Sunday, January 31, 2010

Creating A Customer Service Culture

Check out this SlideShare Presentation on Customer Service by the Queen of such things, Debra Templar.

Watch the presentation... then take what you learn back to your business.

Your customer service isn't something to be just an afterthought. It is your bread and butter. No customer service? No customers.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Connecting All Generations

It's a funny thing. We've been told technology will lead us down the path to the disintegration of personal relationships, as we move away from personal contact and get lost in 'that hopeless little screen' (Leonard Cohen- I expect he meant the tv but the sentiment is a nice fit). So I was curious to see what I'd learn when I read Iggy Pintado's Connection Generation.

I'm not entirely sure what I thought Connection Generation was going to be like, but as it turned out it was much meatier and more densely-packed with information than I might have expected. To my surprise, it isn't even just aimed at those of us already digital converts.

In fact a lot of the book is not about computers or technology, but rather it's about people. What they like, what they do and how they do it.  Being as how I am a Great Big Fan of the study of strategies; how people use them and sometimes, how people put up with strategies that don't support their outcomes, this book appealed to me. It is in many ways, a "How-To" for those "other-ways-to-skin-that-cat", and peek behind the curtain to see what other people are using successfully as their strategies in daily life in this ever-changing world.

If I have a criticism of the book it was that it caught me ill-prepared for the amount of work it would generate from me - writing notes, checking out sites new to me, and pondering how to fold these new learnings into my strategies as I move forward.

Just as we have different personality styles, I now learn that we also have different meta-programs for how we connect and approach new technology as the landscape for what's possible changes. In the same way understanding our different personality differences let us communicate more effectively with others, so too, understanding our connection preferences and noticing those of others, we can more easily accomodate this difference. Perhaps too, we can gain some new insight into weaknesses in our own strategies around connection, and add elements that others have used to good effect, to make ours even more successful.

This is not an easy book to read when you're feeling lazy. You'll get a lot from reading Connection Generation. More if you bring your wits with you.


















Lindy Asimus
Business Coach
Mobile: 0403 365855
lindyasimus@gmail.com
www.lindyasimus.com

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Focus Before Goals




The new year is a notorius time for people to talk about resolutions and think about setting goals for the year ahead. Often people jump into thinking about goals without spending time thinking about:

1) What they want
2) What purpose it serves
3) What the potential downside might be, to getting that goal.

Which is to say, that getting one goal is not much good... if it means that the really important outcomes you want, are jeopardised by you getting that. Let me give you an example. A business goal could be, with good intentions, to reduce expenses within the company. Now if this is achieved, but at the cost of funding ongoing and systematic marketing plans for the business, then the goal can be achieved, and the health of the business be at peril, in the process.

So getting the mix right, and maintaining good ecology with setting goals and implementing a system to achieve them must have at the outset, good clearly defined parameters about what the person wants to achieve in a more global context, long before refining down to the individual goals that may be set as a means to achieve that broader outcome.

It doesn't matter whether we are setting personal goals, family goals, or goals for our business. Understanding and clearly articulating our purpose in setting our goals, can make all the difference and let us achieve just what we set out to do. By setting our goals with a consistent purpose in mind, it allows us to focus in a way that aligns our actions with our objectives, across a range of contexts. That's a healthy way to set goals, and allows more scope for really being motivated to achieve, and be happy with the results when they come.







Lindy Asimus
Business Coach & Social Media Development
Design Business Engineering

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Friday, December 11, 2009

NLP: What Is It Good For?




NLP, if you are wondering,  is the common name for Neuro Linguistic Programing.

In short terms, a kind of 'owners manual' training for our brain, and our thinking and how that affects our actions.

A question that often comes up, after "What is it?", is "What Is NLP Good For?"

For more than a few years now, I've cogitated on this and wondered what it is that makes it possible for so many to have spent so much time and energy and effort in learning NLP and associated spin-offs, yet appear to have little to show for it

My assumption was always, though they may not have articulated it so, that it was to enable them to create better results than they were used to getting. Maybe more comfort in being in control of their responses, and states than perhaps they had been able to date, and possibly in order to create more fulfilling relationships and interactions with others.  I kept looking for examples of individuals who had made more money, worked in environments more of their liking now, were enjoying more control over their reactions. 

I'm still looking.

I wondered how it could be, that one could ingest so much great instruction and finally meet these life changing strategies and new ways of looking at the world without something changing.  My expectation, I realized, was that in submerging oneself in these new viewpoints and ideas could not do anything but allow a smooth changeover in the ways of being in the world.

Some time ago, a conversation with a long-time student of such things, well practiced in his craft and quite savvy in his manner, asked me what I expected from people who are interested in these things, as we are.  My response to him was that I expected those who had been involved for some time, to be getting more open to new ideas, less threatened by ideas that were not their old ones, and more okay with following an idea through, trying it on, without jumping to hasty ill-informed responses. He evinced some surprise.  Surprised that I didn't just expect them to respond the same way they had again and again.  In turn, I was surprised at his surprise.

To expect the self same response, from  people who have invested so much into learning the skills of NLP would be to admit that the whole premise is suspect, and that ultimately, it is all pointless. The technology is worthless.  I am not yet so jaded.

As I work with people, either informally, or in more formal arrangements, it is evident that the degree of difficulty for many people in learning to see the potential that they have right in front of them, is extreme.  Their world views are constricted to the point of stifling them in their endeavours.  To move forward, is like forbidden fruit, and they seek, without knowing what it is they seek, permission to have what is already rightfully theirs.  From whom they hope to receive this permission, is anyone's guess. For many it will be someone who is not even alive any more, and for all, were it even possible to receive it from another, they are still faced with the cold sobering reality that the only one who can deliver them what they could have if they dared to declare the wanting... is themselves.

There is a technique to training elephants that perhaps you have read about.  The young elephants are tethered from an early age, and learn (one way and another) not to move beyond the range of their tether. This training stays with them even when they are grown and much larger and fully able to break free  Similarly, we are tethered to a set of beliefs, some of which are helpful and have been of good use to us in our lives, some which have appeared to be helpful, or so we thought, and some which have been not only a hindrance to our well-being, but have set us up for an array of lost opportunities, wasted chances to live the life we could have chosen and the means to fulfil our potential.

It is neither good policy, nor I suspect, possible, to set someone else's beliefs for them, in the context of assisting them in reaching an improved state of being.  That is for the individual to decide.  In deciding on the beliefs that are worth keeping, there remains the chasm to be jumped, that is at the heart of no-change.  It is a willingness to look openly and without fear at what our current beliefs are, and to know them for what they are.  Then it is the courage to admit that we deserve.  That we can have what is important to us, that we can achieve what we set out to achieve, and having done so, can contribute in ways that we can never do until such time as we have jumped that chasm and discovered it was nothing at all

NLP is good for this.



If you know about NLP, perhaps you have some other examples. Please add them if you do. And if you don't know about NLP yet, feel free to ask questions.




What Do I Do?

I help owners of small businesses to focus on what they want from their business and life. Discover and articulate their vision, review the business, so as to streamline operations, improve productivity, reduce waste and grow more profits.

 Lindy Asimus
(Yes. Accredited NLP Practitioner)

www.designbusinessengineering.com




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Friday, November 20, 2009

What You Should Know About Social Media And Business


Let me share a a very timely article on Bnet that anyone with a business should read. Whether you're using social media, want to use social media in your business, or believe you can ignore social media in your business.  Well it is timely to me, since social media questions are becoming more and more the topic that emerges in my discussions with clients and business owners. The amount of bad information out there, and number of business owners who are either oblivious or misinformed about online matters is of much concern to me, quite frankly. I do wonder at times who they are hiring to inform them.

It still remains that many small business owners think that they don't need to be online, or that their lack of interest in computers in some way is significant to their customers!  Nope. Whether you use a computer for anything more than checking the weather, other people (people with money who are and who could be customers for your business) are using their computers for many, many things. Notably, for researching future purchase options, for one example.

Yes you need to be online.

No it doesn't need to cost a fortune.

Just because someone offers you a "deal" - if you don't understand what you are getting for your money and how to determine if this is value - or a rort - then find out before you start.

Yes it will cost something.

Getting a website is the beginning - not the end.

Guess what - online people are offline too! Bring them together.

Get to know people who understand social media, the internet and business.

Put your Learning Hat on.

Ultimately, hopping into social media will expand your ideas on what's possible.


I rather think that's a Good Thing.


Here's the link.



Eight Ways To Kill Your Social Media Strategy



Enjoy!


Lindy

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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Employer Tip

Helping New Employees





You wouldn't do this in your business, of course.

Position descriptions.
Procedures written down.

Don't make your staff guess what you want.

Don't give them an excuse for not performing.






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Monday, October 05, 2009

Who Does What? Roles In Your Business



We sometimes wear many hats!
    
Many small businesses start with the owner doing all the tasks that need to be undertaken to get the business growing. Having a plan to develop the business can start with a map of what the current territory looks like, and that can be as simple as commencing with good descriptions of each position that is important within the business even when every position is currently filled by you!

Whether you look in the future to add employees or outsource parts of the operations to an outside service provider, it is helpful to have a good description of the position, both for the execution of the role in the best possible way, but when well crafted, can form the basis of your recruiting criteria for the position, as well as the baseline for assessing performance during future reviews.

Michael Gerber famously described the difference between 'working in your business', from 'working on your business.' With a good outline for all those positions within your business both currently being undertaken, but also those duties that *should* be happening even if they are not yet  then you have a great starting point to grow a healthy business.

Armed with comprehensive position descriptions, some well written procedures for each task and a visual organization chart, you are well on your way to developing your own 'franchise prototype'. That's smart. Smart for your business, and smart for your sanity as a business owner. And of course, all that smart translates as profitability. A well-run business will earn you more money, save you unnecessary stress and be worth more to a prospective buyer.

You'd prefer that...Right?













What Do I Do?

 I help owners of small businesses to focus on what they want from their business and life. Discover and articulate their vision, review the business, so as to streamline operations, improve productivity, reduce waste and grow more profits.

 Lindy Asimus


  


Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering
Get Help For Your Business


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Subscribe to Actionbites Blog