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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Category Archives: Incentives
Employees aren’t Partners
Many of my clients are recovering from the recession. They are running lean, and have restored their profitability, even if at lower revenues than prior to 2008. Those that had to reduce or freeze employee compensation are seeking ways to … Continue Reading
When is a Bonus not a Bonus?
“And yet, you don’t think me ill-used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.” That statement by Ebenezer Scrooge to Bob Cratchett in 1843 recognized the then relatively new custom of letting wage-earners have a day off for … Continue Reading
Posted in Incentives, Leadership, Managing Employees
Tagged business ownership, employee performance, employees
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Raises and bonuses- sharing a recovery
Your business is starting to recover. You are again profitable. If you were smart and agile, you remained profitable or perhaps even increased margins during the downturn by being “lean and mean.” One advantage of a financial recession is that … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Incentives, Managing Employees
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Performance Reviews- Best Practices
Performance reviews are a pain. In my nearly 40 years in business they have always generated the same complaints. Managers hate to do them. As a consequence, they are frequently over due. They provide the employee with little information on … Continue Reading
Employee Incentives that Work
After four blogs on the long term motivations for running a business, perhaps it is time to return to some more practical advice. One of the most persistent issues for a business owner is trying to motivate employees with incentives. You install … Continue Reading
Posted in Incentives, Managing Employees
Tagged business ownership, employees, leadership, management, sales, small business advice
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Humbug!
It happened again last week. I heard a business owner say “I’ve decided to terminate Bob, but I’m going to wait until the first week in January to do it. I don’t want to ruin someone’s holidays.” I go through … Continue Reading
Posted in Incentives, John's Opinions, Managing Employees
Tagged business ownership, employees, leadership
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Whose fault is it?
In small business, we tend to give out titles with aplomb. You can be a manager. You’re a director. You are a vice president. When there are few levels to differentiate between, it seems meaningless to attach a lot of … Continue Reading
Accountability vs. Guilt
While discussing oil rig disaster in the Golf Of Mexico the other day a friend exclaimed “Someone needs to go to jail for this!” While I understand his anger about the massive economic and environmental damage involved, his comment illustrates … Continue Reading
Stoplight 360
I recently saw a fast and easy way to rate your employees that makes the high performers and low performers stand out in a way that can’t be ignored. It uses Stop light Methodology: a red-yellow-green marking system. The advantage … Continue Reading
Sales Comp III: Hunters and Farmers
Sales people break down into two subgroups- hunters and farmers. The purists will argue that in fact, only hunters are sales people. I can buy that. The farmers are more likely to be called Customer Service Representatives or Account Managers. … Continue Reading
Posted in Incentives, Managing Employees, Sales
Tagged business ownership, sales, sales management, small business advice
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The Ghost of Ebenezer
Last week three of my clients implemented staff reductions. All three are financially healthy service companies, but they had far more capacity than they had work to fill it. In a service company, of course, capacity means people. Naturally there … Continue Reading
Gifts are not incentives, and incentives shouldn’t be gifts
I knew a couple who owned a company with about 20 employees who had what may be the worst incentive distribution plan I’ve ever seen. The company gave out large holiday bonuses every year at the company party, which was … Continue Reading