Cum sa fii fericit la job?

Pana nu demult, companiile se concentrau pe a investi o buna parte din bugetul lor de traininguri in cursuri de dezvoltare profesionala. Obiectivul? Cresterea eficientei si eficacitatii angajatilor cu scopul de a mari productivitatea si performanta acestora. Insa, aceasta tactica nu functioneaza la fel de bine in prezent cum se intampla odata.

In momentul de fata, lipsa talentelor in piata este acuta si este estimata sa se accentueze si mai mult atat timp cat statisticile continua sa arate ca in fiecare zi circa 550 de romani decid zilnic sa plece definitiv din Romania.

De aceea, mai nou, angajatii apreciaza si devin mai loiali organizatiilor care se preocupa realmente de perfectionarea lor in directia abilitatilor la care ei sunt cei mai buni nativ, nu prin prizma responsabilitatilor pozitiilor pe care le ocupa la job. In 2018, angajatii adora angajatorii care investesc in traininguri de dezvoltare personala.

In lipsa unui sistem educational performant, angajatii romani competitivi, catalogati ca fiind best performeri in organizatiile lor, apreciaza trainingurile si absorb informatie noua de dragul cunoasterii.

 Insa daca ii intrebi cine sunt, ce vor de la viata si daca sunt fericiti, se blocheaza si nu prea stiu ce sa raspunda. Pentru ca pe bancile scolilor romanesti nu invatam cum sa fim fericiti.

Astfel, observam ca acele organizatii care pun mult accent pe ceea ce insemna fericirea angajatilor devin din ce in ce mai interesate de instrumente de training care sa-i ajute pe oameni sa-si dea seama ce inseamna de fapt ”fericirea” in contextul intregii personalitati a unui om, nu doar la birou, in masina, acasa sau cand se afla in oras cu prietenii. Descoperim astfel ca fericirea tine de fapt de gradul de auto-cunoastere al fiecaruia. Cu cat stim mai bine cine suntem cu atat suntem mai fericiti. Cu cat intelegem ce ne motiveaza, ce putem obtine cu efort minim, cum reactionam in conditii de stres, cu atat suntem mai fericiti.

 Pare simplu, insa tocmai lucrurile mult prea simple sunt de multe ori cel mai dificil de realizat si, totodata, considerate a fi geniale.

 Concret, atunci cand realizam ca unii dintre noi preferam activitati care sa ne aduca pe noi insine in prim plan, realizam ca ne simtim motivati la job atunci cand sustinem prezentari in fata echipei sau a clientilor. Tot atunci obtinem performanta cea mai ridicata. Astfel, incepem sa cautam in mod constient oportunitati de business care ne pun in valoare abilitatea de a capta atentia unui public.

 SAU daca ne aflam in situatia in care constatam ca ne plac detaliile si avem tendinta de a despica firul in 4, avem tendinta de a lua decizii dupa ce am obtinut un maxim de informatii disponibile. Dar asta inseamna si ca unele decizii vor fi luat cu intarziere, atragand dupa sine si consecinte mai putin fericite. Astfel, fiind constienti de aceasta realitate si de acest potential risc, putem cauta sa grabim luarea deciziilor reducand in mod constient nevoia de a acumula informatie pe subiectul respectiv.

Acestea sunt doar doua exemple care pot fi descoperite intr-un astfel de training.

Una dintre consecintele la nivel de organizatie a trainingurilor de tipul ‘cum sa fii fericit la job’ este ca unii angajati obtin o confirmare a faptului ca sunt omul potrivit la locul potrivit si se folosesc de informatiile obtinute pentru a-si creste performanta la job.

Alti angajati inteleg ca anumite activitati din tot ceea ce fac li se potrivesc manusa, ca acolo au nevoie sa depuna efort minim si ca pentru a obtine maxim de rezultate pe alte paliere unde trebuie sa iasa din zona lor de confort si sa depuna un efort suplimentar.

O alta categorie de angajati realizeaza ca nu vor fi niciodata impliniti in pozitiile respective si cu sprijinul managerului direct sau a colegilor din resurse umane reusesc sa acceada in joburi care sa li se potriveasca mai bine, in cadrul aceleiasi organizatii. Sau aleg sa paraseasca respectiva companie continuand procesul de cautare a fericirii la job.

Astfel de traininguri sunt excelente pentru a creste retentia angajatilor, pentru a apropia nevoile companiei cu nevoile echipei, pentru a suda membrii unei echipe.

In concluzie: cum sa fii fericit la job? Intelege cine esti, fii mandra sau mandru de asta, si construieste mai departe in directia pe care o doresti pentru ca in viata poti obtine tot ceea ce iti doresti, mai devreme sau mai tarziu.

 https://www.wall-street.ro/articol/Careers/236193/cum-sa-fii-fericit-la-job.html

 

O Romanie mai indolenta, mai rau platnica si mai saraca

Mai indolenti, mai rau platnici si mai saraci. Astfel ar putea fi descrisi romanii in viitorul foarte apropiat, daca se va continua adoptarea de legi cu caracter populist ce reglementeaza sistemul financiar.

Ne referim in cazul de fata la propunerea legislativa PLx 85/2018, potrivit careia un colector de creante nu ar putea incasa de la debitor mai mult de dublul pretului la care a cumparat creanta respectiva. Iar o creanta se vinde la un pret ce reprezinta un procent din valoarea creditului si a costurilor aferente.

Cu alte cuvinte, in cazul in care proiectul de lege se va aproba (si sunt sanse mari), daca Ionel se duce la banca sa imprumute 1.000 de lei, sa zicem, el stie ca potrivit legii nu va fi nevoit niciodata sa inapoieze intreaga suma. In situatia in care acea creanta s-ar vinde la un procent de 25% din valoarea creditului, acest lucru ar insemna ca Ionel nu va fi obligat sa inapoieze mai mult de 500 de lei.

O astfel de lege cu caracter populist este discriminatorie pentru romanii de buna credinta. La o analiza superficiala s-ar putea spune ca romanii cu putere financiara redusa vor fi mai protejati. La o privire mai atenta se va putea observa o serie de consecinte grave asupra acelorasi romani mai saraci, dar si cu implicatii serioase in toate celelalte paturi sociale.

Ne vor astepta dobanzi bancare din ce in ce mai ridicate si comisioane mai mari la credite, ca o consecinta a incurajarii unui comportament de rau platnic.

Companiile de creditare, banci si IFN-uri, vor fi incurajate sa nu-si mai vanda datoriile provenite din neplata creditelor. De ce? Pentru ca pur si simplu acestea ies in pierdere. Astfel, romanii vor intampina dificultati in rambursarea creditelor pentru ca spre deosebire de companiile de colectare de creante care ofera planuri mai relaxate de plata, bancile si IFN-urile vor fi mai putin flexibile in recuperarea datoriilor.

 Aceasta situatie ii va afecta tocmai pe romanii de buna credinta, facandu-le viata si mai grea la plata datoriilor. In vreme ce aceia dintre noi care suntem mai indolenti, carora nu ne pasa atat de mult daca suntem cu platile la zi sau daca ne cresc datoriile vazand cu ochii, suntem cumva mai protejati.

Mai mult, daca va fi aprobata, legea va crea un blocaj in sistemul financiar romanesc pentru ca bancile nu vor mai putea folosi instrumentul de vanzare de creante pentru a micsora nivelul de credite neperformante.

Va crea un blocaj in activitatea bancara pentru ca aceste institutii nu se vor putea descurca singure cu aceste volume de credite neperformante. Astfel, bancile vor redirectiona eforturile lor catre un tip de activitate atipica pentru ele – colectarea de creante.

Inghetarea vanzarilor de creante din credite si facturi de utilitati va adanci rata de saracie a Romaniei. Astfel, populatia nu va mai putea sa isi reduca datoriile curente din credite sau facturi.

Mai mult, o astfel de abordare comerciala va pune frana cresterii economice, intrucat romanii nu vor mai avea putea accesa credite noi. Acest lucru va conduce la scaderea consumului si a investitiilor, dar si la influentarea deciziilor bancilor si a IFN-urilor fie de a nu mai credita, fie de a oferi finantare la costuri mai mari.

De asemenea, proiectul de lege produce consecinte negative indirecte pentru toti ceilalti consumatori. Costul bancilor cu sumele nerecuperate si cu provizioanele va creste substantial si se va regasi in cresterea pretului de creditare si a dobanzilor. Costul cu sumele nerecuperate (“bad debts”) va fi astfel integral alocat clientilor de buna credinta, buni platnici.

 Astfel, vom ajunge mai indolenti, mai rau platnici si mai saraci.

Pentru ce il admir pe Elon Musk sau Cum sa imi motivez echipa intr-o era in care abordarea de tip ‘carrot and stick’ nu mai functioneaza

Despre Elon Musk, cu totii am auzit. Stim, poate, ca una dintre companiile lui de suflet, Tesla, mai nou a depasit ca valoare producatori de masini traditionali precum GM sau Ford. Stim ca ii plac rachetele economice, adica acelea care pot fi folosite mai mult de o data, stim ca a pariat pe energia solara, ca a dezvoltat cea mai tare masina electrica a momentului (mai sunt si altele) si mai stim ca toate astea sunt parti componente ale unei viziuni (altii ar spune ca pentru moment este de fapt doar un vis) si anume colonizarea planetei Marte.

Ce mai stim despre Elon Musk? Si lucruri mai putin placute: ca este infumurat, ca nu se teme sa le spuna jurnalistilor in fata EXACT ceea ce crede despre ei si ca in general il ia gura pe dinainte mai mult decat este cazul cu consecinte de miliarde de dolariasupra companiilor sale. Mai stim ca si-a concediat asistenta dupa 10 ani in care i-a fost alaturi zi si noapte pe motivul machiavellic ca scopul scuza mijloacele, ca tipa la colaboratori si angajati si ii ‚obliga’ sa munceasca zi si noapte si multe astfel de lucruri.

As putea scrie o carte despre Elon Musk, atat de mult l-am studiat in ultimele luni, INSA ceea ce cred ca este important pentru noi toti este de a culege ce functioneaza din experienta de viata a acestui om: viziunea pe termen lung a unui lider care are drept scop beneficii pe scara larga. 

ACESTA este motivul pentru care mii de angajati din Statele Unite prefera sa-l suporte pe Musk asa cum e si sa munceasca pentru companiile lui de 2 ori mai mult si pe un salariu de 2 ori mai mic decat la orice alt competitor. Aceeasi viziune de „a face o lume mai curata si mai sigura” cu o rata mai indelungata de supravietuire este si motivul pentru care multi din cei mai bogati oameni ai Americii au decis sa ii dea in avans sute de milioane de dolari pentru a concepe masina viitorului. 

In traducere, ce inseamna asta pentru managerul sau antreprenorul roman?

Ca intr-o etapa a dezvoltarii pietei locale in care supravietuirea sau dezvoltarea business-urilor depinde de mentinerea sau de atragerea de oameni valorosi in organizatii, este crucial sa intelegem ca motivarea angajatilor nu mai raspunde la strategia de tip „Carrot and Stick”asa cum se intampla pana mai ieri. 

Nu le mai poti flutura pe la nas talentelor din piata doar birouri frumoase, aproape de metrou, cafeterii bune si ieftine, salarii competitive si bonusuri de performanta. Pentru ca apoi cand nu-si ating KPI-urile sa incepi sa-i mustrezi.

O viziune de business pe care angajatii sa o inteleaga si la care sa adere, sentimentul ca ceea ce fac conteaza cu adevarat, ca prin activitatea lor zilnica desi aparent insignifianta sunt de fapt picatura fara de care oceanul nu ar exista – asta este ceea ce motiveaza talentele in momentul de fata.

Aceasta este teoria imbratisata in cele mai avansate corporatii globale, dar si in cele mai hip start-up-uri de IT din Romania. Vorbeam recent cu antreprenorul din spatele unei companii de IT cu un istoric de 4 ani pe piata locala si imi spunea ca modalitatea prin care a reusit sa recruteze cativa dintre cei mai destepti ingineri de IT din tara, insa cu firi dificile spre imposibile si cu abilitate 0 pentru lucrul in echipa, a fost exact aceea de a crea cadrul pentru ca acesti profesionisti sa-si dezvolte ideile la care lucrau de o viata si pe care sa le poata pune in aplicare.

Pentru cei interesati despre cum sa-si dezvolte abilitatile de management de personal in aceasta directie a viitorului ii invit sa acceseze si acest recent white paper dezvoltat de Stanton Chase.

 

 

 

 

 

CUSTOMER CHURN – HOW TO MANAGE IT AND STOP IT HAPPENING

Let’s all be clear about this, potential customer churn or attrition begins when they were first sold that product or service.  From that day onwards, from when the packaging was opened, service activated, first mobile call made or stated 100GB internet connection tested, a small trace of customer disappointment can quickly become a ‘churn event’.  (I have to relate to the telecoms/CPG market here as the FMCG market follows a totally different set of rules) 

Why do customers churn?

If we clearly have the best product/service on the market, the best brand, the best pricing and the best customer service, why indeed would any customer churn?  There are many more questions than answers; people are people and they are often open to persuasion, the grass may appear to be greener on the other side, or their friends are using other providers, the competitor may have offered them a better price and so on, so its inevitable that there will always be a certain degree of attrition that is out of your span of control.

One must also ask the not so dumb question, “ Are there some customers we actually want to churn?  If we agree that some percentage of customer churn is inevitable, then do we know what customers are really worth saving? The high value customers should certainly be flagged on the system, but that may apply to current value. What about potential value?  How can you lock in your key customers that will provide your best revenue potential?

Span of Control

Elements within your span of control that may cause a customer to churn are numerous, we classify them as ‘churn events’. At some stage after the initial purchase, a ‘churn event’ happened and it was not identified and addressed by your team. This may be a delivery, fulfillment, installation, technical issue, service management or billing, there are numerous ‘events’ that can contribute to actual churn and unaddressed event combinations could result in mass churn, lost customers and quite often, bad debt, regardless of any dunning process.

Customer Retention

There are many retention strategies that are based around revenue and usage churn, which generally happens before the actual customer churn.   Due to the fact that most Telco’s have millions of customers to monitor and do not have real-time view dashboards of customer activity, monthly usage analysis from billing, finance, IT can often be too little, too late.

Worst case scenarios that I have come across was an org that only undertook retention campaigns on those customers that have ‘threatened’ to leave or have simply not paid their bill on time.  This is not retention, this is desperation as this badly designed process puts the ‘save desk’ retention team in a weak negotiating situation from the outset.  And if they indeed did manage to successfully retain the customer, (which at this stage will only be done by offering the maximum allowed discount/retention offer), it may then lead to masses of customers threatening to leave /not paying their bills in order to get a better deal, as this virals.  The Telco has then unwittingly pushed many customers into the mercenary / terrorist category, never again to become a loyal apostle.  So what’s the solution?

Churn Management

The solution is a churn management process that uses an industry standard set of metrics to identify and manage potential churners from day one.   In addition, there is the actual data issue that needs to be understood. The entire customer base needs to segmented using the ‘potential value’ based segmentation model, which not only categorises who are the best customers to save but also who are the best to upsell.  There is little point in spending untold millions of marketing budget acquiring new low value customers in the front door, when the high value customers are exiting out the back door.   To make matters worse these ex-customers may then become the terrorists of your organisation, quickly spreading negative info across social media and their network. 

Acknowledging this, it is obvious then that all customers really need to be quickly turned into ‘apostles’ or ‘raving fans’ that spread the good word and a clear process inserted to help make this happen across the Product or contract lifecycle.   Far better than trying to placate mercenaries and terrorists!

I must re-iterate, churn begins at the start when the product /service has just been sold. Retention begins the following day with an established tried and tested churn management process throughout the contract term or product lifecycle.

 Reducing Customer Churn by 72%

Using this process in a large Telco, we managed to achieve a massive 72% churn reduction in Y1. (which I believe is still the benchmark throughout the industry) in addition to a substantial increase in sales.

The churn reduction performance translated to immediate savings of millions of Euros and potentially 10’s of millions of extra revenue across the lifecycle. 

If you would like to find out how this can be achieved, I would be happy to share with you…. 

 

How tactical communication can increase revenue

F*** THE POOR

 

As we move into an era where we are all so busy in our highly productive lives, each competing for some of the ‘customers time’ to make our pitch’, it is worth reflecting on how we can improve the conversion ratio to achieve more effective return on the communication.

In this area, there remains some basic marketing principles that have stood the test of time and are probably even more relevant today in the saturated and frantic markets that heavily compete for customers.  I refer to the marketing acronym known as AIDA.  It was designed as the guiding principle for all commercial communications covering business development.

 

ATTENTION

Stage 1 – Get their attention.  

The single most important part of communication.  If you fail to get the customers attention, then the entire tactical approach of the proposition is wasted, this is obvious, however careful consideration needs to be given to the rules and standards within which our industry is based.  As I have seen a surge lately in the usage of ‘shock tactics’ or ‘guerrilla PR’ often used years ago by a young Sir R Branson.  

I was reminded of the story of a beggar person that had placed a large placard on himself with the message that read, F*** thePoor. This caused uproar and almost every passer by challenged him about his message. This gave him the opportunity to ‘engage’ with each person, thus, creating the opportunity to make his proposition heard, which after meaningful dialogue, often resulted in smiling hand outs for the beggar, which he probably would never have received.  

The following day as a test, he returned and removed the F*** on his placard, replacing it with the originally intended word which was of course – Feed.  This achieved zero response, it was as if he had become invisible, not one person approached him, he did not get any hand-outs.  A valuable lesson had been learned, not just in humanity but really about differing methods of communication, to open the engagement channel to achieve the end goal.

INFORMATION

Stage 2 – Provide relevant information.

Once you have the customers attention, using standard or innovative communications tactics, you then need to provide the correct amount of relevant information to take the engagement to the next stage. Remember we are competing for their time, so short concise pieces of highly relevant, personalised info should be used to raise the level of interest.  

DESIRE 

Stage 3 – Create desire to learn more.

There are many tactical approaches here to make this happen; a compelling proposition, referencing others from the same socio/economic group, enticing phrases; incentives, discounts, exclusivity and all the things that this person will react to.  Once the interest level has been raised and the curiosity instinct has been sparked, you will have successfully created a desire to find out more information, as it fulfils a need and not to lose out.

 ACTION

Stage 4 – Call to action.

This is the area where the entire model can fall down if not executed or managed correctly.  The’ Call to Action’ (CTA) is the closing line of every communications message, which can be constructed in either one of the standard push or pull tactics, or indeed something more personalised.  However, it is vital that the CTA promotes a sense of urgency and actively encourages the customer to respond.  It goes without saying that the urgency created must be dealt with by the same level of urgency from the seller perspective.

By following the AIDA principle, lead generation can be taken to new levels. The quantity and quality of the leads should be raised leading to improvements in business development, subscribers and of course revenues.

 

Note:  I would not recommend the drastic ‘attention’ headline I have used here to just illustrate the point.  But there are numerous and successful guerrilla style attention grabbing tactics that can be applied, within legal, respectful and polite communication frameworks, you just need to be creative and develop them.  If anyone needs assistance in creating E2E communication campaigns that drive results, we can help.

-ENDS-

Steve Gardiner, Co-Founder

http://www.lighthousecommunications.ro