Right And Left-Brain Management Style

Different management styles can originate from the left or the right side of the brain. The left side has an irritating devotion to numbers, analysis, logic, etc, concerning itself with cash flow and the dire consequences of mismanagement of finances. The right side deals with more romantic ideas and imagination rules.


Right and left-brain Management Styles

Have a look at this model of a company using left-brain management styles, called British Risk Aversion Plc, or BRA:

• New ideas are regularly dismissed

• The organization is not always concerned with external needs

• The emphasis within the organization is on problem solving

• Stability and experience are the most valued attributes within the company

• The good of the organization is put before the success of the individual

• Command and control are the dominant processes

• It is practically impossible to change the corporate mind-set

Now compare with this model of a right-brain company, ACE – Adventure Corporation of Europe:

• Creativity and new ideas are welcomed

• The company focuses mainly on the needs of the customer

• The emphasis is on taking advantage of new opportunities

• Motivation and innovation are among the most valued attributes

• The company's aims and those of individuals are largely aligned

• All staff are granted autonomy and are able to show their initiative

• Minds and policies regularly change, according to circumstance

ACE is much more fun place to work than BRA and much more likely to embrace the new because the whole outfit is geared up to do just that.

However judging by a show of hands, members of an audience I addressed recently were more likely to work in a company resembling BRA rather than ACE.

The measured prudence of BRA has to be combined with the dynamic venturism of ACE for a knockout left-right combination of management styles.

Passion for a Better World

Too often our sensibilities are assaulted and bludgeoned by all that seems bad in the world -the T.V. bulletins of the day's horrors, the full, graphic story we get by watching the eleven o'clock news.

in reference to:

"Too often our sensibilities are assaulted and bludgeoned by all that seems bad in the world - the T.V. bulletins of the day's horrors, the full, graphic story we get by watching the eleven o'clock news."
- The Greatest Gift (view on Google Sidewiki)

A Captive Audience

It's more cost effective to use in-store marketing to encourage repeat business and increase sales than it is to attract new customers. This is called four-walls marketing, this approach includes suggestive selling, in-store advertising and other marketing tactics that take place within the four walls of your operation.


Here are the four steps to four-walls marketing.

1. Market to your internal customers —your employees. Start by treating staff members well and getting their buy in. Make employees partners in your marketing efforts. Ask for their input, Reward workers for participating in activities like distributing fliers or selling gift certificates.

2. Subtly influence customers through zone merchandising. Every restaurant has specific areas—or zones—that you can use to influence customers. This concept, called zone merchandising, offers numerous promotional opportunities. Some key zones include:

• The lobby. Set up easel posters, mobiles, standing displays or dangling advertisements to promote specific menu items before customers are seated.

• The counter. Advertise items on cash-register toppers, menu boards, counter cards and your specials board.

• The carryout window. Give customers take-home menus and magnets with your restaurant's name and phone number.

• The dining room. Have servers point out specials and signature items. Use dessert trays, wine displays and free samples to entice customers.

• The table. Use table tents, place mats and napkins to brand your restaurant.

3. Strategically design your menu. Did you know that your menu can influence customers to buy more—and to order your most profitable items? What the eye sees, the eye buys, One-page menus should feature your most profitable items in the middle of the page, surrounded by a graphic box to make them stand out. Two-page menus should feature your most profitable items on the upper half of the second page, because that's where guests' eyes drift first.  Make menu copy brief and enticing. For example, an item featuring your "chef's special recipe" will tempt customers.

4. Keep in touch with customers. Send coupons, information about special events and birthday cards to customers in your database. E-mail blasting is a great tool Start by collecting customer information. For example, hold a random drawing for a free lunch and require customers to fill out an entry form with their name, address, birth date, etc.

Some things never change when it comes to the traditional way of increasing average checks and retaining customers in a restaurant. Nothing may be able to replace the personal touch in an "inpersonal world" driven by the high tech.

Passion of Expressing Ourselves

.There are some important words and phrases we seem to have great difficulty with. They are everyday words that they get caught between our good intentions on one hand and our inhibitions or fear of rejection on the other.

in reference to:

"There are some important words and phrases we seem to have great difficulty with. They are everyday words that they get caught between our good intentions on one hand and our inhibitions or fear of rejection on other the other."
- http://belovebepresent.blogspot.com/2011/01/passion-of-expressing-ourselves.html (view on Google Sidewiki)

Say That Again? Seven Things Never to Say to Your Customers

I recently stopped at a local hardware store for a new bolt for a wheelbarrow. The only metal pin they had was too long. So, an assistant gladly volunteered to cut it down to size. As he was sawing away, one of the managers waddled past, scowled and snapped: "Doesn't he have a hacksaw at home?"

Honesty is the best policy and you should always be thruthful, but there's a difference between being truthful and being downright rude. A snarling attitude towards customers will not get you repeat customers. Good customer loyalty is the lifeblood of any business and comments like this only drive customers away.

We've all been on the recieving end of these sorts of remarks and customer service faux pas from businesses of all types and sizes, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable. We all have bad days, but that shouldn't become the customer's bad day too. Poor customer service loses business - fast. Here, based on my own stumbles down the rocky road of verbal iscues, is a sample of things that a client or customer or guest should never, ever hear from you or your staff:

1. "Why are you doing that for him?" This is pretty much what the hardware manager's flip remark meant. It may seem ludicrous to say it, but service for a customer - be it run of the mill or beyond the call of duty - should never be questioned in front of the person with the Visa card in hand. A business person that questions service like this will appear rude and entirely dismissive of customer service - a sure fire way to lose business.
2. "Are you sure you can afford this?" On a trip to a beautiful paradasiac destination, I wanted to surprise my wife by reserving the honeymoon suite at a luxury hotel, the Front Desk Manager, cajoled a member of his staff at the desk to "make sure he knows how expensive that suite is" before I even inquired about the detail of the price, which by the way I already knew. Of course- customers need to know the price of an item prior to purchase and that information is common courtesy, but beware of the connotations of suggesting an item is priced beyond a customer's means. This can taken as a direct insult.
3. "What an idiot that last guy was!" This was muttered by one server to another in a restaurant, as I was ready to pay for our tab. Needless to say, not every cient or customer is cherubic, but commenting on them to another employee - or even worse, a customer - is grossly unprofessional. This is tantamount to "bitchiness". People buy from people, and prefer to buy from people they like. Nobody likes to hear another customer sneered about. It makes customers feel uneasy, as they'll think you might say that about them when they leave your business.
4. "We don't have it." however siccint, this is a repeat offender, said most recently when I asked a grocery assistant if they carried a particular brand of olive oil ( after her four-word reply, the grocery assistant stared past me glassy-eyed as though she were looking for ships on the horizon). of course, businesses run out of stock or may not offer certain services or item, but just hearing "no" or words to that efect is tantamount to adding "And stay out!" Don't leave things hanging like that.
5. "What a _____name." (Choose "different", "funny", "unusual", "bizarre"", etc.) Don't misunderstand me, I know I have a, shall we say, esoteric last name. But I don't adore the attention I get when a niwit callously belittles my family moniker-belittling my very own identity. It would be far more diplomatic to ask how a person's name is pronounced correctly.
6. "I haven't a clue about what I'm talking about, but I'll rumble on regardless." this is the Brand X version of any number of ill-concieved remarks, ranging from the bank clerk who loudly gives a customer her mutual fund recommendations ("I hear you can make money in them!) to the doctor's office receptionist who tells a patient that she may need a biopsy.
7. "I only work here." This cliche' -most recently uttered to me by a waiter after the wrong meal was delivered for the third time -should be forewver buried. In four wretched words, an employees conveys a complete absence of enthusiasm or involment, let alone a willingness to address a problem. This does not bode well. All staff should ensure they know their own area and can politely pass a customer 's query on to the right person should it fall outside their area of expertise.