Wizard of Ads Partners

Five Ways to Connect with Generation X & Y Workers
By Craig Arthur

"As business owners, we now need to create a business that is attractive to both customers and employees." - Craig Arthur

When I speak with business owners about their “Limiting Factors to Growth,” finding and retaining good people is always in the top three.

Last week I was invited to a presentation titled “Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce,” by Rhonda Thorburn, the regional Director for Kelly Services, Australia.

As a rough guide here are the year brackets that determine the generations.

• Silent Generation: Born between 1925 - 1945
• Baby Boomers: Born between 1946-1964.
• Generation X: Born between 1965-1977.
• Generation Y: Born between 1978-1987.
  

How to attract and keep good people is a growing problem for all businesses, across all industries, especially so when we talk about Generation X and Y.

So how do we specifically attract and retain these younger employees?

Click to read more ...

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Thanks to Future Now Inc.

But, everybody engages web sites

By Wizard Partner, Dave Young

It's a bold statement. When I first heard Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg utter it, my brain rejected it. They put it on a slide and my brain set it aside to chew on later.

Here's what it means: People who think that the internet is just print in a different medium are wrong. (Is your brain rejecting that statement?) Here's my little 'a-ha' demonstration

You are reading a book: read - read - read - backup to re-read a difficult passage - read - read - lick thumb to turn page - read - read - read - and so on.

You are reading a newspaper:  scan - scan - read - read - scan - read - turn to page 8A - read - back to page 1 - scan - read - turn page - scan - continue.

I am reading a newspaper: find the comics - scan - skip - read (just the funny ones - why do they call the boring ones 'comics'?)

You are reading engaging a web site designed by someone who believes that web sites are just like print: scan - scan - read - look for nav link - look some more - click - scan - wrong page click back button  -find another nav link - click - scan - read - click - back to search engine.

You are engaging a web site designed by someone who believes the web is different: scan - read - click - scan - click - scan - read - read - click - scan - click - type - click - type - click - wait for UPS truck to deliver merchandise.

Does that help?

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“Who you are is a direct consequence of what you do!” -  Brigadier Bruce Scott, gold medalist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

and the Smell of Fresh Paint

by Roy H Williams - Hear Memo

Commercially speaking, where are things happening in your town? Move to where the action is. Follow Best Buy, Home Depot, Starbucks and the other Big Boys who have already done the research.

Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.

Media costs are escalating and the public is hiding from ads. These are just two of the reasons why a great location is more important today than ever before.

Expensive rent is the cheapest advertising your money can buy.

Is Walgreens able to afford great locations because they do a big volume, or do they do a big volume because they always secure great locations?

A high-visibility location communicates leadership. It implies that you do things better than your competitors.

The goal of advertising is to become familiar to your customer, to become part of their world so they think of you immediately when they need what you sell. All else being equal, customers choose the familiar over the unfamiliar. A great location makes you familiar to the public.

Are you in retail? Cut your yellow page ads dramatically or altogether. Add these dollars to your occupancy budget. (The yellow pages are a service directory. Don’t waste your retail exposure dollars there.)

Cheap rent is seductive and insidious. It ensnares even the brightest people.

Two weeks ago I was listening to a man tell me about his business when I abruptly told him that his problems were the result of a bad location. He hadn't yet told me anything about his location when I made the statement.

“What makes you think I have a bad location?”

“I knew the moment you told me which parts of your company were profitable and which were struggling.”

“But I didn’t think the location would matter for a business in my category. We’re a destination. We don’t need drive-by traffic.”

“How much do you spend for occupancy and how much are you spending for advertising?”

“Two thousand a month for rent. Seventy-five hundred a month on radio ads.”

“What would it cost to be where the action is?”

“About four thousand a month.”

“Take the extra two thousand from the ad budget. Four thousand for occupancy and fifty-five hundred on the radio will make you a lot more money.”

Your location tells the public what you believe about your company in your heart.

How proud is your location?

Roy H. Williams

PS – Real Estate developments are changing. Want to know how?

The Magic Question

By Holly Buchanan, co-author of the best selling book, The Soccer Mom Myth.

I recently met with one of the best salesmen I’ve ever seen (male or female). He owns his own house cleaning company. Many things impressed me about him, but what really got my attention was one specific question he asked.

"If there’s one piece of cleaning that must be done in order for you to feel completely happy with the service, what would it be?"

He went on, “I talked with a woman who said, ‘my stovetop is really hard to clean, but when it’s really spotless, I am a very happy woman. Even if you don’t do a perfect job on the rest of the house, that’s ok, as long as that stove top is look terrific.’ Is there anything like that we should know?”

I hadn’t really thought about it til he asked, but, yes, there was something I was really particular about – mopping the bathroom floors. I told him so.

What a terrific question – and I loved that he gave a specific example. Imagine if you could get this information from your customers. What’s the one thing that really matters to them that you must get right. Even if you don’t do a perfect job, what’s the one criteria that must be satisfied in order for them to feel really good about doing business with you?

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to work that question into the introduction call of every engagement from now on. I hope you will, too.

From the Editor: If you liked today's tip from Holly, make sure you subscribe to the SMM weekly newsletter.