How to Encourage Employees to Meet Deadlines

Not being able to meet project deadlines is one of the most persistent issues small businesses face. There could be a variety of reasons for this issue. However, to keep up the levels of productivity at the workplace, meeting deadlines on time is a must. If the project teams at your company sometimes fail to meet essential deadlines, here are several suggestions from Corporate Business Solutions that might help:

Assign a Clear Team Leader: Teams work efficiently only with the presence of an undisputed leader. Rudderless teams are more likely to miss deadlines and be disorganized because no one is sure what to do. It’s common for some managers to put together a team without a clear hierarchy of authority. This can reduce tension at the office, but overall it leads to more disarray. When a team has a leader, that leader will ensure everyone does what they are supposed to on time. This structure is essential to almost every project.

Check in on Long Projects: If there’s a project that takes months to complete, a manager or an executive at the company should occasionally check in on progress. It’s possible that with other daily duties, employees might neglect long-terms goals. Executive supervision prompts employees to get things going. Also, for long projects, it’s best to schedule monthly or bi-monthly progress reports to remind everyone that the project needs to proceed.

Break Down Complex Projects: Sometimes employees are just too overwhelmed to meet deadlines. Therefore, managers or others in charge should take care to break down complex projects into small, doable portions. Do not dump a massive project on a handful of employees and give them a deadline they might not be able to meet. The responsibility also falls on the management side to be realistic about what to expect from employees.

Tell Employees to Write Down a Timetable: Employees must have a written record of schedules or timetables related to the project. The purpose here is to provide a task map that everyone can follow. Don’t let employees take mental notes of what to do and when. There should be a written record for all team members to refer.

If a team does miss a deadline, there should be a really good reason for it. Otherwise, your company might be lacking in productivity in general. You can get one of Corporate Business Solutions Reviews to see if your company is up to industry standards when it comes to productivity.

Some Tips for Generating Customer Referrals

The best way to influence a customer is through a recommendation from a friend, so said Mark Zuckerberg once. The customer referral, or word-of-mouth marketing, is still the best way to attract new customers to your brand. Potential customers naturally trust their friends or family over company-made ads. Therefore, a recommendation from a peer has a much stronger influence than the slickest marketing trick your business can afford.

While word-of-mouth marketing is indeed understood to be powerful, it’s very difficult to master. It’s not like your business can visit the Facebook pages of all customers and convince their friends to recommend your brand. But there are effective methods to promote word-of-mouth, as illustrated by the successes of companies like Uber and Dropbox. Here are several tips for creating customer referral programs as recommended by our Corporate Business Solutions consultants:

Come up with Great Incentives—Obviously, what really drives a customer to make a reference to someone else is getting something in return from the brand. If a customer really likes your business, he or she may make a recommendation to a friend. But your brand can definitely change the ‘may’ to a ‘will’ with an incentive. The incentives to offer will depend on your business. You can offer discounts, free items, or free upgrades. Dropbox, for example, offered customers an additional 500 MB of storage space for inviting a friend to join. Find out what your customers really desire, and base referral incentives on that.

Aim for High-Quality Referrals—It’s not simply enough for a customer to mention your brand name in a Facebook post. The referral must result in a lead. That is to say that the customer making the referral actually facilitates a purchase, a subscription, or a meeting. It could be done via social media, email, or in person. So, when offering incentives, make sure it leads to a referral that facilitates a purchase. Offering gifts in return for Facebook mentions or social media shares thus may not result in generating new leads.

Choose the Right Time: Don’t ask customers to make referrals during the wrong time. You risk requests being ignored. Ask for referrals when the customers are most engaged with your product or service. This is the only time incentives actually work. Timing is key to making referral programs work.

Want to know more about how to create a customer referral program with a huge turnout? Then contact one of our CBS Corporate Business Solutions consultants.

How to Fire an Employee Properly

Firing an employee is one of the toughest aspects of being a small business owner or a manager. Even the companies that work the hardest to hire just the right employees occasionally find themselves in need of firing someone. Getting fired is not easy on the employee either. So this is a matter that should be handled as delicately as possible. If you make the employee that’s going to be fired angry, there could be consequences in terms of lawsuits, negative press articles, or even unthinkable situations like the recent business place shooting in Orlando by a fired employee.

Here are several tips from Corporate Business Solutions consultants on how to fire employees properly:

Do not resort to abrupt firings unless absolutely necessary – Never fire an employee abruptly, unless it’s a case of a zero-tolerance violation set forth in company personnel policies which put employees on notice what actions subject them to being immediately fired. For example, if the employee gets arrested or is caught red-handed in a crime, then you can fire the person on the spot if those actions are set forth in the personnel policies for immediate termination.

If the firing is the cause of something like poor performance, then the process should be handled gradually. For example, an employee with poor performance should be given fair warnings and opportunities to rectify the situation. If there’s any cause for concern, first discuss the matter with the employee in question. Gently warn that if the issue is not fixed, then you would be forced to fire the employee. It should be well understood by both parties. The gradual firing process also gives the employee time to emotionally prepare themselves for the prospect of getting fired.

Break the news gently – Keep in mind that losing a job is an extremely emotional process. So, employees might react to the news in various ways. Therefore, it’s important to break the news as gently and calmly as possible. Be calm on your side even if the employee is not.

Discuss the logistics of the firing – The person doing the firing should meet face-to-face with the employee to discuss issues such as severance packages. This should also be done in an understanding manner. Also, in these meetings, listen to the employee. Do not react to whatever they are saying. Some may try to threaten to sue. Handle it gracefully without adding fuel to the flame.

It would help if the company has policies in place for handling firing gracefully. CBS Corporate Business Solutions consultants can review the process of how your small business handles firings, or advise managers on how to fire people without having the company face backlash for any reason.