HIRINGChoke the Internet
Want a quick insight into the true character of that prospective hire filling out a job application? “Move them onto an abysmally slow internet connection and observe,” says Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly in Excellent Advice for Living.
STRATEGYRaise Your Prices
Never be afraid to charge more than anyone else in your category. “The only company that can fund a customer’s hoped-for experience is the company with a fat profit margin,” notes small-business author Roy H. Williams in his Monday Morning Memo newsletter. “The services you get for half-price aren’t the same services you get for full price.” Such thinking echoes a complaint recently made by prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. “We just see over and over again people failing [to raise prices] because they get into a problem called ‘too hungry to eat.’ They don’t charge enough for their product to be able to afford the sales and marketing required to actually get anybody to buy it,” he said. “Is your product any good if people won’t pay more for it?”
TECHNOLOGYTrack Who’s Sharing
Want to thwart spammers by identifying and filtering out those who share your Gmail address without permission? When signing up for newsletters and other subscriptions, create variations of your email address by inserting a plus sign (+) and an identifying word before the “@” symbol. For example, if your email is “sue@gmail.com,” use “sue+word@gmail.com. If you then get unwanted emails to that address, you know your information was shared, and you can send to junk or create a filter to keep all of the unwanted emails — including those from the original sender — out of your inbox.
WELL-BEINGSlow Meals = The Good Life
From Daniel Gilbert of Harvard to Martin Seligman of Princeton, the world’s top well-being researchers seem to agree on one thing: Mealtime with friends and loved ones is a direct predictor of well-being. Aim to have at least one 2-to-3-hour meal per week — yes, 2 to 3 hours — with those who make you feel good.
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SALESLower the Bar
In its heyday, IBM was known as being the leader in the computer industry, and more generally as a selling machine — its salespeople had a reputation for smashing sales goals and records. A key part of this, according to a Business Insider report, was setting really low quotas. “They wanted the salespeople to not be intimidated to pick up the phone. They wanted the salespeople to build momentum and then overshoot their quotas and goals. This is exactly what happened.” If stretch goals haven’t proven that effective for your team, why not try setting the bar a lot lower this year?
FINANCESMention the Competition
When applying for a business loan, it’s important to show that you have thought about the competition, says entrepreneur Richard Branson. In Business Review Weekly, he says: “If a bank or other investor is looking at your business, then they’ve probably looked at your competitors, as well. Show you understand your competition and irreverently explain why your business will do better. Don’t be overly negative; at best you’ll seem humorless and self-important and at worst like you don’t take your competitors seriously enough.”
PERFORMANCEGet a Daily Dose of Smarts
A Canadian research study found that those who receive regular weight-loss advice via emails or tweets dropped more pounds than those who didn’t. We figure the same must apply when it comes to good business advice. Sign up for PETS+ Daily Tips: petsplusmag.com/bulletins.
