Just Let Your Employees Do Their Jobs

Do you find that you're continually in hiring mode? Do you ever do exit interviews to find out why your people are leaving? It might be an eye-opening experience. You may find out that your employees are unhappy or unfulfilled or any number of other factors of dissatisfaction with their jobs in your company. While you may not be able to address all issues of dissatisfaction, there may be issues that you uncover that you can -- and likely should -- address if you want to keep any new hires.

In many studies it's found that employees are dissatisfied if they feel they are being micro-managed.

If you hired diligently you should have hired staff who are qualified to do the job for which they are hired and after a training period, let them do their jobs. If you don't want to lose your employees, consider changing these micromanaging traits:

1. Let them do their jobs. It's that simple. If your employees don't feel you appreciate their skills or respect their work ethic they will stop working. Plain and simple. 
2. Provide training so the employee understands the nuances of your firm and how it works, and then let them do the jobs for which they were hired. 
3. Make certain there are goals and expectations set that are reasonable and attainable. Benchmarks help everyone understand whether they are performing up to expectations and if not, you can address with them, why not. If they are meeting or exceeding expectations, then mention that. 

Do you have a lot of turn over? Are you wondering what you can do differently to keep your employees? Call me for an onsite evaluation. 

Honing Your Marketing Plan For 2015

Just as one size does not fit all for manufacturers, neither does that approach work for your marketing efforts. The ultimate goal of your marketing is to reach potential clients and turn them into clients, right? To do that you need to find them, gain their trust and then convert them into clients.

When you're putting your 2015 marketing plan together here are three items to consider:

1. Where in your sales stage do you find that prospects convert into customers? In other words, how often do you need to touch them before they convert?
2. How do they like to be communicated with? In your initial conversations you should be able to gauge whether a prospect prefers a text, an email, a face-to-face or a phone call. "Meet" them where they are comfortable.
3. Ask permission. This is especially important if you want to add someone to your e-newsletter mailing list. Having an e-newsletter sent to prospects and current clients regularly helps you stay in touch in a non-intrusive way.

What steps can you take to amp up your 2015 marketing efforts?

How Healthy Is Your #Manufacturing Workforce?

If you're a business owner, you want to have the "best workforce money can buy."

Whenever I talk to business owners about their operations, we invariably wind up talking about HR issues. The two most common are; 1) how to manage the employees I have and 2) how do I hire good people? It turns out these two apparently diverse concerns are closely related.

How you say? Well, if you hire good people, you don’t have as many HR issues day-to-day." But

David, how do we hire the “right” people that “fit” our company?"

Well, as with most things, it takes a bit of planning. You must take the time to put down on paper the skill set you are looking for along with a very introspective look at your company culture. Do you have a diverse workforce or not? Will it be affected by bringing in a trained individual at a higher wage or will a promotion from within be more accepted? These kinds of questions along with a good job description will give you a good base of check-off items that any candidate will have to meet.

Making The Most Of Conference Attendance

Guest post by Robbi Hess

Is there a conference attendance in your future? If it's local, chances are you have only paid the price of admission. If, however, you have to travel to attend a conference you will likely be paying for airfare and the price of the hotel in addition to the conference attendance fee.

You need to reap the rewards of your time there and here are some tips for doing just that:

• Spend time with the conference brochure before you attend. Get to "know" the speakers and understand the topics they will be presenting at their sessions. Map out which sessions you will attend and what you hope to learn. You might even want to write down some questions to ask the speaker to gain a more thorough understanding of the topic. 
• If there are pre-conference events or post-conference get togethers, make time in your schedule to attend those. Don't hide away in your hotel room before or after the conference sessions. Mingling during the pre- and post- events is the best way to potentially forge a relationship with a speaker or a fellow conference attendee. 
• When you get home from the conference you should blog about your attendance. Share the information learned on your social media pages. Most importantly, you should follow up with those individuals you met -- strike while the iron is hot. 

What are your best conference attendance tips? 

Robbi Hess is The Written Marketing Expert at All Words Matter. She works with clients to take their words, put it into their message and distribute it in places that make sense! If you're struggling with your written marketing content, contact her at robbi@allwordsmatter.com 

Are Business Cards Dead?

Guest post by Robbi Hess

Do you still look at gathering business cards as a sport when you're attending a business meeting or networking event? You know, whomever gets the most cards wins? I have to caution that when it comes to business cards, quantity doesn't necessary equate to quality. If you're gathering business cards for the sake of gathering them you may want to rethink your strategy and only accept cards --

and give cards -- to potential referral partners or others with whom you feel you can work.

If you still use a business card, and I honestly can't see any reason why you wouldn't, here are tips for making the most of that valuable piece of business real estate:

1. Make sure it's branded with your company business name and logo. While you don't want to clutter the card with a lot of information, you are selling yourself and your business and your logo is a big part of that. 

#Manufacturers: Is All Change Good?

I was recently at an IT seminar and heard something about change that really got me thinking.

Obviously, change has to occur for a business to evolve. But, what should you change?

The speaker's answer was: "Only change or improve those processes that impact your ability to deliver outcomes." Pretty profound.

Think about what that means to your business and how you've been thinking about how, or what, to change.

I'd like to hear from you if you have any thoughts about this statement and/or what the changes are that you're considering making . I'd love to help you "change."

Email or call me to discuss.

About David: One of his key strengths is ability to listen to people and his desire to help them improve their practices and better utilize resources. He works effectively with all levels of employees, from shop floor technicians to the CEO, establishing an atmosphere of trust and open communication that can enable change to happen quickly and productively.

3 Steps To Achieve Your Business Goals

Guest post by Marketing Writing Expert Robbi Hess

What are your business goals? If someone asked you that, would you be able to give a quick, definitive answer? If your answer is "no" you should take some time right now, today, to sit down and write down your goals. I am a firm believer in the adage, "write it down, make it happen."

Whether you believe that business "success" means you have a healthy balance sheet or if you measure business success by your work/life balance or whatever metric you use, having goals and objectives can help

you achieve success -- whatever that looks like to you.

There’s No Place Like Home

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Europe. We saw some beautiful things like riverside castles, 500-year-old churches and architecture that do not exist in the United States. Great to visit but frankly, we both were glad to get back to our home and country.

Giving it a bit of thought, I recalled that while these countries (France, Germany and the Netherlands) have more history, it is the Untied States that had led the world in creating some of the most used systems and technology in place today. Yes, a lot of basic important scientific research and engineering was developed by

European geniuses, but it was America that put it to use.

It was the United States that setup the first time zones in 1883 to standardize local times for the railroads. It was the United States that setup the system for calling internationally (we are country code 01). Henry Ford developed a system for mass production. We also developed the Internet. I could go on, but I prefer not to toot our horn too loudly.

Each of these countries is great in their own way but I couldn’t live in them. Nice people and good wine and food. They are just not my country.

Is Your Manufacturing Customer 'Always Right'?

Guest post by Robbi Hess

Anyone who is in the retail or honestly any kind of business that provides a good or service to the public is well aware of the phrase, "the customer is always right." As a sales person myself I understand that sometimes you need to bite your tongue and find out the true root cause of a client's unhappiness because on the surface it may not be what they are vocalizing about.

Regardless of whether they are right or wrong, they hold the power in that they feed your bank account. True, you don't need to keep working with a client that is impossible to satisfy or who is abusive, but for the most part our clients are reasonable even though they may tend to get up in arms at times.

Get Involved or Die Trying

Most manufacturers I talk to these days are looking for skilled machinists. Also, I’m sure you’ve read elsewhere that this IS a problem and that the problem will only get worse before it gets better. While we wait for the education system to produce the number of skilled machinists that are needed, there is something a shop or company owner can do.

Networking To Grow Your #Consulting Business

Guest post by Robbi Hess 

As 2014 gets underway, what changes can you make to grow your #manufacturing or your #consulting clientele? Networking is an ideal way to do this, but you need to know how to do it "correctly." Chances are you have attended networking or industry events where you meet people, shake hands then walk away with a stack of business cards that end up in the bottom of your briefcase. This is a wasted opportunity for you and your business and for the individual who simply handed you a card without getting to know you and vice versa.

#Manufacturing Is Alive And Well In The United States

Contrary to popular belief, manufacturing is doing fine. Output is up, productivity is up and sales are up. So why does everybody think everything is made in China?

We get a bad rap because of two fallacies:

• Manufacturing is unimportant to our economy.  Not true!  When I hear this one, I know the person saying or thinking this has been in the basement for the last 125 years. Most of the wealth “created” in this country was made either by mining, farming or manufacturing. Everything else just moves the money around or services these industries. 

Let's Talk About The Minimum Wage: A Manufacturer's Take

There is move afoot to raise the minimum wage to “a living wage.” Right now, the federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour. Individual states also have minimum wages that in some cases are higher and some are lower. When you add in minimum wages for “tipped” employees, you get a witch’s brew that is ripe for contention.

I will fully admit that $7.25/hour is not a whole lot of money. Multiply this number times 2000 (40 hrs/wk x 50 weeks) and you get a whopping $14,500 for the year. At this rate, I can’t imagine any taxes being due, so this would also be the net to the worker.

However, the economics I learned does not support raising this wage.

Support Small Business on #SmallBusinessSaturday

When you shop at a locally owned store, 52% of what you spend stays in the community. That is a

staggering figure, I think. When you consider that if you work with a local #manufacturer for your goods and services, you're also benefiting the community, the workforce and likely your own clients because you'll be getting high quality goods at a better price than if you had to ship/shop overseas.

As a small business owner (who will not be braving the malls or other stores on Black Friday) I encourage you to shop local, especially on November 30, which has been again designated, #SmallBusinessSaturday.

Taking The Pulse Of The US Manufacturing Industry

I'm continually out talking with presidents and CEOs of manufacturing companies and have been hearing the same refrain: "I think we're on an upswing!" This is great news for them, their companies and the manufacturing industry in America in general.

I came across an article about the state of manufacturing and I wanted to pass it along:

Manufacturing Business Owners Need A Robust LinkedIn Profile: How To Get Yours

Guest post by Robbi Hess, Content Strategist, All Words Matter 

LinkedIn has seen major revenue earnings increases and that leads me to believe there are more business professionals taking advantage of this professional business social media site than in the past.

Do you have a LinkedIn profile?  

LinkedIn profiles can help you stand out from the crowd when you’re looking for  a job or if you’re an entrepreneur seeking new clients. If professionals are flocking to use this site, that means that you should make certain you not only have a professional presence, but you should have a complete profile as well.

Here are my tips to making certain your LinkedIn profile is not only complete, but compelling:

Making Social Media Work For Your Manufacturing Firm

Guest post by Content Strategist Robbi Hess

Is your business involved in social media marketing? Do you feel that even if you are and even if your followers and likes are increasing, you're still not seeing any direct connection between that and dollars in your company budget? There are several reasons that could be the case, but let's first look at the fact that, when possible, face-to-face networking pays greater dividends. When you can meet with a potential client, get to know one another and built interaction that is your best foot-in-the-door for business.

Consider enhancing your networking meeting attendance with social media marketing and with print marketing and you should begin to see results in your manufacturing business. Be aware that there are times when it will feel like you are shouting into a crowded room when it comes to social media. The reason? Because there is a lot of noise in the realm of social media and your voice can get carried away in the crowd of people who are also shouting. You've likely heard that adding social media to your marketing arsenal is necessary and the reason for that is it's likely that your competition is interacting there.

Marketing Tips For Manufacturing Company Owners

Guest post by Robbi Hess 

When is the last time you looked at the marketing and promotion plans you have in place for your

manufacturing business? Just as you track the financial health of the organization, so too should you monitor the health and rate of return on your marketing efforts. Are the goals you set for your marketing being met? If not, it's time to revamp them.

Here are some items in your marketing arsenal that you should look into and revamp if necessary:

• Do you understand your audience/your ideal client? If you don’t know who your client is, how can you effectively target him? In addition to knowing your demographic’s age and location, you should also understand whether they’re the “on-line” type or if they prefer their news/coupons offline in a

Secrets To Selling: It's Everyone's Job

Guest Post By Peter Young, StreetSmart Resources 

There is no such thing as a natural salesperson.  Oh, starting out some are better than others at people skills, but exceptional sales people are for the most part self-made.  It’s a skill that can’t be taught either, but it can be learned.

When I first started to sell, I was awful.  In the first place, I hated asking for the order. I felt like I was begging.  It wasn’t helped by the fact that I didn’t know anything about about the products I was selling. I was ready to quit after the first day.

After a long period of frustration and failure, I realized there was a SECRET I could master to succeed. No, it wasn’t some arcane technique that enabled me to influence my customers. It wasn’t about being positive and confident or lessons on self-talk about how I was getting better and better. The turning point was when I decided to become an expert at old school product knowledge.

One Manufacturing Cost You Can Control: In Two Easy Steps!

The purchasing process in your manufacturing company is one of the few cost drivers that can be directly

controlled. You can elect or not to spend “x” amount of money for a given product, machine or service.

However, if it is not controlled, well, all bets are off and profits will suffer. Period.

Step #1 Get firm quotes
One of the most important steps in purchasing is to obtain firm quotes on goods and services before that purchase orders are written. Seems simple, but I’ve seen many companies just send in blank P.Os to their vendors and hoping for a “fair” price. Right!!