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FREEMAN-SPICER FINANCIAL SERVICES
Finance
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South Eddy Street South Bend, IN 46617
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Vol. 26, No. 8 ●August, 2008
You can find this newsletter and some past issues on the web @ www.Freeman-Spicer.com
Marketing . . . . . . . . .
Encourage internal marketing leads.
Your staff is constantly coming across bits of info that could help to increase
sales. The prevailing rule should be, if someone thinks they know something that
you should know, they deliver the news. You decide if it’s worth pursuing.
· Praise staff for their efforts.
· Include passing along potential marketing intelligence in job descriptions.
· Make it a part of job appraisals.
· Constantly acknowledge the efforts of those who participate.
· Install a “marketing intelligence” box, just like a suggestion box.
· Offer on-the-spot bonuses, prizes or time-off with pay for particularly valuable leads.
(Marketing on a Shoestring)
Bill and Sam . . . . . . two elderly friends, met in the park every day to feed the pigeons, watch the squirrels and discuss world problems. One day Bill didn’t show up. Sam didn’t think much about it and figured maybe he had a cold or something. But after Bill hadn’t shown up for a week or so, Sam really got worried. However, since the only time they ever got together was at the park, Sam didn’t know where Bill lived, so he was unable to find out what had happened to him. A month had passed, and Sam figured he had seen the last of Bill, but one day, Sam approached the park and - - - lo and behold! - - - there sat Bill. Sam was very excited and happy to see him and told him so. Then he said, “For crying out loud Bill, what in the world happened to you?” Bill replied, “I have been in jail.” “Jail?” cried Sam. “What in the world for?” “Well,” Bill said, “you know Sue, that cute little blonde waitress at the coffee shop where I sometime go?” “Yeah,” said Sam, “I remember her. What about her?” “Well, one day she filed rape charges against me; and, at 89 years old, I was so proud that when I got into court, I pled guilty. The damn judge gave me 30 days for perjury.” (LaFree)
1960 . . . . . . . . . . . Addressing an HP management-training session, computer pioneer Dave Packard says:”Many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company’s existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reason for our being . . . . People get together and exist as . . . . . a company so that they are able to accomplish something collectively that they could not accomplish separately – they make a contribution to society.” (Time)
Is Your Ring Finger . . . . . . . longer than your index finger? If so, you’re up to three times more likely to develop arthritis of the knee than women whose ring fingers are the same length as or shorter than their pointers. The British scientists who discovered the link speculate that it may have to do with hormones. This finger pattern is more common in women with low estrogen levels. Another clue: Men are more likely to have longer ring fingers, but for them, there’s less of an arthritis link. (Good Housekeeping)
Management . . . . . . . . It’s amazing how much you can learn from simply putting yourself in another person’s shoes. Southwest Air accelerates the learning process by encouraging people to understand other people’s jobs. It stimulates communication and reminds people that there are perspectives other than their own. To help pilots better understand a ramp agent’s job, they designed the Cutting Edge program to get pilots to work on the ramp so they could learn more about what goes on around the plane or in it’s belly while it’s at the gate. They also got ramp agents up into the cockpit to show them what it takes to get the plane going – and how important 30 seconds saved can be. The result: better communication, understanding, courtesy, teamwork and results. (Nuts!)
Win at Rock Paper Scissors . . . . . . . Just imagine all the shotgun seats and last beers that would be yours if you won every game of rocanbeau impossible? Not according to Graham Walker, coauthor of The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide.
1. Play paper first. Rookies tend to lead with rock, so paper is the safest opener. (A savvy opponent will try the same causing a tie.) If you win, claim victory; if not, start the next throw right away, because of course it’s two out of three.
2. Exploit copycats. Casual players often switch to the object that just beat them. You can encourage them to do this by shouting, “Paper wins!” when you defeat their rock. Then throw scissors on the next round.
3. Watch for doubles. People rarely throw the same hand three times in a row; if they play scissors twice, your next move is paper. Also, keep up the pace so they have less time to think and instead fall into patterns. (Wired)
. . . . . . . And I Invented Velco . . . . . Job applicants are stretching the truth less frequently but more creatively these days. Of 3,000 hiring managers recently polled online by CareerBuilder.com, 49% (down from 57% in 2006) said they had uncovered a lie on a resume. Most of the discrepancies they found were pretty standard: Candidates exaggerated their job responsibilities (38%) and skills (18%), listed academic degrees they hadn’t earned (10%), and inflated their job titles (5%). Harris Interactive, which conducted the survey, also asked about the “most unusual” lies the managers encountered. A sampling: using someone else’s photo on a resume, claiming membership in Mensa, listing a degree from a nonexistent school, and pretending to be part of the Kennedy clan. (Dan Macsai in BusinessWeek)
Old Men May Walk Slow BUT Think FAST . . . . . . . An elderly man in Queensland had owned a large property for several years. He had a dam in one of the lower paddocks when he had planted mango and avocado trees. The dam had been fixed up for swimming where it was built and he also had some picnic tables placed there in the shade of the fruit trees. One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the dam to look it over, as he hadn’t been there for a while. He grabbed a ten liter bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the dam, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his dam. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end. One of the women shouted to him, “We’re not coming out until you leave!” The old man frowned, “I didn’t come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get of the water naked!” Holding the bucket up he said, “I’m here to feed the crocodile.” Moral: Old men may walk slowly, but they can still think fast. (Waxman)
Help Out . . . . . . . . Please go to either or both of these web sites and help feed the hungry people of the world and the hungry animals of the world. To help supply free food and to increase your word capacity, go to: www.freerice.com. To help feed animals in shelters and answer some easy to hard questions, go to: www.freekibble.com. It just takes a minute – it’s fun – and it’s educational. Have your kids try it too.
It’s Made Everywhere . . . . . . . Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner will be the most advanced passenger jet ever made. The wings are from Japan. The fuselage is from Italy. The engines are manufactured in Britain and the U.S. More than any plane ever, the 787 – the first commercial jet constructed largely from superlight, carbon-fiber composites rather than aluminum – is being built by the global network. So far, Boeing has taken orders for 892 Dreamliners, worth more than $145 billion, from some 50 airlines. But the outsourcing, along with manufacturing problems, has put it more than a year behind schedule. Current scheduled appearance: late 2009. (Portfolio)
Non-compete . . . . . . . . . Should you require new hires to sign non-compete agreements? It depends. If they are too broad or too restrictive, they will likely be tossed out. And some companies use non-competes when their less onerous brethren, confidentiality or non-solicitation agreements, will do. If you use non-competes keep 4 things in mind:
v Pick a reasonable time limit – 2 years or less – and keep it local.
v Decide what to protect. Focus on information that is truly proprietary.
v Communicate with employees. Make it clear what information is private.
v Identify critical positions and tailor an agreement for each of those jobs. (Inc.)
Ideas For Selling . . Some Commandments of Customer Satisfaction from car dealer Bob Tasca:
o Never, never gouge a customer. Never make a customer pay more than a fair price for a product or service.
o Never tell a customer that something can’t be fixed. If a customer returns a product, you must fix it, replace it or burn it – after you’ve bought it back.
o Never overpromise; always overperform. It builds credibility.
o Take care of your customers at the lowest level of management. The higher up you go, the more it costs.
o Accept getting beaten sometimes. Some customers will take advantage of your commitment to total customer satisfaction, but you must pay the price.
o Fix it right the first time. (Selling Power)
Help With The Telephone . . . . . . . Treat your telephone like a profit center. Inexplicably, many business owners don’t conduct phone training. There are innumerable cases where great prospects were transformed into annoyed, former prospects because of the way they were handled on the phone. Customers want to communicate with good listeners. When you make communications difficult for them, they’ll find someone else to do business with. Whoever answers your phone is seen as you. Whatever perception they give as a result of a phone call to your business will be of you, your business, your professionalism and your credibility. If you’re unable to train the person(s) answering the phone to behave as if they were you, get rid of them. (33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising)
Sincerely,
Edward C. Levy
President