Bellwether - A Blytheco Magazine - Not Your Fathers Technology

BELLWETHER

Volume 4 | Issue 2 | Second Quarter 2013

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s e c t i o n s

“It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.” ~Clive James

Letter from the Editor

5

Leadership

6

Sales and Marketing

8

Technology

14

Cover Story

17

Corporate Finance

18

Book Report

23

Industry News

24

Human Resources

26

Customer Profile

30

24

6 8 13

Call Centers and CRM Integration

20

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

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LETTERFROMTHEEDITOR

BELLWETHER

A Blytheco Magazine Volume 4 Second Quarter, 2013 www.blytheco.com www.bellwethermagazine.com

STAFF

EDITOR Apryl Hanson CREATIVE DIRECTOR Greg Went CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alicia Anderson Avalara Donna Baeza Scott Cramer Joshua Estes Jeff Gregorec Apryl Hanson Ginger Kittinger Greg Went Bill Wiersma Geni Whitehouse ADVERTISING SALES Ginger Kittinger SUBSCRIPTIONS www.bellwethermagazine.com Or contact Dori Fitch (800) 425-9843, Extension 1168 dorif@blytheco.com Bellwether Magazine is published by Blytheco 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

Results in the Workplace

How to get them and at what cost?

by Bill Wiersma

F

or a leader, what’s not to like at the promise of your team delivering great results?

And since the leader gets things done through others, to what degree should the leader really care about how the results get generated? The answers to these two questions have played a big role in the thinking behind non-traditional policies that have impacted work environments at several high-profile organizations in the past few years.

This article attempts to help the reader sort the nuggets of truth from the hype about three contemporary work environments that might be loosely called ‘results only’.

In a nut-shell, it was believed (or had been promised) that these status-quo busting policies would lead to better results. It’s not quite that simple, but that’s the gist of it. What is the core message to employees? We care passionately about the results you are accountable for and we are less interested in how you get those results. There are exceptions, but not many. Consider: •

Netflix’s unlimited vacation policy (employees are allowed to take as much vacation time as they wish).

•

Best Buy’s, now defunct, ‘work anywhere you wish’ policy (while in effect, some corporate staffers were rarely seen at the office).

•

Videogame maker Valve’s philosophy of selfmanagement (no bosses, no promotions, few titles).

These three examples illustrate how employees were granted varying degrees of greater autonomy while, in turn, were expected to demonstrate greater degrees of accountability. Despite the significant short-term difficulties in implementing these approaches, all three companies did so because they wanted to reinforce the importance of results above all else. At the end of the day, each company expected better results.

Netflix – Unlimited Vacation What do a supermodel and Netflix’s novel vacation policy have in common? They both get a lot of attention! There is great depth to Netflix’s philosophy surrounding culture.

And it’s that core philosophy that gives rise to the muchballyhooed vacation policy that gets so much attention.

Netflix learned through experience that they should ‘focus on what people get done’. In other words, the results you produce are most important to the company. By default, they don’t worry much about how people get their work done. They feel that work hours, vacation time and the like just aren’t worth administering. People are adults, they’ll figure it out.

At Netflix, ‘results’ are king. In fact if you put in minimal effort, as long as you produce great results on a sustained basis, you are rewarded with more responsibility and a significant boost in pay. For Netflix, this core philosophy---one that’s maniacal on results-has clearly worked well.

Best Buy – Results Only Work Environment Best Buy’s ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) policy said ‘people are free to work wherever they want, whenever they want, as long as they get their work done’. It was largely targeted to

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

LEADERSHIP employees at the corporate center. Under ROWE there were no schedules or mandatory meetings. And employees didn’t need a manager’s permission to participate.

How well did it work? The answer depends on who you ask!

Earlier this year, Best Buy canned ROWE. But despite the outcry in the media, Best Buy didn’t end the opportunity for employees to have flexible work schedules. Today employees at the corporate center can work remotely, although they now need their manager’s permission to do so. It’s important to note that Best Buy and Yahoo (which ended its well-known ‘work from home’ policy within weeks of the cancelation of ROWE) were both struggling financially at the time of the cancellation decision---both with new CEOs orchestrating turnarounds.

Valve – Self-Management Everyone’s desk at Valve has wheels. After all, no one can tell you where to work or what to work on. Those things are up to you. Soon enough you’ll learn that those wheels come in handy as you voluntarily relocate yourself and your stuff half-way around the building after a colleague recruits you to work on their sexy new project. Self-management is clearly the most aggressive of the so-called ‘results only’ work environments. At Valve---the Bellevue, Washington videogame maker---their selfmanagement philosophy has helped this private company build impressive equity holdings that some have estimated at $2.5 billion dollars.

“

Is a Results Only Work Environment right for your company?

There is little doubt that these types of approaches to management have demonstrated benefits. Yet, they’re not for everyone. Leaders who think they can easily implement one of these approaches (or something like it) are kidding themselves. These approaches are fundamental to how these companies operate. The approaches need to be ‘baked in’ not just ‘bolted on’. Leaders shouldn’t view potential benefits (think: cost savings) as low hanging fruit that warrant a new ‘program’.

Some companies successfully adopted ROWE’s approach, some failed. Also, there are very few companies around that utilize self-management in the way that Valve, W. L. Gore and The Morning Star Company do. Certainly, it looks straightforward enough---why haven’t more adopted it?

Because it’s a lot harder (and trickier) than it looks!

Companies who have successfully made these approaches ‘go’ have done so in large part because they believe in them philosophically.

As importantly, their people believe in them too.

It’s something everyone values. It’s the way everyone wants to run the business. Thus, the policies are not an afterthought! Leadership believes that results are a natural by-product of ceding control to responsible people and letting them weave their magic. Sounds like professionals to me!

The approaches need to be ‘baked in’ not just ‘bolted on’

More examples of results only companies Interestingly, two other private companies—The Morning Star Company and W. L. Gore---also espouse selfmanagement and both are undisputed market leaders.

For most, the topic of self-management is extremely intriguing---deserving of more ‘air time’ than we have here.

Gary Hamel’s December, 2011 Harvard Business Review article—“First, Let’s Fire All The Managers”—is a great article to start with (you can read it at http://hbr.org/2011/12/ first-lets-fire-all-the-managers). The article is Hamel’s ‘take’ on how The Morning Star Company, the world’s largest tomato processor, approaches self-management. We at Wiersma and Associates are fortunate to have a bird’s eye view of Morning Star’s approach to self-management as they are a client.

About the Author Bill Wiersma is the principal of Wiersma and Associates, LLC, a consultancy that helps leaders create cultures based on professional ideals. Bill is the author of two critically acclaimed books. His expertise has been featured in numerous media outlets--including the New York Times. The Power of Professionalism, Bill’s latest book, was a finalist for Soundview Executive Book Summaries 2011 Book of the Year. Follow his weekly blog posts at: www.wiersmaandassociates.com/blog/

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

7

SALES&MARKETING

by Joshua Estes

D

emo hell; we have all experienced it. We have either been on the receiving end of some bumbling nightmare or been the bumbling nightmare ourselves, due to slow internet connections, webinar host services issues, bad microphones, dull presenters or lack of respect for time, etc. This is my story of overcoming demo hell: I am both a sales guy and a presales guy for CRM here at Blytheco. I have built, customized, pitched and sold products involving only myself. This caused me a heart attack a few months ago. The scenario: I had built out and customized a demo for a very large client that is going to make my quarter. Today I am remote, today I am the man, today I am hosed‌ 10 minutes before my demo starts, my computer dies because the power is out. Ten critical minutes before a demonstration of a product that I have spent several hours customizing for a client that I have spent several

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

LEADERSHIP months getting to this point and already spent a few weeks trying to align all of the key players schedules to be on this demo. I am sweating bullets.

I have no Internet connection, no access to host a GoToMeeting, no computer to perform the demo and very little hope.

9 minutes: It is crucial that I think fast. So, like a trained professional, I analyze what resources I have at my disposal: my iPhone, iPad, and my brain. A glimmer of hope! My iPhone has the ability to be a hotspot; internet connection (check). Hot spot turned on, now trying to use my iPad to host the meeting. The GoToMeeting app doesn’t give me the functionality to host a meeting using the app interface and I can’t do this from my iPad. There has to be another way.

7 minutes: I have an app on my iPad called SplashTop that I use to remote connect to my father’s computer in Boston. Being the family IT guy is about to really pay off. I am becoming a believer that this will happen. Working from home in Atlanta I attempt to remote in from my iPad to a computer in Boston.

Connection achieved! I navigate to GoTomeeting. com and download the software. While the software downloads I log into my demo instance of the CRM. To paint this picture I am using an iPad so I have to zoom in and precariously select the area on the screen that I want to touch on the window of the Mac that I have a remote connection to. Have you seen ‘Inception’? I am at the last scene and am in deep.

4 minutes: I got this. The demo is up I am able to maneuver my way around the system with relative simplicity. I open some tabs of the various areas in the system I want in an effort to avert any potential internet speed and connection disasters. I have

everything up and open that I need.

2 minutes: I start GoToMeeting. I still have to dial in… I still have to dial in. Oh no. Luckily I have another cell phone at my disposal. I dig up the other phone and call into the meeting. Again I do not want to use the mic and speakers and potentially kill my internet connection.

Bling; the sound of the first caller joining the meeting and I am as proud as Doctor Frankenstein is looking down at his living monster. I present the product and it all goes off without a hitch; aside from the fiasco I just experienced. They laugh at my jokes, enjoy the presentation of the product, see that it fits their needs and at the end ask for a proposal. They had no idea and still to this day do not. Mission accomplished, crisis averted.

Lessons learned from this experience?

1. Make sure that you use products that support and have great mobile connectivity and functionality.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems with mobile clients are a must.

2. Get logged on and set up early – it will make for a better experience for everyone and give you time to adjust and adapt if you do experience issues.

3. Make sure you have a tablet or smartphone with cellular connectivity as you cannot always rely on wi-fi.

4. Splashtop Streamer: This will allow you to remote connect to any computer that you install it on. It is also password encrypted and will only work from your specified devices.

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

9

SALES&MARKETING

Selling with Technology

Todays

by Apryl Hanson

H

ave you taken a good look at some of the new technology available to take your sales organization to the next level? In the last 10 years we have gotten away from traditional methods of selling and salespeople rely on their CRM system to help them book appointments, follow-up, send reminders and move the sales process along.

While CRM is of great assistance to you when you already have that warm lead, what can you do to empower your sales team to find additional opportunities? Going out and networking, shaking hands and good old dialing for dollars can be somewhat time-consuming without structure around your efforts.

A tool like InsideView can put your sales team in the drivers seat (www.blytheco.com/insideview). In fact, our sales team uses InsideView to help guide the relationship sales process and target companies that would be appropriate to talk to. How do they do that?

• Competitor

Information – InsideView has a tab called competitors. This means if you just closed a sale for Super Stars Manufacturing, you can look at all of their competitors. What a better time to approach other companies like the one you just sold, but right after you just sold them.

• Detailed Contact Information - If you have ever

wanted to get the e-mail address, social contact, and phone number of C-level executives at a organization all you have to do is look them up in InsideView. Yes, it is all sitting there, at your salespeoples’ fingertips.

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

• Relationship

Selling - When you setup InsideView it asks you about your network and also connects to your social information on LinkedIn, but that’s not all. It also asks you to put in your referral companies that you have sold to, their contacts and when your entire team does that, what you get is a database that helps you relationship sell. When you have InsideView set-up this way and then look-up a contact it will tell you if any of those people that you are connected to have a relationship with the contact you are trying to reach. It is virtually telling you “Your business contact Joe Smith, knows this guy. Contact him and ask for an introduction”.

AMAZING!

• Industry

Information – Not sure about the industry you are calling into? Get industry tips and a call prep sheet within the InsideView product right on the same page as the company you are looking up. You don’t have to switch between multiple screens, it is right there.

• Perfect

the time to call – What InsideView has perfected is that there are a times when an organization is changing and those time are a wonderful time to get your foot in the door. You can create lists of companies in the SIC code or area you are looking for (or both) and either call now or create

a watch list for when changes happen.

• Access

Anywhere – If you are on the road all you need is access to the internet to look up someone you may have met in person OR InsideView can also integrate through your CRM for even better ease of use. Either way, you will never be without contact information at your fingertips.

Besides looking at the funnel before you get the sale, how are your connection points with that potential customer throughout the sales process? Is it completely in the hands of the sales person or do you have automatic systems in place to nurture leads that have come through your website? There are several out of the box tools that integrate with CRM solutions that can do that for you. For instance, Hubspot (www.blytheco.com/hubspot) can take a lead that has filled out a form on your website and continue to message to them bubbling them up in the lead nurture process. This strengthens the lead and allows you to differentiate between the types of leads you are receiving. If you can differentiate between a lead that is “just looking” and those that are “ready to buy” you can give better qualified leads to your sales team members while nurturing those lower quality leads automatically.

Maximizing your sales personnel for any business, especially if you have a smaller sales team can be the difference between extra revenue this year over last year. If you are spending time contacting those that are ready instead of weeding through all leads, this can help you focus your efforts for maximum returns.

With today’s technology you get the benefit of lead intelligence to help you spend your time in the right places, following up with the right leads and getting in contact with the right people through a warm introduction instead of a cold call. How have your teams changed what they are doing with the use of technology to sell smarter, better, faster? Join the conversation at http://think.blytheco.com.

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

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SALES&MARKETING

How Do You Measure Your Sales Team’s Performance?

by Ginger Kittinger We asked Blytheco’s VP of Sales, Jeff Gregorec, how he

90-day period and measures it against at

measures his sales team’s activities and performance. It can

least 2.5x their current month quota . If a

be quite complex, but he has created a graphical dashboard

sales team member’s

inside of our Sage SalesLogix CRM system that all sales team

250% of the quota, the dashboard will reflect

members have access to and can monitor their progress.

green, 200%-250% yellow and for less than

It all starts with defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) what exactly are you going to measure. Jeff looks at several different metrics:

pipeline is at least

200% red. This KPI measures a number of attributes. It provides visibility as to whether a salesperson will have enough opportunity to reasonably attain their current quota, as

• Month-to-Date Achievement

well as manage multiple complex projects,

• Year-to-Date Achievement

and lastly provides insight into what future

• Forecasting Accuracy

opportunities are ahead of them. One of

• Pipeline Growth/Management/Conversion

the biggest mistake salespeople make is not

• Close Rate

building leads for the future – they sell a big

• Activity Management Dependant on Job Function

one and then they have to start all over again.

Close Rate – looks at Closed-Won

Month-to-Date (percentage of quota attainment) – this calculates a salesperson’s actual dollars sold against their monthly assigned quota. It is calculated daily in real-time. If a salesperson is at 100%+ of attainment the graph is green, 70%-99% = Yellow and <69% = Red Year-to-Date (percentage of quota attainment) – this gets recalculated every month, but follows the same pattern as Month-to-Date metrics.

opportunities and calculates a percentage.

If they close 25% or more of their qualified opportunities, the dashboard reflects green, 15%-25% shows yellow and for less than a 15% close rate - red.

Activity Management – different sales team roles have different metrics, such as having a specific number of customer meetings per month, adding new customer(s) per month,

Forecasting Accuracy – a sales team member forecasts

the number of calls made per month, the

their total dollars sold each week but they are measured

number of demos performed per month and

against their submission the third week of the month This

the like…

KPI demonstrates a sales person’s command of their business as well as provides leadership with an accurate snapshot of the month’s expected results. If the sales person is within ten percent of their committed forecast, the dashboard will reflect as green, within thirty percent yellow, and if off by more than thirty percent red .

Pipeline Growth/management – this looks at all open/ active opportunities with an estimated close date in a rolling

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

If you can keep on top of your team’s progress throughout the year, you will be able to guide them to higher levels of success. Keeping the metrics and progress in front of them, keeps them motivated and fosters healthy competition.

SALES&MARKETING

Call Centers and CRM Integration

by Ginger Kittinger

We all remember Lily Tomlin’s character Ernestine saying “one ringy dingy, two ringy dingys” and how old-fashioned that phone system was. With today’s technology you can have a fully integrated voice recognition system to handle inbound calls and a fully-automated outbound dialing system that works with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

In this fast-paced technology era, equipment is outdated

caller is and automatically opens their record in your

as soon as a new model comes out – so why invest in

CRM system. The benefit from this is that the Average

an expensive calling system, when you can manage

Speed of Answer, Talk Time, Handle Time, Quality and

an enterprise level hosted platform that provides full

Performance are all improved providing a positive client

features and redundancy?

caller experience.

One such solution is from Newbridge.

They offer a

hosted solution that provides organizations the flexibility of multiple features without the capital investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Newbridge call center platform is designed to allow companies to have total control over the flow of calls in your inbound call center. With key features such as flexible scheduling, skills-based call center agent selections, and their proprietary Queue Flow routing engine, you have the ability to route calls exactly to your specifications.

Steven Cramer, Sr. VP of Operations at Newbridge, explains that Newbridge provides a full service call center solution with the added benefit of client consultation services included. The Newbridge team brings over 50 years of hands-on global call center design, configuration and implementation to every project.

Outbound Call Dialing You can increase your outbound efficiency by up to 20 times over manual dialing with their virtual call center platform. They filter out the busy signals, no-answers, answering machines and fax machines, allowing your call center staff to maximize their productivity. With a full suite of rich reporting tools, full call recording, granular dialing campaign controls and real-time statistical data, you have complete control over managing your outbound call center.

Blytheco and Newbridge are working together so our clients can integrate their CRM system to provide

The real beauty, however, lies in the integration with your

consistent

CRM system.

reporting

Newbridge’s solution integrates tightly

with Sage CRM, SugarCRM, NetSuite, SalesLogix and

of data

Act!, to name a few.

and efficient

Inbound Call Routing When a caller dials your number, they are then provided options/ prompts to route the call. When the call is received, the Newbridge platform already knows who the

staff transaction management.

Together we help ensure the client, staff and reporting requirements are in sync and provide maximum efficiency for the organization.

To learn more, please go to www.blytheco.com/newbridge

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

13

To Increase Profits In this day and age it is all about optimization. We are trying to make the most of the tools that we already have. When was the last time you took a look at your current technology from the standpoint of understanding how it is being utilized by your users?

by Greg Went We worked with our client, Yardney Water Filtration Systems, when they asked themselves that very question – “are we getting the most out of our systems”? Here is their story:

(bly:Optimize) headed up by veteran Blytheco consultant Debbie Long.

The Blytheco consultant (Debbie) interviewed no less than 13 key personnel within the organization Riverside California’s Yardney Water Filtration from executives to shop floor employees. She Systems operates a state of the art 60,000 square observed the interactions of the different teams foot research, design, and and how they used their manufacturing facility. business system.

Debbie They are a pioneer in the confirmed some of Chris’s development of clean water suspicions. Yardney was only solutions and since 1965 they using 15% of their business have provided high-quality, system, if that. They were cost effective products driving in the slow lane with becoming one of the world’s a high-performance sports leading manufacturers of Chris Phillips - Yardney COO car. There were severe lags water filtration equipment in getting useful data, they for industrial and agricultural could not trust their inventory applications. levels due to the way they were pulling stock and tracking labor costs was nearly impossible during Chris Phillips, Yardney Operations Manager, the manufacturing process. approached Blytheco with a feeling that they were not getting the full use out of their Sage Based on her interviews and assessment 100 business system. In fact, he feared they may of Yardney’s processes and needs, Debbie be doing things backwards, since some of their produced a bly:Optimize “Summary of Findings” processes had not changed in many years. With report and presented it to Chris and his team. a planned manufacturing facility expansion on The report, laid out clearly in bullet point the horizon, Chris did not want the new facility format, highlighted the interviews with the team coming on line with the same flawed processes members separated by job function for ease of of the current one. So, armed with a hunch, Chris reading and comprehension. At the end of the arranged for a Blytheco process optimization report were ‘Recommended Next Steps,’ again,

“

You don’t know what you don’t know.”

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

TECHNOLOGY in bullet point fashion, categorized into short term, mid-term and long term goals and the concrete steps needed to achieve them.

I would highly recommend bly:Optimize to any business that wants to run more efficiently and more profitably.”

After just a few short months, Yardney was already seeing a return on their investment on not only the bly:Optimize they had performed, but also on their business system. “It is refreshing to be able to see live data.” Chris later told us. “Prior to the bly:Optimize, the data we were working with was potentially 2 months old!” Chris feels they have gained in the utilization of their Sage 100 system and are up to 40% system utilization and climbing as they work with Debbie to implement her recommended next steps.

We understand that many businesses are in this same boat. You have technology that you have deployed but you aren’t sure if they way you are using it is the most effective for your business.

That is exactly why a service like bly:Optimize is necessary.

Not only has system utilization been increased, but their inventory is now 75% more accurate with the implementation of bar code scanning software and equipment. Manufacturing labor costs have now been standardized and are now being tracked accurately and efficiently. New custom reports are helping Chris and his teams see in ‘real-time’ Key Performance Indicators on a daily basis and the company financials are being produced on a timely basis. Overall, the responsiveness of the system due to the change in processes has increased substantially.

If you think that you could benefit from optimizing your systems and work-flows take 10 minutes and do a gut-check with our bly:Optimize savings calculator at

www.blythecom.com/optimize

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” Chris explains, “It is great to have someone like Debbie from Blytheco come out, look at how you are doing things, help you see what you are not seeing and recommend ways to leverage your current system to help make your teams and organization run smoother.”

“Blytheco is unique in that their experts know so much about the business end as well as the system.

When they applied this knowledge in the bly:Optimize, it really helped uncover some road blocks in our system and processes, and

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

15

TECHNOLOGY

by Greg Went

What is implementation fatigue and how can you identify it in your organization?

After most companies deploy ERP, CRM and HRMS systems, they are tired and burnt out after the initial deployment. They never go back and refine the business process after the initial approach of “Get it in and make it work so my employees can do their job”.

Companies rush through implementation to minimize business disruption as well as costs and time of implementation. It is very important to go back and refresh the system and the processes to be sure they are aligned with current business objectives.

That is why we designed a service called bly:Optimize to help companies overcome the fatigue of their systems. It can be one of the most effective tools for keeping your company’s technology in tune with your goals.

bly:Optimize Methodology • Interviews are conducted on-site with key personnel from each functional department • We talk to the staff about how they perform their jobs today and the tools they use, such as reports, import/export jobs, or web interface software • We gain an understanding of your goals and recommend any tools you may need for future growth • We document the process of each functional department and provide recommendations to business process, work flow and system controls. In addition, we identify if you may benefit from additional training, the addition of a new module, or an upgrade to a more current version so that you can take advantage of new features that enhance your business model.

To learn more, visit our website at

www.blytheco.com/optimize 16

Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

COVERSTORY

What you are missing without an integrated system?

A

ccording to the Aberdeen Group’s 2011 Study “Leveraging the 360-degree Customer View to Maximize Up-Sell and Cross-Sell Potential,” CRM is the link between better business performance and achieving “Best in Class” status.

That is all fine and well, but what does that really mean?

When you have disparate solutions, not everyone in your organization can see the life of the customer as is transforms through your business. From the moment that someone raises their hand to speak to you about your product or service there should be views at every level of how that hand raise transforms into a customer, which then transforms into an existing relationship where there can be many touches across multiple teams. Billing, finance, service, and customer requests all come after that initial sale, but many times businesses are using different systems to track these different actions, not to mention marketing touches and ongoing sales efforts. With all of those different ways of connecting with a customer – when your systems are separate, things can get lost.

With modern technology, the new breed of ERP, CRM and marketing automation tools are either tied together with connective technology tools or come all in one package.

What does this “Best in Class” status mean? There are three key criteria: • 91% average customer retention rate, compared to 83% for the industry average.

by Alicia Anderson

• 4.5% yearover-year improvement (decrease) in sales cycle, compared to .5% worsening (lengthening) of the sales cycle for the industry average.

These are just some of the benefits you can gain when having a complete view of your customer. This is a holistic approach to providing a complete, accurate and integrated view of customers to improve satisfaction and retention without losing sight of customer profitability.

For more information about how your business can benefit from integration check out our white paper on Business Beyond Constraints.

You can find it here:

http://bit.ly/10ArR9J

• 5.1% increase in year-over-year quota attainment compared to .5% for the industry average.

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

17

CORPORATEFINANCE

by Ginger Kittinger

Are you really making money?

What techniques do you use to know if you are really making money? We know it takes a deep knowledge of your organization, but what else?

We got some great insight from Beverly Solomon, who started as a model and then became an account executive in sales and marketing for Diane von Furstenberg, Revlon and Ralph Lauren. She now runs a successful international art and design firm. She gave us some straight-forward, non-nonsense tips: • Know the difference between gain and loss in all things.

• Understand the basics of buying, selling and trading.

• Keep accurate records of all expenses and all income. And constantly evaluate these figures.

• Know what your goals are for both your business and for your life and evaluate constantly if you are progressing toward those goals.

• Know and understand the concept of value in all things. Cheap is not always a good buy.

• Understand the dynamics of the broader economy. For example what does a 16 trillion dollar deficit mean to future inflation, taxes, national security, etc.

• Distinguish between political realities and political rhetoric. Understand that often economic reality and political propaganda are miles apart.

• Do not get caught up in fads/economic bubbles. Stick to economic basics and trust your instincts.

• Do not get caught up in tax schemes cooked up by accountants. Pay your taxes as accurately as you can to avoid future negative surprises.

• Understand the power of compound interest---both positive and negative.

• Do not over leverage your assets. This is the downfall of so many businesses. Stick to traditional money raising methods -- loans based on past performance, investors,etc. Do not put your current assets at risk to over extend.

• Understand the difference between real, tangible assets and funny money (unfortunately our government does not).

You can learn more about Beverly on her website at www.beverlysolomon.com. She has received coverage in a number of financial publications and was given official recognition by the State of Texas for her business savvy.

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

RiskCLOUD and the

T

CORPORATEFINANCE

by Alicia Anderson

he cloud has clear benefits for companies who recognize the power of software-as-aservice to provide greater access to the latest technology and functionality with fewer investments in infrastructure. But like any technology, risk must be factored into the equation.

Early perceptions of the Cloud were that security and privacy were questionable. Many users believed that it was a risk to have sensitive company data outside of company firewalls. Fears included the inability of providers to prevent users from accessing data. Highprofile breaches of Google, Salesforce.com, and others have reinforced the idea that the cloud is a security risk.

However, technology has matured and perceptions are changing. In fact, in certain situations, the cloud may be more secure than on-premise systems.

Large-scale cloud providers focus on security as a core component of their solution. In fact, their entire brand hinges on their ability to ensure optimal system uptime and keep data properly safeguarded. They retain dedicated security expertise at a level not affordable to most small and midsized businesses.

Their CTO, IT architects and network administrators strategize and monitor the security of their solution.

They are chartered to ensure robust redundancy, back-ups, and data controls, while also addressing newly arising security challenges.

On the other hand, many small to medium-sized businesses struggle to implement and maintain best practices for security and redundancy. Their IT staff is often tasked with supporting broader businesses needs and struggle to monitor and mitigate emerging threats. Further, investments in full redundancy and offsite regular back-ups can be difficult to fund and support. An environment such as this can be at a greater risk of security breaches and outages than a cloud system.

The cloud’s dependency on the internet is a significant concern for cloud users. According to a 2012 report by the International Working Group on Cloud Computing Resiliency, cloud computing services are down an average of 7.5 hours per year, with large providers like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Apple iCloud experiencing high-profile outages last year.

What can you do to mitigate risk?

The Service Level Agreement (SLA) is the cloud provider’s answer to these concerns – it is blueprint and a warranty for cloud services. The SLA should explicitly establish the provider’s criteria for security, including: • Availability/uptime statistics • Redundancy specifications – data mirroring and failover capabilities, often through multiple geographically separated data centers • Performance/speed expectations • Security and data privacy – encryption practices for storage and transmission of data • Disaster recovery standards • Change management process – standards for updates or new services • Exit strategy for customers who are leaving the provider • Certifications such as PCIDSS, SAS 70 Type II, and compliance with EU-US Safe Harbor regulations - all important indicators of a cloud ERP vendor’s commitment to security.

Your organization may also consider putting a comprehensive Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Strategy in place that includes methods to smooth the transition to the cloud and set standards for cloud system management. A GRC strategy helps avoid conflicts and gaps in managing organizational risk, not just in technology, but in all areas of the business that encounter risk and compliance challenges.

For more information about comparing cloud ERP to on-premise ERP, read our new whitepaper “ERP Comparison Guide for Your Business Lifecycle,” available now. www.blytheco.com/erp-comparison/default.asp

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

19

CORPORATEFINANCE

The New Role of the

By Alicia Anderson

CFO T

he CFO has it rough. As the steward of a company’s finances, his or her responsibilities are only growing during a challenging business environment, and the stakes are ever higher.

In a survey of CFOs in the US, Italy, and France recently conducted by Financial Executives International (FEI) and Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business, CFOs are pessimistic. The CFO Optimism Index dropped eight points from the previous quarter, the lowest since Q2 2009. They also don’t look for things to improve anytime soon, predicting less growth than the previous quarter in several key business areas over the next year.

The challenge to today’s CFO is to get strategic, using their expertise and tools to influence the business positively. CFOs can play a hugely important role in enhancing a company’s business performance and facilitating growth, but must also keep a sharp eye on managing risk. Several of the key issues that plague CFOs today can be managed with effective technology.

CFOs in Crisis Mode CFOs have understandably been in crisis mode lately, due to economic volatility, unemployment, uncertainty about taxes and inflation, regulatory changes, and so many more issues confronting them.

Information security is always a concern for company finance leaders. Recent IT breaches in large

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

companies like EMC, TJX, and Sony have increased concerns, and the growing influence of Software-asa-Service, or “Cloud” solutions cannot be denied, though it presents its own set of security concerns.

Security is not just a problem to toss over the fence to the IT department anymore. The demand for data breach insurance continues to increase among small businesses in particular. CFOs must devote appropriate funding to preventing problems, or deal with the fallout if breaches do occur.

Globalization presents challenges to companies of all sizes. Working across boundaries and competing with overseas businesses has changed the business environment, and the internet has made it relatively easy to do business internationally. Creating supplier relationships with overseas companies brings its own set of risks along with potential rewards. Shipping and labor costs overseas continue to increase – many factors must be weighed carefully to determine if outsourcing is an option for your business.

Changing regulations such as the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) are coming – its impacts will not only be felt in global companies – it is likely to “trickle down” and influence existing GAAP standards.

Human capital is also a concern of the CFO. Anticipating and managing the costs of this important resource is one of his or her primary tasks, and plenty of challenges accompany this role. The workforce is changing – one of the biggest factors in rapid change is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, with its complex benefits mandates. Additionally, in 2014, a FTE (fulltime employee) will be defined as anyone who works an average of 30 hours per week in a month. This law will have heavy repercussions on benefits costs, especially for retail, hospitality, and other industries that rely on part time workers. The CFO must manage uncertainty that accompanies these changes with the goal of understanding the compliance and benefits costs and implementing appropriate responses.

Cash flow optimization is a continuing challenge for the CFO, in these days of little available credit for the small to mid-sized business. Customers are strapped, so adjustments in Receivables expectations must be made. Dealing with increasing capital costs, particularly energy, is a major concern particularly for the distribution business. CFOs must also work with the sales team on strategies to get accurate sales forecasts and drive revenues.

Automate to Succeed A June, 2010 report from IBM called “The New Value Integrator, Insights from the Global Chief Financial Officer Study” defines the best practices of leading CFOs who outperform the competition across several measurements, including bottom line, income statement, cash flow, and efficiency metrics. These leading CFOs recognize the value of technology in helping them manage risk: “According to the report, value integrators express a heightened interest in using technology to further increase data accuracy, streamline information delivery and develop a richer base of information for deeper insights into managing risk.”

Today’s ERP systems provide the CFO with the tools he or she needs to lead and succeed. The availability of advanced systems to the middle market has brought formerly enterprise-level features to smaller businesses, and integration across the enterprise with sales, marketing, production, shipping, and HR means more and better information for making business more efficient. What are some ways that business management technology empowers the CFO? The 21st century CFO’s role includes providing decision-

making support to your company’s leadership, in the form of reports, dashboards, and other business intelligence platforms. Work with management to define the information needs first, and then implement a system that enables your team to get those needs met without heavy customization.

Understanding customer performance, monitoring credit, and effectively managing collections can help the CFO meet cash flow goals. Effective systems with bullet-proof adherence to accounting standards allow accounting teams to establish rules and processes, and to receive alerts when exceptions occur. Automation also helps reduce the time and work needed to perform reconciliations and journal entries, improving accuracy and reducing costs and bringing needed discipline to the process.

The CFO can also take an “operational” approach in an effort to maximize cash flow by optimizing sales and production. Sales leaders and CFOs can work to establish processes to help teams close more business faster and drive more sales from existing customers.

CRM applications help them manage these processes efficiently, serving as a repository for data over the lifetime of a customer and providing tools and platforms that motivate and empower sales teams.

Manufacturing automation can have positive impacts for the CFO. Revenue is generated more quickly when production is able to automate to speed order processing and make the best use of available resources.

Automating time tracking and data collection can help you understand and manage productivity levels in your company. Warehouse management systems can reduce loss and improve order accuracy. Tracking supplier performance metrics enables companies to build critical partnerships with suppliers. The ability to analyze costs and profitability of production on customized dashboards enables the CFO to adapt quickly to changes and target areas for improvement in the business, and to share this data easily with others who need it.

Workforce management technology can benefit the CFO in areas of benefits costs, recruiting, training, and minimizing the risks associated with company teams.

HRMS (Human Resources Management Systems) can provide the intelligence required for planning, while maintaining employee data, managing Payroll and benefits enrollment, tracking time and attendance, enabling efficient recruiting, and much more. They provide the security of knowing that tax updates and (Continued on page 22)

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21

CORPORATEFINANCE (Continued from page 21 - The New Role of the CFO)

filings and compliance issues are taken care of in the system, minimizing the risk presented by frequent changes to laws and requirements. Benefits enrollment tools that allow employees to apply online, then transfer that data directly to benefits companies, makes the benefits process less error-prone.

What about the CFO and the “cloud”? Internetbased applications bring major benefits for business, including greater scalability speed, and flexibility, not to mention cost savings, but, of course, the Cloud brings its own set of risks as well. Security and reliability are foremost among the risks. Fortunately, the move to the Cloud can be strategic and incremental, thanks to “connected services” that work with on-premise applications. Online collections management and sales tax automation sites, for example, can help keep overhead low while effecting vital controls. Web-based systems that connect to software may provide the best of both worlds for companies in transition, offering the cost benefits of the cloud and the security and checkpoints offered by on-premise systems.

Today’s CFO should get involved in IT decisions, since they bring a valuable perspective to the evaluation and implementation process. Finance can be a strategic partner to IT, helping them focus on projects that improve business processes and result in greater business insights. CFOs also need to be involved in order to keep an eye on risk: IT projects and system changes present their own set of inherent risks. Do the research and work with a partner who understands and helps you manage the risk.

Risk is inherent in the CFO office, but finance leaders can and should identify risks and put procedures in place to manage them. Use automation to help create structure and discipline in your company to eliminate as many potential risks as possible, and to provide you the information you need to deal with risk as it occurs.

We Make EDI Painless To learn more, join us for a webinar on May 22 at 2pm ET. Contact us at 888.205.1531 to register.

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

BOOKREPORT

by Geni Whitehouse

I

have been writing book reviews for this excellent magazine for the last two years. As I write my last review, I think it is only fitting to go back to the beginning. I want to share three books that have made a lasting impact on not only me, but my career. These books are starring members of my reference library and their pages are both dog-eared and teastained. While they have been in publication a while, their messages remain timely and relevant.

Even a Geek Can Speak | Joey Asher This book by Joey Asher is one of the most powerful tools I have ever found. This book literally jumped off the shelf of an Atlanta bookstore. For $15, it not only changed my approach to public speaking, it also formed the basis of a friendship . It inspired me to write its sequel which I decided had to be called “Even a Nerd Can be Heard” ten years before I wrote the book. Asher is an Atlanta attorney who spends his time helping would be presenters find and share their maximum “you”. He covers everything you need to know to make a winning presentation. If you are in business, you need to read this book and share it with everyone you know.

Managing by the Numbers | Chuck Kremer and Ron Rizzuto with John Case This book unlocks the mysteries of financial accounting for the small investment of $18. It should be the primer that resides on the desk of every business owner and should be stocked in the hundreds by anyone in finance or accounting. If you are an accountant, you need to hand this book out to all of your non-accounting friends and co-workers. By chapter 4, your co-workers will have gained a level of understanding that will permanently alter the way you interact. Get multiple copies of this book now.

The Universal Language of DISC | Bill Bonnstetter and Judy Suiter It is provided through Target Training International,Ltd. The most expensive of the books reviewed, at a list price of $125, it is worth every penny of your investment.

The book explains DISC which is “the universal language of observable behavior.” By understanding DISC, it is possible to improve your ability to communicate and to form lasting connections. Insight into different styles and a willingness to adapt your own style can lead to success in every area of your life. Read this book and then take the online assessment. You will be amazed at what you can learn about yourself and others around you.

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.

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

23

INDUSTRYNEWS

Ninja Maneuvers Used

by Growing Businesses

by Avalara

G

iven the realities facing companies in the post-recession economy, growing businesses and those who lead them require the skills and abilities of a ninja: stealth, speed, and efficiency.

These maneuvers enable growing businesses to adapt resources (i.e., staff, production, sales efforts) to meet market demands.

Yet there is a fine line between intelligent adaptation, and total chaos. What sets flexible and resilient companies apart from their undirected counterparts is their ability to build infrastructure to accommodate change, rather than reacting helter-skelter to fluctuations in supply and demand.

There are three key maneuvers growing businesses use to achieve above-average growth and higher revenues: outsourcing, automating and using cloud technology.

1

Ninja Maneuver #1

Growing Businesses Know What to Outsource It is no secret that companies utilize outsourcing to meet the fluctuating demands of the marketplace. What is often less obvious is determining when to outsource and which elements of the business to handle this way. The following three steps are often used by growing businesses to make crucial outsourcing decisions: Step 1. Identify core competencies

Take a look at areas of your business where your company sees a high return for a reasonable investment in time.

These are likely your company’s core competencies.

Identifying core competencies helps growing businesses determine which resources to outsource and which to keep in-house. If you’re really good at a process, task or activity, and if it’s core to your business, keep it in-house.

If it isn’t core to your business, consider outsourcing.

systems or processes (i.e., payroll, sales tax, IT) that utilize more resources than the business can afford.

Some processes ta ke significant time, either because of lack of expertise or utilizing manual processes when a faster automated process is available.

Step 3. Understand the impacts of not outsourcing Once you’ve identified your company’s core competencies and pinpointed time drains, you’ll have a better sense of which functions to outsource. In weighing the pros and cons of outsourcing, it’s important to understand the impacts of not doing so. Potential negative impacts of failing to outsource include lower customer satisfaction, revenue loss, employee turnover, and greater risk exposure.

Step 2. Identify time drains

Ninja Maneuver #2 Growing Businesses Automate

Once you’ve identified the core competencies of your business, the next step is to identify any internal

Unlike the automation introduced by Henry Ford (assembly lines), today’s automation uses technology

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

2

to streamline key business processes.

From inventory management to sales to finance, automation gives companies t h e ninja agility, flexibility, and efficiency in a still-recovering market. The alternative – handling these systems manually – can stymie rather than promote growth.

Growing businesses leverage technology to streamline business processes. The more streamlined their business, and the more they outsource processes and expertise outside their competency, the more time and energy they have to be strategic, focus on what they do best, and, ultimately, grow their business.

Ninja Maneuver #3 Growing Businesses Look to the Cloud In the past several years, many companies have turned to cloud-based computing solutions (those hosted and operated on the web, versus those that are on-premise) rather than their larger and often more expensive predecessors. Cloud- based solutions offer several tools that other systems simply don’t: they automate updates and integrations without having a Chief Technology Officer handle time-consuming versioning and backups and they are able to grow along with the computing needs of growing businesses. Cloud- based solutions adapt more quickly to changes in operations and update automatically without a staff person having to manually track any changes or iterations.

It used to be that in order to automate; growing businesses had to buy on-premise software that was expensive to buy and came with expensive maintenance costs. It was a tough choice to make. Now, Cloud software has made automation affordable and practical. For virtually any business process or function, there is a good bet that Cloud software exists to meet the need.

This is especially true when it comes to sales tax management.

Growing Businesses Use AvaTax. Avalara. An easy automation win for growing businesses.

As businesses grow, they’re likely to increase their sales tax liability. Whether they hire contractors in a new state, or create affiliate relationships in another, a business might be liable to collect sales tax and not know it, or do so incorrectly and risk penalties and time-consuming audits. Manually figuring out accurate rates and keeping up with taxability and rule changes can be nearly impossible. And handling it in-house drains employee

3

resources t h a t could be u s e d m o r e efficiently in other areas.

Automating sales tax using the AvaTax suite of products lowers audit risk and decreases u n p l a n n e d penalty expenses.

Companies that partner with Avalara get a simplified sales tax process and guidance when it comes to sorting out taxability rules and requirements. Avalara’s suite of products replaces manual look-up tables, the need to stay on top of rules and regulations, substantially cuts down time to file and close the month, and gives you a system for exemption (reseller) certificate management. We do it all. And when it comes to understanding and staying in compliance with taxability rules, Avalara walks you through the changing landscape of sales tax.

The AvaTax suite includes: AvaTax Calc which provides address validation and delivers real-time sales tax calculations based on upto-date sales and use tax rules including: sourcing rules, product taxability and jurisdiction assignment.

AvaTax Certs is a complete exemption certificate management service. From wizard-driven online collection to associating the correct certificate with transactions, AvaTax Certs ensures you maintain compliance and reduce your audit risk.

AvaTax Returns reduces the time your company spends on sales tax return processing.

AvaTax Returns automatically processes e-file, hard-copy and Streamlined Sales Tax returns for businesses of all sizes.

But don’t just take our word for it.

Over 10,000 businesses have outsourced and automated their sales tax management to AvaTax. Learn how your business can stay ahead of the curve with sales tax management by adopting ninja maneuvers. Download a free white paper at:

www.avalara.com/bellwether

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

25

HUMANRESOURCES

Managing GEN-Y employees

by Ginger Kittinger and Donna Baeza

G

eneration Y, also known as the Millennial Generation, is a large part of the workplace today (being born in the 80s and 90s). Many people have formed opinions about this group calling them entitled and narcissistic. A lot of seasoned managers just don’t quite know how to work with Gen-Yers as they have a very different mindset from their predecessors. We reached out to some industry experts and our Blytheco team and asked – “What are the tips and tricks that you have learned to be successful managing GEN-Y employees?”

Tom Armour, with High Return SelectionT, mentors GEN-Ys to provide real work experience to help them land jobs. Here is what he has found over the last few years:

maintaining relationships. As a result, these young people have not had to develop fundamental skills that older generations take for granted.

• They are not all the same, so it’s counterproductive to categorize them into one bucket.

In spite of these differences, however, he does not think that companies need to change their corporate structure or culture just to accommodate these young workers. Sure, it’s great if a startup can build a new environment from the ground up that will make them comfortable, but he’s still not convinced that this will provide the most productive setting in the long run.

• Employers can swap stories and dwell on the negative folklore about millennials, much of which is untrue or they can reach out and help them build careers.

• First you need to identify the ones that have a strong work ethic, ability to learn quickly and the self-awareness to continually improve their game (these are the same traits for every generation).

• When you have millennials with these traits you will see they bring tremendous strengths to an organization. These are: energy, creativity, strong intention and desire to achieve.

• Finally, as a leader if you find great GenYers and are still having trouble mentoring them, look in a mirror and change your methods.

High Return SelectionT helps companies improve profitability, productivity and sales – you can learn more about his company at www.highreturnselection.com

So, here are some tips from Alfred: • The key is to recognize that these young employees come to their jobs lacking essential “soft skills” and do not even know that they are unprepared for work. Managers need to recognize the lack of skills, and work with the employees to build them. It can be as simple as making sure that all new employees receive time management training.

• Be careful to present praise in public, and criticize constructively in private, as they are not likely to have the emotional maturity that you expect from an adult.

• Work to communicate your expectations in detail, because when things go wrong, these workers are more likely to react with frustration, anger, and fear.

Additional insight came to us from Alfred Poor, author of “7 Success Secrets that Every College Student Needs to Know.”

• On the positive side, strive to help them understand how their part fits into the broader company goals, because they may not see the connection from their perspective.

He believes that there are some very good reasons why young workers behave so differently than others did 20 or even 10 years ago. While some people cite the “everyone is a winner” culture and disparage “helicopter parents,” he doesn’t believe that parents are all that different than they were a generation ago. What has changed is that digital communications have altered our ways of establishing and

Alfred Poor is a member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers. You can learn more about him on his website at www.alfredpoorspeaker.com

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

In closing, here’s what our Blytheco team shared related to helping to keep Gen-Y employees feeling valued within your organization: • Trust your employees until there is a reason not to.

Actions such as blocking social media site access at the office says – “we don’t trust you”.

• While formal reviews may be annual, performance feedback and dialog should be a consistent and a regular occurrence. Recognize contributions openly and often – address issues as they arise and agree on improvement strategies – include them in determining the solution.

• Make technology/tools a priority – cutting edge technology is the norm to millennials – it is important to them at home – it is important to them at work.

• They want a voice! Gen-Yers don’t just want to “do” – they want to be involved in the process. They want to express ideas (i.e. mental creativity), be collaborative and be heard. Listen, they have some pretty great ideas!

• Be flexible – millennials value flexibility in the workplace.

If your environment is locked down with rules and regulations that doesn’t allow for some flexibility in schedule or time off, then Gen-Yers will likely struggle in your setting.

• Take their pulse regularly – conduct employee engagement surveys at least annually to identify what isn’t working and why, ask for specific feedback and then take action when feasible.

employee’s a budget (it doesn’t have to be a lot of money) to plan and rollout fun events each month.

• Have high standards for both management and employees.

Have goals and desired outcomes tied to timelines and ensure those are met (within flexible reason).

Nothing is more demotivating for a young professional than to work under an unmotivated, unresponsive manager.

Young professionals should be able to see how their work directly impacts the organization.

• Provide competitive and creative employee benefits – this will mean different things to different employee groups, but understanding what is important to the majority of employees is important • Think differently about meeting workspace.

Starbucks is a great example of what millennials consider a “social space workspace” – think about creating social spaces within your work environment where employees can gather, collaborate and have access to wi-fi for their laptops and tablets.

• Create fun at work, and let your employee’s define fun. Create fun committee’s and give your

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

27

HUMANRESOURCES

How Do You Handle Tough Employee Situations?

by Ginger Kittinger

B

eing a manager has many aspects to the job and a very important one is managing your employees. Most of the time it is pretty straightforward, but how do you handle those tough or awkward situations? We asked and got some great feedback from Marv Russell, a leadership speaker, author and leadership expert with 25+ yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience in human resources.

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

Performance managers need to be reminded of 4 important points regarding leading and inspiring associates:

build up a strong and lasting working relationship.

She gave me three examples of how she’s helped resolve issues over the years:

• When fear and intimidation loom over their heads every day, employees cannot perform to their potential. They have to be permitted to succeed and to fail. Failure on a task cannot be the kiss of death, but rather it must be an opportunity to learn.

• At a company picnic a “Manager Dunk Tank” was featured that allowed employees to blow off some steam while showing a friendlier, more approachable side to the manager. Some employees who were having difficulty with their bosses found the dunk tank helped cool down tensions and relax the work environment.

• The desire to be rewarded and respected for their accomplishments is very important to employees.

• Employees need to be free to demonstrate their potential; to demonstrate this potential they have to be able to make mistakes.

• All employees need feedback. They need to know the expectation of the organization and you as leader and then they deserve a chance to demonstrate that they understand.

When asked how he would handle given situations, Marv has 5 simple steps: • Criticize behaviors, not the person, but be clear and specific.

• Assist and encourage that employees self-discover the issues and concerns.

• Reward positive performance and improvement opportunities daily.

• Put the burden on the employee to change, but help them understand how the personal change process works.

• Place a timetable on expectations, search for success but immediately address the problem if the response isn’t in line with expectations.

You can learn more about Marv at www.marvrussell.com.

Now for a completely different approach – HUMOR! Brian Coughlin with OpticsPlanet.com spoke with his Director of Human Resources, Charlene Thompson, about some of the ways she’s overcome difficult employee situations. She has over 25 years of experience work in Human Resources with companies both large and small, and she’s dealt with a variety of complicated employee-manager relationships over the years. One thing she’s learned is that if all else fails, humor helps take the edge off strained relationships, allowing the employee and manager to first break down any issues in a comfortable way, then

• Another similar instance at an Employee Appreciation Day a few years back had managers and employees wear inflatable Sumo Wrestling Suits. This provided a safe and fun way for managers and employees to relate and knock each other down a peg (literally).

• Finally, a bigger picture opportunity (at a company smaller than OpticsPlanet, which has nearly 300 employees) was to have managers swap places with employees for an afternoon and have each participant role play the way they view the other person. This requires a bit of a thick skin, so it’s not for everyone, but those who tried it out found a lot of insight into their work habits and attitudes.

Misunderstanding is often at the center of disputes, so seeing things from the other person’s point of view can help resolve disputes and minimize future issues.

Employees deal with pressure and stress at every job, so Charlene approaches resolutions that not only settle individual issues, but also promotes relationship building that improve workplace morale long-term.

You can learn more about OpticsPlanet at www.opticsplanet.com Managing employees is no easy task, so you have to figure out what works best for you and continually work to improve your skills, as well as the skills of your team. Seeing your team members grow and succeed is the goal. Whether it is through performance management or looking at things in a different way with humor and focusing on relationship building tasks – you can find a way to make it work.

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

29

CUSTOMERPROFILE

SugarCRM Fits the Bill

C

ontroller Services Group offers outplacement service for companies that are not large enough to have an in-house finance officer, such as a CFO or Controller. Michael Armstrong, owner, has an entrepreneurial background and manages the company from their base in Longmont, Colorado.

Armstrong and his staff realized they had grown to the point

of

where they needed a database to manage contacts and

the

potential contacts in their industry, and to communicate with

system

them regularly and monitor that communication - in lieu of

to their

maintaining that information in Outlook or Excel.

business.

Looking around the marketplace, they arrived at one or two options that were cheaper than SugarCRM, and plenty that were more expensive, but decided that SugarCRM was the most feature-rich given the pricing.

Michael notes the “ease of use to accomplish what we were looking to do.” The rich functionality of SugarCRM won over

“I would strongly recommend the 30-day trial for companies who are clear on what they want and want to make sure system can do it.”

similar products that looked nice but lacked completeness in features.

The company is primarily using Sugar for marketing: prospecting for new clients and keeping in touch with current clients for educational communications.

Controller Services Group is used to cloud technology (they also use NetSuite ERP and OpenERP), and cloud deployment of SugarCRM was a definite positive for their choice. “It’s a net plus from our perspective,” said Armstrong. “There are some perceptions that there is risk in the security of data in the cloud, but for our purposes - marketing – the data is not sensitive.”

They tested the system on their own via the free 30-day trial, and then reached out to Blytheco and SugarCRM to get clarity on the fit

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Bellwether Magazine | Second Quarter 2013

by Alicia Anderson

Are You Leaving Money on the

Table?

If you don’t have a complete lifecycle view of your customers, you are missing opportunities.

SugarCRM integrates with Quickbooks, Sage 100, and more. Blytheco can help.

Learn more about the benefits of a complete view of your customers download Aberdeen’s whitepaper “Leveraging the 360 Degree Customer View” from

Development Partner

SILVER

blytheco.com/connect

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

www.evenanerd.com

In this groundbreaking book, Wiersma outlines the seven key mind-sets of trusted professionals, offering a blueprint for both individuals and organizations interested in fostering a culture of professionalism. You’ll see how uncompromising professional standards led to unparalleled success for FBI agent George Piro during his game-changing interrogation of Saddam Hussein, for supermodel Kathy Ireland’s design and marketing enterprise, for the worldrenowned Dave Matthews Band, and for many more.

Available at Amazon.com

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

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5564 Hilliard Rome Office Park Hilliard, OH 43026 877.462.5984

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going on in your business; are you too close to see?

Being too close to your everyday business demands can distort reality.

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Process Produces Performance