10 Gems from the Archives

I found a document on my hard drive today that collected some of the best wisdom of Canadian entrepreneurs interviewed by PROFIT Magazine over the past few years.

Some of these individual have moved on since I first compiled these clips, so I won’t cite names with each quote. But I think you’ll find some gems in this list anyway.

"Without customer service, you've got nothing. To me, customer service means that when people call our toll-free number with a problem, you solve it - whatever it takes. Make sure they go home happy and tell 10 other people."

"You have to build relationships with companies at all different levels. If you don't have that team networking, one day you could end up dead."

"Effective negotiating is accomplished with the ears, not the mouth."

"Hold the pen." (i.e, control negotiations to ensure your points are heard)

"Good ideas don't come from the top all the time. They come from the guy that's making it work at the ground level."

"We're not controlled by the amount of people we have or the money we've got. We're controlled by opportunity."

"Technology is not a product problem, but a design problem. Buying technology can't solve a problem any more than buying two-by-fours will build a house."

"Bad news travels 10 times as fast as good news, so you want to make sure a customer is always promoting your good name."

"Marketing is wonderful because it's about listening to clients and being responsive to them and letting them know what you can do for them."

"Everyone's born an entrepreneur, but it's crushed out of them before adulthood. You're lucky to survive with your enthusiasm intact."

Dealing with depression

A survey of more than 17,000 Australian workers has found that large numbers have symptoms of work-related depression, and many are turning to alcohol and drugs to deal with their stress, rather than talking to managers about problems. The study, by the Australian national depression initiative, Beyond Blue, urges employers to communicate more with their people and make them feel valued.

James Brown, editor of Melcrum's Source for Communicators, offers 5 tips to help you:

1. Acknowledge weaknesses, but play to people's strengths.

2. When people do something well, acknowledge it immediately.

3. Encourage staff to recognize their own achievements and then go public. Make sure employees don’t feel embarrassed about coming forward to say they've achieved something significant.

4. Help people identify and capitalize on their strengths. Shape their job around their skills.

5. Create small victories. "Small wins" encourage people not to be daunted by big tasks.

For the full story, click here.