Month: January 2013

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Write A Good First Draft Of Your Proposal

A notebook and pen on a grey background

Grant proposals should go through a five-step writing process:
•  Plan: Think through your proposal section.
•  Organize: Use the grant guidelines as your outlining guide.
•  Write: Write in a free-flowing manner.
•  Examine: Walk away from your writing and review it later while letting others review it too.
•  Revise: Emphasize clarity, conciseness, correctness, and persuasiveness.

One of my previous postings (Plan And Organize Your Proposal Before You Write) discussed Planning and Organizing. This time, I will focus on the third step – writing the first draft of your grant proposal.

These are the steps you should take to write a good first draft.

•  Write the first draft quickly
Work from your notes and worksheet. Write heading and subheadings first and use them as a guide.
Begin with the easiest parts of your sections. (It is extremely rare for a proposal to be written linearly – from first page to last!)
Write quickly.
Do not worry about formatting and errors.

•  Use your outline
Focus on the funder’s hot buttons that you have identified.
Focus on your organization’s solution.
Validate, validate, validate!
Do not make claims you cannot prove.

•  Use paragraphs effectively
Limit your paragraphs to one main idea.
Begin each paragraph with a thesis statement.
Put the most important point first.
Use plenty of bulleted and numbered lists.
Put details at the middle and end of your paragraphs.
Make sure that your paragraphs flow logically.
Use transition sentences as your glue.

If you follow these steps to writing effectively, you should be able to produce a serviceable first draft of your grant proposal … in proper format.
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Dr. Jayme Sokolow, founder and president of The Development Source, Inc.,
helps nonprofit organizations develop successful proposals to government agencies. Contact Jayme Sokolow.
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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

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Keeping Your Nonprofit Off Its Own Fiscal Cliff with a Financial Strategy

Financial data on screen

There is so much written about fundraising, engaging the Board in fundraising, online fundraising, saying thank you, thank you, thank you, being donor centric, etc.. Yes, it is all vital to nonprofits. It’s not the only thing that nonprofits need to focus on today but it is the area getting the lion’s share of attention. I’m guilty too. But just as the federal government needs to focus on revenue, expenses and better efficiency, nonprofits needs to look at the whole package too.

I have just written an article for my blog at Marion Conway – Nonprofit Consultant, Does Your Strategic Plan Have a Financial Strategy – It’s Crucial, which discusses the importance of financial understanding – especially in small nonprofits. Here are some highlights discussing specific issues faced by small nonprofits.

A common situation in small organizations is this: the finance department consists of a bookkeeper, the executive director’s background is as a program manager and there are no accountants on the Board. Many of these organizations are continually at the edge of a fiscal cliff and deal with ongoing crisis with staff cutbacks or skimping in other ways that actually hurt the organization. Even small nonprofits need to have a sound financial strategy.

Some action steps should include:

Develop more financial management understanding. The Executive Director should take courses and workshops and develop as much financial management expertise as possible. The Nonprofit Finance Fund has chapters throughout the country and offers excellent workshops.

Recruit accountants and financial managers to be on the Board and get them on the finance committee. Develop a list of things for the finance committee to tackle besides developing a budget.

Look at your expenses by program and assess financial viability, effectiveness and relationship to your core mission. I’ve seen several organizations with programs that outlived their viability and only when reviewed in depth were they eliminated.

Understand risk. Understand your insurance policies. Evaluate in terms of cost and coverage.

Establish a line of credit – This is especially important if your funding source makes payment only after services are provided and reports are filed.

Have a rigorous system of maintaining records and issuing invoices and necessary reports for payment promptly. Here again, I have seen nonprofits get in financial emergency situations because they are not prepared to file prompty, complete reports required for government payments for services already provided.

Develop a reserve – There isn’t a simple answer to what is the right reserve level. It depends on your vulnerabilities and accepted risk levels. That’s why you need someone with some financial prowess on your Board. Don’t abuse a line of credit – use it only as intended.

It is important to analyze programs individually. Consider financial health, relationship to mission, effectiveness of the program and infrastructure being used. I have seen many programs that were supposed to pay for themselves that didn’t. They were a drain on the infrastructure and management and sometimes not closely aligned with the mission. If a program is underutilized, what is the reason? Are there better options in the community or have you just not marketed it properly? Has a program outlived its value? Undertaking financial analysis should be only one component of an overall analysis – but make sure it is an accurate one and not a mythical one. It is more important to have high quality for the programs you offer than to keep all of your programs operating. That’s strategic. And being strategic means keeping an open mind about change.

See the case study at my other article at Marion Conway – Nonprofit Consultant

Resources

For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

Financial Scan – Guidestar and the Nonprofit Finance Fund have partnered to develop this software tool that can help you understand your financial health, provide comparisons with your peer group and offer the base for doing real financial strategic planning. Learn more about Financial Scan here

Transforming Nonprofit Business Models and other resource developed by the Nonprofits Assistance Fund – Learn more here.

Books
Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability
by Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman

The Nonprofit Business Plan: A Leader’s Guide to Creating a Successful Business Model Plan
by David LaPiana

Free Articles

Free Management Library

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Why are we doing this?

coworkers-having-work-meeting

My loyal blog readers have read my post on the 5 Ps of Preparation – Purpose, Product, People, Probable Issues, and Process. While all are important, which “P” is the most essential when preparing for a meeting?

That’s right – Purpose. Otherwise, why would you be having the meeting in the first place if you didn’t know the purpose?

Smart Facilitators know that clarity on purpose is essential for effectiveness. Whenever a group comes together, facilitators are intentional about ensuring they understand purpose and that the purpose is communicated clearly to the participants.

Purpose answers the question: “Why are we doing this? What it is our overall objective?” Whether you are designing a conference, giving a speech or planning a vacation, it is important to have a clearly-stated purpose that is shared by all involved. When purpose is unclear or not shared, it is easy for an activity to go astray.

Applying the Secret of Purpose

How important is purpose? Consider these examples –

  • An organization is considering introducing a new product and it is trying to decide whether to launch the product right away or delay the launch four months until the industry’s annual convention. Which is better?
  • A department head is considering giving the same annual compensation increase to each employee, rather than varying the amounts. The department head believes this will reduce the amount of “water cooler” chatter about raises. Is the same increase a good idea?
  • The family is considering multiple options for vacation, including seven days on a beach, a tour of Italy, visiting Disney World and hiking through the mountains together. Which should the family choose?

In all three cases, the answer lies in the purpose of the activity.

  • In the case of the product launch, the answer depends on the purpose of the launch? If the purpose of the launch is to gain exposure for the company as an industry leader, delaying until the convention may be appropriate. But if the purpose of the launch is to increase revenues to the company as quickly as possible, launching immediately may make more sense.
  • For the department head considering giving the same annual compensation increase to each employee, rather than varying the amounts, the question again is, “What is the purpose of compensation increases?” If the purpose is to reward performance, a level increase for everyone might only be appropriate if everyone has performed at the same level. However, if the purpose is to promote teamwork and to reward people based on the performance of the company, a level increase may be appropriate.
  • For the family deciding what to do for vacation, the answer also lies in the question of purpose. Is the purpose of vacations for this family to get rest and relaxation, see sites the family hasn’t seen before, make sure the kids enjoy themselves, work through a challenging experience together, some combination of these, or something all together different? While members of the family may have different views of the purpose of vacation, once the family agrees on a shared purpose, the decision on where to go becomes much simpler.

These examples are intended to show how many decisions, whether professional or personal, should be made based on a clearly identified purpose. When groups remember their purpose when making decisions, the result can be greater consistency, clarity and effectiveness.

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For more resources, see the Library topic Facilitation.

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Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of the brand new The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. They are also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.

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Hiring: How Do I Know If The Applicant is Qualified?

A-man-and-a-female-colleague-working-together-on-an-assignment

I have just been promoted to a supervisor in a call center and I’m responsible for hiring. What are the best questions to ask when interviewing call center workers ?

A great deal depends upon whether these people will be taking orders (incoming and therefore the emphasis is on the applicant’s customer service skills) or truly attempting to sell a product (out-calling/cold calls that require a high level of selling skills). Each requires not only a different skill set but also a different mindset.

An order-taker needs to “be nice” to the customer, have good listening skills and be able to react quickly and accurately to a complaint or request. For these people, here are some potential questions.

  • Tell me about your most difficult call and how you handled it?
  • How have you dealt with a customer who was very nasty? What was the result?
  • Tell me about a time when you went far beyond what normally would be expected in order to satisfy the needs of a customer.
  • After a difficult call, what do you do to prevent that call from influencing the way you handle the next caller?

The sales person needs not only to develop rapport with the caller but also influence his or her behavior… to say yes…to buy. Here are some questions to get at their sales ability:

  • Tell me about your most difficult sale and/or most challenging customer and how you handled it.
  • What steps do you take to prepare for a sales call?
  • What strategies have you used to get an understanding of the customer’s needs?
  • Tell me about a time you dealt with a “thinking-about-it” customer.

Then listen carefully and assess their qualifications:

1. The skills fit. Can this person do the job that they are interviewing for?
2. The motivation fit. Does the person have the traits and desire to effectively do the job?
3. The company culture fit. Does the person have the same values or work style or that would fit into the way we do things around here?

Management Success Tip:

A good interview follows an outline or guide. That means each applicant is asked the same set of questions. Then you’ll be able to compare apples with apples and oranges with oranges. A structured approach keeps the interview on track, gives all applicants a fair chance and provides more accurate information to select the most qualified.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

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Communication: Make Small Talk Big Talk

busy-office-worker-talking-phone-working-laptop-holding-cup-tea

Do you find yourself tongue tied or feeling awkward in “small talk” situations like networking events, cocktail hours or meeting where you know no one?

Most of us do – even extroverts like me. So don’t despair! Here are a few ninja skills to help you get over the “I don’t know what to say or do”.

1. Make the first move .
Hand out, smile on, greeting ready. When you make the first move, you create some energy and put yourself in a confident position. It takes a little practice if you are uncomfortable doing it, but if you get good at it, then you start the conversation stronger and it makes small talk a little easier.

2. Find common ground fast.
Common ground is some point of life intersection we seek with people we meet for the first time. Geography, education, hobbies, children, sport teams and many others make up the general opening topics of conversation. This is how we connect with people we do not know. If you have nothing in common, then don’t feel bad about it. They know it too. Make your gracious exit.

3. Make an impression, but don’t leave a mark.
If you let them speak 70% of the time, then you will be thought of as a courteous person good at conversation. The problem is people tend go to opposite ends of the spectrum of word volume when they are nervous — too much or too little. If you want to make an impression, strive for the middle through questions and comments.

4. Have three good questions at the ready.
You have probably heard that people like to talk about themselves. So instead of worrying about what you will say to others about yourself, focus instead on finding out about the other person or the people in the group. Here are three categories of questions that will activate a conversation.

  • Conversation starters: “What do you do? What area of______do you work in? or What made you decide to come to this event or what did you think of the presentation?”
  • Observations of change: Ask the person what changes they have seen in a particular area of business, sports, movies or some other topic over the past year. This creates a conversation rather than an interrogation with monosyllabic answers.
  • Future predictions: Ask the person what they believe will happen in the next year in a particular topic. Sports is usually safe and politics usually is risky. But it really depends on the event and group. The point is to create dialogue and rapport – not disagreement or rancor.

5. Plan your exit.
At a lull in the conversation when it is clear that the topics are exhausted, decide if you want to continue the relationship. If not, put out your hand and say, “It was a pleasure spending a few moments with you, I hope to see you again soon.”Then you simply move on in the room to other people. Or if you do, conclude with what you’re going to do next such as “I‘ll send you the article we’ve been talking about” or “Let’s set up a time when we can get together to talk further.”

Career Success Tip:

In spite of seeming to have little useful purpose, small talk serves many functions. It helps develop positive relationships between friends, work colleagues and new acquaintances. It also paves the way before engaging in more functional topics of conversation with others. Therefore, having skills for small talk will give you more confidence and get you through the discomfort. Also see Smart Networking and What’s Your Communication IQ?

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

  • For more resources, see the Library topic Career Management.
  • Start with the Career Success System.
  • Sign up for Career Power: 101 success tips.
  • Need a speaker? Get the Edge Keynotes-webinars-workshops.
  • Find career and leadership boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
  • Copyright © 2012 Marcia Zidle career and leadership coach.
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Raising Money From Corporations: Sponsorships vs. Contributions

Person putting money in a contribution jar

I work for a non-profit membership society as advertising and marketing manager, a position that falls under the umbrella of the development office. I am responsible for the advertising in our member publications and on our web site, and for selling sponsorships to local and national corporations.

I am having a difficult time separating out the difference between monies earned from selling sponsorships to a corporation and soliciting donations from them.

Should the two be recognized publicly as the same – such that all companies that sponsor and/or donate be grouped as Donors, or should there be a distinction between the two?

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The significant/functional difference between income from sales of sponsorships to corporations and contributions from corporations is that corporate expectations are different for both.

When a corporation buys a sponsorship, they expect specific visibility and recognition for the corporation and/or its leadership. In essence, selling a sponsorship is a contract between the NPO and the corporation — the corp. is buying what you told them they’d get for their sponsorship money.

If it’s an event, then there should be appropriate signage and/or visibility for the corporation on the event invitation and/or program.

Also keep in mind that the visibility you give to them, and to other sponsors, is part of how you are preparing for the next time you ask them to buy a sponsorship. It’s a case of “see what other corps got for being sponsors; you could get the same next time !!”

Sponsorships buy visibility and credibility and, therefore, help the corporations sell more of what they produce. Contributions from corporations “show” that they are “good members of the community” and suggest that community members should, therefore, “embrace” them and give them their “loyalty.” Corporations do give to support their communities, and to support the NPOs that provide services to their employees.

Corporate board members and executives also like to be recognized for their contributions, and they usually want to know beforehand what recognition they’ll get — a program listing, a listing in your annual report, a photo op — corp. exec presenting the check to your NPO’s ED or Board Chair.

Sponsorships and Contributions should never be “grouped” together, not only because they are obtained through different “processes” and come with different expectations, but also because they are perceived (by the corporations and your constituents) differently.

Bottom line, development is (at heart) marketing. It’s relationship building and enhancing — often on a one-to-one basis. It’s getting the prospect to want to do what it is that you want him/her to do — i.e., buying a sponsorship and/or making a contribution.

So, when it comes to corporations, the key to raising money is to first determine what their needs are — the needs of the corp. and the needs of the execs, then approach them with a plan (including either or both sponsorships and contributions) that will satisfy those needs.

Corporations that are buying sponsorships are not making donations. They are buying, not giving. Your record keeping (keeping the two income streams separate) will help you track which works best with which corporations. But, no matter which part of the corporate budget the monies come, the idea is that (for the most part) the sponsorship and/or the contribution will increase the corporate bottom line.

While I do not discount the many gifts to nonprofits from corporations that (really) want to support their communities, the basic approach to corporations must be with the consideration of how their bottom line will be impacted.

Of course all income goes to support the mission, but income of various types must be reported to the IRS in different categories. If you’re not familiar with IRS form 990, ask your organization’s leadership for a copy of a recent filing. If you wade through all the details, there will be some info that will address your questions.

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program? With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, I’ll be pleased to answer your questions. Contact me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com
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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

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2013 Predictions are In

An-office-team-having-a-group-handshake

The predictions are in. Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP has published Predictions for 2013: Corporate Talent, Leadership and HR-Nexus of Global Forces Drives New Models for Talent. You can view the entire report here.

The findings of the research reported confirm that we are experiencing a skills gap. The research further finds that leaders recognize a need to develop their leadership pipeline and cite this as a critical obstacle to growth. Additionally, the findings show that organizations have struggled to attract and engage those in their 20s and early 30s. So the prediction is a need for HR to focus on Learning, Leadership and Planning.

More specifically, some of the things identified as having high importance according to research with senior leaders are the following:

  • Retaining Key Employees
  • Leadership Bench Strength
  • Identifying Talent Gaps
  • Manager Capabilities to Develop Employees
  • Filling Talent Gaps
  • Promoting Career Development
  • Building a High Impact Learning Organization

The critical needs according to the prediction are in talent management and development. How do these line up with your current skill set within your HR team? Is your team ready for this? Or do you have a skill gap in the very team that should be championing this within the organization? If the answer is no, now might be the time to adjust your goals for 2013. HR needs talent management too!

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz

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Y is for YES and the power of YOU

A young man with good presentation presenting in an office

When we struggle with performance of any kind, we often hear negative thoughts. I can’t do this…I am not good at this…I don’t like this…When we change our thoughts from NO to YES, we often experience profound shifts in thinking, feeling and performing. This is true of golf, fitness performance, and no doubt many other endeavors. Let’s take a look at how YES might relate to building presentation and communication strengths.

First and foremost, change your negative self talk to positive self talk. I experienced firsthand the power of yes while running sprints on a treadmill with my fitness coach and team mates. I am not much of a runner, so this was a huge challenge. Just as I started thinking NO WAY and I CAN’T our coach suggested saying YES and YES I CAN DO THIS. When I tried it I felt stronger and could keep running longer. It didn’t even matter if I said it in my head or out loud. I felt stronger. It was still hard, but not nearly as hard as it had been. If you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts about your presentation or your own speaking skills, try saying YES. Instead of I don’t like this, or I don’t feel prepared, think, I CAN DO THIS. I AM GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME.

Instead of yes, but…say yes, and… Maybe you just heard an idea or suggestion. Did you automatically say, yes, but…? You just negated the idea. Instead of saying yes, but… try saying yes and…then adding your suggestions to what the other person said. Example: We could hold the next staff meeting offsite. Response: yes, but that would cost too much. Positive response: yes, and if we can work it into our budget we should look into that. This is not easy to do. And when you do it, you will see how it keeps exchanges more positive. Try it if you are a trainer responding to comments from learners, or if you are a presenter who gets challenging questions.

Say what you WILL not what you WON’T. Often we hear people say, I am not going to take too much of your time, I am not going to take any questions today, or I am not going to go into the reasons behind this decision. Any time you hear what the speaker is not going to do, you begin to focus squarely on the negative or missing information. Instead, try saying what you are going to do. Today I WILL keep this brief, I WILL provide only a statement, or I WILL be focusing on our action plan. See what happens when you change the focus to the positive instead of the negative.

Say YES to a thank you. What do you say after someone thanks you? Many of us say “no problem.” I hear this everywhere I go, and each time I hear it I think, really? Are you sure it wasn’t a problem? Because it sounds like maybe it was a problem. Instead, try a sincere “you’re welcome.” Or go one better. My son Shawn has a beautiful response. He says, “My pleasure.” And he says it sincerely every time. It is another way of saying YES instead of NO.

My challenge to you is to begin looking for more ways to turn negative communication to positive, moving you from no to yes.

The power of YOU

When we focus on presentation skills, we often focus on what is wrong. We speak too fast, we say UM too much, we aren’t articulate enough. Maybe you have thought along those same lines, focusing on where your deficiencies lie. Guess what? Focusing on weaknesses doesn’t make you stronger. It just makes you more uncomfortable and self-conscious. A vicious cycle.

When you gave your very first presentation, your boss probably said, “go out there and just be yourself and you will do fine.” It didn’t seem like it at the time, but he or she was exactly right. We just didn’t know at the time how to be ourselves under the spotlight. Yes, we need to build skills and get better. We need to understand our strengths as well as we know our weaknesses. But you have it all within you to create and deliver fabulous presentations and deliver them as only you can. Only you can be you, with your knowledge, your skills and your strengths. I urge you to keep reminding yourself of this truth. You are most likely much better already than you realize. You are just right the way you are.

Author Gail Zack Anderson, founder of Applause, Inc. is a Twin Cities-based consultant who provides coaching and workshops for effective presentations, facilitation skills for trainers and subject matter experts , and positive communication skills for everyone. She can be reached at gza@applauseinc.net or 651-340-3008.

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Understanding Training Success: The Android Syndrome

A-successful-business-man.
leaderman
Can you train someone to be successful?

I saw an interesting article, the Best Kept Secrets of Successful Business People, but found many of its ideas fit anyone who seeks success. And there is a purely selfish reason they are kept secret.

However, the question for trainers is: Can you train someone to be successful? I have to answer: Not really. I know it’s silly. After all there are a lot of people, experts in their fields, successful business people, successful speakers and trainers selling their secrets of success. How can they be secrets if they are selling them all the time? They are selling them because there are so many of them and calling them secret is the only way to make them proprietary.

I think, and this may be naive of me, the only way to sell success is to sell a forum of successful ideas, a philosophy of success. Surely, someone has put that out there. The only problem I see (as an English and speech professor) is one of attribution–that is giving credit where it is due. Now, we, trainers, do train employees to be successful, to make the company successful if we can, to have employees equipped with the traits the company believes will make ideal employees. I have performed leadership and management training as I’m sure you all have, too. Mostly we concentrate on leadership theory and we break it down into useful tools we can use in the company. The “how” isn’t so much as important as the result and ultimately that is what we do.

Here’s an idea. Think back to when you had a philosophy class, if you did one, or psychology class, or even a literature class–actually any class where you might have differing or diverging views. Just as I have my students take multiple sources–a little bit of this, a little bit of that–all the while immersing themselves in the knowledge contained within the whole, and coming up with an original idea. Isn’t that what students do all along? So many years in school and then we find they are still not ready for the world of work? Part of that comes from basic assimilation of the mass of ideas received plus the college experiences and being flung into the adult world. Two years, the experts say is about right–especially for the private less mainstream institutions–and that includes our military academies.

Some of these secrets of success may propel them from school directly to the business world, but it’s still two years after graduation before any schooling really makes sense to students in the real world. So, employers feel cheated. I guess the young are really an android (a robot not the phone and tablet system) devoid of human thought and creative abilities of their own until we push them in the right direction.

We like the ideas of mentors in business. We like interns. In Medicine, we like interns and rotation of positions, but not all of us are set up that way. That seems to be the way we are dealing with the android syndrome. We force application down many paths so employees see as much of the big picture as possible. And our most successful candidates in those programs go on to be successes. Yes? So we must be on the right track.

facilitator-group
How about we send them looking for as many secrets of success as they can find…

So, now we want to tell business success stories. We can’t really train them. We can only tell them and hope they take. Maybe a motivator can do a better job of inspiring, but what are the odds of success? Do we send them to one of these secret success builders? Why? They only get one side there.

How about we send them looking for as many secrets of success as they can find through research in libraries, on the net, and put them in a room and let them discuss the practicalities of these notions? Add in a few moderators to keep it civil and focused, maybe focused on the company or government entity? Identify each individual proclivity and you have found the place where this person can succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

This may all be a dream. Sometimes I just do this. I let an idea percolate for a while–sometimes a long while until I think I can put it into words. Create a plan? Well, that’s a job and I’d need to get paid for that. But I hope I have piqued your attention and given you something to think about. As I continue to teach University students and work with creative people in both theatre and writing, I feel more alive than when I was doing the same thing in training everyday. We didn’t have the luxury of time in trying something new. I hope that if I start with an idea, a trainer like one of us somewhere, can finish it with a program or product.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

That’s all for me now. A reminder: I do have a website where you can find other items I have written including coupons for my best selling, The Cave Man Guide To Training and Development and my novel about the near future, Harry’s Reality. Happy Training.

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Heartless Facebook Likes Ploy Brings Major Backlash

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Trading emergency supplies for Facebook likes leaves online store’s reputation battered

We’ve seen many examples of organizations reaching out to help those affected by natural disasters via social media. After all, it’s a win-win situation – people get some assistance or much-needed donations and the organizations who lend a hand grab some great positive publicity that helps boost their reputations.

The Tasmanian brush fires that left many people homeless earlier this month looked to be another such opportunity, but instead of acting as good Samaritans, the folks at Australian shopping site SellitOnline.com.au decided to make their offer dependent on how many Facebook “Likes” they could gather.

Here’s the message that was posted on SellitOnline’s Facebook page:

“What we need you do do is get everyone of your friends to join sellitonline Facebook page and the more people we get will determine how many generators we donate.”

Really? People’s homes have burned to the ground, thousands of residents are stranded and you will only donate generators if you get enough Likes?! Callous, uncaring, and a few less printable words immediately come to mind, and it took just minutes for Facebook users to start ripping into SellitOnline and the post was wiped from the Facebook page shortly after.

Aussie media news site Mumbrella sought comment from a SellitOnline spokesperson about the incident, and instead of taking the opportunity to recoup a little reputation with a proper apology they simply stated:

“We apologise if anyone was offended. We will be making a donation anyway.”

Saying that you’re sorry if people were offended is not at all the same thing as saying that you’re sorry for BEING offensive. Even in the wake of a public outpouring of anger towards its actions, SellitOnline continued to behave in an uncaring and insincere manner.

Assuming SellitOnline wishes to stay in business, the company badly needs some lessons in social media, crisis management, and something else that is too easily forgotten in the business world – compassion for fellow human beings. The site may survive this mistake, although its reputation has been battered and beaten, but another slip-up of this magnitude could send shoppers away for good.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]