• BRANDING: Why Customer Rituals Work



• LEADERSHIP: The 12 Do's of Change Leadership



• LEADERSHIP: Inspiring Others: The 6 Traits of Top Leaders



• MANAGEMENT: Addressing Employee Mistakes



• MANAGEMENT: Amaze New Hires to Amaze Your Customers



• MARKETING: 12 Steps to the Perfect Direct Mail Piece



• RETAIL: How to Start a Retail Revolution



• STRATEGY: Take Your Salon to GREENer Pastures



• Website of the Week: 10000women.org - Expanding the entrepreneurial talent and managerial pool in developing and emerging economies – especially among women – is one of the most important means to reducing inequality and ensuring more shared economic growth.

Sept. 5, 2008

BRANDING:  Why Customer Rituals Work - churchofthecustomer.com
 
Rituals are the code of ceremonies observed by an organization. They are the shared experiences of a group. They create emotional glue. To an outsider, a ritual can be weird, wacky or just plain stupid. To people inside the organization, they may be metaphors for life, death, or renewal.

LEADERSHIP:  The 12 Do's of Change Leadership
- discussionleader.hbsp.com
 
The reality of ongoing change is not news for most leaders. Even so, few are prepared to lead in the context of significant, unrelenting change. How do leaders address the people side of change without jeopardizing the business side of change? How can a leader make the tough decisions without losing sight of the emotions and concerns of employees?


LEADERSHIP:  Inspiring Others: The 6 Traits of Top Leaders
- womenentrepreneur.com
 
The thing about inspiring a feeling in others is that you must have it in you first. It's impossible to get others excited if you're burned out. And you can't get others to take something seriously if you don't think it's a big deal yourself. Remember, great leaders inspire others. That’s not by accident. If you want to emulate the leaders who will garner more than 50 million votes on election night, aspire to these characteristics.

MANAGEMENT:  Addressing Employee Mistakes
- managesmarter.com
 
Nobody likes to make mistakes. And mistakes can be especially hard to admit when they're brought to light by a supervisor. Nevertheless, one of your responsibilities as a manager is to ensure that things get done properly. So, however difficult it may be to discuss, you must address the situation, especially since this is not the first time a "critical" mistake happened.


MANAGEMENT:  Amaze New Hires to Amaze Your Customers
businessweek.com
 
"The Offer" suggests a rare company that believes if you really want to amaze your customers, a great way to start is to amaze your employees and inspire them to amaze everyone who comes in contact with your enterprise.

MARKETING:  12 Steps to the Perfect Direct Mail Piece
- businessknowhow.com
 
The Internet has become hardwired into our psyches. After all, for $8.00 per month, you can have your own storefront. But a great many people still use direct mail as a path to marketing success. People have asked me if direct mail was dead or alive. Direct mail is still a wonderful way of targeting customers. It's not as easy or as inexpensive as Spam, but it's a lot more effective, predictable and trackable.
 

RETAIL:  How to Start a Retail Revolution - salonservicesnw.com  

As an industry, we have failed to create the retail environment necessary to develop the purchasing mentality for our clients to realize that their product needs are met our at our salon locations. So where do we begin?

STRATEGY:  Take Your Salon to GREENer Pastures
- salonservicesnw.com
 
You may be wondering why the greener approach is moving from the back burner to the front for most businesses and the answer is very clear: It makes good business sense and it’s the right thing for our planet and future generations!

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Salon Services partnered with David Hanen, Founder and Owner of LOMA-Pearatin, to donate a dollar for each bottle of "Pink Bow" Fortifying Repairative Serum that you purchase between now and October 2008.

Proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation's annual 3-Day Walk - our own Stacy Kurtz just completed her 3-day walk. Watch your e-mail for an upcoming story about her experience in her own words - and find out how you can start preparing now to be part of the team next year!

Read about her story or make a donation online [click here].


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GOVERNMENT AND REGULATORY:  PBA Tax Alert for Businesses on Stimulus Package - Professional Beauty Association
 
There is more to the Economic Stimulus Act than the rebates that most of us will be receiving this summer. Included in the Economic Stimulus Act are two provisions to help small businesses. These opportunities are only available in 2008, so if you want to take advantage you must act quickly. These provisions have not received as much press as the rebates have. But, overlooking these provisions could be a costly mistake. Here is what you need to know to take advantage of the new law.
 

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