3 Questions to Keep Your Employees Engaged and Passionate

"What should I do with my life?" is a question many people ask themselves when they hit a crossroads. Author Po Bronson asked the same question and it became a book by that title, filled with stories of individual journeys through jobs, startups and dreams of something better or different. As small business owners, we want to make sure that when employees hit a crossroads we have an answer that keeps them excited to stay at the company.
Eric Jackson, Forbes blogger, recently did a post on the "Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail to Keep Their Best Talent" that received almost two million views. While I agree with all ten of his reasons, the one that I believe impacts small business the most is the second item on his list: "Failing to find a project for the talent that ignites there passion."
Jackson writes: “Big companies have many moving parts—by definition. Therefore, they usually don’t have people going around to their best and brightest asking them if they’re enjoying their current projects or if they want to work on something new that they’re really interested in which would help the company …  The bosses are also usually tapped out on time and this becomes a 'nice to have' rather than 'must have' conversation. However, unless you see it as a 'must have,' say adios to some of your best people. Top talent isn’t driven by money and power, but by the opportunity to be a part of something huge, that will change the world, and for which they are really passionate. Big companies usually never spend the time to figure this out with those people.”
Two major things come to mind from this short excerpt. The first is that we have an opportunity to recruit some great talent that is tired of the big corporate grind. The second one is we face the same predicament and we shouldn’t wait to have the conversations that allow an employee or partner to grow and develop as a person who wants to make a difference. Even in small companies, there is room for this kind of thinking and action.
From memory, there is a section in Po Bronson’s book where he explains that through hundreds of interviews one thing remained clear: People want to contribute and share their passion in the workplace, to do good and meaningful work. Not everyone wants to go out and start their own business, but almost everyone desires to make a difference. These three questions are ones that have popped up in my conversations with small business leaders and startup entrepreneurs who have a loyal team.
1. Where do you want to go in your career or work experience? Then really listen to the answer and see if it meshes with any of your vision and plans for the future. You could discover that your staff has precisely the talent you need to launch that new product or project.
2. What do you do in your free time? While I’ve not seen this written much about elsewhere, I’ve heard it numerous times from the employee as both a complaint (as in you never asked about me) and a praise (wow, the company really cares). You may find that a person does something in his or her free time that you could support in your local community with dollars or some time off.
3. How can I help you succeed and get the job done? You can’t allow a pat answer to this question. You have to let your employee or team know that they can truly raise their hand and say “this is where I really need help.”  Then go about getting them the resources they need.

18:55 by Robert dawne · 0

5 Components of a Successful Marketing Plan

What makes a good marketing plan? You can measure it by the decisions that follow, the business it generates and how well it's implemented. A brilliant marketing plan that is not executed is worth much less than a mediocre marketing plan that's carried out.
The plan's value is in the success of the business.
Within this general framework, successful marketing plans have several key elements. I’ll use examples from the restaurant business because it's familiar to most people.
1. Market focus
“I don’t know the secret to success, but I do know that the secret to failure is trying to please everybody,” said Bill Cosby. Good marketing plans define target markets narrowly. A restaurant’s target market might be families, couples, baby boomers, teenagers, children, date nights, busy and rushed working people, or some combination.
You won’t find a restaurant that works for a baby boomer couple’s night out also working for families with small children. Choose. Divide and conquer.
2. Product focus
Product focus matches market focus. If you want baby boomers’ date nights, then serve good food. If you want families with kids, then serve food quickly, make the menu items relatively cheap and, of course, the food has to be safe.
Sushi doesn’t sell on price. Drive-through windows don’t deliver fast food.
3. Concrete, measurable specifics
A good marketing plan is full of dates and details. Strategy probably drives a good plan, but tactics, programs and details make the difference. As much as possible, the plan has to tie results back to activities and come up with hard numbers to measure those results.
A restaurant cannot have vague goals like having the best-tasting food. It needs specifics that are related to marketing message, insertions, posts, tweets, dinners served, return visits, members of the e-mail list, reviews, stars and so forth.
The key is to take a plan and think ahead about how you’ll know whether it was implemented. Will you be able to tell?
4. Responsibility and accountability
Groups and committees get little done. Assign every part of a marketing plan to a specific person. Measure the results of every task and be sure a person is responsible for it. Peer pressure is important: The people executing the plan have to be accountable for measurable results. Failure has to hurt, and achievement has to be rewarded.
An old joke: How do you see involvement vs. commitment in a bacon-and-egg breakfast? Answer: The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. A good marketing plan needs commitment, not just involvement.
5. Reviews and revisions
Every successful marketing plan is actually a planning process, not just a plan. Things change too fast for static plans. A good marketing plan is part of a process that involves setting goals, measuring results and tracking performance. It entails regular review and revision.
If the group running the marketing plan isn’t meeting once a month to compare the plan with actual results and make course corrections, there is no marketing plan.
Photo credit: iStockphoto

17:42 by Robert dawne · 0