The Thriving Small Business

Its About The Process – Not The People

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Organizations are responsible for creating systems and infrastructures that support employee performance.

A speaker at an IHI Conference once said:

“every system is perfectly designed to achieve exactly the results it gets”.

This is so simple – yet so true.

Good employees, who are forced to work with bad internal systems, often fail. Read the Full Article →

Tips for Writing and Giving Performance Appraisals

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Businesses use the performance appraisal process to manage employees toward achieving organizational goals.

The annual performance appraisal is one of the least favored times of the year because the process is often painful.

If done well, performance appraisals can be a positive experience for both the employee and the manager.  Read the Full Article →

6 Ways to To Give Your Customers a Great First Impression!

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Some organizations provide a great first impression. Others do not. By first impressions I mean the first point of contact a customer has with an organization.

The reality is, customers have choices and organizations that get it pay attention to the details that matter to customers.

Every organization has a slightly different first impression moment. Read the Full Article →

Example Business Goals and Objectives

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Businesses need to plan to be successful. An important part of the business planning process is determining business objectives that are translated into actionable business goals.

Goals should support the strategic plan – a written document that articulates an organization’s strategy for achieving its mission and vision. The goal development process looks at this strategy and determines the necessary steps to get there. Read the Full Article →

How to Turn Customer Satisfaction into Customer Loyalty

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Organizations that understand the importance of happy customers, need to think strategically in order to build a loyal customer base.

Successful organizations have learned that there is a difference between attracting customers, keeping customers and developing loyal customers.

Devoted customers are not only loyal to the organization, but also serve as advocates and help to solicit new customers by sharing their positive experiences. Read the Full Article →

8 Steps for Creating a Customer Service System

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Have you ever interacted with an organization that provided great service in one area and terrible service in another?

How can there be such a cultural disconnect in the service that is provided by the same organization?

Every interaction a customer has with an organization is an opportunity to win or lose that customer. Read the Full Article →

12 Steps to Implementing a Quality Management System

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Successful organizations have figured out that customer satisfaction has a direct impact on the bottom line. Creating an environment which supports a quality culture requires a structured, systematic process.  Following are steps to implementing a quality management system that will help to bring the process full circle.

Let’s begin by defining the word quality. Read the Full Article →

10 Tips for Dealing with Customer Complaints

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Anyone who has a business has had the experience of dealing with customer complaints.

While listening to a complaining customer is not something most people enjoy, a complaining customer can be an organization’s friend if they try to learn from the complaint.

There are lots of things customers can complain about – communication breakdowns, process failures, faulty products, rude employees and unclean facilities, just to name a few. Read the Full Article →

How Do You Define Customer Service?

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Customer service is a common term we are all familiar with which means “one who aids or provides help to the purchaser of a good or service”.

Customer service is seen in all industries and across all demographics. It is important because if the purchasers of our goods and services don’t feel like they are taken care of, they will soon find another organization that can, and will take care of their needs. Read the Full Article →

5 Reasons You Should Welcome Customer Complaints!

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The sad fact is only about 4% of dissatisfied customers complain. If a customer does not complain and has an issue that is not resolved, they are likely to go to the competition.

The worst part about this is that the organization isn’t even aware that there was an issue. The other sad fact is that a dissatisfied customer is more comfortable telling their friends about a bad experience than the organization. Read the Full Article →

5 Steps to Dealing with Negative Employee Behaviors

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Most of us who have managed people, have had the unpleasant experience of dealing with negative employee behaviors.

It’s one of those things that just drains the energy out of you and makes being a manager an unpopular job.

While confronting employees is never fun, it can be done with diplomacy and result in changed behaviors. Read the Full Article →

7 Keys to Planning Effective Meetings

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There are two types of people in the world.  People who love meetings and people who hate them. Much of this is due to the fact that people spend hours in meetings and very often have nothing to show for it.

Meetings come in all shapes and sizes but one thing is for sure, they are either a great experience for all attendees and perceived as time well spent, or they can be a mental drain and a complete waste of time.  Read the Full Article →