Key Items to Include in your Employee Training Program

If you research the cost of training a new employee, you’ll discover a variety of answers. But there’s one similarity throughout them all – it’s not cheap. Whether it’s hiring an employee for a brand new position or replacing a departed staff member, every business owner and manager wants his or her new employee training to be effective.

Here are two things that an effective employee training program can’t be without.

M&A Weekly Digest – February 17th, 2012

Today’s M&A Weekly Digest focuses on why serial acquirers may be interested in your company, why the middle market is king in the acquisition universe, and what to expect of M&A activity in 2012.

M&A Weekly Digest – February 10th, 2012

Today we will explore where growth is expected to come from in 2012, the second step of the selling-a-business process, and why M&A firms are essential for business owners looking to sell their businesses.

Why Employee Handbooks Are Crucial To Success

Dry. Boring. Out of date. Those are often words used to describe company handbooks. When presented like that, no one even wants to touch a policy book, much less read one—understandably so.

While an out-of-date employee handbook doesn’t do much good, a fresh, information-packed guide can make a company’s employee handbook a go-to resource. To prevent the books from gathering dust in the bottom of a filing cabinet, business owners need to ensure that they give the guides formal review every six months.

Handbooks are mostly thought of as a formality for legal purposes, but they can actually be very helpful. Why else would they exist in the first place? Here are a several reasons why handbooks are important. Don’t skip No. 2 – it’s a real gem.

M&A Weekly Digest – February 3rd, 2012

This week’s M&A digest explores protecting your legacy with a solid exit strategy, explains what private equity activity means to you, and investigates the motivating factor behind a recent deal.

The Astonishing Cost of a Bad Hire [Infographic]

Your company’s growing rapidly. You need to find someone to help out ASAP, so you conduct a quick round of interviews. You’re not in love with any of the candidates but you feel pressure to hire someone now to take the load off of your staff. What ends up happening? You hire one of those candidates you don’t love. You settle. And it could cost you more than you bargained for.

Career Builder recently surveyed 2,696 hiring managers and human resource professionals to find out more about bad hires – why companies hire subpar employees, how much it actually costs a business and characteristics of less-than-desirable workers.

M&A Weekly Digest – January 27th, 2012

In today’s M&A Weekly Digest, we review what the experts are predicting for 2012 M&A activity, what is involved in the first step of selling a business, and why micro cap funds matter to private business owners whose companies are on the market.

How Great Leaders And Companies Inspire Action [Video]

A colleague recently sent me a link to a TED talk by Simon Sinek named “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” In less than 20 minutes, Simon succinctly conveys how great leaders inspire those around them and how companies’ marketing departments can do the same.

In a nutshell, inspirational leaders all start with why.

I’ve crafted a summary of his presentation below, but if you have 18 minutes, I encourage you to listen, as Simon is a great storyteller and teacher.

M&A Weekly Digest – January 20th, 2012

Learn about why private equity investors remain loyal to funds, why basic financial statements are important to optimizing the value of your business, and which country is quite active when acquiring offshore companies.

Increase Sales With 3 Simple Tactics

We’re always looking for new ways to increase sales. Here are three simple tactics to improve your bottom line.