Therefore make your site work on a mobile, as MILLIONS are now using their phones to browse, and the figure is building daily.

What you need is a way to test your site, the good people over at Google have come up with a fairly elegant solution… http://www.howtogomo.com/

A simple yet highly effective way to test your webpage/s to see if you can cut through when you need to! Now call your web people and make changes.

Allianz operates throughout Australia and New Zealand and through its subsidiaries offers a range of insurance and risk management products and services. The company provides some form of insurance cover for more than half of Australia’s top 50 BRW-listing companies, and employs approximately 3,300 staff. An avid supporter of environmental friendly initiatives, Allianz has a target to reduce emissions by 20% by 2012 and Is a member of the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Challenge Plus program.

Combing through franchise businesses for sale notices should be less daunting if you implement a well thought-out research strategy. Using online research, industry publications, news clippings and other methods is a great starting point.

When identifying franchise opportunities, consider what will complement your lifestyle, business goals and your skill set. Some aspects to consider are outlined below.

Brand strength? Behind every successful business is a strong brand, bolstered by an enviable reputation. Read widely about how the franchise brand is perceived by the industry, customers and business partners. Part of what you’re buying is the company’s brand equity. What do you estimate the brand’s equity to be?

Finding out about financial health How open and transparent is the organisation about its financial health? A company’s balance sheet can provide valuable insights about how well placed the franchise business is to harness future growth.

Expenses today and in the future Before you buy a franchise, you’ll need to know what set-up costs are involved. There could also be ongoing costs, such as marketing or advertising levies.

Strategic marketing, PR and advertising expertise? Dig deeper into the company’s marketing strategy. What level of investment and support is offered nationally and locally? What marketing and branding expertise does the company offer? How well resourced is the organisation to fund public relations programs?

Systems for success? Systems are essential ingredients in any successful franchise network. How efficient are the franchise’s systems and processes – do they help or hinder your ability to operate the business?

Investigate the level of support on the ground Do they have a dedicated operational and field support team to assist you? Investigate the ratio of franchisees to field support infrastructure.

Consider the commercial environment Determine the competitive dynamics that are likely to impact the brand. Do they have a well-defined understanding of their competitors, future opportunities, trends and issues?

Create a shortlist of franchise business opportunities? Once you’ve created your wish list, shortlist your most suitable franchise opportunities. Map out what works for you and what doesn’t, including the business must-haves e.g. IT and marketing support, costs (one-off and ongoing) and other forms of critical infrastructure.

Talk to franchise owners at the coalface Franchise owners are valuable resources. They can often provide you with the ‘inside story’ about a potential franchise business opportunity.

Lesley D’Arcy – As a franchise recruitment manager at Mortgage Choice, Lesley D’Arcy is responsible for recruiting franchisees to greenfield (new) opportunities as well as selling established franchise businesses. Her career in franchise recruitment spans over 15 years where she has worked with many major franchise brands. Lesley has a wealth of experience in recruitment of franchisees and builds on this experience by unearthing and developing the latest and most innovative ways to help franchisors build their networks. This experience has given her the skills to become an expert in the field of franchise recruitment, excelling in lead generation, screening, qualifying and selling to prospective franchisees.

Reflecting (as one does from time to time) on the way things have happened for me in a number of positions of employ, one in particular comes to mind, let me explain.

Untitled © Peter Biram 2009

In the interview the view seemed clear, my mind has mapped out a course of action right from the get go… But when I get into the role, things somehow magically alter, the view has changed, the map becomes useless and things do not appear as they once were.

What happened? Sometimes I am not so sure, but in reflection from a role about six years back I can see what happened there. The role looked straight forward but on the inside the complexity was a bit much, information overload took place and detail-itis kicked in, people were throwing in all sorts of information into a vacuous space (the memory space allocated for my brain to handle this role.) and it was fast getting cluttered with “STUFF!”

My view on reflection was I could have done better by getting a better map or at least orienting the map to face the right way when I got into the role, and sorting out the basics in a better way to begin with.

The role was in a training organisation and as a 12 month contract my job was to set up new programs and look after a small handful of courses already running. It seemed simple enough but the points outlined above gave it an air of despair.

For each course currently running I should have had an outline of what subjects were being presented, what ones had already been covered, and what was coming up, followed by what I was going to do to make the upcoming parts easy for the Trainers, fail on all counts.

I wanted to go in and check out what the trainers were doing, how they presented, were they engaging, were they providing a rich and interesting environment for the participants and were the participants happy, fail on all counts…

I conjured up a range of new course ideas and ways the organisation would be able to make money out of professional development programs for businesses… A few great ideas were beginning to take shape when a new manager was appointed in a higher role and the eye cast on my plans sent a shiver, there was no money going to be allocated to some of the new programs I had in mind “These plans are all very well Steve, but we don’t have the money or resources to run them.” that was it, despite my evidence to the opposite.

My map turned to mud, my strengths to weaknesses and before long the whole thing became a sham. I had no idea of the view and what it should be like anymore and was somehow glad when the contract came to an end… The tables had turned and what I was hired for became a farce. Funny though just after I left the new Manager was sidelined and things went into some sort of a rejigging spin with the aim of getting the organisation back onto a level keel.

Twelve months wasted? Not really there were a number of small wins and “pats on the back” but the big thing is learning from it all. The aim being not to make the same mistakes. I can blame the organisation for being unclear, I can blame the manager for poor insight and limited vision, but in the end the real results came down to me.

Looking forward was part of the role, looking back was important too, but the here and now of the existing course operation probably may have yielded greater results in the long term. In reality who knows if it would have or not… I can only believe in myself it would have made a difference.

May I suggest you take a look at what’s happening in your business or department now and explore the map in detail and see if all parties on the “Island” are able to read the map and know what to do if they get lost. Otherwise the map may well be useless.

Therefore, any chance I get I like to mention the basics of business in the hope to make a difference, I like to harp on about the basics and let people know…

• Idea – Research – Action – Spend $$ – Make $$ – Have some left over – Invest – Repeat. (or close to that.)

Still people get it wrong, some end up with an image like this…

• Idea – Action – Spend $$ – Make SOME $$ – Spend more $$ – End up broke. (Or some similar pattern to that.)

What’s the point of having a great idea and seeing it crash and burn? None, it hurts and can easily hurt others, so stop doing it. The challenge is however people don’t see the “crash and burn phase” they see a rose coloured world of $$ and happy customers.

Consider this, you want to learn to fly, you have the idea, you have the cash to buy a plane, you know full well you can’t fly the sucker until you have been trained and pass the test.

So why the heck do people jump into business (of any size) without the right training… Because they can, and you know what, you can sign up to get business registration on line, get a bank account and so forth and be in business in no time flat. Problem is no training, probably some skills, possibly and few helping hands to get started. and the rest seems to be “fly by the seat of your pants” and hope for the best.

Do some basic research BEFORE getting started and make sure you KNOW what you are in for PLEASE. too many failures in business seems such a waste of resources folks.

This year, month, week, that’s pretty much changed. The word is, we are fast moving towards breaking the drought. With just “average” rainfall mind you. Fantastic! However, it’s caused a bit of chaos this week. You see, Geelong is a city divided by the Moorabool River. It runs roughly West to East, and dissects the North from South.

Of course, there are multiple points at which to cross the river, but one (apparently) vital one. It’s called the Breakwater Rd & Breakwater bridge. As the name suggests, it’s a breakwater, and it floods every time the Moorabool River reaches a certain level. It a pressure release valve so that the river doesn’t flood as badly as it might.

It’s a two way, one lane intersection. It’s tiny. It’s insignificant. It doesn’t appear to be that busy in the scheme of things. I take it everyday in my 5 minute trip to the office.

When it floods, it throws the City of Geelong into Traffic chaos! This week has seen a lot of Geelong employees late for work. My daily 5 minute drive has turned into 45-60 minutes!

My City has a heart problem. Like our Hearts, the city depends on all it’s arteries to follow un-hindered – block one, and you have a heart problem.

It made me think about my business (while i was stuck in traffic ) Sometimes, we have arterial blockages in our businesses. It might be that the phone messages stall at reception and don’t quickly get sent to the sales guy, it might be the order release message from the accounts dept stalls and doesn’t get communicated to the despatch area, so an order sits on the back dock two days longer than it should.

An arterial blockage in our business is simply a part of the system that gets blocked up, slows the rest down, and sometimes even stops the system dead – grid lock!

The first step to clearing such a blockage is to identify it. Sit back, take a breath, and objectively look at your business and how an order goes through your system, even place an anonymous order and see how your system looks to an outsider. Once identified, you can take steps to alleviate the pressure and work out ways to prevent future issues.

In my business for example, the artwork process can be one of those areas that can bog down and block the system. It might be the client is slow to send us appropriate files, or our email breaks down, or a contract artist does not do the job fast enough – there are any number of ways that part of my business can (and has) block and stop orders from proceeding. I don’t like it, but knowing it is an area for a higher potential for screw ups, I pay more attention to it to avoid said screw ups.

Another area with potential for blockages is delivery. I rely on third parties often for delivery. I have clients all around Australia and even a few Internationals. Therefore, I am often reliant on third parties like manufacturers and couriers. If the guy on the back dock at the pens factory is having a bad day, my urgent delivery might not go out, just as the courier driver might have a flat tyre or only pick up 2 of 3 boxes. Even a foggy night made us miss one deadline when the plane holding one box was grounded.

I can’t completely avoid potential blockages, but if i know exactly what they are, I can put safe guards and pressure valves in place to reduce the risk.

So, does your business have a heart problem? It’s one of those questions just like your own health – it might not be comfortable to self analyse if you are at risk, but well worth the effort.

So here are the top seven IT mistakes I have seen new businesses make:

1. POP email

POP email accounts are those email accounts that you get when you sign up with an ISP. Often you get a few free email accounts that you can associate with your company domain. The problem with POP accounts is that they don’t get backed up and leave you with a false sense of security. Ultimately much of your businesses value lies in the contacts that you have, as much as the conversations you’ve had. POP accounts only store the conversations, and in many cases even those are cleared from the server by your email application. So now all of your data is sitting on the one vulnerable hard disk in your computer and unless you know what you are doing, this does not get backed up.

Shop around. For less than $US15 per month you can get a hosted 5GB Exchange mailbox that stores all contacts, calendar and email. It gets backed up each night and it can be made to synchronise contacts and appointments as well as email with your mobile PDA. If you have multiple employees you can share contacts and calendars and email. This can takes office productivity to a whole new level. Outside the office, on the work site, having access to your email, contacts and calendar is fast becoming as important and as expected these days as having a mobile phone was five years ago. From the work site you can place a booking with a client into the Calendar on your PDA and within minutes staff back in your office can see that booking by looking into your calendar on the server. And Vice-Versa, how good is that. No more checking with the office then calling the client back to confirm, not to mention the to and fro reduced if the booking did not suit.

Of course if you lose or break the mobile phone al of the contacts and appointments that are synchronised to the server are not lost. Just get a new phone and set up again and all the contacts and appointments will be synchronised back onto the phone.

OK, setting this up may require some help from an IT consultant but when you factor in the productivity gains and the reduced risk of data loss in the event of failure the gains are worth it for most businesses.

2. Peer to Peer networking

There is a plethora of fantastic cheap devices on the market these days that let you store copious amounts of data on a networked hard disk. If you like you can also share the hard disk of your own computer so that your co-workers can store all of the data in a single location.

But please don’t forget that you need to back that data up and, just as importantly, you need to be able to restore from that backup should the data be accidentally overwritten, corrupted or you just have a good old fashioned disk crash. Most IT professionals don’t like keeping all of the eggs in one basket. So we devise ways of making systems redundant. A ‘real’ server solution will have redundant hard disks, so that should one fail, your data does not go with it, resulting in days of downtime while the system is pieced together from that backup that you regularly do.

Too many small businesses still store scary amounts of critical data on a single hard disk inside a regular workstation (usually the oldest one in the office).

3. Free software

Free software sounds great. And it can be. I am not against it in itself, but with most software it is not the license that will end up costing you the most money, that will actually be a small part of the cost. You need to consider the longer term costs of implementation and running your systems utilising that software. For a small basic single user application that may be fine. But for something that will be implemented across your business to become what we call ‘mission-critical’ you need to consider the longer term implications. How easily can I get outside help to support this system should those who know it move on (key-man risk)? Can I recruit people who know how to use this system, or will I need to train them up?  Will updates for the software be available when I come to upgrade the platform on which it runs?

These are some of the questions you need to ask before taking on what may appear to be a cheap solution.

4. Mates Rates advice

It is hard to pass up free advice. However free advice rarely translates into good support. At least not the kind of support you can depend on from a strategic point of view. Your mates may be available after hours and on weekends but if they are holding down a full time job they may not be as accessible as you need them to be. There are also often strategic and technical differences between how IT is setup and run in a small business environment compared to that of larger organisations. There are specific product bundles available from vendors such as Microsoft, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Symantec and many others that facilitate excellent solutions for small business when implemented correctly. However while these bundles may appear to be a collection of products that many IT experts may be familiar with, they often include some additional bells and whistles that allow you to get real leverage with your IT investment. I have seen many implementations Microsoft’s Small Business Server where a so-called expert was unfamiliar with the use of Remote Web Workplace and so had not known to implement this for the business. Yet Remote Web Workplace is one of the core offerings of small business server and one that many administrators of large organisations would give their eye-teeth for. It allows small business workers to connect to any workstation within the office and run all of their applications from a remote location.

So how could this have been over-looked? Remote Web Workplace is not a feature available on ‘big’ business systems, so if your friends work in big business, they may not know about it, or many other things.

Another important function I have seen ‘knowledgeable’ mates overlook is the ability of Microsoft’s Small Business Server to enable BlackBerry type functionality with regular iPhone, Nokia and Windows PDAs. Perhaps the mate thought they would need to buy a BlackBerry server to do all of this, perhaps because the company they work for has one.

5 . Backup-backup-backup and offsite-backups. Then test them.

It makes me cringe to see what some people consider a backup plan.

Too often I have heard people telling a reporter that loosing the house to a fire was bad enough but loosing the family albums and memories was devastating. The rate of business failure after a major IT disaster from which there was no backup is very high. I have seen figures like 80% in the two years following the disaster thrown around.

So I guess lesson one is make a backup of all of the family photos and take them to a location away from the home. And then repeat this regularly. And check that you can access the copies that you have made. Lesson two is to do the same for your business.

6. In-house software / DIY Systems

All too often I see people who believe that their systems and their way of doing things is so special that they must create their own software just to manage this. Accountants probably bare the brunt of this when the new business owner fronts up to them with a box full of receipts and an excel spreadsheet full of fancy macros that nobody except the business owner knows how to use. Or the very very special Access database for managing stock levels and generating very very special reports.

All businesses want to feel that they are unique. But encoding that uniqueness into a software application that can only be modified by one select person can turn out to be a serious strategic mistake when you try to sell the business or when that ‘key-man’ risk is realised because the person who knows the system can no longer maintain it.

Ask yourself how your business will make money. If developing this special piece of software and selling it is not on the list then don’t go there.

7. Lock in.

No deal in IT is so good that you should sign up for more than two years. The market and your business moves too fast for that. What is a great deal today can be serious drain on cash flow in as little as six months from now. So whether it be a mobile phone plan, an internet connection, a PABX system, a server hosting plan or an IT support plan, two years is just too long a commitment to make. If we think a deal is good today, you can be assured that a better deal is just around the corner and if you’ve locked in for a long time you will be regretting the lock in for at least half of that time.

And it is not just the money. Once you’ve locked into a plan you’re often locked into a technology. Then along comes the next best thing and your business is now not as dynamic as you thought it was.

Svend Petersen is the Managing Director of Excelan.

Excelan provides a personalised level of IT support and strategic consulting for small to medium sized organisations in and around the Sydney CBD.

As the name would suggest, Goodsync is a syncronisation program. It will syncronise Folders & files on a PC, Network, and the internet.

I use it on a daily basis to back up my most critical files. Everyday, I copy my accounting back up, my CRM data, my clients art files, copies of my quotes and invoices, our procedures manual, my Roboform data, and my quoting program data – a lot right? It is a lot, and frankly, if I was simply making a back up or copying all those files every day, it would take all day!

I also make multiple copies – I have the original files on my mail PC, I have a back copy on a “storage PC” on the work network, and I make a copy to my laptop (so that I have a mobile copy of the file in case of something like a fire at work). That’s how I use it, you could just as easily use a portable hard drive.

The beauty of Goodsync is; it only copies over files that have changed. This means it doesn’t get bogged down copying files that are already there in the back up destination, a big time saver.

First, Goodsync analyses the source files compared to the destination files, after the initial analysis, this takes only a few seconds.

Then Goodsync creates a list for you to check. There are default settings like always forcing the sync one way, or force the newest revision of the file to override the direction of the sync. You can either manually make the decision, or let Goodsync decide for you based on your preferences.

At the click of a button, it copies the right files to the right place super fast – the only limitation of speed is the speed of your connection. My hard wired network syncs faster than it does to my laptop through the wireless router for example. Still, it only take 3-5 minutes per day to back up all my critical files to two different locations.

Goodsync is super easy to use, A few minutes to set up the initial settings, and then once that is done the daily task takes only minutes. Take this link for a quick overview of how Goodsync works . There is also a MAC version of Goodsync, which I haven’t tried yet, but if it’s like anything Apple, it’ll be easy

I haven’t used the portable version, Goosync2go, but i have used the protable version of Roboform, so I have to assume the portable version is every bit as good as the PC version.

Of course, there is a free trial of Goodsync, it has full funcionality, just a few limits on the volume, so give it a go!

Bren

In these tough economic times, owners are struggling to make their business grow, but strangely enough, there is great opportunity for companies to make leaps and bounds while the market is down.

Take a Step Back

Being in the day-to-day running of your business can alter your perception of how effectively it is run.  Take the time to look at every facet of your business to gain the most unbiased perspective.

What kind of relationships do you have with suppliers? Is there any way you can leverage the associations you have with them to gain better pricing or additional extras (like longer trading terms to increase cash flow) that they don’t usually provide?

Do employees see their position as a job or a career? One of the most difficult tasks an employer can face is motivating their staff so that they are more productive.  Try to introduce creative, cost effective ideas to improve staff morale, which will ultimately allow your business to be more successful in so many different ways – higher customer satisfaction, increased work output, less mistakes and a much nicer place for everyone to work.

What are your sales margins? Taking a realistic look at how much you are making on your products and services is crucial to allowing your business to grow.  A small increase in sales margin may not seem like much in isolation, but calculated over a year, this additional profit can make quite a difference to your bottom line.

In many cases, customers will expect to see increases in prices every few years, purely because of inflation.  If you do apply increases, be transparent to your valued clientele – it will only reaffirm why they should continue to spend their money with you.

What are your competitors doing? If they are blazing trails in your area or industry, find out why and how.  Start to follow their lead and see where you can even improve on their practises.  But another, far more powerful way to knock down competition is to find out what they are doing badly.  By being exceptionally great at what your competitors do badly, it will soon put you miles in front.

Planning – What to Consider

After all the research has been done, it’s important to spend some time planning how you will turn all of these findings into meaningful actions.  There is a fine balance between continuing to maintain a high service level in your business and being able to implement new processes, procedures and projects.  Figure out what elements can be immediately implemented into your business and what will take more time and resources. Once you’ve determined this, you can then allocate timelines to these more lengthy projects so as not to interrupt the flow of your business.  Many strategies tend to stretch over several years, so make sure you build some level of flexibility in to allow for changes in your business, the economy and the marketplace.

Implementation – Getting Your Hands Dirty

It’s all well and good to research and develop business strategy, but sometimes the hardest part can actually be doing the work involved.  The best way to avoid being overwhelmed with implementing the strategy is to break up each task and set key goals and milestones.  Once you have completed the task or project successfully, make sure you take the time to look back on what you have done and be constructively critical.  If you have an upcoming project of a similar nature, it will allow you to become more efficient in implementing your business strategy.

All in all, developing a business strategy gives you the chance to recognise opportunities and shortcomings that may not have been realised otherwise.  While each business can be very different, the foundations of a solid business strategy are ultimately the same and can be applied to most companies, regardless of their service offering or industry.

An article provided to us by one of our site sponsors – NRMA Business Insurance

Part 1 – Roboform.

If you are like me, you have dozens, if not hundreds of log ins and passwords to remember.

I have several websites and blogs to manage and they each have a log in for the blog, one for the forum, one for the admin etc etc, I bank accounts, supplier sites – the list goes on. As of today, I have 212 log ins to various websites, all needing me to remember the URL, the log in name, and the password – yeah, that surprised even me

I also use the web a lot these days, like most of us, for purchasing, researching, enquiring products and services. So i’m constantly filling in forms – Name, address, age, hair colour……. – very time consuming.

About two years ago, I found the very nifty product – Roboform. Roboform is a little bit of software you load straight onto your PC that securely stores all your personal info.

RoboForm’s Key Features are;

• So Easy – You remember one password, RoboForm remembers the rest. I suggest you don’t use your beagle’s name, ok?
• Saves Time – With ONE CLICK RoboForm goes to a website and logs you in automatically. I can log into any site on the list – no finding the site, no remembering the log in, no remembering the password.
• Saves More Time – RoboForm also fills long registration and checkout forms with one click. Roboform will fill in just about any form you find on the web. I save lots of time when signing up for service, newsletter, buying a product, making an enquiry. I’ve found a few it wont work with, like java applet stuff, but even then you can copy and paste faster then you can type it all in.
• Secures Your Information – Stores passwords on YOUR computer, protects them with AES encryption. Hey, nothing is bullet proof, but Roboform’s encryption is far stronger than having your browser store your passwords in the cache.
• Strengthens Passwords – Generates random passwords that hackers cannot guess. A strong password has, letters (a mix of upper and lower case), symbols, numbers, is min 8 digits long, and is apparently random in appearance. So, a strong password looks like this – 1&xT44B! – a weak password would be – Franklin (your beagle’s name that you use for every password, banking, your blog, your facebook, the lot!) The problem is of course, how do you possibly remember a password like the strong one, let alone remember dozens or hundreds of different ones? Roboform features a password generator that you can set to generate passwords of different length, different types of digits (numbers, upper / lower case text, symbols). It will fill the forms on the fly, and copy the password to you clipboard if the form you are using won’t allow auto fill in (some more secure sites like banks won’t allow auto fill in to stop robots)
• Fights Phishing – Phishing is when you get those emails from a bank or PayPal or some such asking you to log in and confirm your details. Often these fake sites look so real that many unsuspecting users will “log in” and hand their name and password to the thieves on a silver platter.Fills passwords only on matching web sites. Just for the record, your bank will NEVER email you and ask you to log in.
• Defeats Keyloggers – Somewhere along the line, we have all been infected by a malicious virus. A common threat are keyloggers, simply put, a virus records every keystroke, and send a small text file to the data thief at a pre-determined time. Roboform doesn’t use the keyboard to fill in your passwords, or to fill forms (like credit card forms), so keyloggers are rendered ineffective. You can also use your mouse to fill in the master password, so even that can be kept secure.
• Simple to Use – Just download RoboForm and learn as you go. It really is intuitive and easy to use. Even if you are very new to the interweb, you will be Roboforming like a pro in no time.

There are a few other features – you can find more details here – too many for me to detail, but the three above are the ones I use every day. In fact, i’m using it right now. I can quickly and easily skip between different sites. At the moment i’m working from home, so i’m skipping between logging into the work network, Vertical Response, the WordPress log in for this blog, and the admin for www.freepromotips.com.au. Too easy!

The good folks at Robofrom also have a portable version – Roboform2go – for installation onto a usb. You can take that with you and log in on any PC (the portable version doesn’t work on your Mac)

When you buy Roboform, you also get access to the online system, which means you can even log into your account from anywhere without Roboform2go (I find having a USB easier and more convenient myself)

It’s ready to go for PC’s, but they haven’t yet produced a MAC friendly version. I’m told that will come, but for the moment they have created a system utilising the online product, and a java applet that sits in your safari or firefox menu bar (it may work in other browsers, but I don’t know. I only use Safari of Firefox on my Mac)

If you think that sounds good, you can trial it free or buy it here.

That’s my favourite web tool.Part 2 next week – Goodsync.

Bren

This is like Twitter, but just for your organistation. If you have a bunch of people with intra company email addresses, they can connect and chat, just like twitter does on a global scale. It works on the premise of “what are you doing now?” as the main question. Then as people use it they find others working on things similar to them, or they may have an answer or a resource for someone else where working on something.

Productivity tools just got a kick in the backside folks!

It makes things hard when on Saturday I handed out a bunch of FBT cards at a business function, rather annoying!

In an interesting basic view, if the big banks can’t get money to lend, or they are pulling their heads in “Just in case” then your chances of getting credit of some kind may well be hampered, in the short term maybe not a big deal, but in the bigger picture the squeeze could be on!

Many businesses overlook the fact that they have to sell their offer and make it an attractive option for prospective new employees.

If you operate in a competitive environment where good recruits are scarce, or when you are trying to attract very high calibre people, it is essential that you make your business, and the position, sound as appealing as possible.

Here are some factors to consider:
1. Consider what drives people to join new companies. They typically want:
a. a new challenge
b. more money
c. opportunities for promotion
d. to work in a larger company
e. to work in a smaller company environment
f. to work closer to home
g. to work in an environment where they can improve their skills and learn
h. to work in a company full of friendly people
i. to work for a market leader
j. a manager who will spend time with them to teach and mentor

Does your business offer any of these enticements?

2. If it doesn’t, you may have issues with how the business is structured, or how it is performing, and may need to make some internal assessments and adjustments before you are able to attract the kind of people you need and want.

3. If you do meet some of these criteria, then the next question is, how do you sell your business and the position to the candidate? At every point possible!

a. The advertisement
i. Outline what’s positive and different about your company
ii. Make it sound interesting
iii. Provide several ways to respond to the advertisement (email, phone call, fax) – it appears more professional
b. Your website
i. Presentation – professional or amateurish?
ii. Overview of your business – should provide reasonable detail
iii. Clients – some reference to clients is a positive indicator
c. The interview
i. Reception and greeting – friendly, and again, professional
ii. Positive interaction – encourage questions at the end
iii. Be animated when interviewing and talking about your business
iv. You and the company must reflect the culture (professional/casual, committed, creative, service focus etc.)
d. Follow up
i. Needs to be a fast turnaround if you want the person
ii. Well organised – timeliness, information in the offer

If you do all of these things it is more than likely that you will be able to employ a candidate who matches your requirements, and the culture of your company. Good luck!

First thing I noticed was that my Purchase Order (PO) number was wrong. The next thing I DIDN’T notice, was the fax number to which the supplier wanted me to fax the approval back. It was buried within 3 pages of blah, blah, blah … blah, blah, blah.

I faxed the proof back noting my approval. I also noted that my PO# was incorrect and what the correct number is. I then mentioned that they should consider putting the fax-back-to number right on the proof. Ya know, because it would make it easy for me.

The supplier wrote me the following reply:

Mr. Crooks.

When your PO came across our fax machine the numbers on it were hard to read. The Order Entry Department did the best they could considering what the fax looks like but, I assure you, I’ll change that one incorrect digit. I truly apologize for your inconvenience. I’ll forward your idea about a fax number being on the proof to the proper department.

In my opinion, the Order Entry Department DID NOT do the best they could. Their best would have been to call or e-mail me to verify the hard-to-read-information. So, if guessing is the best they can do … do I need to find someone with perhaps higher standards?

Look. You don’t have to be a genius to put a fax number on a form that you want a client to fax back to you. Nor does it take the wisdom of Solomon to verify information you can’t understand.

With regard to service, attention to detail and making life easy for your clients, before you tell someone, “That’s the best I can do” ask yourself, “Is that the best my competitor can do?” Find out before your client (ex-client) does.