ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Cyber Monday may have hurt companies across the country.
Nine out of 10 people planned to shop or browse online for Cyber Monday while on the clock, according to the polling firm Omnibus. One out of 5 of them likely spent more than four hours doing so.
For some, the pressure of the holidays leaves them no choice. For others, lunch is simply a logical window.
“I think nine out of 10 executives are doing… Read More
Cyber Monday Shopping at Work
Build Your Business using Guiding Principles – Part 1
Our grandparents called it “The Golden Rule.” Our parents told us to “Put yourself in the other guy’s shoes.” We call it “How would you like it?” But it’s all the same concept of fair play. Unfortunately, in our fast-paced, highly competitive business environment, this basic idea can get lost.
Starting a business feels overwhelming. It seems like there’s never enough money, time, or resources to… Read More
Corporate Structure Can Turn Information into Currency – Part 1
The corporate structure is based on a division of labor into specialized groups who tend to isolate themselves from the rest of the company. Each division has its own professional organizations that reinforce this view. Within these divisions of labor are further structural elements that stratify the chain of command into pyramid-like structures.
Although these structures seem unavoidable just to get the job done,… Read More
Put Your People on the Same Team
No matter what kind of business you think you’re in, you quickly find out you are in the personnel management business. With careful hiring, mentoring, recognition, and compensation plans, your people can be your greatest asset.
Recurrent, personnel issues can be a distraction to you and your staff. Some react to personnel problems by firing the offending parties. Occasionally this may be necessary, however the… Read More
Dress for Success (Especially in the Office)
Many companies these days seem to think that they are giving their office staff some kind of a benefit by letting them dress any way they want. Business casual has become casual and casual has become downright scruffy. What happens when Mr. Big walks into your company and your people are dressed in a way that doesn’t telegraph customer service and professionalism? Before you can say anything, your new client has made… Read More
Positive Company Culture is critical to Growth and Survival – Part 3
This is the third part in the series about the original Barefoot culture. Culture really sets the tone, boundaries, and expectations the team has toward your company, your mission and your product.
We’ve saved the best for last because having a common cause and a common challenge forges, more than any other single factor, positive company culture.
When you are growing especially a new a brand, something… Read More
Positive Company Culture is critical to Growth and Survival – Part 2
A company survives and grows due to sales and the loyalty of customers and staff. Sales are based on price, value, dependability, integrity, availability and perception. The basis of perception is image, networking, and more recently, the transparency of the producer.
Transparency is what the brand stands for, its authenticity, its identification with higher values, and the actions it takes to demonstrate those… Read More
Making Mistakes Right
Everybody makes mistakes, so why not take advantage of them? If your company culture does not give permission to make mistakes, your staff will hide them.
They’ll want to ‘fix’ it fast and hope you never find out. They may be the only ones who know how to fix it, and they, or someone else, are likely to make the same mistake again. Here are some tips on how to turn mistakes into assets.
1) Give your staff permission to make… Read More
Listen to and Learn from your Sales Staff
In the previous post we examined some of the ways your well-meaning office, marketing, production and accounting staff may come up with “cost-saving” suggestions than can actually hurt sales.
When little things go missing or the package gets simplified in the name of production efficiency, you may hear “It hasn’t affected sales”…yet! Or, “Our sales are still strong” implying all you were doing… Read More
Beware of “Money Saving” Suggestions from Your Non-Sales Staff
Let’s start by realizing that there are really only two divisions in every company, Sales and Sales Support. Since Sales Support includes everyone not in Sales, Sales Support consists of Production, Accounting, Marketing, and so on. Without sales there is simply no money for Sales Support salaries. Still, Sales needs Sales Support to perform.
The Sales people are doing their job out in the field. The non-sales… Read More
