Community Blog: DTR, Inc.

Below is a reprint of the scenario:

You work for a customer service phone center.  The work is more involved and more interesting than you thought it would be because you have to know a lot to solve caller problems and to provide callers with the wide range of information on the company’s products and services.  You have a come a long way in three months and are now one of the most knowledgeable phone representatives.  You have also mastered the ability to calm and reassure agitated customers.  However, last week the company hired a new supervisor for the customer service phone center.  Two days ago your supervisor chewed you out for being 10 minutes late.  Yesterday he told you that you spent too much time on the phone with a couple of callers.  Today the new supervisor installed a policy where all breaks and lunch hours are scheduled for set times.  Your buddy, who you go to lunch with every day, has a different lunch time than you do.  And to top the cake, everyone now has to ask permission before leaving their workstation to go to the bathroom.

What are your impressions of the new supervisor? 

First of all, yes the supervisor has made a key mistake, but it isn’t what the majority of the people that have responded to this scenario in the past identify.

Many people respond with comments like:

• The supervisor is a control freak.
• The supervisor is power-hungry.
• The supervisor is treating everyone like children.
• The supervisor has his/her priorities wrong.

The answer is: The supervisor has poor communication skills.

The supervisor has implemented the correct workplace rules for a customer service phone center.  Let me address each item to inform you why that is the case.

(1)    10 minutes late.  One of the goals of a customer service phone center is to minimize the time callers are on hold.  Callers that wait a long time on hold are dissatisfied customers and that could cause them to do business elsewhere.  Therefore, phone centers forecast the number of calls they expect in given time frames, and hire staff to ensure that the vast majority of calls can be handled in a timely fashion.  If you are 10 minutes late, the call center will not have the representatives it forecasted it needed to provide good customer service (acceptable hold time before speaking to a phone representative).  In fact some may wait so long they will hang up and call back later.  That results in additional calls later in the day, at a time when the phone center may not have enough staff to handle the increased volume and maintain good service levels.  Now, even more callers will hang up and call back another time; some may even call the next day.  So a ten minute tardy could result in poor service levels for days.  While this is not always (or even in some phone centers usually) the case; if it does happen, the results are always major problems for the business.  So good phone center supervisors manage their phone representatives time very closely.

(2)    Lunch and bathroom breaks.  The reason for scheduling breaks is the same as in number (1).  The supervisor needs to manage the number of phone representatives to the expected call volume.  If you are scheduled for a lunch time and want to switch, good supervisors will allow that assuming you can find someone to switch with you (on a permanent schedule basis, not day-to-day basis since too much time will be spent looking for someone to switch if done daily).

(3)    Too much time on the phone.  This is a concept many phone representatives find difficult to embrace.  After all, many believe they should spend as much time as needed with a customer to solve his/her problem and keep him/her satisfied.  However, the goal of the company is to provide good customer service to all.  If you spend 20 minutes with one customer, the result may be that 5 other customers are now waiting too long to connect with a representative.  Even of their questions are handled fine; they may be dissatisfied because of the long wait on hold to get to a phone representative.  One extremely satisfied customer and five dissatisfied customers is not a good outcome.  So what do you do?  Be sure that you only spend time with customers where the time is genuinely needed.  Do not spend extra time thinking that you’re providing superior service.  And after a necessary long call, be aware that a backlog of calls may have arisen and look to handle simple calls that follow courteously, but quickly.  In this case, assume you spent too long on calls that could have been handled more quickly.

Now onto what the supervisor did wrong.  Before implementing the changes, the supervisor should have called the staff together and explained why the changes were being implemented.  One of my favorite lines when I performed this task in the past was, “If you don’t like these rules, don’t say it’s because I have an ego problem, or that I’m treating you like children, or that I’m a control freak.  Instead say that you think my capacity planning model (the phone representatives I need based on expected call volumes) is bull.”  I found that after explaining how phone centers work, and why I implemented the rules at work that I did, that most representatives asked on their own, “how may callers are waiting” before asking if they could go to the bathroom.  They realized that if I managed the call traffic well, they had to deal with fewer irritated customers.

If you are a manger, supervisor, or business owner and like my scenario approach to training, click here to find out how I can create custom scenarios for your workplace.

 

Below is the scenario:

You work for a customer service phone center.  The work is more involved and more interesting than you thought it would be because you have to know a lot to solve caller problems and to provide callers with the wide range of information on the company’s products and services.  You have a come a long way in three months and are now one of the most knowledgeable phone representatives.  You have also mastered the ability to calm and reassure agitated customers.  However, last week the company hired a new supervisor for the customer service phone center.  Two days ago your supervisor chewed you out for being 10 minutes late.  Yesterday he told you that you spent too much time on the phone with a couple of callers.  Today the new supervisor installed a policy where all breaks and lunch hours are scheduled for set times.  Your buddy, who you go to lunch with every day, has a different lunch time than you do.  And to top the cake, everyone now has to ask permission before leaving their workstation to go to the bathroom.

What are your impressions of the new supervisor? 

This is my third workplace scenario (the first was on ethics in the workplace, the second was on raises).  I have a short survey at http://www.dtrconsulting.biz/blogscenarios.htm so that I can receive feedback on how helpful my workplace scenarios are, and whether I should continue them, stop them or expand them outside of Jobing.com.  I would appreciate it if you take a couple of minutes to fill out that survey.  Thank you.

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In my last blog I presented the following scenario:

Jim has been working for ABC Company for two and a half months and has been performing very well (this is a fact and will not be in dispute by his supervisor). So he walks up to his supervisor's office, knocks on the door and says, “Mr. Goldberg, I have been working here almost three months and have been doing a very good job. Since I have been performing very well, I am entitled to a pay raise.”

What follows is how I would respond to Jim:

“First of all Jim, you have been performing your job very well and I would like to let you know that I have noticed that fact, and that I appreciate your effort. However, do you think I hired you to do a bad job?  Do you think I hired you to do a so-so job? No I did not. I hired you, and am paying you, to do a very good job.  {The next sentence said with a big smile} Since you are I'll let you keep your job.

To help clear up how raises work in our company, we perform employee performance appraisals after you have been on the job for a year. If you keep up the good work, you can expect an excellent review and will get a pay raise at that time that reflects your excellent job performance.”

Feel free to comment on my response.

If you want to engage in more workplace scenarios click here.

Since my ethics scenario received a good response, I will follow the same process with a second workplace scenario:

Jim has been working for ABC Company for two and a half months and has been performing very well (this is a fact and will not be in dispute by his supervisor). So he walks up to his supervisor's office, knocks on the door and says, “Mr. Goldberg, I have been working here almost three months and have been doing a very good job. Since I have been performing very well, I am entitled to a pay raise.”

Employees: Do you agree with what Jim has done?.  Why, or why not?

Supervisors: Please comment on what your response to Jim would be.

If this scenario generates comments, I will once again provide my feedback on those comments. I will also let you know how I would respond to Jim.

If you like the approach I take to work readiness skills and behaviors, click here to go to my book's web site. My book, How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job, which received a five-star review from the Midwest Book Review, is ideal for: job seekers new to the workplace; employees that want to become highly-valued by their employers; and supervisors that want to implement work readiness training.

In my prior two blog entries on this topic I first presented a workplace scenario, requesting comments from readers; and then wrote a blog commenting on my readers’ insightful comments.  In this wrap-up blog I will give my view on ethics and my answer to the workplace scenario.  To not re-invent (or in this case, re-write) the wheel, I will use some quotes from my copyrighted book, “How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in Job”.

“A behavior is either ethical (right) or unethical (wrong).  There is absolutely no gray area.  Being ethical means doing the right thing.  What determines if something is ethical or unethical is the behavior itself, not the circumstances surrounding the action taken, not the relationship between the people involved, not an individual’s culture, not a person’s value system, not life’s experiences, etc., etc., etc.”

That said, acting unethically does not mean you are a bad person.  For example, speeding is against the law, thus unethical.  However, driving 10 miles an hour over the speed limit doesn’t make you a bad person.

“The key to understanding ethics is to be able to define if an act is ethical or unethical.  Once you have identified the ethical behavior, then you decide what to do.  In other words, to either do the ethical behavior or do the unethical behavior.  This is where circumstances, relationships, culture, values, life’s experiences, etc., etc., etc. come into play.  You decide in each situation if you are going to act ethically or unethically. 

There will be times in life that you feel strongly that choosing the unethical behavior is the right choice for you.  However, you must be aware that if you choose to do the unethical behavior  there can be severe consequences.  Therefore, if you choose to act unethically, know what those consequences could be (obvious and hidden), and be prepared to accept those consequences for making the decision to act unethically.”

In the case of the unethical act of driving 10 miles over the speed limit, for example, you have to be prepared to possibly: get a speeding ticket and see your insurance rates increase; to be at minimum partially liable for any car accident; and may have given cause for a police office to search your vehicle.

Now on to the scenario from the previous blogs:

Situation:  A bank has a strict policy that all tellers must have at minimum a high school diploma or a GED.  There are no exceptions.  In fact, a good friend of yours who was an excellent teller for another bank, just lost his job because of the downturn in the economy, and was turned down by the bank you work for because he did not have his GED or high school dipolma.  Your friend was told that every teller in the bank has at minimum a GED or high school diploma, and that the bank even uses that fact when soliciting new accounts.  Today the teller who sits next to you, someone who is not your friend, not even someone you go to lunch with, turns to you and says, "I can't wait.  Next month I am finally getting my GED."

The ethics of the situation is clear.  The bank teller obviously lied during the job interview process and on his/her application which is unethical.  So, what would I do?

I would first inform the bank teller that I am very annoyed that he/she told me that they are breaking bank rules and that by telling me of that fact he/she has placed me in a difficult spot; a spot I would rather not have been in, and a spot I am only in because of his/her action.  I would next remind the bank teller of the fact that we promote to all potential new customers (and existing customers) that all our tellers have at least a GED or high school diploma.  Next, I would then inform the bank teller that I will give him/her two days to inform our supervisor of this fact, or that I will have no choice but to tell our supervisor myself. 

I know what many of you are thinking.  What a rat, especially since by just keeping your mouth shut nothing would happen to you, Jay.  Well, let me play this scenario out.

Let’s say that my supervisor finds out that the bank teller did not have his/her high school diploma or GED when he/she was hired.  Maybe the bank teller celebrates when he/she finally gets his/her GED, or maybe someone sends him/her congratulatory flowers.  When the bank teller is called onto the carpet by his/her supervisor, the bank teller comments that he/she didn’t think it was a big deal and that he/she mentioned it to Jay and Jay did not think it was a big deal either.  That statement by the bank teller just brought me into this mess. 

As a result of the lie on the application the bank teller gets fired (this is usually a policy; companies can’t start looking into the degree of each lie on a job application).  Nothing happens to me.  I keep my job and, in fact, have no idea that my name was brought up in the meeting between my now fired ex-coworker and my supervisor.  However, my supervisor now feels that my priorities are wrong.  I do not have the best interests of the bank in mind.  I knew the bank was informing potential customers that every teller had a least a GED or high school diploma, knew that was untrue, and keep my mouth shut.  If I thought I would be admired for not “tattling” on a coworker who was untruthful on his/her application, I might be by some misguided coworkers; but I won’t be by people of influence in the company.

A year later there is a promotion opportunity in the bank.  I believe I am perfect for the job.  I don’t get it.  The same thing happens nine months later, then fifteen months after that.  Unfair I think.  However, it all goes back to me deciding to act unethically.  It is the fact that management in the bank does not believe they can count on me to do the right thing for the bank that is preventing me from advancing in the company.  And by this time I have totally forgotten that offhand comment by my ex-coworker; and never got a chance to explain my side of things, although I doubt that that would have made a difference anyway.

There are often hidden consequences to unethical acts.  People who say “Why doesn’t anything ever work out for me?” or “I constantly have bad luck” may just be living the hidden consequences of prior unethical acts.  Here, I would not be willing to risk my advancement in the bank, possibly being stuck in the same relatively low-paying job for a long time, because a co-worker acted unethically (lying on a job application) and brought me into the mess; most likely on purpose to have an ally in case the situation went bad.

Well, that’s it.  Feel free to comment on my decision like I commented on yours.  If you found these blogs helpful you should check out my book, “How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid on a Job” (http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?ISBN=9781432725297). Whether for yourself, or for your child who is new to or will be entering the workplace, or as a training vehicle for your staff; “How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid on a Job” helps people become highly-valued employees.

I was originally going to have one follow-up blog to the original ethics blog.  However, the comments have been interesting so I am breaking up the follow-up into two parts.  Here I will provide my feedback to the comments made to my blog (as of this write-up).  The third and last blog will contain my view on ethics and my comments on the situation presented in that blog and reprinted below:

Situation:  A bank has a strict policy that all tellers must have at minimum a high school diploma or a GED.  There are no exceptions.  In fact, a good friend of yours who was an excellent teller for another bank, just lost his job because of the downturn in the economy, and was turned down by the bank you work for because he did not have his GED or high school diploma.  Your friend was told that every teller in the bank has at minimum a GED or high school diploma, and that the bank even uses that fact when soliciting new accounts.  Today the teller who sits next to you, someone who is not your friend, not even someone you go to lunch with, turns to you and says, "I can't wait.  Next month I am finally getting my GED."

First, in addition to being the author of the book, "How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job", which is a work readiness guide; I also developed a work readiness certification training program that was called the best in the Country by a member of the National Skills Standard Board in January of 2003.  I mention that fact because during the initial rollout of that program I trained the teachers.  While instructing them on how to teach ethics, I used a scenario similar to the one presented here.  I did so because I knew the situation would result in a diversity of answers regarding the correct action for the employee to take, with people digging in deeply to their point of views.  However, during all that discussion no one came up with the answer presented by Roosevelt Williams, and I found his response very well thought out.  It is both intelligent and cautious.  Bringing up the specific situation to his supervisor to help clarify a company policy was brilliant.  Management is now aware of a potentially damaging fact, and Mr. Williams was able to bring it to the attention of his supervisor in way where he was finding out about company policies, not directly "talking about" a co-worker.

Both Monica Diaz Veliz and Jan Teegardin made statements that were true.  Businesses often do hire employees below the stated requirements for a job and give the new employees time to accumulate the credentials they lack.  While that could be true in other scenarios, I tried to close that door here when I wrote "that there are no exceptions".  But more important is that I mention that the bank uses the fact that all tellers have at least a high school diploma or GED to solicit new accounts.  If customers found that statement to be untrue, they could become uneasy with the bank.  Even if they do not care whether the tellers have a high school diploma or GED, they may question the truth when the bank informs them that its checking account has no fees.  After all if all tellers really means almost all tellers, does no fees really mean almost no fees?  Losing the trust of customers can lead to customers leaving, and to negative word of mouth on the street about that business.

Adrienne Ishmael's answer shows she is an honest, compassionate person.  In my experience, I have found that the majority of people respond to this situation in a similar fashion to Ms. Ishmail.  Ms. Ismail indicated that she would be reluctant to do anything because she wouldn't want to be responsible for setting the wheels in motion that could eventually get her co-worker fired.  However, she was also very insightful in her answer pointing out that it is possible her co-worker lied to get the job.  In addition to Ms. Ishmael's reason for not taking any action, I have heard responses from people who would not do anything ranging from, "It's not my job to correct a mistake made by Human Resources", to "I'm not a rat, I'm no squealer", to "If I keep my mouth shut no one will ever know that I'm aware of that fact" to more.  I hope after reading my next blog everyone will realize that deciding not to do anything in a given situation is something that has to be thought through.  Not acting on a something does not ensure that there are no consequences for that inaction. 

Finally, Mirna Musharbash took a point of view I respect and have valued in my employees, but may have gone as the band Madness would say, "One Step Beyond".  I like when employees look at situations through the eyes of a supervisor.  It means that they care about the business, take their jobs seriously and want the business to succeed.  So I applaud Mirna Musharbash for taking that approach.  However, there is a fine line between looking through the eyes of your supervisor and taking it upon yourself to make decisions that should really be made by your supervisor.  In this case Mirna was basing the decision to bring this fact to the attention of management on how well that person performed in his/her job.  First, Mirna is not in the position to evaluate a co-workers' job performance, because I know Mirna is busy working and therefore, not in a position to observe all work completed by any co-worker.  Second is that reviewing the overall job performance of Mirna's co-workers is the responsibility of Mirna's supervisor, not Mirna.  Furthermore, even if Mirna was correct in the assessment of the co-worker's job performance that may not be the key factor in management's view of the situation.  As mentioned previously, the fact that the employee lied on his/her job application and the fact that the bank is marketing that all tellers have high school diplomas or GEDs to its customers and could lose business if customers found out that that was untrue, could be the chief concerns of management in this situation, not job performance.

One of my favorite chapters in my book, "How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job" is my chapter on ethics.  In the book I write about how to determine the ethics of a situation; the decison to act ethically or unethically; and potential consequences of choosing to act unethically.  I then give examples, starting with life situations and later moving to the workplace.

For this blog I will proceed differently.  I will present a situation without writing about my view on ethics so postings can follow untainted by my views on the subject.  I will then write a follow-up blog regarding my view of both the comments generated from this blog and of my view on ethics.

Situation:  A bank has a strict policy that all tellers must have at minimum a high school diploma or a GED.  There are no exceptions.  In fact, a good friend of yours who was an excellent teller for another bank, just lost his job because of the downturn in the economy, and was turned down by the bank you work for because he did not have his GED or high school dipolma.  Your friend was told that every teller in the bank has at minimum a GED or high school diploma, and that the bank even uses that fact when soliciting new accounts.  Today the teller who sits next to you, someone who is not your friend, not even someone you go to lunch with, turns to you and says, "I can't wait.  Next month I am finally getting my GED."

Question #1: What would you do, if anything, after finding out that the teller sitting next to you did not have either a GED or high school diploma?

Question #2 for supervisors reading this blog: What would you want the person who found out about their coworker not having a required GED or high school diploma to do in this situation?

Please give these questions some thought and post your reponses.  Thanks.

When revenues are shrinking, decision-makers often resort to bunker-mentality and short-term solutions when choosing how to reduce costs, rather than analyzing all the ramifications of their decisions so they can maintain long-term stability and growth.

For an example, let’s look to the government.  When available dollars for programs shrink, the government reacts as outlined above.  Money flows for social services, increased unemployment compensation, home-owner relief, etc., while dollars for economic development dry up.  Huh? 

When properly invested, providing funds to Economic Development Centers adds money to the government kitty.  Healthy businesses pay taxes.  Healthy businesses spend money with other local businesses (multiplier effect).   Not to mention healthy businesses hire employees to keep them (as well as the business owners) off unemployment and on track to pay their mortgages.  So cutting funds to effective Economic Development Centers means that instead of paying a portion of the social services out of revenues, the government continues to accumulate more debt to pay those bills.  Oh, and they also create a greater need for those social services from the owners and staff of failing businesses.

The same thing happens, but more subtly, with businesses.  For example, cuts in dollars and time spent on employee development have adverse long-term effects on businesses.  The cuts can be direct (training staff cut, budget dollars for outside training cut) or indirect (staff operating close to the bone so no time allocated for in-house training, priorities of management has moved away from long-term outlook to day-to-day operations, etc.).  However, the objectives for training are always to increase revenues or reduce costs.  For example the objective of customer service training is customer retention.  The objective of sales training is increased sales.  The objectives of workplace training are to increase productivity and reduce employee turnover. Therefore, eliminating employee development results in: fewer sales, higher costs of doing business and an erosion of the customer base.

There are many other examples of short term decisions that can result in making tough economic times worse.  However balancing the long-term needs of your business (ongoing strategic planning process) with financial limitations during difficult economic times is tough.  What are some of the challenges your business is having balancing your long-term strategic plan with declining revenues?  What are some of the areas you find yourself being forced to cut that you would like to find a way to maintain?  By sharing them here (in a general way), you just may get a suggestion or two that can help you both keep your costs low, while staying on your “strategic path”.  In fact, I’ll get the ball rolling.  Click here for one possible solution.

See you in my next post.

Advertising on the World Wide Web has become a must.  In 2008 about $30,000,000,000 was spent advertising online, with a little under $50,000,000 coming from the West Palm Beach area.

However, between e-mail campaigns, banner ads, pop up ads, classified ads, display ads, pre-roll ads (e.g. ads that are played prior to watching a televison show online) and the latest, walk-on ads (act like pre-roll ads but are placed on web sites), how does a business choose a strategy that is right for them?

In addition, business owners and staff can use online press releases, online articles, blogs (burned into feeds) and widgets to promote their credentials and their businesses.

As a business consultant I have my own ideas on what makes up an ideal online marketing strategy.  And there is no one answer.  The proper strategy depends on the goals of the business.  For example, the strategy for finding employees is very different than the strategy for building brand. 

To grow sales and build brand, I prefer a mix of walk-on ads (go to www.dtrconsulting.biz for an example and more information), in conjunction with online press releases, blogs with widgets, and pre-roll ads.

To read a more in depth piece that both defines the different types of online marketing, and also contains insights regarding my views on effective online advertising strategies, go to http://workreadiness.blogspot.com/2009/04/online-marketing-lesson-for-businesses.html.

For now, I would love to hear about your successes and failures regarding your experiences with online marketing.  Please post your comments here so that other local businesses can benefit from your experiences.

Thank you.

While the job market is tight, one area where individuals can get work is in commission sales.  The two main problems for most going this route are:

(1) It is hard to rely solely on commissions.
(2) To make a good living in sales you need good sales skills, and most new salespeople are taught about the goods and services they will be selling, but not a sales method.

There are many effective sales processes, but the one I like the best is the Zig Ziglar approach.  The Ziglar sales method revolves around asking questions and satisfying needs; not dominating the conversation and leading with your products and services.

The Ziglar sales process is great for individuals who are not natural salespeople (as well as for those who are).  By asking questions about a person and his/her business, you come across as someone interested in him/her, not a pushy salesperson.  In fact, if you never uncover a need for your product/service, the person you are talking to never even knows you were probing for a possible sale.

I have often said that Zig Ziglar could have applied his process to meeting people and written a book about how to date successfully rather than writing about sales. 

Now, how can the Zig Ziglar sales method help with interviewing?  The answer is in recognizing that the underlying principles are the same whether someone is buying a car, or "buying" an employee for their business.  Therefore, approach an interview with the understanding that you are there to satisfy a need within the company.  That should be your goal.  If you just sell yourself and do an excellent job presenting yourself and your skills, the interviewer may be very impressed with you.  However, since you didn't satisfy the needs of the company (you didn't show how you fit the job requirements) you will not be hired.

If you are looking for a management or director level job, you can take the Ziglar philosophy one step further.  Find out the needs of the company both within and outside the job requirements for the position you are interviewing for, and show how you not only meet the company's needs for that position, but possess other skills and knowledge that can help them satisfy needs not currently contained in that job description.  In others words, you add value to the current job.  Keep in mind that you must first satisfy the needs of the job that you are interviewing for, otherwise you will find yourself back in the "I'm very impressed, but he/she doesn't satisfy the company's basic needs for this job" bucket.

For example, let's say I was interviewing for a position as "Training Director" and the job entailed developing training courses and materials and then teaching the courses.  After meeting these needs by bringing up my past training program development, including developing a work readiness certification program called the best in the U.S. by the National Skills Standard Board, and providing references from individuals indicating that I am one of the best teachers that they have ever employed, I could look to add value to the "Training Director" position.

One of the keys to the "adding value" portion of the interview is to recognize that it is not you who determines the value of what you bring up.  It is the person with whom you are interviewing.  Giving one year’s worth of steaks as a gift sounds great, but has no value if you are giving it to a vegetarian.

Therefore, it's back to good old Zig Ziglar.  In order to uncover the needs of the sales prospect (in this case the interviewer) you need to ask questions.  Well, at the end of interview, most interviewers ask if you have any questions.  People in the employment industry tell everyone, and rightfully so, that you need to ask questions.  If you do not it could portray a lack of interest in the company and the job.  Most people, therefore, do ask questions but the questions are generic and not deep.  This is the time, however, to ask "Ziglar-like" questions to see if you can add value to the job.  For example, using the above situation with myself and the 'Training Director" job, the conversation might go as follows:

Interviewer: "Do you have any questions?"
Me: Yes, do you currently have procedure manuals?
Interviewer: 'We have some, but they are incomplete and many are outdated."
Me: "Is an updated and complete set of procedure manuals something the company would like to have?"
Interviewer: "Yes"
Me: "When is the last time someone looked at your internal processes including how different departments can make life easier for other departments?
Interviewer: "We haven't, we've been doing everything the same way for as long as I can remember."
Me: "If internal processes could be tweaked or changed to make the operations more efficient would you be interested in looking at those recommendations?
Interviewer: "Yes"
Me: In addition to developing and teaching training courses, I could help the company get an updated and complete set of procedure manuals.  I am a good writer.  I have written a book, "How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job", wrote procedure manuals for Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center while in college, and was hired initially by Citibank to write an internal book on how to write procedure manuals.  I also have experience looking at and improving internal processes.  Therefore, while I write the procedure manuals, I will look at the way the processes are being performed and make recommendations for improvements if I see any."

Remember, if the interviewer indicated that the company had a new and complete set of procedure manuals and an efficiency expert constantly looking at and changing internal processes, I would not have added my last statement since the company had "no need" for that specific skill set I was "selling"; instead I would just have said, "good, I have found that procedure manuals help tremendously in the training effort" (and it's a good bet the company feels the same way since it has a good set of procedure manuals).

If you are interested in finding out more about Zig Ziglar's sales method, he has written numerous books.  Just search on Zig Ziglar at a web site like Amazon.  I also teach a one hour live webinar on Zig Ziglar's sales skills.  You can find out when the webinars are offered in the events section of Jobing.com.


Jay Goldberg is the author of the book, "How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job" (book's web site) and is currently conducting live one-hour webinars on topics ranging from work readiness, to sales skills, to customer service skills, to entrepreneurship to management and more.  Check out his webinar schedule here.  His web site is www.dtrconsulting.biz.

I know for Managers and Directors, it's a tough job market.  There are few job postings and each posting generates millions and millions (well, maybe hundreds and hundreds) of responses.  So if you're lucky enough to be one of the privileged few to get an interview, don't stop selling yourself at the end of the interview.

Today, with so many qualified candidates for every job opening, employers usually "google" (search) for more information on the management candidates they are considering hiring.

After searching, employers usually find one of the following:

•    no information
•    "just the facts" information
•    information that turns them off that candidate
•    information that gets them more excited about the candidate

  
Let's look at how the first one could be interpreted.  No information doesn't help the job candidate's cause and could actually hurt, depending upon the interviewer and job position.  Remember, what you don't say and don't do says as much about you as what you actually do.  Having no Internet presence could say that you are at worst technologically challenged, and at best technologically unaware.  It could also indicate a lack of creativity and energy regarding your job search, neither of which is a positive message to potential employers.  There are many well known ways to "brand" yourself online (covered later) so not using one could also send the message that you don't think enough of your skills to have created an online profile.  And think about your competition for the job.  Your main competitor for the position could have an Internet presence that helps both remind the interviewer of his/her strengths, and contain positive information that did not come out in the interview.

That is why I highly recommend using a site, such as www.linkedin.com to create your professional online profile.  Linkedin is a professional networking site that allows you to connect to other professionals you know who also have linkedin profiles.  This is what I call "just the facts" information.  The information here will coincide very much with your resume, but you will be able to expand on the information beyond the one page limit for resumes.  If you have a linkedin profile, when your potential (future?) employer "googles" you, you will have an Internet presence.  This should reinforce the positive interview.  Best of all, the site is SEO (search engine optimized) so it should show up within the first few result pages of a search.

While professional networks can help you, social networking sites can hurt you.  Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, etc. should be avoided.  Even if you control your own content, your networked friends' sites are only one click away, and clicking is just what your potential employer will do.  What better way to get insight to the "real" you than by seeing who you hang out with online.  This is where a site like Linkedin helps even more.  Your whole network will link to web pages where your friends and contacts will be promoting their work life.  Here they will post pictures of themselves in work attire, not at a goth concert.  And remember, your future employer is going to judge you by the company you keep, so "connect" to some impressive individuals.

Lastly, you can also post information that could get a potential employer more excited about you.  One way is to start a blog.  As an example, go to my non-jobing blog site, Effective Workplace Training (workreadiness.blogspot.com).  In this blog I post my opinions on how to properly conduct workplace training that changes attitudes and modifies behaviors.  My approach is different than the vast majority of other workplace trainers who use the education approach which is centered on assessment testing.  In an interview I may get to talk a few minutes about this, but after reading my blogs, my potential employer may see a greater separation between myself and other candidates (and could even result in them asking other candidates questions based on the information in my blogs). 

I have two additional points regarding blogs.  If you are using your blog to help brand or sell yourself, don't be political or controversial.  Just use the blog to showcase your knowledge, accomplishments and professional opinions.  Also, place a link to your blog on your linkedin profile.  Google's free blog service can be found at www.blogger.com

In addition to this approach working post-interview, it also works with networking.  You may only get time to present your 30 second "elevator" speech to generate interest in you, but if you have an effective speech, you could be "googled" and your Internet presence, rather than supporting your interview, could actually spark interest.

I hope this was helpful.  See you in my next blog.

Jay Goldberg is the author of the book, "How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job" (book's web site) and is currently conducting live one-hour webinars on topics ranging from work readiness, to sales skills, to customer service skills, to entrepreneurship to management and more.  Check out his webinar schedule here.  His web site is www.dtrconsulting.biz.

To introduce its live webinar training series, DTR Inc. is having a free preview on Friday, November 28th at 11:00 AM.  The live webinar will last about one hour, and the specific topic will be “Ethics in the Workplace”.  To find out more information about the webinars, and to request a free ticket to the preview, go to www.workready.org/dtr.htm or send an email to jay@workready.org.  After requesting a free ticket, you will be sent an email with the web address for the webinar, login instructions, a user name and a password.

The topics of the webinars will range from work readiness to customer service to sales skills to supervisor skills to entrepreneurship.  DTR Inc.’s CEO, Jay Goldberg created a work readiness training program called the best in the country by the National Skills Standard Board, is the author of the book, “How to Get Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job”, is a former Service Director for Citibank, and, in conjunction with staff at the Palm Beach County Resource Center, developed what has been called a “revolutionary” entrepreneurship training program.

The intended audience for the free preview is human resource, training and management personnel who would like to sample DTR Inc.’s product offering to determine if they want to sign up their employees for future events.  Business owners are also welcomed since entrepreneurship courses will be available in December. 

With training budgets and staff being cut, it may be up to individuals to improve their value to their employers on their own.  Therefore, individuals can also request a ticket to the free preview since the pay-per-view webinars are priced so that individuals looking to improve their value to their employer by taking work readiness or supervisor development courses can afford to attend them.

In my previous blog I wrote why live events are much more effective than pre-recorded events.  If you have not done so yet, please read that blog.

The success of my training webinars will be based on the positive impact seen in the workplace.  Therefore, the webinars are designed with that goal in mind.  The vast majority of other workplace training programs measure success by how well the participants do on assessment tests, and are structured accordingly.  However, doing well on an assessment test does not mean that workplace attitudes and behaviors were changed.  In fact, many workers will answer the assessment questions by thinking, “What would my boss want”, not, “What do I think is the correct answer”.

That’s all for now, hope to see you in the free preview.

One of the results of the bad economy is the negative impact on training.  The more people I speak to in large companies, the more I hear about training staffs being cut.

While there will always be a place for “hard skills” training, even if it takes the form of on the job training, the days of “soft skills” training in large and small companies alike, are growing short.

Based on my experience, training from videos and pre-recorded material on-line doesn’t work very well.  When individuals know they can watch again, when there is nothing live going on that requires immediate attention, when there is no interaction between instructor and participant, there is a tremendous amount of inattentiveness on the part of the individuals watching the training.

I know what some of you are saying, “That’s why we have the participants take a test after they watch the training, to ensure that they pay attention.”

Well, if you read my  blog, “THERE IS A RIGHT WAY AND A WRONG WAY TO TEACH WORK READINESS”, available at my personal blog site, you already know that basing the success of “soft skills” training on the results of assessments tests is a mistake.  The goal of “soft skill” training is not to provide knowledge; it is to have the participants practice good work readiness behaviors and improve their job performance after they complete the training.  The key to getting someone to improve/change is for them to understand why a behavior is important to their employer.  Often that fact is driven home by using real life analogies.  That is the approach I took in my work readiness book, “How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job”.  Click here to find out more about my book which received a five-star review from the Midwest Book Review.

Therefore, I will go so far as to say, err write, requiring that the viewers of a video training session take an assessment test often results in the most important parts of the video training being ignored by the viewers.  Having an assessment test after the video for “soft skills” training only ensures that viewers concentrate on the facts and take good notes so they can pass the test.  Instead you want them to be paying attention to the entire lecture so that they come away understanding not only the facts, but why those skills/behaviors are important, so that the training can result in positive changes in your workplace.

So if taped/pre-recorded training sessions do not work, and training staff and budgets are shrinking what is the answer?

Live webinars are an excellent solution.  In live webinars, viewers must pay attention the whole time or they will miss information.  There is no fallback to rewind or replay the taped session.  In addition, with a real-time chat room, and live polling questions with instantaneous results, the audience can be kept involved.  In fact, when used right, the polling questions serve as feedback for the instructor to know when to stay with a topic that the group is not grasping a little longer.  A good instructor does this all the time in live, in-person, classrooms.  This can not be done, obviously, in taped and pre-recorded training media.

Finally, another trend that could arise, especially out of a poor economy, is that “soft skill” training falls on the shoulders of individuals, to improve their value, rather than on businesses, that are struggling to keep costs low.  In these cases, live webinar training is very assessable, and affordable to individuals.  Taking live workplace, self-improvement webinars, will not only improve a worker’s performance, but the initiative will impress the boss; whether yours, or someone with whom you are interviewing to get a job.

Towards that end, I am in the process of changing how I deliver my training programs.  I have invested in a webinar product, and will be rolling out a series of affordable webinar training sessions starting in late November, or early December.  I plan on having my first live webinar, on ethics in the workplace (also includes the profit motive for businesses), be a free webinar so that Human Resource Professionals can get a feel for the service I will be offering for their employees.

In my next blog I will provide a time, place, and a sign-up procedure for the free live 60-minute webinar, and a web address where businesses and individuals can go to see my webinar offerings and calendar.

Catch you in my next post.

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In addition to business consulting (web site) Jay Goldberg is the author of the critically acclaimed book, How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job (web site).

Whether you are looking for a job, want to grow in your existing job, or have ever thought about opening up your own business, taking a very reasonably priced course in your local (or not so local) adult & community education program is a very good idea. 

In my book, “How to Get Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job” (book’s web site), my chapter titled, “I Am a Stock” compares your value as an employee to the value of a stock.  Below is a quote from my book:

“As an asset in the workplace, you are just like a stock on the Stock Exchange.  If a company comes out with a great new product idea, one that will take the market by storm, you might be tempted to purchase that stock based on the potential of the new product.  However, for that stock price to increase, the company would have to make the product, introduce it the marketplace, and the product would have to perform as advertised.  If not the stock price may not only fail to increase, but could decline.

The same concept is true in the workplace.  You are hired based on the company’s expectations.  You need to meet those expectations to keep your job.  To meet expectations, you will be expected to not only utilize the skills and knowledge indicated on your resume, but to learn how to apply them to the specific tasks you will be performing on your job.  You will also be expected to be a positive influence in the workplace.  To get a promotion, you will have to increase your skill and knowledge base (e.g. learning Excel and Access) and/or learn how to perform more complex functions at work (e.g. how to operate more complex machines so you can fill in when a co-worker is absent) and/or display abilities required of employees at higher job levels in the company (e.g. good leadership skills).

As you continue to add to your skill and knowledge base both on and off the job, your value to the company (and other companies) increases.  So your “personal employee stock price” increases.  As your “employee stock price” increases, your compensation (wages/salary plus benefits) increases as well.

Therefore, you must continue to learn on and off the job, if you want to grow your pay significantly.  After all, as Simon and Garfunkel sang, “I am a Stock, I am an Island ”, or something like that.”

So take computer courses such as Word, Excel, Advanced Internet Skills, or PowerPoint to become more valuable.  There are also courses in bookkeeping, accounting and QuickBooks.  Some schools are even offering courses in specific industry services such as air conditioning, skin care, and importing & exporting.

I teach in the Jupiter High School Program.  In my consulting business I charge as much as $8,000 for writing a business plan for a client.  However, I am teaching a business plan course (usually taught only once a year) that the School has priced at $50 (20 hour course).  The course teaches individuals how to research, write, structure, and strategize a business plan themselves.  What’s great about this course is that in addition to teaching generic information, there are classroom discussions which help the participants develop business strategies and tactics customized for their specific businesses.  In fact, the strategy portion of the class has resulted in small business owners that already have business plans taking the course just to receive this business consulting.  If the entrepreneur comes out with even one idea to help his/her bottom line, it was well worth the effort of taking the course.

There is one last item I want to comment on.  In addition to taking courses to improve your earning potential, I see the need for courses to help people deal with mounting stresses of every day life, especially in these economically challenging times.  Therefore, I asked my Assistant Vice Principal, Mark Mellone, to allow me to offer a course that is a social outlet that provides stress relief, while teaching interesting information.  For me, I find listening to music a great way to mellow out.  So I am teaching a course Rock Music Appreciation – Battle of the Bands.  In the course, you will listen to rock music from the 60’s (Beatles, Stones, etc.) thru today (Coldplay, Green Day, etc.) all night while you learn all about the band/artist whose music is playing.  No memorization, no big deal if you come late or have to leave early.  Participants are encouraged to sit back, relax, take the day’s/life’s stresses off their shoulders for awhile and, if they choose, to socialize with friends taking the course with them, or with new people they meet in class.

Keep in mind that this is a trial.  If you would like to have more of these types of “social courses”, and are a music lover, come to this class now so we can demonstrate the need for more of these types of courses.

You can sign up for my classes at Jupiter High School between 2:00 PM and 9:00 PM Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

Catch you in my next blog.

In my last blog, I mentioned that the two main reasons behind business failures are poor management and lack of a business plan.  If you missed my last blog on ways to improve management skills (including a write up on the entrepreneurship training program S.E.E.K.) please click here to read that blog.  This blog is about business plans (and eventually mentions “Rock Music Appreciation”, a fun course being taught – by me – through the Palm Beach County Adult & Community Education Program at Jupiter High School.  The course starts October 15th , registration starts September 29th and runs for two weeks, spots are first come, first serve).

While working on a project for the Treasure Coast Workforce Development Board, I performed research that indicated that while 80% of all business owners believed that business plans were very important, only 20% actually had a business plan.  With results like that it isn’t surprising that only 10% to 30% are left standing five years after opening.

Many believe that business plans are only vital to entrepreneurs who are looking for capital.  Why it’s true that a business plan is required to obtain money, whether a bank loan, or attracting an investor; that is just one reason for having a business plan.

Business plans serve as a feasibility study.  While potential entrepreneurs may have ideas for businesses, they need to be sure that they can earn enough money in their businesses to live the lifestyles they wish to live.  At the completion of the business plan, entrepreneurs will know the level of business required (sales, number of customers, etc.) to earn enough revenue to pay all their bills (business and personal), and earn the profits they desire.  Without a business plan, an entrepreneur may invest heavily in a business, doing everything superbly, and still not be able to earn enough revenue to pay all the bills and earn a decent living.  Therefore, rather than spending the time (writing an effective business plan takes a couple of months, not weeks), or money (hiring a professional to write a business plan is not cheap), the majority of new business owners jump right into their new business.  The result, much more often than not, is a business failure which usually comes after the entrepreneur has run up considerable debt.  It’s foolish not to spend the time and/or money required to generate a business plan before opening up a business.   After all, major companies perform market tests before rolling out new products.  Sometimes, after the market test, they scrap their new product idea, thus minimizing their losses.  The same is true with a business plan.  Even if an entrepreneur invests in a business plan and the result is not to pursue the business, it was still a wise investment since it eliminates the debt that would have been incurred if the business was opened.

Business plans also set up initial strategies, tactics and expectations for the business.  This allows the entrepreneur to start quickly and adjust the plan when expectations differ from actual results.  Why is this important?  Often the success of a new business is race to become profitable before the debt is too large to overcome.  Without initial strategies and tactics, time needs to be spent developing them while operating the business.  Tweaking tactics takes less time than developing them, hence a better chance to win the race.  In addition, while in business, the emphasis is often on putting out fires, not long term growth.  The result is that the business owner often makes short terms decisions that block long term growth.  Having pre-established strategies ensures that all business decisions are analyzed within the framework of long term growth.  Finally, without expected results, how does an entrepreneur know if his/her business is doing well, falling behind, or on course?

The last point I will make regarding the importance of business plans is that by going through the business plan process (either by yourself or with a professional business plan writer) the entrepreneur learns his/her strengths and weaknesses.  This helps the entrepreneur build a management team (staff, consultants, etc.) that can help ensure success.  For example, a superb car mechanic may decide to open up a new auto repair shop.  During the business plan process he/she discovers that analyzing and interpreting the financials was either not a strength, or something he/she would rather let someone else do so he/she can concentrate on managing the repair shop.  Therefore, this person dials 561-863-0895 (The Palm Beach County Resource Center) and hires them as their Fractional (part time) Chief Financial Officer.  This cost is added to the business’ financials so it is part of the feasibility analysis to determine if the business is a go; and the expertise is added to the business to reduce the risk that the business will fail because of poor management.

Hopefully by now you see the importance of a business plan, whether starting a new business or looking to improve the performance of an existing business.  Next up is the decision on how to get your business plan written.

Your first option is to decide to hire a professional business plan writer.  There are many options here including the aforementioned Palm Beach County Resource (PBCRC).  PBCRC is a particularly good option if you are looking for a loan since its Executive Director; Mr. Paul Skyers,  knows what types of businesses different lenders loan to, and what those lenders look for in loan applications (which includes business plans).   My company, DTR Inc., also writes business plans for entrepreneurs, however it specializes in helping entrepreneurs develop business strategies; writing business plans aimed at getting investors rather than loans; and does not get involved helping its clients secure funds like the PBCRC does with its loan packages.

A second option is to write the business plan yourself.  There are books, software, etc. that can be used to help you, but there are nuances to how each section, and the overall plan needs to be written.  Therefore, taking a course in how to research and write business plans will aide in the process tremendously; and it just so happens that I am teaching a business plan course this term in the Adult & Continuing Education Program at Jupiter High School.  The course costs $50 and runs for eight weeks on Monday nights starting October 13th.  The course is from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM and will let out a couple of minutes early to ensure that I, err I mean my students, get home in time for Monday Night Football.

This brings me, finally, to Rock Music Appreciation.  I am also teaching this fun course on Wednesday nights at Jupiter High School .  This is a relaxing course to top off a hard work day.  You come to class and listen to music while a PowerPoint presentation informs you all about the band/artist you are listening to, including how it was formed, the band’s members (past and present), the band/band members appearances in pop culture (e.g. use in South Park, The Simpsons, etc.) and more.  The course covers 96 bands from the sixties (Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc.) thru today (Death Cab for Cutie, Green Day, etc.) in a competition format where the classroom participants vote on the bands/artists that advance until a winner a crowned on the final night.

Sign up for these courses, and others throughout Palm Beach County , are at the school the course you are interested in is being taught at (in my case Jupiter High School ).  I know at Jupiter, payment is by cash and check only, no credit cards.  If you did not get the course flyer in the mail, click here to view the courses being offered this term.

Hope to see you in class, if not; catch you in my next blog.

 
In addition to business consulting (DTR Consulting) Jay Goldberg is the author of the critically acclaimed book, "How to Get, Keep and Be Well Paid in a Job" (book's web site).