November 2010
7 posts
Termination Tips
Terminating underperforming employees is one of the most distasteful parts of management. No one likes to do it but not terminating poor performers can lead to the demise of your business. In my 35+ years in business I have terminated a lot more people than I would like to admit. Many of the terminations were my fault in that I never should’ve hired some of those people in the first place....
Tips on Buying a Computer System
Buying a computer system for your business is a very complex undertaking and entire books have been written on how to select a computer system, so this is just a list of tips based upon the 15 years I spent in the computer system business and the last nine as a system user.
First select the software that fits your business best and then select the computer hardware. It always amazes me to see a...
Customer Satisfaction and Net Promoter Scores
I think most businesspeople are in agreement that high customer satisfaction leads to high profits and low customer satisfaction leads to bankruptcy court. When I bought my current company in 2001 I commissioned a customer satisfaction survey so I would have a baseline to measure whether customer satisfaction increased or decreased on my watch. The Internet was in its infancy then, and the vast...
Non Competition Agreements
Non Competition Agreements, or “noncompetes” as they are more commonly known are almost always controversial, and in some states, such as California (surprise, surprise), illegal. They are controversial because no employee ever likes to sign one. However, as an employer, I require one from management and both inside and outside sales. I require a noncompete from management because they have...
Run your company like you're going to sell it...
I have purchased five companies in my career and most of the sellers didn’t get what they should have for their company because they didn’t run it like they were going to sell it tomorrow. Most small to medium-sized businesses are run as “lifestyle companies”. By that I mean they are run mainly to support the lifestyle of the owner or owners and their families. Most owners have multiple family...
Some Thoughts on Marketing
A lot of people are confused as to the difference between sales and marketing. Earlier in my career, I was too. What cleared up the distinction for me was when I read this definition of marketing: “Everything that takes place before and after the sale”. When you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. Marketing is comprised of a lot of things. To name but a few it includes your logo, the signs...
Hiring for Attitude
When you are hiring what do you look for? When I ask most people this question I generally hear, “Experience in my business”. While experience is a good thing to have most hiring managers make the job offer to the person they find that has the most experience in their business. I submit to you that isn’t the best way to hire. I know this from experience.
When I was first made a manager and had to...
