Blog - Warrior Academy

10 Tips for Effective Email Communication

Email is a powerful tool in the workplace, but it has become a headache for some. Using email effectively is not as straightforward as it seems but following a few key guidelines can make all the difference. Here are 10 tips for writing well-crafted and professional emails.

1. Be clear and specific!

Most of us have way too many emails and too little time in the day to read and respond to them. Keeping emails short and to the point will help maximize the chance they are read in their entirety and minimize the chances of the reader moving on to the next email.

2. Be prompt and respond to important emails.

Responding to an email within 24 hours shows you care about the message. Even if you are not able to attend to something right away, telling the person you received it and giving them a timeline for your reply presents professionalism and attentiveness.

3. Use the subject line to clearly state what your email is about.

Since most of us receive a huge amount of email, we need an easy way to know which emails are important and how to organize them. The Subject line is a helpful tool for this.

4. Add important directional words to the Subject line when an email needs special attention.

Words like “response needed” or “urgent” are helpful in knowing what is expected and by when, e.g., “Client contract – confirming dates – response needed” or “Board meeting – draft agenda – response needed by Friday”.

5. Be restrained about forwarding jokes or other non-work-related material.

Most people don’t appreciate this type of email so keep your work email to just that: about work.

6. Include one main topic per email and limit the number of questions and requests.

Although you may have numerous things to ask/say, it is best to limit your requests or important news to one per email. In this way your subject line can reflect your message and your reader will know where to file it and how to address it (at a glance).

7. Decide carefully who should be CC-ed on an email.

Although you may be sending an email as part of group mailing, you should not feel the need to hit “Reply All”. Often sending a response to the sender is enough, helping minimize clutter for others.

8. If you have concerns and need clarification, pick up the phone or schedule a meeting.

So much of communication is non-verbal. Communicating about conflict or misunderstandings in writing can often make things worse, despite our best intentions. Try contacting the person by phone or set a time to talk things through.

9. Minimize your use of ALL CAPS or bold to highlight words.

Although some of us (especially highly visual people) love playing with visual cues, they can be misunderstood by others (especially if they don’t use visual clues). To minimize sounding “loud” (often associated with ALL CAPS) or annoyed (often associated with bold), just use regular font styles.

10. Include an email signature on all your emails.

It is important to have all your contact information clearly and easily accessible in case someone needs to reach out to you by phone, forward your company info along, etc.

Original document, 10 Tips for Effective Email Communication
Source:https: Global Learning Partners
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

The Importance of Marketing to Business Success

Ask yourself, just what is marketing? According to the American Marketing Association’s definition: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. In my opinion the two key concepts include activities from creation to customer. To take the Voice of Customer (VOC), “what is wanted,” and transform it into a “how do we do it” is a mixture of science and art. Also important is how to manage and sustain the product life cycle using various analytical tools such as forecasting.

By no means should you confuse marketing with sales. These are two distinct functions and require complimentary but not identical skill sets. Sound marketing practices will serve as a sales enabler. Transforming field intelligence from both current and potential customers as well as competitors into a deliverable (product or service) is important to a company’s growth. To secure the right information and work closely with the technical function within the firm is where a strong marketing team resides. The marketing function serves as the Voice of Market (VOM) champion throughout the design phase keeping the engineers and technologists on task to ensure there is little if any drift from the initial product proposal. Will there be compromise? In most cases the answer is yes. But a strong marketing function will be able to address the cause and effects to determine potential customer acceptance and revenue impact. Managing risks versus rewards during the design phase is a critical marketing activity.

Marketing also takes the lead to “rollout” the new product or service to the marketplace, preparing the necessary field communications and targeting to specific markets and customers. Engineers and technologists measure success by functional properties and release to Manufacturing. Marketing professionals measure success using time versus break-even calculations and units sold compared to forecast. Marketing’s celebration begins when the crossover point is reached, all design costs are consumed and the profit corridor is enabled!

But the marketing team’s participation and influence does not finish here. Their responsibility moves on to nurturing the product, promoting and communicating to the customer base. Serving as the brand ambassador in support of the sales team. Providing continued field intelligence to allow adjustment to the initial design in a quest to stretch the product lifecycle’s timeline.

A strong marketing function must have technical aptitude, product knowledge and importantly strong interpersonal aptitude. Having the ability to transform qualitative inputs into a deliverable engineers and technologists can act upon is critical. At the end of the day VOC is met and the marketing team will be able to convey to the rest of the organization “if you build it they will come!”

References

Retrieved 7/31/2014 from “American Marketing Association” (2013).

https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.aspx

Related Benedictine Programs

If you’re interested in learning more about Marketing’s role in business, Benedictine’s online MBA in Marketing Management will give you the tools to develop an effective, comprehensive marketing strategy for each stage of a product or service’s life cycle. To learn how an online degree from Benedictine can help you in a new business venture talk to a Program Manager today.

Factors for Committee Success

A successful project committee investigates the viability of a business idea and successfully moves forward with the creation of a business if the idea is deemed to be feasible. This is a demanding and time-consuming task. So it cannot be entered into lightly.

When organizing a committee to investigate a business opportunity, choose members with different backgrounds, perspectives and skills. This may be difficult because we often associate with people who think the way we do and value the same skills as we do. Diversity will make the committee stronger and improve the decisions made by the committee.

However, one trait that should be consistent with all committee members is commitment. Members need to be committed to following through with exploring the viability of a business idea. Commitment is even more important if you decide to go forward with the idea and form a business.

Be aware of people who want to be involved but don’t want to commit themselves to do any of the “heavy lifting” associated with the project. Also, be wary of individuals who run “hot and cold” on the project. You want people who will stay engaged for the long haul.

Decision making is a critical element of successful project committees. Critical issues need to be faced directly. Adequate time needs to be allocated to fully explore the issue. Everyone needs to have the opportunity to express their views. Don’t move on until a decision has been reached. Once a decision is made, there should be little need to discuss the topic again unless new information is introduced.

One important element of decision making needs to be addressed before the committee begins its duties. The members should agree that, if the committee makes a poor decision, there will be no blaming of individual members for the views they put forward. If the committee made the decision, then the committee, as a group, is responsible for the decision.

Original document, The Importance of Marketing to Business Success
Source:https: Benedictine University
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

Forming a Viable Project Committee and Holding Successful Meetings

Many business ventures are started by a group of individuals who are getting together for the first time to explore a business idea. Decisions made during this formation period can be critical to the success of the business development process.

Factors for Committee Success

Committee Members

For a committee to properly function, a certain amount of structure is required. Below are some of the key players of a committee.

Group Leader

For a committee to properly function, a certain amount of structure is required. Below are some of the key players of a committee.

This person has the vision and burning desire to move the project forward. The group leader must be the driving force to keep the committee on task and not get bogged down in internal bickering and negative thinking.

The role of the group leader includes the following tasks:

Schedule the meetings
Keep the group motivated and the project moving forward.
Push the group to make decisions
Involve all committee members in the decision making process
Keep the vision of the project in front of the committee
Assign tasks and follow-up on assignments

Secretary or Recorder

Someone needs to be responsible for taking minutes of the meetings, handling correspondence and performing other duties. Decisions made by the committee need to be recorded and these reports shared with the rest of the committee. If this is not done, committee members will find themselves discussing the same issues over again at subsequent meetings.

Treasurer

Someone needs to serve as treasurer. The best way to fund the initial stages of the investigation of a project is to have each of the committee members make a financial commitment.Many groups want to apply for a grant or find someone to give them money. However, pursuing money takes your focus off your real objective of investigating a business idea. And spending someone else’s money is easier than spending your own. If you use someone else’s money, the money is often gone before the project is complete. So it is often recommended for the committee members to fund this stage with their own money.

Functional Committees

Throughout the business evaluation process, there will be specific areas to investigate and research. Create sub-committees to investigate various aspects of the project. If an issue needs to be resolved, have a sub-committee propose a plan and present to the over-all committee for decision making.

Project Manager

If the committee agrees to move ahead with a business project, a project manager may be designated. This person handles many of the day-to-day activities of the project. The project manager takes direction from the committee and reports to them on activities and tasks. Because of the time-consuming nature of this position, the rest of the committee may reimburse a portion of the project manager’s time committed to the project.

Committee Advisors

To improve the quality of the committee’s decisions, advisors may be brought into the process. Advisors, if used properly, can be very important to the success of the project. However, the committee members need to remember that this is their project, and they are responsible for making the decisions.

Business Development Advisor

This is a person who can provide overall assistance and guidance to the group. The advisor can help the group navigate through the questions and issues associated with exploring the business idea. This person should also have experience in starting business operations.

Establishing the right relationship between the advisor and the committee is critical. The advisor needs to provide assistance without leading the group. The advisor needs to know when to speak up and when to keep quiet. The group leader needs to be sure control is not abdicated to the advisor.

Legal Advisor

During the initial investigation process, this person will have a minor role. However, if you decide to move forward with the business venture, legal guidance will become much more important. During this phase the group must be careful to consider the advice of the legal advisor, but not let legal issues take over the focus of the business.

Industry Consultant

This person needs to have industry knowledge and experience. Initially the industry consultant can help the committee understand the industry and make initial decisions on potential business opportunities. If warranted, the industry consultant may assist the group in the development of a feasibility study.

Committee Advisors

To move forward as a committee or a project, it is important that you hold regular meetings. Most project committees underestimate the importance of regular meetings. However, regular meetings provide a vehicle for making important project decisions.

Properly structured project meetings can be used to focus the team members on important business decisions. Relationships can be enhanced by using the concept of an emotional bank account.

Below are ideas you can use for holding successful meetings.

Select a leader - Select a leader for the group. In fact, it is often important to select a full slate of officers including treasurer and secretary.
Minutes of the meetings - Keep formal minutes of the meeting. Appoint or elect a secretary or someone to take notes. Minutes provide a record of what topics were discussed and what decisions were made. Unless minutes are kept, disagreements may emerge later over what decisions were reached.
Seed capital - Seed money is often needed to get the project started. This may come from the committee members or another source. So, you need to have a treasurer who handles the money and reports regularly at the meetings.
Business setting - Meetings should be held in a business environment. If possible meet in a meeting room at a neutral location (i.e. public meeting space) - not at a committee member’s kitchen table. Team members should sit around a table or in a circle. No one should be seated at a position of power. Mute cellphones and other communication devices and try to minimize interruptions.
Meet regularly - Meetings should be held on a regular schedule. Meetings held on an "as needed" basis are usually only held during emergencies. Also, it’s easy to postpone meetings because members may not attach much importance to them. If a meeting has to be canceled, it should be rescheduled. Holding regular meetings should become a habit.
Prepared agenda - Prepare an agenda in advance. At the beginning of the meeting, give a copy to each member. The agenda gives the meeting structure and keeps the discussion focused on the important topics. Ask if there are additional items that should be added. All members should have the opportunity to place topics on the agenda - either in advance or at the beginning of the meeting.
Prepared materials - Prepare materials on important decisions in advance. Give the materials to the members in advance or during the meeting. If the materials are distributed before the meeting, it’s important that the members review and study the materials before the meeting.

Emotional Bank Account

A basic element of a strong committee is trust. Trust can be built into a relationship by using the metaphor of an emotional bank account. Deposits made into the bank account build trust. Deposits can be courtesy, kindness, honesty, and the habit of keeping commitments. As trust in the account increases, it can be drawn upon. An account high in trust makes communications easy, instant, and effective.

Withdrawals from the account are discourteousness, disrespect, overreacting, betrayal, and threats. If withdrawals exceed deposits, the level of trust drops and the account eventually becomes overdrawn. Instead of a relationship rich in trust and communication, an overdrawn account becomes one of accommodation where the committee members are drawn away from each other and pursue independent goals. To have a strong committee relationship, the members must build their emotional bank accounts with each other so that trust will be high and communications flourish.

Don Hofstrand, retired extension agricultural business specialist, [email protected]

Original document, Forming a Viable Project Committee and Holding Successful Meetings
Source:https: Iowa State University
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

Conducting Effective Meetings

WHAT ARE EFFECTIVE MEETINGS?

Sometimes it seems as if we’re always meeting. We have our regular monthly organization meetings, special task force meetings to work on, urgent actions, and committee meetings for projects our group has taken on. Meetings take up so much of our time because they’re the way we make our decisions, plan our actions, and move the work we are doing along.

But how many of us hate meetings? We all of have memories of meetings (maybe even last night’s committee meeting) that seem to last forever and no decisions ever get made. Someone kept interrupting and moving everyone off of the agenda, the chair had too many of her own opinions, the meeting ran overtime, and by the time it was over, everyone went home tired and unsatisfied.

Well, while there’s no magic wand to make every meeting more effective, meetings can really help in decision making and planning. They don’t have to be painful. They can even be fun. And you can learn how to make your meetings both useful and enjoyable for everyone there. Effective meetings help your group reach its goals.

WHY DO YOU NEED EFFECTIVE MEETINGS?

Did you know that how you manage and run your meetings is one of the biggest “risk factors” for participation and member investment in your organization? All of the parts of a meeting are important–planning (especially thinking through agendas and goals); logistics; and chairing skills and principles. All of these parts impact on member participation and involvement.

Each “phase” needs to be paid attention to and taken seriously because good meeting management is critically linked to participation. It is through meetings that the group is or is not able to get things done, solve problems, manage itself in a way that promotes inclusion and safety, and creates a sense of community.

HOW DO YOU RUN AN EFFECTIVE MEETING?

Running or chairing a meeting means more than just moving the group through the agenda. When you chair a meeting, you are responsible for the well-being of the group and the members in it. That demands a certain amount of attention be paid to “group dynamics” and other process issues. All of that “touchy feely” stuff is important!

Remember: Running meetings is a skill, not something you are born knowing how to do. Just as with any skill, you will get better with practice–and more confident, too!

When someone says, “Nice job. That was a good meeting,” what do they really mean? A truly good meeting happens when attention is paid to the four phases of meeting management:

PHASE 1: PLANNING THE MEETING

If you pay attention to planning your meeting, you can avoid the “meeting killers” like:

DECIDE THE GOAL OF THE MEETING

Is it to revise the by-laws, plan volunteer recruitment, or something else? No clear goal? A boring and unfocused meeting may result! Come up with a clear goal and the agenda becomes your road map to getting there.

Do your homework!

If you need information or research for the meeting, better have it done before the meeting starts. What happens when you show up at a meeting where important information is missing? It’s usually a big waste of time!

DECIDE WHO NEEDS TO BE THERE

If you are working on a billboard campaign, does the whole membership need to attend or just the Billboard Committee? Think before you send out those meeting notices!! When people come to a meeting where they don’t care about the agenda, guess what? They usually don’t come back!

PLAN WITH OTHERS

This is a great way to develop new leaders and get other people more invested in the work of your group! Just get three or four interested folks together and hash out the agenda–it won’t take more than an hour!

And most important…

GOOD AGENDAS COUNT!

List the amount of time you plan for each item. If someone other than you is presenting some part of the agenda, list that too, and send it out at least a week ahead of time. Members of any group should know what they are coming to do!

If the agenda is your road map, than make sure it has all of the stops listed on it, without too many unnecessary side trips. Let everyone know what’s going to be discussed; don’t keep it a secret!

PHASE 2: SETTING UP THE MEETING

START AND END ON TIME

It’s disrespectful to abuse members’ time and about the biggest turn-off there is! If you must start late because only three people are in the room when you’re supposed to start, at least apologize! Better yet, get into the habit of starting on time EVEN if there are only three people in the room. Word will get around and eventually, people will come on time or won’t come at all. If people keep showing up late, or not showing up at all, this may be a hint to change your meeting time, or your meeting pattern, or both.

SIGN THEM IN

Sign-in sheets do more than tell you who came. They also help update your membership list and give you names for phone trees. Be sure to include name, organization, address, and phone number!

DO YOUR BEST TO MAKE EVERYONE COMFORTABLE

Meeting spaces should be comfortable and convenient. The room should be centrally located, and the right size for the size of your group. Get there early to set up and try to use a space where you can make a circle, not sit in rows like an auditorium. If the meeting space is hard to get to for seniors or others, try to arrange transportation or perhaps a volunteer “escort” service (a great teen/senior project!).

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY IS NO GOOD!

Have informal time before and after the meeting for people to talk and socialize. That’s a big reason people joined your group in the first place, and it’s where you can recruit volunteers. Remember, sometimes “the meeting after the meeting” is where people get attached to the group–and also get their best ideas to bring to the next meeting!

A REGULAR CYCLE

If you have a regular meeting cycle, people will start to save the date (e.g. the first Monday of the month); but don’t have a meeting just to meet! Always have a clear goal or don’t have the meeting.

PHASE 3: RUNNING THE MEETING

Being a meeting chairperson is more than one task; it’s many jobs in one. If you take it from the top, your job as a chairperson means it is up to you to:

DO INTRODUCTIONS

That includes getting everyone to introduce themselves, as well as introducing yourself and your role. When there’s a special speaker, his or her introduction is your job too.

Don’t forget how good icebreakers can be to loosen everyone up! An icebreaker is something short at the beginning of the meeting to help people get to know each other or dig out some important piece of information in a fun or interesting way. For example, your group could do a “Scavenger Hunt” where people “scavenge” information about each other.

GET AGREEMENT ON AGENDA AND RULES

Remember, it’s everyone’s meeting, so everyone needs to “buy in” to the agenda. You can ask for feedback on the agenda before you begin. Rules like no interrupting, etc. can also be helpful if you have some potential “disrupters” in the house.

KEEP THE DISCUSSION ON TRACK

If someone’s going off the agenda or is speaking too long, pull ’em back in! Be gentle but firm: people respect a meeting that’s run well and remember all too clearly the meetings where someone was allowed to go on and on and on.

WATCH THE TIME!

Remember about starting and ending! Honor agenda time limits. If the group seems to want to go beyond the agreed upon time on an issue, ask for agreement from all members. A statement such as, “We’ve already used our allotted time for this issue. Would everyone like to continue on the topic for another ten minutes, or shall we go on to the next item on the agenda?” can be a good way to take the group’s pulse on the matter.

SUMMARIZE WHAT YOU HEAR

Wrap-up each agenda item by summarizing any conclusions out loud. Then move on when no one objects or everyone agrees.

ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION

If a usually quiet person speaks, show your appreciation. Try to draw everyone in and not just let the usual suspects speak!

USE THE POWER OF YOUR POSITION WISELY

Watch what you say and how and how much you say it! Don’t take sides, and be fair to everyone.

DEVELOP NEW LEADERS BY HANDING OVER THE GAVEL

Try rotating chairing responsibility. The only way others will learn is by watching you and then doing.

Some tips for managing people in the meeting:

PHASE 4: FOLLOWING UP ON THE MEETING

Just because the meeting is over, it doesn’t mean your work is done! In order for you to successfully follow up after the meeting, you will need to:

GATHER FEEDBACK FROM THE GROUP

You will want to gather information about how the participants felt about the meeting, what could be improved, etc. You may not want to do this at every meeting, but at least once in a while; making sure that people have clear assignments, setting or reaffirming the date for the next meeting, and maximizing opportunities for people to stay around and talk after the meeting (which is very important).

MAKE FOLLOW-UP CALLS

The Chair or a designated person may want to make follow-up calls, send out follow -up correspondence, and/or take some follow-up actions. These after-the-meeting activities often serve as the glue that hold the group together.

SUMMARIZE THE MEETING

It’s helpful to have a list of the decisions made, with follow-ups. Formal minutes are valuable for many (not all) organizations–they contain announcements, informational items, etc., that are important to report even though they are not “decisions. “

Writing up minutes can be boring, and so can reading them. But that’s part of the job the secretary took on.

Some alternatives can include:

TIPS ON HANDLING DIFFICULT MEMBERS

INTERVENTIONS

Interventions are techniques to use when you are confronted with disruption or problems during the meetings. They can be used separately, but are usually more effective when used in combination. Interventions attempt to be low on the confrontation scale but still are effective in getting disrupters under control.

PREVENTIONS

Preventions are techniques that can help you avoid disruption from the start. If you use these “preventions” from the start of your meetings, you should keep disruption away.

You cannot be a participant and the chair of the meeting at the same time. When you blur the lines, you risk alienating participants, causing resentment, and losing control of the meeting. Offer strategies, resources, and ideas--but not direct opinions.
Remember: "Chairperson" doesn't mean "participant." If you are passionate about an issue on the agenda and want to speak, make an arrangement BEFORE the meeting for someone else to chair that section.

IN SUMMARY

Now you have the keys to planning and getting through effective meetings in your organization. A good meeting that is well prepared, focused and conducted efficiently can make yours a quality organization, while one that is poorly planned or run will cause a lot of difficulties for your group.

Contributor

Gillian Kaye

Online Resources

Inclusive Facilitation for Social Change from FSG provides assistance in facilitating inclusive meetings to create effective and empowering experiences for everyone involved.

Making Meetings Work from the Collective Impact Forum is a blog post from Paul Schmitz discussing lessons we can apply to ensure that meetings are purposeful, engaging, and advance our work in ways that people anticipate with enthusiasm instead of dread.

On the Art of (Re)Gathering from the Collective Impact Forum is a blog post from Deb Halliday about what it means to gather in our post-pandemic world.

Print Resources

Bobo, K., Kendall, J., & Max, S. (1991). Organizing for social change: A manual for activists in the 1990s. Minneapolis, MN: Midwest Academy.

Daniels, W. (1993). Orchestrating Powerful Regular Meetings: A Manager’s Complete Guide. San Diego, CA: Pfeiffer & Co.

Human Resources. (No date). Meetings that matter. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas.

Milo, F. (1989). How to run a successful meeting in half the time. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Paine, A., Balcazar, Y., & Fawcett, S. (1990). Self help leaders handbook: Leading effective meetings. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, Research and Training Center on Independent Living.

Thomsett, M. (1989). The little black book of business meetings. New York, NY: AMACOM, American Management Association.

Original document, Conducting Effective Meetings
Source:https: Community Tool Box
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

How to Empower Customers to Tell Your Company’s Story

Their “experience with your product carries more weight than any marketing message you can come up with.”

One of the most powerful sales tools that companies have are the stories people tell about their products and services. A good story can captivate potential customers and compel them to engage with their brand.

“A customer’s experience with your product carries more weight than any marketing message you can come up with,” says Esther Choy, president and chief story facilitator of Leadership Story Lab in Chicago and author of Let the Story Do the Work: The Art of Storytelling for Business Success.

But a lot of companies have a hard time convincing customers to share stories beyond a standard testimonial or review, Choy says. Furthermore, those testimonials may be of limited use for companies looking to learn how the product helped users overcome challenges—which is a key role that customer stories can play.

It takes a concerted effort to engage customers, gather that content, and deliver it effectively to other potential customers. Choy describes four things companies can do to curate those stories and deploy them for maximum effect.

Make Story Sourcing an Everyday Responsibility Across Your Company

Just as companies build social media departments around sharing their brand messaging, it is crucial that they also invest time and infrastructure to collect customer stories. The best way to do this is to design story sourcing into employees’ roles and responsibilities‚ such as tasking some employees with collecting, editing, and posting stories, as well as tracking how well they perform across media platforms.

“Make sure it’s baked into people’s jobs to collect stories,” she says. “Not just, ‘Oh, that’s a great idea.’ Because if nobody’s appointed to do it, it is unlikely to happen.”

Remember, the goal of these stories is to promote the company’s brand by associating it with positive, powerful narratives from the outside. Those outside voices provide an authenticity and trust lacking in testimonials and highly polished stories produced by the companies themselves. “What other customers say carries a lot of influence because I perceive them as my peers,” says Choy.

Capturing those outside perspectives can also help stimulate sales. On a recent flight, Choy sat next to an executive from a company that manufactures high-end sewing machines. The executive complained about how competition from cheaper, inferior products was endangering the company’s growth. The executive was having a hard time envisioning why customers would want to pay more for their high-end product. Choy saw the problem right away.

“I realized they had to go beyond the product,” Choy says. “They didn’t have anything that conveyed customer experience. With a story, you’re not just listening to why the company is the best, but why people deserve nothing but the best. And that message gets associated with your brand.”

Know What You Want to Capture

Encouraging customers to share their stories is one thing. Getting them to sit down and start typing can be more challenging.

“Oftentimes, there’s inertia,” says Choy. “There’s a lot of people happy with a product or service, but no news is good news, right? If you don’t hear from the customer, you’re doing a good job. But companies should source stories from customers because that is how they can defend and grow their market share.”

So the first step to gathering stories that dig deeper than product reviews is reducing that inertia. The goal for the company is to generate customer stories with three structural elements. Choy calls these “IRS”: an intriguing beginning or hook, a riveting middle, and a satisfying end.

“There’s a structural process to telling good stories, so design a structure for how you want your customer story to be put together and then make it easy for them.”

“There’s a structural process to telling good stories, so design a structure for how you want your customer story to be put together and then make it easy for them,” Choy says.

To do this, Choy recommends building a template of fill-in-the-blank prompts that customers can easily follow—and which will elicit particular types of stories—instead of just presenting them with an open text box. For example, In-Shape, a California-based health club group, asks three questions to help members develop their stories: “What was your goal?” “How did you get there?” and “How do you feel today?” Typical responses to these questions generally correspond to the beginning, middle, and end of stories. In another example, Conformis, a maker of knee replacements, asks its customers: “Is there something you can do with your Conformis knee that you weren’t able to before?” This prompt invites customers to use a before-and-after structure.

Provide Examples

Even customers who have great stories may not be the strongest writers, so providing examples they can study—and borrow from—can help solicit stellar stories.

“T.S. Eliot once wrote, ‘good writers borrow, great writers steal,’” Choy says. “That’s good advice.”

So companies should offer up samples of what they are hoping to solicit.

“You need to have a certain idea of what you’re looking for,” Choy says, “so that your customers know what you mean by ‘story.’”

Those samples should emulate what you’re looking for in terms of tone, length, and subject matter. So if you are interested in capturing irreverent stories of how customers used your product in unusual ways, or heroic tales of how they came to you in a crisis and you were able to help them succeed, have those kinds of examples to share with them.

For example, Vionic Shoes asks customers to share their “sole story” on its website. On the entry-form page, customers can read examples from others.

Reward Your Storytellers

Soliciting stories from your customers is essentially asking them to deepen their relationship to your brand. So, it only makes sense that they should walk away from that experience with some sort of instant gratification. After all, they took the time to tell their story. A little gratitude is not too much to ask for.

One option is to use lucrative rewards for storytellers. For example, at Vionic Shoes, every customer who submits a “sole story” receives 30 “Sole Circle Rewards” points, with an option to get more points by submitting a photo. At Absolute Steel, customers who submit stories that the company uses receive a $50 check in the mail.

But small rewards work, too, Choy says. Simply allowing customers to preview their stories prior to publication could be enough.

“If you let them take a look, they may go ‘wow, this is what it looks like on the website,’” she says. “You should have some sort of immediate feedback, some immediate gratification for having gone through the process of telling your story.

Original document, How to Empower Customers to Tell Your Company’s Story
Source:https: KelloggInsight
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

The Power of Storytelling

Salespeople constantly seek ways to communicate persuasively. Storytelling is a type of communication that you and I use every day. It is so common you may not even think about it when telling or hearing a story. Stories are such an important part of the fabric of human communications that failing to use them effectively in sales can be a serious handicap. That’s because stories are not only an enjoyable form of communication but they are also highly credible.

In this research we examined how storytelling can affect sales encounters. After discussions with buyers and sellers we developed a framework of storytelling made up of six different types of stories. We hypothesized that these story types would have different effects on attitudes toward salespeople and attitudes toward products and that this would in turn affect purchase intentions. We then conducted experiments to test these hypotheses. In this article we first discuss what it is about stories that make them so unique as a form of communication. We then outline the framework of storytelling and discuss how the results of our experiments may impact the sales context for real estate.

What are Stories?

We first must agree on a definition for story. While some people may define this concept differently, it is important to have a concrete definition for research purposes. We used the definition: a story is a discourse dealing with interrelated actions and consequences in chronological order (Bruner 1986). It is linear ordering which gives stories much of their power as we infer causality. We found that unlike most management stories, sales stories are typically short and customized for the occasion. A sales story could be as simple as, “A few years ago our electronics were susceptible to damage by shock, but we teamed up with a manufacturer of military electronics to create our latest model. Now we have the toughest electronics in the business.” You can easily follow the beginning-middle-end causality of this brief story and see how it lends credibility to the claim by telling exactly why the end result occurred.

Psychologists attribute great significance to stories. Development of ideas about who we are, who others are, how the environment around us works, and our role in that environment are often learned and retained in the form of stories or narratives. This is in part due to the critical role stories play in memory with some psychologists going so far as to say that memories are stories (Schank 1990). Think of a young child you know and consider whether this individual can understand and tell a story. From the time most humans are three years old they use story grammar to understand and learn vicariously from others about the world around them. Humans use the gist distilled from these stories to form frameworks of how the world around them works.

Stories also gain credibility from the mental processes we use to understand them. Arguments or lists of facts are processed logically so that one questionable fact casts doubt on the entire conclusion. Stories, on the other hand, are narratively processed (Gerrig 1993, 1994). Our minds distill the most important facts from the story, discard incongruent aspects, and form the most plausible gist for use in retention. Stories thus allow us to interpret and cope with the messy and confusing world around us in a way that arguments cannot (Adaval and Wyer 1998).

How Might Stories Differ?

Our research required a classification framework for the different types of stories used in sales. In interviews and observations of buyers and sellers several important aspects of stories came to the fore. Salespeople were observed to use three main topic areas: stories about the entity, i.e. the salesperson or the firm; stories about the product or service; and digressions, i.e. stories about non-sales topics. These topics became one aspect of the framework

It was also noted during the research that while salespeople believed the personal part of the relationship was critically important, buyers often felt that the business part of the relationship was central to the exchange. From the humanities we know that besides topic, point of view is an important aspect of storytelling. Thus, the other part of the storytelling framework was based on whether the story was told from a personal or business point of view. This table shows the framework where each cell represents one of six story types:

Storytelling Framework Organized by Topic and Point-of-View

*click image to enlarge/shrink*

What Did We Test?

We used this framework to develop hypotheses about the effects these story types might have on attitudes and purchase intentions. One example of such a hypothesis is:

Personal stories that make a disclosure about the salesperson will have a greater positive effect on the consumer’s attitude-toward- the-salesperson than business stories that make a disclosure about the firm.

We also hypothesized that the degree of desire for a relationship with the salesperson would moderate these effects, i.e. a high-relationship orientation on the part of the customer would cause a preference for personal stories while low-relationship orientation would prompt a person to value business stories. Finally, we hypothesized that improved attitude-toward-the-salesperson and attitude-toward-the-product would increase customers’ purchase intentions.

How Did We Test Our Hypotheses?

There were 427 upperclassmen students who participated in the experiment, which took place at a major university in the south-central United States. Short videos of a sales pitch for a cell phone were made using an actor and film studio. The videos were identical except the story embedded in each pitch reflected one of the six story types. The videos were used as the manipulation in carefully controlled experiments. Students were randomly assigned to view one of the six videos. Then they answered questions about their attitude-toward-the-salesperson, attitude-toward-the-cell-phone, and their purchase intentions. A variety of statistical procedures were used to analyze the students’ answers (e.g., multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), regression analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis).

What Did We Learn?

Though the personal versus business stories differed only in the use of first-person versus third-person pronouns, sensitive analytical techniques revealed that personal stories did have a greater effect on attitude-toward-the-salesperson than they did on attitude-toward-the-product. Conversely, business stories had a greater effect on attitude-toward-the-product than on attitude-toward-the-salesperson. The relationship-orientation of the customer did not seem to impact (or moderate) these effects.

A further study was undertaken to analyze the effect of story topic. Remember that the three topics were entity, product, or digressions. The results indicated that stories about the entity had a greater effect on attitude-toward-the-salesperson than attitude-toward-the-product. Conversely, stories on the product topic had a greater impact on attitude-toward-the-product than attitude-toward-the-salesperson. In general, digression stories had the least impact on attitudes. So, for these one-time sales pitches for a high involvement consumer good, product stories were the most effective followed by entity stories with digression stories proving least useful.

As far as attitudes’ effect on purchase intentions, in these one-shot sales encounters attitude-toward-the-product was a more important determinant than attitude-toward-the-salesperson. Clearly, stories on the product topic were preferable. It is important to note that since stories from a business point of view affect attitude-toward-the-product more strongly, they are also to be preferred in this setting.

Conclusion

Humans find plausible stories very persuasive and credible largely due to their revelation of causality and narrative-based processing. Our proposed framework for storytelling outlines a simple way to classify sales stories. After testing the effects of the different story types in a sales setting, we consider how the findings may be useful in a real estate sales setting.

Stories will have an effect on your clients’ attitudes which will in turn have an effect on their purchase process and outcomes. While our experiments represent a single sales encounter and multi-encounter sales settings may be somewhat different, it is quite reasonable to expect these fundamental findings to hold true through the sales process.

Stories about the real estate being considered and stories about real estate in general have a greater impact on attitude-toward-real-estate and on purchase intentions in the process. Keep in mind that all story types impacted all attitudes and purchase intentions, but the effects were greater on particular attitudes. Sales efforts like real estate that require multiple encounters might exhibit an increased importance of attitude-toward-the-agent or salesperson. Even if other types of stories surpassed real estate stories, the findings indicate strongly that these types of stories would continue to be very useful.

Stories about you and your agency appear to impact attitudes toward you (as the salesperson). This effect might be relatively more powerful in multi-encounter sales situations.

Finally, digressions (or unrelated stories) did impact attitudes and intentions but in this one-shot encounter they were significantly less effective than other types of stories. How this might change in a multi-encounter setting remains an open question but it seems likely that they can be part of an effective storytelling toolkit. We have summarized these results in this table:

In characterizing the overall findings we may say that product topic and business point-of-view stories proved to be effective sales tools and should be a commonly used part of any salesperson’s repertoire. Entity topic and personal point-of-view stories should also prove effective, and this may be even more true in multi-encounter sales. Until more is known it may be best to rely less on stories that are digressions from the transaction at hand, though there is no reason to avoid them entirely in multi-encounter sales efforts.

Storytelling Results for a High-Involvement Consumer Good Based on a One-Time Sales Encounter

*click image to enlarge/shrink*

References

Adaval, R. & R.S. Wyer, Jr. (1998), “The Role of Narratives in Consumer Information Processing,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 7, 207-45.

Bruner, J. (1986), Actual Minds, Possible Worlds, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Gerrig, R. J. (1993), Experiencing Narrative Worlds, New Haven: Yale University Press.

Gerrig, R. J. (1994), “Narrative Thought?” Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 712-15.

Schank, R. C. (1990), Tell Me a Story, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

About the Authors

David A. Gilliam, PhD
Assistant Professor of Marketing and Assistant Director of the Center for Professional Selling, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

David A. Gilliam is Assistant Professor of Marketing and Assistant Director of the Center for Professional Selling at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. David received a Ph.D. from the Spears School of Business, Oklahoma State University (2011) and holds an M.B.A. from Wright State University and a B.A. (Economics) summa cum laude from Ohio University. Prior to graduate school, he spent four years as a field representative for Heidelberg Eastern Incorporated, Division of East Asiatic Corporation, Copenhagen, Denmark, and most recently seventeen years in an Ohio based entrepreneurial venture in the graphic arts machinery industry. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, International Review of Retail Distribution and Consumer Research, Industrial Marketing Management, and a number of conference proceedings. His research focuses on boundary spanner issues for salespeople and service workers, especially those regarding communication and relationships. He has taught MBA core and electives, sales management, professional selling, strategy, services, retailing, principles, and consumer behavior. He is a member of the American Marketing Association.

Alex R. Zablah, PhD
Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Alex R. Zablah obtained his Ph.D. in Business Administration from Georgia State University. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research examines issues of practical importance at the customer-employee interface in both sales and service contexts. He has complementary research interests in the area of multilevel theory and methods. His research has been published in leading journals across business disciplines, including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Information Systems Research, as well as in other marketing management and specialty area journals. Alex has taught a variety of courses at the undergraduate, MBA, Executive MBA and doctoral level, both in person and using distance technologies. Alex has received multiple awards in recognition of his research and teaching efforts.

Original document, The Power of Storytelling
Source:https: Baylor University
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

Eight Marketing Strategies Every Startup Or Small Business Can Afford

Roshni is the CMO of Foxquilt Insurance and Founder of Prosh Marketing, specializing in Go-To-Market strategies for technology startups.

As the founder of a marketing company that helps startups and small businesses, people often ask me, “How can we effectively market and scale with a tight budget?” It can be challenging to decide where to invest your time and limited resources in marketing. Should you invest in the top of the funnel or the bottom?

In my experience, a full-funnel approach is usually the most sustainable over time. That said, certain strategies are just out of reach and do not make sense for smaller companies — like, for example, TV advertising. Here are eight tried-and-tested marketing strategies I recommend every startup or small business consider:

1. Earned Media/PR

The value of a credible third party touting your praises cannot be underestimated. Not only do press articles and earned media gain you trust, but you can also benefit from a wider distribution by leveraging their existing audiences. Influencers and bloggers can fall into this category and can share your company with their followers, which gains you an endorsement with potentially exponential reach. Stunts can also be a creative (and low-cost, if done right) way to garner media attention or that of your target market.

2. Content Marketing

Creating content that’s relevant and interesting to your target audience can help you generate new leads by capturing their interest and building trust. It can also help increase your close ratio by building your brand, answering customer questions and providing reasons why prospects should choose you. From articles to infographics to eBooks and even videos, you should showcase your expertise, differentiation and brand values to attract potential customers and help those who are already considering you to make that purchase decision. Great content also often gets featured and backlinked, so you can increase your domain authority by placing it on your website.

3. Partner Marketing

4. Social Media

Having your own social channels not only allows you to control your message and share updates freely, but also allows you to build a community around your brand, company and product. As a free channel to activate, social media can be a great place to build user-generated content, get feedback or even address customer service concerns. Many customers also look to social channels to see if they can trust the brand or company or to check out their reviews, so maintaining a presence can actually help conversion rates.

5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Most people search for information online, and organic search can account for the majority of a website’s traffic. This makes optimizing your website for SEO extremely important. Through strategic SEO, you can introduce yourself to leads with a high need state or purchase intent, which can make this kind of business easier to close. Furthermore, if a customer searches for help with a problem and your website comes up, this helps position you as a credible, trustworthy source to help them.

6. Email Marketing

If you’ve built your email list right, you’ve gathered a group of people who have expressed some interest in your company or product. By segmenting this group based on different characteristics and then emailing them with the right content and offers at the right time in their customer journey, you can influence a purchase decision successfully with no added impact to your marketing budget.

7. Affiliate Programs

Affiliates are a cost-effective way to build sales without adding large fixed marketing costs like advertising. Because they have skin in the game, affiliates are properly incentivized to promote your products or services and are only rewarded if they are successful. These affiliates can take the form of influencers, content publishers and review or coupon sites, and you can structure the partnerships to pay out based on clicks, leads or sales.

8. Referral Marketing

Tapping into the goodwill of happy, existing customers is one of the fastest, easiest and most cost-effective ways to grow. Mobilize your customers to spread the word about your products or services by reminding them to share their experiences and incentivizing them to bring new business to you. You’ll likely get highly qualified leads at a lower overall cost of acquisition than if you had to find them on your own.

Even with a modest budget, there are many options available to you to create a solid marketing plan as a startup or small business. By employing a number of different affordable strategies that address the entire marketing funnel, from awareness through conversion and advocacy, you can strategically, creatively and tactfully garner customers and build revenues to eventually reinvest in your marketing efforts and speed up your growth.

Original document, Eight Marketing Strategies Every Startup Or Small Business Can Afford
Source:https: Forbes
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

BAUER COLLEGE CENTERS & SPECIALTY PROGRAMS CONNECT ACADEMIA TO INDUSTRY

By Julie Bonnin

Bauer College has more than a dozen faculty-led centers, institutes and specialty programs that prepare students through experiential learning while serving as a resource for business. The convergence sparks forward momentum for both, expanding Bauer’s sphere of influence while encouraging connectivity.

Here, we profile several such centers and programs, highlighting Bauer research that is driving forward industry innovation.

AIM CENTER FOR INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Students have access to live financial data in a fully functioning trading laboratory at AIM, a priceless immersive experience that distinguishes Bauer graduates when they enter the professional world full time.

“Finance is about data and ideas,” said Tom George, finance professor, senior associate dean and director of AIM. “The AIM Center gives students and faculty access to state of the art financial and economic data, and it is a place where they can share ideas about how to analyze investment and portfolio strategies. Most top universities have a facility like this because digging into the data and analyzing real questions is how best to learn financial analysis.”

This year, AIM added 10 Bloomberg machines, which enables the finance department to add a course in Quantitative Portfolio Management. The AIM Center is home to the Cougar Investment Fund.

DECISION SCIENCES INSTITUTE

Extensive professional development opportunities are offered through this wide-reaching organization, now housed within Bauer College.

In the past five years, Bauer faculty have served as DSI president (twice), executive director, associate editors of the institute’s academic journal Decision Sciences, national committee chairs, session chairs, and research presenters.

Through attendance at the DSI Annual Doctoral Consortium, Ph.D. students receive valuable career training and professional networking opportunities with leading researchers and educators in the field.

“DSI’s location within Bauer College provides international visibility and recognition for Bauer’s commitment to scholarly excellence and leadership in the decision science disciplines,” Professor Powell Robinson said.

STANFORD ALEXANDER CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN REAL ESTATE

Houston real estate professionals created and lead this practice-based program designed to offer students practical real estate knowledge through classes, mentorships, internships, scholarships and more.

Undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to collaborate with industry veterans as they navigate areas of real estate ranging from development and construction to finance and investment.

With endowment support from the Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation, the Stanford Alexander Center for Excellence in Real Estate complements the academic curriculum of the Bauer College Real Estate Program through partnerships with professional real estate organizations and an Innovative Practice Award Program that brings together graduate students and real estate professionals to produce a report for an annual symposium.

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DIVERSITY & CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

Executive Director George Gamble and Director Craig Clayton share research-driven knowledge about the impact of cultural factors on an organization.

Hands-on workshops provide an experiential forum for working through roadblocks based on ethnic, racial, or gender-based differences, (as well as others) that keep organizations and individuals from reaching their potential. IDCCM also provides services for businesses and other groups looking to expand marketplace diversity or wanting to conduct specialized research.

INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH CARE MARKETING

The institute focuses on research that leverages the scholarship in marketing and decision-making to help generate insights on ways to maximize the health and wellness of the consumers/patients while maintaining the economic vitality in the health care industry.

Professor Partha Krishnamurthy, the Conn Appliances Fellow of Marketing, serves as the director of the institute. He notes that the faculty associated with the institute work and publish on a wide range of health-related topics including cancer screening, pain management, coping strategies for cancer survivorship, detection and reduction of HIV/STI, and understanding engagement with psychotherapy. The faculty of the institute have expertise in strategic and behavioral science aspects of health care consumption and delivery. In addition, they have experience in generating insights from statistical analysis of large health-related data sets including Epic®, one of the most widely used electronic health records platform.

INSTITUTE FOR REGIONAL FORECASTING

Led by noted economist Robert W. “Bill” Gilmer, Bauer’s Institute for Regional Forecasting (IRF) isn’t necessarily a Houston “think tank” — rather, it’s Houston’s “do tank,” says Bauer College Dean Latha Ramchand.

Gilmer is the leading economist in Houston and the Gulf Coast when it comes to analyzing and interpreting regional business cycles that influence everything from real estate prices to employment demand in a variety of sectors. Under his leadership, IRF produces sought after economic forecasts.

Twice-yearly economic symposiums are attended by several hundred listeners representing businesses and municipalities from across the Houston area. Typically sell-out events, the luncheon and slide shows have maintained their reputation as an essential source of business intelligence for three decades. IRF also produces targeted forecasts for the public and private sector.

STEPHEN STAGNER SALES EXCELLENCE INSTITUTE

SEI sets the standard for sales research and education, with faculty who are the most widely published authors in the discipline, contributing 45 percent of all Tier 1 published sales research in the last 10 years.

Bauer serves as a model for other universities wanting to build a sales program, and SEI is instrumental in developing future sales leaders.

A recent endowment from Mattress Firm’s Executive Chairman Stephen Stagner will contribute to scholarships and funding for technology for a new class in digital selling. Another endowment, from Industrial Air Tool former president Andy Gessner and wife Barbara, will allow students to compete in additional sales competitions across the country. The couple is also funding awards for students who are the top sellers in their respective sales classes and trips to corporate headquarters for key account selling students. SEI hosts or is involved with The National Collegiate Sales Competition, State Farm Competition, and internal sales competitions for individual companies, which result in potential scholarships.

Executive Education further enhances SEI’s impact within the community, which provides specialized training opportunities for client companies and their sales teams. SEI is committed to collaboration that helps build value in many business sectors, said executive director Randy Webb: “Our mission is to make a difference in the world of ideas, in the lives of our students, and in our college, university, and communities.”

GUTIERREZ ENERGY MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

The institute is a leading venue for education and research related to the energy industry. Designed to both support and build upon on the deep energy knowledge base in Houston, GEMI is an active and dynamic conduit between industry and academia.

Students from certificate programs, as well as the undergraduate program (Global Energy Management) and specialized MBA (Global Energy Executive MBA) programs benefit from industry round-tables and symposia, and engage with faculty leaders with deep ties to the energy industry.

In 2016, Bauer’s energy management institute received a naming gift from energy executive Joe Gutierrez, a 2014 alumnus of the Bauer Executive MBA program. The gift has bolstered GEMI offerings by funding research initiatives and program support.

INSTITUTE FOR REGIONAL FORECASTING

UH SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER

Aspiring and existing entrepreneurs get the tools they need to carry out their dreams at SBDC, which is an off-campus Bauer College program.

SBDC delivers its value via affordable workshops and no-cost advising services designed to meet specific needs – from developing a business plan, to applying for disaster aid, to developing a marketing strategy or reaching out to international markets.

The UH Bauer College SBDC is one of the 15 business advising and training centers that make up the Texas Gulf Coast SBDC Network, which serves 32 counties in Southeast Texas.

The center’s new executive director, Dr. Steven Lawrence, says expanded small business growth in the fields of health care and technology, and the business development opportunities provided by the UH Innovation Center are among the areas he plans to target. Lawrence also plans to look for new ways to utilize Bauer students and other resources the college offers.

WOLFF CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Business creation empowers students at the Wolff Center — from students across campus who enroll with big ideas, to undergraduate majors who receive extensive mentoring while following a lockstep curriculum and graduate students charged with managing an early stage venture fund.

The center also serves students involved with technology startups through its RED Labs program and supports social entrepreneurship programs such as SURE™, Stimulating Urban Renewal Through Entrepreneurship, and the Prison Entrepreneurship Program.

In 2007, longtime Houston philanthropists Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff announced a naming gift for the center that has since become nationally ranked by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur, landing on the top 10 list of undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the United States for the last decade.

“We want to encourage, empower, and give students the tools and networks that enable them to create successful businesses,” said Ed Blair, Michael J. Cemo professor and department chair for the marketing and entrepreneurship department. “We also want to make a difference in our communities. If nothing else, the students who go on to start businesses will be employers, not employees. Roughly 70 percent of new job creation in the U.S. comes from entrepreneurial businesses, and we want our students and alumni to be part of that story.”

SUPPLY CHAIN FORUM

STIMULATING URBAN RENEWAL THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP: SURE™ PROGRAM

The SURE™ Program creates a three-way partnership between students, business thought leaders and current or aspiring entrepreneurs from under-resourced communities in the Houston area.

The program gives University of Houston students, including Bauer MBAs, the opportunity to hone soft skills by managing projects, developing client relationships, and learning to manage and motivate others. The students provide business consulting to entrepreneurs in the program, sharing what they’ve learned in the classroom, and participate in a weekly symposium class, learning from and networking with subject matter experts.

Founding Director Saleha Khumawala, the Robert Grinaker Professor of Accounting, envisioned the program as a unique opportunity for students to gain marketplace skills while simultaneously stimulating economic growth in underserved communities. SURE™ partners with large corporations and individuals and has been instrumental in the education of more than 500 local entrepreneurs and the creation of nearly 100 local businesses.

Original document, SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
Source:https: INSIDE BAUER MAGAZINE
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

Line of Authority

Marketing dictionary

The chain of command within an organization that confers the power to order subordinates to perform a task within their job description. The line of authority within a business establishes who is in charge of giving who orders, and it contributes to the efficient attainment of the company’s objectives when property is used.

Original document, Line of Authority
Source:https: Monash University
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising

Launching a Startup? Avoid These 3 Common Legal Mistakes

More than 25 million Americans started or ran new businesses in 2016.

Among those millions: plenty of first-time founders navigating a brand-new startup landscape.

In the excitement of finally launching a venture, legal questions and concerns may be at the back of a founder’s mind. But, they shouldn’t be, says Jack Steele, a lawyer at Pierce Atwood LLP who frequently works with new businesses. To avoid battles down the road—and make seeking funding, or eventually selling the company easier—legal issues should be top of mind from the start.

In a session with student founders through Babson College’s Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, Steele shared a list of some of the most common legal mistakes—and how to avoid them. He was joined by Joanna Geisinger, founder and CEO of TORq Interface, who shared her experience navigating legal waters with her ventures.

While the advice outlined below is a good jumping off point, don’t overlook the importance of seeking counsel from an experienced startup law expert early in the process.

Failing to Iron Out Equity Agreements

So, you founded a business with your friends. Great! Before you rush to get it up and running, ask yourself: How will you divide equity? What happens if one of your co-founders leaves after one year?

These are important questions to iron out at the beginning; when they’re left unanswered, startups find themselves in trouble. “If there are four co-founders, there is a very small chance all of them will be together after two or three years,” said Steele. “This is an issue with any new startup, but we see it a lot with students.”

Have the equity conversation from the start to determine how it will be divided among the founding team. These conversations might be awkward—especially if you ultimately don’t divide equity equally—but they’re important. And, the conversation shouldn’t end there.

“Let’s say four co-founders agree on 25 percent equity, then one leaves,” advised Steele. “Some ask how they can take that equity back. Basically, they can’t, unless they did something about it at the beginning.”

Here’s where vesting comes in. Under a standard, four-year vesting schedule with a one-year cliff, founders vest their shares during the four-year period. The cliff means founders won’t be vested any equity until they’ve been at the company for one year.

Though she has no co-founders, Geisinger utilizes the four-year vesting schedule for her company, and maintains the majority share in TORq. “I’m grateful that I have control over the company, and the ability to make decisions.”

Sacrificing Decision-Making Power in Exchange Capital

Speaking of decisions, here’s some food for thought: Does your capital come with strings?

It’s common for new ventures to seek outside funding, but not all money is created equal. Steele advises founders to consider the source, and think through the implications associated with where the money is coming from.

For example: Taking money from a strategic business partner may seem like a wise choice, but there may be expectations associated with that capital. “We’ve seen situations where the string is exclusivity, or a right of first refusal on a sale,” said Steele. “This can make it difficult to move expand your market, or eventually sell the company.”

Geisinger recommends making relationships with these strategic partners early on, but waiting until your venture is more established to seek their funding—a policy she has maintained when leading her business. “At the end of the day, I want to have a say in the direction my company goes,” she said. “Until you’re someone big, too, keep the big names out of your company.”

Crowdfunding might not be the way to go, either. Startups accepting crowdfunding might find it difficult to attract venture capital funding later on. Plus, keeping track of (and keeping happy) the high number of investors who typically participate in crowdfunded campaigns is a lot for a new business to manage.

Not Protecting Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is the ownership of ideas. Per Entrepreneur, “Unlike tangible assets to your business such as computers or your office, intellectual property is a collection of ideas and concepts.”

Protecting your IP can make your business more attractive to future investors, and prevent competitors from stealing your idea. Your business is built on your idea—but do you own it? When working with a tech firm while simultaneously developing TORq Interface, Geisinger made sure her contract explicitly stated she owned her IP.

The waters get muddy if you’ve worked on the idea while employed elsewhere. If you’ve signed a Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement (CIAA), any work you’ve done or ideas you’ve developed as an employee related to the business of your employer are fully owned by your employer. The takeaway: don’t develop your idea on company time.

Consider having your employees sign CIAAs, too, so they don’t own the ideas they develop while under your employment. Consultants and contractors should sign IP agreements, too. And, don’t overlook filing for IP protection—a patent, copyright, trademark, etc.

Original document, Launching a Startup? Avoid These 3 Common Legal Mistakes
Source:https: Babson
Adapted for Academy.Warriorrising