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“It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn't matter who gets the credit."
Andrew Carnegie
“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision, the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), football coach for the NFL
“People who work together will win, whether it is against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society."
Henry Ford
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
Tom Bouchard
“Teams are successful when they are focused, have a short cycle time, and are supported by the executives."
Coach Phil Jackson, Chicago Bulls
“The strength of the team is each individual member...the strength of each member is the team."
Norman Shidle
"A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of the others."
Michael Jordan
"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."
“United we stand, divided we fall"
This famous quote might be the secret behind building a successful business. The importance of teamwork gets doubly highlighted in the realm of businesses. Delving deeper into the issue of teamwork we see that irrespective of the size of a particular business venture, teamwork among the partners, staff or employees, as may be the case, is of immense importance. Even if it is a small scale business with a modest start up, building professional relationships and working together as a team, goes a long way in achieving dynamism and success.
Most successful businesses get help and support both from those within and outside the peripheries of the venture. The owner of a business venture must highlight the importance of teamwork by blending it with the company's culture and business methods. Effective networking and working together with other business leaders is a fool proof method of successfully promoting a small scale enterprise.
Incorporation of Teamwork in your Business:
Teamwork involves the combined efforts of two or more people contributing different skills, but sharing the same view point and working towards common aims and goals. Employees of the business must be made aware of the goals set for the enterprise and must work in such a way that moves the business closer towards meeting these aims and targets. Mutually beneficial interactions and networking with other small business owners can be the perfect antidote to a future of long term struggles.
It is very crucial to incorporate and blend teamwork into one's business culture and working methods. Teamwork incorporates mutual respect for each other's opinions and capabilities, injects a sense of ownership and thus accountability within the employees and allows for honest communication and discussion about the issues dealt by the company.
Importance of Networking:
Building a strong base of contacts, that can help with solving the problems at hand, is what networking is all about. The availability of sound advice from the contacts expertise, can take your business a long way. The benefits of networking will lead to the creation of an ever growing stream of contacts and referrals, building up a strong networking community in the process.
Teamwork and networking are two key ingredients in the recipe of a successful enterprise; and should both be included in planning your business venture, be it small or large.
The key to a successful business is a steady customer base. Successful businesses typically see 80 percent of their business come from 20 percent of their customers. Too many businesses neglect this loyal customer base in pursuit of new customers. However, since the cost to attract new customers is significantly more than to maintain your relationship with existing ones, your efforts toward building customer loyalty will certainly payoff.
Ways to build customer loyalty
Communicate - Whether it is an email newsletter, monthly flier, or a holiday greeting card, reach out to your customers.
Customer Service - Go the extra distance and meet customer needs. Train your staff to do the same. Customers remember being treated well.
Employee Loyalty - Loyalty works from the top down. If you are loyal to your employees, they will feel good about their jobs and pass that loyalty along to your customers.
Employee Training - Train employees in the manner that you want them to interact with customers. Empower employees to make decisions that benefit the customer.
Customer Incentives - Give customers a reason to return to your business.
Product Awareness - Understand your clients business. This will be helpful to you and your employees to offer services that will in turn be helpful to the client.
Reliability - If you say a project will be completed by Wednesday, deliver it on or before Wednesday. Be reliable. If something goes wrong, let customers know immediately and compensate them for their inconvenience.
Be Flexible -Try to solve customer problems or complaints to the best of your ability.
People over Technology -The harder it is for a customer to speak to a human being when he or she has a problem, the less likely it is that you will see that customer again.
While past history has shown us that slow markets do eventually end and prosperous times will return, during the down time, a business owner has to keep operating. With little economic relief in sight, at least for the short term, how do you keep your small business ahead of the curve? In an article published February 22, 2010 by the National Association for Business Economics, it states “The expansion is on track for a resumption of job gains in the near term and sustained growth over the next two years that will slightly exceed the economy’s trend pace.” The NABE panelists characterize the outlook as “largely a traditional economic recovery – with sizeable gains in discretionary spending by businesses and households – though still restrained by past wealth losses and excessive indebtedness”. While slow growth is much better news than negative growth, it still poses challenges for your business. Here are some steps you can take to protect your small business in the current economic environment.
Offer incentives. If sales are slow, now is a great time to offer discounts, additional features, or special deals to valued customers. Consider offering better terms to customers who pay in cash or who are willing to pay upfront. While your margins may be squeezed, this tactic may increase sales. If you offer these improved terms or incentives to special customers, it can also serve as a great way to strengthen relationships. Your customers are looking for ways to save money, too.
Increase your marketing. Rather than cutting your marketing budget, this is the time to either increase marketing or, at minimum, hold it steady. If you’re like most small business owners, you need cash flow to get through a slow time – and marketing leads to sales. Consider more outreach to customers in any way you can swing it; if you can’t afford your normal advertising budget, think about creative ways to use the web, phone campaigns, or other promotions.
Update your systems. If you don’t have great systems in place to track revenues and expenses, put them in place now. It is imperative that you know the reality of the situation so that you can be prepared to weather the next few months. Meet with your accountant and get up to date.
Understand the economic health of your primary relationships. If you are experiencing a down market, then it is a safe bet that your customers may also be going through a difficult time. If you rely on one or just a few customers for the bulk of your revenue, research their economic health. You don’t want to be caught off guard in the event that one of your clients is forced out of business.
Talk to your employees. During an economic downturn everyone is a little on edge, including your employees. Put yourself in your employees’ shoes – they may be wondering how the company is doing, whether they are vulnerable to layoffs. Even if the situation is tight, being upfront with your staff creates and reinforces an environment of trust. Your employees may have additional solutions to help deal with challenges and or ways to cut costs or promote the business that you haven’t considered.
Keep your eye on the future. Economic cycles are part of reality. What goes down will eventually go up, so keep your attitude positive and your eye focused on the future.
“Please hold -- your call is important to us."
If you've ever heard that sentence then you know what it's like to be "on hold" for customer service. I often wonder if it would be more accurate if the recording said something like… “Your call is not really that important to us, if you are lucky you will be on hold for approximately 30-60 minutes, possibly longer, at which time, someone that has no idea what you are talking about, will transfer you to someone else, who also has no idea what you are talking about, but also has an attitude and could care less what you are talking about. Please continue to hold.”
Building a business is really about building relationships. How can we grow our businesses or build relationships with our clients, if we continue to have our business telephone answered by a machine?
It used to be said that our most important employee is the person that answers the telephone. Where is that person today? Building your business really is all about building relationships!
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