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Blog posts tagged management
Interim managers - flexible experts for start-ups?
March 06, 2013
So you’ve done it – you have decided to leave your permanent job, follow your dream and start your own business – great news! But now what?
Help, I’m stuck
Starting a business – and keeping one going – can be incredibly challenging in what are still very tough economic times. As an entrepreneur with a clear vision you know exactly where you want your business to go - but it can take a lot to admit that you don’t know how to get it there. This is where many small and medium businesses come unstuck. Where can you find the expertise you need at a price you can afford? To solve this problem, many small businesses are turning to interim managers.
Multifunctional masters
No longer just the preserve of large multinationals or global conglomerates, an interim manager is a flexible, affordable way of getting the knowledge and insight you need to guide your business in the right direction. Whether it is help with sales and marketing, assistance with finance and regulatory matters or day-to-day operational and HR advice, using an interim manager is a quick and easy way to obtain the skills you need.
Cost sensitive
The other key advantage is that interims operate as a controlled, daily cost – essential for smaller organisations. With no sickness, holiday, pension or other traditional benefits to pay for, it is very easy for SMEs to forecast how much an interim will cost over a specified period of time, with no hidden extras.
Over-experienced
If you do choose to hire this sort of resource, small-business owners must also be prepared for the fact that the interim will more than likely be over-qualified for the role they are doing. Don’t be intimidated by this; their breadth of experience means they can deliver for your business faster and leave you with a sustainable best practice approach to grow your business successfully.
This post was written by Nigel Peters on behalf of Alium Partners – global provider of interim management solutions.
Complaints are like gold dust
August 13, 2010
Complaints are great. Although there is a tendency to do the same with complaints as with a medieval runner bringing bad news from the battlefield – blame the messenger – this temptation must be avoided at all costs. Complaints are the best and most unvarnished source of customer feedback. That’s when they are read in the raw, uncorrupted by staff editing, “summarisation” or by any other subtle bias from your customer surveys.
It’s much better to hear from a customer, and have the chance to fix things, than for them to bad mouth you behind your back, or even worse, broadcast your failings for others to hear. A customer who has been able to complain, and feels that the complaint has been taken seriously has already reached the first base in changing their feelings about your organisation. They are then much less likely to spread their complaints more widely.
Customer complaints highlight problems with people or processes, often way before other indicators show red. You can then fix them before they cause too much trouble. It’s all too easy to glide blithely along while significant problems are developing, with no recognition at management level. Complaints help to shatter the peace, for the better.
If you don’t already have a customer feedback facility on your website, consider introducing one. Ideally hosted by a third party so people know that the comments are authentic. You’ll get positive and negative input, and make sure you respond to the latter saying how you’ve tackled the issue.
Research has shown that customers with issues that are resolved quickly often become very loyal, which is good for all involved and often helps boost the bottom line. In other words, listening and fixing complaints creates better customers, and better customers are more profitable.
Chris Barling is Chairman of ecommerce software supplier SellerDeck
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