It Doesn't Matter How Many Cheers

Be fair, attentive, and customers
will return.


I copied and pasted the following
desperado's page.

Democratic Showdown On Saturday
Could Get Ugly

The meeting of the Democratic Party
rules committee in Washington on
Saturday, which is set to decide what
to do about the delegations from
Michigan and Florida, could get ugly
in light of a memo released yesterday
by party lawyers.

The memo was sent late Tuesday to
the 30 members of the party's Rules
and Bylaws Committee, which plans
to meet Saturday at a Washington
hotel. The committee is considering
ways to include the two important
general election battlegrounds at
the nominating convention in August,
and the staff analysis says seating
half the delegates is "as far as it
legally can go."

"I know to pay my taxes, keep accurate
books, fair practices in advertising,
etc." You explained to me.

I'm referring to the paragraphs from
desperado's page. Why try to force
a law, piece of equipment, when it's
time to go home or retire it?

A piece of equipment could have
been a winner for you. Still, there's
no sense in trying to operate it when
it costs more to fix than its producing.

Likewise, the same applies to humans.
If you're in a race, job, that's not giving
the best results, retire, move on. Let
someone else occupy the position,
place. It doesn't matter how many
people are cheering you on.

The longer you postpone the inevitable,
the bigger your disappointment will be.
In the long run, you'll be respected for
having operated sensibly.

This lesson is for anyone, everyone,
all walks of life, business life.

Why Adhere To Business Ethics?

Be fair, attentive, and customers will
return.

Business ethics is how you handle
moral, social, business activities.
It brands you. When your name is
thought of, so is your moral out-look
on business.

Your personal ethics determine how
you communicate, do business.

On a scale of one to ten, business
ethics sits next to ten.

"Why is it important?" You asked.

It points to honesty, fairness. If,
for example, customers were paying
too much for a product or service,
what would be the fair course of
action?

Notify them with the refunds, credit
their accounts, or allow them to make
the decision?

Customers appreciate honesty, and will
become a repeat buyer. Often, they
will recommend others.

You, your business, adhered to a moral
standard. The act of returning money
that didn't belong to you gained customer
loyalty, and new customers.

Customers will share the experience
with friends, family, and associates.
It adds up to free advertising. Word-of-
mouth advertising spreads faster, gives
more exposure than an ad placed.

Weave the same quality, character trait,
throughout your business activities.

On an occasion, your supplier gave you
a discount. A second call was made by
you to the supplier. The partner didn't
know you received a discount. He was
going to give you a second discount on
the same order.

What should you do?

Eventually, the mistake will be found. In
short, if you're aware of a mistake, yours or
someone else's, speak-up.

Don't wait for it to be pointed out. Sometimes,
the person exposing a blunder
misunderstands your side, point of view.

The organization's business ethics is explained,
on day one, to new employees. In meetings,
bring up the topic, and where to report
questionable practices.

It has been my experience, when an employee
encounters a situation, it's too late. If no
one mentioned how or where to take a problem
since day one, the employee will handle it
his/her way.

It's one of the responsibilities of leaders,
managers. Keep employees informed.

It's easy to go along, for some, with bad
business ethics. It takes strong, determined,
people to pick the right rode.

You, the small business owner, must adhere
to business ethics.

Employees take actions according to
your behavior, or follow your lead.

"If it's good enough for the boss, it's good
enough for me."

A customer, with a major account with you,
wants your help to get a contract. He
can't get it on his own. Why? He was
involved in dealings under the table.
He disregards business ethics. He
offered money for your help.

Why you?

Situations will arise that test your
business ethics. What would you do?

Once you give into it, the person has
something on you. What's to say he
won't use it to force you into a worse
situation.

It's important to adhere to business ethics
to keep reputable customers, suppliers,
and anyone involved in your business life.

Also, business ethics keeps you on the
right side of the law.

You are branded by your moral, social,
code in business.

Happy customers share their experiences
with associates, friends, and family. The
act of talking about you, your business, is
free advertising, and it ignites faster than
an ad. The organization's business ethics
must be discussed in meetings. It's too late
to apply business ethics after a problem is
in motion. Grow your business as you
adhere to business ethics.

How To Advertise For Maximum Profit

Be fair, attentive, and customers will
return.

A small business owner's objective is to reach as many
of his/her target market as possible.

"What is target market?" You tapped on your desk-top.

Target market is the group of people an organization,
business, directs its advertising at. This group wants
or needs the product/service your business offers.

"How do I find my target market?"

Small business owners are on a budget, but
research determines, finds, your target market.

The wrong way for a small business to advertise
is before the research is done, or not doing any
research. You're throwing away money, wasting
energy, without it.

Here are some options for researching.
Small business can use forums. Forums
are free. The act of talking about your product
or service is advertising. Explain your idea for
a product or service. See how well it's received.
Take notes on the feed-back.

If you don't want your plan known, stop short
of exposing it. Or, mention a version of it. Still,
you'll get an idea of what people want, age group,
gender, and what people can afford.

Give the target market incentives to buy. Pass
on discounts to them, introductory specials, and
coupons.

Your ads must grab the reader's eyes. The
first line's job is to hold the reader's focus, and
that's the head-line. It should be up to six words.
Make the point, be clear.

A benefit should be listed in the head-line. Most
people want to know what's in it for me.

The target market will ask, "Why should I
purchase that? How's it gonna help me?"

List the benefits, and then tap on the features,
if there's enough space.

The social networking web sites are other
ways to advertise your business. Let people
know about you, your business. Those sites
have a large amount of traffic.

There's another, must have, business tool.

I'm referring to Craigslist. Craig Newmark, in
1995, used a list server to post notices about
events. The snow-ball effect happened.

People placed personal ads, job openings, and
anything you can think of with him.

Today, the traffic ranks on the level with Google
and Yahoo.

It's free to advertise, except in a few states. Still,
the fee is nominal.

"How do I access Craigslist?" Someone wanted
to know.

Type Craigslist in a search engine.

It's a good idea to browse, get comfortable with
the site.

Advertise for maximum profit using the resources
available, wisely. Type your web site address,
URL, on each e-mail sent. Or, some other information
explaining, advertising, your business.

Your nick-name, identification, should describe
your service or product. M. Glenn's Writing
Services@yahoo.com, for example.

Every letter, e-mail, group gathering, or chance
encounter mention, show-case, your product or
service.

Target your market for maximum profit by
researching. Provide incentives for your
target market. Use forums and social
networking web sites as a way to get helpful
feed-back, and free advertising.

Craigslist is a business tool for advertising.
The web site gets billions of hits. Explore
this means of getting your message out to
the target market., and it's free in most states.

How To Keep Employees

Be fair, attentive, and customers
will return.

One objective of an organization, business, is to
keep employees happy.

"That's tough to do." You explained. "Some
employees prefer money, but not others."

Rarely, an individual will find a job that's perfect.
Everything, everyone, at the work-place will not
be a fit. As with life, mishaps, misunderstandings,
happen at the work-place. It is a matter of
putting it in perspective.

The goal of an organization is to find the right
people for the job.

A way to keep employees happy is to ask
their opinion, consult them for job related
activities. Let them know when they've done
a good job.

Major changes in the work-place are hard.
Still, enlighten employees before they are
faced with the interruption. Plan a meeting
to discuss it. Meetings should be scheduled
regularly.

It's not unusual to have a brief meeting
everyday. It serves as a motivational tool.
Work related problems are flushed out,
too.

Remember, any change takes time to
get use to. Prepare your employees. They
will appreciate it, and stick-it-out with you.

We, all, know to smile at customers.
However, it's a good practice to smile
at employees.

Take a moment out of your day
to ask, "How are things going?"

I'm sure you can't sit around chatting
for hours, but there's no harm in
giving an employee some time.

From time to time, discuss organizational
plans with employees. Suggest a position,
move, where John can make money. Ask
him his goals. Would he like to work in that
department. Explain ways, for him, to get
the promotion.

Or, he may not like working in the
proposed department. The two of you
will find a work area where he's more
productive, happier. Let John express
his wishes, and then add your input.

Always be available to talk to employees.
If you go the, extra, step to show them
appreciation, concern, they'll give the
organization, you, loyalty, and be
productive.

On day one, establish a communication
link, open door policy. A place where
employees feel free to walk in with a
problem.

An employee could be having
problems at home. He/she carries the
negativity around. Naturally, confusion,
a short temper, low productivity follows.

"Why?" You tapped an ink pen on the
desk.

The employee has no outlet, no one
to discuss the problem with.

An open door policy allows you to
help employees with work related
problems, and personal issues.
Explore options. Recommend,
possible, solutions.

The fact that you took time to discuss
it with him/her stirs in happy feelings.
Why? The exchange of words with
someone, for the employee, relieves
the tension. It inspires the employee
to be productive. If, by chance, the
problem was solved, he/she becomes
happier, and gains a new respect for
you.

It encourages the idea of you and your
employee(s) handling future issues,
organizational ones as well.

When one employee has a new out-look,
energy, others will follow. Good energy,
positive energy, fills the air. Employees
are happy.

Also, if employees see how you dealt,
with, helped, someone, they view you
differently. Now, you're a real person,
not just their boss. You care, you
extended yourself to one of them. You're
more than the boss. You're someone who
went the distance with one of them. They,
in turn, will be productive, and try
to meet, surpass, organizational goals.

Keep employees by showing them
respect, treating them like human
beings. They will appreciate it, be
happier, and productive.

How To Put Recession Concerns In Perspective

Be fair, attentive, and customers
will return.

The, word, recession, has been thrown at you
from the President, news media, friends, and/or
associates. Rising costs, no investments by
corporations, and less money to spend signals
a recession.

Have you felt the pinch of a recession?

If you have, don't panic. Instead, plan, write
down your concerns.

"What do you mean?" You pushed your
chair back.

Take a moment to write down your options.
If you, your business, lack money, cut-back.
Find areas where you can spend less, or,
even, get rid of.

In other words, close out an area costing more
than it's producing . Work done
by that department can be shifted elsewhere.

You planned to update your equipment, for
example, but the recession happened.
Squeeze more productivity out of it until
circumstances improve. Or, purchase
almost new, replacements.

Run a business during the recession by
eliminating unnecessary expenses. It
was your practice to bring fresh bagels
to the office, every morning.

During the recession, the practice has
to be stopped. The expense adds up.
Allow what was spent on bagels to
buy supplies. Or, place the funds in
the emergency fund.

Leave stress out of the equation. Put
concerns about the economy in
perspective using common sense. This
method helps any situation.

Supplies are needed, but the bagel
funds wouldn't cover the cost. Determine
what to do.

Get a note-pad out. Answer the question
in it. Is there something the business, you,
can do without. What can you do to make-
up the difference. A, low interest, loan from
a friend, trusted family member could help
you. A sale of unneeded items would fill
the void. An auction of your old gold?
Furniture, office equipment not usable by
you, and/or any other ideas on helping your
business should be explored.

Sometimes, employees have to be
terminated for business survival. Perhaps,
when times are better, they can be re-hired.

Move out the least productive people, first.
The idea is to manufacture as much as
possible. The workers that, actually, do their
jobs should keep them. Shift, rotate, people
to where they produce more out-put.

Mack, in customer service, has poor
people skills, move him. Put him where
he does better, more efficient.

Discuss it with him. Give Mack the option
of choosing his work station, in the
organization. There's a possibility his
choice would be to leave, resign.

The organization's, your, advertising
budget requires conformity. A
recession demands less spending on it,
too.

Sit down. Decide on what area of the
advertising budget to cut. Is it your
decision to leave it alone, and find
other areas to shift funds from?

Take the resources you have, and
get more out of them. You manage a
business through a recession by being
thrifty, wise, working more hours than
usual. Focus on what you can control.
It's a waste of time, energy, to stress
about factors you have no control over.
Besides, stress will make you sick.

Use the note-pad to plan out your
day. Stick to it. It helps your
productivity, pushes distractions of
the recession away.

Put concerns about the economy in
perspective by writing down a plan
of action, cut back on spending, sell
equipment/items you'll never use,
and/or encourage employees to be
more productive. Also, make your plan
of action work for you.