Seinfeld On Marketing? Hmmmmm.
Consider Bill Gammell’s e-book worthwhile and fun reading!
Popularity: 10% [?]
How to Differentiate Your Business
By Kevin B. Levi
Rules of Business Positioning
1. Differentiation is a business imperative today, not only in terms of a company’s success, but also for its continuing survival.
2. Truly understanding how and why you and your business are better than the competitions’ is essential to true business success.
3. Succinctly and effectively communicating your value proposition to customers and substantiating your claims will drive your business. Read more
Popularity: 18% [?]
NRA Responds To Restaurant Depreciation Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Restaurant Association has praised the introduction of a House bill aiming to address the tax code’s unfairness toward restaurants, the association announced.
The bill would make permanent the accelerated depreciation schedule of 15 years for both new building construction and improvements for restaurants in the United States. Representatives Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., and Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, are the lead cosponsors of the bill.
“The nation’s 935,000 restaurant locations will serve over 70 billion meals and have an overall economic impact of more than $1.3 trillion in 2007,” said Peter Kilgore, acting interim president and chief executive officer of the Association. “By allowing restaurateurs to deduct the cost of new construction and renovations on a shorter schedule, this legislation will help restaurateurs to grow their businesses and create more jobs.”
Under current tax laws, owners of most commercial buildings — restaurants included — depreciate the building’s original cost, plus the cost of subsequent building renovations and improvements, over 39 years. Recognizing that some businesses suffer particularly heavy daily wear and tear, Congress has sped up the depreciation schedule for certain businesses, but not for restaurants.
“In order to compete, restaurants need to upgrade their facilities often. It makes no sense to force them to use a 39-year depreciation schedule when they need to improve their property more often to stay in business and serve their customers,” Meek said.
Popularity: 29% [?]
New Franchise Idea:Fewer Rules, More Difference
Some franchises are giving their franchisees the freedom to run their establishments as they see fit — from changing menus to setting prices.
Why? It allows franchises to better compete with local businesses [read independents!] and other franchises that have a more cookie-cutter approach.
Popularity: 26% [?]
Track Performance Every Step of the Way
Most managers only keep a record of things like hours worked, self-presentation, and bottom-line numbers that appear in regular reports. Otherwise, most managers rarely document employee performance unless they are required to do so. This leaves no written track record other than those bottom-line reports that tell so little about the day-to-day actions of each employee. Just imagine a doctor or nurse administering medicine to a patient in the hospital without making a notation in the patient’s chart, a banker cashing a check without charging it against the right account in the bank system, or an insurance adjuster who pays claims but doesn’t record them. All of these suggestions seem absurd. Yet managers interact with employees routinely (giving instructions, evaluating performance) without ever thinking to document those interactions.
If you want to be the manager who is “all over the details,” you need a tracking system: You need to be able to reference an ongoing written record of exactly what expectations, goals, deadlines, and requirements were spelled out. And exactly how each employee’s concrete actions match up with those clear expectations.
Knowledge is power: The more you keep track, the easier it will be to keep track. The greater your reputation for being all over the details, the more people will be likely to share information with you and answer your questions fully and honestly. They also will be more attentive to the details of their work if they have confidence that you will be reviewing the details of their work.
When you keep close track of each employee’s individual performance you make it clear to each employee that she matters and her work matters. That’s also the only way to put yourself in a position to make good decisions and help employees succeed. Keeping track in writing also creates psychological and material accountability. If you need to impose negative consequences or hand out special rewards, you’ll have a written record to support your case.
Monitor, measure, and document performance—good, bad, and average—with every employee, every step of the way.
Popularity: 13% [?]
