Ultimate Breakthrough Planning

An Open Letter to Washington

2011-08-08T12:19:00.002-05:00

As the markets plunge and investors continue to worry and the economy continues to flounder I believe every politician in Washington needs to look in the mirror and ask themselves are they acting for the good of their constituency of are they acting based of their political beliefs and egos. In the past few months it has become increasingly obvious that these people just don't get it! They continue to bicker along party lines and make decisions or non-decisions that are holding the economy and the people of the U.S. hostage. I believe it's time to take politics out of the equation and bring some people together that might actually be able to come up with some ideas to get us out of this mess.

We need to best business minds in the country to come together and develop solutions that can move U.S. business forward and get the economy moving again And I'm not talking about a bunch of corporate CEO's from huge companies, as some of them are the reason we're in this debacle in the first place. I'm talking about those individuals that grow companies small and large alike, thought leaders that through their work, experience and research have first hand experience in growing business. And all options are on the table, it befuddles me how Congress can't seem to get past the fact that as with any business in order to be profitable you not only must cut spending but you also must raise revenue, and that may mean raising taxes but it also means cutting some programs that we simply can't afford anymore. And we need to streamline the process so that decisions are made quickly and implemented with speed to get things going again. And we need to give this group the clout that they need to implement the ideas they come up with. As Congress put together the Group of Six and they came up with ideas they obviously didn't give them any clout because their ideas, which by the way were in many ways pretty good, got swept aside. Again because of partisan politics.

As an entreprenuer and business coach I've worked on and witnessed first hand spectacular business growth and what happens when people focus on a problem and implement a game plan to solve the problems, and I've witnessed this in good economies and bad. We need people that have an idea of what it takes for business success, people that have studied business for years like Tom Peters, innovation leaders like Steve Jobs, investors in successful companies like Warren Buffet and successful entrepreneurs that understand what it takes to grow companies. We need to implement some of the same strategies in our government that we implement in building successful companies. And most important we need to take partisan politics out of the equation. I'm not sure the politicians, I hesitate calling them leaders because that's the farthest thing from what they are doing right now, are going to agree but it's time that they get the hell out of the way and let people who know what they're doing come up with ideas to grow the economy and fix the problem. The quickest fix to the whole mess is growth and I mean significant growth and who better to come up with ideas to do that then those that have already done it in their own businesses!!

It's time Washington realizes that they aren't getting the job done so let someone else help them get it done!

An Inspirational Story

2011-07-08T11:27:00.001-05:00

Here are two true stories that provide an inspiring example of how making the right decision can have a far reaching impact on the legacy we leave behind…worth the read!

STORY NUMBER ONE Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was Capone's lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but Eddie got special dividends, as well. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.

Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.

Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example. One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done.

He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. But, he testified.

Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.

The poem read:

"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still."

Now read on to story number two…

STORY NUMBER TWO

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare.

He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.

One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet. As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood cold; a squadron of Japanese aircraft was speeding its way toward the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger. There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet.

Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dived into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 calibers blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible, rendering them unfit to fly.

Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction.

Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft.

This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.

So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?

Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.

Mike Ferrell Interviewed by Carla Beaurline on Around Town TV

2010-08-24T18:01:00.000-05:00

Launching New Ideas

2010-07-09T13:58:00.001-05:00

I am working on a new product launch and it's always an exciting time for me because of all the facets that go into a product launch. Today I would like to talk about launching any new idea and how to make sure it's a success.

The first thing you want to think about when launching a new idea/product/service or whatever it is you're launching is who is it intended for, be very specific here. What is the target audience for this idea and how will it impact them or their business. Once you have answered that question then there is a whole list of things to consider before launching, here are a few:

How will you market it? Including Website, Email, Social Networking, Blogging, Direct Mail etc...
Are there possible multiple product offerings in your idea, for instance in the product I'm currently offering I will also be able to spin off an e-book, a seminar, coaching services and a monthly subscription.
What is your sales process? How will you sell the product and what will the sales approach look like?
How will the service end look? Do you need to do anything different from a service perspective?
And what does the profitability look like? Can you maintain margins to make the idea profitable.

These are just a few things to consider when launching new products, ideas and offerings. Too many times I see companies roll out a new product assuming there's a market for it but not taking care of the front end details that I mention above and then when they launch and get no response they can't figure out why. The other issue is look into how you might preview the launch and take a page out of Apple's book, by letting a few details come out on what you are launching to start to create buzz, Apple is an expert and creating a buzz before they ever launch a new product. I hope these ideas help you successfully launch new ideas and look for an exciting new product soon from me that will help you create a simple, yet powerful strategic action plan, keep your eye on our website for more details!

Simplicity Means Focus

2010-06-25T13:40:00.001-05:00

I met with a client this morning and he was telling me about how good it felt to spend last weekend in his office just cleaning out and getting rid of old files and things that he didn't need anymore and it got me thinking about how clutter can keep us from being focused on the things we really need to be doing to move our businesses or sales forward.

When you look at your desk are you constantly trying to figure out where you put something so that you can work on it? When you look at what you should be doing do you have multiple to do lists and post it notes all over the place? When you look at your calendar do you have notes scribbled all over the place and it's hard to figure our what you should be doing next to follow-up with that prospect or client? And finally when you call a meeting does it turn into a free for all because there is no set agenda?

These are all things that creating some simplicity in how you do things can really help you focus. Let's look at each one of them:

First organizing your desk, keep on your desk only those things that you need to work on for that day, move the rest of it somewhere else or better yet go through it and toss out the stuff you truly don't need. This will keep you on task and not wasting time looking for things.
Your to do list; I work with my clients and get them to do a weekly worksheet that gets them thinking about organizing their entire week versus just a day at a time, I think this keeps them focused on the big priorities that need to get accomplished and they don't get hung up on the things that are not vitally important. I also encourage them to do time blocking which helps the concentrate on setting critical blocks of time aside to work on revenue generating activities versus time wasters.
Your calendar and follow-up; get a system that keeps everything organized for you, here's where technology can really help. Look for a system that will keep everything at our fingertips, emails, calendars, documents, etc... and easily accessible. I use a system called BatchBook that is easy to use and syncs with all my devices.
And last but not least and I've written about this one before, meetings! Set a start time and an end time and have a written agenda. This will help you stay on track and not waste time in meetings. If there is not a specific objective for the meeting then don't have one!!

By simplifying the various things you do on a day to day basis you really can create focus!

What's Your Passion?

2010-06-11T10:48:00.002-05:00

I was interviewed last night by Carla Beaurline for her Around Town television show and one of the questions she asked me was, "there are many people that have lost their jobs in this economy and they are considering starting their own businesses, what piece of advise would you give them?" The first thing that popped into my head was "find your passion", if you're going to start a business, make darn sure it's one that you truly love and can see yourself doing for a very long time.

As I thought about this question over the past 12 hours or so, it also occurred to me that this is very relevant to anyone that already has their own business. Many of my clients and people that I talk with that have their own businesses have lost that passion, they have become so engrossed in the day to day activities of running their businesses that they have forgot about the real reason they created the thing in the first place. One of the best ways to find that passion again is to look at what you're doing on a day to day basis and make sure that the bulk of the time is being spent on the things you like to do, that can clearly help your business grow. If you like the operational side of things then make sure that's where you're spending your time and find another person or way to handle the sales and marketing side of things. Vice versa if you really like the sales and marketing side of things then focus on that and find other ways or people to handle the operational side of things. And I'm not necessarily talking about hiring new people, in today's business environment there are many options beyond hiring people, it could be outsourcing or new technology, think outside the box!

If there's no way to do what I say above then at the very least, make sure you are creating time to do the things you love to do in your business. By planning your time out weekly versus daily you will find that it will allow you to create blocks of time that you can focus on the things you really like to do! If you can remember why you started your business in the first place, or if you didn't start it but bought it or inherited it they why did you get involved and start focusing on creating that vision that you originally have your mental state will be much better and your business will be better for it!! Several months ago I was interviewed by Krishn De for her highly listened to podcast series Biz Growth Live and I talked about creating a plan that will help you get that focus back. You can listen to it here!
And if you need help visit our website to find out how we can help you get that focus back!

The Winter Blues

2010-02-11T07:10:00.002-06:00

Here in Minnesota February is the roughest part of the winter, we still know that we’ve probably got a good two months of cold left and we don’t have much to look forward to other than Valentines chocolates. And judging from all the news we hear on the economy it sounds like it’ s having the winter blues as well.

So how do you snap out of it? Well my best advice to you is to get busy, there is nothing that gets you out of the blues better than getting busy and staying busy. But when I say get busy I don’t mean doing just anything, what I mean by getting busy is to get your focus back on your business. Get your team together and talk about what you can do to stimulate your business. Try some new marketing ideas, launch a new service or product, connect or reconnect with your customers/clients.

There is nothing that gets your juices flowing like some good old hard work and if it’s focused on the right areas it won’t only get your out of the winter blues but it will also get your business moving in the right direction as well. In this economy you need to do everything you can to stay in front of customers and prospects so go back and revisit what you’ve done in the past and look for ways to do it better and more effectively. Also tie in education as a component of staying in front of your customers, they are looking for reassurance in this economy so you need to educate them on why they should be doing business with you and not your competitors.

And one last thing, bring some fun back into your business, schedule an event with your team that brings in some fun, remember there’s a good chance they have the winter blues as well! If you want to know how to build these ideas into an action plan download my free e-book, Business Planning on a Bar Napkin, go here for it!

Will This Be Your Best Year Ever?

2010-01-11T18:25:00.001-06:00

With today being the 11^th day of the New Year already do you know that over 50% of the people that set New Year’s resolutions have already broken them. Are you one of them?

What are the keys to getting out of the blocks fast this year and hitting all the goals or “resolutions” you have set for yourself? First the key is to not focus on them, the more you focus on them and the minute it becomes apparent that you won’t hit them or exceed them they will fall by the wayside.

Instead focus on the actions that need to happen in order for you to hit your goals. Create what I call in my book Ultimate Breakthrough Planning: The Business Funnel Approach key milestones. Those key milestones should be measured on a monthly basis and they should be strictly actions that need to occur in order for you to reach your goals.

An example would be in your marketing area measuring the specific things that need to happen such as the number and type of marketing campaigns that your are doing and the number of people that are receiving them and responding to them.

Make your business as measurable as possible, every possible thing you can measure when it comes to action will allow you to fine tune things until they are working the way you want them to work. And by measuring the actions that are happening if you are hitting the milestones on a regular basis I can guarantee that you will hit your goals and resolutions.

If you really want to take your business to new heights take the Ultimate Breakthrough Planning BusinessBuilder Challenge. We guarantee you will grow your business 20% or more or you pay nothing, check it out here!

Helping Those That Need Help!

2009-11-11T11:51:00.003-06:00

This holiday season as the nation tries to dig out from a recession some of the most impacted will be those that help others. Charitable contributions are down significantly throughout the country and because of that many of those people that rely on the help of charitable organizations will be in dire need.

As you look at your business this holiday season I would challenge all business owners to find creative ways to help those organizations that help others. Whether it's financial or material contributions or simply contributions of time those organizations need your help this holiday season.

The Pinecrest Group and Ultimate Breakthrough Planning is going to do our part by launching a new program called "Coaching For Your Cause". In this program for everyone that signs up for our coaching programs from November 1, 2010 to January 1, 2010 we will donate 5% of the cost of the program back to an organization of your choice. And that contribution will be made in your name and on your behalf not ours!

I know that times are tough but anything we can do to help those less fortunate this holiday season, not to mention anytime makes the world a better place!

Business Planning on a Bar Napkin

2009-06-28T12:51:00.004-05:00

I've just finished my new e-book, Business Planning on a Bar Napkin. It focuses on a simple method to create an executable business plan to help grow your business. The book is designed as the first step to help businesses create a strategic plan that they can use everyday to help them grow their businesses. If you use it paired with my published book, Ultimate Breakthrough Planning you will have all the tools you need to create your business success gameplan.

You can download a free copy of my e-book at www.thepinecrestgroup.com/free_stuff You'll find valuable ideas that can take your business from where it is today to where you want it to be tomorrow.

Providing Value to Your Customers in Your Service

2009-05-18T15:26:00.005-05:00

I'm always interested in the response I get from my clients when I ask them if they deliver good service. Almost all of them say they do and then give me some examples of how they do it. However I get a very different response when I ask them how they deliver value in their service, most of the time I get a quizzical look that says, "What do you mean"?

Providing value in the minds of your clients or customers means that you have taken the time to put yourself in their shoes and have asked the question, "What would I want?" As you look at your service you need to make sure that what your perception of good service is and what your customers perception is are in alignment. Many times I have heard my clients say they give great service by doing something for the customer and then when I go back and ask the customer they say well yes they do that but that really isn't all that important to us.

I believe that one area of service that is critical is communication to your customers, not only when something good or bad happens but also as a means of establishing expectations. If you go about setting written service standards for your business but then don't communicate them to your customers you have done nothing to set the expectations and give yourself the opportunity to exceed those expectations.

Here are a couple of examples that I have recently encountered:

I occasionally eat at a local Arby's and for a long time now they have been offering a special pick 5 items for $5.95. I thought this was great value and the last time I was there they had taken it off the menu, when I asked about it they said they had taken if off the menu because they were sending out coupons instead. As I was standing there waiting for my meal I must have heard 5 people ask about that special and all got the same response. Now it seems pretty obvious to me that the 5 people and myself could care less about the coupons that we didn't have, we wanted the special that was a value in our minds. They have lost at least one customer because they changed their value proposition.
I have recently been working on a project with a couple of different companies and to get them to communicate with me on what's going on has been like pulling teeth. I am about to make a considerable investment in what they have to offer and yet to get them to answer an email, return a phone call or keep me in the loop as to what's going on has been virtually impossible. Here all I am asking for is a simple response and they don't seem to think that is important. Again in this case it may cost them a very good customer.

These are just a couple of examples of service that could have made my perception of these companies very different. When you don't get basic answers or perceived value you have a tendency to start looking at the other things that a company or business does and start wondering what else is wrong. So as you look at your service and create a plan that will help you deliver exceptional service make sure you put yourself in your customers or clients shoes and remember the old adage, "what's in it for me".

Where is the Common Sense?

2009-04-30T12:06:00.003-05:00

Chicken little is having a hey day today! Between the economy, the auto industry, the mortgage crisis and swine flu the sky is definitely falling! Of course being the eternal optimist I have one big question; what the heck happened to common sense in the world today?

Let's examine a couple of these things:

The economic crisis, no question it is here and upon us, the interesting thing is a little common sense could have avoided it. Where was the regulation of all the financial instruments that created the problem in the first place, Congress and both parties are quick to lay the blame but if one of the purposes of government is to act for the greater good of it's citizens then why wasn't good old common sense used in the regulatory environment, most of these designed financial instruments were designed out of greed and to take advantage of the system, a little common sense by someone might have brought out that realization.
Here's my favorite one, swine flu! I saw yesterday that Ft. Worth was closing all it's schools for almost two weeks because of it and of course it's all over the media that we have a pandemic. I'm not quite sure what a pandemic is but right now this flu has accounted of about 160 deaths, each year the flu kills over 36,000 people in the U. S. alone, so does that mean we have an ongoing pandemic? Again a little common sense would tell me that if you take the normal precautions against getting sick you are probably going to be OK and even if you get the flu almost all of the cases have been mild here in the U.S. So like usual in the year of no common sense we overreact and forget about using some!

It would seem to me that what this country really needs to get moving again is simply some common sense, if it doesn't look right it probably isn't, if it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. And as far as the U.S. media and news goes they are the biggest culprit, because they like creating a frenzy and hysteria and so they report (sometimes skewed) on all of these issues and they get their so-called experts talking about the sky falling and next thing you know Chicken Little is all up in arms! Maybe we should just figure how to unplug them all for a month and get some peace and quiet! Now that's some good old common sense!

Ultimate Breakthrough Planning is a Finalist for Best New Business Book!

2009-04-08T10:28:00.007-05:00

I just found out that my book, Ultimate Breakthrough Planning: The Business Funnel Approach is a finalist for best new business book by the Midwest Book Awards, click here to see more. This is a testament to all the work put in by my publisher Scarletta Press and to those that have reviewed the book and given it great reviews! Although is wasn't intentional the book is incredibly timely in that it really gives business owners a blueprint to help them get focus in their businesses. In today's economy that is essential and having a business plan that you will actually use every single day is clearly a way to get through this recession not only surviving but thriving.

I read an interesting article last night that some of the greatest companies have been started during a recession, Microsoft, HP and others came out of set backs and then looking at things differently and creating a business through an opportunity that came about because of the recession. Ultimate Breakthrough Planning takes you through a process to identify where those opportunities might lie in your business and then helps you create a game plan that can capitalize on them. This book can help any business whether it's a new business or one that has been around for awhile. I am thrilled that the book is being so well received but I'm most proud of the fact that I can help businesses find success in these difficult times!

The Fallacy of Business Planning

2009-04-02T00:23:00.003-05:00

I recently read an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune business section that talked about how with unemployment up more and more people are looking into starting their own businesses and certainly during most recessions you see a spike in business startups. The article was stressing the importance of having a business plan and was going through the various steps of creating a traditional business plan and how important it was to have this document that painted a picture of your business so you would have something to use in working with you banker or investor. The article also went on to talk about the process of creating a plan and using the same basic format that has been used for years and years how this plan would really help you get your business off the ground. Herein lies the problem with this whole approach, the last numbers I saw said that almost 90% of all business startups never make it more than two years, with that being the case why in the world would we continue to stress the importance of this business plan format when it obviously doesn't work? I have worked with countless businesses that create very well thought out business plans that go into a lot of detail about what the business will look like however in those plans I have never seen a section on how we are going to execute the plan. The fallacy of business planning is that if you don't have one you won't succeed where the reality is that the format that we have been using for years does nothing but create a static document that gets stuck in a binder or file folder and is never used to help grow the business.

What I suggest and work with my clients on is to create a business plan that is all about execution, it gets the business owner clearly focused on the actions they need to do to make that business successful and keeps them on track by measuring those actions using key milestones. This business planning approach gives the business owner a much greater chance of success by keeping them clearly focused on strategies and priorities that will grow their business. I call the approach the Business Planning Funnel , this planning process takes the business owner through a specific progression on the priorities, strategies, tactics, and tasks and timelines that will allow them to create a true business action plan. With this plan and a good set of financials I would give them a much greater chance of success then the traditional business planning model will ever give them, and I'm guessing that their bankers and investors would also be very interested is seeing the how rather than the what of the business!

Business Planning vs. Business Motion Planning

2009-03-26T11:13:00.006-05:00

I constantly get potential projects and clients that are looking for help growing their buisness and the first thing I ask them is do you have a business plan? Of course if they do they show me the standard business plan format that almost everyone uses and has used for 50 years. It has your executive summary, your financials, your market analysis, your product or service analysis and some projections. And it is typically prepared for their banker or potential investors. The problem with all those plans are that they are static documents they show what the business will look like at some point in the future but there is one major thing missing, how the heck are they going to get there? The major component that is missing is action or motion, what are the specific things they are going to do to achieve this picture they have painted.

A business motion plan gets them thinking about the how they are going to get there, this plan can be done very simply, it may just lay out the specific things they are going to do or it may break it into specific steps such as I talk about in Ultimate Breakthrough Planning: The Business Funnel Approach where I give you a road map to create a business motion plan.

In my book I talk about creating an active document, a blue print that will you will use every single day to grow your business. Forget about your standard business plan and create a business motion plan that will keep your business moving forward even if tough times! You can here more about my process here: Ultimate Breakthrough Planning book overview

Tired of Bad News?

2009-03-20T13:56:00.004-05:00

I was the keynote speaker at the Duluth Business to Business Expo yesterday in Duluth, MN and got the opportunity to present to a group of business owners. I started my presentation with the whole idea that it is becoming increasingly difficult for business owners and anyone else to stay positive and upbeat in light of the constant bombardment of bad news by the media. If we do a side by side comparison of this recession to the one on 1981-82 it will show that this one is not really any worse than that one, however one big difference is the fact that in 1981-82 we didn't have the internet, we didn't have multiple news and business channels constantly overwhelming us with not only the news but their gloom and doom predictions. I never thought I would say this but I long for the days of election coverage and red maps and blue maps just so I don't have to listen to anymore gloom and doom.

I think the biggest challenge we all have is trying to tune out the distraction of the constant bad news and focus on those things that we can control, I have written about that before but I think today it is crucial in order to stay on task and do the things you need to do to keep your business moving forward. And look for good news, I hear stories everyday about businesses that are doing just fine and even having more success today than they did a year ago, so there are success stories out there, unfortunately those aren't nearly as appealing as the gloom and doom the networks like to cover! Maybe we all need to watch the clip of Howard Beale from the movie Network and proclaim in one voice to the media "we're mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore".

The First 100 Days

2009-01-27T10:51:00.003-06:00

In the past week we have witnessed the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the nations 44th President. As he takes office we hear in the news much about what will happen in his first 100 days of office. He takes the helm in a tumultuous time with a suffering economy, two wars and the historical partisan politics. So how could that relate to your business?

I talk a lot about creating a laser focused game plan for your business to survive and thrive in these difficult times and as you look at the parallels of President Obama's first 100 days in office I find it an interesting comparison. He must move quickly and establish himself as the new commander-in-chief and in addition position himself and his administration as a new way of doing business. Like President Obama your business faces unique challenges right now, with the economy going south like snowbirds from Minnesota you need to decide what fast action you are going to take to keep your business moving forward. Have you developed an action plan for your next 100 days? How will you make changes in your business and change the way you do business to set the tone for the next 100 days? These are questions you must answer and answer quickly in order to survive and thrive in these times.

I would suggest you sit down and work on 5 things you can do and control in the next 100 days that sends a clear message to your mind and to your team that you are not going to sit on the sidelines doing business as usual and wait for this to blow over. Think about what you can do from a marketing perspective, from a sales perspective and from a service perspective that rocks the boat over how you usually do things. And once you have done that write down the specifics of how you will do it and assign timelines and communicate it to your team. Then execute and measure the execution so that it happens.

Just as President Obama wants to get his administration off to a fast start in it's first 100 days you should think about getting you business off to a fast start in 2009 and take control of your business and focus on success, not worrying about those things you can't control!

The Winter Blues

2009-01-15T10:49:00.005-06:00

Today here in Minneapolis it's 20 below zero and I had the opportunity to drive across Iowa and Nebraska the other day and observed the bleak winter landscape. Winter is a little like what is going on in our economy in that at times it can get a little depressing. As I looked across Iowa and Nebraska I imagined what the farmers were doing this time of year when the ground is white and frozen and likened it a little to what many businesses are facing right now. The farmer in the upper Midwest right now is preparing for Spring, even though as he looks outside there is no hint of it he knows that in a matter of a couple of months Spring will be here and he will be back outside planting crops. But this time of year is just as important for him, as he is planning his crops, determining when and where he will buy seed and fertilizer, working on his equipment to make sure it is in the best operating condition before he needs it in the Spring.

In today's economic environment it can seem like the bleak days of winter and yet every business must realize that there will be Spring and when that time comes it is essential that the business is in a position to jump when things start moving again. In the event that your business is slow right now what are doing to make sure that when the business environment improves you are ready to capitalize on it. You should be making sure your business plan is set and have your business funnel ready to go and that all your tools such as marketing and sales are operating a peak efficiency so that your business can grow quickly when the environment improves. And have faith, it will improve, history has taught us that valuable lesson. Stay Warm!

Tis the Season of Self Help!

2009-01-06T09:57:00.005-06:00

About the first of December through the first of February it seems that my email inbox gets loaded with every self help guru out there trying to convince me to lose weight, stop smoking, make more money, have a better sex life, be a better writer and on and on. Of course they are all preying on the fact that we will be making our New Year's resolutions and we will need their help to make those resolutions happen. By the first of February they stop bugging us because they figure everyone has already fallen off the band wagon.

In the spirit of those self help gurus I would like to offer some simple ideas to you for making your business successful this year no matter what the economic environment and you won't have to buy anything, go to any seminars or click through 50 page sales letters! Although there have been thousands of business books written about making your business successful there still remains only 3 ways to grow your business; more customers, more sales from existing customers and larger sales from existing customers. As you look at how you will survive and thrive in these challenging times it is absolutely essential that you look at these three areas to make sure that you are doing everything in your sales and marketing efforts to grow all three of these areas. Top business consultant Jay Abraham calls this the "power parthenon strategy" and by focusing on growing each of these areas you geometrically you can grow your business exponentially.

Of course in order to do that you need a game plan or script so that it happens each and every time the exact way you want it to happen. Your first step might be to analyze your existing customers to look at their buying trends and figuring out how you can get more and larger sales from them. When I work with my clients I am constantly encouraging them to analyze why people buy from them and what else could they be buying from them. Once you have looked at your existing customers or clients then you need to determining what you need to do to bring in new customers or clients, as you have heard many times before it is much easier to get more business from existing customers than it is to find new ones however you need to make sure that you are using a variety of different marketing tools to get new clients. You should have at least 5 different methods or tools that you are implementing to find and get new clients. And make sure one of those is an active referral system that lets your existing customers bring new ones in the door.

As you look toward surviving and thriving in a challenging 2009 focus on these three ways to grow your business and you will have success! And if you want to lose weight, stop smoking or anything else the self help gurus are selling I wish you luck!

Great Marketing Ideas for 2009

2009-01-04T11:16:00.000-06:00

I've been getting a little R&R on the beach in Mexico over the last few days and on my way down I picked up a book in the airport. The book is the New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. This book has been a real eye opening experience for me in that I thought I was somewhat tech savvy when it comes to marketing but as I found reading David's book I'm just scratching the surface of what I should be doing to market my business, let alone help my clients market their businesses. David does a fantastic job of laying out the new rules of marketing and how marketing firms, ad agencies and PR firms have done this in the past and how the world of the web, online marketing, blogs, news releases, podcasting and an assortment of other methods have made the old world of marketing and PR obsolete. I generally don't do book reviews in this blog however I have been so impacted by this book I believe I need to let everyone know that reads my blog that they should be incorporating the ideas in this book into their marketing plans. I spend a lot of time in marketing with my clients however I don't consider myself a marketing consultant rather I work with them to create the plans for their marketing that will help them achieve their business goals. And one thing that became very evident in reading David's book is that I need to focus more on internet based marketing as I work with clients to help them create their plans.

Internet marketing has come a long ways since it's early days and with all the tools available our there today if you are not taking advantage of some of these things you are completely missing the boat on opportunities to let people know about who you are and what you do. Any business plan should incorporate many of the tools that David discusses in order to get maximum exposure in the marketplace. The best part of this is it is relatively inexpensive and you don't need webmasters and programmers to do it. In my book "Ultimate Breakthrough Planning" I have an entire chapter on looking at your marketing systems and building a business funnel for them. By taking some of David's ideas and putting them into your funnel you will improve your marketing dramatically. The best part is that many of the tools David mentions we have typically thought of for large corporations, yet he gives some great examples such as an auto repairman on how they grew their businesses through some of these tools.

In building your business funnel you should very definitely read David's book as well as visit his blog. By the way David's not paying me anything for this in fact I don't know David and he doesn't know me however I believe his ideas should be used by every business to make their marketing efforts more targeted and more effective.

It's a New Year, Again!

2009-01-04T10:49:00.000-06:00

Once again we start a new year and if you're like me you're thinking about all the things you want to accomplish in this new year. Of course this year is a little different because we all probably have some trepidation about what's going on with the economy and how it will impact our business in the coming year. As we look at what we want to do in the coming year we typically start setting some goals and then maybe write down some things that we will do to achieve those goals but in most cases that is the extent of our planning for the new year.

I would encourage you to try a different approach this year! Rather than focusing on what you want to accomplish this year, try developing an action plan of the things you need to do each and every day in order to achieve those goals you set. Create a plan that measures those actions, for instance if you need to ramp up your marketing to achieve those goals then determine exactly what you need to do from a marketing perspective; do you need to do more advertising, or more direct marketing or more online marketing and whatever it is measure the specific things you are going to do in order to do that. In my book "Ultimate Breakthrough Planning" I have a whole section that talks about measuring key milestones and how if you measure and hit your key milestones you will inevitably hit your goals. As I work with my clients I constantly remind them that if you measure your actions and execution of your plan your goals will take care of themselves.

Obviously we have a challenging environment this year however with challenges come opportunities and in order to capitalize on those opportunities and grow your business in difficult times you must have a laser focused approach to what you are going to do.

Same Old, Same Old

2008-10-09T10:40:00.000-05:00

I am in the first year of serving on the board at my local golf club and one of the members came up to me the other day and asked me how my year had been on the board and more specifically what had the board accomplished? As I told him the issues that we had been dealing with he said "same old, same old, nothing ever changes." As I got to thinking about that later I started thinking about some of the things we had worked on including decreasing membership and financial strains and realized that these are certainly some of the same issues and challenges that every business that I work with faces, only it's customers instead of members. We had embarked on a membership drive and brought in about 30 new trial members, unfortunately our focus was so driven in areas of cost control that we forgot about creating an experience for those trial members that made it so they wanted to maintain their memberships after the trial period was up, no different than a business trying to bring in and keep new customers. As many businesses do, we lost focus on delivering a great customer experience and were so focused on the ultimate bottom line results that we didn't deliver enough to keep many of these trial members. I would challenge our board and committees just as I challenge the businesses I work with to deliver a great customer experience so that you keep your members or customers. It is much easier to grow your business through existing customers versus constantly trying to get new customers. Delivering a great customer experience doesn't necessarily have to cost a great deal of money, service is one way to deliver a great experience, at our club the service levels had dropped and it was believed that is was because of cost cuts, when in reality it was a whole approach to delivering great service that had changed and there was no expectations that great service should always be delivered. Creating a "wow" customer experience is something that every business needs to focus on not only to keep it's existing customers but to create "word of mouth" marketing to attract new customers. As I am writing this blog our financial markets are in turmoil and I read an interesting editorial on the plane today talking about how the financial services industry had a "herd mentality" down this path to problems. I also believe that they and the federal government completely lost their focus on their customers; they were so driven by bottom line results and greed that they lost focus on the customer and now it is costing them and all of us dearly. Every business whether it's my golf club or a financial services company must think about delivering to the customer an experience that first and foremost keeps them being a customer and second drives more revenue and through the experience brings in more customers. As you look at your business remember that there is only 3 ways to grow a business; more customers, more sales from existing customers and larger sales from existing customers and the latter two are by far and away the most profitable.

The Bed and Breakfast

2008-07-28T09:53:00.000-05:00

I am writing this as I am flying home from spending a week on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and recharging my batteries (which, by the way, every business owner should do at least twice a year to keep your thinking fresh!). I spent the week at a bed and breakfast and got to observe a small business up close and personal. During my stay, I noticed two critical areas in this business that could make or break them. The first area was positive: the place delivered outstanding customer service. In talking with the owner, Steve, it was very obvious that he was very committed to providing a high level of customer service and had empowered his team to make sure that everything they did created a positive experience for the customer.

This was most evident at one point during the week, when a problem arose with a reservation. One of their rooms had been double-booked, and Steve was going to have to make a customer leave that supposedly had booked their room for an extra night. He handled the situation beautifully by booking the customer in another bed and breakfast of higher value and footed the bill for that night, resulting in what I’m sure was a very satisfied customer.

The next key area wasn’t so positive. Shortly after the double-booking incident, I overheard Steve talking to someone on the phone, complaining about how every time he leaves the place goes to hell and how he had major dissension in the ranks. Almost every afternoon, his executive chef was heard ranting and raving in rather colorful language about the morning shift and one individual in particular. Now these things happen in any business; however, this ranting and raving happened within clear earshot of any guest staying in the building and not only was it clear how unhappy he was but also that these situations were very detrimental to Steve as the owner. He had a critical issue with leadership and team and needs to get everyone on the same page. By making sure everyone first understands the service standards that Steve wants to uphold, he can then make it clear that if issues arise, they should be dealt with behind closed doors — not within earshot of his guests.

If I were advising Steve, the first thing I would suggest to him is to meet with his executive chef and make it understood that if he has issues he needs to bring them to Steve. If someone is not upholding the service and quality standards, then proper training and communication with them is absolutely critical. Then if things don’t improve, then obviously changes need to be made.