Motivate Your Staff and More Manager’s-To-Do Items for May

May 2-8

MARKETING It’s Small Business Week. Push a “buy local” message in your emails and social media that lists some of your favorite businesses and customers. (Hopefully, they’ll return the favor!)

MANAGEMENT If your typical response to handling day-to-day affairs is, “Let me take care of this,” then try this experiment: For the next two weeks, free up two hours a day just to manage. Delegate some admin work, drop less important meetings, and spend the extra time giving more guidance to your team. You may find the extra productivity far outweighs your “lost” hours.

May 9-15

STAFF Motivate staff with a contest to win an extra paid day off during the summer months. A three-day weekend during beach/lake season? Sweet!

PLANNING Start asking about college or high school students who could be brought in as summer help. They can assist by cleaning up your mailing lists, organizing the supply room, etc.

May 16-22

BRANDING You’re in the business of branding, but when was the last time you took a hard look at your own shop? Invest time in finding places where you can differentiate your company. These can be big and small. What does your logo look like? What does your voicemail message sound like? What does your 404 error page say? Could you make your invoices more fun? Think of the power of 1000 points of differentiation. And get busy.

MARKETING As part of the above branding project, print new business cards with your office’s Facebook, Instagram, website, and other social media outlets. Hand one out any time you ask a satisfied customer for a referral.

May 23-29

WEBSITE Does your website have a favicon – the little icon that appears next to the URL in a web browser – like Facebook’s blue “F”? It’s a small but noticeable professional touch that’s not hard to do yourself. Create your 16 x 16-pixel masterpiece, name it favicon.ico, and place it in your Web server directory. Bam, you’re looking better already!