The Market is Global! -10 modern principles of managment!

 In the 21st century the outlook of business is completely different. Before now a lot business people were contented to service the local population, that is those who are in their immediate environment. But today, in a world that has been made much smaller, via communications and supersonic transportation, standards of products and services have to be world class or they will lose their value immediately they come off the shelf! The obsession with making profit from every sale that a businessman can get his name on has filtered down to adding value to the customer, so that he would keep coming back to purchase more of the product or patronize the service again. There are 10 principles that are very apt for every modern business person to bear in mind, if he wants survive in the global environment that the world has become.

1. The market is global! Where ever you are and whatever you do, bear in mind that you have to make sure that your service is up to the standard recognized the world over. You need to keep tabs on developments in the sector in which you operate and ensure that you are up to date. I once asked a class of young managers in Accra, if you were taken, abruptly from your station in Ghana, and were dropped in New York City, New York or Tokyo, Japan would you be able to do your job? Are you confident that your skills are world class? Or are you just getting by? How quickly would you be able to adjust to a radical change of environment? The global perspective does not rest on human beings alone, it also has a lot to do with goods or products. Suppose a company were to ship your products to the UK market for sale, would they be able to compete favorably without you there to defend them. Would you have to bellyache about the conditions and environment in which you are producing them? When we say the market is global, its a challenge to every manager on the face of the earth to up his game.

2. Measure Only Against the Best! Bench marking is a traditional way of knowing how well we are doing in our area of operations. When we want to measure the quality and standards of our goods or services its only right that we measure against the best. Look for the market leader and see what they do and how they do it, and determine if we have met the quality level of services or goods that they have provided. Sometimes the best is our competition and that means we are working hard to meet up and possibly surpass the competition. One approach to this is to look at areas where the competition is weak and see if we can capitalize. No product or service is perfect. Everyone has weaknesses and limitations, we strive for perfection, but we hardly ever meet it.If you can cash in on the competition's weaknesses, you are on the way up! More over if you can understand the operating processes of the best in the sector and know how to out do them, you will succeed.

3. Change is Constant! Every manager knows that change is constant and must be managed in order for us to make headway. We continually find ourselves in a changing environment where managers have to be on their toes and absorb large swings in weather, economies, technology and human behavior. The ability to adopt to all of these ensures our continuity and viability in whatever we do. The manager often has to take up the task of a change agent to ensure that his organization is ready for change. This is a role expected of key people in every organization.
4. Relationships matter! The people we work with can be skilled, but their attitude to work is another kettle of fish. In order for us to encourage the right attitude from people we work with, it is crucial for us to get a hold of our work relations and ensure that we get along with all the people in our work environment. Cordial relationships enhances work-ability. This does not mean we have to be friends with everyone in the work environment, that is could be a tall order. What it does mean is we ought to have a rapport with all the people in our workplace and in our circle of influence.

5 Manage information through people! This certainly is the information age. In major economies, in order for all of us to keep up with developments we need the right information. Businesses and companies need access to information about raw materials, prices, changes in production processes etc. The internet, mobile phone, cable TV, satellite and internet radio have all become veritable tools in business which cannot be ignored. All the information that we get on a daily basis has to however be verified and filtered so that we are not misled before we get people on it.
6.Technology is the future! Using technology to advance our productivity is certainly the future. We ought to strive to be cutting edge not because it is the vogue, but because when we do it, it benefits us on the long run. If modern technology is not useful for our business process and does not enable us to compete effectively, then there is not point changing to it. It not enough to be bitten by the bug of upgrading. We should upgrade because its necessary.
7. Investment in Training and Development is important! Training is often the first casualty in a depressed economy. We often think training is only relevant when a business is doing well, well its important to train even when we have a loss or when business is going south. The workforce has to keep up, know how to work efficiently in all circumstances. That is probably why the multinationals see training as a part of the DNA of an organization. Smaller companies need to find ways to train and up date their workforce, in order for them to develop so that there will be no gaps.
8. Unity of Direction is important! Everyone in an organization ought to work towards the same goal or direction. Our individual objectives should merge to ensure that the outcome leads to progress for the entire organization. If every one can put the organization first all the time, then we would have unity of direction and we should succeed in meeting the goals we have laid out for ourselves.
9. Equity is expected! When operatives in an organization know that they are treated fairly, it boosts their morale and they are able to work without inhibition. The psychology of a work place could be turned on its head if workers feel that they have been cheated in any way. Management has the task of setting the feelings of every employee right.  The aggrieved should be familiar with a process that would help them assuage their feelings.
10 Initiative is expected! Even in a work environment where the managers are hands on micro managers, initiative is expected. Every person in a work place ought to be able to use his initiative to solve problems of every nature. The modern organization should not always have people referring to higher authority to solve organizational problems. That is a misnomer and such organizations that always rely on the leaders for solutions would not be able to grow leaders from within. 

Here's what I told the taxi driver!

 

IT was a bright sunny afternoon and I was in a hurry in the city of Lagos. Something you had better not be in, unless you are willing to take a commercial motorcycle as transport and have him  weave you through traffic  dodging cars at a hairs’ breathe! I was on my way to speak to a friend who was starting his own publication, a magazine and a start up. He was entering a saturated market but I knew through differentiation he could make it.  He was located somewhere in Ogba, a part of Ikeja, the Lagos capital that has bad roads, terrible traffic and  impatient drivers: the frequent characteristics of busy areas in mega cities like Lagos. I had seen the same things in Dakar, Senegal; Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya. That time, I had not moved to my house and was still a tenant in Alagbado, a Lagos suburb.  I ventured onto the main road  and after waiting  for a few minutes I spotted a red cab.  A specialized taxi that  was corporate and a little  bit  expensive. The driver told me that he charged N5,000 per hour I told him that I would want  him to take me to Ogba and bring me back to Alagbado.  He complained briefly about  the possibility of facing traffic  on the way back but offered to take me anyway. 

Not one to sit at the back when there was space beside the driver, I got in beside him, strapped in and as soon as he left the curb, we began an interesting discussion.  I asked him how long he had been driving a taxi and from his response I realized that he was educated and took on the job because there was nothing else for him to do and he was frankly tired of writing applications and looking for a befitting graduate's job ! "Boss its tough", he said, telling me about taxiing in Lagos. “Not many people want to take taxis and those who are willing, are not ready to pay the fares.” “I know,” I replied, “nothing good comes easy my brother”. I asked him a few more questions about his financial commitments and his work hours and then launched into a marketing strategy that I felt he could adopt to raise the level of patronage and get regular clientele. 

 "Make sure your build a rapport with your clients," I told him, "speak to them, and those that allow you to, get to know them, their outing habits and see how you can fit in".

"Frequent areas where people who can afford your services live". There are high brow places in Lagos where a lot people can afford to take taxis on a good day and would rather leave their cars at home instead of braving the traffic which can be found in many parts of Lagos. These are parts of the city where the rich and classy people live. Not the hustlers or struggling people who would only take a taxi out of utter necessity.
Another point I made to him which I really stressed was: "Give your clients the best services your can provide!" Size them up whenever you pick them up. "Would they like air conditioning, magazines, music while your drive? Perhaps they would like to listen to their favorite radio or simply cruise in silence. There are variables you can control inside of the taxi, make sure you do that! The whole idea is they ought to remember you for something, make sure its for good!"
Your cab ought to be spick and span. Both the inside and the outside should be clean, especially the inside. The roads may be dirt, riddled with potholes and canyons, but your job is to make the client forget all of that, sit back and enjoy the ride!
"Your dress sense is an issue!" I told him. "You don't have to wear a tie or suit, but at least appear presentable. You never know who you will meet in the course of your job!" People have been known to go to the most exclusive and secluded places to drop a fare.I told him that his passengers could link him to greater and well to do people in society. "I didn't say hustle them for contacts, the contacts would link themselves to you if you are likable enough!" I warned.
"Stepping out of the cab is also an important task you might have to undertake. Clients might carry luggage, need to be assisted to get into and out of the cab. Don't be afraid to open the door for passengers before they get in, or when they want to alight. Especially if they are ladies. Ladies appreciate that, even in the African countries" I also told him that its important that his clients are able to distinguish his cab from others even though his belongs to a pool of cars that are mostly identical. "It could be a bumper sticker in the right place that would make yours look different" Distinctive features help to build an identity that would help some people know your cab at a glance.
Once you begin to build clientele encourage them to call you ahead of time, so that you can plan your schedules and have a reduction in the likeliness of a clash.
By the time I ended my consultancy we were close to our destination and I asked him if he was willing to wait for me since I would not spend more than one hour at the location where I was headed.
No sooner had I finished speaking with my friend than I boarded the taxi back to Alagbado and began another phase of my discussion with my "client." This time I told my friend that I had a cousin who had driven a taxi in the UK part time to help him argument his fees for his tuition. He was studying accountancy and he did a good job at it. I asked the driver a very deep and probing question: " Are your willing to improve yourself or are you satisfied as a taxi driver?" His reply was encouraging: "I want to improve myself, its just that I do not know how". I told him to enroll for either professional studies in the evenings or go for an MBA. " That would improve your chances of getting a different kind of job". I smiled and he asked me why I was smiling and I told him what happens when independent businessmen do an MBA: " Most of the time they set up their own business. "You understand transport now, you are bound to understand some other forms of business, its going to be difficult for you take a job and sit under someone in an office," I told him. After that, it was mostly quiet between us. I sensed that he was thinking about the things we had discussed. And before I alighted form the cab in Alagbado, I saw a gleam in his eyes. This was the most exciting taxi ride I had taken in a long time.

Fast cash strategies for product marketers

 A public auction of heavy duty vehicles in the US

At a point in business you are going to find that you urgently need cash. Even though we believe in marketing that technically goods in the store as a good as cash, sometimes you may need cash as a matter of urgency and would have to get creative in your bid to raise it. Here are some fast cash initiatives that could help your turn goods into the liquidity you urgently need.
1. Offer a range of goods for a lower price. Look more at the the turnover you are likely to get rather than the outlandish profit you have been looking forward to.
2. Find an overseas market that needs that goods that you can ship them to. With a proper banking arrangement you should be able to get your credit for the goods without much complication. Someone, somewhere needs what you want, all you need to do is find them and take the goods to their door step.
3 Where you have old outdated stock that no sophisticated buyer may want, see if you can trade it for advertising. Sometimes you find an agency, television station or radio outfit that is willing to take some of your stock and give you promotional space in exchange.
4. Barter it! IF you look hard enough you are bound to find an organization that markets a good or service that you need yourself and is willing to do an exchange for the goods. This means that some of the obligations you needed to fulfill with the cash have been met. 
5. Scout for wholesalers who are willing to take the stock off you for a reasonable price and possibly sell it to other retailers. Remember, your target here is to get fast cash!
6.Print a couple of leaflets with special discounts for your goods inscribed on them. It is bound to attract buyers to your outfit. Everyone likes to feel that they are getting more merchandise for their money.
7.Goods that are of everyday use can be sold to employees of other companies, so you could market directly to a company that has a large work force.
8. Look for a group of local retailers and tell them to bond to buy large consignments of your stock off. Its like asking them to create a special cooperative for the purchase of your goods. If you include a little discount it could work wonders!
9. You could also look for another company to freight the goods to a country where they are needed and discuss with the freight company the possibility of them taking goods for the service instead of you paying cash that you need desperately. Another strategy is to get your banker to under write the cost of freight pending the time you will receive cash for the goods.
10 Auction it! The American auction is when you assemble a group of buyers and your sell the goods to the highest bidder. Another strategy to adopt is to call up more than one buyer and keep talking to as many of them as possible until your get a price or prices that you feel you can live with.

The secret of motivation

       Employee motivation is important to the success of every organization. Highly motivated employees tend to be more productive and have lower rates of absenteeism, turnover and lateness: the three evils that employees can manifest which destroy organizations. Employee motivation is concerned with why people do what they do and why one employee works harder than another. In major organizations, its important for managers as well as HR officials to understand how to motivate the people they work with. The first thing that comes to mind each time we mention motivation is cash! How much is the organization paying me? Or to put it more bluntly: "What's in it for me?" Cash is a very useful incentive to motivate employees, but what do you do when you don't have cash? Well, the option is to do a quick analysis of your workforce and try to determine what your employees value most: What do they need the cash for?

         You might be surprised after a thorough analysis that not everyone just wants more money. For some people the issue is more initiative or leeway to get things done. Perhaps you are in charge of managers who head certain units and you find out that the issue at hand is not more cash but more power. After a considerable observation and proper trouble shooting, you could actually increase the power of the people concerned. In this sense, we are referring to organizational politics, but in a positive sense:  Organizational politics are the activities managers engage in to increase their power and use it to achieve their goals. As long as these goals are good for the organization, there really is no detriment to them. But we ought be very careful before we increase the power of a manager or any operative in a company. There is need to make sure that we are not doing more harm than good.  Politics can be negative, but it is also a positive force that can allow needed change to take place.
          In some cases, the people we seek to motivate may not necessarily want more power or money! They could simply require some level of recognition or praise. One scholar wrote: " You can achieve anything if you can give the praise away!" Major organizations have a recurring decimal of top managers taking credit for the things that the people they supervise have done. The trend is familiar: when we succeed, the boss takes the credit, but when we fail, they look for a scapegoat among the operatives who took part in the activity!

        

         This nonrecognition of achievers is a major trend in government circles of many countries. Often, we see the results of projects and programmes, but we are not sure where they originated from. So, due recognition could be a boost for people who perform, but are left in the backroom while the boss takes the credit. HR professionals often create bonding activities to give operatives the recognition they deserve!  Asking an employee to take a bow at a major organizational event, giving a plaque, trophy, medal or letter of recognition could inspire a worker to do more and perform better. 
         From the best practices HR perspective, managers in major organizations are still finding it difficult to motivate their employees in economies that are distressed or in recession. The reduced cash flow and the inflation

       affects even the largest organizations. So what is to be done? Well, the advice comes clear that managers ought to be creative in finding solutions to motivating staff. Nobody wants to lose their best hands to the competition.
      Some trends that have developed among HR managers is to look for incentives that do not necessarily cost the organization too much in terms of cash. In some situations, they may not even cost cash directly. Holidays which are bank rolled by the organization as regularly as once a year have become attractive rewards for performance. So have brand new cars, classy apartments that have astute furnishing, memberships of exclusive clubs and tickets to exclusive events. The management of the organization is challenged to make some of the incentives work for its employees with out necessarily attracting extra costs. 
         Managers have examined how they can barter, buy on large discounts or get favors from friendly organizations with a view to returning such when they are in a position to do so. The modern HR manager is challenged to look into his country and the various organizations therein, and see what he can grab for his  talented workers and managers so that they are not tempted to go somewhere else.  All this is motivation from the organizational point of view. As individuals, we ought to know how to motivate ourselves too!
         Self motivation arises from the interests we have that drive us to achieve things. Beyond the material things like money and what it can buy, what encourages us to go on and keep doing something that other people would probably find difficult? Passion! Everyone ought to have a passion for something. If that passion is based on a desire to make a difference, a driving force that enables us to go forward even in the most difficult circumstances, then our motivation is inbuilt and is such that it could be useful to us in times of trouble, when the going is hard. 
         Research shows that if we love what we do, we really do not need the organization we work for to motivate us. HR managers in this modern age are looking for individuals who are self driven and "go-getters", the synonyms they use for self motivation. Every person has something that motivates him beyond the desire to be rewarded. If we can discover that in ourselves or have other people discover it for us, there is a tendency that we would do great things at our work without anyone encouraging us.   
         Some people have the ability to change the most harrowing experiences into prods towards greater achievement. Writers, speakers, politicians and teachers of various kinds. Even athletes and artistes. As individuals, if we can muster inspiration or passion from our hurts and difficulties and find a way to channel them into productivity, we end up succeeding and this is the secret of motivation. No matter our circumstances we can, as individuals who are determined, find a way forward. Motivation is buried in the human spirit and that is why even in the darkest hours, in moments of great despair and hopelessness, some people are able to find strength and move forward. Its time for you to get motivated!    

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Marketing Principles that would enlarge your business

Here are some general principles that would help your business to expand over a short period of time if you use them consistently. They are tried and tested by various organizations and of course they will work for you if you use them conscientiously.
1. Long copy outsells short copy. People need to know all the right information to make informed buying decisions. Smaller advertisements have their place, but are better as a tool of bigger advertisement links.
2. The free phone call or discount coupon works wonders. Giving people something free occasionally boosts their ego and endears you to them. So make a list of your best and most frequent buyers and find something free that is also useful to give them.
3. A picture takes the place of a thousand words! The saying is relevant to journalism but is often misplaced in marketing goods and services. A picture is useful, but is better when its is accompanied with text and explanatory material. If you do not have the money to buy large space in the media to explain all the details that the buyer will look out for, find an alternative that would fulfill your advertising schedule. A direct mail letter with pictures might suffice, you can even put a picture on your business card.  Distributed leaflets and fliers are also great tools.
4. Avoid  superlative generalities.
-The best deal in town!
-A great product at a great price
-Super high quality
-We buy in bulk and pass on the savings
You ought  to be more precise and descriptive in your promotions:
-Lose 18 pounds in 36 days
-Fuel additive increases mileage by 44%
-Car insurance up to 16% cheaper than current policy guaranteed
-Studies prove that the product lasts 136% longer.

5. Positive outsells the negative: Don't market the fear factor. Make people feel good! It will make them buy. If you must use negative concepts put them side by side with the positive:- Excitingly bitter. Is an example.
6. A sales letter must look like a letter but the best marketing tools are those that don't necessarily look like marketing tools.Subtle concepts get into the psyche and stay there that's why companies use music and sometimes sports as veritable vehicles.
7. Sell solutions: If you can identify the solutions to problems you are engaged in, it will  energize your marketing. Think about the following: What does the product or service do? Will it help to: Lose weight, grow hair, lower bills, make me safe, make me popular? IF it solves a problem it will sell faster.
8. The law of repetition: One shot doesn't work, one letter , one advertisement. First time contacts are the poorest in response. Prospects need to be pitched two, three, four times before they are sold completely.  The process is: Tell them what you need them to know, tell them what you told them and tell them again. The rule applies to public speaking as well as marketing. 00
9. Customer comes first! Entrepreneurs often erroneously focus on -Sales, sales, sales. Its not wrong to desire to sell, but the true focus ought to be customers, customers, customers! Make them happy and they will come back and buy more. Sales are for today, customers are for ever.
10 Perception: The Perception of the product is as important as the product itself. How do people see the product? The picture in the mind of the consumer is a very important thing. We ought to strive to make sure that the picture is as positive as possible. All great products need great promotions to get into the minds of the customer. Mind you, not all great advertising or promotions is massive and expensive.
11. Free advertising is a must to help a business thrive. If you want to succeed in promoting your product or service, make sure that your customers are out there speaking good about your product or service.   Also make sure that 90 percent of your advertising is from referrals. Put your publicity machine in gear, press releases and public events could also help.Do something newsworthy and call in the media, that way you don't necessarily have to pay for it.
12. You can lead a horse to water, but can't force it to drink! This is a well known saying. When customers are as obstinate as the horse and do not want to buy, the trick is to make them thirsty! In the UK and US peanuts are placed on the counters of public drinking houses. They are free for consumption and mostly salted. The salt helps promote thirst; the principle is, the more peanuts you eat, the more thirsty you are and the more drinks you are likely to buy. We can borrow this principle in all of our marketing and sales. What would make the customer thirst for more of my services or product? Think about it and do it! 

7 Tips that would help turn shoppers into buyers.

Cleaning products for sale at a supermarket

Not everyone that comes into your domain to shop would actually buy, unless you handle them with some special care. If you are running a shop or sales outlet of any kind, whether its virtual or physical, you need an extra push to ensure that people who visit go away with products or service endorsements. Lets convert window shoppers into buyers. Here are somethings your ought to take into consideration.
1. Have a greeter at the door or a feel good post at the entry point of the domain. Making the shopper feel relaxed and in good spirit could help him be in good stead to purchase.
2. Ensure a shopper likes what he sees! Attractive and pleasurable environments are part of the strategy that keeps shoppers coming back to locations and also makes them feel in the right spirit to purchase products and services in that environment. If we are selling online then the domain should be graphically beautiful to behold.
3.Put a guarantee up front. Make them feel it right from the door that "this organization is willing to do all they can to satisfy me". This can be demonstrated in the polite and patient manner with which we handle clients in a commercial environment.  Rather than just say it, we act it in every thing we do in the company when the customer is at hand.
4. Do a survey: What do my customers want, how can I best give it to them. The modern customer is a very sophisticated person. He has specialized tastes and preferences. Once we understand what those are, it keeps us in tune with the customer and makes selling easy.
5. Capture all the information you can about the customer. Sometimes, small talk reveals additional information that can be useful. When its possible, we ought to ask the customers questions based on the usage of the product and service to enable us give expert or informed advice about the product. When such advice works, it endears us to the customer and repeat business as well as referrals are bound to occur.
6. Bounce back campaigns and tools such as specialized discounts and coupons can make a customer's day. Most customers value things that are given free of charge, especially when such goods are services that are really needed by the customer.
7. The power of thank you! Let's never take it for granted that a customer has no where else to go. Even in situations where we discover that what we have is close to being a monopoly. Thanking a customer for patronizing our service or buying our goods ought to come naturally. Cicero said "gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues but the parent of all others".

7 High level Marketing Strategies to help improve your sales

Every person who markets a product or service needs strategies that can enhance the business and make  sales improve. In times when competition is high level and every organization is seeking to increase its market share it is important for us to evolve strategies that can help us improve our sales and keep our customers so that they do not go to the competition.
1.One area that is important for us to examine is repeated sales and referrals. what does the customer want and how can I keep him coming back for more? If we can answer this question, which means we ought to examine what the customer prefers and try to meet it, we can get the customer coming back.
2. After we've been in business for sometime we ought to know who our best customers are.Business ethics teach us that all customers are important but that does not mean some are not more important than others! Who are the most important customers in terms of repeated buying and volumes? How can I make sure that they keep coming back to me? What can I do out of the ordinary that would stop them from going to the competition even if they consider it? Occasional calls and inquiries about the products as well as updates about innovation and new products can be useful in this regard.
3. Looking at data helps. You ought to consider what customers what in terms of taste, preferences, style and habits. If you are into selling a product and service and you can actually categorize your customers, then it would help you predict changes, swings and spins that customers are involved in. Get the hang of this and you will excel in meeting their needs but remember it has to do with gathering information and using this information as data to further the cause of the customer.
4.What is your unique selling proposition? If you sell one product and the competition sells same how do you differentiate yourself from the competition? What can you present to the customer that would make him tilt towards you for business and believe that you are the real deal? You have to consistently be able to position and reposition yourself as an expert at what you do. This takes studying the competition, updating your services, skills and information on a regular basis. It could also require an awful lot of bench marking.
5 Endorsements work wonders! Get people to endorse you. We live in world in which no one wants to buy anything that no one else is buying! If it means getting people who have a following to buy your products, use them and endorse them in full view of the public, it would be sure to help you sell more of your product.
6. Direct mail helps if you can craft it to meet the needs and identity of your prospects. Sometimes, people do not know that they need or want a product until you let them know that you have it. So make a list and let them know. Craft the letter in such a way that it is not too patronizing but is idealistic enough to get the reader interested in sampling or seeing the product in question.
7. Get free advertising. Its always available in Social Media and even in the industrial(regular) media all you have to do is pursue it. A story woven around your product or service sells better than a full page ad in the newspaper which people will gloss over without a second glance. Some people use tricks to get attention, build interesting controversies around the product that should get the attention of they buying product and make them spend their money. On line the idea is to use social media pages to build interesting content and thereby inscribe an almost indelible impression on the minds of the potential customers. Music, movies, sports and fashion are viable vehicles. It there is no news you can exploit, create some.

Random strategies that could help your business develop

 In thinking out of the box about how to improve yourself and transform what you do, there are random strategies that you can adopt to make things better.
 Taking time and conversion rate into consideration: While setting your goal remember that a time limit is a key function that you need. You could seek to ask yourself questions such as: Where would I like to see myself in the next one year, 3 years, or even next month" What about next year? You need to drive your performance based on the time you have allotted for yourself. If you have set clear goals you also need to analyze your conversion rate! If you had 10 clients to convert to your cause and you end up with only one over the period of time set for yourself, then automatically that tells you that you need to work at consulting more clients over a period of time so as to meet your targets.
How do you define yourself? The average consumer is pounded with tons of information in terms of advertising and promotions. How do you define yourself? If there are 2,000 commercial messages been bandied over the airwaves and in the news what will make yours stand out and attract the customer to you? If you define yourself highly enough, the customer would be attracted to you more than all the others in the sector to which you belong.
Transcend Yourself: You ought ask yourself how can I get better at what I do? Can I innovate? How can I go beyond where I am now? whatever you do, don't stagnate!
Get passionate, have fun and take a risk here and there: Passion, surprisingly, not money is the key to business. What do you really enjoy doing? What can you do to become better at it? Its no longer work if you enjoy it.

20 things you need to note about goal setting and goal achieving

Its not enough for you to be able to set your goals, internalize them and envision them you have to fulfill them and live them in order for them to become a reality. Your main motivation for achieving your goals is passion. You have to be passionate about whatever it is you want from life for you to achieve it. If it really is worth pursing, then it has to be difficult, not easy, and your passion will sustain you. To further motivate yourself, you need to have Clarity- define what you want from life. Life offers various alternatives if you do not give a clear definition, you will just take anything life offers. Its like a man who wants to purchase a brand new car. If he does not have the specifications of the car he wants he would make do with whatever is available. That means he is taking what is offered and not necessarily what he wants. There should also be a challenge to achieve the goal. Its like a young man who is chasing a lady he wants to marry. Sometimes its better for the lady mot to give in fast and easy. If she does, the man could begin to wonder if its worth the effort. Things that we respect are those that we have to work for. Three other things we need to motivate ourselves are commitment, feedback and task complexity. Commitment means you are willing to spend time at what you are doing, feedback refers to you having a reference which would consistently inform you of your progress or lack of it, and task complexity talks about the simple or complex nature of the task you are undertaking. The more complex it is, the more you are going to appreciate what you went through to achieve it. Here are twenty things to note in your striving to reach those rather elusive goals:

1. Potential is one attribute that every human being has abundance of. Your potential is what you may not see in yourself, but what others could possibly see in you. Potential means that you could become more than what you ever expect to become in life, with a little effort and discipline of concentration on your part.
2. Take charge of your life. Don't be grouped among the people who blame government, systems, leaders or economies for their misfortunes. Taking charge means that you are responsible for whatever happens in your life. You can let issues or people in or out depending on your choice.
3.Create your own future! As long as you are an adult and understand the essence of life, your choices today will shape your future tomorrow. Three main things come to mind: Education, career choice and marriage(as well as other relationships) will go a long way in shaping your future. Don't let it ride or just roll, take control!
4 Clarify your values. Your inner convictions are important, before you even determine what your goals are you need to make sure what you are planning lines up with your beliefs. If there are any contradictions, you will never be satisfied even if you eventually achieve what you set out to.
5 Determine what you truly want to achieve in every area of your life. In the previous article we mentioned five key areas which normally account for every aspect of your life( Relationships, Finances, Work, Academics and Health). You have to decide what you want in each area and decide how you are going to work towards it.
6 You need a central purpose to build your life. A kind of central point of reference(CPR) It could come in the shape of a statement that you keep repeating to yourself over a period of time. Never underestimate the power of words!
7. Unlock your creativity: Every human being is creative. The mind, we have been consistently told, has immense potentials and creative abilities. What we have to do is put the mind to play through the innermost imagination and see what we can come up with.
8 Visualize your goals. Have a picture of them in your mind. The clearer the picture you have, the more challenged you are  at achieving it.
9 Analyze your beliefs: What do you truly believe in? Are your goals in any way being hindered by your beliefs?
10 Start at the beginning. Often the question comes about: where should we start in pursing our goals? The answer is clear and direct: we need to start at the beginning. Every idea, project, programme or accomplishment has a beginning.
11. Eliminate obstacles: In your quest to achieve your goals there are hindrances or obstacles that will get in the way; You have to work out a way to eliminate your obstacles. In modern terms strategist advise that you find a way to make the obstacles stepping stones to progress. Artistes that should have been bogged down by abuse, oppression and lack have used these obstacles as spurs to help them get to where they want to go.
12. Getting around the right people is an important factor in your progress to reach your goals. Positive people that would encourage you are naturally better than negative ones who will be cynical and discourage. Sometimes when you cannot necessarily choose the people who should be around you, you should see negativity as encouragement and refinement to do better at what you are focusing on.
13 Time management is an important aspect of goal pursuit. How much time are you truly ready to spend on the goals you have set for yourself? If you are passionate enough about it you will spend lots of time.
14 Procrastination has been described as the thief of time. Never leave for tomorrow what you can do today! Procrastinators are creative people who find excuses that would stop them from doing what they are supposed to do. So like Puma says on many of its T shirts: Just Do It!
15 Do something everyday about your goals. Don't put tasks off no matter how small or big. Keep moving forward; Plan something and do it, never let the size of the task, however small or big discourage you. Remember, the more you do, the closer you get to where you want to be.
16 Reviewing and evaluating what you are doing will help keep you on track. If you are objective and can tell yourself the truth, a regular review and evaluations will be a useful tool to you.
17. Have a plan of action. You will not go anywhere with out a plan. A plan should take you from where you are to where you want to be. Document the plan, write it down and critique it. Look for loopholes, examine eventualities, ask yourself a bunch of what ifs? This would make your plans more practicable.
18 Never lose faith and make sure you are consistent at what you want to do. Believe it can be done and the belief backed with action you take to get it done will move you towards your goal.
19 Measure your progress: You will need indicators to determine how far you are from achieving the goal. Key Performance Indicators can be drawn up to help you in this measurement. Depending on what you want to achieve, there would be a list of indicators that could serve as measurements. Your job is to draw them up!
20. As often as you can, you ought to reward yourself for hitting certain milestones in your movement towards your goal. A reward is necessary so that we do not lose sight of why we are doing what we are doing, and so that we can also value what we have achieved at the end.

Motivation to set and achieve your goals

Life can be boring if you do not have things to work for. Often we can categorize our reasons for working and struggling into ambition, family, survival and many others, but the truth is life needs goals to make it meaningful and we all have to set goals and work towards them. You cannot imagine a football match being played without goals posts! What you'll probably have is 22 adults running around a pitch aimlessly for 90minutes! This makes no sense! Life makes no sense if we do not set goals for ourselves and seek to achieve them.
While looking at goal setting, I like to categorize our quest in life into five major parts: Relationships, Finance, Work, Academics and Health. Any other thing we desire in this world would eventually fall under one of the categories that we have mentioned here. For instance we can extend relationships to encapsulate God, our creator, spouses, children, family, friends, associates and co-workers!  From a financial point of view, I have written two main articles on personal finance in Optimum Performance one advises that we have 3 kinds of income, the other says if we can work it out we ought to have multiple sources of income. One sources is hardly ever enough for an adult that is raising children and paying bills! Work related goals comprise of where we want to be in our career say in the next 3 to 5 years. There has to be something we would always look forward to, something that gets us out of bed in the morning beyond the money and the inward chant: "I owe, I owe so off to work I go!" Work ought to be inspiring and achieving so that we look forward to helping people with the skills that God has given us. Our academics are also important. This does not mean that we have to keep going back to school for formal education!

 Rather, what it does mean is we ought to challenge ourselves to life of continuous learning; We have to keep studying to get better at what we do so that we are not left behind in the dynamism of this world where change is inevitable and constant. We ought to never forget how important our health is. Health is wealth and without it we cannot enjoy life. So if you are on prescription drugs, take the drugs as directed by the doctor. Never risk your health in any circumstances. Eating well, resting and exercising are all part of a healthy lifestyle that everyone needs. These five key areas are the foundation for the discussion on goal setting because we ought to be able set goals in all of these areas to make life more meaningful.  Next we would be looking at 20 steps you need to observe to meet your goals.

When the customer is truly king

One key area of training topic that every cooperation needs these days is customer care or customer service. Often at  conferences, we sign off with the sayings: "The customer is king, treat him like one" and "The customer is always right!" There is a terrible attitude problem among the employees of various organizations. The mindset that makes us think that we are doing the customer a favor when we seek to provide optimum service to the one that puts food on our tables. We ought to bear it mind that its the customer that is doing us the service or product provider a favor.
In the modern market the customer has options. There are very few organizations that have a monopoly of goods are services these days so if we don't treat the customer right, he will go where they will treat him right! Research shows that the main reason why customers leave organizations that they have been patronizing is shoddy treatment. So how should you treat your customers? The first thing is never keep a customer of what ever status waiting to be served if you can help it. Nobody likes to be kept waiting. Second is the quality of the product or the service that you are providing: Make sure that it is at the highest level possible, where you have no control over this, present the product or service to the customer the best way possible.

Every human being has a little bit of vanity in them, so make sure that you are giving the person you are serving all your attention.Letting your attention stray, unless its totally necessary, can be fatal and be counted as rudeness. At GT Bank, Sango in Ogun State of Nigeria recently, I had the terrible experience of waiting on the queue when the computers where not working! Nobody informed the people waiting that the computers were down. It was until I noticed that most of the tellers in the bank had left their posts that I begun to ask questions and then one of the officers behind the counter began to apologize. My grouse was why wait for people to complain before you begin to give explanations? It makes the organization look very shoddy in their relations to customers. This is GT Bank a bank that prides itself as being IT savvy.

  For the past couple of months I have been speaking at workshops in Surulere and Yaba. At both locations, there are Sweet Sensation fast food outlets which we patronize for catering. Its very important to note that both outlets are in dire need of customer service training. There are have been situations inc which customers have stood idle with no one to attend to them. Even when the personnel are free. The service personnel at the outlets seem to drag their feet in the bid to answer customers. At the Surulere outlet of Sweet Sensation, on Bode Thomas, I thought perhaps I was being a little hash when I noticed this, but another customer had come in immediately after me and begun to share the same observation.
Sweet Sensation is not the only fast food restaurant that is facing challenges that come with expansion and control. Mr. Biggs has clearly experienced similar challenges and since customers have options they move around a lot till they find a place that suits their standards in taste. Every true businessman values the customer and understands the importance of having a frequent stream of customers bringing in business for the organization. My observation from a lot of organizations is that those who work in the organization, but do not necessarily own it, do not understand customer service and refuse to service the customer to the optimum level. This portends danger to businesses, especially those that have expanded beyond the immediate purveyor of the original owners. Franchises suffer a lot when they are sold outside the supervision of the original owners. The owners seeks to put systems in place to makes sure that processes of service and the taste or value of products are universal wherever the brand name is found. But the bigger the organization, the more difficult it is to maintain these standards.   Motivation and training are the only elixirs for bad customer service. Employees need to understand that the customer is king and ought to be treated like one!

The five prongs of leadership: Know em and get a firm grasp

Often times, it dawns on people who assume a position of leadership, that beyond a deep passion and drive for their vision,  they need some other principles to carry the day! If you are a leader and seek to continue to lead in any kind of environment, or perhaps you have an ambition to do so, there are five prongs that should be at your finger tips, that would help you to continue to lead effectively. These include Communication, Respect, Integrity, Excellence and Service. If every leader can keep these prongs handy, and add them to his vision, he is bound to do well in his area of leadership.
Communication is of utmost importance because every leader needs to carry his followers along. He needs to be able to tell the followers what he hopes to do(vision), how he intends to do it(strategy) and also convince them why they ought to follow him(conviction). Leadership in this age is more persuasive than authoritative, so if the leader cannot sell his idea to his followers, why should they buy into it? Increasingly, we find that on the political scene people are winning positions based on how well they can talk to the people that would support them and not necessarily how well they can actually do the job. We cannot therefore underestimate the role that communication plays in leadership. Those you are talking to need to understand you and be convinced that you know what you are doing.
Respect helps us to attract respect to ourselves.Everyone loves to be honored and respected so why shouldn't we give them what they crave? The way we talk to people and relate to them on a general basis is   very important. Respect is not just a matter of age and achievement, neither is it all about wealth or titles. The ordinary man on the street deserves some measure of respect, for the fact that his is a human being, and is in our circle of influence is enough for us to acknowledge him.


The need for integrity is also a basic factor in leadership. We ought to be able to walk the talk in all that we do. Honesty is definitely the best policy. If we are found to be telling or promoting lies or untruths it takes quite a lot for people who seek to follow us to believe us once they find out. The human mind works in such a way that they are constantly reminded that a lie was told; that a person is not really what he makes out to be and that we not be able to trust certain people!
Everyone should promote excellence in what they do. What is worth doing is certainly worth doing very well! Excellence advertises itself. Nobody likes shoddy work or mediocrity. Good leaders seek to raise the standards of whatever they are doing at every time. How can we be satisfied with results that are not up to par? Once we have a better example to compare whatever work or project we are engaged in we tend to yearn for better quality or higher standards! This is simply human nature. Everyone wants to be associated with the best. Why settle for less?
Service is the fifth and last prong. If only everyone who leads could see himself as rendering a service! If that were possible, selfish and lustful motives would disappear. This does not mean we should not be ambitious and focus on what we want to achieve, rather it means putting others first and achieving our goals and objectives with other people in mind. If every leader saw himself first and foremost as a servant of the people he leads, the world would certainly be a better place!

Organizational Assessment Tools

People make the organization

Before committing to work with an organization it would do you well to do a sundry check of what you are getting yourself into. On the other hand there is a need for you to have criteria that would enable you assess your organization at the drop of a hat and make you know if you are measuring up and the things you have to do to improve. This organizational assessment tool comprises of eight key areas that you can examine and know if you are on the right path it is used by human resource experts to enhance a quick assessment of organizations:
1. Values, mission, vision: Can you recite all of these? Can employees do it too? Can you explain the focus of the company in very short terms? For instance ABC company will be a customer focused entity, quality of employee, quality of workplace and the quality of the customer should all be linked to one another. Knowing these would help determine the relationship the individual has or should have with the organization.
2. Fiscal status: Is your organization healthy or under the weather, so to say? The figures that have to do with turnover, profit, investment etc could be a major indicator. Prompt payment of salaries and stipends is a major issue. Having an idea of what they entail could help you understand how well the organization is doing.
3 Organizational Structure: Knowing if the structure of the organization suits the needs is major assignment for anyone doing an assessment. Does the organization rely on teams or individuals for results? How do the various arms of the organization work together to achieve the goals and objectives that are set for it to meet over a period?Are there smooth task transfers?
4. Policies and procedures: Policies and procedures should help the organization function appropriately. Are there any procedures or policies that hinder organizational activity? Policies and procedures are also supposed to be adjustable and dynamic. We live in changing times. And we ought to make sure that our policies change with the environment so as to be up to date and suitable for running a dynamic organization.
5. Compensation and Benefits: Its very pertinent that we benchmark our compensation and benefits against the competition. We need to consider positions, the organization, the industry(sector) and the job market generally. That means we ought to do our comparisons on three levels before we can actually do a proper analysis.
6. Staff Development: Training ought to lead to some sort of development in the organization. Is our training formal or informal? Can we describe what we have by way of training? It is better to describe what we have rather than what we don't have so as to attract the right people and also ear mark substitute programmes. What effect or uses do training have on the individuals, groups or teams that engage in it?
7.Management Philosophy: Is the the strategy for managing people, teams and resources hands on, guide and support. Is it emotive in nature where we rely on slogans and pep talks, rewarding where targets are rewarded by bonuses when results are achieved or coercive; threats of punishment if targets are not met. Some organizations combine more than one approach in this regard.
8. Physical Workspace: The physical workspace might not be out of this world, but it ought to be comfortable, attractive to some extent and conducive for the kind of work that is at hand.

When we consider all of these eight areas we are able to do a proper assessment of the organization and its stance and position in the sector that it belongs. 

So what can the customer expect from you?

Customer service representative. What can she offer you?

The customer charter is a concept that is being taught in customer care and marketing conferences around the world today. The charter encapsulates the experiences that a customer is expected to have whenever he comes into your business environment, whether that's virtual or physical! Should he expect comfort? Prompt service? Good taste?A variety of options? Would his very needs be met or perhaps they would be surpassed. What would you present to him that will keep him impressed and probably make him come back for more?
If you have the answers to all of these questions what you have probably described is the customer charter. The general idea in customer care among major competitive companies is what can I do to out do the competition? There are very few products or services that have a monopoly in the world today. So in order to beat the competition, rival companies use customer care as a tool and the Customer Charter is what the organization formulates as major principles for its operatives to work by so as to make sure that the customer is satisfied with the level of service that he experiences when he comes into your environment.
We ought to be careful when we are making promises. Never promise what you cannot deliver. Its better to under promise, as the saying goes, and over deliver. Many brands in the corporate environment are tottering because they are unable to meet the standards they set for themselves over periods of time. Customers therefore begin to decamp, chasing after other brands that they hope would fulfill their promises.
The Customer Charter therefore helps us keep our old customers and win new ones. Often major organizations state what their charter entails in form of a mission statement that they display in conspicuous places in their offices or outlets. In the era of the internet, in which the customer has become more sophisticated than ever, God help the organization that does not fulfill its promises!
The charter should not be seen to be restricted to business alone. Every group or organization that is engaged in any form of activity would consciously or unconsciously draw up a charter which it is expected to abide by. Once it falls short, people begin to ask questions. What's your charter? How well are you meeting those obligations that you spelt out yourself? What do you have to do to remedy the situation where you are not meeting your objectives? Could a rewrite of your charter be in order? Remember your organization lives for the customer so you had better make sure that you are fulfilling your promises to him!

You need to create an eagle environment!

An environment where leadership is valued and taught becomes an asset to a leadership mentor. Multinational companies that focus on best practices human resource development seek to create such an environment in whichever country they find themselves. What happens in such environments is eagles are attracted and they also learn how to fly. An eagle environment is one where the leader casts a vision, offers incentives, encourages creativity, allows risks and provides accountability.  When we do all this long enough with enough people we develop a leadership culture where eagles begin to flock.
It all begins with a vision. Every environment in which leaders operate needs a vision. What is your vision for your environment? No matter how small the place your operate in appears to be you need a vision,something you can look forward to, something you can remind yourself about on a continuous basis, a kind of picture in your mind that you want to bring to reality. If that vision is inspiring enough it would infect the people around you and they would all be willing to work towards it. What that means is that they would see how valuable your picture is to them and buy into the situation. Its important to understand the kind of vision we refer to here. Everyone should have a stake in it such that questions that discourage participation would not arise. People would not keep asking: "what's in it for me?" The incentives that are offered take care of such questions. Incentives could mean rewards and rewards are not always monetary. Rewards could be greater responsibility and more resources to work with, this is not to say that monetary reward is totally ruled out.
An eagle environment does not stifle creativity. There is hardly ever only one way of doing things. In fact, today's corporate environment is greatly in search of people with ideas about how to do things better. Usually the consideration is how to arrive at a goal with out over using resources such as time and costs. Quality of activity is also a basic consideration since every activity we are involved in requires us meeting certain standards. Risk taking is also an important element of an eagle environment. Leaders are encouraged to take risks, although such risks must be calculated so that they do not destroy the entire project or process if they do not work out. Calculated risks require that we look at the worst case scenario and try to determine what could be done to ameliorate the situation should it not work out the way we planned.
For every task we undertake or every activity we are involved in, we are accountable. This means that we are supposed to be able to answer questions or explain situations about things we have taken in our strides. Accountability is an important component of leadership and if we want to maintain an eagle environment we have to be accountable.Accountability often entails how money, time and other resources are expended over a period of time and when outcomes are not favorable accountability says we should explain why and take responsibility for our actions. 
When all of this is taken into consideration, we learn to fly as the eagle does, soaring above circumstances and situations. An eagle environment welcomes problems. It renames problems as challenges and looks for ways to overcome them instead of grumbling, complaining and passing the buck. In an eagle environment all the people consider the buck to be theirs and no one else's in particular. We can learn a lot from the king of birds that has 20 vision. That means its sees clearly, far ahead. During a storm which it usually sees coming ahead of time, it flies above the turmoil figuring a way out and learns to out live the torrents.  At old age, it sheds its feathers for fresh ones. Constantly renewing itself to the end comes. Any leader who wishes to do well in the environment in which he operates, ought to seek an eagle environment so that everyone who enters it would learn the basic principles of leadership. If leading means making the best decisions by including the best people with the most expertise and knowledge in order to achieve the greatest results possible, then we should all yearn for an eagle environment.  

3 Kinds of income

 

Every outgoing adult should have three kinds of income. This would help you battle recession in a most strategic way. Think about it this way: suppose you have one source of income and because of current economic circumstances that source tends to dry up! What do you do? Well the obvious reaction is to start job hunting. Again, this is not the ideal time for that. You can hear it in the news regularly that the job market is under pressure that there are so many unemployed people in the market. We do not say that it is wrong for you to start looking for a job. But it really is better for you to look for a job from a strong point, rather than a weak position of total unemployment with next to no income coming your way.

So in order to avoid this situation and to ensure that you do not rely on one source, try to diversify your earning capabilities into three:  Regular or monthly, project or occasional and investment or residual. Look at it this way: if your income stream is one river and there is an obstacle that blocks that river, then there is trouble. Where will you get money to meet the basic things in life? Even if you have savings there is a limit to the period to which these savings can last. So hurry now and think of other ways to make money with out necessarily straying from your main business or salaried job. Often when I give this encouragement to civil servants, they sight their bond which limits them from:”doing other things while they are actively employed”. My intention here is not to dissuade you from obeying the law! But we all know that everyone could do with a little more money here and there.

So this is how it works: Keep your salaried job. Get involved in a project at least once a year that would yield you income. IT could be an event that takes place while you are on leave. It may be a one of transaction of a commodity you were able to buy and resell over a weekend or whatever period you are not at work. The project is the one of event or sale process you engage in during your leave or spare time, but there is also an investment you can make that would yield money while you are at work. Some people are into trading on line via software; others have joined online cooperatives which pool resources and buy as well as sell items in bulk. There are various websites which would direct you on earning income from various activity that you do not have to be involved in on a regular basis. You may not fancy the stock market because of the volatile nature the purchase and sales of stock, but government bonds are perfectly safe since they are underwritten by a government and would not go out of business anytime soon. Treasury bills are also safe and the interest rate on them, though minimal is much better than keeping money in the bank where charges are routinely created to bill you as regularly as possible.

If your husband or wife is not as busy as you are then there is an advantage there. Enter into a business agreement, as long as you can trust each other, and  start something together. Set the terms required for manning the business and you would be surprised what could come out of it. In Nigeria, many families have what is known as a home business. Set on a piece of land that is vacant and not in use close to the homestead. Fish farms, Chicken farms and Snail farms have been started far from the prying eyes of the tax man. Some of them yield incredible income after a period. Some of them are purely for subsistence usages. But what is important is that an effort has been made to make money beyond the ordinary salary or income that is being pressured by debilitating economic  conditions that we cannot control.

Perhaps the banks and financial institutions should not be totally ruled out in this. IF you run  a savings account or perhaps you can afford a fixed deposit account, there is a need for you to talk to your bankers about the interest rates. Savings accounts are supposed to bring interests based on deposits for a period of time. So are fixed deposits accounts. Bankers can be crafty if we do not make inquiries about  what we are due, we may not get it.