November 2011 Archives

Does your business have holiday hours? How do you determine who will work and when? In many businesses, seniority is the only tool used to determine who works on the holidays and who doesn't. If seniority is your only basis for scheduling, you may be faced with having your second best team on board during the busiest days and times of your business.

Most successful businesses that I have seen have employed a mix of seniority based and talent based scheduling for holidays. The best salespeople work during the peak periods, while the newer sales people are paired with the best people during these shifts to learn the tools of the trade. On off-peak periods, management often takes on a more critical role to ensure the staff is motivated and prepared in the event the off-peak quickly turns to peak.

Another point about holiday scheduling is the determination by the business as a whole whether to stay open or closed for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Many times, it is the mall that a store is within or a corporate decision to open, but often the decision is determined by the local management. Think about your customers, your people, and your long-term business goals before making a rash decision to open or close on these days; it may make more sense to stay closed on the actual holiday itself to give your staff time to spend with their families, while it may make more sense to close the day before or after certain holidays to serve both your customers and your staff best.

Having the right balance of physical and emotional labor is extremely important for those in physical jobs as well as those in office or "emotional" jobs. If you spend a great deal of time behind a computer or in an office setting, you need to set aside regular breaks of physical activity to get you moving and break up the day. Similarly, those who work in positions requiring a great deal of physical labor need to offset it with periods of downtime.

I have found over the years that I often can perform physical labor for greater periods when I break it up with an activity such as reading or hopping on the internet. Similarly, a walk around the office, rearranging some furniture or doing some cleaning helps me get my head back on after hours behind the computer.

No matter what your position at work is, be sure to have the right mix of physical and emotional labor to keep yourself healthy, both physically and mentally.

Does your staff know what Small Business Saturday? Founded in 2011 by American Express, Small Business Saturday has become one of the new shopping phenomenons along with Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Small Business Saturday is designed to encourage people to shop small businesses for holiday gifts on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. On November 26th, Braathe Enterprises will be offering discounts on Apple computer training, business courses through Saratoga College and more. Stop by anytime from 8am-4pm at our office on 12 Circular ST in Saratoga Springs, NY.

If you are a small business, make your staff aware of the importance of this day to the health of your business. Take advantage of all the free tools at the American Express Small Business Saturday website. Use Small Business Saturday as a way to really push your business to the next level and create customers who will return time and time again. By encouraging your customers to shop small, you can create great relationships with your customers, fellow small businesses, and perhaps even larger businesses looking for that personal touch.

A family owned business has a policy of not speaking about the competition. Many companies I have worked with have a policy of respecting partners and competition. When it comes to doing business, I prefer doing business with those who speak fondly of their competition or say nothing at all.

A big turnoff in business is when you hear someone or some company badmouthing their competition. To me, whether it is a potential business partner, client, or vendor, the minute I hear something said about how poorly someone else does something, I turn off my listening head and decide that its time to consider someone else for the work.

Do you have a policy in place about your competition and how you speak about them? If not, it is probably time to put one in place.

At the time of this article, details still continue to come in on the scandal at Penn State involving Jerry Sandusky. Years of alleged indiscretions by Coach Sandusky have been all over the news, the internet and water cooler discussion.

What makes this case so disturbing is the apparent years of coverup or lack of followthrough by several members of the community who knew of the alleged incidents but either didn't see the need to followup on whether they were being investigated or whether the alleged perpetrator was involved.

After watching this begin to play out, it made me reflect on far less severe allegations that I have seen companies turn a blind eye to because they are afraid to make a decision to let a top performer go, or because they feel they'd rather let people settle their issues themselves.

I really am starting to think however, given the heightened awareness of HR indiscretions with the Penn State situation, that many companies are going to take allegations of impropriety much more seriously to avoid this type of public relations disaster. Whether it is something as severe as sexual indiscretions or something less severe as a boss who is a tyrant and biased, companies may begin to take complaints more seriously given how a multi-year pattern of bad behavior seems to have affected the reputation of Penn State.

Think of the terrible boss you may have had at one point who runs person after person out of the company because no one in HR or administration believes the allegations; for years, these kinds of people get away with their attitude, indiscretions, and poor leadership because no one is afraid to take a stand.

It's time for organizations to have some temerity and do something about these situations!

I took this free career quiz back in college and it really laid the foundation for what I have ended up doing for the past several years since I took it. Still a great tool many years later.

Send me your results if you take this and I can give you some advice on businesses you may want to start or jobs you may want to pursue

http://www.princetonreview.com/careerquiz.aspx

robert@saratogacollege.com

Business and travel have been synonymous since the days of the traveling 40's era salesmen. The progression of business has been significant one thing remains the same, travel. Visit any airport in the world and you will find it consumed with people in business suits, obsessively staring at their watches while feverishly running to their gate. ....But how can this be financially feasible in the largest economic downturn since the great depression? Simple, companies have been forced to operate frugally.

According to a survey released by Embassy Suites Hotels, 71% of travelers say they have changed their business travel habits because of the continuing economic woes. To save money, 29% of the travelers surveyed said they fly only coach, while 27% said they are cutting back on meals and other expenses. Meanwhile, 24% of business travelers said they are now booking hotel rooms that their companies consider a good value, and 17% said they try to share a room with a colleague. This is a considerable change from the days of penthouse suites and first class air travel.

How's how to get the most for your business dollar:

1. Research, research, research. Do your homework to find the best deals on airfare. You can consult websites such as http://www.iflybusiness.com which is a good resource for international travel or http://www.globester.com/domestic-flights.jsp for domestic travel. Both sites websites provide highly discounted fares.

2. Avoiding having to room with your colleagues and learn way too much about their sleeping habits by checking out http://www.cheaprooms.com or http://www.hotels.com and be sure to view their daily hotel deals for deeper discounts. If you are traveling internationally and seeking the least expensive way to stay you can visit http://www.hostels.com. Staying in a hostel can be the cheapest way to stay, but keep in mind it will not provide any luxury benefits of a major hotel chain, but most offer basic benefits for a low as $25.00 per night.

3. Food....this can be challenging on a limited budget. If you are not required to participate in business dinner than you can take advantage of these food options: street vendors, which offer great food options at a reasonable fee, farmers markets available almost everywhere in the world, offer a healthy way to eat cheaply. Food halls are generally not ready available, but if you can find one they offer a wide selection of foods in one location. And the least favorable option but probably the most feasible is local fast food restaurants, a quick cheap meal that offer a lot of the buck, but a little rough on the waistline.

Your bags are packed and you're armed with your business suit and road warrior face paint. You are now ready to sprint to your gate as a frugal business traveler. Save on!!