Don’t Ignore This Technique Keep Employees With the Stay Interview Interviews — they’re a necessary part of conducting business. In fact, you rely on interviews to carefully select potential candidates for open positions or to learn about the reason(s) someone is leaving your company. But what if there were a way to solve potential problems without finally learning about these issues during an exit interview? The stay interview is the solution every business leader needs. More Than a One-on-One On its surface, a “stay” interview is similar to a one- on-one or “check-in” with your employees, but these interviews vary in numerous ways. For starters, one-on-ones should be conducted on a weekly or monthly basis; stay interviews work a little differently. While they contain valuable information, scheduling these meetings on a quarterly, biannual, or annual basis allows you to gain valuable information with minimal disruptions. Furthermore, one-on-ones typically encompass employee feedback. In a stay interview, it’s your company receiving the feedback. Focus on Improvement Positive scores are great! But don’t dodge the sticky, difficult questions. Ask employees what they enjoy about their job and coming to work, then also ask what they don’t like, areas they see for improvement, and factors that could motivate them to leave. You may not save every employee because of a stay interview, but you could find opportunities for intervention, potentially preventing other departures. Respond Appropriately This is two-fold. First, you should actually act on what you learn from a stay interview. Simply nodding your head and offering platitudes won’t work — that could even motivate people to leave! Try to weave action into the conversation and discuss ways the employee would like their concerns remedied. Secondly, don’t be defensive. Employees have to trust that what they say will be met with an open mind or without repercussions. If you begin to dismiss their ideas by getting defensive, you will gain nothing from a stay interview. Like with any good interview technique, it takes practice to refine your skills, but the greatest disservice you can do to your employees and your company is to not deploy a stay interview. Use this technique and figuring out what employees really want will no longer be a mystery.
Feeling Stunted? Unlock Your Growth Here
Email Is NOT Old News 5 Reasons to Include It in Your Marketing
Small businesses often borrow money because they have to “lend” it to their customers — that’s a lesson many entrepreneurs, including Stacey Abrams and Lara Hodgson, have had to learn the hard way. And while the “hard way” might imply failure, the lesson actually arrived after a successful contract with a major retailer that ultimately crippled their business. If Abrams sounds familiar to you, that’s because she’s also a politician who served in the Georgia House of Representatives for a decade (2007-2017), ran for governor of Georgia, and was lauded by former President Barack Obama for her “resilient, visionary leadership.” But Abrams wasn’t always in politics. She started a business after meeting her future business partner, Hodgson. At a leadership workshop, Hodgson and Abrams quickly bonded over an admiration for each others’ intelligence and work ethic. They knew they’d work great together and created Nourish, a company that created a patented spill-proof bottle to help busy parents feed their babies on the go. Demand for the product grew quickly. When they worked out a major deal with a global retailer, it seemed like success was finally falling into place. According to Abrams on the “What I Know” podcast, everything felt within their grasp — as if Fortune magazine was going to start calling for a feature.
What is the No. 1 way your business communicates with clients online? 1. Do you send them messages on Google Chat?
2. Do you tweet them on Twitter? 3. Do you ping them on Facebook?
We’re willing to bet you do none of those things. Instead, the answer that popped into your mind was probably “email.” Of course it was! No matter how trendy live chat and social media are right now, they haven’t dethroned email as the easiest, most professional way to get in touch online. An email has a gravitas that a text message or tweet just don’t, which is why so many brands still use email marketing to reach prospects, nurture leads, stay top of mind with clients, and generate repeat customers. Still not convinced that email is powerful? Here are five more reasons it stands up to the competition. When you market with email … 1. You’re not enslaved to an algorithm. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are governed by algorithms, just like Google. This means to ensure your post or website reaches the most eyes, you’ll need to play by the site’s rules, and those rules are constantly changing — stacking the odds against you! That’s why so many blog posts out there have titles like, “How to Survive (and Outsmart) the Instagram Algorithm” that make marketing sound like “The Hunger Games.” With email, you don’t have to jump through hoops like posting times and using video versus photo or waste time re-learning what works every six months. As long as you avoid the spam filter, every email you send will reach your recipients’ inboxes. It’s a guaranteed line of communication you just can’t get on social media. 2. You reach the widest base of users online. As different as baby boomers and Generation Z might be, there are things they have in common, and one of those things is email. Gen Z kids need email addresses for their college classes, and grandmas
Then, they learned about net 30.
Net 30 refers the contract terms granting the customer 30 days to pay after delivery of the product. However, 30 days can often turn into 60 days, 90 days, or even longer during good and bad economic times. Because small businesses have bills to pay (employee pay, utilities, raw materials, etc.), they often have to take out loans to tide over their business until they receive payment from customers. This crippled Nourish and eventually led to the company closing, but it wasn’t enough to discourage Abrams and Hodgson. At first, they thought their bad luck was the result of a bad contract. However, they learned from other industry experts and entrepreneurs that, in fact, this was a common obstacle that has always existed for small- business owners. The partners asked: Why? How can we change that? In response to net 30, they rebranded Nourish into Now, a financial consulting firm. After working with finance experts, the partners — with no previous experience in
finance — created an innovative, “credit card-inspired” invoicing solution for small businesses to receive payment promptly, rather than in 30 days or later. Their new book, “Level Up: Rise Above the Hidden Forces Holding Your Business Back,” describes not only their journey, piece by piece, but also why and how small businesses can achieve their dream of success — despite financial obstacles that so often prevent small businesses from growing. We highly recommend giving it a try!
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven” –Luke 6:37 ESV
need them to shop on Amazon. A whopping 3.9 billion people use email worldwide; so, no
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