Paid + Organic Search The Big Winner For Business

Many companies have moved to using the web successfully, but are paying high prices for paid advertisements on Google.  Yet the same companies are nowhere when it comes to earned placement on Google in organic search.

If you are paying for ad campaigns on Google, improving your organic reach too, can multiply the effectiveness of your Pay Per Click ads. So - if you have a budget for paid search, it makes a lot of sense to take the extra step of making the most of the potential for organic search too.

There is ongoing debate on whether paid links get more clicks than organic links on search, the smart business owner will hedge their bets - and make sure if they are already committed to paying for results, that they also have the free clicks covered too. And if you have paid advertisements on Google AND your business comes up in the organic search - that's peace of mind for the customer and means they have more ways to check out your business and feel confident that your business is trustworthy and reliable.

Paying for ads while basic SEO is not done

When I am reviewing websites for clients, it often happens that the website they have been using for some years is missing vital basic code and features that would make the site perform much better. These basic simple changes don't cost or even require a whole remodel of a site, just the insertion of the right information in the right place.  These changes are in the page code and are for Google,  not visible on the page by a user.

Other incremental changes to the layout or content of the website on the page for viewers can also dramatically improve the performance of the website. Together, these small changes can give the business a lot more bang for their advertising buck.

To look at it another way, not fixing these basic issues on the website would be like turning on heaters in all the rooms in the house and then leaving all the doors and windows wide open.  It can warm the house somewhat, but wastes a lot of money for a poorer result than might be achieved with just closing some of the areas that are letting the heat out.


So your website performance can help your business get found by those searching for what you do. That's pulling people in.  Social media on the other hand can push people who were not already looking to see what you have on offer. That Pull + Push element can multiply your traffic to your site again.

Not only does social put your business in front of social contacts you know - it also puts your business in front of people who they know!

Not just what you say but also how you say it

In improving your organic search you will be adding content (which Google loves). You need to have information on the website that informs those searching for what you sell. It should be written in a way that is a match for what customers would search for, makes sense to them, and provides them with useful information to satisfy their query. Your website also needs to have fresh information added regularly so that Google will keep coming back to index the website.  A simple way to keep your website both fresh and relevant is to add a blog.  Authentic reviews or testimonials reinforce your social standing, and this is becoming the new currency of value. You want to be seen as The Authority on what you do. The go-to guy or gal.

Now it is easy to fall for the spiel of the consultants selling advertising online. Your role as the business owner is to ensure that you get the advice that is good for you - not just the advice that is good for the advertising consultant.  With your PPC you want to be paying for the words that you want - and not paying for the words that are not useful to you, as many are. That's a whole other issue though, one for another time.

The internet is such a fantastic tool for business. Use it well, and be successful as you can be!



Related articles

Claim your free business listing on Google ... before someone else does! 
5 tips that will improve your website performance 
Local business: Tips to online marketing 
Getting started with your business blog
Social media help for your business

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Life Coaching Articles

Apart from my personal blogs I also contribute to a popular UK women's blog Birds On The Blog.  I write on business and life coaching topics and I thought I'd post a collection of some recent articles on personal coaching topics to share with you here. 

A healthy relationship with money can make for a much easier life in the long term. Do you really understand your beliefs around money?

Beliefs about money - here's an exercise you can use

It surprises me that even now I still see people claiming that Twitter is all about people saying what they had for breakfast. Twitter reflects who we choose to follow and what level of engagement we bring to that platform. We pick it. We can change it whenever we like. 

Our relationships too, don't just happen. We have the freedom to make of them what we will... 

Marriage is like Twitter... pick the experience you want to have with it.

The future is not yet written but its easy for us to predict the worst and plant all the things we don't want to happen as being in our future.  A better idea is to develop a future with memories you want to make happen! 

Live the future you want - Making future memories now

We love to work to become expert in what we do. But not matter how experienced we are, when the paradigm shifts and the way things get done we all go back to being beginners and face the challenge to learn the new ways... 

From expert back to beginner again

Single mothers can face a lot of bad feelings and judgment by people who don't know them. Not all single mothers are unmarried teenagers or a menace to society but that's often the message that we get about these women raising their children alone... 

Spare a kind thought for the single mother

Life is neither good nor bad but we can look at it as though it is. We can expect the best to happen, or the worst. Life doesn't care, but the effect on the choices we make, and the way we feel can be affected dramatically by how we view the world. The good news is that you have the ability to alter these frames ...

Optimism, pessimism and finding a realistic frame to see life through

Internal dialogue is that internal 'voice' that tells us we can do something- or we can't. It can help us or it can keep us down and afraid to try new things, or hope too much. You can use it to help you. Here's how...

Lies we tell ourselves ... Mastering Self Talk

For assistance with personal or business coaching  contact Lindy Asimus.

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No Money And No Time In Your Business?

Too little money or too little time? 

What's the problem with your business that stops you doing the things you want to do?

There are so many different facets to running a business that can stymie our attempts to have the business that we most want.  Michael Gerber outlined this well in his book The E-Myth and referred to the entrepreneurial myth that exists - where business owners are often acting more like technicians in their business, than they are operating as entrepreneurs.

Too Little Money In The Business

It's often the case when I speak with business owners about the activities in their business that are not happening or don't have budget allocated to them to enable the business to be more effective, that there is simply "no money" for that activity.

No money is a clear sign that the business is not operating at the level it needs to be to deserve the amount of time and effort going into it.

The conundrum with this is that the business won't be able to operate optimally, when it is starved of the money and resources it needs to carry out all of the functions it need to do to be healthy and productive.

Funding for the essential elements of the business is not an optional or "nice to have" expense. It is part of the cost of doing business, and is as necessary to a healthy business, as good food and good lifestyle choices are.

Let's look at the various activities in a business that are vital.

Production
If you create products or make things to sell, or whatever it is that your business does at an operational level, it needs to be able to provide a consistent quality product and output. That might mean ensuring materials for the production is working right and you have all the materials you need to produce what you make. It will include the right levels of staffing to ensure that you can maintain the levels of production you need and ensure that customer are able to buy what you sell when they need it and when they want it. If your business distributes product that others make then your inventory will be important too - you want to have sufficient stocks to cover you for your sales and for the period between when orders can be delivered to you so that you have stock to sell, but not piles of money invested in stock sitting around not selling.

Administration
Let's include things like purchasing well in this section. Buying well with not only the right amount of stock, but also at the right price and the best deals you can arrange with your suppliers. There is no "one price" when it comes to negotiating terms and you need to be good at getting the best arrangement you can - and monitoring the suppliers to ensure they deliver at the price negotiated and the quantities specified and the terms agreed upon. Trust is not appropriate at this time and you need to make sure that you are getting what you have ordered.

Admin duties around accounts payable, and best times to pay without making payments too soon or too late and gaining a reputation as a poor customer who can't be trusted.  Ensuring that employees in these positions are on top of their game and not skimming money out of the business - yes it happens surprisingly often - is another of the responsibilities of the owner or manager.

Compliance obligations
Employee benefits and pay rates, managing rosters and staff performance are all things that need to be done, and are not optional, for a healthy business. 

Sales performance
Recruiting well - the right people for the right job, training in product and soft skills. These are vital to the business selling the most they can and at the right price. Discounting is often a sign of poor sales skills and poor preparation and training  - or dud products and lack of understanding of what is of value to customers. Independent businesses are unlikely to be able to compete on prices for the same stock as large companies and online stores, so product differentiation and sales experience for customers in store and in your online store is the key to being relevant to customers. While sales and relationship with customers is where the money flows into the business, there is often precious little training being done to optimise that transaction period during the sale, and in the after sale period.

Marketing
Marketing is like the lungs of the business. Just as you breathe without thinking about it so too your marketing should be happening ongoing and all the time - not just when you think about it. Not just when you remember. That wouldn't work for your breathing - and it won't work for your business.

What we call marketing now has changed too. The channels for marketing and activities of marketing are much broader now.  Your website, your online social profiles and your ability to engage with both customers and potential customers is much more community based now and the ability to be seen by friends of those who are customers has never been more available to business. That can work superbly for a business doing right by customers - or brand you as a dud if you are not treating your customers in a good way and providing them with good products at prices that are fair and consistent with the wider marketplace. Think you will overcharge for products that are available anywhere and you are dead in the water. Customers know what things cost, so treat them like intelligent people they are. Social media is another facet of business activity, not a game. It needs to be treated with the same respect and professional training as every other aspect of the business.

Customer Service 
Customers pay the wages. Customers pay all the wages. That doesn't mean they are not a pain in the neck sometimes but that's part of managing the business. Providing a service or products in a way that is easy for customers to get what they want without a lot of hassle. That's your job as the business owner or manager to ensure. If customers are regularly complaining about the same things, then it's time to take notice of the feedback and fix whatever is causing the problem. That doesn't mean you put up with customers treating you badly as there is no reason to accept that as part of the day, but developing the soft skills of your staff and having good customer-friendly policies and protocols will help with that. Customers can't fix the problems in your business, you must.

Training is a basic part of running a successful business

What happens when you have a well trained and competent workforce in your business?

Each of these areas of the business outlined require a high degree of good management within the business. That means ensuring that good policies and procedures are in place that serve a desired purpose for the business. Not just haphazard, not just "we do it this way because that's just how we do it". That's not good managing that is letting the business down and bad for the business.


Good management compounds the advantages to the business. 

The upside of good management. Good staff, well trained with checks and balances in place and with good governance and oversight by a good manager has many rewards.

It means efficiency in the operational matters within the business.
It means high sales conversions and best margins possible are attained.
It means product mix and pricing is right for customers.
It means customers feel welcome to shop with you and feel confident they are being respected and well served.
It means optimised profit for the business.

And the spin off for the owner? As well as all that ... it means that you have time to think. Time to focus on the things that only you can do.

It means that you can get time away from the business. You manage your business instead of the business dictating what you can do with your time. 

It means that you have the pressure off and the time to act as the CEO of your business, and not one of the hired hands.

That's a gain in the health of the business.
And a gain for you in Time and Money. 

And that's a nice place to be.

Related

Online coaching and how to choose a coach that's right for you
Prepare your business now to sell it later for the best price 
Your business plan needs a compelling vision to drive it
Manage your effectiveness as a manager with coaching 
New habits are the foundation to motivation and successful change 


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Lindy Asimus
0403 365 855
Business & Life Coaching
Based in Newcastle NSW, Australia.

Lindy Asimus Business Coaching

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Business and Life Coaching: What To Look For When You Choose A Coach

It's important for coaches to keep an eye on what's happening in the marketplace and how coaching is perceived as well as what's important for those seeking to work with a coach.

"My business has been going for ten years but I feel like for the past few years I just don't have any passion for it and don't really know what to do about it."

That's part of the story of a recent business owner who called me about coaching.

Did he want to sell the business and do something else, I asked

"I don't even know what I want to do..." was the reply.

That will be  the part of what we work on together.

This is such a common issue that doesn't get much airing in stories in the media. Many business owners can be doing as much business as they want and not suffer at all from a lack of business to do but while the business may be ticking along quite well, and yet still have more capacity to do better, the will and drive may not be there. The business owner can feel great frustration and stuck  in a place they would prefer not to be.

Similar feelings of frustration may be the lot of managers who are in paid employment and getting quite a good salary  but feeling unmotivated, unexcited about life and work and frustrated but not sure why or what to do about it.


Who looks for a coach to work with to improve business issues?

The reasons people seek out coaching are varied. The type of coaching that they will find most beneficial will not be wrapped up on a fixed program of 'one-size-fits-all' packaged programs that clients conform to, whether they are relevant or not. Finding the right coach for the right person at the right time in their life is a tricky business.

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald highlighted the problems that some have found in their experience with different coaches.  A common complaint was that the coaching pushed them through exercises that didn't relate to their problem areas and didn't adequately address those areas they did have a need to work on.

Problems were identified with pre-programmed recorded 'webinars' that apparently people are paying between $7,000 and $20,000 for and they are just automated and are not personalised to the client's needs.

People Don't Come In One Size

Pushing people through a 'sausage factory' system is not coaching. It is a system for turning  people into commodities and selling snake oil dressed up as something it isn't, to people who need something it can't do.

Another business woman complained that in her coaching experience she had paid $100,000 over three years to learn that her coaching was not tailored to her needs.

Which brings me to the reason I thought this was worth writing about.

Coaches - be they business coaches,  or life coaches all bring a different product to market. If they are part of a franchise, they bring a system that is sold to people who may or may not have any personal skills in coaching, who can follow the proprietary system.  This may or may not be consistent with what you need but it is the System they use and that's what you can expect to get.  Some of these plans lock you in for a set amount for the full year - even if you pull out because you find it of no value.

That's a red flag right there.

Common Thoughts On Selecting a Coach 

Some will tell you that to find a coach to work with you should make sure they have this and that academic qualification  and other such criteria covered to base your decision on. Now I don't know about you, but I know many academics. Their academic achievements don't always reflect a broader range of personal skills and business experience that coaching can benefit from.

Often in coaching engagements there are needs for not only an academic approach - but also a intuitive capacity to identify blocks and beliefs issues that may be constraining the client, which allows the client to access perspectives that were new and useful in moving past the limitations to open up new possibilities - and close down non productive thinking patterns. At other times practical knowledge and problem-solving skills are required to be of value to the client.

When I read about the business woman paying $100,000 over three years only to come to the conclusion that the coach was not tailoring the coaching to her, my first response was a bit of amusement really.  That is a fantastic learning that she made, but it also illuminates the value of a good coaching arrangement.

Measuring What Matters When Choosing a Coach 

With a tailored approach, $100,000 over three years is like paying for a junior member of staff for that time, but with the right coach, the growth in sales and value of the business could be several multiples or more of the expense, not counting the value in personal growth of the business owner.

The wrong coaching program, the one with no tailoring your coaching to your specific needs, has no capacity to deliver the results you want so is of no value no matter what the cost. It fails the fundamental basis of coaching which is to help you move from your current circumstance to one that you prefer. To do that you and your coach need to know where that is!

Perhaps John Ruskin said it best:

"There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price alone are that person's lawful prey. It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that is all. 

When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. 

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot  - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you that you will have enough to pay for something far better." 

What Does a Good Coaching Arrangement Look Like?

A good coaching arrangement would be empowering that business woman over this time to be able to distinguish good methods for making decisions and developing her skills in reasoning and applying those skills to her immediate environment.  That is, how to assess upfront what is a good arrangement. how to verify that your strategy is effective and how to avoid situations where finding the real value of something doesn't happen three years after you have been doing it, but instead lets you develop a strong and ongoing method for checking your results and measuring these against a benchmark that is of value to you personally. It should meet your criterion in both objective and subjective manner and be a fit for your values and the outcomes that you want.to achieve.

Your coaching should be aiding your personal evolution and developing your personal abilities to think and operate more effectively in your own life.

For the client who called me this who is experiencing frustration a lack of purpose, his experience with attending motivational seminars and previous coaching that left him feeling like he was there to help the coach work out their own personal issues - it can be tough to find that right match of a coach that has the specific strengths that one needs,  Personally, I think a values match is good as a start point and  yet that alone is not enough.

Your Worldview As It Applies In Coaching

Your coach also needs to have the ability to meet you in your map of the world and be able to see how it looks through your eyes - in order to understand the best way to tailor your coaching to make progress using a language that you understand and makes sense, informed by your experience and internal drivers.

You can't get an automated 'webinar'  or sausage factory approach, that will ever, ever replace the right human being at the right moment in time, with the right skills to give you a hand to find some new ways to the better place you want to be.

We who choose to work coaching others do well to keep that in mind and be willing to go to the effort of providing responsive coaching methods and flexible pricing options that don't seek to trick clients into buying something that doesn't and can't fit their needs.


Related

Online coaching and how to choose a coach that's right for you
Prepare your business now to sell it later for the best price 
You business plan needs a compelling vision to drive it
Manage your effectiveness as a manager with coaching 
New habits are the foundation to motivation and successful change 


Lindy Asimus
0403 365 855
Lindy Asimus Business Coaching

 Subscribe to Actionbites Blog




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Press Release Flop! Do Yours The Right Way

Every day businesses are trying to get the message out about how good they are and trying to entice us to take an interest in or notice them. Content marketing is the new way to present information as part of an overall strategy and to work well, needs to be the right message for the appropriate people you want to see it, the context a good fit for bringing your information together with the people who will value it and showcase your expertise and ability to solve a problem your target group wants fixed. 

Today I opened this email. I don't have any idea who this person is who sent it but their business is not remotely a product I would have any need or potential to buy.

"Hello, 

 I am contacting you to let you know about the very latest press release published by my company. 

Please click on the link below to access it. 

 Do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information. 

Thank you very much."

What's up with that? 

Now this is wrong in so many ways I barely know where to start but let me check them off on a list for you.

1. This was sent by someone I don't know and would never have signed on to get notices from which means it was not something I opted in to receive. This is precisely the definition of spam.
2. The business sells products that I not only have no need for, but have no possible use for as they are specific industry products that don't apply to me in any form, in any way.  This is an indication of a poor understanding of marketing principles. Not all activity is good activity.
3. An email to tell me about a press release is not in my interests, it is only about them. No WIIFM.
4. Something they want me to know about could be in the email but this not only was an email of no possible interest or use to me, but required me to take action to go to another site to see it!
5. There was no framing of the purpose of the email to lead me into having an interest, no consideration of benefit the reader would get from it and no targeting to get it into the hands where it could be of some practical use
6.  This was sent via a "PR App" which demonstrates once again, the technology alone is no substitute for a good well considered strategy and an understanding of the marketplace that uses technology.
7. While sending me this email had no possible upside, the capacity to harm the reputation of the company by using poor practices in their marketing is a real and present risk for the company.

What's a better way to approach sending press releases?

Firstly the notion of a press release needs to be reviewed.

A press release should from the outset, follow some guidelines for any well crafted communication. It should contain information that is relevant to the audience, clearly state the important elements to them and form part of an overall communication strategy.

Your audience that you want to reach, largely finds their information online. That's where they put their attention, so that's where you need to be putting your attention.  Many and heading to most people now are accessing the internet using  mobile phones or tablets. Your information needs to be presented in a way they can view it.

Business need to understand the new marketplace and what the expectations are for those accessing information. Google and other search engines are getting better at finding quality and relevant information for those searching, and penalising sites that post junk.

We are inundated with a ton of information every minute of the day in email and other advertising and marketing messages that are in our face online and offline. Getting cut-through means grabbing the attention of those who have some interest in your niche and having a message that will attract their eye.  Press releases, by their very nature are self-serving so they should provide something for the reader, not just suck up time that the reader will resent when having read it, realise their time was spent for utterly no purpose or advantage to them. Nobody will thank you for that.

So, what to do?

• Review your current activities in marketing and getting your business known in the marketplace
• Audit the success or otherwise of your efforts to date
• Develop a strategy for your business that includes marketing and operational aspects to promote the business energetically and across the departments
• Ensure your marketing plan has a detailed Content and Context strategy and program
• Create a good template for your press releases as part of your content production and schedule at appropriate intervals. 
• Segment your data base to ensure that your messages are getting to the people who can use them
• Put steps in place to be able to monitor and usefully analyse the results of your efforts.
• Take care not to confuse the technology with the strategic purpose. Promoting the cause of your business comes under the umbrella of marketing broadly, but it essentially always, always, a business issue. 

Related 

Remember to claim your free business listing on Google 

Guess what? If you have a business, you are now a publisher! Or need to be. 

Inbound marketing is the new old-fashioned way of doing business 

Get your business story out to the marketplace and new customers
Blogging for business - what to write! 

Social media marketing articles every business owner can use
Technology, the internet and social media for business - a productivity issue

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Many Hands Make Social Marketing A Time Saver

Business owners are time poor. That's just how it mostly seems to be.

Well, they may not need be, but that's a different issue. On the face of it there is just too much to do and no time it seems to do anything quite the way they might want to do them. As well as they might want to do them.

That is doubly so for making good use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin and blogging to get their business found online and stake their claim to good position on Google Search.

Why is getting found online given little priority? Perhaps because they are also too busy to spend the time and money to get good training in using technology and new media to market their business.

Social Media Fake "Gurus" Poisoning The Well For Business Owners

It is not really a wonder. For many who are not familiar with the online world, it can be confusing and changeable and frankly can be overwhelming.  The online world is also awash with people who have no experience themselves online suddenly promoting their services to others on how to use social media. They are following 5 people on Twitter, or have paid for "10,000" Likes or Follows, and have no tweets to speak of.  These are pretenders. Training sessions are generic and not specific and out of date in the information they are "teaching" small business.

Not only that but now whole franchises can spring up to take money off the unsuspecting with dollars to spend who think this is an opportunity and fall for it when told they can use their lack of knowledge of social media to pay up thousands of dollars to buy in to a franchise, so they can 'build a business' to take money off other business people - who don't know any better and have no way to know they are being hoodwinked.

Here's a tip: If your social media trainer has no content of theirs online, easy to find ... they are scamming you. And don't be fooled by the poor quality blogs and articles they buy from some third world sweatshop to pretend is their work! Social media needs authentic people working to genuinely represent their products and values. You can't fake that and expect to have any credibility.

No wonder business owners are reluctant to believe there is any way they can use inbound marketing and social media to get any kind of return to the business, or make it worth the time spent.

But it's not all bad with social media for business

Local businesses have a lot to gain by good use of social media platforms.  These should be secondary to the business's website, and finding ways to do more with less time spent, but with good oversight, then it can be very productive.

Networking is an area that is promoted heavily offline but is often not returning good value to the business. Many networking events are just another social gathering with the same old people and really just take up time.

This can be changed if your social marketing begins with a good strategy.

Your business network is a valuable resource, if it is used correctly. Richard Branson talks about 'not doing it alone', and yet finding good people who will work with you is not always easy.  It could be that there is a reason for this lack of good collaboration... Nobody is driving the process. Too busy, you know?

A productive business network

If you have a business network, it is possible to find the key to making this work for you online - and work for your network partners too. More people putting a small amount of energy into something produces more momentum than just one person alone trying to push that rock up a hill.

There are many things you can do once you have assembled a good core of business friends to leverage the time that each of you spend on social media to open the door to new business and a wider audience for your updates.

Training for this group together can help you to bond and can with the right direction, become your mastermind group to help each of you to more success in your business, both online and offline. Your business network core group could be colleagues from BNI or the business chamber, or even invited from your client base.

Social and inbound marketing training also opens the door for offline activities for example workshops - where each can bring along another person who could benefit by learning the topic, and introduce more people to the group, which in turn, opens the potential for a wider audience online.

This too, is a facet of a well-considered online and business development strategy.

And that's something worth finding some time to make happen.

Related:

It's your business on Google and it is free! Claim your listing before someone else does! 
Here's how to save time and get good content for your business online
Inbound marketing the new old fashioned way to do business
Financial planners: Social Marketing the key to keeping business on the books
Business writing not just on the social media wall
What every business should know about social media

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  Lindy Asimus Business Coaching

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Manage Your Management Effectiveness With Coaching

Managers Do It Better With Coaching! 

Good Managers Make Good Businesses

Good managers. We all want to work for a good manager. We all want to hire a good manager. And yet the statistics tell us that many business owners and front line managers - regard their sales performance as poor. But it's not just in sales performance that managers are failing to perform well.

A recent survey by Australian Institute of Management revealed:

"The survey of almost 2000 people including chief executives, senior executives, middle managers and aspiring managers revealed the scale of underinvestment in middle management skills.

But while their leadership qualities were poor, many middle managers were at least self-aware of this shortcoming, with 63% also saying their own leadership skills were average or below.

However, when it came to communication skills, middle managers thought they had it down pat, when in reality their colleagues disagreed.

More than 50% of their colleagues believed the communication skills of middle managers were subpar."

Quite a condemnation. 

But communication skills are not the only thing lacking in managers core talents. In the same survey, this was also clear...

"According to AIM, survey participants said middle managers in their organisations were falling short in a number of key areas including leadership skills, communication and people management. The last of which is considered the most important job function of middle management."

All of which can leave managers feeling "neglected" as outlined in the survey.

Managers with poor skills of this kind though, can also report to managers and directors who themselves have poor skills in these areas.  Seniority doesn't necessarily mean good management skills either. So where does that leave the manager whose skills need improving? (And all skills can be improved.)

Taking initiative and responsibility for your own skills development is a great sign that you have the makings and potential of an excellence in managing and working on your leadership skills. Those who just sit around complaining about the company not doing anything for you are missing the opportunity. Blame and pushing responsibility for our limitations on to others is a poor approach.

While it would be sensible for companies to devote resources and implement coaching programs for managers the reality is that we want to develop these skills anyway. So taking the steps to invest in our development is a healthy mindset. For those who do show this initiative, the chances are that they may grow out of a company that does not pay sufficient attention to these important aspects of professional development over time. This preparation could mean you are a perfect fit in future to work with companies who do value these skills and recognise overall ability and hire for quality.

Soft Skills important to managers

In managing a team, the culture that you encourage to develop will have big implications in the results that your team can generate. This can be in performance and lead to a measurable dollar figure in benefit, as well as morale, which can be measured in time taken on jobs, absenteeism, mistakes or lack of mistakes, and the health of the working environment.

While managers have a range of duties that it is their responsibilities to achieve positive results in, there can be other areas that are not shown but go to the essence of what makes a manager excellent, and not just 'adequate'.

Understanding the mechanics of how everything works in your area of responsibility is a good start.

A common example... You want to know what it costs to do the work your department provides. When you know your exact costs to provide what you provide, you can then price your services correctly. You can quote effectively, you can avoid the business you win costing you money instead of making your company money.  This may seem like a thing every manager would know. They don't.

Performance management

While many companies have some kind of process for measuring employee performance, these can be formulaic and more a thing to just go through the process, belt someone if they are not showing well and feel reluctant for everyone in the process to go through.  Done well, it can be an ongoing part of your relationship with employees to track their progress, recognise their accomplishments, notice where they are struggling and provide some remedial assistance as it is needed, and encourage the best performance from those who report to you. This is a fabulous opportunity to develop a winning and supportive culture that generates excellent results.

Customers And Suppliers Need Love Too

We can get stuck in our little bubble and forget that the organisation is a co-operative of different departments and each has their value and brings something vital to the organisation overall. There is no admin section without sales. There are not sales without marketing. There is nothing to market without production. Each part of the business needs all parts of the business to function well. Just as you can create an unhealthy work environment for employees, or one that cultivates wellness, willingness to go the extra mile, and excellence, so too it is with customers, and those other businesses we rely on to support our own.

Why do we do it this way?

Look at any workplace and there will be things that get done a certain way that nobody knows why it is done that way,  just that it happens to be how it gets done. Many workplaces put people into a job without a real job description and no properly documented (or well thought out) procedure to follow. In these cases, people come into the job, fumble their way through and develop a way to do something that may be good or may not. but it works, no matter how ugly it might be. They leave, someone else comes in and keep doing it the same way and several generations later this thing for no good reason is still getting done the same way. Which may be why some businesses are still using faxes!

A good manager will ensure that all the processes that are carried out in the business are done the best way they can to deliver the purpose intended. That might be to keep some jobs the way they are because it works well and  it might be to review and test things  to make sure that that the purpose now is being served, and there are no unnecessary or time consuming tasks being done a poor way that could be done more effectively and in less time by using a new method.

Self promoting 

Sometimes the employees can be our best advocates. When the culture is good and the values are admirable then we love to tell others about the pride we feel in our employer. Of course the converse is also true. We can't force people to promote the business, but if you create the right culture, it will happen. We attract like minded people to what we create.  New customers, new hires, new opportunities can come from the networks of the people who work with us and help us achieve. Keep this in mind as you are managing because this little understood effect can have big results and feed back into the good culture and you the good manager.

Empowering others is a blessing that a good manager can bestow.

Empowering ourselves in the first instance, is part of learning new skills and accepting responsibility to be the best whatever-we-aspire-to-be that we can, and taking action to make it happen.

Related:

Quick and dirty business review
Step up in your business and manage better
Control quality in your business


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