In this episode, I’m going to continue in my list of the top 10 mistakes that small businesses make when trying to find new customers. In addition, I’m going to give you a couple of simple solutions to each. Just follow this guide, and customers will actually come to you!

Solve Just a Few Small Business Lead Generation Mistakes, and Increase Sales Quickly.

If you solve just some of these challenges that many small businesses face, you’ll increase your income potential. Your company growth rate will also improve very quickly. The main thing to consider, though, is to become a problem-solver for your customers. If you can identify challenges and offer solutions for these challenges, you will generate a ton of new customers!

Don’t sell. Instead, be a respected consultant for your clients and customers. They will love you and refer you to new business.

Show Notes: Small Business Lead Generation Mistakes (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/top-ten-small-business-lead-generation-mistakes/)

Small Businesses are always looking for new lead generation ideas. But many of the things that entrepreneurs do before they even make their first cold call or before they attend their first business card exchange practically ensure that they actually fail in the Lead Generation department.

In this episode, I’m going to give you my top 10 mistakes that small businesses make when trying to find new customers. In addition, I’m going to give you a couple of simple solutions to each. Just follow this guide, and customers will actually come to you!

The internet is a great equalizer for small businesses. However, you have to make it easy for people who are looking for your products or services to find you on the internet. Search engine optimization (SEO) should be your top priority as a small business owner. You have to make it easy for people to find your website when they search Google. All it takes is a bit of research and learning.

The keywords and phrases you use on your website are vital. When you design your content, you have to focus on what your customer wants. For instance, instead of writing content about being the best endodontist, write about straightening teenage teeth. If you create informative content, Google will send people to your website.

Google picks top websites based on the frequency of people clicking on and staying on certain sites. It’s almost like a beauty pageant judge. Your pages are ranked based on how often they are picked to determine your rank. That rank determines your “findability.”

One of the easiest ways to rank better is by starting to post your knowledge. Share with the world what makes you an expert! Write some blog posts. Spread free knowledge. If it’s worth buying or saves people time, they’ll investigate your company further. The more you share, the more people see you on social media platforms and learn about you. The more they learn, the more they’re likely to become qualified leads and soon-to-be customers. If your content is worthwhile, your customer base will seek out more. Give them a web form to offer their contact information. *DING!* Built-in leads!

Show Notes: 
Top Ten Small Business Lead Generation Mistakes that Entrepreneurs Make (and How to Avoid Them)
(https://www.leadersinstitute.com/top-ten-small-business-lead-generation-mistakes/)

In this episode, we are going to talk about a trending phrase on Tik Tok and a few other social media platforms. The phrase is Quiet Quitting. It is where employees do just the bare minimum to keep from getting fired. We are going to cover the pros and cons from both an employee standpoint and if you are an employer and you are seeing this behavior.

Quiet Quitting: Its Impact on Employees and the Workplace

The newest trend floating around on social media is called “Quiet Quitting.” In this episode, we’ll both explain what this trend means and dig into it from both the employee and leadership viewpoints. It’s important to set healthy limits in order to do your best work, but it’s a two-way street in how those limits are handled.

Quiet quitting is a new wave of employees setting personal boundaries at work by sticking to the specific tasks written in their job description. Rather than leaving their position, people instead are no longer doing the “extracurricular” tasks. In doing so, they are prioritizing their time outside of work in order to move toward a healthy work-life balance. People during lockdown really took notice of the amount of work they were doing in a trade-off for their hobbies and family time.

So in response, they are setting clear boundaries by quitting their above and beyond efforts. Staff personnel jumping on this trend are subtly sending a message to leadership. That’s not to say the administration can’t have a rebuttal reaction.

Show Notes: Quiet Quitting: Its Impact on Employees and the Workplace (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/quiet-quitting-at-work/)

In this episode, I'm going to give you a very simple 5 step problem-solving process that can help you create breakthrough solutions to even the toughest problems.

When I first came across this process, I was intrigued but skeptical. At the time, I was a sales consultant for a big company, and I noticed that the training and processes that we taught had a higher return on investment when our clients trained groups of people together than when they trained single individuals. However, most of our customers worldwide sent just a single person to training. We tried everything to get customers to send bigger groups with little success.

Then, I came across this problem-solving process. I used it to try to solve this frustrating challenge. Within a couple of months, the size of the groups being sent for the training doubled. Then, it doubled again. Then, it doubled again. In fact, I look back on that challenge today, and the solution was so simple, but it had eluded us for a very long time. We came up with this simple solution in less than 15 minutes using this process.

You are going to love this tip, and you should see fantastic results from it very quickly.

Show notes: The 5-Step Group Problem-Solving Process (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/group-problem-solving/)

On this episode, I'm going to cover a few very simple skills that will open up opportunities for success like no other. I'll give you a hint as to what they are... Almost everything you've ever been taught about how to improve your success is wrong. As we grow up, our teachers tell us to go to school, get a degree, and if we really want to be successful, get a master's or PhD. However, your education doesn't guarantee success. In fact, a person's success in the business world is almost always dependent on the ideas I will share with you in this episode.

By the way, this episode is brought to you by leadersinstitute.com. For details about leadership development and how to create a team culture, visit www.leadersinstitute.com. And if you have questions for me or comments, you can Tweet me @dougstaneart or contact me via my website at leadersinstitute.com.

Also, we have had a few hundred people in the last couple of weeks find our YouTube channel and subscribe. Our video team often takes excepts (the most important nuggets from each podcast and makes short video tips each week. So, if you get a chance, go to https://www.youtube.com/leadersinstitute and hit the subscribe and bell buttons to get access to all the new tips we release each week.

Show Notes: 4 (and a half) Reasons Why Interpersonal Skills Matter in the Workplace (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/why-social-skills-are-important-in-the-workplace/)

In this episode, I'm going to give you 3 Ways to Encourage a Diverse Team to Work Together as One cohesive unit. A few of the ideas may contradict some of the wishy-washy tips that educational institutions (universities and colleges) and human resource organizations are putting out. So listen with caution. If you have a thin skin or you think that the world is out to get you, this may not be the episode for you.

 As a leader, it’s your responsibility to promote true collaboration that’s not inhibited by the differences of a diverse team. Failure to do this may result in a lack of cooperation. You may also experience a drop in productivity and revenue if you aren’t careful.

Combatting the intrusion of unconscious bias is vital to a company’s success. In fact, the diversity your team provides can drive this success. Different perspectives and different backgrounds can create new ideas. If you want to get your diverse team to be more collaborative, here are ideas.

Inclusive companies meet the needs of their team by providing a common purpose and supporting a diverse environment. So, first, build open lines of communication. Next, celebrate the team’s achievements. Finally, welcome conflict. Use this conflict to generate breakthrough ways of thinking in your industry.

For full show notes, visit Three Stereotype Shattering Strategies to Unite a Diverse Team

https://www.leadersinstitute.com/three-stereotype-shattering-strategies-to-unite-a-diverse-team/

The word complacent may just be the biggest enemy of success. In fact, I’ve noticed that if you look at history as well as the current business climate, you’ll find that past success almost always limit future success. They invite the status quo to plateau. That is unless you are constantly looking for new ways to improve yourself and your organization. I have to admit, I have been both the beneficiary of capitalizing on others’ complacency as well as being the dupe who became complacent and missed out on opportunities. Perhaps you’ll be able to learn from both my successes and failures so that you can identify the opportunities in your own industry. Maybe even recognize the warning signs and break bad habits.

Complacent: 7 Surprising Ways that Your Past Success May Limit Your Future Success

1. Stagnation in the Marketplace is Often Caused by Complacency.
2. Hunger for Success Causes Us to Look for Opportunities.
3. The Bigger the Ship the More Time It Takes to Steer Away from Danger.
4. The Skills and Knowledge that We Acquire to become Successful Create a Perception of Loss If We Change.
5. The Devil You Know is Better than the Devil You Don’t.
6. The “Avis: We Try Harder” Effect.
7. The Complacency of Others that Allows Us to Succeed Sometimes Envelops Us as Well.

Show Notes: 7 Surprising Ways Your Past Successes Limit Future Success

Poor leadership skills can ruin team morale. As a manager, you hold more power than you might think. Obviously, you can hire and fire your subordinates. You can also promote them… or not promote them. You may also have the ability to approve a raise. If not, you at least have the ability to conduct the annual review.

In essence, your leadership skills and moral compass have a direct impact on their career. Even if you treat everyone fairly, your impact on their lives is unmistakable. This is why having a great boss is the number one wish of most employees. They often rank this above more vacation time and a bigger paycheck.

However, some managers can inadvertently destroy the confidence of their employees. When this happens, it can permanently damage morale. Low morale then creates poor employee retention.

Even the best executives avoid committing these bad leadership behaviors.

Are You Guilty of These Behaviors?

Show Notes:  Five Ways that Poor Leadership Skills Can Ruin Team Morale

https://www.leadersinstitute.com/four-ways-poor-leadership-skills-can-ruin-team-morale/

We often have our clients ask us about what to do in between annual meetings and retreats to reinforce the team culture that they have created. We are big believers in fun, team outings. The good news is that these are fairly easy to organize, somewhat inexpensive, and will give you a fantastic return on your investment. Surveys show that the main reason for employee dissatisfaction is the employee’s personal relationship with his or her immediate manager. So, these simple, spontaneous teamwork acts can significantly increase job satisfaction.

Below are a few ideas that we have found work really well to build teamwork. Psst! These work best when you offer them as a bonus activity versus a requirement. “If you and your family are available, the company will pick up the tab for…” works much better than “Everyone is required to attend…” Many of these outings are great for their flexibility. You’ll find that employee engagement increases when a team-building event is offered or voluntary rather than required. Attendance can be the entire team (in large groups) or departmentalized (small groups).

The team outing ideas in this episode can help build more team culture in between your normal team meetings.

Show Notes: Try Fun Team Outings to Build Team Culture

https://www.leadersinstitute.com/meetings-try-fun-team-outings/

This week, I'm going to share with you a few very low-cost ways to build more of a team atmosphere within your company.

If you are new to the podcast, one of the things that I specialize in is leading big team-building activities for huge companies. Quite often, though, I have potential clients call in or request information from social media, and they want to do something fun or reward their team but don't have a huge budget.

If you are in that boat, then these ideas will really help.

The term team-building means a lot of different things to various people. Companies often have our instructors help them with annual conventions and meetings because they are looking for ways to add enthusiasm and energy to their regular meetings. These one-time, or annual, activities are a fantastic way to build camaraderie and teamwork, but what do you do the rest of the year? Below are a few of our favorite team-building ideas that are either free or cost very little to your company.

I cover seven easy things that you can do for or with your team to build more of a team atmosphere without incurring a huge cost.

Show Notes: Team Building Ideas that Cost Nothing

https://www.leadersinstitute.com/a-few-team-building-ideas-cost-nothing-little/