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... x No Thanks Loading.. The Management Puzzle: Some Assembly Required 8/24/2016 by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. ATTRACT AND RETAIN VALUABLE EMPLOYEES Employees ready, willing, and able to exceed the expectations of your customers are critical. Attracting and retaining them can make the difference between success and failure. In most cases, the problem is a cultural, not a personal or personnel one. Many businesses today are transitioning from a yesterday of autocratic leadership with a command and control structure to a team-driven model "flattened" for efficiency and speed. Here's the reality, as I see it: People in a command-and-control environment are told what to do. People in teams must think and risk. These are different skills that require different motivations. Although most organizations have good (and potentially great) employees, the system fails to prepare them properly for the new world. If your employees need to improve their skills, offer them development programs. If they aren't willing to pursue the new that is tomorrow, work on their motivation. The best thing an employer can do today is create a safe haven for employees to take reasoned risks and learn from the mistakes that they make in the process. REINVENT STRATEGIC PLANNING Planning is like a jigsaw puzzle. The finished picture is the mission and vision of the organization. The border (the shape and the size) is determined by the situation analysis , your current reality (the capability of your employees, commitment of the leadership, budget, marketplace served, competitors, history, etc.) . The ...

... at periodic intervals throughout the recovery period. &# 160 DISASTER SCENARIO DETAILS &# 160 The scenario involved a powerful bomb detonation in a subway station directly beneath the organization's home office building. There were also other bomb detonations in the area that disabled or seriously degraded local travel, communications and normal utility and public services. Alternate site options for non-technology operations were limited. We did place some limits on the attack: There was no radiation, biological, or chemical release. &# 160 THE ORGANIZATION'S RESPONSE &# 160 Immediate disaster response actions focused on life safety procedures. How do you get medical attention to immobile and unconscious employees? If that's impossible, how do you get them to medical centers? With transportation services disabled, how does everyone get home? When and how do you assemble the recovery teams? &# 160 Initial business recovery efforts focused on assembling teams and setting lines of communications with employees, and then with customers. Detailed work function priorities needed to be set. Only critical business activities could be addressed in the first two days after the event. By day seven, most of these activities were operational, although generally with some level of degradation. Even after 30 days, when a new permanent location could be established, shortages of experienced staff would not allow for fully normal operations. &# 160 PLANNING THE EXERCISE &# 160 To more accurately simulate an actual disaster situation, the CEO wanted the exercise to be a complete surprise. I worked directly with her and her assistant; we were the only people who knew about the upcoming event. & ...

... .) . The marketplace was one of mass. Large groups of people with limited options were shopping in the place that was closest, most friendly, and convenient. If the business was reasonably efficient, effective in personal relationships, and close to the customer, it would probably succeed. Markets were powerless. The masses bought whatever was sold. Consumers did very little comparison-shopping because their options were so limited. Manufacturers and distributors controlled most of the information. Today the game has changed. Mass markets are no more. Power has shifted from the manufacturer/distributor to the consumer — a niche of one — who can shop from an unlimited number of sources. We have a global economy, sophisticated consumers with options, technology that has unleashed information, and the most competitive marketplace in history. Assembling the perfect picture of your organization today doesn't guarantee success unless there's a clearly defined marketplace that needs what you offer. To succeed today, you must define a marketplace before assembling an organization to serve it. Leaders who try to use yesterday's planning in tomorrow's world feel as if they're being strapped into a roller coaster with an organizational and marketplace puzzle and told to solve it before the ride ends. This can be done — although it's highly stressful and risky. To plan for tomorrow, you must redefine the planning process by changing the rules of the game. To rebuild your system, you need to fully understand the world of your customers and prospects. You must address the market before defining your operations. Before you assemble your puzzle, you'll need to place these marketing' pieces in ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Total Service 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor This content has not been rated yet. TOTAL SERVICE Dear (Customer Name), BUYING A CAR PIECE BY PIECE? How would you like to buy your next car in pieces, and buy each piece from a different supplier? It wouldn't make much sense, would it? Especially when there are dealers in town who sell the complete product, just like you want it. Similarly, it no longer makes sense to run all over town buying and assembling insurance. Especially when there is an agent prepared to offer you, like the auto dealer, the complete product all assembled. We are proud to be able to offer a complete line of insurance coverages - Auto, Home, Health, and Life. And, we would like to discuss your present insurance coverages and the possibility of an insurance package. We think you will find there are significant savings in time, effort, and money by having one agent handle all of your insurance. Enclosed is a checklist you can use to request information on a specific type of coverage in which you're interested. Just fill out the list and return it, postage free. We will be happy to discuss your present and future insurance needs with you. Sincerely, Enclosure &# 160 SUGGESTED CHECKLIST OF COVERAGES For Personal Insurance Needs [ ] Family Automobile policy [ ] Special Budget Automobile policy [ ] Comprehensive Personal Liability policy [ ] Personal Excess Liability [ ] Fire insurance for dwellings [ ] Homeowners package policy [ ] Renters package policy [ ] Boat insurance ...

... that there's only one way or a single solution. They respond positively when given a selection. HomeQuote, a company offering Homeowners insurance, compares five or six insurance programs. The customer is given a series of options and can make an informed choice. With its customized presentation, providing information in an easy-to-compare format, the company has a 40% closing rate-and makes sales over the telephone. Options are essential because they create dialogue and discussion. Once the customer asks questions and the salesperson responds, a relationship develops that ends in making more sales. 3. Customers expect single-source service. Time is disappearing. As it becomes more scarce, a discernible trend to avoid unnecessary coordination of services is growing. Take, for example, the way autos are manufactured today. Rather than buying parts and assembling the components, modern companies purchase the components after assembly. Seats are bought this way, for example. This type of dramatic change is taking place in businesses of all sizes where the goal is to simplify operations. Carefully configured and managed, bundled services have a strong appeal because they can focus responsibility, strengthen relationships, improve quality, and make communication more convenient. 4. Customers expect cutting-edge technology. Finding yourself behind the curve is dangerous because of the message it sends to customers and prospects. This issue became apparent as I recently watched someone make a presentation using overhead transparencies. Overhead projectors have a role, but audiences expect to see a computer-generated and -projected presentation. Although voice-mail is not obsolete, the trend is moving toward E-mail because of its greater flexibility: its ability to ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Losing Those Meeting Blues 4/30/2013 by Jack Burke This content has not been rated yet. Meeting, noun. 1. A coming together; assembly. 2. A joining. 3. A hostile encounter, as a duel. (Webster's American Dictionary) Meeting, noun. 1. Potentially effective method for planning, education, training, problem-solving. 2. A forum for selling. 3. A ridiculous waste of time. (Jack Burke) Like a politician, I'd better make a full disclosure right off the bat: I might not be totally objective in a discussion of meetings. They have engendered in me a life-long love-hate relationship. In fact, sometimes I'm amazed that business can survive and prosper in spite of meetings. During my earlier life in corporate America, I wondered whether the true goal of business was to conduct as many meaningless meetings as possible, with profits merely an accidental by-product. Having stated my position and accepting the possibility that Meeting Planners International may be planning my lynching, let me add this: Meetings can be productive. Singular Focus: Key To A Meeting's Success Two acronyms provide useful ways to analyze meetings: PMS (planning, motivation, sales) and AEIOU (appearance, education, incentive, organization, understanding) . PMS relates to the purpose of the meeting; AEIOU helps to evaluate its effectiveness. The key to successful meetings lies in the establishment of goals. A productive meeting is goal-oriented, while non-productive meetings result from crisscrossing goals and confusion. Whether internal or external, a singular ...

... . But if we aren't prepared to handle a disaster's effects on our own operations, we won't be in a position to help our clients. And if we can't manage our own risks, it'll be difficult to convince clients that we can help manage theirs. Like the policies we sell, disaster-recovery plans are something we hope we never have to use. However, a thoughtfully crafted, workable plan can help us to contain the damage and to keep providing service to our customers if a disaster does occur. BUILDING THE TEAM An agent at a conference I attended recently told me that his agency had just finished putting together a disaster-recovery plan after a year of work. It might not take your agency that long, but don't expect to create a good plan overnight. Your first step is to assemble a planning team from within your agency. Its size depends on the size of your agency, but the team should include a representative from as many departments as possible. One agency told me how each member of its planning team worked on the plan individually, and then presented their ideas before the entire team. The team took each person's ideas apart and put them back together to form the final plan. A process like this ensures that no important information or perspective gets omitted. I know of one agency that went so far as to include the IT manager from another agency on its planning team, in case a disaster made its own IT manager unavailable. This might not be an appropriate strategy for every agency, but building some type of backup' into your plan is a smart ...

... and Internet use, customer service, agency image, advertising, financial analysis and forecasting, and the agency business plan. Many of these aspects were interrelated. Some also led to the auditing of other agency operations. Here's how the process works: ANALYZE THE AVAILABLE DATA. To analyze the agency data, it must first be collected. Some of this can be done through the agency's management system, but that's not always possible. The report features in the computer systems sold to agencies are amazingly weak sometimes. They seem to be developed by people who have never owned or managed agencies. That factor was one of the most difficult challenges to overcome. If the data can't be obtained from the management system, it must be uncovered the old-fashioned way: by manually counting, asking, and assembling. What kind of data should you obtain? Analyze these areas: Production and account data Computer data and usage Sales strategies and results Agency procedures and policies Communications Customer service Agency organization Financial position Business planning With a checklist/score card I've developed over the years, we were able to identify and place a score on our current position, and then establish our priorities for what had to be fixed, who was responsible to ensure that the fix was accomplished, and when it needed to be completed. This was no shotgun approach; it was directed and systematized. UNDERSTAND THE AGENCY'S OBJECTIVES. Understanding the agency's objectives seems simple enough. Most agency owners have mental pictures of their objectives, which are usually pretty similar: increasing the value of their business and providing themselves with higher income. ...

... The Blanks 6/22/2015 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Michael Manes This content has not been rated yet. PLANNING FOR A MERGER: FILLING IN THE BLANKS Check out this creative approach to the merger process. Planning is like making a jigsaw puzzle. You have to look carefully at the picture you want to create, spread out and sort the pieces, make the border, and finally fill in the blanks. In strategic planning the finished picture portrays the vision and mission. The border, which determines the shape and size of the puzzle, delineates the available resources - budget, staff capability, leadership commitment, marketplace, competition, and so on. The pieces represent the people in your organization and the functions they perform. One crucial aspect that people often forget in describing the puzzle assembly process is the need to find a flat, stable surface on which to build. In the planning process, this surface or foundation stands for the organizational values - the first and most important step. You can't build a puzzle on your lap, and you can't build your organization on a weak foundation. Now imagine that there are two puzzles and that each is being put together by a different team of players. Let's say you dumped both puzzles onto one table and asked everyone to work together to build one new picture out of all the pieces, but some players have important pieces tucked in their pockets. What will be the result? It's gonna be a mess. That's what can happen when two agencies merge. Each organization has its own plans, hopes, strengths, and ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. Why Your Business Needs An Emergency Contingency Plan 7/10/2015 by CompleteMarkets Editor , Bill Kliewer This content has not been rated yet. The confusion highlights the need for personal contingency plans in the event of a terrorist attack, accident, or natural disaster. This is especially important for people living or working in major cities. Large numbers of people crowded into small areas and limited escape routes can easily create panic and confusion during a mass evacuation or other emergency. Government security agencies and private businesses have developed plans for evacuating public buildings, hotels, and office buildings in the event of an emergency. Many buildings in New York City, for example, have assembled emergency kits — including a blanket, flashlight, whistle, non-perishable foodstuffs, water and, in some cases, smoke hoods — that they make available to occupants in the event of an evacuation. In most cases, however, the responsibility of building operators and security agencies ends once the buildings are evacuated. There's little thought to what happens to the occupants once the buildings are empty. At the very least, people who have developed a plan will be less panicked and confused than those who have left their fate to chance. Perhaps the best reason for having a personal plan, however, is to reduce your own danger. Jihadists who probably followed the May 10 event in Washington, D.C., could have gained information from this false alarm on points of vulnerability, and might use this knowledge in future attacks in the D.C. area. For instance, a plane could be ...