships, implementing value-added services, and handling as much of their IT infrastructure as they want to trust us with - Stanley Kaytovich
The Comprehensive Plan is available now for companies of most industries and sizes. Interested parties can schedule a free assessment to determine if the plan is a good fit for their business.
Want to know more about the new managed technology plans? You can see our full stack of value-added services here
Either they aren’t clear on what they’re trying to do, or they know what they need to do but aren’t doing the right things to achieve their objectives. Both waste money and resources and leave organizations stuck in the status quo.
This affects leaders regardless of the size or type of organization, and that’s why I wrote The Intention Imperative: 3 Essential Changes That Will Make You A Successful Leader Today.
What all great leaders have in common is intentionality— being crystal clear on what you’re trying to achieve and taking the right actions every day to achieve it.
Why do many business leaders lack clarity?
What are the symptoms and signs of a leader who lacks clarity?
In my book, I explain intentionality and then share what I believe are imperative changes leaders need to take today to succeed: the shift from structure to culture, from motivation to inspiration and from experience to emotion.
IMPERATIVE 1 – CULTURE
“Culture is what we think and believe, which then determines what we do and what we accomplish.”
In The Intention Imperative, I teach the five levers you have for creating and maintaining the culture you desire. Creating it is the job of a leader.
IMPERATIVE 2 – INSPIRATION
“Inspiration doesn’t have to be mysterious or complicated to create.”
What is inspiration? It is motivation to the power of purpose. It is linking meaning to motives. Inspiration doesn’t come from outside force or artificial causes. It develops from the work itself and how the leader is able to
demonstrate importance and impact.
IMPERATIVE 3 – EMOTION
“Emotions are everywhere and they are the single biggest factor in how we make decisions.”
A negative emotional experience can be offset with a positive one. The customer experience is important, but how the customer feels about that experience is critical. Few companies design and deliver for positive emotion.
Now, try these three things:
Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE, is the president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an “idea studio” that seeks to motivate and develop leaders in and outside of business. He’s the best-selling author of books like Fred Factor and The Potential Principle and a noted expert on leadership, team building, customer service and company change. He holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. Check out any of his excellent books, his video series “Team Building: How To Motivate
And Manage People” or his website, MarkSanborn.com, to learn more.
Every industry is full of businesses trying to persuade and attract the same group of customers to shop with them, so you can’t just do the same thing as your competitors and expect your business to survive.
If you’re looking to start a new business or if your current business needs a refresh, there are things you can do to give your business a leg up on the competition.
You don’t necessarily need to revolutionize your industry to see success. You just need to stand out more than your competitors. Think for a moment, what do your customers actually want and need in your industry? How can you provide more or something different than your competitors?
When you find the answers to these questions, you’ll be well on your way to creating a profitable business.
When you own or operate a business, you want your customers to shop with you for life. That means you need to come up with some ideas to encourage loyalty.
Sure, you could start a loyalty program, but how can you be sure your rewards are better than your competitors? Instead, make each customer interaction about the customer. Personalize their experience so they feel valued at your business.
We live in a world full of distractions. Every one of us has a smart phone capable of keeping in contact with anyone at any time, searching the Internet for endless information and scrolling through social media for hours on end.
These distractions can quickly take away from our productivity, but it’s not always easy to put our phones down. Here are two ways to reclaim your focus so you can get back to work.
Find out what’s most commonly distracting you and find a way to block it out. If you’re distracted by your phone, turn on Do Not Disturb mode or turn your phone off.
If you struggle with talking to co-workers, close your office door. Log out of your social media accounts so they’re not as easy to access.
It’s essential to take breaks during your work to stay focused and refreshed. This is when you should be looking at the things distracting you.
Make sure you have breaks throughout the day and set a reminder so you take them. If you actually take breaks, you’ll be less likely to reach for your distractions while working.
