The Thriving Small Business

4 Ways to Keep Focused on Your Goals

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I don’t know about you but I am in a constant battle with trying to get the day to day tasks accomplished and accomplishing my goals for the year!

Anyone who manages a business understands the challenges of keeping the vision, strategy and business goals moving forward.

The day-to-day management issues associated with people, processes, facilities, equipment, etc. Read the Full Article →

5 Forms of Coaching Employees

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Coaches can have a positive affect on the development of employees.

Many organizations encourage their leadership team to coach employees in performance,  skill development and career planning.

We all come from different backgrounds and have differing frames of references.

Some people are taught professionalism growing up and others have never been exposed to proper business protocol or etiquette. Read the Full Article →

What is a Vision Statement?

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A business should be able to articulate what it is trying to achieve and the basic purpose of its existence.

Successful organizations understand the importance of investing the time to define its vision, mission and values. This simple step helps to provide long-term direction for employees.

This philosophy supersedes the notion that organizations simply exist to make a profit and focuses on identifying the customers that will be served and investing in a long-term approach to serving that customer base. Read the Full Article →

9 Areas Your Organization Should be Auditing

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More and more organizations are using an internal auditing process to identify improvement opportunities.

Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations.

Businesses use policies and procedures to maximize efficiency and create consistent practices. However, policies and procedures are only as effective as an organization’s ability to enforce them. Read the Full Article →

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.  If done poorly, it can be a very stressful time and one of the most difficult conversations of the year. 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 →