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Lee Kirkby

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Vice President, Leppert Business Systems

58 points

Broad General business background with extensive general management, marketing, public relations and organizational development experience.

Extensive work with Boards of Directors in not for profit and Charitable organizations including Health Care, Children's Welfare, Utility Management and Skills Training.

Private ...

Broad General business background with extensive general management, marketing, public relations and organizational development experience.

Extensive work with Boards of Directors in not for profit and Charitable organizations including Health Care, Children's Welfare, Utility Management and Skills Training.

Private sector management and sales experience including consulting and business process management.

Active Member of Rotary and editor of club newsletter and Director of Public Relations. Served as President in 2008/9.

Specialties:Experience with office workflow design with regard to document production, filing systems and integration. Experienced author with emphasis on technology and business systems utilization. Author of monthly Office Technology Columnn in the Executive, an Ontario based business newspaper. Served as researcher and co-author of major organizational development project sponsored by Human Resources Canada. Strong knowledge of organizational dynamics as related to not for profit sector.

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WEB: My Rotary Club

April 25, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 4 other people answered this question

Backed by Google & Salesforce, is HubSpot poised to be a marketing automation game changer for SMBs?

I was travelling when this questions got posted so a bit behind the flow. I have been using Hubspot for over a year now and while it is not low cost it does offer value. Our ability to sustain using it may be challenged but ... more

April 12, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 6 other people answered this question

How can SMBs collect payments faster without alienating customers?

Payment is always an issue. In our business we are moving most smaller orders (sub $2000) to credit cards rather than credit. We are not a bank and costs for credit card processing are worth it to have payment immediately. Part of this change was ... more

April 6, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 25 other people answered this question

Do you really read electronic newsletters that hit your inbox?

I have several that I read every time since they deliver info I need. I have others I just scan and delete and I have others that I check the subject line and if it is not catching my interest then I delete without opening. ... more

April 1, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 10 other people answered this question

Why is it important to provide a reason for your connection invitation on LinkedIn?

I find that unless I fully recognize the person making a linkedIn request to connect when I get the generic linkedIn message then I use the ignor button.
If someone does take the time to tell me why they want to connect or also if ... more

March 31, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 3 other people answered this question

3 things you do for your employees when, and if, your business falls on "hard times"?

1. I agree with the number one above. It is critical to keep the employees informed, on the good and the bad. They can have a major impact on your long term ability to recover.
2. Be fair with employees. If there is pain to be ... more

Human Resources

Leadership and Management Development

March 4, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 7 other people answered this question

What techniques have you used to optimize your company's website for SEO?

I have been working for the past year on improving our website and its SEO. This is a continuous task, not a one time thing. Regular review of where our pages are and which ones are generating the traffic is critical. Without being too commercial ... more

Company Websites

Feb. 28, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 7 other people answered this question

When do you give up on an old laser printer or PC?

For the PC: When it gets too slow or does not have the connections needed to attach current peripherals. USB 2.0 is a good example. Many older units do not support this and some newer peripherals require that connection. In a business environment it makes ... more

Information Technology

Focus Interactive Summit

Jan. 12, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 9 other people answered this question

How much content should marketing be prepared to create to be successful at content marketing?

We've been working at this for about a year now and are attempting to average 2 new content pieces per week. One of the keys we have found is repurposing our material so that our blog becomes a core resource for our lead nurturing followup ... more

Content Marketing

Jan. 5, 2011

Lee Kirkby and 2 other people answered this question

Has the typical 15-30% annual increase in benefits costs affected your ability to hire new employees

Even in Canada where many health care costs are covered by the Government plan we find our benefits costs going up substantially. We had to change our allowances this year just to keep our increases in a reasonable range, but it meant passing more of ... more

Human Resources

Dec. 14, 2010

Lee Kirkby and 12 other people answered this question

What is more beneficial: creating a separate website for our blog, or adding it to our current site?

No question the blog and website should sit in the same structure. What is even more important is making sure that you have set them up so they are part of your own domain so that any SEO value from the posts gets credited to ... more

Blog Best Practices

Dec. 13, 2010

Lee Kirkby and 5 other people answered this question

What are some of the most important things that you do as a company in order to retain your clients?

I think one of the key areas is to make sure that everyone in the organization understands that they are part of the customer service team. Even the person doing the AR calls can do so in a respectful and tactful manner that provides the ... more

Client Retention/development

Customer Loyalty

Small Business Strategies

Nov. 30, 2010

Lee Kirkby and 23 other people answered this question

If a person wishes to become an effective senior leader, what traits should they develop?

I would rank good coaching skills and an ability to find and support good subordinates in a high position. If you can find good people to work with you, and you can help them build success in their positions then you will find your ability ... more

General Management

Leadership Development

Leadership Excellence

Leadership Qualities

Nov. 10, 2010

Lee Kirkby and 21 other people answered this question

How do you motivate your employees when times are tough?

It strikes me that part of the answer relates to how you dealt with your employees during the good times. Did they feel they were dealt with fairly, were kept informed of the company's progress and were made to feel that their contribution was valued? ... more

General Management

Economic Downturn

Oct. 28, 2010

Lee Kirkby and 10 other people answered this question

How has digital media changed your approach to marketing?

No question the changes have affected our marketing mix. We sell both hard goods and services in the B to B space and we have refocused our marketing budget to electronic tools almost exclusively. One of the key reasons is the ability to specifically measure ... more

Online Marketing

Oct. 19, 2010

Lee Kirkby and 6 other people answered this question

How do you keep employees from stealing intellectual property?

Part of the answer is dependent upon what type of IP you are dealing with. If it is trade secrets or client lists then a proper non compete clause in contracts can help. If it is property created jointly during employment then again your employment ... more

Information Technology

Information Access and Dissemination

Information Technology in Small Business

Intellectual Property

June 11, 2010

Lee Kirkby and 17 other people answered this question

Great Recession: hurt or helped your business?

David:
We are also in the Office Document Strategies field. We're up in Canada and the recession has hit differently here. We have seen a lot of delays and it has hurt but it also forced us to engage our employees more actively and keep ... more

Great Recession

Small Business Loans

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