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Casual Articles - Back To Square One!
The interview follow up letter can make or break your chances of becoming hired. For that reason it should become an essential part of your job hunting tool box, right in there with the other tools you use: resume, cover letter, thank you note, reference sheet and salary history.Think of the letter as a second chance. Some people don’t interview in person as well as they c
I admire his tenacity and wish him well for the future but these two tales tell us so much that should be applied as normal business practice.
Never rely on a single customer, never stop marketing, prepare an annual business plan with
Back, (maybe I should say "way back") in the '80's, as a senior manager in Hewlett Packard Ltd.,UK, I was regularly asked to give talks to groups from both the public and private sectors.The most common themes were People Development, Performance Appraisal, Continuous Improvement and "Managing Change"I suppose it would be fair to say that my 'presen
Sounds obvious but how many do it? I am a self confessed infoholic. My addiction is information on topics that interest me; world affairs/politics, business and sport. I am interested in ‘cause and effect’ so the net result is I read a lot.
Not just novels like most people but what interests me. It’s amazing what you see, what it means and what you learn.
Recently I came across two short articles in the same journal on facing pages and they said so much about why people fail in business and yet, do people ever learn?
One article gave statistics on businesses failing from cash flow problems and the other was about a business that went down because it’s single largest customer placed it’s business elswhere.
In summary it goes like this; a survey revealed that in the UK 100,000 businesses fail each year because their owners fail to do any financial planning.
25% of firms never set any financial targets and 35% have never set aside funds for employee development. 20% admitted to beginning to plan when it was too late and 50% blamed this on not having enough time. They were surprised to learn that these causes of failure were greater than adverse trading conditions.
The failed business was a very cost sensitive business that did sub contract machining. It had been established 49 years and employed 12 people.
It was dropped by it’s single biggest customer. The owner has now re started as a ‘sole trader’ doing the same subcontract machining and ‘working all hours’ to survive.
He says he has learned his lesson and will not carry out work for businesses in the sector of the company that dropped him and is now doing work for other businesses.
I admire his tenacity and wish him well for the future but these two tales tell us so much that should be applied as normal business practice.
Never rely on a single customer, never stop marketing, prepare an annual business plan with
There are never any guarantees that you will always hire the right employee. However, there are ten important areas that you must cover that will give you the best information to use in your hiring decisions. We will assume that you have posted the open position, and you have some applicants that seem suitable for the job.The first important tip is be thoroughly prepared
Recently I came across two short articles in the same journal on facing pages and they said so much about why people fail in business and yet, do people ever learn?
One article gave statistics on businesses failing from cash flow problems and the other was about a business that went down because it’s single largest customer placed it’s business elswhere.
In summary it goes like this; a survey revealed that in the UK 100,000 businesses fail each year because their owners fail to do any financial planning.
25% of firms never set any financial targets and 35% have never set aside funds for employee development. 20% admitted to beginning to plan when it was too late and 50% blamed this on not having enough time. They were surprised to learn that these causes of failure were greater than adverse trading conditions.
The failed business was a very cost sensitive business that did sub contract machining. It had been established 49 years and employed 12 people.
It was dropped by it’s single biggest customer. The owner has now re started as a ‘sole trader’ doing the same subcontract machining and ‘working all hours’ to survive.
He says he has learned his lesson and will not carry out work for businesses in the sector of the company that dropped him and is now doing work for other businesses.
I admire his tenacity and wish him well for the future but these two tales tell us so much that should be applied as normal business practice.
Never rely on a single customer, never stop marketing, prepare an annual business plan with
In any type of business, one of the most important aspects is your employee morale. While this may sound like some type of HR buzzword, it is a vital piece of the puzzle. Unhappy workers produce less work. Not to mention, the quality of the work usually leaves something to be desired. Happy workers produce more quality work. This is a simple fact of the business world. Whethe
25% of firms never set any financial targets and 35% have never set aside funds for employee development. 20% admitted to beginning to plan when it was too late and 50% blamed this on not having enough time. They were surprised to learn that these causes of failure were greater than adverse trading conditions.
The failed business was a very cost sensitive business that did sub contract machining. It had been established 49 years and employed 12 people.
It was dropped by it’s single biggest customer. The owner has now re started as a ‘sole trader’ doing the same subcontract machining and ‘working all hours’ to survive.
He says he has learned his lesson and will not carry out work for businesses in the sector of the company that dropped him and is now doing work for other businesses.
I admire his tenacity and wish him well for the future but these two tales tell us so much that should be applied as normal business practice.
Never rely on a single customer, never stop marketing, prepare an annual business plan with
“You’re in good hands.” “Leave the driving to us.” “It’s your store.” “Helping make your life easier.” “We’re in your corner.” We’ve heard all the slogans: companies promise to treat their customers like royalty. Everyone claims to have superior customer service. But does everyone deliver? A RightNow Technologies survey named poor customer service as the #1 reason people st
The failed business was a very cost sensitive business that did sub contract machining. It had been established 49 years and employed 12 people.
It was dropped by it’s single biggest customer. The owner has now re started as a ‘sole trader’ doing the same subcontract machining and ‘working all hours’ to survive.
He says he has learned his lesson and will not carry out work for businesses in the sector of the company that dropped him and is now doing work for other businesses.
I admire his tenacity and wish him well for the future but these two tales tell us so much that should be applied as normal business practice.
Never rely on a single customer, never stop marketing, prepare an annual business plan with
When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, the cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. So the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brou
I admire his tenacity and wish him well for the future but these two tales tell us so much that should be applied as normal business practice.
Never rely on a single customer, never stop marketing, prepare an annual business plan with costed goals and timed targets.
Manage against that plan and review progress making adjustments in accordance with the trading position. At all times control cash flow and only spend when you can afford to. Simple but so effective and as important as any ‘day to day’ task.
My experience is that many business owners have a job working for themselves. They do tasks ‘in the business’ and though this is necessary when starting a business the objective must be to develop the business by working ‘on it’ not ‘in it’.
If our business owner had set a financial plan with a costed marketing plan to acquire one new customer in each of the 49 years history - would it have gone bust? I believe not. I am almost certain that in many of those years he was busy working ‘in’ the business not ‘on’ it.
No matter what type of business you consider continuous, targeted and costed marketing is crucial. No customers, no cash flow, no business.
Tip: Look, Listen, Learn and take strong firm action. Do the thing you think you cannot do,
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