Behold The Turtle

2009-06-26 11:50:29

"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." - James B. Conant

This quote is relevant in the business world today. In these economic times it is very hard for the small business to feel secure in "sticking its neck out" in order to bring in new customers or explore a new niche. But, as another saying goes "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". Where as the large corporations have the luxury of a whole department that does Market Analysis, the smaller company just can't afford such an expenditure. There is however a friend out there for you.

A business coach is there to help you utilize the tools that you already have at your disposal, while the business constultant is going to give you a new "toolbox" to use. I believe it is safe to say that if you choose the consultant it would be wise to also include getting the coach to show you how to make the best use of the new tools at your disposal. More than likely any constultant worth their salt is going to include the coaching aspect in their services.

This brings us back to the turtle sticking his neck out comparison. You have to be willing to use the options available to you if you want to remain viable in today's economy. While this option may not be for everyone it is something to consider for the future endeavors you are going to likely want to pursue to keep up with the rest of the business community. Obtaining your dreams for your business only works if you take the steps toward "Sticking your neck out"!

~Lisa

Even a Professional needs a Professional's Help sometimes

2009-06-04 08:31:25

Even a Professional needs a Professional's Help sometimes

Every business has a niche that it fills as only it can but, there are aspects of that business that may require another professional that has expertise in that specific aspect. Realizing that your business is lacking in certain areas and addressing those issues is key to giving your clients the total package they are expecting.

Let's look at it this way.

You cut yourself shaving, it's just a nick so you grab your styptic pencil and dab it on a couple times to stop the bleeding. Now, you in the kitchen slicing some veggies for dinner, for whatever reason you make a misstep with the Ginzu and you got a nasty gash in your hand - Time to head to the ER - You need a Professional! Or you are heading out to the backyard to have some beers with your buds, you're playing some football, you fall and land on your arm. Upon getting yourself up you notice your arm really hurts and is bent at an odd angle. You again head to the ER for the Professional to do his job. However, ultimately the professional in the ER is not the end of your journey; this professional gives you a referral to an Orthopedist (another professional) who specializes in the skeletal system.

You need the right professional to address the aspect of your business that needs their specific expertise. You don't want to hire a rocket scientist to fix your transmission but you most certainly don't want the transmission guy doing your brain surgery. I mean while the rocket scientist may have the knowledge to it takes to work on your transmission it is not in his SPECIFIC scope of practice. This means then that the transmission guy would be useless to you for brain surgery because it is totally out of HIS scope of practice.

It's time you stopped doing brain surgery with a monkey wrench and let us handle your SEO, SEM, Programming, and Online Marketing needs.



Next time, getting a tune-up where the rubber meets the road.

~Lisa Dage

Ethics vs. Entitlement

2009-05-28 08:32:17

Ethics vs. Entitlement

Many of us remember the days of renting an apartment, townhouse or home and the monies that were required. For some of us we had to pay an extra deposit for our "fur kids" along with the deposit for the rental itself and the pet deposit is NEVER refundable. I am sure we all remember being told that this was to cover any damages from the pet. With this important information stored for the future and eventual move out, you go on your merry way.

Now, it's time to move out. Here is where you should be hunting and finding your lease agreement to make sure you follow the "rules" that some but not all rental agencies graciously supply. Our previous rental agency supplied a list of what it cost them to have things cleaned by their cleaning crews. To my mind reading over this price list I could only surmise that this agency was getting screwed. But, alas and alack t'was not the rental agency who was to suffer!

I am not sure what the norm is for how long rental agencies have before they are supposed to inform you of what portion if any of the deposit will be reimbursed to you. The agency we had said 30 from occupancy, so with that milestone having come and gone we decided to call to find out what was going on. Our call was finally returned. When my husband received this call he was not overly surprised at the "laundry list" of things that the agency says had to be done to put the rental back in condition for future renters.

Don't get me wrong I am not saying that I had the rental professionally cleaned though in hindsight; I might not be writing this if I had. We cleaned for 3 days straight and we did have the living room/dining room/computer rooms' carpet professionally cleaned. Honestly, we felt that we had done a pretty good job of cleaning as we kept their list handy to make sure we cleaned everything they would charge to have done themselves upon our vacating the property. We did realize that we may have overlooked the pest control aspect but, recalled that the "pet deposit" was for just such an issue (so we thought)

Remember, I said they supplied us with a list of prices for costs - we were informed that the bedroom carpets had to be cleaned, the four ceiling fans had to be cleaned and the rental was sprayed for fleas even though there were "NO FLEAS IN EVIDENCE" (the agent's own words)! This is where my ramble meets my blog title Ethics vs. Entitlement.

Is it ethical for the agency to nitpick and use every loophole they find favorable to them, while using everyone they can to chip away at our hefty deposit so that we receive a mere fraction of it? It seems very much that they made every effort to get what they felt they were entitled to get by using the parts of the rental agreement to THEIR advantage.

Update! - Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

2009-05-25 13:03:51

Update! - Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

As promised I will finish the saga about the problem my husband and I had due to client software NOT being updated and its users NOT being informed of changes made to the software. I cannot stress enough how important this aspect of customer care is to a business.

Our agent has spent countless hours of her time on the phone with different departments throughout her company as well as the underwriters themselves, she has informed them all of the issue and that neither she nor we feel it is our responsibility to pay for their mistake. Let us not leave out the simple fact we don't have the amount of money they want at this time. After all that the best these people can offer is for us to pay 1/3 of the money by the 30th and give us 90 days to pay the remainder in full. I must say our agent is a gem because she has fought so hard for us. We are however, still greatly disappointed in the underwriters failure to accept their responsibility in this matter.

They will get their monies as per the new agreement we have made. But, we won't go quietly! We are filing a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner's office and the Better Business Bureau in regards to this company using what we feel are "Bait and Switch" tactics in order to obtain customers. This filing may only be a drop in the proverbial bucket yet, we feel it is a necessary step toward getting this situation rectified so that another new home owner doesn't have to go through this nightmare.

Timely Response to Customer Issues

2009-05-21 14:11:26

Timely Response to Customer Issues

In a perfect world there would be no customer complaints or issues that required you to communicate with them when they are being less than pleasant. This however, is not a perfect place and some of your customers are going to call with silly inane/annoying questions because they aren't as savvy about computers or the product they are trying to utilize. On the other side of the coin your going to have those who know their way around systems and software like the back of their hand, there most likely will be some in this group who will get nasty if things don't work to their expectations.

I think one main things that tends to set off most people is when they are trying to get answers to their questions or resolve an issue they are having and they can't get a "live" person on the line. This is not so much of an issue for the smaller business professional but, there is a different aspect here that annoys the customer. Whether or not you utilize a secretary, voicemail or just answer all calls your self the customer maybe made to feel that they (not their issue they are calling about) are trivial at best.

The last thing you want is for your customer to feel that they are unimportant because the reality of this is that they are the ALL IMPORTANT component for your success as a business professional. So, addressing your customers needs/issues in a timely fashion is imperative.

In utilizing a secretarial option you should have a plan for handling these calls that come through in prioritized fashion. Should you be unavailable at the time your customer calls, returning their call within the time frame your secretary sets forth is a MUST! If, you are unable to do so your secretary should inform you that the time frame has expired and would you like to call the client or have them call the client to let the client know that they haven't been forgotten. This step may very well save you from having to deal with the disgruntled and aggravated client mentioned earlier.

Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

2009-05-21 08:23:36

Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

Today's blog is written from personal experience with outdated client software issues. I will talk about what has transpired thus far with this. Hopefully, I will have subsequent blog that ends on a happier note.

My husband and I are first time home buyers and as such we needed to purchase home owner's insurance to satisfy our lender. Finding the best home owner insurance for the lowest price is the name of the game. Our advice here is - Shop Around! That said we did our shopping found an agent who could give us what we needed at the right price.

We went in the agent's office answered all the pertinent questions, provided the necessary information and signed the needed documents. We were told what the insurance would cost and that the lender(s) would set up an escrow account that would cover this through our mortgage.

Now, everything has gone through and we are now home owner's ready to get down to the business of enjoying our new home, right? Two and a half weeks into ownership we receive a notice from the underwriter our agent wrote us the policy through. They state that our insurance quote was incorrect and they WANT nearly $300 more by the 30th. Immediately we call our lender who says to call our agent as now there is nothing he can do here. We call our agent, who has since been on the phone daily trying to resolve this issue... This is where the title of my blog comes in "Why it's important to keep your client software updated and your users!

After a week and dozens of calls later... Our agent is told by the underwriter that "they changed" the area in which we purchased our home from a mobile home park to a subdivision (thus raising the price of our insurance) over 2 months ago! But, they had not updated their client software to reflect this "change"! Their drop down menu still shows our location as a mobile home park. How was our agent supposed to know NOT to give us the quote she gave us? Why didn't the underwriter at least send out a memo over 2 months ago to their clients who use their software?

So, Dear reader our battle is underway to get the underwriter to own "their mistake" and wave their request for additional monies to cover their failure.

Sustainability can only be obtained by Responsibility to customers.

2009-05-21 07:20:07

Sustainability can only be obtained by Responsibility to customers. This means taking a hard look at things that benefit your bottom line and benefits your customers. In order make your business more steamlined you will need to indentify the necessities for running your business at optimum performance levels while paring down things that negativly impact your bottom line.

This may mean that the upgraded smart phone you WANT should wait as long as it doesn't keep your customers from being able to communicate with you effectively. Being hip and looking savvy is NOT a business necessity, whereas a healthy bottom line is. Also that software upgrade that the vendor swears wil be the best thing you ever do - probably can wait too - again just as long as it doesn't adversely effect how you take care of your customers needs.

Basically, what I am trying to get across is something very simple that I use when shopping. I ask myself "Do I NEED it or do I WANT it"? I believe this can be used in business to a certain degree. So, remember customers needs 1st, the things you need to fulfill those needs 2nd, meeting your needs 3rd and your wants somewhere around...oh, let's say 50th.

Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability - Part Deux

2009-05-21 05:17:59

Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability - Part Deux

In yesterdays blog we talked about the automakers who to the government bailout monies and what it has done for their shareholders all the way down to us the consumers (a.k.a. stakeholders).

I didn't name names in the first portion of this blog as I didn't feel it was necessary. Today, however I am going to use the one and only automaker who didn't take the government bailout monies as our prime example of Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability.

How man automakers can say that their stock value has increased? Looking at The New York Times today, Ford* is in the spotlight for its ongoing commitment to Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability. They are proving that despite a steady drop in their sales and their production, consumer (stakeholder) confidence still remains high as their stock value has almost tripled since rival automakers have received the government bailouts.

By no coincidence they are the only ones not filing for bankruptcy. This is not to understate the fact that they are hurting fiscally as a company. Despite this economic downturn spokespersons are projecting that the company should recover by 2011. So, here we can see that Accountability + Responsibility at least gives us the promise of Sustainability.

*The only one of the "Big 3" automakers who did NOT take the government's bailout money.

Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability

2009-05-20 08:14:46

Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability

These words have been thrown around so much in the business world that their meanings vary depending on what person is using them to describe their own brand of accountability, responsibility and sustainability. So, before I begin I want to be clear on the definitions of these three words in relation to business as I see and understand them.

Accountability: the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions. (Merriam-Webster,2008)
Responsibility: the quality or state of being responsible: as a: moral, legal, or mental accountability b: Reliability, Trustworthiness. (Merriam_Webster,2008)
Sustainability: [to meet] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Brundtland Commission,1989)

Now, let's look to the auto industry for a lesson in Accountability + Responsibility = Sustainability. Certain automakers gladly took the bailout monies offered to them. Where in the world did their Accountability + Responsibility to us as consumers go? THEY SOLD IT!

Despite taking the bailout monies give to them, they're still closing plants and laying off workers on an almost daily basis.

They have let everyone down their shareholders, their stakeholders as well as the guy who sweeps the floors has been abandoned by their lack of accountability. Yes, even we the consumer have been left to our own devices to figure out what we will do. Consumer confidence is/has been going down as more and more companies shirk their responsibilities, as a direct result their sustainability suffers.

Sustainability will depend on the consumers' faith in you doing what you say you're going to do - not saying what you think they want to hear - this is accountability.

Small Stuff Tends To Grow Into Big Stuff

2009-04-27 06:13:28

I think it's safe to say that we've all heard the expression, "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff", and while I do tend to agree with the expression, it's important to know that while it does say not to sweat the small stuff, it does not say to ingore the small stuff.

In life, in business, in communications, in just about everthing - the small stuff can easily accumulate into big stuff if it's left unchecked.

And when it grows into big stuff, it can leave a person, a relationship, a business, a project -anything that is is a part of - completely crippled.

So, true - don't sweat the small stuff - do something about the small stuff before it becomes big stuff.

It makes everything so much easier.