The Top Five Business Etiquette Mistakes

The Top Five Business Etiquette Mistakes - By: Grant Eckert

In the business world, how your present yourself can dictate your success or failure. Learning business etiquette can help you advance more quickly within a company, be named employee of the month, and even solidify a larger pay raise. In short, your career will benefit from your knowledge of business etiquette. So, here are the top five business etiquette mistakes. If you want to go far, avoid these things at all cost!

1. Business Etiquette Mistake #1: A Poor Introduction: A handshake is the first impression another person gets of you in the business world. Fumbling here might mean that you're judged to be an undesirable candidate for a job, partner for a business venture, or employer for a promotion. Remember, in the business world, every time you see a career acquaintance both inside and outside of the office, you'll be shaking hands, meaning that your whole business life will be filled with mini introductions. A firm handshake is first and foremost important. If you have a weak handshake, you may come off as a weak businessperson. In addition, stand up to shake someone's hand if you have been sitting and make eye contact. When you are meeting someone for the first time, it is also proper etiquette to repeat his or her name, which will help you remember the name for later as well. Forgetting someone's name is a sure way to make a bad impression!

2. Business Etiquette Mistake #2: Drinking Too Much: At business functions like dinners, holiday parties, and social hours, it is common for the company to pay for an open bar. Even if there is not an open bar, a cash bar or wine may be available. Whatever the case, avoid having more than one or two drinks. These events are meant to be a time for networking; if you want to get drunk, go out to the bar with your friends on the weekend. By drinking too much, you'll come off as unprofessional and you may be labeled as uncommitted to the company. It may also lead you to saying things that you shouldn't say, and it can even be dangerous if you choose to drive home afterwards. Avoiding the consumption of alcohol altogether is the best bet, but if the situation presents itself, exercise a little self control and minimize the number of drinks you have.

3. Business Etiquette Mistake #3: No Table Manners: People are often intimidated by business dinners at fancy restaurants, but if you keep just a few basic rules in mind, you'll eloquently survive any meal. Start with learning what silverware to use. In general, start from the outside and work in, saving the fork and spoon at the top of your plate for dessert. The ladies at your table should be served first, but even if they aren't, wait until everyone at the table has their food before you begin eating. Of course, keep you napkin on your lap, and thank a server who refills your glass.

4. Business Etiquette Mistake #4: Forgetting Your Manners During Emails: As communication technology changes, there are more and more business etiquette rules to keep in mind. One of the biggest mistakes the people make in regards to business etiquette is writing emails that are too casual or inappropriate. Today, email is the communication method of choice, whereas once paper memos were sent. When you're writing any email, use care to keep it professional and polite. In fact, you should think of an email as you would a typical letter. Always address it to the person receiving the email, use proper grammar and spelling, and close with your full name and contact information. In addition, avoid using your office email to send other in the office funny, cute, sentimental, personal or chain emails. If you want to send these kinds of emails, get a free Yahoo!, Google, or MSN email account and use that. Your company email should only be used for professional purposes, like sending memos or asking questions about work-related projects.

5. Business Etiquette Mistake #5: Being Too Casual With Superiors: Lastly, one of the worst - if not the worst - business mistakes you can make is treating your superiors as friends. While some bosses and employees become very close, this is not the rule, and you should always treat your relationship as one that is strictly for business. Do not call someone by his or her first name until prompted to do so, and do not assume that you can take liberties without asking permission, even if it was not a problem in the past. The key is professionalism. Recognize how you're like to be treated were you the boss, and show your superiors that same respect. And who knows? If you avoid this top five business etiquette mistakes, you might actually be that boss someday!

Grant Eckert is a freelance writer who writes about business topics, similar to what consumers read in Time Magazine

Top Tips For Finding Candidates In Recruitment Jobs

Top Tips For Finding Candidates In Recruitment Jobs - By: Jonathan Walker

So you're a recruitment consultant, you have a good vacancy with a good client. You have established a decent relationship. To begin with you check on your database of candidates looking for this type of job a few months back but you've drawn a blank. I'm sure you've been in a situation like this before, you think this is going to pass you by. In reality however, if there is somebody out there and you don't find them, somebody else will. If somebody else does, they will make a fee out of it and you won't.

If you have a mental block, then you need to clear your mind of any assumptions or judgments that you have made and go back to a process. In my experience in times like these, it's usually somebody who is already on the database that gets hired. It could be somebody that I have missed out, or for some reason just didn't contact. In recent memory I have never not heard of somebody who has been hired, or that I couldn't have found by other means. To avoid this happening to you, you need to build a process and follow it to find available contacts.

Here are some top tips

- Look up anybody that you have placed in the area before. Give them a call and try to gain referrals, it's likely they will know somebody who may be interested.

- To broaden your candidate pool, have a look to see who was available around two or three years ago. People tend to work in cycles, they may well be looking again.

- Get a free trial on a jobs board with a CV search facility. It's a bit of a long shot, but with so many jobs boards around and the fact that you only need to get lucky once to make a fee should justify spending a little bit of time doing this. Always search in Google for newer boards and keep an up to date database of them.

- Phone the people that you have previously placed, regardless of location. Explain that you have a vacancy and ask if they know of anybody who may be interested. They will be more than likely to help out and you could be surprised at who they know!

- Consider teaming up with another agency and share the fee. After all 50% of a fee is better than 0% of a fee. If you can build a small network with other agencies, you can really improve the amount of placements that you make. You will be providing a better service to your clients as you will be filling their vacancies more often and the amount of work to placement ratios that are successful should level out. If you are making more placements than some agencies on your network, consider removing them from it!

For all of these tips, when speaking to somebody always ask them if they know anybody who could be suitable. If done religiously you will find that it should produce extra candidates on a frequent basis. A first hand character reference should also be accepted, if somebody is said to be good, then give them a shot!
None of these activities are 100% effective if done by themselves. However if you do they all routinely and methodically, your results should improve.

Good luck.

This article is written by Jonathan Walker of Uk Careers, specalsing in Recruitment Vacancies and Recruitment Agency Jobs

How to Attract and Keep Productive Employees

How to Attract and Keep Productive Employees - By: Marian Banker

A productive employee is a satisfied employee. Productive, satisfied employees create successful businesses. It's your job to create the environment that enables employees to feel satisfied on a consistent basis.

What do people want from a job? The consensus reached from my reading and my personal experience in working with clients is that, regardless of the job title and duties, an employee in any business wants the following - in descending order of importance or weight.

Pleasure - Job pleasure includes looking forward to going to work and feeling satisfied when the day is done. What that means will be different for each employee. It may come from being creative, successfully carrying out an assignment or task, seeing a positive result from their actions, knowing they've contributed to someone else's good or receiving respect and recognition from others.

A creative person will be most productive being creative. A detail oriented person will enjoy digging into the minutia. Moving a technical genius into an administrative position probably isn't going to be productive - anywhere. Job duties and individual personal qualities need to come together in order to maximize productivity.

Money - For most employees, money is only important when it feels like the pay does not match perceived value. Money can add to job pleasure, but does not replace or supersede it. Those who are driven by money alone may have trouble aligning with the rest of the team.

Comfort/Time-Off - Everyone has a different definition of comfort. For some people working close to home is a comfort because of family needs. Flex time or extra time off may be needed for a variety of reasons. Feeling in a bind because of conflicting demands takes away from productive focus. Willingness to negotiate is the key to success here.

Security/Benefits - No one wants to feel like they may be the next to go or that the company is in dire circumstances out of their control. Benefits are more important to some than to others. Benefits that fit the needs of each individual is ideal and may be negotiable. Make sure the employee understands their benefits and their responsibility in order to receive them.

These are the prerequisites needed to experience job satisfaction. Any time an employee spends thinking about, talking about or pursuing any of these is unproductive time.

The guy who goes home at the end of the day feeling satisfied will look forward to coming to work tomorrow. He will not only stay on board, he will be highly productive while he's there.

How do you create an environment where employees can feel satisfied? And how do you find the right people for the jobs to be done?

Here are the steps I recommend.

Present your Vision, Mission and Goals:

People are attracted to those who know where they're going and how they're going to get there. Before considering hiring anyone, make sure your Vision and Mission are clear and written in a way that will attract those who can get excited about being a participant in your plans. Share this with applicants, together with long and short term goals so they will know exactly what they're buying into. You only want employees who can enthusiastically adopt your Vision, Mission and Goals.

Write Your Own Job Description First:

Since you can't do it all by yourself, determine how YOU can be most productive in your business? What are your own personal values, your strengths, your assets? How can you best apply these to your business? If you're good at sales and like selling, that should be a good part of your job. You want and deserve to get pleasure and satisfaction from your job also. You'll hire others whose talents and interest more closely fit the remaining jobs to be done. Jobs you dislike or have trouble doing either won't get done or will be done poorly. Your business can't afford that. I've seen businesses fail because the owner was trying to do jobs for which they were totally inept.

Write a Description for All Other Jobs:

Organize the tasks that you will not be carrying out, think through the work flow and relationships and write a clear job description and prerequisites for each. Consider what qualities, values and behavior is most suited to each set of tasks and use these as guidelines for recruiting and interviewing.

Present the Job Description to Applicants

Share and discuss the job description with applicants. Ask them to tell you how they would carry out the job. Listen for their level of passion and ability to commit as well as to their competence. You're looking for their ability to think through and deal with the issues at hand and how well they see the future possibilities.

Create a Team Environment:

In a small business each "position" is dependent to some extent on others. In order for the group to function as a team, each person must know their position and know how they will relate to all others. When appropriate, have final candidates meet with other team players to make sure the chemistry is right.

Provide an Organized Communication System:

People want and need to know what to expect. Provide written guidelines, train where needed and reinforce desired behavior. Keep all staff informed about areas that affect their work, ask for their feedback and thank them for keeping you and others informed. Everyone should ultimately be working toward the same business goals and be gaining pleasure from carrying out their individual actions to achieve them.

Use Staff Feedback to Create a Plan:

Use what you learn from staff, plus all your other information gathering resources and create a plan that everyone can embrace.

Accept and Share Responsibility:

Take ultimate responsibility for business results and allow others to take responsibility within the scope of their position. Make sure they know they have both the responsibility and the authority. Responsibility without authority will lead to frustration very quickly.

Celebrate Wins; Give Recognition Freely:

Take time to celebrate success and give recognition for a well played game even with a losing outcome. One of the most important acts a leader can do is give recognition. People follow and stay with those who give recognition freely.

Reap the Reward:

The reward of creating a productive and satisfying employee environment is being the owner of a strong and profitable business that SUPPORTS YOU in every way. Many entrepreneurs complain that they are supporting their business. Isn't it time your business supported you? It can happen only when you attract and keep productive employees.

Daniel Goleman, developer of the concept and author of the book, Emotional Intelligence, suggests that leaders and staff function most effectively when they reach a state he calls resonance. This happens when leaders encourage ongoing communication at all levels and focuses this communication around the vision, mission and goals of the business.

More than anything else workers want their voices to be heard, says Richard B. Freeman & Joel Rogers who based their book, What Workers Want, on survey results. They desire a greater role in the workplace, and have strong ideas about how their involvement could improve not just their lot but also their companies' fortunes.

Jim Collins, in his book, Good to Great, emphasizes the importance of hiring the right people. Your business can't afford the wrong people taking up the space of the right people. In the entrepreneurial classic, The E-Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber devotes several chapters to hiring and developing a productive team.

I've seen small businesses with employees that are totally out of control. When the owner puts up with unproductive employees who disregard policies and procedures and are disinterested in the business, the result is resentment, negative behavior and chaos. There's no chance such a business will succeed.

It's been shown time after time that there is a high positive correlation between employee commitment/productivity and reduced turnover. A stable, low turnover work force produces significantly more.

One client recently summed it up very well: "I used to feel like I was the adversary with my staff - always pushing to achieve results. Since I've learned what it takes to attract and keep the right people, I now have a team that's working with me. We all know where we're going. Achieving goals is much easier and I'm enjoying my business as never before".

Marian Banker, MBA, is President of Prime Strategies, offering individual, group, and virtual programs designed to help clients take command of their business. Marian's mission is to help small business owners be the leader of a strong and profitable business. Read more articles like this one at www.primestrategies.com.

The Key Importance of Workforce Management for Organizations

The Key Importance of Workforce Management for Organizations - By: Lucy Caudle

Unless yours is a one-man organization, you achieve your organizational goals, to a smaller or greater degree, through a workforce. If that workforce is not productive, the efficiency of goals-achievement suffers and costs of achievement go up.

To some extent, productivity can be ensured through use of fear. However, in modern organizations operating in a competitive environment, fear is becoming less and less effective. Workers have increasing choices for selecting their employers.

This is particularly true of IT workforce with the specific kind of skills that your organization needs. You have not only to find people with the right skills but you also have to retain them. Both productivity and customer service can improve significantly if you are able to maintain a stable workforce.

It is in this context that workforce management has become a key management area these days.

What Is Workforce Management?

Workforce management seeks to develop a workforce consisting of happy and productive workers through:

• Good payroll and benefits packages and administration


• Best HR practices that help recruit and retain the right kind of workers with the right set of skills


• Training and developing the workers into a team with the right mix of skills and fitting in with the organizational culture


• Monitoring performance and rewarding good performers


• Forecasting requirements and developing career and succession plans to meet the requirements

While the above is the generally accepted view of workforce management, newer and specialized definitions have also developed. These specialized kinds of workforce management cater to the emerging needs of service organizations and call centers.

Workforce management software can help service organizations through:

• Forecasting work orders


• Planning the number of skills of technicians needed to service these work orders


• Planning the tools and vehicles needed for the servicing


• Scheduling the workers, tools and vehicles in an optimal manner using predefined rules


• Assigning work orders to particular technicians in each area

For call centers, workforce management software can:

• Forecast call volumes throughout the day


• Plan shifts in a customized manner


• Schedules workers by skills and experience


• Forecast seasonal changes in volumes


• Monitor performance

Workforce Management Contribution to Bottom Line

The diversity of skill sets required in modern IT departments make it critical that these be assessed and managed properly. Otherwise, the IT department would rather be a drag on the resources of the organization instead of being a contributor to its bottom line. There would be an imbalance in the demands and availability of specific IT skills.

Service organizations need to optimize the contribution of their workforce through scheduling and routing of their field service personnel. This scheduling is a complex exercise that needs to consider the skills, nearness to the service sites, availability of needed parts and other factors. It would need specialist workforce management software to handle this complexity in a reasonably satisfactory manner.

Conclusion

A workforce with right skill sets and experience can make a real contribution to achieving organizational objectives. With an increasingly competitive marketplace for skilled workers, only a highly effective workforce management could help organizations hire, develop and keep their skilled workforce. Workforce management software can help IT and service organizations optimize worker satisfaction and performance.

We will look at different aspects of workforce management in a series of articles.

Lucy Caudle, Marketing at SMART, writes about the benefits of Workforce-Management-Overview

Schools And Business Skills

Schools And Business Skills - By: Joseph N. Abraham, M.D.

A new concept emerging in many communities is the idea that the primary goal of education is to produce better workers. Our schools should support our economy. As might be expected, the people advocating such an approach tend to be employers.

This idea does not hold up well to scrutiny. First, What job? A slide show currently making the Internet rounds talks about global competition, and makes the point that by mid-career, the average employee will hold over ten jobs. So which of these should we target? And is there any way we could train a worker for 20 or more jobs in a career?

Even if we made the poor assumption that we are training our students for just one job, the skill sets necessary for any position will change constantly. This is true for even the least-skilled jobs. Even menial workers will need, more and more, to work with computers, new equipment, and understand the potential liabilities inherent in any work. As the job description enlarges with moving up the organizational lader, the necessary skills accelerate at an ever-increasing rate.\. So even if there were only one career track for each student, we are committing ourselves to enormous, continuous ongoing training costs. That is, if our students are incapable of training themselves. That is our first insight here.

After we consider those problems, we will also have to decide whether each student will become a manager, or an employee? Management necessarily deals with many data from many disciplines, and requires the ability to synthesize the information. Moving down the corporation ladder, skill sets become narrower, less independent, and more focused on rules and details. Look around any corporation, and it becomes quite clear that there was no way to predict who would become a manger, and who would become an employee. So if we train leaders, followers will be poorly trained; and obviously, the reverse is equally true. This gives us a second insight.

Next, why should the average taxpayer dedicate public funds garnered from her private, moderate income to fund the training of workers for industries, most of which earn much more money than the worker? If industry wishes better workers, you and I should not have to bear that cost out of our pockets.

There is a related philosophical problem here. Industry generally insists on a minimalist government, and the freest markets possible. So if industry desires division of business and government, how can we then decide that it is the responsibility of government to underwrite the needs of industry? If business argues that it is more flexible and efficient than government at everything else, then it is disingenuous to now argue that government should train industry's workers. It would seem to be an attempt to shift the cost to the general population, even though it will be less efficient, simply because business interests will bear a much smaller cost. So worker training seems to be at odds with the key concepts of the free market, particularly efficiency and accountability. That clue points more to the problems with motives rather than goals, but it is an important insight nonetheless.

Another consideration is whether the concept of job training is consistent with the needs of the democracy. Police states want job training for the populace-- and nothing else (and more than a few businesses operate like police states). Whether in the state, the workplace, or in the church, dictatorial leaders want no one of independent mind. Police states hardly want challenges to their competence, much less, probity. Autocrats want quiet, unthinking, but efficient workers, who do, and do not ask. Job training as opposed to citizen training is the final insight, and strongly points to the problem of turning our schools into centers of workforce development.

These ideas are inadequate, because in a free democracy, education should not serve worker training. Here in the USA, one of our favorite saws is that it is possible for any young student to be elected President one day. The problem with this argument, is that EVERY student in the USA becomes President. When we cast our ballots, we are all the Chief Executive of the country; so everyone is President.

Historically, this is interesting. Socrates (via Plato) cautioned his pupils of the dangers inherent with democracy, and likened it to allowing everyone access to the ship's wheel (this is where we get the concept of the "ship of state"). Socrates was wrong, of course, and his fear is our triumph. It is through collective decision-making that the advanced countries excel.

This only holds, however, if the citizens are independent-minded equals. In the poor, undereducated nations, democracy dies; it only flourishes where there is a thinking populace who understand the long-term obligations and implications of their choices.

Seeing these things, we can understand that training our children for jobs is not the answer, not at all. Vocational preparation is insufficient for the democracy. Democracy absolutely must have discerning citizens who have a grasp of multiple complex disciplines. As do our neighborhoods, our churches-- and our businesses.

We don't need to train workers. We need to train citizens. We need citizens who understand history, and science, and economics, and diversity of cultures-- particularly as it relates to geopolitics. Currently we are engaged in two wars in the Middle East. Regardless of how each of us may feel about those wars, all parties agree that costly mistakes were made because we did not fully understand the geopolitics of the region. And as the world grows smaller, we are becoming aware of the impossibility of understanding all of it diverse cultures; obviously, we will need to inform ourselves as we go. So we also need citizens, and workers, who continue to learn, and inquire, for their entire lives.

Democracy requires citizens; citizens who are scientists, philosophers, psychologists, economists, administrators, who can put it all together and derive some understanding of the world around us. Will the citizen who can do this also be a strong employee? Yes. And she will be a strong manager, a strong entrepreneur, as well as a strong civic activist, and a vocal and forceful advocate for progress, peace and prosperity. And when the marketplace shifts-- as it is continuously doing, at an ever-accelerating rate-- she will shift with it, because she will understand the fundamental concepts that will allow her to re-employ HERSELF.

And once we have educated the enlightened citizen-worker, she will also work for equally well-educated citizens, those who are mindful and respectful of the critical skills of their employees and their customers. And these enlightened managers will be able to take the input from all of these diverse viewpoints, and synthesize them to create business models that look less and less like the outmoded aristocratic structures of the past, and more and more like the democratic structures of today, and of the future.

We do not need workers, at least not first. We need independent-minded citizens, critical thinkers, fast re-learners: in our community, in our political process, and in our businesses. If we train employees rather than voters, then government and communities will fail, and business will fail with them.

But if we train citizens, all will prosper.

Joseph N. Abraham, MD, is president and founder of booksXYZ.com, The Non-profit Bookstore listing over 2,000,000 books. He is also the author of the book Happiness.

Free Criminal Record - How And Why You Need A Check Done

Free Criminal Record - How And Why You Need A Check Done - By: Howard Brule

Obviously, a company must be careful when selecting employees. Current employees are representatives of the company and must be trustworthy. An employee which a firm cannot trust will have a detrimental impact on the business.

This requires you to do background checks on potential employees, to find out as much as possible about their past. If you are able to discover whether or not your prospective employee has a criminal record, that information can be priceless. This is why criminal record checks are gaining in popularity.

Considering the vast amount of data on the network, a lot of individuals think they can get a free criminal record with just a few clicks of the mouse. However, this is rarely the case. One cannot simply search for a free criminal record and get the requested information. Even if results are returned, they might be old, or even fictitious. There is no way to tell.

In some cases it is possible to get free criminal record information from local police. But again, it is unlikely that this sort of information will be complete, since neither the police nor other government agencies are able to provide complete information due to privacy considerations. They are not in the business of providing personal information about individuals to the general public.

Fortunately for those who need personal information on individuals, there are private firms which gather and make available all kinds of personal information. These records include such things as death and marital records, arrest records, inmate information, sentencing files, sex offender records, court records, civil records, bankruptcy records, location and cell phone information, and much more.

Membership to online websites can give you access to personal information and be readily found. This type of access can give a well-developed history. A thirty year history can be developed for these reports based on information such as criminal and civil records, personal contacts, lawsuits, birth and death records, address history, and online histories.

This helps immensely in making the decision of who should or should not be hired. Although, such a membership usually costs a small fee, it is a very small price for safeguarding your business or family when, for instance you want to hire someone to do domestic work for you.

A criminal record search has become mandatory by numerous companies. Firms want to protect their assets and meet the demands of government. They also want to take every step possible to protect female employees from unnecessary harassment. These days women often have to work late, unsupervised. Protection is vital to those providing security, staffing ,and temporary employement.

There are two special groups of employees who need to have spotless characters and no hint of a criminal record. Senior management is one of these categories. These employees are front line ambassadors of the firm and are given access to the company's most private and sensitive information. How they conduct themselves will leave an indelible impact on the image and performance of the firm.

Employees who deal directly with the public and must handle cash or credit card transactions are a group where criminal records are very relevant. If you take a moment and reflect on the many people who often handle payments with cash or credit card payments, whether in person or by telephone, it becomes clear why a criminal record check and other types of background checks are extremely valuable and necessary to ensure the safety of fellow employees, and the well-being of the company.

Free Criminal Record Check - Are you looking for a free criminal record service? Do you have a requirement to conduct a Criminal or background records search? Article marketing that rocks.

Checking Criminal Records

Checking Criminal Records - By: Laica Baker

When hiring new employees, you should definitely pick the right person for the right job. Sometimes, a hundred applicants apply for the same job. As an employer, it will be important for you to make sure that the applicant you get fits just perfectly, not just because of the education and skills, but most importantly, because a certain person is trustworthy and reliable. After all, the applicant who gets the job doesn’t just get a spot on your company – they also automatically become your business’ representative.

Conducting a criminal records check for that individual you may be eyeing is one necessary part of the hiring process. One could never tell. A prospective employee may look smart and trustworthy but unless you run a criminal background check, you can never really be sure.

The possibilities are simply scary if you don’t check their records. You may unknowingly hire a convicted sex offender or a person who has been arrested for embezzlement. Checking an individual’s criminal records early on will help you to send that harmful person out of the door.

Chances are you might have considered conducting background checks in the past but may have dismissed the idea upon finding out that such process involves either hiring a private detective or doing an extensive research through government and public offices’ records.

Go do your search at PublicRecords.com. By using our services, you can conduct a full-scale background check and see criminal records, court records, arrest records, sex offender records, neighborhood reports, and other similar important information that will help you determine a person’s reliability.

As if that wasn’t enough, you may even access vital records such as birth records, marriage records, divorce records, and death records. You may use these records to verify a person’s identity, just in case they provided you with false information about their name, name of their spouse, address, or other similar information.

Protect your business from dangerous persons. Use PublicRecords.com now and get access to more public records than you ever thought possible. PublicRecords.com could help you discover information that may otherwise have been left undiscovered.

Laica Baker
Free People Finder and University Degrees Online

Employee Management Advice for Employers

Employee Management Advice for Employers - By: Roger Fedrick

A business organisation is as good as the way it manages its employees. An employer requires comprehensive policies and procedures to enable the employer to fulfill its obligations towards its employees. Poorly designed policies or poor implementation can lead to prolonged legal battles that can prove to be expensive for the employer. Hence, it is necessary for an employer to invest in professionals who can provide good advice on integrated and comprehensive employer policies and practices.

Professional advice for employers related to managing employee related concerns, tribunal representation and indemnity services are essential to help companies effectively prevent and resolve their employee-related issues.

Employee management advice for employers includes:

• Legal advice for employers: All businesses are required to comply with employment laws and regulations governing terms of recruitment, working conditions, dismissal procedures and redundancy. It is estimated that 90% of cases that go to Employment Tribunals occur because employers did not have access to good legal advice. Also, professional advice for an employer may include legal representation at the Employment Tribunal, which greatly increases the chances of winning. Good employer advice may also include negotiating between different parties in a dispute, briefing relevant witnesses, and collating and inspecting documentation.

• Advice regarding employee safety: Good employee management advice for employers includes ways to increase workplace safety. This is important to protect the organisation against the risk of work-related accidents, and thus, legal prosecution. In the long run, it is more economical to take steps to prevent potential accidents than deal with the damages once they do occur. Hence, every employer should strive to implement well-designed policies and safe working policies based on professional advice from experts.

• Advice regarding employee health insurance: All business organisations need to ensure health insurance for their employees. Failure to implement suitable health insurance policies, systems and procedures can prove costly for a business organisation. Good professional advice for employers is essential to help them avoid legal complications arising from the poor implementation of health insurance schemes.

Find advice for employers in UK at http://www.free-employer-advice.co.uk

The Best Place To Find New Employees

The Best Place To Find New Employees - By: Wally Adamchik

I just delivered a presentation at a national convention on the best practices in recruiting and retention. My business focuses more on the retention side of the equation, but the client asked me to put this together. I learned a lot doing it. In fact, I’ve found that the topic is in high demand; four other conventions have asked me to do it for them. To save you the trip, I will share with you one of the key points from my research.

The main source of new employees, by far, is internal referrals. That is, an employee within the company submits the name of someone he knows, or knows of, to fill a position in the company. This is a win for the hiring company, because the cost of this acquisition is often lower, and new hires from referrals usually stay around longer. You can make this work for you. The old cliché, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” has merit here. Who do your employees know that they might be able to refer for a position? Who do you, and they, know who can give you information, make an introduction, or maybe send some people your way? And before you shrug and say, “No one,” I need to tell you that you, and your people, know far more people than you think.

The problem most people have is that they don’t tap into their entire network. They make evaluations about who may or may not be able to help them without knowing enough to make a smart decision. A couple of days ago, my friend Ken, a retiring Marine LtCol, called me for advice. We had a great conversation and I asked if he had talked to another mutual friend of ours, Kelly. He hadn’t. He said he didn’t think Kelly could offer input, and listed several seemingly valid reasons. I then pointed out a number of ways that Kelly--and other members of his network he hadn’t considered--might be able to help him.

Ken was seeing things one way. I simply helped him see them other ways, too. Take a look at your cell phone contact list. Every single one of those people is part of your network, and they all know people. Let’s say you have 100 people in your phone. You’re really looking at 200 potential leads. Sure, some of them won’t be able to offer help. But many, including those you had not considered, might fit your company, or know someone who might. Your employees have cell phones too. Best of class firms help their employees understand what they are looking for and continually remind them. You should also reward them, well, when they do refer people to you.

We still need to talk about how to handle these referrals well but we will do that next time. For now, think about all those relatives, friends, and acquaintances from school, active duty, sports teams, and church. Make a list. You will be amazed and energized by seeing just how many folks can be sources of information when your network is energized. The objective of the internal referral program is to get people to interview. When this happens the next time you find yourself asking, “Can you hear me now?” there will be a vast network of people, not just hearing you, but helping you get heard.

Wally Adamchik is the President of FireStarter Speaking and Consulting, a national leadership consulting firm based in Raleigh, NC. You can visit the website at http://www.FireStarterSpeaking.com or email him at wally at beafirestarter.com. His book No Yelling ( http://www.noyelling.net ) was selected by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the best business books of Summer 2007.

The Art Of Employee Motivation

The Art Of Employee Motivation - By: Trevor Marshall

If you think that your employees’ poor performance on their designated jobs is costing you a whole lot of lost profits, then instead of just doing a total overhaul of your employee roster, why not try to do some employee motivation tactics to get them to actually come around and be able to save your company from looming bankruptcy. It really is fairly easy and simple to rouse some employee motivation, you just have to take these techniques to heart:

People nowadays are concerned of the lack of importance that is being put into health care plans. Is your company one of those companies that do not provide their employees with the health benefits that they should be entitled to? This is a possible reason why your employees’ morale are down. You need to reassess the situation and try to give them the health benefits that will ensure them that they will be protected by the company that they have been loyal to even in their times of sickness. Always remember that a happy worker is a satisfied worker so make sure to use this employee motivation tool in order to give your employees' morale a much needed boost.

Remember, companies are usually employed with some women who will, most often than not, become mothers. So it is highly important that you know their needs especially during the time when they would want to avail of their maternity leave. It is important that your company, no matter what kind of product or service you offer, is always sensitive to your employees needs, no matter what their gender is.

When it comes to having a good health plan for your employees, you must be sure that your health plan is actually of any good or else it would not really do any good to your employees’ morale. Make sure that the health plan will be able to cover all their basic needs and it wouldn’t really hurt if you throw in some added kicks.

Basic health care plans that you can use for employee motivation actually covers the following: full coverage for any basic illness or injury, coverage of hospital payments in case the employee has to be checked-in at the hospital or if there are some minor surgeries that need to be done.

Added benefits to further boost employee motivation through a health care plan is through having their dental health covered as well as their optical needs, eyeglass subsidies as well as free dental cleaning and check-ups will be a good treat for your employees and will surely be a great added employee motivation move.

Apart from having a good health care plan for your employee motivation tactics, you must also be able to provide for them some other additional care such as an insurance plan which they can rely on in case something bad happens to them when they are still of service to your company. Even if this employee motivation move will not be availed by the employee’s family during the time of his or her service, your employee can still choose to continue on paying for the premiums of the insurance plan even after he or she has retired from your company. Unfortunately for your employees, once they resign from a job position at your company the said insurance plan will be revoked since the company will not be able to pay for your insurance premiums anymore (remember, all the payments from these employee motivation tactics will actually come from the employee’s salary).

Another great employee motivation move for loyal employees of your company is to have a car loan ready for them, employees who have already served some considerable amount of years in the company should be entitled to a car plan wherein deductions from their salary will be used to pay for their vehicle of choice. This is a great employee motivation move since those who are cannot afford a car (a brand new car at that!) would actually want to continue staying in your company because of this added employee motivation benefit.

From time to time, especially during special occasions, you need to be able to give your employees some added morale boost by organizing events or parties that will foster camaraderie among your employees. A little good time certainly wouldn’t hurt anyone and this will all be in the spirit of good ole’ company fun. Employee motivation directed events such as Christmas parties and company picnics are surely a welcome treat to your seemingly overworked and over fatigue employees.

You must also remember to give your employees some time to unwind like providing your regular employees the benefit of having a two-week paid vacation leave. That’s the least you can do for your employees who you have been held captive for the majority of the year in your office.

These are really simple and easy employee motivation tactics that you can do in order to boost your employees’ morale and to be able to ensure a good upkeep of your company.

For more great employee motivation info and advice check out: http://www.profitable-employees.com

When It Pays To Use Incentive Programs

When It Pays To Use Incentive Programs - By: Trevor Marshall

Non-cash incentive programs and fringe benefits can have a powerful influence on attitudes, which should in turn improve results. You can give employees the greatest incentive program, but by impairing a sense of ownership in the organization.

If you don’t know what kind of incentive programs to employ so as to motivate your people to work and increase productivity, here are some tips that you can use:

1. Sharing the shares.

Use share schemes as an incentive program to reward people for contributing to team success.

An employee who sees his or her efforts rewarded in company shares will, in theory, identify with the company, be committed to its success, and perform more effectively.

In reality, it may be hard to tell whether the company’s success is due to employees owning shares, or whether the success itself has led the company to issue shares. It is also difficult to know whether employees would have performed less effectively if no shares had changed hands.

Nevertheless, by giving people a stake in the company as an incentive program, you are making a highly positive statement about them, which encourages them to feel positive in return.

2. Gifts are not just for Christmas.

Surprise people with gifts they do not expect. Expected remuneration has less impact than the unexpected. Even generous pay rises are taken for granted after a while, as salary wishes increase accordingly.

Incentive programs like a far smaller “payment,” in the form of a gift, have an unequal worth in the eyes of the recipient. An employee could use a cash award to buy a gift, perhaps a weekend vacation, but that would provide less satisfaction than an incentive program in kind from the management as a reward for work well done.

Consider this, which incentive program is better: A company called for a special meeting for all of the employees that had achieved the sales quota for the month. In the meeting, the company announced that the incentive is a gift certificate. They went to the Accounting Department, as instructed, signed their name, and off they go.

Or: The company gave them a specialized mug embossed with the word “Congratulations,” plus a special card with a special message personally written by the manager.

Between the two incentive programs, the latter is more appreciative. Gift certificates could be a good incentive program but it is sometimes taxable, so they get only a fraction of what was written on it. Plus, the first incentive program is more rigid, lacks personalization and appreciation.

On the other hand, the second incentive program is far more favourable. A more specialized and personalized gift idea as incentive program can be more appreciated. It makes your employee feel that they are individually valued especially if it comes with a “thank you” note.

Best of all, presents are also a better incentive program and a cost-effective method of motivating staff when cash is short or when competition does not allow an increased pay.

3. Optimizing benefits.

Fringe benefits have become a much less effective incentive program financially in many countries because of tax charges, as mentioned earlier.

Good pension schemes, however, have become more attractive as an incentive program wherever state-funded provision falls. The same applies to medical insurance. The knowledge that the company cares for its people in sickness, health, and old age is a basic yet a powerful factor.

Other benefits, such as company cars, paternity leave, vacations, and help with children’s education and care as incentive programs can improve the quality of people’s lives. Electronic devices, from mobile phones to computers, directly benefit the company, but as an incentive program, the individual also gains personally from their availability.

Ultimately, loyal and happy employees tend to work harder, leading to increased overall productivity.

4. Bequeath status.

The modern company, with its flat structure, horizontal management, and open style, avoids status symbols that are divisive and counter-productive. Reserve parking places and separate dining rooms are rightly avoided.

However, important-sounding job titles are easy and economical forms of incentive program at the same time a better way of providing recognition and psychological satisfaction.

So, now you know that incentive programs don’t necessarily mean it has to be in the monetary form. Do remember that giving people incentive programs of any kind sends a very positive signal. As they say, it’s the thought that counts.

For more great incentive info and ideas check out: http://www.incentive-insider.com

Finding The Right People For The Job

Finding The Right People For The Job - By: Sintilia Miecevole

If you are a manager, one of the most stressful aspects of your job is finding good people to fill available positions in your company. Whether you work in a small business or for a large corporation, hiring new personnel can be a hard process to manage. There are many things to consider when you are reviewing resumes and arranging interviews, but if you attention to some key factors, you will typically find a successful match for your needs.

The first step toward finding good people to fill positions is the advertising process. You can put in ads in local newspapers and make postings on Internet job sites. Be sure to word your ad in such a way that it adequately describes the most important skills needed for the job. If the available position calls for certain communication or technical skills be sure to list those clearly, and if applicants are expected to know particular software programs make sure you say that this knowledge is required.

Once you have placed you ad, you will have to begin screening applicants. The first step is to look through all of the submitted resumes and rule out those who obviously do not have the right qualifications for the job. This process can be as lenient or as strict as you need, depending on how many people apply for the position. If you have a big stack of resumes, you will have to immediately rule out some people just for the sake of time. However, if you have little to choose from, you might consider interviewing all of the candidates to see who seems the best suited to the job at hand.

After you have narrowed your applicant field, you will have to start arranging interviews. Though scheduling can be a nightmare if you are already extremely busy with your own job, you should set aside a few days to conduct your interviews. You can spend half of every day for a week interviewing candidates, leaving the other half of each day to conduct business as usual. Once you have finished scheduling, you can begin the interview process.

Interviewing can be very stressful for both the interviewer and the people being interviewed. It is important to make your job candidates as comfortable as possible so you will be able to better judge them for who they really are. If you begin the interview with a series of tough questions, he or she may become frazzled and not be able to give you answers that illustrate his or her true abilities. However, if the available job requires grace under pressure and thinking on ones feet, it might be a good idea to test the applicants ability to deal with stressful situations.

You should cater your interview to the requirements of the job. Reiterate needed skills sets and confirm that the applicant has the skills needed to perform adequately. You can usually tell a lot about people from how they conduct themselves during an interview. If the applicant is confident even when fielding tough problem-solving questions, he or she will probably be good at doing so in a professional setting. Be sure to take notes on positive and negative qualities of an applicant so you do not forget during the course of the long interviewing process.

Once you have interviewed all of the applicants you are considering, you will have to make the hard choice of who to hire. Even if you have several qualified people, there are usually one or two who really stand out. If you can narrow your choices to two or three candidates, you can always arrange for another interview with each. Keeping in mind the requirements of the position, you can usually figure out the best person for the job after conducting a focused second interview session. After you make your decision, be confident that you have chosen the right person to become the newest member of your team.

Sintilia Miecevole's resourceful and most interesting site http://www.fapeople.com provides you with all kinds of people information such as people search, jobs, maps, Government, citizenship, etc... anything to do with people. Click on to http://www.fapeople.com for all of your people information and more! You'll be glad you did.

Managing Staff By Talking To Them

Managing Staff By Talking To Them - By: David Andrew Smith

As a cleaning company we place a very high value on our staff, they can make or break your business. They are our greatest asset and also our greatest liability. Consequently maintaining an excellent working environment and keeping staff well motivated is one of our primary goals. The same applies to most businesses although it is especially important in the cleaning industry because of the potentially high turn over of staff that is somewhat traditional in this field.

We go into many businesses in carrying out our cleaning and as the current trend is for cleaning to take place during normal working hours we see many of these in operation on a day to day basis. Some of these are large organisations with well over 100+ people working on the site others are smaller concerns with perhaps 5 or 6 people employed. Each manager has their own method of managing their staff and some of the places are happy environments where the individuals actually enjoy going to work, others are places full of grumbles where the people cannot wait to go home.

By and large the atmosphere in the workplace seems to be a reflection of the managers. It never ceases to amaze me how some managers talk to their staff or not, because quite a few have decided that e-mailing them is better despite the fact that they may be in the next office. It is written down therefore it is done and no longer my problem seems to be the attitude. From a personal point of view I could not tolerate this.

One of the reasons we go to work with others is for the social interaction and this is being gradually eroded in the modern work place. When I did work in such an establishment it became commonplace for people to send out memos. Memos had their place, if a meeting was being arranged for example where time and place and agenda needed to be specified. However I concluded that well over 90% of the memos sent out to me were not informational but requesting me to do something.

This I used to take as very bad manners and throw most of them in the bin until the persons concerned were forced into actually talking to me. Discussions we used to have around this issue always centred on how more efficient it was to send out requests on bits of paper. To me it seemed that it was depersonalising the work place and increasing the amount of paper that was being shuffled around. Now it is used as a method of everybody covering their backs in case something goes wrong. It may be me being ‘difficult’, and it may be necessary to shuffle all this paper around but I just find it sad that the workplace has deteriorated to this level in many instances.
How do we keep our cleaners happy? We treat them as human beings who deserve the right to be spoken to correctly. Please and thank you seem to be very under used words in the workplace nowadays. We find that a please and a thank you goes a very long way in maintaining staff morale as does actually talking to them rather than leaving messages.

It is very noticeable that the good environments to work in, where people are happy, the bosses actually communicate with their staff on a human level and the word thank you is heard quite a lot.

Just remember how you feel when some body says thank you to you when you have done something for them and conversely how you feel when there is no response!

David Andrew Smith is the owner of http://www.wesparkle.co.uk, a cleaning services company which operates throughout the UK

The Thick Line Between Buddy And Boss

The Thick Line Between Buddy And Boss - By: Tim Knox

Q: One of my key employees is giving me trouble. He has started showing up late for work and has developed a bad attitude in general. The rest of my employees are complaining since they are having to take up his slack. I've tried talking to him, but he doesn't seem to listen. To make matters worse, he has become one of my best friends since I hired him five years ago, so firing him is out of the question. What can I do?
-- Allen B.

A: One reason I am so qualified to dispense sage business advice every week, Allen, is that I have made just about every business blunder you can imagine. I am like the Evel Knievel of the small business world, if Evel Knievel wrote a weekly column on motorcycle safety.

One of the more unpleasant things I've had to do is fire a good friend who was not doing the job I hired him to do. He needed a job, I needed an employee, so I thought I would give him a shot. It turned out to be a match made in business hell. He took advantage of our friendship by showing up late for work, spending time goofing off instead of working, and making a joke out of my complaints about his behavior. Because of our friendship I defended his actions to my other employees, but after a few weeks I knew I had to show him the door. We're still friends, but certainly not like we were before.

The blunder I made was hiring a friend in the first place. I let emotion, i.e. the desire to help my friend gain employment, get in the way of my business sense. That's what you are doing now, Allen, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are going to have to deal with this situation soon or your entire operation may be affected by the actions of this one person.

The blunder you have made is that you have befriended an employee, which is something you should never do. I'm not saying you can't be friendly with your employees, but you have attached a considerable amount of emotional baggage to the employer/employee relationship and the result is the situation you are faced with today.

Friends expect preferential treatment simply because they are your friends. The workplace, however, must be a level playing field for all your employees, friends or not. While employees deserve your respect (if it is earned), giving one employee preferential treatment over another is never a good idea. This is a problem experienced by many business owners and managers who allow themselves to become too close to their employees.

I understand that he has become your friend over the years and you'd rather eat rocks than fire him, but you have to consider how his behavior is impacting your business over all. What effect is he having on employee morale, on work schedules, on customer relations, on time spent fixing his mistakes, and most importantly, the bottom line?

You have two options: get him back on track or get him off the payroll, period. That may sound cold and politically incorrect, but those are your only choices. Either way, you must be his employer first and friend second. He may have personal reasons for his performance, but as his employer you are legally limited as to how much prying you can do into his home life. As his friend, however, I expect that you already have a good idea what the problem is. If you can help him return to being a productive member of the team, then do so. If not, wish him well, let him go, and move on.

Here are a few suggestions to help you establish and enforce the boundaries of the employer/employee relationship.

Define the relationship. Keep your seat, Dr. Phil, this won't take long. The employer/employee relationship should be well-defined from the outset and the parameters understood by all parties. Some call it "defining the pecking order" or "establishing the food chain." Whatever colorful term you use it all boils down to this: You can be their boss or you can be their buddy. You can not be both.

Don't hire friends or relatives. This rule is certainly bendable if you are the owner of the business and you hire your children to work for you. Chances are your offspring already accept you as the ultimate authority figure and managing them in a business environment is second nature. However, even this situation could have a negative impact on your business as non-related employees often expect the boss' son, daughter, or best buddy to work less, make more money, and be treated better than everyone else. Whether that's true or not, nepotism and cronyism can create an underlying tension among the ranks.

Establish and adhere to company policies. It's a good idea to have published policies concerning every aspect of your business, including employee behavior and performance expectations. By it's very nature the employer/employee relationship is prone to favoritism. Managers can't help but favor those employees who work harder, longer, and faster, but when it comes to adhering to company policies, there should be no preferential treatment of favored employees. Every employee should receive a copy of your published company policies and sign a form stating that they have read, understand, and agree with the same.

The Bottom Line: treat everyone the same. It does not matter if the employee is a vice president or a janitor; everyone in your company should be treated the same when it comes to adhering to published company policies and performance expectations.

While it is true that a vice president may be of more value to the company than a janitor, it is also true that a vice president who is running amok can do far more damage to your company than a janitor who lets a toilet back up every once in awhile (there's an analogy there that I will let you figure out on your own).

It's not personal, it's just business. This is what the movie bad guys say to one another right before the shooting starts. "Hey, Paulie, it's not personal. It's just business." BLAM! BLAM! This is the dating equivalent of saying, "It's not you, it's me." These kinds of statements are not going to make anyone feel better when they are getting dumped or fired. Just ask any former employee or old girlfriend you've used this line on.

If you have to fire an employee - even a friend - do it by the book in a professional manner.

It won't be easy, but you have to remove the emotion and do what's best for your business.

Here's to your success.

Tim Knox
Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker
http://www.prosperityandprofit.com
http://www.dropshipwholesale.net
http://www.smallbusinessqa.com

Ten Tips For Creating A Terrific Employee Appraisal System

Ten Tips For Creating A Terrific Employee Appraisal System - By: Dick Grote

Face the facts: Creating a new performance appraisal system is a difficult undertaking. It’s even more difficult if the organization doesn’t have a logical, well-tested, step-by-step process to follow in developing their new procedure.

Based on my experience in helping dozens of companies create performance appraisal systems that actually work, here are ten tips that will help any company create a new performance evaluation system that will provide useful data and be enthusiastically supported by all system users.

One — Get top management actively involved. Without top management’s commitment and visible support, no program can succeed. Top management must establish strategic plans, identify values and core competencies, appoint an appropriate Implementation Team, demonstrate the importance of performance management by being active participants in the process, and use appraisal results in management decisions.

Two — Establish the criteria for an ideal system. Consider the needs of the four stakeholder groups of any appraisal system: Appraisers who must evaluate performance; Appraisees whose performance is being assessed; Human Resources professionals who must administer the system; and the Senior Management group that must lead the organization into the future. Identifying their expectations at the start helps assure their support once the system is finally designed. Ask each group: “What will it take for you to consider this system a smashing success?” Don’t settle for less.

Three — Appoint an Implementation Team. This task force should be a diagonal slice of both appraisers and appraisees from different levels and functions in the organization. The implementation team is responsible for accomplishing the two major requirements for a successful system. First, developing appropriate appraisal forms, policies and procedures. Second (and the task too often overlooked) assuring a successful deployment.

Four — Design the form first. The appraisal form is a lightning rod that will attract everyone’s attention. Design the form early and get lots of feedback on it. Don’t believe anybody who tells you that the form isn’t important. They’re wrong. If you’re designing a new form internally, make sure it assesses both behaviors and results.

Five — Build your mission, vision, values, and core competencies into the form. Performance appraisal is a means, not an end. The real objective of any performance management system is to make sure that the company’s strategic plan and vision and values are communicated and achieved. Core competencies expected of all organization members should be included, described and assessed. If your mission statement isn’t clearly visible in the performance appraisal system, cynicism will likely result. Values become real only when people are held accountable for living up to them.

Six — Assure on-going communication. Circulate drafts and invite users to make recommendations. Keep the development process visible through announcements and regular updates. Use surveys, float trial balloons, request suggestions and remember the cardinal principle — “People support what they help create.”

Seven — Train all appraisers. Performance appraisal requires a multitude of skills — behavioral observation and discrimination, goal-setting, developing people, confronting unacceptable performance, persuading, problem-solving, planning, etc. Unless appraiser training is universal and comprehensive, the program won’t produce much. And don’t ignore the most important requirement of all: the need for courage.

Eight — Orient all appraisees. The program’s purposes and procedures must be explained in advance — and explained enthusiastically — to everyone who will be affected by it. Specific skills training should be provided if the new performance management procedure requires self-appraisal, multi-rater feed-back, upward appraisal, or individual development planning.

Nine — Use the results. If the results of the performance appraisal are not visibly used in making promotion, salary, development, transfer, training and termination decisions, people will realize that it’s merely an exercise.

Ten — Monitor and revise the program. Audit the quality of appraisals, the extent to which the system is being used, and the extent to which the original objectives have been met. (One of the great advantages of an online performance appraisal system is that all of these data are available instantaneously.) Provide feedback to management, appraisers and appraisees. Train new appraisers as they are appointed to supervisory positions. Actively seek and incorporate suggestions for improvement.

A company’s performance appraisal process is critically important. It answers the two questions that every member of an organization wants to know: 1) What do you expect of me? and 2) How am I doing at meeting your expectations? Using these ten tips will help you develop or select a system to will give accurate and complete answers to everyone.

Dick Grote is one of America’s most successful and best-known authors, consultants, and speakers on performance management, leadership and building organizational excellence. He is the Chairman and CEO of Grote Consulting Corporation and the developer of the GroteApproach web-based performance management system – http://www.groteapproach.com

How To Interview Sales People Successfully

How To Interview Sales People Successfully - By: Peter Lawlesss

Since the dawn of free trading only two things have ever mattered; producing a quality product or service and the ability to sell it successfully. By successfully, I mean ensuring that you achieve maximum profit from the sale, while the customer is delighted with their purchase. In most cases the business owner understands what they need to produce, but more often that not rely on someone with sales skills to sell it.

Would you know a good sales person from a bad one?
While many company founders realize that they may not have the requisite sales skills, would they be able to recognize and hire someone who could sell? It is a recognised fact that four times as many business fail due to poor salesmanship, rather than poor products. Can you afford an other Sales person, based on the margins of what you intend to sell?

Thus hiring the right people to sell for you is one of the most important decisions most companies will make.

Unfortunately hiring is a bit like selling. First you must find prospects. These are the candidates that you will interview. To do this you must create a job spec. This will be your advert.

How to create a sales job specification.
Like marketing, this step must not be rushed. First understand exactly what you want the person to sell (Product Mix). Whom you wish them to sell to (territory) and how they should sell (Quota). You then need to ensure that you compensate them appropriately through a mix of base salary, Commission and Benefits.

Assuming you arrived at your targets, using an appropriate mix of sales history and market research, you will need to do a similar exercise on the cost of the sales person. In other words, can you afford them, based on the margins of what you intend to sell. It is also imperative that you offering a competitive package, if you want to attract the right level of person.

So now assuming you have advertised your position on the likes of www.salesjobs.ie or have advised an agency, what do you do next? You should partition the CVs that you get in, by sorting them into piles of “no” and “possibly”. You may have an agency doing this for you, or you might have a stab at it yourself.

The First Interview – by Phone or in Person?
The next step is to telephone interview the “possible” candidates. I would select about 10 candidates to interview by telephone. At ½ an hour each, it is 5 hours well spent. The purpose of this step is to whittle down the number of applicants, to no more than 4 per position to be filled.

I have a telephone interview sheet, which I have refined after years of interviewing sales people, and it works pretty well for me. The key facts that you need to ascertain from the interview is as follows.

- Does the person have a good telephone manner?
- Did they research your company well?
- Why they are leaving their current role, what their package expectations are?
- Are they a strong performer as quantified by their results – how did they compare to their colleagues, how much money did they earn?
- Will they be a good fit with your company and prospects?
Do they understand what a good sales process is, and have they experience of using one?
- Can they generate leads for themselves?

This is a non-exhaustive sample, the key is to get score all of the answers they give – I do it from 1-5, and only when I have completed all of the telephone interviews, do I add up the scores and rank the candidates. You will be surprised how high your “gut feel” candidates rank. The reason behind this is that you used a repeatable process with all candidates.

Does the P65 Really matter?
When bringing the final candidates to your premises for final interview, you should ensure that they bring with them their last 3 years P65. This will verify their “sales figures” and earnings – it is amazing how few potential employers actually check this out. In addition you should also ask them to supply the details of two referees. I like when these referees are previous or existing customers.

If you have not had professional help in interviewing up to now (the most cost effective is at the telephone interview stage), I would strongly recommend you get in someone who has been a sales manager who has hired and fired sales people in their career. There is an old saying that “It takes one to know one” – this basically says that sales managers can smell a rat a mile off that someone who has not had day to day contact with sales people might miss.

On the final interview day, I would suggest that you have all the people come down on one or two days, and have them meet at least three of the following, as well as yourself; the business owner.

- Some of who does marketing
- An existing sales person, if you have one
- Someone in Customer Support
- Someone in Production (or a consultant if you are a service company)

This way, all the people who could end up working with this new person will at least have a view. At the end of the day, you will have the final say, but it pays to hear other people’s opinions.

Could luck, good hiring and most importantly good selling with great profit!

Need sales and marketing help? Contact Peter Lawless, of 3R Sales and Marketing. For more articles like this, visit 3R's InfoCentre. Subscribe to Success, our free newsletter.