Complete MBA For Dummies

example, a Web site selling primarily to the New Millennial crowd (ages 16 to 24) should have a completely different tone and look than one catering to business professionals or retirees (see Chapter 2). And when it comes to text on a Web site, less is more. The faster you can get your company’s message out, the sooner your customers will click on the shopping-cart button and make their purchases. Try to keep information on your site to fewer than about 500 words

To market your product or service effectively, you need to tell catchy stories that make the news and capture people’s attention. For example, how did Ben and Jerry’s crack the tough premium ice cream market? It wasn’t just because the company has great ice cream. It was because it had a great story to tell. Ben and Jerry’s is a Vermont company owned by people from Vermont who put their hearts and souls into their ice cream. And they gave their ice cream personality with creative names such as Cherry Garcia, Phish Food, and Chunky Monkey.

When it comes time to hire a new employee, take the time to recruit and interview a variety of candidates. Check their credentials and ask for references — and then call them. Have the prospects come back for multiple interviews so they can speak with other people in your organization with whom they’ll be working. And when it comes time to fire an employee, don’t hesitate. Your actions speak louder than words. What are your actions saying to your employees? (For more on hiring and firing, see Chapter 8.)

But the flip side of this problem — firing too slow — can be almost as bad. If you let an underperforming employee linger on your staff, your other employees will begin to wonder why you’re putting up with an underachiever — and your overachievers will begin to think about becoming underachievers, too.

Managers who fail to delegate bog themselves down with work, become dreaded micromanagers, and miss out on terrific opportunities to develop their employees’ skills.

The employees may do things that seem important to them, but they may not be doing the things the organization needs them to do. Chances are, employees won’t be happy with this ambiguity, and you can bet that managers won’t be happy because the employees won’t be heading in the right direction.

Leaders aren’t just born; they can be made. You can take some steps to improve your leadership skills. For instance,
Read books on the topic of leadership.
Seek honest and candid feedback from your employees and peers.

voice in the decisions that they make. The best leaders seek input and information from everyone in their organizations, and they take that input and info into account when they make the decisions they’ve been hired to make. As the

They’ll respond to your interest by being more productive and being happier employees. And happy and productive employees produce happier customers and clients, not to mention a healthier bottom line

However, if you make the same mistake over and over again, you have a problem. The real trick to becoming an effective manager is to learn from your mistakes, avoid them in the future, and help others in your organization to avoid them, too.