10 Ways Your Employees Can Help Grow Your Business

In their book No B.S. Grassroots Marketing , authors Dan S. Kennedy and Jeff Slutsky present local business owners, retailers, service providers, restaurateurs, and professional practice owners with a tactical grassroots marketing plan to help increase customer retention, generate greater referrals, and build a thriving business for the long-term.

Is asking employees to take on additional responsibilities OK? Can companies really ask their employees to post to Facebook and LinkedIn -- without rewarding them with additional compensation? The short answer is "Yes."

Are you struggling to get your social media activities off the ground? Do you want to get more people inside your organization to support your social media activities? If so, you're not alone. Small businesses to Fortune 500 companies find themselves facing these challenges.

Good staff communication is essential to business success. At the most basic level, employees who don't know what's expected of them seldom perform to their potential. "You can tie back almost every employee issue -- attendance, morale, performance, and productivity -- to communication," says Fred Holloway, an HR adviser in Medford, Oregon.

Companies understand the value of employee giving programs. Over 80% of the surveyed companies agree that their company is committed to a giving program. They also agree that employee giving impacts their ability to attract and retain talent.

It's no secret that, as a business owner, your venture is your baby. It's needy, it's frightening, and you're completely devoted to it. If only you could make your employees feel the same way. Well, at least the devotion part. The first step to getting employees pumped about the company's direction is to examine what employee engagement is.

Imagine a job where your work isn't appreciated, your effort goes unnoticed, and you could be replaced in an instant. Not exactly a place you'd want to stay for very long, is it? As a manager, this isn't the type of environment you want to encourage-not if you want your employees to stick around, that is.

Do you remember the scene in 'Far and Away' where Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman race against hundreds of people in wagons and on horseback to stake their claim in the Oklahoma Land Rush? Now, pretend all those men and women are CEOs for companies in one industry, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what the current race to establish thought leadership is like.

If you have employees, even just one or two, they can serve as your own pseudo sales force off hours. The good news? If you treat your employees well (you do, right?), they're usually more than happy to spread the word about your company, if you show them how.

Focus, Attention, Concentration and Mindfulness are very familiar words in this early part of the 21st century. It turns out many employees have a lack of focus due to distractions in the office.