By suggesting an employee survey and running it yourself, you can learn about the state of your current relationship -- or get your foot in the door for a new relationship.

Here's how to encourage a culture of enjoying time away from the office because your employees should return refreshed and the longevity benefit might help with retention too.

"Maxing out your 401(k)" is hard when employees are struggling to make ends meet and their paycheck barely covers expenses. That's why employers need to go beyond the obvious to give employees practical information they need.

If you are an honest, decent person, it is amazing the amount of information that is available to you in the public domain. However, a word of caution: Be careful how you find it and how you use it.

Name recognition can be a powerful asset in sales, so when you're visible by speaking, writing articles and sharing them with your connections, you gradually become the "go to" for benefit plans and retirement planning.

As a manager or owner, you need to set an example for others to follow by explaining how you take advantage of company benefits - at staff meetings, quarterly company gatherings or even just conversations over coffee.

If you engage with them on a personal level, it is logical someone at the business will reach out and communicate back to you, so now you have a connection within the company.

There are very discreet, particular ways, after serving on some committees attending a few meetings, you can go after business while also respecting The Rules of the board.