I hope you find my writing and business tips and observations useful. My business and blog are dedicated to helping businesses communicate clearly and reach their potential.
Read, subscribe to my newsletter, enjoy!Tash
Natural disasters
With floods in Victoria, NSW and especially in Queensland, fires in WA and cyclones in Queensland, we are experiencing natural disasters across Australia.
Aside from any emotional reactions and personal needs, this is clearly a time to prepare our businesses for the worst. For those in affected and threatened areas, you may not have the time or energy to do much now but I believe the rest of us should take this time to protect our businesses so we can stay strong to help those who are loosing so much.
To help you prepare, here are some previous blog posts where I have written about contingency plans and actions:
Risk acknowledgement
Chain reactions…
Prepared for a chain reaction?
Protecting the essential
Crucial planning ahead for problems
What’s essential?
Website hosting security
Merry Christmas!
On behalf of everyone associated with Word Constructions, have a very Merry Christmas (or at least a lovely day if you don’t celebrate Chri
stmas as such) and a wonderful, prosperous and safe 2011.
And for those who have been good all year, I hope you enjoy your visit from Santa!
Keep smiling and use your words wisely!
Their names are precious
Did you know that someone’s name is one of the most precious words to them?
If you don’t believe me, think about how you feel when you are ‘treated like a number’, someone pronounces your name poorly and you get a letter with your name wrong in some way.
I once got a letter that referred to Mr T Hughes, opened with Tash and had Mrs Hughes on the envelope. I didn’t like being called Mr but the lack of care shown by the inconsistency was very poor.
Getting people’s names right is a sign of respect, and in business it also shows attention to detail matters to you. So consider the following tips:
- check the spelling of someone’s name before you send a letter or email – and use their spelling even if you don’t like it
- personalise where possible – if sending a letter or email, consider adding their name to the subject and/or body as well as in the opening line
- think about what form to use – title and surname or just first name for instance will depend on your audience and your business style. Note if they have shown a preference for one style then make sure you use that style.
- if you are not sure of gender from the name, avoid using terms that indicate gender as getting it wrong can be offensive
- never make fun or joke about someone’s name, even if you think you have a friendship, unless they have done so first – even then I would hesitate before joking about their name
- wait to be invited to use a nickname or abbreviation. So many people meet a Michael or Jonathon and start saying Mike and Jon, but if Michael hates Mike it will not impress him at all. Besides, nicknames are personal and often reserved for friends
- ask how to pronounce their name if you are not sure – people don’t mind helping but may resent errors
- do your best to remember names, especially at networking events or if a client introduces you. There are many techniques for improving your name memory and it is a valuable skill to have
PS On a humorous note, I received a phone call a few days ago where the person asked “Is that Mr Tash Hughes” (badly pronounced)
I answered “No” thinking – do I really sound like a Mr?
Next question “Can I speak to Tash Hughes?”
My answer “You are – I am Tash but I’m not Mr.”
“Oh, I thought you were a boy, Goodbye” and hung up!
A step forward
Have you ever had to deal with something unpleasant, and then experienced the relief when it is resolved in some way, especially in a positive way?
Last week, I went to a VCAT hearing about outstanding payments from an ex-client.
Background story: A client I thought was trustworthy requested various writing projects over a period of time but hasn’t paid me for them. This client has never indicated a problem with the invoices, but just hasn’t bothered paying – or asking for any extension or payment terms. Late last year, I sent statements with the message that although interest hadn’t been charged it would apply from January and further action would be taken if she didn’t respond by that time. She chose not to respond so I filed an application resulting in today’s hearing.
Outcome: There is now a court order against her to pay me – and it is binding even if she goes into liquidation. I wonder if she knows the courts can go as far as repossessions if she ignores the order? Personally I think it is for the general good that an order can go on public record so others an see her reputation and be protected from her.
Of course, I would have much preferred to not go down this path and have been paid when I presented the invoice. It is an unfortunate risk in business that not everyone is honourable; fortunately, I have not had a lot of problems with payments and this client is certainly the worst in my seven years of running a business.
There is a great sense of relief however to have the hearing over and know that she is liable to pay me now.
Naming publicly
The naming and shaming will probably prove to be the greatest punishment. Chris Jackson
…we will name their names and shame them as they deserve to be shamed. Bob Dole
The above quotes got me thinking – is being named publicly for some wrong doing a bigger punishment than something like a fine or restriction? Do people who do the wrong thing actually deserve to be identified?
I don’t know that they deserve to be named and possibly humiliated by that naming, but I can see that naming them may protect others. For example, someone convicted of fraud isn’t someone I want to hire as an accountant or financial advisor, and having people who don’t pay for services they request listed may protect other businesses from being mistreated.
Some wrong doers appear to feel no shame and repeat their “crime” over and over; these are the ones people most need protecting from so making their names public seems somewhat just. With the internet, it is obviously mush easier to get names in front of a LOT of people instead of a smaller audience. For example, you can contact any magistrates court and ask for finding of any case which limits the access, but you can now also visit a website and see the outcomes for yourself.
What do you think – should wrong doers be publicly named as a punishment, to protect others, or not at all?
Part 2 in a couple of days…
Free ads can still cost…
In my recent post about saving money in business, I noted that ineffective free ads could be too expensive to run.
While that may seem strange (a free ad costs nothing, right?) it is true.
By free ad I mean any advertising you do that doesn’t directly cost you anything so it may be a free directory listing, adding an email signature, using social media or having a banner in someone else’s newsletter. Free advertising is great for cashflow obviously, and has a number of advantages, but it isn’t always good for business or truly free.
So even free ads need to be reviewed and considered for their value. Consider these examples of how free ads can be much more costly than they first appear…
- social media is certainly free in that you don’t pay any fees to join or use those sites. However, you may pay for supporting software and you do pay in time – and the smaller expense of electricity, computer wear and tear, etc. If you are spending hours tweeting every week (and have done for months) and have never had a sale through Twitter, it is becoming an expensive, ineffective exercise
- directories that need regular updating but return nothing are probably not worth the effort, especially as many are only viewed by other business people updating their listings!
- notice what response the ad is generating – an ad that brings in a lot of queries but no sales is probably in the wrong place or missing the target. In this case the free ad is costing you in time to answer queries rather than giving you time for genuine customers. Try tweaking to ad or just stop using that free option
- ads in disreputable places may also not have a price to add them or take time to maintain, but if they are giving your business a bad image they are very expensive ads. Negative associations are hard to measure as you can’t see which people consciously didn’t come to your website. Just be careful where you are listed, and review sites every so often as they may change over time
Chain reactions…
I came across a blog post about the domino effect and it got me thinking.
Obviously, one little thing left undone can cause another little thing to happen and so on until there is a problem – for example, miss one weeks back up of your computer doesn’t seem like a big deal until you have missed many weeks back ups and then your hard drive fails…
This is where contingency plansand attention to detail are important. Sometimes we get busy and it is easy to leave things until later (and the reality is that with only 24 hours in a day, some things have to be left until later) but we need to watch out for the important things not being forgotten. Maybe a set time each week to review important things could be a valuable use of time.
Here are five things I think should be regularly checked before they become a problem:
- overall safety – broken chairs, loose power cords, overloaded power points, faulty machinery can cause serious damage if left to get worse
- back up systems of data and software
- suppliers – little issues may build up until you are left unable to fulfill client needs so check suppliers are on track before it gets critical
- customer service – if you have staff, are they treating customers the way you want? are you keeping your word on things like sending out newsletters? how long does it take to reply to emails?
- accounts – is data processed with some regularity? do you pay invoices on time every time? are you aware of those customers who are slow payers?
Of course, not all domino effects are negative, so I’ll post about that tomorrow!
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