Small Business Marketing » Small Business

Family Organizational Transition Planning is Really Strategic Planning

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 06:12:00 +0000

Succession planning, by way of explanation, is the organized passage of the enterprise from the current generation of owners to the next, people who’re going to be owning and managing the operation in the 21st. Century.

Easy management succession and ownership transition will be the benefit, the target, the objective on virtually every effective business owner’s mind.

The advantages of the family business succession process start the day you get excited about developing the future you want for your corporation and your family.

And the process continues forever, just as your family’s involvement in the business will probably extend far beyond the lifetimes of everybody living today.

Here are three critical planning elements uniquely connected with each other to create the succession and planning process, at least one that is both seamless and financially effective.

Strategic Planning

This is a primary factor of the succession process. You possibly will not use this term in your regular conversations, possibly considering it belongs specifically to Wall Street companies, but strategic planning is exactly what you’re doing when you plan beyond the next year – consistently rolling your planning ahead of you as you go.

Business strategic planning is also about management training and leadership development for your next generation leaders in waiting so they’ll be ready to assume full accountability as soon as the time is right.

You may have witnessed this from your industry peers, usually there are some mistakes your business can absorb and keep right on plodding along and there are a handful which may fully destroy what has been created.

Misunderstandings concerning where you are headed can certainly destroy your energy and finally your whole operation.

Begin today by figuring out who will be in the next generation running your business and then kick start the leadership and management training they’ll need to be able to do so successfully.

Succession planning is the process where you choose the people to run the company in the future and start empowering them to preserve what you’ve created and leverage your determination to grow the company bigger in the future.

Advancement is really important as a way to create the revenue was required to meet the security requirements of the retiring generation, provide a fair share of the company’s value to the beneficiaries whose interests do not include the family organization, and compensate the successors for their risks and hard work.

When you start now to open up areas of responsibility, in the eyes of your successors not just yours, you’ll send the right messages about your intentions for the future.

Estate Planning

That’s the wills, trusts, buy-sell agreements, and all the contracts required to carry out your succession and planning requirements.

Family and business estate planning is important, too important to be put off, because it confirms the ground rules, faces the tax consequences, and gives the force of law to the strategies that will result in your wishes being explained for all to see.

Estate planning decisions are needed today based on what you know today, where everything is today, and based on the best advice available today.

As time goes by and the other elements of your family business succession plan fall into place you simply have your advisors update your estate planning documents.

How many movies have you seen where the old tyrant dies without having changed his will for decades – leaving the heirs and those who though they were heirs to fight over the spoils, resulting in another mystery for Jim Garner to solve.

Don’t let that be you!

This popular article was syndicated across the Internet. It made sense to leverage its message by creating multiple versions of it and posting them here over time. You found this story by doing an Internet search, so Google likes it. Can you tell if this is the original or one of the versions created in ten minutes? Watch The Video Now!

Research Is Absolutely Vital With Respect to Article Writing Success

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:08:00 +0000

For those who truly want your articles marketing strategy to be successful along with your efforts compensated then article marketing research is actually an absolute necessity.

Let’s be realistic, no one would bother writing the articles from the outset, if they were not seeking a profitable outcome. Yet a number of people, more than you might think, start writing before researching.

That’s a backwards and costly defective tactic.

The backward approach could possibly work to some degree, if you are 100% positive precisely what your precise target market wants to hear from you.

Then all you’re doing is reinvigorating a predictable message like additional experts in your industry. Nothing new and likely to shine a light in a new area or from a unique opinion.

A far smarter approach is to do the research for starters, afterward commence writing the articles. Undertaken well each article, even when it is targeted on the same general message, brings a new perspective or highlights a different characteristic of the subject than others have done.

What sort of research is important?

Some people begin with search phrases, the actual search terms his or her audience will likely use when searching for the data shown in their articles marketing strategy. They use various tools to generate long lists of key terms and then try to include as many of them as is feasible on their web pages and in their articles.

Keywords are essential. They allow the search engines that crawl your website to identify the subject of the content, but search phrases are not the only aspect to consider.

Another primary consideration is your market, the folks whose interest you must alert. Identifying your potential customers is the sensible first step.

Who definitely are serious about the products you have to sell? Exactly what kind of information do they need about your products? Where are they most likely to look for the information? Those are a few of the questions to ask as you construct your articles marketing strategy.

Let’s say for instance, your main goal was to offer an innovative line of organic products for toddlers and infants.

New parents is your potential audience. The parents would love to understand why they should be considering natural and organic products for their little ones. They need information about the questionable safety of standard baby care products.

The final question for you is the easiest one to answer. The Internet is the most preferred source of information right now. It is the place “where” people go to find out about everything. Folks use it to compare products and do their shopping. They read “ezines”.

Writing for popularly accepted ezines is a typical part of just about every articles marketing strategy. Ezines are simply online magazines. Getting your articles published on those websites is not as difficult as you may think. As long as your content is informative, fairly well-written and without any obvious grammatical errors, the editors at the majority of the ezines permit you to publish free of charge.

Next, there are the forums. Right now there are plenty of forums for new parents. There are others about natural living. You can spend time on the forums answering questions and leaving links that lead back to your articles or your website. Your website should also include an opt-in button for people who want your articles delivered directly to their email in box.

Just remember to focus on your article marketing research first. No strategy works without it.

Your Firms Strategic Development Team

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:26:00 +0000

Now I am not ignorant, I am certain you don’t have a strategic marketing team, a strategic planning team, and for that matter a strategic anything team. I am certain that everyone with your organization is way too focused on accomplishing what should be performed right now to participate in yet another meeting or be pleased about being put on one more committee.

Additionally, even if you imagined a strategic management or strategic marketing team made good sense – you probably probably would not know how to put one together. And you are certainly not likely to identify anyone around the organization who understands much more about it than you.

A strategic marketing team, like many other operational groups doesn’t need to be sophisticated to set up and run as that. Also it is not going to need anyone’s time and energy on a continual basis, than yours.

Who can you get to be on your strategic marketing team? Who must be actively active in the process and who can be relied on to deliver the resources and perspectives you need?

First and foremost choose three to five business owners from within your industry, folks whose organizations are well beyond the borders of your traditional marketing areas. In a perfect world some members would be like you, others older with more expertise, and some younger with fresh perspectives.

Getting them on board normally takes just a little arm twisting, however when you promise to be on their strategic marketing team they’ll probably consent to jump in with you.

Depending on their experiences they will offer suggestions to help you get moving on your strategic marketing – and you will reciprocate. They will likely ask challenging questions and supply welcome along with uncomfortable suggestions from their experiences. Their responses will include shared experiences, industry knowledge together with completely different approaches that have worked successfully for them.

Successful business leaders realize that when you make better actions you will enjoy far better outcomes, and that their best decisions are those made in collaboration with people whose success they respect and whose thoughts and opinions they trust. It is universally true that once we harness to power of our colleagues, we make smarter choices that are the secrets to higher profits.

To begin the first, of many, strategic team sessions, you’ll be identifying specifically what you want to accomplish. You must be able to look down the road, beyond today’s fires, and picture a target that is both far enough to be attainable – this takes time you know, yet close enough to be important. These are strategic sessions not crisis identification and management – and yet there should be a level of urgency in the process or nothing will get done.

And from the beginning you have to talk openly to your group of peers, explaining clearly how the results achieved will be measured. Be prepared for some meaningful discussions around this process, accurately identifying and agreeing on your targets, benchmarks and the definition of success in advance is critical to keeping the process moving forward and on track.

If these matters are not definitely approved in advance the resulting excuse making will destroy your integrity with your peers and take away the momentum from the process.

As the strategies evolve and you take the results back to your company watch out for the agenda’s, hidden and otherwise of your staff. Every decision steps on somebody’s toes, at least a tiny bit and unless they are universally willing to set aside their internal issues and get together on the big picture, they can stop your progress dead in its tracks.

Every manager, supervisor, and employee has concerns about how these plans will effect them. Such things as cash flow, profitability, market share, employee satisfaction, and many other things will be impacted by the final decisions you and your strategic marketing team make. Be sensitive to their concerns and comments, Your people from the loading dock to the Board room must be 100% on board or all your strategic marketing team’s efforts will be a waste of time.

You and the strategic advisory team of your peers must consider how each element of your strategic marketing plan impacts your organization. This is an never ending story – your peer to peer strategic advisory team will meet continually. The topics discussed in these strategy sessions will expand to every area of your organization, creating a very real teams of advocates who will help you focus on your continued future.

A peer to peer collaboration process removes the number one problem faced by today’s business owners, making decisions in isolation with no one to trust to talk to, who will not hold it against them in some way.

Business owners who think strategically, plan comprehensively, and execute flawlessly will certainly outpace those who simply set goals and hope for the best. If you want to be even more successful in the future than you are today, a business to business mastermind group will show you how stay focused on what’s important to you, you family, and your business.

When we make better decisions we get better results. Business success is the result of continuously making better, more informed decisions. The best decisions are those made in collaboration with people whose success we respect and whose opinions we trust. When we harness to power of our peers, we make better decisions 100% of the time.Click here to find out how this is possible!

What Exactly Is Effective Family Business Leadership? Have You Got What It Takes?

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:06:00 +0000

Every place you look today there’s always another manual on leadership. Normally they showcase individuals with competencies and talents we simple regular folks could never hope to have.

And given that it is such a popular characteristic for business people, the secret of leadership is often promoted by self-proclaimed experts who would like to sell us their fantastic formula for reaching leadership success.

A number of these ” teachers “, via their very profitable books and tutorials – ones that association staff and meeting planners, along with corporate people and self-actualization fans are so crazy about – should really be identified as motivation rather then leadership related.

There are also the huge leaders of massive enterprises – individuals whose names everybody knows who have lead their corporations to greatness or great failures – who will be glad to (for a fee) tell anyone tips on avoiding their mistakes and leverage their successes.

Oftentimes when you dig through the unsupported claims you see aspects of their leadership equation that you could not possibly copy.

The businesses they ran have literally unlimited resources – if you throw enough money at an idea it simply may well work, particularly when its cost is invisible in vast budgets and it wasn’t your money anyway.

Such Mega leaders have access to other individuals at their level, they’re on each other’s speed dials, people with whom to do the deals that made them famous – if not rich as well. They know all these well placed people on a first name basis that the rest of us could devote a lifetime and still not get past the receptionist. They’re part of the club.

This popular article was syndicated across the Internet. It made sense to leverage its message by creating multiple versions of it and posting them here over time. Because you found this story by doing an Internet search obviously Google likes it. Can you tell if this is the original or one of the versions created in ten minutes? Watch The Video Now!

What makes these leaders, popular fiction for normal individuals like us, so incredibly popular? These types of leaders are charming, they’re well spoken, and they’re indeed super stars. And we all love our celebrities! Despite the fact that their concepts aren’t workable for us and only a tiny percentage of what they offer is transferable to us isn’t important. We feel good hearing their story.

For most people leadership is defined by our experiences. We are emotionally charged by our personal perceptions when we are asked to define leadership; let’s be realistic, leaders are invariably looked at with glamour and awe. Those of us who want to be leaders often just clone the actions and behavior of business leaders we respect without ever being aware what it really means to be a good leader.

A great leader thoughtfully considers the observations of their employees before reacting. Your employees want to give you their ideas, share their concerns regarding the business, and pass along information and general day-to-day chit chat. You should avoid distractions and interrupting – even when you already know the reply. Always let your employee have their say, particularly if you are already prepared to disagree with them – it’s possible you’ll learn something that changes your mind.

Make certain to allow your employee to complete their communication – you need to show respect for their ideas if you expect to get their respect for yours. All of us have a natural need to be heard and allowing employees to complete their thoughts – often something they’ve put a lot of energy into, goes a long way in creating the respect you’ll need in order to lead.

Precisely what makes a great leader you may ask? Are there any established leadership development prescriptions that can be cloned? Apparently there aren’t or we would have read the book by now and becoming a leader would be simple, if not downright easy. Let’s face it, if being a leader was easy – everybody would already be one and we would not be so consumed with learning the secret, the key, the shortcut to effective leadership.

The reality is of course that there is no single formula for leadership success. Needless to say when we add the human factor into any formula we have added unique variables into every possible equation. People are unique, situations are unique, and the circumstances of every business are unique. There are as many leadership development formulas for business leadership success as there are successful leaders.

So, what are the characteristics of an every day leader? If you ask anyone about leadership, what it is, how do you get it, and how do you recognize it, you will most certainly get so many answers, most of which are probably be right – that you would be no better off than you were before you posed the question.

A number of people naturally believe that leadership is a talent one is born with, some think it is a skill that can be acquired. Either way, leadership, particularly business leadership has a single straightforward and simple meaning.

In a nutshell, business leadership is the ability, however acquired, to consistently influence others – especially those who look to us for guidance. In other words, it is the ability to attract followers and influence their actions and attitudes at work.

Most of us rely on occasional, often coincidental connections with our peers for the insights that could make all the difference. Conversely business owners who regularly integrate the experiences of their successful industry peers into their decision making process will certainly outpace those who simply set goals and hope for the best.

When we make better decisions we get better results. Business success is the result of continuously making better, more informed decisions. The best leadership decisions are those made in collaboration with people whose success we respect and whose opinions we trust.

When we harness to power of people we respect we make better decisions virtually 100% of the time. If you want to be even more successful in the future than you are today, a business to business leadership development mastermind group will show you how to stay focused on what’s important to you, your family, and your business.

Click here to find out how this is possible!

How Can I Cut My Business Operating Expenses?

admin — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:40:29 +0000

Increasing profits through cost reduction must be based on the concept of an organized, planned Expense Management program.

Cost reduction is not simply attempting to slash any and all expenses unmethodically. The Director or Manager must understand the nature of expenses and how expenses inter-relate with revenues, inventories, cost of goods sold, gross profits, and net profits.

Cost reduction does not mean only the reduction of specific expenses. You can achieve greater profits through more efficient use of the expense dollar. Some of the ways you do this are by increasing the average sale per customer.

Before you can determine whether cutting expenses will increase profits, you need information about your operation. This information can be obtained only if you have an adequate recordkeeping system.

Such records will provide the figures to prepare a profit and loss statement (preferably monthly for most businesses), a budget, break-even calculations, and evaluations of your operating ratios compared with those of similar types of business.

Profit is in danger when good merchandising and cost control do not go hand in hand. A big revenues volume does not necessarily mean a big profit, as one national retailer learned.

Paying The Right Price
Your goal should be to pay the right price for prosperity. Determining that price for your operation goes beyond knowing what your expenses are. Reducing expenses to increase profit requires you to obtain the most efficient use of the expense dollar.

An understanding of the worth of each expense item comes from experience and an analysis of records. Adequate records tell what has happened. Their analysis provide facts which can help you set realistic goals, you are paying the right price for your companies prosperity.

Analyze Your Expenses
Sometimes you cannot cut an increase item or service price. But you can get more from it and thus increase your profits. In analyzing your expenses, you should use percentages rather than actual dollar amounts. For example, if you increase revenues and keep the dollar amount of an expense the same, you have decreased that expense as a percentage of revenues. When you decrease your cost percentage, you increase your percentage of profit.

On the other hand, if your revenue volume remains the same, you can increase the percentage of profit by reducing a specific item of expense. Your goal, of course, is to do both: to decrease specific expenses and increase their productive worth at the same time.

Before you can determine whether cutting expenses will increase profits, you need information about your operation. This information can be obtained only if you have an adequate recordkeeping system. Such records will provide the figures to prepare a profit and loss statement (preferably monthly for most businesses), a budget, break-even calculations, and evaluations of your operating ratios compared with those of similar types of business.

Break-even
A useful method for making expense comparisons is break-even analysis. Break-even is the point at which gross profit equals expenses. In a business year, it is the time at which your revenues volume has become sufficient to enable your over-all operation to start showing a profit.

Once your revenues volume reached the break-even point, your fixed expenses are covered. Beyond the break-even point, every dollar of revenues should earn you an equivalent additional profit percentage.

It is important to remember that once revenues pass the break-even point, the fixed expenses percentage goes down as the revenue volume goes up. Also the operating profit percentage increases at the same rate as the percentage rate for fixed expenses decreases – provided, of course, that variable expenses are kept in line.

Locating Reducible Expenses
Your profit and loss (or income) statement provides a summary of expense information and is the focal point in locating expenses that can be cut.
Regardless of the frequency, for the most information two P&L statements should be prepared. One statement should report revenues, expenses, profits and/or loss of your operations cumulatively for the current business year to date. The other should report on the same items for the last complete month or quarter. Each of the statements should also carry the following information:
1. this year’s figures and each item as a percentage of revenues.
2. last year’s figures and the percentages.
3. the difference between last year and this year – over or under.
4. budgeted figures and the respective percentages.
5. the difference between this year and the budgeted figures – over and under.
6. average percentages for your line of business (industry operating ratio) when available, and
7. the difference between your annual percentages and the industry ratios – under or over.

This information allows you to locate expense variation in three ways: (1) by comparing this year to last year, (2) by comparing expenses to your own budgeted figures, and (3) by comparing your percentages to the operating ratios for your line of business.

The important basis for comparison is the percentage figure. It represents a common denominator for all three methods. When you have indicated the percentage variations, you should then study the dollar amounts to determine what line of operative action is needed.

Because your cost cutting will come largely from variable expenses, you should make sure that they are flagged on your P&L statements. Variable expenses are those which fluctuate with the increase or decrease of revenues volume. Some of them are: advertising, delivery, wrapping supplies, revenues salaries, commissions, and payroll taxes.

Fixed expenses are those which stay the same regardless of revenues volume. Among them are: your salary, salaries for permanent non-selling employees (for example, the bookkeeper), depreciation, rent, and utilities.

A useful method for making expense comparisons is break-even analysis. Break-even is the point at which gross profit equals expenses. In a business year, it is the time at which your revenues volume has become sufficient to enable your over-all operation to start showing a profit.

It is important to remember that once revenues pass the break-even point, the fixed expenses percentage goes down as the revenues volume goes up. Also the operating profit percentage increases at the same rate as the percentage rate for fixed expenses decreases – provided, of course, that variable expenses are kept in line.
Sometimes you cannot cut an increase item. But you can get more from it and thus increase your profits. In analyzing your expenses, you should use percentages rather than actual dollar amounts. For example, if you increase revenues and keep the dollar amount of an expense the same, you have decreased that expense as a percentage of revenues. When you decrease your cost percentage, you increase your percentage of profit.

On the other hand, if your revenues volume remains the same, you can increase the percentage of profit by reducing a specific item of expense. Your goal, of course, is to do both: to decrease specific expenses and increase their productive worth at the same time.

Tom Mann http://www.abusiness-consulting.com
Creating overhead savings in: property leasing, employee benefits expense, equipment, office supplies, vendor contracts, phone systems, facilities, fleet vehicle expenses, insurance policies, site cleaning cost, parking, landscaping/grounds.

Go Ahead and Fire Your Customer

admin — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 18:51:34 +0000

We all have at least one – a customer with whom we just don’t like working. Before you get too excited thinking I’m going to say it’s okay to fire any customer – regardless of the reason – guess again.

What I am talking about are customers we don’t like because after we do everything we do for them, we simply are not making any money from them. Not making any money off of a customer goes beyond your commission or bonus.

It’s the bottom-line profit your company is not making because of the customer. No salesperson is going to intentionally go out and find unprofitable customers, but too often we do end up with a few of these.

We wind up with unprofitable customers not because of the price we’re charging them, but because of the intensity of their demands and requests. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the customer who seems to always want one more thing. No matter how good of service you think you’re providing them, they keep asking for something more.

The problem we get into is the more we serve the customer, the more they expect from us. Each time we help them, they come away thinking of something else they want from us. These ongoing demands on your time (and the time of other people in your company) are what quickly erode profit – turning a once profitable customer into one that is completely not profitable.

What is even more disturbing is that often this dynamic happens so slowly that we don’t even realize how unprofitable they have become. This “slow drain” means that it usually gets way out of control before anyone realizes how bad the situation is.

To be able to determine which customers need to be “fired,” you must become more discerning of customers who place too many demands on you and/or other people in your company. It is absolutely essential you get control, because if a customer becomes high maintenance, there is a great likelihood they will remain high maintenance.

As the salesperson servicing the account, you are often the one in the best position to realize how high maintenance the customer has become. More than likely, most of the customer’s requests are flowing through you. You then dole these requests out to the respective departments, but collectively all the departments do not see the big picture of everything the customer is demanding.

Once you spot a trend with a customer making multiple service requests, you must begin detailing the cost involved. A detailed account of what has transpired will help when you and management need to decide how to deal with the customer.

Once you have identified an unprofitable customer, you and your company must decide what is going to be done about the customer.

Too many times, companies roll over and play dead and allow the customer to continue to be high-maintenance. In the end, the only thing that happens is profit is lost and sales motivation is depleted. You and other people in the company become disenchanted with the amount of support devoted to a customer who never seems to be happy.

If, on the other hand, smarter heads prevail, then you and management will realize something needs to be done to rectify the situation.

There are two options:

1. Confront the customer. Your objective is to decrease their requests.

2. Increase their prices. This will offset the additional costs you incur serving the customer.

Personally, I prefer option #2. The reason is simple. Increasing their price either restores your bottom-line profit or they reject your price increase and leave. Essentially what this option does is allow you to make the profit you need – or it releases you from a customer who is draining your profit. Either way, you and your company are winners.

This is a much better option than the first choice of confronting the customer. I’ve found that confronting the customer tends to create a level of tension that winds up as long-term friction. Ultimately, no one is happy.

If you raise your prices for those difficult customers, you will gain the profit you need or the customer will walk away. The beautiful part of using this approach to “fire” your customer is that they leave without you ever having to tell them you are firing them.

Profit is good. Don’t sacrifice it in the name of “good customer service.” Wisdom tells you that the best service is that which satisfies your customer and allows you to make a profit.Your time is best spent on profitable activities. For more information on implementing a price increase, consider this article section of my website (http://thesaleshunter.com/resources/articles/selling-a-price-increase/).

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit www.TheSalesHunter.com.

You can also follow him on www.Facebook.com/TheSalesHunter, www.Twitter.com/TheSalesHunterand www.LinkedIn.com/in/MarkHunter

Promoting New Small Business Hiring through Tax Credits

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:15:05 +0000

President Obama announces the Small Business Jobs and Wages Tax Cut that will provide a $5,000 tax credit to over a million small businesses for every new net employee they hire. January 29, 2010.

Duration : 0:13:14

Weekly Address: Working with Small Business to Drive Recovery

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:55:04 +0000

The President restates his commitment to small business as key to economic recovery — from the Recovery Act to Financial Stability to Health Reform — and pledges more to come. October 24, 2009. (Public Domain)

Duration : 0:4:26

Brand building tips for small businesses

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:54:05 +0000

In just 6 minutes, you’ll move from “branding is just for big companies” to “I can grow my brand with my customers.” And you’ll learn that even with a shoestring budget, you can build a powerful brand by keeping things simple and focused.

Duration : 0:6:35

Woman Goes Nuclear At California Town Hall Meeting

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:27:05 +0000

Link: http://hotairpundit.blogspot.com/

Duration : 0:2:24

Small Business Marketing » Small Business

Family Organizational Transition Planning is Really Strategic Planning

Recommended Reading

Research Is Absolutely Vital With Respect to Article Writing Success

Recommended Reading

Your Firms Strategic Development Team

Recommended Reading

What Exactly Is Effective Family Business Leadership? Have You Got What It Takes?

Recommended Reading

How Can I Cut My Business Operating Expenses?

Recommended Reading

Go Ahead and Fire Your Customer

Recommended Reading

Promoting New Small Business Hiring through Tax Credits

Recommended Reading

Weekly Address: Working with Small Business to Drive Recovery

Recommended Reading

Brand building tips for small businesses

Recommended Reading

Woman Goes Nuclear At California Town Hall Meeting

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