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Monkey Back Management PDF Print E-mail

I have what I believe is an original theory on management. I call it, "Monkey Back Management".

The reason I call it that is that at various times in my career I've worked with managers who were just about slaves to their subordinates. I'm not a tyrant--really, I'm not. As far as I know, my employees have all enjoyed working for me. A couple even said so in public without prodding or bribes.

So here's the back story of monkey back management... There is an old euphemism wherein someone says, "I've got a monkey on my back." The concept is that there is something they have to do and they can't avoid doing it. On th contrary, they're very nearly compelled to do it. I've heard alcoholics and addicts use the phrase when referring to their addictions, but that's certainly not what I'm talking about.

Instead, I'm talking about who is responsible for the next task. If you're a manager and you walk into a meeting with subordinates and come out with more tasks than they do, the monkey is on your back. You're probably a productivity chokepoint.

Some managers feel good about themselves when subordinates must rely on them for the tiniest of decisions, but that's just stupid. I won't even bother to refute that approach. If that describes you, you're definitely a productivity chokepoint.

Instead, try to always put the monkey on your subordinates' back. If you need more information to make a decision, have them do the research. If they have a laundry list of requests, have them pick the top one or two and e-mail them to you. Whenever possible, allow them to make decisions.

Get the monkey off your back and you'll find that your employees take better care of him than you do.



Ross W. Lambert, CEO
Digital Provisioners, LLC
 
Two Big Tips for Small Business Web Sites PDF Print E-mail


Let me begin by saying that I'm not really as condescending as I will sound in this blog: My favorite chapter in my favorite book on software engineering is entitled, "The Humble Programmer". For the curious, the book is entitled Code Complete, and it was written by Steve McConnell, a former Microsoft engineer.

Back to the point: I am committed to learning, and I believe just about everybody can teach me something, either personally or professionally.
 

That having been said, a surprisingly large number of corporate CEOs and business owners are just stuck on stupid when it comes to their company web sites, to quote a general who popularlized the phrase.

And yes, I admit that I have been stupid, too. Probably still am in multiple ways. But I'm not satisfied with dwelling in the Land of the Dense, and you better not be, either. The current economic climate is going to weed out the weak and the dumb.


So right here, right now, I can give you two tips that will keep you from being stupid with your web site. Both tips are fast and easy, too.


1. Don't link to other sites.


You read that right. If somebody comes to your web site, it is stupid to make it easy for them to leave, and Stupid with a capital "S" to encourage it. The average web surfer has the attention span of gnat. If you're fortunate enough to have their attention, don't give it up without a fight.


This has nothing to do with search engine optimization and the infamous (and largely mythical) "leaking page rank". It has everything to do maximizing your profit. If you feel so obligated to provide web surfers with valuable content that you're compelled to offer the traditional "resources" page, turn it into a special report you'll provide if they give you their e-mail address. But by all means toss that public resources page into the bit bucket.

Note the qualifier, "public". Membership sites with resource pages are a whole different enchilada.
 

Which, of course, leads to the second tip:


2. Build an e-mail list.


Unlike TV or radio commercials, your web pages do not get presented to those who are not interested. On the contrary, the chances are your web site visitors got to your site via search engine queries or deliberately selected a link on another web site.


Why otherwise intelligent business owners would allow obviously interested prospects to leave without a trace is beyond me. If you give these interested web surfers a reason, a good percentage will quite willingly give you their e-mail address and permission to contact them.


Give them a reason.


Maybe it is the collection of valuable resources I mentioned. Or maybe it is the promise of "web specials" not available anywhere else. Or maybe it is a coupon code worth 10% off a first order. If you can't think of an attractive reason, you've got bigger problems than your web site, anyway. The truth is, there are hundreds of enticing offers you can make that will turn your worthless brochure site into a lead generation machine.


Here's another stunner: I know many businesses that collect these leads, but never follow up on them. If that's you, please just periodically send PayPal payments to me a few thousand dollars at a time. We'll both be the better for it.

When you do decide to contact your e-mail ist, make sure you've studied the CAN-SPAM laws. I am a law-abiding and courteous web mailer, and you need to be as well. Only send if you're invited, and even then make it very easy and obvious for people to unsubscribe--with immediate results. Besides, that's the law in the USA.


The mechanics of putting an e-mail list sign up form on your site and posting the data to a database are beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say that it is worth the small investment it will take to do it or have it done. And yes, Digital Provisioners' customers get this for free. It's a small but critical thing, and we make sure our Ecommerce Empires customers don't miss critical things.


If you do nothing else to your business web site except implement these two tips, I can just about guarantee you will make more money off the internet in the next 12 months than you did in the last 12.

Yours for family and financial freedom,




Ross W. Lambert, CEO

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