Posts Tagged ‘Small business’
The Networking Benefits of Using a Nametag
I was reading an article in Success magazine about a fellow named Scott Ginsberg. He has some fabulous ideas for networking and how to make yourself more approachable to others.
Scott started his business by a decision he made 12 years ago to NOT take off the sticky nametag he had on at an event: “Hello, my name is Scott”. He left it on and he started meeting new people daily. The first day was 20 people. And primarily because they came over to ask why he was walking around with a nametag on!
This opened his eyes to how people react to certain situations and from this came the foundations of his business and career. He has written several books and his newest is called, “The Nametag Principle”. To this day, he continues to wear his nametag (In fact rumour has it he has one tattooed on!)
I totally understand the benefits of wearing a nametag. When I started my business four years ago I ordered myself a nametag. I hated wearing those sticky ones at networking events and had one created just for me (A holdback to my days at the bank when we all wore a nametag). It has my name, title (At the time it said Virtual Assistant) and then my business name.
I cannot tell you how many conversations this nametag has started. Whether it is my last name, or title (At the time Virtual Assistant was an unknown term and prompted many questions) and even the nametag itself got people talking to me.
Wearing it to an event, really gave others something to focus on and to start a conversation with me (We all know the awkwardness sometimes at networking events… wondering what new things we can come up with to start a conversation.) My nametag gave people an easy out to say hello and ask me a question. Not bad for my initial investment of $11.75.
Reading this article about Scott has also made me think about my own nametag experiences and I think it’s time to order some new ones. I say ‘ones’ because I often wear different hats at events and having ones that fit the situation will be helpful. Sometimes I am the Virtual Assistant, others I am the Online Marketing & Social Media Specialist and then sometimes I am simply @TimeonTaskVA, my Twitter persona.
How about you, have you ever considered getting your own nametag or had some great experiences because you were wearing one? If so, what results have you had – share your good ‘nametag’ stories!
Who Has Control of Your Workday?
One of the biggest issues every business owner has is time…or rather the lack of time. We all want more time in our day, but the reality is there is no known way to change how the universe is setup and add more hours to the day. What has to change is us and how we use our time.
No matter how in control things may feel, if you track your activity throughout the day, you generally will be surprised at the results. You will see where your time is being spent and who or what is controlling that time. It is the control of your time that can help you find more hours in the day.
To figure out how you spend your time, you will need to do a bit of work, but it always pays off in seeing what is actually happening to your workday. You start by keeping a record of all your activity – everything you do, how long it takes – do this for one week. Picking a normal week too – not a week when you are at a conference or not doing your ‘typical’ work.
Your time log should include:
- The Task
- The start time and stop time
- Interruptions
- Who or What interrupted you
- The start and stop time after the interruptions too
- Whether you completed the task
This will take dedication to do and do for a whole week. I suggest doing it on paper – keep the sheet of paper by your side so you can quickly take out your pen and fill in the sheet. Using a computer-based tracking means leaving your work and interrupting the task at hand to enter the time. Paper is a little mightier and more effective in this case. (I have created a sample sheet you can print out and keep handy. You can copy the sheet template from this Google doc.)
Once the week is up, tally up your results. Review the “interrupted by” column more than anything. Make a tick sheet of the interruptions and the instigator of each. Tally up your top 10 ‘interruptions’. This list will tell you who or what is controlling your workday and you may be surprised at what you find.
If the list is full of names, other than yourself, this tells you others are in control of your day and time. If your name or just a new task is the top factor, then it is, in fact, you controlling your day by the choices you make. Now you know what or who is in control. So, what can you do about it???
Take the next week and track yourself, even if you think everything is fine. You may be surprised at what shows up on the tracking sheet that can help you regain control of your day.
Meeting with Yourself
One of my goals this year is to keep myself better managed with time and tasks. Like many people I struggle to find the best system that works for me. My online calendar is a must for all my appointments and meetings. I like the pop-up reminders that happen and the ability to set them at a time to fit how my brain works.
It’s always been the new tasks that come into play every day that needs to get on my radar as an item on my to-do list. For tasks and work, I am a very visual personal (A ‘Piler’ they call it in the professional organizing world). I need to ‘see’ what I have to work on in order for it to get into my brain as something to focus on and complete.
In the past, I have used a time manager diary book that opens to a week at a time and allows for spaces for meetings (which I never used), as well as a list area. It is here where I would enter my items for the week. Very visual, so that part is great. The annoying part of this system is that I have to rewrite the same stuff every week – mostly client names as well as my own plans for blogging, articles and my own marketing work. Some weeks I found the page for the week empty because I did not have the time to rewrite everything and carry it over from last week. As someone who is always focused on time, this time to rewrite the same info is not in-line with the way I want to be – always as efficient as possible.
Recently, I started a new system – seeing if it will be more effective for my needs. I am using a Google spreadsheet with a list of my main task topics (so I don’t have to rewrite every day / week) and then enter in the new work to be done. So far it seems to be working better for me. I do make a point of keeping a special browser window open with this document. This way I can tick off the items as they are done and also enter in new ones as they pop up during the day.
The trick I have found is to start the day off with a Meeting with Me. 10 minutes to check what was done yesterday, what came into the list and what I need to focus on for the day. So, now when I open my office door each morning, that is where I start – a Meeting with Me.
It’s been a lot more helpful and also the list is more fully completed these past couple weeks than it had been when I was using my old system…time will tell if my ‘Meeting with Me’ is going to work out.
If you have any great methods that work for you, please share them on my Facebook Page. I am always looking for new ideas and ways to improve!
Make Changes to Improve your Business
Last week in an email, one of my clients, a General Contractor in Halifax Nova Scotia, wrote a sentence that really struck home for me. He said:
If I do what I do time after time, obviously the results will always be the same. Something has to change.
I think it was the word ‘obviously’ that really makes this statement stand out. Especially this time of year – the year end is always a time where I am looking back at what happened this past year and thinking and planning about changes to improve for next. And “Obviously” if nothing changes nothing improves, unless you have reached perfection already!!
These are words that should ring true for any business owner. No matter what your business goals are, in most cases we all want to improve; to have increased sales and more business. Putting your plans and goals in writing, assessing where you are and analyzing past results are ways to make certain you are seriously tackling the issue of improving your business and not just keeping it at a standstill, a pipe dream.
The assessment and analysis is especially important. Without looking at what you did in the past you will have a hard time figuring out what worked, what didn’t and more importantly, what needs to change.
Here are a few simple steps to take you through the process of making changes in your business:
- Know your results to this point – Financial results and overall Business Practices.
- Have goals set in place and understand where your results have taken you with regards to these goals.
- Have your goals changed? If so, look at the new goals compared to the results.
- Look at what worked to achieve these goals – or what did not. Think about the obstacles (no matter how small) that got in the way of achievement.
- Develop new plans to help you overcome the obstacles and plans to build on what worked this past year.
- Set your goals for the coming year, taking into account all the changes to be implemented.
- Communicate these plans to all who are involved in your business and all who will be affected by the changes.
- Implement the changes and then re-evaluate during the year to assess results and make changes along the way (better than waiting it out til the next year end!)
Words never said enough: Thank you for a Job Well Done
A big (BIG, really BIG) Pet Peeve of mine is that more people send negative feedback than they ever do positive. And even worse, this has trained us all to expect the bad and not the good.
When I worked at Royal Bank years ago, one of my jobs was the Information Desk. You know, the main front desk where everyone stops to get information – who to see, how to do this etc etc. Not many people liked to cover my desk when I was away for a few reasons:
- You needed to know a lot about what was going on in all areas of the branch.
- You got a lot of complaints here – banks cards eaten, not working, big lineups, can’t see banker because of no appointment booked etc etc. Lots of negative things.
- It could get real busy.
My philosophy was always to help out everyone to the best of my abilities; solve problems, fix things, and then of course the go the extra mile to help. Yes, you got the crappy stuff all day long – but you also got the good stuff, the people so happy you helped them, so appreciative of your services. I always said the good may not have outweighed the bad, but the good was so good it would wipe out all the bad.
That’s how I am with service now, I comment on both good and bad service received. But my good always outweighs the bad – that is my personal policy on giving service comments. I have made it a personal commitment to prove to the world people do give feedback on good service too.
In doing so I have learned a few tricks, and the # 1 trick in in how you ask for the comment card. When asking staff for a comment card to fill out, indicate something like this :
I wanted to share how happy I was with the service today, do you have a comment card I can fill out?
If not, you will cause a panic situation. As soon as you go up and say to someone:
Can I have a comment card?
Most times you will get a response like:
- Is there something wrong?
- Can I help you with a problem?
- Did you have an issue with your service?
Others may hear you as well, and come over to offer to help fix the bad service you obviously received since you are asking for a comment card. We have all been trained to expect the worst. I’m not saying feedback on bad service is not to be shared,m it needs to be, no one will learn and improve if not, but share the good too!
So… why not try this out yourself? Those simple words, “Thank you for a job well done” should, in my opinion, be said more often that they are.
One of my most recent comments was about an employee at a Building Supply store here in Dartmouth, Kent at MicMac Mall. We have been dealing here for years and have done some kitchen renos recently. After a fabulous service experience with someone there, I took a minute and filled out the card at the service desk. (I try to do this right there so I don’t forget why or the name of the person who helped me).
What surprised me about this feedback, was when a few weeks later received a letter in the mail from Kent, thanking me for the comments and letting me know that the associate would be receiving a ‘star’ at their next team meeting. (One of the few times I ever had a comment acknowledged – a great practice for any business to implement and one that will encourage more good feedback I am sure!). Even better, the letter came from the Human Resources Department at head office… it was so nice to know my good words went far and wide. That letter made me feel great.
We also had above and beyond service from the contractor who did our bathroom and kitchen renos… so we sent him 
and his family a fruit bouquet (*See picture* It’s a really cool thank you item to send anyone , it was from Fruitful Expressions a local biz here) – this totally surprised him and his wife, as it probably is not something that happens often. People would say thanks, great job – but not always take it a step farther.
His wife called my contractor immediately and then he called me. Everyone was happy, them for the thought and acknowledgement of a good job and me, because they appreciated my thanks.
Thank you for a job well done
Words that can change the world and the attitudes of everyone you encounter. I challenge you all to send one positive feedback item every week of your life. Your mood and the mood of others will change, I guarantee it!
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