Improve My Business

background:  It’s 1979.  I’m sharing an office, and a phone, with a co-worker.  A vendor calls up for my office mate, Gary, who’s not in.  I say that he’s not there, and ask if I can take a message.  The caller asks where he is, and when he’ll be back.  I say I don’t know (to both), but again offer to take a message.  The caller says that I “should know where my boss is” and then leaves a message for Gary to call him back.  As a woman, I’m sorta used to being considered the admin help rather than the engineering staff, so it’s no biggie for me.  Gary, however, is incensed that “this jerk” assumed I was his admin (back then we called them ’secretaries’) and calls up the vendor, telling him [in no uncertain terms] that I am an engineer - just like him - and I deserve his respect - just like him.  He then goes on to say that I got better grades than he did in college, and that I was probably a better engineer.  He then “offers” to let the vendor speak to me to apologize - which of course the vendor does - profusely.  I’m more amused than anything else by the whole exchange.  As a woman, in the ’70’s workforce, it was not uncommon for folks to assume that I was in an engineering meeting to take notes, make coffee, etc. rather than to actively participate.  I knew it would get easier, as more women entered the professional/scientific/engineering ranks - and it has.  I’m rarely mistaken now.

Fast forward 30+ years later, to 2011:  I get a phone call on my business phone.  Because we have the phone roll over to the home phone after 5 pm, and this call is at 5:11 pm, my daughter answers the phone a split second before I do on a different extension.  The caller asks for “Mr. McDonald”.  [My husband, though part owner in my business, is not an active participant.]  While my daughter is getting my husband on the phone, I (on another extension) ask what this is about.  Just then, my husband answers the phone.  I again say, ‘This is a business phone and Mr. McDonald is not a part of this firm; may I ask what this is about?”  and the caller has the poor instincts, and the gall, to say, “I’m calling for Mr. McDonald - and you’re interrupting!”  [You could almost hear him muttering something derogatory about the "Little Missy" interrupting him...]

…

at which point my husband states that “MRS. McDonald owns this company, you are calling on HER business line, and I suggest that you tell HER what this call is in reference to.”   The caller half-heartedly apologizes and quickly hangs up.  Now, we’ve got caller ID and are smart enough to use reverse lookup, so we know EXACTLY which company is hiring Neanderthals.  We’re not stupid.

My message to the caller?  Get into the 21st century, bucko.  Women own companies.  Women make decisions.  We are NOT interrupting when we are inquiring about inbound sales calls - we are making decisions (including a decision to block any calls from your company).  And the fact that you’re trying to sell us something?  As Julia Roberts, in Pretty Woman, says to a sales clerk who originally refused to wait on her - “You work on commission, right?  Big mistake.  Big.  HUGE.”

Technorati Tags: Add new tag, Business, Business Relationships, communication, customer satisfaction, customer service, julia roberts, pretty woman

Courtesy of our friends at 825Basics, this post:

Technorati Tags: communication, efficiency, managing your time, Time Management

Have you ever been frustrated because no one except you seems to be worried about a deadline?  Or, everyone seems to be uptight about a deadline that you think you’ll make with no problem?  This disconnect comes about as a result of not sharing the same sense of urgency for the task.

How do you avoid this?  I know the answer seems simple - better communication.  But how do you achieve better communication?

I ran into this problem recently with a group of folks I was trying to coordinate.  The person who hired me told me about the project.  He had set a very tight deadline with his client, and needed our assistance to make this deadline.  Because I knew more intimately all the steps that we’d need to do in order to make this deadline, I went into “HIGH” mode from an urgency standpoint - working that weekend to have things laid out by Monday when his staff would come into the office, as an example.

What did I forget?  To verify that the client was also aware of the workload, which things had to be done serially vs. parallel, and how long I thought it would take.

What was the result?  The client took their time about getting documents to me, did not return my phone calls for 2-3 days, etc.

Once I realized what the problem was (my lack of communication on the full, expanded task list with timetable), I rectified this, and we were on the same page again (and I was getting my info in a timely manner).

When have you had a problem with communicating the urgency (or lack thereof) for a project?

Technorati Tags: communication, important, urgent

I recently gave a presentation at a well-known conference in my industry - something that I enjoy doing.  I get to share new ideas (or ideas combined in a different way), interact with folks, and get a conversation going.  Most gratifying to me was to hear a colleague whose opinion I admire and respect say, “Mary gave me such food for thought - I had never thought to combine these two techniques before, and she not only showed us how she did it, but gave us some ideas of how we can do it ‘back at the ranch’ “…

The presentation went well according to feedback (did it have anything to do with the fact that the presentation included lunch?), and I’ve been able to hear some interesting talks on diverse topics, as well as meet some great new business contacts.

What are YOU doing to improve your skills/business? Please comment on how you ensure that you’re staying on top of your particular market… is it

- reading trade journals?

- attending seminars? conferences?

- in-house training?

- online webinars? teleseminars?

- etc.

Do tell - I’d love to hear how you’re staying on top of your game!

And, if you’re not doing anything right now - take a minute to search online for some form of professional development; type some keywords into a search engine and read some relevant articles; find and bookmark / RSS some key websites or blogs and set aside 30 mins every week to read (may I suggest improveyourbusinessnow.com, blog.efficiencydr.com, or blog.sustainabilitydr.com ?)

Technorati Tags: Add new tag, Business, communication, mcdonald consulting group, preparation, training

Steven Covey, in his groundbreaking work The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, tells us to “begin with the end in mind”. The concept is to know what you want to accomplish, and to set up your tasks to assist you in reaching that goal. This is nothing more than knowing what you want to accomplish, and aligning your tasks and assignments with that goal.

Many folks get caught up in the social media craze – I admit that I did too for a while. The good news is that my personality gets ‘tired’ with things pretty easily – whether it’s posting 5-6 times per day on twitter, or connecting with acquaintances on Facebook, or answering questions in the Q&A on LinkedIn Answers. Why is that good news? Because I know that, once I ‘master’ this new application, it will lose its allure. So, I can focus on my new obsession in the knowledge that it’s only because I’m not expert at it yet; once I get there, my nature will allow me to naturally ratchet back on the time, effort, and brainpower I’ll put in on this.

Let me give you an example: when I first logged on to Twitter, I was one of the earlier adopters (I won’t say early adopters, but certainly am not a newbie to the app). I was focused on identifying posters who were interesting, humorous, leaders in their field, and leaders in my field. I grew my follower list thoughtfully (I don’t automatically follow those who follow me; and if someone follows me, I go to their profile, read 2-3 pages of the most recent posts, and decide to follow or not based on whether I want to hear what they have to say. If their entire post history are either retweets (RTs), responses (@twittername) or links to their own products (“come check out my 50% off sale!”) I don’t tend to follow them.)

My twitter followers to @marymcd has grown organically to around 1,000 – 1,100 followers – every week I gain some, and I lose some. I check out who I lose, and it’s invariably people who have followed me for 48 hours, seen that I don’t automatically follow them back, and they drop me (Twitter Quitters). Conversely, I’ve built online relationships with folks that I’ve never met IRL (In Real Life) and have a network of professionals I can tap at any given time to get their thoughts on something I’m struggling with. So, although I devoted a bunch of time to building this network, I don’t spend NEARLY that much maintaining it (and yes, I do post regularly on Twitter except when I’m travelling…)

What was my original goal? To understand this new tool, to figure out if I could build a revenue stream from it (yes, but indirectly only), and to connect with colleagues in far-flung locations. Did I accomplish this? You bet. Was it worth the effort? Yes, when I consider the friendships I’ve developed (you know who you are, @my-virtual-twitter-friends…) Am I a twitter guru? Not even close. I use the tool, and am happy with my use, but do not aspire to be a Twitter queen.

Re-examine how you are spending your time – are you doing things that support your ultimate goal? If not, why not? What can you do differently?

Technorati Tags: blogging, Business, communication, efficiency, goals, managing your time, Time Management, working smarter