Part of the problem lies with coming into your office and seeing piles of papers and projects spread over your desk. It often makes you feel like you don’t know where to start because you have so many things that need your attention.

I know that many business owners (myself included) can get sucked into working away on projects or meetings right up until the moment we need to run out the door to get to a meeting or social event, or get home for dinner with our families. When we do this, it leaves us feeling rushed and scattered, and when we return to our offices, we waste valuable time trying to pull ourselves together to be productive.

What I suggest for my clients (and need to remind myself periodically!) is that you actually block a time on your calendar – with a reminder that pops up on your screen, to stop what you are doing at least 15 minutes, or even 30 minutes before you need to leave the office to get closure on your day and be more ready for the next one.

This is the time to save and file electronic documents, file away any physical papers or files (even if they go into your inbox for tomorrow), and take stock of what you need to focus on when you get back to the office next, and make sure you capture anything that needs to get on your “to do” list.

If you follow this advice, I know you will be more productive and less stressed, a good combo, don’t you think?

“Did you know that 63% of all hiring decisions are made in the first 4.3 minutes of the interview. The rest of the interview is mostly used to justify the decision already made.

Most interviews are “wandering conversations” that don’t focus on the most critical aspects of a job. Most interview questions relate to the tasks necessary to perform a job. Most people don’t succeed on the job because their behaviors don’t match the culture of the company and the attitudes required to perform.”
Excerpt from Doug Duncan, Your HR Solutions. Download flyer

The Art of Hiring Smart 8 Steps to a First Class Selection Process

In this information packed webinar, Doug Duncan from Your HR Solutions will talk about how to select the right people and the appropriate approach to integrate your human system with your other business systems.

You will learn:

• How to get employees engaged in your work – what does engagement mean and why is it important to your business?
• Once you get the idea behind engaging your employees in their work, you need to decide how to select the right people
• As you understand how to select people correctly, then how do you train them, and how do you retain them

Doug will also share his 8 Steps to a First Class Selection Process

1. Properly written job descriptions (JD)
2. Expand your ability to find and source the right people
3. Applicant management tracking system (AMT)
4. Conduct behaviorally structured interviews
5. Do both technical and behavioral assessments
6. Use background checks to verify who they are
7. Build a linked compensation, bonus, benefits and reward systems
8. Legal hiring practices

Date: Friday, March 30, 2012
Time: 1:00 PM Eastern (12:00 PM Central, 11:00 AM Mountain, 10:00 AM Pacific
Duration: 60 minutes
Presenter: Doug Duncan, Your HR Solutions
Cost: Free

Let’s check out a few facts:

• Over 85% of mobile phones can access the mobile web
• Mobile web usage doubled last year and will double again this year
• In the US, 25% of mobile web users are mobile-only
• The most popular mobile web destinations include social networking, search and maps
• Mobile searches have quadrupled in the last year
• 71% of smartphone users who see TV, press or online ads do a mobile search

Is there any doubt?

A few years ago, a small business mobile site was a novelty; today it’s a necessity. How many people get their first impression of your business from a screen that fits in the palm of their hand? And what happens when these visitors have to wait for your site to load, or struggle to navigate your site or read your content?

They leave…

You need your customers and prospects to have a positive experience on your site, whether they visit you from home, office, car or sidewalk. Fortunately, there are some simple guidelines you can follow to create a mobile-friendly experience for your visitors, starting today.

Make It Smart
When a visitor accesses your site with a mobile device, they should be directed automatically to a mobile version of your site (You can do this either by sending them to a separate mobile site or by using a mobile theme or plugin that re-formats your main site’s content – and that’s a whole separate topic). Don’t make visitors wait for your main site to load, and don’t make them hunt for a “visit our mobile site” link. Take them directly to a mobile version that loads quickly and automatically, and looks like it belongs on a mobile screen.

Remember that some of the content on your main site may not display properly on mobile devices. Simple features we take for granted on our desktops and laptops, like dropdown menus, don’t work the same on all mobile devices. Flash videos and animations won’t show up at all on iOS devices (iPhones and iPads). A smart site works and displays properly across all mobile platforms and browsers.

Make It Friendly
As in “user-friendly.” Remember that long, dense blocks of text are hard to read – especially on a small screen. Remember that navigation is by thumb, not by mouse. Break up your text into short paragraphs and bullet points. Make your links large, legible and spaced far enough apart for fat fingertips. Don’t make your visitors scroll in two directions to navigate your site or to view your words and images. Give your visitors a smooth, seamless mobile experience.

User-friendly also means well organized. Make it easy for your visitors to find the information most important to them, at a glance. You only have a few seconds to show them that you have what they’re searching for. If you frustrate them, they may leave and never come back.

Make It Tight
Keep your mobile site focused. Tighten up your content. Make sure you include all the information and functionality a mobile visitor is likely to need, and leave out everything else. Mobile visitors are less likely to be randomly browsing. They are more likely to be looking for specific information, so give it to them.

Make sure your phone number is large and prominent, and can simply be “tapped” to call you. Make it equally simple to email or text you, or to capture your contact information. Other key information and functions may include your business hours, a map to your location, a contact form, a list of your products or services, and coupons or time-sensitive offers. Focus on your visitors’ needs and minimize the marketing messages and fluff. Your users will appreciate it.

Make It Light
Even though mobile networks continue to improve, they aren’t as fast as cable or DSL internet. And for most mobile users, data usage is not truly unlimited. Keep your site lightweight for fast load times and minimal data usage. Don’t make them wait (and wait, and wait) for your site to show up – chances are they’ll go elsewhere to find what they’re looking for.

Use images and video sparingly – enough to get your point across, but no more. Don’t make your visitor’s mobile browser resize large images – make sure you load only small images to your mobile site. If you use videos, embed them from YouTube. They will be optimized for the mobile web and will probably load faster than videos hosted on your own server. Respect your visitors’ time (and bandwidth). Again, they will appreciate it.

Make It Local
If your business has an optimized Google Places listing (and it should), you may want to include a link to it from your mobile site. Google has optimized its Places listings for the mobile web. They load quickly and display a lot of useful information about your business, including reviews. Customer testimonials are pure gold – and they have more credibility if they are found on a trusted third-party site.

Make It Social
Social media use is increasingly mobile. As phones have gotten smarter and apps have gotten better, social networking has become one of the most popular mobile usage categories. Your mobile site should include prominent links to your social media profiles.

All the big social media sites have mobile-friendly versions, so they load quickly and provide a good user experience. Hint: Check out Facebook or Twitter or YouTube on your mobile browser to see a good example of a user-friendly mobile site.

Make It Happen Now
We are in the middle of a huge shift in how people use the web – and a corresponding shift in their expectations about the businesses they deal with online.

Phones have become incredibly smart and powerful, and increasing numbers of people use them as their primary (or only) means of web access. The devices are so good that expectations have been raised. People expect their mobile devices to deliver all the information they need about everything. They expect a simple, hassle-free, rewarding experience – every time.

If you don’t meet their expectations, where does that leave you? If you don’t offer a user-friendly mobile web presence, do you look like you’re capable of meeting their needs? Do you look like you care?

Take the time today to visit your business online with a mobile device. Are you happy with what you see? If you’re not delighted, chances are your potential customers won’t be delighted either. But there’s no need to disappoint them. Use these guidelines to tune up your site, and you can give them what they’re looking for – they will appreciate it.

Advisors On Target is sponsoring a free webinar with Bill McKinney about Mobile Web on February 16, 2012 at 9:00 AM Pacific. Register Here.

Being able to access our files electronically means that we must have an easy way to convert our paper items to an electronic format. Granted, many of us, many of the files we create or receive via email, we can already save to our hard drive or server in an electronic format. But what about all the statements and correspondence we receive via snail mail or documents that we receive only in paper format?

I have discovered some solutions that work really well for me, so I want to pass them on to you. First of all is a really stellar scanner. I have been seeing advertisements for a long time about the Neat Receipts series of scanners and I was on the point of purchasing one when I decided to do a little more research. By the way, Amazon, Google and YouTube are your friends when you are deciding on a major purchase. My research led me to the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500. I absolutely love this scanner! Really easy to use and to scan documents both to your server, backup device and/or Evernote, a service I totally love. Evernote is in the cloud, but you can also create notebooks on your local server/external hard drive/or computer. You can tag files by categories for easy access. Even better, it’s completely searchable by text recognition (OCR) technology as well making it really easy to find your files.

Here’s to your success in simplifying your life!

For example, a home improvement contractor could have one target market that consists of homeowners in certain geographic area and with a specifc set of demographics. He could also have another target market that consists of real estate property managers.

For another example, a massage therapist could have one target market that consists of professional business people who enjoy regular massages for stress relief, and she could have another target market that consists of athletes who are recovering from an injury.

In both cases, you as the business owner want to be able to clearly define your different market segments: What are their characteristics (demographics, habits, etc) and where are they located geographically if that is a factor in your business model.

Next, you want to define how your product or service benefits each market segment. Then you will be ready to craft a marketing message for each group that they can relate to.

Finally you will need to decide on the best method to reach that market segment. Some groups of customers will be best reached through advertising, whether it is direct mail, internet advertising, etc. Other will be best connected with via referral or personal introductions. Still others might be reached by cold calling or canvassing, or at a trade show or other event. Often you will end up crafting a multi-pronged strategic approach to reaching each of your target markets.

The first step to to define who they are. Taking the time to document the characteristics and location for each of your customer segments is an activity that is extremely valuable and will greatly increase your opportunities for success in reaching your target customers.

If you want to find out more, attend one of our free business planning classes.

Isn't it time to invest in making your business better?

This is your opportunity! Remember in your busy season when you have all kinds of great ideas about making your business better, but you don’t have time to put them into effect? This is the time to do some strategic planning and put into place some of those missing procedures and systems that will make your business run better next busy season.

It’s also a good time to put together your profit plan and budget for the year and lay out your marketing plan. Remember the all important action plan that will help you detail specific tasks, assign responsibility and set due dates for accomplishment.

Take the time now, and you will reap the rewards all year!
For more ideas, read my 10 Tips for a Successful 2012.

1. Have a plan
   Strategic planning is critical to every business. Take time this week to plan for what you want to achieve in 2012. Be specific about revenue goals, personnel resources and other critical factors that need to happen for you to achieve your plan. If you have already done some pre-planning for 2012, review your plan so it is fresh in your mind and set measurable action steps to take.
2. Make a budget
   Create a budget that projects your income for each month and projects monthly expenses that reflect overhead costs of running your business and specific expenses needed to achieve your revenue. These specific expenses can include cost of additional personnel to produce the projected revenue and marketing costs to drive the leads needed to achieve your plan. Be sure to track your actual results to your budget each month.
3. Maintain a client data base
   If you have accurate and complete data for your customers and prospects, you will be able to communicate with them regularly. Your existing clients and people who have inquired about your services have already shown interest and loyalty. Develop those relationships!
4. Create a plan to communicate with your clients
   How do your customers like to hear from you? I suggest you reach out to them a minimum of 4 times per year and as often as monthly if that works for you. Decide on a mix of communication methods that both fit your budget and are effective to reach your customer and referral partner groups.
5. Determine new markets and make a marketing plan
   Are you trying to build your business by getting new leads from target markets other than your existing customer base? Most small businesses are. Identify the demographic and geographic characteristics of the markets you want to reach. Do some research on the best way to contact them. Are they best reached by mail, via the internet, or by personal referral? Once you reach a conclusion, decide on a marketing plan to get their attention and to help them select your business to serve their needs.
6. Be clear about what you bring to your market
   Determine your value proposition. What do you offer and how does it solve a problem for your customers or how does it enhance their lives? Knowing what is really important to your market and how your business can uniquely fill that need makes it easier for them to choose to work with you.
7. Hire wisely and train well
   Your plan (see number 1 above) will tell you what people you need to make your plan succeed. Know what skills and personal characteristics you need to hire and write out a job description that reflects them. Take your time hiring and be selective – give yourself the best opportunity to get the right people in place. Then train your people through formal or informal (on the job) training to do the job the way you want it done. Give new hires a reasonable time to succeed, but if you see you have the wrong person, let go of them quickly. You will be doing both of you a favor.
8. Sell profitable work
   Make sure your pricing and productivity match your profit targets. There is often a temptation to discount your prices or accept less profitable work to keep your employees busy, and sometimes that strategy is OK from time to time. But overall your goal is to create a good living for yourself and your employees. Set a fair price for your product/service and your market and work to attract the type of customer who values you, (see numbers 5 and 6 above).
9. Measure and Monitor
   You’ve no doubt heard the saying, “What you can measure, you can manage.” Set targets and Key Performance Indicators that let you know if you are on track. Some metrics that most businesses should track are sales targets, leads, close ratio, budget to actual revenue and expenses, profit margins, job productivity, personnel turnover and customer satisfaction. Of course there are many more that you can track and there are some specific to your own business or to your industry. Choose a few that are the most critical to your success and review them at least monthly, so you can take action if the numbers aren’t in line with your plan.
10. Be positive
    Thinking positively and speaking positively make a difference in your attitude, and I would suggest, in your results! Your team will benefit from your positive outlook as well. You, as the business owner, set the tone for your business. Why not make it one that radiates success?

Looking for some structure to help you implement? Check out our 10 Week Intensive starting on January 10.

I brainstormed this program back in May of 2011 and held the first 10 Week On Target Intensive this fall with 6 participants. I feel really great about how this program is a distallation of many key areas of focus that business owners need to master on your path to running a successful and professional company.

Here’s what one of the participants from the last session of the On Target 10 Week Intensive said:
“There is a lot to like about Advisors On Target’s 10 week intensive “Chart Your Course to Business Success” by Linnea Blair. In particular, the homework assignments are key to being proactive in developing your business plan. I found Linnea’s presentation to be thought provoking, insightful, and chock-full of useful knowledge towards business development. In addition, to listen and learn from peers in the business to always useful. I would highly recommend this course to any small business owner looking for a key to success.” – Dan Frost, Frost Painting, Inc.

How does the program work? It is a live webinar format: particpants call in to a telebridge line and access the video portion online. The program is fully interactive – I present the material and the participants have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss and share experiences during the session. We meet once a week for 10 Weeks and each session is 90 minutes. Each session is taped (for class attendees only) and available online for later review or if you miss a session. Participants also receive tools and handouts to help you implement what you have learned.

I limit this program to 10 participants so everyone has an opportunity to get the most from the experience. The program starts January 10, 2012 (and there’s a little incentive to sign up before the end of the year!)

Find out more here!

The way the name came about is that the author of The Pomodoro Technique, Francesco Cirillo used a tomoto shaped kitchen timer to time his productivity periods for the process. Yes, there really is a book on The Pomodoro Technique.

Without getting complicated, here’s how it works for me and how it can work for you to spend some time each day in focused work on a particular project.

You need some type of timer to make this work. Here is a link to an online timer you can use, or just use a timer app on your smart phone. If you are low tech, a regular kitchen timer works.

Decide what you are going to work on for the period of time between 30 minutes and 90 minutes. Set the timer for 25 minutes. Work without interruption on your project for that period. When the timer dings, STOP! Reset the timer for 5 minutes. Get up, stretch, got to the bathroom, get a drink of water, check your email whatever. When the timer goes off again, set it for 25 minutes and do another focused session on your project. Take another 5 minute break. Repeat the process. When you have done 3 Pomodoros, take a half hour break and do something else.

I have used this technique effectively and it really helps. It’s easy enough to do too. Try it, and let me know how it works for you by commenting below, or on my Facebook page.

Your Business Plan – Road Map to Success

Here are three reasons why you need a real live business plan, instead of a quick template that you filled out years ago that you can’t even find.

1. A strategic business plan is your roadmap – a guide for you to refer to as you make decisions about how to run your business.
2. As you bring new employees into your company, or train and educate your existing team, your business plan provides clear direction and reinforces your culture.
3. Banks, governments and business partners are increasingly requiring business plans to support their decisions relating to lending and providing financial assistance, and a good business plan can make the difference.

Discover the benefits of developing a business plan in gaining increased control over business operations and improved opportunities to step back and work ON rather than IN the business. Learn the key steps required to create a plan document for your business and how to use it. You’ll learn:

• What’s in a business plan
• How a business plan helps you manage your business
• How to prepare a business plan
• How to use your business plan

Date: Thursday, November 3, 2011
Even though this class has passed you can access it in our Free Resources area by becoming a Free Member of Advisors On Target.
Time: 5:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Central, 3:00 PM Mountain, 2:00 PM Pacific)
Cost: Free

This class is valuable on its own, but if you are interested in a directed process to put your plan together in just FOUR weeks, you can click here to find out more.