Let’s face it, these are difficult economic times in the job market and for getting promoted within your organization. Budgets are tight. There are hiring freezes and lay-offs. Advancement within your organization seems a distant possibility. For those that are getting laid off, this is a terrible time.So what are you doing about it?The most important thing in any of these tough circumstances will be to pay attention to your management skills. Among the most important of these will be effective delegation and people management. A serious effort to improve your skills and effectiveness will reduce the chance of losing your ground and increase your chances for advancement. Companies and businesses seek results, now more than ever. Take a close look at what the organizations needs are for their management teams.
Ability to execute. Managers are charged with getting things accomplished through others. Leading and managing a team to execute assignments and projects. This has not changed. Most managers do not focus on their management skill improvement in this critical area.
Team building skills. A manager who excels at building a stronger more capable business unit will always be sought after and rise to the top. A candid assessment of the manager’s interpersonal skills such as communication and relationship building id needed in all situations.
Project management skills. The ability to plan and execute projects and assignments is a core competency. Yet managers spend so little time thinking about how to get better at planning the work they are managing. Putting effective project action plans together, even for basic team assignments, really boosts execution and results.
Managers and leaders can not stand still and continue to assume they have these important areas down pat. That kind of “head in the sand” approach can derail a career for sure. What makes a great manager? Taking action and getting things executed. So, why not take action on paying attention to your own development and focusing on continuous management skill development? This starts with making periodic assessments of your skills and setting new professional development objectives. Here, are three things any manager can do to set themselves on a positive course.
Take some time to complete a “self-assessment” of your management skills. Being totally candid, what areas are you falling short in related to getting business unit results? Ask yourself, “if I were a senior manager, looking at my progress and the results of my business unit, what constructive suggestions would be made?
Seek feedback from key members of your team or peers in the organization. The strongest managers seek and accept constructive feedback. Everyone has one or more “management blind-spots.” Things you can not see clearly about your-self, your skills and your performance. Don’t be blind-sided by your blind-spots. Have the courage and maturity to ask how you can get better.
Learn to delegate effectively. It is a premier skill for top performers. Most managers are really rather average at delegating work effectively, but most think they are good at it. You can learn more about the management skills for effective delegation and improve upon them quickly. They are at the heart of superior execution and building high-performance business units.
The benefits of paying attention to your professional skills are worth every effort. Upper management will start to see your focus and dedication. The effectiveness of your team’s ability to execute will increase and will be noticed. If you are seeking a new position, the time and effort you can demonstrate you have invested in your own development will separate you from the competition. Your business unit will feel the positive effects of your skill development and be will be motivated to perform at higher levels. If you were hiring someone or considering a manager for advancement, wouldn’t you take notice of the consistent self-development efforts and increase in skill? Of course, you would and that’s why you must take action to get better.
Effective Delegation – Management Skills For Plateau Protection
8 Marketing Tips That Can Catapult Your Business Into Success
Growing a business takes time. There are some people who can make a lot of money in a short period of time, but most of the time, these are the people who have a large customer list and have been in business for a long time already.
But if you have neither, then this article will be particularly useful for you. Because inside this article, you will learn 8 great marketing tips that you can use to take your business to the next level. It won’t happen overnight, but with time and a steady focus, it will happen eventually. Let’s take a look at the first tip:
1) Generate leads
You will want to generate leads so that you can follow-up on these leads over and over again to make it easy to close the sale. It’s hard to sell your products in a small ad, therefore you want to generate a lead so that you can present your full sales presentation in future contacts with your prospects. Here’s the next tip:
2) Operate in a niche market
If you try to market to everyone, more than likely, you’re going to have poor conversion rates. If you can operate in a niche marketing and structure your message according to one kind of prospect, then you will have more success with your marketing efforts.
Niche marketing is all about separating yourself from your competitors and marketing to a specific kind of prospect. The more specified your marketing efforts are, the better your results will be when it comes to closing sales.
3) Create a free offer
Everybody loves things for free, so with a free offer, you give yourself the opportunity to generate a lead or inspire people to come into your store. And you don’t have to limit yourself on ways to apply this to your business. Your free offer can be a free report, a free consultation, a free sample of your product, and more. You want to mention this free offer in your ad to get as many people as possible to respond to it.
4) Use a variety of marketing tactics
You want to find multiple ways to get your message out in front of your prospect. You can do direct mail, yellow page advertising, newspaper advertising, press releases, joint ventures, val-pak advertising, and so much more.
The possibilities are endless and wherever you advertise, be sure to include your free offer to generate the most response.
5) Contact your current customers more often
You’re missing out on a lot of business if you’re not contacting your customers on a monthly basis. 80% of all business profits come from the backend, so this is why a strong backend marketing strategy is key.
You can send your prospects a free monthly newsletter, or simply coupons with special offers every month. You always want to find good reasons to contact your customers so that you don’t lose them to a rival competitor.
6) Promote one product a time
When contacting your customers, it’s best to focus on one product at a time. If you have a catalog of products that you sell, this is fine, but you should highlight one product at a time to your customers so that you don’t confuse.
Your opinion has weight in the eyes of your customers, so if you recommend something useful for them, they will take your word for it and purchase the product that you recommended. But recommending more than 1 similar product will only confuse them, so be sure not to do this.
7) Offer a money-back guarantee
You want to offer a money-back guarantee on all of your products. This will only increase your response rates and will inspire trust amongst your prospects. By offering a money-back guarantee on your products, it means that you stand behind all of your products, and it also lowers the barrier to making the sale.
Track everything
Testing and tracking is important because you want to know what is winning for you and what is not. This way you can cut out all the losers and only market the winners. This in turn will decrease your marketing costs while improving your profits. So testing and tracking is key.
Use these 8 tips to boost your business now while you still have the chance. They will prove to be very useful for you.
How To Increase Brand Value Through Design
The visual representation of a brand is just the tip of the branding iceberg, often seen almost as a separate entity from the rest of the brand strategy, and yet it is crucial for the brand image to derive from and contribute back to all the other brand elements. Visuals designed in alignment with the overall strategy and used consistently help communicate your brand message, promise, personality and more, as well as significantly increase brand value.
If we dive into this close connection between design and value, three main points arise.
Alignment
Think of the look of your brand as the extension of its essence; if your brand is your gift to the world, your brand’s image is the alluring paper the gift in wrapped in. Obviously, the presentation needs to match the content, or the recipient’s – or, in our case, the prospect’s – expectations might not be met, causing disappointment and loss of trust. For more impact and income make sure your logo, your choice of colors, contrasts, shapes, ornaments, images, fonts and other visual components, and your brand image as a whole reflect your brand identity.
Besides looking professional and trustworthy, they need to speak to your ideal client, emphasize your brand personality, support your brand promise, mirror your offerings, radiate your brand values, and facilitate building brand awareness. Proper alignment prevents the unwanted scenario of “a confused mind always says no”, and results in faster growth, more clients and more money in the bank. Consequently, brand value skyrockets as well, should you ever decide to sell your brand or bring investors on board.
Consistency
Consistency is key too, if you want your brand value to keep rising. Brand image plays an important role in creating a memorable, recognizable brand that conquers a corner in your ideal prospect’s mind. Using the same visual elements over and over again will help your audience remember them and associate them with your business, putting you on their radar every time they’re searching for the type of solution you provide. To ensure a consistent use of all your graphic designs keep them organized in a brand manual to be shared with your team. The more consistent you are, the more memorable and profitable your brand is.
Up-to-dateness
When it comes to brand image, you also want to pay attention to how fresh and up-to-date it is. Does it keep the pace with the fast changing business environment, especially online, or does it seem stuck in 2005? To get to and stay at the forefront of your industry, your designs need to evolve in time just as the rest of your brand, showing your target market that you’re a serious change agent, thought leader and trend setter, and spotlighting the advancement of your expertise. Cutting edge designs reenforce your go-to position in your field, bring in more high paying clients who tend to prefer working with business owners who are just as serious about growth and reinvention as they are, and help you stand out in the crowded marketplace for all the right reasons. Plus, relaunching your brand with an updated look adds excitement and generates buzz, both excellent for business.