They usually fix the problem, but, in the process, can inadvertently create havoc. When you get your computer back, you may find things missing, moved around, or not working the same. It’s just not familiar any more. This can create a somewhat testy relationship with the tech and can wear nerves to a frazzle.

We were blessed with a very charming tech in our business who was so upbeat, we almost forgot how incensed we were. He defined his job as, “If it blinks, buzzes, whirs, or clicks, its mine!” For years, he fixed everything electronic in our office. He also fixed our ability to communicate with him, or, for that matter, any tech.

Think of your tech as a high performance mechanic. He knows how to fix your car but doesn’t know (or care) how you set the radio, heater, wipers, seats, etc. Those are your personal preferences.

In the computer world, personal preferences are much less obvious than in your car. There are hundreds of options. Many of these are so complicated, average people can’t do them themselves.

When we get a new computer, we ask our tech to tweak this or change that. He goes into our settings and makes it happen. Then, after a couple of days or weeks, it’s something else we want our computer to do and the tech makes that happen as well. This may go on and on until we’ve got it just the way we want it. After a while we forget that these are all personal preference settings. That is, until you lose them!

When your computer breaks down, don’t expect your tech to remember all your settings. Don’t even expect to get the same tech. Chances are good you won’t get your computer back the way you gave it to him.

It really pays to keep a log of every setting and its position, tricked out just the way you like it. Give this to your tech as a guide for how you want your computer returned. Take a picture of your settings and how your desktop looks before you hand over your computer for “surgery.” Show it to him and say, “I want it back just like this.”

Websites are very similar. Don’t think that if you asked your tech to fix a problem and the problem exists on other pages or sites they administer, they will fix them all. Generally they will fix only what you specify. They don’t necessarily think about where else the problem may occur. So make a very specific list of everywhere the problem exists and give it to them (even if it seems remedial).

Consider the fact that your tech is probably over-worked and usually has to please frustrated or even demanding clients whose work has been abruptly interrupted. Make it easier on yourself and him. Take a picture, keep a log, get specific, and identify all the places the problems or changes may occur.

So when you get your computer back, make sure it blinks, buzzes, whirs, and clicks the same way it did when you gave it to him!

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post How to Talk to Your Computer Tech appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

In the previous post we examined some of the ways your well-meaning office, marketing, production and accounting staff may come up with “cost-saving” suggestions than can actually hurt sales. 

When little things go missing or the package gets simplified in the name of production efficiency, you may hear “It hasn’t affected sales”…yet! Or, “Our sales are still strong” implying all you were doing wasn’t necessary anyway, but the customer notices, even subliminally. 

Eventually a competitor will move into the void. Beware of hubris from your non-sales people especially when sales are climbing.

Only when your Sales Support staff works directly with your Sales staff will a complete picture emerge. 

Here are 5 suggestions to keep those “cost saving” ideas from hurting sales:

1. Put your non-sales people in the field so they can appreciate what the customer really wants and see first-hand what your sales people are up against. Make sure your sales people are with them to point out the nuances of the market, the distribution system, and the existing advantages of your product and package. Ask them to share what they discovered. They will be less likely to inadvertently damage the selling points by “cheapening” your product or your package. 

2. Run everything by your sales people that affects your product and its image. Before you allow a change or “improvement” to the product or the package, check with the folks who have to actually make the sale, overcome the objections, and talk directly to the decision makers and the end user. Top-down thinking, when it comes to product, package design and even promotion, can undermine what has taken years to establish. 

3. Show them the money! It’s critical that your non-sales people appreciate where the money comes from that pays their salaries, bonuses, and benefits. It comes from the customer, and nowhere else. When folks are hired, present them with an info-graphic that follows the money trail backwards from the customer through the distribution system, through the marketing and sales system, through the supply and production system, and winds up in their pockets. It seems obvious, but it is soon forgotten especially as your company gets larger. 

4. Pay your non-sales staff bonuses based on sales. Once they see the relationship between sales and their own compensation, they will have a personal interest in the details of what exactly makes sales happen in the field. You’ll be surprised at the many ways they find to assist your sales people, and their suggestions will be coming from a better appreciation for sales realities. They will want your sales people to sign-off on their “cost saving” suggestions. 

5. Acknowledge good Ideas that reduce costs and actually increase sales. Publicly identify and praise suggestions that work with testimonials from your sales people. Announce “Our Sales Support staff has done it again!” to single out the person or team that came up with the idea and the sales people who worked with them. This type of public validation from you sends a powerful message to your staff that you appreciate their sales-wise ideas. 

In today’s market, if you’re not adding value, you’re losing value. You don’t “save” money by reducing the real or perceived value of your product. It’s essential to continue to communicate your product’s value, quality, authenticity and dependability to your buyers and end-users. Run all “good ideas” by your sales team first!

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post Listen to and Learn from your Sales Staff appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

The Sales people are doing their job out in the field. The non-sales people are at the office or at the plant everyday. They’re the ones you see most often, and can  be the most influential. 

In their desire to help the bottom line, non-sales people may be undermining sales. They often propose various money and time saving ideas, which is wonderful, but it’s up to you to protect sales. Many well meaning suggestions contain these preamble phrases to look out for: 

1. “Why don’t we just…?” This is how the suggestions to cut costs usually start. The suggestion itself indicates that they don’t know why we “don’t just.” Be on guard for this because both you and they must know the reasons why “we don’t just.” A thoughtful discussion usually will result in many answers to this ageless question. 

2. “Why do we have to…?” This is usually followed by a suggestion to make their job easier, thus reducing labor costs. This may indicate that they don’t really know or understand why they must do this or that. There are many subtle quality queues and nuances in your product or package that they may not realize. They may well have a good suggestion, but make sure it is not at the expense of sales. 

3. “If we just cut this out, we could save…” and they do the math. This is usually a simple multiple of a small savings times the number of units sold. Beware! This may hurt sales in ways they know nothing about. This thinking is based on the assumption that sales will remain at the current level, before the “cost” savings or “labor” savings idea went into effect. Savings can rarely be as simple as a mathematical formula. By discussing the need (or lack of) the particular part of the product or package they are suggesting be eliminated, you both will come to a better understanding of what is necessary to make sales happen. 

4. “I just came up with this great idea!” Some suggestions stem from your people’s desire to make their mark on your product or package. Sometimes their motive is career, sometimes it’s based on a desire to be more like your competition, or they may think “its time for a change”. Your product’s uniqueness may be the very advantage that distinguishes it in the marketplace. Consistent packaging and logo designs are critical to your product’s image of dependability.  

5. “This will increase sales.” Your marketing people can make or break your company. They may have a tendency to think they have control over your sales people, and that your sales people must use what they are given. What they design on their computer screens may look fine to them and the other marketing people, but until it has it been field-tested, whether or not it will “work” is an unknown. Marketing is expensive, so think carefully before funds are spent on a new idea. 

Your Sales Support staff is well meaning, and you should welcome their ideas. In my next article, we will discuss how to keep the good suggestions coming, and how to make money and time-saving decisions that won’t hurt your sales.

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post Beware of “Money Saving” Suggestions from Your Non-Sales Staff appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

1 Treat your people like your most valuable asset. Recognize that they all have creative minds and already know a great deal about your business. Human Resources are just that, human beings with ideas who are valuable for much more than just labor.

2 Realize that without sales, there would be no staff. Make sure they know their salaries come from sales. Show them the money path from the customer all the way to their paycheck, bonus, and benefits. They have to know exactly where the money is coming from to be most effective in your company.

3 Reinforce this concept by tying their compensation at least in part to sales, and ultimately profits. All companies really have only two divisions whether they realize it or not: Sales and Sales Support. Let them support sales with their ideas.

4 Give your staff permission to make suggestions outside of their strict division of labor. Do this by publicly acknowledging those with good ideas and special cooperation in and outside their normal responsibilities. This will encourage a more productive culture.

5 Once you and your staff are open to the ideas of sharing information and suggestions, you may discover that responsibilities can be transferred to other positions with better results. Determine what each individual excels at. Then rearrange your job descriptions accordingly. You may even find a need that your company has not addressed.

6 Share your challenges with your staff on a regular basis and give them updates. Once they see what you are up against, they will want to help with their own take on the situation. Often their insights are outside the box, creative, and surprising.

7 Don’t just assume that certain kinds of information will distract or confuse them, especially when you are facing big challenges. Helping you solve problems gives them a deeper stake in your business, improves cross departmental communication, and builds a stronger team.

So, are you sure they don’t need to know? Or, can they help you if they know the need?

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

The post 7 Tips to Maximize Your Human Resources appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.