Thursday, 29 November 2007
Marketing Tip - Manage your team changes with clients
Marketing isn't just about selling a product - you also are selling your team, your skills and your brand.

One of the most forgotten marketing areas is planning for team transitions. Losing a key contact in your business through resignation, promotion or even just an extended holiday is often a time when your key clients make a choice to go elsewhere with their business.

Without effective planning for this transition you may find your customers follow the person leaving, get confused about who to talk with about their issue or even get frustrated about having to repeat their history to a new person.

Some tips to manage the marketing of succession:
  • If clients have a personal relationship with the person who is leaving, have the person who is leaving send out a personal letter/email to their clients endorsing the new person in the role (make sure you get final approval before they hit the send button to limit any poison letters going out)
  • Have the person leaving take the new person around to meet the clients and make sure the person leaving verbally "backs up" the new person's expertise and experience to the clients
  • Reinforce what is staying the same "same great service, same great products"
  • Get your basics in place - rush order business cards for the new person so people know who to contact in future
  • Have the new person reinforce what they know and understand about the client's business to reduce client fears of having to repeat their information
  • Take is as a great opportunity to get feedback on what clients would like to see more of in the future - ask what they liked about the last person and what they would like to see more of in the new person

Managing a transition doesn't have to mean losing customers - if you deal with it correctly.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

Heart Harmony

www.heartharmony.com.au

Business development ... through human resources and marketing

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Wednesday, 28 November 2007
HR Tips - HR Planning
Most people understand the need to plan their business and their marketing, but the need to plan for their team often gets pushed down the list. Your people will make or break the implementation of your business vision and direction. Unless you have the right team with the right skills at the right time in the right place your vision won't be realised.

Once you have planned for your business direction stop and ask:

  • what sort of skills will people need to implement this plan
  • what sort of skills do my team currently have
  • do I need to recruit additional staff or upskill my existing team to deliver our vision
Every time someone leaves or promoted don't get caught into automatically filling the role. Stop, think about the role and what needs to be performed in that role today and in the future and only if the role is still needed go ahead and recruit the skills you need.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff
Heart Harmony
http://www.heartharmony.com.au/

Business development ... through human resource management

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