Customer centric messaging is key to Social Media

I have had the opportunity to attend an array of  training seminars accompanied by lots of eager business people, anxious to learn the tools of marketing and social media for business.
After a short while and particularly in the Question and Answer sessions it becomes apparent that the zero minus one question has not been answered.
What do I mean by zero minus one?? Whether it be Twitter, Facebook, Blogs , even after all this time, there is still an assumption that if you get your story out there good things will happen.
I began designing marketing campaigns with brochures designed, developed and posted but no matter the methodology the purpose is the same .
This is about engagement with new or existing customers and social media has become an industry , sometimes using delusionary tactics, where clients are convinced that in and of itself Social media is key to success.
Horses for courses is my motto. If you know your target audience..not always!! if you have engaged with them about their issues...and if you have engaged that you have a solution to their problems social media starts to work.
I see blogs that are three years old, newsletters so out of date they are meaningless so why expect an audience to be interested if your own company isn't

Skills assessment : Fact or Fiction??

Organisational development and skills assessment has hit my to do list again. In the SME and Corporate world there is a need to ensure that the skills sets and business processes are in line with the needs of the business.
It never ceases to amaze me though, that the way in which this is done varies considerably between businesses, and the criteria for deciding what works can be arbitrary to say the least.
Applying 360 degree assessments to a lifestyle business where everyone built their skills around volunteering to do tasks and learning on the job leads to the inevitable missing link.The issue becomes the  lack of definition of what good looks like.
We start off judging and categorising people in terms of their usefulness but not what the business actually needs and therefore assessing all employees in a grading and pay structure that works both for the business and the individual is vital to make genuine productivity gains.
Repeatability of performance, Right First Time customer service and profit growth are the ultimate measures of how successful a business is, but leaving people development to chance can lead to significant problems

Profit trumps knowledge

I have been working recently as a consultant assisting start up businesses and have been reflecting on the fact that, actually, I have seen the same shareholder and management traits in well established businesses as I do in start up ventures.
In reality the passion and enthusiasm, plus expenditure on a new product or service, is matched by a lack of of reality about the market problem or market opportunity that the idea is addressing.
In management speak, managers believe that because they have knowledge they will automatically make money. I mean, after all, surely the potential customers must see that what they know and are selling is a must have.
As an example,  a young entrepreneur who has developed a great safety product for the construction sector exhibited at a show, and advised me, that he had fantastic feedback from the limited PR material he distributed, and that it was necessary to discuss price tactics, when in fact he had absolutely no understanding on how he was going to fulfill commitments and whether he was ever going to make money.
When I reflect on sales initiatives in various businesses I have run in different sectors, those traits were apparent in suggestions made to me by highly competent functional managers.
It is a disease that profit seems to be an issue for someone else, and I even see this with entrepreneurs spending their own money who believe God or their accountant will prevail to ensure profit will result from their endeavour.
My mantra is that it is not what you know but how you convince the market that your idea solves a problem and makes profit as a result. It is a process not a dream.
Sometimes I find myself on the wrong side of the shareholder or manager looking inquisitively at me asking, surely you can see why we will make money?
Gratifyingly I received a call from the young entrepreneur this morning, who said I see where you are coming from now.
I look forward to a successful outcome !!!!!!!!

Root cause is the only way

I often speak with business owners who advise me that they have processes in place and the people just don't do their job. I interview managers and of course they say a similar thing.The problem often however is two fold.
Firstly the communication and the training of employees does not necessarily lead to right first time behaviour.
Secondly the problem being identified, is often, the symptom of a deeper fault in a process which is not addressed.
In fact, if you combine the previous point, and the issue that the process and employee behaviour is not designed to succeed, the result is more repeated failure and damage to the business.
Consequences of these flaws inevitably lead to failure when compared two measures. These are customer service and profitability.
In my experience the lack of effort managers or business owners put in to get things right, all the time, can lead to fatal results in terms of the two measures.
In order to fix these issues we need to work back from the problem and get to genuine root cause.
Simply wallpapering over the cracks just hides the problem from view it does not cure it

Communications is not just top down

It is funny how people view communications.
The challenge when helping business owners is that they often start from the point where they believe they are right.
The effectiveness of good communication is not seen as a project in itself but as part of a belief that if I say it then it must be done.
We used to read and learn about the effectiveness of the silo hierarchy or network organisations , where style of communications was key to effectiveness.
I asked an owner the other day to stop everything he was doing, gather the troops, and explain why team work to achieve common goals was essential to help achieve business goals.
The reason I suggested this was that he was advising me that until their roles were totally defined to the point of chronic detail that they could not possibly understand how to communicate to each other.
"How could I know as I was not always here..."he cried.
"Doesn't matter" said I , "I can see what is happening by the results". Events occur , it is true, because roles are ill defined but we have met often as a team recently to expect , of each team member, that they can converse with each other , to solve business issues without necessarily reverting to higher authority.
"They are not trained to do that , they have only ever worked here ....!!!!! "
"Stop putting obstacles in the way I said", "and I am speaking about you".
 Communications will never be totally perfect but communications is not just about you to them but between team members
The other point is you do not have all the answers to the problems that others create, the problems are past the point of no return by the time you hear about them, and all of this happens,in the main, in front of customers.

Thankfully he asked for more help !!!

Anyone can do it

I was reading an article on linkedin about being oneself in business.The theme was that despite the formulaic sales techniques that are taught to sales personnel , the real risk is that they subvert their natural behaviour and undermine their sales skills as a consequence.

It got me thinking. Slightly off piste, if we apply a similar theme, to the fear that some business owners and managers have about running businesses, we can reach a similar conclusion.

Keep it simple I often tell clients , stop over complicating things , but more importantly see the facts and use your own skills and experience and you will make the right decisions.

"Why pay you then," I was asked the other day. I replied , I can teach you but when you practice you have got to combine your new found knowledge with your natural ability , but trust yourself to be able to succeed.

The main manifestation of this is dealings with people. Customers, bank-managers, employees suppliers.Think about what both sides will get out of your interaction , decide the best way of reaching your goals but do it your way and thus convince your business partners that you are sincere and professional.

Self belief can be a cancer or a cure but parrot fashion theoretical management techniques can destroy confidence and be self defeating.

Help is at hand but have faith in yourself !!!!!

What is an Interim Manager

Working for the self styled owner of a business brings its own rewards and frustrations but what did I expect ?

Some days I am expected to be everything he does not want to be on the day , but  usually when there is a problem, self inflicted or unforseen.

The key is that when I was running businesses for the Corporate Pound, I was the main decision maker but with help from all of my employees we usually made the right decisions, at least most of the time.

Also we had a clear strategy which was born out of a desire to give the customer the ultimate service and of course the shareholder the best available Profit performance.

Humility is key in this situation as the present owner is unaware about the processes of business management , but how much commitment , I ask myself, does he have to change and remember all that key learnings from our journey thus far.

This , I am sure is typical of the SME business owner dare I say, but my main mission is to help him understand the concept of "making haste slowly".

Nothing changes till it changes and things do not happen by divine intervention whichever god is preferred, so road-maps and commitment to improve things underlines my solution.

Oh and reserves of patience that I did not even know I had.

Welcome to my world !!!