95% of Companies Just Don’t get It
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What don’t they get?
They don’t understand that they need to look after and nurture their employees and stop treating them like idiots with zero intelligence. I’ve talked about this before and it is one of the areas of business that really interests me.
Jason Fried, from 37signals has been featured recently over on AZcentral.com and he talked about how employees should be treated:
In order to appeal to us, employers need to rethink their rules a bit. Forget rigid 40-hour workweeks. Forget traditional company hierarchy…
One company that has led the charge in shifting the work-life paradigm, especially when it comes to employee relations, is 37signals. Headquartered in Chicago, it’s a multi-million dollar organization deeply committed to maintaining a work-life balance for its employees.
President Jason Fried says today’s employers present the biggest roadblock. “Simply put, employees are treated like children. They are not allowed to think for themselves, and there are too many layers of approval, just too much insulation that prevents anyone from doing anything. The traditional workplace is broken, and until someone realizes that, there’s always going to be conflict.”
This suffocation by protocol is dead on and will never allow an employee to “go beyond” or achieve something extra for the company. This is a critical link that most organizations continually fail to acknowledge. They are too focused on ensuring employees do no wrong that they actually prevent them from achieving anything beyond status quo.
Does your company do this? Or are you in the 95% (or higher) who don’t?
A Simple Equation
So, for businesses, large or small, I have a simple equation for you:
Good management + Good working environment = Happy employees and more productivity
It is not hard is it? Yet some businesses (read most) get it so, so wrong. A manager has a HUGE responsibility to the people he or she manage. They should be supportive, listen, attentive, encouraging and respectful.
Bad managers are impatient, intimidating, bullying, short-tempered and uncaring. Ok, they often have a load of other things they should be doing, and in most instances the company / organisation give them far too many other tasks to do, with no thought about how much time they should be spending with their reports and team.
This is where the wheels fall off the wagon and it all goes pear-shaped. Why?
Because their people, their team is their most vital and important asset.
Neglect them, bully them, ignore them, make them fearful of your reaction, then you are failing badly. If you make your team, your people your fans, then your job will be easier, you will be more successful.
You must give your team time and support. You don’t need to be their best mate, but treat them well, and you will thrive and be respected back.
If you have a manager who has no time for you, then tell them - make it VERY clear to them that they are failing you.
People should never feel unhappy and nervous at work - if they do, then something is VERY wrong. Bullying and unprofessional behaviour in the work environment should never, ever be tolerated. Don’t let these people get away with it. They often do because people don’t speak up. Make sure you do.
Get the simple stuff right and you will be a success
I bet you all know companies, people, products that seem to get the simple stuff right. Take a second and try and think of an example….
Perhaps it is an online store that provides great service and communication time and time again (Amazon is my vote here - they really cannot be beaten in my mind at the moment).
Perhaps it is someone you know who never forgets your birthday and always remembers to send a card (I really try hard with this, and in fact, some people have complimented me on this - set an alarm on your online calendar a few days before and set to annual repeat - not that hard really).
Maybe it’s a brand of clothes you can always rely on - good quality and fit, no quibble returns and also some good technical features (Howies every time for me here).
Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.
What matters most is getting the simple stuff right.
Doing something consistently and brilliantly. Many people, me included, have exactly the opposite effect 8 times out of 10. So if you can be those other 2 times, you are going to stand out.
I really, really try and do 2 things well with my marketing clients,
1. Great ideas and enthusiasm for their business - I take it personally that what we do does well
2. Communication and availability - I’ve recently received some feedback from a client who commented on this and said it was a huge selling point.
Could be fantastic but you are often let down
Food is a good example to look at. You can pay stupid prices for over complicated meals, whereas in fact, a superb pie n’ mash, or fish n’ chips, is much nicer and cheaper.
Pizza is one of my favourite foods - done well, you cannot beat it. However, the trick is to find a restaurant that makes authentic pizza - proper dough, fresh ingredients, and cooked correctly. (If anyone knows of a decent place like this in Yorkshire, then let me know).
The 37signals guys have a good post highlighting an amazing pizza place in NY, and when I get back there, this is going to be on my list of places to visit.
Again, simple stuff, done brilliantly works.
You can also apply this to every day items. I have a strong opinion that if you are going to be using an item every day, day in, day out, then you want that item to work. Simple. Needs to work well, with no irritation, preferably looking good too, and also it must ‘feel good’.
Feeling good is hard to pin down, but a couple of examples are:
OSX - everything feels great and the UI is stunning.
Vipp and Simple Human bins - yes, you read right, bins. Something you use day in and day out, so these ones are well designed, look cool and work perfectly.
Telephones - our B&O phones have an interface not dissimilar to an iPod’s scroll wheel - makes looking for a contact / name so much easier.
So, back to your business, my business…. Concentrate on delighting your customers by getting the simple stuff right. You will stand out, and it can make a BIG difference.
If you fancy a good read, then check this book out >>> Simply Better
Big companies love Google Apps
Finances also came into play in their decision to move to Google Apps. Taylor Woodrow estimates that they are saving approximately £1 million on infrastructure and support costs.
You have read that correctly. Taylor Woodrow are saving £1 Million by switching 1800 employees over to Google Apps Premier Edition. That is pretty impressive and makes a lot of sense. A massive amount of sense.
Just think. 1800 people happily using Gmail, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, with zero set up costs in terms of software and hardware. Talk about putting the IT department out of business. Not only do you have cost savings but you have the ease of access to everyone’s files (all in the cloud), all backed up and available 24-7.
Looking into theappleofmyi crystal ball, I can see more and more companies doing this. Less hassle. Less money. Better reliability. What more do you want? Ok, there will be the normal learning curve of people adopting the new technology and software, but most people are getting more and more confident with online web apps. Major kudos to Taylor Woodrow for doing this. Does anyone know of any other big corporate doing this?
A couple of new features for you
Happy Sunday afternoon everyone! I hope you have all had a good weekend. I wanted to let you know about a couple of things I plan to do on the blog in the coming weeks….
- Start a regular series of post where I speak to people who own, or are involved in a business where their marketing has impressed me and/or they have a great product and you need to know about it!
- Start doing some regular reviews of websites which have caught my attention - pointing out what they are doing well, and perhaps, what they could do better
However, if you are a business owner and you fancy telling me what you’re doing with your marketing, don’t wait any longer, just get in touch via the contact form here, and perhaps we can have a chat and feature you on the blog!
I’ll be posting the first interview / feature this week, so check back in the next few days to get a strong, fresh, aroma of a great business doing very well.
Ssshhhhh!!! Secret stuff from Moo….
Sssshhhh, don’t tell anyone!!! (Click).
I LOVE Moo Mini cards and Moo have just announced they will be doing ‘normal’ sized cards soon. I will be getting some of these, that’s for sure, both for theappleofmyi and jon moss photography. They are fun, good value and people love them! Remember, business cards should be designed with a number of things in mind:
- They have ways for people to contact you
- They are something people want to keep
- They so something unique about you or your business
- They are so cool that people show others!
Make sure you have a business card that rocks!
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Customer Service - Turbo Edition
Customer Service is something that most companies ‘think’ they rank as important, but rarely exceed expectations. This is a real worry as most of us know that it is easier to keep a customer / client, than get a new one.
The 37 Signals blog, Signal vs Noise has an interesting article here, which tells us about some great examples of real customer service. It is unfortunate that people tend to be more vocal when something goes wrong, than when something goes right. Testionials from customers and clients are always vital.
A particularly impressive customer service - focused business is Ian Blowers Jewellers (disclosure - they are one of my clients). Check out their page where they add all the complimentary emails and messages they get from people - to be honest, I haven’t seen such good feedback anywhere else for a long time. Mark goes out of his way to please people and always makes a point to make sure customers are 110% satisfied. Guess where they get most of their business? Yep. Repeat customers and referrals.
So, it is vital to ensure that you get honest feedback from customers - specifically ask for it as it is invaluable. I’m just in the process of setting up something dedicated to this, and will blog about it shortly!
Do you rock in interviews, or do you flop?
For those of you in the UK, we are nearing the final of the Apprentice, the show were Sir Alan Sugar finds the person who he is going to employ.
Last night, was the infamous part of the process, where the final 5 candidates are subjected to a number of ruthless interviewers, many whom have appeared before in previous series. It was, as expected, cringing viewing, with dinosaur impressions and lying on the CV coming up, and that was the same candidate!
The BBC has a good article reviewing what happened and some good tips on what to do and what not to do. i would class a dinosaur impression in the latter category.
I bet most people have some sort of nightmare from an interview they have been involved with. What strikes me is that the interviewer must also be on good behaviour as well, giving the candidate a good impression of the company. I am not sure how I would react to an aggressive and rude person interviewing me. I think it works both ways, where a little politeness and respect should always be present.
As to my tips for attending an interview, here are a few:
- Prepare, prepare and once again, prepare - learn about the company, the job and the person who will be interviewing you.
- Many interviews these days, certainly in the corporate world, are based around ‘competency-based questions’ where you will be expected to give real examples of what you have done in certain situations. These are usually questions about teamwork, performance, awkward circumstances you’ve overcome….. If you cannot answer, don’t give them any cattle excrement - be honest!
- First impressions do matter - dress smartly, but not sharply, if you are a chap, have a decent shave, and make sure your Hai Karate aftershave is not too potent
- Have some good questions of your own to ask - enquire about their performance planning, training, opportunities, perhaps ask them what they enjoy most about their jobs and what they think are the good and bad points about the company.
- Know exactly what you can bring to the role and how you will bring better results to the company - you must be able to get this across succinctly.
I am sure you all have some good stories and tips, so don’t be shy, please let us all know in the comments!
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Starting Freelancing - learnings and challenges
As most of you know, I started freelancing late last year as a Marketing Consultant, and also started my own photography business. It’s been 6 months now, which seem to have gone by in an instant, and I have learnt a huge amount. Learning can be fun, but you tend to learn the biggest and most important things the hard way.
Going from the corporate world to the freelance world has some huge benefits as I am sure you can imagine, but it does present many new, and different challenges. I’ve been thinking about this post for a while, and I hope I can pass on some of my top tips and also the things to watch out for, as well as the challenges.
Top Tips
- Have a very, very clear idea what you are going to do and what you are going to offer your clients. For me, with theappleofmyi, I help all sizes of businesses with their marketing to improve their results, focusing specifically with online marketing, customer engagement and leveraging their web-presence.
- Have a good name for your company and make sure you own the domain - it needs to be easily typed and also memorable.
- Own your own name online, for example, www.jonnymoss.com
- Embrace social media, so people can find you easily, and you can tell people about what you do. For example, my Linkedin profile here.
- Spend some money on getting a good brand identity - believe me, there is no excuse to look shoddy and unprofessional. Make sure your identity is consistent across all your materials.
- Get a website up immediately telling the world what you do - I need a right good slap for this one, as mine is still in development (my fault to be honest), but not far off. However, I have had this blog running for over 2 years which has provided somewhere for people to read about me and what I do.
- Use your friends - word of mouth is the BEST form of advertising - people trust the opinions of friends and this form of advertising is free!
- Always have your business cards handy, and make sure they are of good quality. Don’t be caught out without one (I did, and it was not pretty).
- Plan your expenses and make sure you have some money in reserve to cover the vital bills and mortgage. I would really watch out with spending on things that you don’t need.
- Make sure you are using a Mac - you will save time and money in the long run!
- Make sure you backup any client work - burn DVDs of client’s work, store it online and if you want to be really careful, dump files to an external hard drive and give it to a friend to look after - you can get it back and add files when you want.
- Use every means possible to get people to check out your website - url car stickers, Google ads, blogging, sending out press releases, and get a decent e newsletter set up, where you can give tips and help.
- Above all, underpromise and over deliver.
Challenges
- Making sure you meet your client’s expectations - be very, very clear what you are going to do for them.
- Make sure you get clients to sign off on stages of work - you will then both be on the same page and have no reason for confusion.
- Keeping to deadlines - get things in writing, when things are going to be done, even when working with people you know well
- Working at home - you will likely be working from home and a HUGE challenge is being able to focus on your work, and not on all the small household chores which always need doing. I am hoping to have a garden office at some point, but this is a long way off!
- Finding new clients - make sure you have lots of ideas to get your name in front of people who may be in need of your services. I have a wealth of ideas ready to go, but I need my website up and running first!
- Keeping track of all the info and communication you get from clients and also possible new clients. If you want something simple, that works, try 37 Signals’ online offerings, Highrise, for contact management and also Basecamp (project management). They are superb, great value and the feedback I have had for Basecamp from clients, has been really good. They love having everything to do with the project online, in one place and available at all times.
I hope this post will be of use to anyone who is starting out on their own. The rewards are huge, but there are also many new challenges to overcome. I am sure I have left off quite a few things I had planned to write about, so I will be writing some more posts in the future - there is still a lot for me to learn!
Presentation skills - 5 easy tips for you
One of the things I really don’t miss in the slightest from my old corporate life is bad presentations.
Presentations can be bad for two main reasons:
- The content is bad, and it is badly formatted
- The presenter is bad and does not know how to present
If you get a combination of the two, you know you’re in trouble and the traffic outside the meeting room window suddenly becomes fascinating. There are a number of things that I would recommend doing if you are going to be presenting soon, and this can be to an audience of 2 or 200, or indeed 2000.
5 easy ways you to help your presentation skills:
1. Watch the video below from Guy Kawasaki and take heed.
2. Don’t use Powerpoint, buy a Mac and use Keynote - a thousand times better (people are VERY tired of Powerpoint).
Presentations with Keynote can really engage people, in a slick and professional manner and you know the most important bit? It’s not Powerpoint.
3. Have a look at Andy Bounds’ site and sign up for his email newsletter - he is a presentation guru and has some great information, most of it for free. One of his most interesting points is that you think you need a lot of great content in the middle of your presentation. This is not true, you need a big start and a memorable ending, as this is when the audience’s attention is at it’s peak. Most people will be dozing in the middle of your presentation, (ok, unless you are Steve Jobs), but you bet they will be waking up when they sense the end is in sight - get your points over then and do it well.
4. Know your audience. Research them, know what they are interested in and make sure you tailor your presentation to their needs and not yours. A great tip Andy Bounds gave me was never, ever go in and do a sales pitch where you do what 98% if people do - tell the people all about you and your company. They know that already. Tell them what they want to hear, tell them about their challenges and how you are going to provide solutions.
5. Lastly practice. Goes without saying really, but I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve seen people read from their slides or get flustered when they lose their place. Practice makes perfect. It’s true.
This is not the definitive list of presentation tips, but they have all helped me in the past. Practice, and have some fun and look like you are enjoying yourself, even if you feel terrible!
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BBC News- You may like to read this...
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