Small business problem; problem employees

As any small business owner with employees has learned, finding good employees can be one of the biggest challenges. In small retail businesses, turnover and reliability are big concerns while in other business types, dedication and personalities cause problems.

The net effects of employee problems in a small business are significant; decreased morale, lost sales, lost customers and strained relations with vendors. Employees who have difficult or abrasive personalities can single-handedly ruin the work environment for other employees, tick off existing customers, prospective customers and vendors and hurt profits. How does a small business owner confront problems with a difficult employee?

Preparation goes a long way towards dealing with difficult employees as well as a number of other challenges. Make certain you have a record of every incident where the employee triggered resentment in dealings with another employee, customer or vendor. The disruptive employee needs to be made aware of his or her behavior and the impact on others in their work environment. The employee should confirm that they understand the consequences of their behavior.

At this point, the small business owner or the employee’s manager should coach the problem employee, showing them a more appropriate set of behaviors. As the employee improves, feedback from the owner or manager can help reinforce the employees improved behavior. The pattern of behavior and the corrective steps should be well-documented.

Some problem employees may fail to recognize their disruption and may not be willing to buy into a corrective proposal. Termination should be an option when all else fails.

What your employees want

For the employees who are not a problem but who are not hitting on all cylinders either, there are methods to motivate those employees. Employees like recognition, especially when that recognition celebrates their good work and achievements. Recognition is even more important than money. Let me say that again, recognition is even more important than money. The motivation that a bonus produces is short-lived compared to recognition.

Dr. David Javitch, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Employee Management columnist offers small business owners 10 suggestions for motivating employees. Make a point of praising employees for a job well done or even partially well done. Involve employees, who seem bored, in discussions of job satisfaction and career path promotions based on attaining goals. Make clear your expectations for task accomplishment. Make certain that the employee’s job description includes a variety of tasks.

Javitch continues, ensure that the employee can see that what he or she is doing impacts the whole process. Make certain that the employee realizes that their function and contribution is meaningful. Provide regular feedback, regardless of whether or not that feedback is negative or positive. Provide employees with a certain amount of autonomy based on your experience with their previous accomplishments. Increase the employees’ responsibilities and provide the employee with ‘adequate opportunity to succeed.’

You will notice that Dr. Javitch never mentioned bonuses or spot awards. He clearly differentiates the short-term benefits of a bonus versus the long-term motivation of appreciation.

Benefits of Audio Conferencing Important for Collaboration Planning

As companies in the United States and other industrialized nations have implemented telecommuting platforms and distributed workforces, there is an increased need for collaboration across geographic barriers. The two challenges that immediately come to mind with such scenarios are distance and time. How are these challenges overcome to facilitate collaboration and teamwork among colleagues?

Value of Face-to-Face Challenged

Company officials must ask themselves how important it is to have face-to-face collaboration among team members. If this is an absolute must, then significant budgets should be set aside to support the funding for travel and the cost associated with time taken away from core, revenue-generating activities.

If face-to-face is not as important as simply communication, one very powerful tool to drive productivity and teamwork is audio conferencing. While this technology has been around for a while now – and is facing fierce competition from Web conferencing solutions – solutions available on such a platform have come a long way since their inception.

New Controls Enhance Effectiveness of the Call

One very notable advantage to audio conferencing today is the amount of control a mediator has in facilitating the call. Not only can this individual invite specific callers to participate in the call, he or she can use software that has been integrated with such applications as Outlook to automatically add the scheduled call to participant calendars, ensuring an important call is not missed.

Audio conferencing today is also designed to keep the call moving forward, even if problems arise in the process. It isn’t unusual for an individual who is using a cell phone to participate in the call to drop a line. When this happens, they can easily be added back into the conversation, missing only seconds of the call itself.

Call Capture and Archiving

The ability to record the call and make it accessible for all participants later is also an important feature. Key points during a conversation can be missed if too many people are talking or one person continues to dominate the conversation. The ability to go back and review the information ensures the call was beneficial for all.

Of course the most obvious benefit to audio conferencing is the cost savings associated with the elimination of travel time. The company can cut the cost of covering employee travel cost and employees no longer must take time away from other initiatives in order to travel to a meeting. Audio conferencing allows the organization to maximize the benefit of the meeting while sacrificing very little to make this collaboration possible.

Cutting the Cost of Your Online Presence

how to create a free website for your organization

The challenge for many small businesses and not-for-profit organizations is how to develop a website without spending the entire marketing budget in the process. The answer may be easier than you think.

Wordpress was developed in 2003 as a blogging platform. It was the creation of several developers who collaborated and applied their talents to what would be a free, flexible means to blogging. The original concept grew and thrived until the number of users exploded with 3.8 million downloads in 2007 alone.

During its evolution, Wordpress went from a pure blogging platform to content management system built around the standard features of a blog. With the development of new themes or templates, Wordpress is able to take on more of a website appearance and less of a blog appearance. Here lies the potential savings for a small business or not-for-profit; Wordpress is free.

The original developers of Wordpress wanted to keep their creation a free, open-source project from the beginning and it remains so today. Because the open-source concept means that that Wordpress is enhanced through the work of non-paid volunteers, the organization keeps the blogging tool a free product.

Getting started is simple
So how does a small business or not-for-profit get started with a Wordpress-based website? It’s very easy. Wordpress offers two versions of their product; either Wordpress-hosted or self-hosted. This means that you can let Wordpress host your website or you can do it yourself through a hosting company. The latter is the preferred method since this offers much more flexibility and greater functionality.

To self-host, you would need an account with a hosting service. The hosting service should support Wordpress and should make installing Wordpress an easy task. If you are comparing hosting services, look for those that offer Simple Scripts or Fantastico for installing Wordpress. Also, if your organization doesn’t already have a domain name, you will want to make this small investment and get one. Domain names can be as little as ten dollars a year. Your domain name can only be used if you go the self-hosting route.

Your domain name should be on the name server at the hosting company you use. If you can’t figure out how to do this from the hosting services’ general instructions, then ask a customer or technical service person to do it for you. With the domain name on the hosting service’s name server, you should next use Fantastico or Simple Scripts to install Wordpress under that domain name.

Customize the look of your site without spending a dime
Now the fun part begins. One terrific advantage of Wordpress and the open-source concept is that thousands of web designers have created themes or templates to help style your new website. The Wordpress directory has more than a thousand alone. You can find their selection at http://wordpress.org/extend/themes

A search of the Internet using the terms ‘Wordpress’ + ‘themes’ + ‘free’ will result in pages of additional free themes. While shopping these free themes, it’s important to make certain that the one you select works with the newest version of Wordpress; most likely the version you installed.

In addition to themes, there are hundreds of ‘plug-ins’ that further enhance Wordpress’ capabilities. The search engines like Wordpress, so with the right domain name and keywords, your new site may eventually rank well with the search engines. This is also a function of adding enough good content. The cost of your new website; zero. The benefits; just as great as the site that could have dinged your budget for thousands.

Five Ways Audio and Web Conferencing Helps Small Businesses

Small businesses are flocking to audio and Web conferencing for many reasons and they are all about money. Choosing audio and Web conferencing over traditional methods helps small businesses by helping them save money and more of it. Here’s how:

Travel

Audio and Web conferencing services let small businesspeople cut out travel expenses. In some cases, they can do away with travel altogether. There is no reason to spend hundred on air fare and hotel rooms when the same tasks can be accomplished right from your office computer.

Time

The old adage, “time is money,” has never been more true. Technology has saved us time in so many ways. Audio and Web conferencing is just another example of how technology allows us to do more. Time spent traveling is unfruitful and wasteful. That time can be better used to develop closer client relationships, provide better customer service to existing customers and develop more leads.

Printed Marketing Materials

There is no longer a need to create expensive marketing pamphlets and proposals. PowerPoint presentations are much cheaper to produce and can be presented via Web conferencing. Marketing this way saves trees and saves your budget.

Shorter Sales Cycles

Audio and Web conferencing shortens the sales cycle dramatically. Deals that once took several phone calls, letters and visits to accomplish can now be completed in one fell swoop through Web conferencing. Salespeople can instantly show prospects a product demonstration, invite decision makers into the conference and close the deal on the spot. All the extra time can be used to general more leads, contact more prospects and close more sales.

Webinars

Some small businesses are actually using Web conferencing itself to make money. They hold educational webinars for paying participants. Webinars can also be used to create leads by attracting the type of customer a salesperson is seeking. The relationships developed from these events can create more leads and develop more sales.

Using Webinars for Marketing

Web Conferencing is a diverse tool that allows professionals an affordable way to create webinars for marketing purposes. The only real difference between web conferencing and a webinars is the number of attendees and the level of interaction between the moderator and participants. You can create webinars for up to 500 people with your web conferencing provider.

In a webinar, you arrange the meeting through an email campaign to prospects in your email list. You can use the promotion of your webinar to attract more visitors to your email list through a combination of PPC, article marketing and social media.

To connect users with the webinar, you send an email with a registration link and then send a second email with a link to the conference just before you begin. Webinars that provide free information of interest to your market segment are the most effective way to creating a solid bond of trust between you and your email list. This trust will make it easier to market your products to those individuals later.

It is a good idea to include a question and answer session or instant messaging service with your webinar so you can get feedback from your audience. It will also help you solidify your social connection with the webinar attendees. By recording the webinar, you create a presentation that you can leave on your website to attract even more visitors.

After a webinar, follow-through is vital. Be sure to send “thank you” notes to attendees and “sorry we missed you” notes to registrants who did not make it. You can use this opportunity to communicate with the registrants and build relationships. Be sure to offer a link for those who missed the webinar to watch it later.

Remote Product Support with Audio and Web Conferencing

Small businesses cannot afford unhappy customers. Growing and turning a profit requires that you continue to maintain satisfied existing customers while acquiring new ones. To accomplish this, you need an efficient, affordable and fast customer support system in place that benefits both your customer service support personnel and your customers. You are probably already using audio and Web conferencing for business contacts around the world, but have you considered what these services can do for your customer support operations?

Most companies maintain customer service agents through a call centers, instant messaging and email. While these are useful avenues, you can save a lot by switching to audio and Web conferencing for the majority of your customer service support questions. Audio conferencing is much more affordable than call centers and Web conferencing offers the benefits of sharing documents and applications with clients while providing instant messaging or voice communications at the same time.

By switching to Internet-based conferencing solutions for customer support, you are no longer limited geographically for your customer service hiring needs. Many companies outsourced customer service to foreign countries, only to learn that their customers detested speaking with individuals with poor English skills. By instead using a combination of audio and Web conferencing, combined with native English speakers where the prevailing wage is lower, you can accomplish the same savings without sacrificing customer service.

Another problem with telephone support and instant messaging is the inability to show customers visually how to fix a problem. When you use an audio conferencing service that also offers Web conferencing, you can easily turn the phone call into a Web conference and show customers how to resolve their product questions. This leads to quicker problem resolutions and few onsite customer support calls. Together these conferencing tools will save your business time and money allowing you to service more customers in less time and a lower cost.

Attracting and Retaining Talent

Businesses must be able to allow greater flexibility in communications and work environments to attract and retain the talent of tomorrow. They know that much of their success depends on their ability to attract and retain employees with the right skills, knowledge and attitude.

Finding experts who know how to work efficiently and maintain a positive attitude is no easy task. Add to that the culture of the upcoming workforce, steeped in instant messaging technology, social media, and other Web technologies, businesses cannot afford to be without audio and Web conferencing.

The talent of tomorrow is quickly becoming the talent of today. Tech-savvy young workers are almost upon us. This generation sees no reason that work be fixed by location. Travel time to an office is simply an obstacle to how much one can accomplish in a day.

Just as businesses seek to find efficient solutions that save costs and reduce negative environmental impact, workers will expect the same in their lives. The will want flexible work solutions that allow them to maximize their work time, maximize their personal time, reduce their out of pocket costs and be environmentally friendly. Audio and web conferencing tools accomplish these goals for both the business and the worker.

From the employer’s perspective, audio and web conferencing technology saves money on benefits and other employee maintenance costs, allowing them to hire more independent contractors. Workers save money on gasoline and vehicle maintenance. In fact, many telecommuting workers can do without a vehicle altogether.

Audio and Web conferencing is more efficient for businesses because it shortens sales cycles, decreases project completion time and increases communication, allowing more efficient workflows throughout the business. The technology is more efficient for workers because they are instantly connected to anyone they with whom they need to conference without wasted travel time.

Finally, audio and Web conferencing is an ecological choice for everyone. By reducing travel emissions, everyone benefits. Businesses gain the added benefit of improved public relations while employees enjoy a clearer conscience.

When to Use Audio Conferencing

Think about the last three conferences you attended. How far did you have to travel for those? How much did it cost your organization? If it was in your office at your desktop computer, you are already on the right track. If you had to travel miles to get to the presentation, there is room for improvement.

In today’s business environment, audio and Web conferencing just makes good sense. There is little excuse for spending hundreds of dollars for travel when that money could go towards growing the business. That said, there are still some decisions to make about how you will communicate with coworkers and clients in remote locations.

With all the communication options out there, it may be hard to decide what type of communication is best for a given business situation. You may have some documents to share that are self-explanatory. To share them, you only need to send out an email with an attachment. But what if recipients are likely to have questions? What is the best way to handle it? Should you choose an audio conference or a Web conference?

This can be a matter of preference or convenience. If you want to go over a document in detail, a Web conference may be best so that all parties are looking at the same part of the document at the same time. However, if you just want to provide a question and answer period, an audio conference makes more sense. This is because audio conferencing is cheaper than Web conferencing and therefore should be utilized whenever possible.

Audio conferencing is also perfect for quick team meetings. When team members are scattered geographically, weekly team meetings help keep members unified, connected and focused. Each member can discuss accomplishments and goals in a virtual meeting, ensuring everyone stays on the same track to a shared goal.

Even more Benefits from Audio and Web Conferencing

We all know that Internet-based conferencing tools reduce travel costs, increase business efficiency and help the environment. But the benefits do not end there. Audio and Web conferencing tools do even more by reducing real estate and facility costs, resolving customer issues more quickly and cheaply and lower telephony infrastructure and administration costs.

Reduced Real Estate and Facility Costs

Some executives experience a jaw-dropping amazement when they learn the tremendous savings audio and Web conferencing can bring, allowing employees to work from home or from less expensive locations. Conferencing tools let teleworkers join meetings and collaborate on projects from remote locations. By moving operations to locations with lower rents or buying facilities with lower taxes, companies can significantly reduce facility costs.

Quicker Customer Resolutions

Call centers have developed a chain of escalation procedures to handle customer inquiries quickly. In the past, this meant putting a customer on hold, and transferring a call to someone else, forcing the customer to explain the problem yet again. But with audio conferencing, supervisors can be brought in on the call. When the representative explains to the supervisor the problem with the customer listening, the customer knows the problem is understood. This collaborative approach makes the customer feel cared about and respected. This approach is quicker as well, allowing direct communications that side-step misunderstandings and solve problems swiftly.

Lower Telephony Infrastructure and Administration Costs

In the past, businesses spent enormous resources developing conferencing bridges for their businesses, adding on the cost of the hardware, electricians and maintenance of the system. As these systems age, businesses no longer need to replace them. Audio and web conferencing allows businesses to install and maintain a simpler, less expensive telephone system because conferencing bridges can be eliminated. With the high-speed Internet connection the business already uses, all of the companies conferencing needs can be met with Internet-based audio and Web conferencing.

Web Conferencing Benefits Many Business Models

Virtual companies began showing up around 2005 and they continue to become popular business models due to low operating costs. When organizations can minimize the cost of doing business, they gain a market advantage. These businesses are also faster to adopt change and respond to market forces because they are not tied down to a set business model. All operations are done “in the cloud” as they use web-based applications and communications like web conferencing to accomplish their business goals.

Telecommuting, on the other hand, is a little different. Workers at virtual companies work remotely, but they are not really telecommuters because there is no central location that the business calls home. Telecommuting workers are typically a segment of a traditional brick-and-mortar business, performing those roles that can easily be accomplished remotely or for jobs that are difficult to accomplish from a desk in the office. Web conferencing makes it easy for these workers to keep managers up to date on their accomplishments and progress.

Then of course, there is the traditional business, working from a central, strategically placed location. These are generally larger businesses, usually established more than five years ago, when web conferencing first began to take off. The advantages of a brick-and-mortar business depends on the industry. When trust is an important factor, it is helpful to have a physical location where customers can find you. These businesses use web conferencing less frequently and often pay more for their communications, relying heavily on traditional mail marketing and a local sales force.

Whichever your business model, technology is making non-traditional business formations possible. Businesses are no longer tied to a building or to a set business model. As business school graduates go out into the workforce, many are embracing technology and finding their own path to success. Instead of looking at the traditional tools of business, they are scanning the landscape for what works now.