Staging Simplified…Measuring the Return on Investment

By Catherine Brown

In my last article, I discussed the process of staging a home, which may be simpler and less complicated than you think. But is it a good return on investment?

Let’s compare the cost of preparing and staging an actual home in London to what it might have cost the sellers had it stayed on the market for 41 days – the average number of days in London* it takes to sell a house or condo.

This particular house was painted, cleaned, and staged with rental furniture, and like many others prepared and staged by Staged to Move, sold after the first public open house for 99% of its asking price!

As a REALTOR, which would you rather pay?

Many Realtors pay for the Accredited staging consultation as a value-added service for their clients. For a home of approximately 2,000 square feet, a personalized Accredited consultation would cost $200.00 plus GST.

In comparison, a small full-colour ad in the Saturday Homes section costs approximately $85.00 each week. Multiply that by the number of Saturdays in the 41-day average list to sale* and you’ll pay approximately $497.86.

That’s $285.86 more money out of your pocket!

As a HOME SELLER, which would you rather pay?

The homeowners of this particular home had already moved, but still incurred the basic property maintenance costs. And the longer the house remained on the market, the more these costs would have escalated.

Compare these costs for the average list to sell time in London (pro-rated to 41 days*) to the costs of some painting, a thorough cleaning, and staging with rental furniture and decorative accessories below:

Home on Market 41 Days		Staged Home
Mortgage Payment**	2234.64	Painting	1022.00
Property Taxes	493.68	Cleaning	350.00
Natural Gas Heat	168.49	Staging	987.03
Hydro, Water	280.82
Water Heater Rental	33.70
Home Insurance	175.00
Security System	43.20
TOTAL	$3429.53	TOTAL	$2359.03

That’s $1,070.50 more out of your pocket if the home is not staged and sold after the first open house!

Of course, not all homes need painting and cleaning to the extent that this particular one required.

But one important detail remains constant – the cost of staging and preparation will always be less than the average basic monthly expenses a home incurs while waiting for a buyer.

*The London & St. Thomas Association of Realtors: The Average List Duration for residential/condo listings before sold/expired for 2007 year-to-date is 41 days and the Sale to List Price is 98%.

**Mortgage payment based on $261,750 at 5.25% for 25 years plus $96.11 life insurance per month as calculated by Joan Bidner, Mobile Mortgage Specialist, TD Canada Trust.

Catherine E. Brown is an Accredited Staging Professional and owner of Staged to Move. Catherine is committed to helping clients sell their home for the best price in the least amount of time. She can be contacted at (519) 868-7171 or by email at catherine@stagedtomove.ca. Visit her Web site at www.stagedtomove.ca.

Published in Networking Today, March 2007

Profile: The Coffee Office Local Mobile Business Professionals Discover Exclusive Urban Club

By Susan Regier

Last Fall, London’s Coffee Office brewed its first official cup of gourmet coffee, steps away from Covent Garden Market at 137 Dundas Street – and area mobile professionals have discovered a place to make confidential calls and seal important business deals outside their home towns. This upscale coffee place sells coffee and serves business in a private, comfortable setting with high-tech amenities for its members.

“Most of us are on the run nowadays – personally and professionally. Where and how we spend our time is important. The Coffee Office is a ‘built for business’ club equipped with today’s high-tech meeting and business centre amenities available at affordable membership rates,” said CEO, Charles Regan. “The Coffee Office is the meeting place of choice for today’s busy professionals – a functional setting away from the office that helps build on their success.”

In this noise-diffused setting, members can conduct small meetings, make presentations, or catch up on work while enjoying gourmet coffees and quality light lunches and dinners from the on-site gourmet café. The Coffee Office features a large and small conference room with video conferencing capability, small interactive meeting spaces, and individual workstations. Laptop Alley offers individual lounge seating with flip-up work surfaces and LCD media screens displaying the day’s menu and information about other Coffee Office locations.

Members enjoy wireless high-speed service and access to a complete business centre with copier, printer, scanner, fax, and a Federal Express drop box. Suite mailbox addresses and on-site office suites are also available.

The members-only franchises are opening across the country. Membership includes admittance to its exclusive networking club and use of any Coffee Office location worldwide. Members can book meeting space from anywhere in the world and order lunches and dinners online at The Coffee Office Virtual Concierge so they are ready upon arrival.

“Our staff is dedicated to exceeding the expectations of our guests. We have first-class amenities, from expert service to our gourmet café. We have everything necessary for our members to conduct business comfortably,” said General Manager, Henry Bernat.

The Coffee Office makes it easy for out of town professionals to present a corporate image in other locales…and that’s good business for our community.

Visit them online at www.coffeeoffice.com.

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Susan Regier is the publisher/editor of Networking Today and owner of Vantage One Writing, a professional writing service for businesses. (519) 471-8726 Email: regiers@vantageone.ca Web site: www.vantageone.ca

Published in Networking Today, March 2007

Twenty Networking Tips That Work

By Karen Susman

Try to meet five to ten new people at every event you attend.

Don't sit down until the meeting or meal actually begins.

Don't sit with people you know.

Introduce yourself to everyone at the table or on each side of you at a meeting.

Smile. Sounds obvious, but some people's "at rest" look is off-putting.

Keep learning. This will give you more to talk about. It will make you more interesting and memorable. It will also put you into different venues so you can meet new people.

Make sure that people who can refer you really know what you do and how you're different from the pack.

Make sure that people who can refer you know what you're looking for.

Make sure that people who can refer you know exactly how you want to be introduced.

Make a list of people you'd like to meet and the colleagues who could introduce you to those people? Contact them and determine the best way to meet your wish list.

Host a brown bag lunch with a subject matter expert of interest to your contacts as your speaker. Have the expert invite his/her contacts and you invite yours. You both win, as do your contacts. If you don't have a venue that's suitable, use the library meeting room. Your bank may have a meeting room too.

Follow-up with people you meet without selling anything.

Offer a ride to a meeting or event to your contacts. You'll have a captive audience, a grateful contact and help the environment by carpooling.

Plan the message you'll leave on your contact's answering machine. Say your name, phone number (slowly) and your reason for calling. Slowly repeat your phone number at the end. Be brief and memorable.

Use the back of your business card for printing useful information. A free product, report or even a quote that's meaningful are good examples. You'll increase the shelf life of your card.

If you see a client or prospect's name in the paper, cut out the article and send it to him inside a card that reads something like "great job!" Add that youthought he'd like an extra copy. Don't sell. Just serve.

If your name could be used for a man or woman (Chris, Dana, etc.), put Ms. or Mr. on your letterhead, business cards and e-mail signature.

Use the name of a referral to get past the gatekeeper or to get your contact to return your call. For instance, "Mary Smith suggested I contact you." Obviously, Mary Smith has to have really suggested this or else you're in deep - uh - quicksand.

Write notes to congratulate your contacts, cite their achievements, celebrate their birthdays and anniversaries, or acknowledge acquisitions or moves. Write to welcome them to town. Write to say bu-bye when they are leaving town. Write to thank them for personal service, hospitality, being a customer, referrals and more. Write to give good news, a head's up, confirm, share upcoming announcements, ask a favor and to invite.

Hit your alumni web site. Networking opportunities and benefits abound. At the University of Denver alumni site, for instance, an alum can attend free networking functions, hear speakers, hire students, get reduced rates at the university health club, get career help, connect with other alums and more.

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Karen Susman is a Speaker, Trainer, Coach, and Author of 102 Top Dog Networking Secrets. Karen works with organizations that want to maximize performance. Programs include Humour at Work; Balance In Life; Networking Skills; Presentation Skills; and Building Community Involvement. Order new guidebooks on humour, networking, time management, and community involvement by calling 1-888-678-8818 or e-mail Karen@KarenSusman.com.. www.KarenSusman.com.

Published in Networking Today, March, 2007

Dealing With The Pointy-Haired Boss

By Barbara Bartlein

Few things are more discouraging that working for a Pointy Haired Boss. Inspired by the character from the Dilbert comic strip, he has come to represent all clueless managers, especially those technologically challenged. He is described by Dilbert author Scott Adams, as “every employee’s worst nightmare.” Unscrupulous and mean, his top priorities are the bottom line and looking good to his superiors.

The Pointy-Haired Boss:

• Can be spotted taking credit for other people’s ideas, projects, and work.

• Contradicts other members of his team to demonstrate how smart he is and that he is the boss.

• Reluctantly thanks his team or the people who actually did the labor

• Is technologically challenged but stays current on businesses trends but rarely understands them.

• Quickly adopts the hottest buzzwords and uses them to try to impress others with his business savvy.

• Gets excited over mission statements, strategic plans and teambuilding exercises.

• Regularly “ego surfs” by surfing the web to see how many times his name turns up.

• Occasionally blogs useless information just to see his name in print.

• Adds his two cents to the memos from the boss resulting in a “kudo loop” of meaningless e-mails.

• Masters creating confusion which keeps the focus off his own lack of accomplishment.

• “Stirs the pot,” with any office gossip. He is more interested in his own career than the organization.

• Making others look bad helps to elevate his position.

• Has no qualms about publicly embarrassing employees or belittling them in front of others.

To see Dilbert’s Boss in action, visit here.

Working for a PHB is discouraging and intimidating. The more exposure you have to the PHB, the less energy you feel. To counteract this negative energy, consider the following:

• Never work for someone you don’t admire. You spend too many hours at work to be stuck with a PHB. Ideally, your boss should be someone you can emulate and respect. You should look forward to going to work and feel supported.

• Look for employment where you can learn and be mentored. What types of learning experiences are available for you? The best employers are interested in the development of their employees and offer them opportunities for growth. Find people more successful than you and then offer to buy them a cup of coffee.

• If stuck with The Pointy-Haired Boss, limit exposure. If you are stuck with him, try to have as little contact as necessary. Practice the art of keeping out of sight and just doing your job. Avoid face to face meetings as much as possible.

• Put your name on everything you do. Don’t let him take credit for what your work; put your name on it. Make sure the upper management knows your accomplishments.

• Don’t be shy about taking credit for what you do. This is not the time for modesty or being humble. The PHB is not about to acknowledge your efforts so you have to. Don’t hesitate to make it clear that an idea or project was your work.

• Work with fellow employees to give each other credit. It’s time to band together for survival. A tight work team can survive the PHB with mutual support, humor and camaraderie.

• Nominate each other for awards and honors. Support other employees and make sure that they receive the recognition they deserve. They may return the favor.

• Put up Dilbert cartoons by your desk. It will help you keep a perspective. Maybe the boss will get a hint.

Barbara Bartlein, CSP is The People Pro and president of Great Lakes Consulting Group which helps businesses sell more goods and services by developing people. She can be reached at 888-747-9953 or by email at barb@thepeoplepro.com. Visit her Web site at www.ThePeoplePro.com.

Published in Networking Today, March, 2007

The Changing World of Work

By Barb Smith

A few years ago, I had occasion to go through my father’s file cabinets and I found an old résumé. It was yellowed with age, and while neatly typed, I could tell it was created before the age of computers. In the top right corner there was a hand-drawn box containing these words: “Happily married with two healthy children.” My, how things have changed!

Dad completed university, married his high school sweetheart and shipped out with his army unit in quick succession. When he returned home a few years later (all in one piece, I’m happy to report), he joined the Hudson Bay Company and worked his way through positions in every department before landing a Personnel Manager post. Yes, he had his career and if he remained a loyal employee, he had a job for life.

Fast forward to present day. Having survived a recession and a slew of major corporate downsizings, we are well into the information age and must operate and compete within a global market. Has that changed the way we work? You bet it has. Full-time, permanent positions are on the decline and companies are contracting out many of the functions that used to take place in-house. And small business is now an economic force to be reckoned with. What does all this mean to job seekers? It means we must change the way we think about work.

If you define a “job” as a full-time, Monday to Friday, nine to five, permanent position, you might want to re-think. Those “jobs” are the scarcest they’ve been for many years. If you broaden your definition of job to include contract and even part-time work, you significantly increase your chances of success. Now more than ever, job seekers need to keep an open mind. The work still exists; it has simply taken a different form. Seek out all the opportunities you can find and see how you can make them over into a job that works for you. The key here is flexibility and a willingness to think outside the box.

If you have been out of the job market for any length of time, you will notice many changes in the search process as well. Perhaps you landed your last job by dropping off your résumé to companies in your neighbourhood. There was a time when a manager would interview a prospective employee just dropping off a résumé and offer him a job on the spot! Now job seekers network, surf Internet job boards, scan newspapers, and meet with search firms to learn about job openings. Subsequent to finding the posting, there is the application process, the interview process (which may consist of three or more interviews), the job offer and compensation negotiations. Whew!

Take heart job seekers. While it may seem daunting, job search in the new world of work does have its upside: you will meet some interesting people, you'll learn new things, and your job-to-be has the potential to be as satisfying as you care to make it. I know Dad would be up for it. How about you?

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Barb Smith is a professional Job Search Coach in London, Ontario who applies the employer’s perspective when helping individuals find satisfying jobs with a minimum of stress and frustration. For more information, contact Barb at 519.691.0218 or email barb@barbsmithjobsearchcoach.ca. www.BarbSmithJobSearchCoach.ca

Published in Networking Today, March, 2007

No Brainers: 27 Low or No-Cost Ways to Improve Your Next Tradeshow

By Susan A. Friedmann

There are a lot of ways to improve your team's performance at tradeshows. From snazzy new displays to intensive training to rewards and incentives for top producers, it's difficult to even count the myriad ways What's not difficult is to realize that some of these improvement methods come with hefty price tags.

Don't despair. There are many ways to pump up performance without breaking the bank. In fact, I've collected 27 low or no cost ways to improve your next tradeshow:

1. Research the show before you commit. Does it attract a large number of people from your target audience?

2. Give yourself enough time. Planning and preparation for a major show can take 12-18 months.

3. Involve top management in the planning process. You'll get better results from your team if they know upper management is supporting their efforts.

4. Send e-mail reminders to loyal customers and strong prospects before the show; urging them to stop by your booth.

5. Define goals and objectives for show participation.

6. Share these goals and objectives with your booth staff. They can't achieve your goals and objectives if they don't know what they are.

7. Plan for security as needed: you don't want expensive prototypes or demo models “walking away.”

8. Brief your team on common tradeshow espionage practices and how to defend against them.

9. Send enough people to ensure adequate booth coverage throughout the show.

10. Give each booth staffer a specific role, with job expectations clearly spelled out.

11. Stress the value of friendly greetings, polite manners, and appropriate body language.

12. Take the time to familiarize your team with the lead collection technology you'll be using before the show.

13. Make sure at least some of the people going to the show are prepared to answer technical questions.

14. Send friendly, personable people with a genuine enthusiasm for your company, its products and services. These may not be your most senior people: make your choices based on effectiveness, not seniority.

15. Check in with your team throughout the show to assess performance, reward positive behaviors, and stop negative trends before they get out of hand.

16. Establish a dress code for your staffers. They will look more professional and act as better ambassadors for your company.

17. Don't forget how important shoes, hair, and accessories since people notice the details. Manicures are crucial. Your team will be shaking hands hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times during the show.

18. Two words: breath mints.

19. Practice asking qualifying questions with your booth staffers.

20. Product demonstrations are a great way to draw a crowd: Make sure your team knows how to give an effective, engaging presentation by having them practice before the show.

21. If you are sponsoring entertainment, a speaker, or other event, make sure your team knows what to do during this time. From working the crowd to collecting leads, there's plenty they should be doing to promote your company's name and image.

22. Designate a 'go-to' person to act as a liaison with show management. The better your relationship with management is, the better your show experience will be.

23. Remember the exhibitor's service manual the show organizers sent you when you registered? Read it. It's chock full of valuable information to help ensure a stress-free show.

24. Copy appropriate pages from the exhibitor service manual and pass them along to the relevant staffers. It doesn't help you to know when everything has to be broken down and off the show floor if you're not the person doing that work.

25. Order services ahead of time. Making deadlines = big savings.

26. Establish a follow up protocol for hot leads, promising prospects, and likely customers. Use this protocol to turn leads into sales.

27. Say “Thank You” during your follow up calls to attendees that stopped by, filled out survey information or participated in a demonstration.

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Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. For a free copy of “10 Common Mistakes Exhibitors Make”, e-mail: article4@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: www.thetradeshowcoach.com

Published in Networking Today, March, 2007

What are You Doing to Create a Thriving Business?

By Yvonne Weld

“That will never happen to me” is a cliché many of us apply to a number of aspects in our lives, yet we subconsciously take precautions to protect ourselves. We buy home insurance in case of theft or fire, we buy life insurance to protect our families in the event of our death and we buy car insurance in case we are in a car accident. Some of us buy business insurance to protect our company. Many of us overlook the biggest “insurance” we should be investing our time and money in from the beginning. The “insurance” provided in ensuring a thriving business. What does it mean to ensure a thriving business?

The first step to creating a thriving business is preparing an operational manual that will guarantee business survival through any hurdle including business growth, owner absenteeism, and even owner death. Most business owners never stop to consider what might happen if they were injured, sick, or worse. By taking a precautionary role in your business, ask yourself how things would work if “it did happen to me.” What would happen if my spouse, child, or parent was sick tomorrow – could I dedicate the time to their recovery?

These are all things we think we won’t have to worry about, but what if the occasion arises? Step back for a minute and think about how your business would change if you needed to take the time to dedicate to a personal problem. Perhaps for a short term, business wouldn’t change much; but, what if you needed to step back for an extended period of time? What would happen then?

Today’s small business success hinges on the expertise and skills of the owner. What happens to the business should the owner become ill or die? In many cases, a family member steps in out of obligation. Often they lack the skills necessary to allow the business to truly thrive. They don’t have the same dedication, determination or passion to see the business succeed as you did. In many cases, a family member will promise to maintain a family business thinking “I won’t ever have to worry about that.” After all, no one thinks it will actually become their responsibility.

By creating an operational manual that outlines every facet of your day-to-day operations, your business could easily continue uninterrupted. Including pertinent company information and a full description of how daily tasks are carried out will ensure tasks will be handled in the same manner you would expect. Family members could easily hire someone to manage operations based upon your manual. This way, they will know things were being handled as you would handle them.

Step back for a minute and think about what it means for you to truly create a thriving business. Just like plants need essential tools to survive, so does your business. The ingredients may be different but providing them is no less important. Plants need water, sun and dirt in order to grow vigorously and healthily. Your business needs a successful team leader, a desired product or service and a plan for success and profitability. Most businesses have two of the key ingredients and are missing the most important one. If you leave instructions for watering your plants, shouldn’t you leave instructions for running your business?

Yvonne Weld is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business and is the owner of ABLE Virtual Assistant Services (www.ableva.com). For more information about The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business and how you can protect your business from unexpected absences due to injury, sickness or even death, visit the Web site at http://www.thrivingbusinessmanual.com.

Published in Networking Today, March 2007

Service Recovery - The Art of Damage Control

By Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor

We all know about customer service. Those of us in this industry normally are the ones who genuinely want to help the customer. It’s sort of a "high" for us when things go right; but, what happens when it all goes wrong or downhill? When you go beyond “normal” good customer service how do you recover?

Service recovery is simply the art of damage control. And every industry has damage control Think about Hollywood. Poor Tom Cruise. He said something bad about Brittany Spears and everyone was out to get him. The PR team went into damage control big time. Consider what happens when things happen in government? Big time damage control shifts into gear.

So it must when customer service goes wrong. Think “damage control.” What can we do over and above in order to gain this customer back? To have them swearing by us and not at us?

Empowerment is the number one step of service recovery. Each and every employee needs some form of empowerment. They need to know how far they can go to help the customer. Remember our Telephone Doctor® rule: it should never take 2 people to give good customer service.

Anytime you escalate a call to a supervisor you are losing ground. The more employees a customer speaks with to get a problem resolved is a step behind the ball.

Humor will only work when you have a rational customer and normally, when it gets to service recovery, the rationale is lost. However, what we do know is most customers respond in kind to gentle humor.

One of the worse things you can say to a customer is, "I know how you feel." There is simply no way in this world anyone can know how someone else feels. That particular statement will get you in a lot of hot water. Lose it fast. (And even worse is: "I know exactly how you feel." That is so bad; I won’t even get into it.) You can say, "I can only imagine how you feel." It is best you don’t ever walk in the customer’s shoes. It won’t be a good fit, I promise you.

Service recovery is when you’ve helped the customer and you can really tell that they’re satisfied; that they’re back in the groove with your company again. That’s true service recovery. You’ll be able to tell when they go from screaming to loving you. It can be done.

You need a whole lot of empathy or sympathy. You need to listen. You need to care. These are the tools for service recovery. You need to go that “one step beyond.” You need to do something they’re totally not expecting; something that bowls them over. Each industry has their own bowl over. Sometimes it means taking a loss; but if you’re really looking to save that customer, you’re willing to take that loss. In the long run, they’ll be so happy and so smitten with your company, they’ll be singing your praises to all their friends.

Service recovery is special. You see, good customer service is expected which is nothing new or special. You’re supposed to give good customer service. What’s the big deal? Often times, it all hits the fan and that one customer is just really fired up. When someone is mad, bad, screaming, and totally out of it is when your service recovery needs to kick into gear.

Nancy Friedman is president of Telephone Doctor®, an international customer service training company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, specializing in customer service and telephone skills. She is a KEYNOTE speaker at association conferences and corporate gatherings and is the author of four best selling books. Call 314-291-1012 for more information or visit the website at www.telephonedoctor.com.

Published in Networking Today, March, 2007

The Changing World of Work

By Barb Smith

A few years ago, I had occasion to go through my father’s file cabinets and I found an old résumé. It was yellowed with age, and while neatly typed, I could tell it was created before the age of computers. In the top right corner there was a hand-drawn box containing these words: “Happily married with two healthy children.” My, how things have changed!

Dad completed university, married his high school sweetheart and shipped out with his army unit in quick succession. When he returned home a few years later (all in one piece, I’m happy to report), he joined the Hudson Bay Company and worked his way through positions in every department before landing a Personnel Manager post. Yes, he had his career and if he remained a loyal employee, he had a job for life.

Fast forward to present day. Having survived a recession and a slew of major corporate downsizings, we are well into the information age and must operate and compete within a global market. Has that changed the way we work? You bet it has. Full-time, permanent positions are on the decline and companies are contracting out many of the functions that used to take place in-house. And small business is now an economic force to be reckoned with. What does all this mean to job seekers? It means we must change the way we think about work.

If you define a “job” as a full-time, Monday to Friday, nine to five, permanent position, you might want to re-think. Those “jobs” are the scarcest they’ve been for many years. If you broaden your definition of job to include contract and even part-time work, you significantly increase your chances of success. Now more than ever, job seekers need to keep an open mind. The work still exists; it has simply taken a different form. Seek out all the opportunities you can find and see how you can make them over into a job that works for you. The key here is flexibility and a willingness to think outside the box.

If you have been out of the job market for any length of time, you will notice many changes in the search process as well. Perhaps you landed your last job by dropping off your résumé to companies in your neighbourhood. There was a time when a manager would interview a prospective employee just dropping off a résumé and offer him a job on the spot! Now job seekers network, surf Internet job boards, scan newspapers, and meet with search firms to learn about job openings. Subsequent to finding the posting, there is the application process, the interview process (which may consist of three or more interviews), the job offer and compensation negotiations. Whew!

Take heart job seekers. While it may seem daunting, job search in the new world of work does have its upside: you will meet some interesting people, you'll learn new things, and your job-to-be has the potential to be as satisfying as you care to make it. I know Dad would be up for it. How about you?

Barb Smith is a professional Job Search Coach in London, Ontario who applies the employer’s perspective when helping individuals find satisfying jobs with a minimum of stress and frustration. For more information, contact Barb at 519.691.0218 or email barb@barbsmithjobsearchcoach.ca. www.BarbSmithJobSearchCoach.ca

Published in Networking Today, March, 2007