*Seven Secrets of Inspiring Leaders: According to a recent Maritz Research poll, only 10% of employees look forward to going to work, most blaming leaders for leaving them uninspired. But all
leaders have the power to motivate and positively influence everyone in their professional lives. These tips from Carmine Gallo tell us how:
1. Show enthusiasm: You can't inspire unless you're passionate and inspired yourself, but real enthusiasm is contagious.
2. Outline a compelling plan: Inspiring leaders deliver a specific, consistent and memorable vision, not a vague or convoluted mission statement. Provide a short, vivid description of your idea of
success.
3. Sell the benefit: At any meeting, listeners are asking what's in it for them. Don't leave them wondering.
4. Tell stories: Memorable stories are a powerful tool that inspiring leaders use to connect with their audiences.
5. Invite participation: Employees want to know that their work is adding up to something meaningful, which is why inspiring leaders bring them into the process by soliciting input and actively
incorporating what they hear.
6. Reinforce a positive outlook: Optimism, like enthusiasm, is infectious. Leaders should speak in optimistic language of a better future.
7. Encourage potential: Praise lifts spirits, motivates employees, and makes people want to work with you.
Source: BusinessWeek.com
*Get Your Priorities Straight: How do you know which brand attributes to emphasize in order to achieve business goals? Steve Mulder and Ziv Yaar of Molecular describe a technique for prioritizing
brand attributes by correlating each attribute to increasing share of wallet with customers. Here's how it works:
1. Survey customers on current brand perceptions: Ask customers to rate how much they agree or disagree with various statement about the company or website, with each statement focusing on a
single brand attribute. Test as many positive and negative brand attributes as possible.
2. Survey customers on share of wallet: Have customers estimate their total spent in your industry, and total spent with your brand, and calculate your share of wallet.
3. Find correlations: Have a statistical analyst run analyses on your data, segmenting respondents based on their share of wallet. Look across the segments to see which brand attributes correspond
more often to share of wallet. Brand statements that loyal customers are likely to agree with may be driving business results, while some off-brand attributes may have important negative
correlations.
Source: iMediaConnection.com
*The World of Web Surveys: These days, dozens of online services offer tools for polling customers, employees and the general public. Here are some ways companies are using these new Web-based
survey tools:
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Assembling quick focus groups: Zoomerang zPro software and Zoomerang Sample let companies design surveys and send them to a portion of Zoomerang's 2.5 million-member online panel. Former
ad exec Patrick Raymond used the service to try out an idea he had for an improved shower curtain rod. He got about 400 responses, paid $5,000, and incorporated the results into his business
plan.
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Monitoring customer satisfaction: Queensboro Shirt, which sells custom-embroidered shirts to small-business buyers, inserts SurveyMonkey's polling software into their order processing system
to measure customers' views of product quality and delivery speed.
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Building a polling network: Greg Deutsch needed research on what kind of pizza crust and sauce people in the southeastern U.S. preferred. He used Vizu, which places one or two question polls
on several of the 700 different sites they deal with, to determine that a substantial percentage of people in the area like their crust thick.
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Hearing employees think: Voivici EFM Feedback helped accounting firm BDO Seidman determine how employees felt about benefits management and more, by creating a Web page for the survey, then
breaking down the data and creating a report for HR department.
Source: Inc.com PRN