NWMA July Issue

Northwest

ISSUE 02/ JULY 2013

MOTORCOACH NEWS

WHAT THE FMCSA is telling your customers.

ACCIDENT REPORT DRIVER FATIGUE KILLS

ALSO don’t miss -What are customers saying on social media.

-Turning losses into wins -simple steps to successful presentations

MOTIVE(Ating) Employees

Put the motive in your motivational stratigies.

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08 08 12 14

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SOCIAL MEDIA/

What your customers are saying about you and how to better listen to the feedback.

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FMCSA BROCHURE/

Know what they is telling your potential passengers

LOSSES INTO WINS/

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How to turn losses deals into business wins.

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QUICK STRIKE/

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B2B SOCIAL MEDIA/

How the FMCSA shut down a New York based operator.

If you are marketing to businesses this guide will help you put your efforts where they will be most successful.

PRODUCTION

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PRESENTATIONS/

Making better presentations means more sales. Learn how to increase the power of yours.

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EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION/

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ARE YOU THE CEO/

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RALLY THE TROOPS/

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RESPONSIVE DESIGN/

BUSINESS WRITING/

Content is king, but getting it done is often last on the list. A quick list of good ideas of how to better develop content.

FLEXIBLE WORKPLACE/

How companies large and small are using the idea of a flexible workplace to increase productivity. .

ACCIDENT REPORT

NTSB accident report of March 2011 crash that killed 15 passengers. Learn what important lessons can be learned from this tragedy.

Production deliverabilities layout&design: Phone: 1.888.798.1802

Email: info@deliverabilites.com www.deliverabilities.com

How to better motivate employees and keep them on the path longer.

Determining if you are cut out for the roll of CEO is a big step in a small business. What you need to know to take the next step.

Using your business plan as a tool to engage your team in the vision and future of the company.

How responsive web design is changing the face of the web. What you need to know about how to use it for your business.

ADVERTISING Greenazine opportunities: Phone: 1.866.996.6452

Email: Brian@Greenazine.com www.greenazine.com

YOU’RE HEADED FOR SUCCESS. WE’RE FAMILIAR WITH THE ROUTE.

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Please contact your Prevost Regional Sales Manager for more information.

USA 1-877-773-8678

CANADA 418-883-3391

www.prevostcar.com

T h e u l t i m a t e c l a s s.

from the president/ Hello and welcome to the second edition of the NW Motorcoach Association Greenazine! We just wrapped up the July membership meeting at the beautiful Northern Quest Casino and Resort in Spokane-a very motorcoach-friendly location.

Let me start by offering a heartfelt “Thank you” to all of our sponsors, which included Prevost Car, ABC Companies, MCI/ Setra and TIB Insurance Brokers, that helped make our meeting possible.

I would also like to thank Ken Presley and Vic Parra from the UMA for their continued support and involvement in our association. Their insight and representation in our association and industry has been invaluable, with all of the issues and changes that have occurred these last few years. Many of us would not even be aware of these issues if not for all of their hard work and representation of the motorcoach industry in Washington DC. We had a full slate of excellent speakers during our July meeting, including Ken Presley with an industry update complete with the newly developed FMCSA Safety Management Cycle being deployed in current compliance reviews, including the hot topic of requesting financials during an audit. If you have not studied this, please make sure you do because they are sure to be coming to a bus company near you…

1. Please make sure not to miss the October Roadeo at Spirit Mountain Casino and Resort; 2. Read the Greenazine to get informed and involved in all of the issues facing our industry; and 3. Get Greenazine and the NW Motorcoach Association in the hands of at least one operator that is not currently a member of our association.

All of these things are critical to your business, our business and our industry as presently there are 42 New legislative rules coming down the pipeline that will affect our bottom line on top of all of the regulations currently in effect- if we don’t ban together to stop them before they become law. Decide this year to not only be a member, but to be an active member, attend the meetings, stay informed, contact your legislators and spread the word.

Thank you, we’ll see you in October!

Joseph Gillis President NW Motorcoach Association

Gladys Gillis of Starline Luxury Coaches presented a comprehensive formula for cost calculating in RFP’s to ensure ongoing profitability, and made us all think twice before submitting our lowest pricing.

We enjoyed hearing about the benefits and pitfalls to GPS tracking units and companies from Joseph Smits, VP Business Development of Saucon Technologies. With all of the proposed regulations now in congress concerning EOBR’s, driver hours of service, sleep apnea studies and the multitude of others, Joseph successfully navigated us through the confusing and overwhelming world of Electronic On board Recorders and their functionality.

Near and dear to all of us is the new employer healthcare reform taking effect this January. Theresa Barney, Manager of healthcare reform for Moda Health Insurance explained with ease why ignorance is not bliss when it comes to this complex and highly disputed hurricane which will hit land whether we like it or not. Luckily, it will only affect approximately 100% of the bus companies still operating January 1, 2014.

Tom McVaugh and John Foster of WUTC, along with Richard Johnson of Bellaire were kind enough to walk us through and understand first-hand the current processes the FMCSA is using for safety audits. Jeremy of MTR added great insight and personal experience as to why these reviews are now lasting 2.5 weeks instead of the one to two day reviews of the past.

For those that missed this enlightening and informative meeting, I would like to ask three things;

Joe Gillis

NWMCA President

What Are Customers

Saying About Your Company on Social Media?

With a small business, you want to make sure you have a pulse on what’s being said about you...

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Someone, somewhere is talking about your business behind your back. Fortunately, you can sit in on many of the conversations — at least the ones occurring on social media sites.

the search tools on social media sites to plug in keywords related to your company and industry. This will pull up what’s being said in the social sphere about your business and businesses like yours.

Here’s how to stay abreast of what customers are saying about your company on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

2. Consider investing in a monitoring tool. “With a small business, you want to make sure you have a pulse on what’s being said about you,” says Andrew Caravella, vice president of marketing for Sprout Social, whose social-media management software includes a monitoring component. The system scours Facebook and Twitter for mentions of a particular brand or keyword. Other useful tools that can find social media conversations: Topsy, Trackur, and Radian6 Social Marketing Cloud.

1. Set up alerts and conduct regular web searches. To find comments outside of your own established business pages, set up Google Alerts for your name and your business name (put quotation marks around any proper names to get the most accurate results). For the result type, click on Everything to receive email notifications whenever your business gets mentioned on blogs and discussion sites. Meanwhile, use

3. Make people feel as if they’re being

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heard. Although you don’t want to get caught in the fray of complainers who spend their free time criticizing everyone online, you do want your business to come across as caring and responsive. Often the complainers just want to be acknowledged.

A restaurant owner, for example, should respond to a negative comment by saying, “‘We want to make this right’ and offer the person a coupon or something like that,” advises Andrea Vahl, a social media coach for businesses. Look for opportunities to be appreciative, too. When Vahl stumbled across a positive mention of her name on a site, she jumped into the conversation. “I commented on that forum thread and said,

‘Thanks for the shout-out, and let me give you some more insight,’” she says, noting that doing so could catch the attention of potential customers.

4. Don’t spend too much time eavesdropping. You have more important things to do (like run a business) than troll for mentions about your company. Schedule a regular time once a week for social media monitoring, such as Monday mornings, Vahl suggests. Chime in when a response could preserve your company’s reputation or showcase its offerings. “It’s important to respond; it shows you are proactive,” Vahl notes. 

Don’t spend too much time eavesdropping. You have more important things to do (like run a business) than troll for mentions about your company.

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READ THE ORIGINAL

ARTICLE ONLINE

Setra - a brand of Daimler AG

Don’t be fooled by its pretty face

Once again, Setra has raised the benchmark in the North American luxury motorcoach segment, with over 30 innovations in design, passenger and driver comfort, safety and environmental efficiencies. Daimler’s new, unique Front Collision Guard (FCG), for instance, is a passive safety system engineered to protect the driver and tour guide in the case of a frontal impact. Experience the all-new Setra TopClass S 417. From Daimler Buses North America, the worldwide leading manufacturer of buses and motorcoaches.

Motor Coach Industries 1700 East Golf Road, Suite 300 · Schaumburg, Illinois 60173 · Phone 866-624-2622 Distributor of EvoBus GmbH for Setra buses and Setra parts in the United States and Canada

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DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE

FMCSA

IS TELLING YOUR CONSUMERS?

Be in the know.

SALES & MANAGEMENT

Planning a bus trip?

Look before you book.

First, use the SaferBus app to check the safety record of the carrier you are choosing.

There’s more to consider than just price and convenience. If you are purchasing a bus ticket or hiring a bus company for your group’s travel, safety should be the top priority. Don’t risk your life or the lives of others by making an uninformed decision. Now, with the free SaferBus app, users can easily access a bus company’s safety performance record, file a complaint and more from a mobile device. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has developed the SaferBus mobile application to provide 24/7 access to important safety information that you should verify before you select a U.S. DOT registered bus company to transport you or members of your group. Don’t take a chance. Look before you book!

SaferBus provides easy access to bus companies’ safety information.

Bus Company Operating Authority and Insurance Status - The app protects consumers from illegal interstate bus companies that should not be operating. Passengers should not use interstate bus companies that do not have valid U.S. DOT operating authority or that do not comply with Federal insurance requirements. This app alerts consumers 12 www.greenazine.com

to those illegal bus companies.

View Bus Safety Performance Records - Check the safety performance record of the bus companies you are considering and use this information to make an informed, safety-based decision. The app gives easy and user-friendly access to up to 24 months of a bus company’s safety performance data.

This data provides insight into a carrier’s performance in a number of important safety categories: unsafe driving, fatigued driving, driver fitness, controlled substances/alcohol, and vehicle maintenance. The higher the percentage in any category, the higher the potential safety risk. The app gives an easilyaccessible snapshot of the data that FMCSA also makes publicly available online at its Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) Web site.

Bus Company Safety Results - The app alerts consumers to bus companies with an unsatisfactory safety rating. FMCSA issues three types of safety ratings. The top rating is Satisfactory. Bus companies with a Conditional rating may pose a higher safety risk, and companies with a final Unsatisfactory rating should NOT be operating.

Report a Complaint - The SaferBus app links to the FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database. In using this feature you can also connect to the FMCSA hotline number 1-888-DOT-SAFT (1-888-368-7238).

Call 911 in the case of a safety emergency.

The app alerts consumers to bus companies with an unsatisfactory safety rating

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SALES & MANAGEMENT

How to LoveYour Losses and No Decisions and turn them into future Successes.

VPs of Sales are hungry for any information that gives them an edge. They demand competitive trends, perceived weaknesses, and explanations on why the big deal fell through. However, capturing competitive intelligence is difficult.

Some companies capture loss information using a dropdown menu embedded within the CRM Opportunity. Others purchase enablement software in the hope that an algorithm will pinpoint the problem. However, we continually find the best information comes straight from the prospect. Download our “Loss Evaluator” and begin conducting Loss Interviews today. You’ll be surprised at the quality of information you receive.

Did I mean a Win-Loss interview? No. Win interviews are fruitful for small tweaks or suggestions. However, new customers are reluctant to mention blemishes in their post-purchase honeymoon. They also tend to accentuate 14 www.greenazine.com

strengths. One customer we worked with exclusively conducted win interviews. The result was a self-confirming bias towards all their product’s best features. The equivalent of Volvo reporting safety as the #1 desired feature of all Car Buyers. Losses will tell you much more about your position within the market and against the status quo.

Why? They skirt the polite rapport and force you to confront the truth. Does your product meet the entire market’s needs or just a segment? Did your sales rep execute as well as the others? What is the product’s perceived weakness relative to the competition? Did the rep create a compelling reason to purchase or just pitch features?

Below are Four Loss Interview Musts

to ensure you maximize the value of these conversations: Any Non-Win Should Be Interviewed: This includes No Decisions, Early Stage Drop-Outs, and Losses due to reprioritization. No Decisions are especially important. Many “No Decisions” are reported as an “unlucky” event that lost funding. Many times this is a loss to a non-competing vendor who was able to reprioritize budgeted dollars for his project. No Decisions are an indication that Sales Reps weren’t able to establish a compelling reason to purchase.

How to Do It: Don’t let Reps or Managers decide who gets to be interviewed.

Any opportunity that is not closed as a “Win” is a viable interview candidate.

Some clients have expressed concern with interviewing “No Decisions” since they are still viable prospects. Don’t. If anything, we’ve seen the interview advance the relationship. Customers want to work with companies that are continually trying to improve.

Select an Impartial Interviewer: Don’t let a Sales Rep or Manager conduct it.

The quality of sales experience questions become distorted. Reps will tell you they lost on price and product features. Managers will obscure or twist words to fit their agenda.

How to Do It: Coach somebody on basic question asking. This could be a client service rep, sales ops employee, or even the CEO. Whatever the case, make sure

nothing reported will have an impact on their career. Or utilize a 3rd party to remove any possible contamination.

Just make sure they are after details, not checking a box.

Ask “Off the Template” Questions: Using a question template is important to make sure you’re covering the entire sales experience. Here’s our Loss Evaluator questionnaire. However, real details emerge outside of the script. What do you mean when you say the competing product made you feel more comfortable? Why? Good reporters know the follow-up question captures the greatest insight. Also, avoid a box checking template for simple data aggregation. A report stating that you lost 35% on Price, 20% on Installation, 15% on Fit, and 30%

on Other yields little value.

How To Do It: Brush up your interviewing technique. Read articles and blogs on how to ask the right questions. Avoid common mistakes like “Leading the Witness” and “Volunteering Answers”. Make sure the interviewer can establish trust and build rapport. The moment you want is the interviewee to lower their voice and ask “Can I tell you the truth?”

Analyze Your Loss Interviews To Assess Trends: Many loss interviews are left as standalone reports in a folder. Instead, combine the data from interviews over a specific timeframe and search for common trends. Prioritize the gaps you need to fix.

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How To Do It: Bucket interview threads into relevant categories. For example: Sales Reps, Sales Teams, Products, Competitive Losses, No Decisions, Verticals, and Decision Makers. Analyze for commonalities. Put your findings into charts.

The Loss Interview is one of our favorite methods of gaining insight within Sales Organizations. You’ll achieve clarity on Where The Deal Was Lost Why You Lost It Where The Rep Needs Help How Your Competition is Messaging Against You Whether the Opportunity was Worth Pursuing in the First Place Now imagine that tired “Loss Category” CRM Pie Chart.

You have multiple graphs around key business categories.

Beneath the pie chart, there are actual prospect quotes.

This appeals to logic AND tells the story. Start conducting these today and see what a difference it can make in your business. 

READ THE ORIGINAL

ARTICLE ONLINE

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OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

FMCSA’s “Operation Quick Strike” Shuts Down New York-based Passenger Carrier

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has ordered Niagara Falls, N.Y.-based passenger carrier Coach USA Tour, Inc., USDOT No. 2121253, to immediately cease all operations, declaring that its drivers and vehicles pose an imminent hazard to public safety.

A team of FMCSA “Quick Strike” specially trained safety investigators uncovered serious regulatory violations demonstrating Coach USA Tour, Inc.’s disregard for motor coach passenger safety. This is the third shutdown of a passenger carrier following the deployment earlier this month of more than 50 specially trained safety investigators targeting high-risk passenger carriers.

Coach USA Tour, Inc., operates a small fleet of tour buses and primarily provides sightseeing tours in the northeastern United States. The name of this carrier is similar to, but has no affiliation with, other carriers similarly named in USDOT/FMCSA online databases. Coach USA Tour, Inc., is NOT affiliated in any way with Paramus, N.J.-based Coach USA, Inc. For accuracy, use USDOT No. 2121253 when conducting a search for this particular passenger carrier.

Investigators found that the company failed to monitor and ensure that its drivers comply with controlled substances and alcohol use and testing regulations. Drivers were employed before receiving negative pre-employment drug and alcohol test results as required by federal law.

“We are committed to taking unsafe bus companies off the road,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We will take swift action against companies that ignore our federal safety regulations.”

Drivers were not required by the company to turn in hours-of-service records or other required documentation such as driving itineraries and fuel receipts.

Investigators found that every driver employed by Coach USA Tour, Inc., had falsified at least one record-of-duty status report during a one-month review period.

“We are committed to taking unsafe bus companies off the road,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We will take swift action against companies that ignore our

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Consumers who bought a ticket on a bus company that FMCSA has recently placed out-of-service may be entitled to a credit from their credit card company under the Fair Credit Billing Act if they paid for the ticket by credit card.

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The company also failed to ensure its vehicles were properly and regularly inspected, repaired and maintained. Coach USA Tour, Inc., required that its drivers maintain and repair vehicles without ensuring the individuals were qualified bus mechanics.

Individually and cumulatively, these violations substantially increase the likelihood of serious injury for its passengers, drivers and the motoring public.

“I applaud our ‘Quick Strike’ safety investigation teams who are working to protect innocent lives across the country,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “We are also grateful for the outstanding assis-

tance of our state partners in New York who were instrumental in shutting down this carrier and removing their unsafe drivers and vehicles from our roadways.”

A copy of today’s imminent hazard out-of-service order can be viewed at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/ about/news/2013/CoachUSA TourInc.pdf.

As part of FMCSA’s work to make safety data readily available to the traveling public, the SaferBus mobile app gives bus riders a quick and free way to review a bus company’s safety record before buying a ticket or booking group travel. The SaferBus app, available for iPhone, iPad and Android phone users, can

be downloaded for free by visiting FMCSA’s “Look Before You Book” webpage at www. fmcsa.dot.gov/saferbus.

Travelers planning a bus trip are also encouraged to think safety first before buying a ticket or chartering a bus by using FMCSA’s multilingual passenger carrier safety checklist at: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/ pcs/Index.aspx.

FMCSA urges consumers and whistleblowers to report any unsafe bus company, vehicle or driver to the agency through a toll free hotline 1-888-DOT-SAFT (1-888-368-7238) or FMCSA’s consumer complaint web site: http://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov/HomePage.asp.

Consumers who bought a ticket on a bus company that FMCSA has recently placed out-ofservice may be entitled to a credit from their credit card company under the Fair Credit Billing Act if they paid for the ticket by credit card. For more information visit: http://www. fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/pcs/bus-creditrefund.aspx.

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SALES & MARKETING

The Keys to Social B2B Victory for your business Which social network is the best for B2B marketing?

Which social network is the best for B2B marketing? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube each offer B2B marketers value. Let’s review these top sites from a B2B social marketing perspective so we can crown an undisputed champion.

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As of March 2013, Google+ had 350 million active users.

That is more than on LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube The Keys to Social B2B Victory When it comes to using social media as a marketing tool for B2B organizations, which have an end goal of qualified lead generation, the underlying key to success is to drive thoughtleadership and credibility around a desired market position that will yield target engagement. To do so, a B2B organization must first have a solid social media plan that defines the market position and a review of the online competition.

The online brand that will be delivered in social must align with a B2B organization’s brand promise, mission, and value proposition. Choosing the appropriate channel(s) depends on a number of factors including:

Audience breakdown of network.

Target audience types.

Content types by audience.

Purpose of social network.

Tone of network.

Engagement levels of network.

Google+ Google PlusGoogle+ is becoming the next big social network for business. As of March 2013, Google+ had 350 million active users. That is more than on LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

When your content is placed on Google+ it has the chance to rank higher because the content is fed into the personal search www.greenazine.com 23

results of your Google+ circles. And content that is feature-rich, like online video (YouTube – a Google product) and images supported with text gains ultimately more exposure.

Feeding content to Google+ from a YouTube channel or Pinterest board is a good idea. Google+, as a Google product, means it will undoubtedly be integrated into other developing applications supporting content marketing and organic search. Social signals are the gold piece for any B2B marketer.

LinkedIn also provides multiple paid opportunities to use the tool as more of a CRM with features like Lead Builder and Profile Organizer.

The most compelling feature of LinkedIn, in general, for anyone in B2B sales is the ability to learn everything, on a professional level, about a target prospect. Further, find appropriate ways for warm introductions.

With Google+, you can have a business page as well. This means that a person can follow and engage with your business on a personal level, creating opportunities for relationship building.

Relationship development is what B2B sales is all about.

On the negative side, LinkedIn as a website, has multiple user experience and functional issues. In the haste to make LinkedIn feature-rich, at any time, issues may arise from unnecessary messages, pop-ups and disabled links.

The Google+ Hangout real-time video application is another major bonus to Google+ as a B2B social network. All you need is a webcam and an audience and you can run video conferencing within the tool. This keeps business professionals talking on Google+. Further that those Hangouts can be published directly to YouTube.

LinkedIn networking and marketing doesn’t necessary work on its own. This is why it is crucial to take your LinkedIn developed relationships offline, whether on the phone or in person to close the deal.

On the negative side, Google+ is a platform for content delivery more than a way to “business network.” Conversations on Google+ can get out of hand and can be a turn off in the same way that too many emails can do to a B2B prospect.

twitter-bird-new-june2012Twitter is, for busy business professionals, marketers and CEOs, the easiest way to get the message out, so to speak. A microblogging tool that forces copy-like conversations, Twitter enables quick information to link backs to important web pages of conversion (i.e., your website and your blog.

Finally, Google+ for business users and business pages are still an area lacking in terms of overall B2B adoption. For Google+ to win here, Google will need to invest in marketing that feature.

LinkedIn LinkedIn logoLinkedIn makes it easy to build relationships with your target prospects. LinkedIn was born and bred to create and develop business relationships, and has grown to have 225 million active users in more than 200 countries.

The obvious opportunities in using LinkedIn as a marketing tool include personal branding for executives, sales development for business development professionals and marketing opportunities via LinkedIn targeted, real-time lead gen advertising.

The key to winning on LinkedIn, as it were, is to use LinkedIn on a daily basis to provide valuable support to your connections and Groups.

Marketing on LinkedIn is sophisticated. A marketer can run a targeted ad by location, industry, title, company and other specific demographics. Further, those ads can capture leads on the fly (a great feature).

On a company level, LinkedIn provides businesses with opportunities to engage with company followers on a one on one level. LinkedIn is the ultimate social networking tool for business professionals. Real networking happens in Groups and in the context of comments and status engagement.

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Twitter

Twitter is a great place for B2B marketers to find and engage with, via Twitter private lists, for example, targeted media.

B2B marketing on the Internet is all about three key components: Online reputation, Thought-leadership and a Strong Online Brand. Twitter can be very useful in addressing these areas.

The mobile app for Twitter and ability to tweet 24/7, as many social media marketers do, is easy to do.

Twitter is where the news breaks. Twitter is where real-time conversations are happening. Twitter is the best social media tool for covering events and running events live.

Event marketing of conferences, workshops and seminars are crucial to the success of any B2B organization these days. Twitter’s search algorithm and use of hashtags makes it easy for reporters to find interview subjects and speakers.

On the negative side, because of Google’s ownership of Google+ however, any article shared on Twitter will become visible in organic Google results after the same on Google+. Also, Twitter yes makes it easy for you to reach out to reporters and business professionals you do not know, but this does not mean you will get a reply.

Twitter followers are nowhere near as substantial as a LinkedIn connect whom you have, if you’re doing LinkedIn marketing

correctly, developed a relationship.

YouTube YouTube LogoOnline video, done correctly, meaning with the brand in mind and well thought out for target engagement needs to be a crucial component of any online marketer’s social media marketing program.

YouTube, as a Google product and videoserving platform, in itself is an opportunity for B2B social networking. Most videos when made compelling and shared appropriately can certainly serve to drive qualified inbound leads.

YouTube links of videos can be embedded and shared on websites, such as SlideShare, another necessary B2B online marketing tool. In doing so, these videos can then become visible to target connections on important B2B social networking sites like Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

As a standalone B2B social network, YouTube isn’t truly where the lead capture happens or where relationships are developed.

And the Top B2B Social Network Is…

Facebook

Hands down, LinkedIn is the best social network for B2B marketing. LinkedIn is the only real B2B social network that was developed purely to develop direct B2B sales relationships for B2B marketers.

Facebook LogoFacebook, the 800-pound gorilla, is certainly the number one B2C social media network. As a B2B social media tool, Facebook does serve to deliver client services, online promotions and event announcements primarily.

Another important B2B feature provided

by Facebook is the ability to gain opt-ins for e-mail marketing on a business page.

B2B marketers who turn to Facebook as a social media tool need to heavily engage in target and organizational groups and pages.

Creating direct B2B sales relationships from Facebook is certainly done, but not at the level of a LinkedIn or even Twitter.

The other social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube – all should be in the toolbox of any serious B2B marketer. But if you’re on limited time and resources and looking to greatly increase your bottom line, you should invest wholly in LinkedIn. 

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SALES

Simple Steps to

Successful

Presentations

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Picture this: You’re at a conference, waiting to hear a speaker whose talk you’ve been looking forward to for months. As you sit down, you realize that he appears rattled and is gripping onto the lectern for dear life. He begins to talk, ever so slowly.

You wait a while to see if his talk improves but it becomes decidedly boring. Now you’re dreaming of a coffee break. If this sounds familiar (or if you’ve been in that position), there’s hope. No matter whether you’re presenting to an audience of one or to a crowd of 100, these tried-and-true tips will ensure you’re ready to roll the next time you present.

Start with a bang. During last year’s Tropical Storm Isaac, I was rerouted on my less-than-favorite airline.

All went smoothly, at least until I emerged from the plane, uh, bitten.

I was a little panicked upon discovering that a few sneaky little critters had apparently been my seatmates, and airline personnel were, well, unconcerned. What did this get me? A great opener for future talks on customer service, to be sure. Get started

by thinking about the everyday things you do. Grab your audience’s interest with a story, quote or an interesting bit of information at the start and they’ll stay with you for the long run. It works every time.

Get focused. You’ve gotta start somewhere, and every plan needs a roadmap.

To stay on track, outline, outline, outline. Decide first what your message is, why your audience wants to hear it, and how you will reinforce it. Then determine how you’ll sequence your thoughts: for a 30-minute talk, having four or five main points is ideal. Consider using an outline composed of talking points; jot down keywords as reminders of what you want to discuss.

I like to use a whiteboard; it allows me to see all of my ideas at once, giving me a better picture of my story. You can use paper, index cards or your smartphone, but do it.

Know your audience. Who are you there to talk to? Whether you’re talking to a potential client, a team of employees or a huge group, knowing what your audience is looking for can make a world of difference.

Grab your audience’s interest with a story, quote or an interesting bit of information at the start and they’ll stay with you for the long run..

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Your ship will sink faster than the Titanic if you don’t know your material backwards and forwards. Do your homework and make sure your material is solid before you get in front of the crowd.

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Know your stuff. Unless you’re an expert at improvisation (or your name is Jerry Seinfeld), don’t depend on winging it. Your ship will sink faster than the Titanic if you don’t know your material backwards and forwards. Do your homework and make sure your material is solid before you get in front of the crowd.

Weave in examples. Think of examples as the golden thread that will tie your presentation together.

People want to learn from your experiences. It’s much more valuable if you can use stories or examples to illustrate and support your points.

They want to hear about what has worked and what hasn’t worked.

Try it, and see how your topic comes to life!

Don’t read. Have you ever seen a presenter read every slide? Nothing can kill a speech or meeting faster than if you read your material. Peo-

ple can do that for themselves. It’s your job to fill in what’s between the lines and tell them the real story.

Have a Plan B. When I first spoke overseas, I was at the mercy of my host. He alone had my presentation slides on a CD and he alone was late. He finally arrived and I gleefully popped the CD into my laptop, anticipating my first slide on management. Instead, out came Russian folk music. It’s true; you just can’t make this stuff up. What were my lessons learned? Always carry a duplicate of your presentation. Things can, and do, go sideways at the most inopportune times — a delayed client, a missing audio visual guy, even a power outage. Decide in advance what you’ll do if something does go amiss. No matter whether you’re presenting a proposal for new business or preparing for a panel, having a backup plan pays off.  READ THE ORIGINAL

ARTICLE ONLINE

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MARKETING

How Great Business Writing

Gets Done Quickly Great writers know a thing or two about how great writing is done. After all, that’s their job. For you, the business owner or marketer who needs to do some writing, it’s helpful to know what counts for your particular needs.

I Think, Therefore I Have a Headache Blogging for business is not like writing a great novel. It’s about getting to the point in as few words as possible. That means thinking, which is painful and annoying, but you have to do it.

“I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter.” (Letter 16, 1657) – Blaise Pascal, The Provincial Letters KISS: Keep It Short & Simple Blog posts are “quick reads” and are often skimmed for key points by people who are very busy. Respect that fact. Format your work with headings and bullet points. Keep your word count at or below 500 words. This is truly a case of “less is more”.

“Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time is wasted.” – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Ham and Eggs Beats Eggs Benedict Great authors know that simple is better, fewer words beat lengthy prose and it’s more important to not be misunderstood than to try and make yourself understood with a lengthy explanation.

30 www.greenazine.com

“To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.” – Aristotle “Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.” – George Orwell “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”

– Thomas Jefferson

Ready, Fire, Aim A business blog post has a specific target to hit. That target doesn’t always have to be a sales pitch or an attempt at customer retention. Sometimes, that post is just a statement of how your business does business or some other non-sales theme.

The point is, write your blog post freely, then edit it to conform to your main point, which you discovered while writing it.

“I write to find out what I’m talking about.” – Edward Albee

Procrastinate Later…

Summing Up

This brings you to the most important point: write. Procrastination never helps, when it comes to writing. Despite the fact that what you start out with is less than perfect, write. Put down everything you can, then go back and cut out the fluff.

The Marine Corps of the United States has a proven method of getting a point across to recruits:

“Don’t get it right – get it WRITTEN!” – Lee Child

The Benefits of “Quick and Dirty” Avoid the trap of “perfection”. Yes, you do want what you write to be good, but the beguiling temptation to craft exceptional prose is a time waster. This is NOT a novel, nor an excerpt thereof. Make it good and stop.

“Don’t try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.” – Arthur Freed

I’m gonna tell ya what I’m gonna tell ya.

I’m gonna tell ya.

I’m gonna tell ya what I told ya.

Use this formula when crafting a blog post. After all, I told ya I was gonna tell ya what counts, right? 

Don’t give up if you miss a few days. Just jump right back in and keep on going.

Content is king.

READ THE ORIGINAL

ARTICLE ONLINE

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MANAGEMENT & HR

What a Flexible Workplace Has t WithTrust and Creativity

32 www.greenazine.com

Chegg, a Silicon Valley online textbook rental service, introduced unlimited paid vacation; so far, no one has abused the privilege. When I was running software companies, women on maternity leave were told to come back when they wanted to, on a schedule of their own devising; they never let me down. Strategies like these inspire terrific loyalty-but I wonder how many companies use them?

to Do

By 2025, Generation Y and its successors will comprise more than half the global population and 75 percent of the workforce, according to consulting firm A.T. Kearney. And 80 percent of them want to be able to work flexibly. How many, I wonder, will get what they want?

Although many companies these days are comfortable demanding constant attention from their employees, few are at ease with the idea that this needs to be reciprocal. And many still persist in thinking this is a women’s issue when it isn’t. It’s a talent and retention issue. Here’s why: 1. Flexible working is smart.

Letting your employees out into the world to absorb information, notice other products, talk to a wide range of people about any number of subjects is how they stay in touch and alive. Cooping them up in offices and meeting rooms for hours or days on end makes them dull and boring.

2. Ideas arise in unexpected circumstances.

There’s plenty of evidence that people do their most imaginative work when looking away from a problem: driving home, in the shower, walking the dog.

If you don’t want your people to have ideas, keep them at the office.

3. Everyone has family.

A senior partner at an investment bank once asked me why he couldn’t just hire single people; that way, he hoped, he wouldn’t have to consider childcare pressures. I told him to remember that, while one can choose whether or not to have kids, no one can choose whether or not to have parents. Gen Y and subsequent generations will face a lot of demands from elderly parents who need time and attention.

If you want to keep smart people, you have to work with that.

READ THE ORIGINAL

ARTICLE ONLINE

None of this means that offices are irrelevant or that there isn’t immense value in bringing people together under the same roof at the same time. There is. This is part of how you get great work from people. But it isn’t the only way. Companies are--not surprisingly--like people because they are made up of people. And just as individuals are more creative when allowed freedom, the same is true of businesses. It all depends on whether you trust them, or yourself, enough. That is reciprocal too. 

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MANAGEMENT, HR & OPERATIONS

Accident Report/ Motorcoach Run-Off-the-Road and Collision With Vertical Highway Signpost Interstate 95 Southbound New York City, New York March 12, 2011 34 www.greenazine.com

On March 12, 2011, about 5:38 a.m., a 1999 Prevost 56-passenger motorcoach, operated by World Wide Travel of Greater New York, headquartered in Brooklyn, was traveling southbound on Interstate 95, en route from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, to New York City, and carrying 32 passengers. While in the vicinity of mile marker 3.2, the motorcoach departed from the travel lanes to the right, driving over the rumble strips on the right shoulder edge. The motorcoach then crossed over the 10-foot-wide paved shoulder and struck a strong-post Wbeam guardrail, traveling about 480 feet alongside and on the guardrail, before finally overturning 90째 onto its right side and flattening the guardrail. The front of the vehicle subsequently collided with a vertical highway signpost consisting of two vertical 8-inch-diameter steel tubular poles linked by cross-beam di-

agonal metal supports. The front roof also collided with a steel electrical box mounted to the sign support structure. After the motorcoach struck the support structure and electrical box, the two poles entered the passenger compartment along the base of the passenger windows as the vehicle slid forward. The impact resulted in the roof panel being torn from the bus body for almost the entire length of the bus. As a result of this accident, 15 passengers were killed, 17 passengers received seriousto-minor injuries, and the bus driver received minor injuries.

The accident occurred when the motorcoach departed from the travel lanes to the right at about a 7째 departure angle from the roadway; no tire marks were made on the travel lanes to indicate braking or evasive steering. The driver then traversed a 10-foot-wide paved shoulder enhanced with rumble strips and struck a roadside barrier.

Excerpts from NTSB Accident report: http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2005/HAR0501.pdf

The motorcoach driver was experiencing both acute sleep loss and cumulative sleep debt at the time of the accident

Postaccident examination of electronic control module data revealed that the accident motorcoach was traveling at least 64 mph for at least 10 seconds before it struck the guardrail. The control module data also indicated that the driver did not apply the brakes in the 60 seconds before leaving the travel lanes, crossing the shoulder, and striking the guardrail.

driver behavior, such as providing warnings to drowsy drivers or detecting unsafe driving behaviors, are already in the marketplace. However, motor carriers are in need of additional guidance on how to effectively use in-vehicle technology to monitor and improve driver safety.

Safety issues identified in this accident investigation include:

A driver’s history of crashes or moving violations is directly related to future crash risk. Currently, a motorcoach driver-applicant must submit a 10-year commercial driving employment history, and the states must provide carriers hiring commercial drivers with a 3-year driving history. However, for preemployment screening, motor carriers need access to a longer history of a commercial driver’s license record to make informed hiring decisions. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is currently investigating two other accidents involving highrisk drivers.

Motorcoach driver fatigue and onboard monitoring systems:

The motorcoach driver was experiencing both acute sleep loss and cumulative sleep debt at the time of the accident. Because of the driver’s activities in the days leading to the accident, his sleep opportunities did not exceed 4 hours. Circadian factors related to the driver’s inverted work schedule and the time of day at which the accident occurred, about 5:38 a.m., would have exacerbated the effects of fatigue. No Federal requirements currently exist for motor carriers to implement fatigue management programs.

Research into fatigue management technologies is ongoing, though safety systems that monitor

Commercial driver license history:

Heavy vehicle speed limiters:

The speed limit at the accident location was 50 mph, yet the motorcoach driver was traveling 64 mph after departing the travel lanes of I-95. Had www.greenazine.com

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he been driving at or below the speed limit (50 mph), he may have been able to steer the bus away from the guardrail, preventing the rollover and collision with the vertical highway signpost. The motorcoach was equipped with a speed limiter, but it was set to 78 mph. Although there is significant interest in the use of advanced speed limiting technology, no Federal performance standards address such technology or require its installation in heavy vehicles.

Safety management systems and motor carrier safety ratings:

The practices of both motor carriers that had employed the accident driver—such as not adhering to hours-of-service requirements and improperly addressing speeding violations—indicateinadequate oversight of drivers, which impacts passenger safety. This accident is one of many investigated by the NTSB in which the motor carrier’s safety processes, as well as its corporate culture, may have set the stage for the driver’s on-road operating performance. Motor carriers should receive a determination of their fitness to operateand a safety rating based upon on-road performance and adherence to safety regulations, performance that is currently tracked by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Safety Measurement System.

Federal rulemaking on a new safety fitness determination process is scheduled to begin by early 2013. The performance rating will be based on all safety-based regulations, rather than on critical and acute violations only. It will replace the current safety rating process, which relies exclusively on onsite investigation or compliance review. In addition, as part of a process called a Safety Management Cycle, motor carriers should be educated about, and required to actively assess, the root cause of safety violations that are correlated to crash risk.

Roadside barriers for heavy commercial passenger vehicles: The NTSB evaluated roadside conditions at the accident site to determine the guardrail characteristics necessary to shield the vertical highway signpost.

Examination of available research and testing methods for barriers reveals that 36 www.greenazine.com

guidance given to the states on upgrading barrier systems is inadequate. In addition, there is a clear need nationwide for higher performance traffic barriers to redirect heavy commercial vehicles and motorcoaches. New barrier performance standards are needed along with, possibly, new barrier designs with height and deflection characteristics capable of safely redirecting heavy commercial passenger vehicles from point hazards.

Occupant injuries and motorcoach crashworthiness: The accident motorcoach hit the guardrail, rolled over, and slid on its passenger side into the vertical highway signpost.

The point of impact on the motorcoach, just below the roofline, was not capable of attenuating a frontal crash and the resulting impact loading was beyond the vehicle’s design scope. Further, survival space was compromised for passengers in the path of the vertical signpost structure. Because motorcoaches are not currently required to meet Federal performance standards for occupant protection, the 1999 Prevost motorcoach was not equipped with passenger seat restraint systems—systems which, if installed, could reduce ejection and sec-

ondary impact injuries. As a result of this accident investigation, the NTSB identified the design of seat spacing and armrests as a means of reducing occupant injury and advocates for their evaluation and, if safe configurations and spacing are identified, the development of guidelines.

Probable Cause The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the motorcoach driver’s failure to control the motorcoach due to fatigue resulting from failure to obtain adequate sleep, poor sleep quality, and the time of day at which the accident occurred. Contributing to the accident was inadequate safety oversight of the accident driver by World Wide Travel’s management. Contributing to the severity of the accident was the motorcoach’s speed and a guardrail that was not designed to redirect the heavy vehicle and did not prevent it from colliding with the vertical highway signpost. Contributing to the severity of passenger injuries was the extensive intrusion of the vertical highway signpost into the passenger compartment.

Certification, License, and Driving History The 40-year-old motorcoach driver held a New York State class “B” commercial driver’s license (CDL) with a “P” passenger endorsement and no

restrictions. His current medical examiner’s certificate (equivalent of a physical examination card) was issued on November 18, 2010, with an expiration date of November 2012. The accident driver’s CDL was issued in February 2010, with an expiration date of December 2015. However, during its investigation of this accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) discovered that the accident driver had incurred driving violations and suspensions prior to being licensed in New York. These violations were recorded under an alias. Two of the suspensions were still in effect at the time of the accident, meaning the driver was operating the motorcoach on a suspended license. (Table 2 summarizes the accident driver’s driving history, and appendix B contains his full driving history.)

The NTSB also obtained the driver’s Commercial Driver’s License Information System (CDLIS) record from the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (NYDMV), which contains the driver’s total driving record. The following is a summary of that record: 5 suspensions (for failure to pay child support); 6 violations (1994–1996); and 21 separate suspensions8 (for offenses other than failure to pay child support).

During its accident investigation, the NTSB reviewed the driver’s qualification file. Prior to working for World Wide Travel, the accident driver had worked as a helper and driver of a hearse and limousine for a funeral home in Brooklyn, New York, from August 1989–March 2006. From March 2006–December 2007, he was a motorcoach driver for Coach USA (doing business as Community Coach, Inc.) in Paramus, New Jersey, working as both a full- and part-time employee until being fired for too many absences. The driver was also employed part-time by the New York Metropolitan Transit Agency from February 5–20, 2007, until being terminated for failing to report two criminal convictions on his job application. The NTSB has no record of employment for the driver from December 2007–October 2010; the driver reported he was a caregiver for an ill family member during that period. The accident driver was hired by World Wide Travel on November 17, 2010, and, after undergoing the company’s preemployment screening process, began working on November 23, 2010.

Company Compliance Review Histories World Wide Travel underwent the first of four FMCSA compliance reviews in 1999; Great Escapes underwent a compliance review in 2007, following an FMCSA request earlier that year during a compliance review of World Wide Travel. The FMCSA noted in its remarks for both companies that “the two companies [World Wide Travel and Great Escapes] share the same office, same drivers and lease each other’s vehicles.” In 2008, World Wide Travel underwent another compliance review because the FMCSA had received a complaint from a passenger alleging that one of the carrier’s drivers was driving in an unsafe manner, to include tailgating, taking his hands off the steering wheel, and making aggressive lane changes. The FMCSA also reported that the review was conducted because the carrier’s name was mentioned in a U.S. Office of Inspector General hotline complaint regarding companies that were

advertising their services on a website <www.gotobus.com> and operating without insurance and without authority. The 2007 and 2008 compliance review ratings for both World Wide Travel and Great Escapes were “satisfactory.”

The FMCSA conducted a postaccident compliance review of World Wide Travel, which was finalized on April 7, 2011. The remarks section of the review noted that World Wide Traveland Great Escapes share carrier officials,64 office staff, and drivers but operate different motorcoaches, commenting that documents for both companies “had to be reviewed throughout this review in order to decipher the trips and records required to be reviewed.” Additionally, the FMCSA stated“The trips that are actually performed by the carrier are assigned by the carrier dispatcher after determining which coach is available to conduct the trip. This dispatcher is an employee of both World Wide Travel of Greater New York and Great Escapes Tours & Travel LTD. If a trip is not able to be performed by one of the six coaches operated by World Wide Travel, then it is assigned to their “sister” carrier, Great Escapes Tours & Travel LTD.…The carrier’s drivers were found to be operating for both carriers during any particular day of the month, and in some cases they were operating for both carriers on the same days.”

The FMCSA’s postaccident compliance review of World Wide Travel resulted in “unsatisfactory” ratings for the operational and accident rate factors, resulting in an overall “unsatisfactory” rating.65 The majority of operational factor violations were related to hours of service, mostly due to the accident driver failing to record and submit his driver log records for the months that he was employed at World Wide Travel. Under the accident rate factor, the carrier had an accident rate of 5.7 per million miles; the FMCSRs require that a carrier with an accident rate greater than 1.5 per million miles be rated “unsatisfactory” for the accident rate factor. On June 4, 2011, the FMCSA placed World Wide Travel out of service. However, Great Escapes continues to operate out of the same shared terminal location, under most of the same management, and using the motorcoaches, dispatcher, mechanics, and some of the drivers that had been shared with World Wide Travel.

The FMCSA’s postaccident compliance review of Great Escapes resulted in a proposed “conditional” rating, which became final on July 17, 2011. The rating was assigned because the carrier did not have adequate safety management controls in place and the operation was deficient in the following areas: driver qualification, vehicle inspection, repair and maintenance, controlled substance and alcohol use and testing, and driver hours of service.

According to the FMCSA, a pattern and/or repeated violation66 of the same or related acute or critical regulation (violations of the same Part in Title 49 CFR) will result in the maximum penalties allowed by law.67 The FMCSA closed an enforcement case in fiscal year 2006 against Great Escapes for Federal safety violations; 68 based on the safety violations in www.greenazine.com

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the postaccident compliance review, the FMCSA determined that Great Escapes management displayed a pattern of repeated violations. In the Notice of Claim, the FMCSA increased the company’s penalties as a result of its pattern of repeated safety violations.

The FMCSA conducted a nonratable (focused onsite) review of Great Escapes on October 18, 2011, for the two safety measurement BASIC categories under CSA for Fatigued Driving and Driver Fitness. The FMCSA investigator noted in the review that background information was provided by World Wide Travel’s president, who the investigator stated had been in business with the president of Great Escapes for several years. The other company contact for the review was Great Escapes’ safety manager, who had also been the safety manager at World Wide Travel. The FMCSA investigator also reviewed the company’s compliance regarding violations shown in the May 2011 compliance review (finalized in July 2011). The October 2011 nonrated review documented the continuing breakdowns in Great Escapes safety management processes pertaining to driver qualification, driver hours of service, and vehicle maintenance.

As a result of the review, and in addition to the carrier’s request to upgrade its postaccident “conditional” safety rating, the FMCSA determined that for Great Escapes to receive a “satisfactory” safety rating, it would be required to document that it has (1) installed automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRD) equipped with electronic mobile communication and tracking technology for driver hours-of-service dispatch and

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recordkeeping; (2) established a disciplinary program specific to hours-of-service compliance and records-of-duty falsification; (3) equipped all commercial vehicles with speed limiters set atspeeds not exceeding 65 mph; (4) established monitoring systems to ensure that drivers are not driving at excessive speeds on all routes, including local and residential routes; (5) instituted a disciplinary program specific to speeding violations; and (6) enrolled in and will continue to participate in the FMCSA’s preemployment screening program (PSP) 69 to assess individual driver histories prior to employment.

Driver-Applicant Applications A driver-applicant must include specific information when submitting an application to a prospective motor carrier, as required by 49 CFR 391.21: All motor vehicle accidents in which the applicant was involved during the 3 years preceding the date the application is submitted; All violations of motor vehicle laws or ordinances (other than parking violations) of which the driver was convicted or forfeited bond or collateral during the 3 years preceding the date the application is submitted; Statement describing in detail the facts and circumstances of any denial, revocation, or suspension of any license, permit, or privilege to operate a motor vehicle that has been issued to the applicant or a statement that no such denial, revocation, or suspension has occurred; All employers for the previous 3 years; Applicant’s motor carrier employment for the past 10 years, per 49 CFR

383.35; and Signed waiver that allows the prospective employer access to the applicant’s driving and employment history.

The motor carrier may require an applicant to provide additional information, and the driver-applicant must sign the application indicating the information is true and complete. Motor carriers are also required to make certain inquires of the driver-applicant’s previous records, including driving history for the most recent 3 years per 49 CFR 391.23.

Driver disqualification criteria found in 49 CFR 383.51, tables 1 and 2, include disqualification for traffic violations that occur in either the CDL holder’s private vehicle or when operating a CMV. Also, per 49 CFR 383.31, CDL drivers are required to report to their employers all nonparking traffic violation convictions “in any type of vehicle.” Employers are also required to make an annual inquiry of their driver employees’ driving history from the state of licensure per 49 CFR 391.25.

Driver Fatigue The NTSB evaluated several factors to assess whether the driver was impaired by fatigue at the time of the accident, including his sleep/wake history, sleep quality, circadian factors, and health.

The driver reported that, on his days off, 90 he typically goes to bed at 8:00–9:00 p.m. and awakens at 10:00 a.m.–noon, a sleep period of 13–16 hours. The driver also reported that, on work days, he typically gets home about 9:00 a.m., at which point he goes to bed. He stated that his wake time depends on when he is next scheduled to work, which in the case of a 6:15 p.m. start time would be 4:30–5:00 p.m. Therefore, the driver’s self-reported typical sleep time during his daytime off-duty periods91 was approximately 7.5 hours.

reported similar sleep patterns during the 72 hours leading to the accident, with daytime sleep periods ranging from 4 hours 30 minutes–6 hours, and nighttime naps on the bus ranging from 1 hour 45 minutes–3 hours 30 minutes.

However, evidence from the driver’s cell phone and rental car records suggests that he was in the car and/or using his cell phone frequently during his self-reported daytime sleep periods over the 3 days before the accident. The driver’s cell phone records do not show an incoming or outgoing call or that the phone was in use at the time of the accident. Factoring in the driver’s use of his cell phone and rental car activity, his opportunity for sleep in the days leading to the accident would have been limited to short periods of approximately 4 hours or less.

The normative daily sleep need for humans is 7–9 hours. Epidemiological research has shown that drivers who reported getting 5 or fewer hours of sleep in the previous 24 hours had an almost threefold increase in risk for an injury crash.95 Over multiple days of sleep deprivation, an individual incurs a “sleep debt” in which the impairing effects of sleep deprivation are compounded. The driver’s activity history suggested that his longest opportunity for continuous

sleep during the 24-hour period preceding the accident was during the approximately 3 hours thathe was on the bus (midnight–3:00 a.m.) and that his daily sleep opportunities in the days before the accident never exceeded 4 continuous hours.

Therefore, the accident driver was experiencing both acute sleep loss and cumulative sleep debt at the time of the accident. The driver’s statement that he slept 13–16 hours when he had a day off further suggests that he was routinely becoming sleep deprived during his work periods. Further, the sleep quality that the driver experienced on the bus was less than optimal. Like most motorcoaches, the accident bus did not have a sleeper berth, so the driver had to recline across the seats to sleep.

Circadian factors also likely influenced the driver’s sleep quantity and waking performance. Circadian factors are those factors associated with the human circadian rhythm or “biological clock,” which affects numerous biological, physiological, and performance variables. With respect to circadian factors, there are three notable issues. First, the time of day when the accident occurred—approximately 5:38 a.m.—falls during the period in the circadian cycle when self-perceived sleepiness is most pronounced and when human performance is most degraded. In addition, the driver’s work schedule was inverted. That is, his work periods occurred during periods when humans typically sleep, and his off-duty periods occurred during periods when humans are typically awake.

Research has shown that inverted work schedules

In an interview conducted 3 days after the accident, the driver reported that he slept approximately 3 hours 45 minutes on the bus before the accident trip92 and that he had slept 5 hours 30 minutes during his daytime off-duty period the day before the accident. The driver www.greenazine.com

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are associated with shortened sleep lengths, higher subjective wake-time sleepiness, and degraded performance.98 Furthermore, the driver’s self-reported sleep times followed a more traditional diurnal pattern (that is, sleeping at night and awake during the day) during his days off. The result of such dramatic change to his sleep/wake schedule would have degraded the driver’s sleep quality and quantity and led to performance impairment during waking periods.

Additionally, the driver’s work schedule was rotated backward by approximately 3 hours the day before the accident. His schedule indicates that he began his work shift at 9:00 p.m. on March 8, 9, and 10, and slept from approximately 2:00–6:00 a.m. during layover periods. On March 11, the day before the accident, the driver began his work shift at 6:15 p.m., and his layover period at the casino was from 11:00 p.m.–3:00 a.m. on March 12. Although this 3-hour backward rotation is minor in comparison to the large sleep/wake rotations the driver engaged in between his work and nonwork days, such rotations have been associated with sleep reductions, as well.

In written statements, several passengers stated that the driver had driven over the rumble strips numerous times during the accident trip. Additionally, three truck drivers who saw the motorcoach approximately 10–20 minutes before the accident stated that the bus was speeding and swerving. One driver stated that the bus was “zig-zagging” over the white line and that he witnessed the bus moving “deep into the breakdown lane and coming extremely close to the guardrail.” The accident driver’s repeated excursions from the roadway onto the rumble strips suggest that his alertness was degraded the entire trip.

The NTSB concludes that the driver was impaired by fatigue at the time of the accident due to sleep deprivation, poor sleep quality, and circadian factors; and his lack of evasive braking or corrective steering action as the bus drifted off the roadway was consistent with fatigue-induced performance impairment.

Research shows that even a healthy individual would suffer performance impairment if subjected to the sleep deprivation and circadian variation experienced by the driver in this acci-

dent. However, it is worth noting that because of his BMI and other factors,the accident driver would also have been considered at risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to standards set by an FMCSA Medical Review Board (MRB)103 and by a joint task force of the American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and National Sleep Foundation.104 OSA is a sleep disorder that has been associated with a significantly increased motor vehicle crash risk compared to the general driving population. In 2009, as the result of its investigation of accidents in all transportation modes, including a 2000 work zone accident,106 the NTSB issued the following recommendations to the FMCSA aimed at improvements in the screening, treatment, and medical certification of drivers at risk for OSA: Implement a program to identify commercial drivers at high risk for obstructive sleep apnea and require that those drivers provide evidence through the medical certification process of having been appropriately evaluated and, if treatment is needed, effectively treated for that disorder before being granted unrestricted medical certification. (H-09-15) Develop and disseminate guidance for commercial drivers, employers, and physicians regarding the identification and treatment of individuals at high risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), emphasizing that drivers who have OSA that is effectively treated are routinely approved for continued medical certification.

These recommendations were classified “Open—Acceptable Response” pending further FMCSA action. In August 2011, the FMCSA tasked its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) and MRB to jointly provide information the agency should consider in developing regulatory guidance for motor carriers, CMV drivers, and medical examiners on OSA and whether drivers with this condition should be medically certified to operate CMVs in interstate commerce. MCSAC and the MRB submitted short-term recommendations to the FMCSA in December 2011 and long-term recommendations

Even over the counter sleeping aids can present serious risks to a CDL Holder.

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In written statements, several passengers stated that the driver had driven over the rumble strips numerous times during the accident trip. Additionally, three truck drivers who saw the motorcoach approximately 10–20 minutes before the accident stated that the bus was speeding and swerving. for regulatory action in February 2012. On April 20, 2012, the FMCSA published the MCSAC-MRB recommendations in the Federal Register (77 FR 23794) in a Request for Public Comments; however, on April 27, the request was withdrawn (77 FR 25226). The agency stated that the original publication was a “clerical error” and that the request for public comments would be republished later in the year. Because the FMCSA has yet to establish a program to identify commercial drivers at high risk for OSA or to provide guidance concerning the disorder, the NTSB reiterates Safety Recommendations H-0915 and -16, which remain classified “Open—Acceptable Response.”

Fatigue Countermeasures The NTSB has a long history of issuing recommendations to prevent fatigue-related highway accidents, and human fatigue is an issue currently on the NTSB’s Most Wanted List. From 1998–2010, the NTSB determined driver fatigue to be a factor in 7 of 19 motorcoach accidents, which resulted in 46 fatalities.

Although World Wide Travel reported that new drivers were shown a video about driver fatigue during their initial training period, the company did not have a fatigue management program (FMP)—nor did the FMCSA require one. An FMP applies a comprehensive, tailored approach to the issue of fatigue within the operational environment in a particular industry or workplace. An FMP commonly addresses topics to help manage fatigue (for example, medical screening and treatment, scheduling policies and practices, employee education, fatigue monitoring technologies, task/workload issues, rest environments, commuting, and napping) and incorporates an overall organizational strategy for implementing, supervising, and evaluating the plan. Although it is unclear whether an FMP would have led the accident driver to sleep more during his off-duty periods, it may have addressed other fatigue-related issues such as the driver being at risk for OSA. Since 1999, the FMCSA has collaborated with Transport Canada and others to develop and implement a comprehensive FMP for the commercial motor carrier industry, known as the North American Fatigue Management Program (NAFMP). In its report detailing the 2009 fatal truck-tractor rear-end accident in Miami, Oklahoma,108 the NTSB acknowledged the

success of an NAFMP-sponsored pilot study109 when it recommended that the FMCSA Require all motor carriers to adopt a fatigue management program based on the North American Fatigue Management Program guidelines for the management of fatigue in a motor carrier operating environment.

In a 2011 letter to the NTSB, the FMCSA reported that the NAFMP had entered its final phase, which involves the development of guidelines, manuals, and other training materials to help motor carriers implement an FMP. However, in the same letter, the FMCSA noted that it believes that the “voluntary adoption of standardized FMPs is an appropriate non-regulatory alternative to recommendation H-10-9.” Consequently, on March 28, 2012, the NTSB reclassified Safety Recommendation H-10-9 “Open—Unacceptable Response.” The NTSB continues to maintain that voluntary NAFMP guidelines will do little to reduce fatigue-related highway accidents. Consequently, the NTSB reiterates Safety Recommendation H-10-9 to the FMCSA to require that all motor carriers adopt an FMP based on NAFMP guidelines.

The NAFMP instructional program goes beyond the current approach to fatigue education by including modules on safety culture and management practices, sleep disorder screening and treatment, driver scheduling, and fatigue monitoring and management technologies. The inclusion of a module on fatigue monitoring technologies, in particular, recognizes that vehicle-based countermeasures offer an added layer of protection in preventing fatigue-related accidents.

In 2008, as part of its investigation of a fatal truck and motorcoach collision in Osseo, Wisconsin,110 the NTSB recommended that the FMCSA Develop and implement a plan to deploy technologies in commercial vehicles to reduce the occurrence of fatigue-related accidents. (H-08-13)In-vehicle technologies—such as drowsy driver warning systems (DDWS) that measure eye movements or steering behaviors and lane departure warning systems (LDWS) that warn a driver if the vehicle drifts from its lane—have the potential to alert drivers when their performance is impaired.An advantage of driving performance-based systems is that they can potentially prevent crashes caused by a wide range of human www.greenazine.com

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performance impairment, including fatigue, distraction, drug/alcohol use, or medical impairment. However, to ensure such systems are employed effectively, factors such as the system’s validity and reliability and its acceptability to drivers should be considered. In 2009, the NTSB reclassified Safety Recommendation “Open—Unacceptable Response” due to the lack of progress made by the FMCSA in implementing in-vehicle technologies in commercial vehicles to address driver fatigue.

The NTSB concludes that had the motorcoach been equipped with in-vehicle technologies such as an LDWS or DDWS, the driver would have been alerted and had the opportunity to stop driving before the accident occurred.

The NTSB therefore reiterates Safety Recommendation H-08-13 to the FMCSA to develop and implement a plan to deploy commercial vehicle technologies that reduce the occurrence of fatiguerelated accidents.

Ideally, driver impairment or risky driver behaviors should be detected and mitigated well before safety critical events occur. Onboard monitoring systems (OBMS) have the potential to provide early detection of a wide range of driving behaviors. OBMS are defined by FMCSA as hardware/software suites that allow for (1) online measurement of a set of unsafe driving behaviors, (2) real-time performance feedback to the driver, and (3) “roll-up” reports of driver behaviors for use by motor carriers for a “delayed discussion with the driver.”114 Driving behaviors that may be monitored include top speeds (also known as overspeeds), sharp vehicle decelerations (that is, hard braking), and lateral accelerations (indicative of speed on curves).

Video event recorders (VER) 115 are already recognized by the NTSB and many motor carrier operators as a viable safety tool. As a result of its investigation of a 2010 accident involving driver fatigue,116 the NTSB recommended that the FMCSA Require all heavy commercial vehicles to be equipped with video event recorders that capture data in connection with the driver and the outside environment and roadway in the event

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of a crash or sudden deceleration event.

The device should create recordings that are easily accessible for review when conducting efficiency testing and systemwide performance-monitoring programs. Require motor carriers to review and use video event recorder information in conjunction with other performance data to verify that driver actions are in accordance with company and regulatory rules and procedures essential to safety. OBMS provide a proactive approach to identifying various vehicle and driving deficiencies, allowing for manual or automatic intervention rather than relying on enforcement personnel.

According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), when compared with conventional driver safety measures, OBMS can: • provide a 100-percent sample of driver behavior, • Capture specific behaviors that cause crashes, incidents, and violations, • Recognize and reward positive driving behaviors, and •Recognize and correct negative driving behaviors before a crash, incident, or violation occurs.

•Establish driving behavior-based benchmarks so drivers know where they stand in relation to carrier expectations.

• Provide for frequent and timely valuations, feedback, and consequences (including both reward and punishment).

Many motor carriers are already equipping vehicles with global positioning system (GPS) devices for navigation and as a safety feature to monitor driver speeds. Additionally, some motor carriers have reported that though they have not purchased OBMS, they have used features already available on their vehicles for monitoring driver behaviors— for example, bringing vehicles to a dealership for a readout of the engine ECM. These quarterly data downloads allow the carrier to review records for overspeeds and sudden decelerations.

In recent years, the FMCSA has spon-

sored research to develop and design a prototype OBMS.The FMCSA completed its pilot study of a prototype system in March 2010 and began large-scale field operational testing in 2011, including 3 carriers, 270 trucks, and over 500 drivers. After an initial 5-month setup period, data will be collected for 18 months, beginning in early 2012.

OBMS appear to have great potential to monitor and manage both fatigue- and nonfatigue-related driver behaviors and performance.

Behavior-based safety systems such as OBMS—involving both in-vehicle safety systems and fleet-based oversight—provide motor carriers the opportunity to detect unsafe driving behavior patterns, including speeding and lane departures.

With that information, motor carriers can work with drivers to remediate their behavior or to remove them from their positions if they do not show improvement. The NTSB acknowledges that OBMS are most likely to be successful when paired with robust and consistent carrier oversight.

The NTSB concludes that had World Wide Travel employed and proactively used an OBMS to track the accident driver’s performance, company management would have had the opportunity to detect his unsafe behavior and use such information to remediate the behavior or remove him from his position.

The NTSB therefore recommends that the FMCSA develop and disseminate guidance for motor carriers on how to most effectively use currently available OBMS and develop a plan to periodically update the guidance. Additionally, the NTSB recommends that upon completion of the field operational tests for OBMS, the FMCSA determine whether test results indicate that such systems would reduce accidents or injuries, and, if so, require commercial motor carriers to use these systems to improve driver safety

Conclusions 1. The emergency response was timely and adequate.

2. None of the following were factors in the accident: (1) weather; (2) design and construction of the roadway surface; (3) any other vehicle; (4) alcohol or prescription, over-the-counter, or illicit drug use by the motorcoach driver; and (5) vehicle mechanical defects or deficiencies.

3. The driver was impaired by fatigue at the time of the accident due to sleep deprivation, poor sleep quality, and circadian factors; and his lack of evasive braking or corrective steering action as the bus drifted off the roadway was consistent with fatigue-induced performance impairment.

4. Had the motorcoach been equipped with in-vehicle technologies such as a lane departure warning system or drowsy driver warning system, the driver would have been alerted and had the opportunity to stop driving before the accident occurred.

5. Had World Wide Travel employed and proactively used an onboard monitoring system to track the accident driver’s performance, company management would have had the opportunity to detect his unsafe behavior and use such information to remediate the behavior or remove him from his position.

6. The use of in-vehicle technologies to prevent commercial drivers from exceeding the speed limit would be beneficial in reducing both the instances and severity of accidents involving heavy vehicles.

7. By providing a 10-year driving history on prospective employees, the states could better assist motor carriers in identifying problem commercial drivers and reduce the number of commercial motor vehicle accidents and fatalities.

8. The current provisions of 49 Code of

Federal Regulations 391.23 requiring a motor carrier to inquire into an applicant’s driving history for the most recent 3 years are insufficient to make an informed hiring decision and result in the motor carrier not having access to sufficient safety-related information prior to hiring drivers.

9. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new safety fitness determination process could address deficiencies in the current compliance review process by basing a motor carrier’s safety rating on violations of important safety-based regulations (as found in roadside inspections), helping to prevent unsafe carriers from continuing to operate.

10. As evidenced by Great Escapes’ safety measurement system scores and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s refusal to upgrade its safety rating, it is apparent that the carrier’s management does not have a safety system to resolve the proximal causes and associated risks with driver behaviors, leading to repeated driver safety violations proven to increase the risk of accidents.

11. The safety benefits of consistently and effectively addressing high-risk (either reincarnated or affiliated) interstate motor carriers resulting from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new rule addressing operational affiliation and reincarnation of carriers should assist in curtailingtheir continued unsafe operations.

12. The fact that the overturned motorcoach struck the vertical highway signpost located within the clear zone, despite a barrier system being in place, directly contributed to the severity of this accident.

13. The forces in this accident exceeded the capability of a strong-post, blockedout W-beam guardrail barrier system

that was not designed to safely contain or redirect the accident motorcoach.

14. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Roadside Design Guide does not contain objective warrants for the use of higher performance traffic barriers (Test Levels 4 and 5) to redirect larger commercial vehicles, such as buses and motorcoaches.

15. Survival space was compromised for passengers in the path of the vertical highway signpost as the signpost traversed the motorcoach interior for almost the entire length of the vehicle.

16. Equipping new motorcoaches with passenger lap/shoulder belts, even in the case of accidents such as this one, would likely mitigate serious and fatal injuries for some passengers during a rollover event and subsequent impact events.

Probable Cause The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the motorcoach driver’s failure to control the motorcoach due to fatigue resulting from failure to obtain adequate sleep, poor sleep quality, and the time of day at which the accident occurred. Contributing to the accident was inadequate safety oversight of the accident driver by World Wide Travel’s management. Contributing to the severity of the accident was the motorcoach’s speed and a guardrail that was not designed to redirect the heavy vehicle and did not prevent it from colliding with the vertical highway signpost. Contributing to the severity of passenger injuries was the extensive intrusion of the vertical highway signpost into the passenger compartment.

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the probable cause of the accident was the motorcoach driver’s failure to control the motorcoach due to fatigue resulting from failure to obtain adequATE SLEEP... www.greenazine.com

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MANAGEMENT & HR

Finding the “motive”in motivation Is it possible that we’ve overengineered a complex solution to a simple problem? Is it possible that it’s a lot more organic and more altruistic than all of this? Is it possible that motivation can be enhanced and even optimized simply by helping others

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For decades, management science has concerned itself with researching and developing sophisticated systems for understanding and unleashing employee motivation.

In organizations, we’ve experimented with countless combinations of possible solutions to arrive at that magical motivational mix. We’ve tried: • Compensation, bonuses, and different takes on doling out the almighty dollar to inspire employees • Recognition in a variety of flavors, including verbal reinforcement, physical tokens and reminders, and exotic trips • Team structures that support relationships and greater autonomy • Enticing work spaces (because what says ‘motivation’ more than a pool table and hanging out with Fido from 9 to 5?)

• Flexible schedules and remote working opportunities Is it possible that we’ve over-engineered a complex solution to a simple problem? Is it possible that it’s a lot more organic and more altruistic than all of this? Is it possible that motivation can be enhanced and even optimized simply by helping others connect their work with the value it brings to others? Recent research suggests an emphatic “yes,” “yes,” and “yes.”

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The altruistic angle Adam Grant, the Wharton professor and author of “Give and Take,” offers considerable evidence that making the connection between work and the value it brings to others activates motivation.

In his scholarship call-center experiment, time on the phone increased by 142% and revenues grew by 171% to 400% after the callers met those benefiting from the scholarships for which they were raising funds. In another study, Grant determined that positioning healthcare provider hand-washing in terms of benefits to the patient (versus benefits to the providers) triggered a 33% increase in the volume of product used and 10% increase in compliance.

Mine the motive These studies suggest that as humans we may be intrinsically motivated to serve and bring value to others. If that’s the case (or if you want to believe that it’s the case and conduct your own field studies to confirm it), then it behooves leaders to explore four strategies that may tap into this altruism and activate a service/value/ motivation loop.

Make it personal. Let employees see, hear, and experience the customer directly. If the work cannot be structured for routine customer contact, then engineer regular human touch points. Invite a customer to attend meetings. Arrange for field trips to customer sites. Schedule a ride-along with key customer contacts.

Survey data and feedback forms are interesting; but they don’t replace human contact for tapping deep human emotions and connections.

Offer a value menu. Develop and regularly share targeted messaging that connects work with the value it delivers. In the busyness of day-to-day work, it’s easy for employees to forget the deeper meaning and contributions associated with the

tasks performed. Leaders must remind them and keep it front-of-mind in a variety of ways including living mission statements, decision-criteria that are customer-focused, and performance feedback and recognition that relate directly to customer value.

Connect the dots. Policies, processes, and changes (all of which frequently meet with employee resistance) are more palatable when employees understand how the customer and others benefit. Vet rules, guidelines, ideas and approaches by rigorously considering the value they deliver.

This provides a structural means for systemically tapping into employees’ internal motivation.

Encourage back-patting. To raise awareness (and the motivation it triggers) routinely ask employees how they are helping the customer and each other.

Who did you help today? What’s the best thing you’ve done for our customers today? What’s the biggest difference you’ve made to a colleague or his/her work? Before long, employees will have internalized the discipline of connecting their performance to its value to others… and they’ll be volunteering this information.

Altruism and service to others might be the most powerful (and under-leveraged) source of internal motivation within employees. Leaders who are willing to consider and explore this possibility will bring greater humanity to the workplace, unleash potential and performance, and in the process experience a more profound and satisfying connection to their own work. In this way, they’ll help themselves and those around them find the motive behind their motivation.

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MANAGEMENT

AreYou Cut Out for the CEO R

Good CEOs are made, not born.

Good CEOs are made, not born. But the same can’t always be said for founders.

A founder has a vision and a passion for her product or service, and she can inspire her customers, employees and investors to believe in her idea’s potential. A founder believes so much in her vision that she’ll ride out uncertainty and failure to see her idea succeed.

But these skills don’t always make for a great CEO. In small startups, founders often double as CEOs, at least at first. With the right skills, you may be able to fill both roles, but at some point, you’ll have to figure out if being the founder and the CEO is 48 www.greenazine.com

Role?

Motor carriers are also prohibited from requiring or allowing their drivers to text or use a handheld mobile phone while driving and may be subject to civil penalties up to $11,000

helping or hurting your company’s growth.

So, how do you know if you can manage both roles? Here are a few questions to help you determine whether you’re a founder and CEO or if you’re better-suited to the role of chief vision officer instead: 1. Are you good with people?

If you’re not a people person, you probably won’t make a good CEO. An effective CEO needs to be able to attract talent and form partnerships. He or she also has to be adept at hiring,

firing, delegating, evaluating performance and dealing with company politics. A little charisma can go a long way toward making things run smoothly.

2. Can you look long-term?

CEOs have to keep track of company activities and see the bigger picture. They need to be able to look ahead to where the company is going and anticipate potential problems and opportunities. CEOs have to be more risk-averse than founders because they must focus on running a profitable business, and they have to be willing to stray from the original vision to get www.greenazine.com

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there. Founders often have trouble making these kinds of compromises — or seeing beyond their original vision.

3. Do you have the right skills?

If you’re a technical founder of a web startup and aren’t as comfortable with the people side of running a company, you probably should find a co-founder to be CEO. Your time is better spent focused on the evolving product or service needs and execution. On the other hand, if you’re a non-technical founder, you may be able to take the role of CEO and find a technical co-founder. Find someone who has abilities that complement yours.

If you’ve determined that you don’t have the mindset to be the best CEO for your company, look for the aforementioned traits in your company’s new leadership.

Much of your startup’s success or failure will be determined by the people you hire. And finding a good CEO who can attract talent, investors and customers when you’re not up to the task should be your top priority. In the end, the last thing you’ll want is to let your ego get in the way of your company’s success. 

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MANAGEMENT & HR

6 Strategies to RallyYourT A winning business plan is nothing if employees aren’t behind it.

Here’s how to get them on board.

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Ever craft an annual business plan only to watch it gather dust in a binder? When taking a business from zero to maturity, it’s easy to get caught up in the dayto-day grind. But getting everyone on board with your mission will get you there faster. Here are six ways to get your strategic plan out of your head and into the minds of employees.

Put it on paper.

Lengthy business plans and spreadsheets will only make your mission more confusing to non-executives. Boil it down to one page with the following: Your goals, mission, core val-

ues, key aspects of your target audience, positioning, three-to five-year strategic moves, and current year priorities. Don’t forget these: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and key performance indicators.

Make it visible.

Employees tend to forget how their work ties into the company’s big picture, so hand out paper copies of your plan to keep at their desks. Do ask them to keep it confidential, as you don’t want competitors seeing it.

Involve your new hires.

Many new hires haven’t been ex-

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Troops Meet with your management team quarterly to revise your plan as needed based on new opportunities, threats, or weaknesses.

posed to business plans in the past and clearly don’t know the fundamentals of yours. Make time to personally walk them through, explaining how their role and decisions tie in with your goals. If you do this in a group setting, everyone can engage in an active discussion.

Dust off your plan.

Strategic plans can go stale if they aren’t updated continuously. Meet with your management team quarterly to revise your plan as needed based on new opportunities, threats, or weaknesses.

Be sure to keep the company posted on changes during quarterly company meetings and pass out the revised onepager.

Solicit meaningful feedback.

All too often, business plans can feel disconnected from workers who help make them happen. Hold brainstorming sessions so everyone can offer input on how to move the company forward.

Delegate goals and track progress accordingly.

Each annual strategic priority should have a clear owner who rallies the team to get it done. Hold these leaders accountable through frequent updates both to you and the workforce in monthly meetings. If you have plenty of plans with distributed teams, track your progress via a Google spreadsheet.

Getting everyone aligned with your vision requires a team effort. Start by making your business plan accessible and you’ll reap major benefits.  www.greenazine.com

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What is Responsive Web Design Responsive: A webpage that responds based on the screen it is being viewed on.

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Have you asked yourself, “What is responsive Web design?” Responsive Web design is an approach whereby a designer creates a Web page that “responds to” or resizes itself depending on the type of device it is being seen through. That could be an oversized desktop computer monitor, a laptop, a 10-inch tablet, a 7-inch tablet, or a 4-inch smartphone screen.

Responsive Web design has become one of the hottest trends in 2013. This is due

in part to the growth of smartphones and other mobile devices. More people are using smaller-screen devices to view Web pages.

In fact, Mashable even dubbed 2013 the Year of Responsive Web Design. Pete Cashmore wrote, ”For those of us who create websites and services, all this leads to a singular conclusion: A million screens have bloomed, and we need to build for all of them.”

What Does Responsive Web Design Look Like?

umns. Images will resize instead of distorting the layout or getting cut off.

The purpose of responsive design is to have one site, but with different elements that respond differently when viewed on devices of different sizes.

The point is: with responsive design, the website automatically adjusts based on the device the viewer sees it in.

Let’s take a traditional “fixed” website. When viewed on a desktop computer, for instance, the website might show three columns. But when you view that same layout on a smaller tablet, it might force you to scroll horizontally, something users don’t like. Or elements might be hidden from view or look distorted. The impact is also complicated by the fact that many tablets can be viewed either in portrait orientation, or turned sideways for landscape view.

How Does Responsive Web Design Work?

On a tiny smartphone screen, websites can be even more challenging to see. Large images may “break” the layout. Sites can be slow to load on smartphones if they are graphics heavy.

Media such as images is also resized relatively. That way an image can stay within its column or relative design element.

However, if a site uses responsive design, the tablet version might automatically adjust to display just two columns. That way, the content is readable and easy to navigate. On a smartphone, the content might appear as a single column, perhaps stacked vertically. Or possibly the user would have the ability to swipe over to view other col-

gn?

The purpose of responsive design is to have one site, but with different elements that respond differently when viewed on devices of different sizes.

Responsive sites use fluid grids. All page elements are sized by proportion, rather than pixels. So if you have three columns, you wouldn’t say exactly how wide each should be, but rather how wide they should be in relation to the other columns.

Column 1 should take up half the page, column 2 should take up 30%, and column 3 should take up 20%, for instance.

Related Issues Mouse v. touch: Designing for mobile devices also brings up the issue of mouse versus touch. On desktop computers the user normally has a mouse to navigate and select items. On a smartphone or tablet, the user mostly is using fingers and touching the screen. What may seem easy to select with

a mouse, may be hard to select with a finger on a tiny spot on a screen. The Web designer must take “touch” into consideration.

Graphics and download speed: Also, there’s the issue of graphics, ads and download speed. On mobile devices, it may be wise to display fewer graphics than for desktop views so that a site doesn’t take forever to load on a smartphone. Larger ad sizes may need to be exchanged for smaller ads.

Googel plus does more then just help you find new customers... did you know it can impact your search results as well?

Apps and “mobile versions”: In the past, you might have thought about creating an app for your website — say an iPad app or an Android app. Or you would have a mobile version specifically for BlackBerry.

But with so many different devices today, it’s getting harder to create apps and versions for every device and operating platform. As Smashing Magazine wrote, “When will the madness stop? It won’t, of course.” A responsive design that is flexible enough to be viewed on multiple devices just makes sense.

Why Small Businesses Need to Switch to Responsive Web Design More people are using mobile devices. A recent Pew study found that 45% of American adults own a smartphone, and 31% own a tablet computer. As we reported yesterday, smartphone shipments outpace those of regular mobile phones, and tablet growth is surging.

Check your traffic and you might just be shocked at how many visitors are getting to your website through mobile devices. (In your Google Analytics, select “Audience” on the left side, then “Mobile” to see what proportion of traffic is from mobile devices.

You can even drill down to see which devices are sending the traffic.)

Responsive design templates are the future of web design and allow for all kinds of benifits. Ask your website professional, or IT team what you need to do to make the transistion. 

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