TCCG Inc

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Why Does Your Company Exist?

In Uncategorized on August 16, 2010 at 9:49 pm

Why Does Your Company Exist?

Dan Hesse, the CEO of Sprint, is back making commercials for his company.  In the latest version, he is doing more of what he did in previous ads – selling on price.  The top guy in the company, the big boss, numero uno, looks straight into the camera and tells you Sprint’s latest calling plan is better than the competition’s. That’s what the most senior person in the company wants us to know about his company – they’re cheap.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is Phil Knight, the charismatic founder and former CEO of Nike. Knight was the keynote speaker at a conference and, like the CEO of Sprint, he too made a case for why you should choose Nike over the competition.  But Knight took a different approach.  He didn’t say what Nike does or how they are better.  And he certainly didn’t attempt to differentiate the company based on price.  Instead, he told a story that explains Why Nike exists.

Looking across the audience, Knight asked those who run to stand up.  And a good percentage of the room stood up.  Then he asked those who run three or more times a week to keep standing; everyone else was asked to sit down. Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

START WITH WHY

In Development, Marketing, Strategy, Team, Uncategorized on August 10, 2010 at 3:34 pm

Ok, whatever you are doing stop…I mean it! STOP right now!!!!

I have a question for you!

Do you know WHY you are doing what you are doing…what I mean is, have you taken the time to dig deep and understand WHY your company even exists? What is its purpose and why anyone should care?

A couple of weeks ago I was sent a YouTube video. I get sent a bunch every week by clients and prospects..Hey James check this out it’s right up your alley or James, saw this and thought of you (I tend not to open those for fear of what may be inside). Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

5 Ways To Lose A Customer

In Marketing, Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Uncategorized on July 28, 2010 at 5:11 pm

“The purpose of a business is to create a customer”. —Peter Drucker

While this statement may be quite true at the most basic level, it also serves to underscore the reality that one of the ongoing purposes of a business should be to keep a customer. No business owner would argue this point, but creating and maintaining quality customer relationships is often one of the biggest challenges facing small businesses. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , ,

Its not the Economy, It’s YOU!

In Marketing, Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Uncategorized on July 7, 2010 at 2:51 pm

Many say the U.S. economy is still in a recession based on the fact that unemployment is still high and consumers are continuing to temper their spending habits–two elements that define a recession. However, anyone with the desire to be an entrepreneur has to have the attitude of  that in a recession lies opportunity. Playing the “blame” game is no way to run a business…your business will fail because of YOU and nothing else……..

So how does an entrepreneur succeed in a recession?

1. Become Indispensable
In a tricky economy, it’s natural for people to want to protect the security they still have. In the service industry, one way to prove that your product or service is part of the solution is to point out the consequences that could occur if the service was not around. Try “secret shopping” your customers and document the outcomes; then secret shop a business that doesn’t use your service or product. If there’s an obvious difference, use these stories to sell your business back to your customers.

2. Invest in the Future
Most recessions last only a year or two. Companies that fail to continually invest in business improvements, training and marketing are way behind when the economy recovers. In terms of training, consider how to cross-train your team members while business is slow. It may enable you to perform better later on.

3. Seek Out Referrals
Nowadays, many businesses assume there are no sales to be made, so they stop trying and sit on the sidelines. While sales may be harder to come by, make contacts now so they will pay off later. Furthermore, if you’re pulling back on your advertising budget, referrals may be your best bet for generating customers. You should also create a program that rewards current customers for referrals.

4. Buy Weaker Companies
If you can manage the integration process, a down economy can be a great time to acquire a business. Read the rest of this entry »

The Art Of Partnering

In Uncategorized on June 18, 2010 at 10:58 am

Lewis and Clark, Sears and Roebuck, Hewlett-Packard, the Wright Brothers. What do these names all have in common? Aside from being almost universally recognized they were also incredibly successful partners. Despite the seeming preponderance of advice regarding the challenges and pitfalls of having a business partner there can be great value and tremendous benefits to being part of a successful partnership.

Making the Journey Together

You need to surround yourself with quality human beings that are intelligent and have a vision.

Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

So what are the advantages of a business partnership? Aside from the legal and tax advantages—a partnership is relatively simple to establish and requires less record keeping than a corporation, and income is taxed only once—the benefits are numerous:

  • Shared financial responsibility and start-up costs
  • Shared risks and business expenses
  • Mutual trust between owners
  • Shared duties and tasks resulting in a lesser workload
  • Different perspectives and insights
  • Mutual support and motivation
  • Complementary skills and abilities
  • Broader networking and support structure Read the rest of this entry »

, ,

The Challenges of a Family Business

In Marketing, Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Team, Uncategorized on May 26, 2010 at 12:18 pm

This is a post from E-Myth World Wide - I thought I would share with Everyone!

Every small business faces challenges. Every business owner must deal with issues and problems in the course of building and running a successful operation. In many ways though, the challenges—and advantages—in a family business are unique.

The advantages are somewhat obvious. You work with people you know well and love, you experience greater flexibility and security, and often you’re building a financial legacy for retirement and future generations. These benefits often contribute to a positive business identity and a reputation of trust. It’s generally agreed that when customers see you as a family company, they have a tendency to trust you more. “Family owned and operated since 1948” has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? And statistics consistently reveal that the long-term success rate of family business exceeds that of other, similar sized businesses.

family business

Where’s the Challenge?

According to the University of Southern Maine’s Institute for Family-Owned Business, almost 35% of Fortune 500 companies are family controlled. Family businesses account for 50% of U.S. gross domestic product and they generate 60% of the country’s employment and 78% of all new job creation! Those are some impressive figures. Yet the failure rate among family-owned small businesses is still high.
Read the rest of this entry »

, ,

Know Your Sales Margins

In Development, Marketing, Money, Time, Uncategorized on May 12, 2010 at 9:50 am

Do you make more money selling cookies or cupcakes? Who’s more important to your business

: the big customer who ties up half your workforce, or the dozen smaller customers who occupy the other half?

Knowing which of your products or services generates the biggest profit margins is critical to building a sustainable business. It helps you determine where you should focus your resources for future growth, and where you should be trying hardest to cut costs or raise prices. Yet surprising numbers of small-business owners overlook this fundamental exercise.

“Too many business owners think in terms of sales and revenues, and not the bottom line,” says Joellen Sommer, a certified public accountant whose New York City-based consulting firm, Your Own CFO, provides clients with on-call, part-time or interim chief financial officers. “They really don’t know what the cost is to produce a certain product, or at least not the all-in cost. If they provide a service, very few track the true cost of their employees who deliver it.”

Sommer recalls working with a firm in the advertising industry that was shocked to discover that its largest client was actually costing the company money. When it came time to rebid the business, her customer let the client go rather than try to hold its prices, then redirected its energy to finding new clients.

Engineer and entrepreneur Robert Sherwood had a similar epiphany several years ago. After a long and successful career in Silicon Valley in which he grew one of his startups to $100 million in revenues in just three years, Sherwood returned to his home state of Kansas and launched SmartText Corp., a small company that sells legal forms and business documents via the internet.

For years, Sherwood assumed that his highest-priced products generated his biggest profit margins. After all, once he’d developed a large and complex document, it cost nothing more to deliver over the internet than one of his simpler forms. What he failed to consider were post-sale costs. It turned out that customers spending $150 on a document were a lot more demanding than customers shelling out $10. When they had trouble figuring out how to download a purchase or save it to a hard drive, they were much more likely to call his company for help.

Sherwood tried beefing up the “frequently asked questions” page on his website and offering alternative delivery methods, such as file transfer protocol, to ease the burden, but to no avail. Finally, he began to position his lower-cost but higher-margin products more prominently on his website. That led to lower revenues as his average selling price fell, but higher profits as customer service calls went down. On sales of about $1 million annually, profits rose by nearly $150,000.

Crunching the numbers
Read the rest of this entry »

, ,

Developing Your Brand Idea

In Development, Marketing, Strategy, Uncategorized on May 7, 2010 at 11:07 am

It’s important to keep in mind that there is a difference between the brand idea and the actual execution, or what we typically call branding. Before you jump into the act of branding, it’s critical that you first develop your brand idea.

The Brand Idea

Your first job is to identify something that establishes your product, service, or in this case your retail store, as different and relevant to your customers. Make this difference simple to understand and you have your brand idea.

A successful brand idea is based on the concept of singularity. You want your brand idea to create the perception that there is no other store quite like your store. Essentially, your brand idea is about taking a position. Once you take a position, you’ll be able to close in on the core of the brand idea and all the words, images, and the emotions you want people to associate with your brand will start to take shape.

Without differentiating and positioning your business; you really can’t create any sort of cohesive branding signals. You may create a unified visual and physical appearance, but without knowing the essential idea you are trying to convey, there is no real unifying principle of singularity.

One way to zero in on your successful brand idea is to narrow your focus; instead of trying to be all things to all customers, tighten the focus and create that focus as your brand. Subway did just this in the delicatessen world, and so can you. You may need to limit yourself in order to more effectively have customers understand the brand. Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

The Working On It Myth – E-Myth

In Development, Marketing, Strategy, Team, Time, Uncategorized on April 28, 2010 at 1:09 pm

You’ve heard “working on it, not just in it” before, but what does it really mean? In essence, it sums up the entrepreneurial mindset that we’ve always advocated: the idea that ultimately your business is your product; that as an entrepreneur you’re looking for more than just income, you want a profitable, sellable business model that produces consistent desired results and that is not entirely dependent on you.

Let’s take a look at two often misquoted and misinterpreted aspects of the E-Myth “working on it, not just in it” approach:

The working on it myth

Misconception #1: Working on your business is about documenting systems.

Documenting a system or process is not the same as implementing that system. When you document a system (or have created what we often refer to as an Action Plan), you’ve written down the steps to achieve a specific result. The act of writing your system down certainly has value: it helps you think through the steps and standards and is a way to effectively communicate the system to others; but writing it down is not the most important part of developing a system. Implementation on the other hand—the act of carrying that system out, of testing, and revising until it accomplishes the desired result—that’s where the real working on your business happens. Read the rest of this entry »

, ,

Connect More With Your Prospects

In Marketing, Sales Activity, Strategy, Team, Uncategorized on April 28, 2010 at 1:06 pm

It doesn’t matter if you are prospecting, door-knocking, outreaching, introducing or just plain canvassing, if you do any or all of these without knowing the person or business you are contacting, you might as well be calling the President of the United States. At best, you’ll find yourself winded, time wasted or wares unwanted. Or at worst… humiliated. And, no one wants to feel like a cheesy, shady, pushy or unprepared salesperson.

So, you say at the end of the day you want to create a never-ending pool of heart warming and bank account filling clients? You want to capture more sales? You want to get booked solid? Make more money? Create a nest egg? Then, do me a favor. Show up front, center and in the know with all the people you want to know. There’s no minimizing your overall effectiveness and confidence when you’re packin’ preparation. So find out…

  1. What motivates the person? What really gets the person’s juices flowing? What makes their eyes sparkle? It might be business, family or hobbies. Look at the photos, books and other things sitting on or near their desk or on their website or social media pages. What are they reading, referring to others or genuinely interested in?

  2. What has the person accomplished? Do an online search. Go to their site and do a google image search if you don’t know what the person’s smiling face looks like, yet. Who is singing their praises? Have they won awards, received acknowledgments, public recognition or publication announcements? Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

Top Five Mistakes When Systematizing

In Development, Money, Strategy, Team, Time, Uncategorized on March 31, 2010 at 2:35 pm

In order to create an E-Myth’d business, you must create a systematized business. It’s absolutely critical to the future growth and success of your business.

Why? Well, systems are essential to:

  • Building the asset that will generate the greatest ROI should you choose to sell your business some day.
  • Creating the order and structure that will produce your intended product or service.
  • Producing consistent, reliable results each time, every time, exactly as promised.

Even before you intentionally set out to “systematize” your business, you’ll probably find there are systems in place and functioning in your business right now. Think about it: everything that gets done in your business is done by following a system of some sort. They may not be effective systems, they may not be consistent, they may not be written down, but a good number of systems are already there. One might say that most businesses function with systems that exist by design or by default.

So let’s say that you’ve decided that it’s time to streamline and optimize your business functions and practices. You’ve decided to fully systematize your business. You know that customer satisfaction will improve, employee morale will rise, and the bottom line will increase.

If you’re like most people who’ve read The E-Myth Revisited, you were inspired to begin using systems right away. Fueled by your excitement, you thought you could turn things around really quickly with a few well-placed systems. The systematization process can be approached in a number of ways, not all of them successful. The reality of creating a “turn-key” operation is harder than it seems.

There are a number of common mistakes made when endeavoring to create a “turn-key” operation. Here are five of the mistakes that come up most often from our clients:

  1. Having No Strategic Plan
    You’ve got to know what you’re building, why, and where you’re going with it. This should involve writing out your vision for your business and what you want to accomplish in, say, five years from now. Having that picture and a target date will allow you to plan more effectively. This, in turn, allows you to prioritize the development, documentation and implementation of systems by the level of impact on the business and the customer experience. Without a detailed and strategic plan your systematization efforts will be sporadic, haphazard, and quite possibly incomplete.
  2. Looking for “One Size Fits All” Systems
    Everyone would like to be able to buy a set of systems that can simply be installed into their business, turned on, and make everything run! But it doesn’t work that way. You can’t take something off the shelf and make it fit your company without customizing it to your particular business, your vision, and your needs. You must make sure you’re clear about what you want your results to be and design your systems to produce those results.
  3. Not Documenting Your Systems
    I’ve had business owners tell me that they’re business really is systematized, it’s just that the systems are all in their head. That doesn’t count! Unless a system is documented, it can’t be repeated properly. You may have a system that has naturally developed over time, and it works pretty well because the people who do it have been doing it that way for a long time. But if that process is not written down, how can you train others to create the same results? How do you ensure that everyone does it the same way? Documenting your processes is absolutely essential. As Michael Gerber says, “If you don’t write it down, you don’t own it.”
  4. Lack of Implementation
    Peter Drucker said, “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately deteriorate into hard work.” Implementation, or execution, of systems is absolutely essential in order to truly have a systematized business. Documentation alone is not enough. Yet it is at this point that most businesses tend to stall. And it isn’t just small business owners that struggle with this function. A recent study published in The Harvard Business Review shows that most large companies typically realize only 63% of their strategies’ potential value due to deficiencies in planning and execution.
  5. Leaving Out Quantification
    When you document your systems, you must have clearly defined and quantifiable results so that you know how to evaluate your efforts. It’s the only way to truly determine if your systems are effective. Systems evaluation is an essential (but often forgotten) step in understanding your business better. By taking a good hard look at your systems and their intended results, you can determine where innovation (or possibly elimination) needs to occur. It’s been said that if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it; if you don’t quantify it, you can’t fix it.

Make It Happen With a Team

Systematizing your business is a strategic and essential part of building your business into an asset. Building your business into one that you can sell for the greatest return on your investment isn’t something you need to do alone, however. While you’re ultimately in charge of the vision and direction of the business, the work of developing, documenting and implementing systems is ultimately a team effort. And effectively delegating and orchestrating the work is key to successful systematization.

, , ,

Strengthen Your Brand With A Velvet Rope

In Marketing, Money, Strategy, Uncategorized on March 11, 2010 at 9:42 am

Would Prada be Prada if everyone owned some Prada? Well, not only would everyone be wearing funny clothes, but the brand would not have the same panache. Prada avoids brand devaluation by erecting a red velvet rope around their brand. They only sell expensive clothing to people who want to look like characters from Sex and the City.

In Book Yourself Solid, Michael Port advises using a red velvet rope policy that “allows in only the most ideal clients, the ones who energize and inspire you.” There is another reason to be selective about your customer base: brand value.

Over time, businesses tend to work with an ever-expanding universe of customers. The theory being the larger your customer base, the more money you can make. The casualty of this practice is a devalued brand. The red velvet rope policy says that you will treat your business with selectivity. You only unhook the rope for those customers whom you deem to be “more attractive.” A tighter, more restrictive customer base produces greater brand value. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , ,

Surefire Ways to Generate Leads

In Marketing, Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Team, Uncategorized on March 2, 2010 at 8:52 am

Almost every business owner wants more leads for their business. In fact, for many owners the need for a constant inflow of qualified leads often dominates their thinking. There are, however, many challenges to ensuring and maintaining that supply. And, in addition to the needs of today, growth objectives and profit goals will require increased revenue which must come from increased sales—which means more leads. So are there really “sure-fire” methods of lead generation? And, if so, what are they?

Start With Your Plan

Truly successful lead generation must always be an integrated part of your marketing strategy. And this rests on having a comprehensive plan that takes into account the demographics and psychographics of your target market, as well as your positioning—the perception of your business and your product/services held by that target market. In other words, your lead generation efforts must be guided by who it is you are ideally trying to attract to your business and what it is you’re promising them.

A mistake many business owners make with lead generation activities is to simply try different things with no real thought about who their ideal customers are, where they are, and how to best reach them. Random acts of lead generation produce random results—and a very questionable ROI.

Assuming you have effectively put together a strategic marketing plan and you know your ideal target market customer, what can you do right now to generate some solid, qualified leads? Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

Overcoming Business Frustrations

In Development, Team, Time, Uncategorized on February 25, 2010 at 6:47 pm

We define business frustrations as a series of specific recurring events in your business over which you feel you have little or no control.

Every business has frustrations. From small “hiccups” that hinder the flow of work, to fatal flaws that can have a devastating impact on the bottom line, and everything in between.

As it is with every challenge you face, the question is really about how you deal with it. You can ignore the frustration all together; you can abdicate and hope that somebody else will take care of it; you can apply a quick band-aid fix… But all of those options would be doing yourself, your team, and your business a great disservice.

I’d like to share this story about Debbie who owns a printing and design business. Debbie was having trouble finding the time to develop systems and processes because of constant interruptions from clients. She was getting so many project status requests that she couldn’t focus on the strategic work she wanted to do. Debbie told me that she was feeling frustrated by the fact that her customers weren’t relying on her support staff. She hadn’t taken any proactive steps toward fixing this situation because she was afraid that her clients had gotten used to working with her and she didn’t want to jeopardize the level of service they’d come to expect. Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

What Do You See At The End Of The Road?

In Marketing, Strategy, Time, Uncategorized on February 24, 2010 at 3:07 pm

A Quote from Stephen S. Wise…

Vision looks inward and becomes a duty.
Vision looks outward and becomes aspiration.
Vision looks upward and becomes faith.

Are you managing your business on a day-today basis, hoping that a little luck and smart decision-making your business will succeed? A good business surely needs a little bit of both, however, what if you wanted to be a great business? What does it take to get to the next level of performance in your business? Great athletes know what it takes to be an Olympian-quality performer. And so it goes that the high-performing businesses – those that are studied in business schools – also know and have something in common. They have a vision. A vision of where they see their company in two years, five years and ten years.

The nice thing about having a vision is that it gives you a visual. With strategic thinking and a solid implementation plan, you can begin to visualize your success at a different level. And when you can see it, chances are, it is achievable.

To help you create your business vision, putting some serious thought to what your Primary Aim is, is crucial to forming your vision. Your Primary Aim is your innermost driving force or the source of your vitality and your commitment. It is that which, more than anything else, gives you a sense of direction and purpose, motivates you to your highest levels of energy, and sustains you over the long haul. Once this is understood, you can then harness your Primary Aim to begin to create a remarkable business.

Another consideration and one that can have multiple benefits is visualizing how you see your business serving your community. Are you a green company? Do you have a product or service that can translate into supporting a need in the community like working with seniors or kids? Creating a strategic objective within your business vision of being a community partner will be rewarding both personally and professionally.

Now a vision is only as effective as it is understood within your business environment. If your employees don’t have a mental picture of the business you’re working to become, or your vision, how can they help you get there? This understanding can be transforming when it comes to motivating your employees, creating a customer experience that brings brand loyalty, and building a team that is unified and effective.

, , , ,

Damn It Jim I’m A Doctor, Not an Engineer!

In Marketing, Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Team, Uncategorized on February 17, 2010 at 1:28 pm

Ok, so even if you aren’t a “Trekker” you must have heard this line multiple times – usually ending with him telling something he isn’t!  it’s one of those timeless quotes that  gets used time and again and stays with us,……but why use it here??

If  McCoy new one thing, it was that he was a “technician”…he knew how to heal people and that was it. He didn’t pretend to understand how the engines worked (That was Scottys job) or how the communications system worked (Uhura) or how the science station works (That was Spocks job)…so why is it that owners of businesses seem to think that they can run a business without having all the skills sets needed?  There are multiple hats that EVERY business owner needs to wear and skill sets they need to have in order to create, build and run a successful business.

I don’t know if McCoy ever went through a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis but I think if he had, then he may have come out top of the class.  I mean this man knew what he was, and more importantly, what he wasn’t!

Why is it then, most business owners repeatedly put their business in harms way by trying to be all things in their business????

The diverse amount of skills required to build and run a successful business are mind-boggling…..take a look at the list below and these are just the “core” competencies!

Leadership Skills

From our early child hood we like to follow leaders and have structure in our life to know what’s required from us. The best run businesses are not only marketing led but have strong leaders at the helm who know what they are doing. Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

How Is Your Time Management?

In Marketing, Sales Activity, Strategy, Time, Uncategorized on February 11, 2010 at 2:55 pm

Time management is a skill that a lot of us struggle with. Even with the best intentions and the latest technological gadget that is supposed to streamline your work and improve efficiency, how often have you left work planning all the things you need to do in the morning because you didn’t get to them today? Busy business owners are just that: busy!

What kind of work is keeping you busy?

You must make a very clear distinction between the strategic and tactical work. Strategic work is the work you do to define the results you are there to produce. Tactical work is the work you do to produce the results strategic work has defined. When you think about your day, what percentage of your time do you spend in each area? Where is the greater value for your business? Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

Six Weeks To A Better Bottom Line

In Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Uncategorized on February 9, 2010 at 4:35 pm

This Article actually appeared in the January Edition of Entrepreneur Magazine…its one of the best I have ever seen written on how to improve your bottom line numbers but beware..its is NOT for the faint of heart!!! Read on…….

“You have to be pretty lean now, but there are opportunities to grow if you are in a position to take advantage of them,” says Edward Marram, a senior lecturer at Babson College’s Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship in Wellesley, Mass. “It’s a good time to evaluate your business, find ways to conserve cash and improve. Then look at where other competitors aren’t making it and go after those opportunities.”

But taking a cold, hard look at your business–which has absorbed so much of your blood, sweat and tears–can challenge even the most tenacious entrepreneur.  So we asked business-building experts to help us develop a six-week shape-up plan. They told us what to look for, how to set goals and measure progress and, most important, how to get to where you want to be.

Think of them as your personal trainers and set aside the next six weeks to exercise their principles. You’ll build business muscle, lose resource-draining fat and speed up growth. But first, you’ll have to step in front of the mirror and face those flabby, underperforming areas. Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

Team Development – What’s Your Strategy?

In Strategy, Team, Uncategorized on February 8, 2010 at 12:23 pm

Most experts in team development agree that teams will go through five different stages. How fast a team moves through each stage will depend on the team members, their individual skills, the work they are expected to do, and the type of leadership available to the team.

Bruce Tuckman deemed the four main stages of team development in order as Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. Later, as self-managed teams became common in business, he added a fifth stage of Adjourning/Transforming. Thomas Quick called the five stages for teams: Searching, Defining, Identifying, Processing, and Assimilating/Reforming. Whatever term is used for the stages, teams will go through all five during their developmental and working processes. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , ,

Delegate, Rejuvenate & Create

In Marketing, Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Time, Uncategorized on February 4, 2010 at 4:52 pm

It is by no means a revelation to say that sometimes we get into ruts. We get used to doing business “our way” and we close ourselves off to the possibility that there might be another way. Maybe even… a better way. We repeat the same patterns and produce the same results and our business coasts along but never grows or evolves.

Take this example. A contractor who attended an E-Myth Leadership Intensive Seminars. He’d been in the business for more than 15 years and he’d never – not once – left the business behind. On the few vacations he had taken in that time, he’d always called to check in. He even cut a trip short once because he felt he couldn’t leave a situation to somebody else on his staff to handle. He was extremely proud of the company he’d built and he felt he was the only person who could run it. Then somebody gave him The E-Myth Revisited on CD and he listened to it in his truck while driving to and from jobs. And then suddenly it dawned on him.

After 15 years, he realized that he’d hit a wall. That the business wasn’t growing. That his revenues were flat. That the business was running…but not efficiently. Read the rest of this entry »

The Coaching Relationship Revisited

In Uncategorized on January 27, 2010 at 3:32 pm

“A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.”

Ara Parseghian, Notre Dame Football Coach

In everyway possible, business coaching is at the heart of what we do at E-Myth Worldwide. But the question often arises as to why a business owner would need a coaching relationship and how to make the most of it. It is important to realize that coaching works best for people who are successful at what they do and are ready to go to the next level in their business. And, much like a sports coach, a business coach works with you to develop the skills and abilities that are already within you.

Why Have a Coach?

Coaching involves a number of different qualities that are not always employed with consulting. For example, in sports, a coach will help you understand not only how to do something, but why it is important or necessary. A coach will guide you, provide feedback and insight, while holding you accountable to the goals and objectives you have agreed to accomplish. A coach will facilitate your progress and work alongside you to help you achieve your vision.

Consultants, on the other hand, typically engage in an analysis of a particular problem, issue, or project while providing recommendations and suggested courses of action. While their role is usually advisory in nature, they will often perform specific work for a client. Their focus is generally on what needs to be done and not the why and how of the processes involved. Although some may disagree, it can be said generally that a consultant offers a fish, while a coach helps teach one to fish for themselves. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , , , , ,

So You’re Unique!! Says WHO?

In Uncategorized on January 25, 2010 at 11:42 pm

Position Your Strengths and Uniqueness to Win Business!

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) helps you establish your niche in the marketplace.  A carefully crafted USP helps your ideal clients and customers feel compelled to do business with you rather than your competitors, because you are different from the rest.   A USP helps you show what is special about your company or the service your company provides and what makes it better than your competitors.  When you do this you can alter “perception criteria” to make a prospect more favorably disposed towards doing business with you as opposed to the company down the street.   A truly effective USP not only focuses on what makes you different (internal) but also how you can help your clients  succeed.

Once developed the USP should be repeated in your literature and  clearly communicated to every member of the team.  Have you ever patronized a particular location and it seemed like everyone was in synch, and very focused on customer service?  It doesn’t happen by accident.   Companies who have trained staff members repeatedly to help demonstrate in actions the USP of a company, have higher customer retention rates and a more stable workforce as well.  If you’re living the USP, then you should be getting and keeping more customers. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , ,

Top 10 Reasons Big Thoughts Are Better

In Development, Sales Activity, Strategy, Uncategorized on January 25, 2010 at 12:54 pm

As a devotee of the Michael Port “Book Yourself Solid” philosophy I thought I would share this latest newsletter extract……

Hands down… bigger is better. No, not always. Not in the gas guzzling SUV sort of way. But when we’re talking about the super-fly thoughts that are traveling through your mind, yes bigger is better.

Bring big thoughts front and center. It’s your mind that will change your life (and the world). When you think big, you’re large and in charge. Little known facts about big thinking… big thoughts are:

1. An Act of Abundance

To think big is an act of originality and creation, an act of abundance. When you think small, you resist your nature and create false scarcity. Big thoughts confirm the truth. You are more than enough. You will accomplish all you set out to. The world is yours for the taking. Grab it!

2. Embrace a Judge-less World

Bigger embraces. Big thoughts oppose the judging world. Let’s face it, we’re not here to judge or be judged. Imagine if you never accepted the limited views of others? That’s right! Your individuality reigns supreme. Big thinkers embrace their own uniqueness, innate talents and gorgeous gifts. You know you rock. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , ,

Build A Motivated Team in 21 Days

In Development, Sales Activity, Team, Uncategorized on January 14, 2010 at 3:17 pm

Employees want management they can look up to, not management that looks down on them.  An honest respect for all, a genuine recognition that everyone has something good to offer, is at the heart of the successful motivator. Without respect, so-called motivation becomes manipulation. And manipulation is never successful in the long term. If you or your managers cannot show respect for your people, then, before you invest time and energy in motivational efforts, get someone who can – and have them read on from here!!

Take and Interest in the Career and Personal Goals, Aspirations, Interests, Lives and Families of Those who Work with You.

No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care – about them! “Motivation” is about giving your people a “motive” for “action”. Understand what your people value, and you can easily formulate a way in which doing what you need them to do will help fulfill not just your goals, but theirs. Take and honest interest in every oneof your people and the means to motivate them will become readily apparent. Make it a goal to learn something new about at least one of your people every day. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , ,

The Importance of The Operations Manual

In Development, Sales Activity, Strategy, Team, Uncategorized on December 10, 2009 at 5:33 pm

At the heart of a systems-driven business is your company’s operations manual. The operations manual is the authoritative guidebook of how things are done in your business. It gives you an effective way of communicating policy and procedures, and gives your employees the independence and security they need to operate in their jobs for maximum results.

If you’re like most of us, you probably have a folder filed away at home that’s full of all the manuals for the various electronic devices in your household. When you need to know how to work your microwave or your television breaks, the first place you go for help is that folder. In your business, your operations manual acts in the same way. It serves as the single-point reference for all important company information. And when used properly, it’s not just a place to go to look for “fixes,” rather it’s the first thing employees familiarize themselves with so they know how things work, right from the start.

What’s in an Operations Manual?

Content will vary from business to business, but the structure of an operations manual is universal. It should be comprised of the following areas:

  • Company History, Vision & Organization
  • Products & Services
  • Policies
  • Position Statements
  • Systems (Action Plans)

Your operations manual should essentially cover two main areas: companywide information that every employee in the organization needs to know and position-specific information.

The first three bullets in the list above (Company History, Vision & Organization, Products & Services and Policies) make up the portion of the manual that apply to everyone in the organization. They help people understand the “whole picture” including the organizational structure of the company, what you offer to your customers or clients and the general policies under which you operate.

The last two bullets (Position Statements and Systems) contain information specific to an individual position. Obviously the accountabilities of a CFO are different than that of a lab technician, so you’ll want to create operations manual for each position. Ultimately, you’ll have a manual for every position in your organization. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , ,

What’s “YOUR” USP? (Unique Selling Proposition)

In Development, Marketing, Sales Activity, Strategy, Uncategorized on December 9, 2009 at 11:59 pm

The ubiquitous business slogan, or tagline, is familiar to everyone. From Nike’s “Just Do It.” to the classic “got milk?” of the California Milk Processor Board, we all carry these phrases around in our heads along with commercial jingles and corporate logos. But the USP, when the concept was originally developed back in the 1940s, was specifically intended to communicate a distinct and unique proposition to the consumer, a proposition so compelling that it can draw customers to your brand.

From my perspective, the USP accomplishes this by communicating what it is about your business service or product that brings emotional gratification to the customers in your target market. The genius of the famous tagline, “got milk?” is that it speaks directly to the fact that consumers intensely disliked finding that they were out of milk. By leveraging that emotional reality, the ad agency launched a highly successful series of print and TV ads that impacted millions of consumers over the years.

But over the decades the usage and understanding of the USP has morphed somewhat. Purists in the marketing world lament that what passes for Unique Selling Propositions are often little more than clever or innocuous slogans. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , ,

Big Dogs Expect To Win (So Act As If)

In Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Uncategorized on December 3, 2009 at 4:35 pm

When big dogs come on the canine scene all the other dogs sit up and take notice. If there is going to be a scrap, they all know that the big dog is likely to win.

But sometimes you see a fierce mini pooch get into a dog fight and wipe out all the competition. This happens because the mini-pooch knows the Big Dog Code, and follows it! Whether you would characterize your company as a poodle or a Rottwieller, when you follow the Big Dog Code, you will find that you expect to win, too. Here are the “bones” of the Big Dog Code.

Big Dogs Howl at the Moon:

A full moon is the best promotional opportunity in the Big Dog calendar. No pooch worth its bones misses the opportunity to let loose and let everyone know it’s around. Big Dogs bark first, bark loudest, and keep right on barking, long after all of the lesser mutts have abandoned the opportunity. Seek out as many platforms as you can to howl out the many reasons why your potential customers should sit up and take notice. There are many, and like the moon, many can come to you free of charge. seek out speaking engagements at key industry events and host or sponsor useful seminars for the industry associations involved in your marketplace. Look for opportunities to contribute articles to industry journals. When the Big Dog starts howling at the moon, the rest of the pack joins in eventually. All anyone remembers is the one who barks first, barks loudest, and barks consistently. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , ,

The Concept Of Value-Added Selling 10 Ways That You Can Add Value To Your Product Or Service

In Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Uncategorized on December 3, 2009 at 3:38 pm

The concept of value-added selling has been a popular one for a number of years. In fact, I have
lots of friends who claim that they are the inventors of the concept known as value-added selling.
I guess that’s kind of like lots of people who claim to have invented the Internet!

The real issue, though, is that in today’s market place where so many products and services are
viewed as a commodity, the ability to add value to your product or service is an absolute
necessity. There is no doubt that in the absence of value-added components virtually any product
or service can be driven down to the most bottom line – price. The problem? When you are only
selling price you’ll never be able to sell any degree of high margin sales and that is where
profitability, long term growth and sales success resides.
Let’s take a look at 10 ways that you can add value to your product or service no matter
what it is you sell. Lots of times people argue with me by saying you don’t understand, my
product is different, or my service is different. The truth is that everything can have value-added.
So let’s go ahead and take a look at 10 specific ways that you can do it. Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

How Much Is A Customer Really Worth To You?

In Development, Money, Sales Activity, Uncategorized on November 27, 2009 at 10:20 pm

Have you ever had service so bad that you made a decision right there and then NEVER to spend money in that  place ever again, and yet, when you look back at the issue,the actual cost of your complaint could have been rectified for just a few dollars??  Bottom line is that so many businesses get caught up in the cost of the “moment” they don’t calculate the cost that customers business might be over a  lifetime of service. One of the most important lessons you can learn in business is that existing customers are the most valuable asset of any business. This little fact is lost on most business owners and managers. Their brand, their reputation, their people, their products or services, and their cash flow are always mentioned, but never a mention of their customers!

So, understanding the “lifetime” value of a customer is incredibly valuable to the business.

What is the lifetime value?

The lifetime value of a customer is the amount they will contribute to the bottom line over the span of your business relationship with them. Hpwever, before you can calculate that you really need to consider the :following:

1. What’s the value of an average sale?

For this exercise, simply divide your total sales revenue by the number of sales over a given time period. Lets say the average sale is $100

2. What’s you % profit margin?

Lets assume a 20% profit margin. It’s important, however, for you to calculate the real number for your business. What’s the % of gross sales you bring to your bottom line.

3. How often do your customers buy from you?

Divide the total number of sales by the total number of customers for a given time period. Lets assume 3 times per year for the purpose of the exercise.

4. What’s Your Typical Customer’s Lifespan?

How long will a customer continue to do business with you. Clearly this will depend on your geo and demographics, however the trade associations studies have sown the average to be around 7 years.

5. How many referrals will they give you in a year?

When customers are happy, they tend to refer more often. More referrals dramatically reduce client acquisition costs. Its reasonable to expect at least 5 referrals annually from existing customers.

6. How good are you at closing referred sales?

Its reasonable to assume that since these are being referred by clients that you should be able to close 50%.

Armed with all this information, you can now calculate the typical customers lifetime value.

Using the above numbers, the customer contributes a gross lifetime revenue of $2100 (7 years x $300 (3 buys per year x $100))

IN addition, the customer generates another 2.5 customers per year ( 5 referrals x .50 closing rate) resulting in $5250 more gross revenue.

Therefore the average customer is responsible for generating $2100 + $5250 = $7350 per year. Accounting for a 20% profit margin, each customer adds $1470 to the bottom line.

If the customer remains satisfied they may actually refer another 5 referrals per year for another 6 years!! WOW!  That’s 30 referrals x .5 = 15 new clients!

In our example you would need 21 NEW customers to generate $2100 in revenue, so the question is, how much is it worth to you to keep and enhance the relationship you have with your current set of customers??

Try the example above but put in your own numbers and then calculate a 10% increase in the average sales value, 5% in the profit margin, the number of referrals from 5 to 8 and increase the number of sales per year per customer and the lifespan of a customer!  A modest change in all these areas will dramatically increase your overall business..try and let me know how you get on!

James Lawson

Business Coach and President

The Capital Coaching Group Inc

, , , , ,

SWOT what? SMART who?

In Sales Activity, Strategy, Uncategorized on November 6, 2009 at 10:17 am

And so the saying goes, “We don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan.”  According to the Small Business Association, 9 out of 10 independently owned businesses will fail inside of 10 years. DSC_0082 You can’t succeed without a plan, in anything you do!

Do you have a strategic plan?  Is it sitting in a drawer somewhere?  Even worse, is it in your head?  If  it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist?  Lacking clearly defined outcomes and measurable goals, how can a leader lead?   How can a team perform?  Results will be short of expectations for sure!

Every athlete and large corporation have clearly defined goals to attain specific objectives. Yet, in the world of small business, many lack a focused goal.  Are we so time-strapped, that we don’t have the time to set goals?  In reality, small business owners don’t make the time or they reply “get more business” when asked of future plans.  Any self-respecting CEO would be tossed out of a shareholder meeting for uttering a vague response.

Whether you have a 50-employee company or an empire of one, your business success depends on your ability to set and achieve goals.  It helps you focus your efforts,  a key ingredient to success.  Before we look at S.M.A.R.T goals, let’s take a look at another acronym, SWOT analysis.  Doing a SWOT analysis allows you to view your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats at a specific moment in time and, then, you can build your goals around further development of your strengths, ways to overcome your weaknesses, becoming strategically aware of your opportunities, and thinking about how to minimize your threats.   Typically, strengths and weaknesses focus internally, and look mainly at the past and present.  Opportunities and threats focus on external factors, such as the economy, competition, etc., and look toward what your company might do in the future.  In a matter of one page, you have a very clear, concise picture of the road ahead and your organization’s ability to move down it.

Now lets look at your goals, S.M.A.R.T goals.  The acronym stands for goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and, time framed.  First, they should be specifically designed to improve on the situation as outlined in your SWOT analysis.    Secondly, they should be goals that you can measure, a certain number of new customers, or a goal of additional revenue.  Next they must be achievable that is, goals that you can really achieve, if you apply yourself and then they must also be realistic.  Finally, they must be goals that have a deadline; goals achieved within a specific time frame.

The SWOT analysis is a quick and simple tool to understand the overall big picture.  Setting SMART goals is critical to get and maintain focus within your business.  This is the starting point of strategic planning.  Congratulations!!  Now that you have done this exercise, it is important that you make sure that every employee is aware of their part in achieving these goals.  The more they buy into the idea the more likely you are to achieve the success you want.  And if you need any help with this, PCM (Please call me)!

Angela Inzerillo

The Capital Coaching Group Inc

703-691-2299

, , ,

Its Not a Challenge, It’s a PROBLEM!

In Development, Marketing, Sales Activity, Strategy, Team, Uncategorized on November 6, 2009 at 10:15 am

When is a Challenge not a Challenge?  When it’s a Problem!

In the mid 90’s I built and ran a very successful sales organization for a Fortune 1000 company with operations in Europe.  These were, for most companies and salespeople, the best 3DSC_0025 or 4 years in the last 20.  In Europe, the term was actually coined “The Champaign and cigar years”.  Anyway, for 3 years (or as Corporate America would call it, 12 quarters), the team never missed a revenue goal.  Then in quarter 13 it happened, our numbers dropped to a fraction of the previous quarter. We saw it coming but were not prepared for the severity of it. A technology change had occurred and what we used to sell for $15.00 was now on the market for under $4.00.  Challenge or problem?

After I put my ego in a box, and realized that I had a “problem” not a “challenge”, I recruited the help of several managers from our distribution business.  They helped me formulate a plan to go after a new market, with different product sets and bundles and subsequently helped me stave off another missed quarter.  The business flourished and became one of the fastest growth businesses in the company’s history.

OK, so what’s the point of me telling you about my (almost) failure?

We have become pre-disposed into believing that by calling something a problem we are somehow calling out our own inadequacies.  Common wisdom tells us that problems don’t exist, only challenges.  In my opinion there are some major drawbacks to that way of thinking.

First, I believe that if we think only of challenges, we have a tendency to think that we have what it takes to overcome or defeat said challenge, making it less severe.

Second, by believing that we have what it takes, we will often find ourselves getting deeper and deeper into trouble and in most cases, passed the point of potential recovery.

Third, by not admitting a problem exists and taking action early, we put our business and our employees at major risk.

So, what’s the difference????

Here is a Challenge:  I can’t seem to find time to get my marketing plan done!

Here is a Problem:  My revenue has dropped 50% in the last 6months!

If  business owners continue to look at the “problem” merely as a “challenge” there is a strong possibility they will try to resolve it themselves, when in fact, they lack the required skill sets to do so.  Getting outside help or council isn’t just smart, is shows that YOU, as a business owner, understand where your strengths and weaknesses are.  Always work to your strengths but enlist help to overcome your weaknesses.

Don’t believe me?  Look at the facts….80% of independently owned business close their doors inside of 2 years!   Over 90% close inside of 10 years!   Do you think some or most of these owners tried to start, build and run their businesses without any outside help?  Probably…

Final point, STOP fooling yourself!!  No one ever said that success should be a one person show.  Enlist the help you need to be successful.

One of my favorite business people is Sir Richard Branson.  He says it like this, “Follow Your Passions”, “Keep It Simple”, “Get The Best People To Help You”, “Play”

There is a vast world of difference between a “Challenge” and a “Problem”.  A challenge will cost you missing dinner (got to get that marketing plan done) and a problem could end up costing you your business!!

With so many resources available from SBA and SCORE to (yes, engaging a business coach) you have at your disposal a huge arsenal of weapons to fend off doom.  Make your life easier, spend some time with your family.  Be proactive and take advantage of what’s available.   As the saying goes “admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery”.

James Lawson

President, The Capital Coaching Group Inc

703-745-8197

, , , ,

Creating a Competitive Advantage.

In Development, Marketing, Money, Sales Activity, Strategy, Team, Time, Uncategorized on November 3, 2009 at 10:28 am

There is no doubt that every business looks to add more and more value to what they sell, be it a service or a product.  Where it becomes problematic is knowing how and where that value can be added, the analysis behind it and how do we DSC_0082know we are right!

Generally most companies will take two approaches, there is the “Typical” approach which is the analysis of factors that we and our rivals invest in and seek to compete.  Then there is the “Lateral” approach which is the analysis of factors that, if we invest in and compete on, WILL ALLOW US to create significant value in our business and offerings.

in 1985, Michael Porter introduced us to  a “generic” value chain model that brings together a sequence of activities that can be found in almost all businesses. By defining the primary and support activities and by taking a value analysis approach, most companies, regardless of size, can make determinations on how and where the level of value is exceeding the cost of the activities resulting in a profit margin.

So why is this so important??  Unless you can effectively separate the business system into activities it will be almost impossible to understand which of activities you can create a competitive advantage.

Many of the businesses that we work with have a difficult time understanding how to do this, but by applying a simple 7 step approach you can make headway into defining where and how in your business you can add value.

  1. Identify the key activities performed
  2. Identify how these activities combine to add value.
  3. Delineate the factors That rivals Invest in and seek to compete on.
  4. Identify key players who can affect added value.
  5. Identify key trends that can affect any of these relationships.
  6. Investigate alternative strategic options.
  7. Delineate appropriate strategies.

Angela Inzerillo

The Capital Coaching Group Inc
703-691-2299
e-mail Angela

, , , ,

Learn To Delegate

In Time, Uncategorized on November 3, 2009 at 10:22 am

Think about this, if there was an initiative where you could reduce your stress, increase your productivity and profit and help grow your teams skills – would you do it? DSC_0025

Well you can do all of this by simply “learning” to delegate some of the more routine or recurring tasks in your day to day business. Now, there is of course a caveat to this and that is, delegation is ONLY delegation when the person that the task is being given to is actually learning something in the process, otherwise it’s just passing on work!  That demotivates teams and individuals faster than anything else.

Where do you start? Well you need to make a plan, a “delegation” plan, one that will allow you to maintain effective control of all your tasks while still delegating effectively.

So, what can you delegate?

First draw up a list of all the tasks you undertake on a regular basis and list them under three columns – Task name, time to complete and special skills. Mentally work through your week, hour-by-hour, day-by-day. Once done, review the list for suitability to delegation. Think about tasks you performed when you were in a more junior position – is there someone junior in the organization that could be learning something new by doing some of these tasks now? Are there tasks on the list that require special skills that may be available to you through your team AND MAYBE BETTER THAN YOURS!

Now you have done that, draw a line through anything not suitable for delegation, besides the obvious, these include personal tasks (eg collecting your dry cleaning etc), what we mean are tasks that are HR related, disciplinary matters or management of crises – THAT’S YOUR JOB!

Plan your Delegation

Draw up a brief description of each delegable task: ask why it’s undertaken, how it’s been done in the past, when it must begin, when must it be completed, and what the outcome must be upon successful completion. This last point is key. You must have clear goals for the task, goals that are defined in an absolutely unambiguous manner that will make them easily communicable.

What specific results must the delegate achieve in completing the task? You know you have a successful task description if a stranger could pick up your description and understand what’s required.

Decide to Whom to Delegate

You can delegate to use an existing team member’s skill more effectively or develop new skills in a team member. Either match an individual’s proven skills to the requirements to the task or match in terms of the particular skill growth that you want to see in any given team member.

The first thing your delegation candidates will ask themselves is ‘what’s in it for me?’ Identify why the task is important and how it contributes to the overall success of the group. People need to feel that what they are asked to do is truly meaningful. Then determine what growth or development they will personally achieve from developing competence in completing this new task.

Ok, now you have a plan, to execute it you will need to do the following.

Delegate Each Task.

1st warning – DO NOT do this in two minutes or over coffee! Give the exercise the required time to explain the what, how, where, when and why of the task; What’s in it for the team member who will take on the task; and how and when you will review progress and completion. Demonstrate your confidence in the selected candidates, reassuring them that you will be there to provide support should the need arise. If the task is particularly challenging, provide the security of more frequent reviews and clearly agreed milestones of the progress expected and agreed key points. This is essential to providing you with the confidence that you still have control of the tasks you have delegated.

Pass Ownership

Accountability without power is de-motivating. Pass the new delegate the necessary authority to complete all aspects of the new task without coming back to you. Be clear, however, in setting the upper and lower limits of this authority in a manner that leaves no room for misunderstandings.

Review The Delegation

When you delegate the task be sure to agree specific review points with the candidate. Be sure to undertake these reviews, providing advice and course correction as required. Don’t be tempted to review progress more than has been agreed, or to encourage “reverse delegation” where the delegate is at your desk every five minutes asking what to do next.

Celebrate Success

When the task is completed successfully, Be sure to recognize the delegate’s achievement. Provide feedback and sure that his or her success is known within the group.

Do It Again

Go back and review all of the tasks you’re undertaking with a view to passing on as many of those tasks as you can. If you’re paid to manage, then manage.

You DO NOT have to spend money to get greater productivity and profitability, improve motivation, reduce your stress level, and free up your time – you just have to delegate!

James Lawson

President, The Capital Coaching Group Inc

Sales Training and Consultancy

703-745-8197