I was reading an article I had in my files on email subject lines, for the life of me I wish I could find where I got the article.

The article was mainly about email marketing but I believe it applies to all emails. The jest of the article was that according to Doubleclick.com you have 3 seconds and 40 characters to grab and hold the recipient’s attention with the subject line of your email.

Why 3 seconds – well with as many emails as we all get these days, generally we skim – not read – subject lines. This includes emails from people or entities we know. So the Subject Line must be clear, concise and pithy.

Why 40 characters? (And this is something I didn’t know) most email applications only show that many characters for incoming emails Subject Lines and that’s about 6-7 words (and spaces).

So the bottom line is your first impression is the subject line, so make sure it’s accurate and compelling. How many times have you gotten an email (usually in an email thread) where the subject line is no longer relevant to the discussion taking place in the body.

This very frustrating to the recipient and diminishes your email stature. I personally try to change the subject line as often as I can.

Defining professionalism is like defining excellent leadership, it’s hard to pinpoint, but you know when you see it.

There are so many factors involved with being professional. You can begin to assess you own professionalism by taking a brutally honest look at yourself and answering questions such as:
     Do I talk behind other’s backs?
     Do I inspire trust?
     Do I need to be more presentable in my grooming and dress?
     Do I talk too much and not listen enough?
     Do I fulfill my commitments?

Take a look at the list below and see where you need to improve:
     Dress & Grooming                            Trustworthiness
     Ethics                                                   Discipline
     Listening                                             Organization
     Innovation                                           Courteousness
     Responsibility                                    Intent
     Character                                            Capabilities
     Punctuality                                          Responsiveness
     Respectfulness                                 Outward Oriented

We all have day when we just don’t want to be at work. The professional has the discipline to show up, give 100% and be at their best every day. They present themselves well, they inspire trust and rapport, they fulfill their commitments and so on.
 

I was at a very large networking event recently and I meet dozens of professional and competent people. Two however stuck out in my mind.

The first one was a very young woman who claimed to be a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert. Initially I was surprised that a person so young could be an expert at anything much less SEO, although she was quite professional and articulate, I just couldn’t see her being an expert. I asked her to have cup of coffee with me and discuss SEO and a possible referral relationship.

During our talk it became readily apparent that she did know something about SEO but was no expert. Should could take a well developed site with a huge amount of content and upgrade it’s ranking, but when I pressed her she had no idea how to optimize a lesser quality site nor could she offer suggestions to improve the site.

I ask here how many hours, days, weeks, months, years she had been specializing in this craft and she replied that she had been working for a web development company for two years and drilling further down SEO was about 20% of time.

The second person was a middle aged engineer that claimed to be a systemization (and Lean Manufacturing) expert. Both of these are favorite topics of mine so we arranged to meeting the next week to talk.

Again this man was no expert. He had been on teams (not a team leader) that did two systemization implementations and had been interested in Lean for many years but had no installation expertise or practical knowledge.

My point to all of this is that it takes:
     1,000 hours to become competent in a craft
     5,000 hours to become a master of your craft and
     20,000 hours to become a virtuoso

I would consider an expert to be a “master of their craft” not merely competent. Neither of these people were competent, much less masters of their craft. Be careful of “Experts”. Drill down on their experience and qualifications, ask the relevant questions, and ask the “dumb” questions. It should become apparent whether they can walk the walk or just talk the talk. There are many people out there that claim to be experts and either through purposeful misrepresentation or foolish inexperience are nothing of the kind.

These charlatans can cause your business irreparable harm and drain your cash. BE CAREFUL.
 

Occasionally I reprint articles I find interesting from other authors, this one is fro mone of my favorite newsletters – Early to Rise and is by Ilise Benun

You already know that you must follow up with people you meet at business functions. This is Networking 101. But it bears repeating, because no matter how well we understand the importance of follow-up, few people actually do it.

Maybe you think you’re too busy to follow up. Or you lose new business cards (they are tiny and easy to lose) in the piles on your desk. Or maybe you suffer from blank screen/blank mind syndrome.

The fact is, it takes no more than a few minutes to compose a short e-mail to a brand-new contact. Yes, it’s possible that the other person won’t remember what you discussed. He may even have forgotten talking to you at all. But don’t let those "what ifs" prevent you from making contact. When you’re sitting in front of a blank computer screen with a stack of cold business cards, push yourself to make the effort to write a short note. That way, your e-mail address and message will be in the other person’s inbox to jolt his memory.

Set the foundation for follow up while you’re talking. Note anything unusual about the other person or the work he does, any details or specifics that you might forget. As soon as your conversation ends, jot down a few notes on the back of his business card - ideas about what to say when you follow up, the link you promised to send or the resource you want to pass along.

And then say goodbye to blank screen/blank mind syndrome.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.
 

Here is another excerpt from my Systemization article, this one is from Part VIII – Methods to Systemize Your Business

There are many methods and methodologies to Systemize your business; ranging from the very simple, direct and unsophisticated to the exceedingly complex and everything in between. Every business and that business’ environment are different so there is no one “correct” way.

The most critical attribute is to maintain consistency across the entire organization. If you have different methods, forms and procedures then you will have unmitigated chaos.

Which one is right for your business, only you can tell. We recommend you start with the simplest method and move up the scale to the most complex as your needs dictate or your business demands.

How to Systemize – Simple Methods
The most simple and easiest method is to take pen to paper or do a list in Excel or Word of your Functions, Systems, Work Flows, Processes and tasks.

Start at the highest level and map out your Major Functions, you can use the example we used in Part V How To Plan for Systemization (Guiding, Getting, Doing and Running the Business) or use your own. But be sure it includes such functions as Sales & Marketing, Management, Operations (client fulfillment), Administration, and Finance and so on.

Next list out the Sub-Functions with in each Function again go back to Part V and review Sub-Functions or use you own ideas.

Then use the Process Flow / Work Flow form we have supplied to map out the operations or tasks within each Process flow or sub function.

Next, you will write down the steps taken in each operation or task in detail. Be sure your detail list is complete. Do not try to do it from your office, get in the area your working on and map it out right there. If you have manager, supervisors and staff people have them do it as they are the closest ones to the task.

Finally write up your job descriptions based on the work flows.

Now you have the basic Operations Manual and your basic Training Manual. Once more a word of caution – keep your data, information and manuals up to date – at all times. This is not an easy task, but it is an absolute necessity.
 

Here is another excerpt from my Systemization article, this one is from Part VII Operations and Training Manuals…

Natural and valuable byproducts of the topics discussed in Part VI are your Operations and Training Manuals.

A properly developed Operations and or Training Manual will include:
The Systems & Their Work Flows
     The Policies related to them
The Processes
     The Operations or Tasks related to the specific Process
The Procedures for each Task
The Job Descriptions as required

There are many and varied manners to organize your manuals; each manner has its own positive and negative attributes. So pick one that matches your organization and its skill level and expertise.

If you organize your Training Manual correctly you can not only overcome the Beer Truck Theory to a remarkable extent but you can also use it to cross train your staff.

Think about it, if your…
Policies are clearly delineated and…

If you have listed your…
Systems is in a logical manner, then listed your…
Workflows so they made sense and then have your…
Processes, Operations and related Procedures laid out in sufficient detail…
Along with your Job Descriptions completed…

Here is another excerpt from my Systemization article, this one is from Part V…

Planning (and achieving the plan) for most, if not all things in business is the mother of success. Systemization is no different. A plan is your road map for accomplishment, without a plan you’re like a rudderless ship in a stormy sea. You are bound to fail or at best accomplish much less that you could and should have.

There are as many ways to plan for systemization of your business as there are “experts” on systemization. One of the best I’ve seen has been from our friends at Business Design Corp. (BDC). BDC, by the way has one of the best tools available for systemizing your business.

And with permission from our friends at BDC, I’ll go through their process along with my take on it.

There are five steps in planning and achieving the systemization of your business.
1. Listing the Systems (or processes or tasks)
2. Prioritizing the Systems (or processes or tasks)
3. Managing the System Writing Process
4. Implementing and Training on the Processes
5. Tracking and Monitoring the Processes

Listing the Systems (or processes or tasks)
First of all break down your business into four Major Functions:
     Getting the Business (Sales & Marketing)
     Running the Business (Administration & Finance)
     Doing the Business (Production & Client Fulfillment)
     Guiding the Business (Strategy & Management)
 

Here is another excerpt from my Systemization article, this one is from Part V…

The path to a “True” System is one that can not be completed in the blink of an eye. It takes time and considerable effort. But it is really a one time expenditure. After that the system is in (continual) maintenance mode. A system is never written and left alone – it is continually modified and improved.

So what is the typical path? The typical path involves:
I. Gaining stability,
II. Standardizing your processes,
III. Making the process repeatable (especially by others)
IV. Instituting a Plan,
V. Implementing Policies and
VI. Procedures

Stability
You can’t do any systemization until you have stability in a process. Well you can do it, but why would you want to?

Trying to systemize a process without stability in the process is like try to run up a huge sand dune versus running up a normal hill of the same size, it takes much more effort, much more time and is very frustrating – so much so that most of the time you’ll quit.

Every Process has four critical components – the Four M’s – Man, Machines, Materials and Methods (we will talk more about these later) and until there is some semblance of stability in each of these don’t try to systemize the process.

You would be amazed at the progress you can make solely by achieving stability. In one manufacturing company we worked with, when we got the production line processes stabilized – and nothing more – and the company increased it efficiency 40% and output by 52%. In an insurance claims processing operation, when we stabilized the claims process the increase in claims processed per employee per day went up 63%.
 

Here is another excerpt from my Systemization article, this one is from Part III…

In the E-Myth Mr. Gerber spends considerable time on the Business Development Process and Operational Deployment. These two make up the jest of Mr. Gerber’s systemization writings and he reviews…

Job Descriptions
Each position must have a Job Description, clearly laying out the “who, what, when and where” of each position. Gerber takes a bit of a different view and calls them Expectation Agreements and adds the owner’s or manager’s expectations for that position.

Operations Manual
Having an Operations Manual solves so many issues for both the employees and the owner and contributes greatly to reducing the variance in all processes, as well as becoming the basis for your training manual.

Same experience each time
Gerber really expounds on this subject and I absolutely agree; the same experience every time for every client is paramount to a well run operation and a profitable business.