The Best Reason You Should Treat Your Employees Well

A simple observation of the employees’ behavior says a lot about how they are treated by their bosses. If the employee is sad faced, indifferent to the fate of the customer or demonstrating volcanic tendencies; that says enough without having to check out the back staff. In whatever you choose to do in business, it is critical that you constantly focus on the best reason why you should treat your employees well.

Remember that your employees are the actual soul of the business. The biggest challenge I have constantly come across in developing best customer service practices in most companies is when the employees are grossly demotivated by the mean conduct of their immediate supervisors or negative attitude of their bosses. Unhappy employees are a major risk to your business credibility.

The truth is that your workers will treat your customer the same way they are treated.

The service team usually poses questions like:

1. Why should we care more about this business when the owner or manager doesn’t show that they care as much?

2. Why should we be nice to customers when our bosses are rude to us?

3. When we are treated as outsiders to the business, what should motivate us to act like insiders?

4. How can we act confidently and enthusiastically when we are constantly subjected to intense intimidation from our bosses?

It is about time you learn to thank your service team and find ways to let them know how important they are. Treat your employees with courtesy and I bet that they will have a higher regard for customers.

Appreciation flows from the top just like family values are built from parents to children. Treating your employees well is as important as it is to treat your customers well. Employees draw their inspiration or demotivation from management. Do you greet your employees enthusiastically each day [with the john Wanamaker trade mark hearty ‘good morning’]; are you polite in your dealings with them; do you try to accommodate their requests; do you listen to them when they speak?

Consistent rude customer service is a reflection not as much on the employee as it is on management. Employees can be unpleasant. If they get pushed around and treated wrongly, they can choose to spend more time trying to “get even” than trying to get results. They can deliberately do things to drive your customers away; unhappy employees will drive away more business than the business owners brings in through advertising.

Every employee should be inspired to protect and preserve the customer’s trust and loyalty.

Should you ever forget the best reason why you should treat your employees well, at least strive to remember this;

treating employees well is the golden hammer; it will open any door.

 

Make Your Talent Feed You

There is no greater life advantage than the ability that sticks with a person from the cradle to the grave. I believe that nature intended every person and other creatures, to live by their strengths. It did not intend anyone to live through imitation, forgery, incompetence or unfitted endeavors. That is the main reason you and me were born with our talents and gift to act as our life compass. Your talent is your north star. You can hardly get lost or failed by it. It speaks within your nature; it constantly calls to you. It is your most certain saving grace.

We all know that the journey through life is dotted by stiff and suffocating competition for position and income. Your talent is your competitive advantage. See, everyone is born with a competitive advantage. Some people just neglect their advantage. The challenge for most people is whether they can identify their talent or if they are willing to live by it. Living by your talent implies commercializing your talents and gifts to make them fund your livelihood and grant you a position among men and/or women. Indeed all work in the world calls for some talent or gift. There is no talent or gift that is not called for in one career of another. But whether the talent owner will respond to the call is the decision of the hour.

Talent undeveloped is raw ability. It is always present but stunted by the lack of attention in major utilization. Your natural talent is a very loyal servant and never departs its master to the grave. Think about that wasted potential and opportunity to make it feed you. Your talent is always willing to pay its rent when called upon.

Let me give you five reasons why you should make your talent feed you;

1. 1.       It is inborn – you don’t have to acquire it

Whether you give your talent attention or not, you have it. It is stuck with you. Even when you don’t know what talent you exactly have; it stays alive within you. It is one with and only death will do you part – it only dies when you die. Your talent is just like your shadow. You don’t have to gamble to acquire it, it is inherent in you. It is your natural expression.  It is your natural bent. Ignoring your talent is a deliberate choice to live life on your weaker and artificial qualities than to live by your robust and natural power.

1. 2.       It doesn’t struggle to shine – it is your natural expression

There is no better way to reveal the genius in you than through following your bend. As others are busy learning and fumbling to acquire the talent you already have, you will just be polishing it to shine brighter.

I didn’t say it won’t need some hard work; I said that any effort in the direction of your talent is sure to take you to a higher level. Your other body faculties are designed and shaped to support your talent. Your brain has more active cells that could serve the mastery of your talent than any other life endeavor.

1. 3.       Your talent horns your passion

Have you noticed how people struggle to love what they do if it is not natural to them? Have you observed how the tormenting it is to be assigned a task which is out of your ability to excel at? When your best effort produces fair results? Can you ever say the worker is passionate about work which always exposes them as second best?

Your talent is the easiest thing to cultivate passion for. You love it. It makes sense to you. With each attempt you notice massive improvement. Your esteem is high when demonstrating it. And because of your passion, you are easily employable in that line of work because your enthusiasm and positive attitude shines throw. You like the challenges in that area of work because you know that there is nothing you can’t do regarding that task … you will be convinced that you can master anything you want if you get a good teacher or source of knowledge.

1. 4.       It has value – People are willing to pay for it

Every talent can help solve a problem. And we all know that the most common reward for solving a problem is money. And besides solving a problem, it can be a source of giving pleasure. It is one of the best ways of demonstrating that you are useful to the world.

In today’s dollar infested world, we all pay for whatever we value. We pay story tellers, singers, physicians, lawyers, painters, designers, thinkers, writers, teachers, coaches, babysitters, cooks, farmers and all the rest. Why? Because of the value and comfort that their work adds to our lives.

However, who is willing and happy to pay bad or mediocre story tellers, singers, physicians, lawyers, painters, designers, thinkers, writers, teachers, coaches, babysitters, cooks, farmers and all the rest? Not me and most probably not you too. This means that the value of your talent is in direct proportion to the degree of polish it demonstrates. The finer the more valuable; the reverse is true.

1. 5.       You don’t mind getting more money and more happiness – do you?

Even if you already hooked to some line of work that you consider more paying, the fact is that you wouldn’t mind any additional or side income that the use of you talent could generate. Every line of talent will offer you lots of openings to participate. There are active and passive roles in every talent depending on how much time you have to dedicate to it and the level of energy left in your limbs to express it.

Any way you participate will earn you lots depending on the results you are committed to produce. Develop that confidence and explore the power of being unique.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then you will as well like more tips on How to Commercialize Your Talent which I am writing and sure to post here soon.

Please feel free to leave your comments or insights about this subject. I will sure respond to all your observations.

 

The Top Disaster to Business Credibility

Nothing undermines a relationship faster than broken promises. It is a mark of a weakness in character for a person or a business to find convenience in making empty assurances to earn vain gratitude rather than make genuine efforts to help the situation. It is betrayal incarnate. Broken promises are the top disaster to business credibility. Must I mention that they are VERY common in most business interactions?

Promises, in most cases, are made to demonstrate a high level of courtesy and care to a customer. However, the real thing that a promise increases is the degree of the customer’s expectation. The more the promises made, the higher the anticipation created.

Of course you may well say that most promises are broken due to factors beyond your control. But I have a question for you; do you think that your customers think the same way – as you do? Do you think in their dissatisfaction and frustration they are thinking about your good reasons why you under delivered? May be not.

Promises increase the weight of responsibility upon the one who makes them.

Whatever business you are running and whatever role you play in your business development, tension arises when expectations are not met in the eyes of the customers. This subtracts value from you in your customers’ eyes; slows the speed of your business development and puts a dent in your business image.

Indeed in most cases, it is after cases of broken promises that you will receive customer feedback like, “They are good people but they are not reliable.”, “So and so can ably do that but don’t place much hope in them.” Once customers develop a belief that they cannot rely on you, you have lost their trust.

It is always far better to “under promise and over deliver”. This will pay off greatly.

Promises serve as a score card to rate a business’ credibility or reliability. If you promise, “Your new furniture will be delivered this Thursday”, make sure it is delivered on Thursday. Otherwise, don’t say it. The same rule applies to client appointments, deadlines and other dealings. There are many ways in which business promises can be broken but that will be a topic for another day.

Think before you give any promise – because nothing annoys or creates irate customers for your business more than a broken promise. Whatever the good intentions, don’t pledge from the excitement of the moment and forget the position that your promise places you and your business image in.

The greatest of people and businesses are measured by how far they go in delivering their promise – however big or small. They can be measured by their promise; they can be taken at their word.

Their word still carries the sacred devotion only reserved for legal commitments. To them, heaven means honoring their agreement. Do not guarantee what you cannot deliver.

 

What Kills Great Entrepreneurship Dreams?

Most entrepreneurs start well but many end with frustrating business results. They are largely victims of self sabotage – which is the essence of this article. There are, no doubt, several other reasons that deserve mention when examining flawed business individuals but self sabotage claims bearing on most of them. An entrepreneur who ardently fights self sabotage virtually prevents the occurrence of over 80% of the factors that hinder entrepreneurial success. Surviving self sabotage calls for the activation of key attributes latent within most entrepreneurs – if not all. In this article, I am going to point out how it kills great entrepreneural dreams and suggest vital considerations to prevent it.

Self sabotage implies conduct that makes it difficult or even impossible to achieve one’s purpose. It resonates with the analogy of struggling to reach west while moving east; when your intentions or goals are pointing in one direction while your behavior and choices points in another. Nothing compromises the speed and thwarts the possibilities of attaining a great entrepreneurial goal like self sabotage. It turns one into their own worst enemy. How many business people today hold good motives and strategies yet constantly stumble in self destructive practices – unawares? Practices which literary put their aims in greater difficulty to achieve than before. Like addiction binds one to the drug of their own slow death, self sabotage binds a person on the tether on their own entrepreneurial defeat. The sad bit is that it is usually the last thing to receive mention during business performance assessments.

One of the greatest faculties that drive top personal effectiveness in business and private life is focus. Like light displaces darkness, focus displaces self sabotage. Focus is the constant discipline of one’s thoughts, passions and actions to obey and serve a particular purpose. To the person of focus; there is no turning to the right nor to the left; no dreaming away time, nor building air-castles; but one look and purpose, forward, upward and onward, straight to his goal. There is no substitute to focus. The ability to identify and sustain attention toward a great aim. It is the pillar upon which all other lessons in personal development and business profitability gain bearing. Focus sharpens all other human faculties and makes them ready and available for maximum utility.

Most entrepreneurs begin with high dreams and lofty ambitions; they know what they want to get. However, the bigger challenge is: they don’t know what to sacrifice. That alone does not only stunt their clarity but compromises their choices. They find themselves making (or not making) critical decisions which affect the tempo and direction of their enterprises.

One sure fact is that whatever choice one makes, there have to be sacrifices. Some sacrifices in the long run may seem more costly and painful than earlier anticipated. It could be changing friends, jobs, dressing code, spending priorities, location, hobbies or even personality… from the familiar to a completely unfamiliar territory. In such hard moments, one’s intensity of focus is tried; despair sets in and thousands of great entrepreneurs are persuaded to succumb to the different pressures, they draw back to the old ineffective patterns, they opt for the easier ways out and resort to flow along paths of less resistance and before they know it, their focus has been drifting bit by bit from their earlier goal. Their dreams are changed or killed by their stubbornness of not wanting to pay the price or make the sacrifice needed to nurture the dream. However, one should never lose the focus and solid believe that their entrepreneurial dream or the eventual achievement will definitely be worth more than sacrifices made along the way. To strengthen focus and displace self sabotage to this end, consider these five tips;

1. Make a worthwhile choice that you are ready to sacrifice for. Like the classical writer, Goethe, taught “The most important thing in life is to have a great aim and to possess the aptitude and perseverance to attain it”. Whatever business, course of study, professional competence or line of life that you choose to dedicate your time, money and effort to, let it be worth the trouble.  This is the first step to building focus – attaching it to an end result. Strengthen your focus by solidifying the conviction within (convincing yourself) that you have within you (and you are ready to put in) what it takes to achieve your aim.

 

2. List the things that you have to acquire to accelerate the speed to your attainment. Reflect upon the price you will have to pay and be in harmony with the sacrifice. The model precedes the statue. If the model is erect, the statue cannot be stooped. Find out what knowledge, attitudes and skills you critically need to attain your targets … and embark on a self improvement program to master them.

 

3. Identify the things that you have to let go. Michael Angelo had to endure long spells of a solitary life to create for himself chunks of uninterrupted time for reflection and creativity. “Why do you live such a solitary life,” asked a friend of Michael Angelo. “Art is a jealousy mistress,” answered the artist, “she requires the whole man.” What will you have to deliberately live without in order to give more of you to your goal? Byron always said that there was simply no way a person could claim the right of a giant while living a pygmy’s life style. The reason you probably didn’t attain your aim earlier is because your old self had errors and omissions (in knowledge, skills and attitudes). Choose to give up whatever sabotages the attainment of something you regard very important to you.

 

4. Appreciate the journey as you await your destination. When the grand aim delays to arrive, resist the temptation of despising the small improvements made along the way. Most worthy targets take a while to come because of the turns and twists of each trade; it may take hours, days, weeks, months or even years but the most important thing in reserving a high intensity of focus is ‘counting your blessings’. Each passing day should make you a better person, move you a step closer and testify that you are steadily progressing. Once you develop the habit of treating each small improvement as an achievement, you will fill your mind with a core memory of mini achievements. This will increase your excitement, motivation and endurance toward your bigger goal…no matter the hardships.

 

5. Know what to ignore. Focusing on many things at the same time divides attention and weakens concentration. Most people know what path to take but few people know what to ignore along the way. Letting every news, rumor, bad emotion, argument or fear suck your attention will definitely weaken your focus. Like one great thinker observed; to kill a person’s goal, just give them another. The moment focus shifts, your resources and passion will shift as well. Distractions are like clouds and fog, it is only a martial faculty of focus that can penetrate them straight. Decide that whatever doesn’t move you toward your aim is not worthy dedicating much of your time, money and energy on.

Like one selects different foods from a buffet, one needs to deliberately acquire or reject different personal and professional attributes along the path of business development. The food not chosen is not bad per se but it may not fit one’s health aspirations or could be utterly repulsive to one’s constructed sense of taste. Know what qualities to let go for the good of your entrepreneurial dreams. Food is to man what character is to a goal. Just as most people dig their graves using their teeth, many people sabotage their own purposes by way of their conduct. Most food experts say ‘you are what you eat’ while philosophers say ‘your performance can not rise above the quality of your character’.

As a rule, focus and self discipline must be deliberately developed in the fabric of an entrepreneur’s character if they are to succeed in the affairs of business and human relations.

What in your observation and reflection has been the biggest cause of failed entrepreneurial attempts at creating successful businesses?

 

The Power of Appearance!

Appearance is a selling mark of professionalism today more than ever before. There are two chief factors in good appearance; cleanliness of body and comeliness of attire. Usually these two go together. Neatness of attire demonstrates the sanitary care of the person, while outward slovenliness suggests carelessness for appearance that probably goes deeper than the clothes covering the body. Like non-verbal communication, appearance says more about a person even before they open their mouth. To confine a smart brain in a shabby appearance is self sabotage.

Studies continue to reveal that appearance is the single most intangible quality about something which does not solicit a neutral response. It is either attractive or repulsive. It either inspires interest or broods indifference.

One does not need to be rich to appear well – anyone with the desire to look good can. Appearance entails the proper care of the hair, the hands and the teeth. To maintain an incredible body cleanliness and neatness just requires little more than a small amount of time and the correct use of soap and water. The hair, of course, should be combed or brushed.

Nothing can be more offensive in man or woman than a foul breath, and no one can have neglected teeth without reaping this consequence. We all know how disagreeable it is to be anywhere near a person whose breath is bad. It is positively disgusting.

The same care should be given to all other usually neglected body parts and accessories that could disgust those about us; the feet, the arm-pits, the ears, the nails, the nose, etc. I emphasize that neglect does not imply natural defects. We all have body parts or organs that are under or over developed. The size and shape does not matter. The cardinal duty is to take great care of our body and attire at all time- no matter how humble they may be. It is not the shabbiness that is unavoidable, but the slovenliness that is avoidable, that the world frowns upon. No one, no matter how poor he may be, will be excused for wearing a dirty coat, a crumpled collar, or muddy shoes.

No customer wishes to do business with a person who contaminates the atmosphere. Many an applicant has been denied the position they sought because of bad teeth or lousy attire. In an interesting study by the American National Association of Colleges and Employers, 49% of employers surveyed in 2005 found that non-traditional attire would be a “strong influence” on their opinion of a potential job candidate. The cost of lousy appearance is not imaginary but real. Though it is true that bad teeth don’t prevent the owner from laughing, they may limit his or her positive influence.

Let it therefore be your first duty to give your appearance your best effort before serving a customer or dealing with others. Even in the social arena, a dirty and shabby appearance has ended many relationships and stood in the way of great prospective relationship opportunities. We cannot fully estimate the total advantages and spontaneous opportunities that a good appearance will give a man or woman throughout their social and business life. Smart people are easy to like and to trust. This explains why most sales people feel more confident and convincing when looking smart – and they eventually make more sales than their shabby counterparts. Other studies show that customers are proud to do business with people and companies. A change in appearance can influence sales – and employment opportunities.

“In civilized society,” says Johnson, “external advantages make us more respected. A man with a good coat upon his back meets with a better reception than he who has a bad one.”

Do not be deceived, every business is show business. And in show business, people base on impression to estimate value. A good appearance is irresistible. We usually expect honey to be beneath a beautiful flower – not mentioning a sweet fragrance. And reverse could be true. Most people do not expect much from a dirty, shabby and ill-looking front desk officer. The old adage emphasises that cleanliness is next to Godliness. This is another way of suggesting that ‘dirtiness is next to evil’. In fact, most people are offended when they meet someone appearing less than they should – grace in dirt or awkward wear.

It is said that never judge a book by its cover but to this day, men and women still judge books according to their covers. It is for this reason that branding has taken centre stage in business – not only for products but also of people.

What has been your experience with this key life skill?