Four Tips For Building Customer Relationships

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Four Tips For Building Customer Relationships

One of the biggest reasons why many businesses fail is that they fail to build long lasting relationships with their customers. It is not enough to just sell to a customer; it is imperative that you make him come back to you again and again, and perhaps even recommend friends and family members. The cornerstone of developing a strong relationship with a customer is good customer service and networking. Here are a few tips to implement them in your business:

1. Take your business online, if you haven’t already done so. In this day and age, if you aren’t online, you are missing out on a huge chunk of customers. But it is not enough to just have a boring, static site. You must show people the personal side of your business (remember the old maxim: people buy from other people, not companies). A blog about your business, or the people behind it can be a great way to reach out and communicate with prospective clients.

2. In the same vein, get a profile on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Make sure that you’re listed on Yelp, CitySearch and Google Maps. These are the new avenues of discovery and communication. Keep your Twitter and Facebook accounts updated with the latest happenings in your business. This is another way of letting people know that you are a real company with real people behind it, not some brainless borg.

3. Respond to customer queries as quickly as possible. I have a rule of the thumb with email: if I can respond to it within 2 minutes, I will reply back immediately. Never keep email hanging around for later, and never hold support queries longer than they should. Your customers will appreciate the fast service and this single factor alone can make the difference between a regular and a one-time customer.

4. Invest in people who are good at dealing with people, especially your sales staff. Too many times I’ve come across a store that had rude or indifferent staff. I’ve made it a point to never go back there again. One of my favorite stores not only sells amazing stuff (its a bakery), but also has some great people behind the counter that greet me enthusiastically, never fail to give me exactly what I want, and are always good for a friendly word. If you can find people like this, hang on to them, no matter what.

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Top Ten Tips for Managing Expenses

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Top Ten Tips for Managing Expenses

As part of the Travel & Expense Management Series on SSON experts reveal handy hints for smooth and successful expense management.

You can tell a lot about an organization by how it manages its expenses (just look at Britain‘s Parliament…). A well-oiled, well managed expense system suggests a well-oiled, well-managed corporate machine; conversely, companies with reputations for an almost laissez-faire attitude towards expenses (and, let’s face it, there were quite a few of those in the lead-up to the financial crisis…) might well have a few questions to answer if the shareholders start feeling dissatisfied with the quarterly numbers – but at the same time might well succeed in schmoozing key clients out of their competitors’ grasps.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to expense management; however, there are some guidelines which can be applied to pretty much any organization which should point towards process perfection and robust employee relations. With this in mind, we’ve put together our Top Ten Tips for Managing Expenses: if you’re not doing at least some of these right, you really should be asking why not…

1. Communication is the key 

Your staff can’t comply with expense policies if they don’t know what they are… Anyone with access to company coffers needs to know exactly what’s permissible and what isn’t, and what are the protocols for incurring and claiming expenses. This is absolutely imperative to avoid the rock of excessive claims and the hard place of discontent among your talent.

“Clearly communicate your organization’s policies,” advises Gareth Vincent, Senior Director, Client Development, EMEA at Concur. “Don’t fall into the same trap that Westminster did. Expense management often suffers when policies and processes are badly explained by an employer. Assumption is your worst enemy. Make it easy for your staff to play by the rules by giving them as much information about what will and won’t be reimbursed before you even start. 99% of all employees want to comply, so make it easy for them!”

2. Demand specifics 

Expense claims need to be as accurate and as complete as is humanly possible, not only for compliance purposes (do you really want a five-figure expense claim that doesn’t comply with accounting norms?) but because without full disclosure you’ll be unable to ascertain whether or not the claim in question is totally appropriate. A dinner check covering entertainment expenses might seem like a reasonable claim but do you know who was at the dinner, and how entertaining those people is going to benefit the organization?

“A receipt can look dodgy because it is vague, and a dodgy receipt is often deliberately vague,” says Vincent. “Ensure employees clearly state the business purpose for any kind of expense. Push back if this does not happen. It helps you, and it helps them. If they can’t do it, then what was the purpose of incurring the expense in the first place?”

3. Regular and full audits save precious dollars: fact.

Audit regularly (much simpler when your organization operates end-to-end expense management software, but just as crucial if it doesn’t) to ensure that everything that might constitute employee expenses is registered as such, and that your records are as up-to-date as possible despite changes within the business. For example, if a company mobile phone is allocated to an employee and that employee leaves the company, are you going to be aware that the phone in question needs to be recalled and certain that your liabilities stop the moment the employee stops working for you? Too many companies allow small but cumulatively costly oversights such as this to continue for too long between audits – and recovering small sums like this can often be individually at least as expensive as letting the matter slide, resulting in costs which should have been averted through prompt and proper regular scrutiny.

“You don’t need to audit every day, but find a period of frequency appropriate to your business needs which doesn’t create excessive demands for your staff while creating a sense of confidence that you can track down any single expense stream you’ve initiated,” says accounting professional John Coffey. “Pay particular attention to variable repeat expenses such as company cards and phones; these may have been allocated years ago by managers who have since moved on, and without a thorough audit there might be no way of noticing where – or why – these drains on cash flow are afflicting your enterprise.”

4. Think culture, think control

How a company deals with its expenses contributes profoundly to corporate culture. Once “expense creep” begins to take hold, and lax oversight allows employees to start considering company expenses as perks of the job rather than tools of the trade, it’s hard to remedy the situation without unsettling the workforce – and of course the more things slip the greater that destabilization might be. Conversely, excessively miserly or unequal expenses policies can create a mindset of under appreciation which is hardly suitable for a forward-thinking and confident organization. Be aware that the impact of expenses goes far beyond the mere financial. If you’re looking to foster a climate of mutual respect and a focus on the business rather than what your employees can gain from it, a sensible and well-managed expenses strategy is an excellent place to start.

5. Design and implement a sensible appeal system

Have a coherent well-defined appeal process for those (hopefully rare) occasions when an employee isn’t happy with the company’s decision to reject or limit expenses. It’s all very well having communicated policy correctly (see point 1 above) but if one of your team is unhappy with the decision that’s been made despite that clarity of communication, you need to have a system in place to minimize that employee’s discontent while at the same time keeping corporate policy intact. If a disgruntled employee comes to you with a grievance that he or she believes to be genuine, it’s up to you to prove them wrong as sensitively and transparently as possible – and that means keeping to well-defined guidelines set long in advance of any potential query.

“In a previous role working for a very large media company,” remembers one SSON member who asked not to be named, “two colleagues and I went to a launch event in Argentina and, as usual, covered our own expenses in the expectation of being reimbursed on our return. We then found that the daily expense allowance for South America was much lower than what we had become used to in the US and therefore we’d overspent in total by a couple thousand dollars. I questioned this but was told that ‘that’s the way it is’ and that we would not be receiving full reimbursement. The lack of appeal process meant I had to go over my superior’s head and press hard to get the money I was rightfully owed, which led to considerable tension and a permanent chill in the relationship between my superior and myself.”

6. Reimburse quickly

Especially at times of restricted cash flow, many companies feel obliged to push back payments to suppliers as far as possible to free up those extra nickels and dimes. That can create tensions between company and supplier – and when the same tactic is applied to the company’s own employees those tensions can strike right at the heart of good employee relations. Failure to reimburse your employees quickly and accurately can have a devastating impact on morale and productivity: don’t give in to the temptation to back things up for negligible short-term benefit.

“Money is an issue that employees always feel passionately about,” advises Vincent. “Don’t let expense claims hang around. Ensure there is an adequate process in place to speedily review a claim, approve it, and return the money as diligently as possible. If an employee has put their own cash on the table for the good of the business, show them your gratitude by getting it back in their pocket quickly. Don’t let them resent you for hanging around.”

7. Keep up-to-date with industry norms

Understanding industry norms is rarely anything but helpful and the travel and expenses arena is no different. You might be sitting, head in hands, staring at what you think to be utterly outrageous figures from your expenses team, unaware that your nearest competitors are struggling with costs several times your own. Alternatively you might consider your company’s expenses to be more that satisfactory, ignorant of the fact that you’ve been spending waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than your rivals. Expense intelligence is often zealously guarded by businesses but if you can get your hands (legally of course!) on information on your competitors, perhaps through formal benchmarking, it might set your mind at rest – or chill you with the realization that you’re outspending industry norms by a couple of orders of magnitude…

8. Use your line managers intelligently

Giving your line managers, or whoever you’ve appointed as expense arbiters, the power to approve or deny expense claims is one thing; but a truly effective expense management process will confer another responsibility on these individuals, and that’s the requirement to drive efficiencies where possible. Regular meetings purely on the topic of expense management – investigating trends, sharing ideas (and sources of cheaper services) and highlighting problem areas – might not sound like everyone’s idea of fun, but could help save a great many pennies in the long run. And you can ease the extra burden by incentivizing your managers to a degree; for example, by offering a quarterly bonus for the manager who most reduces existing expenses (but be careful not to allow this to impact upon the work that’s being carried out: some expenses are indispensable, and allowing managers to cut them to the detriment of the business is simply too foolish to contemplate).

“Your line managers are your ultimate expense resource,” explains John Coffey, “so use them effectively. Make clear that you expect them to communicate regularly about what they’re doing to keep expenses down. One department might have very similar expense issues to another but be addressing them in an entirely different manner. Your line managers must be a forum for the kind of discussions and innovations that can help streamline and optimize your whole expenses management process.”

9. Use your reports intelligently

Your reports can be a useful tool when you’re looking to reduce expenses while keeping up the good work which they’re supporting. Analyzing what’s being spent, where and when will benefit you in many areas if you use that information optimally. Too many companies see reports as nothing more than part of the accounting process when, in fact, they can provide you with vital information to help you along the pathway to efficiency perfection. Finding cheaper alternatives to suggested expenses might seem like plain common sense but too often in a hectic professional environment the temptation to take the simplest route is overwhelming. Cumulatively, however, the savings you can generate with a bit of diligent research can be extremely impressive. Do your employees really need to take taxis between HQ and a regular client when good public transport links exist along the same route? Is one airline the best option just because it’s the one that does the most advertising and therefore it’s the most straightforward pick for your time-short travelers? Micromanaging every single expense isn’t cost-effective – but you’d be surprised how many large repeat expenses can be reduced through sniffing around for cheaper options.

“Use your expense reports to do more than just book-keep,” recommends Concur’s Vincent. “Look back through them and try to spot trends. Has your company been using a certain hotel regularly? If so, why not call them up and negotiate yourself a better rate? How many times have you used the local sandwich shop to cater for meetings? Can you get yourself a well-earned discount? At worst, they say no. At best, you save some money for bonuses or the Christmas party.”

10. Savings are on the cards (and if they‘re not, they could be) 

The introduction of corporate cards was a revolutionary development in expense management and it’s easy to see why. For one thing, it instantly removes any of the residual anxiety associated with spending a lot of one’s personal money for business purposes (especially problematic if corporate policies haven’t been made crystal-clear as per point 1 above); for another, it makes reporting and analysis immeasurably easier if all (or the vast majority) of expenses are being run through one set of accounts with homogenous protocols and forms. Think efficiency gains, increased morale and a general sense of corporate well-being.

“Consider implementing a corporate card program. It’s easy to do, and as long as your employees file their claims promptly, they won’t need to stump up any of their own cash. You don’t need to give one to everybody, even a shared card can benefit all employees in an office, and ward off any conflict around using personal cash before it even arises,” believes Vincent.

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This article was first published on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) – Read it here: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=7314&ekfrm=6&utm_source=ssonetwork.com&utm_medium=SMO&utm_campaign=DIRECTORIES&mac=SSON_External_Listing_2044

About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)

SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 25,000 members.

SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.

SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. SSON staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.

More information visit the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) website. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today

Top Ten Tips for Recruiting During the Recovery

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Top Ten Tips for Recruiting During the Recovery

The recovery is underway (we hope); and with the improving economic landscape come new job opportunities and new possibilities for those looking to take on new staff to cope with the demands of increased activity and a generally more favourable outlook. In order to give a helping hand to organizations wondering how best to tackle the new and improved employment market, SSON has reached out to experts from around the world for their advice. The result? An early (and hopefully extremely useful) Christmas present in the form of our Top Ten Tips for Recruiting During the Recovery. Take it away, folks…

1. Don’t take the easy route just because it’s easy

The downturn may have been very hard work, but the recovery shouldn’t mean kicking back and living the easy life – especially if you want top-quality talent. Even for those with the most laudable work ethics there might be a temptation to look for recruiting shortcuts to make space for the welter of other work that comes with improved markets. However, cutting corners in recruitment could leave you with employees who simply don’t cut the mustard in the long run.

“There is no getting away from the effort required to recruit the best people from a pool of job seekers. If favourable conditions happily mean that some good CV’s land on your desk unannounced, don’t settle for them just because they are easy. Put in the marketing efforts to bring in a large number of candidates. Do the necessary hours of interviewing and filtering. Taking a shortcut invariably means taking a gamble and will leave a nagging doubt that you may not have hired the best candidate out there,” says Seb Donovan of Top Employers Publishing, a publisher of job market analysis and resources.

2. Don’t rely on job-boards to do your work for you

Online job boards can be a fantastic resource for recruiters – but if you rely on them you’re probably going to be scouring them for yourself before too long. The recovery will see increased hiring activity the world over, and nothing’s going to stand you in better stead than solid, coherent and active networking. Simply putting vacancies up in cyberspace will work well for the very lucky few but will spell disaster for the rest. Use the boards, of course – but don’t JUST use the boards.

“While there may be a strong temptation to take a ‘post-and-pray’ approach to recruiting, I would strongly advise against it,” says Greg Bennett, global practice director for The Mergis Group. “The road to recruiter success is littered with the bodies of recruiters who waited for something to happen. Posting jobs on the various boards and then waiting for a miracle – the right candidate – to happen is a recipe for failure. If posting is done at all, it’s to add to the pipeline that comes from PROactive recruiting not REactive recruiting.”

3. Get a move on!

We might be coming to the end of the year (and, for many, the festive season – not renowned as a time of intense recruiting activity) – but resist all temptations to put off your recruiting drive until 2010’s well underway. If you succumb to such lures you might be giving precious ground to your enemies in the war for talent. Come on: what are you waiting for?

“Organizations planning to recruit in 2010 need to set the wheels in motion now. The market is recovering and 2010 means new budgets and projects for the vast majority of organizations. Now is the time to plan your resource, engage with suppliers and position your brand in the marketplace. January is a busy time for job seekers and your competitors will be making plans to increase headcount and resource projects. Don’t miss out on the good candidates: position yourself now so you can move efficiently and quickly to secure the best talent available,” urges Ben Wilson of Rethink Recruitment.

4. Be crystal-clear on your needs

It might sound obvious, but before starting your recruitment process, ensure you’re absolutely certain about what you want from your future employee/s, and where you’re prepared to negotiate. Tales abound within the recruitment community of firms who decide to expand headcount without actually getting round to firming up what, exactly, they’re looking for. Be clear on your needs; understanding what you’re looking for will mean understanding how to look for it – and find it.

“One unfortunate consequence of a recession is large unemployment numbers.  When the economy starts to recover, this can be both good and bad for a recruiter.  The good news is there are many qualified, highly skilled candidates who are looking for work due to restructuring, downsizing and closures.  However, there are also many candidates just looking for a paycheque who may not be overly selective in their search.  It is crucial you not only spend time ensuring that candidates are the right fit for your role, but also that your role is the right fit for the candidates.  Passive candidates could be more challenging to ‘woo away’ from their stable job – now is the time to brush up on your selling and negotiation skills.  Establish the ‘must haves’ before starting to search the large number of resumes you will screen and determine the best places to search and post your role-job boards, associations, networking etc.   With a little preparation before jumping into your search, you will be on your way to finding your perfect new employee!” advises Shelly Horgan, recruitment partner at the Kirwan Group.

5. Don’t get blown off course by bad news

The recovery may be underway  in much of the world but it’s almost certainly not going to mean plain sailing (look how some bad news coming out of Dubai threatened to knock global markets back down into the doldrums). Your recruitment efforts need to proceed according to your plans and your timetable rather than being directed by the gloomier prognostications of the press. There’s a reason you develop strategies for this kind of thing; there’s also a reason why you don’t hand over the responsibility for drafting those strategies to the tabloids…

“It can be very easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of attention surrounding recruitment market conditions. Many media stories report on changes to employment numbers, the current recruitment climate and focus on stories which resonate with current headlines. Instead of getting caught up with these distractions, ensure that you focus on diligently following best practice regardless of what happens to be currently in the news. It may sound boring, but recruiting in an upturn should be little
different from recruiting in a downturn. If you have a strategy that worked before, don’t change it just because market conditions are different this time around,” says Seb Donovan of Top Employers Publishing.

6. Manage technology – don’t let technology manage you

As in all aspects of business, technology can work great wonders in recruitment – but it can also make work infinitely more complex (and occasionally impossible) for those who either can’t use it properly or don’t have the bandwidth to use it optimally. Avoid becoming a slave to your systems; you want to retain your ability to think clearly and act correctly without being ground down in the cogs.

“When all said and done, the number of tools available – and more importantly recruiters’ ability to effectively understand and mange all of them – makes anyone’s job difficult.  Consider investing in a CRM tool or partner with a company or outsourced provider who uses one.  This can really have an impact on visibility within the online marketplace, effective management and candidate communication, compliance and search,” advises Zachary Misko, Global Director, KellyOCG – RPO.

7. Some candidates may not want permanent contracts (so can you adjust?)

The responsibilities and expectations of both employer and employee were shifting long before the onset of the financial crisis. In many cultures the idea of a ‘job for life’ has long disappeared (while in many others it was never there in the first place). Employees have adjusted to this new paradigm just as have those employing them; nowadays the best talent might be more than happy working on a part-time or freelance basis, and companies looking for the best talent – and who isn’t? – have to realize that they may need to make significant adjustments in terms of their hiring practices to cater for this new mindset.

“The job losses we’ve witnessed and consequent erosion of a sense of ‘job-security’ mean that highly-skilled technology experts increasingly seek to be paid on a contract daily or hourly-rate basis; this promotes the chance to be paid more favourably relative to an employee whilst giving the freedom to work between various organisations on a project-basis without falling victim to a redundancy situation. Organizations may prefer to hire permanent staff in the recovery but they should not be surprised if the most suitable candidates (skills-wise) prefer to remain contracting,” warns Robert Richards of Devonshire Communications.

8. Recruit the best not the cheapest

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned false economy to really put the skids on your hitherto exhilarating recovery. OK, so budgets post-recession might still be pretty tight – but you’re hiring because you want to take on people who’ll propel your organization up to the dizziest heights, not because you fancy cutting down on your payroll team’s downtime (and what are they doing with downtime anyway?). Picking the cheapest option could look good for about a week; it’ll look pretty bad once you’re back hiring a few months down the line and picking up the incompetence-induced pieces at the same time.

“More than ever it is vital to secure the best people for any positions that become available,” says Rob Grant of Dragonfly Recruitment.  “Whilst there is the temptation to go for the cheapest candidate or the cheapest agency it would be foolish not to explore the other so-called ‘more expensive’ options.  There is no commitment until the candidate starts and the right person will, in all likelihood, cover those additional costs in no time at all.”

9. Use your database of old contacts – even if they’re happily employed

A recruiter’s database is his or her personal goldmine – and don’t think it won’t come in handy even if every last person on the list is already in a role (which they won’t be). Making calls to previous contacts could yield plenty in terms of referrals or advice on particular sectors. Obviously you’ll need to grow your list at the same time – but a lot of that growth could well come from reaching out to people you’ve known, and worked with or for, in the past.

“If you’ve been recruiting for over a week you must, surely, have a database so use it. After 15+ years of recruiting I’ve got a pretty substantial database and it almost always yields a few good leads and occasionally even a dead-on match potential for the job I’m working. Reaching out to old contacts is smart because it forces you to keep your contacts fresh and aware of your efforts on their behalf. If they’re happily ensconced somewhere or not really a solid match for this role, update your info on them and do a WDYK – who do you know? Simply ask them for a referral or recommendation. Sometimes candidates – especially if they come from a job board (another reason I don’t rely on them) will ask for a bonus or finders fee for referring someone. I have one response to that. I simply tell them that my referral bonus is exactly equal to what they’d like THEIR friends to charge to give out their name for a possible job. Usually they realize that their greed is likely to get them nowhere and they offer up a name or two. If they don’t, move on and realize you’ve got a candidate whose only concern is themselves and that’s good to know… probably NOT an ‘A’ candidate, IMHO,” says Greg Bennett of The Mergis Group.

10. Remember: the competition is recruiting too…

You’re hiring – but you’re not the only one. Remember that in this newly revitalized job market you don’t just have to think about taking on new staff: you need to be sure your existing staff aren’t going to head out the door, tempted by a better offer. Otherwise you might end up having to recruit extra staff to replace those you weren’t expecting to lose in the first place – not the best way to enter what’s supposed to be a better time for all…

“The market is recovering and budgets and headcount are finalized. With the market dynamics now shifting and opportunities becoming more prevalent, it is key to ensure your staff are happy and content in their role. Naturally, your competitors will be sourcing new headcount and salaries are stabilizing. Ensure your key staff are happy: don’t lose them to a competitor who is adapting to the market conditions,” warns Ben Wilson of Rethink Recruitment.

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This article was first published on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) – Read it here: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=6622&ekfrm=6&utm_source=ssonetwork.com&utm_medium=SMO&utm_campaign=DIRECTORIES&mac=SSON_External_Listing_2059

About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)

SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 25,000 members.

SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.

SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. SSON staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.

More information visit the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) website. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today

Top Ten Tips for Implementing Six Sigma

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Top Ten Tips for Implementing Six Sigma

As companies continue to cast their nets for ways to improve efficiencies across the board, the appeal of process improvement methodologies – and in particular that arcane-sounding discipline Six Sigma – continues to grow. Developed at Motorola, and since implemented to a greater or lesser extent by a majority of Global 2000 firms, Six Sigma seeks to identify and excise the causes of defects within processes – as such, it’s easy to see why an increasing proportion of process-facing business areas such as shared services are turning to Six Sigma in the hope of further refining their processes and keeping errors and queries to a minimum.

For those contemplating implementing Six Sigma in whatever form, SSON reached out to the experts for their advice on what makes the difference between success and failure, Six Sigma-style. The result? SSON’s Top Ten Tips for Implementing Six Sigma. Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin…

1. Engage senior leadership

As with so much in this life, a successful adoption of Six Sigma simply isn’t going to happen without getting the requisite buy-in from the top. A clear mandate from above will be an indispensable aid in pushing through what for many people might seem a particularly exotic – even downright incomprehensible – methodological transformation. Getting this mandate, however, might involve overcoming similar befuddlement at a senior level, so be prepared to present your proposals with a minimum of Six Sigma-specific jargon and paying particular attention to the bottom line.

“There is a big difference between executive commitment and engagement,” says Scott McAllister of Breakthrough Management Group International (BMGI). “The key here is real engagement meaning key executives play an active role participating in regular planning, implementation and review sessions.  This means making Performance Excellence an organizational priority, not just assigning budgets and delegating accountability to lower levels in the organization.  To engage senior leaders, you must speak in the language of leadership which means developing clear links to strategic objectives and measurable ROI.”

2. Go Six Sigma, go Lean (all the way)

The marriage of Six Sigma with lean manufacturing to create Lean Six Sigma involved a combination of two of the most successful improvement methodologies in business. While Lean Six Sigma is not without its detractors, its evangelists are adamant that – properly implemented – the lean manufacturing philosophy should now be an absolutely indispensable component of Six Sigma implementation.

“In a Shared Services setting, the real power of Six Sigma is released when a Lean approach is taken right at the front of the process (Lean Six Sigma: LSS),” explains Davide Laghi, founder and leader at Y6Sigma . “For Lean to be successfully introduced, Teams need to be engaged in the activity analysis and value stream mapping of their own processes.  In a traditional structured organizational situation, with all its managerial layers and typical direction and control style, which to this day still represents the norm, a Lean approach that requires team members to analyze and measure what they do on a daily basis at a granular level is the main reason behind why a vast majority of the cases get rejected, creating a big deal of resistance to change.  This ‘Big Brother Effect’ is ultimately what causes the initiative to fail and is the main reason behind why an upfront and substantial Change Leadership investment is such a fundamental critical success factor.”

3. Don’t expect training alone to fix your problem

Having a well-trained, correctly-focused team is of course an absolute must for any firm looking to operate along Six Sigma lines. But training alone isn’t a panacea and, indeed, will almost certainly lead to serious problems if it’s not accompanied by the organization paying proper attention to the other requirements of the methodology.

“Far too many organizations look at Lean Six Sigma as predominantly a training exercise without establishing the proper framework for execution,” warns BMGI’s McAllister. “At a bare minimum, companies must address project selection, competency development and project coaching to ensure the effective application of the methodology to deliver results. Too many consultants have focused on selling training without setting up a system for execution and this leads to frustrated executives and often times more frustrated change agents (Belts).  While it might be a significant part of the overall deployment plan, training should be a means to an end and the focus should be on solving business problems that matter to the executives.” 

4. Develop a suitable infrastructure

Six Sigma – like pretty much every other improvement methodology, understandably – is far from a cosmetic practice: indeed, it’s pretty much the opposite, going deep into the cogs and springs of a business to get the very best out of the areas of operation it touches. As a result, it needs to be supported by a suitable organizational infrastructure catering for the specific requirements of the new methodology. Think of what’s required as a somewhat holistic approach reaching throughout your business – it might sound like a big task, but in order to make the most of Six Sigma you need to go well beyond the implementation team.

“Develop an infrastructure to accelerate and sustain results,” urges McAllister. “If you expect to deliver sustainable results from the implementation of Six Sigma or Performance Excellence, you must create a system or basic infrastructure that enables your success. This involves developing policies, procedures and guidelines in key areas of Finance, Human Resources, Communications, Project Management, etc.  Examples include establishing financial validation policies to ensure that operational improvements can be translated into financial terms in a consistent way. Without this, you are likely to create a lot of PowerPoint benefits that do not track to the bottom line. In Human Resources, this involves addressing selection of change agents, competency models, reporting and compensation policies, retention strategies, re-integration guidelines, etc. For communication, it involves establishing a strategy with tactical plans that time messaging with real results. In project management, this involves defining project deliverables, tollgate review structures, reporting requirements, tracking mechanisms as well as standardizing tools and templates. The reality is that you will need to address each of these issues in the first year anyway so it’s recommended to do it early in the deployment process, understanding it can be run in parallel with the other deployment activities.”

5. Don’t forget the change leadership

As already noted, fully comprehending what Six Sigma entails can prove a rather formidable prospect for many. Such a radical departure from traditional operating practices will almost certainly be accompanied by numerous traumas all along the chain of command if the correct message isn’t communicated consistently and thoroughly. Always remember that this is a significant change project and, as such, needs to be reinforced by the requisite high degree of change leadership.

“Six Sigma is a process improvement technique that tends to struggle in delivering sustainable results, particularly in a non-manufacturing setting such as Shared Services, for lack of consideration towards the human dimension of change and with little or no concern for upfront change leadership interventions,” warns Y6Sigma’s Laghi.

McAllister adds: “Don’t underserve change leadership principles: share a compelling vision; establish a shared sense of urgency; create a strong guiding coalition; communicate consistent messages; recognize, reward and celebrate success.”

6. Get your measurement systems right 

Metrics are of course the very life-stuff of Six Sigma – how can you improve if you don’t know what to improve or by how much? – so it’s crucial to develop accurate, consistent and sustainable measurement systems. Once in place, these can be leveraged in a number of ways – including in the development of service-level agreements, either entirely new (if Six Sigma is being introduced right at the beginning of a shared services or outsourcing journey) or renegotiated.

“Lean measurements do not need to be onerous manual exercises, which once completed are hardly ever repeated and therefore fail again to make the improvement initiative a sustainable effort,” says Laghi. “Easy-to-use desktop Lean applications are nowadays available on the market to make activity analysis a practical and sustainable exercise. Measuring rework and areas of non-value-add is not the end of the game however, as the root-causes behind these waste silos still need to be understood in order to identify the real continuous improvement opportunities. This is where the Six Sigma integration of Performance Measurement systems with ERP transactional platforms come into play, where identifying and measuring defect transactional types are the key to success (80/20 rule). The developed Lean Six Sigma Performance Measurement Systems should become the backbone of the shared services SLAs or SPAs (Six Sigma-based Service Partnership Agreements) if a true collaborative culture with the shared services customers and stakeholders is successfully introduced upfront by the adequate change leadership intervention.”

7. Leverage the technology

It should be no surprise to learn that Six Sigma is another area of business which is supremely enhanced by (if not utterly dependent on) the judicious application of IT. The full potential of Six Sigma will only be accessed by organizations which can truly leverage the appropriate technology, in order to allow the methodology to bloom at both micro and macro levels: using IT to shine the Six Sigma spotlight into the smallest and murkiest of nooks and crannies will eventually, through the correction (or even avoidance) of defects, have a substantial and delightful impact upon the company’s bottom line.

“Six Sigma solutions do not normally represent sustainable improvements if they are not leveraged by information technology (in shared services this would generally happen by leveraging ERP systems),” cautions Laghi. “A true Six Sigma solution is an automatic preventative process control driven by a system functionality that prevents a defect from being generated. In many instances, these functionalities cannot be found within the vanilla capabilities of the ERP products generally in use. But no worries: the time of the ERP bespokes has come to an end as today we have the technology available to evolve the standard functionality of our systems without customizing.”

8. Understand the wider environment

Six Sigma can do great things – but that doesn’t mean it’s automatically and always the right time to put it in place, either on a small or large scale. Just as discretion is the better part of valour, so timing is the better part of transformation: you don’t want to take steps which will through your organization – even a small part of it – off balance at a critical time. Yes, Six Sigma can prove an important tool in cutting costs and improving efficiencies – but it might be that – for whatever reason – now simply isn’t the time…

“No matter how small the project you’re proposing, you must never fail to consider broad-scale factors such as the prevailing economic climate and the challenges facing your organization generally,” advises independent F&A specialist Graeme Ludlow. “Always ask yourself: is this the right time to be making the changes you’re suggesting? And what are the ramifications of introducing those changes? It might be that the steps you’re taking – or proposing – will lead to radical transformation within the organization. That’s fine if the business environment is such that such transformation can be accommodated fairly freely – not so fine if existing operating pressures and restrictions mean that any such change might be too destabilizing at a time when all hands are already at the pumps.”

9. Establish a robust project selection process

Making a project work is, in part, a matter of choosing the right project in the first place, and it’s no different in the Six Sigma space. In order to make the most of Six Sigma it’s important to engage in a well-thought-out, consistent and intelligent project selection and prioritization process with significant attention paid to how each potential project impacts upon the business as a whole. This is especially important once initial projects have been implemented and have proven successful; the advances and savings made by a successful Six Sigma approach can very quickly prove exhilarating for those at your organization’s heady heights; it’s imperative that you can point to a smart project selection methodology to explain why your firm can’t just go off and do the same thing to every other area of the business all at once.

“The DMAIC [Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control: one of the two major project methodologies within Six Sigma] methodology has proven to work in hundreds of organizations across almost every industry imaginable when it is applied correctly. They key to successful project execution is effective project definition, prioritization and scoping.  Projects must have a clear link to the strategic objectives of the business, a business case that justifies allocating scarce resources, a manageable scope and a clear definition of success.  Many companies mistakenly view project selection as an event when it needs to be seen as a process, with an owner and a schedule for periodic review and approval.  It is also important to note that project selection is a learned skill that usually takes at least one round of application to fully understand,” says McAllister.   

10. Deliver quick wins

Everyone knows walking the walk matters more than talking the talk – and nothing’s going to make the boys and girls at the top more likely to endorse subsequent – perhaps larger scale – projects than a quick and successful turnaround on initial Six sigma ventures. Sure, bear in mind the dangers of rushing things through – it’d be a particularly bitter irony if an over-hurried process improvement methodology implementation were to lead to a decline in process quality – but if you can show quick wins initially you’ll have the ear of those who matter when it comes to getting cracking on more ambitious, lengthier and costlier projects.

“In today’s challenging economic climate, it’s imperative to deliver results in days or weeks, not months or years,” points out McAllister. “Gone are the days when you have 12-24 months to prove value to the organization.  For this reason, many companies have integrated more lean principles into a traditional Six Sigma approach and the concept of Kaizen events or rapid improvement events has become increasingly popular. The best way to generate momentum and gain support is to demonstrate an immediate impact by delivering project results fast.  Determine where the ‘low hanging fruit’ and ‘just-do-it’ opportunities are in the business and make sure to execute them early in the implementation process.  It’s also important to note that the ability to deliver quick wins is often a result of a robust project selection process.”

i: Y6Sigma is a registered trademark of Y6Sigma Solutions Ltd. For more information see www.y6sigma.com 

________________________________________________________________

This article was first published on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) – Read it here: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=5784&ekfrm=6&utm_source=ssonetwork.com&utm_medium=SMO&utm_campaign=DIRECTORIES&mac=SSON_External_Listing_2071

About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)

SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 25,000 members.

SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.

SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. SSON staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.

More information visit the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) website. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today

Top Ten Tips for a Smooth Contract Renegotiation

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Top Ten Tips for a Smooth Contract Renegotiation

No-one wants to have to go back to the table to renegotiate a contract with a supplier or provider – but then, nor does anyone want to be operating under the terms of a contract that’s not fit for purpose. Unfortunately life’s not perfect and every now and then there might be no other option but to reopen negotiations in the hope of getting a better deal for your organization. This has been particularly evident in recent times as adverse trading conditions put the squeeze on what may up to now have been very successful partnerships: deals done in the good times might well not be appropriate for your company when the climate takes a turn for the worse.

With this in mind, for all those of you who might now be heading back to the negotiating room to redraw agreements, SSON has compiled Top Ten Tips for a Smooth Contract Renegotiation, with experts from a number of the shared services and outsourcing space’s top advisory and legal firms giving their suggestions for how to get what you’re looking for with the minimum of fuss.

1. Know what’s right for your business

It might seem nonsensical, but many people enter contract renegotiations without having a perfect idea of what the business needs to happen – rather, they know what they DON’T want (and that tends to be what’s occurred during the previous incarnation of the contract under discussion). It’s crucial that, long before the actual renegotiation process begins, all your negotiating team has a crystal-clear conception of what represents the optimal outcome in terms of the requirements of the business as a whole – not just your part of it. That means spending plenty of time with various elements of the organization in the run-up to the negotiations to find out exactly what they’re looking to achieve in future, and how you can help them.

“Be very clear about your business intentions,” advises Mark Robinson, COO at EquaTerra. “Take the time to meet with your business leaders to understand their strategies for surviving these turbulent times. Synthesize their input and then translate those strategies into a set of goals and objectives you hope to achieve from your portfolio of service providers. Confirm those goals and objectives with your stakeholders. Now you have a list of carefully defined business outcomes you will be seeking through renegotiation.”

2. Have clear rules of engagement 

OK, so you want to get the very best for your business out of these negotiations – but that doesn’t mean you should resort to absolutely every tactic to keep your counterparts on the back foot. It’s negotiation, not mortal combat… It might go against the instincts of the more aggressive amongst us, but destabilizing the other party or parties could be seriously counter-productive – especially as you’re looking to work with these people again! With this in mind, make sure both sides agree to a tight framework for the negotiations – going to quite a granular level of specificity if required – before they begin, so everyone’s aware what’s supposed to happen, when.

“Before you start the re-negotiation process, set out and agree fair rules with your supplier,” urges Jill Stabler, Managing Consultant, Alsbridge. “These should cover the number of people to be involved, the timeline for concluding (or calling off) the renegotiation and a charter of behaviors and principles to be applied throughout the process. A clear and disciplined approach for the renegotiation sessions themselves is essential, as is senior-level client and supplier decision-making participation to avoid delays. Renegotiation provides an invaluable second chance to start as you mean to go on, and forge a working partnership with your supplier which will set collaboration precedents to stand you in good stead for the rest of your working relationship should your renewal go ahead. Mistrust and tactical games on the other hand will only serve to delay or derail the process.”

3. Make sure it’s worth everyone’s while

So you want to renegotiate – for whatever reason – but it takes two to tango, and if you’re looking for an improvement in terms from your perspective you must be aware that your counterpart needs some kind of carrot to go along with the stick. After all, they might be perfectly happy with the way things are now – and here you come along asking them to look at changing what to them is an excellent deal. You can be 100% certain that your opposite numbers will be scratching their heads and asking “What’s in it for us?” – so make sure you can supply the answer to that question, otherwise your attempts to wrangle more favorable terms will come crashing up against a wall of “Why bother?”…

“There needs to be an incentive for the supplier to renegotiate. If the contract is coming to an end, and the renegotiation arises out of the possibility of renewing the deal the benefit for the supplier is fairly clear. However, for a mid-term negotiation, the customer needs to create the incentive. It might be the threat of exercising the break clause, or it might be the possibility of awarding additional services. Either way, something needs to bring the supplier to the table,” cautions Duncan Pithouse, partner at DLA Piper.

4. Bring the right people to the table

You know what you want, and you know how to get it – but do you know the people to get it for you? It’s crucial that you put together an appropriate team for the renegotiations – and that means taking a long-term view of what you want life to look like after a successful renegotiation period. Again, you’re looking to work with these guys – possible for many years – so bringing a clued-up, talented but abrasive member of your team to the talks might be rather counter-productive in the long-run. You also need to ensure that the composition of your team is representative of those wider business needs discussed above, rather than just looking at the requirements of your own sphere of influence.

“Assemble the right team,” recommends EquaTerra’s Mark Robinson. “Experience shows it’s a mistake to attempt to renegotiate a contract using only the account team, service management and governance people on both sides. Although they must be involved, they are typically focused on near-term issues and actions. They lack the big-picture outlook – and executive presence – necessary to substantially renegotiate contracts. Pragmatically speaking, these teams also need to preserve an effective relationship so that they can work well together after the revised deal has been struck. Residual tensions from the negotiation can make that difficult. So make sure your service provider’s corporate staff is aware of your intention to renegotiate and is engaged in every step of the process. Also, identify and engage a corporate champion from your side to act as the focal point for your negotiating team.”

5. Aim for success, plan for failure

Obviously – unless you’re involved in some weird Machiavellian scheme of your own, in which case, er, why are you reading this anyway? – you want these talks to succeed. However, just wanting it won’t make it happen, and you – and your opposite numbers – need to make plans for what to do in case the talks fail. This contract might be worth many millions of dollars and involve thousands of people’s jobs: going into renegotiations without a coherent understanding of what you’re going to do in the unfortunate event of an inability to come to an agreement is tempting catastrophe. Spell out in microscopic detail what needs to happen, and what each side’s responsibilities are, in the event of a breakdown in talks. You’ll need to keep working together for a while, at least, and you have to make sure the integrity of your current operation isn’t endangered while you look around for a new partner.

“Every negotiator should be prepared for the Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement. Should the parties not be able to come to agreement, what happens? This should not be left to the last moment when agreement can not be reached. Also, by understanding the BATNA, both parties understand the floor and the ceiling boundaries,” explains Steve Koutros, MD at Delta Management Advisors.

6. Understand the status quo

You’re unhappy with parts of your existing contract – and you know why – but you also need to be fully aware of all the other aspects of the deal when you head off to renegotiate it. Sure, it’s common sense, but it’s critical that everyone in your team understands all the ramifications of what’s already in play as well as what they want to put into play going forwards. For one thing, you may well find yourself in the position of being asked to make concessions in order to achieve your own goals: if you and your team aren’t fully aware of the consequences of making those concessions (and these consequences could be extreme and extremely complex) you shouldn’t be given the ability to make them.

“Know what the existing contract says – it’s obviously important to have a detailed understanding of the current contract position, so the basis of what is being negotiated is understood and so that the relevant levers in the agreement can be pulled, to achieve the relevant objectives,” says DLA Piper’s Duncan Pithouse.

7. Learn from your mistakes

It’s no accident that you’re looking to renegotiate: things haven’t worked out the way your business thought and hoped they would when the initial contract was signed. Everyone might have their own suggestions as to why this has happened – especially in such extraordinarily adverse economic conditions as we’ve seen recently – but the bottom line is that you need to make it work this time around, and in order to do that you need as full as possible an understanding of why things didn’t work out and where your own responsibilities lie. The fact is that it’s all very well blaming the economy, or any other factor, for your current troubles – but the original contract should have taken into account the possibility of these factors arising. Furthermore, the original contract should have facilitated a coming together of like minds in terms of both sides working together to solve their difficulties and resolve their differences. That this hasn’t happened is something you should think about long and hard, and work towards overcoming in this next iteration of the deal.

“Outsourcing contracts get into trouble for a reason,” says Alsbridge’s Jill Stabler. “This can be for a myriad of reasons but among the most frequently cited is relationship breakdown. This in itself can have a number of causes: cultural incompatibility, mismatched expectations, commitments of process improvement and efficiency not being honored – and of course poor service. It is worth pausing a while to consider why your deal may be experiencing issues. In order to work, a contract must be above all sustainable. To create sustainability the client needs to recognize that whilst turning the thumbscrews on cost may seem attractive to the initial business case, successful outsourcing relies on building sustainable relationships with suppliers, not screwing out every last concession. In order to deliver a good quality service a deal has to be profitable for the supplier. Smart re-negotiators will seek to ensure the future outsourcing relationship will be underpinned by clear mutual benefit on both sides.”

8. Your tone matters – a lot

As mentioned, the dangers of including the more abrasive, aggressive elements of your team in the negotiations are pretty evident – but nor do you want to come over as wilting, supine adversaries whom the other side can walk all over. Finding the right tone is essential, and that means being respectful to your counterparts, even – perhaps especially – if you feel that the responsibility for requiring a renegotiation in the first place lies mostly with them. It’s also important to back up a suitably professional tone with hard data, of course: your balanced approach will be all the more successful if you can demonstrate clearly and fully why you think things need to change.

“Present a solid, factual, respectful case,” urges EquaTerra’s Mark Robinson. “Everyone knows things have changed, so your service providers are likely expecting your call. If you’ve done your homework you will have plenty of facts and figures to make your case. But remember, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. Your opening statement will not only set the tone for negotiations, it could also influence the outcome. An effective approach sounds like this: ‘We’ve done a detailed review of your services and we believe we have a clearer picture, given recent changes in market conditions, of where we need to go. We’d like to sit down and discuss things.’ Signaling a willingness to cooperate puts everyone at ease and creates an environment that encourages dialogue.”

9. Know your other options

To whom do you turn if these talks don’t work out? Do you have another potential partner waiting in the wings – or at least available for discussions? If you genuinely don’t, and are actually thoroughly bound to the original contract you’re trying to change, there’s always a danger that your opposite numbers might be aware of this – and in that case it’s pretty likely that your bluff will end up being called, to general embarrassment. It’s not about sitting at the table and hammering your counterparts with the names of all the other firms that are simply dying to pick up this contract; however, it’s imperative to understand where indeed you can go in the event of things getting bogged down inexorably (and it might not hurt to let your opposite numbers know – politely of course – that a couple of other parties are indeed willing and able to pick up the pieces – although of course you‘d rather not have to go down that route, you understand…).

“Have viable alternatives,” cautions Alsbridge’s Jill Stabler. “There is little point in trying to engage an incumbent supplier in serious renegotiation if you are unable to demonstrate that you have some realistic alternative options. Failing to do this will undermine your negotiating position, making it impossible to get the best value out of the process. One of the most effective ways to do this is to engage with the competition. This does not necessarily have to be in the form of a full-blown formal RFP procurement process, but can be done in an accelerated collaborative way. Suppliers will be more than happy to workshop a client’s needs, to gage their ability to provide the solutions required which gives a good indication of feasibility of changing supplier. Detailed financial implication analysis can follow once this initial question has been answered, and a good advisory firm should be able to help you to put some robust costing estimates together relatively early in the process.”

10. Don’t dawdle

A too-hastily negotiated contract might well be what’s brought you to this situation in the first place – but while it’s vital not to hurry matters excessively, it’s just as vital not to allow matters to get bogged down. Indeed, a sense of appropriate haste is often even more important when renegotiating a contract than when negotiating the original, as every day that goes by is another day of operations under terms which, for whatever reason, you want to change. Top lawyers and arbitrators might adore protracted, hideously expensive negotiations, but for everyone else they should be anathema – your job is to get a better deal, sure, but if the original’s expired by the time your renegotiations are concluded, the next contract you sign might be one of employment in your local fast-food outlet.

“Instill a sense of urgency,” recommends EquaTerra’s Mark Robinson. “This is not a time for bluster or bluffing. After clearly communicating your objectives and attempting to find ‘the middle way’ to achieve those objectives, let your providers know that if certain actions are not taken by certain dates you are prepared to pursue alternatives. And mean it.”

_________________________________________________________________________

This article was first published on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) – Read it here: http://www.ssonetwork.com/topic_detail.aspx?id=5668&ekfrm=6&utm_source=ssonetwork.com&utm_medium=SMO&utm_campaign=DIRECTORIES&mac=SSON_External_Listing_2073

About The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON)

SSON is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, with over 25,000 members.

SSON provides the roof under which key industry experts and organizations share their experience, knowledge and tools, and practitioner peers connect with other all over the world, both face to face and online.

SSON focuses on developing its members through providing training, tools, and networking opportunities. SSON staff works from international offices in New York, London, Singapore, Sydney, Berlin and Dubai to research current trends and developments in shared services.

More information visit the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) website. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today

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5 Tips to Local Business Online Marketing

admin    Twitter Tips     Business, Local, Marketing, Online, Tips

5 Tips to Local Business Online Marketing

Given that technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, even small local business online marketing ventures need to step up to the plate and improve their Internet visibility in order to broaden their reach, even if it means doing so, one person at a time. So, how does one go about this local business online marketing?

Here are 5 tips to answer that question:

1. Be where everyone is. Find out the latest social networking craze because it is one of the best places to market your business. Take Facebook for example. That is where people from all walks of life are. Best of all, Facebook features Pay Per Click advertising, fan pages and other applications where you can promote your business, so be sure to add it to your marketing strategy.

2. Join other social networking sites. Aside from Facebook, there’s good old Friendster, MySpace, and LinkedIn. Each of these sites has the ability to propel you to be in the midst of potential customers worldwide. Use them to do local business online marketing for your company or to broadcast specials and promos.

3. Tweet your way to your customers’ hearts. Twitter allows you to focus your marketing communications on your customers. It also allows you to fine-tune and focus your marketing message on your core audience.

4: Blog, Blog, Blog. Along with the messages you release to your network through Twitter, Facebook, Friendster and MySpace, you can also reach out to your target audience through blogs. Blogs provide a convenient way of sharing your company’s vision and mission statements or just about any development about your business.  Some companies even use their blogs to promote their products or services.

5: Websites that herd customers in. These days, almost every business – big or small – has an official website. A website is particularly useful in promoting a company and its products as well as issuing updates without having to publish thousands of pamphlets or newsletters the traditional way. Instead of getting everything printed or published on paper, you simply have to publish the info on the website and update it from time to time.

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Feed the Spiders, Don’t Let the Leaks In, and Other AJAX Application Development Tips

admin    Twitter Tips     AJAX, application, Development, Don't, Feed, Leaks, Spiders, Tips

Feed the Spiders, Don’t Let the Leaks In, and Other AJAX Application Development Tips

AJAX is faster, more efficient, makes dynamic apps and fluid UIs – and, AJAX consulting companies will tell you, at the same time, it requires a deep understanding of critical aspects of application development. For those who are in Ajax application development for the first time, or experienced hands, too, here’s a handy view of some major and minor things to watch out for. Feel free to contribute your tips – because of architectural differences, AJAX requires careful negotiation, and all experiences are welcome!

• Consider scalability: monitor the frequency of calls to the web server as this affects application performance

• Choose the right programming language: have you given enough time and effort on selecting the language for building your AJAX application? Java, Ruby, PHP, and .Net Framework all have their advantages and disadvantages.

• Back button: first time developers may not be aware that in AJAX application development, JavaScript is not comfortable with the Back button. The Back button feature is something to deploy when there is a requirement for an event specific Undo

• Feed the Spiders: an AJAX feature is that it can handle volumes of text without a page reload. But if the application is meant to be found by search engines, you will need to feed the spiders with sufficient stable text at the top.

• Leaky memory: AJAX consulting companies or anyone who has worked long enough with AJAX knows that cyclic references pose a danger to memory management. This is important because JavaScript, the heart of AJAX, is a memory managed program language. The trickiest part is managing the Document Object Model nodes that reference objects that are tagged for garbage collection, or memory management.

• App Chatter: for example, when you build in dynamic content generation with no dependency on page reloads, you get nonstop chatter because it has been left open ended. Don’t leave dynamic web apps open ended.

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50 Proven Tips to Explode Your Retail Sales – Part 2, Tips 11-20

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50 Proven Tips to Explode Your Retail Sales – Part 2, Tips 11-20

11. Provide free t-shirts with your logo to your staff to wear.

12. Understand the life time value of customer, if your products and services are up to standard, people will return to your stores for years, making you hundreds of pounds in return. Therefore, it is worth investing in a huge compelling introductory offer to attract them in for first visit, this may be simple as money off voucher. Make these available on your website to first time buyers.

13. Submit press releases to the local newspaper, trade journal or other publications.

14. Anyone under the age of 25, are well versed in social networking sites such as FaceBook, Twitter and You Tube. And now so must you! On Facebook you can now enhance the profile of your store by having a specific business page for your store. Keep customers up-to-date with activities in the store via Twitter, and educate people about your store, products and credentials by posting a free video on You Tube. These ideas cost you nothing, but show that you are trendy and up-to-date which is an important attribute for a fashion store to have. Also consider joining Look Up, Ecademy and LinkedIn.

15. Get a memorable local or free phone number.

16. You should try and survey your clients every 6 months, but if that is not possible at least once a year. It is very important that you find out what it is that they like about you and why they continue to give you business. It is very powerful for a customer to remind themselves in writing why they visit your store. It is also much less likely that they would ever change their service provider when they understand the benefits of shopping from your store. As well as positives, some of the questions you ask must be dedicated to how you may improve your service. All customers should be given the opportunity to tell you if you have not matched their expectation levels. You should never trust a silent customer, they are unlikely to give you a second chance, instead they will just move on to someone they think appreciates them a bit more.

17. Improve your building signage.

18. Consider a frequent user program which is simply put in place to incentivise your clients to visit more often and to thank them for the business they have already given you by redeeming points for gifts from you or one of your business partners. As well as allowing you to capture accurate client data the program shall build brand awareness for your business, and positions your business as a high quality service in the eyes of you client.

19. Create window displays in locations away from your store. Airports, hospitals, and large office buildings occasionally have display areas they rent to local businesses.

20. Gift Cards: Events such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Birthday’s offer a huge opportunity for additional sales and to recruit new customers. Use language such as “don’t leave yourself until last!” and ensure all clients are sold on the idea of buying gifts cards for friends and family or even themselves on these important occasions.

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Social Media Marketing Tips for Beginners

admin    Twitter Tips     Beginners, Marketing, Media, Social, Tips

Social Media Marketing Tips for Beginners

If you are familiar with words like Youtube, Facebook, Linkedin etc then understanding the concept of social media marketing is not a big deal. It is one of the most cost effective modes to endorse your business or websites through online social network. A large number of people daily influx these websites. It enables them to get linked to their friends and various network communities. Sharing videos, ideas, photos, messages etc. with others becomes a lot convenient and faster. This online media marketing allows you to unite and participate independently. In today’s scenario of cut throat competition this marketing approach proves to be highly successful to the marketers. Creating the brand awareness has become easy with the adoption of this new marketing technique. Now you do not need to shed unwanted money on advertising campaigns. The company highlights their product and the features on the social networking sites. The surveys reveal that these sites are accessed by large number of web user’s. So creating interest in the mind of the user for the product becomes easier. There are few tips for beginners on Social Media Marketing.

1- Build the user/ company profile on multiple social sites and try to grow each of them.
2- Add the widget of social networks sites (facebook and twitter) on your website.
3- Test your widget, which one have more impact and then drop of rest.
4- Try to post your social profile links in your boiler plate,(about company) in press release and articles.
5- Listening, Learning and Engaging in conversations with our customers where they are.
6- You should consider reserving a domain name for your blog may be create a company blog on wordpress.

The consumer can leave their opinions about the product on the sites. Considering the consumer’s view the marketer can come to know about their product’s demand. This marketing tool creates a path wherein the consumer and marketer can participate simultaneously. It is also known as the medium of digital marketing. Today the companies are making tremendous benefit out of this technique of marketing. In addition to being cost effective it also saves time. Example, if the company advertises their product on the Twitter, then a constant watch on the users’ conversation is a must. It will enable them to know whether the product is readily accepted by the consumers or not. The companies should pay heed to online marketing and use it in the best way to get fruitful results.

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Restaurant marketing emails outperform other sectors: Top 4 tips for success

admin    Twitter Tips     emails, Marketing, outperform, Restaurant, sectors, Success, Tips

Restaurant marketing emails outperform other sectors: Top 4 tips for success

In the just-released 2010 edition of Sign-Up.to’s email marketing benchmark report restaurants saw one of the biggest improvements in engagement with their email marketing campaigns.

The average open rate for restaurant marketing emails in the first half of 2010 was 25.5% with a click-through rate of 6.14% – both figures were well above the all-sector averages of 17.98% and 3.56% respectively.

Being the inquisitive type, I dug into the results further to see what could be learned from these impressive results and I’ve distilled these into 4 tips that you can easily apply to boost your email marketing results:

1) Genuine offers get outstanding results – we’ve seen a big increase in value-led promotions from our restaurant clients, not surprising in the current economic climate, but the results of these are.

Restaurants who ran offer-based campaigns with strong propositions (buy 1 get 1 free, dine for £x etc.) and well designed campaigns regularly saw open rates exceed 33% and downloads of the vouchers top 11% of all recipients – the redemption rates were equally high, giving a phenomenal return on investment.

It’s important to note that only strong offers met with success – weak promotions often lead to a decline in response rates which carried over into subsequent campaigns, so be as compelling as possible.

2) Amplify results by using all of your marketing channels together – the campaigns that got the best results used email marketing, Twitter and Facebook in combination to make it easy for people to spread the message. This included using links in the email campaign to make it easy to repost on social networks and also pushing out the campaign itself on Facebook and Twitter and allowing users of these networks to register in order to receive the deal.

3) Make sure you gather data – this is key to making a long term success of your campaigns, rather than just having a one-hit-wonder. If you’re offering a great deal then ask people to register and consent to receiving future offers from you in order to receive it. Start with basic information like name and email address to keep the process simple. If your offer is good then you’ll see massive growth in your subscribers numbers in no time as people pass the offer around.

4) Test, test, test – your business is unique and so is your audience, so the best way to find out what will get you the best return is to test different propositions – this could be different offers or simply different wording of the same offer (even saying ‘half price’ instead of ‘50% off’ can have a significant impact on your results). Split-testing email campaigns is a great way to do this quickly and efficiently, you can then apply the results to your other online and offline marketing.

If you’d like to find out more about how you can use email marketing to boost your sales you can get in touch with Sign-Up.to at solutions@sign-up.to

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Article provided by Livebookings – home of freshly prepared restaurant marketing ideas