Despite the importance of pay, the overwhelming number one reason an employee will quit is because of his manager.There has always been a strong belief that the main reason an employee quits a job is because he was offered more pay elsewhere. Survey data from sources such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Management Association and the Society for Human Resource Management suggest that employees will leave for more pay, but the amount must be at least 10% more than they are making to even consider quitting.When we have conversations with employees, their satisfaction with the company is based directly on their satisfaction with their manager.As companies grow and owners get further away from running day-to-day operations, opportunities increase for a manager who does not adhere to the company culture or method for taking care of your employees.Layers of management create a greater risk that the culture will be compromised and that an employee could have an unfavorable experience with a subpar or even horrible manager.Well over 50% of all people in management roles have received little to no supervisor training. Many times they were the best ___________ (e.g., technician, programmer, nurse, accountant, cashier, etc.) when the management position needed to be filled.Managers often become managers because of what we call a “battlefield” promotion. A manager quits and the job needs to be filled as soon as possible. So the best “blank” is promoted without any training. Many times that promotion works out just fine but sometimes we unwittingly create the manager from hell.How do you spot a situation in which the manager is not managing the way you want him to manage?Don’t look only at results, as it is often the case that the some of the best performing groups or locations will have an Attila the Hun running the show. Your good employees will still perform in that situation because they are good employees.Sometimes employee turnover will tell the tale, although many times good employees will hang on for awhile, hoping that things will change or that the manager will just go away.Possible signs of problems can be picked up if your company conducts performance appraisals. Look at the wording used to describe employees’ performance or the ratings they receive. Also pay attention to increased used of write ups or unfavorable comments about individual employees.What do you do if you determine you have a bad manager?First, you need to decide if he is worth saving. That process is a difficult one but assuming you decide to keep him, you need to go back to the drawing board and get him the fundamental training that every supervisor needs.The manager needs to understand that managing is achieving success through the work of others and doing it in a way that leaves the employees satisfied with both the direction they receive and the results they accomplish.If you are going to leave that manager with the group or at the location in which he struggled to manage before training (usually not a good idea), you would need to create a reintroduction plan.The real lesson to be learned is to prepare for the growth and development of your management team before you actually have the need to promote someone to that team.(C) 2011 Jerry Ballard, Perfect People Solutions
Market Research – Why It Should Be Considered Before/During Prior Art Search
An invention is a set of ideas and thoughts to ease the way people perform their daily tasks. An Inventor can be a business or an individual who has an objective behind the invention. A lot of money is required to present the invention to the world, thus, investors who find it interesting fund the R & D operations.The invention process is very wide. There is no fix time when an invention is converted into useful products. It can take 5, 10 years or even more. The R & D department performs a series of operations one after another – describing the business vision, creating strategies, describing the R & D processes, identifying resources, and drafting designs. The R & D teams comprehensively study all areas of the invention, collect different ideas, which are then combined to build products and services. Thus, the research to development of invention comprises a wide range of processes, which need thousands or millions of dollars.Patenting an inventionAn invention is patented to prevent it from being theft by others. The inventor can restrict individuals and companies from using his/her invention for making or selling products during its life. When filing a patent application, the inventor needs to mention a set of claims, which he/she should choose carefully. So, it is recommended to know the market trends, new technologies, applications, etc. at the time of performing the R & D operations, which will help in getting great claims.An invention can only be patented if it doesn’t contain any part of the previously patented technology and meet certain uniqueness standards. To find if your invention is already known or not, prior art search is conducted. The innovator can do prior art search on his/her own, or hire an expert for this purpose.What is prior art search?Prior art search can be defined as collecting information about the technologies associated with the invention. It’s main objective is to know whether the invention is patentable or not. Sources of prior art search include previous patents, filed patents, scientific reports, research papers, textbooks, newspapers, journals, and internet publications. There are many inventions that are never used in products and services, and these should also be considered during the patent filing process. On the internet, a wide range of tools are available that can help you conduct an efficient prior art search.Prior art search can provide details about previous inventions in the field, new products and services, etc. It prevents reinventing the already existing inventions. With this, the R & D department can know the already existing technologies, and focus the activities, processes, and tasks to innovate them or research the new ones.Know the market well before conducting prior art searchThe main objective is to get the invention patented with broadest possible claims. Prior art search collects existing knowledge in the fields that belong to the invention. But, this is not enough. One should know the market and companies that are already working on the technologies the invention is based, which will help in choosing the right areas for R & D.Patent filing is a broad process, and a little wrong move can convert into a big mistake. Thus, from planning to execution, every step should be put wisely. Before going for prior art search, it is important to know the markets in which the invention can bring revolution in, current market trends to focus on, activities of competitors, etc. All these details can be obtained through market research. Thus, it is recommended to conduct a market research first to know the technologies trending in the market.Why market research?Market research can help in proper utilization of all the elements of an invention. It provides comprehensive analysis of different markets associated with the invention, patent environment, and existing and future products. Thus, market research can add value to the research and development operations, making them more advanced.There are many reasons why the inventor should consider market research before starting R & D operations and prior art search. Please have a look at them -Detailed information about the markets: Market research reports not only provide information about different markets that belong to the area of invention, but also tell the top active markets. Suppose, an invention can be used in manufacturing products in 10 different industries, out of which 7 are in the growing phase. Thus, there is need to spend extra time and money to obtain patents in these 7 industries to get maximum ROI. Thus, market research reports can suggest you the right industries to continue research and build products.Competitor analysis: To emerge as a leading player in the market, it is necessary to know the activities of competitors. With market research reports, the inventor can get in-depth understanding of his/her competitors, technologies they are working on, and their existing and upcoming products and services. Thus, the R & D department can broaden their research to the areas untouched by the competitors.Helps in patent drafting: Patent drafter is the person who can help you get a patent with great claims. With extensive knowledge of market trends, active industries, and customer needs, he can write broadest patent claims possible. Thus, with market research reports, your patent drafter can prepare a clear, accurate patent application, and your get a patent, which will have great market value, and you can earn a lot from it.Top players:Market research reports provide information about the top companies using the technologies similar to that of the invention. This makes easy to know how advanced the invention is, the technologies that can be innovated, and how to plan R & D processes. After obtaining the patent with significant claims, the inventor can contact the top companies for business partnerships or licensing.
Digital Marketing As A Subset Of Business Development Strategies
One point that it is wise to focus on when considering developing and refining top level business development strategies is that…… The Integration Of The Digital Marketing Activities Into That Of The Top Level Business Development Plans Are Essential For Success With Any Tactical Activities… It is indeed quite possible for organisations to be taking part in daily social media or online internet marketing activities taking place on a daily basis and for these activities to be shown to be having little [in some cases none at all] effect on key marketing parameters such as…>>> Marketing Funnel Interaction>>> Lead Generation>>> Target MarketingThese are but a few of that which we consider to be business fundamentals and how these key business imperatives dovetail into the core internet marketing activities are fundamentally important to the organisation’s overall marketing activities effectiveness.If the case exists where the top level business strategies have not been clearly defined and there are significant online marketing activities [in terms of social media interaction, paid advertising and content creation and publication for search engine marketing purposes] then the conclusion may be drawn that as a consequence there is no real foundation on which to base the digital marketing activities.In the cases where the business has taken the steps to develop and to base their activities on foundational marketing planning then in these circumstances – these plans can be used to serve as a basis on which to base the digital marketing; search engine and social media activities upon.Main point being – We Cannot Forget The Marketing within the “Digital Marketing” phrase. With so many daily activities that can be executed such as…
micro blogging
email marketing
blogging
guiding prospects through specific marketing funnels
video marketing
keyword analysis
… more and more the higher up the organisation that ‘over the internet’ marketing is visited then the great effect will be seen in terms of product / service awareness; increase in brand equity which culminate in revenue generation.With so many digital marketing tools out there that the digital marketing professional can make use for customer interaction, brand development and product / service promotion and; with the ‘noise level apparently increasing on a weekly basis,the case for increased focus on the integration of digital marketing with core business development planning must be highlighted.Taking this one step further by factoring in search engine and social media marketing at the strategic business phase will ensure that the online marketing implementation serves the company to maximum effect.
Office Property Financing – Available Options
Office property financing is fairing relatively well in the credit crisis compared to other property types. The success is attributable to the general use nature of the building type, and that many of the owners are occupants of the property.
Currently owner occupied financing is easier to get done than investment financing. Owners of office building need to occupy, with their business at least 51% of the subject property to qualify for the best financing. Owners can still expect to get 90% financing on purchases and 85% on refinances, with good rates that are often tied to the Prime rate. Currently Prime is at historic lows at 4%. These loan programs that are still closing are often tied to government sponsored programs, which explains a large reason for their stability.
By general use, most lenders and banks are referring to the building, not being special purpose like a hotel or a restaurant for example. With a restaurant, the only potential business type that could occupy the space would be another restaurant. Thus limiting the pool of potential buyers and making the property type more risky for lenders in the case of borrower default. And, making it more difficult for the banks to sell the building and re coup their capital. Banks, when considering a making a loan assume that the borrower will default and structure their offering accordingly.
Office property financing will likely continue to whether the storm as the government continues to back small business in general. Also, due to the wide verity of business types that occupy office properties including strong segments of the economy like health care or fortune 500 corporations should help keep the stability of office building financing.