10 Posts found for Publisher: Inc. Magazine

But people still leave. Some want to try other things at other companies, or the fit isn’t right, so we have to let them go. It’s the natural cycle of business.

What’s never been natural at companies, though, is how these departures are handled. So at Basecamp we’ve created a ritual for when someone leaves: We tell everyone in the company why. Not just that person’s team, … [ Read more ]

Author: Jason Fried | Source: “The Best Way to Tell Employees When You’ve Fired Someone” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior | Company: Basecamp

Because fakes (counterfeit goods) are getting better—sometimes even coming in lookalike packaging—it’s a good idea to include secret features that distinguish your products from knockoffs, especially if you’re worried about liability suits resulting from counterfeits. “You can put secret tells in your product,” says Dave Tognotti, general counsel of Monster. It marks its headphones with microscopic dots, and stamps some of its packaging with codes … [ Read more ]

Authors: Dave Tognotti, Jennifer Alsever | Source: “How to Win Against Counterfeiters” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Legal, Operations | Company: Monster

Spanning’s Jeff Erramouspe likes to hire salespeople in pairs. “You spend the same energy training one sales rep as two,” he says, “and it promotes healthy competition from the start.” It’s also a hedge against high turnover: “You don’t want to spend all that effort and be back where you started.”

Authors: Alix Stuart, Jeff Erramouspe | Source: “How Many Salespeople Do You Really Need?” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Hiring, Human Resources, Marketing / Sales, Training | Company: Spanning

Office rumors can sap morale (do you think there will be layoffs?) and productivity (let’s ask everyone if they think there will be layoffs). And, of course, if everyone is talking except management, employees assume the worst. So instead of trying to stop the conversation, join it, advises Chip Heath, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Create a “Heard on … [ Read more ]

Author: Chip Heath | Source: “Reining In Office Rumors” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subject: Organizational Behavior

There are myriad business competitions, which companies enter for myriad reasons. Opportunistic CEOs slap together applications for every conceivable prize, hoping to show off their accomplishments or secure a PR payday. But no one undertakes Baldrige on a lark. The application for the award runs to 50 pages, with roughly 250 questions covering every aspect of performance, from strategic planning and knowledge management to work-force … [ Read more ]

Author: Leigh Buchanan | Source: “We Will Be the Best-Run Business in America” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Best Practices, Management

Surprise your best customers when they least expect it. A guerrilla marketer mails lottery tickets to her best customer every time the jackpot hits $5 million. This unusual gesture generates a lot of goodwill and keeps customers talking about her.

Author: Kimberly Stansell | Source: “Inspire People to Talk about You” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Customer-Related, Marketing / Sales

37signals recently held a Comedy Central-style celebrity roast of its top-selling product in an attempt to find out what employees really thought were its weaknesses and ways it could be improved.

How was this different than the usual product meeting? For one thing, everyone was there. Designers, programmers, customer service folks—everyone had an opportunity to rip on something without worrying about hurt feelings. People … [ Read more ]

Author: Jason Fried | Source: “Want to Know What Your Employees Really Think?” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subject: Management

There’s a new story at your business every day. Maybe you dreamed up a great idea or shot down a bad one. Maybe a customer surprised you with the way he or she uses your product. Perhaps a client or an employee came to you with a suggestion for something you’d never thought of before.

There are hidden opportunities in these everyday moments. They make great … [ Read more ]

Author: Jason Fried | Source: “Telling Your Company’s Story in Video” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subject: Marketing / Sales

During the first month of training, Zappos offers new employees $2,000 to quit, plus their time worked. It sounds expensive, but in the long term, it’s not. We want people to be here because they are passionate about customer service and because they like our culture. We don’t want people who are just here for a paycheck. Those people generally end up leaving six or … [ Read more ]

Author: Tony Hsieh | Source: “The Ultimate Business Tune-up for Times Like These” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

• Offer incentives for referrals that turn into business. They can be in the form of discounts on future business, free estimates or samples, or just plain cash. Even a small offer will catch their attention.
• Create a referral form, and send it to clients or customers with your invoice for services rendered. If you’ve done a good job, the time to leverage yourself is

… [ Read more ]

Source: “Get Business to Come to You” | Original Publication: Inc. Magazine | Subject: Marketing / Sales