Looking for a little motivation? 
Cartoon Shorelines Art Finding ways to motivate and reward staff in order to improve performance and loyalty is a challenge for all businesses that employ staff or out source work. Small businesses have more opportunity than most when it comes to offering incentives. Suzie Glaskie of Peppermint PR uses a points scheme to reward hard word and consideration towards other staff members. Points can them be redeemed for manicures, daily coffees and wine. She said ‘It introduces a sense of friendly competition along with motivating people to go that extra mile, for themselves and for the team’. Jaqui Van Loen a business advisor believes in motivating staff by empowering them. She said ‘When you ask people about a time they have been most excited at work, have worked their hardest and enjoyed it the most, you will find it is when they took responsibility for a project and in doing so felt they accomplished something for themselves and for those they have worked with’. Motivation and incentives should be an all year round activity not something to save for Christmas and New Year. A recent survey conducted by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform surveyed 5,000 people in a variety of work places. They were asked what inspired them to follow someone, revealed that 93% wanted to see their manager create a feeling of fun, energy and excitement. If you are looking for ways to motivate yourself and your staff there are plenty of ways to do this. Corporate Collies provide team building using Border collie dogs and You R My Coach provides coaching by telephone. Looking for something a little more light hearted try Harmony House Cookery School fun team building days. Source the Times online Back to the top Web site News Owners of small businesses typically become so involved in the everyday running of their business that they fail to see the bigger picture when it comes to explaining to prospective clients what is it they do. Businesses evolve and it is easy to forget to communicate the new services and products your business provides. It goes without saying that you need to sell the benefits and advantages of buying your products and services. However there is a time when prospective clients need to see what you do or provide. Help them to do this not simply in words but in examples of your work. Display a portfolio of your work, preferably on your web site and also in your presentations. Provide a cross section of your work and include testimonials from satisfied clients. Check my portfolio of work on the summit up site. Back to the Top Postman Pat fails to deliver The company that owns Postman Pat, Basil Brush and Rupert Bear, had disappointing Christmas trading. Universal Pictures UK who manufacture and distribute DVD's of the popular cartoon and puppet characters for the UK market for Entertainment Rights failed to meet release dates in October and November in the US. Source BBC online My Favourite web sites It takes several elements to produce an effective and successful web site. Some of these elements are design features and others are more to do with written content and quality images. Here are some of my favourite sites used to illustrate the elements that I believe make up a successful site. The sites I have chosen vary in size and belong to small and larger businesses. Good copy Some Internet Marketers believe that well written and key word rich copy is the most important element for any web site. I believe it takes a combination of elements. It’s not that easy to find well written sites but here’s one. The Dogs Trust uses simple language to explain exactly what the charity does. It would have been very easy for them to have become over sentimental but they have avoided this putting across a strong argument for taking a rescue dog or for sponsoring a dog. www.thedogstrust.org.uk Good design There is no doubt that good design is the first thing site visitors see. Check out your web stats and you will see visitors who land on your site and are gone within 2 seconds. These visitors leave quickly either because your site content is not what they are looking for or because the design is unattractive. Good design does not necessarily involve large sums of money. Many small sites achieve good design as a result of financial constraints. have a look at www.marksanderson.co.uk and one that probably did cost quite a lot to launch but one that definitely makes an impression. www.visityork.org Sticky Sticky sites are the ones you hit on and that successfully entice you to delve deeper. A good example is Waitrose. It’s true that a company such as Waitrose no doubt has the resources to maintain a site with diverse content, but there are many elements in the site that smaller businesses can copy. When you consider that Waitrose sells groceries the content of the site is wide ranging and interesting. For example interviews with celebrity chefs, seasonal recipes, information about organic food and much more. www.waitrose.com Says clearly what it does It’s amazing how many sites do not actually say what the site is for and what the company does and even large businesses fall into this trap. Check the Electric Cycle Company web site. A very simply designed site with good quality images it says what it does simply and effectively. www.electricbikesales.co.uk Great content This depends to a large extent on what you are interested in, but I love this site. It’s in your face and a bit all over the place, but considering what the boys sell they have made the most of the site. The business idea itself is original and the site reflects that. Even the tacky flash works on this site. www.bakingboys.co.uk Ease of navigation Perhaps not one of the more interesting elements of a web site but poor navigation means that you quickly loose site visitors and probably means they won’t come back. Simple navigation is often achieved more easily by small sites simply because they have less content. One of my favourite small sites with simple easy navigation is www.page2pagesecretarialservices.co.uk. And to show that big sites can also achieve this have a look at www.currys.co.uk, it’s not particularly good to look at but very easy to move around and to find what you want. Great images Great images are like good copy, not that easy to find. Generally larger businesses have the best quality images but not exclusively. Good quality original images illustrate products and services to their best advantage and make a web site look truly original. Wine country baskets provide interesting and original gift baskets with a wide choice. It is essential that a company such as country baskets show their products to their best advantage and show the basket contents clearly. The photography on this site also creates the impression of the countryside which is exactly the image the company wanted to achieve. www.winecountrygiftbaskets.com Back to the top And finally An entrepreneur in China has opened a hotel in the middle of a cemetery which he has modelled on a mausoleum so that guests can experience what life will be like when they are dead. The hotel is in Jianhsu province and has beds shaped like coffins. the owner of the hotel Jiao Meige said 'there are no services at night and the guests can go nowhere, since outside is just a vast graveyard'. and.......... No surprise here. Households in the UK became so fed up with turkey over Christmas that they ordered Domino pizzas in increasing numbers. Sales for the chain increased by 17.6% in the six weeks leading up to December 30th. Sales for the company also increased throughout 2007 by 14.7%. The chief executive puts the success down to a consumer slowdown when families cut back on restaurant meals and go for a takeaways instead. Source The Week If you enjoyed reading this newsletter please E mail it to a friend Return toTop of Page | 