0 MyBusinessBooks Releases Marketing Plan Manual Posted by ReviewSNAP | at 10:12 AM

MyBusinessBooks has just released our new Marketing Plan Manual! Writing a comprehensive and sound marketing plan can mean the difference between success and failure. The Marketing Plan Manual is a complete guide that includes all of the instructions, forms and templates needed to write the kind of plan that will help ensure high levels of success. This manual will help you:

-Create effective marketing objectives and strategies.
-Analyze and organize information and data needed to develop your plan.
-Identify and define your target markets.
-Develop realistic and attainable sales projections.
-Price your products to maximize margins and volume.
-Define an advertising and promotion plan that positions your company and products appropriately.
-Build a distribution channel that maximizes revenues and customer satisfaction.
-Plan your personnel needs and define roles.
-Develop a marketing budget that makes sense.
-Utilize market research to support decisions.
-Create an action plan that defines each activity or task, who is responsible for ensuring their completion, and when they must be completed.
-Write a complete and comprehensive marketing plan that will get the results you want.
Your marketing plan should be written in a manner that is straightforward, practical, and realistic. And it should give you the best possible chance of meeting or exceeding sales and gross profit objectives.

This manual is a comprehensive guide that walks you through the entire process of writing a marketing plan that will help you gain a competitive and strategic advantage. Written by marketing professionals who understand how to think strategically and develop plans that differentiate one company and its products from the competition, The Marketing Plan Manual is widely used by organizations of all types and sizes. It works equally well in small and large businesses.

0 Hiring In a Tight Labor Market Posted by ReviewSNAP | at 7:07 AM

In a strong economy, current and prospective employees have a broader range of employment opportunities. This means that the always challenging job of finding good people becomes even more challenging. It's important, however, that you not compromise your requirements for top notch people. Once you begin to allow your organization to fill positions with marginal people, you have started the performance erosion process. Try to stay focused on the fact that the success of your business is highly dependent upon the number of high performers you bring in and keep in your organization.

The basis for hiring high performers is found in an organization's ability to keep them. If a business can create an environment that is stimulating, rewarding, positive and even fun, good employees are less tempted to leave. Most bright people are astute enough to understand that the grass really isn't always greener elsewhere.

Here are a few thoughts on hiring in a tight labor market:

-As mentioned, the fewer high performers you lose translates into a less urgent need to hire more except in the case of accelerated business growth. Refer to Business Problem: High Employee Turnover to learn more about reducing employee turnover in your organization. A significant issue as it relates to hiring people in any type of labor market is the reputation your organization has as an employer. Word about the kind of company they work for travels quickly from current employees to outsiders. It doesn't take long for a company's reputation to become tarnished by current and former employees who are disgruntled about the way they are/were treated. When a company has a very solid reputation as an employer and it is known as an organization that cares about its employees, prospective employees will be more proactive in seeking employment there. When an organization has a bad reputation as an employer, the chances of hiring and/or retaining high performers are slim. This issue is very often overlooked as a reason why a company can't seem to attract good employees.

-Look at who's in charge of your hiring efforts. If you have a Human Resources department, do those involved in hiring understand the process? Are they aggressive in identifying strong candidates? If managers or supervisors are responsible for finding people, are they skilled in promoting the organization to prospective employees? Are they taking enough time to do justice to the hiring process? Is there laziness in the hiring process?

-Placing ads in newspapers can be a futile effort in a tight labor market. The likelihood of attracting more than a few potential high performers is not good. And the likelihood of hiring one of them can be even more remote. If you are going to place ads, place them in newpapers or magazines that provide some chance of attracting quailified candidates. The most important thing in placing ads is to be as specific as possible about the requirements for the job. If you are unclear about the specific requirements, you run the risk of attracting fewer qualified candidates and a host of unqualified candidates. Spend a little extra money to buy a larger ad in order to have enough space to promote your organization and to furnish the specific position requirements.

-Be aggressive and creative. Most organizations lament their inability to attract good candidates, but they are strictly using traditional methods such as newspaper ads to find them. Using your contacts, put out the word to as many people as possible that you are looking for a particular type of individual. Don't be afraid to ask them if they know anyone matching what you are looking for. Ask aquaintances and friends if they had former employees who were excellent employees matching your requirements. If they have someone in mind, find out where they are now and don't be afraid to contact them either by phone, mail or email. Attend as many business functions as possible. Remember that you are always on the lookout for prospective employees even when you don't have an immediate need. When you meet someone who seems to possess the qualities and background you deem important in your employees keep their business card and make a note on the back of it about your impressions of the individual. Keep these cards in a separate location specifically for prospective candidates. When you are shopping, make note of employees such as receptionists or sales clerks who seem to have the skills you are looking for. Don't be afraid to plant a seed about future employment. The point here is that you need to keep your eyes open constantly for prospective employees. We all run into them every day, but fail to make the connection that they could well be working for us.

-Use head hunting and search firms carefully. Many are nothing more than resume handlers and don't carefully screen candidates for "fit" to your jobs. There are some, however, that do a good job of matching candidates to employers and positions. Ask your friends and aquaintances if they have used search firms. If so who do they recommend you use and who should you stay away from. Keep in mind that you will pay a healthy fee when using a search firm. If you are using a firm for the first time, negotiate a lower first time trial use fee and let the firm know if they do a good job you will use them again.

Identifying and hiring qualified high performing employees is one of the most difficult tasks of the business world. Employers simply have to be aggressive in their efforts to locate good people. Look at your current hiring practices and modify them to become more efficient and more aggressive in locating good candidates. But, be selective in who you hire. Even in a tight labor market you are better off leaving a position open than filling it with a marginal employee.

0 Business Problem: High Employee Turnover Quick Tip Posted by ReviewSNAP | at 7:19 AM

A common problem in many organizations. Employee turnover is very costly to any organization. Keep in mind that employee turnover is generally the result of more than one factor. Follow these steps in assessing and dealing with this problem:

1. Ask the employees how they feel about working for the organization. This can be accomplished in several ways, but anonymity is often important because employees often fear retaliation from superiors or peers. Keeping this in mind, it is best to conduct an anonymous survey of the employees. You will want to assess how they view the organization's working environment, their superiors, communication, perceptions about how they feel they are valued by the company, benefits, compensation, attitudes toward company policies, their comfort level with their peers and with their current position as well as other factors specific to your organization. Carefully plan your approach to carrying out the survey process. Employees must feel that they can speak their minds, so to speak. If they don't, the results will be less meaningful. Compile the results and take them seriously. Don't dismiss the results as inaccurate and don't let your ego get in the way of taking the results to heart. If there are issues that really stand out, deal with those first. Prioritize them based on the apparent severity of the problem based on responses to the survey. Methodically develop a plan for dealing with the problems and communicate that plan to employees. The worst thing you can do is conduct a survey to seek input on employee satisfaction and then do nothing with it.

2. Assess your compensation structure relative to your market. If you are paying employees below market wages, the likelihood of employees leaving increases dramatically. While money is probably not the key motivator for employees, they do expect to be paid fairly. That is a given in their minds. Market data is available from a variety of source, but be careful which sources you use. You would be well advised to hire a firm that specializes in compensation work to provide you with the information needed by type of position. If you find you are not meeting market pay scales, develop a plan to get there or beyond. What you spend to get there should be offset by reduced turnover and less "moaning" about wages, therefore productivity should increase if only slightly. Don't underestimate the amount of time employees spend complaining about various things. Don't give them a reason to sit around and complain about their wages relative to the market you operate in.

3. Determine how well employees are suited to the jobs they hold. Almost without exception, the key factor in employee turnover can be traced to ineffective hiring and promotion practices. All too often employees simply do not match the jobs they hold in terms of their intellect, what interests or motivates them and their personalities. In other words, too many employees just are not cut out for the jobs they currently hold. This sets the employee up for failure and certainly impacts the performance of the business. Look at your hiring process. Is sufficient effort really being put into it to determine how well someone will match the job being hired for? What criteria are you using to hire people for various jobs? If your number one criterion for hiring boils down to knowing something about the type of business you are in, this is a prescription for trouble. You can teach a bright person your business. You can't teach them intellect, to be interested in what they do or change their personality. These factors are really the keys to how well someone matches a particular job. Structure employment searches to find people who have the appropriate level of mental ability, a strong interest in doing the type of job being filled and a personality well suited to that job. While it is nice to find someone who has experience in your industry, this should not be the primary factor in hiring. In fact, someone who matches your job well in terms of the factors mentioned above with virtually no experience in your type of business will almost always outperform someone with experience in that industry, but who is a poor match for the job. This requires a shift in thinking in many organizations. Too many owners and managers get hung up on finding people who know their business. Again, bright people can learn your business relatively quickly. Don't get caught in the "my business is unique or complex" trap! When promoting people, you should look for people who match the job being promoted into. Every day we see people who were high performers in one job being promoted into jobs they have little chance of being successful in because they don't match the job. There are several good to excellent assessment tools that help match employees to jobs that can be used in the hiring and promotion process. These tools are critical in augmenting your decision process in hiring and promoting employees. For more information on these tools, see Assessments on this web site.

4. Look at your turnover statistics. Is turnover higher in certain work units, departments or divisions? If so look more closely at the makeup of those areas. Often there is a problem with a manager or supervisor in terms of how they deal with their employees. Or it could be a peer who is a problem employee but is not being dealt with by management. Is your work environment in those areas conducive to a pleasant, productive work day?

5. Overall culture of the organization has a lot to do with employee satisfaction and turnover. What kind of atmosphere exists within your company? Is it pleasant, productive and light or is it heavy handed, gloomy and generally unpleasant? Employees need an environment where they can thrive and feel good about coming into work. By the way, it's ok to introduce some fun into the work day. Take an objective look at your environment.