What Do Your Volunteers Want?

Could it be a better time for volunteer coordinators? With the resurgence in volunteerism inspired by the new president, you may be inundated with calls from people who have decided it is time to give back. It may be time to take a look at your volunteer program and spiff it up so that your volunteers will want to come and stay. Volunteers are not that hard to please. Here are a few things they have a right to expect from you - master these and you should be able to recruit and keep your volunteers. More

Write an Effective Position Description

Position descriptions are read by candidates and colleagues alike and may serve many purposes. A good job description will excite candidates to apply, especially some that might not have after reading only a few paragraphs of boilerplate information. According to Joyce Lapenn, a vice president with DRG in New York City and the former executive director of Graham Windham, a major family and children's services agency, "Crafting an attractive position description to generate genuine interest comes after a very thoughtful assessment of the needs of the organization and how the open position relates to these needs.” More

Preparing for the Volunteer’s First Day

Every volunteer has high hopes for his or her first day on the job. It may have taken some courage to offer to get involved with your organization, but your initial interview made the volunteer feel welcome. Now, how well day one goes will have a lasting impact on this volunteer's long-term commitment. More

Saying Goodbye: Exit Interviews for Volunteers

Just as there are "introduction" processes volunteers and staff members go through, there should be processes for when individuals end or complete their volunteering. After an individual leaves, the agency should know why she or he left, and get some feedback on her or his volunteer experience. One of the simplest ways to do this is an exit interview. More

Pricing: How Low Can You Really Go?

Tempted to cut prices? You're not alone. With slumping sales, many businesses have been quick to offer discounts. "Cutting prices is by far the easiest marketing technique you can use," says Frank Luby, a partner in Simon-Kucher & Partners, a pricing and marketing consultancy. But price cuts raise some tough questions. Here are three companies that made big pricing changes and the results of those decisions. More

Doing Delegation Right in Retail

It's a lesson straight from a beginning management textbook: to succeed as a manager, you must delegate effectively. Yet in retail, few managers receive much, if any, training in people development and virtually no instruction on how to delegate tasks to help employees grow and become comfortable taking on added responsibilities. More

Dispelling Customer Loyalty Myths

If one were to read the thousands of books written about creating customer loyalty and providing customer service over the past few years, you might begin to believe that it was an insurmountable task. Each week the business best seller lists include books telling us that we must "exceed customer expectations," create "mass customized products" and so on. Fact is, it really isn't that hard. Much of what we're told about creating truly loyal customers is not fact but fiction. More

How to Communicate Your Beliefs to Your Customers

Every retailer must be committed to providing the highest possible levels of fair trading and customer service to their customers. The important thing is not the commitment but the promotion of those standards to the customer, as they are your judge. You need to ensure your customers know what to expect from you. More