Gender Diversity is Important for Your Corporate Board

Ideally, the best corporate board for a given company would be one that is diverse. Hiring board members with the same background and education could find your company "stuck” and unable to draw from variety of experiences.

When it comes to gender diversity, a recent study supports the idea that women who are corporate board members tend to be more open to new ideas than their male cohorts. So, does this make women on corporate boards better than men?

And the survey says…

The International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics put up the survey that polled 624 board directors from all across the Canadian business sphere. The breakdown of those surveyed ranged from 75% male and 25% female. According to the results women were cited as being "more likely to use co-operation, collaboration and consensus building" when presented with the task of problem solving. Across the boardroom, the men were found to come up with their solutions by "using rules, regulations and traditional ways of doing business."

Chris Bart is a professor of strategic management at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and a co-author of the study. Upon reviewing the results he concluded that "The way women operate as directors often contributed to a company’s success, raising the question of why women are still in the minority in Canada’s corporate boardrooms. Why would governance, nominating committees and board chairs not want to have that skill set, that competence available to them in abundance?” asked Bart.

Here are some other qualities found from the women board members who took part in the study:

• Women were less constrained in their problem-solving skills
• More likely to take into account the interest of a wider range of company stakeholders
• Considered fairness an "important factor" in decision making process
• Women are more inquisitive
• Can see more possible outcomes to situation

As for the men who participated in the study, Bart found that, "The old boys club culture is still alive and well in corporate boardrooms across all sectors. Men are pack animals and they are very much quick to recognize the hierarchy of the alpha males in the group,” he said upon the report's release. “They would be very unhappy with people coming in with different values or views to the board.”

Can you look at your corporate board and say it is as diverse as it can be? It might be time to consider shaking things up especially if your business has hit a wall. Nothing like "fresh thinking" to put a company back on track on the road to success. 

How to Make the Most of Your Conference

Are you thinking about attending an upcoming conference or trade show related to your industry?

 Stop thinking and book your flight. Attending these types of events can be a big boost to your business. You know how important networking is to your success, right? Then why not go to the place where you can do more networking in 48 hours than the rest of the year? Before locking down your travel plans, you should take in these tips on how to make the most of every conference you attend.

Leave room for face to face meetings.

If the conference is happening in your hometown then you're golden. However, if you have to fly to a destination then leave yourself some room before and after the conference for potential meetings. It would be horrible if you make a good connection, start working on a deal and then have to run off the catch a plane. Best-case scenario: fill up your free day with meetings. Worst-case scenario: you get a day off to explore a new town. Actually, that's not so bad!

Set your target meet and greets.

The majority of well-established conferences will post a list of attendees in advance of the dates. This is a terrific marketing ploy but if there is no list, there will still be plenty of buzz. Head over to Twitter or LinkedIn to see who else is talking about going to the conference. You should get a sense of the roster of attendees. As you gather up the names, make a target list of who you'd like to "bump into." If you're following them on social media, let them know you'll be at the same conference. It's all about being proactive.

Lend a helping hand.

Don't just wait for someone to make a networking connection for you. Get out there and help others with their connection. Think back to your days as a young lad trading baseball cards. When you made a decent trade you were rewarded down the road. Same thing with business contacts. Being stingy with who you know won't get you very far.

Map out your day.

You should have a list of the conference day's events well in advance of your arrival. Figure out which of the talks is top of your "must-see" list. Plug those into your schedule then put together the "second-string" events. Make sure you also schedule in the cocktail parties and other networking opportunities. Don't just show up and wander the halls looking for a crowded room.

Make friends with the presenters.

No matter who is speaking at the conference, they are going to want feedback. Right after their talk they might be swarmed or whisked away. It's a safe bet that they are on Twitter. Send them a Tweet telling how much you enjoyed their talk. If the door is open, ask a follow up question. Before you know it you've added an all-star to your network! 

How to Deal With Freelance Employee Contracts

Today, every online business has the potential for global reach. On top of selling products to customers around the world, we can also hire people to work for us, regardless of their location!

Freelance employees can fill the gaps needed by a company who require to have temporary or short contract work completed within a specified timeframe. Even though a freelancer can work for your company for several years, it doesn't make them a full-time employee that gets all the perks. The freelance worker is typically someone who might be working offsite and easily reachable online. That means the company doesn't have to expand their office space to assimilate more workers.

It's a win/win all around.

Types of Freelance Workers

Before you consider hiring a freelance employee, you'll need to understand the different types of workers and the contracts required. The different categories of freelancers are:

Independent Contractors: The United States Internal Revenue Service describes independent contractors as someone that you as the employer, "have the right to control or direct only the result of the work done by an independent contractor, and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result." In other words, you assign an independent contractor a task and how they accomplish that task it up to them. They could work on it at midnight or 3:00 p.m.

On-Call Workers: These types of freelancers are called upon only as needed. When a company has an overflow of work that won't require a lot of training, they will use an on-call worker.

Temporary Help Agency Workers: These would be workers hired and paid by a temp agency. As the employer you would pay the temp agency to handle all the screening and interviewing. Basically, you tell the temp agency what you need and they send the employee to you.

Contract Firm Workers: These are workers who are provided by a company contracted specifically for that task. For instance, there could be contract workers as SEO contractors, customer service agents or even social media consultants. For the most part these workers will already be trained in the job. Often contract workers are hired in groups as opposed to the single temp agency worker.

Contract Stipulations

It is vitally important that every type of freelance worker you hire sign a contract. Included in this contract are the specific duties you will require from them, their compensation and deadlines.

Most importantly, you also have to spell out ownership of the actual work. If you hire a freelance graphic designer to rebuild your website, you will own what they create. It can't be used by another company. There are also confidentiality agreements and delivery terms that should be spelled out in the contract. No work should begin without a contract being signed by that freelancer.

5 Steps to Hiring Inexperienced Candidates

There is a first time for everything. That includes hiring someone to do a job.

If you're lucky, you can find an employee who is well versed with whatever type of task you want them to perform. However, there is often the opportunity to hire an exceptional employee who doesn't have any experience related to your business.

But is it crazy to hire someone without experience?

You might discover that training a new employee from "the ground up" is the best way to get what you want out of that worker. In other words, they're not going to be approaching the job with any bad habits or preconceptions. They are a blank slate. And that can certainly work to your advantage.

Here are five steps to consider when hiring an employee without relevant experience:

Spell out what is expected.

Depending on the job, there might be a training manual or "to do list" approach to the job. This should spell out specifically what is required of that employee. If you need to, create a guide for an employee. It's always better to travel with a map as opposed to just a destination.

Enhance the skillsets.

There is a reason that you're considering hiring a person without experience. They've impressed you with their attitude, prior successes and possibly related skillsets. It has often been said that a good sales person can sell anything. Just because you're selling cars, but are hiring a top vacuum cleaner sales person, doesn't mean you won't come out on top. Play to that person's strengths and build on that.

Consider their complete resume.

Someone without a lot of experience on their resume could have other areas where they have excelled. These unique experiences can indicate how they'll perform on your team. For instance, a person who has spent a lot of time doing charity work could be a natural fit for customer service. Someone who was in the military will understand how to follow orders and have discipline. When it comes to resumes, go deep!

Put them to the test.

Captain Kirk was famous for reprogramming a "no-win" scenario test. He got a commendation for original thinking. You should try to find a way to put your prospective hire to the same kind of test. This doesn't mean building a starship simulator, but you can probably come up with a challenging test to see how they might problem solve. The best result would have them asking for help instead of trying to do something on their own and failing.

Put them on probation.

You're taking a risk by hiring a new employee without experience. They should know that up front. There is nothing wrong with putting that employee on a probationary period. Just don't make it a double-secret probation. They should know they are being watched and their job is on the line. 

Changing the Online Advertising Business Model

The recent flameout of Facebook's introduction to the stock market should be a cautionary tale to any online

business. One the main reasons that the Facebook stock tanked was that days before they went public, GM pulled its advertising because they weren't getting a return on their investment.

This sent a shock wave throughout all corners of e-commerce cyberspace. How can you not benefit from having access to over a billion Facebook users?

The answer is simple: The online advertising business model doesn't always work... and it shouldn't be the main business model for your startup.

The Big Fail

On many levels, the fail of online advertising is paralleling the fail of traditional television advertising. Thanks to DVRs, viewers are able to zap through commercials with ease. There are even devices being specifically marketed that will "hop" over commercials.

Naturally, this has the broadcast networks in an uproar. How can they justify ad rates if no one is watching the ads?

The same thing is happening online.

When a user logs on they're on a mission. They have a specific activity they are engaging in whether that's sending an email, playing a game or checking their friend’s newsfeed. More than anything, the internet is becoming a social networking site that is equal parts global and local community based.

Anyone who is spending their free time on the internet doesn't want to be advertised to.

A New Way to Brand

Foisting a message onto an internet user who hasn't asked for that message is destined to fail.

Why?

Because we don't need a message we can find for ourselves. A company brand can no longer be built by specific messaging alone.

It will be built by the number of "likes" on a Facebook page or amount of Twitter followers. Now that everyone gets to share their opinions on places like Yelp, a good review is often more important than a traditional ad.

We share what we like and that's how the popularity of a product, a movie, a book or a restaurant grows.

Finding Information in the Cyber Age

The greatest tool on the internet is also the great undoing of the advertising model. That would be the search engine. Whether you are a fan of Google, Bing, Chrome or any other search engine, we know how to get information.

If you want to shop for a new car, a pair of shoes, an appliance or just about anything else, the first stop will always be a search engine. The next stop could be one of the many review sites such as Yelp or Consumer Reports.

Nowhere in that search is advertising needed or wanted. We're becoming a society of information gatherers. That's good for the consumer but not so good for the business, unless they find a way to improve their search engine rankings.

We're also becoming very sophisticated when it comes to blocking or ignoring ads. Don't want a re-targeting pop-up ad? No problem... just delete your cookie history.

The more advertisers try to insert their messages the more the Internet user will find a way to block the ads.

Build Out the Social Network

So, what is a hapless company supposed to do to find new customers? Don't fight the internet but put it to work for your brand. If this is a social medium then find a way to engage your customer base by starting a conversation.

Suppose you're selling a cleaning product. Perhaps you can start a conversation by asking folks "What's the worst mess you've ever had to clean up?" That's not selling your product directly but allowing folks to join in on a conversation.

Once they are engaged they can be invited to try the product. In other words, think less about reaching the masses with a single message and instead redirecting that message as part of a two-way conversation. That's the power of social media networking. 

What Customers Want... But Won't Tell You

We all know the "customer is always right." But did you also know that the "customer is always lying?" Maybe not so much as lying as not telling you what they're really thinking. Yes, you can put out the occasional survey to get impressions of your business but by then it might be too late to fix things.

What a customer won't tell you might end up hurting your business especially if it is keeping that customer from coming back for repeat business. Here are five things that customers wants but won't tell you up front.

They want your staff to look good.

This doesn't mean you have to hire runway models as your sales staff. However, appearances do matter. How your employees dress and groom themselves sets the tone for your business. If you're running a sports bar then tattoos, piercings and wild hair will fit right in. However, if you're selling carpet you don't want a motley crew being the face of your business. Set the dress code that is appropriate for your business and make your new hires aware of those codes before they agree to the job.

They want to matter.

When a customer walks into a store they should be greeted by a friendly staff member and asked, "How can I help you?" This lets them know that their business is appreciated. That same kind of relationship can be built through an online store. If a customer sends an email query, try to answer that right away. Hopefully, it will be a personal answer. Whenever possible, provide your customers with the opportunity to comment on your business. This can happen through social media, email survey or even directly on your website. When they feel that their business is appreciated, they'll come back for more.

They want contact.

Like it or not, we're living in a 24/7/365 type of society. Our news is around the clock. Same for our TV watching. Many big grocery and convenience stores are open 24 hours. The same can be said for gas stations, diners and doughnut shops. In other words, we're getting used to getting what we want whenever we want it. Your business needs to make the effort to appeal to that same desire of immediate satisfaction. This doesn't mean you need to keep your doors open around the clock. However, having a voice mail system where a customer can leave a message will go a long way towards providing that feeling of being open 24/7.

They want consistency.

It's difficult to image a business that won't have some level of staff turnaround. From a customer's perspective, they might have grown accustomed to working with a specific salesperson or staff member. They've built up a relationship. That's important for a loyal customer. When a change in staff occurs, try to reach out to your loyal customers and let them know what is going on and assure them they're needs will continue to be met. 

Finding Suppliers in China

If you're making a product for sale, then the specific cost of manufacturing of that product will make all the difference to your bottom line. It's no secret that Chinese manufacturing can deliver a wide variety of products are very competitive rates.

If this is your first foray into the world of outsourcing manufacturing to China, you need a smart approach. Sourcing from China comes with its own set of challenges that need to be overcome. Here's how to not make it a problem.

Determine Your Needs

 

Sure, you know what you want to make but in China there are different approaches to each manufacturing contract. Basically there are big corporations that will take on the job or farm it out to a 3^rd party vendor. As a small business owner, you might want to seek out the smaller family owned business for the startup. This type of company will probably be in a better position to provide you with direct access and support. You will avoid the markup when a larger manufacturer subcontracts out your job.

Research All Angles

Before you book your first flight to China, you'll want to do a lot of research. Build up a database of potential manufacturers by searching trade directories, chamber of commerce listings in China, Export Development Corporations or business associations. This can happen when you research comparable products to yours online. You'll start seeing some of the same company names popping up. Clearly these are the dependable factories. They should be your first stop.

Pick Your Top 15 Suppliers

Once you've put a list together, start making calls or sending out emails to set up relationships. You'll want to find out all the costs associated in hiring this company from raw materials to transportation. Make a list of questions that you'll be asking of all of your suppliers and then you'll be able to narrow down the list to your top 15. These you might want to visit in person to make sure they can handle the job. It's going to take time to find the best fit for your company's needs but you're better off exhausting all the possibilities before firing up the assembly lines. Do not put your entire manufacturing assembly line on one company. Spread the work between two or three companies depending on your volume of work.

Get a Local Guide

If you are traveling to China you'll definitely want to find a local business representative to help show you around. Hopefully, this will be someone who comes highly recommended and who you've set up arrangements with before landing. The best guides are usually the government trade representatives between your country and China. You don't want to ask around at the airport for a guide!

3 Lessons Every New Manager Needs to Learn

There is a first time for everything. Your first bike ride. Your first report card. Your first car. Your first time

as manager.

For those first three, you probably had a lot of help from a parent, a teacher or an instructor. When it comes to taking over the reins of management, you probably learned as much from the bad managers as with the good managers you've had to work with.

Hopefully, those lessons will prove valuable as you move into this next chapter of your career. After unpacking your office and making sure they spelled your name right on the door, you'll want to consider these top three lessons every new manager needs to learn:

Not Every Employee Will Stick Around

As a manager you are taking responsibility for your team. You want them all to shine and live up to their potential. But guess what? For some they may decide that they will grow better at another company. There is nothing wrong with hiring personnel that you know might only stick around for a few years.

As long as they get the job done, they don't have to aspire to the lofty heights of the corporate tower. This means that you should embrace employee turnover. Mixing up the staff can be a good thing and keep everyone on their toes. However, for those team members who do excel you want to keep them around. It doesn't make sense to get rid of your heavy hitters.

Be the Boss in the Decision Making Process

A good manager will listen to their staff. Keeping those lines of communication open is vital to maintaining a productive work atmosphere. Yet, when it is time to make a final decision you need to become the ultimate "decider." It won't be uncommon for you to look around your conference room and find that the majority of your staff disagrees with a particular decision. If the workplace was a democracy this would matter. It's not and that's why you have to step up and pull the trigger on the decision. Sink or swim, this is what a manager does.

Be Friendly but Don't Be a Friend

Many companies are proud to boast that their workers are like one big family. While it is true that this can create big returns in terms of productivity it can also become a major hindrance. If tough choices have to be made about the direction of your company you're going to have an extremely hard time letting down "your family."

This doesn't mean you can't be friendly with your staff. In fact, you should. However, there is a vast difference between going out for the occasional lunch or happy hour and becoming so immersed with all the ups and downs of their private lives. It's always best to keep it professional. 

Should You Hire for Experience or Personality?

If all hiring was conducted strictly by reviewing resumes it would be very easy to make the best staff picks. You can quickly size up a potential employee's education and real world job experience by scanning their CV.

However, that won't necessarily provide you with the full portrait of that worker. That's why the in-person interview is a vital step in the hiring process. It's through the one-on-one interview that you can access the individual's personality and whether or not they'll be a "good fit" for your company.

All of this begs the question: Should you hire for experience or personality?

Building a Better Staff

If an employee doesn't have a specific skill set they can always be trained. That approach works best when the skills required have more to do with operating equipment or computer programs. When the requirement is something like sales or marketing, those skills might be harder to come by because they are personality based. Building a strong staff for your company means assessing your specific needs beyond the "I want to work with good people" idea.

A valuable employee needs to be equal parts dependable and a team player. The majority of folks who quit a job do so because they can't get along with a co-worker.

Is it their fault or the fault of the co-worker? How much of a role does personality play into that type of decision?

There is no guarantee that everyone you hire is going to get along and become the best of friends. They just have to work well together. However, there might be a slight edge when it comes to hiring personality over experience.

Putting Personality First

There are a few reasons why hiring an employee for their personality might be a benefit for your company. A staff member that gets along with others could mean they'll be sticking around.

A lower employee turnover rate helps increase productivity. If you don't have to take time out to retrain workers than you'll be able to focus on the tasks at hand. This idea of a productive team comes into play when there is room for advancement. Allowing for promotions within your company keeps the "family together."

The goal is to stick with the good hires and toss out the bad hires.

Every new hire means you're making an investment in that employee. Do you want your return on that investment to come back in the form of a good team member or someone who causes friction?

A person with an abrasive personality can still get the job done, but at what cost to company morale? You also have to consider your company's relationship with your clients and customers. Simply put, do you want the face of your company to be smiling or frowning? 

Create Your Own Videos to Help Your Customers

Can creating an online video help your business? Consider the facts: ComScore released a study that found a whopping 82.5% of American Internet users viewed a video online. Another report found that in 2010, 30% of Internet traffic was video content.

By this year, that number can go up to 90%. Next to Google, YouTube is the biggest search engine on the net. There are over 60 hours of video uploaded every single minute for a total of around 4 billion videos being posted every day.

About 800 million users stop by YouTube every month. That's an amazing range of audience to try and tap into and that is just YouTube.

In the business arena, consumers spend more time at a website watching a video as opposed to a site without that type of content. More folks would rather watch a video than read text so how can you tap into potential customer base?

That's easy: You have to create your own videos. If you're not convinced yet, consider these other factors:

Videos can be the best way to convey a lot of information.

A video can deliver a lot of messages in a short amount of time. This is especially important when it comes to company branding. Writing blog posts will only take you so far. With a video, you can reinforce the positive attributes of your company's product in a memorable way.

Make videos with humor and you'll go even further in terms of brand retention. You'll also be able to form your company's personality through your video presentations. That's going to be extremely valuable.

Videos can have multiple uses.

A video docked on your website can be a terrific asset, but a good video has a broad range of uses. It can be purposed on YouTube and other sites to bring traffic back to your site. The video can also be embedded in an email newsletter or used in a sales presentation.  

Videos are what your customers want.

Consider the tale of two websites. One has fun videos and the other just copy. Which one will get more engagement? The one with videos. If you want to keep your customers engaged give them what they want and that would be video content. In other words, if you're not making videos your competitor will.

Videos will continually be useful.

There are some studies that declare by 2014, the vast majority of mobile data traffic will be video. Every Smartphone and pad device has the capability to watch videos. By creating this type of content you'll be positioning your company to be "on the go" wherever your customers are headed.