Professional Service Journal

Current Dilemma:
Would you like some whine with that?

I have a coworker who complains …

Get Your Team to Stop Fighting and Start Working

My experience with collaboration has shown that it can turn a good work product into a great one. Bringing together multiple experiences and skills helps the team uncover something what one person alone could not. But personalities clash. Two people can be great workers yet can’t get along. This feature has great tips for managers on how and when to intervene, principles to remember and case studies.

How did you handle a conflict? What was the result?

Your Strength Is Your Point of Leadership

You’ve probably heard it all. Focus on your strengths, build your weaknesses. Work on your weaknesses, don’t worry about your strengths. This audio suggests delegating your weaknesses so you can focus on the things you do best in supporting the business.

What do you think of the idea to delegate your weak areas?

Current Dilemma:
Dealing with hungry coworkers while sticking with my diet

I’m on a diet and prefer to keep it to myself. It’s not my coworker’s business, and I don’t care to explain myself. I don’t want to go out to lunch because most restaurants do not have choices that fit with my type of diet. Plus, most of them don’t have nutritional information posted online to ensure I make the right choices.
My coworkers sometimes push me to go to lunch even after I turn them down. I know I’m not the only one in this situation. How can I deal with this without revealing the details of my diet? Or do I need to suffer the embarrassment of going to the restaurant and only ordering no-calorie drinks?
— Susie

What’s the Most Important Thing You Can Do as a Leader to be Effective?

The article advises “be trustworthy” is the most important thing you can do to be an effective leader. Wait, that’s not all. The article digs into the seven aspects of being trustworthy. It’s a great read that won’t take much of your time and have a big impact on your leadership style.

What do you think is the most important thing you can do to be an effective leadership? Why?

How to Manage a Superstar

If managers could pay their superstar employees more money, they would. Alas, company rules and budgets prevent that. Even sports teams face salary caps. “If there’s a common strategy among successful managers with LeBron problems, it’s to stop negotiating and start seducing.” It could be worst… you may not have a LeBron (star basketball player — just in case you’re not into the sport) on your team.

How do you keep your best employees happy to avoid turnover?

Capture B2B Leads through Social Media and Brilliant Videos

Adding personality to a company’s brand can help a company connect with clients and prospects, even a B2B company. One B2B pulls this off with its professional videos, blogs and overall social media program.

Does your company use social media? If yes, how? If no, why not?

B-to-B Insights: Survey Says …

Target Marketing reports on its recent online survey of its readers to find out today’s B2B marketing best practices. 94 percent of the survey’s respondents work in B2B. The report covers everything including print, blogs, social media and more.

How has your marketing practices changed in the past three or five years?

Previous Issue’s Dilemma:
How can I keep my team motivated in a poor work environment?

My team is a mess. We’ve worked together for a few years, and it went fine until this past year. Somehow, the environment has turned into a lousy one. I don’t look forward to going to the office. As the manager, I try to challenge and motivate the team, but it’s not working. How can I turn things around? Should I have a team meeting to get each employee’s ideas on improving our situation, or should I just “lay down the law” on what I want things to be?

— Ted

The Four Cs of Service Selling

How do service buyers do it? How do they take that journey? How do they go from knowing nothing or very little about a service provider to signing an agreement for thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars — all within a very short window of time? If a deal is primarily services, where the buyer takes possession of almost no tangible goods, what propels them to give money in exchange for something they cannot touch or hold? Talk about faith!

Navigating the Choppy Waters between Sales and Service Delivery

Over the past several months, SPI Research has explored the subject of improving sales and service delivery collaboration. With the advent of new integrated business applications and enthusiasm for software as a service, we initially thought classic breakdowns between sales and service delivery were relics. It turns out age-old schisms between sales and service delivery remains rampant, along with disconnects in business processes that cross functional boundaries.

When Clients Pressure You for Lower Fees

Ask a services firm leader at an industry conference, “Does your firm discount its fees?” and you’re likely to get a response that goes something like this, “We don’t discount.”

You’re then likely to hear that due to the demand for the firm’s services and the high level of its quality and service, the firm simply doesn’t need to discount.

Lead like A Child

No, a great leader shouldn’t throw tantrums and leave toys all over the floor. Leading like a child means asking those “why” questions. Why, why, why. The why questions may drive parents crazy when it feels like the child won’t stop no matter the answers given. “Why” can reveal more than “how” and “what.” The author offers five ideas to help leaders act like children again.

What other ways can you think of that leaders can act like children to be great leaders?

The Leadership Wonder Drug

Most of us have probably worked for a manager who never compliment employees’ good work. But how many of us have worked with people who crank out praise on a daily basis that it loses meaning? Terry Starbucker sets guidelines for praising employees.

How do you ensure the praise you hand out is meaningful?