4 Best Business Opportunities in 2009.

Would you like to know the best business opportunities for this year? Well, I've got the list so read on and find out!

1. Information publishing business.

If you would like to work from home to spend more time with your family, I recommend that you sink your teeth into information publishing business which is one of the most lucrative fields in the internet today. You can sell ebooks, audio products, special newsletters, and reports. You can also offer coaching programs, advanced online classes, and teleseminars about things that you are passionate about that are truly interesting to online users. Depending on your target niche and the demand for your chosen topics, you can earn as much as $100,000 per month in this endeavor.

2. Eco-friendly products.

People cannot get more concern with planet earth these days. This is the reason why we got Earth hour (where we have to turn off our lights for at least one hour to save energy), recycling awareness campaigns, tree planting activities, etc. You can take advantage of this by selling products that are eco-friendly. You can create cloth grocery bags or anything that will replace plastic. The idea here is to offer some things that will do less damage to the environment.

3. Travel agency.

There has always been a huge tour market as most people find it fascinating to see the other parts of the globe. You can arrange tours to places that you are very familiar with to earn money. To set yourself apart from the rest, I recommend that you target certain market that are usually ignored by travel agencies. Let me give you an example; there is no denying that the number of gays from all points of the globe is increasing by the minute and not so many entrepreneurs are targeting these people. You can arrange gay-friendly tours where these people can go to places where they will have fun and where they will not be discriminated.

4. Special children's care.

Based on studies, there are so many children who are suffering from different conditions these days who need special care. If you have what it takes to offer them what they need, you can go ahead and offer relevant services. It would work to your advantage if you can attend relevant seminars that can offer you with in-depth knowledge and relevant resources as to how you can run this type of business.

Small Business Owners - A Rare Breed.

Willingness to Take Risks

You will constantly find yourself having to make decisions about where and how to advertise, which areas to specialise in, when to invest in new equipment, and so on.

Although this constant decision-making can be stressful, it can also be satisfying and enjoyable. Solving problems and making decisions can give you a sense of power and confidence.

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is an essential ingredient of every entrepreneur. If you are half-hearted about your new venture you may have difficulty summoning sufficient determination to overcome problems when they arise.

If you are enthusiastic, on the other hand, you will relish the challenges your business presents. What's more, your enthusiasm will rub off onto customers, employees (if you have them) and other people you have to deal with.

Most of us would far rather work with or buy from someone who is enthusiastic and enjoys their work, rather than someone who is permanently depressed about it.

Ambition

Most entrepreneurs have a driving ambition to achieve the best they can for themselves and their loved ones; in addition to money, this may include financial security and a better way of life.

With such ambitions they can cope with any setbacks along the way, because in their mind they have a goal or vision which drives them on.

Ambition and determination together can overcome many obstacles. In business, as in most others aspects of life, if you know what you want and are determined to achieve it, the chances are excellent that you will succeed.

Honesty and Willingness to Give Good Service

Every business depends on a circle of satisfied customers for its continuing survival. If people are pleased with the service they have received from you, they are likely to recommend you to others as well as keep coming back themselves.

By contrast, if you give poor service then, even if they do not complain at the time, they will not return; and rather than recommend you to others, they will warn them off. If you have a good reputation this will ensure that more people keep coming to you.

For this reason, successful entrepreneurs go to great lengths to obtain and keep a good name for themselves.

Reference:
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions - Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Starting and Marketing a Small Business.

Starting A Small Business

A small business can be started either as a sole proprietorship (single owner with full business liablility and responsibility) or as a partnership between two or more people. Registering the business and drawing up a partnership agreement requires a lawyer and legal fees.

Before opening up your small business, a lot of research and planning is required. A good business plan will not only increase the chances of success but will also help you in raising money for your business.

Before starting out on your small business venture, ask yourself questions such as :

• Why you want to start a small business? (Maybe you want more freedom in the way you spend time and do things. Maybe your own business can help you achieve financial independence and make better use of your skills.)
• What business will be right for me? (This should preferably be a field where you already have skills or is your hobby or interest).
• How will I finance my business?
• How will I market my business? (For example, It is a good idea to create a search engine friendly website. The startup costs for a basic new website is very small. You can also list your products and services, include a reliable payment gateway, such as Paypal and a shopping cart in your website. You can list your website in online classifieds and auction websites for publicity.)
• Also think about factors such as business location, products or services to be sold, supplies and equipment required.
• Note that many people start a small business part time which may grow to be a full time business.

Marketing your Small Business

• A website is a great marketing tool for your small business. If possible you should also operate your business online. A website can be used to market your products and services to a wide range of audience and locations. A website also allows you to track customer preferences and personalise content based on customer profiles.
• Developing your network is most essential in marketing your small business. Do not ignore the value of referrals in the success of your business. Attend networking events and seminars regularly to increase your network and learn more about networking.
• Advertise in newspapers and magazines. Radio and television advertising can be also be useful if within your budget.
• Do remember to measure the results of your advertising campaigns in order to ensure that your marketing efforts are effective.

Why Plan Your Businesss?

The owner of a small sheet-metal fabrication company once told me, "Why plan? It only gets in the way of what would have happened anyway." That's a fatalistic notion often held by managers of small businesses. Too many believe that they're totally at the mercy of larger competitors. In fact, for many, exactly the opposite is true.
Think of the reasons for your company's success. You'll probably come up with a series of traits that are uniquely yours-characteristics that your larger competitors can't begin to duplicate. That's why you're in business.

Of course, you may already believe in the idea. However, you may have to sell it to the others in your company. This ammunition may come in handy.

Recognizing Uses of the Plan

For many of us who left corporate America in favor of a smaller work environment, the idea of drafting a business plan may seem offensive. After all, isn't frustration with all that busywork one of the reasons we left in the first place?

We all have an aversion to doing anything on our job that doesn't immediately help the situation we're now experiencing. However, isn't it also true that a little foresight and action before the fact can help eliminate many of the problems we face each day. Wouldn't it be nice to anticipate something like a price cut by your major competitor or a rise in the interest rate on your credit line? Of course it would. And with that anticipation comes an organized and effective response. That's what planning does. Additionally, we prepare a workable business plan to

• Determine where the company needs to go


• Forewarn of possible roadblocks along the way


• Formulate responses to contingencies


• Keep the business on track to reach its planned goals

Planning for Promotion of the Company

Many people associate a business plan with start-up companies. Often our first exposure to a business plan is for the purpose of convincing investors and lenders that we have a viable idea at which they should throw money. That's not what we're developing here.

Though the techniques may be similar, the purposes are entirely different. So are the results. Promotional plans are often untested, pie-in-the-sky theories of what someone thinks will work. The goals, objectives, and numbers are usually unproven. Detailed departmental plans for hitting targets are frequently hazy-if they exist at all. Promoters don't want to burden their investors with the mechanics of execution. That comes later, after the money is in the bank.

Think of a start-up's promotional plan as concept-driven. It's more general in nature. The presentation leaves many questions of practical execution unanswered. These plans are fine for their purpose. However, most aren't intended as a blueprint for running the company.

Planning for Operational Purposes

We're not creating a promotional plan for a new start-up company. Instead, by using this book, you create a practical realistic planning tool for your business. The emphasis is on integrating the details of what each department within the company does to help the firm reach its overall goals. We want to tell each person in the company the single most important thing they need to do-must accomplish-to contribute to the overall success of the business. Certainly this results-oriented attention to detail can (and probably should) be used for a start-up venture. However, the promoters are right-it would confuse outsiders not familiar with the inner workings of the company.

Our focus is on practical solutions to everyday business objectives. We design these to work in concert with one another. When they do, the company moves from where it is today to where its owners, investors and managers want it to be.

Establishing Goals

Why establish goals? I've heard from colleagues who run other small businesses that they always seem to fall short of any goals they set for the company. There's almost a feeling of helplessness. Their companies are small and lack the resources needed to turn goals into reality. Some wonder why they should spend time developing a business plan that might help the company make money over the next year or two-especially when they could be working on something else that's guaranteed to make money today. That's hard logic to refute, especially in a tight economy. Many small-business owners and entrepreneurs go after the quick buck. Those are the ones that don't last. Companies that lack a definite direction and the ability to stay on course eventually sink. It's the firms with vision and a plan to exploit that vision that become the stars. If you don't set goals and then try to reach them, it's guaranteed that your firm will stay right where it is today. With changing technology, changing customer demands, and increasing sophistication, marching in place is business suicide. During the 1990s and as we approach the next century, no company has the luxury of conducting business as usual. If you stay where you are today, the rest of us will leave you in the dust.

Company Goals

These are the targets for change and transition that your firm must reach over the planning horizon-for our purposes, the next twelve months. Company goals cover such major issues as

Products offered

• Customers targeted


• Company image


• Competition


• Levels of service


• Product quality

Companywide goals established in the business plan move the company into the position where it needs to be.

Department Goals

At very small companies, often that's for one person. No matter. Design department goals to connect with specific requirements of both the overall company goals and the goals of other departments in terms of product and timing. We make department goals in order to

• Assist other departments that depend on those specific results
• Achieve the overall company goals

A good example would be in the area of finance. Say the firm needs additional funds to buy the machinery needed to expand its manufacturing operation. This will generate the sales revenue needed to meet overall profit targets. Here are examples of specific department goals:

• Get additional funds.


• Purchase and take delivery of new machinery.


• Expand manufacturing.


• Generate added sales.


• Help attain the overall profit objectives.

Failure to reach of any one of these department goals could jeopardize reaching the overall company's target. Additionally, within every department, it's easy to identify exactly what that department must do to further the company's cause.

Appraising Your Current Position

The question here, however, is why do this? After all, most managers of small businesses are close enough to their everyday operation to know where they are, aren't they? Not necessarily. At least few take the time to think about where they are, then write it down so that others can judge its accuracy. We're talking about things like:

• Market position


• Company strengths and weaknesses


• Reputation


• Industry viability


• Technology


• Product line


• Adequacy of capital


• Capability and sufficiency of employees


• Sufficiency of plant, machinery, and equipment (the infrastructure)

Often the hardest part of starting a business plan is honestly determining your current position today. It's not always so obvious. Take the case of Domino's Pizza Corporation. What business is it in? Of course, it sells pizza. So does every one of its competitors. The Domino's planners decided that differentiating Domino's product based on higher quality was too hard a sell. Besides, it wasn't necessary. So what business is Domino's really in? The convenience industry. Its pizza isn't any better or worse than most of the competition. However, the niche Domino's chose for itself in its plan was the business of selling convenience. For a while it had that entire market to itself. Another example is that of a payroll processing service. Its current position is that of providing financial convenience to its clients. The company performs a task that other companies would rather not do. While assessing the current position, someone came up with the bright idea of expanding the services offered. After all, financial convenience extends beyond simply doing the payroll. Why not add bookkeeping, tracking and collecting receivables, and personnel consulting? See how the planning process not only answers a lot of questions you may not have thought about for some time, but prompts questions that may turn into opportunities? That's the kind of penetrating thought that goes into assessing your firm's current position.

For more related article check out:
All in One Business Planner

Businesses Face New Safety Challenges as Workforce Ages.

Businesses Face New Safety Challenges as Workforce Ages

As the number of employees over the age of 55 continues to rise, businesses are faced with the challenge of retaining these valuable workers while reducing health- and injury-related losses. Studies by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show aging workers have fewer workplace injuries, but diabetes, hypertension and other age-related ailments are increasing employers' costs associated with medical insurance and lost work production.

Businesses can help mitigate their losses by improving policies and workplace design to allow employees to continue to work in a safe and healthy environment, said Tina Minter, a loss control specialist with the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.

"Older workers are highly valued by employers for their judgment, flexibility, experience and creativity," Minter said. "Fortunately, many of them will work beyond the traditional retirement age of 65, due partly to advances in health care. This presents both opportunities and challenges to businesses, which will need to adapt to maintain a safe work environment for these workers."

Minter and her colleague, Russell Dronne, a Chubb loss control specialist based in New York, recently led a session, titled "The Aging Workforce: It's Not Just Ergonomics," at the American Society of Safety Engineers' (ASSE) Professional Development Conference and Exposition, Safety 2008, in Las Vegas.

Although injury rates among older workers are lower than those of their younger counterparts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, other factors can contribute to increased health and safety exposures: age-related chronic disorders and diseases, loss of hearing, impaired vision and physical and cognitive limitations.

Minter advises businesses to take action to address these risk factors. Some examples of what businesses can do include:

a) Allow for flexible work hours so those with poor night vision can adjust their start and finish time to coincide with daylight hours.

b) Encourage employees to use the health care system for preventative well visits.

c) Eliminate heavy lifts, elevated work from ladders and long reaches.

d) Encourage employees working at a computer to take small breaks every 30 minutes.

e) Don't rely on sound as the sole means of emergency communications, as employees with hearing loss may not hear announcements.

"Employers should include older workers in the design process and seek outside professionals for assistance in adapting the workplace, training and human resources policies to fit the aging workforce," Dronne said.

Minter's and Dronne's session was one of seven led by Chubb loss control specialists at this year's ASSE conference. Other topics covered by Chubb included nanotechnology, global supply chain exposures, fire protection, sprinkler design and OSHA inspections.

Chubb's Loss Control Services unit provides loss prevention and premium audit services to more than 100,000 customers annually. With more than 400 risk engineers around the world, the unit offers Chubb customers specialized assistance in disaster planning; fire prevention, detection and suppression; employee health and safety; cargo security; preventive-maintenance planning; and asset protection.

The member insurers of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies form a multibillion-dollar organization providing property and casualty insurance for personal and commercial customers worldwide through 8,500 independent agents and brokers. Chubb's global network includes branches and affiliates in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia.

Nine ways to win an argument.

Nine ways to win an argument.

People argue all the time and most of the time it is the people who are most aggressive or loudest win specially if they are wrong.

Winning, is not the matter of being the loudest or the most aggressive but being clever and diplomatic and giving it back to your opponents without he/she realizing it.

Here are NINE tips :

1) Re-word

Re- word the opponents logic in such a manner that it is most favourable to your point of view. For example, if your opponent says that you should not increase the price as the distributor will not like it.

You can start by saying that, " You mean to say that I am the distributor's enemy and do not take into account their welfare………" exaggerate and misstate your statements .and then in the mock hurt tone say that "That's not what I said at all…putting he dealer in defensive.."

2) Categorize the arguments to an unpopular category

If you categorize the opponent's argument in an unpopular category it is associated with all the negative emotions. For example if somebody is arguing that you should increase the price as the cost input has risen , you can counter by saying that it is like reverting to the cost plus margin approach of the license- raj period…..

This way the audience will start visualizing the negativity of license raj and associate it with the opponent's point of view.

3) Liken the idea to something which has been tried and has been the failure

For example, if your opponent is advocating reducing the price to gain market share
tell him/her that the same strategy adopted by Coke/Pepsi by reducing the price to Rs. 5/- had not worked and had also affected adversely their bottom line…..

4) Ask for proof

Most of the fast and furious opponents try to pull a fast one by misstating or twisting the facts. Ask for proof, there is a 50 % chance that your opponent has twisted it to his/her advantage and if it so, he/she will lose all credibility. If the facts are found to be true then he/she will not gain anything and you will appear as a diligent person.

5) Agree in principle but discuss the details

Agreeing in principle is a very clever stalling technique and is used quite often with people where sensitivities are involved, for example if you cannot openly disagree with an important client or a senior person you can state that you agree in principle …. . . The person will be elated getting the impression that you have agreed with him/her but the matter will remain unresolved as the specifics have not been discussed or agreed upon.

6) Interrupt

A below the belt strategy but very commonly used in todays dog eats dog world .
This strategy is very effective specially if your opponent has a much stronger case.

7) Admit nothing

Generally, at the start of the argument some basic assumptions are taken , do not accept and challenge them. For example if your opponents starts saying that in this recession times we should increase the market spend rather then cutting it… challenge the basic assumptions saying that I do not agree that there is a recession… The opponent will get distracted and instead of arguing his main point of view will spend his/her energy in proving there is a recession.

8) Question their motives

If you hint that there is some hidden agenda in the opponent taking a particular point of view, the opponent will be in the defensive and will try hard to refute your accusation or will not strongly push his/ her point of view.

For example if your rival is complaining about the uncompetitive salary structure of the company, you can turn around by saying are you complaining just because you have been given the stiff target to recruit n no. people in a month….

A dirty trick for dirty rivals

9) Appeals to other in the room

Bring in the third person specially the person who is favourable to you. This will help in depersonalizing the discussion and distracting your opponent.

You can start by mentioning that let us hear what Ram has to say about this …..

Adapted from Mark H. McCormack book on Communication.

Keeping the Flock Together.

Keeping the flock together

Our company started in a modest way in December 2005 in Pune. We manufacture industrial valves and accessories for automation. The company was started by me and a US company as a 50:50 joint venture, with the objective of supplying our products to the US company. Our revenue for 2006-2007 was 10 crore, 90% of which was from exports. We made a loss of Rs 20 lakh.

Our revenue targets for the year to March 2008 is Rs 18 crore (Rs 12 crore in exports and the balance from domestic sales). All the current key functional heads and me have worked together in the previous company and they all decided to throw in their lot with me by joining me at the same salaries. Meanwhile, salaries in our industry has almost doubled over the last two years. I need to decide whether to hike salaries of my present team to match the industry levels.

I need your advice on how to match the current short-term goals of profits versus long-term goals of developing the company’s human resource assets. My long-term goals are to reach Rs 50 crore revenues by 2010. My salary bill was Rs 70 lakh, when revenue reached Rs 10 crore. It would rise to Rs 1.6 crore at a revenue of Rs 18 crore, if I increase salaries in line with market trends and hire more staff. Should I focus on building the team now or try to meet the short-term objective of profitability?

Wow! Yours is a successful startup! Congratulations on passing so many milestones in such a short time. You went from zero to Rs 10 crore in a little over a year and are looking to grow to Rs 18 crore in year 2 — that is spectacular growth. You are diversifying your client base from 90% exports to 66% exports and 33% domestic — that is a wise decision at a time when the US economy is showing signs of flagging! You have managed to keep your senior team together so far — and it was an important thing to do in the start-up stage because it lets you worry about the right things — your product, your markets.

One of the most important skills for a successful entrepreneur to learn is how to sift through the many questions that arise and make sure you are asking and answering the right ones. It appears that you believe the heart of the issue is whether you should focus on trying to keep/build your team or try to meet short-term profit objectives. I submit to you that this is not the right question for you to be asking at this stage of your growth, though you clearly have to address the situation you describe.

RAJAN SRIKANTH President, Asia, Mercer Human Resource Consulting

I have in this column described a “stages of growth” model for startups. Stage One is all about innovation and creating/establishing that killer product. Stage Two is all about market penetration and creating a broad footprint. Stage Three marks the graduation from a startup to a viable business and is characterised by what I call the 3Ps — professionalising, introduction of process, and profit extraction. The needs of managing a startup through each of these stages differ. The challenge is that the entrepreneur tries to manage with an approach, or operate with a organisation that may be right for one stage, when the business circumstances suggest he or she should be in another stage.

I believe your company has just entered Stage Two. You are looking to diversify your markets and gain a strong domestic footprint. The primary goal for a successful startup at this stage is to firmly establish itself in all of its target markets and create reliable and rapidly growing revenue streams. Profit, while it is nice to have, is rarely the best thing to focus on in a Stage Two company. So, I would first suggest that you take the consideration of shortterm profitability off the table — if you can afford to do so, of course. Besides, for a one-year old company to have only made a 2% loss on a turnover of Rs 10 crore suggests that you may already be running a very tight ship. The relevant question then becomes whether you are not spending enough to support your spectacular growth, and on what you could/should be spending more.

Which brings us to the second part of your question — about keeping/building your team and whether you should pay them more or risk losing them. Here too, I think the question to ask is different. The key to success in a Stage Two startup is typically building a sales culture by hiring market developers and salespersons, and getting more sophisticated in terms of measuring and rewarding sales performance. The first question I would ask then is how your current team measures up against your business need for quickly growing a domestic market for your product and possibly exploring other export markets; where there are critical gaps to fill, and where there are key players in key positions that must be retained. The second question I would then ask for each of these “must hire” or “must retain” positions/players is what it will take to attract or retain them. Our research shows that while compensation plays an important role, it rarely is the reason people either stay or leave a company. Opportunities for career advancement and development is an important driver in attracting and retaining talent. Clearly, it appears that your team moved with you from the previous company not because you gave them great raises, but because they saw a terrific opportunity for career advancement. Now, that does not mean you can continue to pay less when the competitors have doubled compensation, but it does mean that you should practice what I would call “HR for the unit of one”. What I mean by that is you should seek to understand for each of your key players — what really makes them tick, who would require an increase in salary to stay, who can be inspired to even higher levels by adding a variable pay component contingent on performance, who would pledge their loyalty in exchange for a challenging assignment in a new market/role or being given an opportunity to learn new skills, and who would become part of the solution rather than a part of the problem if you invited them into your decision making.

There are no easy answers to the situation you fa ce, but I hope I have been able to point you the right questions to ask. In seeking answers to these questions, I have no doubt you will not only lay the foundation for your continued spectacular success, but also develop a deeper understanding of what makes startups and the people who work in them really tick.

Article Resource:
The article appeared in The Economic Times, Mumbai in one of their successful columns on Entrepreneurship/Start-ups called "Starship Enterprise".

How 51 Gorillas Can Make You Seriously Rich?

HOW 51 GORILLAS CAN MAKE YOU SERIOUSLY RICH

Or, why so many business books are awful

IF YOU want to profit from your pen, first write a bestselling business book. In few other literary genres are the spin-offs so lucrative. If you speak well enough to make a conference of dozing middle managers sit up, your fortune is made. You can, says Mark French of Leading Authorities, a top speaking agency, make a seven-figure income from speechifying alone.

Given this strong motivation to succeed, it is astonishing how bad most business books are. Many appear to be little more than expanded PowerPoint presentations, with bullet points and sidebars setting out unrelated examples or unconnected thoughts. Some read like an extended paragraph from a consultant’s report (and, indeed, many consultancies encourage their stars to write books around a single idea and lots of examples from the clientele). Few business books are written by a single author; lots require a whole support team of researchers. And all too many have meaningless diagrams. The formula seems to be: keep the sentences short, the wisdom homespun and the typography aggressive; offer lots of anecdotes, relevant or not; and put an animal in the title—gorillas, fish and purple cows are in vogue this year. Or copy Stephen Covey (author of the hugely successful ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’) and include a number. Here, though, inflation is setting in: this autumn sees the publication of ‘The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation’ by Ronald Alsop. And Michael Feiner has written a book offering ‘the 50 basic laws that will make people want to perform better for you’.

The fundamental problem is that a successful business book needs a bright idea, and they, in the nature of business, come along infrequently. The dotcom boom brought some, the spurs to Clayton Christensen’s ‘The Innovator’s Dilemma’ or Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s ‘Evolve!’ (accompanied by a CD of the guru herself rapping her message). Since then, new books have tended to focus on three areas: corporate governance; leadership; and how to make money out of bits of the business that were forgotten in the boom.

The first category has produced the most meticulous work, with books such as “The Recurrent Crisis in Corporate Governance” by Paul MacAvoy, an academic, and Ira Millstein, a lawyer. Inevitably, many books have raked over the lessons of Enron, WorldCom and other failures, trying to explain what went wrong.

Some of the leadership books are written (or ghost-written) by the likes of Rudy Giuliani or Jack Welch, to describe the secrets of their success. Others explain the mysterious qualities that successful entrepreneurs/leaders display. Warren Bennis’s ‘Geeks & Geezers’, for example, compares different formative experiences on the way to the top. Of course, the most perceptive leadership literature was written 400 years ago by William Shakespeare; and some of today’s most readable books discuss the techniques of past heroes, such as Alexander the Great. They will teach you history, even if they do not make you Jack Welch.

The sheer number of business books means that the diamonds shine rarely in a mound of dross. One industry insider estimates, on the basis of figures from Nielsen Bookscan and a hunch about Amazon’s sales, which Bookscan excludes, that a total of 8m-10m books that could broadly be defined as ‘business’ are sold in America each year. They are almost all written by North Americans: Charles Handy, the Irish author of ‘The Age of Unreason’, is one of the few non-Americans who has managed to break into this
market.

Including Amazon’s figures, the top 50 business books sold around 4m copies in the first seven months of this year. But many sell fewer than 1,000 in their first year, and the fall-off in sales is almost always dramatic. “The shelf-life of maximum relevance is measured in months,” says Adrian Zackheim, who made his name publishing Jim Collins’s ‘Good to Great’, one of the rare business books that has topped bestseller lists for years.

It is hard to believe that many managers run their businesses differently as a result of their reading. Occasionally, however, a truly great business book will articulate an idea that helps them to explain what it is that they are trying to do. It creates phrases—such as ‘core competence’ or ‘emotional intelligence’ — that fit the moment. But a few lines of ‘Henry IV, Part II’ might well serve the same function, and give more pleasure too.

Reference:
The Economist

Biggest Customer Service Blunders .

While howls of protest over poor customer service continue to be heard worldwide, there remain some businesses that manage to consistently deliver superior customer service year in and year out. Foremost among the lessons to be learned from such flashpoint businesses are the blunders to avoid — those fatal mistakes that trip up just about everybody else.

MAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE A TRAINING ISSUE

Businesses of all kinds invest huge amounts of money in training programmes that do not — and simply cannot — work. The function of such training is to identify the behaviours workers are supposed to engage in, and then coax, bully or legislate these behaviours into the workplace. At best, this is almost always a recipe for conduct that feels mechanised and insincere; at worst, it intensifies employee resentment and cynicism. Instead of dictating what your employees should be doing to delight customers, the better approach is to give your workers opportunities to brainstorm their own ideas for delivering delight. Your role then becomes to help employees implement these ideas and to allow workers to savor the motivational effect of the positive feedback that ensues from delighted customers.

BLAMING POOR SERVICE ON EMPLOYEE ‘DEMOTIVATION’

Businesses looking for ways to motivate their workers are almost always looking in the wrong places. Employee cynicism is the direct product of an organisation’s visible preoccupation with self-interest above all else—a purely internal focus. The focus in flashpoint businesses is directed outward, toward the interests of customers and the community at large. This shift in cultural focus changes the way the business operates at all levels. The reality in most business settings is that employees are demotivated because they can’t deliver delight. The existing policies and procedures make it impossible. Instead of “fixing” their employees, flashpoint business set out to build a culture that unblocks them.

USING CUSTOMER FEEDBACK TO UNCOVER WHAT’S WRONG

Businesses often use surveys and other feedback mechanisms to get to the root causes of customer problems and complaints. Employees come to dread these measurement and data-gathering efforts, since they so often lead to what feels like witch-hunts for employee scapegoats, formal exercises in finger pointing and the assigning of blame. Flashpoint businesses use customer feedback very differently. In these companies, the object is to uncover everything that’s going right. Managers are forever on the lookout for “hero stories”— examples of employees going the extra mile to deliver delight. Such feedback becomes the basis for ongoing recognition and celebration. Employees see themselves as winners on a winning team, because in their workplace, there’s always some new “win” being celebrated.

RESERVING TOP RECOGNITION FOR SPLASHY RECOVERIES

It happens all the time: Something goes terribly wrong in a customer order or transaction, and a dedicated employee goes to tremendous lengths to make things right. The delighted customer brings this employee’s wonderful recovery to management’s attention, and the employee receives special recognition for his or her efforts. This is a blunder? It is when such recoveries are the primary—if not the only—catalysts for employee recognition. In such a culture, foul-ups become almost a good thing from the workers’ point of view. By creating opportunities for splashy recoveries, foul-ups represent the only chance employees have to feel appreciated on the job. Attempts to correct operational problems won’t win much support if employees see these problems as their only opportunity to shine. Flashpoint businesses celebrate splashy recoveries, of course — but they’re also careful to uncover and celebrate employee efforts to delight customers where no mistakes or problems were involved.

Reference:
ENTREPRENEUR.COM

15 Steps to Fulfilling Your Wildest Dreams

According to Bill Gates there are 3 keys to success in any new venture.

1. Being in the right place at the right time. (You could well be already there ).
2. Have a vision of where the industry / business you’re working in is going.
3. Taking Massive and Immediate Action. (It is time to act).

“The future belongs to those who believe in the quality of their dreams” Was it Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the famous German poet and philosopher who said those words?

Here are my 15 steps to fulfilling my wildest dreams.

1. Know Yourself :

Know and accept your weaknesses and faults (we all have them), but even more so your strengths, abilities and gifts. Build on your strengths and try to minimize or improve on your weaknesses. An honest, objective analysis of yourself is the first step in preparing you for success and realizing your dreams. Celebrate you for just being you, a unique creation.

Aim for mental clarity about what you most want out of life. Think about it and write it down. If it’s happiness, what do you mean by happiness a sense of belonging recognition, independence, love, money or security? If you don’t know where you are and where you want to go with your life, how will you ever get there? Aim at nothing and your sure to hit it.

2. Get Passionate :

Don’t apologize for getting passionate. What excites you the most? If you are not enthusiastic and excited about what you’re doing, your path in life, you’ll never get others to share your dreams. Once you find your passion, you will have found your POWER, MEANING and PURPOSE in life.

3. Surround Yourself With Positive Passion :

Always be aware. Negative people will poison your dream faster than anything else. Motto “If you can’t be positive, shut up” Try and stay positive … even in the face of negativity.

4. Accept From The Start That You Won’t Please Everyone :

You’re going to be misunderstood, misquoted, hurt some feelings, perhaps even lose some friends (for the first time being) Motto “What other people think of me is none of my business” Repeat this statement to yourself, especially when you doubt or feel discouraged.

5. Always Be Yourself :

To thine own self be true.(Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” act 1.3) This is supremely important, no matter what the world may think of you. The masses are conditioned to mediocrity and other people’s success can make them not feel inferior for their own insignificant little lives. Accept yourself. Learn from others – but don’t be intimidated by them, or pretend to be someone you’re not, because…“We are most effective when we’re being ourselves”

6. Don’t Be Scared Of Making Mistakes :

The only real mistake is one from which you learn nothing. Motto “For better to try Something and fail, than try nothing and succeed”.

7.Accept That It Will Never Be Easy :

Realizing your dream, may be the hardest, most uphill thing you’ll ever do A truth "You can’t coast uphill”. The key ingredient in success is never giving up. Keep on keeping on with your quest. It has been said that “success is 99%, made top of failures.”

8. Stay Humble (no matter how successful you may be :

Don’t ever think you’ve made it and arrived – there’s always a lot ahead, more to do, higher mountains to climb. Motto “The greatest way to do our thing has yet to be discovered.”

9. Don’t Underestimate Yourself :

There is incredible power in yourself ( in the form of the unique human mind), but far more so in the forces of the Universe. Make them work for you by living your life in harmony with these natural forces. Like positive energy attracts like.

Enough “spiritual” thoughts” Back to the “real world” and you. Avoid developing an inferiority complex. (Who am I, a nothing?). Don’t be filled with feelings of self-pity (nobody likes me), or think “I can’t do it). These thoughts will steal your dreams.

10. Have Fun :

Nothing is ever as bad as it seems --- don’t get too solemn, or serious or too downcast when things go wrong (as they surely will from time to time). Take a leaf from Thomas Edison’s book. “I never did a day’s work in my entire life, it was all FUN” Laugh at life’s funny moments…. And there are plenty of them.”The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.

J.M. Barrie

11. Develop The Will To Live :

There will be plenty of times when you’ll face the death of your dream. When failures, disappointments and criticisms come you need the will and faith to keep going. Remember, We learn far more from our failures than our successes, because failures show us what doesn’t work. So, failure is just one step closer to ultimate success. Often the difference between failure and success, is trying just one more time, picking yourself up off the canvas after being knocked down time and again.

12. Develop The Will To Help And Serve Others :

Success on its own (i.e. for its own sake) will pollute and corrupt you --- it’s a dead end street unless you have meaning in your life. The years of struggle breed fortitude and character. The gold may be an inch away from the scam, where your fellow miners have given up. You need to succeed for a reason, a purpose, a cause that’s bigger than you and IF (a very big if) you’ve fulfilled all the above requirements.

By the time you finish reading this you will realise its just 12 steps and not 15…

small size BIG OPPORTUNITY

TATA's small car is spawning so many business oppurtunities that you can even assemble and sell it.

Preeti Burde, who owns a chain of driver training schools in Maharashtra’s Thane city, plans to buy Tata’s Nano the moment it is launched later this year. She is not exactly from the price-sensitive middle class family that the world’s cheapest car is targeted at. She is a businesswoman trying to profit from it. Ms Burde believes a large part of her future customers will be Nano buyers and she may have to migrate at least part of her fleet to the new car to help them learn on the car they’ll drive. “We definitely see a growth in the business as more and more people would come in wanting to learn how to drive in a Nano, which means we too would have to buy more of the Nano model,” she says.

As Ratan Tata pushed gears to ceremonially drive the Rs 1 lakh car at its unveiling in New Delhi, he was not just challenging the automobile industry with its radical economics, but also firing up new business dreams of scores of entrepreneurs across the country who expect the high volume sales of Nano to spawn opportunities to make money. While people like Ms Burde will leverage the high volume sales of Nano to power their businesses, Tatas themselves will be doing their bit for entrepreneurship. If Tatas’ plans succeed, Nano will not just be a car but a new business model and the central piece of ecosystem of entrepreneurship. The way Nano will be built and sold is going to be very different from the way others cars are brought to the showroom. Call it McDonaldisation of the car industry, but Tata wants the small guy to help him assemble and sell the car. This way, he hopes to create new business opportunities for young engineers across the nation, even while finding a cost-effective way to push Nano to the remotest corners of the market. “We would create entrepreneurs across the country over time that would produce the same car,”

Tata group chairman told ET in an exclusive interview. “We would produce all the mass items and ship it to them as kits so it is similar to an SKD or CKD operation,” he said. He explained that the company will bring together business aspirants from around the nation to set up satellite assembling and dealership operations. These entrepreneurs need not have experience in the automobile industry. “My aim was that, I would produce a certain volume of cars and then I would create a very low-cost, low-break-even plant that a young entrepreneur could buy and that bunch of young entrepreneurs could establish an assembly operation,” Mr Tata said. Tata Motors would retain the responsibility for quality assurance and train people who will oversee the operations of these entrepreneurs. The whole ecosystem will look up to the manufacturing strengths of Tata Motors, but will do final assembly at the local units. “It will be very satisfying if the small car created 10 or 15 satellite groups of young engineers who thought they could get together and do a business and never be able to get, normally, in the assembly of cars,” Mr Tata said.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

While much more details would be needed to fix the risk and reward ratio for the entrepreneurs, a quick chat with industry veterans suggested each small set up would have to invest about Rs 15-20 lakh. Nano, being a Rs 1 lakh car, will have to work with wafer-thin margins and make up with very large volumes. Dealers in India’s car market typically make a profit of 2.5% or less of a unit’s sale price. Even assuming such a margin will be available on the small car’s sales, it will be a small amount in rupee terms. “Although we know that margins are minuscule in car business, we are hoping we can concentrate on other areas too like finance, insurance,” said one of the entrepreneurs already shortlisted by Tata Motors. To understand what Tata is talking about, it may help to go to a McDonald’s outlet and watch the process there. The core food is prepared at a central kitchen, frozen and sent across to the chain of outlets, where the food is reheated, “assembled”, and served. The Speedee Service System, as it is called, makes the service faster, reduces cost, standardises the product and is easy to manage from the quality control angle. Now, if the central kitchen were Tatas factory and the franchise be the entrepreneur’s operation, the hamburger would be the people’s car. It is new and radical and the industry is still trying to understand it. The jury will not return until the car is launched and the new model tried. But dealers are already speculating whether the after-sales service would also be decentralised. After all, this is the area where the current players make maximum money. With Tatas’ plans to sell 2.5 lakh cars in the first year and reach the one million mark in four years, there will be enough room for the business model to evolve and entrepreneurs to jump into.

HEY, TAXI

The roadscape of Mumbai has been dominated for long by the rickety black Premier Padmini taxis, only to be changed a little recently with the government-sponsored modern taxi service. But cab operators are already imaging the sleek Nano in their place. With its low price, high mileage and small size, it is compelling city taxi material and can be a stylish alternative to the current fleets. Middle class families, the target market, can easily be trapped. “From the first look of the car, it’s definitely a sound buy for the taxi services,” says Arun Sabnis, managing trustee of Fulora Foundation, which runs the Mumbai Gold Cab Services. On an average, a cabbie gets to ferry two people per fare, which the new car can easily take. At a total cost of less than Rs 2 lakh, including taxes and permits, Nano is exactly what the cash-strapped taxi operator will go in for. For an officially-backed fleet service like Mumbai Gold, however, the government stipulates a minimum engine capacity of 1000 cc, which Nano lacks. If black taxis go away, can autorickshaws be behind. Bringing an autorickshaw on to the road, complete with the paperwork, can cost anywhere between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, they say. So, switching to Nano can be a profitable and low-cost alternative for the owner-driver too, Mr Sabnis says.

LENDERS CHARMED

The Nano has also enthused lenders and at least some investors. Car loan operators believe the demand will rocket. Ratan Tata’s dream to nurture an ecosystem of entrepreneurs has also made project lenders sit up and take notice. Most venture capital investors think this satellite manufacturing may not be the field for them, but at least one of them says otherwise. Avnish Bajaj, co-founder and managing director of Matrix Partners India, says he would look to invest in “someone whose core competence and demonstrated expertise is in low cost, high volume and high quality manufacturing with applicability to all lowcost cars and not just Nano.”


Reference:
Economic Times
(With inputs from Ritwik Donde, Lijee
Philip and Jacob Cherian)