Business Forum
Categories
Poll
Latest Comments
Innergy – Business Forum
This interactive portal provides you with the information you need to improve your performance, increase your profitabilty and enable change.
Read and comment on the various articles below, or post your own question or article by sending it to forum@innergy.co.uk
Latest Articles
Refreshing your Approach as a Recruiter
At times we can all feel a little stale in our work approach and need a refresher to give ourselves an advantage over the competition. Here are a few tips to help you out:
Don’t make your workload and your day more difficult than it needs to be. When we have a moment to stop and think there are clear tasks that need to be performed on a daily basis but we get caught...
Football Leaders – a Lesson in Business Management?
Time and time again we hear about football club owners putting extreme pressure on managers for results, and then when those results don’t happen the manager pays the ultimate price and loses their job. One Championship League club is on manager number five after eight months (that’s an average of tenure of less than two months!)
Now we aren’t going to go into football...
60 Second Guide to Closing the Sale
There are many ways to close a sale and as you’d expect each scenario will rely on a different closing technique to close the sale depending on the salesperson, client and the product etc.
Here are a few tips that when used effectively alongside your sales process can close a sale.
Earn the right. Whilst we are talking about the final stages of the sales process the...
Innergy’s Monthly Rapid Review – Business Innovation
Each month Innergy research an area of business that is pertinent to our customer database, carrying out a brief survey and providing some practical ideas that can be immediately implemented to help individuals, teams and organisations overcome some of the key challenges they face.
This month we asked: How innovative is your business? To what extent are ideas encouraged,...
Managing your Top Performers
The Malaysian Grand Prix highlighted something we see in business all the time, and that is how to manage your top performers.
Sebastian Vettel is undoubtedly a great Formula 1 driver but on Sunday he ignored team instructions from his employer and overtook Mark Webber to secure the win. Interestingly we saw this same situation played out in the desired way with Lewis...
60 Second Guide to Giving Feedback
One of the most powerful tools as a manager you have to develop your staff is providing direct feedback. Giving effective feedback allows us to have a positive impact on staff performance, motivation and development.
Here are some useful tips when providing feedback;
Be specific. Use facts to clearly identify what you are giving feedback on, whilst saying thank you is...
Training – Cost or Investment?
Training in tough trading conditions can often be seen as a costly and low priority exercise, but when training develops the workforce, impacts performance and makes a difference to results, is it right to cut back?
The struggle for most companies when deciding on training for their employees is measuring the hard results of the training and the Return on Investment (ROI).
Measuring...
60 Second Guide to Handling Underperformance
At some point as a manager you will have to deal with underperformance. Dealing with and managing employee performance is an important skill needed to become a great manager and leader.
When dealing with underperformance it can be easy to make rash decisions and start a conversation with the employee without thinking the issue through objectively and rationally and preparing...
Finding Profitable Customers
One of the most stimulating projects I have ever been involved in was when I was asked by a global, multi-site, multi-sector recruitment organisation to help then turn a number of their underperforming, loss-making branches back into profitability within 90 days. We had to go into each branch, fix it and then get out, sort of like a SWAT team on a secret mission!
After...
Leadership and Staff Retention
There is a direct correlation between how motivated your staff are to stay with you and how generous you are. Fortunately, if you’re smart, your generosity doesn’t have to cost you anything!
Give them some time: Before you can truly motivate someone, you need to know what motivates them. This takes time and effort on a manager’s behalf, but the reward...
Innergy’s Monthly Rapid Review – When it comes to recruiting new employees for your business, what is the most effective method you employ?
Each month Innergy research an area of business that is pertinent to our customer database, carrying out a brief survey and providing some practical ideas that can be immediately implemented to help individuals, teams and organisations overcome some of the key challenges they face and exploit any opportunities available to them.
In October’s review we asked those polled...
60 Second Guide to Maximising Employee Engagement During a Recession
When budgets are tight it is easy to get caught up in cost cutting and focus on the numbers. During these times it is important to remain focused on maximising employee engagement to drive up performance as well as retaining talent within your organisation.
Employee engagement doesn’t have to cost, in fact often the things you do that have the most impact have little...
Standing out from the Crowd – Delivering Service Excellence as a Differentiator
When the product / service you are offering is similar to your competitors what do you do to stand out from the crowd? Very few of us have unique products and so we can differentiate ourselves through service or price.
In the current market conditions we often see companies differentiating themselves from their competitors by price – “You can’t get this service/product...
Innergy’s Monthly Rapid Review – From the recent Olympic Games experience, what is the one lesson that your business should take away and improve?
Each month Innergy research an area of business that is pertinent to our customer database, carrying out a brief survey and providing some practical ideas that can be immediately implemented to help individuals, teams and organisations overcome some of the key challenges they face.
We asked: “From the recent Olympic Games experience, what is the one lesson that your...
60 Second Guide to Selling Services
The principals of selling a product and a service are the same; the objective is to get the potential client to agree the way to solve their problem is to use your product / service.
However there are some differences that exist between a service and a product sale that require different sales techniques:
Trust – until the service has been delivered it is based...