Do Business Well

Each manager’s routine was different, reflecting his or her unique style. Nonetheless, hidden within this diversity we found four characteristics common to the “performance management” routines of great managers.

First, the routine is simple. Great managers dislike the complexity of most company-sponsored performance appraisal schemes. They don’t want to waste their time trying to decipher the alien terms and to fill out bureaucratic forms. Instead they prefer a simple format that allows them to concentrate on the truly difficult work: what to say to each employee and how to say it. Continue Reading »

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It’s almost Meeting Failure-Proof

Keep in mind that most meetings aren’t very effective as they are now run. When you get a chance to facilitate or record, it will be because your group has agreed that it is worth trying something new. You are probably going to look good no matter what you do. The mere presence of a facilitator, recorder, and group memory will do wonders. Even if you think you have done a lousy job, your group may well be impressed just because it will all be so new. Explain that you are learning and will make mistakes. Ask people to help you stay in your role and remain neutral. You are there to help them. It’s their meeting and they share the responsibility for making it a success. Continue Reading »

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The Rules of the Game

As in any game, the “people game” has rules that must be honored if you are to become any good at it.

I’ve included a few here to give you a taste for them. As for the rest of them, you’ll have to discover them for yourself by playing a game of your own. You’ll learn the rules in the process.

1. Never figure out what you want your people to do and then try to create a game out of it. If it’s to be seen as serious, the game has to come first_; what your people do, second.

2. Never create a game for your people you’re unwilling to play yourself. They’ll find you out and never let you forget it.

3. Make sure there are specific ways of winning the game without ending it. The game can never end because the end will take the life right out of your business. But unless there are victories in the process, your people will grow weary. Hence, the value of victories now and then. They keep people in the game and make the game appealing, even when it’s not. Continue Reading »

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Web site display advertising: You can place an interactive display ad on one of the popular Web sites. For example, you can place an advertisement on the Yahoo search engine. When people access Yahoo, they see your ad. If they want to see your site, they simply click on the ad. The cost of running a Web ad can range from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands. It all depends on the amount of traffic generated by the host site. As I’ve contended a few times, I believe this kind of online advertising should be billed based solely on results. In this case, you should only pay for the number of visits you receive from the host site. If you don’t get any visits, you pay nothing; if you get thousands of visits, you pay more. If you can, negotiate this kind of results-only program.

Web site links and pointers: To generate traffic on your Web site, you want people to discover your existence on other sites. For example, if you have a site about fishing supplies, you want to be listed on all major sites frequented by anglers. Continue Reading »

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Research shows that four out of five prospects don’t sign up until they are asked to take a starter file or some initial action. Yet many networkers fail to do this. So nothing happens. You should always bear in mind the ABC of selling: Always Be Closing! Try to persuade the prospect to take action.

Strangely enough, many networkers are hesitant to close. It is as if the prospect has done them a special favour by seeing them. But this is not the case. If the prospect wants to see you, it is because she wants to know more. There is a mutual give and take of questions and information between the prospect and networker, which should naturally lead to the prospect joining up. Continue Reading »

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