Employee Retention – How to Retain Employees

Hiring employees is just a start to creating a strong work force. Next, you have to keep them. High employee turnover costs business owners in time and productivity. Try these tactics to retain your employees.

–       Offer a competitive benefits package that fits your employees’ needs. Providing health insurance, life insurance and a retirement-savings plan is essential in retaining employees. But other perks, such as flextime and the option of telecommuting, go a long way to show employees you are willing to accommodate their outside lives.

– Provide some small perks. Free bagels on Fridays and dry-cleaning pickup and delivery may seem insignificant to you, but if they help employees better manage their lives, they’ll appreciate it and may be more likely to stick around.

– Use contests and incentives to help keep workers motivated and feeling rewarded. Done right, these kinds of programs can keep employees focused and excited about their jobs.

– Conduct “stay” interviews. In addition to performing exit interviews to learn why employees are leaving, consider asking longer-tenured employees why they stay. Ask questions such as: Why did you come to work here? Why have you stayed? What would make you leave? And what are your nonnegotiable issues? What about your managers? What would you change or improve? Then use that information to strengthen your employee-retention strategies.

– Promote from within whenever possible. And give employees a clear path of advancement. Employees will become frustrated and may stop trying if they see no clear future for themselves at your company.

– Foster employee development. This could be training to learn a new job skill or tuition reimbursement to help further your employee’s education.

– Create open communication between employees and management. Hold regular meetings in which employees can offer ideas and ask questions. Have an open-door policy that encourages employees to speak frankly with their managers without fear of repercussion.

– Get managers involved. Require your managers to spend time coaching employees, helping good performers move to new positions and minimizing poor performance.

– Communicate your business’s mission. Feeling connected to the organization’s goals is one way to keep employees mentally and emotionally tied to your company.

– Offer financial rewards. Consider offering stock options or other financial awards for employees who meet performance goals and stay for a predetermined time period, say, three or five years. Also, provide meaningful annual raises. Nothing dashes employee enthusiasm more than a paltry raise. If you can afford it, give more to your top performers. Or, if you don’t want to be stuck with large permanent increases, create a bonus structure where employees can earn an annual bonus if they meet prespecified performance goals.

– Make sure employees know what you expect of them. It may seem basic, but often in small companies, employees have a wide breadth of responsibilities. If they don’t know exactly what their jobs entail and what you need from them, they can’t perform up to standard, and morale can begin to dip.

– Hire a human-resources professional. If your company is nearing 100 employees, consider hiring a human-resources director to oversee and streamline your employee structure and processes. Putting one person in charge of managing employee benefits, perks, reviews and related tasks takes a huge load off of you and makes sure employees are treated fairly. HR managers are also more up to date on employment laws and trends. They can set up various programs and perks you may not have known existed

Chris Wilkinson.

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.

Business Coach.

Interviewing sales people…… always a special situation.

1.         An interview with a sales person is a sales call (for them). They are there to sell you on hiring them if they are good, they should be using most of the same techniques as they would use representing your business.

2.         Sales people are hunters, not farmers. Look for a higher ego (a high ‘I’  on the DISC scale)  than you would seek in other employees, one that will be fuelled by recognition.   

3.         An experienced sales person will know how to qualify a prospect…in this case, YOU are the prospect. Is he/she asking you qualifying questions? Is he attempting to identify your needs in the position?

4.         Prepare yourself for less control in a sales interview. It is better to let the prospect take over the interview than struggle over the agenda.

5.         Know what type of sales person you are seeking. Poodles and pit bulls are both dogs! A friendly type may be good at institutional selling, but less so for extensive cold calling.

6.         If you are looking for a closer---then make them close on you! Observe how they wind up the interview.  Do they move towards a decision point? Do they ask closing questions?

7.         Check if the sales candidate is able to analyse their own selling technique. Ask: “With what you NOW know about the company, how would you change the responses you gave during the first 5 minutes of this interview”.

 Working with you…..        

Chris Wilkinson.                                                                                                                         

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.               

Business Coach.

Value price for greater profit….

Value-based pricing is a pricing structure based on the ideas of value held by the consumer instead of any other factors. With this strategy, a business attempts to price its products according to what the customer believes a proper value is. Other strategies are based on the cost of the goods or on specific profit margins, but this strategy uses none of these metrics. The advantages of this approach are increased profitability, simplicity, and the ability to understand customers better.

Value-based pricing is a style of pricing utilized by many businesses in the market today. Instead of basing pricing on a specific profit margin on top of the cost of the product, the company attempts to determine how much an individual would pay for the product. This creates a situation where companies have to be very in tune with their customers.

In order to determine how much customers are willing to pay for a product, the company has to do a fair amount of research. Many times, this research will come in the form of surveys or customer panels. The company will try to see what customers think the inherent value of the product is with this research.

Companies that do not use this method of pricing could potentially be leaving profit on the table. Customers usually have an idea in their heads about how much a product should cost. When the company prices its products at this level, it will be able to optimize sales and profit margins. In some cases, companies that do not use value-based pricing will decide on a price that is different than the perceived value. When this happens, it could reduce sales volume or not capture as much profit as would have been possible with the right pricing.

One of the advantages of this pricing strategy is that it is simple to implement. The hardest part about it is the customer research. Once that is completed, the company can simply price its products. It does not have to use complicated formulas to arrive at the price of every product. This makes it easier on the company and saves time overall.

Another advantage of using value-based pricing is that the company will be able to understand its customers better. The company has to put a lot of resources into researching its customers and this often leads to profitable ideas. Value-based pricing can make a company more in sync with its customers and lead to more sales in the future.

Sincerely,  

Chris Wilkinson.

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.

Business Coach.

The problem with low prices…. 
When you price yourself considerably lower than your competitors, your services/products are viewed as being “cheap,” regardless of their true value. This leads to three significant problems:

1. Customers often equate a discounted service with low quality.
2. You’re unable to invest money in your business (i.e., administrative staff, equipment, new services) that would provide new services and more value to your customers.
3. You may miss out on highly profitable clients.

How can low prices drive clients away? If you need a dentist, would you look for the cheapest dentist? Probably not. But, to get the best level of service, you pay the high-end of the range. In a professional service business or in fact, in any business, you’re sought after because of your knowledge or talent in a certain area. Your prices should, and must, reflect that talent at the outset of every relationship with each client.

 

Here are some things to consider when setting your prices, be it now or from the beginning.

1. Do your research. Check out your competition, especially those who are most successful. What do they charge and why are you different? Be prepared to answer that question for your customers and potential customers.
2. Know your costs. You need to set prices in such a way that you make the profit you want and need. Proper pricing can help you ensure the long-term health of your business.
3. Don’t discount. If the value of your services is $5,000, why would you offer it for $4,000? Is it less valuable to this client than it is to others? If so, let’s find more of those clients who find it more valuable. After all, you’re a professional, not a discount shop. 

4. Don’t bill by the hour or by the individual unit. There are few professions or manufacturing sectors in which hours provide a good measure of value. Additionally, with hourly billing the more experienced you become within your  niche, the more efficient you are, the less money you make! The client doesn’t care if it took you 50 hours or 50 minutes to design their marketing piece or produce their widget. As long as they receive a terrific design/product, it holds the same value to them. 

      Working with you.            

Chris Wilkinson

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.  

Business Coach.

Sell more: Convert your features into benefits and into customer needs….

Most customers make their purchase on the basis of benefits as opposed to features….

(Surviving & prospering in the “jungle”)

Your product/service undoubtedly has great features that enable you to survive in the market place. Here is a list of 40 possible features expressed as benefits that may apply to your product/service:

·        Performance….time saved.

·        Reputation

·        Time saved

·        Components prestige

·        Colours

·        Bigger savings

·        Sizes

·        Greater profits

·        Exclusive

·        Greater convenience

·        Uses uniform processes

·        Uniform accuracy

·        Ruggedness 

·        Continuous output

·        Delivery leadership

·        Service, increased sales

·        Price, economy of use

·        Design, ease of use

·        Reduced inventory

·        Availability

·        Lower space rental costs

·        Installation low operating costs

·        Lab test support product story

·        Terms

·        Reduced waste

·        Workmanship , long life

·        Economy of purchase

·        Pride of appearance

·        Economy of use

·        Pride of ownership

·        Recognition

·        Durability

·        Desire to imitate

·        Desire for variety

·        Labour saving

·        Time saving

·        Simple construction

·        Simple operation

·        Security

·        Ease of repair

·        Ease of installation

·        Space saving

Sincerely,  

Chris Wilkinson.

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga).

                  E-mail: buspilot@bell.net

Find out what your employees

 think of their work environment ….

(Show them you care….)

1.      I know what is expected of me at work. 2.      I have the equipment and materials to do my work right. 3.      At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day. 4.      In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for good work. 5.      My supervisor, or  someone else at  work, seems to care about me as a person. 6.      There is someone at work who encourages my development. 7.      At work, my opinions seem to count. 8.      My company’s mission/purpose makes me feel like my work is important. 9.      My coworkers are committed to doing quality work. 10.  I have a close, strong friendship (am “best friends”) with someone at work. 11.  I have talked with someone about my career progress, in the past 6 months. 12. I have had opportunities to learn and grow at work.

5     4     3     2     1      Comments __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1 __________________________________   5     4     3     2     1

Working with you.    

Chris Wilkinson                       

         Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga).

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net

Example of a selling system.

Bought a car recently?........Recognise the selling system (below)?

           Do you have a SYSTEM for your sales effort? If not,  why not? Your system should be documented and updated by the sales manager, as new, more effective strategies are evolved. More.....when you have new sales people join you, you can pass along the "baton" of (sales) knowledge, rather than expecting the new recruit to teach himself from scratch. Save expensive training time & sell more, faster.

• Greeting and qualification--the salesperson will welcome you to the dealership and begin the process of qualifying your intentions, budget, and ability to purchase.
• Product presentation--generally takes place on the showroom floor. The salesperson will give you a "walkaround" presentation of the model in which you are interested.
• Demonstration drive--the salesperson will always attempt to accompany you. They will continue to sell the features and benefits of their car.
• Service walk--you will get an opportunity to see the service department while the salesperson extols its virtues.
• Refreshment--the salesperson will offer you a cup of coffee, usually from a vending machine. Why? Because the action of buying you a cup of coffee will "obligate" you to them, and a hot cup of coffee is best placed on the desk in a...
• Closing booth or desk (do you see the flow here?) It is here that the salesperson will generate a "worksheet" where the prices can be negotiated. After the worksheet is filled out, the salesperson may leave you "to check to see if the car is available." What they are really doing is touching base with the manager to fill him or her in on what has transpired with you thus far.
• Negotiations--the dealership will almost always begin negotiations at full list for their car and a minimal amount for your trade.
• Counteroffers--the goal here is to wear you down with small counteroffers.
• T.O.--The "turn-over"--if the salesperson is not able to "close" you, a sales manager will arrive to continue negotiation.

DOCUMENT and enshrine your selling system in to your sales manual, so that it is there for all to see and understand, especially new sales recruits.

Sincerely,  

Chris Wilkinson.

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga---Canada).

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net

Controlling absenteeism has become a big

concern for companies all over the globe today. Its causes are many but corrective measures can be implemented.

What is absenteeism and can it be measured?

Absenteeism is traditionally defined as a specific employee’s unavailability for work, when work is actually available for this specific employee. Absenteeism can fall under 3 broad categories: legal (such as public holidays), authorized (such as approved holidays) and unauthorized (also referred to as casual absence). Unauthorized absence is what most organizations strive to avoid and keep to a minimum.

“Absence measurement” is essential in order for management to compare between individual absences and departmental absences. Measuring absence is critical to identify the different patterns of employee absence and target the variables affecting it.

There are various ways to measure absenteeism, the most commonly used are the “lost time rate” formula and the “individual frequency” formula.

Lost Time Rate= (Number of Working Days Lost /Total Number of Working Days)* 100

Individual Frequency= (Number of Absent Employees/Average Number of Employees)*100

Limitations do exist when trying to measure absenteeism, whether with data collection or data correctness; thus, managers should be alert to stay on top of such limitations and handle them with care and accuracy.

Why Does Absence Occur?

Work absenteeism occurs for many reasons. Its causes are mainly either personal or workplace related. The most common ones are the following:

A) Personal:

·                                 Age: Proven research shows that older employees tend to be absent less frequently than younger ones (as time stabilizes them in their jobs and the thrill of an unauthorized day off no longer tempts them.) However, once an older employee is actually absent - usually for sickness leaves - the period of absenteeism is usually longer than that of a younger employee.

·                                 Gender: Women tend to be absent more frequently than men usually, especially when they are responsible for the welfare of a family and have variables beyond their control to contend with.

·                                 Seniority: If an employee has been with a company for a long time, his/her absence level tends to become relatively lower. Fresh employees by contrast, are usually tempted to benefit from an “unauthorized” day off to relax and unwind.

·                                 Personal Attitude: Employees with solid work ethics value the contribution they make to their companies and rarely allow themselves to take unauthorized time off. On the other hand people with a poor work ethic don’t frequently carry the same amount of responsibility and do not feel obliged to show up to work every single day.

B) Workplace:

·                                 Job Stress: When a job is stressful, employees tend to take unauthorized casual days off in order to reduce their stress levels and get rid of tension.

·                                 Daily Job Routine: People with repetitive and monotonous jobs tend to take advantage of a casual absence to break free from their somewhat boring daily routine and engage in something more interesting for the day.

·                                 Job Satisfaction: This is interrelated to daily job routine. The more an employee is dissatisfied with his overall job functions, the more he absentees himself from work.

What you, as a company/manager, can DO about it:

·                                 Create a concise absence policy in order to bring down the employee absenteeism level. Make sure your statement is simple and straightforward before communicating it clearly across all organizational levels.

·                                 Communicate the costs of absenteeism appropriately to your department heads to make them aware of it being a serious issue that can not be tolerated unless there is a valid reason.

·                                 Measure absenteeism regularly, monitor closely, and treat all employees and management alike vis-à-vis absente eism.

·                                 Take into consideration that employees could sometimes need to be absent “casually”, but commit yourself to digging deeper into the reasons behind their casual absence.

·                                 Recognize regular and punctual attendance whenever possible and reward it occasionally.

Sincerely,  

Chris Wilkinson.

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga-CANADA).