Dodo Loves Marketing

Online Business Marketing Solution: What people buy: Figurines and Sculptures?

arlene — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:04:53 +0000

About one-fifth of households reported buying a figurine or sculpture in 2007, about the same as in 2003. A popular gift item for collectors, figurines often carry a greeting or social expression that makes them perfectly suited to gifting or as a remembrance. Figurines have been popular collectibles in the past, with lines such as Precious Moments and Hummel passed from generation to generation. But today, figurine collectibles are looked upon with disdain by many as something that one’s grandmother liked, but not something for me. (more…)

Create Heroes in Every Role: How to Solve the Shortage of Respect continue…

arlene — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:17:50 +0000

Law firms are rarely considered cutting-edge organizations, but with their use of graded levels of achievement, they are far ahead of most companies. Although all lawyers are free to choose more conventional career paths—moving into the management of other lawyers, perhaps, or becoming a legal generalist for a corporation—these levels of achievement provide lawyers with an alternative, but equally respected, path to growth. It is a path that offers them both the opportunity to become experts and a simple way to track their progress. (more…)

Create Heroes in Every Role: How to Solve the Shortage of Respect

arlene — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:16:30 +0000

Even if you thoughtfully examine the match between the employee and the role, you’ve still got a problem. No matter what conclusion you come to, the employee will invariably want to move up. The employee will want to be promoted. Every signal sent by the company tells him that higher is better. A larger salary, a more impressive title, more generous stock options, a roomier office with a couch and a coffee table, all this and more awaits the lucky employee on the next rung on the ladder. No wonder he wants to move up. (more…)

Broadbanding

arlene — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:13:01 +0000

These levels of achievement will certainly help redirect an employee’s focus toward becoming world class. However, the manager’s efforts at career redirection will be forever hindered if all of the pay signals are telling the employee to look upward.

Although each of us is motivated by money in different ways, the fact of the matter is that few of us are repelled by money. All of us may not hunger for it, but only a tiny minority of us find money positively distasteful. Therefore the simple truth is that it will be much easier for managers to redirect employees toward alternative career paths if some of those paths involve a raise in pay. (more…)

Career Role, Creative Acts of Revolt

arlene — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:00:57 +0000

Great managers have to survive in a hostile world. Most companies do not value excellence in every role. They do not provide alternative career paths for their employees. And they do not give their managers the leeway to design graded levels of achievement or broadbanded pay plans. If you find yourself living in this restricted world, what can you do? (more…)

Great Managers Create a Safety Net

arlene — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:27:46 +0000

The conventional career path lacks forgiveness. As the employee climbs from rung to rung, the rungs are burned behind him. If he climbs onto a rung and struggles, he knows that his reputation will suffer and his job will be in jeopardy. There is no turning back. By punishing career missteps so severely, this path discourages everyone from taking bold career steps. In conventional wisdom’s world, taking bold career steps in order to discover a latent talent or to refine an existing one is almost as foolhardy as volunteering to learn the trapeze without a safety net. (more…)

The Art of Interviewing for Talent “Which are the right questions to ask?” part 3

arlene — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:32:25 +0000

b. Satisfactions

Everyone breathes different psychological oxygen. What is fulfilling for one person is asphyxiating for another.

Great accountants love the fact that two plus two equals four every time they do it. Great salespeople get a kick out of turning a no into a yes. Great flight attendants gravitate toward the tired, angry business traveler or the boisterous school sports team at the back, because they enjoy turning around the tough customers. (more…)

The Art of Interviewing for Talent “Which are the right questions to ask?” part 2

arlene — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:29:00 +0000

Here are two, of the infinite number of possible answers:

“I think it is very important to be persistent, particularly if you really believe in your ideas. We really encourage that kind of candor here. With my team, if I have a suggestion that others disagree with, I know they will expect me to keep supporting my idea until somebody comes up with a better one. In fact, it happens all the time.” (more…)

The Art of Interviewing for Talent “Which are the right questions to ask?”

arlene — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:24:44 +0000

1. MAKE SURE THE TALENT INTERVIEW STANDS ALONE

Recruiting can be a complicated process. The candidate has to learn about you, the company, the role, and the details of his compensation. You have to check his résumé, make him an offer; he may counter, you then resubmit your offer; and so the negotiating continues until finally you both feel comfortable enough to commit. This process is important, but all of it should be handled separately from the talent interview. (more…)

The Performance Planning Meetings

arlene — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:38:26 +0000

To help him prepare, ask him to write down answers to these three questions before each meeting:

A. What actions have you taken? These should be the details of his performance over the last three months. He should include scores, rankings, ratings, and timelines, if available

B.What discoveries have you made? These discoveries might be in the form of training classes he attended, (more…)