We fall within the category of SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises). How can we work strategically, analyze customer and consumer behavior, and have smart marketing plans when we have very limited resources due to our size?

There are two elements attached to results: knowledge and application. If it’s knowledge you seek and you can’t afford interesting interactive workshops, then welcome to the Age of Information. With help from the Internet you can find plenty of resources that will educate you about different management topics. The challenge in this step is to know where the right resources are. Publishing words online doesn’t make them automatically reliable. If you want to evaluate the seriousness of a certain magazine article look for reviews about the writer you’re interested in on sources other than the magazine. Is s/he trying to indirectly sell you something? Do they have the expertise in the area they’re writing about? What makes them such experts? Remember, doing something for a long time doesn’t always lead to ‘expertise’.

If you have the knowledge but lack the experience on how to apply it or if you can’t afford to hire the right talents full time to help you implement it, then think of project base hiring even if the talent is not in your market and can only work online from United Someplace, as long as you can agree on deliverables and deadlines, it can work. Other options are to work with consultants who are suitable for the kind of service you’re after and cater to companies of your size. If your business is too big for them they might not be able to deliver. If it’s too small, you might not receive the right level of attention. Most of all, keep your plans short, clear in their focus, easy to understand and shared with everyone responsible for a part of them. Complicated documents and presentations are not impressive, they’re disruptive…and that’s just my two cents.read what others have read

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I recently had a job interview and the manager expressed a certain level of discomfort towards my Facebook page entries and pictures. Should we now start worrying about our Facebook communication when it comes to getting hired? Isn’t finding a job already difficult enough?

Getting a job is difficult and finding the right job should be even more difficult. Smart and successful companies don’t hire employees based on education and CVs, they look for a corporate culture fit and a match in personalities and behavior. So you can see why they might go to great lengths just to be sure that a candidate is genuine. And availability of published information makes it tempting to use it as a quick reference check or a tool to gage true personality traits away for the staged interview act that many employees have learned how to master with time.

As what you do offline matters, what you do online reflects on you too. The fact that it’s online doesn’t mean it’s invisible. Divide your Facebook contacts into lists to control who can see what content you publish. You might want to create an acquaintance and co-worker list and keep it viewable by the public but keep close friends and family lists private. This way you control who sees what news and pictures you publish. Having said that, don’t keep your public page vague and so carefully articulated to an extent where your character is not visible anymore. Be yourself but know what you’re saying and who you are saying it to…and that’s just my two cents.read what others have read

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  let me count the ways

My company works in the IT industry. Management asked me to solicit some leads through LinkedIn since cold calling is impersonal and ineffective. After sending bulk requests our database grew to almost 300 contacts. The problem is that we couldn’t turn this list into serious prospects. Is LinkedIn a dead end for marketing our business?

Calling someone you don’t know with a message that comes across that’s beneficial to you more than the prospect is usually met with a cold reaction. When you start a relationship with a new friend you don’t ask them for a favor from Day One not to give the wrong impression of being selfish. A new business relationship is not that much different from a personal one. The fundamental difference is that a financial transaction is expected in one while it should be avoided in the other. However, in this case the relationship didn’t even start yet. A connection request is not the same as connecting. How well do you know these 300 contacts and how well do they know your company?

One of the best ways to building strong and mutually beneficial long term business relationships is to reverse the purpose of your call. Try this: instead of approaching a prospect to sell something, connect them with another contact you know whom you believe can be important to this prospect’s business. This attitude builds you a bank of credit with your LinkedIn network or any other network. As a result, the next time you call, you’ll find a very warm voice on the other end who’ll be a lot more welcoming to your offer…and that’s just my two cents.read what others have read

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Over the years, I had my share of hiring wrong employees who didn’t demonstrate enough loyalty to me or to the company. What can I do to get the new hires to be more loyal?

Be careful of what you wish for. Let’s say you hired a new graduate in a customer care position who had a genuine desire to benefit the company. One day, our newbie thinks that he’s being loyal by dismissing a customer’s request for not matching with the current setup of the operation only to end up causing this customer to churn with anger. Next month, out of loyalty to you personally, he delays informing you about certain updates because he knows you’re too busy and he doesn’t want to add to your overload. As a consequence, you missed an important opportunity to fix a bigger problem. Does that mean you should hire soulless robots or backstabbing gold diggers? As adrenaline pumping as such a working environment could be, the answer is no. Hire decent people who match with the personality, behavior and skills you need.

The key is to shift the recipient of loyalty from being you or the company to the position employee holds. Loyalty to the job the person does is far more powerful because you’re asking the employee to focus on doing what’s right for the best quality of his production. By explaining that it’s not only the company’s reputation that will be affected by this employee’s outcome but his own as well, he will think twice before skipping the process or not delivering what a customer truly deserves. This kind of loyalty is realistic and fits with many employees who look after themselves regardless…and that’s just my two cents.read what others have read

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The nature of my work revolves around project-base contracts that each lasts for about 2 to 3 years. Now that I’m in my 50s and with this great recession I’m not finding any new opportunities. Can I still get a job in these circumstances?

In business, you can either cater to an existing demand or create one to show how your product or service is the answer for such a need. The same goes for this stage of your career. If there aren’t many companies with positions at a senior level, which is normal worldwide with or without a recession, then think of creating a need for your expertise. Hold a half-day workshop to share some insights related to your industry with ‘prospective employers’ to indirectly demonstrate how valuable your experience can be to their business. Alternatively, you can start your own consultancy and charge on an hourly or daily need basis rather than on a monthly retainer. If still nothing works, dig deeper into your hidden desires and see what second career you always wished you were involved with but never got around to. It’s never too late to start again…and that’s just my two cents.read what others have read

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Many of our competitors brag about the different awards they won in the last few years. The application and qualification processes are time consuming. Is it really worth it? Do customers actually care about companies who have won awards?

Breaking News: The security guard in your apartment building won the “Super Security Guard of the Year” Award. Sweet, but it’s not something that will make you decide to stay if you were not satisfied with the property management standard of service. However, let’s take a look at your security guard for a moment. Knowing about the award, he became familiar with the rules and started to improve his performance, appearance and efficiency so he’s ready for the committee’s review. The security guard’s real benefit was the journey he was on to up his game. Even if he didn’t win the award he gained a better performance.

If participating in awards will help your business improve internally, then by all means, select the one that will have the most significant impact on your processes and go for it. Keep in mind that improving your working standard to comply with the award’s terms and conditions is the ultimate reward because it will reflect positively on your employees, customers’ experience, and in return, boost your returns. Simply, it’s about the journey, not the destination. So, winning the award should always be looked at as the icing on the cake; but without the cake the icing is just not as tasty…and that’s just my two cents.read what others have read

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co-founder of Apple, Inc. Steve Jobs

Yesterday, on October 5th, 2011, Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc., passed away after a long struggle with Pancreatic cancer. Almost in every century we are blessed with one or a few minds that single handedly push us forward faster than we imagined possible. Steve Jobs was among such giants. Without him, your daily work whether you’re using a Mac or PC just simply wouldn’t be the same, your mobile communication whether you’re using an iPhone or anything else wouldn’t be the same, and your inspirations that came from creative entertainment tools whether you’re using Apple TV and iTunes or not wouldn’t be the same. For years, I’ve been enjoying and benefiting personally and professionally from his achievements, and for that I’m grateful.             Steve Jobs, thank you.read what others have read

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