I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
Read, and enjoy!Tash
Having procedures
If you have worked in the corporate world, you know that big businesses have procedure manuals and policies for how things are to be done. They may vary in effectiveness, but they have been thought out and written.
Maybe you consider this something that only belongs to big business, but small and medium businesses should also have some procedures written out.
A small business will have fewer procedures, may not call it a manual and may be more flexible in their approach, but the concept is the same.
Why have procedures?
Many small business owners, especially sole traders, know how to run their business so don’t see any reason to write down their procedures. But what happens when the owner isn’t the one trying to carry out a particular task one day?
By having procedures written down, someone else is able do the job with minimal disruption to clients and the overall business.
Here are some the main reasons to have procedures written down for your business:
- Someone is able to fill in for you if you are sick or go on holidays
- Less time is required to train new staff
- You have a system to sell, either as a franchise or if you sell the entire business
- There are less likely to be human errors because someone forgets a key step
- Clients receive consistent answers and service
For some tips on how to start getting some procedures for your business, read my article on business procedures. For a full run on why procedures are useful and how to use them as well as how to prepare procedures for your business, my preparing procedures eBook is jam-packed with information and tips.
Another poor marketing email
I receive many poor emails, but sometimes I am amazed at them and have to share them in the hope of reducing the number of bad emails being sent.
In this case, the email was from someone who can apparently improve my email marketing – how can I trust that claim when their email is so poor itself? Continue reading
Risk acknowledgement
How often do you consider the risk of running a business?
As much as we’d love business to be about profits and perhaps doing what we love, there are also risks to running a business and ignoring those risks can lead to all sorts of problems. Acknowledging risks, however may mean yu can reduce the likelihood of them occurring and allow you to plan ahead to make dealing with a risk easier.
Here are some risks you may want to look at for your business:
- investigate anyone you are doing large transactions with – you can do a credit check, check if they have civil claims against them, ask for bank references, and so on
- security offered by your web host Continue reading
Their names are precious
Did you know that someone’s name is one of the most precious words to them?
If you don’t believe me, think about how you feel when you are ‘treated like a number’, someone pronounces your name poorly and you get a letter with your name wrong in some way.
I once got a letter that referred to Mr T Hughes, opened with Tash and had Mrs Hughes on the envelope. I didn’t like being called Mr but the lack of care shown by the inconsistency was very poor.
Getting people’s names right is a sign of respect, and in business it also shows attention to detail matters to you. So consider the following tips:
- check the spelling of someone’s name before you send a letter or email – and use their spelling even if you don’t like it
- personalise where possible – if sending a letter or email, consider adding their name to the subject and/or body as well as in the opening line
- think about what form to use – title and surname or just first name for instance will depend on your audience and your business style. Note if they have shown a preference for one style then make sure you use that style.
- if you are not sure of gender from the name, avoid using terms that indicate gender as getting it wrong can be offensive
- never make fun or joke about someone’s name, even if you think you have a friendship, unless they have done so first – even then I would hesitate before joking about their name
- wait to be invited to use a nickname or abbreviation. So many people meet a Michael or Jonathon and start saying Mike and Jon, but if Michael hates Mike it will not impress him at all. Besides, nicknames are personal and often reserved for friends
- ask how to pronounce their name if you are not sure – people don’t mind helping but may resent errors
- do your best to remember names, especially at networking events or if a client introduces you. There are many techniques for improving your name memory and it is a valuable skill to have
PS On a humorous note, I received a phone call a few days ago where the person asked “Is that Mr Tash Hughes” (badly pronounced)
I answered “No” thinking – do I really sound like a Mr?
Next question “Can I speak to Tash Hughes?”
My answer “You are – I am Tash but I’m not Mr.”
“Oh, I thought you were a boy, Goodbye” and hung up!
An illicit response?
elicit: develop or arouse something.
The sad story will elicit your emotions and responses.
A problem solving team may elicit a solution faster than you alone.
illicit: illegal or otherwise forbidden (perhaps morally or against rules.)
The couple had an illicit meeting during the conference.
Not sure how to remember which is which? Notice that illicit is illegal and ‘wrong’, so it can be considered an ill choice or action.
Intranet for fun
What do you think a company intranet is for? Should it just be official and practical, or should it be personal and fun, maybe even wacky?
I think the main purpose of an intranet is to help staff do their jobs efficiently so it needs to contain information to help them. Having provided that information, I think an intranet can also include less formal items.
I see a number of advantages to a more friendly intranet:
- it can aid staff communication and relationships
- the occasional smile is good for staff productivity!
- higher morale reduces staff turnover and makes it more likely staff will complete tasks rather than watch the clock
So what can be added?
- daily weather updates – practical but nice if staff can see what other offices are experiencing
- tips – could be semi-serious like word of the day or funny or a motivational quote
- photo gallery of staff events and news (work Christmas parties, staff weddings, business launches, award ceremonies)
- tipping competition and results (why limit it to football? Try cricket, basketball, athletics or triathlons)
- information about charities staff/the business are involved in – and links for sponsorship
- menus of local lunch spots
- RSS feed of public transport updates in the area
- funny corner – add those joke, cartoons, etc that everyone will just email each other anyway
- health tips, recipes, office exercises, etc
- interesting seminars, webinars, training courses, etc coming up
They’re just my ideas – what else can you add?
Enough naming but not too much
Have you heard about using keywords to help search engines find you online? And considered that your business and/or product name is a critical keyword to get noticed?
I have often read about including keywords and business names in articles, newsletter and blog posts, and sometimes it even tells you how many times to include such words*.
Instead of some ‘magic’ number of times to use a word, I suggest writing it so the article is interesting and worth reading. Overuse of a keyword becomes obvious as a ploy and the writing then looses some of its credibility as a source of information.
In particular, how often can you mention a company name before someone stops reading it? Continue reading
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