Business Blog

How to Boost Employee Morale.

5 Tips to Make Your Team Happier.

Create a fun office environment. Make fun an integral part of the job by planning activities and games during conferences, meetings, and training programs.
Give small rewards and personalized perks. Extra cash, like big holiday bonuses, can motivate workers; however, smaller, more thoughtful perks can often go a lot further in improving morale. For example, find out an employee’s favorite restaurant and treat him to lunch there.
Show employees why their work matters. Introduce them to some of the clients their work impacts. This will show them the results of their projects and provide a valuable opportunity to receive feedback from the customer.
Grant employees personal recognition. Begin by learning the names of each employee. Take the time to say hello and ask how they’re doing. Tell your workers when they’re doing an outstanding job, thank them for their hard work, and profile a featured employee each month.
Entrust employees with important tasks. Giving your workers responsibility boosts employees’ morale and increases production by making them feel more empowered.

Read the full article at: http://www.businessbee.com/resources/operations/workforce-management/how-to-boost-employee-morale-5-tips-to-make-your-team-happier/

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

Growth strategies for small business.

Keywords: Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, financial strategies for small business, small business consulting in Houston, business management consultant

Second Part to Getting The Most From Your Mentor.

5 New Tips For Getting the most from your Mentor.

MANAGE EXPECTATIONS AND BUILD TRUST. Avoid any trust-breaking behaviors such as canceling appointments or not following through on leads and contacts given to you by your mentor.
ACQUIRE MENTORING SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES. Pay attention to great skills that you notice in your mentors.
BE RESPECTFUL OF YOUR MENTOR'S TIME. Do not overburden him by demanding too much time or too many contacts.
EXPRESS YOUR GRATITUDE. Be sure to express regularly that you value and appreciate your mentor's guidance.
VARY THE ACTIVITIES YOU DO TOGETHER. Talk about your past experiences, goals, plans, and skill development and attendmeetings, conferences, and other events.

Read the full article at: http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/10-tips-getting-most-from-mentor

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

Keywords: Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, financial strategies for small business, small business consulting in Houston, business management consultant.

What Does it Take For a Company to Be Successful?

7 Must-Know Tips From Successful Entrepreneurs.

LOVE WHAT YOU DO. - According to Lisa King, owner of Brownie Points Inc., which sells gourmet brownies and holiday gift baskets, it's a lot easier if you're passionate about your business's purpose. "If you don't [love what you do], it's hard to be successful," she says.
BUILD A TEAM IMMERSED IN YOUR VISION. - it's important to demonstrate the type of organization we want to be," says Mike Mondello, president of SeaBear, which supplies fresh and smoked wild salmon directly to consumers.
COME UP WITH INNOVATIVE WAYS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. - Necessity really is the mother of invention. Just ask Robin Brocklesby of Creative Coverings, which rents specialty linens for formal events. When customers were having difficulty returning the linens they had rented, Brocklesby turned to UPS for a creative solution. The result was out-of-the box innovation: Return the linens in specially designed bags (with an estimated life span of 300 uses) rather than larger boxes.
CREATE A DELIGHTFUL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. - "It's mission critical that everyone on our team understands how they fit into the brand and what they bring to the value chain that delivers a successful customer experience," Mondello says.
QUICKLY LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES. - A decade ago during the holidays, SeaBear outsourced its call center. Customer orders were soon riddled with errors. "When a customer had a need outside the norm, the call center couldn't handle it with the customer care our own professionals could," Mondello recalls. The solution? SeaBear immediately stopped outsourcing and personally contacted all the customers who were negatively affected.
RELY ON PEOPLE SMARTER THAN YOU. - You can't know and do everything. You must rely on others.
NEVER SACRIFICE QUALITY. - "The key to the success of any business is to establish a philosophy and have everyone in the business buy into it," says Larry Sweet, founder and president of Save-A-Load Inc. Sweet's philosophy of putting quality first has resulted in double-digit revenue growth since the company's founding in 1993.

Read the full article at: http://compass.ups.com/7-tips-from-successful-entrepreneurs/

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

Business Coach in Houston.

Keywords: Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, financial strategies for small business, small business consulting in Houston, business management consultant

Tips for Women’s Business Growth

Learn how to be a CEO.

This is one of the biggest transitions women we work with need to overcome. Just because it’s your company does not mean you have to do everything yourself. In order to grow your company you need to be out there selling it. It’s called working on your business, instead of in your business. Your role as CEO is knowing how to hire the right people to help you make money. To start, write down the things you don’t like to do, don’t know how to do, and where you just aren’t skilled. Be honest! For these things it’s perfectly OK—and more efficient—to have someone else handle them. Then, think about what other areas of your business need to be addressed? What are the skill sets they require? Is it an assistant to deal with the manufacturer when you have a big order? Or a salesperson or a sales force if that’s the least favorite part of your work? What about a bookkeeper to take charge of getting your invoices out on time?

Read the full article at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2014/02/25/tips-for-womens-business-growth-in-2014/

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

Keywords: Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, financial strategies for small business, small business consulting in Houston, business management consultant

7 Deadly Sins of Business Meetings.

Tips on how to redeem yourself.

Meetings that become useless rituals. - First, reexamine your routine.
Meetings that are a one-way conversation. - Tip: Encourage your team to speak up, exchange ideas and comment on what they've heard.
Meetings with lax leadership. - Tip: Choose a leader who is organized and forceful, leaving latecomers to catch up on their own.
Meetings that harp on setbacks instead of strategies. - Tip: Use the past as a platform for understanding and planning future actions
Meetings that disrupt the most productive hours. - Tip: Schedule meetings in the afternoon
Meetings that are held in a bland environment. - Tip: Take your employees on a "walking" meeting
Meetings that are too formal and rigid. - Tip: Break up the meeting with music, a video, jokes or an engaging story.

Read the full article at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224151

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

Advice for women entrepreneurs in Houston.

Keywords: Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, financial strategies for small business, small business consulting in Houston, business management consultant

Third Way to Give Your Business a Boost in a Slow Market.

Do Something Different.

If ever there was a time to try something different, it's now. If your newspaper ads aren't working, try putting that money towards a news release instead. Perhaps you can generate some publicity for your business, which is just as valuable as advertising. Or perhaps you can pull back on your online advertising this month and put that money towards a targeted email campaign. If your business is more traditional, maybe you can go door to door in your area and meet face to face with potential customers. By taking a different approach to promoting your business you may learn something you didn't know before that can be used to your advantage in the future. Your news release may be a great success. Your email campaign might uncover a new target demographic that you hadn't considered. Your door-to-door sales efforts might teach you more about the composition of your community. If you're not seeing results from your current marketing efforts, a change in tactics may produce a more positive result for you. At the very least, you will usually learn something new about promoting your business through different marketing tactics.

Read the full article at: http://www.franchising.com/articles/shake_up_sales_3_ways_to_give_your_business_a_boost_in_a_slow_market.html