Often recently, business owners have brought up the issue of what to do when a good employee changes into being not so good. Many times, these are long-serving people who have helped the company get to this point in time.

Wise business owners don’t want to act harshly and precipitously, even in a down economy when there are good people out there looking for jobs. An outsider does not know the company like a veteran. So before you cast aside a former high performer, listen to some advice from others who have faced this situation.

In a recent meeting, Joe Twist, CEO of The Collaborative Group, a Baltimore-based market research and business intelligence firm focused on the pharmaceutical industry, uttered a phrase that hit all those present profoundly: “success comes to those people who place themselves in the path of positive surprises.”

Many marketing gurus advise companies to look to their existing customers and former customers for increases in sales and revenue. They quote statistics about how much more expensive it is to get new customers than to increase the business with existing ones. As a practical matter we have to do both.

One of the biggest mistakes in marketing, in fact, in all communications is to assume that just because you sent a message that it was received and understood. How many times has someone asked you about something, you reply that you were unaware of it and they become frustrated and say something like, “I sent you the e-mail last Friday!” or, how many times has the reverse happened to you? Experts in communications say you have to view the process as a circle, not as a straight line.

There is no end to the news about falling tax revenues at every level of government. Politicians are scrambling to balance budgets and make up for income shortfalls. Besides adding new taxes, governments are looking for ways to increase revenue from existing tax structures. For years, the IRS has policed the practice of hiring contract workers instead of employees. There are obvious flexibility and tax advantages in structuring a company or a part of a company this way. The IRS has used a 20 question test to assess whether a worker is truly an employee or a legitimate outside contractor.

These are certainly not the most encouraging times to live in. We get constant daily reminders of bad economic conditions, war and terrorism, lower stock and real estate values, etc. The race goes to the people who understand the value of and the need for persistence. Someone famous once said that 90% of success is just showing up. So hats off to all of you out there who refuse to give in to despair, that believe in what you are doing and are keeping at it.

More and more I see businesses going "horizontal-" merging with complementary companies or expanding their existing services into related lines to provide more support to (and gain more revenue from) existing customers. This trend is partly fueled by the realization that it is easier to expand service to customers that have already voted to do business with you than it is to develop new ones. It is also partly driven by the growing realization that managing customer relationships can lead to long-term, recurring revenue.

Here are a several of ideas from many discussions with business owners about how to raise your service to world class levels:
1. Help clients learn and believe in how to benefit the most from what you provide. If things do not go well, clients hardly ever blame themselves. So, a disproportionate burden falls on the service provider to make sure clients use services properly.
2. Get agreement up front from your clients or prospects on how they will define the success of using what you are offering. This is not foolproof but it can sure help down the road.

There is a familiar theme that runs through meetings with business owners: bringing up issues for solutions-especially ones involving employees- where the answer seeker assumes he or she is 100% responsible for that solution. It's not just the inability to delegate (although that is a part of it,) or the need for total control (also a part of it with some people.)