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Year: 2011

Be careful with phone numbers

Prevent a disaster by proofreading every digit in every phone number carefully. One wrong digit in a phone number in a press release had recipients dialing a phone sex line instead of the intended company. If you’re unfamiliar with a number, dial it yourself to check.

Sell your ideas better

Consider targeting your pitch to the person’s sensory preferences. With a visual person, help him or her picture how your idea will look. With an auditory person, pitch your idea in person rather than in writing.

Keep rewards on hand

Stocking your office with a few gift certificates to local restaurants and other businesses makes it easy for your boss to say “Thank you” or “Good job” to team members

It’s the little things that count most

To stand out in a competitive work­­­­place, you have to do the work­a­day equivalent of juggling with fire—say, swooping in to save a crucial project just in the nick of time—while streamlining a dozen different processes and keeping your boss on schedule. Right? Actually, little things may make a disproportionately big impact.

Think ‘self serve’

Over the past few decades, we’ve become accustomed to pumping our own gas, dispensing our own soft drinks and bagging our own groceries. So, it’s not a stretch to ask customers and clients to serve themselves a bit. Example: Patients waiting for someone to process their payments can address postcards to themselves that will remind […]

Staff supervisor has become ‘staff therapist’

Question:  “A supervisor who reports to me spends too much time talking with employees about their personal problems. Many of her staff members are young parents who carry a lot of ‘baggage.’ I understand that it can be hard to separate personal from professional, and I don’t want to seem unsympathetic. However, we don’t need an atmosphere where managers are viewed as counselors. I am struggling with the best way to tell this supervisor that she needs to focus on her management responsibilities. Any suggestions?”  —Not Dear Abby