Oct 27, 2014
‘Tis the Season of Falling Leaves and Growing Budgets
It’s that time of year again. With the turning of the leaves it is officially budget season!
Yes, planning for a new budget begins with everyone eagerly compiling their want list. Like kids creating a birthday wish list, there is wide-eyed excitement and hope that this will be “the” year. And, yes again, as the budget process unfolds inevitably there are a few disheartening adjustments to the wish list.
But, as the chorus of “ughs” begin, I offer some advice.
Rather than being the person who laments over what could have been, try this. Focus on leveraging one of the largest resources you have – your people.
Focusing on your people means focusing on your engaging your team with a view to driving your bottom line. Why?
- Engaged people are more productive.
- Engaging your people will increase productivity.
- Engaging the hearts and minds of your people will help your company to recoup some of the $450 billion in lost productivity annually due to disengagement.
- Engaged employees contribute to customer retention.
- Engaged employees deliver revenue growth.
We all know it is easier to have existing customers buy more than it is to attract new customers. Research indicates the cost of customer acquisition is on average between four to ten times more expensive than customer retention. Investing in engaging your employees can be beneficial for your customer retention strategy.
The Disney Institute and McKinsey Company recently reported companies whose people consistently offered an exceptional customer experience realized a 2-percentage point advantage over their peers in revenue growth along with an increased employee satisfaction and engagement of 30 percent. Imagine what customer experience could do to your bottom line.
Through increased productivity, customer retention and revenue, you will be creating your own budget increases … freeing up more time to go outside and rake!
Are your people fully engaged? Here are a few tips to get started.
Ten Tips for Increasing Engagement:
- Develop inspirational leaders
- Hire motivated people
- Ask for input
- Do change well
- Provide learning opportunities
- Encourage calculated risk taking
- Get to know your people as individuals
- Deal with non performers
- Be true to your company values
- Celebrate success
Category: Business
