Monday, June 27, 2011

Femme Fashionable

The rise of style and shape in women's wear.
Collen McKenna

The late Elizabeth Taylor once said, "I don't pretend to be an ordinary housewife." Probably no one ever accused the eight-times-married actress of being a normal housewife, but her statement relates to more than her inability to settle down. She was a career woman, a mother, an activist and a fashion icon. In her time, her many roles may have seemed outlandish, but now many women fill the same or similar roles. Women have careers, families, friends and fashion sense. The promotional products industry is not only becoming aware of these overachieving ladies, but also learning to market to a niche of women who demand excellence, comfort and aesthetics in their apparel, even in their promotional apparel.


Revamping Retail
2011 in particular marks a strong growth in feminine and fashion-forward apparel in the promotional products industry. Suppliers are tailoring their garments for a woman's bodily and fashionable needs. An array of garments geared for working women have embraced current trends and capitalized on classic styles. Part of the shift in women's wear comes directly from the retail world. "The retail market has a tremendous influence on what's being offered in our industry today," said Lea Behar Robinson, vice president of sales and marketing for Dallas-based Staton Corporate & Casual. Robinson suggested that using retail as inspiration gives the industry an edge in uncertain financial times. "Because of the economy, our industry had to present something new and creative to businesses with tight budgets," she said. "Let's face it, if they are going to spend the money, they want it to be worth it. Bringing retail options into an industry that has relied on basics gives the promotional market a new edge."

Jennifer Tsai, lead women's designer and vice president of operations for Tri-Mountain, Irwindale, Calif., explained that selling retail-like styles that fill the need for professional, stylish and versatile clothing for women is important. "Women comprise about half of the workforce, and when it comes to purchasing decisions more often than not [end-buyers] have a woman in charge of selecting what items will be used for uniforms or corporate apparel," she said.


Sartorial Specifications
To fulfill the need for more feminine and fashionable garments, suppliers are updating cuts on their ladies' styles. Robinson noted, "Women are tired of the 'unisex' boxy tee and want apparel that fits their bodies. With junior and misses cuts now available, we can celebrate all the curves." Tsai also noted the value of focus on fabrics that fit womanly bodies. "On our wovens we're doing a lot of our styles in a polyester/spandex blend—either 96 percent poly/4 percent spandex or 88 percent poly/12 percent spandex—because of the nice balance of comfort and upscale look," she said. "I think these kinds of materials, which are easy to care for and also are extremely comfortable, will continue to take the lead this year," she explained. One such material or fabrication is burnout. "The burnout tees will continue to stand out," she said. "It's an item that looks great with print or blank. You can layer it to make it appropriate for the corporate casual environment or wear it after hours with friends."

Tsai predicted that embellishments and colors are in order for future seasons. "We're playing with feminine embellishments like ruching and ruffles," she said. "Color is huge in the retail world, and we feel it's our duty as a fashion-forward brand to bring that liveliness and variety into our market," Tsai continued. Such lively colors include strawberry, eggplant, soft orchid and lilac.

Catering to Cotton
Due to bad crops in China and Pakistan and restrictions on imports from India, the amount of raw cotton in the U.S. has dropped rapidly. The decrease has led to a spike in the cost of cotton, thus impacting the budgets of apparel suppliers in the retail and promotional world. The price increase has caused a demand for cotton farms in the U.S., but American farmers are hesitant to commit to a crop that might not supply them with as much revenue as their current harvest. Recent press has predicted a decrease in the price due to cotton factories appearing in Kansas and other states that usually produce different crops, but for now, suppliers still need to absorb the extra cost.

According to Tsai, cotton prices are a difficulty, but also an inspiration to increase the value of products. "Cotton prices are not helping anyone, not suppliers, not distributors and not [end-buyers]," she said. "That being said I think the overall rise in all fabric prices just makes it more important than ever that distributors are putting brands and styles in front of their [end-buyers] that are a good value."

Robinson agreed on the value of fair pricing. She suggested finding the best value for your customers is the way to handle rising cotton prices. "This challenge has made the relationships with our customers even better. They recognize that we sincerely want to be their partner and help grow their business," she said.

Marketing to Moms and Alma Maters
The important thing to remember when selling women's apparel is that these are not styles for young girls. "We as a society tend to idolize youth—and in our industry a lot of the brands you see do a great job of selling that teenage girl look to everyone. But what about a working mom?" Tsai inquired. "There's a lot of untapped demand for stylish, age-appropriate clothing for women in our market." The look is not about being matronly. It is about catering to professional women who need to juggle family, friends and a career. "We're targeting more of a life stage or mindset than an age—we're targeting working women and working mothers," Tsai said. Women in the life stage of developing their personal and professional lives have a variety of responsibilities and need fashion that is functional and attractive. "The best way to sell women's apparel is to treat it as fashion," she said. "When it comes to women in the workplace, you are talking about their whole sense of style. And for most women, that's pretty important."

In addition to working women, distributors should target college and graduate students. "A great market for ladies' apparel is the college market. Whether you're a student or take pride in representing your alma mater, women want to show their school spirit in apparel that is designed for them," explained Robinson. With garments for all women from students to CEOs, distributors should have no trouble finding items for all women. "No woman wants to feel self-conscious in an item that doesn't fit her body," said Robinson. "That's why it's important to ask appropriate questions so you understand what they want."

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Work it Out

Build your promotional muscle with water bottles, tote bags and fitness apparel.
Colleen McKenna

Working out is difficult. It requires more than just joining a gym or buying exercise equipment. Sure, you start off with the best of intentions, but months later you realize you've been paying for a membership you never use or staring at a machine you never fully assemble.

Selling into the fitness market is similar to working out. At first it is difficult; the machines are unfamiliar and the people seem to be speaking another language (reps, squats, etc.). However if you stick with it, then you start to see results. The hours spent stretching, running, sweating start to pay off and you notice an improvement in yourself. Selling into the fitness market may be exactly what you need to get you back to the gym. You'll see that with the proper hydration, supplies and apparel, you'll be expanding your fitness regime and your wallet.

Staying Hydrated
Selling to fitness institutions requires knowledge of the basics of exercise, hydration being a large part of that. Dena Rothstein, marketing director for Jetline, Gaffney, S.C. mentioned water bottles and sports bottles as great fitness products because of their function and wide appeal. No matter the exercise activity, end-users need to stay hydrated so sports bottles are the natural promotional choice.
Grethe Adams, president, Southern Plus, Hartwell, Ga. noted that companies in the fitness arena use high-visibility products like bags and totes in addition to exercise products. "Rather than just the classic gym bag, we've seen a trend by fitness clubs and gyms toward using items not specifically for use at the gym, like shopper totes and beach cooler bags," she said. "These items help build the brand outside of the facility and reach a wider demographic."

Steffenie Zorner, brand manager for Los Angeles-based Bella, seconded Adams's remark about using everyday products and explained how it extended to apparel. "Wearing fashionable fitness apparel for daily activities has become trendy, and it is a trend all age groups are participating in," she said. "Whether they are receiving these as giveaways or purchasing them from a group they are oriented with, everyone is looking for fashionable, functional pieces to wear to the gym and while running errands," she explained. Using trendy products allows for interest from end-users who might not normally be fitness-friendly, but care about current fashion trends and healthy living.

Healthy living is a motto among fitness markets that extends beyond fitness equipment. Most companies in the fitness and health market support wellness-conscious lifestyles, so eco-friendly products are also popular. "Another trend is the use of eco-friendly products," said Adams. "I think the concept of 'healthy living' now includes what's healthy for the environment." Zorner reiterated the easy-sell of environmentally conscious products. "Alo's bamboo styles are the ultimate material for gym apparel. They are super-soft and luxurious but naturally moisture-wicking," she said.


Finding Your Aura
The trick to selling exercise products is using colors and styles that appeal to the niche you are working in, whether it is yoga, kickboxing or any other sport you find. For yoga, Rothstein has found that blue- and green-based colors sell well. "With our yoga mats in particular we sell in four colors, and while blue outsells the other colors, we definitely have nice movement on the purple, teal and lime too," she said. Zorner mentioned basics like black and gray are always popular for all niches, but added bold colors and prints gives your promotion something extra. Adams echoed Zorner's observation. "We have also seen an increase in more fashion-forward colors/patterns like our Python print," she said.

Once you have settled on colors for your fitness campaign, make sure to pick products that are as durable as the exercises end-users will be performing in or with them. "Gym apparel needs to be more fitted, but still flattering, breathable and flexible," said Zorner. "The fabrics need to be able to withstand wear and tear, but they need to maintain the same look and feel as more luxurious fabrics."


Challenging Yourself
Gyms, health clubs and yoga studios are obvious sells for fitness products, but they are not the only ones. "As companies focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle as part of the corporate culture, they are also increasingly popular in company stores and incentive programs," said Adams. Fitness has become more than a personal initiative. It is a country-wide interest in fighting obesity and increasing education about and practice of healthy living. Products that promote exercise and nutrition help solidify the company giving them out as health-conscious. "Fitness products are used for launching healthy brands," Adams explained. She listed nonprofits, personal care companies, lifestyle brands and food companies as good healthy living brands. Zorner and Rothstein added schools, athletic groups, dance teams and college groups like fraternities and sororities as solid markets for fitness products.

Springing Back
When it comes to selling fitness products, distributors need to be wary of timing. "The push for selling fitness products is at the beginning of the year and early spring," said Adams. "This is the peak for new membership at fitness clubs but also the key season for new product launches related to health and fitness, including food and drink brands," she explained. Rothstein agreed though she also mentioned that the products sell year-round.

In addition to paying attention to seasons, distributors should consider the age of intended end-users because different age groups prefer different kinds of exercise. "Consider the end-user whenever possible," said Rothstein. "Adults are not the ideal market for jump ropes, but kids adore them; kids don't really go for pedometers, but adults love them. If you don't know your demographic or if it's all ages, go for something with wide appeal and function—water bottles are always safe," she explained.
Regardless of the age of end-users, remember that you are promoting a healthy lifestyle, not just exercise. "Promoting a healthy lifestyle is much more than just going to the gym. Any promotional product that relates to outdoor activities or is eco-friendly will tie in well with a healthy lifestyle message," said Adams.

Monday, June 20, 2011

The Top 10 Ways to Create a Better Workplace

There is an old French proverb that says ‘the forest shapes the tree..’ The forest shapes the tree. The environment shapes the person. The family shapes the child. The workplace shapes the performance.
 
Creating a culture that fosters innovation, quality, teamwork, continuous improvement is the key to the success of any of the Fortune Most Admired Companies or the Fastest Growing or the 100 Best Companies to Work For and you will find that the environment they create for their employees is the single most important factor in determining their success.

From its database of case studies, The Empower Group of London estimates that when 30% of employees become more satisfied with their jobs, about 25% of customers become more satisfied become more satisfied with the services offered. Empowers research also suggests that when 30% of employees become more satisfied with their jobs, profit rises by up to 15%; and when 30% of sales people feel less stressed at work, revenue increases by up to 20%.

Will a 100% return interest you??

In taking a sample from the 100 Best Companies to work for, look at what Ann Harrington of Fortune magazine writes and see for yourself where the keys lie..
“Edward Jones of St. Louis is No. 1 for the second straight year (2002 and 2003, 4th in 2004). This stockbroker spends 3.8% of its payroll on training, with an average of 146 hours for every employee. New brokers at the 7,781 branches get more than four times that much. Why does Jones invest so much in its people? "In order to grow, you have to be trained," says managing partner John Bachmann, "or you get trapped in the present." While Wall Street firms are contracting, this Main Street firm is still hiring. The company is owned by employees (25% of them have partnership stakes), and perhaps that's why they care enough to have serious profit sharing and no layoffs. Says one administrative assistant: "I have never experienced working for a company that has so many satisfied employees."

Or, for another insight, take a look at the code of conduct of the 2004 Best Company to work for, J.M. Smucker & Co. of Orrville Ohio, “Listen with your full attention, look for the good in others, have a sense of humor, and say thank you for a job well done.” Oh and by the way the company's stock has had a total return of 100% over the past five years.

That’s anther thing, great places to work for also perform way better than those that aren’t that interested in the work environment.
 
Five Characteristics of Best Employers:

1. Inspired Leadership
2. Unique Company Culture
3. Focus on Growing Talent
4. Strong Sense of Accountability
5. Aligned HR Practices and Excellent Execution

In a series of research projects conducted by the Best Place to Work Institute in the USA concluded ‘Money invested in the Fortune magazine “100 Best Places to Work List” portfolio would have outperformed the S&P 500 by a ratio of almost five-to-one.
 
If you needed any other reasons to convince yourself as to why put energy into managing and shaping your workplace environment please go see your doctor now… (only joking… read the rest of this report first… then if you still need reasons… go see your doctor..)   

1. ‘It’s the Environment that Shapes Performance’
 

Whether you are talking Southwest Airlines, Virgin Blue airlines, Cisco Systems, Starbucks or Flight Centers in Australia, the ‘feeling’, the spirit, the esprit de corp, the culture is the key.

As Herb Kelleher, founder and Chairman of Southwest Airlines (the only airline to be profitable in the US every year for the past 30 years) says:

‘What keeps me awake at night are the intangibles. You can get airplanes, you can get ticket counter space, you can get tugs, you can get baggage conveyors. But the spirit of Southwest is the most difficult thing to emulate. So my biggest concern is that somehow, through inattention, through misunderstanding, we lose the esprit de corps, the culture, the spirit. if we ever lose that, we will have lost our most valuable competitive asset.’
 
2. Have Clear Goals That Inspire

What you are aiming for in the great workplace is Synchronized Energy – the term coined by the great Buckminster Fuller – Syn-ergy.

Synergy says the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – unpredictable by the sum of its parts. You want to discover just how great the sum of the parts can be. 


Energy will only be synergised if it working in unison towards a common focus, a common goal, a common purpose.
Regularly checking just how much alignment, synergy and harmony you have in your organization is critical.
Don’t just rely on coffee machine or bar talk to gather your intelligence. Take a scientific approach and measure the ‘energy alignment’ on a regular basis – at least once every six months.

3. Share all information
If I want my children to understand money, I need to let them earn pocket money and teach them about money.

If I want my children to understand food, I need to give them the information so they can think for themselves instead of being led by the ads for junk food on the TV.

As the great Sam Walton, founder of Wal-mart, once said: ‘Communicate everything you can to your associates. The more they know, the more they care. Once they care, there is no stopping them.’

Wal-Mart recently topped the worlds Fortune 500 companies with revenues of $263 Billion and profits of $9 billion. Wal-Mart have over 1.5 million employees yet rate in the Top 5 most desired places to work in America.

Sam’s philosophy of sharing as much information as possible has certainly been a key plank in their philosophical platform for success.

Jan Carlzon, the architect and leader of the famous Scandinavian Airlines turnaround wrote in his famous book, Moments of Truth, ‘‘An individual without information cannot take responsibility; an individual who is given information cannot help but take responsibility.’

The Super Seven Messages to Communicate
We recommend the minimums you communicate regularly are these Seven Super Messages:

1. Our business model – how we make money
2. Our strategy – where we are now and where we want to go and how we plan on getting there
3. Our Top 4 goals for the next 6 to 12 months
4. Our results over the past 6 and 12 months
5. Our competitions results over the next 6 to 12 months
6. Our Key Performance Indicator results
7. Celebrations of our success

If these 7 Super Messages don’t excite your staff and management, you have a problem.

Smart management teams regularly map to see just how interested, engaged, literate and committed people are to these 7 areas. Smart management makes sure their staff is also smart about the business.
4. Make Everyone Business Literate

Business Literacy means two things:
1. Understanding the language of business – cash flow, gross profit, net profit, return on assets, return on equity and other key performance indicators that the market are interested in.
2. Understanding THIS business/your Business – how to navigate your way around this business to get things done – know the ‘who’s who’, the key processes, how to innovate, how to get support for new ideas, how to get recognition and support for your team mates and colleagues.

If you can’t read a book you’re at a disadvantage in the everyday world.
If you can’t read a financial report you’re at a disadvantage in the business world.

If the only people in your organization who can read a financial report are your Board members, you’ve got a problem. If your cleaner, secretary, front line supervisor and everyone else can read a financial report, now you’ve got everyone’s brain focused on making and saving money, not just your board members.

What’s the Cost of Your Seat? At Flight Centers, the business literacy culture has been developed to one of many entrepreneurs who ‘own’ their seats, and share in the profit of that seat with the company.

The Cost of Seat is an actual calculation of how much it costs to have a staff member working in a particular shop, including rent, salary, support costs and marketing. Each team member knows their cost of seat, and can do their part in reducing these costs.

You might want to map just how literate your organization is. Don’t assume they have the literacy you think they have.

5. Map Perceptions Regularly

Boy, do Morgan Stanley and Boeing wish they had have followed this advice.

Both companies have paid out over $70 million in compensation and legal costs due to employees feeling bullied, intimidated, unfairly passed over for promotion, sexually harassed and more. How could the situation escalate to such a situation where it ends up in court, on world television and media?

They obviously didn’t know just how serious or upset people were in their organizations.

As part of the Morgan Stanley judgment, they now are legally obliged to regularly have their staff perceptions measured by an external organization.

If risk management is part of your corporate philosophy, you might want to take an ounce of prevention rather than wait for a pound of cure. Mapping for perceptions on the following issues will not only prevent legal problems, it will uncover key opportunities and ideas for business improvement and improvements in staff and customer satisfaction.

A low cost, rapid turnaround system to map issues such as :
• Fairness
• Equity
• Feedback
• Performance Management
• Business literacy
• Customer service
• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Work environment
• Health and safety

Will literally save you hundreds of thousands of dollars and uncover ideas to generate the same again in productivity and performance improvements.

The Empower Group of London’s research has shown Staff morale is linked to five key issues:

• Quality of leadership
• The degree to which people are involved in decisions that affects them
• Fairness and equity in the workplace
• The opportunities available for learning
• The extent to which peoples work gives them a sense of accomplishment

It become clear that regularly mapping for these issues alone in the culture will provide great insights into where your opportunities lie for business performance improvement.



6. Get Rid Of Status Symbols

A Managing Director of a company we know was only too happy to get up in front of the annual company conference and talk about the importance of teamwork and sharing and openness to his staff, it was truly inspirational.

The only problem was two days later when we were walking from the company car park to the front door and walked past 2-parked BMW’s right at the front door.

Who was parking their cars within a matter of meters from the door while the rest of the organization walked the hundred meters from the car park? The MD and his right hand man, the Chief Financial Officer, that’s who..

The words of the MD’s speech rang in my ears as I walked past his shiny new car; how hollow his words, how hollow his intentions. It seemed I was the only one that was inspired by his speech two days before. The rest of the staff already knew that he was full of BS. 

If you’re serious about teamwork, you will get rid of status symbols that say ‘I’m more important than you’ ‘I have more power than you’ ‘do as I say but not as I do’.

Save your perks for your personal life but not your work life. Keep your ego in check by regularly, systematically and objectively checking with your staff. As Mel Brooks says in ‘Robin Hood, Men in Tights’ “It’s good to be King…”

Sure, that may be true, but the moment you start to live out the life of the King is the moment you lose real teamwork and synergy in your organization.

As Darryl Blake writes in Skroo the Rules, ‘in our company there are no privileges unless everyone has them (for example, everyone pays personally for upgrades from economy. Senior people travel in the same class as their people if traveling in a group. Everyone pays for their own work car park..)’

Egalitarianism is a key to removing the divisive wedge between the ‘them and us’ syndrome that often plagues organizations of all sizes. Unhealthy egos are the toxins of any good team, in sport or business. Keep yourself in check. Check to make sure equality is a living value in your organization.


7. Foster Innovation

Innovation is not just coming up with the idea; innovation is putting the idea into action.

Whether you’re talking the innovation of new products, new services, new strategy, new opportunity or the re-design of old processes, systems and structures; innovation is the key to moving forward. As management guru Peter Drucker said ‘business has only two functions; marketing and innovation.’

Your goal is to not only find out what your customer wants, then give it to them at a better price or value than the competition, but to ensure you keep innovating that product or service to make sure your competition don’t get the jump on you. As Bill Gates of Microsoft said, ‘in 18 months time (or even less) I know our products will be obsolete. I would rather we make our products obsolete than the competition make our products obsolete’.

You need a system to foster ideas, capture them and harness them into money making or money saving initiatives.

3M have been masters at developing an Innovation System. Their results speak for themselves. ‘3M generates more than 33% of its sales revenue from products that did not exist four years ago – a ratio it has sustained for almost 50 years.’ You cannot sustain that level of innovation without a system, structure and culture incredibly dedicated and focused on Innovation.

3M are constantly diagnosing, mapping, measuring, training, rewarding and nurturing the flow of innovation at every level of their organization. You can too.

We recommend you use The Flow of Innovation Model to map and diagnose just how well your Innovation environment, systems and structures and ongoing benchmarking and sharing of best practice system is operating. Do an Innovation Map to find out just how supportive your team leaders, supervisors and senior managers are of ideas that come from the front line.

Map your recruiting, training, management, sales, marketing, financial management, product development, client management and innovation Best Practices (just to name a few) so they can be shared throughout the organization. Map how much information is shared between departments, regions, territories and countries.

Sharing of Best Practices added $200 million to Xerox’s bottom line in Europe and $1.2 Billion in benefits to Ford. It certainly is worth mapping to find out where the ideas lay and how they can be harnessed in your company. 



8. Have Fun – Often

If you are a stodgy, hierarchical, steeped in tradition type organization, the word ‘fun’ may not be used too often to describe your workplace. If you are a younger, more innovative, creative company, ‘fun’ may well be part of the language.

As crazy as this sounds, the first stage to fun at work is to make it OK to talk about fun at work.

Is fun part of the language?
If its not part of the language it certainly wont be part of the culture.

The ‘Fun at work’ mindset is critical to creating a fun at work culture.
Build fun into things like:
• Product launches
• Achieving target celebrations
• Daily meetings and briefing sessions
• Morning teas
• Dinners
• Conferences
• Training sessions
• Recognition and reward events

The fun factor should not just be driven by management, it should come from the employees and the teams themselves.

There are some useful guidelines on what makes healthy fun versus not so healthy fun (see http://www.employer-employee.com/april2002tips.html). Richard Branson in a recent Fortune magazine article gave a real insight into his fun at work mindset (as he sat on his Necker Island in the Bahamas surrounded by a pile of faxes and in his swimming trunks after a few sets of tennis) when he said to Betsy Morris the journalist 'I don't think of work as work and play as play. It's all living.'


This is a fantastic insight into Branson’s attitude towards play, fun and work. It’s an attitude he has nurtured, reinforced and maintained across all 224 Virgin Group companies. The more you allow humour and fun to be part of the culture, the more you open up communications and honesty.


As Jack Welch (former head of GE and awarded Fortune Magazine Manager of the Century ahead of Bill Gates, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and hundreds of others) ‘Informality gives you speed. It takes the crap out of the business equation, the pontificating. Today we’re having open dialogue with self confident people, real exchanges with real people..’

Herb Kelleher has ensured humor is part of every process at Southwest Airlines.

‘We will say to someone, tell us how humor helped you get around one of the more difficult situations in your life… We don’t interview you in suits; put on some Southwest Airlines shorts.’ -Herb Kelleher

Regularly checking just how stuffy, formal or ‘emotionally constipated’ your organization is becoming with a Perception Map is a useful, low cost strategy to ensure the doors of communication, idea generation and innovation are wide open and well lubricated.

9. Share the Rewards

‘I get a sheet every week of stock optionees who've cashed options. This year we will see $1.6 billion in employee gains in stock options; $1.2 billion of that will be below any senior-management level. Some 40% of our optionees make $70,000 or less.’

If they got a thousand shares each of the past five years, they would today have a gain of $800,000. In five years they've gotten about 12 times their annual salary. That’s a kick.’
Jack Welch – GE

Old Chinese Proverb: ‘Do not forget to give the wing to the person who gave you the whole chicken.’

This is a topic that has been well researched in the literature, suffice is it to say that if people have a share in what they produce, they will be more committed to producing it better, faster, cheaper than the competition.
In Government organizations this is in most cases impossible but in private organizations the main barrier to sharing profits and/or equity are the paradigms of the owners.

A great system at Southwest Airlines is that profit share bonuses are converted into shares that can only be exercised upon retirement from the company. In this way, as the stock goes up and share splits etc occur, the wealth of the employee also increases.

At Flight Centers people can buy into the store they work in as well as buy shares in the company based on their profit share performance. Ten percent of profit from each store is shared to team leaders as well as option plans, partial ‘shop ownership’ schemes and encouraging share ownership are just some of the ways Flight Centre encourages everyone to have a tangible stake in the business.

Owning Your Seat

As Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner, Founder and CEO of Flight Centres says: ‘nothing could be more powerful than an organisation – whether it be of a thousand or 20,000 – where each one of those 20,000 genuinely believed they owned the seat they were sitting at.’ He adds: ‘Or, with a business made up of a thousand teams of small businesses – like say a shop team – if the leader of that team felt genuine ownership of that business, imagine what a competitor would have to do to knock you off. They would have to be awfully good to attack 20,000 people who vehemently believed that they had ownership in the business.’

There are many models to base your reward-sharing program on; the key is to make it based on total team performance not just individual performance.

You want to reward team success, not just individual success.

Regular mapping to see if staff are happy with the existing reward and recognition system is a vital clue to building a best workplace.



10. Everyone a Leader


‘The speed of the group is determined by the speed of the leader’ is one management maxim.

Another (that sits on the desk of Ted Turner of CNN and TBN and many other leaders) is ‘Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way.’

Your goal is to encourage everyone in the organization to lead in such a way as to empower and liberate, not control and suffocate.

As Daniel Goleman writes in Emotional Intelligence: ‘Leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work toward a common goal.’

Goleman goes on to talk of understanding your own and others deep emotional needs for feeling appreciated, rewarded, acknowledged for what we do. He talks of ‘Managing with Heart’ an idea already well established at places like Flight Centers, Body Shop or Virgin Blue.
Your goal is to develop Inspirational, Innovative, Business Literate Leadership at every level of the organization to optimize the potential of your business model.

A great business model without enthused, inspired staff is a Ferrari without the engine.

The degree to which you can recruit, induct, train, manage and motivate leadership at every level will determine your financial performance and success.

Leaders of Best Workplaces focus on the ‘whole’ person. They want to make work an emotional, inspirational place, not just a place to collect a pay check.

Regular scanning for staff perceptions of leadership at every level and in every function of the organization is critical to ensuring to keep moving forward.
     

Thursday, June 16, 2011

What's in Store

Connecting, closing and reselling within the retail market. 
by Nicole Stella

They spend millions of dollars so their logos pop, their brands are household names and their companies garner worldwide loyalty. Within the retail world, consumer brands have been etched upon our collective unconsciousness. With just a sideways glimpse, we can easily recognize the infamous Golden Arches of McDonald's, that little blue Tiffany bag, the Nike swoosh or the King-of-Beers Budweiser logo. All that effort in creating a brand is not done solely with an annual Superbowl ad. It is done with ever-present logo visibility via billboards, T-shirts, shopping bags, napkins, stadium cups, ear buds and other promotional items. After talking to suppliers who are experts within the retail market, it's clear this is one niche that can be tough to break into but with large-scale marketing budgets set aside solely for promotion and branded packaging, it is also one that can be very lucrative.


Making the Connection
Arsi Seradarian, vice president and CFO of Pacobond Inc., Sun Valley, Calif., explained the two distinct opportunities within retail markets: individually owned boutiques and chain stores and franchises. "Usually, when small boutiques open, they turn to local distributors through personal connections or through the phone book/internet for their packaging design and supplies," Seradarian explained. "Boutiques do not change their packaging design often and more emphasis is given to quality than price. With enough persistence, [a new distributor] will be given an opportunity to quote when the inventory runs low, and the store is ready to order their next packaging," she said.

The second opportunity, chain stores and franchises, is an arena where the going is a little tougher. "Chain stores and franchises are very tough to penetrate," said Seradarian. "Everything is based on connection, connection, connection and price, price, price. First you have to find the correct buyer for your product. Every buyer in the chain store has already worked with a supplier before and over the years, befriends and favors that distributor/supplier over a new one," she continued.
Mark Jenkins, MAS, sales director for Pioneer Balloon, Wichita, Kan., noted too that it's difficult to land and cultivate the business, however the rewards are well worth the efforts. He added, "The biggest sales opportunities are within chain stores and franchises," but it's getting a foot in the door that can be tricky. He explained the key is traditional networking, pursuing referral avenues and memberships within trade organizations.

Knowing the right people is definitely helpful, catching their eye once you've made that initial inroad is also important. Traci Pegg, vice president of sales and marketing for Royal Crest Promotions, Golden, Colo. noted one way to make your mark. "Holiday selling opportunities catch the interest of a retailer," she said. "Most retailers make a majority of their annual income [during this time of year]." She explained that distributors can catch their attention with a holiday store decoration or display. Pegg suggested distributors bring solutions to boutique and franchise owners that will be unique and bring people into their place of business during specific events and times of the year.

Making It Happen
As a distributor, you may be wary of going after these accounts for fear that you should be able to design the promotion, and with a big name brand or an exclusive boutique you feel you don't have the skill set to make the right impression during presentations or pitches. But this fear is unwarranted. The distributor's number-one job is to land the account, suppliers who specialize in this niche can handle the rest. Pegg explained, "We virtually render samples with logos where people would like to brand items or show concept for presentations."

For Pacobond Inc., a knowledge of basics is all that is needed. "In our case, the distributor should have basic knowledge of bags, meaning he should know how the bag is made and what makes our product different than others," said Seradarian. "[A distributor] doesn't have to have design skills or come up with the promotion design. We can guide the distributor before the order is confirmed, and once the order is confirmed, we will take over and take care of all the manufacturing details until the order is shipped."

Making the Resale (and the Resale and the Resale …)
Once you've landed new business, quality products paired with excellent customer service will help you keep it. That's where the payoff lives. Said Seradarian, "For Pacobond, an order for shopping bags can be as low as 1,000 bags to hundreds of thousands bags. For one very large client, we [have] produced millions of bags over a period of time," she said.

For Royal Crest Promotions, reorders are also very high. Pegg noted that once sold these accounts are easy to manage with many points of service opportunities. "Reorder ratios are 85 percent annually from the same customers every year for the same product, same time of year," she said.

Next to massive reorders there is another upside to the retail sector. Jenkins mentioned that for Pioneer Balloon, these orders are typically the companies largest spot orders and all that product in the commerce stream gives their own brand a boost. "The large size of the orders [offers] broad exposure of our products in the consumer market," he said. The vast exposure of the brand and the product helps with the referral networking needed to make it in the retail market and keep their product line top of mind to other buyers for other promotions.

Once You're In, You're In
"The retail market industry is a very close-knit industry. All the chain-store buyers know each other, and having a good reputation is key to surviving in this industry especially during these tough economic times," said Seradarian. Jenkins echoed this sentiment, explaining, "It's all about making the buyer successful and helping move along consumer sales efficiently."

So how exactly do you make a buyer successful? Seradarian explained success comes from providing quality product, exactly as promised. "Have a good product to sell and have the backing and support of a reputable supplier and excellent service," she said. "After all, the distributor is the middle man between the supplier and the end-user, and he is only as good as the promise his supplier makes. In our case, we know that our livelihood comes from the distributor, we will try to keep our distributor happy in order for him to do the same with his client."

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Culture of Computing

In the 1970s, Hewlett Packard introduced one of the earliest desktop computers to the market. Loaded with gloriously high-tech features for the time, like a one-line display and functioning keyboard, the computer was treasured by the business and science communities despite not being much more than a gigantic, underpowered calculator with a printer attached. As "interesting" as it would be to still be working in a world where all computing was done one tiny red line at a time, thankfully the computer world has advanced since then.


It's hard now to imagine a world without computers. Three years ago, it would have been fair to simply say that computers were a vital part of first-world commerce, driving the productivity of nearly all medium-to-large scale businesses. Now though, with the explosive growth of Wi-Fi and personal mini-computers like smart phones and netbooks, combined with the sharp decline in cost-to-processing-power ratios, more and more people are becoming permanently wired. Bad news if you miss the days of tiny red displays and computers heavier than a backyard gas grill, good news if you enjoy working in the modern world or are a fan of the concept of "convenience." Amazing news? If you're in the business of providing people useful computing tools and gifts in exchange for money.
As society approaches the point where most people will own two or three personal computers and owning the latest gadgets is becoming a point of style, there could not be a better time to sell computer accessories. Hip, useful products that basically sell themselves, it doesn't take much more to succeed with them besides a good knowledge of what's popular, the latest technology trends and advances, and a couple other tiny sales tips.

Tech Trends
Considering the huge amount of press coverage and commercial saturation the computer market currently enjoys, it doesn't take much more than a trip to a bookstore or cnet.com to get a feel for where end-user interest lies. Still, there are some nuances within popular trends worth mentioning that might be missed by the uninitiated.

Alex Symms, national sales manager for Houston-based KTI Promo, noted that the eco-friendly trend present in so many other product categories is influencing computer accessories as well. He also pointed out an interesting speed improvement to the old promotional staple of USB drives.

"One other very important trending market we're watching very closely is USB 3.0 technology," he said. "USB 3.0 specifies speeds up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0. This means downloading entire HD movies in as little as only a few minutes," explained Symms. "We can already see tremendous advantages of this in certain markets."

USB drives aren't the only devices benefiting from improved technology. Portable electronics like smart phones, e-readers and tablet computers have all exploded in popularity and availability due to tech advances. As a result, related accessories for such items couldn't be any more in demand. "Accessories for e-readers are on the rise, and not surprisingly, accessories for the iPad are trending up at an incredible pace," said Shannon Malaspina, senior category manager for Polyconcept North America, Pittsburgh. "As more companies and personal consumers are purchasing the iPad, these products will continue to trend and appeal to a growing segment."

Know It All
While most product categories require a degree of research and trend-monitoring, certainly it's fair to say that some fields require more background knowledge to sell than others. After all, it doesn't take a lot to explain how a mug works or how to put things in a tote bag. And while more and more computer products are designed to be user-friendly, it's still important to know as much about the technology items you're selling as possible. Not only helpful for closing the sale, understanding your products can be of critical importance when dealing with more complex products, like secure USB drives for example, where a failing product could have catastrophic consequences.

Luckily, a reliable source of education normally isn't more than a phone call away. Suppliers and manufacturers will normally be able to answer any questions you may have, and more than happy to do so. "From a supplier side, we're constantly releasing new products, new trainings and innovative tools to help our distributors stay on the front line of what's new," said Symms. "This is a very quick-changing niche in our industry, so it's extremely important we do whatever we can to inform customers about the new trends in computer accessories. That's our job." That said, he also cautioned that distributors shouldn't depend on their suppliers alone for education. "On the flip side, it's also important for the distributor to stay ahead of the curve, educate themselves with what's new, and ask their suppliers for new and creative ideas," he said. Think of it like getting repairs done to your car. Your mechanic can explain the repairs and workings of your engine to you indefinitely, but it will help your understanding enormously if you can bring some knowledge to the table ahead of time.

Simple Sells
Besides knowing the products inside and out, there are other steps you can take to improve your computer accessory sales. Malaspina recommended focusing on user-friendly items. "If it takes more than one minute to fully explain the product and its capabilities, consider redefining your assortment," she said. "One of the consistent aspects within technology trends is ease of use. Utilize this to your advantage by presenting items that are true to this demand."

Addressing another angle of usability, Mary Beach, CAS, business development representative for Polyconcept North America, Pittsburgh, emphasized the importance of doing what you can to make sure the product in question is used as much possible. Using the example of flash drives, she pointed out how an added feature like data uploads can have an impact on product usage. "Uploading information onto a flash drive such as new hire packages, college recruitment information, new policies and procedures, or even advertising ensures the end recipient is using the piece repeatedly, thus increasing the ROI," she said.
ROI, of course, is the magic word as always. If all it takes is a little research to improve an item's value, then so much the better. It's rare that a competitive advantage can come from something as simple as a little bookwork, but that certainly seems the case with computer accessories. Take the time to keep up on what's hip, what's new and how items work, and you'll be well on your way to locking up more computer-related promotions.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Five Common Afflictions of Sales Teams

Over the years five common afflictions that affect sales teams have been noticed. These afflictions reduce morale and sales performance. They can be found to some degree in almost every organization. Smart management teams are aware of these afflictions and work to avoid their potentially destructive impact. Any one occurrence of these problems will not necessarily hurt the sales effort, but if allowed to progress to extremes, or if multiple conditions exist at once, they can be extremely harmful.
Affliction 1: Wasting Time
One of the prime afflictions of sales teams is forcing them to spend time on non-sales tasks, for example making accounts receivable collections, managing product recalls, or filling out reports that do not directly relate to the sales process.
If you, for instance, divert 5% of a sales team's time to manage customer collections, you effectively reduce the number of feet on the ground by the same amount - and the reverse is true as well. Sometimes it's necessary to assign non-sales tasks to sales peoples, but before this is done it's worthwhile to audit a company's sales process to determine whether tasks could be assigned elsewhere.
Finding as many ways as possible to remove unnecessary tasks from the sales team's shoulders will result in sales increases that will more than pay for the adjustments in duties.

Affliction 2: Boring Meetings
Another affliction of sales teams is poor or boring sales meetings. The objective of any sales meeting should be to increase sales, period. Every high-performing salesperson who attends a meeting will be thinking "Is this meeting making me money or is my time being wasted?"
Powerful sales people are self-motivated, and they intuitively know if their time is being wasted. If it is, management is hurting sales and morale. Wasteful or unnecessary meetings also send a clear message that management doesn't know what needs to be accomplished to increase sales, an no good salesperson will have confidence in that type of leadership.
The simple way to ensure that sales meetings are effective is to develop a statement of strategic intent that includes clear success metrics. This statement will define in specific terms what needs to be accomplished and the metrics needed to determine whether the goals set in the meeting were accomplished. It takes a deep understanding of the business, the market and the competition to write an effective statement of strategic intent, and managers who can't write them need a better understanding of the business. The bottom line is that powerful sales meetings produce powerful sales and keep morale high.


Affliction 3: Poor Strategy
Ineffective marketing or sales strategies will always negatively impact the sales team, and this is especially true for teams selling commodity products or services.
Your sales team will recognize ineffective strategy and will lose faith in the managers who developed it. Don't let lackluster strategy cause this lack of faith. To compound the error, companies often try special promotions to save sagging sales on products that are ill-conceived or supported by poor strategy. Special promotions can be very effective, but managers should never call for a pointless charge of the light brigade.
Sending the sales team on a promotion in support of a poor product or service is a severe tactical error. A successful sales effort hinges on good strategy, and companies that fail in this regard severely handicap their sales teams.


Affliction 4: Capping Income
Powerful companies have managers who do not get envious when large paychecks go to the sales force. Mangers who are resentful of this often respond to rising sales income by reducing commissions, capping earnings, reducing territories or removing products.
These are all practices to be avoided, as they destroy morale, which hurts sales. When it is absolutely necessary to cap or reduce rep's earnings, it must be done carefully. If it's done carelessly, management will send the message that future earnings for the sales team have been limited.
Powerful sales people want to leverage today's efforts into greater sales and income for tomorrow. If their commissions are reduced, earnings capped or territory removed, they will feel like that ability has been taken away, and the high performers will quickly look for employment elsewhere.

Affliction 5: Favoritism
We all have favorites in life and that's normal, but playing favorites with individuals on a sales team is very destructive. Salespeople want to work for companies that keep the playing field level for all.
If select salespeople are given extra incentives, special attention, benefits or favors not afforded to others, management is sending a clear message that there is a privileged class within the team. This is one of the best ways to lessen the team spirit, as reps will spend their time trying to move into that special class and not trying to close sales.
Managers can't buy the loyalty of a team by strengthening a small political power base within a company. Playing favorites within a sales team causes problems for all team members (even the favored ones), but keeping the playing field level will pay big dividends.

Wasting time, poor sales meetings, poor strategy, capping income and playing favorites are, with few exceptions, situations to be avoided. They are destructive to morale and they lead to poor performance. Effective managers will be careful to avoid these situations, and astute salespeople will bring these practices to the attention of management for correction.