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BELLWETHER Volume 3 | Issue 1 | First Quarter 2012

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Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

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sections

In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.

~Henry David Thoreau

Letter from the Editor

5

Leadership

6

Sales and Marketing

8

Cover Story

14

Planning

16

Book Report

20

Customer Relationships

22

Industry News

23

Human Resources

24

Social Media

26 FACEBOOK

24 4

TWITTER WEBSITE BLOG

YOUTUBE

Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

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LETTERFROMTHEEDITOR

BELLWETHER

A Blytheco, LLC Magazine Volume 3 First Quarter, 2012 www.blytheco.com www.bellwethermagazine.com

STAFF

EDITOR Apryl Hanson CREATIVE DIRECTOR Greg Went

OPEN FOR AD

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alicia Anderson Mark Badran Lynn Berman Eyal Danon Mark Grimes Apryl Hanson Cortez NaPue Genie Whitehouse Bill Wiersma Jeffrey Williams ADVERTISING SALES Dori Fitch SUBSCRIPTIONS www.bellwethermagazine.com Or contact Dori Fitch (800) 425-9843, Extension 1168 dorif@blytheco.com Bellwether Magazine is published by Blytheco, LLC with principal offices at: 23161 Mill Creek Road Suite 200 Laguna Hills, CA 92653 If you wish to be removed from the mailing list or to add names to the mailing list, send your request, including name, business name, and mailing address to the above address or to dorif@blytheco.com This is a copyrighted publication and all articles herein are covered by this copyright. Any use of the content for commercial reasons or other form or reproduction of material herein is strictly prohibited without prior, written approval of Bellwether Magazine.

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

5

LEADERSHIP

Culture Leaders, You Own It

by Bill Wiersma ight percent increase in top line revenue.

Six percent decrease in expense. Twelve percent increase in inventory turns. As leaders of all stripes look to the year ahead, they set goals (usually tactical) similar to the ones above in hoping to meet the desired objectives of their organization.

It’s so common it’s as predictable as the annual return of the swallows to San Juan Capistrano.

E

Here’s the irony: the thing that invariably drives those tactical

The right environment (culture) is what has enabled the bio-

numbers-- for better or worse--is an organization’s culture. Yet,

tech giant Amgen to get its big-brain scientists to successfully

it’s as rare for leaders to set improvement goals for their culture

collaborate in consistently bringing forth world-class products

as it is common for leaders to set tactical performance goals.

to market. Likewise, Nucor-- the world’s largest steelmaker--

That’s unfortunate.

attributes its market dominating success to their culture, not

Culture, in its most simplistic form, is about the quality of one’s work environment. Renowned organizational consultant Edgar Schein put a finer point on it when he noted that “culture is to an organization what character is to the individual”. A lousy work environment (i.e. culture) is certainly more prone to produce

their mind-blowing, proprietary mini-mill technology. In both organizations, it was the company’s culture that gave them their competitive advantage. This is completely counter-intuitive when one considers the staff of world-class scientists at Amgen or the game-changing technology perfected by Nucor.

undesirable results, while once centered on professional values

The leadership at both Amgen and Nucor (in addition

is more likely to produce desirable ones.

to innumerable other organizations like them) invest a

Managers and leaders, by design, get things done through others. As a result, they should have more than just a passing fancy in the quality of their organization’s work environment (culture). After all, they’re responsible for it.

To be clear, when it comes to ‘environment’, we’re not merely talking about people feeling uncomfortable in the office because the temperature is too high. One’s work environment

considerable amount of time and energy in the development of their culture. Yes, they develop many of the same types of tactical goals we shared at the beginning of this article. Those are important. Yet, they know that tactical goals are far easier (and more pleasurable) to achieve when the environment is right. But, most importantly, they know that they’re the ones most responsible for the quality of that work environment—the health of their culture, if you will.

can be impacted by a myriad of factors---people’s mind-sets and behaviors, being properly led, having the proper training and equipment for the job, etc.

About the Author

Bill Wiersma is the principal of Wiersma and Associates, LLC, a consulting firm that helps leaders create cultures centered on professional ideals. His expertise has been featured in numerous media outlets--including the New York Times. Bill, the author of two critically acclaimed books, is a trusted advisor to executive leadership on senior team development and organizational culture. His latest book is “The Power of Professionalism”

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Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

Consider your own organization, what do you see?

the cart (performance metrics) ahead of the horse (culture).

• Are people looking out more for the organization or more for themselves?

Group, who said that the most important things in life were

• To what degree is trust present? departments?) (trust of top leadership?)

things like trust are most important. And, indeed, it is

(trust across

• When a problem occurs, do people jump in to help or run for the aisles?

• What’s more valued: not rocking the boat or speaking up?

• To what degree are people proud to be associated with the organization?

• What gets rewarded: style or substance?

These are but a few of the questions one might ask in assessing the health of an organization’s culture.

Many

of the answers may be pleasing, others won’t be. Rest assured that leadership has central responsibility in shaping an organization’s culture...in other words, in creating more pleasing answers to the types of assessment questions posed above.

For instance...if trust is low...if collaboration is insufficient... if accountability is shaky...leaders looking to the year ahead must commit to improve these areas. They must set improvement goals for their culture, just as they would for performance metrics. Start now with 2012 in mind.

Remember culture drives performance metrics. Don’t put

It was John Bogle, the legendary founder of The Vanguard often the most difficult to measure. In organizational life, difficult to measure. Yet, that shouldn’t deter a committed leader to making substantive changes to their culture. In the end, you’ll be able to feel the difference in higher levels of commitment, greater esprit-de-corps, less contention, etc.

I advocate to leaders to center their culture around professional ideals.

The premise behind this approach

is outlined in my recently released book—The Power of Professionalism. Also know that each of Bellwether’s 2012 editions will carry an article about an important aspect of developing one’s culture in this manner.

As you’ll see in

subsequent articles, the change leaders are seeking starts with them.

A leader who is not a professional is a leader in name only.

Leaders who want to make a difference must be professionals and must instill professionalism in their people. When culture becomes synonymous with professional, it has greater character, all of which is reflected in higher levels of performance. Isn’t that what you want in 2012?

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

7

SALES&MARKETING

Selling in the C-Suite Through Customer Advisory Boards

by Eyal Danon

H

ow do you win friends and influence execs at the uppermost levels? More and more sales organizations are opting to engage CXOs outside the usual channels -with high-profile customer boards. It beats conventional sales tactics cold.

It’s a common situation in B-to-B and technology businesses. You’ve been selling successfully to people at the operations level. They’re buying from you in IT, in the data center, or maybe in marketing or manufacturing groups.

But you sense that the bigger deals and enterprise-wide sales are being closed somewhere upstairs, long before you even know there is a deal on the table.

Or perhaps you’re offering a solution or product that must be sold at the C-Level because it involves big money, policy issues, or higher-level corporate systems.

But you’re having trouble getting access to the upper reaches.

It’s no secret that having relationships in the C-Suite can work miracles for sales efforts. You’re closer to the centers of power, and privy to the needs and interests that really drive decisions in the organization. With one ‘sale’ upstairs you could accomplish what would take scores of hardfought pitches and proposals at street level. As many sales managers have figured out: “If the CXO wants it, so will everyone else.”

The hard question is, how do you build relationships with the people who run things? How do you garner credibility among top executives -especially if you are not a household name, or if you’re seen as just a vendor or supplier? How do you get heard that ‘strategic’ level? And, most important, what do you say once you’re there?

Jumping the gates For most companies, conventional sales approaches aren’t all that effective at the CXO level. Top executives are insulated by layers of managers and gatekeepers; you can’t cold-call people who don’t take their own calls. And CXOs receive more email and paper mail than they can ever look at.

To get the ear of influential executives, more and more growing technology companies are taking a page from the likes of Adobe, Qualcomm, SAP, Cisco and others.

They are cleverly connecting with the C-suite outside the conventional sales context, through such programs as high-profile executive events and customer advisory boards.

It’s a surprisingly powerful way to build credibility with CXOs and senior executives.

Instead of hammering away through conventional sales channels, you foster a meaningful dialogue with the executives about what’s on their collective minds. Executed properly, this council and event approach lets you build working relationships rather quickly — and without the sometimes contentious feel of the sales situation. You can place yourself in the middle of the action very quickly.

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Bellwether Magazine | Fourth Quarter 2011

Target your top 10 CXOs How do customer boards work? There are any number of permutations, depending on the nature of the industry or products involved. But you essentially bring together 10 or 12 top executives from your customer companies -- or even from prospects — to regularly confer and interact on key issues of common interest. It involves some mix of conference calls, ad hoc discussions as well as on-site meetings once or twice a year.

It might even include large-scale “Executive Expos’ or similar events, where you bring in guest speakers, or have your own customers deliver presentations or demos.

Naturally, finding that area of ‘common interest’ is crucial.

CXOs won’t be interested in getting together to talk about your products, or to hear sales pitches. The idea is to frame the purpose and tenor of your board carefully — which is why it’s a good idea to bring in a specialist to design the program and finesse the recruiting.

Building a C-Level story What sort of topics and issues will make CXOs want to participate?

Much depends on your unique situation, of course. But in general, remember that CXOs will not especially interested in products per se. They wrestle with higher-level issues, and work on longer horizons.

If your business is Storage Area Networks, let’s say, maybe your board could focus on data security issues, or regulatory compliance, business continuity. If you sell PBXs and voice messaging, maybe your board is more about information flow in the organization, or productivity.

With Nice Systems (www.nice.com), who specializes in analytics systems used in contact centers and 911 facilities, we designed the Board to focus on the types of information and intelligence they could harvest from their customer interactions — and how they could use it in the organization.

Other boards have more of an advisory feel, where CXOs provide input and feedback on technology directions, or present business problems they need to solve. The key is to focus on what your CXOs are interested in most -- which is usually their own companies and performance.

We have found CXOs are frequently flattered to be invited, especially when approached in the right way. (It always helps to say you’re looking for ‘forward-thinkers’ and ‘people with unique insights into the industry’.) Your CXOs can also benefit a great deal from a well-run Board; they keep up to date on technologies and trends, and they can equip their organizations with better tools. Many also find it invaluable to network with their peers in other companies; wide exposure in the industry is always a good thing.

A caveat: If a Board degrades into thinly veiled sales venue, execs will bail out quickly and the sponsor’s reputation will take an irrevocable hit. While your goal is clearly to build sales, it’s never wise to be selling product at your Board functions.

Besides, if you manage your discussions right, you can be asked to ‘send someone around to talk to my IT guy.’

What to expect Depending on your particular circumstances, an active and vigorous Board can empower your sales organization several different ways: •

Better access to your execs and decision-makers. Very simply, they will know whom you are -- and will take your calls.

•

Wider influence in your customer’s organization. Referrals from senior execs can open up far more opportunities, and larger ones.

•

Insights into real concerns and needs of your customer organizations. And you’ll typically hear about initiatives or programs long before they filter down to street level. You will also be far better versed in talking about C-Level issues, with better perspective.

Perhaps most important, your Board activities take your company’s stature to a much higher level in the customer’s view. You establish yourself more as a partner organization, a collaborator, a consultant rather than merely a vendor.

That’s where the bigger sales come in.

Why CXOs like it Why would senior executives want to participate in such a program? Oddly enough, we have found execs are often very willing to sign on -- provided of course, your board has an appealing focus. We even find that execs even help in recruiting fellow CXOs in other companies.

www.IgniteAG.com

About the Author Eyal Danon is President of Ignite Advisory Group. Ignite AG opens up a dialogue between companies and senior decision makers leading to improved customer experience levels and to a sales and marketing force that thinks and speaks like your customers.

We specialize in fostering executive connections for our clients between their executives and their customers’ senior decision makers through a variety of solutions including Customer Advisory Boards, User Groups, executive forums and more.

Ignite AG works with Fortune 500 companies as well as other industry leaders across the B2B spectrum. Customers and Member Companies include Adobe, Aetna, CitiBank, AMEX, West Corporation, Sykes, Orange, Convergys, Scottrade, SAS, DirectTV, Fidelity Investment, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and the Principal Financial Group.

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

9

SALES&MARKETING

by Alicia Anderson When the end of the year draws near, it’s certain that you’ll be seeing a lot more of the following things: • The bottom of your wallet as you buy holiday presents for those you love (and those you merely tolerate).

• The cocktail dress or spiffy sweater in the back of the closet that you trot out yet again for this year’s round of parties.

• And predictions for the following year. You know - those predictions from a variety of “authorities” about political events, fashion trends, and all kinds of vital matters.

Who can resist predictions? They make us feel smart, like we’re getting a jump on the competition. Predictions are inevitably also a comment on what’s happened already.

In that spirit, we offer Bellwether readers our Top B2B Marketing Predictions for 2012.

10

1. Personalization of the experience is key. With websites being the most important resource for information for prospective buyers, companies will begin tailoring customers’ “paths” in the cycle, offering them different content based on how they found your business, analyzing web behavior and offering them unique pages or calls-to-action based on what and how they search.

3. B2B goes B2C. We’ve actually been saying this for a while, but it’s time to acknowledge that businesses are made up of people. People buy based on the connections they make and the trust established there. Social media is a great way to make these connections on a personal level, and lead individuals to your business by telling stories that appeal to personal needs and wants.

2. Sales has fewer steps to closing, but must execute better to win. With online information, leads qualify themselves, and help themselves to the information they need to make a preliminary buying decision. Salespeople must be prepared to dig deeper when they finally connect with this educated buyer, asking the right questions to analyze where the fit with your product is.

Marketing can help the sales team be successful by creating this deep, detailed content – maybe an assessment tool or case studies in the target market would help your sales team close business faster. Evaluate your sales cycle and support your team with the materials they need.

4. Marketing must go mobile. We’re all accessing content on phones and tablets, so your website and email must play well in those environments. Especially if you are selling technology.

Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

5. Marketers are journalists. Content marketing (drawing customers to your community by publishing information that they want or need) is King, and marketers must be like newspaper editors – constantly tracking down and telling the story that appeals to as many eyes as possible. We must stay current to stay relevant. Keep that in mind when hiring your marketing team – curious and engaged content creators will help you succeed.

Does Your Customer Strategy Look Like This?

Well it doesn’t have to be that hard.

WWW.BUILD-STRATEGY.COM bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

11

SALES&MARKETING

Inside the Blytheco, LLC Marketing Department Planning Session for 2012

by Apryl Hanson

W

e are no different than any of you, our readers. We need to take time out from our day-to-day roles to plan for a successful year. This November we did just that, and I want to share with you the framework we created to help ourselves with that planning session so that you may do the same.

Goals of a planning session 1.

Create an actual plan - The overall goal of any planning session should be to come out with an actual plan of how you will attack the year.

I’ve seen many planning sessions be completed without any idea about what comes next.

2.

Get everyone’s feedback, involvement and buy-in. This can be tough in a world of different personalities and comfort levels among your team members. In this article, we will talk about how you can inspire and keep the team moving productively.

3. Creating lasting bonding moments - Having people working in a room together for a designated period of time should produce some type of bond. If not led properly, it can often go the other way, driving separation and anxiety in your team members.

What techniques did we use to ensure success?

We created a master timeline of how the three days we were spending together would go. Everyone knew what the expectations were of that time, and agreed that the time we would spend together was important, enough to put aside our daily routine to focus on what we could accomplish together. As the leader, it was important for me to come up with a mixture of both working sessions and fun sessions to not burn-out our team and make people feel brain dead by the end of the day.

The first thing we did was reflect on the past year by asking three sets of questions, one at a time.

• What worked well?

• What didn’t work well?

• What did we learn, and how will we do it differently?

When we went through this exercise I provided post-it notes to everyone on the team (all in the same color so that no one person’s feedback would stand out), so that they could take 10 minutes and think about the year from their perspective and write down their feedback. Everyone wrote each idea on a separate sticky note and posted the notes on a white board or giant sticky-note board (we love 3M). If they found that their idea was already up on the board they would simply place their note underneath the duplicated idea.

As a leader, once everyone’s ideas were included, we went through all of the ideas and made sure that everyone agreed that they should be on the board, and that everyone understood each of the mentioned thoughts.

We repeated this processes with each of the questions until all of our ideas were consolidated. With that we could move into more actionable thoughts verses the reflection portion. We had now set ourselves up for the productive

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Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

conversation of “now what.”

This process, better known as an “After Action Review” can be done at the end of any project or program - it doesn’t have to wait until the end of an entire year. In fact, we use this exercise all year long when we finish a significant project.

Important Dialogue - We talked about those things that weren’t successful versus those things that were successful and tried to understand if there were any themes that we could pick out. This helped us identify themes that contributed to our success and those things that we repeatedly got wrong.

Fun Event - This process ended our first day and we were then able to wrap-up in a fun evening event that developed our team communication. Go to our blog at think.blytheco.com or follow this QR code to see everyone’s thoughts on our team building event.

Start – Stop – Continue As I was ready to move the team into more actionable data and facts, we began the next day with what I have learned as the “Start, Stop and Continue” exercise. I learned the exercise from my favorite HR professionals as a great way to get more feedback from your teams as a leader, but I’ve found that it can also be used to focus in on learning from everyone’s perspective what a team can do to change and transition.

As the day before, we continued with our sticky notes with: • What do we need to START doing as a team?

• What do we need to STOP doing as a team?

• What do we need to CONTINUE doing as a team?

The hardest part for my team was determining what it is that we should stop doing. Believe it or not, our marketing team has some overachievers in it who think they can do everything, and conquer the world. We try, but it is healthier to try to introduce new things while you are sun-setting some of the old. This way your team doesn’t get overloaded,

bogged down, and frustrated with the amount of work that was just added by your planning meeting.

Choosing What to Work on Once we had a list of items we wanted to start doing as a team, we knew it wouldn’t be realistic to do all of them, so we had to narrow it down to those things we wanted to implement in 2012 and measure for success. To do this, I gave everyone 6 votes. They could spend those 6 votes on one item or split them up however they wanted. When the voting was completed we would have our top three items.

Creating a Plan for the Future We could have easily ended the offsite there, but we would have walked out of the room without a plan of how we were going to approach these new things in 2012.

Instead we took one more day to put more depth into the plans.

We divided the team into groups and each team chose their topics and had everyone separate for at least an hour. During that hour they were to come up with specific plans of how we would implement this new idea. After the one hour, teams would come back and present their ideas to each other, so we could ask questions, and make decisions on how we wanted to proceed.

I also had one concept that I felt it was important enough for us to spend time on, so after this exercise, we divided the group again for some brainstorming on an issue that we were faced with to come up with several different approaches to the same challenge. Again, we came back to present the thoughts to each other and make decisions on how we would move forward.

As you can see, you can use these types of exercises in different ways.

For more on planning a successful off-site for your team visit our blog for ideas and my team members’ thoughts on how this planning session went.

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

13

COVERSTORY

4 Things Every Business Should Know

by Mark Badran About Marketing in 2012

I

t seems that each year brings a flurry of predictions (like ‘the death of email’) and cutting-edge marketing tactics (you know, anything associated with social media) bythousands.

Howard Hansen that are going to drive customers to your door by the And while new marketing tools seem to crop up daily, the most important thing to keep in mind is this …

The basics of good marketing haven’t changed – timeless best practices like defining your target market, identifying your competitive differentiators, nurturing leads, and staying top of mind …

But the way people EVALUATE and BUY products and services has DEFINITELY changed.

Social Media is More Than a Fad

Here are four things you should know about marketing in 2012 that can help you find new customers in this brave new socially-aware, Google-dominated world we do business in.

In the past, the ability

Why?

- is still top dog in marketing. But if the content on your website isn’t optimized around important keyword phrases, Google is going to have a tough time finding you. So, too, will the people searching for solutions to the problems that your products and services can solve.

Keywords should be strategically included on your website, blog entries, press releases, and everywhere else you’re posting content online. The Google Keyword Estimator (www.GoogleKeywordTool.com) is a free tool that can be helpful in determining the relevance and search volume of

14

Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

and

awareness,

stay

top

of

costly tactics like

Because search - and specifically, Google search visibility

keywords in your industry.

generate

mind was limited to

A Healthy Dose of Keywords Keywords are paramount to everything you do.

to build your brand,

direct

mail

and

dreaded cold calls.

But social media changed

all

that.

No longer just a fun way to kill time, social media has become a legitimate way of building your business. It’s time to make 2012 the year you suit up and jump in to the deep end of the social pool.

Not sure where to start? Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the largest and most widely used social networks out there. If you aren’t already active on one or all three of them, it’s a good place to start.

It’s worth noting that Google and other search engines are

a traditional newsletter and other one-way marketing

now heavily influenced by activity on social networks. The

communication can’t support.

more people that like, share, tweet, and link to your website, the better your search results are going to be.

Email is Still Highly Effective While social media is the shiny new object attracting a huge audience, email hasn’t lost its luster. Despite predictions of the death of email marketing, it’s still one of the most effective tools for converting prospects into customers.

“Conversion” is the operative term here. Sure, social media is great for generating awareness and building an audience that recognizes your brand. But when it comes to motivating that audience to reach into their wallets and become paying customers, nothing beats timely and targeted email communication.

A blog is also a cohesive way to implement the 3 marketing tips discussed above. For instance, your blog entries can incorporate keywords to improve search visibility, you can share new blog entries with your social network and drive traffic to your website, and you can link to your blog from email communication which can improve readership.

Wordpress (www.wordpress.org) is one of the most popular blogging platforms because it’s easy to use and offers a huge variety of free design templates.

Don’t Forget About the Basics As you look out into 2012 and decide which social media platform, marketing automation technology, or collection of marketing techniques is right for you, don’t forget about the timeless best practices that are critical in making any of those fancy new marketing tools work effectively.

About Mark Badran Mark Badran is Managing Partner at Juice Marketing, LLC. With an extensive background in technology, Mark and his firm help Sage, Microsoft, and SAP business partners squeeze the most out of their marketing dollar.

EMAIL

From newsletters, press releases, and lead generation to blog entries, SEO, and social media coaching, you get fantastic results when you put some JUICE in your MARKETING. Learn more about their turnkey marketing programs and creative writing services at

www.Juice-Marketing.com

Go Blog Wild For many companies, blogging is the hub of their marketing communication … and for good reason. First, Google loves the frequently-updated, fresh content of a blog so your search engine results will probably improve. Plus, blogging is a great way to express your unique voice, personality, and thought leadership as a business … in a way that stodgy old, brochure-style corporate websites can’t. Last, a blog can be dynamic and engaging because your readers can leave comments and contribute to the conversation. Something

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

15

PLANNING

What Went Well in 2011

by Apryl Hanson

I

t is important when we are planning for a new year to look back and reflect on those things that we did well in the previous year. To stay with that theme, I thought it would be fun to take a look at 2011 and what happened that was helpful to small to mediumsized businesses, and what trends will continue to gain momentum on in 2012.

Every business industry will have its nuances, but I’m looking at it from the general small to medium-sized business category and what was helpful to us as a society and a community.

We “Liked” Facebook Why is this important to us? Facebook leveled the playing field

Tablets are Changing our Consumption of Information

for small to medium-sized businesses to be able to get their

We have been forever changed by mobility in our organization.

message out. Asking loyal customers to “like” you on Facebook

Whether it is a phone or a tablet like an iPad, we have been

gave businesses a low cost way to interact more socially with

impacted positively this year. There are three ways in which

their clientele and advanced brands beyond being able to

these devices have changed our world:

send e-mail and call. This helped increase the interaction with loyal enthusiasts of your brand and greatly reduced the cost associated with developing your image. In 2012 we should look to continue to ask people to “like” us and look for ways to do

• Faster access of information.

• Faster generation of information.

• Our higher rate of consumption of information.

specific marketing on Facebook pages that keeps people on

All of these have impacted us in our business by enabling us to

Facebook. Contests for “liking” your page can bring you more

have information at our fingertips in order to make decisions.

followers and help you spread your message faster.

For 2012, wider use of these devices in the work environment

The Cloud Became More Important Why? Many of us realized that “Software as a Service” (SaaS) was

will come into play has you will see people utilizing SaaS systems to access information through their tablets and phones.

Social Media Exploded

much more economically justifiable that purchasing it outright.

Monthly fees associated with cloud products are much friendlier

Whether you realized it or not, or have been taking advantage

on our pocket books and lowered the risk of worrying about

of it or not, social media is here to stay. In 2011, many small

operating systems and IT structure that we may or may not have.

businesses used this as their way to interact differently with

As we move into 2012, look for more offerings to be deployed

customers and potential customers to get their message out.

in the cloud and for many more of us to be considering this

Everyone from restaurants to retail stores to manufacturers

as a long term approach to doing business. As more and more

and distributors was interacting on social platforms like Twitter,

teams are becoming virtual, the usability of only needing a web

LinkedIn, and Facebook – we took interaction to the next level.

connection to work is increasingly attractive.

In 2012, look for more applications to be created for small to medium-sized business to be able to interact quicker, get fans faster and deploy communications to their audience.

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Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

Social Media and Honesty

• Increase in productivity from those employees that work from home.

Social media has also played a role in keeping bigger companies

• Decrease in sick leave because workers from home remain healthier and spread fewer germs.

honest. How did this work for us as small to medium-sized businesses in 2011? For one, we were able to interact with those that we do business with in a different way. If we came across issues, we could take it to public forums to get answers quickly and get challenges resolved. This changed the way we worked with some of our larger vendors. In 2012, we will see more interaction, and in fact, many larger businesses will push smaller organizations

• Overall organizational effectiveness and telecommuters stay focused on tasks/projects.

• Decrease in turn-over as employees who are telecommuting are on average happier and less likely to leave.

• Reduction in parking requirements (if you have them).

• Office space savings (if you can downsize).

to communicate with them via these forums for quicker sharing of

I did the math at the calculator online at http://www.telecommutect.

information.

com/employers/service6.php and the average first year return is

Women continue to get more and more of the corner offices According to the American Express OPEN’s business census survey, women-owned businesses in the United States increased by a rate of 1.5 times (50%) the national average. Women-owned firms now account for 29% of all business in the U.S. While this has had a positive impact on small business growth when looking at privately

$7895 and annual savings after the first year are about $8435 for a $50,000 employee telecommuting 2 days a week from home, not to mention what the savings will be to the environment and your own employee’s reduction in gas consumption. In 2012 the prediction is that the trend will continue to increase and more and more employees will be working either part time or full time from home.

Social Media add-ons galore

held firms, we are also seeing the trend of more women getting corner offices in larger organizations as well. Online in Ted Talks,

In 2011, there has certainly been an influx of apps for social media

Hanna Rosin speaks about how the power dynamics are shifting in

but there has also been a change in the way many of these apps

the world between men and women, and this is playing out in our

interact with you and your devices. Ever notice your Smartphone

businesses.

asking you to give it permission to access your location-based data?

• For every two men that graduate from college, three women will graduate.

This is because many social media applications are now marketing

• Women are dominating careers as doctors, lawyers, bankers and accountants.

and/or interacting with you based on your location. Now with

• Women make up 50% of the workplace.

your location if not have it done automatically. Twitter does this as

• Couples using fertility clinics are requesting girls seventy-five percent of the time.

well. Also, with Twitter and Facebook’s recent upgrades, it’s now

• Young women are earning more than young men and are more likely to be the first time home buyers by themselves.

generally do it in two clicks.

Facebook’s recent mobile app upgrade, you can seamlessly input

much easier to share media from your Smartphone. You can now

For 2012 this will impact us as more and more women will be

You might have noticed an increase in location-based or group

holding those high paying positions. We will shift our marketing

selling. By now most of us how already heard of Groupon, but

efforts to be more women-focused because they will be the ones

in 2011, livingsocial grew tremendously, and that’s not even

making larger purchases.

considering their $175 million investment from Amazon, who now

Telecommuting makes more and more sense for employees

also has their own location-based selling service. Google also released their ‘Offers’ program. And lastly, rounding out the group Facebook also offers special daily ‘deals’. Groupon and livingsocial

In 2005/2006, the National Technology Readiness Survey (NTRS)

now also their instant buying programs, allowing consumers to get

found 11% of employees are telecommuting either full or part

many of the same offers with an instantaneous purchase.

time, accounting for 10.6 million people. The survey also asked, for those not currently telecommuting, if their company offered telecommuting, would they take advantage of it? According to that statistic telecommuting would grow from 11% to 16%. In 2011 we have seen this growth, and what is it doing for us? Some of the

2011 has seen tremendous growth in location based services (LBS).

I would expect 2012 to see several of these companies merge or unfortunately shut down due to a glut of similar companies in the marketplace.

direct benefits of having employees telecommute are:

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

17

PLANNING WHAT SHOULD SMB’S CONTINUE TO DO IN 2012

by Apryl Hanson

W

e all started a few new things this past year and each year we should learn from our past, not only the things we should stop doing, but those things that we should continue because we got it right. Across the board small to medium-sized businesses have been focusing on their core strengths and getting those things that they are really good at even better. There are several things we should keep doing in 2012 to continue our success.

Learning from failure

Looking for pieces of the business to outsource

We learned not just in 2011 but in the past few years that we have gotten a few things wrong. Instead of sticking our heads in the sand we have turned to use this to our advantage and learned from our mistakes. We should create rituals not only to learn from our mistakes but to learn from our successes and this is a practice we should continue into the future.

The number one thing that SMBs outsource is payroll, but now many more online solutions are becoming available that help SMBs take that headache and worry away. We learned this past year that seeking outsourced solutions is worthwhile for our businesses, and in 2012 we will continue to look for things that are smart to outsource. Things like tax calculations, social media, website design, and marketing are just a few new areas that businesses will continue to outsource more in 2012.

Looking for more effective ways to do business Instead of focusing on efficiencies, we’ve turned to results and effectiveness. In 2012 we should continue to look for ways to drive more effective results in our organization focusing on leading indicators like client loyalty and employee happiness.

Automating more processes To go along with looking for more ways to be effective, we have automated a lot of processes this past year. The numbers of clients that we work with are looking for ways they can get a return on investment by purchasing enhancements to their systems in which they can reduce head count or waste. This is something that SMB’s will continue to do in 2012, as we want to use our resources as wisely as we possibly can.

Going paperless We have seen a huge shift in the small to medium-sized business space to looking for solutions that allow them to eliminate the need for paper and to have processes that allow them to electronically save and transfer files, even with processes attached to them such as approvals. This will continue to be the focus in 2012.

Fine tuning reporting If you are looking for ways to be more effective and automate processes, you need information at your fingertips. In 2011, SMB’s learned they wanted information in a format in which they could examine those results and add their own analysis.

When we have held customer events this past year on this topic, they have been our best-attended events - this is important to the clients we serve. Fine tuning reporting will continue to be a focus in 2012, as we need to have visual data representing what is going on in our businesses so we can make decisions about the future.

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Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

Going mobile In 2011 we dipped our toe in mobile solutions, but now most people are accessing online social media sites and e-mail from their phone. We will continue to look for ways that our employees can access our systems remotely. Another way to increase productivity is to allow employees to telecommute.

Even one day a week increases employee satisfaction and loyalty which correlates into happier customers and profitability. In 2012 more of our workforce will be logging in remotely and that will cause all of us to look for more effective ways for them to access the tools they need quickly and easily.

Giving back We may not have had a lot of money to give, but small to mediumsized businesses found ways to donate to causes they were passionate about. In everything from assembling teams to walk for a cause to giving employees hours to spend with their charity, we became more giving in 2011, and I anticipate that to continue in 2012.

PLANNING

DEAD What Didn’t Work for Small to Medium-Sized END Businesses in 2011

by Alicia Anderson

I

t’s been a year full of challenges for the SMB (small to mid-sized business), but also a year of unexpected promise. The economy continues to be uncertain and unemployment is still too high. Global volatility and impending regulations threaten stability in the SMB sector.

But SMBs are also getting smarter and learning how to take advantage of the many new tools and tactics that help them level the playing field with larger businesses. Never before have smaller companies had so many advantages when it comes to technology, branding, messaging, and growth.

What didn’t work for SMBs in 2011? A few concepts that hit the skids in 2011 as SMBs continue to evolve: • Outsourcing – There are signs that manufacturing may be coming back to the US, after a trend of outsourcing to overseas resources. Because of the growing expense of employment overseas, declining quality, and increasing shipping costs, 61% of manufacturing executives surveyed by Accenture say they are considering “more closely matching supply location with demand location,” according to a June, 2011 article on finance.fortune.cnn.

I also love the story from an October New York Times article about Taphandles, a company that manufactures beer marketing products, like cool handles for beer taps.

Owner Paul Fichter cites a 300% increase in labor costs in their Chinese plant since 2006 and a lack of clarity in the “rules” of doing business in China as reasons for his company’s decision to shift some of its manufacturing back to Washington.

• Boring Websites – The days of website-as-brochure are over. If your website is out of date, static, or broken, get help now. If your website is all “me, me, me,” proclaiming all the great things your business does and the awards you have won, no one cares. If your website features a lot of “gobbledygook” about how your “robust solutions” and “customer-centric approach” can help customers achieve a new “paradigm” of success, get real. Plain language is where it’s at now – tell customers what’s in it for them in regular old words. But just for fun, try the Plain English Campaign’s Gobbledygook Generator first, at www.plainenglish.co.uk.

• Finding skilled workers on the internet – One of the greatest threats to economic growth in the US today is the “skills gap.” Legions of American workers have missed the memo that information and technology are how we will work now and into the future, and are finding themselves left behind. Sadly, our educational system is not keeping up with economic realities. Skilled workers who can process information and adapt to using technology to help them do their jobs are in great demand, despite unemployment that hovers around 10% in many states, but you won’t find those workers on Monster.com anymore. Smart companies are using LinkedIn and personal connections to find new employees.

• Work life balance – Work-life balance is fast becoming an outdated concept. Work is everywhere with mobile technology (phones, tablets, and “cloud” solutions), and the growth of telecommuting means workers are almost always “on.” But it also means we can deal with our personal life anytime, too. The lines are blurry, and life is no longer conveniently compartmentalized for many of us. It requires a mastery of time management and organization to keep up, but get used to it!

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

19

BOOKREPORT

by Geni Whitehouse

N

o matter how terrifying the thought might be, at some point in your life you will need to stand up and make a presentation. It doesn’t have to be a formal presentation. You might be toasting the bride and groom at a wedding, describing a new product

you’ve designed, or moderating a panel at a wine tasting dinner. In any circumstance, a good presentation can be the difference between an evening to remember and an affair to forget. With a little help from these three books, you can learn to not only overcome your fear of public speaking, but to actually make a difference for your audience.

Even a Geek Can Speak: Low-Tech Presentation Skills for High-Tech People | Joey Asher Start here. Even if you aren’t involved in technology this book is a goldmine. It addresses every issue that has probably ever come up in a bad presentation you have witnessed. Joey’s helpful and humorous approach to solving common presenter problems will help anyone who wants to get better at making their point. He provides a structure and a framework for not only crafting an interesting message, but also for delivering it. His book includes plenty of examples that help to bring his points (and your next presentation) to life.

The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within | Edward R. Tufts If you’re sick of watching a boring speaker wade through the world’s biggest PowerPoint slide deck, this book is for you. This short but intellectually stimulating guide will make you question your approach to creating charts and graphs and every other form of communicating data. Tufts, who had been called “The Leonardo da Vinci of data” doesn’t try to hide his disdain for PowerPoint style sheets or his disgust with bulleted lists. He is dismayed that people with intelligent thoughts are reduced to pitch-makers by their reliance on Microsoft PowerPoint and suggests Microsoft Word as our best tool for effective presentations.

He dares us all to return to a world of full sentences and detailed analysis.

Slide:ology, the art and science of creating great presentations | Nancy Duarte Rather than blaming PowerPoint for the millions of bad presentations that occur every day, Duarte aims to improve the use of the tool in conveying a message. She takes a designer’s look at common ways of conveying different messages and offers case studies to make her point. Her secrets even helped Al Gore lose his famously robotic presentation style. Whether you decide to use PowerPoint in your next presentation or not, the book’s insight into different design principles, and its fascinating examination of color, motion, and even fonts will help you improve every form of communication.

About Geni Whitehouse A self-proclaimed nerd, former technology executive and CPA firm partner, Geni Whitehouse has made it her mission to eliminate boring from the world of presentations. The author of “How to Make a Boring Subject Interesting: 52 Ways Even a Nerd Can Be Heard,” Geni believes her mission as a presenter is to understand a subject well enough to approach it from an angle that will not only educate her audiences—but will resonate with them. Learn more at www.evenanerd.com.

20

Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

Put Some In Your Cost-effective marketing programs designed for Sage, SAP, and Microsoft business partners including: Social Media Coaching Newsletters Press Releases Success Stories Creative Writing Website SEO Blog Entries

Geni Whitehouse SPEAKER AUTHOR CONSULTANT NERD She’s been called the “comedian CPA.” A self-proclaimed nerd, experienced software executive and former CPA firm partner, Geni Whitehouse has made it her mission to eliminate boring from the world of presentations.

STRATEGY EXECUTION EVANGELISM CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

Squeeze the MOST Out of Your Marketing Dollar 949.340.3374 www.juice-marketing.com

www.evenanerd.com

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

21

CUSTOMERRELATIONSHIPS

Y

ou say that you want them - devoted cult-like customers following you around, singing your praises…but what have you done for them lately?

Here are our tips for 2012 to make sure you have a successful year: • Get out of the office and make some visits to customers. Not just any customers - your good ones. The ones that you love and they love you. Make the most of the time together by asking their advice on what you’ve done right in 2011 and what you’ve done wrong. Ask this very important question “What one thing do you wish we were offering?” You might find out that you should be offering a product or service to them that you currently do not. This is one way to increase customer satisfaction and improve your revenue per customer.

• Drop your time wasters! If you have clients that aren’t happy with you and you aren’t happy with them, it is a misuse of your company’s time to continue to try to serve them. In fact, too often companies modify their product and service offerings to cater to these customers and end up becoming more attractive to clients that look like them. Trust me, you don’t want more customers that don’t like you buying more and taking more of your time.

By removing these types of customers you will have more time to spend with the customers who love you, making better relationships and increasing overall return on investment with them.

• Identify customers with potential! That is right, have your teams go through their lists and identify customers that could be potentially much bigger clients if they had some time spent with them. Book appointments and take representatives out along with even an executive from your company to better understand their potential. You will make a big impression and uncover business opportunities.

22

Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

Have you put together a plan to make sure that your customers are being delivered the best experience ever?

What is even required to do that?

by Apryl Hanson • Do the math. Look at the statistics on your clients for this year vs. previous years. If you don’t have those statistics, get them. You can do this with most CRM and ERP packages if they are integrated, allowing you can see what your cost to get a client is, what your cost to service a client is and what your revenue per client is.

You can also segment customers by a rating system of your choice so you can understand better who your top clients are. You can look at likeability factor, revenue per year, revenue per transaction, repeat business and more to determine who your top long term customers are today, and who will be tomorrow.

• Get out of your box! You may be doing things the same way that you have for the past ten years, but that doesn’t mean that they are the best ways to do things. Look at your organization from the outside, the customers’ view and document every touch point that you have with your customers from the time they are a prospect all the way through the process of being an ongoing customer. In each stage (such as prospect, lead, sales process, on-boarding, new product use, repeat customer), document the ways in which the clients receive information and interactions with you.

Is it through phone calls, websites, direct mail? Even document your invoicing process. When you look at it in this non-emotional way you can see holes in your processes. Highlight the ones you are doing well – and then focus on what you can do to improve the holes and the areas you aren’t performing well in. This will help you plan projects for 2012 that will immediately improve the customer’s experience.

INDUSTRYNEWS

Maximize Your Chances for Software Funding

by Mark Grimes

I

mproving your business and personal credit profile is critical before applying for a software lease. Below are some simple ways to do this, which will maximize your chances of obtaining an approval with the most favorable terms. you are applying with as part of the application process.

Is your company in good standing?

All corporations must be in good standing with the department of corporations in the state which they are authorized to conduct business. Every state offers an online portal, generally free of charge, to check your corporation status. Make sure you are on active status, and that the ownership of your company is properly reported. Any misinformation regarding ownership, or if your corporation is inactive, will delay the lease approval process and in some cases be reason enough for a decline.

Update your Dun & Bradstreet report.

Dun & Bradstreet is the benchmark business credit report banks rely upon to evaluate the business credit of all companies nationwide.

This report will analyze previous leases and loans and pay history with current suppliers. It will also list all liens, suits and judgments and report past bankruptcy filings, and detail current ownership and the respective corporate titles. Lastly, they will assign a Paydex score and a rating. To be acceptable for approval, you must have a Paydex score of 65 and rating of 1r2. Scores lower than this will either be declined or be considered for approval at unfavorable terms. To obtain a report, call 800-333-0505. Make sure to clarify the corporate ownership and officers, as any discrepancy will cause delays in the approval process.

Are personal guarantees necessary?

Personal guarantees are generally required for closely-held companies that have been in business less than five years.

Providing audited or reviewed financials may eliminate the requirement, if the company has a profitable history.

Make sure your personal credit is in order by contacting Experian, Equifax and Transunion. They will provide you with a free credit report, and help you dispute any erroneous information. Subscribing to a third part service such as Free Credit Report .com will also help you monitor any suspicious activity. Banks consider the personal credit of the owners to be the most important factor in making a credit decision. If your credit score is below 650, review your report to determine ways to increase your score. Scores under 650 may be considered for lease approval, but generally at less favorable terms.

Are financial statements required?

I most cases, financial statements and tax returns are required for transactions greater than $100,000. Providing qualified financials will always yield the lowest rate and can save you thousands of dollars over the term of the lease. Before applying for a lease, make an appointment with your tax professional to discuss the merits of your financial statements. If your company has been historically profitable, you may consider including your statements in hopes of qualifying for the best terms possible.

Have you borrowed money before?

About the Author

If you have previous borrowing experience with a bank, leasing company, or any other financial institution, make sure that call your lender and have them provide you with a debt rating. Lenders prefer to make loans to companies with previous borrowing experience. Provide this information to the leasing company

Mark Grimes is with Dimension Funding, one of the most respected equipment lessors in Southern California.

Dimension uses its almost-30 years of expertise and knowledge to create leasing programs that best fit our clients’ needs. Learn more about Dimension Funding at www.dimensionfunding.com.

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

23

Managing the Employee Selection Process: An Objective Look for 2012

R

by Jeffrey Williams

ecently, one of the very top service companies in the world hired a highly professional, well-qualified executive to run its Worldwide Sales organization after an exhaustive search. The candidate was considered “bulletproof” since they were already highly respected and well known in the same industry as the hiring company, had over twenty years of exemplary experience, and had been thoroughly vetted by a blue ribbon Board Selection committee. The individual had starred in numerous interviews at the highest level of the company, which is known as a premier place to work. The person even passed a thorough background check. Everything was in place for a great on-boarding experience, right? This consummate professional resigned less than a week in the position.

How could such a precise process wind up going so terribly wrong?

If companies really want to improve employee

greatly complicated the job of identifying the best

management practices in 2012, maybe they should

candidates for important positions. This is coupled

explore what the vast majority of the Fortune

with an environment of candidate desperation

500 have already learned and implemented.

as unemployment and economic pressures force

That is: behavioral and psychological testing for

even well intentioned candidates to exaggerate

potential new hires, newly on-boarded employees

their qualifications and past accomplishments.

and high potential candidates for promotion or

Internally, the situation for selecting candidates to

increasing responsibility can predict with amazing

fill high leverage opportunities is often not much

consistency where organizations and potential

better. Performance reviews often focus on specific

superstar employees simply are not culturally or

skills and knowledge while leaving the areas of

organizationally aligned for success.

management style capabilities vague or subject to

The problem with many companies’ current processes is that they focus on inherently biased

24

interpretation by internal interviewers at the time such candidates respond to internal job postings.

data. The plethora of materials and “How To” books

For 2012, I would urge progressive HR professionals

on writing resumes to take advantage of applicant

to look to behavioral testing as an objective source

tracking key word scanning, articles on “How To

to supplement their Best Practice processes already

Interview” to stack the deck in favor of the candidate

in place. Well honed, professionally administered

and the ever present legal liability associated

behavioral and psychological tests can provide

with “Reference Checking” prior employers has

objective analysis that examine a candidate’s fitness

Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

for job responsibilities and can be an excellent predictor of future success in the prospective job role. In order to get the most value from these tests, one should look at three attributes: 1. Ensure the testing organization you choose has a well documented history of success in delivering tangible insights about its tested candidates.

2. Check the “validation” techniques and principles of test construction to verify they are nondiscriminatory and scientifically valid.

3. Most importantly, make sure tests are directed at specific behavioral attributes necessary for the candidate’s success in the specified career role they will be assuming. The chosen Assessment company should have an industry skilled Professional Services team already in place to work with its clients to confirm these attributes are proven to produce top performers in these specific job responsibilities.

While behavioral and psychological testing is not a substitute for established HR Best Practices in sourcing, qualifying, interviewing, background checking and ultimately selecting the best candidates for critical leverage positions in the company, it can offer targeted objective input that can help differentiate between just “qualified and talented” candidates and those that can make a really meaningful positive impact for years to come i.e., a “real difference maker.” By building your workforce in 2012 using these proven predictive tools for success, your company should see the impact on your organization and its growth in revenue and profitability not only in the New Year but for many subsequent years thereafter.

About the Author Jeffrey Williams is Vice President of Channel Sales and Alliances for The Devine Group of Cincinnati, Ohio. Williams has over 30 years of experience in the HR Services industry with outsourced payroll processing and tax compliance services, background and employee qualification screening as well as executive leadership in the HRMS software industry, including leadership of Sage’s Abra product sales organization.

The Devine Group serves more than 4,000 clients worldwide and has over 40 years service strengthening companies by providing them with insightful behavioral and psychological assessment testing. Information is available at www.devinegroup.com

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

25

SOCIALMEDIA

The Top 6 Things to Expect fr

2012

by Cortez Napue

S

ocial media is an ever-evolving branch of marketing. There seems to always be new products or updates enticing us to forever be logged into our Facebook accounts. This year we saw the social media giant introduce Facebook timeline while also changing the way we interact the platform by adding more filter options and real-time features. Google also revealed Google+ in 2011 which is supposed to be their social networking WEBSITE answer for Facebook cynics. While Google+’s membership is nowhere near Facebook’s 800 million, its brand pages are showing promise.

Although there have been continual changes in the sector, social media is dynamic and has the ability to adapt to virtually any cultural shift.

As human preference is always changing, social media must do the same in order to remain relevant. With this in mind, it’s safe to bet that there will likely be other significant changes in social media in 2012. Here are my top six picks for what trends to expect in the upcoming year:

1. Social Commerce

– The other day I went to the 24 hour Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York City and checked in using Foursquare. The App let me know that I could make purchases there using

26

Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

the Apple app which was great YOUTUBE because the line to the cashier was out the door.

So, I scanned the iPhone case’s QR code with my phone, the product total was taken from my iTunes account, and I was e-mailed a receipt. Of course Apple asked me if I wanted to share my purchase on Facebook, but I respectfully declined.

Similarly Google has Google Wallet which turns your mobile phone into a virtual wallet by allowing you to simply touch your phone

FACEB

rom Social Media in

BOOK

to a device for payment. Interestingly enough, Google Wallet also stores offers to your profile and sends loyalty information to merchants who accept it. Groupon and LivingSocial now allow you redeem offers instantly with the latter letting you receive certain offers for free depending on if you’ve met the sharing threshold. In 2012, we will definitely see wider acceptance TWITTER of social commerce as more and more people get on board.

2. R e a l - T i m e – Marketing We’re already seeing the beginning of this trend with Facebook’s ticker (the box in the upper right that shows all your friends’ posts in real-time), but with Google soon to introduce their new social search engine, people will be able to search for all of your public posts and tweets as soon as you publish them. The search engine is said to also offer the ability to search by gauged importance and current human sentiment. Twitter, which shows microblogs in real-time, will officially become a legitimate source for current information in 2012. If people or

BLOG

organizations want to verify a story’s validity or to announce something, they will likely take to Twitter. With this and the aforementioned Google Wallet and Groupon Now, it is clear that we are becoming a…

3. Right-Now Culture

– No one likes to wait anymore. If we can’t accomplish or get something by the time we exhale, we’re no longer interested. Undoubtedly, social media (ah-hem Twitter) has helped fuel this shift in paradigm while the mobile phone has added gasoline to the fire. In 2012, look for an increase in social checkins where people share the venue they’ve just arrived at. When you check in, there will likely be more integration between other apps (the Apple store example above) and information will likely be presented to you based on your location. HBO and Comcast now offer you the ability to watch TV shows instantly as long as you have an internet connection. Next year, look for an increased ability to share content with these products similarly to how Hulu allows you to Facebook share a specific moment without ever leaving the page. Keep in mind, the faster we interact with these applications, the quicker these businesses are getting our personal info and in turn, the quicker and more effectively they can market to us.

(Continued on page 28) bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

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SOCIALMEDIA (The Top 6 Things to Expect from Social Media in 2012 - Continued from page 27)

4. Decentralized Social Media at Work – With more and more people using

to grow, digital security will be of the utmost importance.

social media each day (Facebook will have probably added another million members by the time I’ve written this sentence), it’s likely to become commonplace for people to share their thoughts, opinions and personal beliefs online. Remembering that many people place their place-of-employment in their social network profiles, the now widespread acceptance of social media will force many to inherently become brand ambassadors for their workplace. So, instead of having one person be responsible for a unified message, you will likely see more and more employees promoting your brand and creating their own messages. Many argue that restricting your company so that it allows only one centralized social communication negates something that is importantly fundamental to the very fabric of social media – the element of authenticity.

Social media is intended to enable us to share organically with one another. How can a person or business do this if social media work policies are restrictive or biased? – or so the argument goes. Social media will become an increasingly shared responsibility across multiple departments in the very near future.

6. The Dawn of the Social Search – I

5. Social Media Privacy Demands – In 2012, more people will become comfortable with sharing personal preferences but more cautious of whom they’re sharing with. And of course, in the tech world, the more widely something is used, the more vulnerable it becomes to a digital threat. Just ask Microsoft and the computer virus. With Facebook going from 250 to 750 million users in two short years and with this number expected 28

Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

already mentioned Google’s plans to totally change the way we use search engines, but in 2012 there will be an emphasis on personalized search results, that is, when you search for something, you will likely first see results that are more relevant to you based on your personal preferences and social connections. We’ve already seen Google Plus this year, which basically adds a ‘Like’ button to the entirety of web search. Yes, you can now rank individual search results and Google remembers this info. Google introducing a social web search will probably also increase the number of active Google+ users ten-fold as many will feel compelled to join its ranks even if only to get personalized search results.

If you’ve picked up a smartphone recently, you’ve probably noticed that virtually every application or program allows you to seamlessly share what you’re viewing. The world is being forced to integrate with social media – from CRM adapting a social function, to every show on TV now having and advertising their own Twitter hashtag, the world and how we communicate is changing. As social media and mobile media arguably makes for a greener planet, it has yet to fully be seen if it actually improves or harms our interpersonal social skills. Social media makes it easier to communicate, but does it make us better communicators? Only time will tell, but I believe 2012 will make for a most telling year.

SOCIALMEDIA

Social Networking

by Lynn Berman (a person)

W

e are so busy these days trying the keep up with all the social networking tools available on the internet. Clearly there are new ways to leverage social media sites evolving every day.

Let’s figure out what might happen if the “people” element was subtracted from the equation and automation was left unattended.

Earlier this week one of my LinkedIn connections actually used email (almost manual social networking) to connect me with another LinkedIn connection (of his, not mine) to introduce the husband of this LinkedIn connection to me. Now, let’s see…I think that is three degrees of separation.

My LinkedIn connection knew me well enough to know what the possibilities were and decided to add the human element to the situation. Long story short, the introduction was made because of a social media site and was executed with human intervention.

What would have happened, or not happened, hadn’t a live person intervened in the LinkedIn process?

The “husband” and I actually met in person over coffee, another “manual” social networking activity, and we were able to move forward towards the goal of the introduction. The “husband” is looking for a position with an organization I happen to have some influence in, and is seriously being considered for the position. I think without the human touch, the husband’s resume would have stayed in a pile on a desk without action. Oh, by the way…resumes for this position were being solicited via a social media site for posting jobs.

One possibility: My LinkedIn connection could have introduced us via LinkedIn. I may or may not have responded or may not have even seen the introduction. I may have seen the introduction too late for the intention of the introduction or not at all!

Second possibility: I may have totally ignored the introduction. After all there is so much spam taking place and who has time to validate whether something is important or not?

BRAVO to all parties for knowing when to leverage social networking tools and lace them with the human touch.

About the Author Lynn Berman is a Partner with eMarketing Geeks, working with organizations creating strategies that leverage social media. eMarketing Geeks never loses sight of the human aspect of the process. Learn more at www.emarketinggeeks. com.

bell•weth•er -noun: one who takes initiative or leadership

29

HUMANRESOURCES Employee Hiring 2012 Can you plan to be successful?

by Apryl Hanson

A

s time moves on and another year changes over, we will be closer to the timeframe in which more baby-boomers in the workforce who are well-trained will be leaving us and we will not only be faced with the dilemma of how to replace them, but how to train those new hires to the level of the strength we will be losing in our businesses. This means that for 2012 we should all have a focus on how we do that in our businesses successfully, setting us up to be ahead of the curve.

The number one most important thing that can help you in 2012 is to define a hiring process. It doesn’t have to be anything extreme, but it does help if you have a process defined. It can be as simple as:

1. Identify needs – job responsibilities, level of experience, personality characteristics, pay level.

2. Develop a resume pool – Internet, employee referrals, job fairs, networking, advertising, and agencies can all be a source for you to develop a resume pool. Make sure you have an adequate response before jumping into the process any further.

3. Review your resume pool – sort it into three piles of those candidates that meet criteria those that meet most of the criteria and those that do not meet the criteria.

4. Interview cycle – make sure you are prepared to ask job-level questions, and questions that relate to what they have done in the past, not what they “will do” in the future. Also, make sure you look for any missing or incomplete information or facts on resumes and ask questions related to those mistakes.

5. Check references, it matters - Contrary to belief, you can get a lot of information from past supervisors about a

candidate. A lot of time people are willing to give you valuable thoughts about that person. If a candidate can’t come up with good references, and if the references they give you aren’t very forth coming about information regarding the candidate, this may be a red flag. Ask questions related to the job for which you are hiring, your company’s values and past behaviors demonstrated on the job.

6. Extend an offer – First make a verbal offer of employment contingent on a successful background check completion and execution of employment agreements. After you have verbal agreement, then proceed with a written offer of employment.

7. On-boarding – Make sure that you have everything ready to go internally the day your new employee is coming on board. Everything from the announcement to the team, work space, agenda and training for the first week, training plan for longer term and performance objectives. New hire orientation should be done the first day of employment. Even small things like figuring out who will take them to lunch the first day will make the difference between creating a positive experience or a negative one.

8. Training and development – Have a plan for the ongoing training and development of your employees.

There are products out there that can assist you not only with your hiring and employee processes but now with training and development of those employees long term. The closer we get to having a retiring workforce, the more training and development of new employees will be important to our businesses. Those companies that become experts in this area will soar above and beyond those that aren’t.

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Bellwether Magazine | First Quarter 2012

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