Great Investment

A supervisor of a corporation in the Colorado area granted an meeting to a friend's son, a graduate business student, preparing the topic for his thesis. The young man asked questions about marketing, budgeting, and the best market procedures. The discussion and questions also including corporate and business hurdles and challenges, protecting assets and the problems and practices in increasing sales. The CEO admitted that managing a firm's long-term reserves had always been at the heart of his energy and determining stakeholders was important. Weighing choices in every aspect was his response to the question about best decision-making practice. The 60 minute interview was almost over when the graduate asked his last question about what was the greatest liability and what was the biggest asset in the company. After blundering through a list of financial jargon, the CEO stopped abruptly and thought carefully before saying that all of that was secondary because the employees could be the greatest asset or they could be the greatest liability. The folks working for you can make or break the company. Simple as that. The CEO then took our friend's son out to lunch and they continued to dialogue. The conversation included examples from the CEO's experience when he worked at a restaurant through college and when he managed various establishments. He had many examples of how good workers actually made the company money and the managers and owners did not always know it or recognize it. At the same moment, a impolite or incompetent or an employee with a bad attitude could ruin not only the sale at the time, but later. They chatted about the television show Undercover Bosses where CEOs make as if to be new employees on the ground level for a week to actually get some in field experience and insight. The CEO confessed that he had thought of doing that. The two of them throughout lunch talked about different episodes and came to the conclusion that employees do make or break a company. And usually what they want most even more than money or raises is to be dealt with respectfully and to have their efforts acknowledged. They want a thank you of some kind whether it be just a sincere thanks, a gift card, money, a promotion of a gift. The graduate shared that his mom who had been an administrative assistant had just quit her job the week before saying she had just had enough. Her boss not only did not see what she had done but did not seem to care about rewarding anyone. When she suggested he give gift cards he said that was fine but she would have to give them and write the note and he put her on a small budget. After a year she suggested they give time off to employees but he refused saying. She noticed morale was extremely low and he did agree and she was to come up with something. She told him to come into the next morning meeting, which employees hated, with food. He told her to get some cheap donuts from the grocery store. She started just standing up to him and said no, he needed to spend some bucks and get quality pastries or food and quality coffee boxes from the Panera Bread down the street. He appointed her to do it and to be sure it was there on time. It worked and employees liked it. She needed a totally different idea for the mid afternoon meetings. So when she saw the huge basket delivered next door with all kinds of treats for employees she was impressed and contacted the basket company, Baskets by Rita. For the same money they put together a huge basket with goodies to put in the break room for everyone to enjoy. It was big and they delivered it to her that day. The boss walked in with the Monet's Fruit and Cheese Basket and there were cheers from the once tired employees. The student made an appointment the next day with his adviser to change his thesis topic to center on the importance of appreciation and acknowledgment for employees contending that they are the most valuable long term investment.

Start your relationship off on a good foot, make a good first impressions!

Making a excellent first impression is at the heart of leadership and job skill musts. Whether you are applying for a job or managing a assignment it is a strategy tool that ranks among the most critical. You want to get off to a excellent start. One article suggests that within 3 seconds someone judges you by your appearance, your body language, you mannerisms, and the way you present yourself. We make impressions by our decisions, what we say and by what others say about us. To make a great impression you must know what was said about you or how you are perceived. If it is beneficial you come with a good track record. If it was not you have a opportunity to change that impression. How you present yourself IS the impression. That first impression must be strong enough to show confidence to establish trust. However over-confidence can destroy trust. It is a fine line. Well-mannered, attentive, on-time, positive, appropriateness and sincerity go a long ways. Fortunately you do not have to sign up for a course or class, but simply google making a good impression to find numerous sites with free and valuable information. The difficulty lies in finding out what others have said about you and what information they already know. That means examining. So that takes care of the first impression. The key is keeping a great impression. Once that you have landed that deal or sold that house or secured that client your impression skills are not locked in. You must expand that impression that they made the right choice and that you truly appreciate them. You do that in your text with a letter or note or a phone call. You do it in your actions with making face to face timely visits when possible. And you are sure to spend a few bucks to maintain that impression. It might be with food or gifts, and not just holiday anticipated gifts. When you first land the sale follow up with something. My neighbor is a real estate agent and used to send a restaurant gift card to her clients after the closing. He now walks into the closing with an impressive and festive gift basket from Baskets by Rita. He already knows the client, so whether it's a beer tub, wine and cheese gift basket, gourmet gift basket he pays the money for it to be a wow factor and make the great impression as he walks through the door. He said the day he came into the room with a baby gift basket for the couple about to become parents they were so excited. Lasting impressions have benefits and he says that the wow factor and the oohs and aahhhs he gets from them carry through. As they thank him as they are leaving, he mentions he would appreciate any referrals they would send his way. When they refer, he has another gift basket sent to their house. He claims this impression has definitely increased his client list. So good impressions are important.