Month: April 2018

Tips for small business owners to keep their employees motivated

Posted on by Business Partners Limited
By Ben Bierman

Managing Director at Business Partners Limited

Zig Ziglar, renowned American author and motivational speaker said: You don’t build a business. You build people and people build the business. As a small business owner, the up-keep of staff morale is vital to keep employees motivated so that they can contribute towards building and growing your business.

Employee motivation is based on providing an appropriate blend of rewards such as recognition, remuneration, relationships, security, and challenges of new projects and a sense of doing something worthwhile. Addressing these different aspects of employee motivation, makes employees aware of the opportunities available to them in the business and in the process they feel that they can influence results by their actions and follow their ambition.

Another way to successfully motivate employees is for small business owners provide clarity regarding the goals for the business and what is expected from their employees. The goals set for the company need to be turned into achievable goals for the people working in it. If employees can see how their success contributes to the big picture, they will feel motivated and part of the team.

With this in mind, it is important to give everyone a chance at success. For example, a bookkeeper is more likely to stop debtors taking liberties if they know why this matters so much and are responsible for bringing the figures down.. If employees understand problems, they often come up with solutions themselves.

When it comes to praise and criticism, it is imperative to let employees know when they are doing well and when they are doing badly. Remember, feedback is given to improve performance, provide lessons and build employees’ motivation and confidence in their capabilities.

In order to be clear, business owners should say exactly why they are congratulating an employee or wanting to help them improve. However, it is imperative to avoid getting personal. Describe the negative consequences of an action, rather than criticizing and then encourage the employee to brainstorm how better results could be achieved.

Small business owners should identify which employees have the capacity to learn new skills, and increase the variety of tasks to make the work more stimulating. Giving employees the chance to shoulder more responsibility increases their sense of involvement. This is to avoid losing talented employees due to them being under-utilised, frustrated or bored. In order to know which individual employees are ambitious and which are content to stay in the same jobs ask employees the key question: ‘If you could improve just one thing about your work situation, what would it be?’

The attitude of the business owners towards their employees is key when it comes to motivating employees. Below are additional pointers for small business owners to consider:

1. Treat employees as partners in the business

Keep them informed about business performance and management decisions and ask them for their input on decisions that affect them. Create a good working environment and provide training and resources for their job.

2. Build an atmosphere of trust and teamwork

A company run on defensiveness and fear is an unpleasant place to work. Employees will avoid making decisions in case they are wrong, so accept that mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process and encourage people to ask for help when problems arise.

3. Keep communication open and honest

Schedule regular appraisals to review progress, problems and plans. Encourage employees to do most of the talking during these sessions, by using open questions like: ‘How well do you feel you are doing?’

4. Take an interest in employees’ lives

Without interfering, be prepared to discuss things your employees are interested in. Listen actively, and be consistent and fair in your approach.

5. Build team spirit with regular briefings

Hold daily or weekly meetings to plan work, establish goals and discuss any special events and deadlines. Share any news and problems and give employees credit for their contributions and achievements.

The importance of motivated and inspired employees is crucial to the success of any business. As such, small business owners should make sure to continue to build on the employee management approach in order to retain great employees and for the business to survive and thrive.

What can you do to be more professional in business?

Posted on by Sanlam
By Jannie Rossouw

Head: Sanlam Business Market

It is my experience as a consumer and sample of one, that the level of professionalism in business is on the decline. The question, therefore, is what it means to be professional in our businesses and what can we do to improve our level of professionalism.

www.yourdictionary.com defines “professional” as “… performing a job to high standards…”

So what are “high standards”? This statement does not quantify the standard, but it does state that it should comply with an above average standard. Let`s look at ways in which we can work on and possibly improve the levels of professionalism in our businesses. Are you able to tick off the statements and answer the questions that follow?

Knowledge

Is the level of knowledge of our product and/or service top notch; i.e. can we advise and answer the questions of our clients? If not, we should consider training and improving the skills of ourselves and our staff.

Attitude

Do we have a “can do” and positive attitude towards our clients? The whole sentiment in a business can change if clients sense a positive energy. Friendly and helpful staff will leave a lasting positive impression of our business on clients.

Respectfulness

We should always be mindful that clients pay the bills. This implies, inter alia, that we should be courteous to clients, mind our language and treat them in a respectful manner.

Value

Are our clients receiving more value from us compared to their expectations? This does not necessarily mean that we need to give them “freebies”, but it does imply that we go the extra mile to satisfy their needs and resolve their challenges by offering them the most suitable product and/or service.

Correspondence

Well-written e-mail and other correspondence (grammar and spelling), that also include our logo/branding and contact details, will go a long way towards making us stand out from our competitors. When last did we review our client-directed and internal correspondence?

Marketing elements

We all have websites, brochures and other client-directed collateral. Does the material present a professional look and feel and, as important, does it clearly state our contact details and website address?

Physical appearances

Do our offices or premises show clients that we have respect for our business and them? Is the branding on our premises and vehicles done professionally or has the sun eroded its appearance? Is our Reception welcoming, neat and clean? Are our vehicles clean? Does our dress code and personal appearances show people that we are professional?

Service

Do we answer our phones within a couple of rings? Is our POS (point of sale) staff courteous, friendly and service orientated? How do we treat clients when after-sales service is required? Are we living up to our promises? All these small events are touch points with our clients and add up to their collective experience of our business.

This is by no means a complete list of elements which we can consider to improve our level of professionalism. Maybe the most important measure is our own expectation – if I was a client of my business, would I be satisfied with the level of professionalism I experience? If not, you have your answer.

To support business owners with the important task of business planning, Sanlam gives you free access to the book Your Annual Business Game Plan for Success, which provides an easy and straightforward framework needed to draft a well-crafted game plan that will create the positive change and growth necessary for business success.

Go to www.sanlamgameplan.co.za to download your free copy.

Past winner catch-up: where are they now?

Posted on by Webmaster

2018 marks our 30th year in honouring entrepreneurs and the contributions they make toward growing the South African economy. We’re celebrating by catching up with some of the past winners of the competition.

Catching up with: Elian Wiener

Winning year: Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year® and Innovator of the Year – 2011

Winning business: Epic Communications (now MSL) is an award-winning integrated communications and public relations agency with offices in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. The company specialises in helping businesses build and protect their brands and reputations.

It’s been 7 years since you won the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year® and Innovator of the Year titles in 2011, how has business been since then?

There have been significant developments for myself and the business since 2011. In the subsequent years, we have continued on our rapid expansion path as we continue to lead the evolution of the communications industry in Africa. Most notably, Epic Communications, which has rebranded as MSL, was acquired by Publicis Groupe in 2014. Publicis Groupe is one of the world’s largest advertising and communications companies in the world. This acquisition has enabled us to bring global best practices to bear for our clients as well as offer a more integrated marketing solution in collaboration with our Publicis owned sister agencies in Africa.

Have you made any new developments in your business since winning?

We have always placed innovation at the forefront of what we do, which has been key in an industry that is rapidly changing. Over the last five years, we have evolved from a traditional public relations agency to an integrated communications agency that seeks to guide our clients through this ever changing marketing landscape. To do this we have completely restructured our business into full service integrated marketing teams and added new offerings in the digital, social media, influencer, reputation management, training and reporting spaces.

What was the biggest lesson you learned from your stint in the EOY competition?

I learned the importance of maintaining a competitive advantage. As a business grows, it naturally loses its start-up advantages – which need to be replaced with others to remain competitive. For us this means constantly reviewing our vision, structure, skill sets, service offering and market positioning. Winning multiple awards at the EOY competition in 2011 also helped to boost our profile and introduce us to a strong network of companies, many of which have gone on to be clients of ours.   

What would your top piece of advice be for anyone looking to enter this year’s competition?

Spend time and effort on your entry. It is crucial to really think about what makes your company special – its vision and the value it adds to all stakeholders.

Report reveals that 2017 entrepreneurial activity in SA 4.1% higher than 2016

Posted on by Webmaster

The recently released 2017-18 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report for South Africa revealed that entrepreneurial activity in the country is at its highest level since 2013. The report also shows that total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) is at 11.0% – 4.1 percentage points above the 2016 score of 6.9%.

Kobus Engelbrecht, spokesperson for the 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year® competition sponsored by Sanlam and BUSINESS/PARTNERS says that it is particularly encouraging to see that entrepreneurial intentions in the country have increased in the last few years, currently sitting at 11.7% (up from 10.1% in 2016-17).

Engelbrecht says that with these statistics, it is ever important to keep up the momentum by celebrating local entrepreneurs for the work they do in building the local economy, creating jobs and developing their communities with the view to inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

“We often casually refer to entrepreneurs being the backbone of the economy, but when the economy is still trying to recover from a number of macro-economic stumbling blocks, entrepreneurs show their invaluable worth.” He adds that job creation is one of the key aspects identified as areas which will help grow the economy – and this is one specific area that entrepreneurs can make tangible contributions.

Engelbrecht adds that in celebrating the work of entrepreneurs, business competitions do well to motivate and inspire business owners. He points to the recent launch of the 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year® competition sponsored by Sanlam and BUSINESS/PARTNERS which is now open for entries. “In our 30th year of celebrating and rewarding entrepreneurs, we want to encourage established entrepreneurs to enter this year’s competition – not only for the cash prize money at stake, but for the value received through the stringent judging process, business mentorship prizes as we as the resultant exposure.”

Engelbrecht adds that entrepreneurs have until 31 May 2018 to enter the competition and can do so by visiting www.eoy.co.za. Prizes are valued at over R 2 million, which includes cash prizes of R 70 000 for each main category winner, and R200 000 for the overall winner. Competition winners will also receive valuable mentorship support, networking opportunities and national media exposure.