Imagen Consulting

Helping Leaders, Businesses, and Teams FOCUS and THRIVE.

Resource: Good Interview Questions

Interview

Next time you are preparing to interview a employee prospect, turn to this insightful list http://www.practicalhacks.com/2008/02/19/6-great-interview-questions-for-interviewers/ for ideas. Need more material? You’ll find Richard Ensman’s “50 Great interview Questions” at http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/clothing-clothing-accessories-stores/4101794-1.html.

Book: Love Is the Killer App

Love_is_the_killer_app

Are you’re looking for the game-changing business tactic to woo customers/clients and increase your personal and professional influence? Then pick up “Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends” (Link). The core premise is about doing business for the benefit of others - a startling/contrarian concept in an age of unprecedented corporate greed, manipulation, and backhandedness. This book is a fun and story-filled treatise about the power of love in the workplace. (Yeah, he really says the “l” word). Again and again, Sanders describes situations where giving to others was what ultimately benefitted him the most. A good book about a really great personal AND business value!

Idea: Experience is not Always Related to Performance

Man_at_work

Something to Consider Before You Make Your Next Hire

I recently read a very interesting study on the value of using prior experience predominantly in making hiring decisions. The article resonates with Collin’s now classic admonition to “get the right people on the bus,” and asserts that previous experience is not always the best indicator of future performance.

This section sums it up: “Although we expect that prior related experience will enhance job performance through increased knowledge and skill, there are other components of prior experience that might partially offset these benefits when this experience is acquired in other organizations. Habits, routines, and scripts that contribute to performance in one organizational context may detract from performance in a different organizational context. That is, the relationship between prior related experience and performance may not be wholly positive. Indeed, despite the common assumption that prior related experience will improve performance, past research findings have been mixed about the effect of work experience on performance.” 

Definitely something to think through before you make your next hire. Want to read the whole thing? You’ll find it at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/papers/1355.pdf. 

Brand: No Glory for the Bargain Equation

Hyundai_logo

Creating A Brand Meaning that Really Means Something

In a recent Los Angeles Times business article (July 3, 2009) reviewing a new car release from Korean car maker Hyundai, reporter Dan Neil made the following comment:

“Yes, we’re all very impressed with Hyundai’s robust sales numbers, the company’s monster 10-year warranty and the new Hyundai Genesis sedan, which was voted 2009 North American Car of the Year by a group of powerful and influential automotive journalists who were found sleeping under a bridge.

“But what does the brand mean? If anything, the cursive H stands only for a kind of predatory cheapness that undercuts Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus. As cars like the Azera and Sonata demonstrate, in a coldly calculated dollar-for-value comparison, you just can’t beat a Hyundai.

“So what. No one ever wrote a misty-eyed heavy metal ballad to the glory of the bargain equation. No one ever serenaded with a mariachi band beneath the window of extended warranties. Hyundai is a brand utterly devoid of romance, poetry or inspiration.”

What a great commentary on branding - especially for small business owners who compete against big-box stores and franchises without large marketing budgets and flashy websites - small businesses who, in an Internet connected world, almost always feel the pressures of price.

Irrational though it may be, we make the majority of our purchasing decisions - from cars, to coffee, to where we eat breakfast - based in large part on our emotional connection to brand. Whether or not you agree with the assessment of Hyundai’s brand, the point is that you cannot build customers/clientele through price competitiveness alone. You must do more - create an experience that sets you and your business apart…an experience that creates and embodies your unique brand.

In college, I used to eat at a local breakfast dive whose brand was based on portion size - huge pancakes, ridiculous pieces of ham, huge platters of eggs and potatoes. The dishes were cheap, the service was marginal, but the place was always packed. To go there for breakfast was an experience: you always left with a story, and people drove for miles and waited for up to an hour for the chance to be a part of it. Obviously, it was about much more than getting a meal.

What defines your small businesses brand? What do people know you for? What stories are they telling about you? Remember, “No one ever wrote a misty-eyed heavy metal ballad to the glory of the bargain equation.”

Book: The Mission-Driven Organization

The_mission_driven_organizatio

Unsure about the value of mission, vision, and principles for your business? Need help developing yours? Then pick up, “The Mission-Driven Organization: From Mission Statement to a Thriving Enterprise, Here’s Your Blueprint for Building an Inspired, Cohesive, Customer-Oriented Team” (Link). This is a great source for developing an organization’s shared vision, mission, and guiding principles, and then applying those statements and principles to drive team work, growth, and day-to-day operations. Should be on every business owner, executive, and pastor’s bookshelf.